Swine Flu? Or Seasonal Flu?

I've got something. I got the seasonal flu shot on October 13, along with a kenalog shot for my allergies anad asthma. On the 22nd I went home from work early with aches and a sore throat. Over the next few days my temp went up to 101.8. On Tuesday Oct 27 I went back to work. I still felt pretty miserable, but I didn't think I had a temp. I didn't actually check it, but I didn't have the headache anymore. Just extremely tired. On Friday October 30 I survived the day at work but my throat was sore again. Sat I was officially sick again. Temp back up to 101, and the cough began. A wet, thick cough that burns in my chest. On Monday I had wheezing and tightness in my chest. The fever is low in the morning, and climbs in the afternoon and evening. So today I'm off to the clinic. I hope I'm not just wasting their time and my money. But a woman I know had similar symptoms and they put her in the hospital for a few days. Better safe than sorry?

Starburst Snood

This weekend my shire hosted the Coronation of Sigfried and Elizabeth von Kulmbach, who stepped up as King and Queen of Northshield. I sat Troll for the first three hours with Ravenna, Serena and Raymond, then wandered around and visited with friends. I had spent the previous week altering my Bia de Medici gown.
It still isn’t right and I probably won’t wear it again.














But I whipped up a snood that I thought turned out quite nicely. I had originally intended it to be all metallic gold, but I didn't have enough of it, so I had to use some black lace weight silk/wool thread to finish last rounds instead. And, actually, I like it even better the way it turned out. Several people told me it was really cool, because the gold star seemed to float at the back of my head. Some people asked for the pattern, so here it is.

Starburst Snood
Materials:
Color A: Metallic gold crochet cotton size 10
Color B: Crochet cotton in the color closest to the wearer’s hair
#5 crochet hook

With Color A (Gold thread), chain 5, join with a slip stitch to form ring
Rnd 1: sl st in ring, chain 3, 19 dc in ring, join w/ sl st to 3rd beg chain
Rnd 2: ch 4, (dc, chain 1) in ea stitch around; 20 ch-sps
Rnd 3: sl st in next chain-space, ch 1, sc in same ch-sp, (ch 10, sc) in ea ch-sp around to last sp, ch 5, dtr in starting sc to make last loop
Rnd 4: (ch 10, sc) in ea loop around, to make last loop – ch 5, dtr in dtr of previous Rnd. Break off.

Change to Color B

Rnd 5-8: (ch 10, sc) in ea loop around, to make last loop – ch 5, dtr in dtr of previous Rnd.
Rnd 9: ch 5, sc in same loop, * ch 5, sc in next loop, (ch 5, sc in same loop) twice, rep from * around to last ch loop, (ch 5, sc in last loop) ch 3, dc in dtr of prev Rnd; 60 ch-loops
Rnd 10: ch 4, sc in same loop, * ch 4, sc in next loop, (ch 4, sc in same loop) twice, rep from * around to last ch loop, (ch 4, sc in last loop) ch 1, dc in dtr of prev Rnd. Fasten off.

Crock Pot Dying and More

I was supposed to go up to Lake Winnipeg this weekend for Gimli. Gimli is one of my all time favorite SCA events because it is so laid back and so many friends attend too. But due to headaches expenses (new pillow, new memory foam mattress pad, new massaging shower head, visits to the eye doctor and chiropractor)and car repair (new tire)I found myself without the funds to be able to make it up there. And altho I'll miss seeing friends I am going to enjoy a quiet weekend getting caught up on my reading and fiber pursuits.

A gal (Hi, Fiberbrarian!)on the North Dakota Knitters group on www.Ravelry.com posted about crock pot dying and I've always wanted to try it. I've done some other types of dying but not the crock pot dying. It looks much less messy than other methods. So I bought a beat up crock pot at a thrift store, got out 4 ounces of mystery wool roving and my four packets of Kool Aid and set to work.

It was pretty easy. After soaking the wool in water for a while I wound one layer of roving over the bottom of the crock pot, sprinkled some lemon-lime Kool Aid over it, wound another layer, sprinkled grape Kool Aid over it, wound again and added Cherry Kool Aid, Wound one more time and sprinkled the 2nd pack of Lemon Lime. I still had more wool and I was out of Kool Aid and room in the crock pot. So I pulled the excess roving free and set it aside. I added water and vinegar and put a lid on the CrockPot and let it go for 2.5 hours on low.

I poured a bit (way too much, actually) of some Country Colors "spruce" colored dye in HOT water in my mayo jar and shook it up to mix. I added the extra ounce of wool, screwed the lid on and let it sit as long as the crock pot. After the time was up I let the roving cool a bit then rinsed it a LONG time to get the excess dye to run out. Actually, there was no excess dye in the crock pot. The Kool Aid exhausted itself nicely. The country colors dye in the mayo jar, however, was still a dark teal in the water and a light tourquoise in the roving. I'm guessing that since I didn't apply heat to the jar the dye didn't take as well. So this morning I set a screen over a simmering stock pot and laid the wool on it to steam the color in. Hopefully that will work.

I hung the roving up in the bathtub to dye and this morning I couldn't wait to get started spinning. I think I'll make socks.

What I learned from my first attempt at Crock Pot Dying:
1. Sprinkle the Kool Aid carefully over the roving so as to not have a big pile of Kool Aid in one place.
2. Put darker colors on the bottom. The lemon-lime I used on the first layer of wool was no where to be found.
3. Don't leave the nice soft roving unattended unless you want your cat to think you've made her a new bed.

An Update

It has been a while since I posted so I thought I should do an update.

Spinning:
I have finished plying the three bobbins of the white mystery wool. I intend this to be for my Einstein Coat. I have 310 yards of three ply aran weight completed. That means I am a quarter of the way done with that. My knitting group the Loopy Ladies are having a dying day in October. I had hoped to have it all spun by then, but I seriously doubt it. Spinning just plain white wool is not exciting. So I'm taking a little break and will spin some of the hand dyed silk tussah. Not sure what to do with it yet. Maybe one ply silk, one ply wool for a shawl?

Knitting:
I am currently working on
*a pair of socks for a friend for 12th Nite
*a skirt for me out of Amaizing, the corn silk ribbon yarn
*the Guild Mystery Shawl Knit-A-Long
*a top down raglan sweater for me
I just completed the
*Quincy hat for a friend
*dishcloth for the 12 Dancing Dishcloths Swap

Health: I have had a headache for about 4 weeks now. I made an eye appointment and found out that my right eye has gotten much worse. So that could be it. I saw a chiropractor and was told that the muscles in my neck and upper shoulders were very tense. Could be the eye strain, could be that I clench my teeth at night, could becould be a number of things. The only significant change in my life around that time is that I started dieting seriously. The doc might have been joking when she said to add a little chocolate to my diet but I am taking that seriously. Also got a massaging shower head and will use it daily. The headache was especially bad this morning so I'm staying home from church. Feel bad about it as I am one of the counters for the church offering this month. But counting is hard when you can't see straight.

Dieting: Well, that is going so-so. I am down to 153.6 as of last Monday. I won't get on the scale again until tomorrow. I suspect I've gone up as I haven't been excersising lately aside from the sewing room re-organization.

Other: Sewing Room - I have been slowly going through every thing I own that is stored in the sewing/guest room and making piles of what I will give to friends, what will be given to the Salvation Army, what can be kept and what will be thrown away. That includes jewelry making supplies, garb, magazines and patterns, scrapbooking, quilting, embroidery, dying, spinning... It is a complete mess in there right now, but by the time Coronatin and crashers come around I'll have a nice tidy room for them with a futon.
Card Weaving Class - I didn't get to teach it, but Guilianna and Asny did and it sounds like it went great. It makes me want to warp up my loom right now and start a new project. Maybe trim for that green tunic?
Furniture Shuffle - I have been given a single size futon for the sewing room. So I want to throw the living room couch away and move the sofa sleeper to the livingroom. Then I can have a single person in the sewing room and a couple in the livingroom. And I bought a nice sewing table online. So the humongous table I have now can be put in the trash.

So there's my update. Probably more than you needed to know about me. :)

Play-Time For Beginning Card Weaving

A friend and I were going to go to Minot to teach a card weaving class in late August, but life has gotten in the way and we can't make it after all. It's disappointing since I wanted to meet all those fun people out in Minot. I put a couple hours getting a handout together and I don't want to waste that time. So I'm posting it here. This is not proofed, so I'm not absolutely positive these directions make sense. I was planning on following the directions word for word as sort of a trial run before we gave the class to catch any errors, but since I'm not teaching after all... Anyway, here is my rough draft class handout for card weaving:


PLAY TIME CARD WEAVING
FOR ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS
Warning: This class is being taught by a couple of amateur card weavers who love weaving but have only limited experience in teaching it

Materials:
*16 cards (playing cards cut square and with holes punched in each of the 4 corners will work in a pinch)
*Crochet cotton in 4 different colors, approx 25 yards of each of four colors and an additional 5 yards of one color for the weft
* Flat small shuttle (a paint stirrer cut into a six inch piece with shallow notches cut in the short ends or a wide comb will work in a pinch)
*Scissors
Optional items that may be helpful: a niddy noddy or a pair of chairs or a couple friends, 2 heavy duty safety pins, a pencil, magic marker.

Note: a loom is not necessary for this playtime
2nd Note: This style of card weaving is an ancient technique called Egyptian Diagonals

Preparing the Warp:

Cut 16 threads 4 feet long of each of the 4 colors
Easiest way to do this is to use a niddy noddy. If you don’t have a niddy noddy or you want a longer warp, have volunteers stand with their hands up like a giant niddy noddy. Now take your crochet cotton and wind around the niddy noddy (or volunteers) sixteen times. Cut the crochet cotton through all wraps and tie a knot at one end. This is the “A” thread. Lay it aside and be careful to not get the strands tangled. Repeat for the other three colors. You will have a separate pile of A, B, C and D threads, each a different color. Suppose A=Red, B=Blue, C=Yellow and D=Green.

Preparing the Weft:

This is very simple. If you have a small shuttle simply wind approx 5 yards of thread around it. If you have no shuttle, you can wind a butterfly or even a loose ball of the weft thread and use a pencil to pack the weft into the shed. Set aside until it’s time to weave.

Threading in the Cards:

OK, now the fun begins. Take a card and insert one “A” thread through the “A” hole (boy, I tried to find a different way to say that, but I can’t think of one) in the card, from the front to the back. Now thread a “B” thread in the “B” hole, from front to back. Then a “C” thread in the “C” hole from front to back, and a “D” thread in the “D” hole from front to back. In this sort of pattern all the cards are threaded from the front to the back. Other patterns mix it up, which creates different patterns. For now, we’ll just do this. Repeat until all 16 cards have been threaded like this. Smooth all the thread so each strand lays smoothly, and the tension is consistent with the other threads, then tie a knot at the end with the loose threads.

Beginning to Weave:

Tie the back knot to a doorknob or the knob of a chair or use a big safety pin to secure it to the back of a padded chair or a couch or something stationary. Husbands are a possibility, but children are a no go for this. Ask us how we know that.
Tie the knot that is in front of the cards to yourself. If you have long ends you can tie them around your waist, but if short ends you can pin the knot to your pants belt loop or tie it to your belt or whatever. Lean back a little to put tension on the warp.
Now, slide your cards about 6 or 7 inches away from you, so they are within comfortable reach. Arrange the cards so that the first card has the “A” hole in the top corner closest to you. Turn the next card so the “B” hole is in the top corner closest to you. Turn the third card so the “C” hole is in the top corner closest to you. Turn the fourth card so the “D” hole is in top corner closest to you. Repeat until all the cards are in that order: A B C D A B C D A B C D A B C D. You may want to mark the top edge of your pack of cards with a magic marker so you will always know when you are back to the starting position. You are ready to go! (Unless your weft is some place you can’t reach. Bummer. Untie yourself and go get it.)

Basic Weaving

Slide the cards back and forth until you can easily see your shed. The space between the top threads and the bottom threads is the shed. Put a pencil (or pen, stick or whatever) in the shed between you and the cards. Turn the pack of cards all together at the same time, away from you, once. That means the magic marker stripe is now facing away from your body. Put your weft (shuttle if you have it) through the shed from one side to the other, leaving a six inch tail on one side, turn the cards away from you once more. The magic marker stripe is on the bottom now. Put the weft through the shed again, and use the edge of the shuttle (or a pencil, popsicle stick or whatever) to beat the weft in. I tend to do this almost too hard, because my weaving turns out really tight and stiff. You can experiment to see what works best for you. Turn the cards all together away from you again. The magic marker stripe is facing you. Pass the weft thru and beat it in. Turn the cards once again away from you, pass the weft thru and beat it in. The magic marker stripe is facing up once again. Congratulations! You are back to the home position and you should see that the warp is making slanted lines.

Play Time!

Now comes the fun part! No, really, this is the fun part, I promise! Experiment in making designs. Later you can do a project using just one design element if you like, but for now let’s just goof around and see what we can make. The sky is the limit with this. The only concern might be that if you turn more one direction than another, your tension will tighten and make it hard to turn the cards. In that case just give yourself a little more slack by moving closer to the back knot.

Making ZigZags
Turn the cards altogether at the same time away from you 8 times, and then towards you eight times. You will be able to clearly see the way the pattern changes into a zigzag pattern.
Making Diamonds
Take the eight cards on your right and put them slightly away from you and take the eight cards on your left and put them slightly closer to you. Then turn the 8 closer to you towards you and the 8 slightly further from you away from you. Do this four times. Then switch and turn the cards furthest from you towards you and the cards closest to you away four times. Then switch again. Or turn 8 times before switching.
Making Fancy Furrows
Back at Home position, Turn 2 cards one direction and the other 14 in the other. Repeat 3 more times. Now turn 4 cards in one direction and 12 in the other 4 times. Now turn 6 cards in one direction and 10 in the other direction 4 times. Then turn 8 cards in one direction and 8 cards in the other directio, then 10 cards in one direction and 6 in the other direction… You get the idea. Just play around and have fun with card weaving.

Finishing the Weaving
When you are finished or have run out of warp, unhook yourself from the thread. Untie the knot at front of the weaving. Tie the beginning weft thread to one of the warp threads. Divide the loose front threads into 8 groups and tie double knots to keep the weaving from unraveling. Trim the ends to the length desired. Do the same at the back. Perhaps braid the ends into decorative fringe, or add beads for an attractive bookmark. If you don’t want the fringed warp ends to show you can thread a needle and run your warp threads into the back of your weaving. Now you can use this strip of weaving as a hat band, or a bookmark, or just to prove you did it.

Congratulations! You are Card Weavers!

My New Weight Loss Lifestyle

I joined SparkPeople a couple weeks ago with the goal of being able to track what I'm actually eating and to find a place where I can find other people to help me be accountable to. Sigh.

I have been doing the Spark People thing for over two weeks now. I have cut my calories by an average of 400 a day. I have had 3 glasses of mountain dew during that time when normally I had 3 glassses a day, and I excercised 10 of those days, where normally I would have excercised 2 days. I have worn a path from my desk at work to the bathroom from all the water I drink. I started out at 156.6 pounds. This morning I weighed 156.6 pounds. That is what I call depressing. I'm giving up a lot of things I enjoy and doing things I don't enjoy with nothing to show for it. It's enough to make a girl cry. Sure, I know some of the meds I'm on make it difficult to lose weight, and I wasn't expecting to drop 2 pounds a week, but maybe a half pound a week? Please? I'll go cry now. Then I'll go do some fabric retail therapy and then hit the gym on the way home.

Silks, Needles & More Report

The event was excellent!

We had 19 classes on all types of fibery goodness, from spinning, to period knitted stockings, to goldwork to bobbin lace. What an incredibly fun and educational day!

Those who were between classes sat in the common room and worked on projects while chatting.

The A&S competition was marvellous. So many entries in such a diverse range of techniques! The over all winner was Baroness Saraidh with her wonderful hand woven velvet and a close second was Lady Isobel with the intricately embroidered collar and cuffs. Her Highess Princess Elizabeth also selected an entry to honor. I just kept going over to the A&S tables to drool over the entries. They were all so good!



A gentle of our Shire hand crafted a card weaving loom to be raffled off. All proceeds will be donated to the Kingdom Endowment Fund. I'm not sure of the exact amount raised, but I believe it was a little over $30.00. We also had a jar at Troll for anyone who wanted to donate to the Fund.

Lunch was yummy. Chicken and barley soup was perfect for a cold wet day.

All in all, I think it was a great event. We'll probably do it again in 2011.