Waiting for the Blizzard

I said I was going to call this post, Blue Balls.  Well, they are.  I've been making them and dipping them in my dye jar, in a double boiler, watching the dye move into the wool, where it dangles from a string, at just the right depth, from a chopstick.   I hold the dye bath at the simmer until the right shade  appears.  It's a good job for someone like me who generally likes to spend a lot of time just standing-there-a-lookin' (from my old favorite folk song about that fine man, Old Dan Tucker).

So far, the blizzard hasn't amounted to much, but it's sure to fall tonight. Meanwhile I'll show you this new store activity:  a paper snowflake cutting station. We have recycled butter paper, and scisssors.  Anyone who comes in can take a pair and start snipping.  So far  some young girls cut flakes, a grandmother, a woman I don't know who was proud of her flake,  and a man who hadn't made a snowflake in years and years.  Elizabeth, my good friend, came in and we cut snowflakes together while we caught up on the news of our lives, occasionally pausing for the reveal of each newer, better, more pointed snowflake.  I call it fun!  Let the clippings fall to the floor.  They look like more snow.   Snow on snow on snow.

button, button

I've been looking through my button box this morning. My collection of small buttons used to fit in a tea cup. Here are glass buttons, vintage plastic, Mississippi mother-of-pearl, and 2-hole
bone underwear buttons (my personal favorites). Looking through my mother's button box was a favorite activity of mine when I was a child. These buttons survived the shop fire, and are still my treasure.

toys

I keep a store here, and besides weaving, I sell a small selection of toys, books, and household things. I'm always on the look for that elusive something to add to my shelves.

New oilcloth is a nostalgic summer item that reminds me of Wisconsin summer kitchens, small buildings separate from the farm house, where the canning was done, when the garden was ready. Big screen windows, oil cloth covered shelves, kraut cutters, canning kettles, and farm tables furnished these kitchens. Cotton rag rugs on the linoleum floors.

Today my order from Japan came up the driveway in the mail lady's truck. I've looked for plastic bird whistles, but this one is the best, and also the cutest. Filled with different levels of water, its pitch changes. Blow softly for sweet warbles, puff hard for strident chirping. What a wonderful toy! New animal paper balls also came in the box. A cross between a ball and a balloon, & made of crinkly paper that unfolds, and with a few puffs, inflates to this classic Japanese toy. Monkey, the most popular paper ball, Elephant, and Now--Blue jelly fish! Oh, happy day! When tossing and batting are done, gently refold them and put back in your pocket-- unless you have been playing with Sharp Claws the Cat. They also fit easily into an envelope to mail to amuse someone. Summer!

Feeling Good

All My Eggs is just off the loom, and floating free in the breeze! Now I'm going to have a beer!

Begin Again

This is the start of a mixed warp of unbleached linen, bleached linen, perle cotton, and silk yarns. It is 12 yards long, and I'm going to weave random stripes and mixed linen, cotton and silk wefts for the whole warp. What I hope to have is a long bolt of handwoven fabric when I'm done, that I'll wash, dry and sew into panels in a set of small blankets. I think the blankets will
be pieced with other linen yard goods, and then hand quilted.

It's not actually clear to me, yet, what this will look like. But I am so excited to find out.
The spools above have been wound so that I can wind them (30 at a time) onto the back beam of my barn loom.