had a weaving workshop with Robyn, the intern coordinator. There’s a couple more specific things I want to learn, while I’m still here, and weaving is one of the them. This is a rigid heddle loom, which when you hear someone say it to you for the first time sounds like rigid kettle. That’s what happened when Sister Ruth said I should start out on a rigid heddle loom to learn about weaving. Since I heard “kettle”, I’m thinking what kind of a silly name is that….of course a kettle is rigid. It wouldn’t hold water otherwise. After she spelled it for me, and I stopped laughing my head off, I got it. So Robyn taught us how to weave. A really cool thing Robyn said about weaving is that when you think way back to stone age times, weaving is like the earliest form of artistry or craftsmanship that existed. The men were hunters, the women cooked and someone did weaving to provide the basics of clothing (loin cloths would have been a really easy thing to weave….like a mug rug on a string…LOL. I found that little history lesson really cool…all primal and such. There is a whole language that goes with weaving. Warps and wefts, heddles and shuttles. And the terminology has stuck since those stone age days….no evolution into newer words. It seems to take more time to set the loom up than it does to actually weave something but it’s really fun. The rigid heddle loom comes in different widths and the smaller ones, like this one, folds up and goes in a carrying bag. It sits on your lap when you use it and you see results really quickly, unlike crocheting. I started weaving this scarf around 3:00 p.m. and had it done by bedtime, with several breaks during that time. Now, I don’t know how to take it off the loom or finish the edges yet but I had a blast doing it. There is a workshop coming up at the end of this month, called Fiber Frolic and it’s a 3 day event. You can choose to learn spinning, weaving or Nuno felting. I will probably participate…just not sure which one I want to focus on. I can learn to spin from Robyn or Candace and most definitely want to before I leave here. I might do the Nuno felting because no one else does that here and it looks really cool. Here’s a short video so you can see what it’s about. I’m not sure I care to learn how to weave on the huge looms here cause I don’t ever see myself getting something that big if I wanted to do it on my own. The rigid heddle size of loom seems to be my speed.
Right before Christmas, White Violet Center had an Open House for last minute shoppers. At 3:00 p.m. the drawing was held for the alpaca rug and alpaca teddy bear that raffle tickets had been sold for. I was really hoping to win the alpaca rug
but I did win the teddy bear. I had felted a bracelet for Linda so I packed up the teddy bear, bracelet and the felted soap I had made and sent it to Linda for Christmas. She loved it and named the bear Hootie….my nickname. Hootie is keeping her company until I get to see her again in about 7 weeks time. She sent me a great tree of life necklace, along with a care box of all sorts of things. Speaking of alpacas, Mariah is not doing well. About a week ago, she got so she couldn’t stand up on her own so we have to help her get up. That’s driven my back a little crazy, which I’ve been surprised that lugging hundreds of pounds of veggies hadn’t hurt it up until now. The weekend that I was on duty I had to move her (pick her up and help her keep her balance) to a new part of the pasture a couple times throughout the day so the ice pack I have with me, was my best friend for a couple days. Tracy has ordered some different vitamins and such to see if that will help improve function to her rear legs. Anything is worth a try at this point !
Not much going on in the greenhouse or gardens. The pea shoots, micro greens, lettuce mix, chard and kale are growing great in the greenhouse. The indoor farmer’s market starts this Saturday, in Terra Haute, but I’m not sure if we’ll have enough stuff to take. We shall see….
Seven weeks to go till Linda comes to get me. As a full-time RV’er, we spend 24/7 with each other so when we’re apart for 6 months, it’s really hard. We try to Skype when our devices are working ok (her tablet hasn’t been taking a charge lately) but having a conversation that way isn’t the same as sitting across the table from each other and not having interruptions and talking about “stuff”. It will be great to see her and share all the details of what I’ve been doing and show her how things are done with the projects I’ve been working on.
Linda had a great time at her son’s house, for Christmas, in spite of our car breaking down on the way up there and the fact that she was sick. Turned out the battery needed to be replaced in the car (way better outcome than the alternator we thought it was) so that has now been replaced. Linda is still sick but it may take a while for her to kick this viral infection she has. There’s nothing she can do for it….it’s just gotta run its’ course.
Well…that’s all the news that’s fit to print for this go round. Wishing a blessed 2014 to all our friends and readers of our blog. If you’re reading this and we haven’t met you yet, we’ll see you “down the road”. Happy New Year !
2 comments:
And a wonderful new year to both of you! Looks like I'm hanging up the keys for good. My brother may be buying a piece of land to put a mobile home on for me. If that works out, I'll be moving into it around March or April. Of course, you're always welcome to come visit and stay for free -- there'll be hookups. My best to both of you.
Great blog post, Linda, very informative. I watched the video and liked the Nuno Felting but boy is that labor intensive. You are certainly learning some wonderful skills. Enjoy.
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