fake "black henna"

alright everyone, here's the deal:: if you are gonna put something on your body, especially in quantities, DO SOME RESEARCH.
henna is a reddish or brownish stain on the skin (depending on skin tone), and starts out as a green-gray powder, that is made into a green-gray paste (that usually smells like various oils).

henna is NEVER black.

it NEVER dries uber-quick.

it ALWAYS starts fading withing a few days; it NEVER lasts a long time (it is a stain, it will start to fade as soon as the skin starts to exfoliate).

the intensity of the color and how long it lasts will depend on where on the body it is applied; palms of the hands and soles of the feet (callused, thick skin) will be darkest, but will start fading soonest. nails will be orange until they grow out. hair will be colored until it grows out. using exfoliating soaps or scrubs will cause it to fade faster.

yes, this tirade has a purpose. just read this article
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26080350/
titled "Henna Hazard: Chemical causes ornate allergies"

there's a ugly, yet strangely nifty pic of a girl's hands, with flower and vine pattern blisters.

please, think about what you put on your body!!!!! henna is a wonderful art form, and a wonderful tradition.......use it mindfully, not as some nifty thing to get to show off to your friends that you were on vacation. they make t-shirts for that.

for more info, try
http://www.hennapage.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehndi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henna
http://www.hennadancer.com/

post-pennsic stuff and nonsense

so yeah, we made it home.........i will be trying to post here more often, life's been a little insane lately!! (apart, of course, from living in a field for the past two weeks)........

pennsic was interesting this year.......from the weather (mostly wonderful, sometimes hot, not too much rain), to the unwar status (the king of the east conceded all war points during opening ceremonies), to a pennsic icon being sick and offsite (thank the gods Og is better!!), to us both being sick (pennsic tummybug, luckily yogurt fixied it), to interpersonal dramas (silly lamas!!).......and i'm certain that there are various and sundry things i'm forgetting to mention (like drogo entering the A&S display, with two items, and getting uber-booty!!).......

the war can be summed up by it's theme this year (according to the merchant liason) "welcome to pennsic!! what the f^&%k???"

on that same note, here's the question i was running around with for a few days at war:: guess what i did one night in bed???
no not that........not that either.........you, wash out your brain with soap!!
the answer is, i got stung by a bee......
literally, i rolled over in bed, put my hand on drogo's hip, and got stung (on the hand)......the guys in camp (we had just gone to bed) heard a scream, and then a thump thump thump (as drogo killed it with the hugs flashlight), and then saw me come running out looking for ice.
what fun.
honestly, the fun was asking everyone the question of guess what?? the next day......

now, since war.........
we've got us a chest freezer!! the neighbors gave it to us for some welding work......it's just a little one, but it's still enough that when we see a really good sale on, or hit the farmer's market (or the local neighborhood sheep and goat farmer!), we can stock up a little.......i was cleaning all day to make room for it, then cleaning it, then lighting candles near it so it didn't smell so funny (got left closed while wet, you can guess at teh smell)......
then bad stuff........we discovered that the toilet leaked, by me pulling out some boxes and discovering moldy yarn. luckily, i only had to throw out (so far) one ball of crap yarn, and two pairs of ana's pants that i was saving for posterity (or blue jean bags)........i have more clothes to wash, and lots of yarn to re-skein and wash......luckily, i stocked up on vinegar!! also luckily, i discovered this before all the new wool and alpaca got put into said boxes........

i think that's all so far.........i'm certain i'm forgetting stuff, but you know how it goes......my brain is still mush!!

feel free to email, comment, or send a carrier pigeon, we're home now!!!! and i would love to hear from folks.......

updates, food network, dilbert, and pants

hey everyone........

i know, i'm a bad monkey........but life has been a little nuts lately!!

first off, ragnarok was really wet.....as in, the last saturday we had ankle-deep flowing water through the booth.......drogo got us a hotel room, a really nice one with a two-person hot tub. pretty much every day of rag, we had storms of some kind, including lots of thunder and lightning, hail warnings, and lots of wind!! had to chuck plenty of stuff that got ruined; ended up doing $50 worth of laundry at the laundromat, including having to do one load several times with mass quantities of vinegar to kill the smell of dead something.......
while at rag, friends of ours (king torin and queen brenna) got married.......food network's "ace of cakes" did their wedding cake, a wonderful viking longship in 3-D......they also sent out a camera crew and taped the wedding and background on rag itself!! keep an eye open.........

luckily, the weekend after all that, we had off........recovery time!! we did lots of errands, lots of acquiring stuff to rebuild the trailer, groceries, fabric (of course!!), new stuff to replace old.......lots of sleep also, luckily.

this weekend, we have glass day......it's an SCA university-type weekend, all beyond-basic lampworking skills......should be fun, i've been forbidden to work; i'm being forced (oh the horror) to take classes all day, while drogo is stuck in the booth....heeheehee........

the weekend after that, we are doing the viking village at the scandinavian folk festival in jamestown NY......taking the monkey to that one......so of course, she grows, needs new viking garb.......

so i've been chained to the sewing machine again!! she's getting two new underdresses, 2-3 new overdresses......i've finished three persian coats for myself so far, with prolly another at least one (i got liner fabric for the sari fabric, bright blue cotton) and several cholis also, hopefully a few kamiz as well......and also, done a pair of pants, the pattern for which i promised to link to!!

so here it is, shalwar......
(i really hope that worked!!)

for children, instead of using a full width of fabric folded in half for each leg, fold the fabric in quarters lengthwise and use that.
these pants are uber-comfy, make sure you use a flowing fabric, something with some movement......the best mental picture i've ever found for NOT using stiff fabric is that it makes you have a duck-tail!!

next, on a slightly different note, a dilbert for knitters.........

thx to the wonderful people of ravelry-land for pointing this out!!

anyways, i'll try and get some pics of what i've been up to.....till then, have fun everyone!!!!!

we're home!!!

yeah, i know i have been rather incommunicado lately........

we've been a little busy though.

two weekends ago, we were at the midsummer ren faire, in lehighton pa (in the poconos)........for that trip, we left thurs morn, visited family, did the faire, visited more family, and got home wed afternoon........

then, we were home for less than 24 hours, as we got up at like 5am (i prefer to refer to that as stupid o'clock!!) to go to sandusky ohio, for bike week......

we just got home this afternoon from that!!

all in all, i'm burnt out, exhausted, sore, and my cat hates me......

i'm really sorry for those of you who have tried getting ahold of me, i wasn't online for at least a week in all that.......it's been a little nuts.

i'll try and get something together for all those people i promised i would at the faire!!

but it the meantime, here's a news story that proves the existence of mythical beasts.......


'Unicorn' deer is found in Italian preserve

laters all!!!

icky update

just wanted to drop a line.........

said dear friend isn't going to be able to save his whole finger after all.......at this point, they realized they are going to lose the tip of it.

he says he is doing fine, but i'm a little concerned about his mental state.......

so those of you that know him, drop him a line, an email, or give him a call.....if you don't know how to get ahold of him, drop me a line, i'll forward it....

and those of you that don't know him, keep him in your thoughts......he did a dumb, yes, but he's paying a high price for it that will be remembered, and will impact him for the rest of his life........

so far, he's kept his job, and his boss is very understanding......

let's hope it all goes this well!!

laters all, off to a ren faire.......... www.midsummerfaire.com .........

icky, but need good thoughts

i could use some good healing vibes from everyone for a dear friend of mine.......

my 'brother' thrall was in a car accident last weekend......luckily, he was the only one involved.

he totalled his van, and almost lost his left index finger, along with the use of his left hand.

they saved the finger, but he's gonna need some more surgery and lots of rehab/PT to get back movement at all; he will prolly never get back a full range of movement in that hand. it will prolly be a year before he can really work again, and at least a year until he is allowed to drive.

on the upside, he is thinking about going back to school to find himself a different career...........

and it scared him straight (mostly)!! it's never good when it takes a catastophic incident to make someone see the light and get smart, but with all too many people, it really does take something that horrid.......and i'm proud of him for setting a reasonable goal, such as safe partying, rather than an improbable one, such as never partying again........

no matter how dumb at times, i still love him dearly........and wish him all the best!!!

and hey, this means he'll prolly be at war for a full two weeks.......and i think i get to drag him to classes!! now, to get more info on his new garb.......barbary corsair!!

spinning pics

so finally, i've got some pics of my handspun up.......

most of them are absolutely horrid pics.........but what can you do?? my camera is an older digital, i'm not great at photos to start with......and the yarn is typical first yarn, oddly thick/thin, and plied weird.........and it didn't help that i was plying as at artyarn, with crochet cotton thread!!



so there's the roving, with the single and the spindle i spun it on (it's brass and stainless, and i'ts for sale kids!!)

and here is the same stuff plied and skeined, before washing::



but this fuzzball stuff is pretty cool........




............if i do say so myself! and yes, that's from my cat fur; he's a longhair, and it's shed season......i might just start collecting the shed and keeping it, it takes quite a bit to spin up any amount......

and here's my little fiber junkie-in-progress, playing with a spindle for the first time........



........she's using two different colors of yarn together, so she can see the spin.........i think learning to spin is gonna be our next summer project, as well as maybe dyeing with kool aid.......and maybe felting. i got her a lapp (a mill by-product) of wool/silk/rayon blend that evidently spins easily, felts well, and takes dye easily.........so i think that's the start of the summer learning!! now we just hafta figure out what to do, she'll be learning on my plying spindle.......i might hafta alter my other dropspindle (it's set up for bottom whorl, with a notch on the long end of the shaft and a point on the other) and cut off the point and put in a hook, so i can ply with it while she's using my louet student spindle.....

we'll see.

or maybe i'll just get him to make me a heavier one, to ply with!! because i will have more plying to do, hopefully soon......i also picked up two more rovings for me, in "blueberries and cream" and "blue spruce".........the blueberries is for him, they are both superwash, i think he's getting another hat......not sure what to do with mine, we'll hafta see how much yarn i get out of it!!

anyways, that's my latest obsession.......for lots more pics, those of you with ravelry check out my stash page, or those of you without, my flickr account......all the pics are up there!!

steampunk circus

so drogo found me the pic of the guy from the steampunk circus......




he's wearing another of our monocles.........

and here's the website of said circus::

http://zirkubu.com/

all things amusing!! though the website is kinda infuriating to navigate....but this looks like it would be a really fun thing to go see.......

and coming soon:: pics of my spinning.........

we will be in new hope pa for the street ren faire this coming weekend.......wish us luck, or come out and see!!

spinning

since this is my current latest obsession........

i wanna be as good as this woman!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynrwcqZzlGk

i won't be........i dont' have the patience, and i didn't learn at age 4 and done it every day for years on end.........

but i can covet skills as well as stuff, right???