Loom pic and moving stuff

fitzw took pics and I've put one up ( here )

We unwound it briefly today to see how much I'd done -- 2 yards. I might have done more if (a) I hadn't had to undo a few rows occasionally, and (b) hadn't run out of blue. But seeing as I still have a couple more yards of warp on there, I'll look for some more material to weave onto the rest of it. It's pretty even width except where I was a little distracted talking to people at the demo, so it's about an 1/8" narrower in that part. Not too bad for not having woven in over 20 years, eh?

I don't know if I would have tackled twill if I hadn't tried out the looms at Old Deerfield during the Franklin County Fiber Twist -- they had some looms set up to do some different even weave patterns and I ended up playing on them a little.... so I could fix the width and tension on them, you understand... anyway, turns out twill isn't so bad to do.

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Warning to folks coming over to our house tomorrow... we're moving things again :) Making more/different space in one of the craft rooms, tv's gone downstairs, as well as the futon sofa, and more!

No Chinese New Year Party This Year

After some consideration and discussion, fitzw and I have decided not to hold a Chinese New Year Party this year. We've been doing it for several years now, sometimes a large party, sometimes small. Always a lot of fun, but also a lot of time and work, and this year we really should be focusing more on farming, training, building, learning.

We will of course still celebrate it privately -- always do! This coming year is the Year of the Red Boar, and starts on Feb. 18 (China)/Feb. 17 (USA). Red is for Fire. The boar (or pig) is the last animal in the 12-year cycle. Then the cycle will start again with the first animal, the Rat.

In general 2007 looks to be a year of doing things steadily. If you're interested in learning more about this year and about Chinese astrology in general, including being able to look up your own particular time/year of birth, this site has all sorts of interesting information and a birth chart generator: http://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/2007.htm

If you just want to look at general fortunes for the upcoming year, go here (they were pretty decent): http://www.chiff.com/a/chinese-horoscopes.htm

or

http://www.chineseastrology.com/wu/pigyear.php is another good one.