This time last week, I was in a spinning workshop in Sarasota, with the incomparable Jayce Boggs. It was mind-boggling. I had fun. I met great women. I ate great food. I slept on a couch. I heard great stories. I learned great stuff from a great teacher. I swapped my yarn for glass and money and strawberry mice and all sorts of cool stuff. I’m ready to move to Sarasota for good.

Upon my arrival, I was mesmerized by the pile of fiber on the pool table. EVERYONE was mesmerized by the pile on the pool table. I still think one of us needed to jump naked into the middle of it and one of the others to document the event. I would have been happy to perform either role. Nobody took me up on the offer. Next year.

I set up my Ashford Traditional in a sea of Babes, Lendrums, one Ladybug and a few other wheels I couldn’t name, and then went off to hang out with Surrogate Daughter Number Two in her dorm and meet her pals. She graduates this month, and this was the last chance we’d have to do that. I ended up in a deep conversation with her and her roommates about (in order of flow): The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Across the Universe, Thomas Wolfe, Hunter Thompson, the Hell’s Angels, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (the movie), Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail (the book), Richard Nixon, Nixon Youth, and ending at Karl Rove/the Bush election/Republican machine. It was at that point that MizShoes determined that perhaps she was not the most apt teacher of modern American history, having a leftist skew to her POV.

The next morning, the room was filled with spinners of all ages. Only one gender, though.

We learned all sorts of art yarn techniques, and had a wonderful weekend doing it. For the full set of photos, go to my Insubordiknit Workshop album on Flickr.

I am the proud owner of a new pair of Fluevogs. I’ve wanted a pair for a least ten years, and when I saw this pair on sale, I had to cave in to my addictions and bought them. They shipped from the LA store, and arrived wrapped in bright blue paper. When I got home from work, I made a special Cosmo (a little violet liquour) and allowed myself the day’s cigarette. Then I photodocumented the event.

I present to you my teal blue Robustas, from the Coffee series.

1. Cosmo, Smokes and Vogs, 2. The Sole of a Fluevog, 3. Cropped Toe, 4. Vogs

And it’s about damn time. One day to runway. Mila is in and Emilio is smug. Mila sizes up her competition: Seth Aaron has made glamorous Hot Topics and Emilio’s collection is Harlem, 1993. She decides that she can win. Tim comes in and goes first to Seth Aaron. How many looks has he brought. 24. No, not pieces says Tim, looks. 24 says Seth Aaron again. (And is it merely cosmic coinky-dink that the answer to life, the universe and everything is 42? The mirror of 24? Miz Shoes thinks not, but then Miz Shoes needs something to think about while she waits for the runway shows and the final proclamation.)

Emilo has not listened to Tim and is showing his teal, red, mustard puce and his brand print ESOSA. Emilio declares that Tim doesn’t always know what the judges like, so he’s not listening to Tim, but hedging his bets on the judges. Mila drags out black on black texture blocked (as opposed to color blocked) sixties drag. Short, wide top in black mohair? Cashmere? Hairy fabric with a wide vertical stripe of black patent leather. Wake Miz Shoes when it’s over.

Model casting, Blow Fly plug. Hotel plug. Hair and make up consults. Mila wants edgy rocker models. Emilio wants multi-cultural models. Mila wants a “gritty dirty” eye instead of her usual “smokey” eye. Miz Shoes thinks that sounds painful. Seth Aaron goes for cobalt blue raccoon eyes.  Back in model fittings, Seth Aaron is putting his red wool on his muse hanger. Emilio is editing. Mila drones about how cray-yay-zee it is in the workroom. Blahblahblah designer final thoughts.

Morning of show, Seth Aaron crawls out of bed at quarter to three, and proceeds to give himself the worst Oompa-Loompa hair in the history of the universe, or at least Project Runway. The designers get to the Bryant Park tent and Seth Aaron throws himself down on the runway and makes a snow angel. Miz Shoes adores Seth Aaron, because it is a basic belief in her life that the universe would benefit from a great deal more whimsy. With an hour until the show, Emilio is missing one of his models and stamping his widdle feet and demanding a replacement be brought to him now. Mila is missing three models and is as hair-tearingly panicked as we’ve ever seen her, which is to say that she monotones something or another about needing back up girls.

Heidi gets on the runway and introduces the judges: The orange Michael Kors, the lovely NinaGarcia and the random country music superstar, Faith Hill, who is dressed in some nondescript thing or another and doesn’t look at all like Patsy Cline or June Carter or even Minnie Pearl. Hell, Miz Shoes would have settled for Dolly Parton or Hank Williams because those people dress like country stars are supposed to dress. But she digresses.

Seth Aaron sends out a black, red and white collection inspired, he says, by the German and Russian military uniforms of the 1940s. After a collective gasp and ensuing uncomfortable silence, the entire blogging and fashion-watching world pretends not to have heard that, and/or to give Seth Aaron the benefit of believing that he was just totally clueless as to how that sounded. In the event, the clothing is stunning. He starts with his red wool and black patent dress over patterned tights , then a black and white dress that has a slightly draped boat neck and a full skirt. Next is a dress with spots and tweed and the black striped hose and Miz Shoes’ notes read WOW!!!!1!! A grey trench that is somewhat reminiscent of Korto’s seat belt coat. Hey, look, there’s Nigel Barker.

Mila. Shadows. Black and white. Her family and boyfriend (who’s wearing the fingerless gloves), Black and white stripes, black and white herringbone and striped, dark and medium grey in color blocked stripes. High water pants in white with a black racing stripe. Black, more black, some black and a single piece of aubergine, a purple so dark as to be black. The disco fish scale dress with the patent leather dog collar.

Emilio says that the next 45 minutes are going to change his life and introduces his “Color Me Bad” collection. If by this he means bad color, then Miz Shoes concurs wholeheartedly, although she has to grudgingly say that that first mustard/puce car coat with the ¾ sleeves is great. It’s over a wiggle dress made from his signature print, which he has dip dyed or sprayed into a solid black lower third. Red dress, blue short coat over black tights, low hip length red coat over another signature print dress, this with a chartreuse patent leather hem. Suit. Boring blue knit. More knits and signatures and a final evening dress that is green, glittery and really, really pretty.

D-List celebrities pick their winners: Nigel likes Seth Aaron, Ping is wearing a silver/white wig or hair. Irina (copy cat) loves Mila, of course. Over in the judging area, NinaGarcia decrees that these were the best three final collections in the history of Project Runway and that all of the designers were mature, focused and had a clear point of view. We lead with Seth Aaron and his Unfortunate Inspiration. Michael Kors is impressed by SA’s ability to craft clothes. He finds the stepped up luxury exhilarating, yet still youthful. The collection was filled with clothing people could wear. NinaGarcia loved the black and white parachute dress, and the polka dot and tweed with the striped hose. She, too, declares it a great show. Heidi wanks something about the purple was out of place but admits that the whole show was exciting.

Emilio goes blahblahblahGreatAmericanSportswearblahblahblah in a pathetic shout out to Michael Kors’ métier. Faith Hill claims that his show knocked her out. Like, out of the park or like, under ether, wonders Miz Shoes. Heidi still likes his logo print, but Michael Kors is edited so we only hear him say “priceless” but not the context, which one suspects was less than flattering. Can the word “pretentious” be edited to sound like “priceless”, do you think? Michael says that you could put the whole show on a rack and roll it into the Macy’s buyers and they’d just lap it up. Miz Shoes believes this is called damning with faint praise.

As for Mila, the judges all agree that updating the make up helped a lot. NinaGarcia says that loosening up the look made it cooler. MK got turned on by the play of texture on texture. Heidi loved the stupid tee shirt with random black stripes.

The final caucus: Mila made great leggings. She showed great potential, but did nothing today that was surprising. Seth Aaron was surprising. His work had much more sophistication than he’d shown during the season, even if NinaGarcia found it veering to costume. The judges all agree that his work would even sell on a hanger. NinaGarcia calls him fearless, and Michael admires the fact that he put on a SHOW. Faith Hill found Emilio to be clever. Michael Kors found him to be too rooted in commercialism. Emilio made a LINE, he says, not a COLLECTION. The judges have to decide if they are making their choice based on what they saw that day or the entire body of work.

The designers return to the runway. Seth Aaron amped up his sophistication but maintained a signature style. Emilio had consistent taste and workmanship. Mila finally shook herself out of 1966 all the way to 1969. Way to soften up and make it more modern, Mila. You’re out. Seth Aaron wins! There is much rejoicing, except by bitter, bitter Emilio who cries that if the judges liked his work, why didn’t he win? ESOSA will be a world brand, he declares, and then misquotes Anthony by saying that one doesn’t need the crown to be the king. Seth Aaron tells his children that this just proves that hard work pays off. Seth Aaron picks Tim up in a bear hug. Hugs all around. And for once, the nice guy and the most talented guy are the same guy, and he wins.

An apology if I’m late to the Project Runway recap party, for those of you who come for that. I was participating in RJ’s Share Our Strength, Great American Bake Sale yesterday. Despite a certain “Hey guys, let’s put on a show” impromptu, we raised $700 selling baked goods at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens. When you put together a group of food bloggers, foodies and cooking-as-a-competitive-if-not-blood sport women, and ask them to hold a bake sale, this is what you get: strawberry jam, strawberry with an infusion of mint from the garden jam, chocolate-chocolate-chip biscotti, pistachio-cranberry biscotti, framboise brownies, lemon sweet rolls, strawberry sweet rolls using the aforementioned strawberry jam, and a raffle basket of a full pan of the framboise brownies, a bottle of the raspberry wine secret ingredient all the way from Oregon, and the recipe (laminated so you can use it to cook), chocolate chip banana bread and rum-raisin/white chocolate chip/macadamia nut cookies, zuchini bread by the loaf or slice, double chocolate brownies and brown sugar cookies, spicy cheese crackers, ginger/apricot biscotti, mango-pecan rugelech, chai tea bread in mini loaves, key lime cookies, banana bread by the loaf or slice, wheat-free/oat bran muffins sweetened with maple syrup or agave nectar or honey, in various flavors, and donations by Dunkin’ Donuts and a brand new bakery in South Miami, Sweetness. And one of my quilts for the raffle.

Next year, of course, we’ll have time to really put something together. Back to your regularly scheduled Project Runway snark.

Heidi congratulates the remaining designers, and tells them they have $9K and four months to create 10 pieces. Mila and Jay will each show three, and one of them will continue to Bryant Park and the other will not. Tim gives everyone a pep talk and sets up the home visit segment. Mila says that she and Jay are both strong, but that she’s stronger. Jay says that he can beat Mila. Emilio is smug and Seth Aaron assures us that “Fuck A, I can win this.”

Three months later, we see Tim Gunn in Vancouver, Washington, where he will visit Seth Aaron and his family. He has a lovely home and a lovely wife, and lovely children, and lovely parents, and lovely photos of himself growing up next door to the woman he married. Amazingly enough, this much sweetness and light and Tim jumping on the trampoline in his suit does not make Miz Shoes nauseated in the least. It is testament to Seth Aaron’s skillz and engaging persona, as well as Mrs. Seth Aaron telling us that the children are on notice that if Daddy wins, they will all be in therapy immediately to deal with it. As for the purpose of the visit, Tim goggles at the sheer quanity of work that Seth Aaron has produced and tells him that he’ll never win with this collection. That as good as it is, it is just more of the same that got him to this point and he needs to stretch to find another level, something new and unexpected. Tim tells Seth Aaron that he can do this. Seth Aaron holds his head and says that half the money is gone and two thirds of his time, but he’s going to Listen to Tim Gunn. Tim leaves Seth Aaron some final words of advice: “Reflect. Slow and steady wins the race.”

Next, Tim is allowed to return to New York City, where he hooks up with Emilio and his two brothers. They all have the same speech impediment. They all sort of look alike, too. Emilio gets the winner edit of how his parents were poor immigrants and he grew up in the poor part of Harlem and blahblahblah. He is inspired by color and himself. He is using turquoise, mustard and red. He has made another one of his logo prints. He argues with Tim. He says nasty things about Tim and whether he can have any knowledge of what women wear, when he does not wear women’s clothes. And Emilio does? Is that what he just said?

Back to Los Angeles, where Tim will be forced to endure Mila’s company. She has clearly had a make over, as her hair is no longer black number one, but has some tone to it, and her bangs sweep to the side. There’s a softness to her face, too, as if she’s had a little help there too, or maybe it’s just that she’s stopped wearing that stark red lipstick. Either way, she lets Tim into a black and white house, with a black and white dog, with black and white photos on the white walls, and she talks about her inspiration: stark black and white shadows. It is her intent, she says, to introduce aubergine. Tim calls it matronly, and she asks the camera if he’s fucking kidding her. It is during this confession that she says that she does not want to lose to Jay and calls him something with two syllables and an opening F. It is beeped and Miz Shoes cannot tell if she has used a derogatory epithet connoting sexual identity or merely a vulgar verb/noun. Either way, it isn’t pretty and seems to indicate that the editors don’t like Mila any more than any of the other contestants do.

Finally, Tim heads up to San Francisco to meet Jay, his parents and extended family. Jay is doing a black and white collection based on samurai and geishas. He has introduced aubergine and a dark red. Tim holds up a sleeve that is made of tabbed segments on a band (think of a fish skeleton when you fillet a whole one). Where is this woman going in this? he asks Jay. I dunno says Jay. Tim calls it koo-koo. Jay says Koo-Koo Channel, girlfriend. There is gay hilarity. Then there is a Filipino feast. Jay cries and says that he just wants to be able to pay his hard-working (and long suffering) parents back for all they’ve done.

At last we return to New York City, where Mila is the first to arrive at the Product Placement Hotel with their trademark named sleeping furniture. She swans around the suite, pretending that she’s won. Next is Jay, who will also be staying there. They are roommates. How awkward. There is an attempt at reconciliation, wherein Jay is made to feel as though he is now Mila’s friend. Seth Aaron arrives, having taken Tim’s advice and made an entirely new collection. Emilio comes in and says that he made a new collection too, even though he would rather die than admit that he took Tim’s advice.

Morning! Workroom. Jay and Mila have to share a work table. Awkward. Tim looks better than ever. It ‘s his collar. He’s wearing a higher collar. It isn’t a Karl, but it’s higher and tighter. Mila and Jay have three hours to put their three looks together and send them out to be judged. Jay’s shin guards won’t zip up. Mila’s going to do a smoky eye. Does she ever do anything OTHER than that damned smoky eye? Hofuckinghum. With five minutes to go, Jay cries and Mila pretends to.

Our judges are only Heidi, Michael Kors and NinaGarcia. Mila sends out a sharp grey coat over a black and white, stripes and herringbone sixties shift. A horrible fish scale (black and white) paillot disco dress with an attached black patent leather dog collar, and something else black and white. Stripes. Bat wings. 60s. Jay puts out a purple tunic/minidress with black leggings and sculpted shoulders, a pair of pants with a silver top and a bolero in black that looks like football shoulder pads, but in a totally new and sorta hot way. A jacket and the thigh-high spats that he’s made out of that fish-spine technique over blood red leggings/pants. So hot. So innovative. So very, very, very hot.

Mila talks about her shadow inspiration. NinaGarcia and Michael hate her styling. It’s OK to be retro, they say, but make it a little modern by styling the models to look less like you.  NinaGarcia says that separates are good, but this is just the same old same old, and she isn’t seeing anything new. If she had to put out six collections a year, says NinaGarcia, and all she uses is black and white, what could she possibly do? Michael likes the fingerless gloves she had made.

Jay points out his Samurai influence. You really pumped up the volume, says Heidi. Can I have that purple mini-dress, please? Michael Kors is totally stealing the gaiters. He’s finding them to be very hot. NinaGarcia says that the tailoring is impeccable, but the taste level… Nothing retro here, says Michael Kors, pointedly. Nothing but of its own time.

The judges have one last pass, with the designers off stage. Michael Kors says that this went to Jay. Heidi says that it went to Mila. NinaGarcia says she can’t decide. Michael says that Mila is nothing but retro, and all black and white. The only word he can use for Jay, though, is ungapatchka, Yiddish for all over the place patched together. Who do we want to see more of? Michael Kors looks so pissed when they say that they’ve made their decision, that Miz Shoes knew right then what happened: apparently the Powers That Be decided for NinaGarcia, because inexplicably, the win goes to Mila. Both NinaGarcia and Michael Kors tell her that they have one big tip for her: style young for Bryant Park.

We open on the men’s dorm room, where three of them are singing a morning song in falsetto, whilst Seth Aaron clutches his head. MizShoes feels his pain.

Mila, despite having devoured Maya’s soul and sent her fleeing for her life, is still droning on and on in an atonal manner devoid of affect.

“Blahblahblahvisualizingbeingthefinalistblahblahblah.”

Heidi tell the designers that they will be taking one last field trip to a tent which is not in Bryant Park, but will get them there… or at least, only three who are still in the competition. The reality is different than the reality show, so let’s pretend that she’s right.

Coney Island! The Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus!!! Tim in the center ring! Designers of all ages clapping their hands in delight and wonder. Water! Feathers! Acrobats! Clownsare going to eat me! Miz Shoes loves the circus, despite the presence of clowns. Today, the designers will be treated to a special show (lucky bastards) and their final challenge is to design a high-end runway look inspired by the show. Mila claims to have been hoping that they’d be going to the circus. Jay is mesmerized by the well-muscled, well-oiled torsos of the half-naked male acrobats, as well he should be. Seth Aaron is mesmerized by the motorcyclists whizzing by each other in the Wall of Death, as well he should be.

They have half an hour to sketch, $300 at Mood and a final two days to sew. Emilio is going to go with stripes, polka dots and scale. He was in the theater, you know. He has an edge, you know. Mila is inspired by the ringmaster’s costume and so is going to make another basic pant, another basic top and one last coat that will constitute the entire look, no doubt in black and white and color blocked. Anthony loved the girl on the high rope, and wants to bring that sense of weightlessness and movement to the runway. Jay returns to his personal well, the pants with volume on the hip and thigh, although in this instance he claims inspiration from the clown pants, and a jacket. Seth Aaron is in his element. Tim tells Anthony to pump up the volume.

In the workroom, Emilio and Mila are annoying each other. Emilio is all blahblahblahI’mthebestblahblahblah and Mila is rolling her eyes and going, what an ego you have Mr. Kettle, and Emilio is making choo-choo train noises and gloating over his string of wins and blahblahblah. MizShoes thinks those two deserve each other. Anthony looks around the workroom and he’s the only one using blue. Jay gets a foreshadowing edit of “Oh, would it suck to get this close and not go.” Emilio is doing something with stripes that he thinks is brilliant.

Tim comes for his walkabout (engage with me) and has to clutch his pearls when Seth Aaron tells him that he’s thinking of making a top hat to go with his ringmaster-inspired coat. Emilio is engineering (choo-choo) his black and white look with a Watteau back (cut to Mila rolling her eyes, because she didn’t think of saying something classically referential first). Tim chokes and asks how Emilio could go to the fucking CIRCUS and come out with a look in black and white. Where is the color? Emilio disses Tim and tells him not to worry, little man, I’ve got this. BlahblahLISTENTOTIM,ASSHOLEblahblahblah. Tim tells Anthony to let his viscera rule. Anthony blinks rapidly.  Mila is doing shiny. A shiny coat over a shiny pair of tight pants. She’s planning on using ivory at the neck and Tim tells her to ditch it and use the stripes instead. She immediately sees how she can color block stripes and so listens to Tim. Jay explains his clown pants and military jacket and there is gay merriment as he and Tim decide who’s the good bitch or the bad bitch.

Jay gets another loser edit as he talks about the faith his friends and family have in him. Emilio sews ruffles. Seth Aaron isn’t sure about Mila’s shiny, shiny, shiny. Anthony thinks that there is a lot of costume in the room, and goes over to Jay to tell him that his jacket looks like a Michael Jackson jacket (which it does, but, dude, play nice, eh?). Mila says it looks like a Michael Jackson jacket, but nobody expects her to play nice.

Morning of the show, and Mila pretends to show emotion by playing back the “I’m nervous as hell” chip on her speech program. Emilio says blahblahblahwhimsysexydramablahblahblah. Mila says that Jay and Anthony need to go home. Jay says that Mila doesn’t have what it takes to do a show, but then he loathes her as a human, so that may have colored his opinion somewhat. With 10 minutes to show time, Seth Aaron is freakin, Mila is atonal and Emilio is insufferable.

Heidi comes out in a giant print that probably couldn’t be shown on teevee in prime time, or maybe that’s just my Freudian interpretation of those hairy pink vertical ovals. Something about a double elimination tonight. Judges are Michael Kors, Ninagarcia and Cynthia Rowley, who may or may not be wearing the same pink satin pillowcase Heidi was wearing when she announced the challenge.

Jay’s model walks out in tight black pants and a Michael Jackson waiter’s jacket. Mila has paired her hot pink cigarette pants with an electric yellow tank top and a black and white striped ringmaster’s long-tail coat. The coat’s stand up collar is backed in the same hot pink satin. Anthony’s blue dress has an unfortunate line of gathering up the front of the model’s stomach, a plunging neckline and oversized ruffles for sleeves. Except for the sad attempt at ruching, the skirt is pretty much the same as last week’s black and white cookie dress. Emilio sends out a Moulin Rouge (Jose Ferrer version) can-can dress with stripes and polka dots and a short front and a Watteau back and more stripes and declares that his look is not costume, but couture. Seth Aaron’s version of the ringmaster jacket is black and white stripes with yellow trim. The sleeves are great sweeping, swooping bells that extend a good foot beyond the model’s finger tips. The pants are red leather.

Heidi loves Seth Aaron’s look. Ninagarcia finds it a tad costumey, but loved the fantasy elements of it. Cynthia Rowley finds it interesting. Michael Kors calls out the crazy crotch and suggests that Seth Anthony could fill it out better, if you know what he means. Miz Shoes DOES know what he means and finds it a little creepy that MK went there, if you know what she means. And then another Project Runway first. Michael Kors is so appalled at the fabric that Anthony used that he goes up and feels it. Dropping the fabric like it was hot, he shrieks: it’s POLYESTER!!1!!, which prompt Heidi to run up and feel it, too. And with that, the entire world knows that Anthony is so not going to Bryant Park.

Mila gets a little love from Michael, but Cynthia Rowley thinks the color should have been toned down and Ninagarcia simply says that she hates it. Emilio gets petted and fawned over as Heidi finds the dress stunning, and MK says (echoing exactly what Emilio predicted in the workroom) that it is his favorite garment of the entire season. Blahblahblahgushgushgushblahblahblah. Next the obligatory why should you go and who should go with you segment. Seth Aaron says he’s well-grounded and can design and he’d want Emilio and Jay to go with him. Jay pleads that he really can do this and that Seth Aaron has a strong point of view and that he’d need to share the moment with his BFF Anthony. Sniffle, sniffle. Mila is strong and thoughtful and it’s her time and she doesn’t want to throw the fight and get a one-way ticket to Palookaville.

She’d like to take Emilio and Seth Aaron, and in a fair fight, she might win, if she uses her android strength. Emilio thinks they should just anoint him the winner already because of his genius and skills, but to throw a sop to the requirement of another two episodes, his majesty will graciously allow Seth Aaron and Mila to continue. It doesn’t matter what Anthony says, because he used polyester.

The judges continue to ponder. Emilio was sophisticated, but Seth Aaron not as much. Still, Seth Aaron never played it safe. He was innovative. The judges are all curious as to what he would do as a collection. It wouldn’t bore Nina, whatever it was. Anthony used polyester. Michael Kors says that Mila’s work is flat (sort of like her voice and her hair). She isn’t always relevant, but she can tailor. Jay’s work is a matter of taste and who is he as a designer? Miz Shoes says, he’s the guy who wants to put turkey legs on women everywhere.

In the biggest shock of Project Runway, ever, they declare Emilio as their unanimous favorite. Emilio says that he’s humble, inside. Seth Aaron has shown time and time again how creative he is, and his tailoring is consistently good. He goes backstage and engages in a pillow fight with Emilio. Miz Shoes is mesmerized. Back on the runway, Anthony is told that he won some good challenges to win, but that DUDE, POLYESTER???????? Go home and consider your sins. Mila was impressive throughout, except for tonight, when she was disappointing. Jay played it safe when he shouldn’t have. So, instead of a double elimination, we’re going to have you both create collections, but only one of you will show and compete at Bryant Park. (Remember, this is a reality show, not reality.)

Next week, Tim visits the designers in their homes and tells Seth Aaron to rethink, Mila that her work looks matronly and Emilio tells the audience that he doesn’t give a rat’s pattootie what Tim Gunn says about anything. Oh, please. ALWAYS LISTEN TO TIM GUNN.

Last week, I dug my prized possession, a 1986 Nikon F2A out from the bottom of my closet. I was shocked at how much dust coated the Domke bag. When I opened it, I got a nasty shock: the lens cap and skylight filter were shattered, but the lens itself was ok. I can’t remember the last time I put a roll of film through this camera. But the meter worked, and the solid thunk of the shutter sounded right. Then I looked at my lenses. Every one of them had mildew and mold on every element. I dragged everything down to the local pro shop, and they looked at me like I had grown a third head. First of all, no. They did not sell used equipment anymore and had no interest in even looking at my gear for trade. Second of all, it would cost more to refurbish the lenses than they are worth. Third, go down to this guy, they said, he buys film cameras.

At first, I thought I was in the wrong place. It looked like the seediest of pawn shops. But it wasn’t. It was, it is, a camera grave yard. There were cardboard boxes stacked six deep in the aisles, and every one of them was filled with camera bodies and lenses. Nikons. Cannons. Minoltas. Twin lens reflex, medium format. SLRs. So much junk. My body alone had cost me $800 back when it was new and I had to go to New York City to the camera district to get that deal. I had a 300 tele that my parents brought me from Japan. I shot more concerts with that equipment, more grip and grins, more parties and family reunions than I can remember. But I sucked it up. This is not my bread and butter anymore. I am never going to have a darkroom in my house. I will never shoot film again. I have switched to digital. I can let go.

I left with an empty camera bag signed by some of the musicians I shot over the years, and a $50 bill, not even crisp. To say that part of my soul died would not be an exageration, but not from the dingy bill, from the sight of all those cameras waiting to be sold for scrap. The only people who buy film SLRs these days, said the man as he shoved the money at me, are students.

On the heels of realizing that a technology I loved and practiced was dead, I got a box in the mail from Gallofornia. In it were two packages of GettaGrip Sewing Clips, a couple of t shirts and two bags, a big red canvas bag (perfect for my knitting) and the cutest little blue velvet purse you ever saw. I am so psyched! I Skyped Paulie when I opened the box and he had some fabulous news: the clips have been featured on Sandra Betzina’s blog, AND she’s putting them in her newest book, coming out in the fall. I cleared out the sewing area of my studio this past weekend, so watch out. With my GettaGrips in hand, and my sewing machine in the clear, I’m going to be sewing up a storm for the rest of the year.

As I tried to explain to someone earlier, my bestie invented the GettaGrip, a hot new sewing tool, or maybe, my bestie IS a hot sewing tool, but either way, check him out and BUY A SET!!!!

Isn’t he hot?