And in other news...

Mom is going back into surgery this morning. (She had her second knee replacement surgery on Monday morning.) The wound wouldn't stop bleeding yesterday and apparently, last night too. They've given her four units of blood so far. So, back in to find out what the heck's going on. It doesn't seem life threatening but still, one thing after another. She had enough gumption to be bitchy on the phone yesterday, which was a good thing, my father assured me. Only my mother could be in a foul mood while on Morphine.

Y'all, ~points at my lovely readers~ have my permission to SHOOT ME IN THE HEAD if I ever get that bad, mkay? Seriously.

I'm not dressed up at work today, which feels strange. It's a whole ~handwaves~ contractor/not-FTE thing that I don't really care to get into. Plus there's actual work to get done, and that's hard to do when you have to stop every ten minutes and demonstrate how the wings work. (Something I'd normally get a huge kick out of.)

To top it off, I had to walk passed a bowl full of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups this morning on my way out the door. Damn that man for being oh so prepared. But I resisted. (Maybe there'll be some left over, y'think?)

Post pics of your costumes if you have them. Post pics of Halloweens long since passed to dust. I'd much rather be flitting about with you lot than counting mustard seeds and worrying about things I have no control over.

Hell's Angel with Wings v1.0

This was version 1.0 of the wings (circa 2003?).  Way different outline, same infrastructure.  Also, many pounds ago. 

Steampunk Aviatrix

FRIDAY, 8PM, 10/27:
Leather? Check
Canvas? Check
Metal wire, armature strength? Check
Spare altimiter? Hmm.
Rare earth magnets? Check
Copper paint? Check
Goggles? Check
Lineman's boots? Check
Chalkboard and chalk? Check
Charcoal? Check
Estes rocket? Check
Mad gleam in my eye? CHECK!

SATURDAY, 8PM, 10/28/2007








There's a ton of things I would still like to do to it, including dye and age the wing harness; tea stain, patch & repatch the wings (my canvas shrunk in the wash. ~DOH~ I knew that!), and go with all white or brown under costume. The black didn't go well at all with the outfit, but it's what I had. And I didn't have time to hit the local military surplus shop.

Also, the pics don't show the uber-kick ass HUGAMOUS dinged-all-to-hell lineman's boots I was wearing. They're five sizes too big and go all the way up to my knees.

All in all, I'm really happy with the way it came out, considering the turnaround time from conception to execution*. I may have to put this on again and get some better "action shots". HEE.

* And yes, mine is the kind of house where we happen to have laying around: lineman's boots, leather helmet, goggles (that's just one pair), leather gauntlets, and 60" wide canvas. Things we bought: copper pipe, copper strapping tape, copper paint.

Fetching

Fetching
Originally uploaded by cavalaxis.

Work in progress. I don't like the picot bind off and will probably make the next one without it and then decide how to make the third glove.

Leather Pirate Belt for Sale

Bill & White Bengal Tiger Cub

Bill & White Bengal Tiger Cub
Originally uploaded by cavalaxis.

Bill needed cheering up after his grandfather's funeral. Kittens make everything better. Tiger kittens even more so. This is the same park Bill took his nieces and nephews to after his mom passed in 1997, so it's kind of a tradition now.

Roosevelt Elk

Roosevelt Elk
Originally uploaded by cavalaxis.

Roadside, 101 Freeway, Northern California

What's up Wallaby?

Wallaby Nose
Originally uploaded by cavalaxis.

Noro Kureyon Colourways

Noro Kureyon Colourways [1] [2]

Strange Bedfellows, Foxen Winery

Strange Bedfellows, Foxen Winery
Originally uploaded by cavalaxis.

My second favourite shot from this weekend. Foxen Winery tasting room.

Foxen's office, grape leaves in cement

Foxen's office, grape leaves in cement
Originally uploaded by cavalaxis.

My favourite pic from this weekend's wine tasting extravaganza.

Stockinette knitted with energized single (S-twist)

Stockinette knitted with energized single (S-twist)
Originally uploaded by cavalaxis.

Knitted directly off the bobbin

Stockinette knitted with energized single (S-twist)

Stockinette knitted with energized single (S-twist)
Originally uploaded by cavalaxis.

Knitted directly from the bobbin.

New Glass Fronted Cabinets

New Glass Fronted Cabinets
Originally uploaded by cavalaxis.

And these were billed as "video cabinets". We have turned them into curio cabinets... I think it works quite nicely.

New Mission Style Chair

New Mission Style Chair
Originally uploaded by cavalaxis.

Picked this one up for less than $40 at an oak place that was going out of business.

Spinning Silk

Spinning Silk
Originally uploaded by cavalaxis.

What's on the wheel. Notice the WooLee Winder. I'm so buying one of these, because day-um. It's so much nicer than leaning forward every few yards and moving the pig tail. I can really focus on drafting. Highly recommended.

Lizard Ridge block (184)

Lizard Ridge block (184)
Originally uploaded by cavalaxis.

Finished this weekend. These go fast.

Images from Sunday's Demo

The 13th Page

I was awfully fond of the last 13th Page that I did. So here we go. Pick an item, and I'll tell you the story behind it. Said story may or may not make sense. The author makes no guarantee.

First off, a junk drawer is a collection of seemingly disassociated items. We all have this drawer in our house. It's the drawer were 'everything else' ends up. Old tools, things that are broken but can't seem to be parted with, ticket stubs, washers, rubber bands, wet naps*. But as we all know, each of these items has it's own story to tell. I highly encourage any of my fellow writers, if you're stuck and wondering about a character, write a junk drawer for them. All their bus passes, their take away menus, their old Playbills and receipts. You can learn a lot just by going through the detritus of their every day life.

I typically write these when I'm feeling creative but directionless. They seem to craft their own stories. It's an amazing thing to watch. Or it could be like watching paint dry. You be the judge.

~~~

• One red lacquered wooden chest, carven with the images of two cranes, intertwined, dimensions 12"w x 8"d x 6"h. Sealed all around with pitch. White granular residue in the bottom appears to be mineral salts.
• One silver fork, crane pattern, tines bent, two forward, two backward, so that it might stand as if on four legs.
• One small leather bag, brown, containing a set of six-sided dice, hand carved, square pips, one die chipped.
• One aged paper label, pale ivory with black text, bearing the name Château Lafitte and the date 1787.
• One ivory-handled straight razor, rusted.
• One small handblown glass bottle, sealed with wax, containing an amber liquid, now gone murky with age.
• One bird skull, raven, delicately wrapped in a piece of white silk.
• One lead sphere, slightly larger than a pea, ,etched with the letter 'R', wrapped in a piece of oilskin.
• One deck of ivory playing cards, suits without numbers, diamonds and hearts representing the House of Lancaster, spades & clubs representing House of York. The face cards have all had the faces erased.
• One waxed paper packet containing one length of silk thread, white, ten yards, and one coin, ancient, origin undetermined.
• Seven black beetles, threaded in order by size on a length of silk.
• One dried poppy seed husk, pierced through with bone needle.
• One silk square, white, folded in quarters, all four layers soaked through and encrusted with a dark brown stain.

Please, make your selection and step to the front of the line. Please have exact change ready and please mind the gap.

*Wet naps are a requirement in certain circles. The lack of wet naps has brought down entire regimes much to the chagrin of the super power with sticky hands at the wrong moment.

Exhibit 13

I love this song and it tears my heart out all over again, every time I listen to it.

For all the playful, silly, rocking things the Blueman Group have done, I thank them for Exhibit 13 the most.

And I feel fine.

Fire: check.

Flood: check.

Hurricane: check.

Earthquake: check.

Riot: check.

~starts hanging decorations for the apocalypse party~

Twitter?

Twitter?

From the garden

And the wheel goes round...

I spent today with the Handweavers and Spinners Guild doing a Sheep To Shawl event at the Ventura County Fair.  Pics here.

The last thing I expected to see...

This was the last thing I expected to see in the middle of the garden center @ Home Depot tonight.