Thursday, April 29, 2010

NOTE TO SELF: If He Can Remove His Teeth, Don't Let Him Cut Your Hair

Here is Little Leroy spinning in
non-other than the Spinning Teacups!
Seemed appropriate...

OK people, last weekend was Disney World,
My second home!!
Really, it is, they say "Welcome Home" when I arrive!
Makes me tear up every time!

And this is the Boardwalk,
The best resort on Disney property!
Trust me, I've stayed at nearly every hotel
Disney has to offer and the Boardwalk
is even better than the Grand Floridian!
At least IMO

First Stop:
Sushi in Japan in Epcot's World Showcase

Oh wait, I have to take a break from the
fabulous mini-Disney vacation land
to tell you about my horrible hair adventures.

This was my hair 2 weeks ago in Germany:
(pretty right?)

BUT....
while in Germany I watched all 4 seasons of
Battlestar Galactica back to back
and Starbuck became my hero
and she cut her own hair
and she was awesome and she could fly anything
so I thought, "OOoo I want to be like Starbuck!"
I didn't do anything yet...

Then I went to DC and noticed in pictures that my
hair was all flying all over the place and I thought,
well I could clean it up just a bit...
I didn't do anything yet...

Then I came home and it was warm outside
and I was able to put the top down on Fredie
for the first time this year! YAY

This is Fredie:He likes coffee

And all of the sudden my hair was in my face.
So.... I went home and cut it myself.

This was the result:
It wasn't that bad, I was proud of the job I did!
But I did realize that there were some areas that
I couldn't get to and while in Disney I had a "bright" idea.

"I know, I'll go to the Main Street Barber Shop
in the Magic Kingdom!"

So I go in and explain that all I want is
to have the sides and back trimmed
(short in the back and down to an angle to the front)
He says "oh I know exactly what you mean"

He was a very nice guy
(and if you ever read this, I don't mean to hurt your feelings)
But I should have turned around and left
the minute I realized that he was
way too old to have any clue at how to
cut a young "hip" haircut.

He turned me away from the mirror and the scissors started flying.
I knew something was wrong when he used the clippers
to go over the top of my ears...
5 minutes later, he spun me around
and I let out a loud GASP!

Then I tried to be nice, "oh... well... that's different...
different is good... I'm not afraid to be different..."

So here it is:
My travel mates tried to convince me that it wasn't that bad.
But there was just something about this haircut.
It was way to short in the back and sides,
forget about the pretty wispy parts that came down on the sides,
and for some reason,
he left this huge chunk of longer hair right in the front.
But it was uneven and terrible and just plain wrong.

I then went to see the Tiki Birds and sat there and cried.

The next time I let a stranger cut my hair I will start out with
"I'M NOT GAY"

Although, on a good note, our waitress at Mama Melrose's
was checking me out and even had
the chef whip up some of the amazing bread dip
that they removed from the menu (that was amazing!).

Still not happy about the hair but making the most of it:

Travel Mate Matt and part of my beloved Geek Squad
with "his precious"

OK so long story short, I complained endlessly about the hair.
Then I spiked it straight up and cut the front part myself.
Then I said, heck I did that part myself,
I bet I can do the color too!
So I dyed it all by myself too!

(Well with a bit of help from Craftypuppylover!
THanks!)

And it's not what I was originally going for but,
I like it, and I think I did an OK job!
Besides, it's just hair, right?

And what ever it is, it's much much better than
what ever it was that he did to it!


And now, some more pictures of Leroy in Disney World:





On the way home from Disney,
I called a mandatory stop in Atlanta
for STITCHES SOUTH!
WOOOOOOOOO

And LOOK!
Leroy found his long lost family!!
I was totally excited to find a slew of
Jenkins Spindles there!
There were 2 sizes bigger than the Turkish Delight!
I had thought there was only one size bigger!

Who knew!

They were priced for $60 each,
which was a bit steep since I can get
them from Wanda and Ed directly for $50.
And I had a bit of a guilt issue since
I felt like if I bought one I would be cheating
on them in some weird way!

I did end up getting one of the mid sizes in Zebra wood
You can see it hanging in the bag
behind Leroy, to the right!
It's a 1.3oz / 37g
and it looks so pretty when it spins!


I didn't get many pics in Stitches,
mainly because I was excited,
also because I had people waiting on me...
but it was totally worth going!

And from looking at this picture...
I can't imagine why people always
associate knitting with old women...

One of the highlights of going to Stitches was
that I met Jennifer Pace and got
to see her Nice Hooters!!!
Of course, I bought a copy of the pattern
and picked out some yarn from Miss Babs
to make him with!

Jennifer saw a picture of Bailey and really encouraged me
to publish the pattern for him as well.
I suppose I'll have to think about it...

And probably talk to Lelly about it too...

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Chrome64 Grand Opening on Etsy!!

It's finally here!
Today is the GRAND OPENING of my very own Chrome64 Etsy store!!!

Come join me at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/chrome64to see all
the great handmade things I will be selling!

I feel a constant need to be creating something, anything, my hands must be busy.
I feel guilty when I sleep because of wasted time!

I'm hoping to use Etsy as a way to both share my creations and also a way to recycle them to provide funding for my future creations! So basically, I buy fiber, I spin it or knit it, I sell it, I make money to buy more fiber, that I then spin or knit to sell to make more money to buy more fiber, to spin, to sell, to buy, to spin, to sell, to buy...

I suppose you could say
I'm going green with my knitting/spinning obsession.

Only for my blog readers, I'm having a Grand Opening Sale!
Send the message "Got Yarn?" in the notes
And I will refund 10% of your purchase total
(not counting shipping)
This offer is good until April 30, 2010

YAY!!!
Happy Shopping!!






Saturday, April 17, 2010

Spinning in DC



Well... Spinning is an ancient art... right?


Cool Chrome Tree
I want this in my back yard!


Hey Abe! Look what I can do!


Spent all day looking for Einstein,
seriously all day
Started at 0930
Picture taken at 1630

My whole life, no matter where we were,
My Dad and I always looked at the
Fire Hydrants to see where they were made.

Most are from Albertville, AL
Fire Hydrant Capital of the World,
and my home town.


Got these Dog Tags at the Smithsonian
Air and Space museum,
Came home and ordered 100 more
that I will ship with my Etsy store sales!!!!
(which by the way, I hope to officially
open my Etsy store tonight!!!)


This picture, and a combination of Starbuck
on Battlestar Galatica, prompted me
to cut my hair, that flippy do thing on the
side was driving me nuts!

I think I did ok though =)
Maybe my hair girl won't kill me.

I'll think about posting pictures later so that
you can see my handy work!
It's like having a Bonsai Tree,
clip a little here, clip a little there, until it looks ok.



DC was lots of fun,
and I think I hit all of the major hot spots!

I'm hoping that I can make it back up there again this year.
I will certainly be planning some
return trips to Fibre Space!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

A Visit to Fibre Space in Arlington, VA


I'm too tired for details,
so this will be short and sweet.

(the jetlag is killing me)

I visited Fibre Space in Alexandria, VA today!
It was an amazing shop, really, it was great!
They had lots of great hand dyed yarns
and rovings by local artists!

I couldn't resist this amazingly vibrant
braid from Neighborhood Fiber Co.
And 4oz. of Louet Corriedale
in a pretty yellow/brown color,
that I of course started spinning immediately!


This is Veronica, who was so helpful,
that she even walked with me to the
Metro station when it was time to leave!

She is getting married on Saturday
and is "doing the crazy knitter thing"
and is knitting like mad to finish
the amazing shawl that she is working on in this pic!

And this is Becky who is thischickadee,
that was working on a baby mobile
of brightly colored birds for the window display!


And last but not least,
this is me spinning
on the metro
with my new yummy fiber!

I was on a Fiber High for about 2 hours after this.
Had sub-par sushi for dinner... bleh

Monday, April 12, 2010

Leroy In the Windy City!

And Now we are in Chicago!

We made it after a 9 hour flight from Germany.
I spun the entire flight,
seriously
nonstop
the entire flight.

OK, so I'm in Chicago, I make it onto the public transit
system, the CTA and I try to look like a local.
I must admit, it was a little unnerving being alone
both on the subway and in the city.
But it was worth it =)
At one point I found myself in the Theatre district.
And apparently they were having some kind of red carpet
event for the broadway show Billy Elliot.
Lots of Limos, cameras, and people wearing clothes
that probably cost more than all my yarn combined!
No idea who any of them were, but I stood
there being a lookie-loo while smearing my
face and hands with the yellow goodness
that is Garrett's Popcorn!
My favorite thing in all of Chicago, is the Bean!

It's a Magic Bean!
Instantly people start making faces
and jumping into the air,
It's a silly bean!

Anyway, I love it and so did Leroy!


Here's my Sheep to Skein in 1 Flight Yarn!

Towards the end, I couldn't keep the yarn on the spindle.
It was just like being in my car, out of gas,
and begging my car to make it one more mile!
Maybe if I turn off the A/C
and roll up the windows,
we can make it!

But here she is, finished 5 minutes before landing!

Everyone was amazed!

Oh and I almost forgot, I met a very interesting man from Denmark.
He was returning to his home in San Diego but had been
in Tuscany Italy for the last week riding
off road motor cycles with is buddies.

But the interesting part, was that he knew
everything about the processing of wool
from the sheep to the spinning.

He said he learned it in a Midievil Village somewhere in Europe,
where they do everything the old fashioned way.

Anywho, I was impressed.

I miss Germany so much :(
So, I thought I would share with you
my favorite view in all of Germany!


Thursday, April 8, 2010

YARNDAR!!

Only a Select Few Have been Blessed with the Gift of YARNDAR!

Yes yes, it is true, you may all revel in my amazing ability
to detect yarn anywhere within a 100 yard radius!

While driving through a town in the middle of the Allgäu
The Yarndar detection device sounded it's alarm:

it sounded something like this:

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Out of the corner of my eye, I had caught a glimpse
of a table covered in cones of yarn.

My Chariot promptly turned around and
we went to investigate.

It was a Turkish market complete with produce,
clothes, and a few random oddities.

And yes there was yarn!!

I found these HUGE skeins of very unique yarn.

I've never seen yarn spun like this,
it almost looks corespun.
I will investigate further!

See my new business card is there for size reference =)