check this out! aw yeah. I made that!

So I spun a couple successful yarns like this:



hand painted bfl spun fat and squooshy and plied with a sparkly holographic thread.

but then disaster struck!
I only had a little bit of the bfl left so I spun it up as a nice even worsted weight single. Really pretty with great color transitions, in my opinion. Then I plied it (and this is important because it emphasizes how what happened is TOTALLY NOT MY FAULT) very tightly with the sparkly hologram thread. and it was so, so pretty on the bobbin and so, so pretty skeined up.

And then I soaked it to set the twist.

And I have no idea what happened -- if it relaxed and untwisted a bit in its nice bath, or if the wool maybe even shrunk, but when I removed it it had all these loose coils of the sparkly yarn sticking off of it.

At this point, if I had put it aside and asked for help, it probably would have been salvageable. But of course I did not do that! instead, I thought "thwacking some yarns makes them bloom and fluff up so I shall beat the hell out of this yarn" (and maybe I just wanted to beat on it a bit). So I thwacked the yarn around the inside of the shower, and guess what it did? the wool shrunk and fulled and now I have this:



2 individually nice elements (a nice fulled hand painted wooly ply and fun sparkly thread) but altogether, a disaster.

So now what the hell do I do? Try to unply it? somehow turn it into art yarn? throw it into the deepest corner of the yarn closet and pretend it never happened? anyone?

So I mentioned below, when I went to Georgia weekend before last, my dad gave me 3 boxes of vintage textiles my grandmother had wanted me to have. 3 GIANT boxes. Tulio and I went though one:



First is a GIANT pile of doilies. Some are probably purchased, but the majority of them are clearly hand made, crocheted or tatted, probably by one of my great-grand-mothers. If you scroll down to the lower post, you can see a really elaborate one with pansies -- there is a whole set of them. They are beautiful and lovingly made, and I am so not a doily person. I have no idea what to do with them. Archive them for my grandchildren, I suppose. I briefly toyed with the idea of sewing them together to make an afghan. They will be nice for decorating for holidays and so forth. See me slowly transforming into a doily person there?



Heaps of embroidered textiles -- dishtowels, tablecloths, pillowcases, bedspreads. This is the part where I start having some seriously ambivalent feelings:
The primary emotion I felt at my grandmother's funeral last year (which was overall a fairly horrifying affair, but that's a whole different story) was regret that I had not known her better or been closer to her. Having said that, the barriers between us were not entirely of my making -- she had her idea of who I was and was comfortable with that and any further closeness would have messed with that. So going through these textiles started to make me upset -- I would have loved to know more about them; know who made them and who they made them for, and were they funny and obsessive like I get with needle crafts or did they just make things to have something to do in their spare time? I know she really wanted me to have these things, but I wish she had given them to me while she was still alive, and maybe we could have looked at them together and she could have told me about the people who made them and her memories of them and I'd have a better sense of where they and I came from. But that didn't happen so oh well. But my mom better get started on her memoirs.



Among the mountain of embroidered textiles are some mysterious sets consisting of a large embroidered thing and 2 smaller embroidered things. What are they? guest towels? dresser scarves? Whatever they are they were evidently popular at some point because there are at least 3 sets.



THIS is highly amazing. It is a pillowcase but I think I'm going to frame it. It is AWESOME.

And finally we come to another thing I feel conflicted about:



A complete set of country blue acrylic placemats that somebody around the time of my birth lovingly crafted on some kind of yarny-loom-thing.
My first instinct was to get rid of them, but now I'm thinking that these awesome retro 30's and 40's era textiles that I am enjoying so much probably look just as dated to my dad and his siblings as these placemats look to me. So perhaps my kids will love them? Maybe I should hang on to them just in case...

Two more boxes to go!

my husband is really sweet :) Today I vacuumed, mopped, cleaned the bathrooms, wiped up random gross things in the kitchen, and paid the bills. And complained non-stop the entire time, even calling him (when he went to the grocery store to get away from me) to continue complaining. so he sat with me and helped me do math when I paid the bills, and then he made me dinner (fried yuca, beans, and pepper cheese) and lemonade. And then told me sweetly that if I complained again today he would beat me with a belt ;)
He is so cute! Also, WE ARE DONE WITH OUR CREDIT CARD DEBT! Woo hoo! Now to get pre-approved for a mortgage.

Whoa, the news is on right now and things are INTENSE in Honduras. Right now they are showing a line of trucks blocking the runways at the airport to keep Zelaya from landing; it looks like civil war might be imminent. Selvin just said "un Hondureno mojado en Honduras." less than 2 weeks ago we were talking about going for a visit, but now Tulio is saying he doesn't know if we'll ever go back.

Here we are enjoying the fact that we finally live in a state where we can buy fireworks!

(We also went to the Battleship North Carolina and the beach, it was a super fun day).

(actually I got back Monday night, I've just been busy since).
I had a very relaxing long weekend hanging out with my mom and my friend Sarah and doing absolutely nothing. It was very, very nice.
My dad gave me some family heirlooms:
3 big boxes like this full of textiles


They are full of things like this:

Made by my grandmother, her friends and sisters, and my greatgrandmothers. There are also random mass-made dishtowels and potholders, but I plan to dig through them this weekend and document any treasures!

Finally, would you like to make this sock?



Wait patiently and I'll have the pattern up in a few days!

Honduras's president Mel Zelaya (whose father owned a huge ranch near where I lived in Peace Corps, and who was responsible for one of the most horrific slaughters during land reform, killing 7 campesinos and 2 nuns if I remember correctly) (the internets know nothing of this but this book refers to it http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Be-Afraid-Gringo-Honduran/dp/006097205X ) and who has been becoming closer and closer to Hugo Chavez personally and politically in the past few years, was arrested last night after trying to alter the constitution to allow him to run for office again (so he can be president for life like Chavez, is the chisme). He is currently seeking asylum in Costa Rica (in his piyamas, according to El Heraldo (oh, fabulous, El Heraldo's page is currently inaccesible -- hopefully it's because they're updating and not because it's been taken down. here's the link anyway http://www.elheraldo.hn/Al%20Frente/Ediciones/2009/06/28/Noticias/Mel-Zelaya-en-pijama-en-Costa-Rica -- ETA it's back up now). So now the country is under military law, like it was back in the '70's. The Heraldo reported that the armed forces had turned off the electricity in Tegucigalpa to prevent violence; my mother in law reports the electricity has been turned off in the entire country (although, since Honduras' electrical grid is not super dependible under the best of circumstances, most large businesses have generators. I'm not really sure why cutting off the electricity would calm civil unrest? it seems to me if the power's on people will stay in their homes and watch Tv but with it off they'll go out in the streets, get together, amp each other up, and riot, no? Anyway, I'll update as I hear more. In related news, the national soccer team is playing Panama today in Cary and Tulio will go to that. I am sure he will get some good gossip there. Hopefully no wars will break out over the match (Honduras is one of the few countries on earth to have gone to war over a soccer match http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_War )

Incidentally, some of the media sources I've read today are framing this as a right-wing military overthrow of a democratic left-leaning populist government; while I'm a yellow-dog liberal, I have to say that I'm not convinced that that is an accurate take on the situation. I'm not saying it's not, either; just that, like everything else in life, it's more complex than all that.

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE55R17J20090628

Lisa and I went to the swimming hole and we ALMOST DIED! and then my mom bought plane tickets so we can go to Portland OR.

Making a big fibery mess!

It started off promising as we went out for pupusas and margaritas, but then my husband ditched me to play pool. So what am I going to do? I'm going to use my BRAND NEW NIDDY-NODDY and skein up some yarns to set the twist! OH BOY!

On a less sarcastic note, I need to give a shout out to Midnight Sky Fibers! http://www.midnightskyfibers.com/ I'm one of those touch-before-you-buy type people and skeptical of buying fiber online without first fondling it, but she had an insanely generous sale so I bought a few things, including some naturally-dyed roving and box o raw fiber. It's really nice stuff! I am particularly thrilled by the fiber box (which, even without the sale, is a really good deal) and enchanted with the lovely chocolately brown locks that were in the box.

While I'm shouting out, have I mentioned how awesome the fantasy bag from Holly EQQ (http://www.hollyeqq.com/) is? I've been spinning like a madwoman and the awesome fibers have given me so many creative ideas for yarns I want to make... I better hurry up and skein these things so I can photograph them!

Whoa, crazy beaver polemic! I think this is the 2nd most popular my blog has ever been! (most popular being the recycled paper tutorial, if you're interested). What other Durham institution can I criticize....
TOBACCO SUCKS!

Also, yesterday we went to my most favoritist local event, the Beaver Queen Pageant! It is a yearly event to raise funds for the Ellerbe Creek Watershed (thereby protecting the local beaver population), and is filled with many tragic puns and double entendres and overall abuse of the words beaver, tail, and dam. Different people compete to become the Beaver Queen and their friends bribe the judges to ensure that they win.

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Peace, Love, and Beavers, Durham.

The state legislature is looking at substantial cuts to the mental health budget, meaning there's high likelihood I'll be losing my job before too long. So to make myself feel better, I've been photographic cute animals and other happy-making things. So here are some cute pet pictures! There are a lot of them so I put them behind a cut, but be sure to look because they are super cute!

( Read more )

Here's a teaser!

Finally, this is one of my favorite photos ever! look at the way the ears help keep her airborne!

the vacuum cleaner
men
children
boots
bluejays
things that fall
helicopters
flourescent light bulbs that have been removed from the fixture
things that are new
anything that looks like it might contain medicine (bottles, tubes, etc)
she was afraid of my spinning wheel but now she likes it and "helps" me spin in much the same way that orangutans help you build a deck.
Edited to add: water running in the kitchen sink
She also doesn't like eating if she thinks my brother in law is watching her. If he is in the kitchen and she is hungry she stands in the doorway and complains until he leaves.

what is wrong with my cat? she is super grouchy! I need her to not be sick again, I can't afford to take her to the vet again this month :(

ETA: I think she's just grouchy. It was super hot (we finally turned the a.c. on, sigh), the mean little kid who kicked her one time came over, I found a tick on her, and then I put frontline on her. So she has good reason to be cranky today. But Tulio convinced me that she ate some of the frontline and was dying. Now it's cooled down she seems a little happier. And she's eating, which is generally a good sign.

She's in ROME! Hoping you have lots of fun and some fabulous adventures, EB!

Ursula and I spent 4 1/2 hours at the emergency vet today because she had a wierd spot on her back last week that turned into a revolting abscess so we went to have it dealt with. We were there so long because, compared to the rottweiler attacks, copperhead bites, and so forth, an abscess was fairly low priority. Anyway, it's been cleaned out and she's been given antibiotics and some really gooooood pain meds. she didn't even whine on the car trip home!
Now she has to wear a lampshade.



You can tell the pain meds are good because I'm still alive to share this photo.

anyway, at the vet was a bichon puppy that had been run over. The dog even had a black tire mark on his side. But despite all this, he was completely fine! no broken bones, no internal injuries, he didn't even seem to be in any pain. it was amazing!

not safe to look at at work or if your husband's conservative relatives are around. Please don't submit my unicorn photo there, ok? bull testicles is all right.
http://pictureisunrelated.com/

eta: and I just found this http://thisisphotobomb.com/