Woolarina
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
and some knitting? finally?
Kate and I experimented with striping at the last dye fest. Turned out great, but MAN was it a pain! HOURS worth of work. No thanks. I figure this is un-sellable, as my hourly rate adds a little too much! maybe I'll make socks?
and some more projects for the craft fair along the lines of this, which will be felted.
haha - those are the colors of the month... yellow green blue. the other "self striping" yarn was the same bloody colors, totally not meaning to be so! I should write them down as I go, huh? Anyhow, the two skeins were skeined/dyed differently, so it'll be neat to see how they come out in the end.
and some more projects for the craft fair along the lines of this, which will be felted.
haha - those are the colors of the month... yellow green blue. the other "self striping" yarn was the same bloody colors, totally not meaning to be so! I should write them down as I go, huh? Anyhow, the two skeins were skeined/dyed differently, so it'll be neat to see how they come out in the end.
Monday, May 30, 2005
4 miles.
some running club friends and I just ran FOUR MILES in a race. Oh. my. gosh. 48 minutes. not great, but the first three miles, we did ~11 minutes a mile... so we met my 35 minute 5 K thing. Woo! Spa-ing here I come!
Saturday, May 28, 2005
put the "g" in "ghetto"
indeed. Went to see a play at the woolly mammoth theater last night. It was great! And the theater was all brand spanking new and shiny. Niiiice. thanks so much christina!!
the funniest moment of the evening, however, was on the metro- two guys get on, semi talking trash and smacking their gum SUPER loud.. and sit behind us. Ugh. somewhat annoying. a couple stops later, a HERD of wild city kids on.. I've never heard such awful language from THIRTEEN YEAR OLDS!! Agh! they wander all over the car screaming and being gross... are around for half a dozen stops, and then get off. The gum-smacker behind me is all "they put the 'G' in 'Ghetto.'" Haha!
the funniest moment of the evening, however, was on the metro- two guys get on, semi talking trash and smacking their gum SUPER loud.. and sit behind us. Ugh. somewhat annoying. a couple stops later, a HERD of wild city kids on.. I've never heard such awful language from THIRTEEN YEAR OLDS!! Agh! they wander all over the car screaming and being gross... are around for half a dozen stops, and then get off. The gum-smacker behind me is all "they put the 'G' in 'Ghetto.'" Haha!
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
will you be my friend?
no idea how I fell for this one... old college friend somehow made me...
hi-5
any takers?
hi-5
any takers?
Sunday, May 22, 2005
dye days of may
spent more time than I ever wanted dyeing my hands fuschia! It was fun, but tiring. And a headache the next day bugging k8 to figure out what the heck we actually dyed. But we got tons of pretty yarns and rovings, and not *all* felted...
first up is a nice bulky falkland single:
then two skeins of bulky soft merino (which I love love love- will be hard to give up if I sell it!):
and lastly, a less-bulky skein of merino, still lovely and soft!
kate's sidewalk is so much more picturesque than my carpet, eh?
we also tried our hands at dyeing self-striping sock yarn... it was a learning experience! Both methods were just awful.. the yarn turned out okay, though one was rather felty. Pictures eventually! Needless to say, I'll be buying regia for any sock striping needs from here out!
haha.. i also ran for about 45 minutes after I got lost getting back to kate's house... was extended from my 25 minute run around the lake. sigh. I should get a compass already. I don't mind driving around in circles, but it's a bit silly to pass the same house 3 times running. :( no run today either- my legs are beat!
first up is a nice bulky falkland single:
then two skeins of bulky soft merino (which I love love love- will be hard to give up if I sell it!):
and lastly, a less-bulky skein of merino, still lovely and soft!
kate's sidewalk is so much more picturesque than my carpet, eh?
we also tried our hands at dyeing self-striping sock yarn... it was a learning experience! Both methods were just awful.. the yarn turned out okay, though one was rather felty. Pictures eventually! Needless to say, I'll be buying regia for any sock striping needs from here out!
haha.. i also ran for about 45 minutes after I got lost getting back to kate's house... was extended from my 25 minute run around the lake. sigh. I should get a compass already. I don't mind driving around in circles, but it's a bit silly to pass the same house 3 times running. :( no run today either- my legs are beat!
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
spun!
finally off of schottland, aside from one more thing... the yarn! all the "made in scotland" yarn was totally ick... I got two balls from the mill place, but they are horrbly scratchy, so no photo. I did get these and a bunch of tiny surprises from a department store... it's Jaeger Matchmaker Merino DK. And quite nice! It seemed cheaper than here- was less than 3 pounds per ball.. trying to find a nice stripey scarf/hat/mitten pattern to make it into...
and then, what I've done lately.. first some 3 ply merino, in scotland color (swear it was done before I left!)
and then a few more:
merino/mohair mistake on left (not sure how it'll be, but I'm hating the hairiness of mohair, and the merino felted some during my special treatment but mohair did not so it's slightly loopy.)... then a nice soft merino single in the middle, bout 100 yds... then two singles of merino and falklands plied together for a pretty nice yarn. over 330 yds..
and then, what I've done lately.. first some 3 ply merino, in scotland color (swear it was done before I left!)
and then a few more:
merino/mohair mistake on left (not sure how it'll be, but I'm hating the hairiness of mohair, and the merino felted some during my special treatment but mohair did not so it's slightly loopy.)... then a nice soft merino single in the middle, bout 100 yds... then two singles of merino and falklands plied together for a pretty nice yarn. over 330 yds..
and part 3 (4?)
Saturday we went to Edinburgh on the bus- bought a ticket that included a city bus on/off all day tour, which we never did really find. (things in the UK are incredibly vague… noone seemed to really know about these deals, not even the tourist office people! Um???) We walked some huge hills to get to the Edinburgh Castle, 
and didn’t go in- ~$20 for a castle tour? no thanks. We did go see a cheesy thing- the camera obscura… basically a mirror/lens thing on a roof that lets you see the sights around you. The rest of the crummy museum was a bunch of optical illusions or posters of mc. esher type drawings. Bleah.
Went to the (free!) Weaving Centre, and saw tons of lambswool and cashmere scarves and blankets that I totally should have bought. Then we walked and walked and walked, down the Royal Mile. Saw one “yarn shop” that had a shelf or two of scratchy yarn. Saw a bunch of scratchy sweaters. (Is it necessary to be so scratchy? Does that somehow make it better for tolerating the rain? I realize I have high softness standards, but jeez!) saw some colinette for sale in another nicer, hipper clothing store, for a mere 9 pounds. If only I liked colinette more? or couldn’t spin similar yarn myself…
We walked onwards, to the end of the royal mile, and saw the Scottish parliament building… a totally hip modern building. thought it was apartments at first! Then, across the street, we see this… thing. a rocky hill? (was Salisbury Crag)… people are climbing/walking it. Looks neat. I’m wearing a skirt, tights, and clogs basically. *NOT* climbing attire! But I climb anyhow, along with man that is still slightly afraid of heights. Oh my. Going up was okay, aside from my feet which kept turning sideways (though really, they can’t walk properly on flat pavement) Coming down was a pain in the ass! my feet kept sliding forward so my toes kept getting knocked. Ugh… Long story short, we miss the bus, so the bus that comes won’t take us since he’s on his last circle of the city. So? No city tour. No rest for the tired. We get a nice long walk in search of food! We did find some tasty pub food though- had steak and potatoes and veggies and a nice beer. Tennents? Then we wandered about some more.
The big thing of the day seemed to be hen and stag parties. Completely bizarre. The girls would all be riding around in limos, hanging out the window screaming. some fancy limos- pink even! the guys were all dressed to match one another. You know, in case one gets drunkenly lost, he can just follow the ones that look like him? I have no idea. Better than this though, was the appalling lack of clothing on 13 year olds out on the town for the evening. Gaggles of them! All half nekkid! Having to hold their skirt down in the breeze. But jeez- I had two shirts, a sweater, a winter coat, hat and scarf, and I was cold! peculiar. Haha…. after this, I decide I’m hungry for dessert… we walk and walk some more and find an Italian place that has “cheesecake”… and I decide I’m actually hungry… so have a second dinner! spaghetti carbonara. tastyish, aside from being from a crappy Italian place. then we get the “cheesecake” and it’s covered in SPRINKLES! there are two tiny bits of strawberry on it. and no cheese. at all. some sugary custardy crap! ah well..
and didn’t go in- ~$20 for a castle tour? no thanks. We did go see a cheesy thing- the camera obscura… basically a mirror/lens thing on a roof that lets you see the sights around you. The rest of the crummy museum was a bunch of optical illusions or posters of mc. esher type drawings. Bleah.Went to the (free!) Weaving Centre, and saw tons of lambswool and cashmere scarves and blankets that I totally should have bought. Then we walked and walked and walked, down the Royal Mile. Saw one “yarn shop” that had a shelf or two of scratchy yarn. Saw a bunch of scratchy sweaters. (Is it necessary to be so scratchy? Does that somehow make it better for tolerating the rain? I realize I have high softness standards, but jeez!) saw some colinette for sale in another nicer, hipper clothing store, for a mere 9 pounds. If only I liked colinette more? or couldn’t spin similar yarn myself…
We walked onwards, to the end of the royal mile, and saw the Scottish parliament building… a totally hip modern building. thought it was apartments at first! Then, across the street, we see this… thing. a rocky hill? (was Salisbury Crag)… people are climbing/walking it. Looks neat. I’m wearing a skirt, tights, and clogs basically. *NOT* climbing attire! But I climb anyhow, along with man that is still slightly afraid of heights. Oh my. Going up was okay, aside from my feet which kept turning sideways (though really, they can’t walk properly on flat pavement) Coming down was a pain in the ass! my feet kept sliding forward so my toes kept getting knocked. Ugh… Long story short, we miss the bus, so the bus that comes won’t take us since he’s on his last circle of the city. So? No city tour. No rest for the tired. We get a nice long walk in search of food! We did find some tasty pub food though- had steak and potatoes and veggies and a nice beer. Tennents? Then we wandered about some more.
The big thing of the day seemed to be hen and stag parties. Completely bizarre. The girls would all be riding around in limos, hanging out the window screaming. some fancy limos- pink even! the guys were all dressed to match one another. You know, in case one gets drunkenly lost, he can just follow the ones that look like him? I have no idea. Better than this though, was the appalling lack of clothing on 13 year olds out on the town for the evening. Gaggles of them! All half nekkid! Having to hold their skirt down in the breeze. But jeez- I had two shirts, a sweater, a winter coat, hat and scarf, and I was cold! peculiar. Haha…. after this, I decide I’m hungry for dessert… we walk and walk some more and find an Italian place that has “cheesecake”… and I decide I’m actually hungry… so have a second dinner! spaghetti carbonara. tastyish, aside from being from a crappy Italian place. then we get the “cheesecake” and it’s covered in SPRINKLES! there are two tiny bits of strawberry on it. and no cheese. at all. some sugary custardy crap! ah well..
part deux
Sunday, we went to the village of New Stirling… what a long trip! Meant to be an hour by train, and then 10 minutes by bus, but- train tracks are being worked on, so bus takes us the rest of the way... very roundabout.. I took a nice long nap and missed out on greenness. And then decided to walk down the 1.5 mile hill since the bus would be a half hour… Fine, right? It was pretty... I'll give em that..
The only proper attraction we managed to see was this creepy ride… it’s on these hangy tracks and you sit down and it takes you through… tells you a story (?) in the eyes of a 10 year old. From 2200. a time traveler. ??? it was sooo awful! Didn’t tell you much at all about mills, history, etc. Touched upon child labor, then stated that the man in charge here had schools for kids and sold cheap food to laborers. that was the extent of the history lesson. Then it went on and on about how her friends from Africa and Japan were coming via teletransport to come walk in the forest that we kindly planted in 2005. This soooo pissed me off.. surely scottish people don’t believe that all Asians or Africans or Scots will remain in their own neat little parcels of Earth in the next 200 years? and… um? Teletransport? Hmmm.
Next up was better though- a working spinning mule. Very cool. They even sell the yarn produced in their shop. I saw what looked like thin roving on rolls being spun and then wound up onto spindles (shown in the foreground)… not sure how they get the roving into such thin wraps.
Next was the adventure of getting home. Lady in the shop that consulted the bus timetable was wrong, so we stupidly decided to walk ALL THE WAY up the very large steep hill. great workout… the bus to the train was nice- great scenery (Scotland is SO green!)… slept on the train back to Glasgow… rushed to hotel where conference was, then on to the Glasgow City Chambers,
where a welcome reception was- free wine and a couple speeches thanking us for spending our money in Glasgow… then in search of food (Indian :)… then collapsing in bed.
The only proper attraction we managed to see was this creepy ride… it’s on these hangy tracks and you sit down and it takes you through… tells you a story (?) in the eyes of a 10 year old. From 2200. a time traveler. ??? it was sooo awful! Didn’t tell you much at all about mills, history, etc. Touched upon child labor, then stated that the man in charge here had schools for kids and sold cheap food to laborers. that was the extent of the history lesson. Then it went on and on about how her friends from Africa and Japan were coming via teletransport to come walk in the forest that we kindly planted in 2005. This soooo pissed me off.. surely scottish people don’t believe that all Asians or Africans or Scots will remain in their own neat little parcels of Earth in the next 200 years? and… um? Teletransport? Hmmm.
Next up was better though- a working spinning mule. Very cool. They even sell the yarn produced in their shop. I saw what looked like thin roving on rolls being spun and then wound up onto spindles (shown in the foreground)… not sure how they get the roving into such thin wraps.
Next was the adventure of getting home. Lady in the shop that consulted the bus timetable was wrong, so we stupidly decided to walk ALL THE WAY up the very large steep hill. great workout… the bus to the train was nice- great scenery (Scotland is SO green!)… slept on the train back to Glasgow… rushed to hotel where conference was, then on to the Glasgow City Chambers,
where a welcome reception was- free wine and a couple speeches thanking us for spending our money in Glasgow… then in search of food (Indian :)… then collapsing in bed.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
flowers on a crag
will eventually get back to telling the scotland story, perhaps. I have it written, need to add in fotos.
for now, Scottish flowers (for chelsea).
and the crag / mountain thing we had to climb (in a skirt and danskos, no less!) to find it:
Also to come- a lot of spinning has been done... I'll eventually photograph them!
for now, Scottish flowers (for chelsea).
and the crag / mountain thing we had to climb (in a skirt and danskos, no less!) to find it:
Also to come- a lot of spinning has been done... I'll eventually photograph them!
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Haggis, neeps, and taters
was the most interesting thing I ate in Scotland.. the tastiest was from the world’s best Indian ever… why can’t they open up over here? but really, the food… or, really… the obtaining of food very much boggled us. Scots tend to close after lunch, then open for dinner, so if you’re hungry between 2 and 5:30, the only choice is crappy sandwiches or pizza. Bleah. Then when you come back at 6 or 7, and don’t have a reservation? Too bad unless you wanna wait a couple hours. Some places were only open 5-7 on a Sunday, or were PACKED with people with reservations. These are normal Mexican restaurants here, nothing fancy! ????
Anyhow… haggis. The coolest (and priciest) ever dinner. It was for the conference dinner… quite an outing! We had coaches drive us all to Stirling, which is an old town about an hour north of Glasgow. Has an old castle with famous stories… possibly braveheart is around there? (sorry, I’m no history buff!) We get there and all take photos (yeah, many many Asians there with fancy cameras! ;) We go into a building (chapel?) and have wine and drinks. Two tapestries on the wall- from the Hunt of the Unicorn. Am completely confused by this, as I just read an article about their cleaning and photographing saying they are on display at the Cloisters in New York. So are these replicas? I guess so - we literally could have touched them, or spilled wine on them…
Then we are led into another building (hall?) by a bagpiper. I love bagpipes! Then the bagpiper, some crazy fella dressed as Robert Burns, and a chef come in with a haggis and the Robert Burns fella does this whole poem about haggis while waving a knife. Very entertaining! Then we’re served haggis, neeps, and tatties. surprisingly not bad. I’m not into sheep or lamb so much though, so didn’t eat all the meat… Next up we had a “gamey” broth, which was certainly gamey. Then the entrée was salmon… and we so don’t eat fish. So when we sorta looked at it funny and claimed allergies, the server said she’d see what else the chef had. Risotto with butternut squash and parmesan. YUM! So better than fish! J And so nice of them… I didn’t know they had a “vegetarian” option! Dessert was a very nice crème brulee and a bunch of fancy chocolate looking things that I was too full to eat. After dinner, the bagpiper lead us out of the building to the courtyard… and a full pipe band! Yay! They played a few songs then escorted us to our buses. The only odd thing was they played amazing grace, which I totally associate with funerals. But, it was great. I don’t know what it is about bagpipes and drums, but yay!
We were sitting at a table with mostly Japanese people- all adults, but one student-sort.. we sat by the younger two guys, and discussed all sorts of things, with the older lady occasionally chiming in… the cool part was when I mentioned I just bought the latest book by Haruki Murakami, who is a pretty big novelist in Japan.. I even impressed the older lady! Yay! I also managed to remember another writer, and could somewhat remember what their books were about… sorta.. She suggested a couple other Japanese novelists, so I’ll have to check them out..
the rest, plus pictures, once I get my camera back.
Anyhow… haggis. The coolest (and priciest) ever dinner. It was for the conference dinner… quite an outing! We had coaches drive us all to Stirling, which is an old town about an hour north of Glasgow. Has an old castle with famous stories… possibly braveheart is around there? (sorry, I’m no history buff!) We get there and all take photos (yeah, many many Asians there with fancy cameras! ;) We go into a building (chapel?) and have wine and drinks. Two tapestries on the wall- from the Hunt of the Unicorn. Am completely confused by this, as I just read an article about their cleaning and photographing saying they are on display at the Cloisters in New York. So are these replicas? I guess so - we literally could have touched them, or spilled wine on them…
Then we are led into another building (hall?) by a bagpiper. I love bagpipes! Then the bagpiper, some crazy fella dressed as Robert Burns, and a chef come in with a haggis and the Robert Burns fella does this whole poem about haggis while waving a knife. Very entertaining! Then we’re served haggis, neeps, and tatties. surprisingly not bad. I’m not into sheep or lamb so much though, so didn’t eat all the meat… Next up we had a “gamey” broth, which was certainly gamey. Then the entrée was salmon… and we so don’t eat fish. So when we sorta looked at it funny and claimed allergies, the server said she’d see what else the chef had. Risotto with butternut squash and parmesan. YUM! So better than fish! J And so nice of them… I didn’t know they had a “vegetarian” option! Dessert was a very nice crème brulee and a bunch of fancy chocolate looking things that I was too full to eat. After dinner, the bagpiper lead us out of the building to the courtyard… and a full pipe band! Yay! They played a few songs then escorted us to our buses. The only odd thing was they played amazing grace, which I totally associate with funerals. But, it was great. I don’t know what it is about bagpipes and drums, but yay!
We were sitting at a table with mostly Japanese people- all adults, but one student-sort.. we sat by the younger two guys, and discussed all sorts of things, with the older lady occasionally chiming in… the cool part was when I mentioned I just bought the latest book by Haruki Murakami, who is a pretty big novelist in Japan.. I even impressed the older lady! Yay! I also managed to remember another writer, and could somewhat remember what their books were about… sorta.. She suggested a couple other Japanese novelists, so I’ll have to check them out..
the rest, plus pictures, once I get my camera back.
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
swatching
So instead of, say, packing, or determining where we'll be going outside of Glasgow, I thought it was maybe time for a new project. Last night I spent an hour searching for patterns and swatching. Really, why not knit when there are other things to do?
I'm using this Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece yarn- 80% cotton 20% merino.. not sure about it being cotton, but it will be a summer shell, so I'll deal. I *think* I'll be using this pattern, or at least starting there.
No pictures... imagine a couple of swatches of black yarn? Hopefully Icelandair allows knitting needles, as I'm flying solo and meeting my guy over there. The UK now allows needles for sure as 25 April, so we shall see.
the thing I'm most looking forward to in scotland? shopping... fabric, yarn, and HABERDASHERY. not sure what's involved, but I'm there!
------------------------
Agh! ran for very long last night- almost a half hour? we think it was 2.25 miles running, and had a few faster parts in there.. my legs are tired! woo! We're talking about a 10K training program in the summer- supposed to run 4-6 miles comfortable by then. we'll see!
I'm using this Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece yarn- 80% cotton 20% merino.. not sure about it being cotton, but it will be a summer shell, so I'll deal. I *think* I'll be using this pattern, or at least starting there.
No pictures... imagine a couple of swatches of black yarn? Hopefully Icelandair allows knitting needles, as I'm flying solo and meeting my guy over there. The UK now allows needles for sure as 25 April, so we shall see.
the thing I'm most looking forward to in scotland? shopping... fabric, yarn, and HABERDASHERY. not sure what's involved, but I'm there!
------------------------
Agh! ran for very long last night- almost a half hour? we think it was 2.25 miles running, and had a few faster parts in there.. my legs are tired! woo! We're talking about a 10K training program in the summer- supposed to run 4-6 miles comfortable by then. we'll see!
