The Fiber Artist

Wow, that sounds pretentious doesn't it. But it is the name of my company, so I decided to use it. This is where I will keep a record of works in progress in the hope that it will result in more productivity. It will also give me a place to ramble on about my life, so that maybe later I will remember what happened in ___ (fill in day, month, year of your choice).

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

The Last Finished Object of 2008

Christopher's Christmas socks were Kitchenered this morning, since I find daylight quite helpful.

So the totals for the year are:

1 shawl
10 pair of socks
1 hat
1 pair of clogs
3 gift sweaters
5 charity sweaters
3 charity mittens

1 dress sewing - not knitting


I feel like this is not as much as I usually make, but that was quite a few sweaters. I expect that I will finish more next year because I am going to spend the next few days getting a studio set up. And hopefully having a place to get away by myself with my stuff organized will foster greater productivity.

I need to get the sweaters for the boys finished quickly.

And I am going to get 8 pair of guy boot socks put together into zip-locks so that I will be able to finish one pair and grab another to work on without even thinking about it.

I also want to bundle yarn with patterns and needles, to make it easier to get a new sweater started.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

I feel Better Now

I have been in a low mood as it had become apparent that the granddaughter really needed to be moved upstairs. And the upstairs bedroom that Christopher was not in had been a sewing room, which had become unusable because of things being stored in there. (it was a lot of fun trying to get to the sewing machine to steek the sweater for Rayne...not!) And while I knew it needed to be done, I was somewhat grumpy about it because I need new nightgowns, (you can read through the ones I am wearing) and I could not see how I was going to get that done.

Well Mom decided to move to Virginia and live with her sister, since I wouldn't abandon my family and move in with her. So we bought her house from her. And now I have a studio.

Christmas both Christopher and Chase were home so after the big breakfast that Sierra and I fixed, and opening presents, I ask them to start the moving process. Chase went right to work and Christopher pitched in a while later. They got all of my stuff moved over to Mom's. And they brought my dad's lift chair back into the living room, off of the back porch, so I have a recliner to sit in. And all of my sewing tables, and machines. And 2 of the knitting machines, and a whole bunch of stuff piled everywhere. There is a lot of cleaning, and organizing to be done, but once it is organized I will be able to go over there and sew or work on other things, and get away from every one, for a little alone time. So all is well that ends well.

Chase and Christopher also helped get all the heavy stuff upstairs and Sierra has taken all the light stuff up to her new room. So every one is happy. Or at least most everyone.

I got 3 of the 4 pairs of socks finished for the guys, and gave Christopher a bag with 3 balls of yarn and a "some assembly required" tag, he promptly threw it back at me saying, "I am returning this to the factory" so I told him I would finish them before New Year.

Mike got the blue socks, and Carl got the red socks, and Chase got the blue and pink socks, he loves pink so he was really happy about that. He also brought home some brown socks that I made him for repair, it seems that the dryer had taken a bite out of the top of the socks. So I fixed them on Thursday evening, and he wore them to work on Friday.

Off now to finish Christopher's socks.


Saturday, December 20, 2008

I'm Relieving the Pressure

This took longer than I thought it would. It is as cute as the ladybug buttons on it. The embroidery makes it, but that took a while.

So I am relieving the pressure and moving Mark's sweater to his birthday, and Caleb's to Valentine's day.

So all that is left is a bunch of socks. I will try to get them photographed before they get wrapped but no promises.

If you scroll down you will see Dwayne's hat. Too Big for Sierra, but Dwayne was not handy.








Sunday, December 14, 2008

This is 2008 for Goodness Sake!

Acknowledged that it is almost 2009! But last weekend I began to wonder just what year it really is. Last weekend I went to a conference. I have a physical disability, (No, we are not going into the possibility of a mental one as well!) But you can't see it. It is shared by an increasing number of people. You can't tell by looking at any of us. But it is nonetheless real. Ok give up? I am hearing impaired. I have a 70% hearing loss.

Now I am willing to concede that during the time I was raising children, driving a van load of them someplace, and teaching them, it was hard to remember that it was not a good thing! But there are distinct disadvantages to a lack of hearing ability.

Now the response of the uninformed is "Just get a hearing aid." Well, now, you see it is not quite that easy. A good set of hearing aids can run to $5000.00 which medical insurance, even the good ones that cover prescriptions, glasses, and dental does not cover, not at all, not any of it. So tell me can you just pull that kind of money out of your budget?

I attended a conference put on by the same international group, (not organized by the same people) in 87-88 and when I registered there was a long list of disabilities, and one was ask to check off if they applied. So I did. When I checked in for the conference I was given a name tag which had a picture of an ear, with the slashed circle over it. And when we entered the convention hall for the first session, the usher apologized quite profusely, that they had not set aside enough seating for the hearing impaired person and their other family members and would we mind if the accompanying family members were seated in the regular seating for that session and that they would fix it by the next session. They did, moving the dignitaries further away from the front of the stage. There were large screens with a video feed so that everyone could see the stage, but the screen in front of us, (the hearing impaired) had a special feed which was fixed and focused on the podium, so that anyone who could read lips had no trouble doing so. The other feeds, which we could see, and watch if we wished, were manned constantly and the video operators would do the "art" shots of the background, the flowers, etc. But ours did not. There was also a sign interpreter at every session. It was a lovely experience which I could experience fully.

Now fast forward 20 or so years. And at the conference, no special seating, and the front was reserved, (I am not sure for whom), There were headsets available for translation for people who did not speak English, but none for people who would have been able to hear if they had headsets plugged into the sound system.

The meeting was held in a ballroom (a room which was very "hot" acoustically) and part way into the morning they rearranged the seating into long ovals by taking every other row and turning it around to face the row behind. Now, I know some of the history of this and know that there has been quite a lot of emphasis put on different learning styles, and the benefits of breaking into small groups to study and discuss things, but 50 groups cheek-by-jowl in a "hot" room, just does not work. My 25 year old son who hears just fine, could not hear the other people in his group.

Other disabilities were accommodated because the conference was held in a public conference center and they are taken care of by the conference center. But there are no federally mandated accommodations for the hearing impaired.

Once home I shot off a letter explaining my total unhappiness with the experience, but, I wonder what else I could do (other than winning the lottery so that I could find hearing aides that worked as well as the first one I had(and that is a rant for a whole 'nother time)).