Round Up

This is what I set out to do this month:

• birth band sampler, 10 hours -- I did do a few hours, probably about 7.
• Freebie rr --this is complete and ready to be sent.
• sissy's poncho --I've had to unstitch some of this. I haven't gotten back to it.
• auntie's afghan, 10 hours --I've decided that this is a gift for next Christmas. Now I have to think of a good birthday present for her.
  
• auntie's booga bag, complete --I ran out of hot pink, I just have to make the i-cord.
• auntie 2's shawl --this honor is being passed to my cousin.
• granny's scarf--well and truly done, done, done!

I would like to point out that I do have a few more hours left in November. Ha! As if.

For December

• Make Christmas cards (doing that this w/e with Sissy)
• Finish and send Heart in Hand Wee Ones RR
• Finish and send Sisters and Best Friends RR
• Finish and send Ornament RR
• Make a scarf for the dude's co-worker by 12/14
• Finish Sissy's poncho by 12/24
• Finish auntie's booga bag by 12/24
• Possibly make a scrapbook about my uncle's fishing prowess--my aunt just gave me the pictures and clippings on Thanksgiving, so they're not expecting it. We'll see.
  
• Make a capelet or shawl to wear on 12/24. I might just wear all black and wrap the yarn around myself.
  
• Make a scarf for neighbor

What I really, really have to finish right now is a letter of recommendation for a delightful young woman who wants to go to graduate school and make the world a better place. Good thing too...it needs it.

Stitching Blogger's QOTW: Stitching Knowledge

Do you know it all or is there something out in the stitching world you still want to know how to do? Okay, am I going to be the only schmuck that says I know it all? I know an extraordinary number of specialty stitches, and my French knots are very good. I have done hardanger, silk ribbon embroidery, lascis, blackwork, stumpwork, and Russian punchneedle. I've put wool felt on my stitching and couched fancy threads.

My big question is how the hell do you finish punchneedle, and short of making patches for clothing or dollhouse rugs, what does one do with it?

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My trip was pretty eventful. I got stuck in O'Hare for hours on Wednesday night. They canceled the earlier and later flights to Philadelphia (mechanical failure and lack of plane, respectively). We were delayed and delayed while we waited for late flights to take off ahead of us. Then, when they finally loaded us into the plane, we had to wait to be de-iced because some jacque-ass parked their car in the way of the de-icing truck. What's a regular sedan doing on the tarmac in the first place? you might ask. As did we all... I hope whoever did that got fired. Because I sat in a plane for 2 hours while we waited to be de-iced. Fortunately, I had my knitting. I was patient and being driven insane by people who thought complaining was going to move that car out of the way. Okay, not everyone has to knit, but what about a book? If you are traveling through Chicago, or anywhere really after November 1, shouldn't you be prepared to wait? If everyone were reading, stitching, knitting, playing cards quietly, I think it would have been a lot more pleasant. As it was, the flight attendant nearly had to throw a person off the plane. Then, my cousin's saintly husband picked us up at 2:00 am. And then got up early with the kids on Thanksgiving, and let us sleep in. Otherwise, it was a relaxing holiday. I finished a Christmas scarf, crossed another off my list (cousin's going to make great Aunt's present), finished one RR and got another underway. And I hit the Joann's sale on Saturday (there wasn't much for me there on Friday).

I Never Do These Sunday Brunch Memes...

1). How do you cook your turkey? (Stuffing, spices, cooking bag, etc.)
There is an elaborate method propogated by Dave Maynard of WBZ radio in Boston. It involves cooking the turkey partly upside down on toast. This is how my entire family cooks turkey. Planning this is my annual attempt at math.

2). What is your favorite Thanksgiving dessert?
Since I can no longer eat wheat, I concentrate on the other stuff. My cousin is making creme brulee for us this year. We'll see.

3). What are you doing this year for Thanksgiving?
Last year was the first in 18 that I travelled over Thanksgiving weekend. My husband, sister and I flew to National to go to my cousin's house. It was such a relaxing holiday visit--just "the kids"--that we decided to do it again this year, but now they live outside of Philadelphia.

4). Do you have any family traditions for Thanksgiving?
Well, we're making them up now that we have a parentless-by-choice holiday. Last year, we ate when the food was ready (rather than the mad scramble of getting it all done by 1:00); we each made something we felt like making/really needed to make it the "holiday;" and we played games after the babies went to bed. We'll probably keep that last one.

5). What one dish does it just not feel like Thanksgiving without besides turkey?
It used to be my mom's broccoli casserole, basically cheese sauce with broccoli in. Now that feels so heavy. I like homemade cranberry sauce, and I wish I could eat oyster stuffing--although I make my dad's triple corn stuffing (really from the Black Family Reunion Cookbook). The recipe begins, fry half a pound of bacon, reserving the drippings. You can see I'm adjusting to the new wheat-free diet. Last year, I just risked it. Boy did I feel like crap. Thanksgiving is really tricky. I don't think I have it worked out quite yet.

Where are You Going? Where Have You Been?

I stole the title from the widely-anthologized Joyce Carol Oates story, even though it's not one of my favorites. Not bad, but she's done much better. I think schools use it to scare girls about strangers. But I digress. I use the title today because I am on the verge, and I think it's a good title for being on the verge.

I haven't been stitching as much as I should have been. Every spare and waking moment has been focused on finishing the alumnae club website, and it's done. Of course, there are glitches to work out, but I am done worrying about it for now. (If you've visited recently and the page looks the same--has a watercolor purple owl in the corner--hit reload.)

Tomorrow, I'm getting on a plane. I'm going to Philadelphia where I will frolick with children and generally be in the warm bosom of family, although not my nuclear one. (Please note, I pronounce it new-clee-ur, as it should be.) I will sit. I will stitch. I will breathe the air and be bored. Ah, good times.

Stitching Bloggers QOTW: Hand-dyed Fabrics

Hand-dyed fabrics - love 'em or hate 'em? If you love them, what kind/colours do you have? I'm a traditionalist. I have lots of bleached and tea-dyed linen. I once took a class from Bent Creek, a companion piece to "Acorn" (it was a squirrel) and we stitched on bleached linen. Lots of the women were looking for pieces of fabric with subtle shading, but I was perfectly happy to have a giant bleach spot right in the middle of my fabric. I like how Terrence Nolan uses the bleached fabrics. I am getting more into the colored fabrics, again via Nolan: Saint Basil's Cathedral is one of the many pieces I have started. But I don't have a lot of the fabrics, I'm not a fabric collector.

Too Much To Do

Tonight, should I:
1. Go to the Stitchnbitch that I have promised to attend for months and work on my sister's poncho, including finding the two dropped stitches?
2. Finish up the website for my alumnae club that was supposed to launch last Monday?
3. Begin the freebie rr that is supposed to go out 11/23 and is not even begun?
4. Read Against Love which Laura Kipnis signed for me today?
5. Go to bed and avoid all this other stuff, catching up on the sleep I am so desperately missing?

More Distractions

As I mentioned earlier, I had tickets to the WTA Championships. Six days. That ended Monday night, not when Sharapova beat Williams but when Shaughnessy/Petrova beat Black/Stubbs. (Doesn't black stubbs sound like something that's about to fall off?) I did take along my ornament rr and stitched in the changeovers and between matches and sometimes when I just got bored. (It's really the dude and our friend who are into tennis.) And this was way too much tennis, even for them. We've been getting home between 11:30-12:00 for the past week. And the fun hasn't stopped; our friend defended his dissertation last Friday, so we took Friday off from tennis to celebrate with him. Now that the tennis is over, he wants our attention. Fortunately, he leaves tomorrow, and we should be back to the quiet little life that lets me find time to sit and stitch.

And I need some time. I have two rrs to get out in the next week. Of course, I have been stitching on the ones that go out 3rd and 4th not realizing where I was. So yesterday, I sat down and ordered my rr stitching priorities.

I've got to spend time getting the English Christmas gifts together. I've--well, I'm not entirely willing to take all the responsibility for this--totally missed the mailing deadline, and now we're going to have to spend more to get things there on time. Ugh. I wish I could get the dude to plan ahead. He's such a fucking procrastinator. I still have no birthday present from him. Hell, he hasn't mailed the card I made for his nephew whose birthday was in April.

Stitching Bloggers QOTW: Distractions

Do you find that having another distraction (music, movies, people to talk to) while stitching helps you make progress or make mistakes?
I find I do a pretty good job of making mistakes even when I am paying very close attention. Sometimes I get so engrossed in a movie or conversation that I have a difficult time tearing myself away to actually do the stitching. Sometimes, though, having people around to stitch gets me going. I am pretty sure I never could have finished my cousin's wedding sampler (the one that generated the "Stitch Bitch" nickname) if I hadn't met with regularly with my stitching friends. I think if I had been on my own, I would have found lots of other stuff to stitch. Knowing that others appreciated the efforts of this piece--people who I could bitch to about all the effing color changes and blended needles--made it a little easier to work on.

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This weekend, I was supposed to go to a rubberstamping convention with my sister. She's got quite the stamp collection, which works out well for me since I like to make my own cards and scrapbook. It turned out that she had to work both Saturday and Sunday so she could get everything in order for a business trip she was taking. She called me on Friday and left a pathetic little message, "Please, please, please tell me the stamping convention is not this weekend." So then I was back to my internal debate whether I should go to the convention at all since I had tickets to the WTA (Tennis) Championship that started at 1:00. Rubberstamps or S. Williams vs Davenport? My sister was so pathetic, that I went to the convention for her. I got to the tennis one set into the match. Not bad. I'm sure I motored through the stamps faster than I would have if my sister had been along, but I did get to see the cute stuff from Savvy Stamps, Judi-Kins, and Printworks Collection (where we spent all our money last year). I also got some Paula Best stuff for myself--not my sister's kind of thing. I took lots of pictures, and maybe I'll share them with you too, once I have them off the camera.

This Medicine is Makin' Me Sleepy

Most days, I go home and stitch after dinner. I might engage in other crafts, but I try to spend my evenings occupied in some sort of activity. The hive situation is interrupting my regular schedule. The doc gave me some awesome pills that are super antihistimines which, it turns out, are also anti-anxiety meds. When I first started taking them, I thought they were great: I itched less and I slept through the night, which I haven't done with any regularity in 15 years. Sweet, sweet sleep... The problem with the pills is that I have a very small window in which to take them. I fall dead-to-the-world asleep in about 1.5 hours, but, if I take them too late, I won't make it to work (since we only have one car, it's not a matter of being late to work, but a matter of staying home--okay, I could take the bus, but if you saw the route I'd have to take, you'd pardon me). Now I find my entire life scheduled around pills rather than around my needs, like time to stitch. The day-time allergy meds don't work so well (Allegra 180), so when I get home, it's a matter of seeing how long I can go without taking the pills and crashing. I don't have much to report...

Stitching Bloggers QOTW: Oldest/Longest

What project has been a WIP/UFO the longest? Or what project took you the longest to complete?
The project that has been a WIP the longest is Toy Gatherer by Sherpherd's Bush. I have a lot of things that have been started but not finished because I prefer starting to finishing, and I am completely undisciplined about it. Toy Gatherer has been put aside for wedding samplers and birth samplers and Christmas presents and birthday afghans. I have picked it up recently, and things were going well on it for a while, but then the Christmas present-making season began and I've been focused on that.

How does one decide what took the longest to complete? Longest time start to finish--including the time spent on other things? Or the most total number of hours on the project? For the latter, it's probably the afghan. For the former, it may be Professor Fizzby's Freebee which I started in 1999 but didn't finish until last May--a grand total of 5 years. Of course, once I put it in the rotation and was active on it, it only took about 15 hours, which I managed to do in about a month.

Get Crackin'

My Heart in Hand Wee Ones RR has been on hold. Of course, you know me, I got right on it [/sarcasm]. Now, all of a sudden, it's back on again, and I have 5 days to get it laid out, collect the overdyed flosses, stitch my piece, and ship it out. Ack! I've decided to do the Wee Santas, but I've only collected a small number of them. I've got '96, '00, '01, and '02. I'm going to need some information on '97-99 and 2003 and 2004. I need to know the dimensions and the list of overdyed flosses each pattern requires. Now is not the time to be shy. Now is the time to check out your collection and tell me what I need to know to get this thing in the mail!

I had a nice chat with the lady that makes Colorscapes washable overdyed fabric today. I'm not the type to stick my stitching on bold fabrics, but when a designer makes something as great as Flip Flop Fun, you have to stitch on the original. Of course, this means more investing in fancy floss (she uses lots of wildflowers and some flax n' colors)--I just received a birthday stash extravaganza from Nordic Needle: lots of flosses I need for, um, something important, a new doo-lolly, and a new stitching bag. Sure, I spent a lot, but I did a long penance for losing the last stitching bag before I bought this stuff. And I know that it is truly what people would have bought for me for my birthday if everyone hadn't been in the hospital (a bit of an exaggeration only my father, uncle, and grandfather were in the hospital, but that pretty much takes care of all my female relatives who buy me gifts--and my sister, who can count on her to get me a birthday present on time? Hey, the dude owes me a present too. C'mon people, it was almost a month ago.) Well, that's my mood shot. Have a good weekend.

It's Gonna Be a Bright, Bright Sunshine-y Day

Okay, yesterday things were dark. It wasn't just the election. Or the hives. Or the sucky job that I managed to screw up royally. Or the fact the Dude didn't want me to take the 15 week job. It was all of it together and more.

First I read about Arlen Specter. Now, I've never thought of him as a big women's rights advocate. But here he is, standing up to the new president.

Then I read about these lesbians in Oklahoma. Ordinary fucking people living extraodinary lives. Heroes for a new day.

Yesterday, when a group marched through campus singing "This Little Light of Mine," I thought, "What fresh hell is this?" It sounded distinctly like gloating by the Religious Wrong. Today, they sound like civil rights activists gearing us up for the second round. And today, I'm ready for it.

What Fresh Hell Is This?

I Voted.

I am such a political junkie. I got high today by voting. I'm serious; it makes me feel good to vote. I got up at 6:00 am to be at the polling place when it opened, and I had to wait for 45 minutes because the place was packed. PACKED. First time ever, and I've been voting there for 7 years, usually first thing in the morning, with a return trip after work because my neighbor needs someone to hold her hand. But I'm not complaining about the wait. If you have to wait in line to vote today--and I hope all Americans do--just think how good it will make you feel to do it. Think of the many woman who lectured in favor of women's rights and were attacked physically because public lecturing wasn't considered "ladylike." Think of the suffragettes who went on hunger strikes and were force-fed, sometimes via enema. Think of Emily Davison in England, who wanted to vote so badly that she threw herself under the King's racehorse. Think of the women who worked from 1840 to get the vote for women (that wouldn't come for 80 more years). See, your wait is nothin'.

And a Trip to a Hypothetical Place
Suppose you live in Los Angeles and you have a boring job that doesn't pay all that well. You're cruising some crafting message boards and you see that someone who is starting a craft show is looking for a PA of sorts, not so much a film person as a crafting person. You figure what the hell! You send off a jaunty e-mail telling how your first crafting experience was when you were quite small and you stuck pins in your Barbie's head to give her earrings. You ask, is it a full-time job? You think maybe you can squeeze it in with your regular full-time job because, living in L.A. as you do, you know that film jobs are temporary. Loads of full-time, but temporary. You get a call. They like your "resume." They apologize about the low pay, which it turns out, is about what you're making after 5 years in your boring job. They can guarantee 15 weeks. You're sort of hoping to not be in Los Angeles much longer anyway. Do you chuck the job you have and take a new, full-time, temporary position with the possibility of renewal? Trade in your boring job for crafting for pay?

Stitching Bloggers QOTW: Banished

What would you do if stitching was banished by law? I suppose I would become a stitching outlaw. Before they came to take away all my stash, I'd find a way to hide my floss and some fabric. I think I'd risk one or two patterns, but I'd have to give some up for the great burning of the cross-stitch stash. (I'm picturing Nazi Germany book burnings.) I think I'd find a way to lift the floor boards in my closet so I could put my stash in there. If you saw the state of my closet, you'd know no one would bother looking around in it: too much crap. Then I'd have to learn to stitch by candle light or something. Eventually, like the early catholics, we outlaws would develop a little sign to acknowledge each other in public. Maybe index finger pressed to thumb. Or a floss-stripping motion. Would we be daring enough to arrange clandestine meetings? Would we gather to share the patterns we socked away, or would we all become designers? Would an underground pattern 'zine spring up? Would we disguise our patterns as knitting patterns? Or would it just be easier to put our energies in the other crafts that we currently neglect in order to spend more time stitching?