Further Frustrations. and something pretty April 29, 2008

So last week I wrote about how I had lost my camera chargerand so haven’t had the opportunity to take any photos lately. Which is sad because there are a lot of fun things of which I would like to take photos. Well luckily (which turns out to be unlucky later you will see) I found my charger in my desk drawer. Why I hadn’t thought to look there before I don’t know. Anyhow I found my charger just in time for my parents’ visit. Yay! So last Thursday we went to the Great Sand Dunes and I was so happy because I was able to take my camera. I later discovered this was a very bad idea and I now wish I hadn’t been

able to charge it. Some of the sand got into my camera lens. It won’t retract. It is broken. They say I can send it to Illinois to get it repaired, but I’m thinking that with shipping and a lack of warrantee that repairs w

ill end up costing about the same as buying the same camera in its latest version for about $150. Which, as a volunteer, I most definitely don’t have. Luckily my birthday is in about 6 weeks so perhaps my parents will chip in on a new camera.

So that sucks and I still don’t have pictures to share so instead I present this amazing art piece that I discovered while reading fog and thistle’s blog. Fog and Thistle does great paper cut artwork which gave her a great apprecation for artist Jiyeon Song’s art.

Using a matrix of perforations, light passes through the pavilion’s surface producing shifting patterns, which transform into the text of a poem. It takes about 8 hours to see the entire poem, with each line visible for about an hour. The specific arrangements of the perforations reveal different poems according to the solar calendar: a theme of new-life during the summer solstice. During the summer solstice, the poem will contain the theme of “new life”. During the winter solstice, the poem will be on “reflection and the passing of time.”

The time lapse video on the artist’s website shows the poems through the day and seasons. Cool huh?

Busy, busy, busy April 22, 2008

Well I have not blogged in a great while and there are many a reasons for that.  Blogging is funny.  Its kind of like a belated birthday card or call.  You forget to send a card and then 10 days later you realize your mistake.  By then you feel like crap and keep putting it off.  Well thats what I do anyways.  The same goes for blogging. I kept making excuses today why I shouldn’t blog but I decided to just go ahead and do it because the later I wait the harder it will become.

One of the reasons I was hesitant is because I have zero pictures to share.  I somehow have misplaced my camera charger and so now the thing is out of batteries and I have no way to charge it.  Could turn into serious problem if I can’t find the charger soon.

So here are some things that are new in my life.

1.  I signed a lease to an apartment that I won’t be moving into until September but I am still very excited.  My boyfriend has just moved here and will be living there and I will join him once my year of service is done.  We have been busy obtaining furniture and that sort of thing for the last couple of weeks.  People are very generous here and always willing to help out.  So far we have been given a kitchen table and chairs, microwave, coffee maker, bed, chest of drawers and have purchased at very reasonable prices a couch and a washer/dryer set.

2.  I spent the past weekend in Denver with my good friend from college enjoying my time out of rural Colorado.  On Saturday we enjoyed the sun in her neighborhood park playing wiffleball and tossing the frisbee.

3. Sunday I came home and was pleasently surprised because one of the women that I know from our local knitting group wanted to give me a loom!  It is small and portable and one that you weave bands that range in size from very thin to maybe 2.5 inches wide.  So you can make things like bracelets or guitar straps.  You can also sew the bands together for wider items like scarves, handbags etc.  Very generous gift and I am excited to get learning on it.

4.  My parents come to visit tomorrow.  This will be the first time they visit my new home and I am excited for them to see where I am living.  We plan on spending some time in the Valley and then going down to New Mexico for the weekend.  Unfortunately my brother won’t be able to join us.  He is turning 21 this weekend and felt like celebrating with his friends instead of his parents.  I can’t imagine why…

Ok so that is a brief update.  I know its not super exciting without pictures.  Hopefully I can rectify that situation soon.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Cebolla Mesa April 11, 2008

Well I know this post is a little late as it is now Friday and I will be talking about this past weekend, but I didn’t bring my camera along so the photos featured are borrowed from the boyfriend and roommates. I had to wait for them to share them. This past Saturday was spent hiking in New Mexico. We hiked down a gorge to the Rio Grande.

When we arrived it was super windy and chilly but as we descended we were protected from the cold. Along the path there were pretty light purple crocuses in various stages of blooming.

The water was pretty low as it has still been cold here, preventing mountain snow from melting. Because of the low level we were able to walk along rocks that are normally under the river. They were so smooth and worn down from water rushing over them.

Even though the water level was low the river was still very fast and powerful. It was good to sit and listen to the rapids.

Overall a great way to spend a Saturday.

My newest addition April 8, 2008

So last week I promised I would soon post my newest item.  As I am mainly a knitter I have been spending the last few weeks thinking about how I can take a traditionally cold weather craft into the warmer months.  During the early spring fingerless gloves seemed to be a popular item.  That gave me the idea of toeless socks!  Now it sounds funny but how many of us love to wear our sandels but feel silly wearing them with socks in the cooler months?  Toeless socks would be the perfect solution.  You can wear your socks and keep your feet warm while your toes are free to cradle flip flop thongs or what have you.

So now you are all very excited to see the toeless socks, I’m sure.  Don’t get too excited.  I decided to do some internet research to learn about the prevalence of toeless socks.  I learned they aren’t super prevalent, but I did come across an equally fun and exciting project, yoga socks.  Essentially they are toeless AND heelless socks that allow the feet to stay warm while still gripping the mat. So now I present you with my version of the yoga sock.

The yarn maybe familiar as the same yarn used to knit the multicolor scarflette from a previous post.  It originally was knitted into a gently worn sweater that I purchased from my local thrift store.  I then unraveled the yarn, washed it, hand dyed it and re-knit it into these.  For those of you who loved the idea of toeless socks, do not despair.  You don’t HAVE to be doing yoga to wear yoga socks and the toeless socks may still make an appearance yet.

New items! April 2, 2008

So I have totally been neglecting my Etsy shop. Truth is I work full-time and often don’t really feel like messing with the computer after hours, but this week I have finally been reinspired and productive!  All of these items will be listed in my Etsy shop this week.For starters I FINALLY finished the lace knit beanie that I started AGES ago.  This hat almost killed me.  It was my first lace project and I learned that you (or I in any case) cannot possibly knit lace while doing other things.  The yarn is purchased from a fellow Etisan.  She unraveled a silk/angora sweater and hand-dyed it in greans, yellows, oranges and browns.  The colors were very earthy so I decided to knit a leaf pattern into the hat.  It was very trying but I am happy with the end result: a perfect spring hat!

 I also finished two coffee cup cozies made out of a Gap sweater I unraveled.  The sweater was a gap turtleneck, aqua on the bottom, mint on the top. The first one is all aqua with a diagonal rib pattern.

 The second was also a diagonal pattern but this one used both the aqua and the mint.  It is knit in a fair isle diagonal stripe.

 On top of all of that I am about half way done with a new project I am working on.  More to come about that one later!

Zapata and Rock Stacking March 31, 2008

This weekend I went hiking to Zapata Falls on Mt. Blanca. We walked right into the rocks on the frozen creek leading up the the falls which made me kind of nervous about falling in but the ice was so frozen this was not a problem. Once we are at the falls I found a part of the ice that was broken off and you could see that it was five or six inches solid. Still you could hear the water running underneath which was a little disconcerting. The little crack between the two cliffs is where we walked through to get to the falls.

The falls were still frozen which was really cool.

On our way back we discovered some rock stacking art and felt inspired to add to it. The top three rocks are our addition.

Then we made a couple of our own.

They are amateur of course and nowhere near as amazing as our inspiration at Team Sandtastic or Bill Dan.

Finally, My Eggs! March 28, 2008

For those of you who read my post earlier in the week about Pysanky, or batiked eggs I am now following up on my promise to post photos of the eggs I made. Again I want to reiterate that my eggs look nothing at all like the eggs that I posted. Unfortunately they are not nearly as well done. I have only made four so far and am still learning but am making progress I think. We have run into a few snags in the egg decorating process. One of which are these pesky smears or dots that show up on the eggs. We thought it might have had to do with the way we were letting the eggs dry so we started wiping the wet dye off the eggs with soft, clean flannel. Or perhaps we wondered, if it was the oil from our hands that was causing the marks so we started wearing rubber gloves. We also thought maybe it was the fact that after the vinegar pre-soak we did, we didn’t rinse the eggs with water. There were various other theories that I can’t think of right now. It turns out none of our tested theories are the culprit because the marks still keep occurring. After seeing some friends dyed eggs that don’t have the mark we have a new yet to be tested theory, the type of egg makes the difference. Turkey eggs don’t seem to have marks on them.

Anyhow now you know why there seem to be weird smudges, spots, or marks on the eggs. Let’s home the next batch is mark free!

Another lesson I have personally learned is to take it easy on the number of colors used. At first I wanted to have a very colorful egg with a lot going on. I think that the best egg designs (unless you are an amazing artist-see Eve Butterly below) are the ones with fewer colors. It seems that when mixing colors some mixtures come out better than others. Next time I will stick with two or three colors per egg.

First is the onion skin egg. As I explained before we wrapped yellow onion skins around the egg and then hard boiled them in water and vinegar.

Next is my tree with roots. There is another tree on the other side and the roots are connected at the bottom. I like this one.

Next is the floral sunburst. This one was supposed to have purple and blue petals/rays as well but they didn’t show up as nicely as the pink and red.

Next is my traditional floral design. Again the purples didnt seem to stand out as well as the warmer colors. Good to remember for next time.

And last is another floral design.

Pysanky March 24, 2008

So yesterday was Easter. In preparation I spent Saturday with friends decorating eggs. We of course did do the obligatory Paz dyed eggs but the hostess also had strong toxic acid dyes and styluses for a Batik egg dying called Pysanky. This dying method is traditional in many Eastern European countries. This was a very fun and challenging way to decorate eggs that will last for years to come. The process is pretty labor intensive and complicated but the results are pretty amazing. You basically have to plan out your design, planning backwards from lightest color to darkest color. You draw on the egg with the kystka which is a rod with a tiny funnel at the end. You fill the reservoir with wax and place it near a candle flame to melt the wax in the funnel. You then draw on the egg, etching wax in places you don’t want to be colored.

For example if you want a dark blue egg with pink flowers and light green you would first dip your egg in the pink dye. Then you would use your kystka to draw on the pink flowers. Then you would dip the egg in green dye and draw on the leaves. Finally you would dip the egg in the blue dye. We used both regular white eggs, green Americana eggs, and speckled turkey eggs for a variety of effects. After the eggs are dry you heat the wax and wipe it off to reveal your finished egg. The egg should then be punctured on either end and the innards blown out so the eggshell can last without fear of rotting. Of course traditionally different colors and symbols are full of meaning but our group just had fun experimenting with different looks. I don’t have pictures of my eggs yet because they are still at the hostesses house waiting to be blown out, but I will post them once I get them back. For now I am posting pictures of really good eggs that look nothing like mine.  The one on top is by egg artist Eve Butterly.

We also dyed some eggs using red and yellow onion skins. To do this you remove the onion skins from the onion and soak them in warm water with a little white vinegar until they are soft. you then wrap eggs with the skin and then wrap the eggs in scrap cloth with rubber bands to secure. Next hard boil the eggs in a water/vinegar bath. After removing the cloth there are beautifully dyed eggs in varying shades of browns, tans and yellows. These eggs can be used as a classy and practical centerpiece for Easter brunch as they can be consumed just like regular hard boiled eggs. The ones pictured are much darker than ours but you get the idea.

Finally I am posting some pictures of some really beautiful eggs that artist Franc Grom creates. He uses a tiny elecrical drill to create 2,500 to 3,500 holes in each eggshell. His remind my of the traditional Slovenian designs with a twist!

Salmonella is Gross March 19, 2008

So yesterday when I was out and about town I saw that the front page story was that 20 residents or so had myseriously come down with Salmonella. I thought that was odd and read on hoping to find out where they had contracted said bacteria. The article didn’t say so I assumed it was from some dingy restaurant and hoped I would avoid falling ill and put it out of my mind.

So then this afternoon I receive several e-mails instructing residents to not drink the tap water. Apparently the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has placed a bottled water only restriction on the city water until further notice because that is what is making people sick! Residents aren’t even supposed to brush their teeth or wash dishes in the city water. Boiling the water is also not ok. They aren’t saying how the water became contaminated or how long the restriction will continue.

I’m not sure how common this is but I have never had anything like this happen to me before. Has this happened to anyone else?

Yay Front Page! March 18, 2008

I am very happy today because my birdie napkins that I wrote about earlier in my blog were featured today on the front page of Etsy by Portovert, an online guide to greener weddings! I embroidered little birds on high quality clothe napkins I discovered at a local thrift store. I can only assume the napkins are meant to be given as a wedding gift? Not sure but I definitely appreciate the compliment. I have had one other item featured on the front page, wool convertible mittens. This resulted in my first (and sadly, only) sale. Hopefully the same will be true this time, except of course it would result in my second and not only sale.