updated 11 weeks ago? what on earth have i been up to??
among other things.
also an update about rocky / muffin / # 49:
(he is the little goat that acts like a pup that lives at wellington fibres where alisa works - see pictures of the mill and farm from my last trip to toronto here)
he got neutered! he is now living at the farm as the solo castrato ram. and had his first kid shearing! and some of his coat is on its way to califonia.........!!!
"One of the primary results — and one of the primary needs — of industrialism is the separation of people and places and products from their histories. To the extent that we participate in the industrial economy, we do not know the histories of our families or of our habitats or of our meals. This is an economy, and in fact a culture, of the one-night stand. “I had a good time,” says the industrial lover, “but don’t ask me my last name.” Just so, the industrial eater says to the svelte industrial hog, “We’ll be together at breakfast. I don’t want to see you before then, and I won’t care to remember you afterwards.”
In this condition, we have many commodities, but little satisfaction, little sense of the sufficiency of anything. The scarcity of satisfaction makes of our many commodities, in fact, an infinite series of commodities, the newer ones invariably promising greater satisfaction then the older ones. And so we can say that the industrial economy’s most marketed commodity is satisfaction, which is repeatedly promised, bought, and paid for, but never delivered. On the other hand, people who have much satisfaction do not need many commodities.
The persistent want of satisfaction is directly and complexly related to the dissociation of ourselves and all our goods from, our and their, histories. If things do not last, are not made to last, they can have no histories, and we who use these things can have no memories. We buy new stuff on the promise of satisfaction because we have forgot the promised satisfaction for which we bought our old stuff."
—Wendell Berry, “The Whole Horse” in The Fatal Harvest Reader, (Island Press)
we took our nephews to vacaville to meridian jacobs to thier meet the sheep day a couple weeks ago.
(i just wanted to post this picture. they really werent into it, except this moment when i asked them to act like sheep. the pigs at the back of the farm were way more interesting. "is that poo on thier butt?" no its mud. uncle aaron took them to the car to have lunch and aunt jenne got some valueable time looking at fiber and came home with 2 bumps of jacob wool. its what they call "hardwearing" - its soft in a scratchy but not really way. i think theyre going to be great socks.)
out of parenthesis. on the topic of wool from interesting kinds of sheep other than the usual merino, some wool that i just unearthed in my stash is about apound of navajo churro wool in various shades of grey and brown. i got this wool from elisa (with an e) who had sheep in north hollywood somewhere - theyre so soft and cotton candy like, im going to dye them pink this weekend.
and also tomorrow im going to the Color fiber fest in berkeley - and im taking the rare wools tasting class. im hoping we spin some really crimpy stuff - the most crimpy wool ive ever spun was bfl from deep color - barbie hair!
oh and by the way...do you smell what the barack is cookin'?"
at anyrate, hello again. i stepped away from the blog (step a-w-a-y from the blog) because i thought i was going to take some time, get settled back at the parents homestead, use my nights out in suburbia to design a slammin' website and return with something totally new.
i forgot about the new commute to work. its been great for knitting, but sucktastic for anything else.
so we have been in benicia (california's first state capital) for almost 6 months now. many new and fun things have happened, and i also went to the madrona fiber arts retreat last month that totally was the most amazing fiber fun. allison was here for a stormy and inspiring visit. too many beautiful knits spied and succumbed to the witchery that is article pract and the best yarn selection in the bay area hands down.
but first. hello. are you on ravelry? please say hello to me, i am lixolux.
its been a blissful/stressful year of living-in-the-city. realizing this city was a good place in my party-all-the-time days but now, its self sufficiency.
we are moving to benicia.
sometimes you have to move back in with mom to move back out again.
2. the recipe from pascal rigo's "american boulengerie" (which, despite what amazon says, is a book that is available for 19 dollars at any bay bread shop) is FANTASTIC - delicious savoriness! I dont understand these crepe places here in the city who do savory crepe fillings in sweet crepes. wheres the buckwheat flour? its essential. I do prefer cooking with a tiny dab of butter rather than oil, i like a drier crepe.
3. oops, fillings! we had in the fridge dubliner cheese, cooked beets and olives. delicious! (it was, not being sarcastic.)
coming out of hibernation for a moment.....im taking a class today at heath ceramics with diana fayt and am so excited.
im thinking alot right now about servitude and finished objects. when projects take a life of thier own and then put demands upon you that you cannot fufill. servitude when one is being paid to do a sevice to another, a power dynamic. "public servant."
I am starting to love spinning yarn more than doing anything further with it. thats the early part of the process that gets me excited. trying to plan anything with my yarn is so filled with anxiety that maybe i am pushing something that isnt there.
(this is my version of lady eleanor, with 2 balls of Noro Silk Lite. to become a pillow for the living room, i am not buying any more yarn.)
im contemplating moving the blog. having a focus. really making lixolux a part of my life. what are the things in my life i could take an really run with? taking the time to write, write about what i love.
driving around on errands yesterday for work realizing that this half conciousness of work is just not me. i read recently barbara sher's " refuse to choose" about being someone who is into way too many things and how to make a living and she mentions having an affection for a job that allows you to do what you want to do. and i ran with that for a few weeks, trying to cultivate an affection for my day job. AN AFFECTION.
its not the job i dont love, its the time i miss. i dont miss the desperate need for money, but i miss the mind expansive days but what would you do during the day?
research and write, research and make, research and write.
5 years ago today i had my lumpectomy and kicked my tumor to the curb. even though i still had chemo to do and radiation and this tamoxifen that im still taking, i think of my surgery day as the reset to the rest of my life.
5 years is also sort of a barometer of how aggressive a cancer is and if its gone or what. So far so good. (knock on wood) My tumor was super aggressive, and so far nothing. (knock on wood encore)
i took the day off and so far read half of "voluntary simplicity" by duane elgin (should be called ecological simplicity, its so not about dumpster diving) drank some coffee and am about to spin last months fiber from <a href="http://www.spunkyeclectic.com"> Spunky Eclectic's </a> FIber of the Month Club. Im trying really hard to not check my work email.
I heard a weird statistic on the radio the other day - that the population of California has increased such that 1 in 8 people in the US live in the state of California. Its weird because its the exact same statistic that reflects the number of women who will experience breast cancer in her lifetime - its so insane.
this is the chasing rainbows 50 50 kid merino fiber from below - this is also the most favoritist thing ive spun. soft and lofty and its just so pretty.
pansies! corridale, spun sort woolen, sorta worsted and navajo plied.
seaweed!!! merino 2 ply, lumpy and bumpy
merino tencel yarn from deep color - it was pretty squeaky to spin. i liked how it turned out though.
im sick at home in bed. what better time to catch up on the internet!
yes, her jacket says "sewing forever, housework whenever...."
i was behind these ladies in line to get a ticket to go to the stitches market.
cameras were not allowed so i didnt get any fun pictures, but following is my fiber haul. i was allowed to only get spinning fiber...... (i know this type of thing is boring for non-fiber nuts, bear with me) from Chasing Rainbows - aster colorway of 50 50 kid merino (this has already been spun into a soft worsted single, its my favorite thing ive spun so far)
Liza Souza Fiber - the gold is lyocell (tencel) to become gold in the rumplestiltskin project, and the blue green is merino silk, and the crazy is called mardi gras, merino.
Crosspatch Creations batts - these are going to be FUN.
blue moon fiber arts fibers - they. are. so. amazing.
corridale from nancy in utah - its so squishy!
i generally dont like posting stash photos - but im so in love with these fibers. something about unspun fiber is so amazing - the potential and the color combinations, and how each dye artist is so totally different in their application of color. Knitty recently had an article about dye fingerprints here and ive been finding spinning all different dye artists colorings it has really helped me define the types of colors i like and the spacing and how to spin different saturations and blending. And inspire me to dye fiber too. Stay tuned for that....
todays our 6 month anniversery of marrieds. we went to la cicca, most delicious sardinian food ever. its also friday the 13th again.
ive gone fiber crazy. went a little too crazy at stitches and have like a million years worth of fiber to spin ahead of me. pictures forthcoming.
tommorrow im going to a workshop with judith mackenzie mccuin on spinning luxury fibers - im beyond excited to spin yak and quivit hair.
also alisa was here for her birthday and cherryblossoms were in bloom and we saw corsets with thier unified bosom at the deyoung, and pictures of that forthcoming.
i think maybe i will blog with pictures only from now on, im an interior design robot for the next month and a half and have really nothing too exciting to talk about aside from im excited that lampshades can be made with stretched sheer linen over silk. and its really beautiful. or about the insane emerald green and leopard rug designed by DVF that is insane and looks like it smells like the 70s. or about i dont know. interior. design. robot.
1. so some of you will be getting letters in the mail from me this week.
2. happy chinese new year, last night mom couldnt help herself and made 14 dishes -? something like that. it was delicious. the twins are ridiculous, closing in on their 3rd birthday and and really into pretending to be bats. also learned a new clothing folding technique from uncle chris that is going to revolutionize the organization of our closet today, the great presidents day purge of polyester and other non wearables from the wardrobe. oh, and my aunt and uncle learned how to do this from YOUTUBE:
aiee and chris learned it from youtube. i just had to repeat that one more time.
3. aaron got his chinese name from my mom and cousin now that he has married into the family.
"European Plant Ethics."
i wish it were possible to speak chinese with a german accent.
i feel like i dont have much to write about lately. alot has to do with thinking i need to just do things, and not talk too much. lists can be a way to write.
1. resewed the pockets on my hidden pocket skirt for patternmaking class. last monday i had a mini meltdown usually expressed by 2 year olds, but i sat at the machine in class, crying, biting my lip, trying desperately to sew blindly through 2 pieces of fabric to match dartlines exactly. i just have to baste and baste and baste - i learned to sew with a minimum of pinning so now having to deal with patterns that require a maximum of pinning is counter intuitive. so i must baste. with haste! tonight must sew second muslin to recheck my cutting - the other skirt i though i had ready on monday ended up too big, 6 seams on a paneled skirt upon which i probably added by cutting badle at least 1/8th each. = 3/4". bad seamstress.
2. something posessed me last week to order more books and so im waiting for the following to arrive (list within a list); - Latvian Mittens - Spiritual Fabric (Miao Textiles + Weaving techniques) - Imprints on Cloth (Miao Textiles + dyeing techniques) - Knitted Tams (i dont know why but insane color pattern tams are all i want to knit lately.) - Anatolian Knitting (more insane color - i realize i just want to knit small things, and aspire not to make insane garments but small comfort items i can finish quickly.)
3. i am obsessed with books. growing up, it was my #1 way to escape, and i escaped most of my waking hours. i learned to read really early and was reading little house (all of them) in the 2nd grade and spend my non reading time conduction puppetshows based on the books, and in 4th grade hitchhikers guide and tons of bad scifi. now my reading tends towards non fiction, and i know that i struggle with going to a book vs. going to a person for information. (books are kinda like cached info for a rainy day) im not a totally social person, and i know bibliophila has everything to do with it.
4. in very excited to go to the stitches market in 2 weeks. ive decided on a budget and it will be the extent of my fiber purchases for the rest of the year. another list on my list are things im going to be looking for: - Socks that Rock yarn and Fiber to Shoe kit - a lazy kate that is the opposite of the ashford lazy kate (which i hate for some reason) but that my ashford joy bobbins will fit on - lots and lots of handspinning fiber. - a yarn yardage counter. i need to see these things in person to figure out which ones.
5. books and tools are starting to become visual reminders of how little time i have now to do all the things I love. before working full time my mind could always be twittering working out the ideas in my mind (even when working part time, working out what to work on when i got home) but being at work 8 hours a day, a few hours in i lose track of myself. i know this isnt earth shattering or not at all what work should be (of course, i should seamlessly do my work while at work) but i really really do not like the feeling of losing myself in something i am not passionate about. have to figure out how to reconcile this. the moral of this story is dont take time off in your twenties from working full time because you will never be able to go back to it as mindlessly as you had before.
6. working on fingerless mitts, halfway done with my pair, one pair to go for aaron. noro silk garden, funny after you are spinning yarn yourself and then go back to the yarns you loved so much before and i still love silk garden but it is pretty nasty, yarn quality wise. the kind of yarn that is going to end up hard to spin oneself because you practice so hard to make something lofty and consistant - you have to get dense, mix in weird silk noils. its weird.
7. my daytime work is about materials acquisition. exclusively. artwork i want to make has to do with material transformations - alchemical fairytales and clothing as architecture of fantasy. got to make myself work.
im waiting for itunes to update all my podcasts. i am so terribly excited tommorrow to listen to the UCLA Hammer Conversations with Jeff Garlin and Patton Oswalt, and Chrissers Noisepop New music Podcast and also the new French Pod Class episodes. its what gets me through the day. if i cant use my brain outside of putting together a quote and order a ridiculously expensive piece of furniture for vestibule 3 then my day it is a big hole of a waste, even if im getting paid for it.
today if anyone asked i was listening to the stooges fun house on repeat all. day. long. thats the kind of pissy floppy mood i was in.
random things:
* i joined the spindles and flyers guild. i went to a meeting 2 weeks ago and it was so awesome. thier focus is on fiber and not so much specifically on weaving or knitting which i like - and everyone was so interesting im looking forward to going back. * im reading "collapse" by jared diamond and its a thriller. all abor civilizations and the stupid things that destroy them. * writing letters - this you will experience first hand * 'bring your conscience to work" someone on the tv was talking about ralph nader and that he told folks to bring it. i want to bring it. i feel like sometimes if you make alot of money you bring it by then donating alot of your money to good causes. your work may not be in a beneficial to humanity realm, but youre contributing. i unfortunatly am one of those people who is not making alot of money in a very monied world, so im trying to figure how to bring it myself. * slow club on hampshire and 18th has the best burger and fries ive ever had ever.
for days, since wednesday trying to eat and not barf and freak out. i never get sick but when i do its aways the most dramatic thing that could ever happen, i have to get better (visualizing HEALTH!) for work on monday.....
i just ate a banana. hurrah!
ive been thinking while sitting on the couch trying to keep food down about work and how right now i have the perfect no contest job (that term being something i read somewhere in my self help section of my bookshelf) a job i dont mind, is measureably entertaining and interesting, and i get paid enough to pay the bills. yet im so happy to be home these few days, even blearingly delirious. i feel like at every turning point in my creative life, i end up getting a full time job that then turns me a different way. right before this one (or while i was temping at first) i was seriously finally committing to going to grad school. how to do it. how to get back into studio work. and now working full time i dont have the energy to commit to anything - or have no energy to hang out with people, do things. got distracted with green design.
handmade, connections, people, knowledge.
ive decided this semester im learning from people, im not going to take any more classes (except patternmaking for another month) and im going to really try to focus on hanging out with you, and doing things, and making things together.
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lixolux's journal
