Cooler but still smoky, decisions and jam.

Today is only in the 80s, but the air is in the unhealthy range still, so I watered the flowers, pulled out a couple of weeds out front and picked up the junk mail. That's it for the great outdoors today.

And I made some decisions about fiberarts. I think my hands are not up for continuing knitting for the ministry. 

I'll finish the current socks then I'll switch to weaving for them. I'll probably take embroidery to the knitting group, weaving not being very portable.  

This is quite a hard point, the socks and gloves being my main volunteer work for six years, and a part of my current identity.  So it's a crossroads.

I have to see what useful items I can weave or Tunisian crochet, which I think I can still do. I'm thinking fingerless gloves in Tunisian. I've done them for myself, so I know they work. Woven scarves, including that recent one during the Great Busted Loom Caper.

I still haven't set up any warp threads upstairs for the big project,  because I'm so tired, from the bad air I think. 

Anyway I did sort yarns, set up cotton ones together for weaving narrow bands, wool ones together for other weaving. 

On the food front, it seems that the source of the cyclobadstuff is iceberg lettuce from Mexico, distributed by Taylor Farms, an international company which also distributes in Canada.  Just a word to the wise.  Check your sources. 

This means that my food isn't a likely problem, however I had got my mouth all set for strawberry jam so I did it anyway.

I don't skim off the foam because I like it and I don't urgently want my preserves clear, not entering them in a jam and Jerusalem event.

Afternoon tea will involve little cream cheese and strawberry jam sandwiches. Very Downton Abbey.  Lunch involved cream cheese and green Spanish olive sandwiches,  highly recommended. 

So that's Chez Boud today, and another candy cane mystery in hand. 

Happy day, when one door closes you may need to break another one open. 

Sez the Four Wise Guys

The flood warnings were accurate, weaving and animals

Those emergency alerts I was getting yesterday were on point for just a few miles north of me. A neighboring suburb got over five inches of rain in a couple of hours. And other local towns didn't do well.

Here in town there were wires down and power out, but not my neighborhood, lucky there. Today the humidity is in the 80s, with sun and rain. 

I did get a walk while the walking was good, though. 

Patrick McDonnell, creator of the great Mutts comic strip, and a NJ local, it's not just Bruce, is a mover and shaker in animal welfare.

He's just sent out a survey as part of his work to improve animal shelters. If you'd like to take part, please do. There's plenty of places to express an opinion not just check a box

Note this is a screenshot, so you need to cut and paste.

Then there's the loving hands at home side. The woven belt is getting near the end 

When I reach the heddle you see at the top, the work will come off the loom. 

And I finally pressed that linen?cotton? I got ages ago. It's been waiting by the ironing board for months. 

It took about eight minutes including filling the iron. One of those jobs that took up a lot of mental energy before I finally did it.

I think this may become that surcoat/robe I was musing about a while back. With a woven patterned band for a belt, hm.  Simple, minimal shaping. Hand stitching. Now that it's prewashed and ironed, there's no stopping me.

Today's early morning picking yielded a new bouquet 

Daisies, chrysanthemums, black eyed susan, a lone coreopsis, ivy, wandering dude. Outside a pink zinnia is opening, so soon there will be zinnias in the bouquets.

Happy day everyone, weave all the things, do all the projects. Or maybe just think idly about it, no need to rush into things.

 

Hotter plus Misfits and pens

 I'm indoors, weaving, reading, dealing with Misfits.

My pens arrived and a little set of watercolors.

But first, Misfits

Canned food to share with the food pantry, yogurt to go with fruit, extra spinach for salads and quiches, beautiful eggs likewise, cherries because they're great this year, scallions for salads.

One thing about organic clean fresh produce is that the scallions and onions are pungent, short path from field to knife. These are literally as sharp scented if I'd just picked them.

Tiny chocolate chips for cake purposes, extra bananas likewise, parsley for everywhere, apples just in time, I'd run out, tuna for tuna melt or salad, coffee, double order because it's not always available so one's an insurance policy.

Jeff was out in the weather you note above. I need to add to his tip.

Then I tried out a pen. I really like these fine tip black pens and these glide very well on the slightly toothed paper. 

The Christmas cactus posed for me. 

The paper is pure white but my phone insists it's really beige..

Happy day everyone, a bit of weaving and a bit of reading and a lot of lying about comes next. 

The Durham Weaver from whose book I'm learning narrow patterned bandweaving, suddenly started friendship bracelets, unlikely for her, and gave a great YouTube channel for learning them.

Not your middle school patterns! Watch this space.

Happy day everyone, keep cool, be nice if possible, I know, not easy, sez Ted and Big Ursy and Pony and Ursula.

Gardens, Textiles and Tea and art

The start of the heatwave kept me away from the needlearts group today, and since another member was stuck waiting for a service call, and another was out of town, I wonder if there was a quorum.

I was out early visiting plants and admiring my solar lantern, now hanging in the Japanese maple. It casts lovely soft interesting shadows around in the dark, very pleasing.

Indoors I checked out my favorites, succulents and the offspring growing in a miniature pot, fingernail nearby for scale.

Some weaving happened and as usual gave me ideas for more weaving. 

Then I thought about maybe painting a bit or drawing and said self, you're waving your arms,  giving unwanted advice to Mitch about trying a different art form, why not stop weaving for a minute, and do a bit of something else yourself?

So I did. First drawing I'd done since this time last year. A kind of rusty here goes nothing few minutes.  This is my entire watercolor setup. Little painting then a little drawing.

That was a nice little interlude and my hand started to remember how to do this. It's so much more subtle movement and closer observation than crafting work. Maybe I'll do it a bit more.

Later came Textiles and Tea with 

She's a weaver and mixed media artist, Caribbean tradition, who uses artificial hair as her main weft material. Her warps are cotton.

This was a commission for a special event 

She takes part in Carneval, and these pieces reflect her costume 

 

She's very young and I think we'll see a lot more of her work,  already appearing in juried shows and good galleries. She'll be in New York in September, check her website for details.

So that's today around here, happy day everyone, do something different to take your mind off whatever you need to take your mind off.

And while you're at it, US blogistas, please call or message your senators to urge passage of the bill before them, S4814. 

This bill restores and extends temporary protected status to Haitian residents. It's a workaround against the misbegotten SCOTUS decision to rescind it. 

It occurs to me to mention that every time I urge you to take some action, I've already done it myself. It's not just doasIsay! Just sayin.

I have some ideas about the hilarious range if Lyft drivers I've met recently, and the weird bosses I've had. I was reminded of bosses by some revenge fiction I've been hearing, terrible writing, so bad it's funny. But since the bad guys are exposed and shamed and the good guys win, it's clearly fiction. Another day for that.

Repatriation has started.

Gary has started moving houseplants to the new place, yay. The bromeliad moved out this morning, the palm to follow. Meanwhile I brought down my snake plant to replace the bromeliad. 

The split leaf philodendron is to follow, also the charcoal drawing on the wall back there.

Every item that leaves is a relief. I'd like to have all the plants downstairs because I forget to water the ones in the guest room. And I don't get to see them anyway, when they're upstairs.

Outside the daylilies at my door are opening.

The kimono sash is completely finished now. I ended up with the knotted finish you see.

Note the use of the clipboard as an art tool. It's very useful as a third hand in various weaving stages. Also it works like a small drawing board when you don't need to wrangle a full size one. Mitchell probably knows this of old.

Along with the current braid on the lucet, and the linen jacket finishing, I fancy making another clasped weft weave, with half the warp threads one color, half the other. Like the eyeglass case, only a band, and the same two colors for the wefts. 

I'm also thinking about making a braid to finish the jacket fronts. Hm. After the current one on the lucet. 

I could remove the current one and come back later to it, but I think it might be wiser to finish the one I'm on. Or I might contract Second Braid Syndrome.

Or I might find fabric for the finishing and pockets of the jacket to match a skirt. I'm pretty sure I have some bits from when I made the skirts. Or maybe this is when I bust out that pink and white stripe cotton fabric, which is still waiting to be pressed.

I'm never short of ideas, as you see. There are only the ones I can be bothered to enter here, one finger typing, you remember. The brain is a busy old loom.

The hobnobs were well received by Gary and New Friend, who is now a new person in my circle too, lovely lady.  I thought they needed to keep up their strength, still packing cars and driving back and forth all weekend.

Happy day everyone, happy solstice, summer or winter, depending on where you are. 

This is as technical as I plan to get about it