Don't cry over spilt...latte?

OK, I didn't cry.  But when my dear STP accidentally spilled my freshly made Autunno latte yesterday a.m., I just couldn't bring myself to use a paper towel, or any towel for that matter, lest you think my hesitation came from the greener side of my conscience.  I ran to the kitchen and grabbed...a straw of course!  Yes, even at (by then) room temperature and spread unceremoniously across a toddler's tray table (crumbs & all) it's still my 2nd favorite espresso ever!  A completely undignified but satisfying solution. Totally green, too.

BTW, my all-time fave espresso is Primavera, also from OQCoffee, but it is currently out of season.

The dyeing pics...really.

Here's my dyeing set-up on the kitchen counter: lots of newspaper, Jacquard acid dyes, white vinegar, spaghetti sauce jars, chop stick for stirring.

 Jars of dye & roving in the steamer to set the color; beautiful vermilion roving drying on the radiator

Sky blue, sun yellow and vermilion roving ready to be blended with carding combs.



A rainbow of blended tufts just staring up at me, begging to be spun...alas, no empty bobbins!

Houston, we have pics!

I'm sorry...was that confusing?  You were expecting to see the pics?Understandable.  All I did was the first wee steps of actually remembering to find the camera and take them in the first place...document a little piece of process.  Now actually getting them on the big computer and learning how to post them, that's another few wee steps.  Using the big computer actually feels bigger than a wee step.  I have considerable resistance to using it, especially for anything visually oriented, because 1) it never quite seems in focus, which makes my eyes and head hurt and 2) at some point the color mysteriously became ultra saturated, which makes my eyes, head, and psyche hurt.  AND neither of these respond at all to anything I do with the monitor settings.  Even Joe can't fix it.  I suspect a visually impaired poltergeist.

This process I documented was dyeing roving, actually. Thanks ever so much to rexenne and BlondeChickenYarn for their YouTube videos that nudged me into just do it mode.  The roving is for practicing color blending with carding combs (snap! forgot to take pics of that part), so all the tedious aspects of dyeing (consistency of color, repeatability, etc) were moot points.  Yay!  Free play!  So now I have a nice box full of rainbow-hued tufts made from just sun yellow, sky blue and vermilion rovings.  Or we could go art school and say I have completed a carding technique color study.  Either way, can't wait to spin it! (pssst! Did you catch the other wee step? Adding links!)

And yes, there will be pics...eventually.

BTW, we are now using "snap" as our expletive of choice since the STP has added "cwap" and "tupit" to his repertoire, which is so incredibly cute that it's well nigh impossible to keep a straight face.

COSTUMERY

Yes I stole the word from (three guesses) Havi's blog.  Well, Halloween having come and gone it does seem appropriate that my link hopping would end up at "Costumes".  Such a great idea. Costumes to mark boundaries, to be more aware of your capacity, to "put on" a quality that helps you get something done  (particularly yucky dontwannas) but also taking it off at some point, temporarily appropriating an identity.

For years now I've talked about having some kind of red garment (apron, hat, vest?) that would indicate to even my little kids that any further requests or complaints would land you in your room or Mommy/(not so)Sweetie was going to lock herself in hers.  It's a very tangible way to acknowledge where you are vs. where you think you should be.  It's a way to warn let people know where you're at vs. expecting them to mind-read.

So the corresponding VPAs are:

• some sort of approach-at-your-own-risk kind of garment, easily donned and doffed, not too scary (for the STP), fun but still means business
• similiar hat for washing dishes...vacuuming...OK any kind of house work
• ideas for how to incorporate a timer into all of this

Change of subject...had a great Monster discussion with Wonder Twin.  More on that later...