Fuel pump saga, Tuesday Knitting Group, Textiles and Tea, and yay for the people

Tuesday I decided to try yet again to get the Honda dealership on board with the now two-year-old fuel pump sensor recall. I had several urgent letters from Honda America urging me to get my car in to remedy this dangerous situation. Which I tried several times to do, and nobody had the parts. Last time they said try again in the Fall. So Tuesday I did and amazingly have an appointment next Monday to get the work done.

I asked them to check fluid levels, tires, brakes, all that while it was in the shop, since it's several hours' work. It involves some prep, too -- gas tank half or less full, everything out of the back seat. Sounds eerily like medical instructions. With any luck I'll have a safe car by Monday evening.

The Tuesday Knitting Group was a great time, one new member, one returning member, three usual suspects, and work ranging from visible mending, to beginner crochet, to glove knitting, one toad and two sweaters in progress. 

Talk ranged over modern dance, MRIs, Medicare, wooden knitting needles, yarn dyeing, tech talking back, voting, bridge, dpns (see foreground, top picture, if unfamiliar), flexibility, fortune cookies and more.

Then home to Textiles and Tea with Austin Clark, an authority on Cajun brown cotton growing, spinning and weaving.  I wondered if this would be interesting, and found it was riveting.  He is not Cajun and is very respectful of the tradition, simply reproducing, not redesigning, their textiles.

Acadians originated in Nova Scotia and were expelled by the governing British when they would not take an oath of loyalty to the Crown, wild oversimplification of a complicated and cruel period. 

Known as le grand derangement, this pushed thousands of French speakers eventually  to Louisiana, where they were forced to learn how to live in a different culture and climate, though their Catholic religion was accepted. There's a further complicated history of how they came in the end to Louisiana, which you might want to check out.

The history of this brown cotton crop and the work being done to preserve the history and skills of this niche textile art, is so worth studying especially now in a time of loss and upheaval.  

This otherwise interesting presentation had a massive gap in that the speaker admitted he had not studied the important slave labor aspect of this crop, but was focussed on the fibers and techniques of spinning and weaving. 

Here he is at the loom. This weaving is simple, two harness plain weave

here he's at a  friend's house with her growing crop of brown cotton. This would eventually grow several feet higher. You can grow cotton in even small areas and that gives me an idea

here are woven pieces, very fine warps, and thick-as-a-pencil-wefts

The color palette as you see is limited, using indigo with the brown and other cottons.

Here he's holding his first full-size blanket

Tuesday came through again. Happy day everyone! Let's try to remember the significant facts adjacent to what we're focussed on. Peripheral vision is valuable. In all contexts. This is advice to self.

Coming in late to update you on the US election results: 

Dems swept every.single.election. and Prop 50. Everything. Decisively. Let's celebrate. No negative comments will be entertained anywhere! We won everything we were in for.  Two new female governors, too. Pennsylvania high court now safe.  Virginia Leg a lot bluer now. On and on.