Jason knits, spins, surfs the Net and contemplates. Now also finding his way around the contemporary art world.
These Yellow-Chevroned Parakeets have finally decided to stop and feed on the pods. I only managed to photograph a few of them. And it’s overcast today. This is the best shot of the bunch. I will try to get more pictures in the future.
Blogged with Flock
Yesterday I started looking for a different theme for my new WordPress blog. Not that I hated the style of the last one. It was just too darn difficult to read. For me anyway. So I searched and searched and found Subtle by Glued Ideas. It looked quite nice and compatible with WordPress Widgets. Yes, Widgets. Little blocks of codes that can be dragged and dropped into the sidebars. No source code editing. Just drag and drop. How nice is that?
That was just the beginning…
I started playing with different configurations, different add-ons. WordPress is so flexible that I keep finding things to experiment with. Things to learn. In other words, I got drawn into the world of widgets and codes. And here I am, still tinkering. The best discovery so far was from within the theme options. I was asked if I wanted to configure FeedBurner. Hmmm… FeedBurner. Sounded familiar. So I followed the link and paid them a visit. Wow! What a great service. Basically they take your blog feed and make it readable by most blog/rss readers. Plus they give you the option to immediately pin many popular services when you update your blog. Services like Bloglines, Technorati and Ping-o-matic, so that you won’t have to wait for them to come looking for something new. This discovery came just when I started noticing that Bloglines was having problems reading my blog feed. Probably because of the modifications. With FeedBurner, now I can feel assured that the feed is in a standard format and updated frequently. Plus I was able to merge my Flickr feed into the blog feed, which means that people will know when I add new public photos. AND, FeedBurner makes it easy to subscribe to a feed. I have it configured in the sidebar. Take a look and click on the icon and see how easy it is for people to subscribe to your blog. I highly recommend FeedBurner’s services. I think everyone should try it.
No, I am not being paid by FeedBurner. 
On to something else…
My dear friend Mariko gave me a couple of bags of unginned cotton. Big bags. (Thanks Mariko!) I started playing with separating the fiber from the seeds. It is quite easy to do. Only a few stubborn ones here and there. I’ll probably all of it by hands and card it to make punis. Ah, the thought of that just makes me so relaxed. I hope that we’ll find a nice rental house with a nice backyard when we move norht, so I can sit in a comfy chair with a big basket of fiber to work with. 
Here’s a little fella that I’ve noticed hanging around in the neighborhood since last year. I think it’s home is not far from here. I like to whistle when I see it, and it always seems to be very curious and listens intently.
Some of the Silk Floss trees are full of fruits/pods. I guess they are not ripe yet. I hear the parrots some days, but they haven’t started feeding on any of the trees in the neighborhood. I wonder when I should try to get one for myself. I am curious to see the kind of fiber it has inside. I also find that the thornless ones do bear fruits, but not very many it seems.
Now, I present you a picture of my dog, Tristan. It wasn’t easy to take a picture of him. He did not like the camera lens at all. At one point he heard a noise and was distracted. I quickly took a snapshot.
What happens when you have so much fun spinning cotton on a support spindle? Move on to a charkha wheel of course! I am really lucky that I can get my hands on a Journey Wheel Attache Charkha for a test drive. It’s amazingly fast. Serious.
I spent hours last night getting familiar with this wheel. See that pile at the back? Yes, they are mostly mistakes. Fun mistakes (for now). It was so fun experimenting with drafting techniques. I definitely discovered a few things about the behavior of the cotton fiber. I also think that the Attache is too fast and too large for me. It spins at a ratio of 110:1. Too fast for my liking. Or maybe I just need to get used to it? The Book Charkha spins at a ratio of 70:1. I think that would be better for me. But I do worry about the lighter weight of the wheel. Will it stay put when I spin? I am also looking at Alden Amos’ charkha wheels. But I think I won’t consider any of them for my first charkha. I want something portable that I can travel with. I do fancy the t-frames and the banjo though.
I mentioned that my first goal of spinning cotton is to weave a piece of fabric to use as an offering to the monks next year. But I think I am spinning a bit too thin here. The truth is that I have no idea what it needs to be for weaving.
How many birds do you see?
Do you think that these birds find it safe to be on this thorny floss silk tree?
