Plug Away

The other day I mentioned that I would have to work till my hands bled in order to get my work done on my Jacket Commission and I pretty much did that yesterday. I flicked and carded fibre well into the evening last night. When I finished for the night, I had pricked my finger with the teeth on the cards so many times that it was quite sore. I have a bunch of rolags prepared for spinning today. I'm sure that the spinning will go much quicker than the carding did and I will probably blow through my stash of rolags pretty fast. That's the worst fault with carding.... unless you are using a drum carder it goes REALLY slow. I have a drum carder but I want to have a more hands-on control of the fibre processing so that I get a more refined finish.

I finished a question the night before last, on my level 3 homework! I'm ecstatic! I was looking for my lost dpns in my studio room that night, when I happened upon my support spindle samples from back in the fall which were hanging there, not mounted in my book. So I took the best of the three skeins and got down to it. I did the write up first, checked the skein for balance and did a little fiddling with it, then I tied off the skein and labeled it, printed off the write up and got it in my book, and I was still in bed by 11:30 p.m. It is good to see my work going into my binder. I always feel so accomplished. : )

Even though I have to work on the jacket commission... I am going to plug away at my level 3 in the evenings I think, that way I won't feel like I'm cheating on anything. I might even take one day a week to work on it so that I am making some progress. And as for knitting,... there's alway knit night... and my gloves...

It's a good thing to be able to plug away at my work.

Logic = Needles

Aristotle came up with a theory of logic which has survived since antiquity. His Syllogistic logic is in essence a theory of inference.

Basically the gist is this... if you give a major premise and then a minor premise, then some conclusion must follow.

But there are faults in his logic. For example.. we could say that All sheep are stupid.
From this we might be able to say that some stupid things are sheep... (follow me so far??).
We should be able to conclude from the first statement, being a major premise, in conjunction with the second statement, being a minor premise, that not all stupid things are sheep. However, this is quite a wide open statement.... we could also infer that sheep are not all stupid things. So for logic to be of any use it needs to be simpler.

I much prefer to use if/then statements which we use regularly in computer language (HTML) every day. We also use it when disciplining our children.

For example: I tell Daughter #1 that: she can only horseback ride after school when there are no tests. (this is the major premise).
then she tells me that: she has a test on Thursday. (this is the minor premise).
We can conclude from these two statements that: She will not be horseback riding till after Thursday. (the conclusion).

It is giving her an understanding that there are consequences for all her actions regarding horseback riding and tests. (this is a good thing)!

The most basic of logic statements as I can figure is the basis for geometrical theory. If A = B, and B = C, then A must also = C. You can add on to this forever if you want. If A = B, and B = C, and C = D, and D = E, then.... well, you get my drift.

I applied this theory to my lost knitting needles.
Statement #1: I put my knitting needles in some container on Christmas day after admiring them.
Statement #2: There were only three possible containers... my stocking, my box and my bag.
Statement #3: Having checked two of the three and not finding my knitting needles meant that the needles must be in the last container.... (follow me so far?)
Conclusion: The final container was the bag with all of my socks... however, I had upended the bag on the 27th into my sock drawer.

Eureka!!!!! My knitting needles were in my sock drawer!!!!!

I love logic.... (I apologize to all logicians who read this and especially to Aristotle who I have the greatest respect for!)

Clear as mud?..... go here for help on logic.

Creepy Crawlies

There once was a lady.... (yeah I know I did this a few days ago.... get over it, I'm doing it again!!) The lady always wanted an ensuite bathroom. She waited many years to get an ensuite bathroom. One day her hubby and she decided to do a bunch of renovations on their house which included building an ensuite bathroom. The end result was wonderful for a while. She loved her new ensuite bathroom. She did not have to go downstairs in the middle of the night anymore. Her new ensuite bathroom was fulfilling all her dreams.

One day she noticed a large spider in the corner of the bathroom where the ceiling met the wall. She wanted to kill it but kept thinking about it being a living thing and that she should leave it be because it wasn't doing any harm.... and it was eating moths and little wee flies. Good little spider, she thought. She decided to name it Gertrude. Every day when she went to the bathroom she would talk to Gertrude. One day Gertrude started to come down off her web and the lady got nervous. She didn't like spiders ever since her Hubby had been bitten by a Brown Recluse and underwent months of a weird creeping skin rash that would creep along his arm. (Aloe from the plant rubbed twice a day on the affected area will get rid of it.) The lady didn't like spiders when they were near her, but she was o.k. if they stayed up on the ceiling. The lady began to talk to Gertrude about her fear and how she would have to kill her if she came down any further. After a short while Gertrude returned to her web and the lady was satisfied that Gertrude would stay there. One day Gertrude disappeared and the lady was not really sorry.

Months passed. Then one day the lady noticed a small spider that looked like a miniature version of Gertrude. Once again she wanted to kill it but again she felt that it was a living thing and since it spun webs and the lady was a spinner too she felt that she shouldn't really kill it. The next day she noticed another spider in another corner of the bathroom. Soon she was noticing spiders in the corner of her bedroom and hanging from the light fixture. "Thanks Gertrude," she thought, "you've had babies."

The lady decided that enough was enough. She started killing the spiders and after a while she thought she had them. Over the next week she noticed a spider every now and again and so she would get her broom and with much squealing, she would knock the spider down and kill it.

One night she stayed up late doing work on her level 3 and finally went to bed quite a bit later than normal. She went into her prided ensuite bathroom and began to brush her teeth. As she was doing so she happened to glance in the mirror and noticed a spider descending on its web and about to land on her shoulder. "Ack!" she said, and promptly jumped to the right. She grabbed some toilet paper and squished that spider in short order, flushing it down the toilet so that it would never bother her again. She went back to the sink to finish brushing her teeth and bent over to spit and when she stood up, she glanced into the mirror just in time to notice another spider descending on its spider web and about to land on her shoulder again. This time she said more than Ack! (We won't discuss what she said though, because she has to say a few prayers of forgiveness today!) She squished that spider too, but that is the last straw! She is seriously po'd with Gertrude.

The moral of the story is.... do not become friendly with spiders in your new ensuite bathroom. They are double crossing blighters and might crawl in your mouth when you are asleep.... causing you to have nightmares rather than fulfilling your dreams of ensuite bliss.

I am not a freak!

Searching

Searching for needles...
Searching for time....
Searching for sanity....

Hmmm....

Hubby is searching.... he's looking high and low in an effort to preserve my sanity.... he gave me two great sets of knitting needles for Christmas.... they were in the box with my new cotton cards... I opened them up and was charmed with their neat compactness. One set was 4" dpns for knitting fingers on gloves and the other set was 5" rosewood dpns which are just lovely for knitting gloves, sox, and wristlets.... all of which I have been knitting a lot of lately.... problem.... I went to get them out and they are no where to be seen. I know I put them back in something on Christmas day after we had opened all of our gifts but I can't find them.... we've searched high and low. I've moved furniture, I've put my hand down inside the couch, (man is there ever a pile dirt down there and the couch is only a couple of weeks old) I've checked under the Christmas tree and in my stocking and in the box and for that matter in all the boxes.... no flippin' needles.

I spent the day searching for time.... there's never enough of it you know! Today began with me heading off to town to take Hubby and the Daughters to school. And from there the day plummeted.... between responding to correspondence, appointments that were late, and various unforeseen things I never got one finger knitted or one rolag carded, or one level 3 question done. Argh!

With no needles and no time the sanity is on the verge of departing and the sad thing is, I might not have enough left to look for it.

Wish me luck in my search....

A Little Bit About A Whole Lot

Last night I sat and watched more of the Planet Earth Series with Hubby and the Daughters... there's over 15 hours of stuff to watch. It's really cool to learn so much about our planet... at the same time I'm knitting. My goal is to finish the glove before the family heads back to school tomorrow. I was quite dismayed when I realized that I had made a mistake. The thumb for the glove was a whole inch higher on the one I was knitting than on the one that was finished..... and so (in a whisper) I had to ravel it back.... hmmm : { It is a rare occurrence when I screw up that badly this far along. Usually if I am going to make screw ups it is when I am laying the foundation for the pattern. I can't even blame it on the program I was watching. Last night I was back at the cuff again and so the journey of the lace glove is on..... I still have today to get it finished. It's not likely with all those ruddy fingers to knit but I'm going to try.

As for the jacket commission.... well that's why I wanted to get the gloves finished... so that when Hubby and the girls went out the door tomorrow I could get down to it and work that jacket commission like there was no tomorrow... this is what I'm aiming for....

The warp is 50% alpaca and 50% wool, the weft is 100% alpaca. I'm aiming for black and plum instead of cream and gold. My deadline is the end of January. I have most of the warp done. I have none of the weft done. Argh! It will be a head down, work till my fingers bleed situation. I think I can... I think I can.... I think I can! This jacket will pay for college this year!

Speaking of College.... it is that time of the year when I start watching the college website for their course lineup and information. Woo hoo! I'm really excited this year to see what they have available. Level 4 obviously.... but I would like to do some other courses too. Oh man.... I just checked their website and the course lineup is out..... Oh man.... there is just too much to choose from.... I want to do them all. I definitely want to do the dyeing cotton course and I'm thinking that sock making with Cat Bordhi..... mmmmm! Oh man this is going to be expensive. Argh.... and they are having a Cashmere spin-in.... oh man! It's better than sex.... well.... a little....

Well I have to print off the service leaflet for church and back at those gloves....

I'm Really Just An Old Bear You Know!

OK I'm thinking that the snow can end now.... I've had enough this winter,...the cold can end now and the ice can definitely end now! Christmas is over and we don't really need any more. Hubby and I went out for a walk last night.... this is not just some easy thing you know! Firstly I don't have any boots.... that's my own fault since I am so darn picky about footwear. I'm not just going to go and spend a $150.00 on any old thing. So I hunt for footwear. I try things on, and walk away, and savour the delights of fit and comfort and ease of putting them on, and reflect on the price, before I finally go back and purchase them. More often than not the boots/shoes in question do not make the grade and so.... I often am footwear-less. I have a really good set of runners right now but quite frankly I'm hopelessly low on footwear at present and I am going to have to bight the bullet and actually buy a pair. I think I have finally found a pair of wintery shoes that I am willing to fork out money for. They are a pair of walking shoes at Back Country (which is an outdoor camping, fishing, hunting supply store). So when I go to FSJ in the near future I guess I will go through the life altering experience of purchasing footwear.

The reason for this change of heart is aching in my bum right now. You see, when I walked out the door last night to go walking in the FRIGID AIR under a wintry sky, I took my first step down the front steps and landed on my tail bone. This is not good for someone with back issues and is too scared to visit the inside of the MRI machine to go forward with more back surgery which is what I am being told is what is needed for my back to be a functioning part of my body. Anti inflammatories are the only thing between me and complete sedentariness.

As a result of all the previous diatribe... I have concluded that hibernation through January and most of February is the only thing that keeps me sane.... before I started the Master's Spinners program January was my month for reading.... now it has become my month for homework. (which I'm going to have to give up for one #@$#% jacket commission)!!! Walking is unheard of since any fall could set me permanently in a wheel chair. So it was after quite a bit of cursing that I decided to venture into the great road beyond to walk the treacherous fields of snow and ice that have formed on the road, driveway, walkway, forest,.... and pretty much anywhere I look. I walked a short 1/2 km and thought about my aching bum and the bruise that was forming there and then felt my back giving me the nasty and turned for home. You see... now we get to the reason for this title.... I really am just an old bear! Hibernation would be good and considering the Christmas weight gain..... a little living off my fat wouldn't hurt me either!

Jacket Commission

There once was a lady (let's call her Silly Creature for that is what she was) who knew how to spin and weave. She had alpacas that had lovely soft locks. She was also working on her Master Spinner Level 3 homework. One day, she lost it totally, when a lady came and asked her to spin fibre and weave a jacket.... she said yes... which was her first mistake. Everyone else on the planet who was working on their level 3 homework was working diligently but Silly Creature was procrastinating about everything because if she did anything other than the jacket commission she felt guilty. If she did the jacket commission she hated it and wanted to work on her level 3. So one day right after the new year she put everything away and got out her fibre for the jacket commission. She wanted to puke since her new cotton cards were calling from under the Christmas tree, handles screwed on and ready to be used, saying,"Come and card your lovely soft cotton... come and card your lovely soft cotton...." this was terribly distressing but Silly Creature continued to work on the never ending pile of fibre on the floor. Soon she had a gob stopping pile of fibre spun and so she began to ply. The sound of the new cotton cards began to drift into the recesses of her mind and still she spun. Her lace gloves which she didn't get finished on New Year's Eve as she planned, were calling too, but she diligently ignored it and continued on working on her jacket commission. One day several weeks later she finished the jacket commission and looked up from her work with a smile on her face. This was not the ordinary smile of a woman with a completed project, this was the smile of a demented banshee. You see being torn in two by conflicting desires is not healthy..... the moral of the story is, do not leave jacket commissions till the last minute.... better still do not take commissions of any kind when working on your Master's.

I'm off to check out my rocker since I went off it the day I said yes!