Dyepot, Teapot

We must be at the end of September, because today the last essays in O’Reilly’s Women in Technology series were posted. Mine was earlier in the week, found here if you missed it. Some very interesting perspectives were included. One big thing I noticed is that most women seemed to attribute their success to doing what they were interested in, whether or not anyone else thought they should. But the same people also benefited greatly from being around people who did support them. Maybe we need to keep talking about women’s participation in technology as both an individual effort and a group one.

If you’re interested in further supporting the goals of this series, or just having the whole collection in one handy package, a print edition will be available starting in mid-October, but you can pre-order now. All proceeds will be donated to the Alliance of Technology & Women scholarship fund.

Much thanks to Tatiana Apandi for being the organizer and editor of this project.

For the last several weeks, as my calendar filled up, I’ve been anxiously hoping that at least some part of this past weekend would remain open. Friends getting married? Okay, it’s in town and only takes up one day. Birthday party? Whew, that’s the weekend before, no problem. Timbers playoff game? Um. We had the great fortune to not only finish second in the league, and make it to the playoffs, but also to win our first round, meaning… the big semi-final game was on the only day I still had open to attend the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival, my annual sheep-viewing pilgrimage.

Fortunately, the game wasn’t until 5PM, and my family agreed to go earlier in the day so my car-less self could have transportation to and from Canby, where the festival is held. And while the Timbers did not win their game against Atlanta, the team still had an excellent season, and I got my sheep fix.

Fluffy sheep.

Spotted sheep.

Clothed sheep.

Naked sheep.

Not sheep. (Yaks.)

Also not sheep. (Camel with a cute little girl.)

Bad sheep.

Also also not sheep. (A very friendly goat.)

We also stopped at St. Joseph winery for their 25th annual grape stomp. But that’s really not sheep.

On Friday I packed up my recently finished knitting projects and headed off to the Japanese Garden in SW Portland with my mom and brother.

Lots of other visitors had cameras, but I think I was the only one looking for interesting things to drape a scarf around.

Did you know that the guard lions by the front gate will also help you with your purse?

I even came back with a few good pictures of the green sweater (thanks Peter!).

Crafty Wonderland was a complete bust, so this week I’m listing the things I had on display there in my Etsy shop. Here’s what’s up so far:

Luscious handspun yarn–if I wore these colors, this one wouldn’t leave my hands. It’s soft, squishy, with colors that remind me of sari fabric.

Glycerin soap.

Felted Clutch Purse–I have these in neutral colors too, but the green is my favorite.

Keep checking back the next few days, as I list more yarn and purses in different colors.

I went to the beach for Labor Day. Gorgeous as always. I wish we could get out there more often.

I’ve been sick lately, which has meant taking rest days, getting behind on lots of things, and much frustration. Right now I’m feeling slightly better, but tired. Please think healthy thoughts in my direction.

It also means the only things I’ve managed to work on are in the crafty category. (I’ve discovered I have a hierarchy of activities when not feeling well. On one end of the continuum is sleep, followed by reading Discworld books, knitting, and other fibery things, and on the other we have writing, programming, and going for long hikes. I probably overthink this issue.)

Thus, yarn. And a sweater. And scarves. And brightly colored wool.

Also, I’m going to be doing Crafty Wonderland again this month with my mom. It’s Sunday from 11-4 at Doug Fir. We’ll have yarn and jewelry and cute pins and bags and all of you in the Portland area should really stop in and say hello.

Finally, my last and most exciting note is that this month O’Reilly is presenting a series of essays by women in technology, including contributions by Selena Deckelmann, Gabrielle Roth, Dawn Foster, Shelly Powers, Kaliya Hamlin, and … me! I have no idea when mine will be up, but you can subscribe to the RSS feed and have all ~30 essays delivered directly to your feed reader. I am really thrilled to be a part of this project.