September 30, 2007 at 11:05 am
· Filed under Uncategorized
When I was a kid I had a lot of irrational fears. My dad cured me of my fear of accidental poisoning by taking a bite of whatever I was afraid of and then, clutching at his neck and gagging, pretending to die a violent death. I once asked a psychiatrist-friend if this seemed like a reasonable way to treat a child phobia, and he said, “Well, did it work?”
By the way, I got my irrational fear of food-poisoning from my mom, who was constantly asking… “Do you think this ____ has been in the fridge too long? Should we eat it?”
I got over most of these fears as I got older, and I now blithely eat four-day-old pasta, but there are things that still freak me out. Like Hanta virus. Back when my brother lived in New Mexico, this new disease was discovered in the Southwest that you could get by breathing mouse poop. I swore off garage cleaning for good. Actually, the Southwest is a particularly scary place when you consider they also have the Bubonic Plague!
So, today, I was reading Boing Boing as a warm-up to getting to work editing my manuscript when I came across this post:
Apparently this scary phenomenon has been around for a couple of decades but has only killed about 20 people. In the last year, the death toll was 6. Ick. It recommends swimming in lakes with nose plugs because the only way to get the disease is by getting the amoeba in your nose. I seriously hope someone can come up with a better solution. Oh, and by the way. Where is this most common? Florida, and the SOUTHWEST.
September 30, 2007 at 9:26 am
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On Friday, I got to sneak down to Virginia, and without totally abandoning work, hang out with two great fiber buds: Kim Werker and Shannon Okey. For the most part, we hung out at the Holiday Inn where they were sharing a room and we worked on our own projects. Kim was preparing the next issue of Interweave Crochet and Shannon is putting the finishing touches on another book. I was editing my bear book manuscript. We broke for lunch where Kim treated me to Taco Bell, then Shannon interviewed Kim for her Blog Talk Radio call-in show.
That evening, I got to attend Shannon’s class in Nuno Felting. Nuno is Japanese for fabric, and this technique uses very thin fabric, (we used silk gauze), as the base for a new felted fabric. By putting fiber on either side of the fabric then wet felting it with hot water and lots of agitation, the wool reaches through the gauze and binds to the wool on the other side. Its fun, and the results can be very pretty, but my own project was not a huge success. (Due mostly to my lack of patience). I had more fun wandering around the room helping the real class participants and seeing what they were making. Karida of The Neighborhood Fiber Company was there. She brought her own beautiful purple and pink fiber.
This is us trying to use our feet to do the work.
Here shannon helps someone along using the “punch the fiber” method.
September 26, 2007 at 3:38 pm
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I don’t know why its called Spring Cleaning, because I’ve been doing it all week. I washed all of our light couch covers and assorted quilts and pillows and put them away, bringing out the darker colors for fall. This pillow was designed and stitched by my Aunt Carole sometime in the 1970s. It’s one of my favorite things. I washed it in Soak wool wash and it brightened considerably. One thing about Soak–the directions say not to rinse, but I always do, and I always find lots more dirt comes out while rinsing.
September 25, 2007 at 9:10 am
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I grew up right next to the Hamilton College campus in Clinton, NY where my parents still work. Today the college is participating in the Eat Local Challenge along with other colleges in the Northeast. They’re holding a campus-wide picnic filled with local ingredients. My mom says they even found flour milled locally. She’s headed over to the picnic right now. Hamilton College contracts with Bon Appétit, a national food service company who seems to have the most ecological, forward thinking approach to their work of any of the big mass market food providers. The head chef at Hamilton College, Ruben Haag says he regularly seeks works with about a dozen farmers from upstate New York. Pat Raynard, the general manager of Bon Appétit at Hamilton College was quoted in a press release saying, “I don’t know of anyone else who is closing down campus and holding a huge picnic where the farmers will be on hand.”
September 21, 2007 at 7:40 am
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A fun new site in English devoted to craft books and supplies from Japan. The books and mags often have sample pages so you can see what you’re getting. The owner of the site is in Japan and is also willing to research and find specific books/magazines/supplies you’re looking for. Sounds Dangerous!
September 21, 2007 at 6:56 am
· Filed under crochet, knitting
Pam, over at the Knotty Generation has a great free tutorial posted about making your own shawl pin. All it takes is a ring, a few yards of yarn and a crochet hook. The tutorial has great step-by-step photos, and is finished with the crochet hook itself. How clever!
Up til 2am finishing my Maltese Fisherman's hat--it's huge and goofy and I love it. Pics coming soon when my model arrives to bake cake. 10/09/09 02:05am
@crochetbyfaye Sometimes it can take a few tries before they get used to new carriers. :-) 10/09/09 02:03am
Share your moving loves and hates to be entered in @shepherdsusie 's Spinners Giveaway http://www.fiberfarm.com/3998 10/08/09 09:58am
Learning to make t-shirt yarn from @glampyre 's online class. Love the class and the format! http://upcycledtshirtyarnclass.ning.com/ 10/08/09 02:31am
Love the granny square slippers featured on the purl bee: http://bit.ly/16SFSq #crochet 10/08/09 01:37am
