Chez Maddy

Swine Flu? Or Seasonal Flu?

2009-11-03T06:44:00.000-08:00

I've got something. I got the seasonal flu shot on October 13, along with a kenalog shot for my allergies anad asthma. On the 22nd I went home from work early with aches and a sore throat. Over the next few days my temp went up to 101.8. On Tuesday Oct 27 I went back to work. I still felt pretty miserable, but I didn't think I had a temp. I didn't actually check it, but I didn't have the headache anymore. Just extremely tired. On Friday October 30 I survived the day at work but my throat was sore again. Sat I was officially sick again. Temp back up to 101, and the cough began. A wet, thick cough that burns in my chest. On Monday I had wheezing and tightness in my chest. The fever is low in the morning, and climbs in the afternoon and evening. So today I'm off to the clinic. I hope I'm not just wasting their time and my money. But a woman I know had similar symptoms and they put her in the hospital for a few days. Better safe than sorry?

Starburst Snood

2009-09-14T08:53:00.001-07:00

This weekend my shire hosted the Coronation of Sigfried and Elizabeth von Kulmbach, who stepped up as King and Queen of Northshield. I sat Troll for the first three hours with Ravenna, Serena and Raymond, then wandered around and visited with friends. I had spent the previous week altering my Bia de Medici gown.
It still isn’t right and I probably won’t wear it again.

But I whipped up a snood that I thought turned out quite nicely. I had originally intended it to be all metallic gold, but I didn't have enough of it, so I had to use some black lace weight silk/wool thread to finish last rounds instead. And, actually, I like it even better the way it turned out. Several people told me it was really cool, because the gold star seemed to float at the back of my head. Some people asked for the pattern, so here it is.

Starburst Snood
Materials:
Color A: Metallic gold crochet cotton size 10
Color B: Crochet cotton in the color closest to the wearer’s hair
#5 crochet hook

With Color A (Gold thread), chain 5, join with a slip stitch to form ring
Rnd 1: sl st in ring, chain 3, 19 dc in ring, join w/ sl st to 3rd beg chain
Rnd 2: ch 4, (dc, chain 1) in ea stitch around; 20 ch-sps
Rnd 3: sl st in next chain-space, ch 1, sc in same ch-sp, (ch 10, sc) in ea ch-sp around to last sp, ch 5, dtr in starting sc to make last loop
Rnd 4: (ch 10, sc) in ea loop around, to make last loop – ch 5, dtr in dtr of previous Rnd. Break off.

Change to Color B

Rnd 5-8: (ch 10, sc) in ea loop around, to make last loop – ch 5, dtr in dtr of previous Rnd.
Rnd 9: ch 5, sc in same loop, * ch 5, sc in next loop, (ch 5, sc in same loop) twice, rep from * around to last ch loop, (ch 5, sc in last loop) ch 3, dc in dtr of prev Rnd; 60 ch-loops
Rnd 10: ch 4, sc in same loop, * ch 4, sc in next loop, (ch 4, sc in same loop) twice, rep from * around to last ch loop, (ch 4, sc in last loop) ch 1, dc in dtr of prev Rnd. Fasten off.

Crock Pot Dying and More

2009-09-05T11:08:00.000-07:00

I was supposed to go up to Lake Winnipeg this weekend for Gimli. Gimli is one of my all time favorite SCA events because it is so laid back and so many friends attend too. But due to headaches expenses (new pillow, new memory foam mattress pad, new massaging shower head, visits to the eye doctor and chiropractor)and car repair (new tire)I found myself without the funds to be able to make it up there. And altho I'll miss seeing friends I am going to enjoy a quiet weekend getting caught up on my reading and fiber pursuits.

A gal (Hi, Fiberbrarian!)on the North Dakota Knitters group on www.Ravelry.com posted about crock pot dying and I've always wanted to try it. I've done some other types of dying but not the crock pot dying. It looks much less messy than other methods. So I bought a beat up crock pot at a thrift store, got out 4 ounces of mystery wool roving and my four packets of Kool Aid and set to work.

It was pretty easy. After soaking the wool in water for a while I wound one layer of roving over the bottom of the crock pot, sprinkled some lemon-lime Kool Aid over it, wound another layer, sprinkled grape Kool Aid over it, wound again and added Cherry Kool Aid, Wound one more time and sprinkled the 2nd pack of Lemon Lime. I still had more wool and I was out of Kool Aid and room in the crock pot. So I pulled the excess roving free and set it aside. I added water and vinegar and put a lid on the CrockPot and let it go for 2.5 hours on low.

I poured a bit (way too much, actually) of some Country Colors "spruce" colored dye in HOT water in my mayo jar and shook it up to mix. I added the extra ounce of wool, screwed the lid on and let it sit as long as the crock pot. After the time was up I let the roving cool a bit then rinsed it a LONG time to get the excess dye to run out. Actually, there was no excess dye in the crock pot. The Kool Aid exhausted itself nicely. The country colors dye in the mayo jar, however, was still a dark teal in the water and a light tourquoise in the roving. I'm guessing that since I didn't apply heat to the jar the dye didn't take as well. So this morning I set a screen over a simmering stock pot and laid the wool on it to steam the color in. Hopefully that will work.

I hung the roving up in the bathtub to dye and this morning I couldn't wait to get started spinning. I think I'll make socks.

What I learned from my first attempt at Crock Pot Dying:
1. Sprinkle the Kool Aid carefully over the roving so as to not have a big pile of Kool Aid in one place.
2. Put darker colors on the bottom. The lemon-lime I used on the first layer of wool was no where to be found.
3. Don't leave the nice soft roving unattended unless you want your cat to think you've made her a new bed.

An Update

2009-08-23T08:21:00.001-07:00

It has been a while since I posted so I thought I should do an update.

Spinning:
I have finished plying the three bobbins of the white mystery wool. I intend this to be for my Einstein Coat. I have 310 yards of three ply aran weight completed. That means I am a quarter of the way done with that. My knitting group the Loopy Ladies are having a dying day in October. I had hoped to have it all spun by then, but I seriously doubt it. Spinning just plain white wool is not exciting. So I'm taking a little break and will spin some of the hand dyed silk tussah. Not sure what to do with it yet. Maybe one ply silk, one ply wool for a shawl?

Knitting:
I am currently working on
*a pair of socks for a friend for 12th Nite
*a skirt for me out of Amaizing, the corn silk ribbon yarn
*the Guild Mystery Shawl Knit-A-Long
*a top down raglan sweater for me
I just completed the
*Quincy hat for a friend
*dishcloth for the 12 Dancing Dishcloths Swap

Health: I have had a headache for about 4 weeks now. I made an eye appointment and found out that my right eye has gotten much worse. So that could be it. I saw a chiropractor and was told that the muscles in my neck and upper shoulders were very tense. Could be the eye strain, could be that I clench my teeth at night, could becould be a number of things. The only significant change in my life around that time is that I started dieting seriously. The doc might have been joking when she said to add a little chocolate to my diet but I am taking that seriously. Also got a massaging shower head and will use it daily. The headache was especially bad this morning so I'm staying home from church. Feel bad about it as I am one of the counters for the church offering this month. But counting is hard when you can't see straight.

Dieting: Well, that is going so-so. I am down to 153.6 as of last Monday. I won't get on the scale again until tomorrow. I suspect I've gone up as I haven't been excersising lately aside from the sewing room re-organization.

Other: Sewing Room - I have been slowly going through every thing I own that is stored in the sewing/guest room and making piles of what I will give to friends, what will be given to the Salvation Army, what can be kept and what will be thrown away. That includes jewelry making supplies, garb, magazines and patterns, scrapbooking, quilting, embroidery, dying, spinning... It is a complete mess in there right now, but by the time Coronatin and crashers come around I'll have a nice tidy room for them with a futon.
Card Weaving Class - I didn't get to teach it, but Guilianna and Asny did and it sounds like it went great. It makes me want to warp up my loom right now and start a new project. Maybe trim for that green tunic?
Furniture Shuffle - I have been given a single size futon for the sewing room. So I want to throw the living room couch away and move the sofa sleeper to the livingroom. Then I can have a single person in the sewing room and a couple in the livingroom. And I bought a nice sewing table online. So the humongous table I have now can be put in the trash.

So there's my update. Probably more than you needed to know about me. :)

Play-Time For Beginning Card Weaving

2009-08-06T20:05:00.000-07:00

A friend and I were going to go to Minot to teach a card weaving class in late August, but life has gotten in the way and we can't make it after all. It's disappointing since I wanted to meet all those fun people out in Minot. I put a couple hours getting a handout together and I don't want to waste that time. So I'm posting it here. This is not proofed, so I'm not absolutely positive these directions make sense. I was planning on following the directions word for word as sort of a trial run before we gave the class to catch any errors, but since I'm not teaching after all... Anyway, here is my rough draft class handout for card weaving:

PLAY TIME CARD WEAVING
FOR ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS
Warning: This class is being taught by a couple of amateur card weavers who love weaving but have only limited experience in teaching it

Materials:
*16 cards (playing cards cut square and with holes punched in each of the 4 corners will work in a pinch)
*Crochet cotton in 4 different colors, approx 25 yards of each of four colors and an additional 5 yards of one color for the weft
* Flat small shuttle (a paint stirrer cut into a six inch piece with shallow notches cut in the short ends or a wide comb will work in a pinch)
*Scissors
Optional items that may be helpful: a niddy noddy or a pair of chairs or a couple friends, 2 heavy duty safety pins, a pencil, magic marker.

Note: a loom is not necessary for this playtime
2nd Note: This style of card weaving is an ancient technique called Egyptian Diagonals

Preparing the Warp:

Cut 16 threads 4 feet long of each of the 4 colors
Easiest way to do this is to use a niddy noddy. If you don’t have a niddy noddy or you want a longer warp, have volunteers stand with their hands up like a giant niddy noddy. Now take your crochet cotton and wind around the niddy noddy (or volunteers) sixteen times. Cut the crochet cotton through all wraps and tie a knot at one end. This is the “A” thread. Lay it aside and be careful to not get the strands tangled. Repeat for the other three colors. You will have a separate pile of A, B, C and D threads, each a different color. Suppose A=Red, B=Blue, C=Yellow and D=Green.

Preparing the Weft:

This is very simple. If you have a small shuttle simply wind approx 5 yards of thread around it. If you have no shuttle, you can wind a butterfly or even a loose ball of the weft thread and use a pencil to pack the weft into the shed. Set aside until it’s time to weave.

Threading in the Cards:

OK, now the fun begins. Take a card and insert one “A” thread through the “A” hole (boy, I tried to find a different way to say that, but I can’t think of one) in the card, from the front to the back. Now thread a “B” thread in the “B” hole, from front to back. Then a “C” thread in the “C” hole from front to back, and a “D” thread in the “D” hole from front to back. In this sort of pattern all the cards are threaded from the front to the back. Other patterns mix it up, which creates different patterns. For now, we’ll just do this. Repeat until all 16 cards have been threaded like this. Smooth all the thread so each strand lays smoothly, and the tension is consistent with the other threads, then tie a knot at the end with the loose threads.

Beginning to Weave:

Tie the back knot to a doorknob or the knob of a chair or use a big safety pin to secure it to the back of a padded chair or a couch or something stationary. Husbands are a possibility, but children are a no go for this. Ask us how we know that.
Tie the knot that is in front of the cards to yourself. If you have long ends you can tie them around your waist, but if short ends you can pin the knot to your pants belt loop or tie it to your belt or whatever. Lean back a little to put tension on the warp.
Now, slide your cards about 6 or 7 inches away from you, so they are within comfortable reach. Arrange the cards so that the first card has the “A” hole in the top corner closest to you. Turn the next card so the “B” hole is in the top corner closest to you. Turn the third card so the “C” hole is in the top corner closest to you. Turn the fourth card so the “D” hole is in top corner closest to you. Repeat until all the cards are in that order: A B C D A B C D A B C D A B C D. You may want to mark the top edge of your pack of cards with a magic marker so you will always know when you are back to the starting position. You are ready to go! (Unless your weft is some place you can’t reach. Bummer. Untie yourself and go get it.)

Basic Weaving

Slide the cards back and forth until you can easily see your shed. The space between the top threads and the bottom threads is the shed. Put a pencil (or pen, stick or whatever) in the shed between you and the cards. Turn the pack of cards all together at the same time, away from you, once. That means the magic marker stripe is now facing away from your body. Put your weft (shuttle if you have it) through the shed from one side to the other, leaving a six inch tail on one side, turn the cards away from you once more. The magic marker stripe is on the bottom now. Put the weft through the shed again, and use the edge of the shuttle (or a pencil, popsicle stick or whatever) to beat the weft in. I tend to do this almost too hard, because my weaving turns out really tight and stiff. You can experiment to see what works best for you. Turn the cards all together away from you again. The magic marker stripe is facing you. Pass the weft thru and beat it in. Turn the cards once again away from you, pass the weft thru and beat it in. The magic marker stripe is facing up once again. Congratulations! You are back to the home position and you should see that the warp is making slanted lines.

Play Time!

Now comes the fun part! No, really, this is the fun part, I promise! Experiment in making designs. Later you can do a project using just one design element if you like, but for now let’s just goof around and see what we can make. The sky is the limit with this. The only concern might be that if you turn more one direction than another, your tension will tighten and make it hard to turn the cards. In that case just give yourself a little more slack by moving closer to the back knot.

Making ZigZags
Turn the cards altogether at the same time away from you 8 times, and then towards you eight times. You will be able to clearly see the way the pattern changes into a zigzag pattern.
Making Diamonds
Take the eight cards on your right and put them slightly away from you and take the eight cards on your left and put them slightly closer to you. Then turn the 8 closer to you towards you and the 8 slightly further from you away from you. Do this four times. Then switch and turn the cards furthest from you towards you and the cards closest to you away four times. Then switch again. Or turn 8 times before switching.
Making Fancy Furrows
Back at Home position, Turn 2 cards one direction and the other 14 in the other. Repeat 3 more times. Now turn 4 cards in one direction and 12 in the other 4 times. Now turn 6 cards in one direction and 10 in the other direction 4 times. Then turn 8 cards in one direction and 8 cards in the other directio, then 10 cards in one direction and 6 in the other direction… You get the idea. Just play around and have fun with card weaving.

Finishing the Weaving
When you are finished or have run out of warp, unhook yourself from the thread. Untie the knot at front of the weaving. Tie the beginning weft thread to one of the warp threads. Divide the loose front threads into 8 groups and tie double knots to keep the weaving from unraveling. Trim the ends to the length desired. Do the same at the back. Perhaps braid the ends into decorative fringe, or add beads for an attractive bookmark. If you don’t want the fringed warp ends to show you can thread a needle and run your warp threads into the back of your weaving. Now you can use this strip of weaving as a hat band, or a bookmark, or just to prove you did it.

Congratulations! You are Card Weavers!

My New Weight Loss Lifestyle

2009-07-03T07:12:00.001-07:00

I joined SparkPeople a couple weeks ago with the goal of being able to track what I'm actually eating and to find a place where I can find other people to help me be accountable to. Sigh.

I have been doing the Spark People thing for over two weeks now. I have cut my calories by an average of 400 a day. I have had 3 glasses of mountain dew during that time when normally I had 3 glassses a day, and I excercised 10 of those days, where normally I would have excercised 2 days. I have worn a path from my desk at work to the bathroom from all the water I drink. I started out at 156.6 pounds. This morning I weighed 156.6 pounds. That is what I call depressing. I'm giving up a lot of things I enjoy and doing things I don't enjoy with nothing to show for it. It's enough to make a girl cry. Sure, I know some of the meds I'm on make it difficult to lose weight, and I wasn't expecting to drop 2 pounds a week, but maybe a half pound a week? Please? I'll go cry now. Then I'll go do some fabric retail therapy and then hit the gym on the way home.

Silks, Needles & More Report

2009-06-07T10:12:00.000-07:00

The event was excellent!

We had 19 classes on all types of fibery goodness, from spinning, to period knitted stockings, to goldwork to bobbin lace. What an incredibly fun and educational day!

Those who were between classes sat in the common room and worked on projects while chatting.

The A&S competition was marvellous. So many entries in such a diverse range of techniques! The over all winner was Baroness Saraidh with her wonderful hand woven velvet and a close second was Lady Isobel with the intricately embroidered collar and cuffs. Her Highess Princess Elizabeth also selected an entry to honor. I just kept going over to the A&S tables to drool over the entries. They were all so good!

A gentle of our Shire hand crafted a card weaving loom to be raffled off. All proceeds will be donated to the Kingdom Endowment Fund. I'm not sure of the exact amount raised, but I believe it was a little over $30.00. We also had a jar at Troll for anyone who wanted to donate to the Fund.

Lunch was yummy. Chicken and barley soup was perfect for a cold wet day.

All in all, I think it was a great event. We'll probably do it again in 2011.

Silks, Needles & More

2009-06-03T20:54:00.000-07:00

The event is just a couple days away! 19 classes on knitting, spinning, embroidery and weaving will be held in Fargo on Saturday. I had intended to put together a local sort of event on embroidery with maybe 5-6 classes for two or three SCA groups in the area to get together for. It's such a specialized sort of thing that I thought we'd have maybe 30 people tops. Just to be polite I did make an announcement on the Kingdom listserv. Next thing I know, I've got respected experts offering to drive 500 miles to teach at the event. Wow! It's gonna be lots of fun. The hard thing is we'll have 5 classes going at a time, so I won't get to go to all the classes I want. Go to the shire website and click on the Silks, Needles & More graphic to see the class list and schedule.

Sad News

2009-05-19T03:45:00.000-07:00

I was told that Darcy, a friend from Brandon Manitoba, passed a away early this morning. He had been ill for some time, but still managed to travel long distances to SCA events, where he maintained a cheerful attitude and flirted with all the girs. I just saw him 10 days ago at Crown. I didn't know him that well, but when I read Isobel's (his wife) post I started to cry. I was always so glad to see him at events. He always smiled. When I asked how he was doing he always said, "Oh, pretty good." If I pressed he might admit to being a bit tired. The picture is of me and Darcy up at Castel Rouge's 12th Night four months ago. I like imagine Darcy in heaven, not worrying about new treatments or being tired anymore, totally happy and relaxed.

My Kromski Minstrel

2009-05-17T16:32:00.001-07:00

I have a new frind at my house: Zoja the Minstrel. I really love the double treadle. I have to work on the tension to figure it out, but I did manage to spin some yarn with it over the weekend. See? Purple and dark pink with flecks of glitter in it. I was planning to knit a shawl with it, but there's not enough yardage so it will probably be a scarf.

I am currently spinning some nice light weight sock yarn in blue and lavender.

YAY! I love Zoja!

Blizzard Day means Knitting Day!

2008-12-14T09:25:00.000-08:00

Today North Dakota, South Dakota and western Minnesota are experiencing the first blizzard of the year. Quite a few businesses in Fargo are closed, which considering that it is prime christmas shopping time, really says something about the weather. My church was cancelled this morning, which was kind of a relief, since I didn't want to drive in this mess.The view outside my window (a limited view, admittedly, since I live in an apartment with only eastern facing windows) is very hazy due to blowing snow. The garages only 15 feet away are shadowy and after that it's just a wall of white. You can believe that I am going nowhere today. I've even turned my heat on for the first time this year. Normally my apartment is pretty warm without the heat on. But I guess those 40 mile an hour gusts of cold wind are... well, cold. So on goes the heat.

It's a perfect day to stay home and eat soup, and read or knit or watch movies. I dread going to work tomorrow, but for now I'm going to stay home, read a sappy Christmas romance by Grace Livingston Hill and knit. On www.Ravelry.com the Nodak Knitters group has been planning a Blizzard Knit/Crochet Along for a month now. Each participant chose their yarn and pattern a week or more ago and put them away from when the first blizzard hit. The pattern was encouraged to be a hat, mittens, scarf or other cold weather gear item. I was going to do a hat for myself, but the blizzard came before Christmas so I cast on the hat I need to make for my nephew for Christmas. I was going to do a cloche style hat like the one Angelina Jolie wears in the movie Changeling. I've already made one for my friend Astrid.

Here's a pic of the 1920's cloche hat that I knitted and felted for her. I like the slit in the back. I think I'll have to make another one for myself after the blizzard.

Portable Knitting Tote Pattern

2008-11-27T10:10:00.000-08:00

I've had a lot of people compliment me on my felted tote bag that I take with me to my knitting night. It carries everything I need for an evening of knitting with the gals at the coffee shop. I have my wallet in the bottom of the bag, my knitting pattern and doo-dads in the pocket, and my knitting project in the bag. This is an extremely easy project. It has a round flat bottom so it sits upright on the floor by your chair as you knit. Gauge is not important and if your stitches are a bit wonky that disappears with felting. This is a great way to use up those left over odds and ends of feltable wool yarn. You could make stripes, or simple blocks of color. Make it as tall or short as you like.

Finished Measurements:

11" deep by 9.5" in diameter. Since felted projects are imprecise when it comes to shrinkage, these measurements may not be exactly replicated. But a bag doesn't need to fit, so just have fun.

Materials:

*Approximately 3 skeins of Brown Sheep Bulky, or about 350-400 yards of bulky weight wool yarn.

*29" circular needle size 11

*double point needles size 11

*5 stitch markers, one different to mark the begining of the round.

*yarn needle

Directions:

Cast on 30 stitches , place marker, cast on 60 stitches, place marker, cast on 30 stitches, place unique marker to mark beginning of round. The other two markers mark the handles for later. There is a total of 120 stitches. Join to knit in the round.

Bag Handles

*Round 1: Knit every stitch, slipping the markers.

*Round 2: Purl every stitch.

*Round 3: Knit every stitch.

*Round 4: Purl every stitch.

*Round 5: Knit to first marker, slip marker, bind off 20 sitches, knit to the next marker, slip marker, bind off 20 stitches, knit to end.

*Round 6: Knit to first marker, drop marker, cast on 10 stitches, knit to next marker, drop marker, cast on 10 stitches, knit to end. There are 100 stitches left, and only one marker for the beginning of the round.

*Round 7: Purl every stitch.

Bag Body

*Round 8-58: Knit every stitch in whichever color pattern you might like. You can knit fewer or more rounds as you please.

*Round 59-60: Purl every stitch

Bag Bottom

*Round 61: Knit 20, place marker, repeat. You will have 5 markers.

*Round 62: Knit 18, knit 2 together, repeat. Decreased 5 stitches.

*Round 63: Knit around.

*Repeat rounds 62 & 63 until you must switch to double points. When you have a total of 30 stitches left, decrease every round. When you have 5 stitches left, cut yarn and run through the remaining stitches. Pull tight and fasten off.

Pocket - work back and forth

*Cast on 20 stitches.

*Rows 1-3 Knit every stitch.

*Row 4: Knit 2, purl 16, knit 2.

*Row 5: Knit every stitch.
*Rows 6-20: Repeat Row 4 & 5.

*Rows 21-24: Knit every stitch

*Cast off.

Sew the pocket to the bag with left over yarn.

Felt the bag thoroughly. Before you start it might look huge and floppy,

but it will shrink. I ran mine through the hot cycle in the washer twice. The thicker your felted fabric is the stiffer the bag will be and will be able to stand up by itself. Dry it thoroughly. I put mine upside down over a plastic lamp shade. A plastic dinner plate could be put into the bottom, making the bottom of the bag stetch a bit and then the bag could be hung upside down to dry.

Thankful

2008-11-25T15:40:00.000-08:00

I am thankful for tea. A cup of tea doesn't actually cure all ills, but it helps calm the shattered nerves of a woman who has nursed her beaten car home from an accident. I'm thankful for friends give hand made mugs and elephant teapots to drink the tea from. I'm thankful for the concerned words from friends who care. I am thankful for a God who hears prayers. I am thankful for friends who are able to come over to look at the beaten car and pronounce it salvagable, even if only temporarily, and promise to look at it again on Sunday and get it drive-able again. I am thankful for a church where people care about one another. I am thankful for a quiet apartment where a woman can cry in private without an audience judging her. I am thankful for cats who look curious and sympathetic when they jump into a lap and purr.

I suppose the traditional thing at Thanksgiving is to be thankful for things that are a little more vague. But these are some of the things I am more immediately thankful for.

Look! Stripes!!!

2008-11-07T20:09:00.000-08:00

Yes, the yarn that I dyed on Saturday actually creates stripes. I'm so proud!

Look!! Stripes!!

2008-11-07T20:02:00.000-08:00

Well, it couldn't be helped. I couldn't stay away from the yarn I dyed last Saturday. I just *had* to know if the stripes would work. And they did! See?

Today was the last day to mail swap packages for early shipping points. I will not ship mine until probably Monday, depending on when a particular item flies to my door. But just about everything else is ready. There's yarn to pet, and chocolate to drool over and a few other fun things in the bag.

Yarn Dying Day

2008-11-03T15:07:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a long time since I posted, and I don't really have any excuse. But I'm posting now.

This weekend the Loopy Ladies got together to hand dye yarn. Sock yarn, mostly, but I put half a pound of merino roving in a pot. All in all. it went well. The burgundy dye wasn't burgundy; it was grape. The sapphhire blue and the sky blue were almost identicle. We tried to make eggplant by adding a bit of black to purple, but it turned out almost the same as the persimmon. Live and learn, eh? Still, a very productive weekend.

Quidditch!

2008-09-25T15:23:00.000-07:00

Here's the quiz for this round.

1. At the beginning of the book, Cornelius Fudge is talking to the Muggle Prime Minister. Which member of the Order of the Phoenix has recently been found dead?c. Emmeline Vance

2. What animal does Bellatrix Lestrange kill when she and her sister, Narcissa, are going to see Professor Snape?b. Fox

3. What time does Professor Dumbledore collect Harry from Privet Drive?b. 11 p.m.

4. What did Professor Slughorn transform into when he was trying to hide from Harry and Professor Dumbledore?a. An armchair

5. What grade did Harry get for Herbology?a. E – Exceeds Expectation

6. Herbert Chorley, the Prime Minister’s Junior Minster, has been entertaining the public by impersonating which animal?b. A duck

7. What is Professor Sprout’s first name?d. Pomona

8. What is Dumbledore’s idea of ‘a few words’?d. nitwit, oddment, blubber and tweak

9. Who is Marcus Belby’s famous uncle?b. Damocles

10. What is Snape’s mother’s name?b. Eileen Prince

On The Mend

2008-09-24T16:26:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling better. I have made it through 2 full days at work. Got pulled into a room with the other two Process Analysts to be told my job had been eliminated. Nearly died of a heart attack before my boss went on to explain that we had all been promoted to a new position. I didn't quite catch the title. Operations Manager? I don't think it's that. She also didn't mention what the exact pay increase would be, just that it was "significant". It will bump us up into the next bracket for the Christmas bonus. Oh, and that our workload would be increasing. Figures. I can't handle the work I have right now.

Some other things happened at work that we are not allowed to discuss yet. Suffice it to say that it drove me and a co worker to Paradiso for a glass of wine. Ya gotta love CMS.

The Usual Crap

2008-09-21T20:36:00.000-07:00

I have been sick since Wednesday. Sore throat turned into a nasty cough (yes, instant replay of the week after Labor Day) and headache and really bad raspy breathing. My inhaler doesn't work and neither does the Singulair. I sound like I'm gargling gravel in my chest when I breathe. On Thursday afternoon my boss told me to Go Home. I called my doctor's office, but she had no openings until the following week. Sad, isn't it, when your primary care physician can't see you? Why are they called "primary care" when you end up only seeing them for your annual physical? Anyway, I went to the walk in clinic and they said, of course, sino-bronchitis and borderline pneumonia. I got a Z-pack and the cough syrup and took them religiously. Went to work the next morning and made it for an hour. My stomach was violently unhappy. After breaking into a sweat, swallowing a sudden flood of hot saliva and heaving fruitlessly into my wastebasket I gave up and went home. I hadn't been eating much of anything for a couple days and I think the codeine-ated cough syrup made me sick. I quit taking it. I'd rather cough than barf. But it would be nice to lay down and not cough, I admit. The nausea persisted for about 20 hours. Yuck. Give me pain any day. On Saturday night my temp was 103.4. I called the clinic hotline and asked if that was really bad. I was told to monitor my temp carefully and if it went up anymore to come in right away. And to drink lots of water and rest. Yada-yada. I didn't even go to church this morning. I'm a Sunday School teacher. One of these Sundays I'm going to have to go to church and teach, huh? I didn't go to my Sunday afternoon knitting group, either. I'm not going to work tomorrow. Where I work we get our birthday off with pay. Good. I won't have to take any vacation time tomorrow. Happy birthday to me.

I think I may be on the mend now. I made supper and ate a healthy portion. It's the first day I've eaten much of anything since Wednesday. I dropped almost 6 pounds in the last 5 days. I've been awake for several hours at a stretch too. My temp is hovering around 100.8. I cast on a hat for one of the evil aunties. I changed my sheets. See? On the mend.

And the kitties have been very solicitous. They sleep right alongside me and keep the bed warm when I get up to take another hit off my inhaler or get a drink of water. Ain't they sweet?

Coronation!

2008-09-16T19:16:00.000-07:00

Coronation was a great event for me. I got to see friends I don't see often like Petey and Daye, and I got to meet some new fun people like Carol (Sigred?)and Sionach (spelling on that last name is off, I'm sure). Before morning court actually got started I showed Sionach how to spin. She had some lovely wool and a nice top whorl spindle. She picked up spinning very quickly. It wasn't until the peers went to swear fealty to the new royals that I realized she was a laurel. She was very easy to talk to. I hope I get to see more of her. During morning court I saw that Carol had brought out her knitting, so I got my Ugly Sock project out to work on.

Speaking of socks! I brought the socks I had knitted for Lusche and gave them to her. She was gracious about it. She made me feel really appreciated. It's nice when someone is like that when you give them something you spent hours on. All of my SCA friends ahd been very nice about the socks I've made for them.

I got to talk to almost everybody I had wanted to. It's funny, but I see my local friends more often at events than I do at home. I went out to lunch with Una, Toramassa, Giulia and Meredith. Meredith's new baby is a doll.

For supper Christiana and I went out to Perkins. It was really great to spend some time with her. She's one of those humble people who does more than her fair share of the work, but only says that she enjoys it.

After we finished we went back to site and sat with Darcy and Isabel while they were finishing up the last remove of feast. Christiana hadn't met them before. I'm so glad they were able to come. It was a really small turn out for Kingsom event, but with the cost of gas, I suppose that's normal. Darcy is looking really good. He's considering a Norman/Saxon persona

All in all, it was a wonderful event, and thank goodness I was feeling well enough to participate and visit with friends. My next event will be Crown in Midewinde, thanks to Hrodir helping me financially.

Long Time, No Write

2008-09-05T08:24:00.000-07:00

Yep, summer is finally coming to a close. Yay! I'm probably in a very small minority, but I don't like summer. I want cool weather, the kind when you want to curl under an afghan while you read or watch TV.

What's going on with me right now?

1. I had a root canal on Tuesday. Feels much better now.

2. Caught a cold on Monday and although I forced myself to go to work Wed and Thursday I let myself go home early today.

3. A bag that I knitted for my Hogwarts Sock Kit Swap was selected to appear on Knitting Daily TV. Unfortunatey I had to decline because I gave the bag away and don't have it to send. The bag was meant to be a "Hufflepuff" sock knitting bag. See?

4. In order to comfort myself after the root canal I went to the yarn shop and spent too much money.

5. Since I wasn't able to attend Gimli (thank you very much, rotten tooth) I will be able to go to Coronation. Can't decide if I should wear my Japanese or if I should wear the Byzantine. The new king has a japanese persona. I should wear japanese. If I wear Japanese it would not be correct to wear the baronial coronet. But this is coronation. The coronet is part of the pageantry of the day. Besides *thrust lower lip out* I want to wear the coronet!

Off to drink Nyquil and nap.

Hogwarts Sock Kit Swap Package Arrived!

2008-07-11T15:54:00.000-07:00

That's right, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have in my possession, all the way from historic Utrecht in the Netherlands, a very large box full of wonderful goodies! The chocolate, royal mints and stroopwafels are to die for. The yarn is heavenly, the patterns appear challenging and the bag is delightful! And best of all for a SCAdian like me are the small illuminations of medieval saints from the Cathedral of St. Maarten.

This is going to be a lovely evening. I have a good book to read, imported chocolate from Europe and a running air conditioner.

Stressed

2008-07-02T18:45:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow at work was supposed to be a nice quiet day of getting leisurely caught up on the things i've been putting off. Today started out a little rushed. I punched in at 7am (my usual time) and read and answered emails until 8, when I had a computer class. That ended at 10:30 so i went back to my desk and answered the next round of emails and answered questions for the staff. Meeting for the PAR goal at 11. Healthy weight pep talk at noon. Supposedly I could get some work done from 12:30 to 2, when my next meeting for the Quarterly Release was. But no, that was at 1. So I rushed in there a little late. It was a pretty quick meeting though and I was out by 1:30. Back to emails and answering questions. So far, a pretty regular day. Then, at 2:00 my day went south.

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) had made a request for a 200 page spreadsheet to be compiled and turned into their office by July 1. My boss had completely forgotten it. So at 2:00 one of the gals who would normally compile that data gave me a crash course in how to do it. It took her about three weeks to learn how to do that. I got 15 minutes and a couple pages of hastily scribbled instructions. From 2:00 to 4:30 I got most of ONE page doen. Oh, good. Only 199 left.

We have 28 people working in our department. Guess how many will be in tomorrow. Give up? Me too. 4. We will have four people in my department tomorrow. There's no way on God's green earth that i can have that spreadsheet put together. That's bad enough. Even worse is the fact that on my way out the door my boss stopped me to tell me that that *&%^&($ lawyer wants another fax sent. Last time I sent him a fax (after spending two hours doing something I have not be trained for) I made an admittedly stupid error and he had me reported to the Vice President and the company policy says that if such an error is reported it must be followed up. That was the day I bawled like a baby in my boss' office for an hour and offered to put in my notice. Now I get to go through all that again? I'm not sure I can.

I hope I survive tomorrow without having a hysterical weeping fit.

I am depressed and not dealing with it well. I have a sick feeling in my stomach and can't decide if i wish tomorrow would never come or if I'd rather just get it over with.

Busy, busy

2008-06-29T16:05:00.000-07:00

I've been keeping myself pretty darned busy the last couple of weeks. I've been spinning and dying yarn, writing my romance story and sewing a camping tunic for Bayard the Turner. He and his daughter have been great additions to our shire. In turn he's making me some drop spindles. Did I mention that he's a wood turner? A camping tunic should be made of a nice natural fiber so it breathes better in the heat. This is a 55% linen, 45%cotton. It's an ugly but very period color. I'm calling it baby pooh green. I couldn't find any store bought ribbon or trim in my stash so instead I did a bit of simple embroidery with wool yarn around the neck and wrists. That was a littel more work than I had planned to do for a simple camping tunic. but what the heck. This will work great for camping events and some demos.

As I said I've also been doing some spinning and dying. Here are a couple of the skeins of yarn I made. The top one I'm keeping for me, but green one I'm sending off to my Slytherin Hogwarts Sock Kit Swap partner. Strangely, I have not been doing any knitting lately. On Tuesday July 1 the local baseball league game is going to be themed Stitch aand Pitch. I have tickets, one for me and one for a friend. I don't know how much knitting I'll actually get done, but I'm saving the foot of Lusche's sock for Tuesday night. Good old plain stockingette is what you want to take to the ball game, right? Something small like a sock is perfect. And now that i'm down to the foot there's no counting, no purling, just plain knitting.

Calling 911

2008-06-20T22:37:00.000-07:00

At about 11:20 tonight I heard the neighbors fighting. There were several loud crashes, like someone being shoved into a wall or something breaking against the wall. Or slamming doors. My whole was apartment jarred by it. It sounded like a man and a woman fighting. I couldn't distinguish words. At the end of this episode I heard a woman's voice shout loudly "Help!" I debated a few seconds and decided to call 911. I wasn't about to go down the hall toward what might be a violent fight in my nightgown. But I didn't want to cause extra work for the police if this was nothing. The police arrived in about 5 minutes and they went to the apartment I had indicated and found only 2 men there. Hm. They knocked on my door to get clarification and to tell me they had found nothing next door. They said they would check out the apartments below me and above me and I haven't heard from them since. Either they found nothing or they found something and took care of it.

I know I didn't imagine or misunderstand the word "Help!" There has been no further disturbance. I hope those people the police questioned don't hold a grudge against me. Everytime I hear a loud noise I get a scared feeling in my stomach. I was going to say it brings me back to my childhood except that as much as mom and dad fought they never got physically violent. So what's my problem? What is the chance that whoever it is would want to get revenge on me?

Anytime a woman asks for help she should get it . Actually, anytime anyone of either gender calls for help they should get it. Did I do the right thing? Or did I stick my nose into something that is none of my business?