Princess of Bob

I'm man enough to admit when I'm wrong.

2008-07-10T12:16:00.000-04:00

Seriously.

So - all of your guys who kept saying that hand sewing wasn't SO bad? (Especially mstra_margarita, who is infinitely patient in putting up with my bad, bad habits!) Y'all were right. It's not so bad. It's actually kinda nice. And setting in underarm gussets is SO MUCH EASIER when you do it by hand.

You were right. Yay!

I'm working on a new square necked camicia in the fabrics-store.com 3.5 oz. linen. Their 3.5oz isn't perfect - but it's very reasonably priced, and it does the job nicely. It has a nice drape to it, it's lightweight but not too sheer, and it has just a few slubs. The fabric snob in me wants something nicer, but the cheapskate in me finds it perfect for most applications. ;)

So - last night I 'cut' out the camicia panels by truing the fabric - pulling out a thread at the desired length and cutting along that 'line'. Easy-peasy. I got the sleeves attached to the body with a running stitch, and inserted one gusset. I plan on flat-felling the seams, since it IS linen and tends to be a bit on the ravelly side. I'm not 100% satisfied with my running stitch, but it doesn't totally suck, and I just need to take my time and practice.

The nice thing about this project is that it's small enough to shove into a little bag and bring with me to work - so I can work on it on my lunch break. Yay!

Extra-special thanks to mstra_margarita for gently encouraging me to stretch my boundaries and become a better seamstress. She's made of awesome AND win. :)

Two months worth of spinning projects!

2008-06-28T18:19:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately, between school and unscheduled travel, I haven't had time to play with the wheel much in the past few months - and when I HAVE had the time, I haven't had time to take photos!

It's amazing how a sinus infection will slow you down just enough to do a little dyeing and photo-taking. I've been down and out with a killer sinus infection the past week, so instead of doing what I had planned on today, I took it easy and did an impromptu fiber day. I pulled out the dyepot and played with my new Jacquard dyes, and took photos of my spinning projects for the past few months.

This first three are Olivia, 328 yds, hand spun on a Babe spinning wheel. Red merino mixed with black and white wool, bamboo and red sparkly nylon. Batt from chimera.etsy.com (aka dragonflyducky!), then plied with a plain white/black single. This was my first try at spinning bamboo, and my first time working with a batt. WOW to both. I'm now totally addicted to bamboo, and I'm saving my pennies for a drum carder of my own.

I think this is really bad-ass yarn. It refused to be photographed inside, so I took it outside - and the most convenient place was on the bike. This might need to be knit up into a biking scarf.

SeaFoam - 110 yds, hand spun on a Babe spinning wheel. Hand-dyed merino, generi-wool, bamboo and firestar. Batt from chimera.etsy.com, then plied with a plain white/black single.

Robin's Egg - 215 yds, hand painted mill-end roving. Used Wilton's food coloring on this one.

Desert Rose - 310 yds. hand painted mill-end roving. Used Wilton's food coloring on this one.

Twilight - 210 yds, hand-painted mill end roving.

One year. (Well, one year and a few days....)

2008-06-26T15:21:00.000-04:00

... you know, since I've had The Great Black Death for the past few days, I missed making the obligatory super-awesome ZOMG WE'VE BEEN MARRIED FOR A YEAR post.

Just over a year ago, the charming and handsome and I stood in front of our family, fremily, and friends and vowed to spend the rest of our life together. It certainly was not a vow that we took lightly - we're in this for the long haul. He's stuck with me. (BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!) Personally, I think *I* got the awesome end of this deal - I mean, where else am I going to find someone to take care of me when I'm sick and moaning? ;)

A year ago I spoke these vows: I, Silverstah, take you, Himself, to be my lawfully wedded husband. My constant friend, my faithful partner and my love from this day forward. In the presence of God, our family and friends, I offer you my solemn vow to be your faithful partner in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, and in joy as well as in sorrow. I promise to love you unconditionally, to support you in your goals, to honor and respect you, to laugh with you and cry with you, and to cherish you for as long as we both shall live.

Yep. We're right on par with all that. This past year we've had sickness and health, good times and bad, joy and sorrow. These vows have been tested, and I like to think we passed with (mostly!) flying colors.

I don't know what I did to deserve a husband like him, but I'm awful glad that I did. I'm a lucky, lucky woman.

Love you, sweetie. :)

Out with the old, in with the new.

2008-06-22T14:47:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago, my beloved '85 Honda Shadow 500 went to the Great Big Motorcycle Rally in the sky. I was driving home from school, about 10pm on a lovely warm NC evening, and it just lost power. Kinda like there was no gas, but I had just filled the tank that afternoon.

I got a rescue from a friend with a trailer, and my super-awesome bike mechanic made a home visit to see if he could do a quick fix. Nope - it had to go to the shop. Once it was there, it was determined that one of the cylinders just wasn't firing. So - it was either replace the engine or buy a new bike. Considering that I had been jonesing for a bigger bike anyway... I decided to forgo fixing it and simply replacing it with a newer model.

This weekend we went over to a few different dealerships - I really fell in love with a sweet '07 Honda Shadow 1100 that was on sale, but it just didn't feel... right. You know? It was a bit low, and a bit heavy. (I'm 5'7", average build, female.) Next stop was the Kawasaki dealership, and I really liked the 900 Vulcan Classic - it felt a little more right than the Shadow.

Last stop - my trusty mechanic's shop, where they have a small selection of used bikes and scooters. With the current gas prices, scooters are the new 'in' thing in our area. They had LOTS and LOTS of scooters.

After talking with the guys there, I test drove a 2006 Suzuki s50 - and as soon as I sat on it, I knew it was *right*. The feel is very similar to my old Shadow, and the balance is PERFECT. It takes curvy roads and highways beautifully. It ended up being a smidge more than I wanted to spend - but I figure that the money I'll save with the cost of gas rising will balance it all out.

Added bonus - it only had 1200 miles on it. She definitely likes a confident shifter - you have to give the shifter a nice little pop with your foot, but other than that... she's absolutely lovely. She was a little more than I wanted to spend - but really, she's a 2006 with only 1200 miles on it. I guess the story is that some guy really wanted his girlfriend to ride with him, so he bought her a bike. She only rode it a few times, and then decided she didn't like it. I LOVE IT.

So - long story short, she came home with me. :)

Compared to a 23 year old bike, she's utterly astonishing. No problems starting, she shoots right out of the driveway. Nice smooth ride. The left mirror needs to be tightened, but other than that, she's perfect.

TOTAL LOVE. :)

I wasn't planning on coming home with a bike yesterday, but I'm really, really glad I did. :)

The truth is out there.

2008-06-18T19:53:00.000-04:00

The truth is out there.

I think my subconscious is getting ready for the new X-Files movie.

I give you Gillian Anderson, as Dana Scully:

And I give you me:

Next time I'm bringing in that picture. Right now my highlights are that color, although you can't tell because of my crappy laptop webcam and the crappy lighting in my kitchen. They are, I swear! I want my whole head to be that color.

(Excuse the terrible photo - just got back from the gym. Case of the frizzies.)

Totally didn't do the Scully bob on purpose, but I LIKE it. :)

(Nicer photo!)

Laws that I'm glad still exist.

2008-06-03T12:19:00.000-04:00

N.C. Gen. Stat. 14-28 - Malicious castration:

If any person, of malice aforethought, shall unlawfully castrate any other person, or cut off, maim, or disfigure any of the privy members of any person, with intent to murder, maim, disfigure, disable, or render impotent such person, the person so offending shall be punished as a class C felon.

It can be noted that in this case, 'castration' is defined as removing a person's testes or ovaries, and disfigurement occurs when the natural personal appearance is impaired. (23 NC 121 - a 1840 case where one guy bit off another guy's ear. Who knew that Mike Tyson was so retro?) It can also be noted that it is not a defense that the maimed person consented to the act. (255 NC 42 - A 1960 case where Defendant - a physician - contended that the victim had consented to the maiming for the purpose of an insurance claim for his lost fingers. Defendant lost.)

This issue of 'weird law' has been brought to you by the letter "C", found when I was looking up 'careless and reckless driving', which is MUCH more boring than castration.

2008-05-21T17:07:00.000-04:00

The new thai place around the corner from me? WONDERFUL. A little pricey for lunch (their lunch specials average about $8.50), but you get a small side salad and more than enough food for two meals - so I have lunch for tomorrow as well. I got this astonishing basil fried rice that just SANG in my mouth. Fresh veggies, generous chunks of chicken. SO GOOD.
I can see my desk. This is v. good.
I lost my lawyer. He just had one silly little case at 2pm, and it's now 5pm. o_O
Tonight: torts! The woman teaching our advanced torts class is awesome in that she goes up and down rows when calling on folks, so you know generally when you'll be called on. Our row looks like we're up for tomorrow. She's also *very* gentle with her socratic, which is a nice little break. And we're going over some stuff we touched on in Torts II last semester, so we all kinda know what we're talking about. Freakish, that.
Himself has a second interview with Verizon on Friday - with the guy who would actually be his boss if he gets hired. When he called to set up the interview, he said that the regional manager was very impressed with Himself's initial interview, so we have high hopes that this will actually go through. Keep your fingers crossed.
Tonight, torts! I might start cleaning out my closet, too. There is so much crap in there that I NEVER wear. 80% of it needs to go away.
I have mint chocolate chip ice cream waiting for me when I get home. It doesn't help with the diet, but it makes me very happy.
Perfect motorcycle day. I might go out for a spin just because. I would have rode into work this morning, but I was a bad monkey and overslept. Pooh.
School started this week - class sounds like it'll be interesting but intense.
Rumor has it that Dean's List is a 3.0. Which means that, theoretically, I made Dean's List this semester by the barest, slimmest margain. I'll believe it when (if!) I see it.
I *bleeped* up at work yesterday. Thankfully TheLorax thinks fast on his feet and it kinda got fixed all on it's own. Still, it was a pretty big muckup. I'm not pleased with myself.
Still catching up from being gone for a week. Oh, dear God, all the filing.
Hungry.
I got to watch Weirdnessmagnet's boss work a nonsecure hearing today, which was cool. She's pretty fast on her feet. :)
Still overweight.
Still behind on everything.
Still no motivation to do much of anything, but I keep plodding along because it's the Thing To Do.

One more reason to like the state of California.

2008-05-15T14:31:00.000-04:00

Reason #1: Family! We, of course, have a ton of family there. :)

Reason #2: Fabric! LA fabric district FTW!

Reason #3: California Supreme Court has struck down the ban on same-sex marriages as unconstitutional.

In a 121-page opinion (which is HUGE guys, HUGE!), the Chief Justice said California has already recognized, in its laws and public policy, that gays and lesbians are entitled to equal treatment in every legal area except marriage. He also noted that state laws and traditions banned interracial marriage until the California Supreme Court, in 1948, became the first court in the nation to overturn such a law.

"Even the most familiar and generally accepted of social policies and traditions often mask an unfairness and inequality that frequently is not recognized or appreciated by those not directly harmed," the chief justice wrote.

2 states down, 48 states to go. Let's hear it for equality!

NCRF 2008

2008-04-15T15:12:00.000-04:00

v2.0 of the Campi Italian Renaissance Working Class dress is here! Lots of really minute details that nobody else really cares about. I promise.

Yesterday was our one trek out to NCRF this year - slightly damp, but overall a lovely day. :)

One of my favorite parts of the day was having our photos taken by Photos by Daisy. Daisy is a lovely woman and a great photographer, and they put your photos on a little CD for you right in the booth. Total instant gratification. It's kinda nice - I think my last 'professional' photo at faire was taken with a Polaroid camera at King Richard's Faire when I was... 12? Way too long ago. I need to dig that out and scan it in. Hi-larious, I tell you.

In any case, Daisy is a lovely woman who really has a good eye for taking photos. She's studied photography and done quite a bit of research on historic portraits - so she likes to pose folks in both modern and historical poses. Neat. :)

This was towards the end of the day, so excuse the giant bags under my eyes. Law school is really eating my soul. I'm tired ALL THE TIME.

Ah - and these are the first really good photos of the new and improved Italian Working-Class dress, yay! I'm REALLY very happy with this one. It's the first piece of garb I've made that feels "real", if yaknowwhatimean. It needs a little minor tweaking (I need to add one more lacing point on the sleeves and hem it up another inch or so), but other than that... it's just how I want it. Score!

1580's Italian Working Class v2.0

2008-04-13T17:05:00.000-04:00

Woot! We went to faire yesterday and I finally got some decent photos of the new and improved 1580's working class outfit. :)

My general area of interest is Italian Renaissance clothing. I decided to make something clean and simple that I could wear to a variety of events, and drew inspiration from the working-class art of Vincenzo Campi. Specifically, his Fruit Seller, Kitchen, and The Fishmongers.

This dress is crafted out of green linen with black linen guards hand-stitched to the bodice. There is minimal cord boning at the front opening to keep that from buckling, but other than that, this dress is completely unboned. It laces closed through lacing rings on the interior of the bodice. The skirt is cartridge-pleated on. Paired with detachable sleeves in pumpkin linen and white linen coif. Worn with a square-necked shift, partlet, and corded petticoat.

This is actually v2.0 of this gown - the original version is here:

http://silverstah.com/workingclassitalian.html

The major changes were MOSTLY cosmetic. Structurally, the gown was fitted well, but I had taken some shortcuts in certain areas. The guards were originally brown fulled wool machine-stitched on. I had tried to use lacing ribbons down the front, but I was never able to get them to work right - there was always a weird gap at the front. The skirt was originally box-pleated on. Now, it has hand-stitched linen guards, a cartridge pleated skirt, and lacing rings. I am MUCH happier with the final product. :)

I made everything but the hat in the last two photos - that was purchased on-site because I was having a bad coif day. ;) Photos of just me were taken by Himself, photos of both of us together were taken by Photos by Daisy.

The LOLZ, they keep a-comin'.

2008-04-08T12:08:00.000-04:00

moar funny pictures

2008-04-02T11:49:00.000-04:00

I was able to find a hair appointment this afternoon at 5:30pm. On the way there, I decided I was really tired with my hair. I've had the same basic style ("long") for YEARS. It's time for a change.

Since I'm not a high schooler, my webcam skills kinda suck - but you get the idea. :)

I'm VERY happy with it - it's all curly and bouncy and fun! YAY!

Edit: for those playing the home game, this is pretty much what it's looked like for the past 10 years, give or take. The shortest it's been in the past 10 years is about this short. So this is VERY different! :)

Well, I think the haircut is a qualified success. :)

Today's ensemble: new haircut, geeky glasses, the BEST JEANS IN THE WORLD, cheap-o gold-toned plastic flip-flops which show off my newly painted pink toenails, and this cute peach shirt. The whole ensemble makes me look like a very cute pregnant woman (because, really, you can't NOT look pregnant in a shirt like that!), but it's totally working.

Evidence? I has it, let me show you it:

Strangers checking me out on the street.

My barista made a cute little fern in the foam of my latte

Being randomly flirted with in the elevator

Other Good Things today - my punchcard at the coffee shop was full, so I got a lovely vanilla latte for free. Win!

The only negative side of the new 'do is that it'll make things more complicated for SCA events. My hair had, previously, been long enough to do some hair taping. With the new cut, I'll *have* to make a coif for later period stuff. It was next on the small-project list anyway (I'm going for 'plain', not 'zomg-crazy-blackworked like attack_laurel's), this is just added incentive.

Of course, I now have the *perfect* haircut for late 15th c. Florentine hairstyles, which makes me terribly happy. :) Of course, my plans have been for early 16th c. Florentine, so we'll see how all that works. I might throw together a simple 1480's outfit just so I can do the neat-o hairstyle. ;) We'll see. :)

Today seems much brighter - hopefully I'll be able to get some work done. Somehow, I lost a day this week. It only feels like Tuesday.

*love!*

The long and winding weekend

2008-03-24T16:12:00.001-04:00

It was a weekend of massive ups and downs.

Friday - The courts were closed, so I took a half-day, which was nice. I spent most of the day at work scanning files and getting caught up on paperwork. I rode out to the big Asian grocery store in Cary and looked around - too big for my tastes, I prefer the one on Capital in Raleigh. Went home, did some spinning. I finished up one of my rovings and got 310yds out of a 5oz roving, which is the longest I've been able to spin to date. YAY!

The badness: about 6:30pm I had a major, major panic attack about work. MAJOR. I took one of my happy little pills, and it didn't help at all. I ended up convincing Himself to drive me to the office, and I worked for three hours. Got my piles down to almost nothing, and it helped. It was kinda scary, though - I haven't had a panic attack like that since last July.

After I got done working, Himself took me to IHOP for dinner. Pancakes! Win!

Saturday - slept. Hard. Went to the Baronial workday and made a couple of t-tunics for naked fighters. It was lovely to be surrounded by good people working hard to make our Barony a better place. :) Went home and finished up laurahcory's sleeves for her Eponin - purple and grey with black/silver trim, yum! It's been ages since I've made an Eponin, but thankfully they went together just fine.

Sunday - Went to church for Easter. Himself was invited to a church that one of his clients goes to, so we tried that out. DO NOT WANT. It's what I call 'teleprompter church' - one of those big modern churches with giant projection screens that read to you the lyrics to the songs that the *rock band* is singing. Christian rock is fine, but (IMHO!) it has no place in my Sunday services. I prefer my Sunday services to be peaceful. Joyous. Uplifting. Thoughtful. Rock music does not fit into that equation. Strike one.

Strike two - the sermon had nothing to do with Easter. Easter is kinda the big high holy day on the Christian calendar. You know, the cornerstone of the faith. And the sermon? The pastor began his three-week lecture series on marriage. *headdesk*

Strike three - it's one of the churches that is Jesus-centric, to the point of neglecting God. That's something that drives me crazy in ANY faith that has a balance of deity - neglecting one for the other simply because you find one to be more easily accessible. You see it a lot in pagan faiths as well - women tend to focus on the Goddess and neglect the male half of deity. for some reason in Southern Christian churches, there is a HUGE focus on Jesus and poor God gets left out in the rain. I grew up in a Catholic church where we had a fairly good balance between God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit - as well as Mary and all the saints. So for a church to be so Jesus-centric, that makes me fairly uncomfortable.

Part of the problem is that Himself and I come from widely diverse religious backgrounds, and finding something that makes us both happy has been exceedingly difficult. We'd like to find something that works for both of us, but it's just not happened yet. We'll keep trying. (For the record, he likes teleprompter churches with rock bands. *headdesk*)

After church we had lunch with mstra_margarita, Trephina and Miss M. :) WONDERFUL Chinese food, great conversation. Win!

After that, I headed up to Durham for a viewing of 'Enchanted' at francesca_la's house, and worked on a side-lacing kirtle for her. The movie was brilliant - although I'm a little disturbed that so many people have told me that Himself reminds them of the Prince. o_O Kirtle is almost done - we'll finish it up on Friday night so she'll have something shiny and new to wear to BOO - yay!

Went home, did a fitting for laurahcory's Eponin. Everything looked great, so she got to take it home, yay! One more thing off my plate! :) We played a round of Munchkin Cuthulu, which is my FAVORITE Munchkin set. LOVE.

So - busy, busy weekend - not at all restful, but still lovely.

*love* to all!

What I Did on My spring break

2008-03-15T22:14:00.000-04:00

I bought one of these - yes, that's a spinning wheel - a la Sleeping Beauty. Or Rumpelstiltskin. Or... whatever. And, yes, it's made of PVC piping. It's not the prettiest thing in the world, but it does a darn good job at spinning. :)

This came in the mail on Thursday, and I've been playing with it pretty much non-stop. I've gotten to the point where I don't suck, which makes me happy. ;)

A few weeks ago I bought a bunch of undyed roving (the fluffy stuff you spin), and I spent all weekend making it pretty with food coloring.

My hands are dyed pink, my fingernails are an icky shade of purple, but I have a big ole' pile of Brown Sheep mill end roving in amazing, bright colors ready to spin.

This is my first time dyeing - so it was a lot of "hmm, let's try this!" and "let's see how THIS works!". *grin* The dyes all acted much differently than I thought they would - but I ended up with some amazing colors, so I'm really not complaining.

For those who are curious, I used Star's method here:

http://keeponknittinginthefreeworld.blogspot.com/2006/11/wiltons-icing-gel-dying-tutorial.html

This is 'Robin' - Hand dyed roving using Wilton's food coloring in brown, royal blue and teal. 4.8 oz

'Mossy Morning' - Hand dyed roving using Wilton's food coloring in green, royal blue, yellow and teal. 7 oz

'Sherbert' - Hand dyed roving using Wilton's food coloring in yellow and pink. 2.6 oz.

'Bengal' - Hand dyed roving using Wilton's food coloring in golden yellow and light brown. 3.4 oz.

'Magpie' - Hand dyed roving using Wilton's food coloring in teal and royal blue. 5 oz.

I can't think up a cute name for this one. Hand dyed roving using Wilton's food coloring in brown, light brown and black. 5 oz.

Hand dyed roving using Wilton's food coloring in green and burgundy. 2 oz. This is my least favorite - this was just me using up the last of the dyes last night. It will probably spin up pretty, I'm just not terribly fond of it right now.

'Dusk' - I didn't snap a photo of the roving before I spun it up last night - but this is hand-spun and hand-dyed using Wilton's black, teal and purple. 75 yds.

The evening of good and badness.

2008-03-12T11:44:00.002-04:00

Since it's Spring!Break!, I actually got to attend a SCA meeting last night. In looking at my schedule, it looks like that'll be the last one until... late June/early July. Craptacular, eh?

It was LOVELY to see everyone again - I had a wonderful time chatting with folks and catching up on some handwork. My BOO dress is coming along swimmingly. I purchased some fabric off of Francesca for a middle eastern ensemble - some amazing orange/pink striped cotton and salmon pink silk noil, and a piece of turquoise green silk noil. I love this basic design, using the pink stripes as the fashion fabric and lining it in the pink silk. I think I'm going to do the cute little shaped sleeve caps from my middle eastern bodice and then make the sleeves detachable for when it's really stupid hot. Sleeve ties should be pretty silk ribbons. With bells on the end. Jinglies FTW!

Dinner was... interesting. Company was excellent, as always. We went to Mellow Mushroom in the Tobacco District, and the service left something to be desired. They gave our table (party of... 16ish?) to a brand new waitress, who was trying her best but just not capable of handling that large of a party. To add insult to injury, they refused to split the checks (even when this restaurant had done so in the past!) and stated that they could only take up to 4 credit cards - and the check would have to be evenly divided amongst those 4 cards. o_O This left a lot of us scrambling for cash, and a lot of ticket wrangling at the end. Very frustrating. I'd be willing to bet that we won't be back there.

On our way back to our cars, our group was stopped by a couple looking for jumper cables. They immediately gave off a bad vibe, so I said that we didn't have any in our car. spyderbug said she had some, though - and the couple made it sound like their car was in the garage. Nope - it was off in some nebulous place on the freeway. o_O They started making noises like they wanted us to give them a ride back to their car, and I refused. NO way is some stranger getting in either of our cars. We told them we'd drive over to their car and give them a jump, but they'd have to walk. They agreed, I sent Himself with spyderbug. We drove to where they said the car was, but there was no car. Went back to the garage. No people.

I'm assuming it was a scam - asking for a jump, and then asking for $$ for a cab or something. I have little patience for that nonsense, especially at 11pm in a not-so-great part of Durham. The alarmist in me could totally see them pulling a gun on us. I'm glad everyone got home safe and sound, but I would have preferred not to have the adventure.

This morning: tired, late to work.

Crafty Weekend

2008-03-10T11:07:00.001-04:00

Wow - what a weekend! Very relaxing and fun, but now it's back to the grindstone. *sigh*

Daylight savings can kiss my grits. *grump*

I've been poking along at a reversible cable knit scarf for a few months now - the pattern goes pretty quickly, but I'm both a slow knitter and I don't have a lot of time to dedicate to it. Oh, yeah, and I have total crafting ADD. But I'm almost halfway through now - and I took a photo for my Ravelry account. So y'all ~~are forced to~~ get to see it, too! ;)

I also finished up my first skein of yarn about a week and a half ago - I'm pretty pleased with it. There's not much there, so I think I'm going to knit up a little pouch and felt it. I think the different colors will look very pretty when they're felted together. :)

This is the current batch of yarn on the drop spindle. I haven't been working on it much recently - again, craft ADD. But I do like the plain black and white colorway. :)

On Sunday splagxna, francesca_la and thalionar came over for a crafty day, which was lovely. I started work on retrofitting my working class Italian, which I want to have done for Battle of the Oranges at the end of the month. Totally do-able, especially if I hustle this week. The major issues were the guards and the bodice length. The guards were fulled wool just machine top-stitched on. Since they were fulled, the machine stitching didn't show all that badly - but they still didn't make me happy. They also were too wide.

So yesterday I took the bodice off of the skirt and took off the lacing strips that I had on there and replaced them with brass lacing rings. The lacing strips may work well for Jen, but I can never seem to get them to work properly for me. The lacing rings give me a much smoother closed edge, which makes me happy.

What does NOT make me happy is how much weight I've put on - which is obvious when I put the bodice on yesterday. I can't get it laced closed at all, period, end of discussion. Fortunately, a lot of images of the Italian working-class folks show a small gap at the lacing points, so it's not a HUGE issue - just my own personal aesthetic is to have it laced fully closed. I could re-draft the bodice and put a new one on, but I'm going on a diet as of today so I'm not going to worry about it. (Too much.)

In any case - yesterday I tore off the old guards, took out the lacing strips, put lacing rings on, shortened the bodice, prepped the skirt for cartridge pleating, and cut/pinned the new guards and started sewing them on. Instead of the dark brown wool guards, I'm using black linen. They're about 1.75" in width, which is significantly thinner than the old wool ones. They look *sharp*.

Tonight: work on the guards some more. I'm hand-stitching them down, so it's time-consuming but they look nice. :) I also need to swing by Hancock's and pick up more lacing rings to attach the sleeves.

Love is hot, dirty work.

2008-03-03T11:23:00.000-05:00

Himself tells this story in person so much better than I do - so I decided to get it all down here, so *I* have it on record, too. ;)

Our wedding rings are damascus steel rings from J. Arthur Loose, an independent artist in VT. As many of you know, Himself is also a blacksmith, and the style of wedding ring is one thing that he has been adamant about from day one. He saw high-end damascus rings in a bridal magazine a number of years ago, and decided that was what he wanted for his wedding rings. I like that they're truly unique, and enjoy the idea that they're both cut from the same piece of steel. There is an odd sort of spiritual link between them - at least in my head. ;)

One of the things that we have always valued about our relationship is that, while we enjoy being together and doing things with each other, we still maintain our independence and do things on our own. It doesn't bother him if I take a Saturday to go sewing with a girlfriend, and I cheerfully wave goodbye when he goes to a blacksmithing event with his buddies. We don't have to do *everything* together. So, even though we're creating a new family, we're still maintaining our individual selves - and that's why we chose the damascus rings. Taking two different pieces of metal and forging them into one piece that is stronger, more durable, and more beautiful than the two pieces separately. It just resonates with us.

Before we exchanged rings, we had the minister read this - which Himself wrote (with a little help from a passage in Offbeat Bride:

This is the point in the ceremony when I usually talk about the wedding bands being a perfect circle, having no beginning and no end. But we all know that these rings do have a beginning. Rock is dug up from the earth. Metal is liquefied in a furnace at a thousand degrees. Hot metal is poured into a mold, cooled, and then painstakingly polished. Something beautiful is made from raw elements.

Himself and Silverstah have chosen rings of Damascus to exchange with each other. Damascus is made by the combination of two different metals which are repeatedly folded and welded together. The individual metals are not lost in the combination, but retain their individuality. The strength of each bolsters the weakness of the other, and the contrast imparts a beauty that cannot be replicated. The harder metal reinforces the softer, giving it strength and rigidity to resist wear, while the softer metal lends flexibility to the more brittle, harder metal, allowing it to bend without breaking. Each component supports the other without losing its own identity. Each metal can be viewed as the individual striations in the finished product, and yet, once the metals are combined, they are inseparable.

Love is like that. It's hot, dirty work. It comes from humble beginnings, made by imperfect beings. It's the process of making something beautiful where there was once nothing at all.

I love the idea that love isn't perfect. We aren't perfect. But with hard work and a lot of heart, we can create something beautiful. :)

Going underground for a bit!

2008-02-28T16:27:00.000-05:00

Heads up to the peeps - my participation in our fine online community may be a bit sporadic in the near future. Work is kickin' my butt, and midterms are next week.

Unfortunately, not a lot of studying has happened this week thanks to the pox-ridden legal research assignment called "Pathfinder". Essentially we were assigned a set of facts and a state, and we had to do the research on this set of facts. Which isn't BAD. The problem is that it is a group assignment.

I HATE group assignments. Even when you have a good group of people (which, thankfully, I do!) it is still difficult to coordinate. I volunteered to be the final draft guru, since this IS 20% of our grade and I had a very hard time letting go of control. ;) So I've spent the last two days straight working on that stupid Pathfinder, filling in holes, verifying that the citations are correct (most of them weren't), verifying that all the caselaw and statutes were up to date (about half of them needed to be Shepardized), and consolidating 5 people's writing styles into one cohesive document. Oh, and editing it down 8 pages. It could be no longer than 15 pages, and our initial final draft was at 23. Last night was spent filling in most of the holes, and today was spent filling in the REST of the holes, making the language cohesive, getting the verb tenses to match, and carefully snipping away any unnecessary language to get us down to 15 pages. I *finally* got it done around 2pm, which doesn't give my teammates much time to review it - but at least two pairs of eyes other than mine have gone over it and found a few little nitpicky errors, which is good. (Not good that there were errors, but good that they were found!)

In the grand scheme of things, it was a relatively painless group project - I just think that group projects tend to be more trouble than they're worth.

It has also been the Week of Getting Cool Stuff. TheLorax's girlfriend moved into her new roommate's place this week, so they spent the weekend cleaning out her old apartment. He came into the office yesterday with a knitting book and two drop spindles that she was just going to throw out. They're much larger and heavier than the small one I had purchased, so it'll be interesting to play with them. I'm really bummed that I'm missing KA&S this weekend - I had wanted to swing by spanish_peacock's and get one of theirs. *sigh* Ah well, next time.

imperator brought in a big bagful of *amazing* home-baked bread to class on Tuesday, and I gratefully accepted a rye-flaxseed baguette. We had some of it with dinner last night - it's wonderfully tasty, thank you! (Share the recipe please?)

Well, that's about it - but homemade bread and free drop spindles? ROCK! :)

*love to all*, moi.

To quote Michael Scott:

2008-02-27T13:15:00.000-05:00

"My ho ain't my ho no mo."

Word, Mr. Scott. Word.

It seems that the justices in the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals are much more aware of modern cultural colloquialisms. In the case United States v. Murphy, Darron Murphy Sr. was appealing his conviction for tampering with a witness, Pamela Hayden, who he said testified against Murphy's son in a separate case. In writing the appellate court's opinion, a bored law clerk (most likely!) couldn't resist correcting the spelling of the word "ho" in the District Court's ruling:

The trial transcript quotes Ms. Hayden as saying Murphy called her a snitch bitch "hoe." A "hoe," of course, is a tool used for weeding and gardening. We think the court reporter, unfamiliar with rap music (perhaps thankfully so), misunderstood Hayden's response. We have taken the liberty of changing "hoe" to "ho," a staple of rap music vernacular as, for example, when Ludacris raps "You doin' ho activities with ho tendencies."

Who says the law isn't fun?

Recipes - Baked Oatmeal

2008-02-27T10:09:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Heather over at This Thing We Call Life for the Baked Oatmeal recipe tip - I'm definitely going to be making this on Saturday! :)

Baked Oatmeal
· 3 cups oatmeal
· 3/4 cup brown sugar
· 1/2 cup margarine
· 2 eggs
· 2 cups milk
· 2 teaspoons baking powder
· 1 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix all ingredients together and pour into 13 x 9 inch buttered pan.
Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.
You may add dried fruits and nuts and pour into small ramekins for baking and serving individually. I may try layering apples on the bottom of the dishes before adding the oatmeal mixture.

Oooh... The Pioneer Woman's Pot Roast looks amazing, too!

I can has yarn!

2008-02-23T14:02:00.001-05:00

Well, kinda. :)

I ordered a starter drop spindle set on Ebay a few weeks ago, and I've been playing with it for the past week or so. Helwyn was kind enough to give me some pointers on Wednesday night, and last night... something clicked. My singles aren't perfectly even, but they're a heck of a lot better than I had been doing. They actually look like YARN, instead of a giant felted disaster zone. ;)

I'm pretty excited about this new craft - it's *very* relaxing and meditative. Plus, it's something small and portable that I can bring to SCA events and the like without having to cart around my sewing basket. Yay!

This is the first two-ply yarn that I did that actually looks like yarn. I wasn't terribly happy with all the blue, but the yellow/purple came out nice enough that I figured I'd test out spindle-plying. It's not great, but it doesn't totally suck. The next batch will be much nicer, since my singles are much more even.

This is the current stuff I'm working on - overall it's fairly even, with a solid twist to it. When I do a test ply, it bounces back on itself quite nicely.

This is SO much fun. I want a spinning wheel now. ;)

Word up, happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T11:22:00.001-05:00

You know, I'm a pretty damn lucky woman.

Some of my loyal and faithful readers may find this hard to believe, but I am a very difficult person to love. I know, I know. You're shocked. Shocked, I say. ;) But it's true!

I have a fierce temper. I like to argue. I don't like talking to people - anyone - before my first cup of coffee. I think belching is really, really funny. I'm messy. I don't cook well. I'm constantly tardy. I over commit, so I never have time to do anything. I'm a workaholic. I watch really bad romantic comedies - incessantly. I'm a terrible patient when I'm sick. I could go on, but I think even LJ posts have a character limit. ;)

Yet even with all that, I've been lucky enough to find a handsome, sweet, charming man who is willing to put up with all my garbage. He *takes care of me*. He cooks me delicious dinners - if it were up to me, we'd eat nothing but "bachelor chow" (some sort of cold-cut meat, crackers, cheese, and fruit/veggies. I can live off of that and little else.). He takes out the garbage every week. He tells me he loves me every day. He keeps his goatee because he knows I like it. He thinks I'm pretty. He doesn't get grouchy when I buy fabric, even if it's not for him. ;)

On a deeper level, he encourages me. He supports my dreams, and constantly tells me that I can do whatever I set my mind to. He's excited about starting a family together. He holds me when I'm scared. He makes me coffee. ;)

He's my rock, my life, my everything. Like I often tell him, I'm perfectly capable of living without him - but I sure as hell don't WANT to live without him.

Sweetie, I love you.

headdesk

2008-02-03T17:48:00.000-05:00

Me = total moron.

Somewhere in the middle of December, I rode the bike out to study group. As I was pulling into the driveway, I saw smoke coming up from the bike - and little droplets of moisture trailing behind me. I was firmly convinced I had a coolant leak, and parked the bike until I could deal with it.

Well, finals, Christmas, New Year's, and the new semester hit hard - so I haven't had a chance to deal with it until now. I went out this afternoon and bought coolant for the bike. I topped off the overflow tank, which was suspiciously full. Turned the bike on, and watched. It started smoking again. Himself came out and helped me look for where the smoke was coming from. It was coming from... a very small patch of burned rubber on the exhaust pipe. I wiped that off and the smoking stopped.

Yes, I burned my *shoe* the last time I rode. I grabbed my cell phone and headed out for a test ride. 30+ miles later, nothing is smoking. Coolant levels all seem good, and the engine didn't overheat.

Glad the bike seems to be OK, but I feel like quite the maroon. ;) On the plus side, it's going to be nice and warm this week - which means that I get to ride to work and school. YAY!

Miyazaki crafting extravaganza!

2008-01-26T13:35:00.000-05:00

On a whim, I signed up for a "swap" on Craftster - you make a bunch of stuff for someone and send it to them, and they make a bunch of stuff for you and send it to you. It's loads of fun, and I had a great time playing with wool felt and blanket stitch. :) It was SO very restful to do something that is NOT SCA related. :)

This is a wool felt tri-fold wallet. The inside has a big long pocket for bills and such, and two little pockets for ID and cards. It was my first attempt at making a wallet, so it's a little wonk - but she specifically requested a wallet, and I was happy to give it the good ole' college try. :)

Pillow! It's a 8" square pillow with Totoro and the soot sprite on it. Appliqued in wool felt with blanket stitch, cotton twill for the pillow. The stupid pillow form was the most expensive part of this project - who knew pillow forms were so pricey?!?

Little Calcifer mascot - I think the picture is actually bigger than the mascot is. It's wee! :)

Day off FTW!

2008-01-21T19:49:00.000-05:00

Well... almost a day off. Admittedly, I went into the office for a few hours this afternoon. I really do have an ENORMOUS pile of paperwork on my desk that is only going to get larger. But I also wanted to take advantage of a day off. So only a few hours of work. ;)

This morning - sleeping in = WIN! I had a leisurely breakfast, watched a ton of 'Good Eats', and did some laundry. Around noon I headed out and did some MLK day sale shopping - Old Navy is having a 'stock up sale', so I was able to get two pairs of my (fat) jeans for $40. I hate buying clothes up a size, but I'd rather spend the $40 now and have jeans that fit than attempt to squeeze my ass into my size 8's. ON is having a huge sale (50% off of all clearance stuff), but it's all mostly in XS and XL - so I just got the jeans.

Hopped over to AC Moore and exchanged some knitting needles I bought on Saturday. They didn't have the size circular needles that I wanted in the nice bamboo, so I sucked it up and bought the aluminum ones. thalionar has inadvertently turned me into a knitting snob - and I don't even knit all that often. ;) I decided I wanted to try my hand at cable knitting, so I picked up some cable hooks. I'm now working on this scarf, which is easy even for ME. ;) Yay! Impulse purchase - I also got a big ole' zippered bag to keep my knitting stuff in, for, like $10. I figured I couldn't make it for that when you take into account fabric/time/notions, so I splurged and bought one. It's bright turquoise paisley, and it's HAPPY. :)

I worked for a few hours, came home, knitted. Now I'm off to tip some boning (heh, heh - she said boning!) and let that dry, then I get to put away all the fun stuff and work on homework. :( Oh well.

Oh, and I know it's not nearly as cold here as it is in other parts of the country... but it's still cold enough inside that my fingers are chilled. Yick.