Of Stays and Bodies

Well, I completed my regency outfit that I was working on to the point where it was wearable for my evening of dancing and frivolity.
The dress was mostly finished, except that I didn't bind the the bottom of my corset with bias tape (homemade!) and I didn't finish the closures for the back of the gown itself. I also still have plans to make a overgown for evening wear, but had no time to make said garment.
For my outfit I looked heavily at Jessamyn's Regency Costume Page, which is a good resource for Regency Era clothing.
My corset was based on the corset pictured in "Corsets and Crenalines," a nice source for shaping of pieces, but very difficult to use when trying to figure out the stiffening of the corset. I went with cord for my stiffening as the earlier corsets looked to have been stiffened rather than boned in regency, and relied mostly on the busk down the front for any stiffness and posture support. I am very happy with the result, but I still have some fine tuning to do. I need to bind the bottom, add pretty detail work and figure out what is wrong with my busk. I made it out of two layers of a sturdy linen. The eyelets are curtesy of the "Eyelet Fairie," otherwise known as my roommate.

The dress is made of a silk that I got at Egil's from Gold Key this year. Its like butter, and I am in love with it. The front is gathered into the waist band and has a draw string at the top . I chose this method because the pleated fronts are later in Regency period than I wanted to go for. When I complete my lacings for this gown (I had to be safety pinned into it for the dance) I will do spiral lacing. You can't see it, but my corset it spiral laced. This is more period as cris-crossed lacing is a little later. I have found that I like spiral lacing, seems easier to lace to me. Although this corset and the Tudor Bodies are the first I have ever attempted. My Tudor bodies lace spiral up the front and back. Woot!

I also made a simple shift out of a cotton muslin. Pretty impressive for one weeks worth of work?

A pair of bodies in the Closet

I don't even want to say how long it has been since my last post. But, I am moved in, and I have fully functional internet. Life is good.

I lost my phone on my birthday, so if people would like to call me so I can have your phone number (you know who you are).

The past week has been very hectic. I am going to a regency ball this Saturday, and I decided to make a costume. We'll see how well this works out. I have the corset pretty much done. Still have to make the actual dress and a shift etc...

I also am working on a Tudor outfit for 12th night. Currently I have a mostly finished pair of bodies (stays, corset, whatever). I have the fabric all picked out though. Woot!

In food news, I made a pear & honey pie with a cheese pastry and it was yummy! Slice pears, and drizzle with honey. Armored turnips are also lovely and surprisingly easy to make.

I'm done now. I might post later when I am more in possession of all of my mental faculties.

A Much Belated Post

Goodness gracious me, it has been quite a while since I have posted. I apologize profusely for the lack of updates. My life has been fairly busy of late.

-Mom bought a new house (okay, 1925 isn’t really new, but who’s counting) is Eugene and the plan is for me to rent it from her and pay utilities. Exciting? Yes. Very. Kelly and I were planning on renting it together, but she has possibly got a job in the Virgin Islands. In the meantime we have been fixing the house up.

-The electrical system is old from oldsville. Old knob and tube wiring…

-The paint needs updating. In one room they painted around a bookcase leaving the wall blank the last time they painted.

-The floors need to be redone…principally the disgusting harvest gold linoleum in the kitchen.

In other words I have been knitting quite a bit. I have finished the Katharine Hepburn Sweater from Lace Style:

and a cotton cardigan from last summer’s issue of Vogue Knitting:
I also started a summer camisole from Fitted Knits, my new book of prettiness.

On the other hand, I have a new job. Which commenced at about the time I stopped regular posting. I am working at a lawyer’s office and can’t figure out if I don’t have enough work, or too much work.

Egil’s this year was lots of fun. A big gang of us went, but Kelly got the plague and couldn’t come. By the end of the event it was only team “Die Hards” left (Hawhawhaw, I crack myself up). It was still fun at the end, especially the fact that the three of us left had food left for eight. Let’s just say there was plenty of bacon for us all. We also successfully made “mush” from memory. We did pretty well all things considered; we had no recipe to work from.

I also get to work the next two Saturdays at the Knit Shop. I am quite excited about this, since I really miss interacting with proper knitters sometimes. I enjoy the people I work with, but they are definitely not the crafty types, with the possible exception of the receptionist whose mom knits.

Damn Meth Labs

As the title of the post suggests, I am about to embark upon a rant of epic - for me - proportions.

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh.
Now that that is over, let me just express my sincerest wish that all things related to methamphetamines be stricken from this planet. With the exception of beloved nasal decongestant. Those should be given to me, over the counter, not locked away where I can't clear up my bloody stuffed up head - which, I might add, is making things dastardly difficult to type and alliterate to boot. It's all their fault, well, that and law makers who have taken decongestants - which I can't even manage to type to a point that the dictionary elves hidden within blogger will recognize. Well, when I am not sick, I understand the point of trying to remove a component for the vile drug as a ready source, I bemoan the loss as a sick person.
On to the knitting - meth and knitting, bet you never thought to hear those two in a sentence together, did you?
Not much knitting has been happening, I have been sick since Tuesday. When, I might add, I managed to take my French exam, which I think I passed, it's all a little hazy. I did cast on for a lace shawl Monday and have a bit done on it, not really enough to post pictures of yet, but let me see what I do have pics of to post.
Well, here is my progress with Jaywalkers from Magknits. I am past the heel on both:



And I made a shrug from Fiber Trends, "Shrug your Shoulders"

J'aime chanter

A whole month since my last post, give or take. Not much has changed. My French course has started up (thus the foreignness of the title). I am enjoying French, more than I did the last course in French I took at PLU.
In recent news, I went to a lovely medieval music concert at Beale Hall with Kelly and her mom last Friday. The music was wonderful, and there were a few new pieces that would be worth learning. One was "Annum Novum" (or was it Annus Novus?) for the new year that the group sang by progressing around the music hall while singing the verses. It was wonderful and a nice medieval version of surround sound. There was also a really amusing one about a knight and a peasant girl, where the knight was trying to seduce the girl, and she was quite deliberately putting him in his (rather ridiculous) place.
On the other hand the concert was 3 hours long, and would have been longer if the singers had not commenced to cut out verses following the intermission. Lord, 11 pm was late enough as it was! The last few songs were also modern interpretations of medieval monophonic music, and they were boooring. Though that may have just been that they (the singers) had saved those three songs 'till the very end, and at that point, most of us were wanting to depart.
Sunday I went to the Haunted Corn Maze with Laura and Audrey. I almost chickened out at the last moment (seriously, I am a chicken) but Audrey convinced both Laura and me to go. I am glad she did because I enjoyed myself immensely. And it was really quite funny watching Laura say "hi" to everything in our path (friend, foe or corn stalk). Although, I did get quite freaked out at various points by chainsaw wielding masked villains. One such scare happened when Dad called for our usual Sunday chat. I was talking (quickly) and saying "goodbye," when I was startled by someone with a flashlight (not a villain, just another maze goer) and screamed into the phone. I haven't called him back, so I don't know if he still possesses his hearing...
In knitting news, I am finally finished with Clapotis, pictures coming soon, starting the fronts on the Katharine Hepburn sweater from Lace Style, and making tons of scarves for Christmas..
I am also now on ravelry. If you have not yet checked it out, ravelry is lots of fun for knitters. You can inventory your projects/stash, and get info on new projects, knitting network, etc.

OFF (Of Flocks and Fibers)

Another Sheep to Shawl finished. Sheep to shawl, being (for those less fibre jargonly inclined) a competition to make a shawl in 5 hours by first spinning the yarn, and then weaving a shawl, and all done by 5 spinners and one weaver. Our sheep to shawl wasn't quite the same:

1. No competition actually took place.
2. There were 4 of us (Three people didn't show up).
3. We warped the loom with commercial yarn (a Shetland yarn in the grease).
4. We were aiming for a stole, rather than a shawl...etc.

Well, when I say finished, by that I mean mostly finished. Our shawl wasn't quite complete by 5 pm, so Asher took the shawl home to finish. But that was because we were down on the number of spinners and we chose a time intensive pattern on a table loom. Sheesh. But we did remarkably well, and I love how the shawl is turning out.

It is a herringbone twill with a dark gray warp, and a mix of lime green and turquoise for the weft. Lots of fun. The finished product is ultimately a raffle item to raise money to bring a spinning wheel to an underprivileged youth or some sort. So, all for a good cause.
Remarkably, I came home mostly within budget. I bought 2 lbs of some 21 micron merino blend roving ($10 a lb), a skein of a silk cashmere (90/10) blend, a sock yarn skein (in fire colours, I kid you not), a diz for drafting, and 4 oz of a superwash merino alpaca (80/20) blend. A good haul. And to prove that I have been spinning:

And last but not least, lets see if this works for a banner.

New Camera

So far I find myself able to stick with posting at fairly regular intervals. Fancy that. I looked at the date of my last post, and it is from exactly one week hence. Verbal pat on the back aside, I have spending the interval playing with my new camera. For I finally have one to replace the old, after its sad death.
My new camera, I might add, is mighty pretty. And small. Perfect for midget-me.
Otherwise I have spent my time running around preparing for OFF (Oregon Flock and Fiber for those not in the know). A group of us will be demo-ing a sheep to shawl (very informal) on Sunday from 10 am to 3 (I think?). We had three people at the beginning of this week for said Sheep to Shawl, and the normal amount of people for said recreation is generally 6. 5 spinners and one weaver. And did I mention we had no loom with which to weave? A sad state of affairs.
As of yesterday though, we have 6 people and a loom!
-And there was much rejoicing-
A, Jodie, Erin, Mackie, Katie, and little old me. Plus a table loom someone's mom is loaning us. Should be fun come Sunday.
I also have my first bats made up from my new drum carder (b-day gift from Mom). Here is my new pretty in all its glory:

I also finally have pictures of the snow drop shawl from the Yarn Harlot's website. I am quite proud of it. Only took me 3 months to get up the courage to block it. But I think it was worth it. And the shawl won first prize in lace at the Lane County fair! Woot.

Bread, Bread, Bread

Here I sit (in a chair that is entirely too tall, I might add) in Kelly's kitchen, with a computer open in front of me, and it is time for a new post. May I just say that Kelly's family has more cookbooks than anyone in the entire world?! You say I exaggerate? Surely I jest? I lie not. But all is well, I have recipes to take home, and there is bread in the oven. Cuban bread, if I recall correctly. I'm just hoping that the recipe doesn't call for a half cup of cigars or anything. Hmmm, I think that should that eventuality come to pass, I may have to run screaming for the hills.
But I digress. And my post is starting to sound like one of Kelly's with entirely too many references to food.
On a side note (still on the subject of Kelly's kitchen), it has been highly amusing watching the roofers (or, more accurately what they have thrown off the roof) as we chat. Entertaining, but scary, was their attempt to saw something for the roof using the hot top as a sawing surface.
And through it all Kelly's mutant gray squirrel has calmly been digging to China. Serenely ignoring the disturbing thumps and bumps coming from the roof.
Knitting-wise, I have finally thrown my name in the hat for ravelry. It will be another 10 years before I am accepted into that much lauded group. I have no idea how long the waiting list is now, but the number is sure to be astronomical. Everyone and sisters and mothers (and yarn inclined cats for that matter) seem to be signing up. But I was convinced at knitting that I should sign up.
Off to watch the bread cook.

Belated Posts

This month has been a busy month, thus a distinct lack of posts...
Okay, really, I've just been lazy. But Maine, NH and a birthday party cut into much of my crafting time. And my digital camera bit the dust, terribly, horribly, and is very definitely dead. D-E-D- dead.

But, my goal for this week is a post a day. And I might even get a new camera this week.

On to the knitting. Currently on the needles I have:

1. Jaywalkers with Shibui. These are to the heels (long plane trip to thank).
2. Clapotis with Koigu (Yay!).
3. Cardigan with Dalegarn Tiur from Lace Style (back done)

More from me later. ^_^

Greetings from Maine

I have been sadly remiss in my recent posts. But I finally have pictures of something worth posting.
These past two weeks I have been in Maine, for a family reunion. The weather has been, in general, perfectly lovely. Normally it is hot and muggy here, but it has been tolerable.
I have been spending a vast amount of time in the pool/lake, and next to air conditioning units, knitting, of course. I have worked on:

• The watermelon socks are now finished! And I have worn them as well. I am very happy with how they turned out.
• A linen stitch bag in hand dyed (not by me) indigo yarn from Orting, WA (Heritage Yarn, I think). It's a nice sturdy yarn, good for a bag. Almost done, just need double points for the bottom of the bag.
  
• A red tank top in Kashmir DK, from Louisa Harding. I am basing it off of an Elspeth Lavold pattern from the new Cotton Frappe book. Front's almost finished.
  
• A cell-phone pouch from my leftovers from the socks.
• I bought a skein of yarn from Peace Fleece here in Porter, ME. It's in pretty Peacock colours. I have one skein, and it's a DK weight, 100 grams. Have no idea what I shall do with it yet though.
  

This past week I have been working on my family's loom down at the Jay Historical Society. The ladies (and gents) there were all so sweet and so glad I was working on the loom. Here is a picture in all of it's enormous glory.

History of the loom:
The loom was made in the 1700's (supposedly, and believe me...it is old) in Massachusetts. It was brought to Jay, ME in the early 1800's (not necessarily by my family) and resided in Jay until it was used by my Great Grandfather, Jonas Godding Pike. After his death it stayed in the attic, mostly unused, and unmoved (it's so big!) until the 1960's-ish when my great uncle Stanley donated it to the society.
In recent history, it has been used by a local weaver who set it up and rigged up heddles to go with it and replaced the ropes that were dead. It has been moved several times. And two years ago a drunk on the adjacent highway crashed into it damaging one of the legs. Stupid drunk! Grrrr.

My project:
I wove a rag rug (there was already a linen warp on the loom set up for a rag rug, so I re-tensioned the warp and re-used it) with cotton prints. It took me a day to repair things on the loom and replace ropes and strings, and then 2 hours total to weave it.
It took the longest time to figure out the heddles. I had the worst shed possible until I realized that they were crooked.
Now I have to take a picture of the final project. But here is the weaving in progress:

A Wikipedia Game

Okay, I found this on Knit and Run today. The rules are as follows: Go to Wikipedia, type in your birth month and day.
Then post the folowwing on yer blog.
3 Events
2 Births
1 Holiday
Well, I did so, on a whim (and sleep deprivedness) and came up with the following.
Events

1. 1056 - Byzantine Empress Theodora dies suddenly without children to succeed the throne, ending the Macedonian dynasty.
2. 1864 - American Civil War: Union forces led by General William T. Sherman launch an assault on Atlanta, Georgia.
3. 1997 - Diana, Princess of Wales, dies in a car crash in Paris. (I was in Indonesia for this one).

Births

1. 12 - Gaius Caligula, Roman Emperor (d. 41)
2. 161 - Commodus, Roman Emperor (d. 192)

Holiday
St. Aidan of Lindisfarne, patron of firefighters feast day.

In other news, I recieved my swap package from England in the Handspun/Handcraft swap. I love the package! S sent me some lovely handmade jewelry and a journal for my spinning, already in use. She sent a lovely set of shell earrings.

Two other sets of earrings:

And Two lovely bracelets to match:

"Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor's Shed"

I promise to post several times in the next few days. Really I do. I have been bogged down with finals and black sheep gathering for the past few weeks.
First on the list of updates, however, is my finished weaving project. I made 4 1/2 yards of fabric at 58" wide for weaving this past term in a double plain weave. It was quite a chore.

• 1. I had to dye the yarn. I had two yarns I wanted to combine for the warp, a camel coloured wool/poly (70/30) blend (12 wpi), and Emerald Fantasy (Nature Spun Fingering, 12 wpi) with 16 brown threads and 4 coloured threads to make up the pattern. But the camel was the wrong colour, so I dyed it brown. That was fun, I needed to dye 1.5 lbs of wool. I ended up using one packed of cocoa brown and one of dark brown in rit dye, and it seems to have worked fairly well.
• 2. Warping. God, I couldn't seem to do math for this project. I had to warp in sections (big surprise) and I kept getting the wrong number of colour repeats in my bundles. For one, I decided that 14.5 x 2 = 35. I promise you that it does not. Gah. So I kept have to go and warp more and more thread. And then I ended up warping still more when I realized that I had 31 inches of space in my read, and I had only made my warp 30" wide. So I warped another bundle.
• 3. I hated my loom. It hated me. Let's just say that it was too big for my 4'11.5" frame. And it had a sectional warping thing so I couldn't lean on it, and was continually skewering myself upon said spikes. Again, Gah.
• 4. I had the worst shed in history because of the double weave and the wool yarn. The top shed was fine, but the bottom shed hated me. With a passion. I kept getting the two layers stuck together. We came up with a commandment for weavers the world over: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's shed."
  
• 5. 4.5 yards is a bloody lot of fabric to weave. In actuality, it is like weaving 9 yards of fabric because it is double weave.

In the end I am quite happy with the result:

Next time I get around to posting: "The Trials and Tribulations of Black Sheep" and "My New Swap Package of Coolness."

New Title

Okay, this is the title I originally wanted to use for my blog, I felt it was more original than the "Yarn Mafia," but I went with Yarn Mafia for some reason. Now that I am doing Sheep to Shawl for Black Sheep Gathering in June, we are going to use "Sinister Spinsters" as our team name, so I decided to change my site to go with the original (and cooler) name. It is rather appropriate since I am over 21, unmarried, a spinner, and quite dastardly when I put my mind to it.

What kind of yarn are you?

You are Shetland Wool. You are a traditional sort who can sometimes be a little on the harsh side. Though you look delicate you are tough as nails and prone to intricacies. Despite your acerbic ways you are widely respected and even revered.
Take this quiz!








Quizilla |
Join

| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

I just took this quiz, after reading A's newest post on yarns to find out what type of yarn I would be, were I to be yarn. And the result: I quite agree with this. And I adore Shetland Sheep. It's probably more appropriate than A's, seeing as she got Mohair, which she is allergic to. Ironic?

In other news, the swap package I recieved from eatmoreplants last week (the week before?). This is just what I pulled from the box, She managed to get everything somehow attached to the yarn. I was very impressed.

In the next picture we can see the ball of yarn, with some other yarn peeking out.
And further the cute sheepy stationary eatmoreplants sent. Woot, perfect for swap packages.

In all she sent:

• A drop spindle
• hand dyed superwash which is currently part of a woven scarf project
• sheep stationary
• a notions baggy with spinny pretties
• nice smelling lotion
• a pattern for fingerless gloves
• stitch markers
• "crafted with love by" patches

Of Swaps

I recieved, and sent swap packages on Craftster in the magic yarn ball 4 swap. I sent one to missidekick, and recieved from eatmoreplants. Without further ado, I present pictures. This is the package that I sent to missidekick last Monday first, the outside of said package:


Inside I made stitch markers with some glass beads with a flower design, I am not terribly good at this sort of thing by the way.

The yarn I sent was handspun, merino in a blue grey. I sent A's panta pattern with it. I also dyed some fabric in Shibori for a head scarf with Rit dye in Kelly Green. Lot's of fun. Later I'll post what I got in the swap. ^_^

Fiber and Yarn

I am probably so far away from this resolution not to by yarn/fiber or fabric that I need to completely reset my clock. Still working on how to accomplish it though...
Oh well, I saw the best movie ever this weekend! Well, maybe not the best movie "ever," but a darn good flick. Everyone should go see it. The movie of which I speak is the new film entitled "Hot Fuzz" from the director (s?) of Shawn of the Dead. We were practically rolling in the aisles for this entire movie. And, yes it is a tad bit gory (okay, at some points a lot gory), lets just say some one gets exploded. But it was brief gore for the most part.
Review: 4 needles up (on a scale of 1-4)
In knitting news, I am getting fairly close to finishing "Audrey" from Elspeth Lavold out of the new Cotton Frappe. I really like the yarn, I just want to warn people that the label lies. It is not 5-5.5 stitches to the inch, it is not even 6 (my tank top is a little loose at 6), in fact I'm willing to bet that the stitch gauge would be best at 7 per inch. That's how far the bloody label is off. But, don't let that discourage you. The yarn is beautiful, and wonderful to work with. I love how it knits, less harsh than many cottons, and the polymid wrap around the yarn gives it a beautiful little sparkle. The yarn is very sturdy because it is one of those tube yarns and the polymid bit gives no trouble with snags.
The pattern, "Audrey," on the other hand, has several big erratas, so if you use the pattern, be sure to check those out.
I now have the back and over half of the front done! Yippee!

New Layout

I'm sick of the pink of the old layout, time to try nice soothing colours. What do you all think?
In other news, I recieved my package from littlesailor on craftster for the panta swap. And I have pictures! The first is a photo I took myself with some wool I am carding. It is romney, but I have to use my stash up at some point. It's a pretty turquoise that I am carding other colours into.
Then I gave the camera to Mom and asked here to take a couple of photos. I think that I need to remember to get her to take my photos in the future. Kudos to Mom.



There were also 6 stitch markers in the package. Here they are posed with my cat, Mayumi. Ik tried to get her to play with them for the picture, but she wasn't cooperating. Silly cat.

Two Classisists and a Movie

Friday night I went with A and Em to see 300 after Good Friday service. A nice way to cheer up after sitting through service which I don't believe in (being a Catholic Agnostic who attends a Lutheran Church).
In any case, after service (why couldn't it have been in Latin?) we went to see a comedy: 300.
I guess that it really wasn't intended to be a comedy, but that's how it turned out. We laughed ourselves silly, not that we weren't already silly... But I promised to post a list we made after the movie with our impressions:
A Comprehensive List of Historical Inaccuracies Contained Within the Movie Entitled "300"

• The cast was almost entirely garbed in tight leather underwear (yumm). And although I appreciated the view, it was inaccurate, very much so. And A claims that several of the actors were falling out of said garments
• The cast was wearing floor length cloaks into battle. Impractical anyone? Try fighting in that during battle. Plus the length was closer to something a woman would have worn.
• Hair? Aside from Leonidas, everyone else had interesting hair (and what was up with his rattail).
  
• bad wigs
• What's up with the Queen's hair?

• Speaking of which, did anyone think the Queen's outfits remarkably period? Though I have to say I am impressed with how those things stayed on. I guess lots of ductape was needed.
• What was with the diapers the children were wearing, were they supposed to be loin cloths?
• And what were those imbred, leper priests doing in a temple on top of a cliff (how's anyone supposed to get an oracle?) having sexy sexy with a red haired oracle/prostiture (who had nipples the size of marbles). Not even going to ask. And the oracle was drug induced? No, that was from fumes from the ground at Delphi, thank you very much.
  
• There was a pile of baby skulls. No, this is not right, babies exposed that young do not leave skulls (and would probably have been picked up for slaves or something). And what was with the wierd training regime they made up? The Spartans were wierd, but the movie was ridiculous. And there was a wierd CG-ed Warag type wolf who randomly appeared with snow (In Greece?) who's eyes glowed, literally. Sigh
• The whole Xerxes thing. Could we have laughed any harder? I doubt it. A was biting her knuckles when he first came on scene.
  
• Gay Xerxes?
• Xerxes in golden underpants with chains?
• Xerxes in blue (Em thinks it was turquoise) eyeliner?
• Xerxes trying to give Leonidas a massage? (Was that an oil massage?)
• Xerxes on a Minoan Bull throne?
• And his jewelry? Come on...
• The actor who played him was too young and had a shaved head.

• The Spartans in the movie had virtually no armour, except those leg greaves.
• My personal pet peeve: Stirrups. Stirrups are not period, and they put them in the movie. Grrrrr...Neither are knights, or destriers.
• Rhinos? In battle? Giant Oliphants?
• There were honest to god longbows in that movie. Way too early and wrong location. And really bad arrows which didn't even look aero dynamic. And the quivers were also medieval.
  
• Ninjas? In Greece? Hahahahaha. Seriously, these guys had Asian masks on, ninjaoid outfits and what looked a heck of a lot like katanas.
• What was with the hunchback? I just didn't get it.
• The Spartans all seemed to have different accents (I don't expect them to all speak ancient Greek, but come on). Lets see, Welsh, Irish, Scottish, English (of various derivations), American, and Aussie. And they were all supposed to be from the same tribe?
• Those swords looked absolutely bizzare and not even remotely Greek, I'm sorry.
• The houses looked more like Roman villas.
• Blond Spartans? Who were all body builders (not that I'm complaining, but they looked like body builders, not fighters) and quite a few of them had man boobies. Did they have breast implants?
• The language was just off, descriptions of things.
• What was with the S&M outfits on the Acadians?
• The fighting was just off. And so sad too, considering that not minutes before battle was enjoined, Leonidas bothered to explain how hoplite warfare worked in a reasonably accurate manner. Then they didn't bother with any of that and jumped and cavorted (in tight leather underwear) about the battlefield complete with Ninjas (immortal ninjas) rhinos, a cave troll (I expected Boromir and Aragorn to jump in here. Faramir was already there), and Oliphants.
• They also decided to make a wall with dead bodies. I don't care what Hollywood (or baliwood for that matter) tells me, dead bodies are not good building material. And they're smelly. And gooey, and nasty.
• Tortuga (sp?) shields? That's a very Roman idea, not Greek.
• Did I mention that they had a cave troll?
• They kept calling the soldiers slaves, but in reality it is more likely the Persian soldiers would have been mercenaries.
• Xerxes harem was....I'm not even going to go there.
• The belts had modern buckles, the fibulae were bizzare, and the shin protectors were metal.
• The jewelry was bizzare.
• The shield were all the same and metal (they should have been wood and leather painted)
• There were no people doing normal things: pottery, spinning, weaving etc.
• Gold coins? No, more like silver, bronze, stuff like that. And certainly not stamped with Xerxes' profile (complete with face piercings). I'm pretty sure portraits on coins are later (like the romans).
• Iron Swords? Where is the bronze. It is called the bronze age for a reason.
• There were people impaled with spikes coming out of there mouths. We just couldn't figure out quite how they managed that. It looked like it would have been tricky. Why not just hack the head off and impale that?
• There were people throwing "magic" grenades who really looked like beduin women. Yeah
• And I swear that I saw some huns somewhere in there.
• There seemed to have been no 2nd king in Sparta. When in fact there were always two kings so one could be at home ruling while the other was out fighting.
• Plus, 300-10 does not still equal 300, they seemed to have had a hard time with math in the movie.

Lots of fun. This movie really should have been billed as a comedy.

The frozen lands of the North

I am headed up to Seattle at o-dark-30 tommorow morning. Greyhound...wish me luck.
In the meantime, I have pictures of stuffs sent for swaps. I have been crafting, honest! Here is a lace sample of singles spun from some tussah silk I dyed with one shot (Rasberry). The pattern is out of Victorian Lace Today.

The second is a felted bag (minus the strap) I made for the Hogwarts' House Swap through Craftster. The confirmation thingee through USPS said that it has gotten to its destination, but my partner has not yet posted pictures. Grr...I hope she will soon! 'cause I forgot to take pictures before I sent.

In other words I still have a couple of projects going:

• Starting a tank out of the new Cotton Frappe from Elspeth Lavold. It's working out okay, despite being 95% cotton. Don't have more than 3 rows yet though. It's going to be a project for this weekend.
• Self-designed tank. Not sure of the name yet. It's 100% linen (I think) that I got at Goodwill. It's a light greyish blue, and I dyed some of it brown as an accent colour with Rit. Note to self, next time don't try one shot (I thought at first that it might have some silk in it, but no). I only have a couple of swatches made at this point, so more later.
• Leg warmers from knitpicks. I am almost done with the first of them. Yay! They are not going with me to Seattle though, as dealing with two yarns at once on the bus would be a major pain. Anywho...

Ciao

Days Since last purchased fibre:16 days
Fabric: 22 days
Yarn: 16 days

Swap Package

Well, I received my package for the Harry Potter Houses Swap on Craftster...Here they are:
A Mudblood T-Shirt. Perfect for a Ravenclaw?

A Ravenclaw blanket. I think I have some navy bias tape that will compliment it around the edges nicely.

A bag will my initials. Maybe I can find some nice silver bias tape for it. And the seams on the inside in the second photo.

Lastly I was sent a headband and candies, represented by the white chocolate rat. Anyone want some candy. I have lots now.

I got this from A's site. It looked like fun. I'm skipping songs I did not put on this thing for the sake of my sanity (Especially considering there are Sailor Moon songs on there...I swear I didn't put them on, although I have to admit I own them.) I will put those in a subscript or something for amusements sake though considering how often the stupid things came up.

Opening Credits: "Tehcno Dance/Bu Yao Lai (sp?)" China Dolls
Waking Up: "The Coventry Carol" Medieval Babes
-"Rainy Day Man" Sailor Moon Soundtrack
-"My Only Love" Sailor Moon Soundtrack (creepy)
First Day at School: "The Nightengale" Mary Anne Custer La Rue
Falling in Love: "Hangover Song" Michael Longcor
Fight Song: "Kung Foo Fighting" Foo Fighters
Breaking Up: "Army" No idea-anonomous SCA song
Prom: "Tokyo Girl" Ace of Base
-"Call My Name (and I'll be There)" Sailor Moon Soundtrack
Life: "Gypsy Rover" Clancy Brothers
Mental Breakdown: "Last Unicorn Theme" Kenny Loggins
Driving: "Charlie's Sweet" Mary Anne Custer La Rue
-"La Isla Bonita" Madona
Flashback: "Someone (Thai version)" China Dolls
Getting Back Together: "Wooden Toy Sword" Heather Alexander
Losing Your Virginity: "Help" Beatles
Wedding: "You wanna Dance?" China Dolls
Birth of a Child: "Igraynes Dance" -Unknown
-"Larger than Life" Backstreet Boys
Final Battle: "Two Maidens" in Bawdy Songs by Oscar Brand
-"It's a New Day" Sailor Moon Soundtrack
Death Scene: "Bedlam Boys" Heather Alexander
Ending Credits: "Butterfly" DDR

I have to say that I have great End Credits. Though some other things are a little wonky. Like my Final Battle song, and my getting back together song. I was sort of hoping March of Cambreath would come up...Anyways, L put some very interesting stuff on here, I couldn't believe how many times I had to skip past Sailor Moon songs. Gag me with a spoon please.

Days since last purchase fibre: 1 week
Days Since Last Purchased Yarn: 1 week
Days Since last purchased fabric: 2 weeks