more on tales of desire

Here we are in part of our Tales of Desire costume! The tops are made by Nicki (aka Choviani) of Subee Djinn. Photos by Lee Corkette.

tales of desire

My dance troupe She'enedra has been working like crazy preparing for this BIG ASS show called Tales of Desire! I'm really excited to be in it, it will be taped for a Hollywood Music Center dvd! yay!! Anyway, I'm in charge of costuming as usual and here is the first of the belts we will wear...

here is the link for tickets if you will be in the L.A. area
http://www.talesofdesire.com/

new yarns

I'm experimenting with some new colorways for yarns to sell or use or whatever they end up being...this one is a Fall theme. But for some reason it reminds me of Ratatouille...eggplant, yellow zucchini, tomatoes etc!

When did the day after Thanksgiving become "Black Friday?"

I guess it was aptly named, in light of today's events of injuries and even death over shopping mania!

My family & I had an amazingly relaxing day of hanging around eating leftovers, watching movies, knitting, Robert worked on his War of the Worlds storyboard (ok he was working but in his p.j.'s). Over breakfast my daughter shared her surprise at seeing cars lined up to get parking at outlet stores last night on her way home from her girls' night out and that was at 1:00am !

I don't watch regular t.v. so I'm often out of the loop on what is happening with the mainstream society. But it seems people were possessed by some mania to get in line to be the first ones to start their holiday shopping! I'm embarrassed to live in a country where the people are manipulated to this degree! And although the shoppers definitely behaved badly I basically blame the corporations who profit by creating this kind of mania over a holiday that is supposedly about joy & peace.

Really I don't have the answers to this, and I admit I have certainly spoiled my children with lots of nice gifts every year, but I hope I put more emphasis on the ritual and the enjoyment of the season and family time. After I read the book Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case For A More Joyful Christmas by Bill McKibben, I was really inspired to simplify our holiday season here. For this family, we make a big deal out of decorating, buying a tree, baking, making gifts AND minimizing the shopping.

And here's a thought go to Etsy and if you have to buy something you can buy a beautiful handmade gift and support an artist instead of a corporation!

Letter I got from my daughter about Bush's meddling in reproductive rights!

Hi,

You just can't trust them. After promising not to issue any new
regulations after November 1, the Bush administration is poised
to implement a rule that could allow individual health care
providers to redefine abortion to include the most common forms
of birth control -- and then refuse to provide these basic
services.

A woman's ability to manage her own health care is at risk of
being compromised by politics and ideology. Planned Parenthood
is fighting back, before the administration implements this
rule. The exam room is no place to play political games.

I just signed a message to President Bush urging him to keep his
word and withdraw this disastrous proposal. Can you add your
voice to this cause? Click here to sign the message:
http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/hhsnov08_ppol?rk=Td_9v1S1H0wCW

yarn in tribal costumes

Here is how I've used yarn in some tribal belly dance costumes...fyi...

Apple muffins experiment

This was a new experiment I tried on my family and judging from the fact they disappeared immediately I think it was a success

preheat oven to 350*

Cut 2 green apples up into 1/2 inch chunks-set aside

put in food processor & mix:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup unbleached white flour (I use King Arthur)
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ginger

add to dry ingredients in food processor & mix:
1 egg
1 1/4 cup milk or rice milk
1/2 stick melted unsalted butter

mix in apples by hand

put in large muffin cups & bake for 25-30 minutes (makes 6) or I suppose you could use regular muffin cups and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Here are pictures of a few of the things I have for sale at my etsy shop!

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5295254

ok one more blog for the day

I wanted to post these pics of my daughter who won a shopping spree for her Halloween costume! She is not only pretty but smart! She is an architect!

Ravelry is a lifesaver!!!

Ok I do exaggerate! Maybe not a lifesaver but a project saver at least! On my first trip to Scotland I purchased some beautiful yarn in a shop in St. Andrews. it was in my stash for a long time and finally over the summer I decided that I wanted to knit a short sweater out of it. I wanted a sweater for my trip to Olympia that I could throw it over a tank top before & after teaching dance. Being a southern Californian I get cold easily when the weather dips below 70*! So I poked around looking for something cute & found the Nob hill pattern, http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring08/PATTnobhill.html, by Ashley Adams Moncrief on Knitty.com to be a perfect!

I live by the seat of my pants really, or is it knit by the skin of my teeth? ha.. I didn't actually know how much yarn I had because after winding the skeins into balls I misplaced the labels. I also had no idea the name of the yarn only that it was soft beautiful and I liked it. Being practical has never stopped me! I figured I could fudge the pattern if necessary to finish, and if really necessary I could dye & spin something similar for the sleeve caps.

You know where this is going right? I almost finished the body of the sweater...only 4 or 5 rows left and I would have been done when I ran out of yarn. I launched a thorough search of the silly craft room to no avail! I looked all over for the labels hoping I could find some more of the yarn somewhere in the world also to no avail. I looked up the yarn shop in St. Andrews to see what they had to offer just in case I could order some but I didn't see it on their website. And it was getting too close to my trip to mess around any more. I abandoned the idea and decided I would work on it when I got home.

After coming home I was so buried in making pirate costumes and preparing for pirate faire the sweater just sat on one of my work tables ignored and forgotten! Until one day while cleaning my desk (you realize by now I'm a very disorganized housekeeper) a piece of paper fell out of one of my notebooks...it was the familiar yarn label! Yay! Naturally I abandoned the desk cleaning operation for a yarn search. First I looked up "The Fibre Company" and found the yarn was no longer being made! Then I googled yarn stores looking for the yarn which I found in other colorways. Oh yeah, the label I found didn't have the name of the color way....So I contacted the manufacturer to ask them if they had any more of it ANYWHERE!!! And then realized I could use Ravelry to see if anyone had the yarn in their stash. Low and behold! I found someone who had 2 skeins of it...I sent her a message and she got back to me right away. She said it was just in her stash doing nothing in particular and she would be happy to sell it to another knitter in need, and she would buy more yarn with the money! I was so happy! I sent her the money and have the yarn! After that I got a message from the company that they have one skein of the yarn left...I think I'll buy it just in case!

So that is why Ravelry is a life saver!
p.s. yes the dye lot is a little more orange, but at this point who really cares? I'll unravel and probably alternate the orangey w/ the pinker color so it blends more easily. I don't mind reknitting.

Thinking...oh no!

I have a few things to say about the next weeks and what the current president has in store for us. And how difficult President Obama's job will be in turning all of the bad things the Bush administration has left him with around. I'm happy about the change in administration but realistic about my expectations for change. It's not going to be as easy as just stating intentions in a campaign speech.
In Bush's last 70 or so days in office, he plans to do the following damage...
#1. Make it legal for health care workers to deny birth control on personal religious beliefs.
#2. Gut a huge portion of the endangered species act.
#3. Block new worker safety standards.
That's just a few things on their plate! The Bush administration is the most insidious our country has ever endured. And they've only stayed in office because of all the cheating the Republicans have been able to get away with in both the 2000 & 2004 elections. They have committed numerous impeachable offenses & criminal offenses as well! I am galled by the fact that Clinton was impeached over a personal indiscretion but these people will probably get away with real harm!

Not only that but Bush will be able to place his evil plans into action without veto from congress because Congress did not pass their budget for 2008 and so are unable to use their power.

Anyway! I AM thrilled, I really like Obama, I think he is a good person really dedicated to public service: But I believe it's even more important to become vigilant now and hold Obama to his promises, and be watchful of the inevitable schemes the people who control George Bush will cook up to attempt to reinstate their power. My personal theory is that the Republicans pretty much knew they didn't have a chance of winning the election and they used McCain as a puppet to bring Sarah Palin, previously unknown, to national attention as a future puppet and poster child of the religious right.

One of the most important things the American public can do is to become as educated as possible about the issues and to consider the sources we obtain news and information from. If we listen to news from sources that are funded by corporate interests then guess what? That will slant they way they bring us information. It is a difficult job but CONSIDER THE SOURCE kids!!!! Here is a great source that I love and guess what? You can listen online! It is publicly funded radio Pacifica Network! I listen to KPFK 90.7 in Los Angeles, there is KPFA in San Francisco. I don't know all their stations but here is a link....
http://www.kpfk.org/
http://www.pacifica.org/
and a particularly good show Democracy Now!!
http://www.pacifica.org/program-guide/op,program-page/station_id,4/program_id,4/

I think I like yarn best!

Is that weird? I think I like it all coiled up and just nothing useful really! Ok not always but here is the mermaid yarn knitted up into a scarf...

Mermaid yarn finished

Well the first skein anyway...

I kinda like it...

Riley likes it too....

why?

I don't understand why prop 8 passed...It's the proposition to change the California constitution to ban same sex marriage. How can this happen in our state which is so progressive? People were so motivated to get out and vote for Obama which was great, but I wonder sometimes if the fact that we are 3 hours behind the east coast affects our attendance at the polls. After all, I left the rec center, a polling place, where I teach dance at 8pm last night, when the polls were closing, by the time I got home 15 minutes later the news was announcing that McCain had ceded the election. They hadn't even started counting the west coast when that announcement came through! And much earlier, before I went out to teach it was already being said on CNN that even if McCain won the middle of the country there was no way he would win.

What is the lesson here? And why do we have to have a lesson? I feel that I could have done more than have a sign in my yard saying NO on 8...I wish that I had helped out by making calls or something like that. The other night when there was a BIG yes on 8 protest near my home and there was one lady standing on the corner by herself with a NO sign, I stayed home and cooked dinner, because Riley was hungry...was it the right thing to do? Should I have given her a sandwich and gone to stand with the lady? Did the liberals not come out to vote because the BIG issue had already been settled?

And the issue here is not whether you are heterosexual or homosexual but do you believe in separation of church and state? And do you think that issue is important enough to stand up for? I do. This morning as looked at the election results for propositions around the country I saw there were so many issues motivated by people's personal religious beliefs. I totally believe in freedom of religion, but those beliefs are a PERSONAL matter NOT a government matter. And there is a major irony here, the same people who say they want government out of their personal lives are the same ones saying they want laws passed protecting their religious beliefs.

This is just another form of bigotry!

Mostly I feel really sad for two beautiful kind & funny women friends of mine who just 4 weeks ago told a group of us the story over dinner of how they went out the first day that they could to get married. They are such a sweet and loving couple, how is it a threat to anyone else that they are allowed to be married? HOW?

This is one of the best days ever!!!

I'm so thrilled that Obama has won! Now for the hard work! How can things be turned around for the positive in this country? There is such a wake of damage, it's hard to imagine. But I know we all feel so energized by this! I feel it's more important now than ever to be active and vigilant. Listen to good information, read a lot, speak out for social justice. I don't know what I'm going to do but I know I want to do something in the coming years to help.

For now! Crack open the champagne! YAY!!!

Etsy shop updated

I added some new little yarns on my Etsy shop...I will be adding more yarns with more yardage, but these are just little tasty bits of yarn for now.
I'm slow, very very slow! Like a snail, but I want to clean out the craft room and there are tons of more goodies in there waiting to see the light of day!
Here are some samples...
go to etsy to see more schtuffff.....

Mermaid yarn

I haven't been posting much and it's sad all through Halloween and the cute pictures I could have had! : ( It is all because I broke my camera! That is usually what happens when it gets flung across the driveway (accident). Really I should try it on my cell phone because I really need a new one!

Anyway Robert bought me a new camera yesterday and I am working on this turquiose yarn which was inspired by another spinner from Ravelry, Indigonightowl. She has some incredible yarns and I was drawn to one called Africa yarn here is a link to it...
http://www.ravelry.com/people/indigonightowl/stash/africa-yarn

The yarn consists of a thick & thin wool that is plied with linen thread that has been strung with beads.

So with that as my jumping point I am working on my Mermaid yarn. The wool is from Louet unfortunately I didn't have my camera so I didn't snap a picture of it in it's pre spun roving form, but here it is spun up and patiently waiting on bobbins...

In the basket you can see the silk hankies that I had dyed up a few years ago and have been hiding in my stash. Instead of the commercial linen I'm spinning up the silk hankies. I am trying to use as many materials that are already living in my stash of goodies in the interest of thriftiness and to justify my hoarding tendencies.

here are some pictures snapped by Robert of me doing the spinning...