Weaving A Gem Of A Life

End of week 2

Like everyone else in NYS, I’m staying home. Walking solo, as I always do. Had to go to the grocery store once, and I’ll be good for at least another week, probably 2. Could actually eat out of my cupboards and freezer for much longer if I didn’t run out of produce & dairy.

Here’s the bad news map. Monroe County released it yesterday. I live in the darkest part of the map – the most confirmed cases of covid-19.

Do I think it really matters, that my life or restrictions are any better or worse than anyone else in the County? No. It’s just not a image that’s pleasant to see.

So what do I like to see? This adorable little face.

I’d finished the majority of his haircut when I snapped this. His front legs remain to be groomed. He hates that, so we both take a break before I do them.

Then yesterday I got this TERRIFIC note from a neighbor I haven’t met yet. Before you see the note, you need to see what prompted it. I may have shown this sign in my yard before. I hung it at least a few years ago.

Ok. So the sign’s been there for many months. I’ve seen people read it, I’ve gotten a few nice comments on it. But then this card came in the mail.

This woman actually took the time to find a card, write that great note, find a stamp, and mail it! I am returning a card to her today, and can’t wait till we can actually meet each other in person.

On the weaving front, I decided I had to bite the bullet and sit in front of my computer for hours to post some work on my website. If I get responses I’ll post more. If not, it may not be worth my time to do the less-than-stellar photography and web design work. (I don’t really like and am not good at either.) You can see what I’ve done here.

Fear, love, and hope

Lockdown

Yes there is fear.
Yes there is isolation.
Yes there is panic buying.
Yes there is sickness.
Yes there is even death.
But,
They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet
The sky is no longer thick with fumes
But blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi
People are singing to each other
across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open
so that those who are alone
may hear the sounds of family around them.
They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know
is busy spreading fliers with her number
through the neighbourhood
So that the elders may have someone to call on.
Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples
are preparing to welcome
and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary
All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting
All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love.
So we pray and we remember that
Yes there is fear.
But there does not have to be hate.
Yes there is isolation.
But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying.
But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness.
But there does not have to be disease of the soul
Yes there is even death.
But there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic
The birds are singing again
The sky is clearing,
Spring is coming,
And we are always encompassed by Love.
Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able
to touch across the empty square,
Sing.

March 13th 2020
Fr. Richard Hendrick

On being safe and well

COMMUNITY OF PRAYER FOR THE PANDEMIC

May we who are merely inconvenienced remember those whose lives are at stake.

May we who have no risk factors remember those most vulnerable.

May we who have the luxury of working from home remember those who must choose between preserving their health or making their rent.

May we who have the flexibility to care for our children when their schools close remember those who have no options.

May we who have to cancel our trips remember those who have no safe place to go.

May we who are losing our margin money in the tumult of the economic market remember those who have no margin at all.

May we who settle in for a quarantine at home remember those who have no home.
As fear grips our country, let us choose love.

During this time when we cannot physically wrap our arms around each other, let us yet find ways to be the loving embrace of God [ed: however you envision him/her/them/it/universal energy] to our neighbors.

~ Rev. Katherine A.

Calm, cool, and collected

Or maybe I’m not what the title of this post says, but at least I’m trying. And the colors I’m working with are reinforcing that.

I started knitting these socks months ago. Although I pretty much always have socks on my needles, this pair took much longer than usual due to my thumb tendonitis. I did absolutely no knitting for about 2 months, and since then have dramatically reduced the amount of time I knit in an evening. Sometimes not at all, sometimes 10-15 minutes, max of about 1/2 hour. So it took me a long time to finish these socks.

turquoise hand knit socks

They are YUMMY!! I bought this yarn from the Humble Bumble Fibers Co. It is hand dyed, was a pleasure to work with, and is VERY soft and comfy. Hopefully they wear as well as the commercial yarn I usually use.

In my last post I showed you some fiber I dyed in preparation for weaving. Much progress has happened since then.

Here are the skeins dried and shown together with the commercially-dyed cone of turquoise I’ll use with them.

hand dyed skeins with a commercial cone

After that I wound them into the appropriate length on my warping mill. Here they are chained and ready for the loom.

hand dyed warp, gems, chained

Looks pretty different than in the skeins, doesn’t it? And then here it is going on my back beam. Different yet again.

beaming gems multi-warp

Although I haven’t had as much time as I’d like – or that you’d think I’d have since I’m not going anywhere – to weave, the loom is threaded and I’ve woven about 25″. I’m weaving about 4 yards of fabric to be cut and sewn into an interesting vest. There’s also enough length for a shawl.

RD gems warp on loom

All yarn, both warp and weft, is 10/2 cotton. Since I’m planning to cut and sew with this, I wanted to do a simple weave structure. This is just an 8-shaft straight twill. Here’s a closeup so you can see how much the structure shows up in a relatively ‘busy’ color section and a relatively calm color section. (The color is much more accurate in the picture of the whole warp.)

closeup of RD gems warp on loom

My external commitments (yes, they’re all virtual, but have taken many hours of my time in the past few days) should be ending in the next 36-48 hours, so I’m hoping for more time at the loom. But you know, (wo)man plans and god laughs. So time will tell.

Meantime, stay home, stay creative, stay well, and WASH THOSE HANDS!

I’m like a crow

I’m not necessarily attracted to shiny things, but “Oooo…that’s a cool technique, let me try that.” “Oh look, there’s another one; I should try that.” “Wow, that one’s marvelous; I need to do that.”

And so it goes. I never have/make the time to fully explore one thing before I’m on to the next. You could say I’m easily distracted. Or easily bored. Or unable to focus long enough to master something. Or quite creative. Or just scattered. All would be true.

So here is a finished shot of the three scarves I began here.

I’m very happy with them. So happy that I immediately began winding another multi-colored warp, which I showed you here. I just finished the hard press on those three scarves.

brick multi-colored scarves

The warp for these scarves is a combination of mercerized cotton, tencel, and a handpainted bamboo-cotton blend. The weft for the two scarves at the top of the photo is an adobe tencel. I used two different treadlings, although the one on the left is pretty subtle. That’s okay. The third scarf, at the bottom, has a sienna tencel weft with some stripes of doubled 20/2 mercerized gold cotton. That gold looked SO bright on the loom that I was afraid to put more of it in that I did. When it’s all finished it’s so toned down by the sienna that I wish I’d inserted more. C’est la vie.

Clearly still not done with this concept, I decided I had to dye some yarn. I need to weave some more larger pieces, so wound roughly 42 ounces of 10/2 cotton into skeins. TEDIOUS! A little over half of it will be warp with the remaining planned for weft. In this photo the yarn is all still wet, but you can see I planned a gemtones mix, a departure from the two previous earthy mixes. Hope it turns out well. 🙂

Weaving A Gem Of A Life

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End of week 2

Fear, love, and hope

On being safe and well

Calm, cool, and collected

I’m like a crow

Weaving

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