Thursday, September 25, 2008

Nothing but good times ahead.


That's some tropical storm or other (Kevin? Lola? Malaprop?) parked off shore. It's supposed to come ashore almost due west because of a high pressure area over the north-central Atlantic. Apparently it's supposed to rain and be really windy. Oooh. Never seen that before. The temperature has dropped significantly, though. For that, I don't care if it rains sideways. Now that it feels like fall, I have an urge to bake bread.


Otherwise, well, it's a damn good thing I like spinning.

Remember the black silk I got from Habu Textiles that's too thin to do anything with (at least at my level of weaving skill; and I refuse to start knitting on eyed needles like Alwen does)? I figured I could chain-ply it on the spinning wheel, thereby making it thick enough to be useful. (I'm thinking of carbon fiber and silk woven scarves as Christmas gifts; with the black silk for the warp.) So to the wheel I went.

Pain. In. The. Ass.

This was originally my plan for the spinning wheel. To ply together thinner yarns, not to actually spin from scratch. While fooling around learning to use the thing, I realized I quite enjoy spinning from scratch and have been doing that. This was the first time I used the wheel as I'd originally inteneded, to ply thin stuff. Know what? It's fucking irritating. I hate it.

Real good thing I like spinning. Otherwise I'd have bought a spinning wheel for nothing.

Did I mention that I'm getting two pounds of wool in the mail? Probably today? To dye? Whee!



Otherwise, well, I'm watching the Subprime Mortgage Scandal (if it's not called that, it should be) unfolding here in the US. For those of you out of the loop, either because you don't live in the US or you're under a rock (I envy you the rock, truly), a mildly humorous summary of the entire clusterfuck can be found here. It'd be funnier if it wasn't true. One of those lovely situations.

Anyway, the citizens of the US were informed last night that we, the taxpayers, will be expected to pick up the tab for what is, ultimately, corporate greed. Shit is rolling downhill and gaining speed. This may be the straw that broke the back of the average US citizen; as usual, the best way to get a person's attention is to steal their money. I am reminded of an old CO of the husbeast's, who once yelled at the payroll department, "You know how to get a ship to mutiny? DON'T PAY THEM!" And of course I used to do customer service at a bank, so I know how bitchy people can get when you mess with their money (and I usually got bitched out over very small amounts, not SEVEN HUNDRED BILLION GODDAMN DOLLARS). It's gonna be interesting. Duck and cover. I'm gonna turn up the iPod real loud and knit.

12 comments:

amy said...

I kind of like my rock. Is that bad?

I think that's the same storm that's going to soak us for the next three days. Or, at least one of them. The weatherman was beside himself with excitement talking about high pressure systems and two converging storms and soaking rain. Throwing in the word "possible," of course, to cover his butt.

Anonymous said...

Even me, that live on Brazil knows about the stuff. I don't envy you.

So it's good to be a bank - you make caca and big Mom Bush will clean up the mess you made.

But then, banks aren't toddlers. They knew what they were doing - being greedy - and now the US people have to pay :p

I don't envy USA at the moment.

On a side note, i miss Goober pics.

Liz said...

Yeah, the biggest mortgage-lender in the UK failed and was taken over last week (that would be the one with my parents' life savings in it...); we're all living with the fallout and learning much more about "short selling" and other unbelievably dodgy financial manoeuvres than we really want to know, and watching money which should be funding our schools and hospitals going to prop up banks.

But of course selling mortgages to people who were never going to repay them and then end up in a much worse situation than they started out with was always such a good idea...

Stay safe during the storm...

And thanks so much for that tutorial on pre-drafting roving a few weeks ago. I spun something which actually looked like yarn a week or two ago...

Ashley said...

Right now, I tend to just...ignore the news. Simply because I'm in college and (generally) stressed out to all extremes anyways, and the new would just tip me over the edge of the stress cliff. Nothing I want to mess with :D

Otherwise...I would love to learn how to spin, but for some reason I think my roommate would not be happy if I tried to bring a spinning wheel into the dorm room...

Amy Lane said...

OMG--that's the only financial explanation I've ever understood.

Anonymous said...

May I add that I am constantly amazed that you can be so intelligent with a 3-year-old in your house? My grandbaby is 3 now...and though conversation is better now than it was when she was two, I still find I can't finish sentences or even thoughts... The mortgage crisis: yes, unfair, bigtime. Stay dry. ...MLE

Anonymous said...

Hmm. I have to explain this to people who live around the world. Maybe I should pull out my knitting during the breaks.

Anonymous said...

if you steal a little, you go to jail.

if you steal a lot, you go to switzerland or bermuda and enjoy other people's money.

back when reagan started deregulating the money men, i predicted this. it took longer than i thought, but the damnfools proved me right.

greed is programed into the human brain as a survival mechanism. if laws aren't made and enforced to prevent ripping off ordinary people, and if the guilty aren't punished in a way that they would care about avoiding (say, hard time in a maximum-security cell with bubba), the primal hoarding instinct will take over from the "civilized" parts of the brain.

Louiz said...

We know about it here. In fact my first comment when I heard about this new plan was "Where exactly are they going to get that money from?" And as it turned out, it seems to be from the American people. What happens there, happens here, mostly. Our news service last night said approximately $5,000 from each American. Ouch!

Donna Lee said...

I'm with you on the loud ipod thing. I'll be the one in the corner in the rocking chair with the headphones on. We're expecting "wind and rain" for the next two days as well. I don't think I could be a weather person. They have such manic behaviors surrounding the most mundane events that when something big does happen, they all look like they want to plotz.

roxie said...

First of all, stick that cone upright in a vase so the yarn just spirals off. Second, ply it with something else. Third, sing along to the ipod. Even if it's lalalala. We are at the scene of a trainwreck and the carnage is going to be appalling. You can cope with the aftermath better if you don't have to witness it happening.

Alwen said...

Oh! (she said brightly) But I now understand exactly where the money will come from!

http://angrybear.blogspot.com/2008/09/your-urgent-help-needed.html

insert alternating hysterical laughter and weeping here

So, ah, Julie, did you say you had some Habu silk for me? sez the voice from under the rock