Midnightsky Fibers Blog

Wed, Jul. 23rd, 2008, 09:19 am
altivo posting in handspinning: Dyeing poonies

Dyed cotton poonies
Originally uploaded by Altivo

These rather bedraggled looking cotton poonies (punis) were dyed last night by dipping them in solutions of Procion MX fiber reactive dye with sodium carbonate and salt. They are still just slightly damp as the photo is taken, but hopefully will be dry enough to spin by tomorrow. Colors were selected to fit blue sky or water, sunlight, white sand, and green for seaweed or foliage. I plan to spin a fine yarn from them and then make lace, either knit or crocheted.

(See this earlier entry for a description of the dyeing process.)

I've now tried spinning a couple of the poonies, since they were dry enough. They can still be spun without much difficulty. I'm using a Bosworth charkha. The main note to myself is that I worried too much about making the colors overly intense. The cotton could have soaked longer in the dye bath, or perhaps the dye bath could have been heated more. The colors I got are nice, but next time I will go for more saturation. :)

Tags: dyeing

Current Location: Home in the oak grove

Current Mood: artistic

Wed, Jul. 23rd, 2008, 10:14 am
klynn330:

Yesterday a very good friend of mine mentioned that it looked like I had lost some weight, which is nice because I thought I had, but it's hard for me to tell. We went out yesterday to do a couple of other chores, so I decided to try on some clothes while we were out.

Turns out, I am a full size smaller on both the top and the bottom now than I was the last time I shopped for clothes.

Woo hoo!
Have no idea how much weight that is, but it sure feels good!

Current Mood:

pleased

Wed, Jul. 23rd, 2008, 10:15 am
onfruitstreet: Name that squash?

Is this a squash? If so, what kind? I know I could just slice it and toss it in the oven, but I'd like to see if there's anything a little more interesting I can do with it.

Tags: cooking, food

Wed, Jul. 23rd, 2008, 10:03 am
onfruitstreet: What's the purpose of purposeless art?

I've been batting around the idea of doing paper arts again--like those shipping tags I once did or some ATCs. Maybe do a challenge or two out there. Trouble is, I can't seem to wrap my gusto around doing something for no reason. I mean, what do you do with all this art you create? Stick it in a folder only to toss it ten years later when you're cleaning house? Fiber arts serve a purpose. Paper arts (mine, anyway) do not. (Don't get me wrong, there are a good many paper arts artists whose work serves a purpose. I just know mine doesn't.)

Tags: art

http://www.mypapercrane.com/blog/?p=849

Wed, Jul. 23rd, 2008, 01:38 pm
mypapercranecom: summertime

After three long days stuck at home + we were getting stir crazy. Tom borrowed a car from his parents to drive to work and left me the truck. I should say that every vehicle I have ever owned was a manual. I learned to drive on a stick, but for the past five years I have been driving an automatic. Thankfully like riding a bike your feet know just what to do and it all comes back pretty quickly.

The kids and I hit up the thrift shops in downtown Chambersburg, lunch out at the pizzeria, and then headed to get some ice cream. If you walk down the pretty alley and go behind the Olympia Candy Kitchen you will come to the Olympia Ice Cream Parlor! The candy kitchen was opened in 1903 and the ice cream parlor in 1978. You can grab some lunch, or just get ice cream like we did.

We decided instead of 3 sundaes we would push our luck and get the Mount Olympiad. 9 scoops of ice cream, your choice of 4 toppings, covered in whipped cream and cherries. Oh and did I mention all the ice cream is homemade? As good as that crazy big sundae was, we could not finish it.

Wed, Jul. 23rd, 2008, 08:54 am
iwrite4food posting in green_daily: Bugs!

Ok, so I just moved into a very very old apartment. As with all old as sin apartments, mine comes with bugs- a ton of ants and I've seen a few cockroaches.

What are some green and effective ways to rid myself of these bugs?

Thanks!! :)

Wed, Jul. 23rd, 2008, 01:14 pm
tictactoepony posting in knitting: Pattern for "Ocean Shore" socks

hello all,

I was asked to write out a pattern for the socks I put up pics of earlier in the week - so I've been writing it out from memory in my lunchtimes at work.
"Ocean Shore" cabled sock pattern is here - enjoy it! Feel free to post to my LJ / message me if you have any questions.

Wed, Jul. 23rd, 2008, 01:00 pm
tictactoepony: Sock knitting pattern "Ocean Shore"

Knitting pattern for my Ocean Shore socks, as requested on

knitting.

( instructions under the cut to save non-knitters from confusion )

Tags: knitting, pattern, socks

Wed, Jul. 23rd, 2008, 12:30 pm
tictactoepony: Fight?

Here's an idea that's been in my head a while.
Who would win an Evil-off between Dr Horrible and Gordon Ramsey?
(One reminds me of the other, for some reason..)

Wed, Jul. 23rd, 2008, 03:55 am
jazzlvr16 posting in seattle: external hard drive?

I'm in need of an external hard drive. It doesn't need to be fancy. I just want something to hold photos and music that won't cost too much and won't die on me. Any suggestions for where to find such a device for a decent price in the Queen Anne/Downtown region?

Wed, Jul. 23rd, 2008, 05:06 am
tilmorninlight posting in naturalliving: my knee!

So I had surgery on a torn lateral miniscus last august, and im still having some issues. not as bad as itwas though, ill give it that. Basically i need to strength train the muscles in my leg, which I am doing at the gym but my knee hurts a lot when i walk a lot.. problem is i live in nyc.. i walk everywhere.. What do you suggest for pain? anything natural that's good? I just saw a knee specialist a couple weeks ago that said i need to strengthen my quads and stuff because I'm double jointed and my weight isn't distributed as it should be normally. Any suggestions for the pain though? I put ice packs on it at night.. thats about it..

Thank you for any suggestions.

Tags: joint health, pain management

Wed, Jul. 23rd, 2008, 09:23 am
tictactoepony: Sheep-scrumping and owls

Had a very interesting evening drive / walk over Send way, with

masterofapath yesterday.

All this because a while back, I got a tip-off from

aperrott that a guy on Freecycle might have some Lleyn wool available - the guy emailed me this week with some very brief and slightly cryptic notes regarding where I could find a field, at the junction of 2 particular roads, that *might* have some wool near the gate that could be grabbed (the place being nowhere near any buildings, so there would be noone to check with).
Odd.
Anyway we found the field, there was wool in the specified place, so grabbed it in an act we have dubbed "sheep scrumping" :)

As a bonus, this meant we were able to have a lovel evening stroll in the Tannery lane bit of Send - Way Navigation towpath, bit of meadow, bit of woodland and very pretty sunset (which made us think of a Nemi from earlier in the week) Aaaaad - we saw several Barn Owls out hunting!

Wed, Jul. 23rd, 2008, 12:58 am
dogscanlookup posting in naturalliving: owwwwwwie foot pain

I am a chef and spend 50+ hours a week on my feet. By the end of a 10 hour shift, my feet are absolutely KILLING me. The balls of my feet and the outer top of my right foot in particular, which I think is actually tendonitis. I take a couple of Aleve before my shift and that helps a little, but I'm not really supposed to be taking any NSAID medications to begin with :/. Also, by the end of the night, my big toes are numb to boot. (I've never tested as diabetic or even pre-diabetic, which I know that can be an indicator for.)

Anyways, hot foot baths and menthol gels don't seem to help... in fact, I have my feet in a hot bath now (with Lush!!), lol. Apart from good shoes (a new pair of which I'm getting tomorrow), does anyone have any suggestions on how to deal with this pain?? I love my job, but the strain on my feet is getting to be too much :(

Thanks in advance!

Tags: pain management

Current Mood:

sore

Wed, Jul. 23rd, 2008, 02:11 am
yumchalua posting in crochetcrochet: hello :]

this community is cute :D i just joined it.
anyway, i'm gonna crochet some things to sell at mechacon IV, aaaaand i was wondering if anyone could tell me what they think i should make. cute/anime/japanese things - mechacon is an anime convention. so far i've made a few foxes, rabbits, bears, whalesss. things like that. and a totoro :D

i haven't got a camera, so this is the only picture i have:

but, this is an example. i like suggestions, so,

:D?

haha i just started crocheting and i love it :D :D

Wed, Jul. 23rd, 2008, 12:59 am
tease_me_girl posting in crochetcrochet: Curiousity question...

So I was sitting here thinking about winter. (Yes. Really. Winter.)

And I was thinking about hats. What I'm really thinking about is thrumming.

Does anyone know if there's a way of incorporating this technique into crochet or is it pretty much a knitting-only practice?

My google-fu fails me at this hour.

Thanks for any help and ideas!

Current Mood:

contemplative

Tue, Jul. 22nd, 2008, 10:44 pm
atomic_pearl posting in crochetcrochet: hat with skull

Anyone have a pattern for a beanie/hat with a skull. I've made beanies, and I've tried to think of the best and easiest way to create a pattern or follow a pattern for a hat, but I'm not sure how to incorporate a skull design. I've made a bag before and used a grid to incorporate my own design, but a hat isn't the same length all the way around, so I can't do the same. I'm still fairly new so I think an already made pattern would be easiest for me, so if any of you know where I could find one I would really appreciate it. Or unless you have any other suggestions on how I can incorporate the design, that would be great.

Thanks!

Tue, Jul. 22nd, 2008, 10:52 pm
sus7 posting in seattle: $380 laptop

So if you have been sitting on the fence about buying a tiny, ultra-portable laptop, the University Bookstore now has an Acer Aspire One out in the Technology Center. It's amazing- super light and easy to use. You won't believe it until you see it- go play with the demo! This is a lot like the eeePC, but it comes with the same specs at a lower price.

x-posted to the uw community

Tue, Jul. 22nd, 2008, 10:09 pm
digitalelf posting in cheapvegan: Salty Seitan :(

I baked up a batch of seitan tonight and for some weird reason it turned out really salty (maybe too much Braggs? Eh). Is there anything I can do to combat the saltiness? For the record I usually freeze the lump o seitan and cut off parts of it over a couple of weeks to fry up with veggies and rice. As much I'd like to become a walking salt lick, I'd rather not (and I'm too poor/stubborn to give up on this batch!).

THANKS!

Tags: cookies accidents, cooking 101, protein - seitan

Tue, Jul. 22nd, 2008, 10:05 pm
mariethebee: From Twitter...

09:51 @copacetique you really might as well. #
09:52 I am not finding much of interest on the internet this morning. #
11:23 Boo. I have a crack in my windshield and everyone is afraid to ride in my car. I'm pretty sure it's not gonna break in and slice off heads. #
12:44 Oh... but I feel so lazy today. #
19:26 Surfing t3h webs again. #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter