Textiles and Tea, Sock Ministry, Face check

Today's Textiles and Tea featured Angie Parker, a rug and blanket weaver, originally from the North of England, Manchester, to he exact, now living in Bristol UK. Very appropriate guest for international women's day. 

She's fearless, running her own weaving business specializing in rugs and wall hangings, teaching and committed to  color as you'll see. At one point she spent time designing theatre costumes including circus ones, one of which she's modeling!

She loves the work of textile artist Anni Albers, of Bauhaus and Black Mountain college fame. 

From the groundbreaking designs of the Bauhaus, to history:  Angie's making original rugs and blankets on a table loom in Bristol, where the first bed covers were woven back in the 14th century.

The blankets came about during the first Covid lockdown when her exhibit and commission work halted, so she developed a beautiful wool blanket, a  product that local people could afford and wanted. 

She points out that lockdown and working from home meant people had money normally spent on travel and entertainment, available for home decor.

So the blankets did well locally in Bristol, whose brightly painted houses suggested the design. Also influenced, I'm guessing, by Josef Albers' design studies of color and the square shape.

Both Albers were teachers of my mentor Maggi Johnson at Black Mountain.

Angie is a bold designer, rarely testing out ideas on paper, though there's one example here, but much more likely to design directly onto the loom. This stuns the artists of the methodical plan and execute school of weaving.

One slide shows her surrounded by the contents of the studio disposed of by weaver Jason Collingwood when he gave up weaving. You can see her color sense will take on this huge stash and create wonders.

If she hits a design problem, she doesn't unpick, but solves as she goes, by changing the next decisions to compensate. She's a very painterly worker.

Also a fun speaker, very honest and unsparing with herself and not taking herself seriously. Her work, yes, herself, not so much. 

Here she is

The time was too short to contain her energy. 

If you're unfamiliar with Anni Albers and Josef Albers, check them out. Hugely influential in American fine and applied art, Germany's loss after the Bauhaus artists had to flee Nazism in the 1930s.  

They taught at the experimental Black Mountain College; many American artists studied there and went in to spectacular careers in the art world. Both of them had huge exhibits,  at the Guggenheim and MoMA among other galleries.

If you check them out you'll see their influence on Angie Parker's work.

Meanwhile back on earth, the Sock Ministry is tripping along, socking the patriarchy, one sock at a time

And here we are.

Happy day! 

Sometimes social media works

Monday, Monday, and here's what greeted me in my early morning Twitter timeline.

Just a gentle reminder that Twitter is about choosing your company, taking care of your friends, responding to good thoughts with good thoughts. And learning how to curate your timeline to be a daily source of peace and hope. 

Meanwhile back at the ranch, the ginger plant was showing signs of aging.

Yellowing foliage, looking tired.

So I tipped out the plant

See the exhausted root top left, and the harvest in the foreground. The root explains why the foliage was waning, no more nutrition.

And here's the harvest ready to be peeled, diced and frozen to go with the ginger already in the freezer.

Later I'll start another root. For now I have enough ginger to be going on with.

Now praying for the Russian people, as well as the Ukrainian besieged population. The ordinary people are intermarried with Ukrainians, are being lied to, their access to media totally censored. 

Many don't believe what their Ukrainian relatives are telling them, no idea of the magnitude of the attack. And now they're suffering hardship, food shortages,  cash access curtailed. They never asked for this.

One man, with the assistance of corrupt foreign leaders, has got us here. I'm profoundly grateful that he failed to get TFG into a second term, so there's that.

Sunday, Sunday

You know you lead a quiet life when the day of the week that you are not  scheduled for one of your regular medicines, the six days a week, never on Sunday, one, feels like a day off!

But art is always there, and some lovely things are happening to support Ukraine.

Never doubt that art helps. It feeds the spirits, and that can make all the difference to a people under siege. And to their supporters.

Dave Flitcroft, who painted the sunflowers, plans to sell his current series to benefit refugees from Ukraine.

Meanwhile, chop wood, carry water.

Yesterday's broth, involving vegetable trimmings and chicken bones, soup makings waiting in the background

ended up in this butternut squash, cashew, carrot, macaroni soup

One bowl is a full meal, so filling. The curry leaf sprig does more than decorate. As soon as it touches the hot soup, it gives off a wonderful scent and flavor to it. No need to cook it in. Same with the Thai basil. Same sprig now resting on the next bowl, for today.

General rejoicing outside, too, when the squash seeds were spotted this morning by Butternut Boy and his squirrel friends.

Meanwhile, the spiral socks being near the toe shaping, which needs counting, I knew I couldn't work on them while chatting at the knitting group.  So meanwhile I cast on another pair, different pattern, Sock Ministry Pair Four, to do at the group.

Here's the start, different color way, change of pace.

And as of this morning, couldn't stop striping yesterday, here we are

This design has a different heel, more review needed. I've knitted them before, ages ago, see old photos

The bottom ones went to a friend, and the others I wore till they couldn't be mended further, then cut them back for fingerless gloves which I still wear.

I guess I can figure out the confusing instructions again. Sometimes patterns don't make sense till you're in the midst, then you get it. Anyway that's today's plan.

And about trying to stay calm and centered, in tragic times, I found a great piece of advice: 

imagine a pond, and your feelings are fish. Try to be the pond, not the fish.

I'm definitely taking this on board.

Misfits box, and a knitting planner par excellence

Yesterday was the day for the Misfits small box, which I ordered on the "wrong" week, to fill out the gaps from the last, unsuccesful, box, and it arrived as scheduled,  phew.

So we're all up to date. Such a good feeling, all stocked up on excellent food.

Speaking of excellent, look at this thing of beauty

This is the planning for a temperature blanket, by the leader of the knitting group. By profession she's a reference librarian, can you tell? 

The concept of the temp blanket or scarf is to knit two rows per day, in colors pre-decided to represent the day's average temperature. It makes a great design as the days unfold.

It also requires an enormous range of yarn colors in small quantities, which is why I probably will never make one.

This set-up by Meg is a thing of beauty, just look at the care and color range, all yarn  names and numbers noted and sampled,  then overleaf her project notes.  She's currently up to this week on the knitting. 

She keeps other pattern notes in the same planner, because her projects often involve stitch patterns that just need a reminder to stay on track.

This kind of linear thinking is so far from my own spontaneous approach, and I really enjoy seeing it, very different. 

So I thought I'd share it.

Ukraine's suffering is still on the minds of us all.

Just this

 

Swings and roundabouts

You know the fairground expression, what you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts.

This has been a week of swings, mainly, what with the tax hurry up and refile, the Misfits mishaps, the cable snafu, and today has continued the trend.

Knitting happily away, ready to start a new skein of grey when the old one ran out I found that I didn't have one. All used up. 

Here auditioning a candidate for the section between here and the toe. 

I'll have to do a design dance to finish the pair still looking like a pair.  They don't have to match, just look as if they belong.

Then I thought I'd finish up this year's tax return and found yay, it was completed, only needed scanning and printing.

I got all the scanning done and , after one page, the printer refused to function, despite all my workarounds.  So I did backups, via phone pix and scanner, and mailed the return.

I'd forgotten to bring out the paper recycling when I went to the mailbox, so I went back with the recycling container to empty it into the recycling dumpster. Whose lid came down, knocking the container out of my hand and into the depths of the empty dumpster. 

Back home again for something to fish it out with, came back with a gardening rake, managed to retrieve the container and thought I'd check the incoming mail while I was there.

And found a letter from the IRS, billing me for a large sum. Payable by March 14, daily interest accruing. Evidently the letter last week instructing me to refile to claim a credit didn't apply to my case. I had wondered how it was owed. 

So, a whole series of adventures on swings.

But then, balance restored with these wonderful roundabouts, starting with another item in the mail, from dear honorary granddaughter Heather

Dyed silkworm cases, mounted on beautiful deckled heavy art paper. From a weaving studio and shop in Vancouver, on her recent visit. The texture alone is worth feeling and studying. 

Then lunch was potato celery soup flavored with Thai basil

Dessert was dates from this beautifully designed box

Equilibrium is now restored chez Boud.

Still high anxiety around Ukraine.

Pancakes and Misfits, The Saga Continues

Handsome Son was planning a visit anyway yesterday, so I seized the day and made us pancakes. Served with choice of honey, lemon juice and sugar. 

We demolished a stack. With copious amounts of tea. He had forgotten about pancakes so he really enjoyed them. And we had a great visit, he strongly encouraging me to stay away from violent images in social media about the Putin invasion. 

He's very aware of the PTSD this awakens in a person who was a child in Europe in ww2, and an adult in Europe, living in the twenty minute nuclear warning zone during the Cuban missile crisis. And a person who had to take to her bed when Bush the Second launched the attack on Iraq, after catching a glimpse of the rockets launched onto civilians.

He's encouraging about the Sock Ministry, as an antidote, all in all, helpful. 

Shortly after he left, a thump on the front steps, and the long lost Misfits box appeared. The one that, after sending delay update after delay update, FedEx finally swore up and down they'd already delivered last Friday.

It bore the signs of a box which had been sitting on a loading bay for days, freezer block completely thawed

Salad produce, some fruit,  rotten or dried out and yellow. 

The pantry items and sturdier vegetables were fine, fortunately, the weather had been cold, so it was not a total loss.

 I informed Misfits, guessing that the fire they lit under the shipper had triggered a search and finally a delivery. Up to them now what they do about the already processed refund. My friend Mason will no doubt let me know.

Meanwhile, the good thing was that I was still in the window to edit the new box I'd ordered, to remove duplicates, reducing it to a small box, barely above the minimum required.

This has been an exciting week.. but we still got our unboxing. And another on Friday, all being well.

Now I can make the planned carrot cashew and butternut soup, and celery and potato soup, and roast the Brussels sprouts, and generally resume the regularly scheduled program.

To be fair, this was the shipper's fault, not Misfits, and the first real problem in nearly two years of biweekly deliveries.  one bad experience  in about 42 boxes. Upsetting at the time, but not a regular feature.

Clearly having food in the house has improved my mood, funny how that works.

Still heavy news from Ukraine, cities attacked. War crimes.

Knit on, pray on, donate on, friends. Thankful the US has a real President now, and strong trustworthy women in power. 

Historic pictures from the State of the Union address, first day of women's history month, first ever female Speaker and WOC  Vice President flanking the President. Two out of three. Getting there. Finally.

White rabbits! Happy St David's Day

Either time's speeding up or I'm slowing down, either way

White rabbits!

Happy St David's Day, note the leeks and daffodils

Happy printmaking March, from my maker's calendar

I got a shout-out from the convent I'm doing the socks for

No need, but very nice anyway.

And here's Sock One of Pair Three, various views

Meanwhile Ukraine is holding on, despite ferocious fire power from the Russian madman, and we honor their dignity and art, along with Maggie Rudy