Friday, April 30, 2010

Sleep

A friend of mine has an anesthetist in the family and I've been thinking about sleep for months now. What is physical sleep, what is being put to sleep, and to me, there is a very fuzzy line between anesthesiology and psychology, and perhaps neurology. And hypnosis? I'm very interested, but I don't want to be bogged down in learning the -ologies and new vocabulary at this time. Time to add to the bottom of my list.

Bloggiversary

Unravelling is four today. Thank you for your company, your help, encouragement, and for laughing at my lame jokes and somewhat off-kilter view of life.

By the time you read this, I'll be helping Ali thread her loom, doing the part of weaving I almost love more than anything else now. Then I have a rather serious dental appointment, and then tonight, I'll have Ali and Rosie over for a couple of episodes of NZ art history, sharing funny teas and gluten-free treats, if I can find any in the afternoon.

Have a lovely weekend.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Afternoon Delight

Because I'm nursing an iffy hip, (iffy because I'm not sure if there is anything wrong with it at all,) I wove for only an hour. The shapes come out squat compared to the draft, but I decided I like it in this instance. This scarf, 100% merino both ways, is going to be soft and squishy and I already love it.

The 512 picks I wove yielded 34.5cm, which means about 2700 picks will give me 180cm. I'll have to modify that area of the draft when I get closer to 180cm. I don't have any leftover warp, except thrums from an ancient project, so I'm weaving carefully.

Dinner is salmon and veggie soup.

A Day's Labor

This morning, I woke up feeling exasperated at my being a "weaver" who doesn't weave, so I thought I'd work on a merino scarf.

I knew I had to finish editing a new draft, so I went looking for one I started editing, oh, a while ago. It was a longish draft, about 4200 picks. Don't ask, I don't plan these things, and I don't think I need this many picks to weave a 180-200cm-long scarf in this yarn combination. But I wasn't thinking. So by the time I finished editing the floats, and split the files, (my translator application only takes up to 999 picks per file, so anything longer need to be split up into multiple files,) I realized it was 4PM and I hadn't had breakfast! But fear not, I had a shower this morning and have not been in my PJs all day.

It looks OK, another one of these old, curvy jobs I like to weave. Too late to finish the piece today, but I think I'll get started.

I'm Looking For...

I'm looking to buy a couple of things, and if you have something on Esty or similar, I'd love to know.

First is a pin cushion; it need not be particularly beautiful or ornate, but practical, with lots of stuffing, and biggish. If it has the elastic so I can put it around my wrist, all the better, but if not, I might stitch it on later. Actually, I would like to have two.

The other thing is artist's notebooks. I'm always on a look out for good ones, particularly with unlined paper inside, for myself and as gifts. But not the $Gazillion kind; I love them, but I'd be too scared to use them, so something beautiful and "nice" or "lovely". This one is a long-term, on-going search.

Thanks.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Hee hee...

How about a little R&R courtesy of another Ben?

Today is our official (i.e. wedding) 20th anniversary. We have a winter art talk at the Suter, then supper at a new Italian restaurant. My Ben's so not the romantic type and quietly walks away whenever there is a whiff of romantic in the air, so I've become quite unsentimental over the years, too, but the food is great at this place, (we had lunch once), and we love to talk food, and maybe we could discuss the possibility of a road trip this year, or a longish Australian holiday next year.

EDIT: Just had to add this link. I wouldn't mind if Ben serenaded me like this, choreography and all... Maybe on our 25th anniversary. OK, maybe not with these lyrics. I swear I thought one of the guys was going to propose to the woman in the front, but again, I guess not with these lyrics. Obviously I watch and not listen.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Spun

Other than getting it out of my way to reach something else, and considering if I should get rid of it at the stash sale, I hadn't touched my spinning wheel for perhaps a decade. And even when I spun, I did it enough to learn how. I find spinning to be a really therapeutic activity, but I didn't like the dust and flying fiber, and didn't know how to get rid of the yarn afterwards.

Yesterday and today I was hoping to do some design stuff for Ali, but I just can't get into design-thinking mode, and have dithered a lot. Today I put on "Spinning Wool - Basics & Beyond" by Patsy Zawistoski; I borrowed this after being inspired by Deb Menz DVDs. And I got my wheel out.

I'm an impatient spinner and my yarns are varyingly regressively-tightly spun with blobby slubby bits. But I had a good time. And I even tried mixing the sliver by hand, a little bit.

I know you can't tell the difference, so let me explain that the yarn on the left is my skinny yarn to try as a single-ply weft; too bad you can't see some of the interesting color mixes under the orange bits... The yarn on the right is my fat yarn, which I intend to either knit or crochet single-ply and felt. Consistency in spinning is hard; I didn't imagine thicker yarns would be this difficult. I wanted my fat yarn a thicker than this. Anyway, these are fresh off the wheel.

It seems I'm doing a whole lot of fiber things other than weaving, and the word "sabotage" has entered my mind. I might have to get back to one of Julia Cameron books. And/or I might go hunt for a for a hand carder. Curiouser and curiouser...

Layers


I bought one of Connie Rose's postcards a while back, and instead of having it wrapped up nicely, I asked her to stick a stamp and send it to me as a postcard.

It's small - the size of a small postcard - but intriguing and fascinating and stands to repeated gazing and admiration. In other words, an example of how "layers upon layers" work well.

So how do I do that with my weaving? And do I want to? Well, I won't know until I try.

Taking a Stand

I grew up with a father who has an opinion on everything political, who was never shy of sharing them to anyone inside our four small walls, all the time. Other than voting religiously, however, he never took a stand outside our nuclear family. He's still full of criticisms, and shouts back at the television.

I knew his "method" was lame and non-productive, so most of my adult life, I've joined groups whose cause I believe in, paid memberships or gave money, and sometimes volunteered. Some of the fondest memories are from when I was in high school, I used to help out voter registration at public events in Minneapolis, where I was underage and not even a US citizen. I could hand out forms and help fill them out and little old men and ladies used to pat me on the head commending me for my conscientiousness!

I've been frustrated with our current anything-for-money government, it's a nightmarish return to the 80's, and for the first time (that I can remember), I joined a protest against mining in our protected conservation land. Ben has some photos here. Organizers wanted photos for the press and Ben worked really hard for a couple of hours trying to send them out, but outside Nelson, we really didn't get a lot of coverage; two lines by the Green Party of New Zealand; oh well, we have so much to protest against nowadays.

This morning I saw this picture on Julia's Space & Structure blog, and had this idea: if ever we weavers have to protest, we can all wear warp chains around our necks. Weavers on the British Isles might have an occasion sometime soon! Have you seen this? Some of you may like to take part in these discussions on Facebook.

Monday, April 26, 2010

What Have I Learned? - More Dylon Dye Experiments

I'm at that place where I've dyed with Dylon enough times I can't be bothered to read the instructions carefully every time, but don't remember everything to afford not to. I need "Proceed with Caution" signs in my laundry.

There's what I know now.

1) I am comfortable with my curved wedges. Though there is scope for experimenting further to see how/if I can manipulate the pattern inside the wedges, I know I can do this. So time to try something else, and I need to get PVC pipes so I can try pole wrapping. (I can't help myself; it sounds a bit dirty and I giggle every time I type the words!)

2) Blotches, even larger, flat areas, appear not only when I'm not careful with the temperature or agitation, but also near or as a results of stitches and tied bits. It is part of the design. Sometimes.

3) Dylon dye solutions after the first batch, unlike any tutorial videos/DVDs I've seen, does not look anywhere near as weak as "proper" dyes and I've been repeatedly mislead to think I can have a second round. As my Kaz Project pic shows, as did my second shirt after the first dye bath, the second batch is considerably weaker, though I like these pale colors very much, and have use for them.

4) If dyeing in more than one color, start with the darker (?) I've managed to obliterate the hydrangea petals down the front, and the start at the back, among others, in the second shirt. In fact, any/all traces of the lovely pale Wedgwood blue is gone. Duh!

5)In fact, I don't like this super-saturated marine-blue on my shirt now. This is going to have to go into another bath, even if it ends up murky brown!

6) Colors indicated at the back of the new (?) Dylon packages are unreliable, far more so than the old tin lids.

I use Dylon because it's so easy and they are available all over the place, but after I use up the tins and packets, I shall graduate to "proper" dyes where I might have a bit more control.


My Kaz Project, dyed in the first (top) and second (bottom) rounds of the same Dylon solution.

Thinking...

The local Suter Gallery changed policies to allow photographing work.  The change was so new they hadn't even had time to removed the signs on Saturday. This can only be a good thing!

* * * * *

One of my favorite kind of art, Byzantine tiles, must render to blocks easily. Just musing.

* * * * *

New week, new thoughts. Loving playing with Dylon dyes, but back to design and blocks, I think.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Weavers, Step Up!

I've got a bit of steam to let off today, and that's the responsibility of weavers to show where weaving is at in New Zealand.

I think by now you know I'm all for inclusiveness, but that doesn't mean anything goes. There is a piece that I believe should not have been included in any exhibition, even if it's an annual group exhibition. And though I'm not 100% sure, I seem to recall the weaver in question is not an incompetent one; I think I've seen something spectacular associated with this name.

Another one; if you're given time and space to exhibit, being asked to exhibit, for goodness sakes' don't dig up stuff form your "haven't sold" box, particularly if folks have seen it on other walls before. I have a real gripe with this. I know sometimes timing is critical or real life gets in the way, but consistently sticking old stuff in the hopes of getting rid of it, and really, very old pieces, is just laziness. This weaver produces solid products, has a good reputation, belongs with the right group. She expresses great disdain for multi-shaft fancy-shamnciness; I honestly don't have a problem with it, but show us what you do, not what you did years ago. The space is tiny, but there is absolutely no visual coherence.

Step up, Weavers!

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Old Shapes

Paul, our dentist, finished restoring his 1973 Morris Minor truck. I love the shapes of the handles, the breadbox-like glove-box, and the proportion of the cabin to the ... back part.

Wouldn't it be fun to go on a Sunday drive into the country on a car like this.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Fat, Bad, and Unfocused

Things have been strange inside the head of this Unravelling Weaver for a while, strange as in unfamiliar, but not necessarily bad.

I've not been able to focus; my mind keeps wandering non-stop, and yet it's not been busy, not filled with the constant chatter. I flutter from one task to another, usually not finishing either. I've two dressed looms, both projects I like, but I can't stick with either long enough to make any progress.

Usually I wake up in the morning thinking of a few things I hope to do that day, and some days I write them down, but not only have I not been able to do any of them, I don't even think about it.

I walk though the day dazed, not confused, but floating. I'm a bit tired, I have had niggling lower back/hip problems, but I had two sessions with Bowen technique Kathleen, and I can't tell if I'm really hurting. Ben and I may be incubating a cold; we have the same symptoms, (mild headache, mild fever, general lethargy) but again, it could be psychosomatic. Or our innate laziness is rejoicing in their synchronicity. I keep forgetting things; I can't remember things.

But the intriguing, for me, is I seem to be operating on this whole new mode of incremental thinking/working. I usually need whole days of nothing on my calendar to focus; only then can I hunker down and work on one thing. I've had lots of nothing days for a few weeks, but I've not worked on anything for any length of time, but have been working incrementally on several things, and this is driving me crazy.

I even detect an element of revolt, though against what I have no idea. I'm not doing any of the things needing my urgent attention, but have been playing with ideas and "unimportant", "non-urgent" projects, consistently, and doggedly. I have been a life-long procrastinator, but this feels slightly different to my regular procrastination.

My brain feels old. If I ask you where the cabbages are, and you tell me where they are, but there are no whole cabbages so if I need a lot, I would have to buy two halves, I can repeat what you said, and can find the cabbages, but that seems to use up all my brain juice and I will have forgotten or not connected with with you told me about my having to buy two halves.

On Wednesday, Kath was telling me about a book she read recently, and she surprised me by pointing out that almost every time I see her, I talk about my weight and how I must exercise and must not each whatever we're having at the time. I never noticed that, but I know this is a defense mechanism of sorts: a) I know must exercise more and get in a better shape for my health, and b) my parents have been on my back about my weight since I was 9, and my Dad is still quite relentless about it, so by my talking about it, I'm acknowledging that I know these things, preventing from others bringing the issue up, and as Kath pointed out, letting me off the hook from the things I think I should be doing. That was an eye opener.

A few years ago, Jay Farnsworth of the Red Gallery told me not to make self-deprecating remarks, of which she said I do very often. At least I was vaguely aware of this, but I thought it was funny, and never imagined it could be a downer for my friends. But low self-esteem is a hard thing to overcome, it's been hard to try to stop making self-deprecating jokes.

With the weight thing, though, it's harder, because I hadn't realized I did it. It was a constant topic in my parents' house, and though I begged my mother to talk about something else, (still do!), I never realized I did it, too.

I haven't been able to concentrate long enough to read a short magazine article, let alone "Women Who Run with Wolves", but this is the strangest of all: I've been making slow but steady progress in "Conceptual Art" by Tony Godfrey, (Phaidon), a book which previously would have collected dust and fluff and bugs at the bottom of the pile under my bed. And I'm really enjoying this book.

Is there a psychologist or a neurologist in the room? Is there a shift coming, or am I descending into somewhere different? I've wondered if I've been going senile for a few years, and even had myself tested a while ago, but aging, changes in my operation mode, and self-esteem seem all connected somewhere, and I don't understand what' going on. Do you? Does anyone know what's going on??

I'm at the tail end of my depression medication; I've often forgotten to take them since the dosage was reduced to 1/4 pill in February, and for now, I'm in denial that I'm going down that way again, but that's also always a possibility. I can't determine if I've managed to pick up coping skills by doing things incrementally, therefore managing depression.

Or, I am now living in another sphere that co-exists with the world I used to live in, but I didn't know I transitioned. Kind of like finding myself on Platform 9 3/4.

Yesterday, I forced myself to sit down to fringe and mend the "other" cherry blanket and a scarf that came off the loom more than a month ago. Or was it more recent? It's been a while since I fringed, and I had forgotten how time consuming it is, but I got them done late last night so I could was them today. This morning, however I was in the shower too long, did a load of laundry, and then cleaned the kitchen with some gusto, and I used up all the hot water, so these will be washed on the weekend.

Last night, on a whim, I prepared this baby T shirt for the dye bath; it will be tucked in the corner when I finally decide what to do with the second dunking of my second shirt.

And remember the sorry saga of not being able to find Claudia's 40th birthday party? Bless her, she is having us over for dinner tonight so we can do over. In fact, we're celebrating her, Ben's and my birthday, all in April, and the only one who has a birthday in November, Tim, is cooking. I did my bit and made a lime/chocolate cake.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Sometimes When I don't Know Where I'm Going...

I stay on the bus to see where I end up. Usually I manage to get back to where I started, or thereabouts.







I See Dye Patterns

It's not as if I've been thinking about dye/shibori patterns obsessively, but when I look at Lynne's photos, all I see are dye patterns! Stitched, bled, discharged, and all the fancy things some of you do. Or painted textiles, beading ideas, patchwork, or ceramics. Even Modernist paintings. But where's my cloth??

YarnMaker Website is Up

Dot's new magazine, YarnMaker, has its website up and running here. She emphasizes UK and Europe, but really, it's for the whole world.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Summer & Winter: Wrapping up Sampling (For Now)

These are color combination experiments from the last couple of days. I'm trying to create subtle look. I'm sorry these photos aren't great; it's so sunny today, my eyes not my camera, (yeah, blaming it on my equipment!) can't focus well.

A: Pattern weft is slightly paler and greener than the warp; tabby weft is a skinny pale lime green.
B: Pattern weft is slightly paler and greener than the warp; tabby weft is three strands of skinny cottons (making the size roughly same as the warp and the pattern weft) in pale blue, pale lime and pale brown.
C: Pattern weft is slightly paler and greener than the warp; tabby weft is the same color as the warp but 1/3 the size.

As complementary as possible from yarns I already have.
A: Pattern weft is the same as the warp; tabby weft is a skinny pale orange.
B: Pattern weft is the same as the warp; tabby weft is a skinny bright orange.
C: Pattern weft is a bright orange; tabby weft is a skinny pale orange.
D: Pattern weft is a bright orange; tabby weft is a skinny bright orange pretty darned close to the pattern weft.

Pattern weft in shiny (but not metallic) accent yarn; in person, it's not as shiny nor gaudy as it appears in this photo. Not a bit.

My favorite, though it doesn't look like much in this photo: pattern weft is the same as the warp; tabby weft is a skinny shiny yellow, though not the same as my usual gold. The resultant cloth almost shimmers like my twill gold and blues scarves and the hand is reasonably good.

I'm going to take a break from the sampling and work on some block/design stuff now.

Randy??

A little after 8 this morning, we got a call for a "Randy"; as far as I know Husband has not changed his name, so I take it as some kind of synchronicity thing happening here. Although, I have to admit, we get a whole lot of wrong numbers at all hours here.

When we were in our second rented house in Auckland, when we had a number like a pizza place, i.e. something like 844-4488, we used to get strange, i.e. drunk, calls for one Maxwell at all hours. Once, we got a sane phone message with a return number, so I rang to say Maxwell hadn't had this number for nine months. It turned out Maxwell was a gay film director, and I caused quite a commotion in this woman's office, everybody wondering why an American woman's voice answered Maxwell's phone. Sandy was the woman's name. We chatted for 20 minutes, but she told me I probably would not have seen any of Maxwell's films. I wonder if they were the naughty kind.

Meanwhile I can't stop thinking about Kaz's idea of giving hand-finished clothes tiny boys and girls. Since I have a lot of cute decorative buttons, mine may not be for babies, but the possibility is limitless, yes?

For a few years, since the earthquake in Pakistan (?) or Catrina, I can't remember now, I've been thinking of weaving cotton baby blankets and sending them to hospitals in the region. I had a bunch of friends give me reliable (and still active) charities in New Orleans back then. With Samoa and Heiti, I was able to find out addresses of hospitals, but because I am such a slow weaver, and after checking the postage, (i.e. expensive), I haven't executed my now-not-so-secret plans. I know I can do something with these store-bought shirts, and perhaps bottoms, however, and I'm terribly excited with the prospect of finally being able to do something to welcome tiny people to the world.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Nip Tuck

This is my second shibori shirt; strictly speaking, it's the first half of the second experiment.

I've been nipping and tucking and tying up all over this shirt in a totally random way, little bits every night. I dyed it in the leftover dye solution from the first shirt this afternoon. The shirts are both cotton, but the first shirt (left) is much thicker and more elastic, and the second thinner and more papery. I don't know if the quality of the cottons made the drastic difference in the color, or if it's the second time for the dye solution, and a couple of weeks have passed. The solution's color looked close enough to last time, but obviously there's something going on.

The stitching on the shirt, (not the tied bits) didn't dye, so I might leave the buttons white, too. I'm glad the collar dyed, though, as it would have looked a bit sad with a white collar, I feel. The shirt just came out of the washing machine so when it dries it might be even paler. But I was able to deal with blotchiness better.

And I do so enjoy wearing the first shirt; in fact, it's hanging there because I just pressed it.

Tonight, I think I'll take out some of the tied up bits, and then nip-tuck some more in other places, and eventually stick it in another color dye bath.

And speaking of dyeing, Kaz has an excellent idea to cultivate children's interest in textiles "from the get go"; I think this would provide me a fun practice dyeing opportunity, and a way to use my tiny stash of cute patches, buttons and ribbons.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Summer & Winter: Off the Loom

Last week, Ali told me to get off my computer (PCW weaving software) and go back to paper, collage and the design textbook to study blocks, which totally threw me off my track. Like, completely, entirely, suddenly; like being thrown under a convoy of Mac Trucks. There I thought I was being a model mentee experimenting with drafts!

So, feeling a mixture of dejection and rebellion, yet not wishing to defy my mentor, and after Ali commenting on Facebook, "blocks are squares!", I did the best I could. I couldn't think of collaging, (too complicated!!), and how it tied with weaving design, so I filled in the squares in my notebook randomly. I learned this method a while ago, and though it's time-consuming, even when I didn't do as an elaborate job as the book dictated, it was good to get my mind off where my right track disappeared to. And watching patterns emerge is a bit like watching your cloth grow on the loom.


Then, I got out my favorite color coding stickers and randomly stuck them on the page.


Half a day later and several pages of these, I felt happily defiant and went back to sampling. The lovely think about weaving is it gives me lots more ideas about weaving.

I got to thinking, what if I changed the color of the warp alternately, to match the pattern weft (far left,) and discovered it'll just show off the structure better. I wanted to see what putting in a very skinny tabby weft in a color complementary to the warp color looked like, (center), but this is where I just have to see a cloth in real life instead of on the screen. I need to sample some.

I was feeling smug about having found a way to keep working on the same thing in different ways. I've been feeling very smug about finally being able to defy what I perceive to be instructions, and just do as I please, without feeling guilty. Boy, that was a long time coming.

Wednesday and Thursday, I felt hopeful, as if I were standing on a bank of a big wide river. I can kind of see the sunnier, lovelier other bank in the distance, but I see no bridge nor a ferry, so I might have to swim across.

Having written up these two posts, I feel more like I'm standing on a rocky, wind-swept cliff with choppy sea blow. In the distance I think I see a lovely island with palm trees, warm breeze and ukulele music. (OK, fair maidens in grass skirts and flowers in their hair, too, and large drinks with paper umbrellas!) Shall I take the plunge and swim across or look for a row boat? Shall I wait for a beautiful sail boat? And after I set off, will the island turn out to be a mirage?

Yes, I am talking about connecting design studies and my weaving. I never said I'm not a drama queen.

Summer & Winter Continued

I wove a short length of Summer & Winter sample on the table loom this week. The warp is 2/20 mercerized cotton; the weft includes 2/20 cotton, 2/60 cotton, 2/17 wool, wool boucle in three sizes, and an unknown synthetic discontinued boucle. The sett is 36EPI. Here are some views.

With boucle, it's better to exaggerate or simplify shapes they are not stripy or horizontal, unless you are trying to create that look. (Think Monet's Waterlilies.) I would love this in merino warp and merino or mixed boucle in the pattern weft in a bigger scale for jacket/coat fabric if I could sew, or for a skirt if my body shape were a bit more elongated...

Dukagang creates the most visible design, but also the most blocky in appearance? At the top is the late, lamented discontinued yarn.

In some places, I can see the shapes of individual units!

I used 2/20 cotton in the tabby at the bottom, and 2/60 cotton towards the top. I don't know if you can tell, but naturally the pattern color is more saturated and the hand a tad slinkier, but the blocks need to be elongated to achieve the same appearance, i.e. more picks and longer to weave.

I got a little sassier and used 2/60 cotton in the tabby in a pale yellow to create the metallic shine I like in combination with the warp color. I don't know if I achieved it, but it adds another dimension to the appearance of the cloth. A spool of orange (complementary) sewing thread in the tabby would be most interesting to experiment.

I don't like the hand of S&W in general, but particularly using 2/20 cotton both ways. Because I want to see the blocks I pack in the weft very tightly, creating a solid, unkind hand. I doubt I'd want to wear a blouse in this material. To remedy this, I could loosen the sett and the pick, but I'm not good at controlling my picks, so this will be a bit challenge.

I can tolerate the hand where I used 2/60 cotton in the tabby and 2/20 in the pattern. Wool boucle pattern wefts give sponginess to the cloth, which I like. In both of these cases, I have to make the blocks longer vertically if I were to weave the design I intended .

Thus far, I find the blocky look "old", and by this I mean, "dated", not historical or nostalgic. But using small blocks in a larger context and/or better use of colors could/would improve this, I think.

I'll fix the the threading mistake, (big strip in the middle, edited out from the photos :-P) and sample some more.

Saturday Daydreaming: Thinking of Our Garden

I've been thinking of our garden a lot. We are no gardeners and it is in a hidious state, as usual, but when the weather cools down and moisture returns a little is when I start thinking of cleaning up my garden and preparing the soil for spring planting. We get more rain in the winter, so it's nice to chop, mulch and fertilize before the rain comes. And it's never seriously cold in Nelson anyway, so for me it's good gardening weather from now until about September when the pollens start to fly.

And I'm thinking of the spring some of you are welcoming.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

In Tune with "My" Colors

Remember the machine embroidery threads I bought? Stuff I collected in Japan, (mostly yarns from Mom's stash,) are slowly arriving, and among them were the silk thread I bought in January.

I'm glad to report I know what color schemes I want to work with in the near future. These silk sewing threads came in about 30 silvers and grays, too, but I managed to refrain from further extending my range. Maybe next trip.

Meanwhile, don't do things if you are under the weather. Mom sent me several machine washable silk T-shirts. I put them in net bags, then into the washing machine, then proceeded to put them through a regular cycle with regular detergent. The pale pink-purple one looks already worn, a bit... Darn...

Meanwhile, I've been pondering about my P2P choices and wanting to concentrate on one and move to the next phase. I can't help but be attracted to the fourth photo because of its colors, but feel it's the easy way out, just weaving in those, (plus or minus a few more,) colors, and have been wondering what else I can do. I love the shapes and the contrast in the first, and stories I can concoct with the plane stories, a favorite starting point for cloth design for me. I'll decide by the end of this week.

Today, I'm sampling Summer & Winter some more.

Congrats, Congrats!

Please join me in congratulating Cally (and her auntie Pat) for having a piece, each, accepted in Convergence.

Please also congratulate Lynne for a great interview here. Lynne has been interviewed and her work photographed numerous times, but I find this a great comprehensive interview. I've been following her blog, (OK, the photos in her blog,) since it started but I've had a hard time keeping up with her activities in the last year-plus, so for me it's been nice to look back a little.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Fun

Some of my friends think I take weaving, and therefore life, much too seriously, and that I don't play enough. Not so.

I can play dress up with my papier mache body!

Nobody ever told me my 52nd birthday was going to be my best yet. Kate, who had a grand tour of Central and South America recently, sent me this Peruvian scarf. The alpaca yarns, she said, were dyed with Peruvian plants, the blue-green being the most popular. Handspun and handwoven, this is the softest alpaca yarn I've ever felt, and Kate said this one is softer than the other alpaca scarves she bought. The selvedge is nicely done, too, unlike my alpaca scarf on the loom.

There is a new Australian book called "Really Wild Tea Cosies", and my local independently-owned bookshop is having a really wild tea cosie competition. The prize is, of course, a copy of the book. It just so happened I found these ribbon-made pansies and flowers yesterday, and needing a reason to buy them, I decided to enter the competition.

This morning, the merino combed slivers arrived, all eight, not seven, colors, totaling 1kg. I need to borrow a carder or combs because I want to mix the colors a little and spin, and I think I'll knit or crochet a tea cosy, and possibly felt it, before putting on the pansies, and some glass beads. And there were plenty more frilly things in the shop I can add.

I think I am allowed to buy a tiny, round-ish tea pot for this project.

And it's been Ben's birthday, all day today.