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Home » Blue Moon Blog
More rainy days than sunny days. Please sun come out and play for more than a day or two. We’re getting a wee water logged here. Also really hard to get the wool dry.
July 2, 2010
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Even though you’ve tried seventeen ways to Sunday to fix it and still… You’ve tried every single way that makes sense at least to you. Every single way that all the techies you know have told you to do including some creative put one hand behind your back and twist to the left and then plug it in but only if the moon is full in Cancer. Like really if the moon is full in Libra, DO NOT plug it in to that port on the left. Even if you’ve reasoned with it (just asking it to do the job I hired it to do) , singing to it ( it likes Abba way too much), bribing it ( I promised it brand new fancy coloured wiring and if it was really good a sexy new modem friend) and then finally, and I’m not proud of this, the threats. Something like you stupid piece of @#$%^%$#@@#$%^ I’m should just rip you out of the wall and be done with you. So what do you do if none of that works and you can’t seem to find an expert to help. Yup, you guessed it. A bit of a temper tantrum. I threw a big giant fit ( ask Debra she listened to my tirade). I ranted and raved and stormed around and maybe shed a tear or two and then got smart and went for a cooling down walk. While I was gone I thought about what a network system is and what I’ve done with yarn and knitting and realized I was approaching this all wrong. So I got back and called my extremely smart and talented son and we talked through it and then we both opened a beer ( because networking requires beer) and broke out the brand new Cisco E3000 router and went to work. We brainstormed and tested and tested some more to make sure we had the right problem to solve. It really kind of sucks to solve a problem you don’t really have. Ask me how I know? Anyway I unplugged and replugged and moved this and that and wondered why they were even there and then plugged in the very sexy (it so is) E3000 and did everything it told us to do. Even though in all honesty neither one of us are that great at following step by step instructions. We did and viola it worked Like it really worked. I went around to every single computer and tested the internets and printers capabilities and if it could connect to the server and… they all could and did. It all worked and it worked way better than it ever had. I did a happy dance and tickled the hell out of my son. I think he was maybe even a bit proud and certainly relieved. And the best part. I understand this now. I get it the whole hub/switch box thing and the modems and router and all the wires from the barn and the dsl and and phone lines and server connection and who goes where and why. I am no longer the blue moon network systems bitch. I am not afraid or intimidated by those wires and cables anymore. We are all coworkers and are now establishing on a friendly relationship based on mutual understanding and resolution. I even promised that next time maybe I would try the walk first.
Who’s the router? Oh yeah this is the router. Meet my new friend the Cisco Kid.
So now that that dragon is slain tamed and I’ve dealt with my “stuff” about computer related wires. Hell it’s about the same as a sound system ( previous life as a sound techie) so seriously don’t know what my issue was here. I’m going to spend the day in the barn dyeing silk. Silk hankies, silk yarns, silk top, maybe a cocoon or two. So excited.
June 29, 2010
Where it’s most certainly all about the wool. Black Sheep Gathering at the Lane County Fairgrounds in Eugene Oregon where it has been for the last 21 years since 1989. The very first gathering was in 1974 and was a yearly potluck for sheep people ( breeders and consumers) to get together meet, share, create community and sell. And you know 36 years later all of us woolly types are still showing up to meet, share, compare notes. commiserate, show our sheep and our fleeces and our yarns and our talents. That small town tightly knit community potluck atmosphere permeates the whole event. Along with a tradition the highest caliber of teachers, breeders, judges, vendors, knitter, spinner, weaver… all fibery type people and critters. I’ll never forget when I got my letter saying I had finally gotten into to be a vendor after applying for years. (Yes, there is a wait list. ) I was so excited and maybe just a bit nervous. Getting that booth at Black Sheep was one of those defining career moments for me. I felt validated and like maybe I had found a whole lot more of my people. I remember every single detail about that weekend from setting up to breaking down and those memories still hold true today. Black Sheep is a tradition for a whole lot of us in a time where traditions are forgotten, ignored or reinvented. Growth and change are good and so are traditions, especially time honored ones like BSG, that obviously work.
I have to have serious firm discussions with myself every single gathering about how I don’t have time for a sheep or two or forty. My absolute favorites all the time are the Wensleydale breeds. I just love them. The one in the header pic here almost got me. Then the voice of reason stepped in and all she had to say this time was Sock Summit and then the hysterical laughter ensued.
I escaped the booth a couple of times to listen to Judith MacKenzie judge the fleeces. I wish I could’ve sat there and listened the whole time or recorded her, so I could play it over again and again. Judith knows so much and imparts her woolly wisdom with such grace and heart. I’ve listened to fleece judging before with really good judges and learned a lot. It’s the heart and soul that Judith brings to her work that adds in the extra something for me. And… I was lucky enough ( I swear I did not elbow that rancher out of my way.) to purchase 8 of those prize fleeces. I don’t even feel the least bit guilty or like a fleece pig. Nope not at all. Aren’t they lovely?
As with every show we do it’s all the people that make it so much fun. Seeing old friends and meeting new ones. Lovely moments. Like the husband below comfortable enough with who he is to hold his wife’s very purple purse while she shopped in our crowded booth.
We usually notice a knit trend or two and this time surprisingly enough ( it is June after all) it is still the lovely February Lady. She certainly has some wicked staying power, this one does.
I got sock flashed a good deal which just never ever gets old I love it so much. Also very interesting to explain to a nonknitter. This recently happened at Whole Foods while I was in line paying and the checker just could not get over it. A story for another time.
All in all a really wonderful Gathering. So good to see so many familiar lovely faces. As always thank you for your support and knitterly goodness. I usually don’t purchase much at shows. That time thing again. I certainly made up for it this time though. I’ll post those on Friday because I seriously scored some crazy goodness. I blame the weaving.
The lovely scarf is Daybreak by Stephen West and was knit by Dawn in Pond Scum And Rollingstone Str.
June 23, 2010
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