Ordinary Time

In October I shared how I decided it was time to jettison most of the homeschooling books so I could use that space in my studio . It felt like a momentous change, and it was. It was ultimately a very good change and I don't miss anything we gave away, nor did any of the children. That was actually just the beginning. In the loft and the toy closet in the loft was another huge amount of both old toys and homeschooling stuff. I decided that I could only emotionally manage one thing at a time, so we stuck to the studio.  The more time I spent in the loft (and I've spent a lot of time there recently because that is where my loom is), the more I thought about what I could do with the space. I knew I was ready to tackle it. I also knew I would need J.'s help so I wouldn't get stuck. Today was the day. I was pretty sure I could manage the toy closet, so we started with that.  The toy closet is where all the picture books live when there season is being stored. I knew without ...

I've been putting this week between Christmas and New Year's to good use. J. is home and there is nothing on the calendar. My goal has been to clear the decks a bit so that I can head into January with fewer projects in various states of completion.  I'll start with the finished projects because that feels more optimistic. First is a skein of yarn that needed to be plyed and had been sitting on one of my spinning wheels for a ridiculous amount of time.  It's the skein on the left. The one on the right I had finished earlier in the year. This will ultimately be a set of four skeins that are a color gradient going from blue to grey. This is obviously the bluer half.  The other big finish is the green scarf that didn't quite get finished before Christmas. My friend was correct that went finishing it would soften up the Tencel. It's not a drapy scarf, but has a little more heft. It is a very soft and smooth texture. I'm seriously considering selling this. I alre...

A month or so ago a friend asked if I was interested in her mother's old Singer sewing machine. I don't know anyone in their right mind who would turn down a working mechanical Singer sewing machine. I'm certainly not such a person. My friend brought it over during the height of the artisan market weaving marathon, so I was responsible and moved it to an out of the way corner. Even after the market it sat in its corner because preparing for Christmas had taken the brain space that had previously been occupied by the market.  So it was that today I had an afternoon that had no demands and it was time to investigate the new toy waiting patiently in the corner. I have to say it is all even more wonderful than I had hoped.  The sewing machine in question is model 301A. From my brief research it is known as the "big sister" to the featherweight. And this machine is heavy! It tips the scales around thirty pounds. Still in it's case. Along with the machine came the i...

This cheesecake with lemon curd was our dessert tonight.  G. made it and it was marvelous. It was as good as any that I have had at high end restaurants.  The holidays continue. 

Boxing Day is quite possibly my very favorite day of the year. The preparations are done, the celebrations have been celebrated. There is usually absolutely nothing that has to be done except relax, play with new Christmas things, eat leftovers, and read. It's heavenly.  We had a lovely Christmas. There were no seizures, no tears, and everyone was pleased with both the gifts they gave and the gifts they has received. Unlike last year, everyone was well so we were able to have dinner at J.'s sister's house with brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  I have to share the gifts that everyone received from W. and MC. You might remember last year, these two made everyone their own personal gnome. Well, this year they surpassed the gnomes. This year we were all given personalized miniature rooms. The pictures do not come close to showing the incredible detail that went in to each one. Plus, they all have lights with various bits of each room that light up. I'll show y...

One of my favorite modern Christmas songs, Bethlehem Town by Jars of Clay.  I'm some seasons this was the song that spoke deep to my soul.  "Have you cursed at the wind? Have you cried to the heavens? Have you fought with this mercy you don't understand?"  In those seasons there was so much I didn't understand and it all felt so hard. Maybe this is such a season for you and maybe this song will meet you there as well.  While you enjoy the music, I will go and wrap presents. I've never left this task for so late. No, no I'm not panicking... much... why do you ask? 

I'm afraid anything not essential to Christmas hace come to a pause around here. Why does the last ten percent seem to take up as much time as everything else put together? This is why this scarf is sitting on my studio table like this. Obviously it's off the loom, but this is where it has stayed since. This is made out of Travel, which is pretty drapy. When I took it off the loom, it was very stiff and certainly not drapy in the least. My first thought was that I had sett the warp threads too closely and was just going to chalk it up to a learning experience. When I saw a weaving friend at church on Sunday I mentioned my error. She didn't think my sett sounded to close, and mentioned that Tencel can soften up in the wash. So that is what I plan to do next. Obviously before I wash it I need to deal with the ends. That was supposed to happen today, but it's hard to cut and twist ends if you spend the bulk of your day doing yet more endless errands.  The other thing I...

I'm continuing to think about my changed relationship with winter. As someone who really struggled through winter, I'm still surprised that this isn't the case anymore. I've written other posts about this, but I have two new pieces of information to share.  The first happened during the huge round of snow we had a few weeks ago. I happened on a picture of tow trucks towing cars in Evanston because the street needed to be plowed. What I found interesting was it was taken on our old street not far from our house. Suddenly I was remembering what a heavy snow was like. We had a driveway, so didn't need to worry about towing, but the more snow there was, the narrower the street became. I would dread this because backing out our 15-passenger van was extremely challenging with the much more limited space. It gave me a sense of claustrophobia and I dreaded it. Literal dread. I don't miss that. There's plenty of room here for the snow and while it can get slick, it ...

After a marathon shopping expedition today I think I am 95% done with my Christmas preparations. I feel both as though I have bought a ridiculous amount of stuff while at the same time feeling vaguely worried that I am missing important things. I find shopping in regular retail stores exhausting. After a good night's sleep and some time spent with all my lists I should be fully recovered. J. will head out tomorrow and take care of the last few things. My plan is to stay home (something I haven't done much of this week) and try to make some order out of the chaos that happens when I'm not home enough.  This also means that we can spend the days leading up to Christmas doing Christmas type things. L. is currently downstairs making rice krispie treats, plans for decorating gingerbread cookies are being discussed, there are several Christmas movies we've been saving, and we're the family lighting the Advent candles in church on Sunday. And maybe I can find time to sit a...

We've been having unusual weather here. After our multiple snow storms which left inches of snow on the ground, I was utterly convinced that we would have a white Christmas. I was thrilled. Everything was frozen, the ponies could be in the pasture, and it looked pretty.  And then it didn't. We've been above freezing for a few days now which began to melt the snow, but it was the hours of rain we had this afternoon that really did most of it in. Pretty much the only snow left is on our driveway, and it's not so much snow as ice.  But wait, there's more . We're supposed to go back down into the teens tonight, then on Saturday it's supposed to be back up to the 40's, but them back down to the teens at night. Multiple daily 30+ degree temperature changes is not my idea of fun, especially since it means putting on and taking off horse blankets a couple of times a day. As I was putting the horses' coats on them at dinner time, I was decidedly grumpy about ...

I have about 1.5 feet left to weave on the Christmas scarf I'm working on. If I can find a couple of hours over the next few days it should be off the loom before the weekend. It's... something. When I was planning it out, my biggest concern was that the busyness of the variegated warp would be too busy and overpowering. I went ahead because I hoped the solid weft would be enough to cover much of it up and tone it down a bit. Thus didn't exactly happen because the weaving structure I chose was equally busy. My biggest lesson learned from all of this is that there can really be only one complicated element in a project, more than that becomes too much to look at.  Up close, it has some really interesting things going on, such as these X's and these little circles. I like it better when I'm looking at it from a distance because it tones the whole thing down. It will probably be fine as a scarf because it will be more bunched up and usually viewed from farther away. I ...

We went to the Art Institute today. Everyone was done with classes, Y. has been dying to go see the Thorne Rooms again, and the museum was free today for Illinois residents so it seemed like the perfect activity. (For those who don't know them, the Thorne Rooms are a set of 68 miniature rooms of various historical interiors. They are exquisite.) We saw the Thorne Rooms (for Y.), various ceramics (for L.), and the swords and armor (for G. and K.) Then I made everyone go through the textile area. It was a good visit.  The church Thorne Room Tiffany stained glass window Some Chinese ceramics  A cool yet vertigo inducing staircase on the way to the armor And a textile fragment that has me completely obsessed.