Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Dying to dye...and to not wash a fleece!

Did some dyeing over the weekend, but I'm not 100% satisfied with the results. The process was rushed because I was taking time to shake my fist at the looming thunderstorm. My lovely neighbor Val was outside checking out what the heck I was using the picnic table for, and the colorway she chose is the only one I really loved...dark gold and forest green, gorgeous just-turning-fall colors. Unfortunately, I told her I'd give it to her, ha! :) Looks like I'll have to be repeating it sometime soon! Anyway, the storm limited my time to be outside all spread out, so I only got four skeins of BFL done. I sadly didn't take the time to completely untwist the wet roving, so there are spots of white. Carpbag. Oh, well...that happens sometimes.

In other fibery news, I've been talking shop with Sandy over at Homestead Sheep and Wool Farm to see if I can get a greasy fleece sent off to be processed into pindrafted roving for easier dyeing. My bathtub just doesn't like lanolin...and the merino cross partial fleece I am buying from Sandy has LOTS! Since animal-friendly merino can be difficult to get a hold of, I jump at the chance to buy from Homestead whenever its available. In fact, I have 1 lb. of Dan Merino still waiting to be washed...and I bought it months ago! :/ So...the only problem with sending it off to a mill for processing is that there will be quite a lag...possibly not coming back to me until next year! Wowza. I'm sure it'll be worth it. Pindrafted merino is worth the wait!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

End of an Era...okay, not so much.

It feels so good to be back in the swing of things!! My weaving class is over, and whew! it was a busy time. We had our "graduation" ceremony on the last day, where we all got to spread out our 9-weeks worth of weaving and show them to the rest of the class. People did such extraordinary work, and you could really see the progression of skill. Judy gave us some graduation gifts...a metal tapestry needle for hemstitching (really needed one!), a weaving crossword puzzle, and a film canister containing four cents, which is essential for using as a weight when you break a warp thread. She brought a cake to class and even popped a bottle of champagne! Whoo hoo! Man, I am really going to miss class on Wednesdays.

Now, though, I'm back at the wheel, spinning a mile a minute, and it feels SO WONDERFUL. I just can't explain it. Spinning is my first love, though I do really enjoy weaving. I've spun a yarn a day for the past three days. I'm sure there'd be more if I didn't have this pesky day job to go to! As for the day job...I'm still smarting because I had my review and didn't get a raise. Boo hoo. So in essence, it's like I received a pay cut since inflation has gone up 5% in the last year. But I digress. Spinning pulls all that disappointment away. It's like magic.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Adventures in Wedding-Attending

So I'm not sure what the carp happened while I was away in Cancun, but I woke up the morning after the wedding with a sore throat, aching all over. And it hasn't gone away. I caught a freakin' cold in Mexico! Oh, well, at least Montezuma didn't get all revengey on me.

Gretchen's wedding was beautiful. It was held on the gorgeous white beach at near-sunset with 35 guests, sand ceremony, sobbing attendants (Bobby and I kept accidently looking at each other, prompting fresh rounds of tears), comical falling-apart fan programs (oops - the glue didn't stick in the humidity), and just general happiness. I've known Gretch since freshman year of college...LONG time ago, folks...and we've lived together, worked together, ridden scary night trains in the Czech Republic together, and kept up with each other even though we now live in different states. Michael is a wonderful guy and perfect for her...I know they're going to be really happy together.

I have legions of stories about this past weekend and really don't know where to start or if I even should, because the floodgates would open. I mean, we're talking tentacle-y octopus sushi, iPod downloading emergencies, and tequila-chugging hair artist named Monica/Raoul. So I'm just going to mention the mystery of travel...that you become completely out of the loop. This was highlighted for me when my roommate Amy turned on her laptop for the first time on Saturday.

"Oh my gosh," she said, "Georgia and Russia are at war!"

"What???" I asked incredulously.

"And Bernie Mac died!"

"Wasn't he pretty young?" I wondered.

"And 38 people died in Venezuela of bites from rabid vampire bats!"

"How long have we been here? Three days? The world is falling apart!"

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Panic! (not at the disco)

I haven't finished Gretchen's wedding programs yet!!!!!!!!!!

I have a week's worth of weaving homework to squeeze into two days after I return from Mexico!!!!!!!!!1

I'm so frickin' busy I can't even bother to care about the fact that my exclamation points are turning into numbers because I keep hurridly taking my pinky off the shift key!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111

Friday, August 1, 2008

WHEW!

Thought I'd poke my head in here and announce that I'm a big ball o' stress! Whoo hoo?

My wonderful friend Gretchen tapped me to create her wedding programs/placecards/table placards for her wedding in Cancun, which is next Saturday. Now, technically this shouldn't be a huge deal, as she is a casual type of person, and there will be only 35 guests. But I am my mother's daughter and thus have made the whole project into something enormous. The program is going to have two layers, the underlayer of which will be stencilled. The programs will be affixed to bamboo fans. The placecards will be embossed. Ribbon is involved. I am a woman obsessed with pleasing the bride, as this is my only job as matron-of-honor.

So I leave for Mexico next Thursday with a suitcase full of fans and a truffle-colored dress. In the meantime I'm also scrambling to finish/start various weaving projects. My lace project (a 3-yard teal blue tencel scarf) is overdue and still on the loom, but the loom needs to be rewarped before Sunday, which is my all-day Doubleweave class. Doubleweave basically means you are able to weave a project that is twice as wide as your reed...how cool is that??!?! Monday evening is my monthly spin-in over at Shuttles, Spindles, and Skeins (I always look forward to it!), Tuesday I'm sure I'll be scrambling to finish all the paper projects for the wedding, and Wednesday I'll be packing. Wednesday night is usually my weaving class night, but we're skipping a week so we can all catch up (NONE of us finished our lace projects!) and do our overshot project.

I tell ya what...I'm beat!! :D