Ran into the folks from Tregellys Farm last week -- hadn't realized he'd retired from weaving a few year back (knee injury while out on a photoshoot). They have someone who wants to use the space for their work, so they're selling all the yarns still left, bookshelves, display cases, and one loom. The loom is worth $36K and he's selling it for only $5K, but it's too much loom for me, at 12' wide. Also, I'm not much into something that requires power, which of course it requires some for the shuttles (old tech solution would be a couple of people, one at either side of the loom). Anyway, we went up Sunday and picked up a bunch of the yarn, as well as a few books, and chatted a bit.

Weather is good today and at least warm for the next several. All of this coming Saturday and half of Sunday will be lost to kung fu workshops -- which have their own merit but won't do much for the garden. Going out to pot a couple Ginger up. The cold weather has been harder on them than last year. Going to try to put some into cool dark storage; hopefully it'll work.

Left foot still bothering me. This is 5th week since returning to kung fu classes; not too bad, although I'm not back up to 3 classes per week yet, and may not be for some time. Still working on lots of other things to do with posture, stability, etc. Turmeric is my new friend.

Missing some kung fu classes - been low energy in some ways lately. Asthma and allergies are kicking my butt this autumn. Happily, have enough energy to do some weaving, and have been getting some things done.

Does anyone on my F-list know about the women's shoes offered at River Junction?

Ladies Shoes at River Junction

I'm inclined toward the hi-top boots, as they have a wider heel and seem to be the only ones that come in wide sizes, but are they period appropriate?

I'm thinking of putting something together for a spinning/fiber arts demo at the historical society in town, so work shoes are more appropriate than the really fancy shoes, but... decidedly not my area of expertise!

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I'm also debating just getting an outfit from then, even though I'd prefer it in linen -- seems like cotton was popular in the 19th century....


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Last, if I wanted to do an 18th century outfit -- ca. 1765-1790s, does anyone have recommendations for footwear, etc. resources?

Thank you!

Almost finished warping the loom last night. Will finish this morning and start weaving.


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daurdabla posted a link to news we don't see in the headlines here in the U.S.... here's one of the articles:

Europe Blocks U.S. Toxic Products

Was poking around at Kult of Athena and thought I'd see if they had a scabbard that would fit the sword I already have, but no luck. The one that comes closest is the scabbard for LoTR Sting blade (too short and fantasy besides). If they sold gladius scabbards I'd be all set, because even though the hilt is a medieval style the blade length is more like a gladius.

Of the swords they carry, I like the Roman Spathas but of course since I don't have a horse that would be a bit silly. The Mainz style gladii are pretty, though of course my tastes run toward the more expensive ones. This one is acceptable, this one is nice but maybe a little heavy.

Now, the Hanwei gladius is a nice-looking one and there are oak leaves on the scabbard. And then, there's the one by Albion. Oy. Completely worthy of the price of course. But I should be saving my dollars for other things.


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Speaking of other things, my MIL, with help from my SIL Doris, rearranged her room and didn't need a turning clothes-hanging rack any more, so I brought it upstairs. I'll be using it to hang various fiber and clothing projects from, so things have been getting moved about. A cabinet that no longer fits in the textile room is now in the living room, where L has installed the tv et al in it. The thing the tv was on will likely go out to the barn, although at the moment it's still sitting in the living room. More sorting, moving and hanging up of stuff to come.

First thing this morning, got my plane ticket online for going out to CA at the end of the month (niece Annie's graduating from high school, and haven't seen my family for some years).

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Bought 4 trees - 2 Macoun apples, 1 Cortland apple, 1 Summer Beaut Nectarine -- all dwarfs.

The Macoun and Cortland are both excellent for eating fresh and for cooking and canning. The Macoun is additionally supposed to be good for drying, and the Cortland as a winter storage apple. The Summer Beaut is said to be good both fresh and canned. No fruit for a few years of course, but something to look forward to... meantime, I have my eye on a wild apple tree up toward Beldingville Rd.... might be able to do some harvesting there this year ;)

The existing fruit tree (Marian thinks it's a peach, but I'm wondering if it's a plum...) is doing a little better this year, and will fare even better when the black walnut near it is taken down -- which will happen after the first haying later this summer. It seems to have had at least a little fruit, as there were a couple of baby trees nearby that looked related. L rescued them from being mowed, and we'll plant one in a safer place to see what it looks like as it gets older.

Also got strawberries -- I forget the name of the variety but it's an early/mid season berry and supposed to be good for northern climates.

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Stopped in at Awen Tree a half hour after it was supposed to have opened but no one was there. L has a doctor's appt. later this week, so we'll try again then.

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Then off to Webs, where we ran into islenskr and countessinn -- not completely unexpected, but nice that we ended up being there at the same time. Picked up some Icelandic sock yarn from a local producer, Maggie's Farm. L got 2 skeins of cream/tan-colored yarn from them and I got one off-white and one black.

Nothing appealed to us in the outdoor tent this time, but we found some more sock yarn in back that we liked, and some more Shetland for weaving, in flecked shades of warm-yet-slatey-blues. The latter had been 13.99 and discountable, but had been marked down to $15/cone, which was even better, since each cone weighs around 2 lbs. or so.

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Then back up to Ashfield to see if there were any plants left at the 1st Congo's plant sale -- there were, but nothing I was interested in. At some point I may pick up some herbs from the hardware store though, to add to the collection.

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Mary and Peggy, two of the people who helped at lot during sugaring season, were working on their garden plot at the farm. William had done a bit more planting himself. I dug most of the walking trench I needed next to where the strawberries will be going -- the trench is sort of a combination of creating a raised bed and being a small water catchment system, like a mini-swale. Once everything's in it'll all be covered in hay chaff, trenches and all. Took a break to get some ibuprofen for the shoulder/arm and get some water, then came out and did some more digging. L had some things to do here and there, but dug a hole for one of the apple trees by where the big fir used to be -- had to get an ax to chop the old roots out of the space. I dug a hole for a second tree, and William created a bit of chaos by coming up to till some parts of the garden again -- he ended up re-doing our long stretch for the oats and flax because in his efforts to work on where he's going to plant corn he compressed some of the long stretch. It's been interesting figuring out who's doing what this year....

Oh, plus he decided he doesn't want to grow squash this year so, if I haven't killed some of the seedlings by forgetting about them this week, I should have some extras to go in other people's gardens.

L is determined to start sowing oats tomorrow. I'll be putting in the strawberries and hopefully some seeds. And maybe some squash and pumpkins too. I need to put in as much as I can as quickly as possible now, so I know if we need to put anything in the side garden. Hopefully not, so that we can let etainmbw and her mom Patricia use the space. At worst though, I think I'll only need to put the green and wax beans down there.

But of course, we need to put the rest of the trees in as well, so we'll see how far we get. At the moment, I'm happy to be doing nothing of note....

Finally got back into weaving over the past several days, on the small floor loom. Had a couple of glitches in the warp I had to fix first -- a few threads that were twisted around each other, preventing one from going up when it needed to (they were on separate harnesses), and one that broke. The first was mildly annoying, the second more so, as it meant I had to advance the warp, losing some of what I could have been weaving on. I'd given myself an extra yard on the warp length, but advancing nearly half that could make the weaving at the end a little more interesting than I'd like.

With some warp you can leave the knot in the playing field for a bit, but this is very heavy yarn, so the knot was getting caught in the beater. I tried moving the beater a couple of times, and broke the thread again. So, repair and advance.

Current projects are new Crane bags for me and L. Threading pattern is for 2-2 twill. Basically the weft (horizontal threads) alternates crossing over two warp threads and then under two, all the way across. The pattern is set so that as you raise and lower the different harnesses, this process gets bumped over one space, so that you create parallel diagonal lines across the fabric you're weaving. The warp shows through rather distinctively in 2-2 twill, both color-wise and texture-wise. In some weaves you don't really see the warp (called weft-face fabric), and the texture is that the lines alternate being higher and lower.

These are going to be pretty bold-looking bags, for sure. My shoulder strap is blue w/hints of purple and some of the red warp showing through, L's is red on red. For consistency the warp for the body of the bags is of the same rust red as was used for the straps. But in addition to being a 2-2 twill, I'm also using two colors for the weft, in a pattern of 2 rows of one color and one of the other. The effect is a predominance of one color alternating with diagonal stripes of the red warp, but with a hint of the other color as accent.

Now, originally the bags were only going to have two colors, and of course my life would have been much simpler. But during the move the weft yarns we'd bought went missing, and eventually we went and bought new -- and then I found the previous yarns. Which, as it turns out, were not the same as what we'd chosen before. L suggested mixing the two, and while I wouldn't do it on something made for sale (how many people would appreciate the increased difficulty and increased time spent?), for personal use I was willing to give it a go.

I wove mine first, figuring I'd work out the bugs on mine before doing L's. It might have been wiser to do it in the other order as it turns out :D My two weft yarns are close enough in tone/color that if I lost track of what I was doing, I didn't always know if I'd thrown the 1-row color once or twice. One is the same as the strap, blue w/hints of medium lavendar-purple. The other is blue with bits of green. The two blue parts blend quite nicely, thanks. L's is working out much more smoothly, as his two weft yarns are emerald/forest green, and navy.

Since one shuttle goes back and forth, it always ends up on the same side (except when you're introducing something fiddly into the pattern, which of course I did a few times), so overall one shuttle isn't much trouble. The other needs keeping track of.

Remember how the pattern moves over one, to create the diagonal? Well, the 1-row shuttle does the same thing to the number row in the pattern, as to which color is being used for that row.

It's a simple pattern:
1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.

This is how it works with two colors:
1b, 2g, 3g, 4b, 1g, 2g, 3b, 4g, 1g, 2b, 3g, 4g

So, you go through the pattern three times before the blue weft end up back in the first row of the 4-row pattern.

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The bags have a flap closure, so I had some fun with changing patterns. On the flap I do the straight 2-color 2-2 twill for a bit, then introduce a line of mustard or ochre yarn, then a bit of the first, then another line of the mustard, then back to the first pattern.

The mustard yarn is thinner than the other weft yarns but I wanted to bulk it out to be more prominent. If I'd had two cones of the color I could have wound two parallel/twisted onto the bobbins, but I don't. So I shot the yarn across, beat it down but left the shed open, looped it around one of the end warp threads and then shot it back and beat again. _Then_ I changed the shed to the next row in the pattern.

In the band I created on the flap with the two ochre lines I'll be doing some embroidery. I'll at least put in the Awen symbol, and maybe some other things... or not. This has been a rather fluid process in some respects ;) I had toyed with weaving in a pattern, but I really don't know much about picking, so decided against it.

I continued with the original pattern over the top and down the back and bottom of the body, then changed pattern for the front. Here, I've alternated going forward 3 repetitions of the pattern and then reversing for 3 reps. This creates a zigzag going up the front of the body. Just another accent to the piece :)

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One challenge with using more than one color is that you don't cut off the ends of the weft each time you switch - this adds unnecessary bulk and wastes time. You just leave the shuttle waiting at one end until it's time to use it again. Sort of. See, there's little loops that form on the edge, if you let them. Also, because the direction the shuttle is coming from isn't always in complete accord with what the warp wants, you can end up with an end warp thread that has no weft on it -- this will also happen in any twill pattern in which you have to reverse the pattern, like a diamond twill, for instance. One way to avoid this is to have a selvage (and edge that's even weave). Another is to have floater warp threads on either side of the weaving. I've never had much use for selvages in general, and I can't stand the floaters, so I chose a third option. I loop the shuttle over/under (whichever's needed) the end warp thread that would be passed over in the pattern, and _then_ shoot the shuttle the rest of the way across.

That takes care of the warp thread problem, but not the two weft threads problem. For them, whenever both shuttle are on the same end of the weaving, I shuffle them around each other once, to intertwine them. They help to hold each other in place this way, quite nicely. It's a slightly fussy move at first, but then you get the hang of it. And it's only necessary for some rows, not all. Sometimes I can just place the one I was just using down but forward of the other and pick the other up, and this automatically twines them, just enough.

The motion is a bit like water travelling down a stream, or the tide coming in at the shore. People who haven't really looked at water in motion probably think that streams in particular only go in one direction. But of course there are obstacles -- rocks, a curved bank, sticks and leaves. Watch water sometime, when it comes against a stone. You'll see quite a bit of it curl under, down, and backward against the flow, before it can continue on its journey further along its watery path.

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Life is like that too. Sometimes it seems that we're going backward even when we're actually trying to go forward. An obstacle to our personal progress, be it financial, physical, spiritual, or some combination thereof, looms in the path. Perhaps, like a stream, it may be needful to rest a while in an eddy. Take time to rest, to build up strength, to study and learn, to meditate and pray. Then insight lights the way to the path around or through the obstacle, or perhaps like a leaf the obstacle is simply no longer there. Sometimes it simply isn't time to move 'forward', or whatever one's every day perception of forward may be. And eventually, you get there.

It's been snowing all morning, although we've switched to mixed snow/sleet. Forecast is for changing to rain later. But for now, we have between 2 and 3 inches of the stuff; I could feel the land relaxing and the trees finally start to slip into a deeper sleep. Let's hope they get to keep some of the snow on them, even though the roads will no doubt be clear by tonight.

I had originally thought I wouldn't be able to do much outside, but it really isn't that bad out temperature-wise -- no wind helps! So, brought a couple of things down from the apt. to the barn, moved some things around in there, managed to uncover the two white bookcases I want brought up to the apt. at some point, brought a couple of small things up from the sugarhouse to the barn, moved a few things around in the sugarhouse as well, and brought up a small table, some class notes from Hrim Schola, and a print that I'd been wondering where it was.

Got a call from Dr. Drinker's secretary and returned her call -- she was trying to verify some stuff. I asked her about whether or not taking painkillers was okay before surgery because one of the nurses mentioned it last Thursday. Sigh. Apparently you're not supposed to take any for 7-10 days before surgery (blood thinners). I haven't taken ibuprofen every day, but have taken some. So, she's going to check it out with the doc but thinks it should be okay. Meantime, none today obviously. Yay.

Currently scheduled for surgery at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow, with arrival at 7:00 a.m. for meetings with doc and anesthetist and prep work. Will get call sometime after 3:30 p.m. today for confirmation.

Got the floor loom warped finally, but can't find the weft yarns. Guess that's a rehab project. fitzw said maybe he'd be doing the weaving, once we find the yarn; we'll see what happens. I had some ideas I wanted to play with, but I was going to have to actually be weaving to see what I wanted to do. Some plans are great in theory, but not in practice, and that applies to weave designs too.

Meantime, have to sew our winter druid robes (almost entirely by machine because of time constraints), unpack some more boxes, hang some more pictures, and generally tidy up. I'm rather keen to have cleared floor spaces as I sometimes bobble when dodging a box, and bump the wall with one shoulder or the other. Would _really_ rather not do that with the right shoulder! Oh, and hopefully I can make some soup today too, enough for a second or third meal. We have oatmeal, frozen and canned stuff, and there's always sandwiches, but some homemade soup might be nice too. L will definitely be getting some practice cooking, but since he'll be doing most everything else as well for a while, it would be nice if some of the cooking was easy.

Ah yes, I need to at least draw the straight lines on my submission for one of JMG's projects. The painting I'm not as worried about, but straight lines are hard enough to draw with a ruler, nevermind freehand. And I need to put all the painting projects in an easy-to-get-at area, so I can keep working. I have a project or three that I'd like to get done this winter.

Saw the orthopedic surgeon this morning. Because the last shot improved things for a while, but now things are starting to return to their previous state, this means apparently that there is a tear of the labrum, a lip of connective tissue where the shoulder ligaments connect to the edge of the socket that holds the ball of the upper arm bone into the socket of the shoulder blade (definition compliments of Univ. Sport Medicine page in Buffalo, NY).

Sigh.

So, they're going to see about getting insurance approval for an MRI, and then we'll schedule an MRI. It's quite likely they won't be able to the damage or much of it, because the connective tissue will be right up against the ligaments, etc., but they have to try. I'll be getting a shot of stuff to help light things up, as it were, before the MRI. Yay.

Then a consultative meeting in later October to see what the MRI says, and arrange for surgery, etc. Yes, I know, I know. Surgery is no fun, and recuperation to even semi-usefulness will take months. Full recovery will take a year. Yes, it will be extremely inconvenient -- there's never a good time for this sort of procedure, not if you're a busy/crafty/hands-on kind of person like me.

But what's the other choice? Not having the surgery means I'll have to take anti-inflammatories every time I weave for more then an hour, or want to garden or move things or paint or biking up hills..... and some things would be off-limits forever, like archery, fighting, or doing medium-to-deep-tissue massage for more than 20 minutes, or regular relation massage for more than a couple of hours. Depending on who you are and what you do on a regular basis, this type of injury, and even the acromion hook, can be lived with indefinitely. I'm just not one of those people.

[EDIT: That should be "relaxation massage", not "relation massage". I'm NOT that kind of massage therapist, thank you.]

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Ah well, on to something more fun -- Weaving! The table loom is warped up once again, and I've started working on another scarf as of last night. It's a finer gauge of yarn than the Shetland, and a touch softer too, but I'm getting the feel for it. I should be able to turn out at least a couple more scarves by next weekend, hopefully up to five of them. We'll see, since I'm supposed to be finishing a painting as well :D

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Termites taken care of as of yesterday. Electricians are here today to replace some wiring in the back basement's exit area. Yay!

Saturday L got lots of work done on one of the front upstairs rooms -- wallpaper and paint are all gone, and most of the plaster patching and mudding done. I packed up some more stuff here and there, tossed a few things, recycled a few things, put other stuff where it belonged. Also did some weaving here and there.

We finished the last HP book at about 4 a.m., Sunday morning. During that time I completed scarf #5 of 5, second set.

We slept in late of course, but had to get up to go to the farm. L did lots of stuff all over the place. I played some cribbage with M, a game of Rummy Cube when L and W came in for a break. Then I followed them out to help in the middle barn. They were going to work on making a new wall, to extend the space for the chickens, because W is getting some more chickens in soon. But there was still stuff that needed to be cleared out of the construction space, so I helped with that. Shoulder held up pretty well, and I got out a bunch of old chaff on the floor, some old boxes and insulation (no good for re-use, trust me), and re-stacked some things.

The barn is huge and used for a lot of different things, and storage is one of them. Farm stuff, various family members' stuff, things that work, things that don't work but have parts that can be used for things that work, supplies for roof repairs, etc.

The room we were working in is below the hay storage floors and loading platform floor. Chaff has a way of working its way through any opening, and the barn is by no means airtight -- that would be a bad thing, I think, since there's no AC or heating in the barn, so the building needs to be able to breathe. I suppose one of the things I'll be doing, once we're up in Ashfield full-time, is to do a bit of cleaning from time to time, just to keep things manageable.

So, not much wall construction got done, but there's more than enough space for the building to happen, as a lot of the cleaning I did was past the construction area.

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Monday

Starting to weave the last bit of the current warp; should be able to get enough for a bag/purse.

Need to make a few more Bergental baldrics, to try to make sure we have enough for the fencers, archers, CA, siege, water bearers/first aiders.

Read/study.