out of control

list of spinning fiber in my apartment

keeshound - approx 1 lb?
border collie - approx 8 oz
merino - approx 7 oz?
tencel - 1 lb
unknown mill ends - 1 lb
"angelina" brand glittery stuff - approx 3 oz
recycled plastic bottles - 8 oz
crappy alpaca fleece (washed) from ebay - approx 8 oz
crappy merino fleece(washed) - approx 8 oz
mixed blue blend of stuff - approx 8 oz?
camel - 1 lb

and a pound of tussah silk on it's way

shop talk : fiber

So I was wondering what would happen if I tried to bleach fiber with the same bleach that I use in my hair. This is border collie fur, natural colored on the right, diluted bleach in the middle, full strength bleach on the left. I haven't carded any of it yet but there don't seem to be any problems on account of the bleach.

The original intent was to make the fiber take dye better and get more vibrant colors. I find with the keeshound I have to really work to get a saturated color, and I figured that since my hair takes dye better when I bleach the hell out of it, so maybe the same is true for dog fur, wool, etc.

I actually ended up really liking the bleached colors as is, a warm off-white with hints of honey and golden-brown. I think all three colors would look good blended together for a heathered look. I'm also thinking of dying a little bit of it (and some wool to blend) in reddish-brown and purplish-brown to blend in as well.

My biggest problem with planning dog fur yarn is that I don't know what the yarn would be for. I don't do any knitting with fuzzy yarn. And if I can't picture what it would be used for, it's hard to make decisions about what it should look like. Laceweight? DK? Navajo-plied self striping? Variegated with barber-poling? Subtle gradations in color or vibrant stripes?

Currently I'm thinking that I might be able to make it resemble a laceweight mohair, which I do like, so I'm going on the assumption that this should make a good shawl, which means gradations instead of stripes, and probably 2-ply to get the gauge.

please wait while your party is reached

Since the blog continues to be strategically absent, I will instead provide you with this photograph.

Things on my mind

I got a delivery notice at my apartment today from Down to Earth Florist. It's a mystery, and I can't find out until tomorrow.

There are, like, two weeks left of school. I have no idea what I'm doing this summer.

Tomorrow morning I have a committee meeting to determine if I get a degree or not.

I sold my handspun yarn for the first time. I even made a little money on the transaction. Then I bought a pound of baby camel top (only $50!). So I'm back in red again.

I have lost 30 pounds in 14 weeks.

I need to go to bed.

Trying to decide: Take Digital Imaging which will have a lot of things I already know how to do, and a couple things I need to know how to do, or take Intro to Letterpress which could be fun and exciting, but not useful.

(As I was typing that, I decided that I can learn Dreamweaver from a book, but not letterpress. Decision made.)

Swing dancing on Saturday was AMAZING.

I still need to go to bed.

week 14

Please accept my apologies.

Due to complications, this blog is no longer complete.

I'm beginning to see a pattern here...

I bought & painted new shoes today.

notes for presentation

Susan Kae Grant
William Eggleston
Uta Barth
Hiroshi Sugimoto
Gregory Crewdson

shoeboxes

I find myself reading and re-reading the old blog I found on Monday. I don't know why.

Jill told me a funny story from work - tuesday, march 02, 2004 - 18:58


Jill's funny stories from work are different from my funny stories from work because I work in retail and Jill works in a dungeon. Well, it's a dungeon-slash-playhouse.

Anyway, this guy walks in. He says that he teaches college and is having inappropriate thoughts about one of his students. He wants a fantasy session with someone who looks like this girl so he can get it out of his system in an appopriate environment. He gives them a description of the girl, and they have someone who totally matches the description. She comes out and she is the girl in his class!

hee hee!

(I think he came back when the class was over and was very happy...)

In other news, Vanessa the terrible horrible no good very bad roommate is finally gone from the house. It is very exciting here in South Berkeley. I think we may have to have a parade.

I miss small places - thursday, march 04, 2004 - 19:11

where all the people you love the most live down the hall, and the distance between your bed and your destination isn't long enough or difficult enough to need shoes for the journey.

Things I have for sale

homework

dog fur

apron

Who needs transitions?

There are days when interacting with the internet feels a bit like writing messages in bottles: just as uncontrollable, and just as unlikely to reach anyone. And there are days when it feels nothing like that at all.

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I was talking to someone about finding old nemeses online, so I googled my undergraduate nemesis. The first entry was a deleted facebook page. The second entry was my blog entry from 2004, telling people that he's a jerk. I'd completely forgotten I had a blog in 2004. Huh.

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.
I was at a photo conference in Dallas a week or two ago, sitting with my friends in the lobby, drinking vodka-crans out of the cranberry juice bottle, and someone came up to me and said, "Excuse me, you must be bluest girl from flickr, right?" And, because I'd had quite a few, I said "Oh my god, can I give you a hug?" And I did. And there goes that particular first impression.

.

I got a comment on one of my photos today, the kind of comment that makes me feel awed and unworthy, stunned and glowing. I don't quite know how to respond, but I think perhaps she may read this, and see herself in it, and know that I am, if not actually speechless--I'm certainly not out of words--but I don't quite have the right ones. Going back to school has been an amazing experience for me, and I hope it will be for you as well.

Thank you.

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pointless cross-posting

I think that everyone who reads this blog also watches either my flickr or my ravelry account, so I'm not really reaching any broader of an audience.

But free ad space is good ad space, right?



For sale on etsy (or for those who live in or near Iowa City, also available at Home Ec. Workshop).

Fun with excessive capital letters

Also I have decided that I am delegating my Eternal Self Portrait Project back to "silly thing I do for fun" category. It is no longer The Thing I do, because I am Taking A Break, I am not trying to drag myself into the studio, I am not trying to make myself care about the results. I have work. I like it. I would like to make more of it. But not now.




And critique went really well. I have better ideas of where to go with this, good suggestions to look up, and no one thought that this was Totally Just Like Sugimoto.

Tomorrow the guest critiquers in photojournalism will look at this and say "I don't really know how to approach this work," and that's okay. I don't mind.