Wednesday, April 10, 2024

The day after, daffodils midseason, Tuesday knitters, Textiles and Tea

In case you're wondering, since the next eclipse is a long way off, what to do with the glasses?


Mine are in the mail, before I forget.

And in case anyone says internet friends are only imaginary


Some of the best friendships I've had are either totally online or started that way. I've met quite a few online friends and been happy to find they're just as nice as expected, since, over years, people do reveal who they are. 

They may not look as you expect unless they've been putting up pictures, though that wasn't a thing in the mid-nineties when I first became active online. Then you had to describe yourself, and your outfit, before a meeting. Nowadays I bet I could spot quite a few blogistas in person.  And then the convention was to report on the event! 

This is the best year in many for daffodils, look, mid season form in my front yard






And I often think this would be a good way to live!


I could make a start on that rug with these


I think the reason you keep going with the pinloom is that when you take a weaving off, there's no finishing to be done. Just the empty loom needing to be filled again. So, as you see, you do :). Ye olde worlde 90s emoticonne.

Today's knitting group was small and very good chat. Here's D's current top down sweater 


The red is warmer and darker, very saturated color. We chatted about eclipses, Mt St Helen's, earthquakes, lightning strikes, meteorites, hearing, teaching adults art, Youth Art Month, voice training and squillo.

Home again, and Textiles and Tea featured, joy, a spinner! Patsy Zawistoski  lifelong sewer, designer, from a family of skilled people in many trades, brilliant spinner.


She's an expert in spinning many fibers, some of which I didn't know, such as optim from Australia, and the ins and outs of bamboo, rayon from bamboo, tencel and more. She's aware of  ecological impact of fibers, uses natural dyes and makes wonderful yarns.



This tapestry, using up fiber she'd spun for an HGA credential, is about 3' h by 2' w.


Here she is as a teen modeling her creation


Here are the range of fibers she had to weave to get Hand weavers Guild of America Level One Excellence in Spinning


And Level Two required the fibers be woven into garments as seen here



She made instructional  video cassettes long before Zoom


And has written about newly developed fibers


This is her Fiber Decoder Kit! You take the yarn apart bit by bit, to get all the way back to the original fiber, to become knowledgeable about it. Great idea.

She answered my question about spindle spinning very respectfully. A lot of wheel spinners dismiss it as only the entry to wheel spinning, but she has done, and respects, both. 

She made the point that the wheel is faster by the hour, the spindle faster by the week. Meaning it's so portable you can get a lot done in small amounts of available time and place. 

Her website is worth a visit.

Happy day, everyone, spin your own way!







37 comments:

  1. I like that meme about internet friendship! And Patsy Zawistoski sounds so very accomplished! Beautiful work.

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    1. I wondered if the standards were set impossibly high, typical of women driven craft orgs, and she leaped them anyway. But she's such a great teacher. Started out in early childhood ed!

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  2. Do you remember when spinning wheels were all the rage when used as decor? This was in the early-mid sixties I think. I was fascinated by them and had no idea how they were used. I wonder what happened to all of them.

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    1. From what I've heard, a lot of them weren't in working condition, probably best used as country core decor. They're just industrial machinery really. I'd as soon have a drill press as decor!

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    2. I began spinning in the early eighties. It was still next to impossible to find a good, basic wheel. My second wheel was handmade by the husband of a spinner. Kicked my first wheel to the curb.

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  3. I absolutely agree with the meme about internet friendship. I feel a true connection to many people I have met online. The eclipse wasn't visible here. Patsy's work is fantastic!

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    1. You still meet people who insist that online connections are just imaginary friends!

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  4. Oh, I think Internet friendships are definitely real. I've met many of the Internet friends in real life and the connection is there! I love the picture of teen model Patsy. I'd have been happy with that image if it turned up in a box of my rescued slides from thrift shops!

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    1. It's the kind of image that just might show up! You saw it here first.

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  5. I think I have more internet friends than 'physical' friends. I've met three in person over the years and we got on like we'd known each other forever.

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    1. I agree. Because you probably know each other personally better than real life friends, a lot of sharing of thoughts.

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  6. Before blogging and then other social media came along, I actually had email pals, as in pen pals. we wrote back and forth a lot for a few years.

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    1. I had school French pen pals, set up by teachers, to develop language skills. Mine wrote in wobbly English and I responded in wobbly French.

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  7. Isn't it so handy to see something new and google it right there on the spot- voila! Smarter in an instant! Squillo - a great name for a cat. Now I understand how soprano can over ride the orchestra!
    I love the small mole house, or is that a shrew, prairie dog? I would live there quite happily. Cosy!
    Friendships made in
    Blogworld have been some of the best- I have met several and they all have been meaningful , solid, lovely.

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    1. I'm glad you looked up squillo! Much better than my trying to explain. I'm not sure what the little animal is. I have lovely internet friendships, as you say, solid.

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  8. Some people are so talented! My internet friends are important to me. Most I think I'd like; only a few I would probably rather not meet.

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    1. That's funny about not wanting to meet! The kind if you saw them in the store you'd hide in the cookie department till they left?

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  9. I agree completely about internet friendships. Can't beat 'em. My glasses I'm keeping. Because I have problems that way!

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    1. Different strokes! I couldn't wait to get mine into the mail.

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  10. I'm in awe of the talents people display.

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  11. It's actually the case that I've already visited some blog friends or carried out joint projects.
    It's a wonderful experience.

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  12. I think there are some internet friends I have that I might not be friends with face to face in real life, so the internet really broadens the possibilities of the of people, in addition just their location.

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    1. That's a great point. The nature of Internet connection is the ability to leave any time, no problem. Small doses of some people is plenty, but you can still value them.

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  13. We always look for first daffodils but I often enjoy the late season ones even more. I'm fascinated by the range of fibres today's textile artist collected up to spin for her guilds. I've promised myself a wheel again in my retirement house but can't imagine spinning anything other than wool for my garment knitting projects. As for ths tiny house, I'd build one but Mr B is not impressed and besides I'd need an alcove for the spinning wheel

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    1. If you buy roving ends as I do, you find yourself weaving an amazing array of fibers. Silk, alpaca, sari sweepings!

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  14. I agree with you about blogging and it is hard to imagine life without it. Everyone I've actually met has turned out to be as I thought them to be, which in 99% of cases was good, and enduring friendships have been formed.

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    1. I think friendships that start online are based on much better knowledge than in person ones, where it can take years to know how people feel. Not so much online.

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  15. We are sending our glasses to others as well. Great idea.

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    1. Good. These are kids who might not get the experience without a bit of outside help.

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  16. Internet friendships are real and precious. And if we're really lucky they can spill into real life.
    I think I need to look at spinning. Or not.

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    1. Try a spindle. Portable, not too expensive. After you get a pinloom, that is..

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  17. I remember the first time I met someone I had only previously known online - in the late 1990's, or very early 2000's. Social media for me then was Yahoo groups. We connected immediately and our conversation flowed as easily in person as it did online. We can get to know each other pretty well online if we want to.

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    1. Yes, once you try it, it's very comfortable.

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  18. I have met a couple of my blogging friends in person and it was a wonderful experience. Someone should come up with a word to describe internet friends to differentiate between 'in person' friends and 'online' friends. Of course maybe somebody already has.

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    1. I wonder if there's a word. To me they're all friends anyway, though.

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