Today is

a new sort of casual day. Gone is the Casual Friday when you wear chinos and polo shirts. Gone even is a Casual Friday of jeans and t-shirts!

No, I have made a personal decision for the summertime that the new Casual Friday is a Sari Friday, and am therefore wearing a sari at work. I totally am. The ironic part of that is that the sari actually looks way more dressy than what I usually wear, but whatever. I’m wearing a sari and sitting at my desk and it rocks.

A coworker has what he calls a sari (probably a lunghee) from Bali that he’s promised to wear a couple of Fridays from now, when I do this again. It will likewise rock.

It also gives me an excuse to buy more saris (not that I needed an excuse, but I feel better now).

I shall post a photo when I get home to my camera, which is hidden away and not in my purse.

Happy Friday, people!

(and I only sort of feel like the English wife from that Goodness Gracious Me sketch, which I was going to link to, but which appears not to exist on YouTube any longer. Oh, well. Saag alooo…..)

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Some more of what I did.

But first, some neat links.

The Baloney Detection Kit (and no, I don’t mean the lunch meat; if I did, I would have spelled it bologna)

Homeless Guy Smashes Other Homeless Guy Upside the Head With Skateboard During Physics Argument

Okay. So. I have not posted knitting progress in some time, but I have good reasons for that, the first being all those SCA projects I’ve been yammering on about, and the other being a wedding shower I helped with last weekend. The shower was for Jenn, a coworker, and it had a Moroccan and Indian theme. I jumped up and volunteered as soon as I heard, not only because, well, India, but also because in college I worked at the Suq at the Oriental Institute, and I figured I could help out pretty competently.

I volunteered to make fans.

This was a good thing, mostly because I had a good idea, but halfway through I got really frustrated because my stencil wasn’t working properly, and then it was awesome again. They turned out really great (photos taken by the lovely Ali Harper, who is a fantastic photographer and you should go buy some fantastic photos right now from her etsy site):

Hi, coworkers with fans!

Hi, coworkers with fans!

I made a lot of them. I was going to use a circle cutter, but my circle cutter was too small, so I cut them out by hand (and ended up with a swollen thumb that I felt very proud of).

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And then Jenn and Jason (who are an awesome couple, and great people besides) had their own special fans:

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It was great. They are great. The shower was lovely. Courtney did all the flowers, and she is a true floral wizard:

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Dawn was the mastermind behind the whole thing and along with documenting it thoroughly on her own blog, did a really fantastic job. She’s a wonder:

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(this pretty much captures the whole feel. She got saris and then another coworker sewed them into fence hangings, creating a secluded little outdoor nook, where I spent quite a bit of time, not just because it was nearer the Pimm’s)

Oh! Oh! And I wore a sari in public for the first time and it went really well!

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(Hee hee hee.)

Congrats, Jenn and Jason! You two are awesome.

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Kolhapuri

Specifically, sandals.

(Again, the disclaimer – I am American, of English and German ancestry. I am really really impressed by rather mundane Indian things. If you are similarly American, you may be impressed. If not, well, be patient with me.)

I love these sandals.

kolhapuri sandals by you.

They are the kolhapuri variety, often referred to as “kolhapuri chappals.”

I love them even though they are still hella stiff and  have given me a bruise as I break them in. I love them even though the bottoms are slick and I slipped on my back steps while wearing them. In my mind these events are really all my fault for having (a) gigantic American feet and (b) the lack of foresight involved in wearing slick shoes on slick steps.

For these are awesome.

Mine are made out of camels. Not the whole camel. Just the hide. They do not smell like camels (I checked). They smell like leather and I dug through a big pile of shoes to find them and unlike my khussa shoes (which I foolishly wore into puddles) they do not soak through on wet ground. They are thick-soled enough to walk on gravel! And now that it’s warming up in the ATL, they’re good for summer wear, because they’re both casual enough and dressy enough to wear with many different sorts of outfits, skirts or pants. Win!

And in other news, I have found a buddy to do my dye experiment with (*waves at Lea*), and she comes with a camp stove and a big pot (another problem solved) so I should order supplies soon. We worked on the choli pattern last night and discovered another, easier way to do it, which I will test later on this week. In the meantime, I spun up some more of the vegetable-dyed roving, transferred what was on the spindle to a spool, and began a new bit. I should have enough yarn when I’m done to knit something of a decent size, or many somethings of a smaller size. We shall see (but I have a good 12 more ounces left to spin, so I’ll have to wait a while).

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Today I am thankful

That I live in a democratic nation where we have the freedom to speak our minds, to go about our business unmolested as long as we don’t impair the ability of others to do so, to vote on our officials and expect a fair and just outcome.

I am thankful that I can drive my own car, that I can walk down the street and feel safe doing so. I can hold a job. I can choose what to wear (or not to wear). I can associate with whomever I choose, and worship whichever God I choose (or not, if that is my decision).

For all the economic mess this country is in, it is a pretty awesome place to be, and I think that from time to time I need to sit back and remember that, when my day is not going how I planned, and I’m feeling sorry for myself.

I am always looking outside of this country for a sense of belonging and a sense of community, but at the core, I am grateful to be born into this country with all its opportunities. I am a woman and I have a job. I wear what I want and can speak my mind, unafraid.

I can’t make my blog green for Iran, but if I could I would. I want the people of Iran to have the same freedoms and sense of security that I take for granted.

(If you aren’t aware of how awful things are there, this post should help make it a little clearer: Iran: Neda Soltani. A word of warning, though – it’s extremely graphic and extremely difficult to watch.)

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Further entries

In the annals of Weird Search Terms People Have Used To Locate This Blog:

“sexi film heavy knitters”

Huh? This is a whole new fetish/subculture. Heavy knitters? Is that like heavy metal? If so, it sounds awesome.

And if it’s a movie, could somebody please direct me to it? I’m so intrigued I can hardly stand it. “By day, they are average knitters… By night, they put aside their socks and become SEXY KNITTERS FROM PLANET X. When the going gets tough, these knitters go heavy.”

Yeah. That sounds sweet.

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It’s Saturday

And in Hotlanta it’s, well, hot.

So if you’re sitting inside your nicely air-conditioned house lamenting the fact that the heat is keeping you from doing the outside things you wanted to do, I’ve got a replacement. This should make your day full and entertained:

Amitabh Bachchan has a blog.

Apparently he’s had one for a while, and since I am lame, I just now found out about it, but he’s incredibly gracious and eloquent and it’s a delightful read.

Have a happy Saturday!

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This needs no explanation:

In the category of “Things I’m Sharing About India That Are Awesome,” I submit this sample:

Hell. Yes. I need to call that dance studio I found that teaches Kathak so that I can get my groove on.

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Today.

Today? She is soapbox day. I’m not talking about those little cars Boy Scouts race (everybody knows those races are for the dads, anyhow); I am talking about being on one. I have been jumping on them all day. I will not go into details, as this post is not actually about soapboxes, but whatever. It was a really great copout intro.

So. Today I finished the giant project of thumb-cramping doom (doom!) and now I can do other things only I am not and instead am blogging and making snake gourd curry, because the husband bought one and thought I might like to experiment it (actually, I think he bought it because it let him say “snake” and “gourd” in reference to each other, which I can’t totally blame him for).

I spent the rest of the time between getting home and cooking gourds planning how to do the printing project. Here is my Plan:

1. Research enough that I can do this pretty confidently. I’m just about halfway there.

2. Purchase supplies (Hancock has muslin real darn cheap, and I’m not picky). This is concurrent with #1.

3. Test. This will take a while, and will make me curse. However, better that I curse on little 6″x6″ squares than on a whole big piece of fabric.

4. Print fabric, once tests have yielded a successful result.

5. Make skirt and revel in the success of a first project. Plot for entry into an ArtSci competition at some point.

Oh, and in there is to carve a block for the border design, or maybe get some trim to sew on (but I’ll probably do a printed border, too).

I can totally make this happen before July 17, right? Right.

And because I haven’t gotten to the doing stage yet, here’s a spiffy guy in Jaipur, printing away. He makes it look so easy:

And this guy? Not a cheater like me. No, he’s making the print block the old-fashioned, non-linoleum-and-Speedball way (I’m still practicing with linoleum and the Speedball lino cutters, because if I went to all this trouble and screwed up, I’d be pissed):

Tomorrow is Friday! Woohoo!

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MIND IT.

Ahahahahaha.

My life will not be complete until I see this film.

(I have really bad taste in movies.)

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Some good news and some bad.

Not as bad as you think, but certainly irritating. First that (I like to finish on a positive note).

Some weirdo friggin’ stole my hanging plants from off my porch! Bastards! Either they did it while I was in the TV room watching the Fifth Element, or they did it between 2am and 5am (when I was asleep). Seriously? Hanging plants? They were $15 each! Not expensive! Cheap bastards. Well, I suppose we shall have to go to Pike and get some new ones. I liked the purple one better anyhow, so we’ll probably just get two of those. Or maybe some crappy-ass Boston ferns, because the neighbors still have theirs.

And then the good is that (1) I finished the craft project of Doom (okay, not of doom, but my thumb is swollen from cutting things out of cardstock) and (2) I found Traditional Jewelry of India by Oppi Untracht for $35 on abebooks.com! Woohoo! Thanks to Vairavi for pointing me there for the Kelsey Museum textiles book. I had to stop searching for things because I was afraid of what I’d find. The Kelsey book is used (at $20, I’m not going to whine) but the jewelry book is new! (aargh. just checked on Amazon and it’s $35 there, too; I have purchased the paperback version) Well, anyway – I’m excited about it. I was really sad to have to return it to the library when it was due back.

And now that I’ve got one craft project out of the way, I can focus on fabric printing. Hooray for fabric printing!

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