'ween and the hamthrax
Oct. 29th, 2009 03:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragonlady7Halloween shopping done this morning. Z's embroidery project-- oh, I didn't link to his post about it. I'm sure you all follow the LJ syndication of his rss feed (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
z0bar) but that was down for a few days so it didn't come through. Anyway, Z's embroidery project required particular colors of floss. He wasn't content with "close enough" from my formidable thread drawer because, don't laugh, he has an algorithm, don't laugh, that compares the color hex codes from the designs he draws/adapts to the color codes on DMC floss and picks the closest match. Don't laugh! He's serious! He kind of does this for a living, actually, with his current client.
It turns out that it's an imperfect algorithm. Well, the shortfall isn't the math, it's that the color swatches he's working with are imperfect-- DMC's website, and the computerized swatches aren't entirely correct. The thread he bought, upon comparison, is somewhat too pale, and not saturated enough, to match the design. But he's going through with it as a proof of concept. Further bulletins as events warrant, I'm sure.
Meanwhile I bought the few things Z still needed for his costume. Of course he's going as Jesus. Of course he needs stigmata and a crown of thorns. Naturally!!! Also he needs a three-D Sacred Heart, which I am going to make of felt appliqué. I don't know how, but I'll figure it out, I have a couple of hours.
My costume will be more challenging. I plan on being a wind-up doll. Hopefully I'll be an automaton on rollerskates, because nobody doesn't love rollerskates. But we'll see. I need to fidget some more with the concept. Unfortunately I have to go straight to the only party I'm attending all season, right from work, but it's on Friday, not Saturday, so being in costume at work would be weird. But, there's basically no dress code at work. So I'm not much fussed. I bought some gold tissue lamé today, and some black lace (on clearance! Nice!), to make a blouse with to go under the corset I want to wear. I also bought silver Sharpie, as being possibly the most durable, economical, and simple way to draw metal joints onto myself. Or circuitry, perhaps. We'll see. I don't know. I was going to use makeup of some kind but that's probably not going to work all that well. Then a wind-up key of some sort, attached to a plate (probably of cardboard) that I will insert under my corset, and then the key will protrude from the back lacing of the corset, which will hold it in shape. (I think a wire hanger, properly bent, will do the trick.)
Then it's just a matter of gold lamé leggings, which I made a trial run for in gray t-shirt knit. I bought a new set of sewing machine needles in different sizes and point styles, so hopefully one will work better for sewing knits. It's a few hours of sewing, but nothing horrendously enormously complex.
Which is good, because I'm pretty sure I'm coming down with the h-one-n-ones. Not to be a hypochondriac, but after having two coworkers report to work with it this week, I'm not optimistic about escaping unscathed. My cleaning and sterilizing efforts may well have been too little too late. I just hope I haven't given it to everyone I know. I feel sore throaty, achy, tired, and phleghmy at the moment. Wish I knew where my thermometer was, so I could get a baseline. Have been working on keeping fluid intake up, but it's easier now-- throat's sore, so I need to drink in order to be able to talk.
attack_laurel just dubbed it the Hamthrax. If I do have it, I'm going to make myself a clever I Survived The Hamthrax t-shirt.
So I may be lying in bed stitching up an appliquéd Sacred Heart of Jesus for a little while... Too bad, I don't want to miss tonight's practice, but I also don't want to give this to everyone I know.
I'd go take a little nap now, but the high school across the street is having some sort of something going on, which means a lot of adolescent boys chanting and yelling and clapping, a radio blaring loudly, engines revving as parents in overpowered SUVs drop off or pick up their kids, and just general douchebaggery as suburban white 16-year-old males act like suburban white 16-year-old males (i.e., pretend to be thugs, which is very popular this decade, have you noticed?). There's really no point in attempting to do anything that involves resting.
So instead Z and I are getting into a water-drinking contest, which we do occasionally. Who can fill and empty their oversize Big Gulp mug more times in a set period?
Oh boy, car alarm.
z0bar) but that was down for a few days so it didn't come through. Anyway, Z's embroidery project required particular colors of floss. He wasn't content with "close enough" from my formidable thread drawer because, don't laugh, he has an algorithm, don't laugh, that compares the color hex codes from the designs he draws/adapts to the color codes on DMC floss and picks the closest match. Don't laugh! He's serious! He kind of does this for a living, actually, with his current client. It turns out that it's an imperfect algorithm. Well, the shortfall isn't the math, it's that the color swatches he's working with are imperfect-- DMC's website, and the computerized swatches aren't entirely correct. The thread he bought, upon comparison, is somewhat too pale, and not saturated enough, to match the design. But he's going through with it as a proof of concept. Further bulletins as events warrant, I'm sure.
Meanwhile I bought the few things Z still needed for his costume. Of course he's going as Jesus. Of course he needs stigmata and a crown of thorns. Naturally!!! Also he needs a three-D Sacred Heart, which I am going to make of felt appliqué. I don't know how, but I'll figure it out, I have a couple of hours.
My costume will be more challenging. I plan on being a wind-up doll. Hopefully I'll be an automaton on rollerskates, because nobody doesn't love rollerskates. But we'll see. I need to fidget some more with the concept. Unfortunately I have to go straight to the only party I'm attending all season, right from work, but it's on Friday, not Saturday, so being in costume at work would be weird. But, there's basically no dress code at work. So I'm not much fussed. I bought some gold tissue lamé today, and some black lace (on clearance! Nice!), to make a blouse with to go under the corset I want to wear. I also bought silver Sharpie, as being possibly the most durable, economical, and simple way to draw metal joints onto myself. Or circuitry, perhaps. We'll see. I don't know. I was going to use makeup of some kind but that's probably not going to work all that well. Then a wind-up key of some sort, attached to a plate (probably of cardboard) that I will insert under my corset, and then the key will protrude from the back lacing of the corset, which will hold it in shape. (I think a wire hanger, properly bent, will do the trick.)
Then it's just a matter of gold lamé leggings, which I made a trial run for in gray t-shirt knit. I bought a new set of sewing machine needles in different sizes and point styles, so hopefully one will work better for sewing knits. It's a few hours of sewing, but nothing horrendously enormously complex.
Which is good, because I'm pretty sure I'm coming down with the h-one-n-ones. Not to be a hypochondriac, but after having two coworkers report to work with it this week, I'm not optimistic about escaping unscathed. My cleaning and sterilizing efforts may well have been too little too late. I just hope I haven't given it to everyone I know. I feel sore throaty, achy, tired, and phleghmy at the moment. Wish I knew where my thermometer was, so I could get a baseline. Have been working on keeping fluid intake up, but it's easier now-- throat's sore, so I need to drink in order to be able to talk.
attack_laurel just dubbed it the Hamthrax. If I do have it, I'm going to make myself a clever I Survived The Hamthrax t-shirt. So I may be lying in bed stitching up an appliquéd Sacred Heart of Jesus for a little while... Too bad, I don't want to miss tonight's practice, but I also don't want to give this to everyone I know.
I'd go take a little nap now, but the high school across the street is having some sort of something going on, which means a lot of adolescent boys chanting and yelling and clapping, a radio blaring loudly, engines revving as parents in overpowered SUVs drop off or pick up their kids, and just general douchebaggery as suburban white 16-year-old males act like suburban white 16-year-old males (i.e., pretend to be thugs, which is very popular this decade, have you noticed?). There's really no point in attempting to do anything that involves resting.
So instead Z and I are getting into a water-drinking contest, which we do occasionally. Who can fill and empty their oversize Big Gulp mug more times in a set period?
Oh boy, car alarm.
