Wednesday, January 14, 2026

Daily activism, Tuesday Knitting Group, Textiles and Tea


Tuesday's activism was to message both my senators, Kim and Booker, demanding that they vote NO on the Clarity Act, which has no proper guardrails on the Bitcoin, and which comes up for a vote Thursday. 

It's before both the Senate Finance and Agricultural Committees. I have one senator on each.  US blogistas, please do likewise, even if you have no senator on either committee. Pressure adds up.

The Tuesday knitting group was a real party, with a new member, the return of one who has been MIA, and the usual suspects. 

And one member brought in sample cotton bolls she'd grown! 



She gave me a couple which I will gin -- remove the seeds buried in the fluff -- save the seeds and try them next year, then card the fluff and use it in papermaking. New adventure.

She also brought in her Ashford Joy traveling spinning wheel and let me try it out. I was pretty clumsy, but the wheel is beautiful. 



She makes it look easy! In the background you see its traveling bag. I priced the wheel, very $$$$,  one cheaper second-hand one lasted no time at all on eBay.  Maybe the spindle continues to be my spinning tool for now.

Meanwhile the toad of Frog and Toad, is finished and waiting for his stripey bathing suit.


And here's a member wearing two of her knits 

While busy on a third


And now a third group member is joining in with Driving Miss Boud, each taking a week, it's generous, also hilarious. 

Tuesdays are all go, home just in time to make a pot of tea and catch Textiles and Tea with Vicki Assegued, a wildly creative freeform artist in fibers, using a huge range of techniques and materials, including garage sale buys. 











she's a generous and great teacher of workshops and exhibits widely.  She designs as she goes, and refers  to testing each new material as she works as auditioning. Great concept.

Happy day, everyone.  Tuesday even had comic relief,  from Freecycle, the gift that keeps on giving


To be fair, the entry was about a red punch bowl and glasses, and the green ladle went with it.  The caption went astray.

 



34 comments:

  1. That artist makes beautiful things. I am a fan of colour which is funny, considering I often just wear grey (hides the dog hair).
    That spinning wheel looks interesting. A long time ago, when I was very young, my neighbor was a weaver. Funny how I had forgotten that.

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    1. Her work is full of imaginative leaps. Interesting that the post brought back that weaving memory, I like that.

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  2. Driving Miss Boud should be a movie. No need for you to be enlightened! Beautiful work once again. I absolutely love what Vicki Assegued creates. Thanks for sharing so much beauty all the time… and for your activism.

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    1. A movie, there's a thought.. I think Vicki's work would live happily in your apartment. Similar sensibility and compositional sense.

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  3. Don't wait too long with the cotton balls. You don't want the cotton balls to get rotten.

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    1. I see what you did there! They're bolls, referring to the casing around the fluff.

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  4. People are lining up to transport you.

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  5. "Driving Miss Boud," hahahaha, cute! And Toad is wonderful!

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    1. The frog and toad set will be great, once Toad gets his bathing suit on.

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    2. Yeah, right now he's a bit of an exhibitionist, isn't he.

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  6. Ms. Assegued's work is definitely interesting, isn't it?

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    1. It's really exotic. Her skills are world class.

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  7. OMG. She grew cotton balls. That looks SOOOO FUN! Now I wanna grow cotton balls. Thanks, Boud!

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  8. The cotton is fascinating. I’ve seen it in fields but never like that!

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    1. I never handled it before. Evidently the bush grows several feet tall, and has pink flowers before the bolls appear.

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  9. Cotton grows in New Jersey? I guessed that as your location because of which senators you named. The weavings are all very appealing. Another art form that I don’t own any of.

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    1. Cotton needs a long growing season which we have in NJ. NY friend started the seeds indoors and grew them on in the local community garden.

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    2. I wrote my, and bully text changed it to NY. My friend!

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  10. What a cool wooden gadget spinning wheel...interesting layers of machine parts for it! Love the boll of cotton, and do hope the seeds germinate for you. Oh my, the fiber art today is wonderful...from your group all the way to Ms. Assegued! Hope your congressional reps behave themselves!

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    1. It was a rich textile day. The wheel is $$$$ and wonderful, simply designed, beautiful movement.

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  11. Wow! Vicki Assegued sure has a variety of lovely work. What a talent she has!

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  12. Driving Miss Boud reminded me of the movie Driving Miss Daisy with Morgan Freeman - one of my favourite films (and I'm sure it was what you were referencing). Wonderful to have a line-up of willing drivers taking turns.
    The latest Textile artist does fascinating work, the kind of things I would love to be able to touch.

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    1. Yes, that reference was the idea. It's so cool to have people willing to step up.
      I agree, that work wants to be handled!

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  13. That sounds like a super fun day!

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  14. Yes, you should video your Driving Miss Boud Tuesdays. She makes gorgeous art.

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    1. That fiberart is so appealing. She's endlessly inventive.

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  15. A suburb post. How fun to have this group like this. So much talent. Just wonderful fiber art too. Have a great day.

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    1. I'm very lucky to have found this group. I've been in others that were less congenial

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  16. That is beautiful and imaginative weaving from the textiles tea artist. (Those Ashfords are made in my hometown)

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    1. The Ashford line is beautiful. I noticed they're a NZ company.

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