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Spill Guts Here. It's gotta go somewhere, know what I mean? Can you stand it?
purls before swine
Geek Knitting
West Indian Parade
West Indian Parade
Dog/Cat Wrestling
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3.31.2003
Deeply immersed in making things with the embroidery machine. I'm having a very interesting time of it. Don't have the design software set-up yet, so I'm limited to the (very) small amount of things you can do with just the machine itself. Forces you to be creative in a very small space, that's definitely good every now and then. What's hard if that I'm used to pushing things around 1 pixel at a time, and the built in controls of this things are like playing piano with glittens, really vague, so I'm eyeballing everything. No way to save the spacial settings, either, so each design has still got an organic quality, rather than the computer precision I really like. Really enjoying the new possibilities, using different fabrics with the embroidery as appliques. Have 4 new tops ready to go back to the shop on Wed.
Gauge Queen Lives, BTW. sold the prototype Saturday. Working on couture versions and simple embroidered t-shirt versions for sale online. Waiting for the first shipment of shirts. 3.29.2003
I wonder how long I could get away with using the Apathetic Post Generator before someone noticed? For me personally, probably not very long unless some profanity and yarn were thrown into the mix, a few other blogs, quite some time. Also, if you follow the various knitting mailing lists The Knitting Curmudgeon has an extremely funny post today.
I adore Google, but it's always good to have an alternative: Vivisimo Clustering Engine. Thank you for the flowers! Had a detailed, disturbing dream last night for the first time in years. Must be going through internal changes. An aspirin and a few drops of Rescue Remedy later, and I'm ready to ride this horseshit out. Bring it on. 3.28.2003
Personal Rant Garbage, run for the hills, not kidding:
Wow, I'm officially in a Really Foul Mood today. Haven't felt like this in a long time, it's a combination being very physically and mentally tired and having to deal with an endless procession of jerks. My nerves are shot just now, kittys in heat and won't shut up, and the pets are waking me up at crack of dawn every day by wrestling each other on top of me in bed in bouts of spring excitement. Once I get them off me, I'm awake Damn it, and it's like 5:15 am! On the way into the shop this afternoon, I stopped at the studio building to get the handtruck so I can finally bring the embroidery machine home, (it's been either raining or I have too much to carry). I see that someone again had opened the (now) broken box covering the thermostat, and turned it way up. So I turned it back down again, and went upstairs to the only obnoxious tenants in the house (no-one else was in their studios) to ask politely if they had done that, and to not do it again (again). I saw that one of them had brought her bicycle upstairs (there's an iron gated area outside for bikes, 100% secure), and parked it in the tiny common hallway, against a freshly painted white wall, which is now filthy with black scuff and tire marks. I lost it at that point, I think. I said something like What the fuck is your bike doing up here against the freshly painted wall, and to my immense surprise, I got lambasted for use of the word "fuck". I mean, she went on for 5 minutes, ignoring the fact that she was trashing the new paint. The look of surprise on my face must have been priceless. Well, that didn't go down too easy, let me tell you. 9 more months, and those asswipes are so gone, I'm not renewing their lease. I'm talking to my lawyer later to see if there's any way I can get them outta there sooner. It's a case of not following my instincts when I rented that space to them, they've been flaming assholes from day one. Please let me not ignore my feelings anymore. Everyone else in the building is wonderful, though, luckily. So I went to the shop, and ate the 6 now crunchy Peeps from the window display. Then, some guy who looked homeless, quite frankly, came in to the shop to look around, and took a handful of the miniature chocolate bars I keep on the counter for customers. Not 1, not 2, but a whole handful, like 3/4 of the dish. And then left. The shop smelled like urine and BO in his wake. Oh, I really should just close up today and get the hell out of here, before I punch someone out. I have some phone calls to make and get, then I may do that. I'm not in a "people" mood today. AT ALL. FUCK.FUCK.FUCK.FUCK.FUCK.FUCK.FUCK.FUCK.FUCK.FUCK. Now I'm going to get alot of traffic from porno search engines. I do anyway, apparently there're many, many people with a red lipstick fetish, alot of them appear to be searching from a corporate address, too. Not cosmetic companies, either. Do your work, and look for JO material at home! Corporate life, so sleazy. I guess I'm getting a glimpse of the dirty white underbelly. A note about the lack of pictures of my work: I've been thinking about this alot recently, I'm getting tired of seeing exact copies of my designs produced industrially and sold at large chain shops in town, you know who you are. I have an excellent tracker, and have known for a long time designers for these companies visit for inspiration, that's fine! We all inspire each other, that's a beautiful thing. But either hire me to design for you or stop ripping me off verbatim. I'm getting sick of it. At least have the balls to earn your pay, and make modifications. I feel like a free design service for these garmento vampires, and I'm knocking myself out to do it. People also occasionally come into my shop, grab a handful of one of a kind knitted items without either looking closely at them or even trying them on, and pay with corporate credit cards. Wow, you tricked me! I've worked on the other side, I know they go back to the design rooms in midtown, and are then copied. Hire me to design for you or get your designs elsewhere, or I will start naming names. I'm a tiny one person company, and what you're doing is immoral. I've been questioning the value of posting what I'm working on up here anyway. I think I need to be as secretive as any other designer, until it's in the shop, or for sale online. Foul, I told you. Just a little slice of life for those people who come in the shop and go " Oh, it must be so relaxing to sit around and knit all day". Riiiiiight. 3.27.2003
Got an email this am from David, who combined two hat patterns and added beadwork to knit an original hat. He says on his blog that "hot women inspire him to knit". Now, Ladies, is this the perfect guy, or WHAT? You could go yarn shopping together! Thanks for the email, David, you made my morning. <{{;->
3.26.2003
Actually, it occurred to me to ask here first: anyone want to get rid of an old pc laptop? My requirements are: windows 98 or later, cd drive, floppy drive, serial port, color monitor. Don't give a flying f*ck what kind it is or how slow or ancient. I have to put photoshop on it and the embroidery machines software, that's it. Would like to be plugging the sucker in, not running it from a battery. I have a Palm 3 to trade, or lots of other stuff, if you have one, email me, and we'll talk.
stacey@redlipstick.net Thanks! This is a hugely unpleasant deal for me. For many years, I was totally microsoft free, I mean in every way, and damned proud of it! Then nutscrape bit the dust, and reality reared it's ugly puss. *SIGH* I'm going to pretend I'm "recycling" in order to not get too depressed about actually owning a pc.
Spent my 2 days "off" running errands around town like a monkey on crack. Starting my week at the shop Tired. Finished 3 shoulder awnings and another HK halter last night. Getting that tax crap out of the way is a huge relief. I want a real day off sometime soon.
My new embroidery machine's software to make original designs only runs on pc, not mac, not even the emulator. So now I have to buy an old PC laptop just for that. Sent an annoyed email to Brother (maker of the machine), got no response. (What can they say anyway? Too lazy or cheap to port the software over, and they're going to admit it? Mac market just not big enough? Screw you.) In the works, "Gauge Queen" embroidered tees (with a ball of yarn and needles to distinguish that phrase from the piercing crowd). I think embroidery is just way nicer than silk screen. Just realized it's warm enough to dust off my banana bike. 3.22.2003
My awesome accountant Ed came through for me tonight in a huge way, taxes are totally out of the way. I Love you Ed! His wife is due to deliver their second child, a boy, in May, and I have a cone of gorgeous Karabella ZodiaK cotton in a deep blue/green melange that would be beautiful for a little cabled sweater. Now, I've NEVER knitted babies clothes, they don't interest me much, but I'd really like to make one for them. The question I have for all you experienced baby sweater knitters is this: What are the measurements for a crew neck, long sleeved sweater that's the right size for a newborn to 6-7 months? I'm definitely not going to follow any pattern, all I need are the basic specs. It'll have *baby* cables, of course. Many thanks to anyone who could direct me to those numbers.
3.21.2003
It's really incredible to watch the war unfold in real time on CNN. Very, very weird. I personally have mixed feelings about the whole thing, feel slightly better seeing how carefully it's being waged. The oil field fires are appalling. Saw in interview with one of our soldiers, a young guy, just in the military for 9 months, saying he wanted to get home to his wife, showing the anti-biological weapons gear he had, his backpack was literally larger than my whole body. Please be over soon.
Excellent article about watching the war on TV by one of my favorite writers, Heather Havrilesky (via Salon). A completely different point of view, Salam Pax blogs from Baghdad. I'm not a stupid person, but I just don't understand completely what this is all about, and that makes me nervous. Don't understand politics even in a positive phase. 3.20.2003
If you're going to wallow in denial and escapism, it's really a treat to have someone to wallow with! First watch "Valley of the Dolls" while knitting a cotton orange-melange halter top, like I just did, then check out Ellens latest find. My favorite is the THE BRISKET YARMULKE. Yes, we're losing it here, rather quickly. And it sure is fun.
Moving a bit north of the Anus to the digestive tract: Enjoy this collection of Weight Watcher Recipe Cards circa 1974. {via the naturally curly Ellen}
We need some laughs today, I think. Shit, woke up and turned on the tube to get the news, and went back to sleep for another hour, so I could pretend I dreamed it. 3.19.2003
Unbelievable new "beauty treatment", Anus Bleaching. It's a big deal for me to bother painting my nails or get a facial! Perhaps I'm not vain enough. Who would care what color it is? It's an ANUS.
Denise Interchangeable Knitting Needle Sets came into the shop today!! Oh, how I love these kits!! Sizes 5 to 15, with cords and stoppers enabling you to make any combination of straight or circular needle sizes your little heart desires. They are made of lightweight plastic, which I adore. Warm and very easy on the hands. I've used these needles for about 22 years, and did most of my knit development swatching on them. If you want a set, email me: stacey@redlipstick.net $45. (US) plus shipping. Textile Machinery Update: My spree has almost come to an end...just won an embroidery machine on Ebay, another thing I've been jonesing for for many years. Have one more weird, actually very rare, thing that's being bid on, after that, it's pure playtime (inbetween responsibilities, of course). Also got a 260 (bulky knitting machine) to replace the one that died last week. Have been on a dust and unused stuff eradication rampage in the house and shop, early spring cleaning, and making room for new stuff. It's bizarre how things just pile up in layers, it's a bit like an archeological dig to get down to the top of the kitchen table. After I'm done cleaning, might go in for a little anus bleaching, been thinking it's a little too dark, or so I've been told...JUST KIDDING! Pucker Up! 3.18.2003
Speedwalked for over 12 friggin hours today. I'm unbelievably tired. Started the day all hopped up in the sunny/warm park at 6:45 am with the dog, spurred on by new running leggings ( these make me feel positively naked, have to get used to that) and comfortable old Nikes. Murphy and I went alot further than we usually do, kept up a high gear for about an hour and a half. Then went into the city to shop a trade show all the way on the west side at the Javits Center, shopped the garment district after that for jewelery findings and accessories, and made it back to Brooklyn in time, (7:30 pm) to meet with a stylist picking clothes from the shop for a shoot for the Asbury Park Press! (wooHoo!) Got home around 9 pm. And this is my "day off". * deepsigh*
My legs hurt, but my butt's getting nice and tight. Want to keep the dreaded "Knitters Can" at bay. I know I operate at a pretty fast speed, but yesterday felt really weird about it, tried to have a conversation with an American woman who had just come back from West Africa, she was still in a very low gear. I almost made her cry because I was talking and thinking too fast, and she couldn't keep up. I don't think I could live anywhere else other than New York, where most people can keep up with me. I admit that since being single again, I have really enjoyed going as fast as I can/want to, without sabotage, mindless distraction or endless stupid chores. So what if the house is a mess? I've been extremely productive these days, and it's a great satisfaction. Do need a small vacation though. Getting fried to a crisp at this pace, but it's somehow invigorating at the same time. Not watching news, just trying to run the businesses as usual, and hope for the best. Still caught the shitty, fear-mongering headlines on the covers of the Post and Daily News on the subway, couldn't look away fast enough. 3.17.2003
Alex's cat hates her fez. I think it's pretty funny. Now maybe a tam or fedora would please her more...
3.16.2003
I'm in deep shit...discovered the Industrial Apparel Manufacturing section on Ebay. Now I have room in the new knitting studio for as much machinery as I want, and the shop's been really hopping this spring, so I have a little extra do-re-mi to spend, and of course I can use these things to make things for the shop. Really easy to justify getting all the obscure textile machinery I've always wanted, plus some I just discovered. Love machines. I realized I've now moved into my brother Richard's territory. He's an engineering reporter for Automotive News in Detroit, and was the kind of kid that always took things apart (and sometimes put them back together :->), and made moving experiments with wee motors. I think he's restored dozens of cars and bikes of all descriptions. That latent gene is blossoming in myself lately.
We both got our extreme love of cars and machines from our maternal grandfather, Irving, who came here from Latvia after it was captured by Russia. He became a driver of many types of vehicles over the course of his life. Thanks, Grandpa! I do thank him virtually everyday in my head. Don't mind doing it publicly. He also taught us about unconditional love, but that's a story for another day. Hap-Hap-Happy these days! Dog and I have resumed going to the park in the very early am, still very muddy and brown, yet warm and sunny, and we're both sweatily dissipating the accumulated winter "cabin fever" by super long-n-fast walking/running . After the relentless winter, the spring warmth is making us positively giddy. Working on a new section of this site called "Sweater Anatomy". It will be patterns for somewhat experienced knitters, or at least confident ones. The thought of transcribing that tank pattern the traditional way makes my eyes glaze over. So I'm trying to invent a new way of getting the information across that's succinct and easy. Stay tuned. 3.15.2003
Oh please, this is just not fair. It's 8:22 in the am, I'm a-drinkin my coffee and reading blogs, thinking about yarn and I come across this recipe for Poulet a l'estragon, a la Nobody's Doll. I'm not even hungry yet, but I MUST MAKE THIS tonight. I am practically drooling from just her wittily written recipe. I don't even really like to cook, unless I have company over. Hmmm, now that's an idea. Organic chicken from the Food Coop, organic fresh tarragon and onions, farm butter .... oh, yes. Stick a fork in me. I'm done.
3.14.2003
This is a Magazine. Not knitting related. Have to get off the grid every now and then.
3.13.2003
A tearful adieu and a crimson kiss to one of my favorite old-timers (relatively speaking) in the knitting blog universe, Dangerouschunky, who's decided to call it a day. Thanks for the charming links and commentary, Carolyn, you will be sorely missed.
3.12.2003
Just met with Emily, a fantastic young fashion photographer, to discuss the first professional photo shoot of my work (since I started designing clothes again), most likely in a few weeks. Pretty excited about it, her eye is incredible, and the model we'll be using is lovely. Yippee!
An amazing knitting resource: Knitting Fool. This is what happens when geeks (and I mean that in a very loving way) knit. Non knitting related: Isabel Samaras Paintings.
The white medallion found a home on the side of this top:
 Studs are starting to appear. Had it with koolaid dyeing, what a dumb kiddie toy. The colors are just awful, no matter how you mix them. Extraordinarily unsubtle. Tonight I dyed a completed shoulder awning that's a mixture of cashmere, silk and cotton, all cream colored, knowing the cotton wouldn't take the dye, ok no problem. But the results looked like raw steak, you know, kind of a sickly medium red with cream colored marbled "fat" running through it. Yuck. Also, I can't stand that cheap fruity stench anymore, couldn't wash it out, and my whole house smells like hot koolaid. Back to real acid dyes that have some depth. I'm going to have to re-dye that thing black, dark brown or purple. Damn It. Exquisite knitting alert: Kat Coyle. 3.08.2003
 Peeps carnage in the right window, RedLipstick Boutique, 3-8-2003. 3.07.2003
Short of tattooing your lips, this is the next best thing, especially in "Bitten". Oh, how I love stuff that stains, and doesn't rub off.
203(k) rehab mortgage update: Well, the guy insists I'm worth a million dollar loan. Ok, whatever. Nothing's happening until the 22nd of this month, when I'll go to a seminar on the program and get some real details, not just hot air blown up my you-know-what. (tickles, don't it?) I did research on the web, but I need the local details, everything is very different here from the rest of the country. SO no news till then. The little house I ahve my eye on is still available, but I went back and took a few more looks, what a hellhole. Depends on what shape the mechanicals are in, but it stands to reason that someone who would let windows fall out of their frames and use a padlock and bike chain when the doorknob falls off is most likely not going to keep the roof or boiler in good repair. Still, if I can get it for a song (swannee river, anyone?)..... 3.06.2003
I played hookie today from work. it was snowing this am, continued to snow all day, so I stayed home and rested and knit. This is what's currently drying on the chickenwire:
 I'll take a glamour shot of it on a mannequin tommorrow, it'll drape nicely around the arms. Cotton and linen. 7g. Has a hand manipulated lace motif on the chest, but you can't see it in this shot. The colors are pretty accurate, though. Also finished a shoulder awning, another tie strap tank and 2 medallion tops. And I RESTED today! I'm still tired. Tom's finally finished painting the studio building, it's all glowing white. As soon as the weather clears up a bit and I have some knitted stock for back up, I'll shift the knitting machines and yarn over to the new space. February stunk more than usual this year, in terms of stress, cold, etc. Glad it's over. 3.05.2003
Is he spongeworthy? It's Back!
My doppelganger Alexandra has launched her own knitting blog! ---------> Moral Fiber My 5G machine bit the dust last night, the mechanicals that select the patterning just imploded and fell apart somehow. I opened the machine to see if it looked repairable, but since I didn't open it while it was operating correctly, I can't tell how it's supposed to be. A plastic part fell out when I took the lid off, but I can't locate where it came from or where it was attached to. But it's ok! This machine is over 20 years old, I've made tens of thousands of dollars from it's operation, and it died of natural exhaustion. I'm surprised and thrilled that it lasted as long as it did with the heavy use I put it through. Now it'll live in the parts farm in the back room. Started trolling ebay for another last night. I'm so happy to be able to justify acquiring more textile equipment. All the focus I had on computer equipment use and maintainance for five or six years has transferred back to textile machinery of all descriptions. They're more satisfying than computers, because it mixes the ethereal (some are computerized) with the physical, you actually get a result you can hold in (or on) your hand. A perfect combination. It took me many months to get used to "working" all day on a computer, and then just getting up and walking away with "nothing".   What's drying right now. 3.04.2003
Don't know why it's being written about so much all of a sudden, but here's another article about being an "Introvert". Weird. Is this a spontaneous uprising of people with this personality type finally speaking out? I rarely read anything I can relate to, but that's me. Always felt secretly proud to be so self-sufficient, but have been given a hard time by family and others my whole life. Never bothered to put any of these concepts into words though, how can you defend yourself? I didn't know how. It's interesting to read about now.
It occurred to me that "Introverts" are probably the new "Freak Flavor of the Month". 3.03.2003
Spring Knitty is online! Excellent patterns in this issue, and these may be the coolest socks I've ever seen.
3.02.2003
First two in the series:Spring 2003 Medallion tops. more soon. Two of them and a skirt sold today before I got a chance to photograph them. Gotta get on the stick.
Finally, someone wrote a book in defense of Loners. Always have been one, always will be. Happy that way. Tough titty said the kitty, but the milk tastes good. :->  Miss Bunny is charming visitors to my shop by watching over the hats. I originally got her as a present for my friend Ingrid, who has a real bunny, but it's going to be hard to hand her over! So she'll keep me company in the shop for a while. :-> She was beautifully made by Catherine, who is the sister of our own knitstress Bonne Marie. Alot of textile talent in that family! |
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