Fiber Arts and Equipment – Page 12

Founder’s Day

I didn’t get any garden or coop work done today because I forgot it was Founder’s Day at the museum until 90 minutes before I was to be there. We did get some more bee traps and tomato cages and hustled home for me to change. The Hance’s were Swiss and the theme is Swiss and I wasn’t sure how to dress for the event, so I wore my shift and petticoat, but left the gown at home and used the linen apron with the pinned up bib top. I was going to wear the shallow crowned flat straw hat, but I can’t keep it on in the wind.

It was a glorious 2 hours sitting outdoors, using the 18th century quill wheel I donated to the museum, a walnut top whorl spindle, and my box loom, though the loom was a challenge without a table. I had a basket of hats, mittens, and cowls, and another of yarn, not as an aggressive vending event, but to show what can be done with the wool and available for purchase if asked.

The half hap shawl went along as a demonstration of how 9 breeds of wool could be used and by the time the sun dropped below the buildings around 4 p.m., it ended up around my shoulders.

No rain, warm temperature, quite a breeze that billowed my skirt and apron as I spun, but a truly nice event. Music, swiss folk dance, story time, events for the kids, and refreshments of cheese, chocolate, and beverages available. Not a huge crowd, but visiting with folks I only see there, providing some history, and making plans with the director for the next event.

Tomorrow it rains, then cools off again for a week, but not so cold I won’t be able to finish the tasks that were planned for today before I remembered I was to be somewhere else.

Just Us Again

Our weekend with the kids ended a few hours earlier than originally predicted. Their Mom and companion quit skiing at lunch time yesterday and headed home arriving about the same time as Granddaughter’s bus, so I left them with the dinner I had planned and came home to prepare dinner for hubby and myself. It was great having the kids this weekend, they got off to school yesterday with little intervention on my part. Hubby met me in town for lunch and a walk and we parted company again so I could meet the buses and be ready to prepare dinner. A lot of reading got done, not much spinning and no knitting, though all were taken with me.

We have been very good about walking this winter. We feared that when it got cold, we would wimp out, but we haven’t and have encouraged each other on days when one or the other felt indifferent to the idea. It helps that there is a community walking group that self reports the week’s progress to “our leader” who sends out weekly updates with pictures, or information on other Newport’s around the world if we have accumulated enough miles as a group to have “walked” there. At times, I have been a poor reporter, even when we were doing the walks, but am keeping a log now so that I report as soon as his weekly post from prior comes out. His posts are about two weeks behind the current week to give everyone time to get their mileage turned in.

When we walked today, there are Snow Drops blooming, the Forsythia in town is already in bloom, the crocuses and daffodil greens are up. There are ahead of us as far as development of spring time, but today was near 60 f when we walked and there are no “cold” days in the 10 day forecast. Winter isn’t over, there will be frosts still, we have even has snow in March and flurries in early April, but buds are forming, you can see the change in color from flat winter gray to reds, pinks, and greens as the trees in the woods begin to develop their flowers and new leaves. The heat will run less, the grass will green up and mowing will have to begin again, but winter will be in the rear view mirror soon.

Within the next couple of days, the tomato and pepper seeds will be sown in starter pods, maybe a bit later as an order for the pods for the larger hydroponic garden has been placed. I was out of them. It will continue to provide us with lettuce and komatsu until they arrive. Last year’s success starting the plants in the hydroponic has encouraged me to do it again that way this year. Most everything else will be direct sown and those plants that I would like to give a headstart other than tomatoes and peppers will go in starter pots in a tray in the sun.

Life’s Joys amidst stress

The state of the world right now is at the least stressful as we watch a world bully attack civilians without regard to anyone but his own ego. You can’t ignore what is going on, can’t escape the barrage of disconcerting news.

All I can do is focus on more positive things. This weekend, we are enjoying two of our grandkids, spending the weekend with us so their Mom can have a weekend away with friends. They are 10 and 15 and both really great kiddos. We did the usual Saturday morning breakfast out, egg delivery, then took them by their house to pick up a couple of missed items, then off to do a couple of errands. After that, with no complaint, they shared our walk, a 2.7ish miles. This evening, we will prepare dinner together, using it to help granddaughter study fractions as she has a test on them on Tuesday, then we will take them out for ice cream, even though it is the middle of winter and cold out, but a request that was made in front of their Mom last night.

Also a distraction has been knitting bulky yarn hats this week. So far, 3 have been made and added to the shop.

And of course, spinning with my spindles. As I am going to be offering a class at the local rec center in spindle spinning this spring, I ordered a basic top whorl spindle to use for demo purposes. It came with a second smaller one that I can make available to a grandchild or to someone in the class that comes without one.

I need spring time so I can get out in the garden. The seed came today. The granddaughter that is here is the one I help with her garden, so I think we will spend some time working on her garden plan this weekend as well.

Thank goodness for the joy of having family.