oh yeah, that cycling thing :)

Got back on the bike today and went out for a short-ish (2.5 hour) ride.  As I more or less expected, I’m in lousy shape – my back was feeling strained most of the ride, and I could hear a few leg/butt muscles complaining.  No big deal – once I get back into training I imagine I’ll get back into shape quickly.  I just have to be careful not to overdo it in the first few weeks.  I think tomorrow I will go out to the gym for a strength workout, and possibly do another 2 hour ride on Tuesday.  But I might ride both Monday and Tuesday (short rides) instead.  It’s supposed to be gorgeous weather the next two days, and beautiful days can’t be taken for granted in winter the way they can in summer.

I’ve started sewing up AIDS Lifecycle costumes again – this time it’s the white silk outfit.  After that I have a gorgeous shimmery blue/green organza and a magenta/gold organza to find pairings and patterns for.  Should be fun.

I have temporarily swapped from computer pattern design to using paper.  I think it might be easier to work through the exercises in the fashion design book as written (they’re all designed for paper pattern methods), at least for the more complicated stuff.  I’m still laboriously figuring out how to use the pattern design software to do complex transformations.  I had gotten frustrated with it and tried using Adobe Illustrator for it, but quickly got frustrated with that as well.  I don’t understand Illlustrator well enough to use it effectively.

I considered getting a book on Illustrator so I could learn how to use it, and at that point decided that the method was getting in the way of the goals.  So it’s back to pencil, posterboard, and paper, at least for the stuff that I can’t figure out how to do in the software.

Tomorrow the skeins of embroidery floss for dyeing arrive, and the yarn to dye for weaving arrives on Tuesday.   At that point I will probably also do a white silk blouse that a friend asked me to (re)dye for her.  I’m not sure whether I’ll go back to focusing on dyeing – probably will since it’s harder to dye in odd moments than it is to sew/weave.  Dyeing takes a good solid 2 hours for a single batch (during which you have to stir every fifteen minutes), whereas sewing and weaving can both be picked up and put down easily.   If I become employed again soon, I’ll be able to continue sewing and weaving more or less uninterrupted, but dyeing will be a real challenge.  So, it’ll be back to dyeing.