And the winner is...

Periwinkle: 4 to 2! Better luck next time, Aqua.

Amazing what??

Grrr...I hate 60 Minutes. The show is good. I hate that when any sporting event goes long, 60 Minutes goes long, and my recording of the Amazing Race gets cut off half an hour into it. I repeat, grrr... Didn't see who was eliminated. Have to go to the CBS website. Don't tell me!

Reed Thread Vote time! I forgot I needed to make reeds last night, so I had to make my own decision (gasp!) and go for dark purple. I'm videotaping my embouchure as part of my lecture-document (no pressure there...no pun intended!), and I thought a dark colour would be better than a variegated or bright coloured thread. My spool is empty again though, so it's your turn to vote!

I'm feeling "blue"...your choices:

Aqua
Periwinkle
Turquoise

Vote now! Voting ends Wednesday at midnight...just because.

And the winner is...

In other news, I am a complete idiot. I wondered how far I would need to go when submitting my information for a "free i-pod". What is wrong with me????? I know these are ridiculous stunts on the internet that don't result in a free gift. I have so far received 5 junk emails, and there was no way to even complete the ipod give-away process. I even had to click on "at least" one of the related sponsors give-aways. I know that's how they make their money. I tried to pick the least threatening sponsor, so I bought an entertainment coupon book. Let me stress that once I was on the "final step" of the ipod gift page, there was actually nothing to press like "confirm shipping address" like they claimed there would be. Please just put me in a padded room now. All along, I was thinking "just stop now. You have nothing to prove. You know what the end result will be. There ain't no ipod. You're really much smarter than this." I guess I'm not. Now these people have my mailing address, my phone number, my email address (though I gave them a lesser-used one...is this a saving grace?).... Shouldn't this be against the law--to promise a free gift and not follow through? I'm also mad that I'll likely get more junk mail, which will only contribute to the wasted paper I already move straight from the mailbox to the recycling bin every week.

I know I'm an idiot. If even one person points that out to me, I may have to clobber them. That means you too, Dave.

I like to think that maybe I was just trying to show a little faith in humanity. In honesty. Ah, who am I kidding? This is about $$$ and greed and advertisers and the knowledge that there will continue to be stupid people like me to help them make money.

I'm going to get away from civilization now. I think I need some perspective. Maybe a long bath will qualify.

Did I mention I'm an idiot?

It's that time again!

I ran out of thread today (on my little spool, that is), and I'd meant to have this vote earlier! If you aren't up to speed on my new voting segment on this blog, click here. As I need new reeds pronto, the voting will end tonight at midnight!

Let's make this a "variegated" vote. This round's contenders:



From left to right: Weighing in at 1&3/8 oz.: Red-white-and-blue "Americana"
Weighing in at 1 oz. even, our lightweight champ: "Vary" Neon
Weighing in at 1&3/8 oz.: Variegated "don't call me nurple" Purple
Weighing in at 1&1/4 oz.: Variegated "I may be pretty, but I pack a punch" Pastel
Weighing in at 1&3/8 oz.: Variegated "I know you're envious" Green

Good luck to all colours. Vote now! (By email or comments.)

And the winner is...

Variegated blue!

This is what one of my blanks looks like. I like to thin the will-be tip a bit and trim off the ears. The rest I leave until the next day. This particular reed: K.Ge cane, .60mm, Joshua shape, Chudnow-E staple. I started experimenting with these staples a couple years ago. I really like the "E", but the "S" hasn't really worked for me. If you understood any of that, you might be an oboist.

Here is the famous spool:

We had a busy day today, so I only started at about 9:30pm (including soaking and shaping). I only tied one on tonight. I still need to start a few others from the other day.

So congratulations, variegated blue! And thanks to those of you who voted!

We have a winner!

This winner dashed for the finish line at the last moment, pulling ahead by 3 votes!

Stay tuned...

It's a 5-way tie!

OK, I shouldn't have given so many choices to begin with. If you haven't already voted, now is your chance to cast the deciding ballot!

Your choices are:

Red

Salmon pink

Variegated purple

Variegated blue

Periwinkle

Voting will end tonight! (As I need to make reeds tomorrow...) Remember, one vote may decide!

The suspense is killing me. ;)

Vote!

I thought I'd add a new segment to my blog to make my reed making a little more interesting. I've always loved my reed thread. While some of my teachers and colleagues stick to one or two colours, I prefer some variety. I have many many different colours. I don't like using the large spools most thread comes on; I have an old wooden spool that my first reed thread came on, and it fits very comfortably in my hand. To mix things up without making each reed a different colour (because I'd have to transfer thread to my wooden spool too often), I make batches of reeds in different colours. That way I can tell how long reeds have been in my case. I also catalogue my reeds--a habit I picked up while studying with Peter Cooper. Technically I don't colour-code...one batch does not equal one amount of time. I'll notice an aqua reed and wonder, "when was the last time I bound on an aqua batch?!"...yesterday I said goodbye to two hot pinks that had been hanging on. I just finished my latest batch, burgundy, so the wooden spool is now empty. So vote for your favourite colour, or whichever colour you'd like to see on my next batch! I'll tabulate email votes, too! I'll post the winning colour on my blog (as seen on one of that batch's reeds)! Watch out for the label "thread vote".

Here are your colour choices:

Burgundy, red, emerald green, Loree purple, salmon pink, rose, light pink, neon/hot pink, aqua, golden yellow, periwinkle, teal (polyester), bright blue, neon yellow, neon orange, variegated neon, variegated pastels, variegated purple, variegated green, variegated blue, variegated "fall" colours, red/white/blue.

Most reed thread is made out of nylon, but I recently bought a spool of 100% polyester...mainly because I liked the colour. I must say, I'm not a huge fan of this thread, so if that wins, it will probably be a pretty small batch of reeds.

Good luck to all colours! Vote now!