Sheeps

I went to FiberFest in Marin County yesterday.  It's an annual conference of a group trying to develop sustainable fabric, fiber, clothing.

At the tiny seller's expo, I bought carded alpaca fleece and two kinds of yarn, and very much enjoyed my visits with each seller.  The conference itself had sold out by the time I knew the dates, but I was able to briefly stand in the back of the conference hall and hear part of one presentation.

Last year, I think the conference included cotton and flax growers; this year, it seemed to be only about wool.

Here are two six-month-old sheep from a breed developed in France and now being bred (in a very complex process) in the U.S.:  Ouessant sheep.  For a little more about them, see http://capellagrazing.wordpress.com/.

Stunning quilt from 2006 show in Tokyo

http://bemused.typepad.com/photos/tokyo_quilt_festival/100_1411b.html

If you tap "2006" at the top of the page, you'll see thumbnails for about fifty quilts.  Or use this link:  http://bemused.typepad.com/photos/tokyo_quilt_festival/index.html

Someone named Jan does a quilting blog.  No idea what her last name is.  -- Rachel

Tablets are taking over

Seems like almost everybody has an iPad today, or a large-ish smartphone.  You see people on the bus reading Kindles and Nooks and even iPod Touches, rather than carry around actual books or magazines or newspapers.

I have read books on my Touch, but the screen is a bit small.  (Still, once I get into my story, it doesn't matter much, I am lost in my enjoyment of the tale.)

Which reminds me: don't get *so* lost you fail to notice your surroundings.  Don't get run over, or mugged, or fired, because you were reading when you should have been paying attention.

But anyway, I recently purchased a NOOK COLOR, and found it quite satisfactory (with a few key limits).  I found that I didn't like being redirected to gutted websites with poor navigation queues.  I didn't like the assumption that my tablet was either (a) always connected to the internet or (b) could perform other phone-only functions.  I couldn't even run the MICHAELS app that I downloaded, so I removed it from the device.  And there was no microphone, no camera.

But the portability was superb -- it weighs less than a pound, and it slid nicely into my purse, being a bit smaller than my paper calendar.  (Yes, a paper calendar is still essential, I don't care what anyone says.)  The page size is just about the same as a standard mass-market paperback book.

The image quality was excellent, and I immediately set up slide shows for vacation pictures, quilts, etc.  I could, with a bit of tweaking, create sequential playlists for my audiobooks and other sound files.  (If you want details,  post a comment, and if there's enough interest, I'll post the process.)  It was easy to listen to classical music AND read a book at the same time.  Several ebook programs are available free -- Kobo and Nook and Kindle all come to mind -- and my library offered loans of Kindle ebooks by free download.

I bought an illustrated ebook from C and T Publishing -- COUNTRYSIDE SOFTIES (http://www.ctpub.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=2239) -- and read it on the Nook, in full color.  Wow!  I can imagine a time when my whole quilt book library can come with me on vacation, without adding an ounce to my suitcase!

I did find it hard to use Google Maps on the Nook; when I got lost in San Jose after folowing someone's bad directions to a local business, I had to actually fire up my MacBook Pro to get myself and a friend back to the freeway.

And of course, my only way to reach the internet was via wifi, so that meant either being in a place where wifi was available -- a library for instance -- or using the Mobile Hotspot function of my smartphone.

Then disaster struck.  One morning, while loading new photos to show a friend my recent quilt projects, the Nook behaved oddly, then stopped working.  It wouldn't take a charge.  An internet search didn't offer any suggestions.  Finally, I went online with my MacBook Pro, and ordered a Lenovo Ideapad A1.

After a week, the Lenovo did the same thing -- wouldn't boot, wouldn't charge.

But the remedy was simple, and now both the Nook and the Ideapad are working.

The reset process is this:
Make sure the tablet is NOT plugged in to any power source.
Simultaneously press the POWER button (the on-off switch) AND either the VOLUME UP or the VOLUME DOWN button, and hold them for a few seconds.
Charge the device normally if necessary.

So, anybody want a Nook Color at a good price?  I don't really need two tablets.

MacWorld 2012, Day 1

Busses in San Francisco can be crowded, which means there is a risk of pickpockets. Recently, a man on a VERY CROWDED bus was listening to his iPhone, which was safely tucked inside his backpack.  A thief reached into the backpack to steal the phone, and quickly drew his hand out, empty -- the man also had a chihuahua in his backpack, and the dog had nipped the thief!

According to iKeep (myikeep.com), two million iPhones are lost or stolen every year.  They have devised a solution:  tether it securely.  Their gadget clips to, say, a belt loop, and an extension cable clicks to your iPhone or iPod.  The cable moves freely to let you access your device, but it Will Not Let Go until you press the release button.  If you're just absentminded, the iKeep makes sure you have your iPhone with you, and if someone else tries to grab it, they're gonna have trouble.

So… if you don't have a chihuahua, you might want to get an iKeep!

My trip to Taos

I was recently in New Mexico, and visited the Albuquerque Art Museum which had a wonderful exhibit on Hispanic Arts, and I traveled to Taos where I visited La Lana Wools and the Weaving West Gallery.  At Weaving West, I was urged to visit Centinela Weavers in Chimayo, so I made a short detour (9 miles each way) during my drive back to Albuquerque.  Here's a photo from the Centinela Gallery.  -- Rachel Holmen

Dad at 91plus

My sister Joyce took this nice photo of me and my dad, on June 1.

Post-Rapture Shoe Shopping?

I passed this store window in Madison, Wisconsin, during Memorial Day weekend. 

Quilt Show this Weekend - Pleasanton, Calif at Alameda County Fairgrounds

Beautiful opportunity quilt offered by the Amador Valley Quilters.  Free parking at the fairgrounds if you tell them you're going to the quilt show.  10-5 Saturday, 10-4 Sunday.

Probably 400 finished quilts on display.  Two well-known quilt artists are featured, and will give talks and demonstrations.

Almost Too Warm for Spring

The weather jumped from winter to practically summer here in Berkeley.  My dad called to wish me happy birthday today, which pleased me.  But otherwise, the world is completely crazed, with war and nuclear problems; I spent this afternoon readng last Sunday's New York Times and getting depressed.  It is true that a small number of committed people can make a change, but I lack the energy to join them.  I think I'll listen to Judy Small and try to cheer up a bit.

http://www.judysmall.com.au/index.html

-- Rachel

Cat in Cold Weather

Mia somehow maneuvered herself UNDER my sweater, set down on the bed; only a tiny sliver of black fur was visible.

Sent from iPod Touch

AUTUMN is here

Today is the first of autumn (or fall, as we Murricans call it, to the occasional confusion of other speakers of English).  Leaves haven't turned color here, but all they usually do in this part of California anyway is go from green to a sort of green-gold.

(And Indian Summer has yet to happen, when daytime temps will be close to 90.)

-- Rachel

Nearly Naked Guys!

Outside the ballpark near my office was a group of five guys in shoes and skivvies. (Luckily it was a warm evening.)  Turns out they are promoting a men's clothing drive for jobseekers -- click the link and search for National Suit Drive, which runs all through September.

-- Rachel 

Misleading

Wouldn't you think, looking at the signboard shown, that you could get an ice cream cone for 79 cents? 

NOT A CHANCE.  This is just the surcharge for the fancy cone.  Baskin Robbins does offer a cheap cone of soft-serve ice cream (not the good stuff they're known for), but it's really CHEAP, in a cheesy kind of cone -- frankly, I'd rather have a small dish.  -- Rachel

Friday Adventure

The old AC Transit terminal is about to be torn down; today they're offering tours of the building, including sections locked shut for decades.  I'm going to bring a 35mm camera loaded with black and white film (and my digital, of course); I'll post some of the photos once they're processed. -- Rachel Holmen

The Mice are EXHAUSTED after Fiscal-Year-End frenzy

The mice haven't visited in a while. Here they are, completely wiped out after weeks of buildup to the end of TechSoup's fiscal year.

I finally got to the de Young's Amish Quilt exhibition

I finally got to the de Young's Amish Quilt exhibition and spent hours studying the quilts, taking notes, viewing them with a small magnifier, comparing their colors to a set of color cards I'd brought with me.  I want to construct some Amish-style quilts, so I wanted to know how they actually made theirs.  When they put on a border, what did it look like?  What colors did they use for the hand quilting?  I was lucky enough to visit with Stephen Brown, the owner of these quilts, and we talked about how important it is to preserve the colors by displaying the quilts in low light.  Once a quilt fades, he pointed out, there's no way to reverse the process and get the original colors back.

[June 15: the exhibit has ended, and the de Young has removed the link, so I've edited this post. -- reh]

Another page about the Amish quilt exhibition (the page may look blank, but scroll down for text and illos)

A site that displays many of the Browns' collected quilts

-- Rachel Holmen

BIKE SAFETY: blinky lights, lights at knee level

As a driver, I try to notice bikes, but some riders seem to INTEND invisibility. Others mount lights on their arms, their shoulders, their helmets. If you can only use one light, it should be at approximately the same height from the ground as a car headlight. That's where drivers are scanning the street ahead of them.

I found this light yesterday, thanks to the Rock the Bike folks' participation in Bike to Work Day: Rock the Bike dot com. I particularly like the Down Low Glow -- a set of fluorescent lights that attach to your bike frame.

-- Rachel

Bike to Work today - May 13, 2010

Join the Velorution!!! www.sfbike.org

I can't bike this year, because my bike was stolen and I'm waiting to drive to LA and pick up my dad's recumbent (he's not riding any more). But at least I take public transit and use casual carpool.

An invention for weaving

I invented something before breakfast!  (A new kind of reed for use in rigid heddle looms.)  The invention was prompted by an article in WeaveZine by Syne Mitchell (who once sold me stories when I worked as editor for a fiction magazine).

Of course, once I started trying to record the original idea, seven variations popped into my head, so breakfast was very late indeed as the ideas took precedence, clamoring to be recorded and illustrated. -- Rachel Holmen

George Scithers, Rest in Peace

http://webnews.sff.net/read?cmd=xover&group=sff.discuss.obituaries

A sweet, gentle man who loved science fiction and trains, and knew an enormous amount about both.  There's a nice article about him, with an oldish photo (though as I remember, he ALWAYS wore that jacket), at http://2001.worldcon.org/gscithers.html.

-- Rachel Holmen