Turquoise with Black, Dyeing times

EEEEEEEeee dyeing craze! Lots of pictures. First is the wool and silk hank died turquoise, next is what it looked like when I first added random black "specks". I rinsed the hank in plain hot water before adding the black. It was light going on, but it sat inside some plastic wrap (to keep the moisture in) for four hours. In the third pic you can see the black is taking a better hold, although only on the wool after that time. But that creates a really COOL look as the turquoise silk really stands out!

Then there is the matter of the broken clamp. The strong and buff BF BROKE it while trying to tighted it as much as manly possible (clamping the topper on the truck down because two clamps rattled thier way off). Such a strong BF he is!

And then, Zar. Ain't he cute! Bathtime! He has grown sooooo much since summer. Soon, I will have to put him in the bathtube for bathtime! He is a strange creature. When I put him in the water, he sticks his head waaaaaaaaay up to keep it out of the water. Then, he looks down as if to say...Oh! What's this...Hummmm...must investigate. Then blooop! Under water tortoise! He will purposly put his head underwater, look around, walk around (still under water) and then come up for air and do it again. But he soon tires of the whole thing and proceeds to try and walk through the walls of the milk jug. LOL He's a cutie.

Until next time...

Secrets of Silk

So I found this article on silk (click heading above to be taken to that page).

Here is the first couple of paragraphs...there is something I want to point out near the end of this segment.

"More than 4500 years ago, a Chinese empress discovered how to unravel silk cocoons when one dropped into her cup of tea. Until this time, fibre for cloth came from plants (cotton, linen, hemp, ramie) or animals (sheep, goats, camel and yak). No one knew of such a fine and shiny fibre as silk, and no one would have believed it came from the secretions of an insect.

As the Chinese and other nations began to travel around the world, they each sent ambassadors bearing gifts to other countries. Silk was the most treasured gift from China, and her intelligent emperors soon realised they had a very important trade commodity. To meet the great demand for silk, the emperors ordered their citizens to pay a portion of their taxes in silk cloth. And to help insure that they would remain an important trading power, the government imposed a law that anyone who revealed the secret of silk production would be put to death.

The mystery of how silk was produced was not revealed to the western world for over 3000 years. One tale is told of two Christian monks who were sent to China to discover the age-old secret of silk production. They returned to Constantinople two years later with silkworm eggs and mulberry tree seeds hidden in hollowed out canes. From here, silk production spread throughout Europe. "

Lemme get this straight. Two CHRISTIAN monks....STOLE silkworm eggs and mulberry seeds. Wow, way to practice what you teach!! Guess it started out on the wrong foot, aye? *smacks forhead*

Until next time...

I want to dye, but I am afraid...

That I'll fuck it up again! ARGH! It takes so long to make up this yarn I want to dye (wool and silk), and I want to dye this hank turquoise with intermitten/random black....so it looks like what a turquoise nugget would look like. Plus, turquoise and black go together so well.

So I was thinking. Dye the whole hank turquoise....then overdye with black using a squirt bottle, or just dripping it from a brush, to help with the randomness of it. Then I would have to steam it to set the black. Does this sound like another flop?

Until next time...

Running around...whew!

Oh man, am I tired now. I was walking home from the grocery when the BF zips by me on his way to the bank. Since I was only a block away, I met him there. He went back to work, and I got to take the truck so I could do my runnings. I went and bought some goodies for my SMAT pal to enclude with her undyed yarn that I spun up. Got some fushia dye to mix with the purple I have.

Went to half price books on the west side to see if there were any deals there....that was a waste of time and gas. They have the exact same stuff as the east side does!!

Went to menards to get some more energy saver bulbs, those new rayovac 2500 rechargable batteries, a little something to decorate the door with and, I bought three packages of gold tensil to use in my spun yarn. YES, I am so frugal. They sell it at a local fibe shop, but it is nearly $5 and ounce...I don't think it is worth it. Just go buy some tinsel around the holidays! I took the three packages that were left and they were....brace yourself....a whole $.24 each!! WOW, big spender!

I was also looking from some small diameter rubber or plastic to try and make circulars from. All they had was some rubber stripping for repairing screens. That might work, but I am sure I can find what I need somewhere. All I would have to do is melt the ends and stick them to some shorter needles with a tapered end. That is how the bamboo circulars are made.

I also added a new gadget to the side menu by twitter. com. Neato!

Whew, I am very tired now after all that. It is soooooooooo warm outside! It's unnatural for this time of year! SO now I am going to sit, relax, knit, and watch those netflix DVD's I got yesterday.

Until next time...

Making Knitting Needles Part 4-with WIP

Vuela! They are a little longer than I am used to working with, but they do the job nicely!

This is the beginnings of the Crossover Shawl found in Ribbon Styles. I bought most of the yarn through knitpicks.com, and some I found on sale at a local fabric store last summer. I didn't know then what I would make, but it has a purpose now! The camera really does not due the colors justice, and focusing on it was a hurtle! Click photos for larger version. You too, can make your own knitting needles!!

Until next time...

Twitter

I've been trying to add a twitter panel, but this thing doesn't want to add another Java panel. Humph.

I wonder if it will work here....

follow C4G at http://twitter.com

Until next time...

OMG!!! Armed and Famous filming in my home town...

BLOGGER IS BEING A PAIN!! I am having to post this via email because the blogger site will not load! My Mother told me they are filming this in Muncie Indiana, my home town! Now read this article that OUTS some major shit that the Police Chief "denies" and what the producers are doing to the poor and uneducated:     Cop Reality Show Falls Victim To Critics In A New CBS Series...
December 14, 2006 by Staff Writer	Print This Page | Send to a Friend
MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) - Producers of a reality television show are paying suspects arrested by gun-toting celebrity cops to persuade them to show their faces on the air. "Armed & Famous" is an upcoming CBS reality show in which former "CHiPs" star Erik Estrada, La Toya Jackson, Jack Osbourne and others become armed reserve officers on the Muncie police force. CBS publicist Kelli Raftery confirmed Monday that the show has offered some of those arrested T-shirts or cash to sign a waiver, officially known as a "likeness release." "This release form has no effect or impact on the arrest or the bond," Raftery said in a statement. "A nominal fee in exchange for a likeness release is not typical, but is certainly not unprecedented." The tactic angered a woman whose son accepted $150 in exchange for having his face shown. "No amount of money is worth the pain and hurt that I'm feeling as a parent," Dorothy Woods told a Muncie, Ind., newspaper. Her son, Terence Walker, 23, was arrested last week on a warrant and misdemeanor marijuana charge by several Muncie police officers, including celebrities Trish Stratus, Wee Man and Estrada. Woods said she believed the show is spending a disproportionate amount of time in black and poor neighborhoods on the city's south side. Muncie Police Chief Joe Winkle denied that the show was taking advantage of low-income residents and said his department was not involved in the waiver process. "We are just going where we get called and policing like we would any other time," Winkle said. Walker said he initially declined to sign the waiver. But when a producer offered him $150 and reportedly told him he would appear on television anyway, Walker said he tried to make the best of a bad situation. "That way it wouldn't be all on my family," Walker said, referring to the $630 he needed to get out of jail. In another case, Philip Vore, 36, claims Muncie police held him in an empty room at the Delaware County Jail, refusing to officially book him until he signed the waiver. Winkle denied the allegation. Vore eventually agreed to sign the waiver in exchange for $400 money he has yet to see, said attorney Michael Quirk. Producers initially offered Vore a T-shirt that said "I got arrested by a celebrity and all I got is this lousy T-shirt," Quirk said. "I think the city of Muncie has set themselves up for embarrassment and lawsuits and all kinds of problems," Quirk said. Vore was wanted on a warrant out for testing positive for marijuana in several drug screens, a violation of the terms of his pretrial home detention. SOURCE: Ventura County Star (California)

 

This is Muncie. A small little hick town full of fanatics, druggies, more crime than the Chief would like to admit, and now...they are being solicited for this piss-ass-poor excuse for a reality show.

My Mother told me someone has tried to brake into her home THREE TIMES over this last summer. I've told her she has to file a police report each time, no matter if they get tired of coming out to do it (fucking ass-wipes) because if there are no reports, there is no evidence of a problem where there is a HUGE one. She doesn't want to live in Middle Town Gardens, but being on a fixed income and disabled, she doesn't have much of a choice. The place has gone from bad (when I was still living with her), to worse and worse still. I HATE the place. I never want to live in Muncie again. It's corrupt, full of crime, the police department is corrupt and treat the poor and dissabled like SHIT (I experienced this when I was a kid), and they suck. The Ball Memorial Hospital is shit and have had many suits filed against them for wrongful death due to BAD practices. Muncie is a HELL HOLE. It's where the putrid slim goes to fester and grow. No appolgies, as these are my true feelings for my home town. Such a shame.

 

Until next time....

RAOK

I've decided to join this ring so that I am able to send crafting goodies that I no longer use, to people who will actually use them instead of giving them to a second hand store.

Until next time...

Making Knitting Needles-Part 3

Here are some more pictures, this time, the endcaps! The pictures on the end are from a commercial cane that was on clearance. I bought it a couple of months ago to make into stitch markers...still have yet to get THOSE done. *snort* But stitch markers will go loverly with these endcaps! I glazed them with the Krylon Clear Glaze. It is a "tripple thick" glaze that gives items a nice glassy look. I used a bunch on a Rune Casting Tray a while back and it looks very nice with the glaze.

The glaze is still a little sticky, so a few more hours I will get started on the project that needed the 15's and post pictures after a couple rows.

Until next time...

More pictures of needles...almost done!

These are the end caps I made from poly clay. I am gonna glaze them so right now they are sitting and drying.






























OOOOo look at that grain detail!! This is the needles all lubbed up with Tung oil. They are still a bit wet, but you can curtainly see the grain detail, especially in the oak (front).









Here is a full shot of them.















And a close up of the finished tips. Pretty damned good aye?! Now they need to dry for a couple hourse and then I will apply a second coat, let dry for an hour or so, wipe them down with a clean cloth, and let them dry overnight. Tomorrow, the caps get clued on and more pictures to come!

Until next time...

Creating Knitting needles

You read it right....I have ventured into making knitting needles out of dowels. I bought oak dowels when I could, but one size they only had in soft popular. Oh well.
I'll take you though the steps.

One is to round the end of the dowel. I used a dremel tool, but you can whittle too. I used a course sanding barrel bit.



Once you have the end rounded, sand down a little further from the end (or whittle).





Then concentrate on forming a ruff-draft (so to speak) tip. You don't want to sand it all the way down to "the perfect point" in this stage. You just want a ruff form. You will be sanding it down by hand with sanding paper and this is how the tip will be perfected. When you get to sanding, you want to start with fairly course sandpaper, and then move to fine and then superfine. This gives the wood a nice smooth, professional finished look.





Take your needle gauge with you to the hardware store when you are ready to purchase some dowels. I noticed that the dowels that are just a smidgen too big for one size, will fit that size after sanding. Here are a pair of size 13's which I thought were 15's, but after sanding...turned into 13's!

Here are size 13's, and size 15 needles. Regular cost retail for these: 7.99 a pair for bamboo or wooden, actual cost spend for these two sets: 1.88 (!!!!). Yes, I do have a project ready to try out the 15's as soon as they are finished. I cut the dowels to around 14-15 inches long. I rounded the ends to make smooshing them into some polymer clay easier. I made polymer clay ends, dusted them with micro-pearl Pearl-Ex powder and they are baking as I type. I'll place more photos in another post as five pictures is the max per post.

You will want to seal the wood before gluing on the end caps with either Linseed oil, or Tung oil, or any other wood finishing oil that you prefer. I would not recommend using any stain, or poly-seal. I have tung oil, so that is what I will be using. You want to apply the first layer, let sit for about 20 minutes, wipe off the excess, let dry for a couple of hours and then repeat and let sit overnight. I dunno if I can wait that long!! LOL

Until next time...

Would you eat cloned foods?

I know I would not!! Then they say they more than likely will not label which foods are from cloned animals!! Ummm, can you say massive boycott? People are gonna wanna know they are buying cloned meat!! They bitched and moaned over getting fast foods labeled, but cloned foods will not be marked?

I highly doubt that this will fly in America. They will have to label eventually because I will turn vegan if they don't (and I love my red meats!).

BOYCOTT CLONED FOODS!

Until next time...

Yay! Ribbon Styles!

I finally got the Ribbon Styles book from the craft book club along with a crochet encycopedia. I figure someday I will need to use crochet again, and last time I missed the knitting encylopedia edition. *pout*

Now I can get started on the CrossOver shawl on page 29. Yippie!!!

I need to go to Susans Fiber Shop for some more Synthropal (sp?) so I can dye some more yarn soon. I think the sythropal would have helped the silk in the mixed plied skien absorb more dye.

I also need to stop by the artist supply store for more dye for a special someone, and some for myself. Too bad they are not on sale this week. *pout*

Until next time...

OH BOO! Dyeing flop!

It was fun mixing the colors together...I had such high hopes!

This is what I was shooting for...at least in one segmant of the yarn. Note how the silk took up only the lilac dye, while the wool took up the black cherry color what was made by mixing the lilac and a bit of red. Pretty!!!






The dyepot looked promising. I pour turqoise in the middle, violet-blue up one side, and the cherry-red color at the very end.













But this is what I got. The blue-violet over powered everything else...and my skien is mostly a dark colbolt blue with hints of black cherry here and there. *pout* Not what I was hoping for. The silk ply took up less color than the wool, which gives the whole skien a tweed look, which is interesting.

Next time, I am using this technique. I was turquise, blue-violet, and red-violet in three CLEAR sections and have them all blend and meet in the middle.

Oh well...live and learn!

Until next time...

Lucious Yarn spinning Holiday Weekend!

OHHHHh yeah! Look at that...oh Gods...how yummy! I got about 7 ounces of this lusciously sparkling yarn from my Shetland singles. Three of those ounces is going to a curtain someone along with some extra goodies. *evil!!!* LMAO

Today I am going to dye the other 3 ounces I got from it, and knit a pouch from it-I think. I want to do three complimentary colors...something with turquoise. I was thinking turquoise, black, and violet. That sounds pretty! Using low-immersion.

Until next time...