A day worth writing about

by Darcy on June 27, 2010

Andy and I went to Woolfest 2010 at Lake Farmpark today. Highlights included:

- Having Andy with me for company and getting to spend a nice day with my sweetie

- Milking a cow!

- Learning to flatfoot from Charlie Burton

- Petting a sheep, a llama, a calf, and a cow

- Amazing gallery of hand-hooked rugs, beautiful work, and a little demo of rug hooking from one of the guild ladies

- Falling in love with the Spinolution Mach II spinning wheel

- A lovely ride out there on windy up-and-down country roads

The sun really took it out of me. Time to go collapse with some kind of cold beverage and dream about buying that spinning wheel.

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My exciting adventure: bra class!

by Darcy on June 8, 2010

Tomorrow I leave for Canada to take a 2-day class on how to sew your own bra. I’m pretty excited about it. The bra makers of the world at some point while I wasn’t paying attention seem to have decided that all bras must be padded. Well, all bras for anyone under a certain size. I literally have not been able to find a single bra anywhere that fits me that isn’t padded. It’s tragic. At one point I thought I had found a style I liked and was told they didn’t manufacture it in my size. They don’t even make them.

It’s true that my search might not have been as exhaustive as it might have been, but I think visiting every department store in the area, a slew of outlet stores, and a specialty bra vendor at the sewing expo is about as much time as I’m willing to put in before I give up and say screw it, I will learn to make one myself.

The bra sales ladies tell me that it’s just a little bit of padding “for modesty” or that the padding is only at the bottom “to give you a little lift,” but to that I say, Modesty? Like, I should be embarrassed about the fact that I have nipples? That I am a mammal? That’s something I need to be modest about? and We can’t pick them up without resting them on something so they look bigger? Really? Because I like looking down and seeing the body that is familiar to me, not some different body created when I wear this padded monstrosity.

I remember buying my first bra with my stepmother, and she insisted on getting me a padded one “until I filled out a little.” I did not really ever fill out all that much. And I basically think of padded bras as false advertising, which anyone who knows me will tell you I feel very strongly about. I want no part whatsoever of any false advertising. So bra class it is!

The class is in Canada, and my route to get there will take me through Buffalo, NY where I will get to visit with an old work friend. I’m hoping I’ve got the energy to visit a college friend as well who lives about an hour from the town where the class is held. I doubt I’ll be posting any photos of anything I make, for obvious reasons, but I’m hoping I can at least eke out an account of my progress with the class.

Wish me luck! It’s going to be quite an adventure.

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Demolition diva

June 1, 2010

Today I did demolition work as part of a renovation project at our house. After a late start (yesterday’s accidental evening nap kept me up until about 5 am), I worked for about 8 hours with plenty of breaks to drink water, eat, consult with Andy by phone about a couple setbacks and fiddle around [...]

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Finding the solution in the impediment

May 19, 2010

Lately I’ve been giving a fair bit of thought to what are the impediments to getting any given thing done or problem solved. Like with the mold in our bathroom, I try to figure out: what is in the way? Is it something mental or physical? How can I shift that impediment or get around [...]

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Shuttles and bobbins and yarn, oh my!

May 18, 2010

I spent Domestic Diva Monday yesterday writhing with headache pain, and today I spent helping to prep stuff for sale at the Cuyahoga Weavers Guild Annual Sale that is happening this Saturday, so not much to report here other than wow I have a lot of new yarn, and look at that some shuttles and [...]

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Tuesdays are for dilemma solving

May 11, 2010

Inspired by the success of Domestic Diva Mondays, I’m experimenting with giving the other days of the week a theme. Tuesday’s theme for the second week in a row was Dilemma Solving Day. Last week the dilemma that presented itself as the most urgent was how to finish a certain weaving project in time for [...]

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Domestic Diva despairs

May 10, 2010

Today I made cookies, cleaned the kitchen, did the laundry (precious little since I’m staying on top of it as of last week), and then after a long pause where I tried to postpone what I knew would likely be a depressing task, I went to clean the bathroom.
Last week’s bathroom cleaning was a pretty [...]

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Letting myself off the hook

May 7, 2010

Today found me chucking more paper in the recycling and shredding bags. Two decent-sized plastic filing boxes are now empty and ready to be filled with, let’s face it, yarn or fabric. What finally made it possible to toss all this paper that’s been dogging me for years is that at last I made peace [...]

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Pulling the plug on the paper drain

May 6, 2010

Getting rid of that small but highly charged chunk of paper yesterday was like pulling the plug in a bathtub. I got rid of a bunch more papers today. Old stuff. OLD stuff. Amusing for sparking trips down memory lane but ultimately not really useful for nourishing me in my ongoing process of creating the [...]

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Small but powerful change

May 5, 2010

Today’s update is small but potent. During Office Spa Day today, I finally let go of a mess (well, a very neatly organized accordian folder) of old receipts and bank transaction records from 2003 and 2004 and cancelled checks from 2002 back to 1996. What’s more, I did so with barely a moment of self-flagellation. [...]

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