Saturday, February 24, 2007

Works in Progress

Drawing #1:



Drawing #2:

I'm dyeing here!

It was a beautiful, brisk Saturday today, and I had the misfortune of getting sick. Some kind of stomach bug or low-grade but persistent food poisoning, blech. At least there was no vomiting, though a couple of times, it was close. By evening, I started feeling better, so I set about trying a little experiment I've been meaning to do for a while. I called Scott and asked him to pick up some food coloring at the supermarket, and when he got home, I was ready with a ball of yellow yarn.

My first yarn dyeing project!

I wound the ball into a loose skein:

Soaked it:


And used food coloring:
All of it:


To overdye the yellow yarn:
And wrap it in plastic wrap:


After nuking, I rinsed and hung to dry:


With a diaper to catch the dripping water:


And here's the finished product!


Pretty cool, though the beginning of the ball is darker than the end of the ball. I'm not sure what I'm going to make with the yarn, but I'm looking forward to it!

Random Photos

Welcome to "I don't know what"!

Rat Genius

Being a veteran New Yorker, I have complex feelings about rats. They make me scream, they make me cringe, they gross me out. But. When I'm waiting for the subway, I'm fascinated by the ones on the tracks looking for food. It gets me to thinking...

I read this book called "Rats" by this guy who sat in an alley in Lower Manhattan and just watched rats all night for a year. He became their ethnographer, uncovering their heirarchy and social codes. Learning about individual rats, their power, and their personalities. Along the way, he learned rats were amazing smart, cleaner than you'd think (except for those pesky plague germs), and lived in complex societies.

And now, I'm watching a show on cable called Rat Genius, which tells a similar story. Rats that climb up toilet holes, rats that can tread water for 3 days, rats that can smell landmines, rats that can open refrigerators.

* * * * * *

Today, I was trying on clothes at a store and stood in front of a 3-way mirror. So of course I wanted to see myself from behind, the "real" me. And you know what I saw? My balding head. I had no idea how obvious my thinning hair was on top of my head. It really freaks me out. I don't know what I'll do if it keeps getting worse -- I won't have any hair left to do a decent combover. I find myself watching tv now, and all I notice for a while are womens' heads. I think, none of them have thinning/balding heads.