That's Just Snappy!

Please raise your hand if you dislike sewing on buttons? It is the one thing I positively drag a part of my anatomy getting around to (Chinois Coat still awaiting that final touch), so imagine my delight when the gals at Fabric of Vision mentioned a snap setting tool. My ears perked up for sure. I like snaps! They make a satisfying sound, they have those pretty pearly tops, I don't have to hand sew them and best of all, they are available right in Ashland.

Sometimes it takes weeks for me to get over to Medford for buttons and often the selection is just so-so and dollars to donuts there is never enough of the one I like.

So, I went to town with my little setter and finished up this new pattern test run blouse. Meet Vogue 1274.

The shirt turned out well for the first run through. Certainly a wearable muslin and good thing since I used a good quality tightly woven shirting on it. The sizing is accurate considering problems I've had with Vogue patterns in the past.

The directions were pretty good although there are some things I need to change. They want all seams French seams. In my mind, unless you are working with silk or some other fine fiber that ravels heavily it's a big waste of time and makes some of the seaming extra difficult as far as getting a good clean match. If you like french seams and it makes you feel better, do them, but if you are like me and just want a good sturdy garment, serviceable and neat on the inside, just seam and serge or finish as you normally do. There is no Sewing Police. The neck facing is a poor fit and needs work/adjustments on the next version. I love the looks of this pattern but don't know how that back will behave wearing it. I can see the gathered back portion riding up under the snapped side panels.

In all fairness, a heavier fabric with more body and crispness would be better suited. I don't need a lot of asymmetrical closing shirts, but I will do this at least one more time and maybe more. I like it.

I would love to tell you I've been weaving, but I haven't. Cooper's little explosion last week while trying to get the blanket on him wrenched my shoulder and aggravated a nerve and muscle that lies under a shoulder blade. Why I just didn't let go of the lead rope is an easy to answer question. As beginners ( and I started riding when I was 4. Thanks Mom, you gifted me with that opportunity) you are taught to hold the reins no matter what and I have sailed over and off many a horse, reins still in hand even though my lungs had no air or a body part was screaming injury. I kept a hold of my horse. The same goes with holding a lead rope, although newer (and kinder/safer), techniques are out there. And I know them too. Shame on me.

So Cooper and I headed up to the round pen on Tuesday. It's been a long time since we had to do any remedial work of that kind, but it was good for both of us. I had my clicker in hand and started working on targeting, the blanket thrown over the rail blowing in the breeze was our starting point. 45 minutes later, I had a happy relaxed horse, wearing his blanket and not fussing as it went on and off over his head, over his rump, over his sides etc. We'll do this a few more times just to make sure any unexpected late night blanketing emergency goes off without a hitch. With him it's not so much the blanket itself but the noise the waterproof fabric makes.

Parting shots: Bedtime Biscuits & Little Beggars.....;)

Road Food

I've never taken a liking to fast food burger joints. In fact I never even had one until I was in high school and I thought it just awful. The road food I remember was from my childhood. Every summer until I was 15 I spent at my grandparents in PA. I would be picked up the day after school ended, and returned right before Labor Day. And every summer there was a road trip. A magnificent two or three weeks in which we had a loose game plan, a state or two in mind and my Grandfather, with my Grandmother and me in tow would point his Rambler, his Charger or his Impala in some direction and we would be off. Now this wasn't extravagant travel. We stayed at Ho Jo's and motels with cabins like teepee's or with big neon signs in old style fonts that you just don't see an more. Almost always we found a place with a pool. Road food was off the beaten path, BBQ joints or home made pies, ice creams or cobblers and Southern Fried Chicken, little Mom & Pop Italian places, Rye breads and odd sounding dishes. Most I liked, some I didn't. There was chopped sirloin better tasting than most steaks these days. Good handmade hamburgers, grilled and served with heaping slices of ripe tomatoes and pickles and chips. Fish on Friday's always. Local food, neighborhood food almost always served with a smile and bit of conversation. All of it accompanied by new scenery, a lot of it pretty kitchy. Small sad little roadside zoos, big balls of string and rubber bands, giant fry pans, local natural history museums and all sorts of other funky things along any given route. There were few museums of art (my parents made sure that end of American culture was covered also), one summer some of the Smithsonian and of course all the other sites in D.C.. I've seen vast beautiful and buggy swamps, horses and buggy's used still as transportation, great lakes, citrus groves, nut farms, canyons, amazing mountains, miles and miles of corn, all sorts of snakes, roadrunners and scorpions, old growth and lush forests, abject poverty, Indian reservations, plains without buffalo, buffalo without plains, tobacco fields, waterfalls, wide rivers and small streams with bloody histories, steamboats, tractors and all sorts of things I know I've forgotten. I won't even go into some of the crazy, fun and stomach turning tours we went on. I had a fast food Wendy's hamburger Tuesday and while it was certainly nothing to be repeated unless I had to, the trip down Memory Lane was well worth the $2.99 price and resulting mild indigestion. Road food ain't what it use to be!

Now, onto weaving. I can still move when I have to and the towel warp was measured and wound on yesterday.

In fact, the threading has been started and I'm hoping to get it done today; sleyed and tied on for weaving. This is a mixed warp of organic colorgrown cotton and low impact dyed cotton, mostly 6/2, some 7/2 and two strands of 10/2 for a little color. They will be plain weave with a rosepath design of pine trees for the borders. For those that have the book, the design is #118 on page 31 of A Weaver's Book of 8-Shaft Patterns. It uses 8 shafts (surprise surprise), and 11 treadles. The trees will be in dark green, of course!

Sett is 18 epi and it is 21" wide

These were my "helpers" yesterday. Stella actually listened when I told her the 5 yard warp chains were not play toys. Check out the tail in motion behind her head.

Dennett was channeling lots of calming vibes and his wise manner is always welcome in the studio.

And Jack was keeping my desk seat warm for me.

The Hollandia loom is at the other end of the studio, so he took over the vacant chair to keep a watchful eye on me and remind me of the threading pattern should I lose my place. With help like this you know the towels have got to be good!

Every Breath You Take

Every move you make...

Every step you take....

I'll be watching you.

or not! ;-)

Showing Off

I certainly don't have anything to show you at this point, but a weaver near and dear to me certainly does!

My Father, who had his first rug warp on the Harrisville Collingwood loom interrupted this winter due to surgery, is both feeling well and weaving beautifully. I have been getting progress reports and pictures as the rug moved along until yesterday when it was finally completed and thrown down for daily use.

What a beauty! I am unsure of the sett, maybe 6 epi and I know he used shaft switching. The warp is linen ( 11 or so yards are on the loom) and the weft is three strands of Harrisville Highland for each pass.

As you can see, the rug itself already has a following! The two cherubs would be Foxy and Omar, true queen and king of the domain. They made final finishing a tad tricky I'm told.

Now my lazy butt has been planted in a number of places, the blanket warp is almost completely threaded, I am over half way through filling up a bobbin with some really pretty variegated green lace weight singles and the sweater sleeve is just about at the decrease stage. I also found a pillowcase pattern for Hannah's next warp. For those that have saved or acquired old Handwoven's, it's in the May/June 1989 issue, page 45, a two block basket weave. They have done it in 10/2 natural cotton, but I am going to be using 20/2 organic unbleached for a finer texture. This pattern will use all of the Louet's 8 shafts.

Nothing to report farm wise. The mud is so nasty at the gate area I've been driving Bob up to a back part of the paddock to dole out hay morning and night. On my way up I spring the girls loose.

They race past Bob and through the wooded area, bleating, bells ringing and crashing through undergrowth loud enough to wake the dead or at least get the dogs barking in the house. Ah, music to my ears, but not always Gene's! The snow was an overnight wonder a couple of days ago. Lasted through the morning and then melted down to brown. I did get to enjoy it if even for only the wee hours of the morning.

And speaking of dogs, my friend Linda ( who I really need to call and say Hi to) sent me this gem. Kudos to the advertising people for Pedigree. I don't feed your food but I appreciate that while you make commercials that cause me to cry and part with cash in other ways ( Adoption drive) you also make ones that put a smile on my face. I think all you dog owners will enjoy this really lovely minute and half.

Thanks Linda, I thought I caught all the good ones during Westminster, but you sent me the one I hadn't seen.

Footnote, I hope all the New England visitors are able to read this post. You guys had quite the wind event and I hope you are all safe and sound, warm and dry and have your power back.

Where in the World Has Murphy Gone?

He's not here, where he use to be, but Hey Baby has moved right in and fills the empty spot quite nicely. Some progress made on the wool warp and hopefully it will get beamed on today.

He's not here,

but this old chippy bedstead (complete with a cushy mattress) certainly makes the new sunroom inviting for an afternoon snooze, a guest or small terriers to have a birds eye view for spying for deer, turkey's and squirrels on the back forty. Maybe it's odd to have a bed on the porch, but I can't think of a better place to waste a little time no matter what the weather, and there is enough room for everyone to cuddle in.

Dennett is heading towards 17. He doesn't see well, but his nose still tells him when there is something of interest and Jack will certainly let him know the second something pops into view.

He's not here on the padded bench seat ( complete with doggy beds in the cubbies underneath. Peter and Pogo certainly think the arrangement is pretty nice. Peter is 14 this year, he is so white in the face now. When he was a young dog his face was all black with just a little white dash above his nose.

Here he is! He too has a nice view of stuff going on and so does anyone weaving at him. You can see the dog pen fence line and while it's not visible, the horse shelter is

in view too beyond the fence line about 300 feet away.

No finish work has been done yet, hence the cardboard covering the opening to the small wall that had to built out for the largest window we could get. Trim starts tomorrow on the inside, after that painting and we're painting the floor too. I love painted floors. I'm sure it must be some Yankee hold over, but nothing speaks to me like the blank canvas of a painted floor. Plus,when it gets worn or you become tired of it, just paint it over with something new!