One More Day!

This is it ... one more whole day at home, and tomorrow, after working till 3, I finally get to leave for War. Last night was spent doing last-minute packing of books, hobby stuff, and other personal items. I'm taking scads of projects, more than I'll be able to complete, but that's okay ... I'll always have choices.

I'm taking the Celtic Icon sweater (started last year some time, and not even half-way done; paused back in January and not picked back up since); an almost finished dishcloth; the stuff to complete 'The Second Sock' (yes, I finally did it - one of a pair done, the other never started; I really want to get that project done, so I can make more socks; I won't let myself start a new pair until I finish that pair); and of course the Log Cabin blanket.

Awhile back I'd spilled some vanilla rum on it (go figure), and it had a sticky spot and a sickly sweet smell every time I picked it up. Sunday, while I was at the laundromat washing my sleeping bag, I finished the row I was on with the blanket, yesterday wove in all the ends I hadn't gotten around to yet, and then washed it, to get rid of that vanilla rum mess before I took it to War to continue working on it.

It's getting close to being declared done. I've decided not to make it bed-sized after all, just 'personal sized.' Once it's large enough to comfortably cover me while napping, that's going to be about it. I think. I don't know ... a full size blanket would have been nice. It's incredibly soft and warm.

I also took several embroidery projects, and I'll be taking the tapestry loom. I haven't had time to work on that in weeks, and would like to spend some time with it this week as well.

Well, with nine whole days, I ought to be able to find time for some of those projects at least. That's, of course, not counting the reading books I took, and the stuff I'll buy there.

This evening's going to be a push ... while I got a lot done yesterday, it wasn't as much as I hoped, and tonight's all the time I have left. I have to go to the grocery store; come home and pack the camp food tote and my personal food tote; empty out the truck (still has stuff from cleaning out the other house), then load it with all that I'm taking out this time (my large blue garb tote, two food totes, a wooden trunk I take my personal stuff in, 2 wicker baskets and a tote bag with hobby supplies), plus two coolers (empty till tomorrow). Sheesh, I never bothered to wonder if I could fit all this stuff in the truck. But I should be able to ... it's not that much, and it's a pretty big truck.

It's going to be rough,though, since Berg (who also isn't back at Pennsic till later in the week) came over last night and I stupidly stayed up till 3:00 a.m. Oh well ... I'll manage, won't be the first time. And I have the anticipation of War in 36 hours to keep me motivated!

Did I mention I finished at dad's house Sunday? All done, keys left, door shut and locked behind me. It was hard. In some ways not as hard as I feared, but in some ways harder than I hoped. I know, that's weird, but that's how it was. But ... while I'm sad, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't also greatly relieved. It was a huge thing that I'd been dealing with for months, and now it's taken care of and completed.

(sniff) They've Gone To War Without Me

Well, here's me whining. Everyone's gone off to War without me. It's the Friday night Land-Grab-Eve parking lot party before Pennsic. I haven't missed this since my first Pennsic in, oh, I don't know, I think 2002. It kind of really sucks. I couldn't go this year because of dog-sitting issues. My brother is watching Tyler during my main stay at Pennsic, starting next Wednesday, but to take him there just for the weekend is just way too much. He lives an hour and a half away, and I tried that in May for War Practice, and it was a disaster. Way too much driving for the amount of time I got to actually be at the event.

I had another very good offer of a dog-sitter, but my niece really wanted to watch him ... she's very attached to Tyler, no more than she gets to see him, and I understand when they had him for War Practice she spoiled him rotten ... which is perfect, that's how I like to have him treated. Although maybe there really is too much of a good thing ... when Tyler came home from that experience, he was actually depressed for a week or more. I think he missed the constant 24/7 attention.

But anyway, with my brother watching Tyler, I decided months ago that I would have to skip Land Grab weekend, at least staying for the whole weekend, this year.

I suppose I could look on the bright side ... it's looking like it's going to rain most of the night out there, at least off and on, with at times really heavy rain, and some thunderstorms. Yeah - doing the parking lot thing in that is no fun. We don't set up tents or anything - too much work for just one night, we usually sleep in the front seats of our trucks - so it's not like you have anywhere to go to get out of the rain, except to just go sit in the truck. Not a great time.

The parking lot party is pretty fun on years when the weather's great ... people wander around till all hours of the night drinking, meeting up with friends they haven't seen in a year, playing music, and generally enjoying a Pennsic-esque frivolity break before the work of setting up begins the next morning. All of Saturday and a large part of Sunday are just work - setting up the entire camp.

I don't have to miss the entire weekend ... I am going out tomorrow for a few hours. I figured I could leave Tyler alone for that long, I mean, he stays here by himself when I'm at work all day. Without having to go to my brother's, it's only an hour drive to Pennsic, so I can stay there for several hours, and get back before Tyler begins to feel abandoned. I have half the camp loaded in my truck, and will be showing up on site tomorrow afternoon sometime to unload that so the guys can finish setting up camp. Fortunately I don't really have to do much of anything. That was the deal I made with them earlier this year. If they would handle my set-up and tear-down work, I'd cook dinner in camp every night I'm there. Hence all the cooking and freezing frenzy last week, to get it all ready.

I think it's going to work out great, and hope the guys think so too, enough to continue this every year. Because I really detest set-up and tear-down, and I don't mind cooking so much anymore. I found a lot of good things I could make in large batches in advance, and other things that could be easily cooked on site with a minimum of mess and fuss. I know the dinners are going to be really good, and I don't think I'll mind the hour and a half or so each evening that I'll be spending heating up, serving, and cleaning up after dinner. If I do, I can always remember the alternative: exhausting hours of set-up and tear down first and last weekend, and not having a good, hot meal each evening (because if left to their own devices, the guys would have the kitchen so trashed I'd never be willing to step foot in it, much less try to cook myself anything there).

(Sorry, guys, but you know I'm right!)

Some of the stuff I came up with for dinner: beef tips and noodles (I have an awesome recipe for the beef tips done up in the crock pot, which are now frozen; and I'll cook the noodles on site); rigatoni (taking frozen pre-cooked hamburger, canned sauce, and rigatoni to cook on site); a vegetarian jambalya made with beans instead of sausage or shrimp (cooked ahead, frozen); another great crock pot recipe called "Island Kielbasi" - kielbasi cooked in the crock pot in a sauce of ketchup, brown sugar, and pineapple chunks, now frozen, to serve with rice cooked on site ... that's all I can remember off the top of my head, but I think it's going to work out well.

So ... I'm home alone this Pennsic Eve, as I will be again tomorrow night after my brief foray to War during the day. But ... three more days of work, and I'm outta there for 11 days. And I need that vacation ... my boss thoroughly pissed me off today, but that's a rant for another time.

I'll be busy during the next 5 days, anyway ... I still have to finish up at the house, pack some of my personal stuff and load it in my truck, go to the grocery store, pack that stuff up and load it in the truck, go to the bank tomorrow, and several other things I'm sure I'm forgetting (but I have a list).

It seems like forever, but Wednesday will get here, and I'll get the hell out of Dodge for a week and a half, and be incredibly happy to do so. The only down side of all of it is I'll miss Tyler a lot ... but I'll know he's well taken care of (spoiled, in fact) so I shouldn't worry too much about him.

Progress - Finally

Things are finally percolating along. I only have a few things left to do at The House ... about 5 or 6 last things to retrieve; a pile of keys to sort so I can leave the new owner the right keys to the doors; and some paperwork to sort through, so I can leave the new owner the manuals for the furnace, air conditioner, and refrigerator. No, I don't have to do all that; yes, I want to. Buying a house, especially one's first house, can be traumatic ... I know. This particular transaction was already slightly tainted by the buyer deciding one week before closing that she couldn't afford the house after all, and wanting to back out; and we more or less forced the sale through under threat of a lawsuit (because I really didn't want to have to start all over by that point). But at the same time, I don't want the new owner of my mom and dad's house to take over possession with bad vibes. I thought if I could, I'd like to do a few things to make the transition to her new home a little more welcoming.

As for Pennsic, I'm quite on track now. I'm surprised ... and pretty certain that whole "pre-packing" scheme is what saved me from the pre-Pennsic panic I'd otherwise be experiencing now. All of my pre-packable things are now packed, sitting in the garage waiting to get loaded in the truck. I've already started very tentatively on the things that aren't pre-packable, and won't go with me till the last minute. All the food is bought, cooked and frozen where necessary (except another few last minute things that I can't get till right before I leave, to keep them fresh). Tyler's food is all cooked, both for the next week that I'll be home, and 16 days worth is frozen - more than enough to take him through Pennsic and for me to have some left when I come back, so I don't have to worry about rushing out to the store and cooking for him the day I return. (Yes, I cook for my dog ... one of these days you're getting a post about why everyone who loves their dog should feed him or her a home-cooked diet ... but not today).

That FoodSaver thing was phenomenal for Tyler's food, by the way ... 16 days worth of food vacuum packed and stored in the freezer in about the same amount of space only 4 days of food used to take up. I always stored his food in big square plastic Rubbermaid containers with lids ... and only put 4 days worth at a time in one (because for it to sit in the fridge any longer, it started to get a little wonky). It would have taken 4 of those to get the same amount of food in the freezer, and they take up an enormous amount of space. The FoodSaver bags take up little more space than one of those large containers. I'm definitely asking for one of these for Christmas! (hint, hint, Dread Reverend).

My boss did give me an extra day off, so I have next Thursday and Friday off, plus the whole following week. Bliss! I'm still debating whether to go out Wednesday night, or Thursday. The whole point of asking for the extra day off was to get to Pennsic, and ergo my relaxing R&R, that much sooner. But it occurred to me that by having to work till 4 on Wednesday, then pack up the coolers, go get ice, and drive 1 1/2 hours to take Tyler to my brother's, it's going to make Wednesday night a bit of a scramble to get there - and probably Tuesday night a bit of a scramble to get the truck packed in advance with the last minute things. I could just wait and go Thursday, using my extra day off to sleep in, take my time doing my final packing up without rushing like mad, spend some time with Tyler, and make a nice relaxing day of it. It's really a toss-up - scramble to get there Wednesday, but then not have anything else to worry about starting Thursday morning; or chill out Wednesday and Thursday, and get there a day later but without the scramble. I haven't decided yet.

I've had no time to work on projects for awhile now. I'm planning to take the knitting and weaving with me. Oh, I lie - I have been working on some embroidery, because I'd like to get The Dread Reverend's favor done before I come out to Pennsic. I decided last year to make group favors for us, hand-embroidered. I only got one done, and it went to the First Mate, Berg, because we'd decided to give him a little group award for 'service above and beyond the call of duty.' Here's what they look like. (The double R on the top is Berg's award ... the other favors won't have that).

He's the only one who has one so far, so I'd at least like to get the Captain's done before Pennsic ... at lease those two will have one to wear. I might have mine made by next year.

So things have calmed down somewhat, and now I'm just in the holding pattern, waiting until it's time to do the last few things, and I can go to War for some much-needed R&R.

The Month From Hell

This has, without any doubt, been the worst month of my life, with last week being the pinnacle of the month as the worst week of my life. I had several unscheduled mini-breakdowns, a series of really bad dreams, and one pretty dark depression.

The good news is, that week is over. The not-so-good news is, the entire series of unfortunate events is not over yet.

I tried to write this out in paragraph form, but it was impossible - there was just too much. I'll give you a brief run-down, if for no other reason than that you'll appreciate the fact that you're not me right now.

The week looked like this:

* initially spent all last weekend trying to finish cleaning out my dad's house; failed miserably

* starting Monday, tried to work all day; go work on the house for about an hour and a half each night; then come home and cook for Pennsic; failed miserably, had a mini-nervous-breakdown about Tuesday

* finally got help, and spent 11 hours Saturday mostly finishing the house; physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting; mostly done, but not quite; have till Friday to really finish

* continued to spend several hours each night cooking for Pennsic; that, at least, is done

* had to fire my probate attorney because he was incompetent and wouldn't do his job, and I was about to get stuck with a car I "wasn't allowed to sell" (because the probate paperwork wasn't done) and after the buyer takes over my dad's house, would have no place to store; got a new probate attorney who actually knows what he's doing, and now that's all on track (although I still have several paperwork-related things to take care of before this can actually be done)

* tried to transfer the title for the truck (which Greg is taking), and after waiting in line 45 minutes at the title office, got stonewalled because my brother wasn't physically present to also sign (he lives out of state); was given a Power of Attorney to have him sign, then I can go back (wait in line another 45 minutes) and transfer that title; will have to repeat the process for the car

Eh, I think that'll do for a run-down. A couple words of advice: if you have kids, don't die. If you must, get rid of everything you own before you do. Don't do this to them. If you have parents, move to Cambodia now. Even more effective if you have brothers or sisters in the area ... then they'll have to deal with it all.

This is why there are no new weaving, knitting, sewing, or other pictures to post. Right - when would I have worked on any of that?

I cannot wait for Pennsic.

By the way, I know what happens at the end of Harry Potter. Nyah, nyah, nyah. Greg bought the book yesterday, but since I haven't read past the third in the series, I didn't care about reading it ... just wanted to know if anyone important dies, so I just read the last chapter. Now I know. And no, I'm not telling. (But I was quite surprised by what happens!).

Weaving Update

Weaving continues, albeit slowly. Progress on the inkle band.



It took me freaking forever to even out the tension and figure this size band out. If you look at this next picture, and compare the section of band that is wrapping around the dowel to the section of band that is coming across underneath the dowel, you will see what I mean.



The section actually wrapping around the dowel is an earlier section. I was pulling the tension too tight, obliterating the pattern I was trying to create, and instead making a kind of mushed mess. In the bottom section, the more recent weaving, I had finally taken off the iron gloves, relaxed a bit, and let the band expand to the size it wanted to be, thereby showing off the pattern a little more clearly.

This is my second band, and the first in which I designed the pattern. It's working out very closely to how I imagined it, with two small exceptions. I'd wanted the color changes between the checks to be a little more subtle, but that had more to do with my color choices in fiber than in the design - the design is fine. The second problem was that I wanted a row of diamonds up the middle, and for whatever reason (that I'm not entirely clear on yet), it didn't quite work out that way. The proper components are there, they just don't line up properly. I am sure it has to do with the fact that the 'bottom' and 'top' line of thread in any given row don't line up exactly as you're weaving, but instead are slightly offset. So I'm thinking that to make an actual diamond, I'd have had to have the middle section be two threads wide instead of just one.

Well, it's a learning curve. But designing workable patterns in inkle weaving is way easier than in tablet weaving, I'll give it that. I'm pretty happy with this. I like the thinner bands like the first one I made. This one was size 5 perle cotton, the first was size 8. So there ya go. That's what I need to work with.

In tapestry weaving news, here's where I've gotten.

The first color change was done in slit technique, which leaves a clean edge, but a slit that will later have to be sewn up. The second color change technique is weft interlock. It leaves a tiny serrated edge between colors. This picture is blurry because I can't seem to manage the fine art of macro photography with my camera, but you get the idea.

I haven't been working on these much lately, been too busy with other time-sensitive projects. My dad's house is sold, the papers have been signed, and I only have till July 29 to get everything out of the house ... and I'm not there yet. I've made progress, but there is still much to do. That, and having major depressive episodes, has taken up most of my time lately.

Weaving Progress

I began the color sections today. In lesson one, the first technique to learn is slit technique, where you actually weave each color section separately, forming a small slit in the tapestry where the two colors are not interlocked. (Tyler was quite interested in this ... maybe he smelled sheep).

This was still a blast, if a bit tedious. But I'm actually liking working slowly and carefully, manipulating the warp and weft threads. It's the first thing I ever remember working on that I wasn't in an interminable hurry about, and frustrated by just having to take it slow and concentrate and actually learn new skills. Yeah - I'm still lovin' this.

Here's a close-up of the color section. You can see that a couple of the slits turned out far better than others. But I'm definitely getting the hang of it. There's only one glaring error, on the purple block on the right hand side, where I initially took the purple over too far. I could have went back and fixed it when I discovered it in the second row, but ... meh. Live and learn. It is a practice piece, after all.

This is way cool. I can't wait to get a 'real' loom and get started on my first 'real' project (i.e., one I design), but ... I'm willing to take the time with this to work carefully through the practice pieces and really learn the skills I need to do this well, not just dive in to something over my head and half-ass it.

I said "real loom" but honestly, I like this nail-frame loom. If it wasn't for the epi problem, I'd be content to just use one of these all time. While heddle rods would be nice (a wooden dowel with heddle strings attached to help lift the warp to open the shed - the space between one warp thread and the next, where you do the actual weaving), I actually enjoy the total hand manipulation necessary with this loom, picking up each individual warp thread by hand to create a shed for each weaving pass.

The "epi" problem is this: the warp must be set with each strand at an appropriate distance for the weft one is using. It's not 'one size fits all.' The initials stand for "ends per inch," as each warp strand is called an 'end.' So epi is how many warp strands you have in one inch. Unless one used the exact same warp and weft for every project, you could potentially have a different epi for every project. On a nail frame loom, once you put the nails in, that loom can only be warped at that same epi, forever. So I might need a multitude of different looms just to use different materials. That's the main drawback to this, and the main reason I hope soon to get a 'real loom' - one that can be warped at any epi, and has a tension adjustment, and heddle bars. The Dread Reverend has offered to make me one, and we will probably do that (he made me an awesome set of bobbins!). The only issue we're facing with making a loom is that since neither one of us has ever seen one in action, we're not entirely sure exactly how to make one properly, that has all the parts I want. But hey - that never stopped us before. We found some directions here ... they look a bit complicated to me, but I suspect it's one of those things that as you actually do it, it will make more sense. (And many thanks to Ms. Vera for posting them! I love when people post really useful things and I get to find them).

Yeah ... I think I found more than just something to try out for fun ... I think I found a new obsession.