My wonderful beautiful Dell Studio 15 laptop arrived. I love it! J truly gives special gifts and then is so patient explaining to me how they work. (I tend to think that magic and electric are the same thing.)As a computer programmer he doesn't hold with this theory .
L and C came over and while L and I talked knitting and spinning, C set up the router. I played on Studio for a while that afternoon. That night I plugged it into an electrical outlet to charge away. The next morning I went to get on, sitting comfortably on the couch with feet propped up, and Studio wanted to get the latest updates...and then you know what hit the fan.
In the middle of this lovely download with the computer flashing "Do not turn off your computer" at me the battery died. It beeped once and died, really dead. My shouting "no, no, don't do that" had no effect on it and so I immediately took myself to the nearest working electrical outlet and plugged the Studio in. (Apparently the outlet I had used last night didn't work.)
The updates seemed to continue, however it got in a loop and would not get out of it. Feeling as I do about the magic/electric thing, I was hesitant to touch anything lest the magic/electric gods rear their angry heads and banish me from the internet forever. I was patient!!! We're talking 3 hours.Finally, in desperation, I used the pc to im J and ask what the same hill was going on. After I tried a couple of things he suggested, and nothing worked, he suggested that I get on line with Dell tech support.
Thus began my 2 1/2 hours visit with "Benjamin". I found out where the battery is on my Studio, as well as the cd portal. Also found some other little square thingie that comes out when you poke it but until I get better reading glasses, I won't know what it is. Thankfully when I poked it again, it went back in and the Studio didn't fall apart .
Benjamin was kind enough to mention that I wasn't the longest chat he'd had, several people had needed 4 hours to get things fixed--not encouraging. NOTE TO SELF: If you are going to be on the phone with tech support for over 2 hours, put a comfortable chair next to the laptop plugged into the electrical outlet. The little kitchen stool is not the best for sitting or trying to knit while maintaining your balance.
Why didn't I unplug the computer and move to the more comfortable couch, you ask? HA, I was taking no chances on the battery dying again. I'd learned my lesson so I balanced, knitted and mumbled about Vista, Microsoft, and wondered whether Bill Gates really liked the rest of us or this was just a cruel jest on his part.
After finally re-everything (boot,load, whatever) the Studio it was up and running. I considered asking Benjamin for a mailing address so I could add him to my Christmas list but I am pretty sure he was in an area of the world where Christmas wasn't celebrated by most of the population.
This morning I got up, confidently turned on Studio and everything looked good until I got the notice that a program wanted to do something and should McAfee be notified. Dang it! Number one, I had already told Studio that I didn't want to deal with McAfee but there was no "go away" option in the annoying little box. Then, there it was at the bottom of the screen, the little flashing notice that said "Java Updates". Well, I'm not falling for that one again! That's what got me in trouble yesterday. I carefully shut Studio down and came into this room to report all this on my pc.
Could this be a plot on the part of XP not wanting to be replaced by Vista, or the pc not wanting the Studio to be more loved? I may yet prove that magic and electric are the same things. Laugh now, but think of that the next time you take Vista out for a walk on the internet.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
Fun weekend
What a great weekend.
14 spinners / knitters / dyers met at my home and we played for the entire day on Saturday. Several wheels were turning, lots of knitting and 3 natural dye pots were simmering away.
The black walnut hulls closely resembled sludge. My fault. I had stored them in a plastic bag for 2 years and when they were put into the water they became something other than what they were supposed to be. The yarn came out a grey brown rather than the soft, rich brown that I have gotten with them in the past. Oh, well, there's always over dyeing!
The annatto seeds produced a soft pastel and not the anticipated deeper color. The cheesecloth the seeds were wrapped in was a much richer color than the fiber we put in to be dyed.
The coreopsis turned out to be a strong dyebath , if a somewhat stinky one. The color was a rich golden yellow . I put cotton and also silk in all the dyebaths. The other dyers were using wool.
I'm going to make another dyebath today and try to pull more color out of the annatto. I think we might have blown a fuse and didn't get the full heat we needed on the hot plates. That could account for the paler colors. We'll see.
Picture will be posted when I get them taken.
One interesting note...I had some cotton that I had mordanted years ago with alum/tannin/alum and it took all the colors beautifully.
14 spinners / knitters / dyers met at my home and we played for the entire day on Saturday. Several wheels were turning, lots of knitting and 3 natural dye pots were simmering away.
The black walnut hulls closely resembled sludge. My fault. I had stored them in a plastic bag for 2 years and when they were put into the water they became something other than what they were supposed to be. The yarn came out a grey brown rather than the soft, rich brown that I have gotten with them in the past. Oh, well, there's always over dyeing!
The annatto seeds produced a soft pastel and not the anticipated deeper color. The cheesecloth the seeds were wrapped in was a much richer color than the fiber we put in to be dyed.
The coreopsis turned out to be a strong dyebath , if a somewhat stinky one. The color was a rich golden yellow . I put cotton and also silk in all the dyebaths. The other dyers were using wool.
I'm going to make another dyebath today and try to pull more color out of the annatto. I think we might have blown a fuse and didn't get the full heat we needed on the hot plates. That could account for the paler colors. We'll see.
Picture will be posted when I get them taken.
One interesting note...I had some cotton that I had mordanted years ago with alum/tannin/alum and it took all the colors beautifully.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Cleaning Serendipity
Ok, I am in search of my Embellish Knit I cord maker. I know I have one and I know it is somewhere in this house. I will find it but the object is to find it before I forget about the project I have in mind which requires I find it in the first place.
As a result of this desperate search, I have now cleaned 3 shelves of my yarn / fiber closet. (Why do I get into these things?) Anyway, as I was starting on shelf # 4, I opened a box which had some of my well aged natural cotton fiber in it. Oh great JOY; I found the handspun, natural colored cotton tapestry necklace I wove sometime between 1995 and 1999. It has been missing since 2006. I knew somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind that I had put it in a box of colored cottons because I had used it to show the various cottons in a workshop I was teaching. I had long since searched the "other" cotton stash and never could find it.
This is like Christmas, my birthday, and the 4th of July all rolled into one big festive event. I have found a long lost friend which had hours of my work in it.
Ok, for some electronic reason the picture is coming up sideways. Please turn your head to view it as I have exhausted my abilities to get it turned the way it is on my computer. Some days Electric and Magic are indeed the same thing!
As a result of this desperate search, I have now cleaned 3 shelves of my yarn / fiber closet. (Why do I get into these things?) Anyway, as I was starting on shelf # 4, I opened a box which had some of my well aged natural cotton fiber in it. Oh great JOY; I found the handspun, natural colored cotton tapestry necklace I wove sometime between 1995 and 1999. It has been missing since 2006. I knew somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind that I had put it in a box of colored cottons because I had used it to show the various cottons in a workshop I was teaching. I had long since searched the "other" cotton stash and never could find it.
This is like Christmas, my birthday, and the 4th of July all rolled into one big festive event. I have found a long lost friend which had hours of my work in it.
Ok, for some electronic reason the picture is coming up sideways. Please turn your head to view it as I have exhausted my abilities to get it turned the way it is on my computer. Some days Electric and Magic are indeed the same thing!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
A Garden of Love
I have an area of my yard that Robert (who controls the grass for me) calls my Heart Garden. I love that name. I have planted things that I love in it just because I like them . There are amaryllis, rosemary, daylillies, tansy,coreopsis, and more.
I started looking around my yard the other day and realized how many friends have given me flowers. Jan C gave me double blossom daylillies. Ruth W. gave me spider lillies, and Eilene A. gave me walking lillies. All of those were transported from FL to here when I moved 9 years ago. It's like bringing friends with you.
The amaryllis pictured above was given to me by my father over 17 years ago. Actually this is probably an offshoot of the original plant but I think of him everytime I look at it. He almost always sent us a red amaryllis for Christmas. I sent my sister 3 amaryllis a couple of years ago for Christmas hoping it would have the same special memories for her as it does for me.
The Bee Balm pictured above was given to me last year by my friend Cam. She is a wonderful gardener and our friendship extends over 58 years. I have some Spider Wort which I treasure because it came from the yard of Mrs. Camille, Cam's mother. When I look at it I remember Mrs. Camille's fabulous sense of humor and I feel connected to her even though she is gone.
Another friend, Maureen M, gave me some
Easter lillies from her garden this year. They
remind me of her sweet spirit and strong faith.
Dianne S is a special neighbor and friend. We share our love of crafts as well as our involvement in Emmaus. From her garden came these African lillies and it is so special to be able to look out my front window and see the mother plant in her flower bed.
I enjoy going to the nursery and buying plants but I think the ones I treasure the most are those that come with the love of friendship attached.
I started looking around my yard the other day and realized how many friends have given me flowers. Jan C gave me double blossom daylillies. Ruth W. gave me spider lillies, and Eilene A. gave me walking lillies. All of those were transported from FL to here when I moved 9 years ago. It's like bringing friends with you.
The amaryllis pictured above was given to me by my father over 17 years ago. Actually this is probably an offshoot of the original plant but I think of him everytime I look at it. He almost always sent us a red amaryllis for Christmas. I sent my sister 3 amaryllis a couple of years ago for Christmas hoping it would have the same special memories for her as it does for me.The Bee Balm pictured above was given to me last year by my friend Cam. She is a wonderful gardener and our friendship extends over 58 years. I have some Spider Wort which I treasure because it came from the yard of Mrs. Camille, Cam's mother. When I look at it I remember Mrs. Camille's fabulous sense of humor and I feel connected to her even though she is gone.
Another friend, Maureen M, gave me some
Easter lillies from her garden this year. They
remind me of her sweet spirit and strong faith.
Dianne S is a special neighbor and friend. We share our love of crafts as well as our involvement in Emmaus. From her garden came these African lillies and it is so special to be able to look out my front window and see the mother plant in her flower bed.
I enjoy going to the nursery and buying plants but I think the ones I treasure the most are those that come with the love of friendship attached.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Pottery and fiber pictures
Here are the pictures as promised. The luscious fibers were purchased at SFFA. The tan/grey/lavendar is bombyx silk from Chasing Rainbows. The blue/purple braid is Merino and seacell which should be fun to spin.
The braid below is bombyx silk in, of course, blues/turquoise/purple.
You may notice something of a trend in the colors in the fiber and the pottery that I purchased. It's probably some sort of blue / purple sickness but apparently it carries over from the fiber to the pottery.
Ok, I finally got around to photographing the pottery I got in Seagrove, NC area. The problem is deciding what will be a gift and what I will keep.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Cleaning and playing
5, that's right, 5 big shelves that are now clean and orderly! One whole bookcase is done (except for what's on the very top but surely that doesn't count).
This milestone was achieved by alternating working on the bookcase, knitting, Bible study, playing with the dogs, and congratulating myself on being so productive. It takes a lot of more interesting things to balance the cleaning / straightening projects.
I'll have to think about what to tackle next. In the meantime, I am having such fun changing the persona on Firefox. I love playing with different backgrounds and Firefox makes it so easy. Today is all about pinks, and purples, and trees. There is a huge selection to choose from and, once again, it is a diversion from picking up the stuff I have accumulated. It really is my mission in life to teach people how to play. We often take ourselves way too seriously.
This milestone was achieved by alternating working on the bookcase, knitting, Bible study, playing with the dogs, and congratulating myself on being so productive. It takes a lot of more interesting things to balance the cleaning / straightening projects.
I'll have to think about what to tackle next. In the meantime, I am having such fun changing the persona on Firefox. I love playing with different backgrounds and Firefox makes it so easy. Today is all about pinks, and purples, and trees. There is a huge selection to choose from and, once again, it is a diversion from picking up the stuff I have accumulated. It really is my mission in life to teach people how to play. We often take ourselves way too seriously.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Starting to Shovel
You would think that completely cleaning out and straightening 3 shelves (not 3 bookcases, 3 shelves) wouldn't be such a huge deal. It has taken me the better part of a day. Most of the day was spent trying to get motivated to attack the shelves. Now this is where I could use a clone. The clone wouldn't throw out anything I wanted to keep and could do all the grunge work. Ok, maybe a clone without my procrastinator gene would work best.
It's such a shame that the bookcase is behind me as I sit at the computer. I need to turn around often. The rest of the room is still in the "surely a windstorm came through here" decor. That's what I mostly see so I'll be turning around a lot. Stuff in the middle of the room is so high I can't see the 2 lower shelves of the bookcase which I haven't cleaned and straightened. Hmm, maybe that's not such a bad thing.
I even have a large stack of books to take to knitting tonight to share, with the understanding that they don't come back to me! Naturally none of them are knitting books as I am still actively doing that.
Again, the clone thing would come in handy as one could knit, one could dye fiber, one could spin, one could make paper and then books, and one could go out for food when necessary. I could rotate around to which ever activity appealed to me at the moment. I may be on to something here.
I have taken the pictures of the pottery but in this mad burst of cleaning/sorting/tossing I haven't uploaded them yet. I will soon. You just know this shoveling thing isn't going to last.
It's such a shame that the bookcase is behind me as I sit at the computer. I need to turn around often. The rest of the room is still in the "surely a windstorm came through here" decor. That's what I mostly see so I'll be turning around a lot. Stuff in the middle of the room is so high I can't see the 2 lower shelves of the bookcase which I haven't cleaned and straightened. Hmm, maybe that's not such a bad thing.
I even have a large stack of books to take to knitting tonight to share, with the understanding that they don't come back to me! Naturally none of them are knitting books as I am still actively doing that.
Again, the clone thing would come in handy as one could knit, one could dye fiber, one could spin, one could make paper and then books, and one could go out for food when necessary. I could rotate around to which ever activity appealed to me at the moment. I may be on to something here.
I have taken the pictures of the pottery but in this mad burst of cleaning/sorting/tossing I haven't uploaded them yet. I will soon. You just know this shoveling thing isn't going to last.
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