And so the blogging is not so much.
Hang in there. When things slow down a bit, I have all kinds of things to talk about.
Like Switzerland, for example. What’s up with the clumsy tripping they’ve been doing in their World Cup matches? I mean, they used it to score a goal, so that worked, but it’s a little weird.
And also, have made it to the owl statue quest in Zelda. Yep.
I have been wrestling with the greater meaning of the SCA in my life for several months now, primarily because at work I’m surrounded by people who spend their free time doing Important Things. For example, two of my coworkers have been spending all their evenings and weekends working with a nonprofit that gets unused, discarded supplies to schools in Africa. Another works with missions in third-world countries and is going to Kenya for three weeks.
I play in the SCA. I research ancient cultures and dress up in “ancient” costume and hang out with my friends. I’ve been attempting to form a plan around teaching English to children in slums in Kolkata, but that’s nebulous and not likely to happen in the next couple of years.
See, this is what goes through my head when I compare my own free time to theirs. Even when I thrown in my teaching gig, which is admittedly good in that it helps new, aspiring designers become better at their craft thereby creating a potential future for them, I can’t quite put it in the same category as helping orphans in Kenya.
So we’re back to the SCA. What, exactly, does this mean in a larger social context? Does it mean anything?
Last week was the third of the Unboundary TEDx events, which was focused on education. I enjoyed it a great deal, since education and learning are such integral parts of what I value. So I paid close attention. And one of the speakers, Anya Kamenetz, brought about a revelation about my extracurriculars. She said that part of what is important in the future of education is a relationship that has been used for centuries – the master and the student. And that one of the most important parts of the learning process is teaching others even if you’ve just learned the thing you’re teaching.
The laurel/apprentice relationship is exactly like that. It’s based on the apprenticeship relationship of a master craftsman and his students, but it’s valid in today’s world, and with the mass-production of education, with larger classes and fewer teachers, it’s a model that needs nurturing.
Here’s how it works for me: I learn from my teacher/laurel. She pushes me to absorb as much as possible. She passes on what knowledge she has, one-on-one. She spends time with me. She encourages and facilitates exploration. And once I’ve gotten the concept just enough to understand it, she makes me tell it to someone else. (CG, I totally get why I’m teaching these beginning bookbinding classes, by the way.) And it grows from there.
So now I get why I’m doing this. I may not be making a sweeping social change, but I’m helping to preserve an ancient and rich teaching tradition.
The next step? Figure out how to get modern folks to use it. I think it’s possible.
[If you want to see the talks that got me thinking, go here: TEDxAtlanta. Videos will be posted each week until they’re all on the site.]
No, really.
I have one on my thigh and three on my hands, too. So, yeah. Use that bug spray.
All Things Middle Eastern was great, and that makes me even sadder that the Shire of Brantestone is being dissolved and won’t put it on again for the foreseeable future. I was especially pleased to get to socialize with people I don’t see often, or who have been historically busy (like Duchess Deirdre, who is great, but completely intimidated me before this past weekend). I made lots of new friends and danced a whole lot, mostly where people could see me, and often solo. It was a growth experience.
Feast was delicious. All organic, locally-farmed, and wonderful. Carrots with cardamom! I never would’ve thought to put those together, but they worked beautifully.
And I got to test the new garb bits. I think they worked well:
Not looking because I’m expected not to look. Even more not looking:
And I think this will be a new icon for LJ:
Goodness knows I post enough SCA-related stuff there to need one.
Next I need to work on a new choli (one that is not white) and a really fancy ghagra for court. And seaming the hems of my jama. Kingdom A&S is only two weeks away! Eek!
Was today! And I did. And now I’m tired (I spent a good 15 minutes lying on the floor after we got in). I need to work up to the next one, although this one was completely awesome.
Checking the tire pressure. I had to put some more air in, but luckily we keep a pump in the car. Poor husband drove me out to Inman Park at 8 am. He’s so lovely.
Ready?
Yep. Let’s go!
It was a really nice morning. The heavens had opened up and it was pouring rain 20 minutes earlier. At this point it was sprinkling a little and pleasantly cool.
Naugle took pictures (all the ones in the post):
Wheeeeeee!
Almost there:
And then we got to work, on time! There are plans to go again next week. I will not carry 40lbs of stuff in my backpack then. I imagine it will make things easier. Next quarter I’m not teaching, so it is possible that I will be biking more. It’s probably a good idea.
(Thanks to Naugle for the awesome photos!)
One of them (robbingpeter) made a squid that turns into sushi! Like a squid sushi Popple. I got all excited and exclaimed that I coveted it.
I covet no more:
HEE HEE HEE.
And as sushi:
My coworkers have been suitably impressed.
More hard to see miniatures. Oh, yes. Here’s one:
See those ladies? Look at all those tassels! And that tassel belt! Spectacular! Boy, I wish I had one.
My husband is the Craig’s List guru. Or if not that, he’s at least pretty skilled. So when he found a tribal tassel belt listed, I jumped at it, and met a nice ex-SCA lady up in Kennesaw and bought it from her, along with some other things. Anyway. Back to the belt. I’d seen this sort of thing in photos on the internet, but despaired of ever finding my own. Here’s the lovely thing I purchased:
It was gorgeous, but unfinished. I wore it to dance class and then took lots of photos of the details, because then I disassembled it:
And got something similar to what the lady in the miniature is wearing. And then, because I’m silly like that, I thought – “this would be a fantastic apprentice belt!”
So I bought some green ribbon and sewed it on:
And voila! Tassel belt that is also stealth apprentice belt:
Ta da!
WIN.
I’ve had a grand plan to make a pair of faux-earplug earrings for quite a while now. I bought this pair of cheapo mundane earrings at Target a while back:
And then looked at this miniature:
And while you can’t see it too well (perhaps if you squint?), that lady has on an earring (probably a plug-style for stretched earlobes) that is a gold ring similar to my cheapo earring, ringed in pearls.
So this past weekend, armed with a nail, a hammer, some wire, some glue and a lot of pearls, I ended up with these:
(Actually, I can take no credit for this. Kannanbala did some of her own a while back and I shamelessly copied her idea. With great success.)
Even more closely, here’s one:
And while these are cheapo, their construction is similar to many other real pieces of jewelry, some of which I saw at the When Gold Blossoms exhibit at the Carlos Museum at Emory (if you can see it, go! it is good).
The backs are not so lovely:
But they will be hidden. These are remarkably sturdy, and stay on all day (I tested them). Now I can ditch the gaudy costume pair I’ve been wearing.
I’ll be sure to post photos once I’ve got them on with my whole ensemble (I’ve got a new veil and tassel belt, too!).
Special surprise blog post!
Today is the third TEDxAtlanta, and it promises to be awesome (last time around Zoe Keating played, and that was also awesome).
Even better, you can watch it online!
Hie thee and observe. This TEDxAtlanta will cover learning and education. And awesome.
I have been a bad blogger lately, but I’ve been a great spinner.
Following on the heels of my incredible sock success (the 4-day Monkeys), I decided to get busy spinning yarn. First, I finished off that logwood-dyed wool I bought at last year’s Sheep and Wool festival:
Remember this stuff? Well, I got sick of finding it in drawers, unspun, so I finished it off and learned navajo plying in the process:
All of it! Spun! I have no niddy noddy so I have no idea how much I’ve got, but it’s quite a lot. I navajo-plyed it because it’s kind of scratchy and I didn’t want to use it to make socks. Maybe a hat.
But it’s lovely to look at:
Or it would be if my camera was not so lame.
And then I was all excited and spun some cotton I haven’t photographed, which gave me the energy to spin up the Miss Bab’s roving (BFL top, unspecified colorway) that the Hockey Mom gave me at this past year’s Christmas party, and now I have (I hope) a skein of sock yarn:
It may not be a whole skein, but it sure is fingering weight:
Yeah. You saw that right. That’s a penny.
I’m kind of smug about this because when I first started spinning, I looked at other spinners’ yarns and was flabbergasted. How in the world did they manage to spin such fine yarn? And especially on a drop spindle! (I’m looking in your direction, Tsarina.) I’m still pretty flabbergasted, especially when it comes to figuring out how I managed to do the same. With a drop spindle! I have no idea.
Apparently wrestling with slippery, fiddly, cursed cotton is what it takes to spin up beautiful wool. And Miss Bab’s roving. Which, I might add, is pure bliss to spin. Such long fibers! Such beautiful colors! (And my spindle isn’t half bad, either.)
The CG offered to sell me her wheel and I think I’m going to take her up on it.
Aw, man. So busy.
So, anyway, I went on vacation and now have been playing catch-up mentally. I hate how that happens. You take a day to adjust to vacation, which is easy because you’re on vacation, and then there’s this weird three day period that comes with getting back into real life again. I’m in that (and my students suffered the brunt of the crazy brain time, since I forgot all sorts of things and left them very confused while I was away).
Vacation was great. I got pictures of the trip out to VA, a yurt at S&W, and then pictures of the way home. I’ll be stealing more from Jennie. Actually, I’ll do that right now!
Here’s the drive up:
I love driving to Virginia from Georgia, especially during the part that takes you through the Blue Ridge Mountains. It’s best when it’s overcast and sort of rainy, because the valleys fill with mist and it’s like being in a fairy story.
Well, all except for that truck.
A drive like this isn’t anything without Abbot’s Farm boiled peanuts:
Jennie got the pint size, and then I was all like “we should each get a quart!” so we did and then ate on them for three days (they were in the fridge) because a quart of boiled peanuts is a whole lot of boiled peanuts.
Then we sat around on Friday and when baobh came home from work we painted her trailer:
At one point rattlefox came over with donuts, and then painted with us. She did the rad crab. Which totally sounds like a weird dance from the 1920s. “Now, all you guys and gals, it’s time to kick up your heels and do the Rad Crab!”
Saturday was hot hot hot. I drank a lot of lemonade and didn’t pee much, which tells you how much we were all sweating. But then there were purchases, which (for me) consisted of two skeins of Creatively Dyed sock yarn, 12 ounces of some really excellent roving from Little Red Barn, eight ounces of cotton and four ounces of tussah silk from the same booth, a tiny drop spindle from Red Phoenix (I think) with which to spin the cotton, and a big basket to carry it all in. I have a picture somewhere of me amidst all our collective purchases. Baobh bought some Creatively Dyed sock yarn and two awesome fleeces. I can’t wait to see what she does with them (evidently she’s already knitting with one of the yarns).
(WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME THAT YOU CAN SEE MY UNDERPANTS IN THAT SKIRT? WHY? O hai. That slip I took off? Was actually quite necessary.)
Oh, and there was a yurt:
Of the Turkish sort. I was unaware that the Turks had yurts! I am skeptical.
And then Sunday I went and hung out with my in-laws. We went to a pub where the waiter giggled after everything he said (seriously), and there was comic book buying after the pub, and also furniture-looking, and then I went back and we had dinner and drove down to stay with Jennie’s mom overnight and it became the longest run-on sentence ever known to man and now I’m done with that part.
Monday we drove home. We were a little sick of each other by then, but I finished my Monkey socks and we listened to a book on tape and tried (unsuccessfully) to find mint Moon Pies (they are heaven).
Sock goes home.
Two finished socks! In four days! A new record!
Tuesday? Well, that day I played the Wii all day and went to bed upset that I did so. Oh! and I got new glasses, one lens of which is the wrong prescription.
And for some reason the type in this post is huge, and I cannot change it, and I think that the universe is attempting to tell me something about my vision, or perhaps not.
In closing, what do you suppose is in this truck?
I think it’s a gigantic Tootsie Pop.
knitters = angry mob 