Tarot of the Yarns…

Knitting Tarot Spread

There’s been quite the dust storm kicked up on Etsy recently, concerning purveyors of magical supplies and readings and such. While I’m very glad to see the obvious fakes and predators kicked off the site, sadly some of my friends have also gotten their items booted off–candles and herbs and such; actual items used for religious purposes instead of the amusingly priced “Call a Sexy Vampire” rings and necklaces. And mainstream religious items seem to be selling just fine. It’s more than a bit confusing for everybody involved, I think…

And how does that have anything to do with me? I’m glad you asked. I’ve always loved Tarot decks and readings, and have been collecting them for years. A while back for last Halloween I ran in my shop among the woolens and yarns a Tarot reading for knitters. For the princely sum of 3 dollars, I would do a three-card spread about a knitting project someone had problems with and give them helpful advice. I labeled it as Entertainment Only, but added the caveat that any reading I did would also be bolstered with solid knitting advice.

Knitting Tarot Spread
A Knitting Tarot Spread…3 cards to help the knitterly-challenged.

People seemed to like it a lot, but alas, I had no takers. I took it down right before the new changes took effect. Would Etsy have kicked it to the curb? I’m really not sure. Very probably, even with the amusing premise. Ah well. I suspect my time is better spent with the spinning wheel…

A little fun at the Mines…

Last night my sweetie and I went to my workplace to go have a little fun. We stopped by the Staff art show to go visit my shawl, before they take it down from the wall…

My Flourish shawl
My circle shawl, made with handspun and milled yarns, sequins and sparkle

Label
Shawl didactic with artist’s statement

We also checked out the Mark Mothersbaugh show, which was amazing. At work, I’ve been running into Mr.Mothersbaugh quite a bit here and there as part of my job. I’d grin and try very hard to be cool, then hand him a badge or open a door or what have you. He was very kind generally; tipped me a salute yesterday which earned him a very un-guardlike giggle from me. He seemed to be having a pretty good time last night…

Mark Mothersbaugh and me
A happy, happy Maus with a stripey Mark Mothersbaugh in the background.

Soooo, yes, a pretty good time. It’s nice to have a little fun here and there…

Batts and batts and batts…

A little carried away...

Ah, weekend!For me, this means more time to play with the carder!

Pre-carding mess
Pre-carding mess

Fueled by marzipan rose tea and macaroni, I ended up making…well, quite a few batts. I got kind of carried away. But they were all so pretty!

A little carried away...
A little carried away…

Most of these I’m putting up on the Etsy site, but I do want very badly to spin some of these myself. I did reserve a couple just for me to play with…the best part was, most of these batts have at least some of the new wool I’d just finished dyeing, and a couple are almost all dyed by me. I’m feeling kinda proud, really. Even though I pricked my finger on a thorn in a bit of wool when I was nearly finished. Kind of a Sleeping Beauty moment, really, and I couldn’t even blame it on the spinning wheel. I bleed for my hobbies, people!! (Happily, not *on* my hobbies. I slapped a bandage on right after all the hopping up and down and cursing…)

In Between…

I’m in the awkward bit of the week. Most of my fibery exploits happen on Fridays and Saturdays, when I’m free. The rest of the week I have a day job to pay the bills and keep me in chocolate and creepy books.  I work at a museum as a guard, so for the most part I keep anything expensive from walking off with the teeming hordes of people who come in every day. I call it the Jade Mines–or the Mines for short. Sometimes it can be great fun, and sometimes we get celebrities–Mick Jagger was in just yesterday, being all Mick-Jaggery. Which was pretty cool, but I kinda wish it was Marianne Faithfull instead. She’s awesome. Just sayin’…

Often I make lists when I’m on the job. Lists like “How many priceless artifacts will someone try to pet like it’s a puppy?” or “Fashion Faux-pas of the day!” (which is rich coming from me, since I wear a polyester clip-on tie at work.) But on days like today, just far enough from the weekend, I think of whatever fibery project is waiting for me at home. My beautiful dyed wool is all dry now and stuffed into bags, waiting for me to card it up and spin it. The plum color is still my favorite, but the red makes me so happy. I think of new things to knit for whatever season I’m in. I think of weird little things I could make for friends.  Often I bring some knitting for my breaks. It helps me destress after wrangling a flood of schoolkids and their eagerness to climb pretty sculptures.  Oh gods, so much climbing…

So, I’m getting ready to trot off to the Mines and the bags of fluff are just sitting in the corner…taunting me with their pretty, pretty colors.  Seriously, I can hear the taunting from here. Maybe I’ll bust out Shreddica the carder tonight just to get some of the yearning out of my system…

Me at the Jade Mines, doing a spinning demo
Me at the Mines, doing a spinning demo for an evening event.