• About

  • 

• Finished Objects

  • 

• Patterns

  • 

• Reading List

  • 

• Archives

  Select Month February 2012 January 2012 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006

• Categories

  Select Category April Blankets for Birmingham Dyeing Eye Candy Friday February Finished Objects gratitude Hiking January life is unfair March May memes Music NaKniSweMoDo Not-A-SAFF-Sweater Challenge of the utmost importance On the Cheap Patterns project spectrum quilting quilts Recipes self indulgence she’s cast on again! socks spinning Stash Growth sweaters The Money Pit Things that inspire me Uncategorized Up-n-croaked voyeurism
• Search for:

• Recent Posts

  • signs of spring
  • busybusy
  • everything in sight
  • new year
  • Asheville

• Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.org

Bloggers are the nicest people!

Posted on | April 17, 2007 | 7 Comments

Thank you guys, for all the kind words and encouragement!  I know a lot of snarkiness has been going around Blogland and I have to say I’m really happy not to have experienced it.  Everyone who comments here has always been super-nice and I really, really appreciate that.  I mean, I can’t believe anyone reads this blog anyway, it blows my mind! But also makes me really happy and I’ve made I *feel* like I’ve made friends with people all over the country and with people right up the interstate!  Pretty amazing.

Day Two of Boot Camp was much better than Day One.  I went to bed at 8:30, as SB said he’d tuck the boy in so I could go to sleep, a kindness I very much appreciated!  4:15 still came early and this morning’s workout was still hard (squats, lunges, treadmill, abs) but I think I’m already feeling the benefits of eating healthily – I had much more energy today.  I was ravenous most of the morning yesterday but everything I ate was full of nutrition, protein/carb balanced and low in fat.  I stopped eating supper about halfway through because I felt full and knew I could have it later if I got hungry again.  I could make this a lifestyle without much effort at all.  How many days do they say it takes to make a habit? 

The thing is – most of us deal with the same problems, the same issues with our weight and/or health.  We know where the other person is coming from.  Crazy Aunt Purl talks about wanting to watch TiVo and eat Cheetos off her chest and I totally get that.  I’ve let my inner laze have her say for the past couple of years and it shows.  Honestly, I enjoyed the indulgence.  It was a false indulgence, to be sure, but eating pizza and ice cream FELT like I was living the life, even when I was really hurting myself and my body.  But…bodies are great!  They bounce back!  Yeah, it hurts, I can hardly MOVE today and I know it’ll get worse before it gets better.  The key is remembering that it WILL get better.

Enough of that!  I told Margene last week (is it really necessary for me to link to Margene?  everyone knows who Margene is, don’t they?  *grin*) that I was going to try dyeing more fiber with the same dyes I used on the Wensleydale, but using plastic wrap and steam to set the dye.  As a reminder, here’s the Wensleydale in the crockpot:

And here’s how it spun up:

Wensleydale in the back, tussah silk in the foreground.  As you can see, the color variations became muted and I think it’s because I added water to the crockpot before the dyes really had a chance to soak into the wool.  Sunday I pre-soaked some Corriedale in water and sodium acetate, squeezed most of the water out of it, put it on plastic wrap and applied the same colors of dye.  I let the dye sit for 30 minutes, then steamed it for 45 minutes. 

Other than the peach separating a bit, the colors maintained their (strength? clarity? not sure what to call it. can an artist help me out here?).  This roving is destined to be a pair of girly socks!  I tried another clear-out-the-squirt-bottles experiment too:

There’s absolutely no telling how this one will spin up! 

Jen asked to see the tussah silk “thread” so I took a close-up:

This picture does not do justice to the beauty of this roving.  The colors are all over the place – a little spot of purple, a decent amount of green, lots of pink and peach.  I am having the hardest time trying to decide what to ply it with.  It’s a perfect match for the Wensleydale above but maybe the colors would be better offset against white.  What do you guys think?  Help a girl out! 

Thanks again for the kind thoughts, words and rallying cries.  If I think about it too much, I’ll get all verklempt.  And then I can’t eat my oatmeal.

Comments

Simple2Column Layout is a Wordpress Theme crafted by Tad Hunt | Email: "tad (AT) thaddeushunt (DOT) com".