Three out of Four

 Thanks to Paivi Suomi over at All Fiber Arts

And Lena Shevtsova's Slavic Patterns for Beginners

I managed to try something a little different, and was successful at weaving a pick up pattern on the 4-shaft loom, using only 3 shafts.

It opens up some possibilities for other ideas and future projects and eggsperiments.

Making Mitts

V's Food Bank Mitts

Noro Silk Garden over size 5's

6th pair in a series

weaver has to weave

Sphecodina abbottii

That is a hard one to pronounce! Sphec=Sfeck ??? CODE?? Dina...um... Anyway, it is easier to call it the Abbott's Spinx Moth. Caterpillar. I noticed it on my Grape Vines. They are said to consume 8-10 grape leaves a day. The false eyeball is not on the head, but the tail. Could have fooled me!(not really)




It is also interesting to note, that this caterpiller eats Virginia Creeper and Poison Ivy! They may grow up to 4 inches in length, and they can morph their colors, sometimes becoming green and brown striped.

Over on the other side of the property, my husband was working on a lumber pile and found this shed:



It was in very good condition, however, the head and tail were not intact.



There is a way to identify the type of snake (poisoness and non poisoness) by examining the snake skin sheds. This page had a good explanation of how to do that.



The peaches were finally picked, and the yield was a little over dozen. Not too bad for the first time picking this tree.



The variety is a white peach, clingstone. They were very tasty and didn't last long. There are 2 more trees in the garden that look very promising this year, but they won't be ready to harvest until perhaps, the end of the month.



There has been spinning happening at the Great Wheel...putting aside some cops. ..the finished yardage will determine what I will use it for.

time to

So many things have to do with good timing. When to pick the peaches, is one of them. They look ripe- but they are still a bit too firm. On the other hand, they may ripen on the counter after picking. The birds and squirrels and chipmunks are watching them for readiness, also. They test for ripeness, just as I do. And so, it becomes a matter of timing. Who will get to them first?



The Black Hollyhocks are showing off. These were a gift from a fiber friend, years ago! Their petals make a lovely dye bath, and with an alum/cream of tarter mordant, will yield soft greys on skeins of white wool. This year, I have elected to enjoy the show, and save the seeds, as well as the dye bath, for another time.



Meanwhile, the timing is right for harvesting garlic scapes and dill weed. Mixed with some Philadelphia Brand, they make a tasty dip for spreading on a cracker. This batch was served up and enjoyed by the spinners/knitters/weavers over at the Hatton's last week.

Setophaga petechia

The yellow warbler is nesting in the Rose of Sharon bush. I believe there are nestlings. I hear soft whispers and peeping, and see lots of comings and goings to supply those hungry mouths with moths and other insects.

I am delighted to have the yellow warbler take up residency. I have not seen this for several years, and welcome its return. Years ago, it would always nest in the Hemlock, and every year, the cowbird would visit it. But the yellow warbler was wise. The yellow warbler is one of the few passerine proven to be able to recognize the presence of cowbird eggs in its nest.[18] Upon recognizing a cowbird egg in its nest, the warbler will often smother it with a new layer of nesting material. It will usually not try to save any of its own eggs that have already been laid, but produce a replacement clutch.

old ways

from Zem spieva - Karel Plicka (1933)

Cardinalis cardinalis

It was eight degrees outside my window this morning.



Eight degrees, but the sun was shining. This vibrant red bird found a sunny spot in the quince bush.




The northern cardinal was one of the many species originally described by Linnaeus in his 18th-century work Systema Naturae. It was initially included in the genus Loxia, which now contains only crossbills. In 1838, it was placed in the genus Cardinalis and given the scientific name Cardinalis virginianus, which means "Virginia cardinal". In 1918, the scientific name was changed to Richmondena cardinalis to honor Charles Wallace Richmond, an American ornithologist. In 1983, the scientific name was changed again to Cardinalis cardinalis and the common name was changed to "northern cardinal", to avoid confusion with the seven other species also termed cardinals.



What a glorious red color!

overtime over time

There are some lovely plum blossoms that are blooming on my windowsill.



They are from the prunings that my husband took of our trees, a few weeks ago. These flowers, sadly, will not see any bees, and will never become fruit. They will only be admired. Pruning in winter is advised as fruit trees that are not tended will become less productive. Even with heavy winter pruning, there is always the chance that the trees will still experience June drop, so hand thinning may be necessary as well.
Time will tell.



I've been working on finishing linen that I spun over the summer.



I measure off the skeins and record the yardage.



Then the skeins go into the pot and onto the woodstove to simmer. I rinse lather and repeat, until the water runs clear.



Then the skeins are taken out to the clothes line, where they hang in the frost...



and the snow...and the moonlight.

It seems fitting to spin in the summer when the humidity is high, and finish the skeins in the winter. The frost really works well to soften the linen.



I made some raspberry jam on the woodstove. I had frozen some of the berry harvest last July, and dug deep into the freezer to find enough to make a batch in February. I also made a jam spreader out of a piece of curly maple. This will be a gift for my Aunt E. Lately, I've been feeling like there are not enough hours in the day to accomplish all of the projects I would like to!

a past in the flax

Vlasparlee - een verleden in het vlas from Centrum Agrarische Geschiedenis on Vimeo.

comfortable

Note her posture, her position while treadling, the position of her drafting, and the way she has tilted the fiber cone on her sitting distaff to facilitate the draft ...surely these are all the signs of a woman who has been spinning for many, many years. Made me smile.

walk with me wednesday

It was a golden walk today, so much yellow all around me.



In a few short weeks, the leaves will let go, and only the branches will hide the view of the river.



The wild carrot has finished out, and is wearing winter brown already...the flower heads, with their texture and line, inspire me to pick up a crowquill pen. Maybe later.



There is bittersweet growing where once, there was not. Friend or foe? I imagine the birds planted it. The female flowers, once fertilized, yield these yellow shelled (husks) fruit (arils), that will open soon, and the bright scarlet red berry seeds will be enjoyed by the Cardinals over the winter months. Quail and grouse (and my chickens) enjoy them too...and I've even seen the white-tail browse them. so. friend.



As I cross over the bridge, the wind picks up. I am glad I reached for my sweatshirt before I left the cabin. Looking up river, the sun shines in my eyes.



Looking down river, I notice the two little islands that first appeared a few years ago. They are growing bigger. With each storm and high water, they grow a bit more, soon they will be one.



I like to pause on the bridge, and watch the water pass beneath my feet. I stay until the wind becomes tiresome.



On the way home I find a favorite spot to sit and soak up a little sun. I listened to the fall warblers and played with the acorns in my pocket. Officially, the end of summer happened on the 22nd of September. I saved by goodbyes until today. Goodbye Summer! I will miss your warm days...

Taking time to pause

There is a spot on my kitchen table, where the vase sits. I fill the vase each week, with flowers from my garden. For the past few weeks, the vase has been filled with roses. Yesterday, when I went out to cut flowers for the week, there were no more roses to fill the vase with. I was reminded of the quote about taking time to smell the roses, because however trite that quote may be, there is truth to it.

We are at that time. That time, that we should pause and notice the time. Hal Borland said it this way:

"We are at the time of the longest daylight, earliest sunrise and latest sunset, which will continue with only a few seconds of change for another week. Time, if we would only pause and let it flow over us, for a little while partakes of the deliberation that is the mark of summer in almost everything except human affairs."



"The berries ripen in their own time. The bees replenish the hive. Clover comes to sweet blossom, then to seed. Daisies whiten the roadsides."



"Fireflies sparkle in the evenings. Time flows like the brooks that must have leisured through Eden when summer blessed a young and innocent Earth."

And so I notice that the roses in my vase have been replaced with black-eyed susans, and hollyhocks, purple coneflowers, and monarda. Time flows on.

Some of my hours have been filled with making a couple of distaves for a friend.



I wove the bands for distaves on the double hole tapeloom.



I modified an old rigid heddle frame and it worked out well for those times that I don't wish to use a band lock. The pattern for the bands came from the book about Norwegian Band Weaving.

technique

Another example of in-hand spindle spinning without having to use a half-hitch at the top of the spindle. This is how I've been spinning these days.
When spinning off the point, it isn't necessary to make a half-hitch at the beginning and end of each make.
I take joy in noticing the amount of fiber on the distaves. Oh those optimistic Romanians!

The video has another example of in-hand spinning, near the end. I've not attempted to try my hands at this method, something more to learn.

making more

Tying on to the previous warp, I wove a few more small towels with the Gebrochene Twill draft.



I changed the weft color three times.



There is still hemming to be done before they are completely finished. These are 100% cotton and should be nice and absorbent. Hemming and hawing with the idea of winding one more warp with my handspun linen, and weaving the weft with the handspun hemp in the same twill pattern. We'll see.



The wood-thrush and the eastern phoebe have arrived, with the snow buntings still hanging around. Outside, there have been repairs being made to the "grow house". Inside, seeds are germinating. And the seasons turn again.

"I have said that there was great pleasure in watching the ways in which different plants come through the ground, and February and March are the months in which that can best be seen."
- Henry N. Ellacombe

Broken Twill

I've been working on weaving Gebrochene (translated from German to mean "broken") Twill.



Present day weavers may recognize this as M's and W's. This draft was available to me from the book, "The Best of Weavers- Twill Thrills"- on loan from my friend, Judy. (thanks! Judy).



I wove this cloth on a 4 shaft loom. There were 275 ends of cotton - KnitPicks Curio - from my friend Brigitte (thanks! Brigitte).



The weave structure has a long and interesting history (some similar examples dating to circa 1500s). The complex draft requires breaks and reversals--lots of patience for dressing the loom, but the results when weaving are very satisfying! Tromp as Writ! I had help figuring out the drawdown from my friends Greta and Elaine (thanks! Greta--thanks! Elaine).

As you can see, it was a group effort..and I'm grateful for all of the help!

January 2013 and 2016 phenological events

12th Cooper's Hawk

15th snow on the way

21st opossum hunts

28th single digits with slight thaw

phenological events

January 2016

5th first freeze

11th eagles & hawks

13th 1 inch snow

contrasts

The weather was crisp and clear this morning. The river water catches the sun and it shines like moonlight against the silhouettes of the trees.



We had a scant amount of snow fall overnight.



...and today the winds have caught up with us. On my way to the henhouse, I grab my earflap hat that I knit from handspun Icelandic Sheeps wool. As I slip it on my head, I think of how many years ago I made the hat, and how it has worn so well. It seems to get better with age.



The sky is bright blue, without clouds at the moment. The wind will bring them, soon enough. I walk past the old tree and wonder if some critter is asleep..curled up in one of those cozy holes in the trunk. I used to think owls slept in there. If I were an owl, I would inhabit that tree.



Glancing up in the other direction, I notice the eagle. Probably looking for breakfast. I tell him to move along, and go fish the river for his breakfast...leave my chickens alone!



Back inside the cabin, I stoke the coal-fire in the woodstove. It will be a good day to stay inside and finish up some projects...



...or maybe start a new one!