Spring and sprang

For a few years, I have lusted over this craft called "sprang", which is pronounced "sprong".

It predates knitting and is usually done on a wooden frame of some sort.

But it has been used in weaving, and the photos I saw of it were so intriguing I knew that I had to try it someday.

So last month, I took the plunge.   

Setting it up was easier than I thought, but the actual doing the sprang motifs was

a lot harder.

I put on too much warp, as usual.

And after I had played with this for a week, I was of two minds.

On one hand I was THRILLED that I had mastered it (somewhat).

On the other hand, I was quite positive that I didn't want to do it any more.

One of the perks of getting older is being smart enough, IMHO, to recognize when

you are done with something, and to be able to gleefully put it aside.

And I did.

I quite gladly cut that warp off the loom, and put another one right on.

Then I started weaving what makes me happy.

Then I hit up my scrap stash of handwovens, and made this vest, which also made me

very happy.

There is really no reason to do things that make you unhappy, if you don't really 

have to.

My feeling is that at my age, time is short, there are no two ways about it.

So I do what I want.

I also amused myself outside.  Years ago, there was an old whetstone behind the old barn.

The wooden parts of it had rotted, but the whetstone itself was intact.

I have always wanted to do something with it.

So I found this old metal frame, that I have used over plants when they are small, 

and in danger of being mowed over, and put the whetstone on top of it.

Right now there is a shallow bowl on top of it for the birds to bathe in or drink from.

But in the winter it will be a bird "charcuterie" board.

It makes me laugh just to say that.

But can't you see it with birdseed, and maybe some fruit and nuts on it, 

on a snowy day???

I wish I could set up a camera......I have to think on that .

I gave up my big vegetable garden, but I kept my garlic bed, and it never fails to 

please.

My yard is a sanctuary, and when I need it, it's there.

I need it often.

                I was walking the labyrinth the other day, and thought back to when I built it.

My grandsons were 8 and 11.  

Today they are 25 and 27.

How time flies by.

The youngest told me then that it was where you find the center of your heart.  I will never forget him saying that to me.

It's part of what makes it so special.  

I think you have to go there often.  The center of one's heart is an elusive thing.

Later then.

There you have it.

I have to say that sometimes this getting old stuff is over the top annoying.

As I am sure some of will agree.

Had two laser surgeries, as I said last time, and there is still some blob of goop in my eye, 

obscuring my vision.  I go for my recheck on Wednesday.

Can't wait to hear that news.

Back to the laser lab???  Who the hell knows.

My toes are still super painful and I am limping like an old lady.

But then again, lately I feel like one.

My shoulder has been miserable and aching on and off for months.  I finally went to 

ortho, who informed me that, contrary to what I expected, I did not have arthritis in my shoulder.

Worse perhaps.  I  have small tears in my rotator cuff.  Apparently as you age, your tendons 

get weak, and that results in damage to other things.

When I explained what I do every day,  I was informed that to help it to get better, I needed to stop doing what aggravated it.

You know the rest of this story, right????

So I am amusing myself away from the loom.

One of the things that I have come up with is this.  Since I have to slow down my weaving, why not look at it from another angle.

Oh, snap.

Here is my brainstorm.

CRAZY AS A LOOM EGG TOWEL KIT

All the colors you need to make four gorgeous egg towels

16 harness loom required

Instructions plus wif file

For the egg draft

$140 plus shipping

Getting them together now

So order early!

I have already started winding cones, and think that this might actually be fun.

I am thinking about how sometimes change can really throw you for a loop.

But other times, change allows you to step back, and see other doors, ones you may not even have thought of.

Back in 2012-13, when I had my head rearranged and my neck fused, I had to make changes. I went from a full tilt rug weaving business, to weaving fine threads, clothing, dish towels, linens, textiles for the home. I didn't know if I could do it. But I also didn't have any choice.

And here I am, all these years later, and I have loved what my weaving studio has turned into, and how it has sustained me.

So now, as I get older, and my body decides not to be the body I used to have, I have to adjust, once again.

Should I just throw in the towel, or should I stand back, and see what appears.

I think you know what I'll do.

and so do I.

Little of this, and that

It's been an interesting spring so far.

I noticed that my vision was suddenly not so great, so I made an appointment with a local opthamalogist.  I usually go to Albany, but I thought maybe it would be a treat not to have to drive so far.

I saw her, and she said I had a secondary cataract, and that laser treatment would fix it, basically clean up the foggy lens.

So I agreed, and 2 weeks later, (end of March) I had it done.

Since them I have this gob of goo in my eye.   It feels like that, and it looks like that.

When I went back for my 2 week recheck, I told her about it, and she said it was just debris, and it would go away.  No worries.

Finally after 6 weeks, I decided to get another opinion.  

So I went back to my original opthamalogist in Albany.

He identified the problem in about 10 seconds.   I have a piece of scar tissue that is "tethered", and every time I blink, it flicks across my vision like a white blob.

To say that it's annoying does not really cover it.

Anyway, I'm having my original doctor take care of it ....laser surgery Tuesday.

I can't wait.

In other news, I am weaving, though not as much.  My body seems to tell me after a while, that it's time to do something else.  So I listen.  I don't like it.  But I listen.

I spend so much time at the loom every morning, then reluctantly move on to something else.

I am also winding warps for future projects, I do them in increments, at my body's request; to date I think I have 6 ahead, kind of a nice feeling to have them all wound and ready for me.

Two days ago, I was in the  front bedroom which I use for yarn storage, and it's also my

winding station.   I reached up to pull the chain to turn the fan on.

When I did, the globe covering the light crashed down and landed on my 3rd and 4th toes left foot.  I screamed.  It hurt soooooooo bad.

The globe was large, and very heavy.  I am just so lucky it did not hit me in the head.

My toes are huge, and purply/black, and very painful.

I am hobbling around, and other than sandals, I can only go barefoot. 

I am currently taking my leisure on the screen porch, with the NY Times crossword, and a new book.

I try very hard to "stay in the day", and just do the best I can in this day.

 What a way to get slowed down.

I have also been reading a couple of my mother's diaries.  She wrote in one almost every day for over 30 years.

Some of her musings are  good lessons for anyone; especially the ones in which she felt very sorry for herself, or she perceived that if someone wasn't in constant communication that she wasn't valued.   She tended to imagine slights, where none were intended.  

As I get older, and I'm living alone, not excactly close in proximity to my children, I find it would be very easy to slip into that same thinking.

She reminded me today, that my life is mine, and eveyone else has their own.

You make the best of the one you have, and you don't depend on family or friends to give meaning to it.

I hope that doesn't sound maudlin, but I think it's true.

Yard chores are daunting this time of year, when everything is getting green at once.

I have a list on the kitchen counter, and I cross them off one at a time.

I tell myself that old line, " How do you eat an elephant?  one bite at a time."

That's how I live my life these days.

And grateful I am to do it.

EGGS!

I've been keeping busy, as I always do.   I've done some basic weaving classes, in my new 

class space.   

It used to be my retail space years ago, and then turned into storage for all my "thread", 

until a few weeks ago, when I decided it was time for a huge downsize.

It will  now perfectly  house three students, two  on Wolf Pup looms, and one on a Baby Wolf.  

The light in the morning is great, and when it gets a bit dimmer in the afternoon, I have some great new lighting.  

It has worked out perfectly, and turned out to be a much better idea than the one 

I was toying with, which was to move the whole classroom upstairs.

Sometimes, I find it is best to let a new idea ferment for a while.  I have to resist being

impulsive and getting on with things, like I am wont to do.

I have found, that sitting with an idea, sometimes evolves into something else entirely, and usually it is better.

Like not running up and down the stairs to attend to students.

I found time to get the screen porch ready for summer.  It's amazing how much grit and dirt accumulate over the winter. 

But everything is washed and clean, and ready for book reading and ice tea afternoons.

"The park" which is what my late husband called our expansive back yard, will be

a lot prettier once the trees leaf out.

You remember when I was not so long ago transfixed with the different colors of 

eggs, from different breeds of chickens.  I was intent on interpreting that somehow into my weaving.

So I  did finally make some dish towels, that I tagged as "egg towels", and they flew right out of the studio.  Everyone loved them.

  I used a draft with big squares, and it looked great.

But I kept thinking that I could do better.  An idea began blooming in my head, and I couldn't 

seem to get rid of it.

So here's a new warp going on the Megado, using the AVL warping wheel.

After two days of laboring over it, here's the warp, on the back beam looking very pretty, and very organized, if I do say so.

Threaded and sleyed, and tied on.  Ready for the big reveal.    I spent a lot of time at the computer, getting the draft just right, so that the eggs fell into their respective colors exactly.

I was a little obsessed about getting it right.

Yes, me.

I am very, very pleased and satisfied with the results.

They could not be more perfect.

VOILA!!!!!

The Revamped Egg Towels.

So far all 20 on this warp are spoken for.  

I see eggs in my future.

There are way worse things.

God, I love what I do.

Randomly speaking

Yes, this may be random.  Photos and conversation.

It's the best I've got.

Does this not look amazing????

Whenever I have to answer the question "what is your favorite food?"   My answer is always 

SALAD.

And yes, I am aware that it is a weird answer for most.

Finally after what seems like a very long time, my driveway is clear...no ice.  What a relief.

But the snow persists, at least in this part of the north country.

Even though I live alone, I most often cook for myself.   I mean that I don't eat a bowl of cereal for dinner.

This is a tofu stir fry that I love.

Towel production continues...........

Maybe it's because it's almost spring, or maybe something else, but I have been in a purging mood.

I used to use this hall area as my retail space, but to be honest, I don't really do much retail in house anymore, and for some reason, it totally bothered me.

Clutter.

It made my brain ache.

So I moved stuff, I organized, I got rid of stuff on FB marketplace,

I streamlined, downsized, and now the hall way is going to be my 

weaving workshop area.  

There is plenty of room for two, even three small looms, and the light is 

perfect.

I know you've probably seen my "Naya" cloaks before.  I've been making them for a few

years now.   It is a long sleevelss cloak that can be worn short or long.

Today, my part apprentice, Tatiana, wore the one that I helped her make, from

the yardage she wove here at the studio.

Getting a photo wasn't easy, as she had an admirer.

But I am so impressed with how she wore this piece, and made it 

look like an entirely different piece of clothing.

I love it, and I love her style.

I may need her to model it this way at the guild show in November.

It is sure to be a hit!!!

So I'm keeping busy, trying to stay hopeful in this crazy new world.

Doing what I do best, and keeping my head down.

And weaving, of course.

Another start

It's only another start if you consider that your birthday ends one year, and starts another.

I have now reached the ripe old age of 78.   Believe me, it makes one pensive, thinking about  the long life you have lived.

It doesn't seem that long now, but looking back it's been quite a trip.

I wish now that I had journaled from the day I could write.  Wouldn't that be an awesome thing to go back and read what you wrote about your life and your feelings, from your earliest days on this planet.

I love that I have blogged all these years, since 2007. 

 If my daughters ask about a particular event, or question when something occurred, I say, "Let me look back in my blog, and I'll tell you."

I think I have mentioned before that my mother had a diary from the 1980's, til her death in 2013.  Unfortunately, her entries were shallow at best;  what she ate, where she went, who she talked to, what time she went to bed.

Only once did I read that she was "mad as hell".....otherwise, from all her journaling efforts, you would never know how she really felt about anything, nor would you know what her opinion was.

That has always made me sad.  I think that she really had so much more to say.

On the other hand, I have been very vocal and sometimes bluntly open and honest here, and I wouldn't have it any other way.  I do try not to rage, but you probably all know where I stand on most things.

I have also dug deep, 

Sometimes, revelations have come to me, because I have blogged and dug deep and ripped apart some of my preconceived notions.

It's all been good.

In the studio.........

In between weaving towels, I always go back to making clothing.

One size pieces, that most anyone can wear.

These next three pieces are jaggerspun lace weight wool warp, with hand dyed banana pearl

weft.

I have made a few "fitted" pieces over the years, and found that they are so 

much more difficult to market, because you have to consider sizing.  

So most of my stuff will pretty much fit anyone.

I do occasionally make some plus sized möbius shawls, and there is always a

market for them.  I am not interested in making several different sizes of the same

thing.

This is a Naya cloak.  I haven't made any of these in a while.

The rest of the photos today are all of "this old house".

I have fashioned a life alone here in the last few years....will be three years in June.

It's not the life I planned, and it's a lot different from the life I left behind.

But it is MY life, and I feel so responsible for making it as good as I can make it.

From my Al-Anon days, I know that I can only do TODAY......and to be clear, if I try to extend my brain and my heart beyond today, I usually get in trouble.

So every morning, I tentatively plan this day.  The one I have.

Some mornings, like the ones in these photos, the sun pours into my house, and I can't imagine a morning without it.

When I find myself  "whinging" about this or that PAIN, or this or that inconvenience,

I try to remember all the people in the world, who do NOT get up to this paradise on earth.

They wake up to horrors that I can not even wrap my head around.

So .....who the hell am I to complain about my lot??????

I  have said it many times, and it bears repeating.........Gratitude is the attitude.  It always is.

Stocking up for next November's guild show is my long term goal.....so every day, I add 

to it.  Towels on both these looms, but warps all ready to go on for clothing.

I heard somewhere that the best way to live your life is to do what you do every day, and 

do the best that you can do.

So that's what I'm doing.

I do need to do some serious cleaning.  I would love to hire someone, but I am trying 

to pay my car off this year, so I am pretty much putting a stop on my spening.

I am also trying to manage my thinking about the climate in this country.   It's not that I 

don't think about it.  I do.  

But I give it so much time in my day, and like spending, I say when it's time to stop the 

wheels from turning.

After all, this is MY life.......and my sanity, my serenity, and I am bound to  protect it.

Here are the crows that come every day.  25 is my last count.

And speaking of this old house, and of blogging, and how they come together in the 

sweetest of ways.

Years ago, another blogger and I connected. 

We have never met in person.

But we have talked none the less.

She also lives in an old house, and she is a talented artist.

Totally out of the blue, she sent me this.

A true gift from her heart to mine.

Old houses:   incredible.

                                                               Blogging:  rewarding

                                                        Making dear friends:  Priceless.

Brain cramp

Can you believe it?  I'm back.

I am pretty settled in my house.......happy to watch the weather from inside.

It's been bitter cold, and we just got a foot of snow.

I had to break down and have the drive way plowed.

Seems like I'm drinking more tea, if that's possible.  I'm up at 6am, and it's dark outside.

My routine is tea and the NY Times crossword, and all the other games I'm addicted to.

Spelling Bee, Strands, Connections, Mini crossword, Wordle, Letter Boxed, and the actual daily crossword.   

By the time it's light, I have finished all those, the tea long gone.

Then it's the shower, and something to eat.

Then it's straight into the studio, for whatever awaits me there.

I just finished this lace weight wool warp, and should have three pieces of clothing

from it.

The fabric has been washed, and is presently hanging to dry.

Hard to believe, but I limit my weaving time.  My shoulders are old, and lately have been talking to me, saying not very nice things.

So I am trying to ease up on them.

It's incredibly difficult to restrain myself.

I usually, actually always, share my methods, my patterns, and anything

else that people ask me for.

Except for this one in the photo below.

Circles.

It is something that I played with and came up with.

Anybody could actually do it, but they don't.

Then they ask me for my "draft".........

And I hate that I feel selfish about it, but I do.

Silly, since I know that if anyone just sat down for a while, if they 

have been weaving any length of time, they could

probably figure it out.

But they don't.

And I did.

And it feels like my baby.

One person on FB even commented that as soon as she saw it, she thought 

"Hilary Cooper".

That made me smile.

So on one hand a voice in my head says I should knock it off,

and share it.

While another says, no, no, it's mine.

 (at least until someone else plots it out)

Who is right????   Me?  Or my conscience?

I promise I won't rant about politics, but I can't promise that I won't bring it up on occasion.

Back when T-rump was first elected, we had a nice Mexican restaurant right down 

the road, the only one in my little town.

He deported most of them, and it closed.

Everyone was upset, they were doing well, and they were hard working, good people.

Fast forward, and another one just opened last fall, even better than the first.

When my daughter and I were in there the other day, the waitress started talking about 

ICE, and how everyone was frightened.

It just infuriates me.

ICE is also yanking the workers out of the farms in my very rural county.  To what end, I ask you.

These people are working they are contributing, they are decent people who want to 

pursue life, liberty and happiness.And this is how we treat them.

I just don't get it.

And one more thing.......you have heard T-rump's plan to change birthright citizenship?

It has always been true, that if a baby was born in this country, they were automatically a 

citizen.

He wants to take that away.

Want to hear something funny?  or not so funny?  depending.

My mother came here from England in 1946 on the first shipload of war brides from England.

My father was in the Navy and they were married in England.

I was born in 1947...yes, I am old.

My mother became a naturalized US citizen.

I was curious, so I went through her box of papers that I still have.

Lo and behold.  

She was not a citizen when I was born.

She didn't become one until I was 2 and a half years old.

So if T-rump is successful, I am not a citizen of this USA, even though I was 

born here, and even though I have lived here all my life.

Now if that doesn't give you pause, please pinch yourself.

And I'll be back soon.

I think I'm on a roll.