Spinning Uncensored

I’m not trying to be an alarmist but note the significant number 29 today. It’s important. And read this general overview of the Stock Market Crash of 1929. Yes, I know that it took place on a Thursday, but the after shocks continued to ripple through Wall Street the following Monday and Tuesday. Much in the same pattern as this current fallout. (If I were a good librarian, I would check the Monday, Tuesday fact. But my logic tells me that this is probably accurate.)

I spent most of the day shut away in a classroom, marveling at how far technology has come since our much used command based language. The day ended with the sad news of a library colleague who is terminally ill with the last stages of stomach cancer. Another sudden illness and my heart breaks for her as it has for others who are suddenly ill or have passed on the the last few months.

Weaverknits echoes my solemn mood nicely with her post What Are We Gonna Do Now. And some of you will notice that she knits and her hair looks a lot like mine used to. Weaver’s hair used to be blond and that’s what inspired me to bleach mine.

So I’m off to chow down on homemade chicken soba noodle soup and watch Heros. No homework for me tonight.

At the moment, my attention keeps drifting from my homework to other things. There are a bazillion things to do work and school wise, but in keeping with my therapist’s instructions, I am only concentrating on what’s needed to be done at this moment. And yet, the call of knitting and sewing is tugging at me. Here’s the current project on my mind:

This is the sketch I did based on the picture below. I have this shirt I started, before school started, and wasn’t sure what exactly I wanted to do with it. I’m thinking ties, as shown, roll up sleeves and little white buttons. But now I’m wondering if I want to go even more daring and add more ties in other places. I don’t know.

The shirt was really big when I pieced the sleeves, front and back panels together. But the fabric, as shown in the third picture, is ruched and once washed it shrank a good deal and is now clingy. It’s rather interesting, but I think I will incorporate interfacing into the button panels, the hem and the sleeve ends. No picture yet of the work in progress.

I completed this scarf on our last trip to Oregon. The yarn has been hanging around for quite some time and has never completely lent itself to any of the projects I’ve wanted to use it for. It’s the multi-colored strands, which means that it can only be used with a stockinette stitch. But I managed to use it with a mesh like pattern. The wrong side of the scarf happens to be more attractive than the right side. I kind of like that I look like a robot in this picture reaching for the camera.

Tomorrow I get to spend the day in a claustrophobic and hot classroom learning new a new database for our library. I’m really happy that the library system I work for is finally upgrading, but it’s a lot of work, general staff anxiety and boring tutorials. The new system is remarkably easy, so tomorrow might be boring.

I just went through one of those technology nightmares that is whispered about among those who fear online classes. It’s really the first major episode I’ve experienced in 2.5 years of online coursework, so that’s saying something. The instructor and most of the students patiently waded through the crises until we were able to move forward. And now my mouse is glitchy. So whatever.

Because it’s getting late on a Tuesday night and I know that loads of homework still lay before me, I am procrastinating a teensie bit. I uploaded some recent pictures to my computer and looked at the Google Analytics on this blog. Then I saw that there are no stats for the blog from June forward and I hadn’t shared some interesting things from the last couple of months: the Jaeggli and extended family reunion, spinning and root beer brewing. Because I am really sick of working right now.

Which leads me to the topic on my mind: domestic arts. This term has been all but banished as a result of the feminist backlash of the 70’s and 80’s. And I certainly understand why, because throughout much of history it was generally thought to be the most ideal career path for women in life. And as much as we secretly love Martha Stewart, we do use her name and work to poke fun at those who explore the domestic arts.

But I think it’s high time we put aside our reservations about the phrase and concept of domestic arts and embrace it. We sort of have to, or we have to come up with a more modern “vogue” term. Let’s face it, DIY, the cooking channel, knitting blogs, ReadyMade magazine, and the Maker Faire are all highly popular these days. People want to make things with their hands. It’s a backlash against consumerism, global warming, waste and the lack of support for creativity in all aspects of our lives at work, in school and in politics. Men and women are going domestic. And they are doing so artfully.

And on to illustrations of domestic life:

It’s okay to go a little squishy inside at the sight of a guy uncertainly holding a baby.

Myrtle, our niece, leads Uncle Ron on a tractor ride.

Guthrie is Myrtle’s twin and this little guy can lift stuff that definitely exceeds his weight. The twins are the babies of Sue and Russ Romas. Sue is Jake’s sister. Hazel, in the top picture, is their newest born.

I love this picture if only because it’s like seeing a cloud spun into yarn. However, this wool is seriously dry and it’s not much fun to spin. In a much older post, I mistakenly seconded guessed someone’s advice of oiling my wool. Turns out, this isn’t a far fetched idea. Thanks Sally for setting me straight.

In which bottles are sterilized for root beer brewing.

The essential ingredients of Root Beer brewing. This is a Jaeggli family tradition to which I have been initiated. There really is no better Root Beer out there than what you make in your own kitchen.

And thus we wait…..

I’m not sure how it’s suddenly the third week of school. And I am sure that I will say that several times again this semester. I’m writing this post because it seems more fun than writing an annotation for the Physician’s Desk Reference. Although that is pretty fun. (which marks me as a nerd, I know.)

Books read and currently being read:

My Year of Meats by Ruth L. Ozeki
This book was surprisingly good. Lately, I’ve felt bombarded with messages about the food industry, particularly the meat. So I wasn’t sure if this title would just frustrate me further. But it didn’t. Sure, it had messages, but they were written into a pretty good plot with interesting characters.

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.
Of course I like this title. I have yet to read a title by Mr. G that I didn’t like. I’m listening to the audio version, read by Mr. G himself, and it’s quite entertaining. He is an excellent narrator. My only wee complaint is that the main character, Richard, is very similar to Charlie in Anansi Boys. They lack the same spine, have the same over bearing girlfriends and feel alone in the big wide world.

On a slight tangent, read Gaiman’s blog. You’ll see where the Mr. G comes from. Oooo… and on another tangent, Coraline is being made into a stop motion animation! It looks incredibly good.

What to Eat by Marion Nestle
Speaking of messages about food, this book is excellent for sorting out the facts. Nestle looks at the different positions taken in the food industry, about the food industry. There were questions I had, in particular to things like how do we really know that something labeled organic is really organic, how much dairy should we actually consume in a day, etc. It’s also a digestible read. (HA! Pun!) I mean that I can read through entire chapters in one sitting without my mind wandering and have a high comprehension of what I read. I only dozed off once, but it was really late in the evening and I was exhausted.

Don’t take three graduate courses while working full time. It’s a very bad idea for some of us. Thinking I could do this resulted in the following:

1. Panic/mania
2. Crabbiness, stress, and perpetual exhaustion
3. Alienating friends and husband
4. Sugar and caffeine cravings
5. Sad cats which results in bad behavior, which in turn amplifies crabbiness and stress
6. Forgetfulness (think forgetting to feed sad cats, forgetting other important things)

6. The writing of two bad checks

WHAT! How could I have done that!? I’m so careful, diligent and freakishly concerned with good credit. All I can say is that I caught one check in time and the other may not be so bad. Ugh. And how did I catch this? Because I was opening a new savings account (being a good adult) and Jake noticed that the account number was all wrong.

Anyway, before you write me off as a total flake, (which is how I seriously feel), please see a fore mentioned list and explanation about not taking 3 classes while working full time. I dropped one of the classes, much to everyone’s relief.

PS. go read Jake’s posting on sailing last Saturday.

PPS. we are eating a lot of beets the last few days, which makes you pink. My hair is really blond once again.

Not really bored, just sleepy

Stalwart captain Jake