Where I've Been

Hi!

So I've been sick. I had the death flu, which doesn't even come with a curly little tail. It was no fun. I missed a week and a half of my normal rotation, a couple of things I really wanted to go to, and my good disposition there for a while. So I'm trying to get caught up (and back on a normal sleeping schedule - at my height of my achy rumbly unbalanced illness, I was sleeping 20 hours a day. Blech! Then I had to make sure I wasn't contagious until I could go out in public. I'm going to use the next couple of posts over the next few days to try and get caught up.

It'll be interesting if the feverish thoughts I had about basketball, the census, Campbell Jones & Co (a 19th Century Pittsburgh glass manufacturer), and how to fix my printing press unevenness problem will end up having legs. My March Madness bracket certainly didn't! I made some horrible picks that I am not technically blaming on the virus that laid me low. You, however, are welcome to blame it on that for me.

Clearly, I need to learn how to Crochet

I told my mom I'd knit her an Swedish Olympic Team hat after I finished the reindeer hat.* The problem with this, of course, is that the Swedish hat is crocheted. I have made 5 false starts and 1 very ugly knit hat that doesn't have the delicious bobbliness of the original nor the charm of the pattern that is the underlying basis of the hat.

Oh, it is ugly. UGLY. U. G. L. Y. Awkward ugly. So I'm starting again. I had an idea as I was internally eviscerating the hat as I finished knitting it that may result in a less ugly hat. If I wasn't going to an auction tomorrow, I'd spend the day teaching myself to crochet.

*Yes, I'm procrastinating a tricky mosaic problem like no one has ever procrastinated anything ever before.

No Peeps for me this year!

I don't know where time went. I thought I had plenty of time before I needed to start my Peepsorama for the annual Washington Post Peep Diorama Contest. Suddenly, it's the end of February and they are due on March 1. Woe! Woe is me!

I had two killer ideas, and 3 very good ones, and none of them are going to happen this year. I even snagged some peep cats this year at Halloween in hard-to-find brown. I could kick myself. Next year, someone needs to remind me in January to start putting the peeptacle together.

This is what I did last year, which got NO love.

Olympics + Knitting = This

Although I loved the hats the US Olympic team was sporting at the Olympics, I was unwilling to send Ralph Lauren $75 for the pleasure of owning one. Luckily, the folks at clever knits came up with a pattern! (on Ravelry and on the web). So I went ahead and made one for myself.

The Hat

As you can see, I tweaked the colors (I knit it from my stash of yarn), and made a rolled brim. If you make this, I'd remove the white space above and below the reindeer, which will reduce the height and be more accurate, to boot!

Next up: a variation on the Swedish crocheted Olympic hat for my mom

Treasure Ahoy!

Something awesome is coming soon. I am about 3 dots away from the X.

Can't Talk. Watching the Olympics

I swear, if I hear one more ignorant buffoon mocking biathlon because they don't know anything about it, I'm going to strap on my skis, find a gun, and make my way to them for a little educatin'. Of course, at the rate at which I cross-country ski and the time it will take to find a friend with a gun who is willing to lend it to me, that ignorant buffoon will have plenty of time to live a long happy life. *

Biathlon is a sport rooted in history, both Olympic (the Winter Olympics needed traction and they needed nordic and northern European countries to get traction at the beginning; sports like Biathlon suckered those nations in) and traditional World History. Like the Marathon, it has its roots in war - in this case a medieval Norwegian civil one - and was a valuable life-preserving country-preserving skill.

It requires skills and patience and focus and athletic ability and accuracy, and I have watched as much of it as I can find. Even curling comes in second (mostly because there's a lot more curling on TV, not that I'm complaining. I'm picking the Swedish women and the Canadian men to win the whole shebang. I will note that the Chinese women are formidable, and the UK men are remarkable.)

Speaking of curling, it is outrageous that the nearest curling clubs are 2+ hours away.

*Note: I wouldn't actually shoot them. I'd probably end up using the gun as part of a tripod seat while I lectured them until they cried uncle and admited that biathon is awesome. Or maybe as a pointer. Or a demonstration tool.

Worlds Fairiana

I buy and sell a fair (hah!) amount of World's Fair collectibles. World's Fairs - also known as Expositions (Expos) - have been the showcases for introducing new inventions and products (including telephones, Dr. Pepper, the Ferris Wheel, waffle cones) and introducing far-flung cultures and nations and promoting humanitarian interests to fair visitors. I like it because it provides a glimpse into the past; you can see who presented themselves on the cutting edge, and see what the people of that time thought was wonderfully different and exotic and new, whether it was dancers from Bali, the thrill of a giant wheel you could ride, or the idea of an incubator to help babies survive.

The first international exposition took place in London in 1851 (Prince Albert organized it; his crystal palace became internationally famous), and continued in cities around the world every two to six years. This year, Shanghai will be hosting the World's Fair. In the past few decades, as the World's Fairs have become a platform for countries to launch and present themselves in their best light and technologies (satellite, internet, television, et al) have tied the world closer together, the nature of World's Fairs have changed and may be less collectible outside of their local regions.

Here in America, the big 3 World Fairs for collectibility are the 1933 Chicago World's Fair (A Century of Progress), 1939 New York Wold's Fair (with the iconic trylon and perisphere), and the 1964 New York Wold's Fair (with the iconic unisphere), with the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair (of Meet Me in St. Louis fame) and the 1876 Philadelphia Exposition (Centennial Exposition) following close behind. You can find a good array of souvenirs and artifacts from all five of these world fairs online and in shops.
Early World's Fairs in Buffalo (1901), Chicago (1893), New Orleans (1884), Jamestown (1907), Seattle (1909), and the Panama-Pacific/California (1915) are rarer in the market, particularly outside of their regions. Later Expositions in Seattle (1962), San Antonio (1968), Spokane, Knoxville (as depicted after the fact in a The Simpsons episode) and a number of Canadian cities are more common and more affordable.

The breadth of World's Fair souvenirs (and their value) is astonishing; I've sold mini models of the Unisphere and the Perisphere/Trylon combo, books and brochures, plates and pitchers and pottery, coins and spoons and packets of photographs. There have been souvenir portaits and salt and pepper pairs; bottle openers and glass decanters; stereoscopic Foto-Reels and stereo cards. That's just the tip of the iceberg!

People collect World's Fair stuff because they are home town enthusiasts, or because they visited the fair as a child; they collect because they love the style and decoration associated with the fair, or the wonder and whimsy introduced there. Sometimes they collect because it's cobranded with a commercial brand (e.g. White House made World's Fair vessels for their vinegars and juices; Planters famously placed Mr. Peanut and the World's Fair icons on a nut snack set), or because the fair had a fabulous exhibit or pavilion associated with another collection, including railroadiana, made in japan ceramics, and photographic equipment.

Top Five Winter Olympic Sports

1. Curling
   The greatest of the winter sports, the one that makes you think that you, chock full of cheetos and hot chocolate, having skipped going to the gym for well over a month now, could totally do that with a few lessons and some killer concentration. It's strategy and strength, teamwork and grace, precision and fun.
2. Biathlon
   You ski, you shoot, you ski, you shoot. These are skills that could come in handy -- and did for the Norwegian resistance during WWII. I like the combination of speed and aim -- all done on skiis. It's not a glamor sport, which adds to the appeal.
3. Nordic Combined
   Two great tastes in one sport! You jump and then you ski across the countryside. The skills that make you a great jumper don't necessarily make you a great cross-country skier. They should add a downhill stretch for extra awesome.
4. Speed Skating
   The most graceful of the winter sports and the prettiest to watch, speed skating - with it's endurance qualities, long track, and drafting strategies is completely appealing.
5. Freestle Skiing/Moguls
   All the fun of downhill skiing, but with humps and bumps and twists and turns. This is just a thousand pounds of fun in a snowsuit.

Experimental Ring

This is an experimental sheep ring. I like the idea of mosaic animal rings a lot, but the small workspace is a real challenge!

What's in Store (Hint: Not Me).

We only got a few inches of snow last night, but it was enough to push us over the hump into record-breaking territory for the season. When you go outside, the wind is picking it up and throwing it at you like the meanest bully on the schoolyard. So the region is staying inside today, thank you very much.

Since I'm not leaving the house, here's something to tempt you into leaving the house in the next few, non-snowing days:

A selection of vintage games - including a mail order paper set, a Poosh-em-up baseball bagatelle, and vintage Viewmaster disks in complete sets and individual disks. These are all over at The Factory.

Settling In For the Long Haul

We are at the beginning of a golden season on television. It was kicked off with a Saints win in the Super Bowl (as I predicted in August, she said smugly), and stretches all the way until April. Between 31 Days of Oscar on TCM, the Olympics (which I still love, even though I have to use my mute button with great frequency and pine for Canadian coverage which is by all accounts, deeper, wider, and much less annoying) and most especially constant curling coverage, and March Madness, it is a time of great happiness.

Even if my Cavs (the men; I think the women's team will be definitely in for the Big Dance) don't make it into the NCAA Tournament, they're lifting the spirits of the region with their plucky underdog always-getting-better play. They've already shattered my expectations for the season and done us proud. It's fabulous seeing guys buying into the new system and getting rewarded for hard work, defense, and improving.

Whatsit, Revealed

About a month ago, I posted this Whatsit, and then promptly forgot to update the answer despite the two hilarious guesses I got.

This is a glove stretcher, probably from 1900-1940. I can imagine this came in handy for people like me, blessed with stocky fat fingers!

On Why I'm Staying Inside Today

Fairy Tale and Nature Pendants

These pendants are made from rescued washers, vintage paper, and ribbon. The images are taken from tattered remains of books and magazines and brochures that I could not conserve enough to sell as lovely vintageness.

Snow Unusual!

When I was a small child, our winters were filled with large snowfalls. I can remember my father digging out forts and castles from the fallen snow; snowmen were ridiculously easy to build. Then we went through more than 2 decades of mildish winters, winters that were frequently cold and rarely punctuated by more than a few inches of snow.

This winter is different (thanks to the El Ninos that also inspired large snowfalls of my youth); we got 2 feet a week before Christmas, 10 inches last weekend, 4.5 inches last night, and we're gearing up for another big storm (1-2 feet) this weekend. It has left me with almost continuous snow-dayitis. Sure, I punctuate it with bursts of pricing antiques or sorting glass or creating wireframes, but let's face it, I'm a little bit snow crazy these days. If we could time-shift the storms by say, 2-3 days, it'd be perfect.

I will be bringing some goodies over to Tuckahoe tomorrow afternoon, including a vintage cash register that still works. I'll probably pair it with vintage cash register toys, a 1950s adding machine, and a few non-porcine piggy banks for a nice money-related display.

Snow, Snow, Snow, Snow!

Our predicted 1-3 inches on Friday night turned into 11ish inches of snow instead. This would be a big deal for this area if it weren't for the 2 feet of snow we had in mid-December. If the snowstorms of my youth are any indication, we'll probably get one more big snow-dumping storm this winter.

In any case, it's ruined my plans for stocking my booths; right now I've got a vintage fire extinguisher in my passenger seat and a cart full of a massive 1940s-50s cash register,
a 1930s adding machine, and a lovely lamp. Plus a box of smalls, etc. Until I can hit the booths this week, you'll have to settle for newish Plasticville at The Factory, the UFO hanging lamp at Tuckahoe Antique Mall, and vintage maps at River Town Antiques. There's more of course; glass and games and world's fairiana, stereoscopes and viewers, a camera or two, kitcheniana, and local ephemera.

Sometimes I think I am Six.

I managed to spill a large amount of weldbond on myself this morning. I am coated in the stuff, and judging how successful the first shower I took was, I'm a little concerned that I am not going to be able to restore my shirt back to it's original semi-pristine state.

I've been sealing bases all morning in anticipation of a prodigious output coming up - look for my series of curling-related mosaics! I also anticipate a series of autobiographical mosaics depicting me hitting various NBC announcers over the head as they do their best to ruin the Olympics for me, just as they have tried for years to kill the natural drama and inject made-for-TV drama instead.

Take three steps back, and breathe.

I'm reading a -- well, it calls itself a biography -- about a set of famous American entertainers from the last century. It's driving me nuts. The authors are essentially fangirls, which is fine, if they would quit gushing, writing in circles, and focusing on things that affected their childhood to the extent of ignoring the things I was hoping I'd find out more about. I mean, of course, I'd like to know more about the people in question - their life, their relationship (and not as an idealized improvement over their peers), their professional careers before the portion of the career these fangirls are obsessing over, their lives as individuals...

I am more interested in their philosophy of their work than I am in 6-line snippets from their performances. I'd like to hear from them on the subject of their careers instead of 3 or 5 contemporary reviews trying to convince me that they're great. That's wasted effort. I bought the dang book because I thought they were great. Even if I didn't, I'd rather take
that deduction not from what some Joe Schmoe said 50 years ago, but from their own thought and action and word.

I'm clearly going to have to find a better biography, because I feel like I'm learning nothing.

More Handy Auction Tips

Check It Out Fully Before You Bid

It has happened to us all. You bid on something fabulous, you get a deal, and then... then you do something basic like ... trying to lift it. Oof. It's helpful to know if things weigh 125 pounds before you bid, or that it is 8'9'' tall and is not going to be able to make the turn of your stairs. In general, I recommend bringing a tape measure, gloves, and a magnifying glass or jeweler's loupe to auctions, but I also highly recommend trying to get a sense of how easy or hard it will be to move.

When the Auctioneer Says "Move Back" he doesn't mean "Move Down"

If you attend a floor auction, where you cluster around the dealer as he sells items from row after row of merchandise layed out before you, the auctioneer will likely ask the crowd - over and over and over again - to move back so the helpers have room to get to the goods. This means you step back, perpendicular to the row, not to the side, parallel to the row. He's not asking you to "move out of the way" in whatever way you decide is convenient. He's trying to make his job more orderly and managed.

Sometimes a Deal Is Not a Deal

Auction Fever can sneak up on you. One minute, you are perfectly sane, running your budget in your head, contemplating upcoming lots, and in the next moment, there is no way that doofus up front is outbidding you on this thing! Not this time! Or there's a perfectly good whatchamacallit up there, and no one is bidding! That's a deal, right there.

And then the fever breaks, and your head clears, and you look down at the perfectly nice thing you just paid boutique prices for, or at the eight potato mashers you have suddenly acquired, and your face suddenly flushes. What were you thinking?

It happens to everyone; it's a rite of passage for newbies, but it happens to old hands, too. It helps if you have an auction buddy who can grab your arm and mutter, "What are you doing!?!" but you can pull yourself out of the craziness if you become aware that you are letting the adrenaline of the moment overrule common sense.

Nero: Burning while I Fiddle (around).

I had written up the long tale of Nero, our semi-domesticated/semi-feral kittenager who came in one day (after months of feeding, cat toys, and attempted luring) and refused to leave while it was so darn cold outside, but most of it will be old news to folks on Facebook where I chronicle the animal activities in a 1000 foot diameter circle around my home. After all, what is Facebook for, but for obsessive detailing of toad power dynamics and updating neighborhood cat top-of-the-heap standings?

Long story short: I had to take her to the vet this morning, and there is no frustration quite like that of begging a cat to do something. Oh, she was easy to catch... the first time. There's a moment when the desperate, unbalanced scurrying in the cat carrier becomes a sudden smooth swing back because your charge has just burst through the cat door to land on the ground five feet away; all you can do is curse - and then beg. We tricked her to come inside, and then we had to corner and capture her, which is fraught with uncertainty when you are dealing with 5.4 lbs of muscled adrenaline.

We got her in the carrier, and after I assertained that the door was completely and correctly closed, I tightened a bungie cord across the front to further ensure that she was trapped inside. Then we went to the Place of Cat Legend: the Human Institute of Meanness to Cats Center, a.k.a., the Vet

By the time I showed up at the (beautiful offices of the) Vet in the afternoon, she was sulking, and was mewling louder than I've ever heard her mewl (she's normally a very quiet, squeaky cat). When I picked her up after her spaying and battery of tests, she was still complaining vociferously; by the time I let her loose in the living room, she was having nothing to do with me. Wet cat food, and her favorite toy have slightly mellowed her, but I'm still figuring out how I'm going to get her sedative (syringe squirt into the mouth) into her tonight when she is still pretty ticked off and distrustful of me.

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