Carrying On

I think I’m finally on the mend from this interminable bug but nowhere near tip-top yet. I decided not to go to the doctor anyway since all he would do is either tell me I’m getting better on my own or prescribe antibiotics which I don’t really want right now. However I feel like I’m missing this spring season and not getting out in the garden to enjoy it. I also need to sort out (again!) my attic storage spaces because we’re going to have to get our house totally re-roofed sometime before winter sets in again. If all that stuff is at risk of being exposed to the sky, I’d better make sure that it’s safe! That job is better done before the weather gets too hot. Small enclosed stuffy hot places are not fun to crawl around in. Unfortunately I don’t yet have the energy to tackle it.

This has been a fairly cool and often wet spring. I went back and checked my notes from last year and my tomatoes were just about hardened off and ready to go into the greenhouse by now. And my coleus were already outside and I had planted out a bunch of things that right now I wouldn’t trust to survive the relatively cold nights we’re still having. Even when it’s sunny (not today!) there’s been a really cool wind that keeps it from feeling like May.

Yesterday we went to Ikea (gasp!) and got a new table for the upper deck. The little metal one we’ve had for years is rusting and wobbly though we probably won’t throw it out, but just move it down to the lower deck instead. It’s too small for two to eat dinner comfortably on, though it’s fine for tea or drinks. We’ve been looking for a new table for ages but hadn’t found the right one. This one…

…is called Äpplarö and is made from oiled acacia wood. It’s a gate leg style that folds up very narrow (a good thing for our small upper deck) yet unfolds out halfway for tea or fully for dining al fresco. The top is slatted for the rain to go through. I plan to make it a nice tablecloth to use up some of my surface design cloth samples with clip-on beaded weights in the corners. I also got a 3-pack of 7” cork circles to use under my teapot instead of the usual potholders which are all nicely tea-dyed now. Plus some small frames to hold family photos. I’d like to get them all off my dresser and onto the wall so I can dust easier.

Speaking of stuff you can’t dust easily, one of the bloggers I read referred to it as “shelf shit” which completely cracked me up. I have a big problem with knick-knacks, tchotchkes, do-dads, rocks, shells and stuffies collecting up on every available shelf and tabletop in my house. Yes I know I should purge at least some of them. Last time we painted the trim in the living room, I did get rid of a bunch that didn’t have any emotional attachment but there’s still too many left. I’m not sure what to do with the rest. Who/what gets to stay? How do I decide? Do I really care enough about dusting to get rid of anything at all?

Today I’m starting to wind the warp for my Catharine Ellis shibori class next week. I need 180 ends of 5 yards long. I’m using 20/2 wool which is fairly fine and I’m going to sett it at 12 ends per inch which is half the usual sett for balanced plain weave with that yarn. That wide sett will give the yarns space to shrink and full when the time comes to finish the cloth and we will be changing the sett during class as well. Catharine gave us several threadings to choose from and since I have 12 shafts I’m going to extend a 3-step advancing twill to use all 12. We’ll be testing out different weft yarns and different dyeing and finishing techniques. I’m looking forward to having an excuse to play with all these things though I never get as much done in a class situation as I would like. The social aspect is great fun because weaving is usually such a lonely occupation.

And lastly, to Sharon’s comment about the medieval hat with the horns — I went with simple and earlier period is much easier to construct than later. There were so many choices and henins (as the cone hats are called) were pretty weird and wild. Hard to make and even harder to wear when you aren’t used to it. The veil and circlet was enough, trust me!

Thanks to my sister for this photo of T-Man and me in wedding garb — though it does look like there's a fish on my head and I left off the barbette. Aren't we adorable?