Insubordiknit

Theater mice

Theater class: first there was the audition. I know, right? He's five. It's the second class. Audition? But really it was fine, just a little song they had to sing on stage so that their grad student instructor could hear their voices, see their comfort level, and give them a part in the culmination of the class -- a tiny, couldn't-you-just-die production. The kids, of which there are 6-8, were encouraged to sing such classics as the abcs, twinkle twinkle, happy birthday. My son, always skidding on his head to the sound of a different drumline, had trouble choosing between his 2 favorite songs -- die die die by the Avett Brothers and the wayward wind by Tex Ritter. Both of which he can sing in entirety and with the tone of a small squeaky angel -- the wayward wind is particularly charming when one is familiar with the voice of tex ritter, not so squeaky or angelic.

In the end, the boy picked die die die.

She’s fighting with the sky
She thinks she can
Livin’ within a lie
She thinks she can
But nobody knows what lies behind
The days before the day we die
Die, die, die, die, die, die, die
Die, die, die, die, die, die, die
Die, die, die

She puts her hands against
The life she had
Living with ignorance
Blissful and sad
But nobody knows what lies behind
The days before the day we die
Die, die, die, die, die, die, die
Die, die, die, die, die, die, die
Die, die, die

You can try to swim the sea
But say goodbye to you and me
You can try to swim the sea
You can try to hold the breeze
You can try to hide the sun
But say goodbye to everyone
Die, die, die, die, die, die, die
Die, die, die, die, die, die, die
Die, die, die

I could have melted, my little boy singing about the futility of life. And the beauty of it.

After auditions they did acting stuff, which included pretending a blue felt blanket was anything besides a blue felt blanket, learning stage directions, and acting like different animals.

First they acted like lions, all the kids on all fours, roaring. Then they acted like giraffes, necks stretched, toes tipped. Finally they acted like mice. Seven kids meandered about, front teeth jutting, hands folded demurely under chin, vibrating, tiny, cute biting noises -- a embroidered sweatshirt mouse come to life. There was one kid alone, on all fours, this way and that, skittering just as fast as he can, a look of sheer terror on his tiny-mouse face.

When we first moved into this house, it was infested with mice. Having never ever lived with any kind of critter, I was seriously skeeved. It was so bad that I used to knit in the front room with a cup full of pencils sitting beside me and when the skittering and chewing in the kitchen got to be a low roar I'd toss a pencil from where I was sitting, through the dining room and into the kitchen. It would shut them up for a few rows and then I'd have to throw another. I'd continue on until I had 3 pencils left. The grand finale throw which had to be bigger to ensure maximum scattering for prompt pencil collection. And then it'd begin again.

I was reminded of those days as I watched that lone kid acting, not like a cute adorable long-tailed creature, but like the terrible, vicious, super-quick monster that mice are. In reality. The reality-mouse was, of course, my son. I could just hear the other parents thinking
Now that's a kid knows mice.
Fer real.

Avett Love

With baby in sling and boy in tow, we ventured this evening out to an in-store. For those of you not familiar with this musical resource, it's when a band plays a truncated set inside a record store for a small crowd. This usually occurs when they're in town for a bigger show. If the music is right, this can be great for small children, you know, if there's not too many. Well, really, if there's just mine. Heh. He even sang along and everyone thought it was so adorable.

So tonight it was The Avett Bros. . If you've not heard this band, hear them now. I insist. Really. Better yet, go see them. They will change your life, at least for a little while.

They play LB's 2nd favorite song (die die die) -- his first is The wayward wind by Tex Ritter, which is what I told Scott Avett, to which he replied yeah, i don't blame him, my favorite song is probably by tex ritter, too.

But outside of being the band that plays my 5 year old's favorite song, they are, perhaps, the very best band in the world. Yes. In. The. World. And I do not say this lightly. My other favorite musical talents includes the likes of Tom Waits and Blake Schwarzenbach so you get the idea. When I say the best, it's not the best of some junk.

It's only 3 guys. Two brothers and a bass player. But they fill a stage, a room, a soul. They love it so much, you can see it in everything they do, each word they sing and each note the play. They capture everything I feel, they capture everything I want to feel, they're just that. freaking. good. I gush. I leave from listening to them just a little bit more in love with my partner, my kids, the world. Totally happy. We drive home all 'aglow, all 'alight. Yet I feel this strange feeling in my stomach, this panicky pit, because I want to feel this good all the time and I get all itchy trying to hold on to it, this feeling. This good feeling.

I don't know how to explain it, I'm probably doing a poor job, sounding like a cheese-girl fan. Have you felt it? That feeling that makes you mill around a stage even after you know the band is long gone? Just mill around because you don't know what else to do, you don't want to let it go.

I told my partner all of this on the way home and could tell he felt similarly. The conversation went something like this --

Jacey: I don't want to stop feeling like this. I wish we could see them all the time, or you know, invite them to dinner or something...
Bill: Let's move to NC so we can be near them...
Jacey: Okay.

oh, and Seth Avett gave LB the show pic at the end of the set.

It be talk likea pirate day!

It be talk like a pirate day, so in honor, I give you Little Bit telling his favorite joke. He likes to tell it at the most inappropriate times, like to nuns and men with ties. I used to laugh it off -- oh, he doesn't know what it means, but then he'd follow it with a full and explicit description. Heh. I love my inappropriate kid.

Bathtime video

Oh My Word! Now that I know I can do this with my camera! I'll never have to text update again, it's all video from here on out! Huzzah! I didn't really know it recorded sound, so I'm eerily quite in case sounds distracted her from her big debut. And then I'm not.

Expect more of these! Like one a day! Forget the knitting, it's bathtime videos all day long. Next -- our dog!

Go Vote!

Go vote! Come on, you don't even have to get out of your cool house or skitter up to the local library or school or church (where ever you vote), see your neighbors, or research candidates. This vote is on the internets, baby. Also, it's all visual (and imaginatively tactile). It's also anonymous, no governmental agency will track you and no creepy suit will build a damning dossier. Just go here and leave a comment as to which non-wool, water resistant, handspun yarn speaks to your inner weirdo.

I'm number 4, which you can see and read about in my previous post where I say things like electric sheep's arse, and shit on an icecream cone, and of course, do androids dream of electric sheep?. However, when I vote (of course I'm not voting for myself, gooney to vote for yourself, i think -- however, you should feel free to vote for me, if you're inclined) I'll be choosing between my other favorites --

#1 -- love the spiky look. while it lookes like fun fur and I'm not a funn fur fan, fun fur made out of plastic fruit bags kinda rocks!

#5 -- I'm sucka sucker for these colors. I also love the organic look of it. Linda (of the yarn museum) does this style of yarn very well, though this one is not done by her. Yeah, so, I love this yarn. It seems like it might be stiff and scratchy but what's a little stiffness between friends.

So, those are my two favorites, you know, besides mine, which I adore and which is named after a rockin movie.

So, go vote (once)! Please! We yarniers need validation.

Do androids dream of electric sheep

(as always, click for a slightly bigger pic, it's worth it!)

The challenge called Animals Stink When Wet (put forth by the always creative Lexi of Pluckyfluff) was this : spin a yarn that is non-animal, water resistant, and knit/crochetable. This yarn, do androids dream of electric sheep? is my answer to the challenge, yo. I offer it for your perusal, people of the internets. Pay close attention, there'll be a test later. Okay, not really a test, but a vote. Yep, a vote.

I have to be honest, the darker one was my original yarn, I had no adroid dreams of the lighter one. Of course, given the challenge, I jumped right to grocery bags, trash bags, bubble wrap, etc, you know, plastic stuff.

I started with a shredded black plastic yard bag, a huge roll of green packing plastic (think big-ass saran wrap), bubble wrap (both the plastic wrap and the bubble wrap were leftover from the recent sale of a pinball machine), shredded mesh sure-grip liner, a tangle of blood red nylon threads, black tencel, black ramie and metal studs (the kind I used to wear on my jackets, punker that I was).

I wanted to make it industrial, shiny, plastique -- that's where I started, hence all the uh...plastics. The colors, black, white, weird clear green, clear, red, lent themselves well to that end, I thought. However, while all of those things would be waterproof, they'd hardly be knitable/crochetable on their own, plus, if they did get wet, they could trap water and mildew (ewwww). My answer was to break out the tencel and ramie.

Ramie fairly water resistant, but more importantly, it's mold/mildew resistant, which is why it's so great for boat rigging. Tencel is just super cool! All shiny and shit. Plus it is good at wicking moisture (as in, any moisture that might get trapped in the crinks of the plastics). Finally, they'd both provide some softness, a dulling of the edges, I thought. So, I used the ramie as a core and spun the plastics around it, interjecting the bubbles and threads wherever my little heart desired. I then plied the whole thing by wrapping it in a 50/50 carded blend of ramie and tencel. The shine set my plastic heart a-patter.

Writing it out was as exhausting as doing it. Shew.

Okay, so shortly after completion, and believe me, it took a long freaking time to complete, I realized that it's not, you know, soft at all. It's knitable, but not wearable, at least not by itself.

Shit. Double shit. Shit on an organic, vegan icecream cone.

So I waited a few days. I'd like to say I was thinking, but most of those few days were spent spitting and cursing. And then I came back and tried again. I wanted to keep the look as much as I could, because that, I LOVED. I decided I'd use ecospun, whick has an inherent water resistance (once it's smooshed together, spun) being that it's 100% recycled plastic bottles. Most importantly, it's as soft as an electric sheep's arse.

So, after spinning some more ramie for a core, I corespun the ecospun big and fluffy, with the black bag shreds, the bloodred threads, the spiky sure-grip, the metal studs, and cocoons of the green plastic wrap. Finally, I wrapped the whole thing in the tencel/ramie blend, which I had to spin more of, of course.

Much better. Soft, in fact. Water resistant. Knitable. Wearable. Hot damn -- challenge complete.

September 5th these yarns will hang in the Yarn Museum and be voted on along with some other challengers. So, feel free to vote (5th-7th)!