Patio prep, knitting group and Textiles and Tea

Tuesday morning the freecycled cream pitchers were picked up, the house repair contractor came to take pictures and get my signature on the job, and give me details on the flooring in case I ever have to replace it.  Then the landscaper came around noisily weed whacking. 

Gary ran out, arranged with him to tidy more than usual of the damaged plantings, and started measuring. He found my area is bigger than his, surprised us both, large enough for eight 24" square pavers, arranged four by two. Definitely big enough for a small table and two chairs. 

He's very excited about this. In the middle of finishing off his own townhouse, and a friend's place in Florida, requiring a trip there next week,  and building a new house, all he needs is another project. But this one is less complex, needs no permits.

Later in the day I had trouble with my front door lock, I tightened the screws on the inner plate, which worked briefly but we had to tighten inside because the plate was stripped, probably worn out. Soooo this needs a new lock. I have a second, slip, lock I can use, but the main one needs to be replaced. We worked on this among repotting Gary's plants, reinserting the damaged shepherds crook, and other projects he thought up.

I did however make it under my own steam to the food pantry and knitting group, driving, yay  me. I seem to have recovered my confidence. 

The knitting group was a lot of fun, with five regular members and a couple of kids with parents. 

Old straw embroidered purse getting a repair

Shawlette in cotton

I'm on the last page of my fabric book

And this lovely piece is going to go on vacation as a gift to a family member who'll be there.

Talk ranged over The Leopard, the Lampedusa novel now a movie with amazing costumes, hearing aids, travel, aged parents, allergies, home improvement, Lily King, Anne Tyler, Ocean Vhu(?), Lucy Locket pockets, embroidery, immigration to flee economic hardship,  food pantries and more.

Then home to the aforementioned trouble with the front door lock part two, and Textiles and Tea with 

A spinner, weaver and teacher. She's also written a couple of books and founded two magazines, Ply and Weft. She commented that readers much prefer the paper magazines they can receive and handle to the online version.  In her spare time she's a rock climber!

She comes from a family with no history at all in fiber arts, who aren't sure what she even does. Usually weavers and spinners started very young at home, but she's largely self taught, an outlier.

She's able to spin all kinds of yarn at will, woolen long draw, worsted style, variegated, art yarn, in the grease, and carded and combed, all the above.

She's a wheel spinner,  says she's not very adept with the spindle though she admires spindle spinning.  She's taught spinning and weaving patterns to hundreds of classes over many years. Her own children learned  from her. 

Her interest is in teaching and sharing yarn expertise and sampling, and she loves color and texture, starting with designing and creating the yarn.

Happy day,  everyone. Mine was packed, one thing and another.