What I have been doing....

I have been doing a lot of reading and not much creating which is starting to wear on me.  Grad school seems to involve large amounts of book reading supported by large amounts of paper reading (and not the newspaper) which is then supported by additional external readings which are sometimes not scanned in well leading to missing words and black blobs.  But I am persevering and learning.  I have also discovered Human Factors which I want to learn more about.  I think they could use some creativity in their website design though.  I have taken one class in this area and am adding a couple more.  

I do squeeze in some knitting on a skirt that I started two years ago.  Maybe I will actually finish it this winter.

Here is what I've been doing:

1. Myself and another student created a protective mesh sleeve for an air fired cannon.  This is me using the industrial sewing machine in the Clothing, Textiles and Design Lab at school.  The bottom picture is the cannon firing.  The big dot is the wad and sabeau.  The little dot is the pumpkin.  This cannon fires pumpkins!

2. I heard Gloria Steinem speak at a small opening at the Prichard Art Gallery.  That is her on the right in the picture in the orange sweater.  She is not a woman of immense stature, but is truly a larger than life individual.  It was incredible to hear her speak and to watch women who had idolized Ms. Steinem finally meet her in person... there were tears in many cases.  She was very patient and had genuine conversations with each person.

 3. I took a group of students and one colleague to Los Angeles for 5 days of factory tours, shopping, and a textile show.  We spend some time (and money) at Mood Fabrics too.  I'll post pictures of the fabric haul in another post.

Sweater factory.... these are the machines that knit the panels (fronts, backs, sleeves, etc):

Psst.... these sweaters are 100% cashmere!... and they are for The Row!

It's always good to take time out to check out the local antique/junk malls.  My dear friend, Ilena, and I absolutely enjoy doing this and found this all-in-one cocktail device.  It comes with a padlock too so you can lock down your rye, bourbon, and scotch.

Pondering going back and getting this.