This morning my grandmother passed away. She had a stroke several weeks ago. The doctors had her in rehabilitation therapy, but I guess she developed some chest congestion over the weekend, and she died early this morning. It was kind of unexpected, because she was in therapy to get better. It wasn't until yesterday they started to say that she likely wouldn't be with us much longer.
To clarify, this was my grandmother in North Carolina. She was my dad's step mom, but she married my grandfather when my dad was still a child, so she was responsible for a good deal of his upbringing. My dad was with her when she passed this morning.
I have an email out to my graduate advisor now to see if I can reschedule my comprehensive exam (supposed to happen this Friday) in the event that it conflicts with the funeral. No word on when the funeral is going to be yet. I'm not sure what I'm going to do if that exam can't be rescheduled; the bloodsucking leach of a graduate school requires students to register in the semester they take the exam, and it is only offered once per year. The cost of the required one credit hour? ~$2,500. If they do not let me reschedule for an unexpected death and postpone my graduation by a year, I will be pissed. I have been studying like crazy for this stupid test. ANd it really is a stupid test--the MA is made up of two parts: 36 credit hours worth of classes, and a 4-hour written exam. Anyone who thinks these two aspects balance 50/50 needs a brain scan, because if 5 semesters of graduate study can be cancelled out by one 4 hours exam, there is something wrong. That alone really has me hating the school right now.
I'm feeling a little surreal right now. I put off calling because initially things were so confused, and my dad went out to help his dad, and he promised to keep us all informed via email (he did). Then she was busy doing her physical therapy and seemed to be improving and all her kids were coming out to see her, but she was having trouble during the downtime and had to be sedated because she was pulling at her tubes (she had a feeding tube and sometimes a breathing apparatus because she lost control of the right side of her body). Then she had to be sedated more and more, and she wasn't aware of who or what was around her--I never got a phone call. I should have called, even if she wasn't aware when it happened.
Alula
Monday, March 7, 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
From 0... to 100!!!
As some of you may know, the laptop that I've had for approximately 3 years has been giving up on my for the past 6 months. Luckily, thanks to my family and generous husband I've been able to upgrade form my old Toshiba Satellite to a custom beauty and it all started with this one sleek piece.
Then we have our mother board and CPU. The motherboard is a real beauty, an Asus EVO, complete with artfully crafted blue heat-sinks over many of the capacitors to keep the entire thing running cool as a cucumber. The CPU happens to be an AMD Phenom II X4 965, 3.4GHz. Processor gets a Windows rating of 7.4 and uses all 4 cores to the max!
Now let's show the last few components. We have a 1TB hard drive (the only piece of this new beast I should have looked into more fully as it pulls my Windows rating down to a sad 5.9), an ATI Radeon 5750 graphics card (Windows rating of 7.2), and an LG 24x DVD drive. The operating system is Windows 7 Home premium, and I had to make sure that I got Office 2010 right away so that I could actually open my files again (2007 was accidentally removed from my laptop when I reformatted it, and I couldn't find my disk).
Munchkin 2 has some amazing power, and shouldn't have to be upgraded for at least a couple of years, unless I want my Windows rating to jump into the 7's with a solid state hard drive. The final pics are of the beautiful monitor I procured courtesy of Craigslist,and the tower lit up for the first time. Just to make it painfully clear to everyone who thought I could play WoW on my old laptop, I most certainly could not. I never realized that you could actually see the rain that everyone spoke of, I thought it was an exercise in imagination. My first time logging into WoW with Munchkin 2 I was swimming with my Goblin in the ocean, and crystal clear raindrops were bouncing off the water around me. It truly was a 0 to 100 moment!
~Munchkin
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
A quick book review: A Discovery of Witches
 |
| Picture links to B&N nook page! |
*engage caps lock* *establish Kermit flail* BIG LIBRARY!!!! VAMPIRE SCIENTIST! WITCHES! SCHOLARLY RESEARCH! MAGIC, ROMANCE, MYSTERY, AND TIME TRAVEL!!! Bring a French-English dictionary, it might help. Another recommended reading companion is a giant cup of tea.
I might add something more sensible later, but this is an awesome book, and I am eagerly anticipating the sequel.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
A How to: Dye yarn
Since Q is looking at a next crafting step of coloring her own fiber, I want to share my knowledge.
Materials:
- Fiber to dye (I normally do 50-100g batches), must be protein (animal) fiber, or animal fiber blend, or nylon
- Acid dyes, I use Jacquard
- Vinegar, preferably the really cheap white vinegar, you will use a lot of it.
- A bucket
- A dedicated dye pot, I use a cheap crock pot.
- Metal or plastic measuring spoons (These will also be dedicated to dyeing, so don't use your nice ones)
- Plastic spoons for mixing
- Mason jars
- A mask
- Gloves ( I like Nitrile, but vinyl or latex would work as well, but you can't go around doing "Two by Two, hands of blue".)
- An apron, or painting clothes, I use an old lab coat, this gets messy
***NOTE: Anything that you use for dyeing needs to be dedicated to dyeing or at least to crafting, and not EVER used in food preparation once it has been used for dye.***
1. Soak your fiber in warm water with vinegar added. The vinegar will open up the proteins in the fiber, so that is important. For yarn you want your yarn in a skein, not a ball. Make sure your skein is tied off in at least two, preferably three places.
2. Prepare your dye. Wear your mask while working with the dye powder, once it's mixed it's not necessary. Start out with about 2 cups of warm water in a mason jar. Add 1-2 teaspoons of dye powder to the jar. This can be in any combination of colors. For my blue-grey yarn I used 1&1/2 teaspoons of silver grey, and ~1/4 teaspoon gunmetal. Mix with a plastic spoon.
Write down your recipes. Or you will forget them. This is important if you want to make the same color more than once. You can test your color by wiping the back of your spoon on a paper towel, a coffee filter, or I use my lab coat. Once you have a color that you like, add a glug of vinegar, no need to measure.
3. Combine dye and fiber. There are two methods that I like.
A) Kettle dye.
This will produce generally one all over color for your fiber. There will be some natural variations in how the dye is absorbed, and that is good, but it will be all one color or close to it.
I do my dyeing in my really cheap crock pot, but you can also do it on the stove in dye only cookware. Add enough water to the pot to submerge the fiber in. Then add the fiber, and a glug of vinegar. Then pour some your your already prepared dye over the fiber. Mix with a spoon or other stirring utensil. If the color does not appear saturated enough, add more dye.
B) Saran-wrap method.
This method is good for combining multiple colors on one skein of yarn/piece of fiber. Lay out a piece of Saran-wrap that is a little longer than your fiber. Place a second piece of Saran-wrap so that it overlaps the first piece by about an inch, so that you basically have a double wide piece of Saran-wrap.
Lay your fiber on the Saran-wrap longways and apply your dye. You can use squeeze bottles (hair dye bottles work well), spray bottles, eye droppers, or just pour the dye onto the fiber. You don't want too much extra liquid on the piece.
Gently massage the color into the fiber. After you are done with one side, flip the fiber over and apply dye to the other side if needed. Once you are satisfied with the colors, fold over the short ends of the Saran-wrap and then roll the fiber into a fiber-burrito (roll down the long way of the fiber). This doesn't need to be super tight, just not sloppy. Place the fiber-burrito into a (dry) crockpot.
For both methods - Cover and "cook" for about 30-45 minutes. The kettle method will simmer, and the Saran-wrap will steam. The heat is important for getting the color to set, but the acid in the vinegar actually does most of the work. You can also leave dyed fiber in a black plastic bag in the sun or a car trunk, but that takes longer.
4. Rinse and dry. Once the fiber is done cooking, rinse it with warm water, gradually decreasing the temperature. You don't want to rinse hot fiber with cold water, or it will felt (I have yet to try this out as a method of actually felting something, but it might be a way to felt with a high degree of control). Once the fiber is rinsed, then comes the really fun part. Take it outside and spin it to remove excess water. Optional: sing "I whip my yarn back and forth." Hang it up to allow it to dry. Unused exercise equipment comes in handy for this. Put your bucket under the drying fiber to collect any drips. Once it is dry, use it as you normally would.
Have fun, and don't be afraid of color!
~DoHP
P.S. If the color doesn't turn out the way you want it to, resoak it and dye it again! Works best if the second dye is darker than the first.
 |
| Finished products! |
Materials:
- Fiber to dye (I normally do 50-100g batches), must be protein (animal) fiber, or animal fiber blend, or nylon
- Acid dyes, I use Jacquard
- Vinegar, preferably the really cheap white vinegar, you will use a lot of it.
- A bucket
- A dedicated dye pot, I use a cheap crock pot.
- Metal or plastic measuring spoons (These will also be dedicated to dyeing, so don't use your nice ones)
- Plastic spoons for mixing
- Mason jars
- A mask
- Gloves ( I like Nitrile, but vinyl or latex would work as well, but you can't go around doing "Two by Two, hands of blue".)
- An apron, or painting clothes, I use an old lab coat, this gets messy
***NOTE: Anything that you use for dyeing needs to be dedicated to dyeing or at least to crafting, and not EVER used in food preparation once it has been used for dye.***
1. Soak your fiber in warm water with vinegar added. The vinegar will open up the proteins in the fiber, so that is important. For yarn you want your yarn in a skein, not a ball. Make sure your skein is tied off in at least two, preferably three places.
 |
| Yarn bucket |
2. Prepare your dye. Wear your mask while working with the dye powder, once it's mixed it's not necessary. Start out with about 2 cups of warm water in a mason jar. Add 1-2 teaspoons of dye powder to the jar. This can be in any combination of colors. For my blue-grey yarn I used 1&1/2 teaspoons of silver grey, and ~1/4 teaspoon gunmetal. Mix with a plastic spoon.
 |
| Supplies! |
Write down your recipes. Or you will forget them. This is important if you want to make the same color more than once. You can test your color by wiping the back of your spoon on a paper towel, a coffee filter, or I use my lab coat. Once you have a color that you like, add a glug of vinegar, no need to measure.
3. Combine dye and fiber. There are two methods that I like.
A) Kettle dye.
This will produce generally one all over color for your fiber. There will be some natural variations in how the dye is absorbed, and that is good, but it will be all one color or close to it.
I do my dyeing in my really cheap crock pot, but you can also do it on the stove in dye only cookware. Add enough water to the pot to submerge the fiber in. Then add the fiber, and a glug of vinegar. Then pour some your your already prepared dye over the fiber. Mix with a spoon or other stirring utensil. If the color does not appear saturated enough, add more dye.
 |
| This yarn is in progress |
B) Saran-wrap method.
This method is good for combining multiple colors on one skein of yarn/piece of fiber. Lay out a piece of Saran-wrap that is a little longer than your fiber. Place a second piece of Saran-wrap so that it overlaps the first piece by about an inch, so that you basically have a double wide piece of Saran-wrap.
Lay your fiber on the Saran-wrap longways and apply your dye. You can use squeeze bottles (hair dye bottles work well), spray bottles, eye droppers, or just pour the dye onto the fiber. You don't want too much extra liquid on the piece.
 |
| Colored with leftovers from another project |
 |
| This burrito is not for eating |
For both methods - Cover and "cook" for about 30-45 minutes. The kettle method will simmer, and the Saran-wrap will steam. The heat is important for getting the color to set, but the acid in the vinegar actually does most of the work. You can also leave dyed fiber in a black plastic bag in the sun or a car trunk, but that takes longer.
4. Rinse and dry. Once the fiber is done cooking, rinse it with warm water, gradually decreasing the temperature. You don't want to rinse hot fiber with cold water, or it will felt (I have yet to try this out as a method of actually felting something, but it might be a way to felt with a high degree of control). Once the fiber is rinsed, then comes the really fun part. Take it outside and spin it to remove excess water. Optional: sing "I whip my yarn back and forth." Hang it up to allow it to dry. Unused exercise equipment comes in handy for this. Put your bucket under the drying fiber to collect any drips. Once it is dry, use it as you normally would.
Have fun, and don't be afraid of color!
 |
| This didn't fit anywhere else, it's my first dye project from a class. |
 |
| Which turned into a gorgeous pair of fingerless gloves. |
~DoHP
P.S. If the color doesn't turn out the way you want it to, resoak it and dye it again! Works best if the second dye is darker than the first.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Musing--Freelancing?
Yesterday I got a phone call from my former academic advisor (for my MLS). Somehow she was talking to someone who runs a museum/archive for one of the national parks and they need a website, can't hire a professional, and my name came up (lol!). She called and left me a message asking how my job search is going, and if I would be willing to take a look at this particular client's website needs and how much I would charge. I also keep getting emails from people I don't know either through my school listserv or saying "hey, I know (insert name here) and s/he said you might be able to give me advice on blogs/websites/digital collections". It seems that librarians I know have recognized that I have an above average knowledge of these subjects relative to the field, and that I can also relate things in a language they understand. It probably also doesn't hurt that I've been consulting for free--I did this for several classmates while they were building their capstone e-portfolios. I'm also doing it for my brother now. (Munchkin--I meant to tell you I met with my brother, we talked, and it went GREAT. Your emotional intelligence astounds me, and your methods worked great despite my own social awkwardness.)
I'm kind of wondering if I should go freelance, at least until I either locate a "real" job or figure out if it's worth the time and effort. Along this line, I started thinking about how Fuzzy (at one point) was talking about selling her business paperwork skills to crafters who may need help navigating these issues to run their businesses (I still think this is a fantastic idea). I wonder if I could market my skills through our business and offer to build/manage/consult on client crafter websites?
Yes, I realize we still need to get our own website up and running. At this point, it's mostly an issue of buying a domain name and figuring out if we want to host it separately. This costs money, not a lot (maybe up to $15/yr on the domain and around $10/month on hosting), and I would be willing to front these costs for the business if my own financial outlook were slightly more certain. I figure the website has been my arena, so it only makes sense that I would invest those startup costs and earn them back from online sales; that way if the website tanks due to my own ineptness, only my time/money investment, and not the business's, is lost.
I'm thinking this kind of "consulting" model could bring in more business for us by roping in crafters who already run their own sites. Links between sites can really boost your search engine listing, so if we were to say "hey, we'll do some free consulting for you to improve your traffic and website navigability" in exchange for some friendly linking to each other's sites, everybody wins.
What does everyone think?
Alula
I'm kind of wondering if I should go freelance, at least until I either locate a "real" job or figure out if it's worth the time and effort. Along this line, I started thinking about how Fuzzy (at one point) was talking about selling her business paperwork skills to crafters who may need help navigating these issues to run their businesses (I still think this is a fantastic idea). I wonder if I could market my skills through our business and offer to build/manage/consult on client crafter websites?
Yes, I realize we still need to get our own website up and running. At this point, it's mostly an issue of buying a domain name and figuring out if we want to host it separately. This costs money, not a lot (maybe up to $15/yr on the domain and around $10/month on hosting), and I would be willing to front these costs for the business if my own financial outlook were slightly more certain. I figure the website has been my arena, so it only makes sense that I would invest those startup costs and earn them back from online sales; that way if the website tanks due to my own ineptness, only my time/money investment, and not the business's, is lost.
I'm thinking this kind of "consulting" model could bring in more business for us by roping in crafters who already run their own sites. Links between sites can really boost your search engine listing, so if we were to say "hey, we'll do some free consulting for you to improve your traffic and website navigability" in exchange for some friendly linking to each other's sites, everybody wins.
What does everyone think?
Alula
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