this necklace from alishalouise.com?



so. i have been getting a bit more done. i am trying push myself at least for a bit each day. i had a hard time getting up today, i spent the day yesterday packing orders and then opened an birthday present from barbe that was....way too much awesome stuff. really really good. here is some of it...
i got a book i wanted from shanshan, sweet girly. and then pavel claimed the box...and then this amazing swap from france...i have a few other swaps that are WAAAAY overdue and i haven't packed up yet. i suck at that.

she has the most amazing novelty yarns and the yarn she sent me i am grappling with what to do with. she is maybe the most talented artyarn spinner ever. not that i have seen everyone's stuff in person, really, but her stuff is just amazing in person. it qualifies as art. gorgeous.

i dyed a custom order of sock yarn, one skein that is for the yarn harlot, i am told and then some loose fiber in the rest of the dye liquor from the pot. purdy.

more thorough post to-morrow. i promise.
ever
xo
n.

i overdid it today. way overdid. i had dyeing to do for some custom things, got kind of lost doing what i was doing and had to run out to the farmer's market to pick something up and had to go without cleaning up, so i looked gross and was covered in dye. it is kind of funny to see people acting like they don't notice, though. the people that knew me found it hilarious, however. i am attempting to type while pavel is putting his weight on me in order to groom himself and i keep trying to scoot him off of my arm and he just readjusts. i am his headboard, i guess. so here is some of what i did, which is outside drying still, so don't come over tonite and steal it. i will be pissed...

look at this and
i got in an awesome treasury! everything is so gorgeous, i am so flattered to be included. sniff.

here is the almost finished tutorial for making a paper tape (like you use on packages, you have to wet it) mannequin or dressform. you have to put a tshirt underneath it because after the tape is dry, you will cut the form up the back and pop it off and then put it back together. all that you need is the tshirt, some tape to strap down the shirt well (i used clear packing tape) some water, a rag and a big roll of packaging tape. i want to build up the layers more and then once i cut it off, i will add a bit of upper arm and maybe a head. not sure yet. it is fun though. it takes quite a while to do. here are the pics...


i have a whopper of a headache, so off i go. i have been listing new warm fuzzies and yarns on luxe.etsy daily, so make sure to pop by.

mwah
n.

so, i live in headache city. i felt crummy last night, but i got up this morning and before i even had coffee or breakfast, i took a quick shower, got ready and did some dyeing. a good bit of dyeing, actually. wanna see?

i have been hanging on to this gorgeous uncarded merino from frenecreek. i love that they are a rescue farm (sometimes she buys sheep right off of the meat truck!) and that those animals have a really nice life. well, other than being in wisconsin in the winter. that sucks even if you do have a huge thick coat. although they do have a shelter for em in the cold. anyway, they wore coats, so this fiber is perfectly white and clean, but still spongy and soft and gorgeous. i plan to dye some more to-morrow if i feel okay because i didn't get the range of colors that i had hoped for. i need to make notes for myself so that i actually remember. i didn't think i had dyed as much as i had, so i have a ton of yellow and green. i saw some gorgeous robin's egg blue and yellow art, so that inspired me. i would love to attempt to get a buttery yellow, tho. i will see. i need to do some soft pinks and turqoise, etc. happy springy colors. yay! there are loads more photos on my flickr, so pop by if you fancy. i plan to use most of this fiber for batts, but i will probably make a few bits and pieces bags which sell out as soon as i list em. why don't i do more of em? dunno. i will. plus i want to do some bags according to color. i would have killed to have that when i first started, before i started hoarding. i seriously and working through the loose fiber i have, so i feel good about that. i probably only have a few more pounds of loose fiber. i also overdyed some light brown and cream fiber that looks really pretty. that will get carded up, too.

i am very excited that my friend jenn is going to come up and see me and help me out with some slipcovers (yayayayayay!) finally! i have a feeling that if i can't pay her, i will let her mess with some fiber and the carder, if she likes. i got it running pretty well. much faster than i thought initially. i want to get a brush attachment for it, i think that will really help bulk up the batts. i need to get a hold of the pat green peeps and see what is what. i need to remember to do that during business hours to-morrow rather than at midnight, like now. sigh. i hate that. also, i hear that they have had so many different models in the past that they have to kind of see what you have to tell you what part you need, or to give you instructions. there is no model number, no date, no nothing. it is fun to have your hands free to feed in the fiber, rather than just the one hand and also, when i do lots of batts on my louet, i wear myself out. i will definitely still use it, but i can chill out and do batts on the PG.

okay, off to chill out, although i really feel like doing some batts. if i do, i will get wound up and not sleep. i mean more than usual. i need to weigh and take photos of the batts so i can list em. i really hope to get that done to-morrow. but i wanna dye. and i won't have the energy to do both, g-d knows.

xo
n.

so, firstly, thanks for the kind emails and phone calls. i have been really out of it. yesterday, i did some dyeing and apparently overdid it, i get so excited when i feel good enough to actually do stuff that i overdo. i talked on the phone, sat outside in the sunshine, did the dyeing, hung it up, sat outside and talked, dyed some more, hung it up, made dinner (jake didn't know what to do with himself) i even packed up the leftovers for 2 days lunches for him. last night, not so good. i had a fever, but my body was cold, i had a bad headache, i think i vomited a couple of times, and to make it even more special, my nose was so stuffed up that i couldn't breathe. it was a miserable night. the night before, i hadn't slept at all, literally, and then got up and did all the stuff, so i guess it was payback. i didn't get out of bed today. i kept trying to get up, but i would fall back asleep. at 5 pm when jake called, i was still in bed. insane, eh?

so let me just send a little note to a long time "friend"...hey lupus...you suck my ass. big time. i always say that we coexist and i accept it and it is okay. it isn't. you seriously, seriously suck. and to make it even better, i can't even use you as an excuse for having to leave things early, not go out at all, etc, etc, because it makes me feel like i am making excuses. and your buddies chronic fatigue, epstein bahr, fibromyalgia, migraine, arthritis, and the awesome bouts of anxiety and depression that hang out with you, they all suck ass too. bunch of freeloading arseholes. if you wanna hang around with me, you need to start paying some sort of rent. bring a bag of chips, chip in for all the medications...something.

i had a custom order for chocolate brown yarn, and for any of you non-dyeing gals and gents out there, brown is a very tricky color. i initially dyed the fiber, and it came out so not right that i decided to spin the yarn, ply it and then dye the finished yarn. it took two shots at that, and it still has some light spots, but it looks okay. unlike oil paints, the fiber dyes just don't follow color theory. they are made up of so many different things that even on their own they pull out odd colors depending on the fiber. i have also heard that different pans can make colors change as well. i got some really pretty fiber. here are a few photos. i will be listing that and the other ton of fiber that i still haven't gotten around to listing. and i finally am getting my my electric carder from angela. yay!


i also took a photo of this "peaks" i have been crocheting. i have some really really big ones. this one was crocheted with noro yarn meant for machine knitting. it is almost as thin as thread. so i used a teeny hook and it took me forever to make. i don't know what they mean, but i feel compelled to draw and paint and make them. here is one, not stuffed yet, finger included for size...and dye stained nail. ew.


xo
n.

somehow i have been in a world of my own and didn't realize that maryland sheep and wool festival is this coming weekend. i don't think we will be going. i mean, i know that jake will go with me if i ask, i just haven't made any plans, whatsoever, and haven't been listing new stuff because i swear i have been sick for the last month, so i am broke, too. hm. who out there is going?

in other news, despite waking up feeling beaten (again), i got some dyeing done, talked on the phone a bit and then totally crashed out for hours. you know that kind of sleep that you are completely baffled when you wake up and look at the clock? the craziest part about it is that i have still be exhausted at night and falling asleep at 1 or 2a, despite sleeping until 7 or 8 sometimes. i have to get all of my lupus, fibro, cfs, etc, etc, etc, bloodwork done to make sure that there isn't something up. i keep putting it off, like everything will be okay if i don't get the tests done, ya know? my allergies have been crazy, too. for example, i have tears streaming out of my eyes right now and i am not sad. plus the constant snot dripples. sexxxxxy!

and a few links for ya...
how cool are these organ shaped water bottles? pretty damn cool, indeed.
and you can engrave your laptop, or moleskine, or whatevah at engrave your tech.com kewl!!!

more to-morrow.
n.

one in a series of mixed media pieces that i feel need to be mounted and/or framed to seem done. so i have just left them in my studio. i really love them, though. what do you guys think? tell me, i can handle it.

so obviously, you all know that i have had migraines since i was wee. i never realized that the things i see are things that lots of other people see, too. also, people with epilepsy see similar things before a seizure. my neuro has told me before that migraines have a similar scrambling effect on the brain as seizures do. i know that i have problems finding words after a migraine, remembering phone numbers, it is a strange thing. have alzheimer's must be like that in some ways, but it doesn't go away. it must be so frustrating. before migraines, many people have "auras" which means that you see wierd shapes and light or dark spots, or can be blind spots, which i have badly. also, you can smell everything really intensely, often bad smells that may or may not be there. i tend to think that i smell bad and can't figure out where the smell is coming from. also, any kind of food smell will make me nauseous. minor sounds are incredibly annoying and make your ears actually hurt, like someone clapped you on the ear. i have a lot of these strange sensitivities all the time, actually, certain sounds make me want to hurl...people chewing, the sound of things pouring...especially in a commercial, it drives my insane. oh, here is another really strange one...you know when someone folds a piece of paper and then runs their forefinger and thumb over it to make the crease, and sometimes they do it over and over? that is like nails on a chalkboard to me. and when i worked as a tattoo artist and piercer, i would give instruction sheets for care and while i was explaining it, the customer would fold it and fold it and fold it and i would get so edgy that i could barely talk. not that they listen, anyway.

i can't use sandpaper. it has a similar effect as the above mentioned. also, i can't stand people putting a popsicle stick in their mouth. huuuurrrl! i don't know why. i know it makes no sense. it just drives me crazy. here is this amazing article from the new york times on visual migraines. really interesting.

i have had a mild on again off again migraine brewing for the last couple of days and i stayed home and made jakie go out with our friend because i was afraid i would go out and get sick. he really tries to refuse to go anywhere without me, but i don't want him to have a boring life just because i do. i hate to try to look normal when i don't feel good and i had already gone through a few of the migraine symptoms already. and it is starting back up again. so i best get off of the computer and quit bitching about being sick. waa waa.

i did get a zillion yards of an alpaca/silk yarn that i overdyed (it was like tan and cream carder together...boooooring) and it was so nice to spin. it was so much like silk, i wouldn't have even known what it was if i had to guess. really lovely. it is in purply blues mainly. a bit boring, but ya know. and i rebraided the rovings i dyed the other day and that made them look much better right out of the gate. i need to take new photos because the ones i took sucked. ah well.

xo
n.

1. i love giving gifts. i get so excited for someone to get it (and love it) that i tend to harass. especially if i think it is a super duper good one. and i can't keep a secret. as soon as i get it, i have to give it.

2. if i see someone cry...even on tv, a movie...a commercial...i cry too. i don't even feel sad, it just does me in. sniff. also, i can make myself cry.

3. when i was a kid, i wanted to be a veterinarian. after realizing that i suck at math and all of the sciences except for biology, i thought again. i have a big soft spot for animals. more so than for people. is that bad?

4. i have had pin worms several times as a kid from kissing the dog. i didn't have a lot of friends cause we moved a lot and honestly, the dogs still would have been better friends. they really listen, you know?

5. i get really bad migraines from msg, blue cheese (even if it was on a salad that i requested to be without it and was removed in the kitchen), most kinds of alcohol, car sickness, being over tired or upset and other things i am not sure of. i have gotten them since i was in early grade school. if we had a party at school, i would gorge myself on doritos and cheezy things not knowing that they were poison to me. by the time i got home, i would be violently ill. i also would take the "accent seasoning" from the kitchen and lick my hand and sprinkle it on and then lick it off. accent is pure msg. yay! fyi, virtually every non-health store seasoning packet or soup mix has msg in it. so don't try to feed it to me. k thanx. i still have them, but the medications are way better. i get panicky when they don't kick in right away because i hate nothing more than going to the ER. as my neurologist likes to say "they give you the wrong thing and (gestures cutting throat with index finger)..." which is really true. they never listen.

6. my mom is a musical prodigy, as are her brothers. in south africa, she was a well known opera singer, cellist and pianist. she gave it up to get married and have kids, even though my dad said he would wait for her to go to grad school. the things we do for love.

7. i went to a state college for my first miserable year of college where i was tormented in every way possible for not being like everyone else. seriously. people stole my shoes, everyone whispered my name when i walked into lunch (i swear it. my few friends at school will back me up.) i took an art class at another college and ended up finishing out my education there. it was a women's college and i loved it. no one wanted my shoes there.

8. for anyone that possibly doesn't know, i have lupus, chronic fatigue syndrome and fybromyalgia. i won't list everything else because then i will seem like a hypochondriac. mainly i just get tired out easily.

i got some dyeing done today. i did lots of locks, a bit of soy latte and some other rovings. i used the mixed bottles of dye i always use, except that clearly it was not as potent as it was, so i had to mix new dye for most of the locks. i think i will probably stop mixing bigger batches and mix as i need it. i make a mess anyway. and guess what cleans up dye stains even better than bleach? you guessed it! the magic sponge! i love those things! they rawk! i will probably take photos of my fibers and post em this weekend. i would like to do some more stuff with fresh dyes, too.

have you heard that the bodies exhibit is under scrutiny again about who the bodies are? it is in pittsburgh right now, it is on 20/20 tonight and here is an article in the post gazette. i guess you can buy something like those online. le sigh. it appears that the story that was initially going around is possibly untrue. or likely untrue. they get them into america as a "plastic model for medical teaching" rather than human remains.

off to watch 20/20.
xo
n.

well, i got up and did dyeing. i did loads of loose fiber for batts and to sell as is. i did border leicester, kid mohair, baby cotswald locks, mohair locks, a gorgeous merino loose fiber that still has the nice squishy-ness to it. ummm!(all of this is from a rescue farm), some 80's grade merino and some superwash merino. i used my vintage roaster, as i have been doing lately and packed it full of loose fiber and made sure it was covered with water. i brought it up to a simmer (somehow that is 150 degrees on the roaster, the lowest temp possible) and then poured in the dye and used tongs to squish it into the lower layers. i was surprised that it didn't strike right away, but it was a ton of fiber. i did it in shades of hot pink and fuschia with a bit of golden yellow, so those parts are a really pretty orange. i did the superwash in a separate plastic bag which i had used so much that it sprung a leak, so i put that in a used grocery bag and then squished the loose fiber in the roaster aside and put the bag in there to get hot. the superwash was orchid with black and gray. i know i don't usually do dark colors in the summer, but after some overly dark yucky fiber i got, i had an idea of what it maybe was supposed to be and i thought it would be pretty.

it rained like crazy here so i couldn't put it outside to dry, so i left it all where it was and will hopefully put it outside to-morrow. i think jakie and i will hit some yard sales to-morrow. we will see.

so after all of that, i made more of the wire framed paper and mod podge wingy figure 8 thingies for the kinetic pieces. i am excited to put it together and see how it looks. these are some of the first ones, the ones i have made since have much thinner paper and the wire is more stretched out. i am hoping that it will move with the air like those pods that fall from trees...like propellers. here are some of them, and i have way more...


have a fun weekend!
mwah!
n.

whoa. that is all i can say. i am sitting down for the first time today. jakie went to new york for a business trip at the last minute, so i took the opportunity to get lots of stuff done. lots and lots.

i got up early to start dyeing, i will post pics to-morrow of the rest of it. i did lots of superwash merino, some merino/soy silk blend, some locks and some soy silk. lovely. i will be listing some to-morrow i think. i would do it tonite but i am so out of it that i can barely see straight. okay, so here is a pic of the yarny stuff for the day...


i also did some sewing, trying to make some baggy crappy shirts into something special. again, i will be sure to keep you posted. i had hoped to get em done tonite, but i am just too tired. i overdid it, i fear. i was just non-stop and then i was in the sun hanging up fiber and messing with it, cleaning up the back deck, bringing the fiber in. i cleaned the kitchen, the studio, organized a bit, did some sewing, is that all? literally, i only have one eye open. so. so. tired. i was sweating so much outside that my pain patch partially fell off. gah.

last week (i think?) i took this cheapo top that i have in olive as well and embroidered it with this vintage kitty "gardner"
and then did some other decorative embroidery and i now like it much better. i haaate wearing white. i feel large in white and it doesn't look so good against my skin in its yellow glory. anyway, i may still dye it, but i do like how it came out. i used those patterns from aunt lydia (is that the name?) and the stencil looks like a coloring book page, it irons on in a second, literally, not like the other patterns and pencils i have attempted to use, you can use them multiple times and the pattern is black black black, and i accidentally ironed it on through the front and back and it washed out! and it was cheap! i like to embroider my own drawerings, too, but these are really nice.

okay, i am spacing out and i haven't even checked email yet today, and i reckon that i won't, either. gah.

mwah!
n.

i have been such a bad blogger lately, i just don't have the energy and of course i am super behind on ready all of your blogs (i have close to 200!) and they get out of hand quickly. i hate it. it makes me feel guilty, as stupid as i know that is. it is really hard to decide if i should try to catch up on blogs or draw, read, etc, etc, etc. mainly, i have had lots of headaches and have been just pushing to get as much done as i can and i feel a bit like i am just treading water. you know?

i have been having lots of nightmares, like usual, i don't understand them because they are so complex. they tend to be set on college campuses, sometimes i am taking classes, sometimes it is just there. several dreams have had fish in them which were cut off at the tail, but were not killed. no idea what that means. and almost always, i am being chased and attacked or threatened and am often attempting to protect another person or animal. sigh.

i was sketching one night and kept falling asleep, and kind of woke up and wrote down what i was dreaming, my writing is so bad that it is hard to read:

all of my
old clothes
cried out to
me-all the different
faceless me's
w/their different
cute (?) self(?) & hairstyles
drowning (?) ?????
like the
one in the patternless fashions

and then a really odd scribbly drawing of two people. um. no clue. but i do remember sort of seeing all the different versions of myself over the years all together. in the book patternless fashions, which was originally written in china, there are fantastic illustrations fromt hat time with faceless people with cute clothes and hairstyles, so i assume that is what i was talking about? dunno.

jake had some sort of 24 hour flu yesterday and i think i had sympathy flu. i kept falling asleep throughout the day, but really asleep, not just a nap. poor jake felt sick when he got up at 3a and went to work anyway and came home at 8 am and was either in the bathroom (powdering his nose, hee.) or totally conked out and coverd in sweat or goosebumps. he is the type of person that eats every hour or two or gets, as i call it, "hangry" which is angry and hungry, although the low blood sugar makes him feel legitimately angry. you know? so he was very dizzy as well, which may have been from the flu or lack of eating. he normally has a rather healthy, ruddy complexion and was literally green. he always has very red lips and they were pale. it is odd to see him sick because he never gets sick. anyway, pavel wanted to cuddle with his papa and take care of him, which is extra sweet because he is not that way. wanna see?

poor boy.

otherwise, i have done a good bit of spinning and dyeing. i really need to finish some mixed media boxes and other things. i feel very annoyed with myself that i haven't made the time. here is some of what i have been working on...

i have some lovely yarns i need to take photos of, as well. i have been dyeing felt, which will be for sale. the deeper colored ones are 100% wool felt, and the rest is wool and rayon blend, which feels much nicer and looks rather pretty, i must say. i will be listing some soon. so pretty. and i realized really quickly that it is impossible to find unusual colors of felt that is of any kind of quality and ti get handdyed felt...forget it. i keep meaning to make felt myself, but with my energy issues, it just doesn't seem realistic.

my mom will be in town for a few days, coming in to-morrow. i hope to get work done this week regardless becase we are leaving this coming weekend for the beach. wooo hoooo!

okay, i am getting super sleepy.
xo
n.