When I Go Back to the Calculations

Where did I go wrong? Here we have less than half of the Gold Fusion/Marigold complete and yet, no more yarn. I'm less than halfway done with the Sulfur/Chartreuse flowers and more than halfway finished with that yarn. It seems like the Yellow I'm only going to use one of the 2 skeins. So, what's the issue?

Starting on the repeat

I recalculated. My numbers are correct. Funny enough, it's the sketchier Hobbii brand that I computed correctly. This leads me to believe that the Cascade brand is not 220 yards as advertised. 

I am also having serious customer service issues with Yarnspirations.com and their poorly labeled hooks. They are either hiring only the mentally challenged or they are evil geniuses that determined that a service outlook founded on leading the consumer on a ridiculous goose chase is more cost effective than fixing the problem. So, I will make sure that I tell the vendor to cease selling their goods.

Yarn and conspiracy theories. The more logical explanation is that companies decided to dupe the consumer because they can. Well, no more from me.

In any case, I am thinking my rug looks more runner-like than I'd like. Stupid canvas manufacturer never learned the golden ratio. So, in order to full it out and use up the extra yarn, how about a width-increasing border of pompoms? Because, the only thing more impractical than a white rug would be the addition of vacuum clogging pompoms. So, on the one hand, the mock up looks festive, but on the other, does it clutter up the modern, clean lines of the Marimekko design, or did I take care of that already with my insane color scheme? I will probably make the pompoms and if they look funny on the rug, I'll turn them into a cool garland. 

In the end, I dropped another $80-something for the yarn I forgot to order in the first place. When I factor in the non-slip back, the only plus to hooking a rug yourself is complete control of the design. 

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It's Just a Bit More Complicated Now, Love - In Defense of When Harry Met Sally

As a rule, I do not necessarily enjoy, for lack of a better term, chick flicks. Never saw The Notebook. I kind of hate movies with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.  My friends dragged me to Serendipity and just UGH! I was massively uncomfortable and the whole thing was so predictable. But, there is Harold and Maude, the Before trilogy, and of course, When Harry Met Sally. Offbeat romances? 

What I like about Harry and Sally is the realness of it. Love is complicated. You don't write your phone number on a dollar bill and then send it into circulation. What you do do (ha!, I said doodoo) is keep running into that guy that you were forced to interact with and that you cannot stand. Relatable. And because you don't see eye-to-eye with this dude, you feel okay being authentic. They put on a front when they are set up with each other's best friends, and true love is hiding in plain sight as a

buddy that they are just bouncing ideas off of and getting the opposite sex's perspective. Yeah, it's a great movie because they are both clueless that they're in love. Like Moonstruck, love doesn't solve your problems: it just creates a mess. Embrace it.

We get a glimpse, just one moment, where we get the happily ever after! This movie is genius!!!! His love of her OCD when it comes to food is everything! And that, my friends, is love. Love is being annoyed to the point of insanity and still being attracted to this soul. Not the blue eyeshadow and not her alphabetized VHS tapes (yes, this is somewhat of a delayed review. I'd also like to congratulate Brian Boitano on that phenomenal free skate = just great!) but how she spends hours on her hair and too much money on shoes and other nonsense that makes her Sally. Harry, where are you? You're late...

These two went to the same Midwestern college and moved to NYC. They disliked each other immediately, and were authentic in an age where it is much easier to be annoyed than find the good in someone. But love will find a way. Sex is easy; it's intimacy that's hard. They are equals until...

I love New York. It really doesn't deserve me and I am too good for the Big Apple, but there's just something about it. Love it or hate it, you probably have an opinion. Like me. Take it or leave it, but I am what I am and I love it, so, Harry, I'm ready, and it helps if you don't bring that coffee table. That stupid, Roy Roger's, wagon wheel coffee table! 

Modern Life Indignities

A list of modern day pet peeves. Know what I hate? Scanning barcodes instead of being handed a menu. Know why? Because you only need to update one record to change the prices instead of reprinting a full set of menus. I detest filling out customer service forms online and getting a form email with a logo where a person's name should be. When did it become acceptable to tell a customer, nope, can't help you. No suggestions are given as to what to do, not even a pat courtesy word like "sorry" or "hello". Self-checkout? Don't blame me when I scan a smart TV accidentally as a bag of spinach. It is grim.

What do we do with this feeling of being a stone let for blood? We have short-cutted and streamlined our way into this mess and it shows no sign of stopping. It is impossible to save the planet when I cannot even talk to a human about issues I am experiencing. We are all in crisis. Racing to the bottom isn't working any longer.

Please stop taking this out on Jane and John Q. Public. We are weary and suspicious and we're tired of our only choices being stepping on or being trod upon. Civility. It is time.

We cannot wait for someone else to do it. Society is too cut-throat as it is. Don't add fuel to the fire - the world is already burning.

Carry on! Help out and carry on.

Generational Trauma and White Men

Men and PTSD. They have it, too. Do they cause most problems? Yes. Are they entitled? Uh-huh. They're also hurting, and it is nearly impossible to empathize, but I am trying.

We send them into war. Be successful but don't flaunt it. They aren't allowed to cry. I think I'd be pissed, too. I have been courting a man, and it is hard! Until this, I'd be the first to judge a man for not having his lines rehearsed or poorly navigating my weird sense of humor - but be careful! One wrong word and you will not hear the end of it!

Setting yourself up for rejection is a hard lifestyle, but trying to impress is all-consuming. If I keep this up, will I eventually become a Proud Boy? It seems like my string of success with men will never end, despite the grey hairs - not just the ones you can see! - and non-symmetrical lines that cannot be classified other than "fold wrinkles". That, or I am telegraphing somehow that I am easy. I am not, but I must be broadcasting otherwise. I could not be trickier.

In any case, I need to come to the conclusion that these men are people. I know this intellectually, but the anecdotal evidence leads me to different ideas. Those loud pompous facades just mask their own insecurity, no matter how repulsive. It is well and good for me to think I'd do it better, and I'm sure I would, but so many men are getting it so wrong, I cannot help but wonder why. I can weave in and out of my imagined position of power, so is it the non-stop incessant nature of it that is making them nuts?

I was mocked for missing the kickball. That's fair, and I was a scrawny girl. And, it had to be comedy gold to witness, very Charlie Brown! But, imagine if I was a boy! The outfield moved up and everyone, including me, expected I'd miff. When I was bullied, it was just fulfilling the prophecy. There was a boy that was the male counterpart of me that had to do an insane amount of pullups to get credibility. I was allowed to remain a weakling. Boys are forced to toughen up. Pressure.

I can flounder, as I am currently, and society doesn't have a problem with me asking for help. Men cannot do this. They have to act. Too much pressure and doing it yourself are a recipe for disaster. I do feel bad for them. Almost. As I write this, my white trash male neighbors are throttling their ATVs around and around my block. In Queens, NYC. The cars that use my 2-block street as a drag strip come about once or twice an hour. I nearly felt compassion and they make a huge spectacle with so much noise and exhaust, windows rattling in the car and in our homes, but who cares? They're enjoying themselves!

Guys want women to come out and say things, and women want men to read their minds and stop acting like fools. Neither is going to happen until we get some perspective. Enjoy the communication gap in the meantime, because sometimes the assholes can be entertaining. But, be careful! Because, they can also be killers.

Marimekko Rug - Status and Lessons Learned

My wacky arm is rising up in protest

My math is off! I finished less than a quarter of the marigold flowers and I have, of course, used half the yarn. How? I want to blame poor quality control for my miscalculations! So, here's what I learned so far:

• It is tedious! I need traction and I'm not even 1/5 done. Past Linda didn't consider Future Linda and wanted to get the 5' wide canvas in the 8' length (bought by the yard). I'd need to apprentice the next few generations if I had done this. Carpal tunnel is looking likely.

• 

  Inch by inch
  

  I was worried about the white flowers, and I never thought about kelly green not really being a big floral color outside of leaves. The colors looked juicy until I added the black center in the kelly flower and that cut the Zebra Stripe gum vibe somewhat. And the marigold could more accurately be called mac 'n cheese...
• Fuzz: we all know that new rugs shed. I can confirm. AND, the yarn isn't in its final, cut state. Oh, well, that's why I have the German vacuum cleaner.
• Right to left and bottom to top is the way to latch hook if you're a righty like me. In other words, exactly the opposite of my instinct and most likely how I did my Lucy rug. But then, I ride snowboard goofy, so find what works for you.
• Soothing. Maybe because I did it during the good old days of my childhood, maybe it's my female ancestors echoing in the wool that they spun and crocheted to make spending money, but it feels comforting to do this. It calls to me to do one more row.
• Yarn quality is mixed. I bought a Cascade 220 white to test and mixed it in with the Hobbii white and I cannot tell the difference. The thickness does seem to vary more with the Hobbii brand, but it holds its ply better than the Cascade, so I think it is better for latch hooking, IMO. When all the threads are shmushed together vertically, you cannot see that some strands are fraying, again, IMHO.

I will let you know how ordering more yarn from other color lots goes. Let me finish the two cheesy flowers I started and I will address this problem later. Maybe Jesus will perform a miracle and fish occurrence and it will all go to plan, tee hee hee!

Will I persevere and finish or will this languish in a closet while my arm recuperates? Stay tuned!

Transferring Large Designs Without a Projector

Almost convenient, the auto-
resizing by my video
editing software!

If you're looking for an answer, keep moving, because I haven't figured this out. First, I tried casting my screen to my television, but I cannot use my Chromecast because it's a long story. At first, as a work-around, I thought I'd load my image to YouTube and then find it on YouTubeTV. Except that putting an image into a movie means the screen puts the entire image into the frame, and I want the whole frame taken up. When I do that, it's too big and now I need to do math to figure out what percent my canvas makes up of the whole screen and reduce the size by that percent. Not tempting.

Vintage wool precut yarn in yellow 
on a 5 gauge canvas. The knots
are on top of each other and it is
nearly impossible to pull this
thickness of yarn through

Backup number two would be to transfer the design to paper using the computer, and then use the paper to copy it to the canvas. This would save my television screen from being covered in Sharpie. I do have a cable to directly connect an image to the tv screen. Should I try that? And, as a last, last resort, I guess the old grid-to-grid square copying will need to happen. I used to use this technique when teaching scale factor as an extra credit project. I made the assignment such that the students could choose the image that was used. I have never seen so many scale drawings of Mario from Donkey Kong. In any case...

After testing my yarn and lengths, I can report the following: 

• The precut yarn is too thick - if I use the bigger $8 hook, it rips the canvas, and forget about the little hooks: this yarn is just too thick.
• The Hobbii yarn is perfect for the smaller hook size and the canvas, but this leaves some canvas showing. Also, this yarn is holding its ply the best, but that may be because it came through the canvas most easily.
• The Cascade 220 yarn is not as easy as the Hobbii, but is a nice balance of slightly fuller yarn that is only slightly more difficult to pull through and coverage. 

So, in the end, I am glad I went with uncut yarn and the smaller hook for the 5 gauge canvas. It seems like precut yarn is designed for the more common 3.5 gauge, and the Susan Bates latch hook commonly found in craft stores does not work on the smaller 5 holes. It tears the 5 gauge canvas apart, her hooks do, so watch out! Not sufficient information on their packaging! Now I'm stuck with an $8 hook I can't use, and free precut yarn to go with it; a mix of yellows and materials. 

The white in this picture is the two different brands of continuous yarn that I bought, on the left in the back is the Cascade 220, and in the front, the less plush Hobbii yarn. As you can see from the picture, the Hobbii yarn is holding up the best, but compared to the Cascade product, and the two yarns being of comparable price, I'd go with Cascade completely if the colors I wanted were a better match. So, now I get to hope that the difference between the two brands I will be using for my rug are not completely different thicknesses. As if I needed any more incentive to trip!

And, as for the transfer, I ended up scaling the image and copying it to chart paper. I also decided to switch the canvas from Dimensions, which was breaking, to Color Crazy's better quality item, because I don't want to hook 54,000 bits and then find out that the base is crumbling. So my price will go up, but long term, this is worth the extra $30. Until it gets here, I get to wrap and cut, wrap and cut. Good times!

The Holdovers - The Perfect Film

Up until now, I reviewed one movie, Inside Out, which is perfect, and one most unlikely franchise, the "Before" triology. And here is another film made just for me: The Holdovers. If you don't like this film, then you should turn in your humanity card because you're a droid. It is lovely.

What can I say? Da'Vine Joy Randolf won the award, yes, and even if they rolled the credits after her introductory eyeroll, she deserved it. That eyeroll said the whole story AND I was on the edge of my seat waiting to find out the story! Oh, this movie will punch you, leave you for dead, and it will make you laugh alone like a crazy person. Which is part of the story, but I don't want to give it away.

Skinny boys with hidey hair are not new.

No, this movie is a discovery and I would never take that from someone. See it. Now. Paul Giamatti is a national treasure and just when you think he couldn't make you fall for him more, he goes and makes you fall for him more. Did you feel that kiss his coworker gave her boyfriend? But...I thought...wasn't she?...didn't they?... And, the eye! He is pitiful and raw and sad and full of wasted potential, his character, and if that sounds just like Miles in Sideways, it's because it's exactly like Miles in Sideways. He is such a prickly asshole, and then you find out why. It is heartbreaking. He even drinks his best bottle of booze at rock bottom, and it is again breath-takingly beautiful when he spits it out. Thank you, Paul!

Every teacher's nightmare: losing control

And, I feel like I'm giving an acceptance speech of my own, thanks to the director, Alexander Payne. I'm not an actor and I need to work with him! The boy in this film was a first-time actor, so there's hope! 

So now let me tell you about the film - not! I will tell you how applicable it is to me and my life, because, it's all about me here. So, it is set in December 1970-January 1971 in a snowy New England prep school over Christmas break. A tumultuous time, for certain, and it's the time and place where I came into awareness. I was born in, gasp!, 1968, before the moon landing which is referenced in the film. It also shows Mary, the recently widowed black mother whose son died in Vietnam, watching the average television program full of white people. The Jeffersons and Good Times are still in the future here. There is obviously still a hierarchy, and this movie explores in part the inequity of our culture. In some ways it has changed and frustratingly it has not changed in far too many others. And, yes, three oddball leftovers with fraught lives form an unlikely alliance and see each other as people, just like themselves, and that is tired territory, or is it universal? It doesn't matter, because this is art, and even if one million people sing the same tune or paint the same picture, the results will always be unique, just like us.

Looking back on my life, I feel it is these very differences and misunderstandings that keep us from knowing that underneath, all those individuals feel exactly the same as we do. As a former teacher in Queens, NY, in a time of great migration, it was pandemonium, yes. Absolute and utter chaos. So is our world. Embrace it and stop silo-ing yourself with only like-minded folk. Society is crumbling, yes, but the world's always been on fire, and I guess the good news is the poor and disenfranchised are no longer paying for the sins of the rich by getting shot in a jungle or putrid trench. There will be suffering, and perhaps if we all shouldered the burden equally it would be a bit more tolerable. We are truly in this together; why compound the problem? Life is like a henhouse ladder, afterall...

Breaking Away from Convention

I was a teacher. Once a teacher, always a teacher. It is impossible to not want to enlighten people once you've developed a taste for it. I spend a great deal of time thinking, and when I'm not thinking, I'm talking. Talking clarifies my thoughts, but so does putting emphasis on reflection.

So much wisdom to impart. So, I documented here on this blog my health scares that resulted in my attention to every moment of every day. Nothing is guaranteed, and I am now on my 3rd major health scare, and, even if it doesn't actually get easier to deal with fear and pain, it is my fear and pain and I am feeling something. That's life. It can be sublimely ecstatic or dreadfully painful, but it's an experience! Feel the wonderful life that is within you; let nothing be lost upon you - Oscar Wilde

I look to the greats for bits and pieces of my philosophy. I also look to travel to broaden my mind and see things in a way I never would have expected. I cannot plan travel for quite some time due to my health issues, but I can still read the greats, who did travel. Here's some of their unattributed wisdom:

• The Paris slums are a gathering-place for eccentric people - people who have fallen into solitary, half-mad grooves of life and given up trying to be normal or decent. Poverty frees them from ordinary standards of behavior, just as money frees people from work.
• And there is another feeling that is a great consolation in poverty. I believe everyone who has been hard up has experienced it. It is a feeling of relief, almost of pleasure, at knowing yourself at last genuinely down and out. You have talked so often of going to the dogs — and well, here are the dogs, and you have reached them, and you can stand it.
• It is fatal to look hungry. It makes people want to kick you.
• He might be ragged and cold or even starving, but so long as he could read, think and watch for meteors, he was, as he said, free in his own mind.
• Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things can not be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.
• Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.

This is one of my favorite books, by a famous author, but I bet you can't guess the author. No cheating.

Right now, my convalescence that was a gift from my sister and father is coming to a close. I need to get back to the grind and yesterday, sick or not. I have used this time, amongst other things, to travel back in my mind. It has been one of the best trips I have ever taken. I have an old friend to thank for that: a very, very patient friend who may not have pure intentions but neither do I. I am very lucky. Even not feeling well, I am enjoying myself. And, hey! if this great author can be cold, ragged and starving and yet broad and free, I can do it warm, ragged, and starting to finally fill up.  

My Custom, 3'x5' Wool Rug for Under $150 (excluding slave labor, my own)

Well, sometimes doubt and procrastination equals savings. In my deliberations, I found the perfect palette (I am hoping) AND it's cheaper than my two prior options. But, I do have to increase my yarn length 12.5%, to at least 2.25". That makes it 121,500" in total, minimum. So, now we have: 

•  White: 37% = 44,955" or 1248.75 yards = 6 skeins of 220 or 12 of 110
• Kelly: 18% = 21,870" or 607.5 yards = 3 skeins of 220 or 6 of 110
• Chartreuse: 13% = 15,795" or 438.75 yards = 2 skeins of 220
• Marigold: 14% = 17,010" or 472.5 yards = 2 skeins of 220
• Yellow: 14% = 17,010" or 472.5 yards = 2 skeins of 220
• Black: 2% = 2,430" or 67.5 yards = 1 skein of 110

But! I found more than half of the yarn for $2.50 per 110 yards at Hobbii.com. So, I under estimated the white in my excitement and bought only 10 skeins and so I'm under for the white by 148.75 yards. Another $5. The rest are Cascade 220 and Cascade 220 Superwash. All 3 types of yarn that I am using have the same weight and ply. Imagine. Here's the breakdown for yarn:

220 Superwash in Sulfur (formerly known as chartreuse): 2 * 11.50 = $23

220 Superwash in Gold Fusion (formerly marigold): 2 * 11.50 = $23

220 in Daisy Yellow (formerly yellow): 2 * 11 = $22

Free shipping, total: $68. Now for the other 43%:

Friends wool in kelly: 6 * 2.50 = $16

Friends wool in black: 1 * 2.50 = $2.50

Friends wool in white :10 * 2.50 = $25, but, should have been 12 for $30, oops!

That makes $42.50 in Friends wool, plus $4.99 shipping and $4.21 tax, or $51.40 for 1923.7 yards of wool. Hmmmm...What's the catch? I'll tell you when it arrives.

I want to change the image to reflect my more orangey palette. I hope it looks nice, because now I am worried I've gone too John Boehner (Donald Trump for those of you who follow politics "lightly"). What do you think? Can you spot the differences?

There is no way that I even changed it. I am impressed with myself! The best news is that the white that I didn't buy enough of is a true white, or it looks more so than most wools I've seen. So, this is looking fortuitous as a beginning. Planning definitely helps rather than just jumping in. And testing, because I used my 2" yarn bits and they were too fiddly, so I increased it and all it affected was the white.

In any case, optimistic me wants to believe that for the low, low price of $119.00 plus the cost of the hook, $8, I will have myself a custom wool rug? The reason I am not factoring in the canvas is because it was a bit irregular and I am trying to get my money back. Not too shabby for a 3'x5' rug in wool!

I did also make some more egregious errors than just not ordering enough white. This was before I started officially planning and just jumped into things. I was ordering pre-cut yarn and it was going to cost me a small fortune for the wool. Most pre-cut wool has two major drawbacks, besides the exorbitant cost of the wool: 1) it is sourced exclusively overseas retail so factor in exchange rates and foreign shipping and 2) it comes in limited colors. So, even if budget was no issue, pre-cut wool is not going to make floor art! Luckily, the buyers that I started buying from, in grossly underestimated amounts, did not bother to check if the packages all came from the same dye lot and they did not and I got my money back on all of it. The only other mistake so far was buying a hook that is too large, and that set me back $8. I eyeballed it and thought I estimated correctly, but the flange was back and when it's folded up, it makes the hook too big to fit through the holes without tearing the canvas. The reason I had to eyeball it is because there were no dimensions on the package. So, now I want my $8 back! Haha! I will get it, too! I will not accept shoddy quality!

Now I'm noticing two things about my longer strand computations. First, I am not only short the white, but 220 x 2 < 472.5 yards, so now I need to two white for $5, plus the $4.99 shipping and $0.45 tax, and one more each of expensive Daisy Yellow and Gold Fusion. Two inches is going to have to work with my new hook that I should be getting for free, because we just added $22.50 more onto the total. $22.50 worth of 220 wool + $10.35 in Friends + $119 already spent = $151.85. My pride wants this rug under $150. I will make it work!

Color Mock-Ups for Marimekko Unikko Rug

Decisions, decisions. So, now that I sourced my colors, let me rethink the design. So, this is my inspiration art, by Bjorn Wiinblad, and that inspired my bedroom color palette. Now I'm using this as my design, but it's looking a little stark. Here they are together.

Now let me show you some others that I don't like. First off, there is the matching background color, but I feel like this adds clouds to very bright flowers. Nothing is bright when it's cloudy, so this is a fail.

This is worse! What are they in front of, Donald Trump? Jeff Boehner? I think these mockups are getting worse. The color proportions just look off compared to the artwork. As for the pink, it is pretty and could be a pink, cotton candy sunset, but again, no. I think the eye needs the white space to take a break. Also, do I need to complicate the settled palette and throw off all my hard work spent yarn sourcing? No.

Now, what I could do is switch out one of the colors for the white, I'm thinking the chartreuse, and that could be the background color? Where do you find chartreuse flowers in nature? However, my wedding flowers were exclusively Stop n Shop chartreuse mums. My colors were chartreuse and all the greens and bronze. My one bridesmaid was given free choice but told green or bronze. She doesn't look good in green and so my bridesmaid wore...brown. Close enough! How many people remember that my bridesmaid was not in the metallic family? My main complaint about her was that she hadn't popped and wasn't as pregnant as the bride (why didn't she invent a time machine?) Okay, off topic.

Before I even write this paragraph about white flowers, do I even want to consider dirty white flowers? No, no I do not. But, let's try it. Okay, I do like this. It is kind of unexpected. And now the jonquil or true yellow looks chartreuse, but it is jonquil! So, two final decisions before I commit to the yarn: white background or white flowers? Now even what I term marigold is looking pretty orange, and there is a minor focus on white or near white (pale pink), echoing the tones of the picture more? It was the chartreuse that set this whole project off, so now I'm wondering, do I lose it altogether and go with the blue-grey background and these 3 distinct flower colors rather than the color family with the white background? 

Okay, that's a no. So we have 2 versions to decide between. The original, unmessed with vision, or the chartreuse background with white instead of chartreuse flowers. 

Finding Yarn for Marimekko Rug

This is going to be harder than I thought. I found two almost suitable yarns for my project, but the main photo is missing the chartreuse plus it isn't appropriate for rugs, and the second from the top is just peach rather than yellow-orange. So, this is going to be a lot harder than I thought. The greens are too far off on the right middle, from Peace Fleece. But the top-most yarns, from Harrisville Designs, is off for the marigold, but overall I could see the rug in this color combo. It is sold in 200 yard skeins for $17 a skein, and remembering my chart from the Pre-Contemplation post, we have:

As much as I'd love to patronize an actual store,
this is proving futile.

• White: 37% = 39,960" or 1,110 yards = 6 skeins
• Kelly: 18% = 19,440" or 540 yards = 3 skeins
• Chartreuse: 13% = 14,040" or 390 yards = 2 skeins
• Yellow: 14% = 15,120" or 420 yards = 2 skeins
• Jonquil: 14% = 15,120" or 420 yards = 2 skeins
• Black: 2% = 2,160" or 60 yards = 1 skein

That makes a grand total of 16 skeins x $17 = $272 in yarn. The good news is this is pure wool. The bad news is they are heathered. I asked for samples, but in the meantime, the search continues. Finally, maybe the best candidate, is on bottom right, which is from here.

For continuity's sake, I'd prefer to buy all of my yarns from one maker, but that's looking impossible. For the best colors, but no idea if the weights and plies will match or if it will look sparser in areas of different yarn brands, I would ideally chose the following colors: 

• Chartreuse: one cone $29 + shipping
• Kelly: two cones at €25 + shipping
• Yellow: one cone $29 + shipping
• Marigold: one cone $26.50 + shipping
• White & black: doesn't matter, but I'd like true white and not sheep colored wool. Whatever is cheapest
  

How much of a rip-
off of this, how much
of Marimekko?

Comparing my rug mock-up to the art from the room, I'm back to preferring the blue-grey background instead of white. First, white rugs are impractical - but not nearly as impractical as black! I tried that in Tootie Pie's room and I swear I'm going to get a hernia trying to get the tiniest of lint molecules from that thick pile. Second, it will knock you over the head with how tied together my room is! Or should I do pink like the Wiinblad and subtly bring in that neutral? Still decisions and mockups to be made.

So, no one does samples, because shipping 4 inches of yarn would be exorbitant, but they do offer a sample card (for a fee, of course). So, there we have a reason to keep brick and mortar stores: color. Also, definitely quality. We've all seen those "What I expected versus what I got" stories. Some of us may have even experienced it. Oooh! Harrisville has 2-ply wool in 450 yard cones and 200 yard skeins. Here's what I need:

• White: 37% = 39,960" or 1,110 yards = 3 cones 
• Kelly: 18% = 19,440" or 540 yards = 1 cones, 1 skein
• Chartreuse: 13% = 14,040" or 390 yards = 1 cone
• Marigold: 14% = 15,120" or 420 yards = 1 cone
• Yellow: 14% = 15,120" or 420 yards = 1 cone
• Black: 2% = 2,160" or 60 yards = 1 skein

$26.50 * 7 = $185.50 plus $34 and free shipping, equals $219.50! Somehow the website computes it wrong: $217.50. Okay! Math does come in handy! Here are my colors to the right:

For comparison, this project will require me to make 54,000 loops. My Lucy project was 20"x27" and I assume it was 3.5 squares per inch, took just 6,125 loops, and that was pre-cut acrylic yarn. I will be having to cut mine, and wool will absorb oils from skin, so dryness should get worse. As it is, you can simply peel my skin off in thick sheets, despite regular cuticle trims and pumicing. What can I say, my skin really does its thing.

This is the end of my excitement. Now, the tedium begins. Also, figuring out how to transfer the design to the canvas. My projector days are over, sadly. Hmmm...maybe that's the teaching career calling me back for one...last...go. Surely I know a place with a screen larger than 3x5... My already too big for my space telly is 3'x2' approximately. Do it in bits? Remains to be solved. Keeping busy! Now, let's really get some carpal tunnel!

Home is Mom

For my 50th birthday, I went back home. Home, to me, had always been Rhode Island. I promised my mother, during this trip, that, "when this divorce finally happens, we will celebrate on Block Island". 

That was five and a half years ago. Two years ago, she got sick, and a year and a half ago she died.

We never made it to Rhode Island. That breaks my heart.

I went back last year to my village in RI, for the first time in 45 years, one year exactly after she passed. It isn't fair. I am still not divorced. That, too, was scheduled for 4 years ago, so 5 years ago, it seemed entirely likely that we would get to take that trip back home together. I had to do it alone, but she was with me. OH! How I wish she could share in my joy in a tangible way! I want her ashes to go to our local swimming hole, where I learned to swim and my sister outsmarted the instructor and didn't learn! She ran to shore to grab the wet sand rather than go under to retrieve it and no one was the wiser. Except Mom, who pointed it out to me. It was funny and I will never forget it. She would call me over often to share in the adorableness of my youngest sister, and I thank her for this. I felt maternal looking at my poor, left behind sister who would pretend to read magazines but upside-down, or make up sad, nay, pitiful songs about being the youngest. Otherwise, I'd always probably just see her as a peer, but I dutifully admired her angel wings and dark (for us) skin like a mother would.

Little sister just came for another Linda emergency (there are many) and is now my confidant. And I love her and marvel at her ability to juggle her life and mine, but she is not a replacement for Jean. My father, forget it! She is smiling, though, Mom is. Because something wonderful is going to happen!

Working in my medium, confusion and misunderstandings, I managed to put together a mini-reunion of my elementary school friends. Personally, my life has been painful and, I know no one reads this, not even worth maintaining at times. My life is on the edge. I  really miss Jean...

But this reunion, and I don't want to put to many expectations on it, is giving me a reason to go on. I knew in my heart for years that I over-romanticized my RI childhood, but now that I've gone back again, I don't think I did!! It truly was special and magical and amazing. But, my real home is now in my heart, where Jean lives. I miss talking with her, but she is inside of me, and we talk all the time. Home is where the heart is, and mine is with her. Love you, Mom...

Back to Milk Jugs - Tord Boontje Dup Bouquet Garland Light

Yes, I ripped off the design completely.
If you have 100 hours to cut one out by
hand, more power to you!

I really messed up my linen pendant lamp. The finial, which was attached using hot glue, fell off, necessitating an entire pull down to address. During its time away from the ceiling, I got carried away with the doodadding and it is tragic. No photos of the devastation will be shared, but suffice it to say that the clean lines had left the building.

The inspiration

The Midsummer Lamp, by Tord Boontje, has always been coveted by moi. Personally, I like the chrome version, but the paper one was lovelier, somehow. Well, I never forget a lamp, and during my research I found this:

This could be a painting,
but, no, it's a lamp!

And everything changed. My calcium intake is probably reaching unhealthy levels now. I need milk jugs! 

It does get easier and 
faster, but this took forever

Depending on what parts of the container I have left determines the length of the stem, so the set of 3 leaves is on a GMO stem, and the fig leaf's stem was severely reduced. But, all in all, I like my modifications. I even added my own branchy thing at 1 o'clock in the photo, and there will be other additions. I am underwhelmed at my daisies and one of the flowers needed its stem to grow at a Chernobyl angle because someone got carried away with the flower and forgot. The lilies of the valley are daunting and may not be attempted. But, imperfections is what make this OOAK, and the price is FREE!

The possibilities that this opens up is endless. Between the Marimekko rug dup and cutting out Boontje inspired florals is filling my days and fueling my creativity.

When I drink up the milk backlog, I will be making more. I seem to be able to get 5 from a half gallon container, so we'll be increasing in multiples of five. I also like using the bent part from the spout to make the attaching circles, because this makes them splay out more. 

A week's worth of tracing and cutting,
cutting, cutting. 

Update! I found 2 large water dispensers that created some longer garlands. I made nine more in 6 days, upping the count from 14 to 23. Well, that hardly seems sustainable. My poor fingers need another project for a bit, and I have just the one! Let's see how it looks hanging now.

Here it is. So wonderful, I'm in love! I had a selection of incandescent bulbs that will last throughout my lifetime, so I worry about the plastic melting, so I might look into one of those light cages that contractors use to not start fires. In the meantime, this should encourage Tootie Pie to not leave EVERY light on in the house.

I was worried about the fullness, but 
varying the sizes of the branch lengths
results in nice bushiness.

Pelmet and Macrame Window Treatment Tutorials

Two beds ago and three window treatments later,
her room looks nothing like this

There are more window treatment options than just a curtain rod holding curtains. Since changed to a blind, but at one point, Tootie Pie's window once had a velvet pelmet made from a t.v. box and a scallop template, covered in light wadding and then pink velvet. I also found a natural linen 108" long panels, 4 in all, that I dyed a peach shade and then made matching wall art and painted my fauteuil to match. Now, I have gold sequin panels held back with mirror placemats cut and glued to a cheap tie-back. In the living room, these are paired with light turquoise velvet panels.

Using the templates to make the
scalloped edge and an X-acto knife

So now I wanted to make a macrame curtain featuring branches and leaves, and a test project where I tried using the twine I bought years ago for $0.50 for 2 giant spools proved disastrous. Remember that knot tying guild I mentioned back in the Christmas in July swap? Well, Celtic queen that I am thought it would be fun to try those infinity knots and, well, my home is now full of tiny yellow twine filaments. And, for some reason, I was only able to complete two knots when all knotting sense left me and I could not, after 10 attempts, make the third knot. I also need shuttles. 

Chandelier and bookcase are the only clues that this
is the same room as above, but now occupied by
a teenager, Tootie Pie! Oh, the curly curtain that 
she HATED.

Well, my blonde Tootie Pie once justified a $750 communion dress by using the logic that her favorite things about herself was her lips and hair (solid choices, both) and the bubbly style of the dress reminded her of her curls. Well, take my money, now! Well, it so happens that those twisted cones of twine that stayed in my garage for close to two decades remain curled, and so, I added a few ribbons, and now I have a blonde window treatment. Only one knot needed for this project.

After keeping this wonderous tentacled creation in curly girl's room, she wanted it OUT and so I moved it to the kitchen, where it does nothing to block out the afternoon sun, but it does dangle on the wet countertops, so it should get nice and fuzzy by the summer. Not fuzzy as in frizzy hair, but as in growing bacterial fuzz.

Curly curtain's new home

Latch Hooking Again - Pre-Contemplation Stage

This is my color mock-up, but I don't like
the distribution of the colors.

So, the ocean themed rug turns out to be cat pee damaged. What's a person to do? Well, once upon a time, I was given a Lucy latch hook kit, and dutifully finished it. No idea what happened to it, but it did go with my red, white and blue wallpaper that my friend could NOT STOP LAUGHING AT. Not that I'm scarred...

I could buy oilcloth
that measures 18"x54"
That would give me one 
and a half 18x18 pillows
with no seam allowance

So, I ordered the canvas, the tools, and the precut wool, and I will be making a 36"x60" Marimekko Unikko dup. I saw the chartreuse and yellow colorway on a pillow that was $90. Now, given that the fabric is going for $35.95 a HALF yard, and the width isn't even 60", my gracious! So, no, way too pricey for a pillow that will be used to balance Tootie Pie's fruit and jam breakfasts. 

Once I decided against buying the pillows, I have been obsessing about them ever since. So, we're going to get creative and latch hook our own 3-color Unikko RUG! So, in addition to the yellow, jonquil, and chartreuse of the $90 pillow version, I will be adding kelly green like in the Unikko below. Since I plan on having 9 poppies on my rug, each main poppy color of yellow, chartreuse and kelly will be represented 3 times. The jonquil will be the stamen, and the black will be used for the centers and stems. Since I am using wool, the white will not be winter white as in the fabric, but a sort of off-white natural sheep color. 

This is currently out
of stock here.

So, I've scored all my colors in wool, precut. If this is something I'd like to replicate, I'll probably just cut my own lengths, since finding old wool stock is not easy. I ended up buying the following number or packages, which contain 320 strands per package:

• Off White: 6 packages - I also ended up getting two packs of "tan", which look for all the world just like off white, but we'll see.
• Kelly: 5 packages of Readicut #39
• Chartreuse: 6 packages of Symrnalaine #43
• Yellow: 6 packages of Bernat #3100
• Jonquil: 2 packages of Symrnalaine #54
• Black: 6 packages of Readicut #48
• Off-white: 2 packages of Bernat #3173

My canvas is 36"x60", with 25 threads per square inch. So, a quick math says we have 2160 square inches, times 25 is 54,000 threads. I have 320 x 31 = 9,920. Hmmm...I'm off by a factor of 6! Also, if almost 10,000 hooks is intimidating. Fifty-four thousand is impossible! Now I'm wondering if I need a bolster pillow (not).

So, if I keep the size, but lose some detail, by getting 14 knots per square inch gives me 30,375 loops. Now it's down to a factor of 3! Could I cut the 2.5" strands into thirds? Probably not, since each knot takes up 0.5 of an inch of the length, and so 2.5 - 1.5 for 3 loops leaves one inch to be split in 3 pieces, so 1/3 of an inch is left for the fringe, and this needs to be split in two, since each loop has two tails. That means that the pile height will be 1/6" instead of 1 inch, so it sounds not doable, but I'm going to do a trial run anyhow. The thinner the carpet, the thicker the wallet.

Oh, boy, I better figure this out! I should see the mean psychiatrist, Lucy! Let me cancel the orders above. C'mon!

Now what? So, now I go with the cheaper option, cutting my own wool. That should be fun. There are doodads that you can buy to do this, or, and we should know that if there's an OR involved in spending money, I'm most likely going with the OR. I can make a yarn cutter out of cardboard. The only trick is to make it half as wide as you want your threads. In latch hooking, we usually use 2.5 inches, to get a one-inch pile. In my case, now that I have the flexibility, I may go for a half-inch pile, so my yarn should only be 1.5 inches long. Which means:

36 x 60 x 25 = 54,000 x 1.5 = 81,000 inches of wool. I will figure out the proportions of each color next. I am starting to see why they sell these things as kits now! 

70s in a good way, like me

So, this photo is to show how Marimekko arranges 3 different colors, and notice how the colors are very similar to mine! So, imagine the white flowers are the kelly green ones in the above color mockup and you have the idea. But now, what about that blue background? Doesn't that look nice? Maybe we should do this layout rather than the 9 only on mine, above? 

See how the planning leads to more questions? I love it! Fumbling my way towards beauty.

And, so, here it is, in its imagined form. Now I need to source the yarn, determine the proportions of each color (still haven't done that) to get approximately the right amount and then, latch, latch, latch. The likelihood of this project ever being completed is very close to zero, but that hasn't stopped me before. The cost of the wool very well could, though! And, since a tutorial on latching recommended that the strands be no less than 2 inches long, that means I need to figure out the proportions for the colors out of 108,000 inches of yarn. OMG!

Well, the imagining is the fun part. Now
comes the drudgery.

So, let's do it. I used this tool to come up with the following percentages:

• White: 37% = 39,960" or 1,110 yards
• Kelly (main, darker): 14% = 15,120" or 420 yards
• Chartreuse: 13% = 14,040" or 390 yards
• Yellow: 14% = 15,120" or 420 yards
• Jonquil: 14% = 15,120" or 420 yards
• Kelly (secondary, lighter): 4% = 4,320" or 120 yards
• Black: 2% = 2,160" or 60 yards

Look at that wonderful balance between the kelly, chartreuse, yellow and jonquil. Beauty everywhere!

Fish Motif - Dory and Marlin Papier-Mâché

During yet another convalescence, I have documented my delve into the creative with my adventure with the Whale Song art paper purchase. I asked my sisters if they want the Orrefors crystal whale that my mother picked up at some soirée. And, now, because I need to put up not one, but 2 curtain rod holders, I am fashioning Dory and Marlin figures from paper cutouts transferred to cardboard.

The crystal finback?

Before we get into the process, let me tell you about my esteem for this film. In a way, needing to plan everything so meticulously I think led to its brilliance. The staff were taught to scuba, and everyone at Pixar became immersed in the underwater. And the story came from a long drive shared between the producers or directors, bemoaning how this very drive was preventing them from being with their children. Separation anxiety is real. Life is an adventure, and adventures involve risk. It takes Marlin a while to understand that Nemo can do it. And it took a tang fish with a short term memory problem to show him how.

Cardboard armature base scaled and traced from the internet, I loaded up the base with balls of paper, and then set those in place using masking tape. Over that rough situation, I did a papier-mâché covering, and then set to smoothing this out more by making papier maché clay. Mhhhhhm. With grout, because all the other recipes called for calcium carbonate or spackling compound, not DAP. We are shopping from home, so, I had grout. So, my adapted recipe consisted of the following:

The paper tracing from
internet, plus wads of paper,
masking taped to Dory
armature. Two masking taped
balls will function as her eyes

Now I have started
adding my paper
clay slurry to smooth
out the eyes and
other oopsies.

2 parts water to one part flour, or is it the other way around? The papier mâché base, plus salt, to preserve it. To this, I added shredded paper and let it sit for a bit, and added some light napkins and then Aleene's Fabric Glue, because this is what I had on hand. And, a quick whirl with my immersion blender, and then add in the grout and some corn starch. With this concoction, I smoothed out the joints with the fins and also built up their eyes and brows. And generally made them more symmetrical, if possible. It was fun. Finally, I gave the whole figure a smooth skim coat with my offset frosting spatula.

I also cut out a hand-drawn coral and some wavy grass that I repeated 5 times. The grass was veined with another sliver of paper and papier-machéd with textured crepe paper. The coral was just cut from cardstock and thickened with multiple Modge Podge and supported with scraps of cardboard. These will form the backdrop of the curtain holders. No idea where the fish will go. I kind of wished I would have made an anemone! 

To cover the horrible spackling
job that I did over the staircase:
fronds like you, who needs 
anemones?

In any case, I need to figure out how to make these 3D figurines really smooth, as in the tutorial that I am boldly ripping off. I suppose a sanding is in order. And then, to smooth it out with Modge Podge for that final glossy finish. Then, the paint, the fun part. The part where I realize that the surface is not glass-like enough, as I did with my Bjorn Winblaad vase. We're trying to live and learn...the hard way.

Now, to find out how my DIY paper clay recipe holds up to sanding. It's like sanding grout. But doable. And, sturdy, so that's a plus! But, after painstakingly sanding the dry figurines, I finally decided to rinse them of the dust and then I found that a quick dousing and they are so much more easily sandable! So, even better. Now that they're painted and sealed, I put them in situ, over the staircase. I love my little fish friends!

Well, now the whale is going to eat Marlin while 
Dory watches. She then decides to be ingested
with him and they argue about his belly being 
half full or half empty.