A Blogiversary Yarn Storm!

Ok, the Yarn Storm is not actually in honor of my Eighth Blogiversary (although that's kind of a neat idea...Hmmmm). It just happened to fall on my Blogiversary and I got to help!

The Loft Cinema inspired all this by having the good taste to plan to show a Fiber Artist documentary called "Yarn". They also had the excellent taste to invite the Tucson Handweaver's and Spinner's Guild to be a community partner and to apply yarn graffiti (aka "Yarn Storming" or "Yarn Bombing") to their courtyard and theater lobby.
Excellent Yarn Storming definition courtesy of the very spiffy Deadly Knitshade :

"Yarnstorming: The art of enhancing a public place or 

object with graffiti knitting or crochet 

(and running away giggling)."

I won't be dropping names here since I don't have permission from everyone, but I have to say the folks that embraced this concept and ran (knit/wove/crocheted/knotted) with it are truly stellar! And the woman who organized the whole shebang is amazing and I'm pleased and proud to know her.

Artists and crafters from outside the guild joined us in planning the Yarn Storm decorations as well as how to utilize the strips and squares knit/woven/crocheted/etc. by sooooo many folks.

We had a few meetings to plot/craft together and many people came by to drop off knit swatches, woven samples, partially completed sweaters, placemats that had woven up just a little too small, experimental or beginner projects as well as nifty crafted items (like a snake) that were well-executed but awaiting the revelation of it's true purpose in the series of Yarn Storms planned for this year.

Our first Yarn Storm meet up.

 I know...ignore all the glasses and focus on the fiber and busy hands. By the way, our meeting was also an ode to World Wide Knit in Public (WWKIP) day - and we were very public (although a week early).

The above is a coiled (and very cleverly made) snake and a pi-shawl that was donated to the cause.
I wish I'd gotten a picture of the snake being passed from person to person down one side of the table looking like it was slithering it's way down the long edge of the table.
The pi shawl was someone's 1st design effort but she indicated it had too many errors and she didn't really like the color - so it was donated to the Yarn Storming effort!

Our 2nd Yarn Storm meet up. 

I mostly knit strips and squares and offered my 2-cents worth on various sub-projects during our meetings. I expected to be at work during the installation so I didn't pledge to graffiti anything specifically but I did my best to support the effort and enjoy the atmosphere.
Ooooh - the atmosphere for the 2nd meeting was at the Spirited Hands studio. (One of their workshops will definitely be on my Christmas list.) They felt such lovely things and they created an amazing felted face for the Yarn Storm!!  (Picture included further below**, although the picture doesn't do it justice!)

Our fearless and creative Yarn Storm leader started making wigs from the donated roving and sheep locks. Fun, clever...and warm to wear. ;-)

I continued to knit strips and honored WWKIP day the next week when I hung out with the DH and his best friend (a Cleveland Cavalier's fan) as we watched the final NBA playoff game. (I had concerns if the best friend would make it through the game or fall over from the stress.)

One of our last meetings was at our newest LYS, Birdhouse Yarns.

Folks had been creating more things for the Yarn Storm. LOVE the knitted legs, crocheted Converse sneakers and especially the Flat Rat underneath the right shoe. Why knit legs? You'll see.

The sheep you see above...well, aside from being very cute, he surprised me later with the size of his fleece!   The apple was cleverly created....yep, to go with the snake.

And people were knitting, crocheting and making loop flowers!! A full garden (or courtyard) worth.

So the day of the install, (turns out I didn't have to work!) we met at the Loft Cinema with knitted, crocheted, woven, and stranded fabric strips, water, hats, needles, yarn, scissors, stepstools, etc. in the early morning hours. {Our thanks again for the Loft Cinema staffers who answered questions, met with us in the early morning, sat and waited for our creativity to run it's course, and especially for bringing the Yarn documentary to Tucson!}

Kudos and appreciation are offered to all the folks, like me, who provided strips of fabric, supplies and much encouragement.
Admiration and thanks are also offered to the various folks who worked to create a particular look, theme, project, and all the general spiffiness you'll see in the following pictures. **
Talent and imagination lives in Tucson!

Hmmmmm. Sorry. **  No, really - sorry.
I'm going to pause here. I will finish this post tomorrow. I just realized it would be mean of me to post pictures of the full Loft Yarn Storm when folks would/should see it tonight at the theater without spoilers from me being posted earlier in the day.

So - more tomorrow - after we've dismantled the Yarn Storm at the Loft Cinema and enjoyed the Yarn Storm by twilight tonight along with the YARN fiber artist documentary.

Kind of appropriate for a Blogiversary, really.
With the promise of another blog post - tomorrow.

"Chess?" and also some Yarn-ish videos

Chess? 
I was charmed by a gent at Le Buzz this morning. The husband and I stopped at Le Buzz for breakfast after a morning walk. A gentleman was seated at a table near the entrance with a chess set laid out in front of him and a sign that said "Chess?". He waved the white king at me and asked if I'd like to play a game. I declined since food was the current priority but I was tickled by the concept. 

A bit later, he had offered a game to several folks and had received a variety of polite and appreciative declines. About then, a young man (maybe 7-ish), his mom and twin siblings (about 3-ish) had come in and the man offered a game of chess to the eldest who had stopped to look at the chess set curiously. He said he didn't know how to play and the Gent questioned "Would you like to learn?". The youngling said he'd like to but he had to ask his Mom. Mom apparently agreed and the youngling came to sit cross-legged on the chair across from the Chess Gent. 

The Gent explained what the various pieces could do and offered a modified version of the game using three black pawns and three white pawns The goal was to get a pawn to the opposite side of the chess board. The Gent did an excellent job of explaining his moves and the pawn's abilities. The youngling was well engrossed and did an excellent job mastering the short version of the game. By this time, the Mom and younger siblings had joined them at a nearby table. Mom was pretty nifty, recognizing this opportunity for her son to learn a bit about chess. She had the younger ones start on their take-home breakfasts and encouraged the elder son in his play. The smaller of the twins came to "help" the big brother and was briefly pulled up on his brother's lap to watch closer. The twin-ling shortly went back to eating breakfast with Mom, the cinnamon roll being more enticing. After both players had each won a few rounds of the pawn-only version of the game, the Chess Gent added a Rook to the play. Again, he did an excellent job explaining the moves/rules and kept the game fun and interesting for the Youngling. They stopped after about 15-20 minutes and Mom thanked the Chess Gent and collected everyone to head out. I had found the episode to be very heartening and spiffy and offered a "Well played, gentlemen!" to the players as we passed by on our way out. 

Yarn-y Goodness

A friend recently sent me this well-known knitterly video so I thought I'd share it with you-all. 

The Last Knit by anneke: 

The above video reminded me of a few of my other favorite Yarn-y videos that I had originally shared here in 2010:

I still LOVE this Natural Gas Commercial featuring Knitting: 

And I am still smitten with the skill, grace and strength displayed by one of the last rug felters in Iran courtesy of Peace Industry: 

 Lastly, just in case the movie sold out before I could get there next Wednesday, I picked up my ticket for next week's showing of "YARN" at the Loft Theater. 

Happy Dance!

Yes, it really is a dry heat. There is just a lot of heat.

Greetings and Salutations! How you be?

Just over 2 weeks ago we were enjoying high 80 degree weather and then last week the "Blast-furnace" summer heat arrived. It had been rather nice (and a little unusual) to have the less than 100 degree (37.7778 C) weather for as long as we did. {sigh}

So, about the "It's a dry heat" joke about the Arizona heat. Not so much of a joke.
There realllllly is a difference between 100 degree heat with almost no humidity and 100 degree heat with 80% humidity.
In Arizona when it says "80% humidity", it means it will rain - probably a lot.
In say, Texas, when it's 100 degree heat and 80% humidity, it means I wouldn't be able to breathe. It would feel like trying to breathe underwater to me. {Been there, gasped that.}

The pros of Blast-Furnace heat?

• The first load of laundry hung out on the line is dry before the second load is done in the washer. 
• Solar cooking is totally feasible (and yummy). 
• The heat encourages indoor activities (such as weaving, knitting, and catching up on Netflix).
  {Hmmm - Blast-furnace heat is a bit similar to being "snowed in" during the winter (with smaller {cooler} knitting projects and less baking and holiday decorations).}
• Solar energy is also totally feasible {still pending for the DH and I but when I was a kid, my Dad setup a solar water-heating system for our house that worked great}.
• The Blast-Furnace heat makes our 82 degree house (82 is our "away" thermostat setting) seem downright cool!
• The "siesta" concept becomes very appealing. 
• Parking spaces are more valuable based on the amount of shade the space offers. Parking closer to work/school/store is less of a consideration than if your car will be less than180 degrees when you return.

The cons....well, the cons are pretty obvious. Heat stroke, sun burn, dehydration, etc. 

Um, yeah. Common sense goes a long way when dealing with the obvious. 

We do tend to be a bit light on earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and Mississippi-style flooding. But we do excel at blast-furnace heat. No where is entirely perfect. 

So why am I talking about the weather? 

Well, it is pretty darn hot here. 

And...how else do you start a conversation up with folks that you haven't spoken to in a long time? 

Yep, the weather is generally a safe topic. 

So, I'll end with this: I've thought of you often and I kept meaning to write, but I kept putting it off until after the next school deadline. And then there's always another school deadline. Even now, over the summer, I have things I'd like to finish from the last semester (and the one before that) as well as prep-study I'd like to do for the coming semester. 

But today, I thought I'd pop in to say "Hi!" and I thought I could break the ice with some comments about our Blast-Furnace heat. {wry grin}

Talk to you soon. KiniaCat

 

Already - an adventure for 2016

Greetings and Salutations!
How you be?

I am returning to a semblance of normalcy after collapsing over the Fall Semester "Finish Line" the week before Christmas.
No Holiday cards went out. I didn't get the Christmas lights on the house. {sad}
And no decorations inside the house to tempt the pica-cat palate. {not sad about that one}
Working 6 days a week for the Holidays, attending classes 2 days a week, spending time in the digital lab 2-3 days a week, and monitoring the weaving lab 3 days a week just about did me in!
{I must be getting old.}

It's the 5th day of the New Year and already we had an adventure! An adventure that is inspiring this blog post in more ways than one.

Our adventure appears to have started sometime after midnight after I kissed the DH to welcome in the New Year and then promptly went to bed 'cause I'd been up for 20-mumble hours straight.
When I got up the next morning/the First Day of the New Year, the house was a brisk 57 degrees (14 C). Now we don't heat the house to a without-sweater temperature but 57 degrees clearly indicated the heater was not functioning correctly.

I played with the thermostat and got the heater to come on, but it didn't sound like the gas was running/igniting and there was only cold air coming from the vents. I considered the cost of calling a repair person on a major holiday {shudder/not just from the cold} and began to plot ways to be cold-comfortable so we could hold out until Monday. When the DH got up, I handed him the thick robe I'd made him years ago (that he never wears because he's a guy {which means his personal thermostat naturally runs warmer}) and explained my findings and hold-out plan.

He agreed and referred to our adventure as "camping" for the rest of the weekend.
So we called the repair guy to get into the queue for Monday, put another blanket on our bed (flannel sheets were already in place), broke out the space heaters (one had to be liberated from the shed where it had been stored in a garbage bag), brewed some coffee/hot chocolate, and opened the south-facing front window blinds as we usually do to bring in whatever winter-sun/heat we could.

Our high temperature in the house over the weekend was ... 65 degrees (18 C). The low was the 57 from New Year's Eve. Not bad…but we did get lucky with a sunny weekend. The clouds moved in Sunday night but the repair guy came Monday morning before the first real drop of precipitation or temperature and the house-dragon roared back to life and provided us with some heat for this wet, cold week.

I did a little baking to help warm the house and the cats….their routines didn't change much. At night, they slept on and around us as they usually do and during the day, they enjoyed the winter sunshine as they usually do:

Even Gryphon came to hang out with us (with the
sunshine) in the Living Room.

CooPurr

Brothers Nikoli and Mikale

Purrrrr.

So this blog post was inspired by the heater adventure and…. because I too tend to hang out in the warmest room in the house (the living room) during the winter. However, I'm writing this post where I usually do - in our cold dining room - with the shed-released space heater pointing right at me. ;-)

Happy New Year to you all. 

Let's enjoy what we can of the adventures life sends our way.

Blessings Be.  KiniaCat

Blogiversary #7 - My 7 Favorite Blog Posts

Yep, it's my 7th Blogiversary. And in honor of that event, I thought I'd present my 7 favorite blog posts.

Blogger has a widget to show which blog posts are viewed the most (it's on the left side of the blog - "Oddly Popular Posts"). But the blog posts folks view most often via the odd Google search (like "mini bamboo" or "Sock Summit") or from a Ravelry Yarn Bowl discussion are not necessarily my favorite blog posts.

So, here they be, in no particular order - My 7 Favorite Blog Posts from the last 7 years of blogging:

November 15, 2010 - "The Obnoxious Furry Quilt"

June 1, 2011 - "Godzilla!, Tiny Wildlife Rescue, and Australian Treasure!"

May 31, 2013 - "Sit Long and Prosper"

May 11, 2013 - "Drying feathers and a Loud Chirp!"

July 3, 2009 - "Look! Knitting Blog-stuff. Ok, and more kitten pictures."

June 29, 2010 - "Cat Burglar and Kitty drugs"

December 27, 2008 - "It's officially Winter in Arizona - and we have the Frost to prove it!"

It was rather fun and poignant to review all the blogs I'd written over the last 7 years. There have been a lot of life events, fun videos, paradigm shifts, and kitty pictures. We'll see what comes next, but I'm absolutely positive there will be more kitty pictures. {wry grin}
Thanks for visiting. Blessings Be.

No, really, I only did this for school...

Yep…that's what I keep telling myself. ;-)

I have many interests/diversions {that's an understatement} that go with the "Jack-of-all-Crafts, Master-of-none" in the blog header. However, I actually DO try to resist picking up every craft or new technique to which I am exposed. Sometimes I am even successful!

As part of the Spring semester's weaving class, a very talented and experienced spinner from the Tucson Handweaver's and Spinner's guild came by to demonstrate spinning on her spinning wheel and to support our instructor's guiding us on spinning yarn on drop-spindles. My spinning efforts on a very well-loved drop-spindle from the classroom cupboards produced, uh….more effort than yarn. {grin} You could say I epitomized the "drop" part of drop spindling.
However, I did dutifully take home some mystery fiber to try and spin it on the drop-spindle I have at home, obtained after a spinning lesson {mumble} years ago.

Said drop-spindle still had on it some of the "art" yarn (i.e. thick-n-thin) I'd spun in that first spinning lesson with a bit of un-spun roving hanging from it.

People pay big bucks for "art yarn", don't they?
(Ok, maybe not this art yarn. {grin})

So (since the cats were asleep), I roughly spun the pink/red roving into more "art" yarn, attached the new mystery fiber (later identified as bamboo), and did a little spinning - as homework . I was somewhat relieved that my less-well-loved drop spindle spent much less time on the floor than the classroom spindle (and I didn't wake up the cats) but I was still achieving "art" yarn.

A few days later, I was attempting to explain spinning to a classmate who had missed the spinning demonstration due to illness and something quietly clicked. No, not a big "ta-da" click, just a quiet "makes more sense" click and when I went to try to show her how spinning on a drop spindle was done - I was actually able to spin something a little more even than "art" yarn. She thought I was a prodigy and I was rather surprised to be, well, spinning.

Isn't this what real spinners do?
Take a picture with a dime to show the width of the yarn?
{A nickel might make mine look more impressive.} 

It was kind of fun. And I found myself spinning just a little more of the bamboo and thinking about picking up a bit more from the classroom to spin. And then I went to my stash and tracked down this ball of orange-y roving that had been sent to me in a yarn order of many years ago….

...and then… I got distracted with the next adventure in our Weaving class (Solar dying) and I didn't get back to spinning.
But I keep thinking about it. And I really enjoyed the spinning I did this semester.

But I already have soooo much yarn. The idea of spinning to create more yarn to add to the scary stash causes a question-my-sanity moment.

Though...I could…just spin up the mystery roving to see what happens. If all else fails, I could add it to a fulled kitty bed project….

We shall see. Besides, I've never considered myself to be perfectly sane. {wry grin}
Isn't it: "You have to be loopy to knit (crochet), warped to weave, and twisted to spin."?

The World Stands Still and Waits For Me

I have a recurring fantasy.
I find that a stray door in my home, when opened a certain way, leads not into the usual (messy) room or closet but into….a lovely, tidy cabin in the woods. (No, come on back. It's not a Joss Whedon reference).

The cabin has heating/cooling, running water, electricity, and a great view of the nearby lake and hills. It is late spring or early summer and there are hiking and swimming options but no bears or mosquitoes (!ha-ha!). Getting the picture? The cabin also has a great window seat/reading nook - well lit and with lots of pillows and a soft, woven throw for snuggling under. There is also a nifty screened-in porch ('cause there might be other bugs) with hanging chairs and a rocking chair. There is a computer built into the kitchen island that allows me to request food-n-such as needed and the shopping list is fulfilled that night. Poof - it's just there the next day just as the trash magically disappears overnight. {!Yes!} The best feature of the cabin is a roomy studio that supports all of my craft explorations in weaving, knitting, ceramics, sewing, tatting, needlework, etc.

It's a slightly boring fantasy where there is no strife, no angst, no heroics, no depressing world news or distracting cable TV, and no romantic interest. There are cats. The cats get to come with me through the door from home. There is also a fair amount of solitude, because once I discover the abilities of this stray door, time suspends for, say 6 months, and I can't leave my house.
This is the true core of the fantasy. I can move back and forth between my house and the cabin at will. Food, cat and general/craft needs are addressed by the shopping list. And the world stands still and waits for me.

Waits for me to do what? What do I do with the 6 months of no phones, no errands, and not going to work or school?
No worries. I sleep. I craft. I organize. And I clean.

At home, I read all those Oprah magazines that I haven't finished. And I read more of my many, many books (and I get actually read some of my craft books instead of just using them for reference material!). I explore movies and TV series I haven't seen like "Call the Midwife" and "Outlander". I bundle up stuff to be recycled and donated. At the cabin, I hike and swim and eat ice cream (and don't gain weight!). I go through ALLLLLLL my e-mails and start/finish Christmas Cards. I knit gifts for the holidays and birthdays for the next year. I go through all the published Interweave, Knitty and Twist Collectives and I add the patterns that make my heart sing to my Ravelry queue/favorites list. I water my plants regularly and scrape and paint the back porch. I blog (well, pre-blog because time is suspended for the rest of the world) and I set up projects and knit sweaters/hats/socks. I weave and explore techniques I've only seen in books. I throw pots and yarn bowls and mugs (in a side-room of the cabin studio. Gotta keep the ceramic dust off the yarn-y crafts, y'know). The wish-list of to-do's to accomplish could fill up a week of long blog posts.

Yeah, I know. There is no way I could get the above list done in 6 months. {grin} But, it's a fantasy. The 6 month time limit acknowledges that I'd achieve a whole 'nother level of "odd" if I only had the cats for company for longer than 6 months. Ha - would I even last 6 months?
I must also giggle at the fantastical idea that I would diligently work daily to accomplishing the things on my loooong to-do list and not get distracted with knitting a shawl or something (which is pretty much what happens in reality).

The Spring Semester ended a couple of weeks ago and I've begun to step past the initial panting rest from the hyper-focused work/school world I occupied for the past 4 months. I'm also consolidating long-neglected to-do lists and plotting both necessary and fun projects for my "Summer vacation". I've actually crossed a few small ones off the list, but there is so much to do.

So, as I was gathering those to-do lists, I was a'wish'n that I had some additional funds and {greedy me} more time to work on the many to-do's. Then... I realized…that while I can't escape to the quiet and safe cabin in the woods to craft in an already clean-n-tidy environment whilst I slip back to methodically work my way through cleaning and organizing my neglected home…my current reality is actually a modified version of my fantasy.

I'm still working part time but I'm usually home before mid-morning. The cats are with me for company when the DH heads off to work. And with school out for the summer, I'm not in class or monitoring the weaving lab 5 or 6 days a week then getting home an hour before bedtime.

I don't have 6 months before the Fall Semester begins, but for the summer I can read books and magazines, visit Ravelry, clean and craft. I've queued up "Outlander" to come from Netflix. I can work on clearing my e-mail and haul things off to GoodWill.
And look {wry grin} - here's a blog post!

But best of all, in this reality, the world doesn't have to stand still and wait for me. I can meet up with friends and spend time with my DH (Dear Husband - who makes my current fantastical reality possible with his patience, humor, insurance and willingness to treat me to dinner and a movie 'cause I'm still living the financial diet).

It's kind of weird to realize that a bit of a fantasy has come true. Surreal and smile-worthy but a little embarrassing that it took me so long to catch on. Blessings actually be. Huh.