Friday, April 29, 2005

Sense of humor operating

It is hard to believe that the vacation started a week ago. Managed to get the column done but for the project itself. Brought the project with me. I also brought a couple small commercial kits for fun things, my knitting and felting project from my knitting, a small knitting project and some filet lace.

Have uploaded some trip pages to the personal website including a bit about what projects I’ve been working on. They have arts and crafts at sea. Needless to say I could not resist. I’ve done a luggage tag on 7 count plastic canvas with acrylic yarn and a small dangly bit called South American wrap, also with acrylic yarn. Fun simple stuff that can be done by all comers.

One lady who owns a shop in Laguna Beach has started a knitting and needlework circle. We meet whenever we have a “sea day” at 2 pm. They even advertise the group in the Princess Patter, the daily newsletter. It is an odd mix of people and personalities and abilities.

Now back to my column project. So far everyone has been very complimentary and I have only done the blackwork bit. Next the metal thread and overdyed portion. Don’t know when I will blog again, but check the personal website for more.
-- Sabrina (posting from the Royal Princess, Tuesday April 26, 2005 9:08 pm Rio Time)

Friday, April 15, 2005

Last Minute to dos

4 more full days until we get on a plane. So much to do. But first, last weekend was La Prova Dura -- a special event with lots of pomp and pagentry. Managed to get a few pictures and they are up on the personal website for those who want to look. It was a lot of work, but it was a good weekend.

In advance, we dyed silk banners. Here is mine and Will's is in the background. The resist didn't hold all that well on mine (sigh), but it looked nice waving in the wind. Here it looks a bit like stained glass as the picture was before all the fixative was washed off


Several people have asked about the dyeing. I'll do a web page with more details when I return. This week I did 3 20 yard skeins of walnut, 4 20 yard skeins of tumeric, and 7 20 yard skeins of copper. I'll use the copper to also do the bag construction and some of the decoration. The other dyeing is in the background so you can see the mix of colors. The brick/wine red is the wool dyed with onion skins. I swear that the current yellow onions are red onion hybrids.


Tomorrow is a local war between our Principality and the one to the north. So off we go for the day so Will can fight with his war unit. I'll be teaching a basic blackwork class. Same as a couple weeks ago, but different audience. At least with the basic class I don't have to think. Still don't have the column done, but it is roughed out and the pictures organized.

Have set up the laptop to let us put up travel logs and pictures of our trip on the personal website so you will need to check there for most of the details. Time permitting I'll try to blog also, but no promises.

Caio!!

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Age???????

It seems I don't act my age. In fact when I invite people to my 50th birthday party in September -- they can't believe it. I take it as a compliment. Found this on blogthings via another blog -- Enjoy!





You Are 26 Years Old



26





Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe.

13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world.

20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences.

30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more!

40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.


Monday, April 11, 2005

Little Stuff

Worked all last week in San Francisco. I had forgotten how much time and energy it takes to commute, work a full day with a brief lunch break and commute home. Since this was an arbitration and I was the Chair, I had to listen doubly hard. First to hear the evidence and then to hear and then rule on the objections. My style is to not give clipped rulings like - "overruled", but to rather phrase the response so the lay people in the room understand the why behind the ruling. Sometimes it gets me in trouble - sigh.

Finished up doing the 2 patches for the Queen's Champion's cloak. These were wool on wool with gilded leather couched around the edge. Nothing fancy and I forgot to take pictures (bad Sabrina). The Queen was worried about having some nice patches for the Champion's cloak -- a notch above the ones being done for the Guardsmens cloaks. The Needleworkers Guild was having a class on this technique at Crown. I purchased 2 of the kits from the instructor to do the badges and the instructor was kind enough to do a badge also. So there are at least 3 nice patches. I feel a little guilty since all the members of the court are doing badges - some more than others, but still. Did roses for the Queen to give as thank-yous to her sewing team as well.

This week I need to concentrate on doing my next column and the associated project - Blackwork: Filling Patterns. I've decided to do a figure - a la Scholehouse For the Needle and then doing the filling in 2 styles - one traditional blackwork and the other with metal thread, but blackwork patterns. My target is a needlecase. You will have to wait for the magazine to come out to see the project - Needlepoint Now --- Blackwork Bands will be May/June and Blackwork Filling Patterns will be in the July/August issue.

In addition, I need to do MORE Dyeing. It seems that if I want to knit up the yarn I have and felt it for the project I have in mind, I need TWICE as much yarn as I have already dyed. Sigh! So I have some walnut left (2 oz) and can do a bit more of it. I have tumeric and can do some of it. Have ordered more materials and hope they arrive before I leave on the trip. I'd really like to take the 2 pounds of yarn and get it done up.

Then I also need to get the laptop up to speed. Load all the software, etc. We really hope to be able to upload webpages of the trip to our personal website for our friends to keep up with our adventures.

And the countdown begins.....10 days....