February 18, 2004
Has Anyone Seen My Ostrich?
Big Sister and I have a silly birthday tradition of mailing back and forth a birthday tiara, the tackier and the more tattered the better. The aim is to see how many years we can mail the same tiara to each other without one of us forgetting. If you do forget, there are no particular consequences except you are subjected to major—and I mean major—ribbing from the other sibling. Don't ask how I know...
We started the tradition using a tiara that sported the words "Happy Birthday" laser-cut out of metallic pink cardboard, decorated with silver sparkles and mounted on a silver, slightly accordioned, aluminum-like headband that was remarkably painful to wear. Eventually, even by our supremely low standards, the first tiara became too ratty—think more scotch tape than pink cardboard or sparkle. Not one to let a tradition die, my sister then mailed me this, which looks as if somebody killed and plucked a Rockette to make it. And, yes, that is me, my head, my birthday, this year.
Knitting Knews
Below, the baby sweater, 95% done, minus seed-stitch shoulder bands, blocking, seaming, and buttons. This is the project that, as a neophyte, I Thought I Would Never Be Able To Knit, so I am very proud of every nauseatingly red inch!
Interesting project going on at the Guild—we've been asked to knit our own nametags. I'm tickled about the nametag idea in general because I s-u-c-k at remembering names, but knitting them—quelle bonne idée! It gives us a short, creative project to do and saves the Guild from having to purchase boxes and boxes of sticky labels that we all know just curl up and drop off anyway (or don't, and you forget to take it off, and you end up going somewhere very public with "Hi, My Name Is ____" displayed firmly on your chest.)
Since Guild is tonight (and the newsletter announcing the project only arrived a couple of days ago), I've been doing heads-down knitting on the nametag. I decided legibility, not creativity, was the number one priority so I chose gold thread, doubled, for the letters, and a cobalt blue sock-weight wool yarn for the background.
My first attempt turned out trèscrappy so I've moved on to version deux. Here, a picture of the prototype. The plan is to also knit a back, sew the two pieces together around a piece of cardboard and whack on a safety pin.
Our speaker tonight is Vivian Hoxbro of domino knitting fame. And the guests-who-are-now-members who made last Guild night so scrumpdillyishious have promised to return for more knitting fun. Hallelujah!
Oh, and not to forget The Mysterious K, tonight she has her next woodworking class, something mysterious called "Joinery III."
DyeGarden Dyegest
The natural dyeing forum on Yahoo has started two threads that I'm having trouble stomaching: dyeing with ladybugs and dyeing with grasshoppers.
Long-time readers of the blog may remember that I am absolutely animal- and nature-crazy and, in fact, almost relate better to animals than I do to humans. I have no trouble with insects at all and, in fact, will eagerly pick up and examine anything creepy-crawly, to TMK's dismay (especially when I poke sleeping bumblebees in the behind because, for some reason, I can't abide a sleeping bumblebee. It goes against the laws of nature. They are supposed to bumble, not sleep.). So the Yahoo postings about catching the ladybugs and grasshoppers, killing them, and smooshing them up for dye just leave me feeling, well, first, nauseous, and secondly, bad for the insects. One dyer mentioned how she already has a few ladybugs already saved up in a jar, and my heart just goes out to the poor bewildered insects left without food or water, or the ability to fly or escape, just so we can color some yarn. Say, I think I'll be avoiding the natural dyeing forum for a while until those entries have run their course.
With all the trauma I go through whenever I hear about animals or insects being abused or trapped, you'd think I'd be a vegetarian, wouldn'tcha? Nope! Tried it, but when you're not big on cheese, legumes, or vegetables either, that leaves you with...buttered noodles. Oh, and if you're vegan, you can't even have the butter, so you're left with...noodles. Stayed vegetarian until my body was completely worn out from eating nothing but crap, had a big slab o' meat, and felt better instantly. A lesson learned.
Posted by Ryan at February 18, 2004 10:31 AMlike the name tag and really really wish there was a guild around here to enjoy- am thinking a lot of people named cassandra or mignonette etc (no, not named etc!!) will be wearing nicknames!
around here we all show signs of waterworks when the animal in a story/movie develops an illness or injury or, God forbid, *dies*- we've been known to tie up traffic to move a turtle across the road and tenderly carry ladybugs or wee lizards who come inside on plants back to the yard-
i went through a phase of avoiding foods that were animal-based for a couple of years until i thought about eating 'mock meat' i.e. tofu or some kind of proteins based stuff made up to resemble a chicken breast or a hamburger- decided that was being slightly hypocritical and have enjoyed 'the real thing' ever since!!
knit on!!
Posted by: barb in texas on February 18, 2004 11:16 AMMUCH enjoyed your comment, Barb. Now I'm determined to get a new pet and name it Etcetera. Somewhat akin to what you said, someone here at work mentioned that I was probably more eager than most to knit the nametag because my name is so short. Good point, I suppose. (FYI, the second version of the nametag is more embellished and looks much better.)
A turtle-, lizard- and ladybug-mover! You are a woman after my own heart, Barb. We have the hugest, ugliest, blackest spiders here (they can literally be measured in inches) and I am forever capturing the ones in both my and TMK's houses and moving them outside. Maybe not the brightest idea since the jury is out on whether they are poisonous or not--and if they are, they are extremely so-- but I just can't smoosh them! A couple of years ago, TMK was ever-so-slightly in the doghouse for a while for putting a cup over a spider and then forgetting about it for days. She gets credit for not killing it, but--DAYS under the cup? Amazingly, the spider was perfectly healthy and was ushered out to a new life in the garden.
Posted by: Ryan on February 18, 2004 11:27 AMI'm soooooooo glad someone else took on that Guild nametag project--I did one too! I think it's a fab idea and hope others do so.
To all those in Mossy Cottage land who are not in a Guild or a knitting group--I would most heartily suggest you try to find other knitters and start one of your own! It's great fun to meet others who share this knitting passion and compare notes. The blog is a marvelous forum too--don't get me wrong, but face-to-face meetings and getting a chance to see others' work is very nice too.
I took Vivian Hoxbro's class on Shadow Knitting at the Gig Harbor retreat last Sunday--she is very, very cool and I'm looking forward to hearing what she has to say at Guild tonight. Can't wait to see her book on Shadow Knitting coming out in June, 2004.
Glad to know you won't be grinding up bugs and stuff for dyes, Ryan. Major YUCK on anyone who does--seems there must be plenty of less barbaric means to get a little color in one's life...
Mary
Posted by: Mary on February 18, 2004 12:25 PMMary, in the Yahoo natural dyer's defense, the colors you can get from insects and shellfish are beautiful, rare colors, like gorgeous reds and purples, so I can see why folks would be eager to try something new. And again in their defense, one lady said her house gets invaded by hundreds and hundreds of ladybugs, so I can see why she wouldn't think twice about using them for dyeing. If my house got overrun with ladybugs, I might feel the same way! But, again, this approach is just not for me.
I completely second your thought that one of the best things about being a knitter is meeting other knitters. Some of the knitted items I have seen at Guild have been breathtaking, and have inspired me to learn more and more. And in this day and age, we have the added benefit of being able to go on-line and meet knitters and see photos of finished projects from around the world. I am still amazed that I met someone from Estonia (Vaire) through my blog!
Looking forward to seeing you and hearing your stories about Gig Harbor tonight!
Posted by: Ryan on February 18, 2004 01:25 PMAhhh! Another one!
I take things like wasps outside, but spiders I leave alone (to Myria's slight freaked-outness). To me, they're good guys, small household gods. Besides, they knit too!
Years ago, in a restaurant with my parents, I saw a spider fall into my cup. I fished him out immediately, but the hot liquid had killed him. And there I sat, leaking tears into my coffee...
Posted by: Robbyn on February 18, 2004 03:08 PMRobbyn, all I can say is I sure hope TMK is reading these comments so she knows (1) I am not the only one who can be brought to tears by insectoid and animaloid (?) life-and-death struggles and (2) she's not the only partner who has to deal with someone who is so sensitive to insectoid and animaloid life-and-death struggles! I think the most extreme thing I do is when I sweep the floor, I leave the pile there for a few minutes so anything living that I've swept up has a chance to crawl away.
My spiders are so big I HAVE to move them but I usually leave one or two smaller ones inside by the back door to help stem the wave of millipedes and pillbugs that come in during the winter. Which, now that I think about it, seems really hypocritical because I'm helping the spiders kill other insects--so now my head is spinning! However, if a milliped or pillbug makes it past the Spider Barrier, I do always catch it and take it outside.
I have often said that people kill insects just because they're ugly, and if that's the rule by which it's decided who or what should live and who should die, a lot of us would have been sent to the Great Beyond a long time ago!
Posted by: Ryan on February 18, 2004 03:32 PMlove the nametag. and how fortuitous that the mysterious k's joinery class is on the same night as your guild :-)
Posted by: vanessa on February 19, 2004 03:33 AMRyan I can just imagine you with a horrified look, realizing you are sending spiders to do your "dirty work" of killing bugs you don't want in the house...but try not to feel bad about it, that's just part of the cycle of nature and you have no control over that, you know? ;)
Have a most excellent day - and weekend - Mizz R,
L
I agree with Barb - knitted nametags are fine for you four-letter folks! How about initials?
Posted by: CarolineF on February 19, 2004 11:04 AM