Category Archives: kumihimo

On Impulse

Taking a trip on impulse, buying something new that crosses your path, or getting together with friends on a whim are wonderful opportunities for inspiration and finding deeper meaning in the things we choose to do.  October has been full of wonderful opportunities, and I feel lucky that I gave in to a number of impulses this month.

Last weekend the New England Lace Guild arranged for a tour and some presentations at the Textile Museum in Willimantic.  There are only two part time employees at this museum, and although neither of them has a background in textiles, they are both committed to the history of this town and to keeping the records of the textile work done in this part of Connecticut.  We had a tour of the museum and two terrific presentations on the history of the mills in the area and the working conditions and lifestyle of the mill workers.

Here is our group standing outside the museum building which used to be the mill store for the American Thread Company, where they sold cotton threads and yarn.  Some of our group remember coming here as children when their mothers shopped for thread and yarn.

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In the photo above we are looking across the street to the mill buildings, situated along the Willimantic River.  This mill was made of stone and has weathered almost two centuries quite well.The museum houses the equipment that was used to clean, comb and spin cotton threads and yarn, as well as some of the equipment used in other mills that wove fabrics.

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Naturally, I was most intrigued with taking photos of the looms.

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….and the collection of vintage sewing machines.

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Note the vintage wooden thread spools.  The museum has a machine that made these spools.

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The attic is a stunning room that houses the archives and library of the museum.

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It was a beautiful fall day with wonderful views from every window!

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As luck would have it, later that week at our regular bobbin lace study group, Mary had found a website for a sewing pattern company in England that uses names from the age of textile mills to promote their designs.  The company is Merchant and Mills in Rye, Sussex County.  The  clothing designs are modern, but the names are historic–such as the “landgate,” the “foreman,” “Ellis and Hattie.”  They also have a couple of patterns for traditional work bags from that time period.  On impulse (no surprise!) I ordered one of the patterns.  They have beautiful fabrics too, but the shipping is pretty steep so I refrained from ordering anything heavier than a paper pattern.

This weekend one of our local guild members hosted a Japanese tea ceremony (Chado) at her house.  She has met a Japanese woman who has started taking weaving classes.  The Japanese woman is married to a man who is not Japanese but has become intrigued with Japanese culture and has been studying tea. Anthony and Noriko conducted the tea ceremony wearing Japanes kimono.  The clothing alone would have entertained us and stimulated a lengthy session of questions, but the tea ceremony took it all to another level!

The ceremony took place on Sally’s enclosed porch that has beautiful views of her gardens and the surrounding woods.  On this late October day, the sun was as brilliant as the golden leaves floating down from the trees.  Anthony brought all the accessories to make this event special, including the shoji screen and tatami covered table and the tea stand.  The vessel heating the water is a cast iron kettle set on a bronze base.  The light coming through the shoji screen was beautiful.

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Here are Anthony and Noriko together during the ceremony.  It was quite a feat for Anthony to prepare about 15 cups of tea for us because each cup is brewed individually.

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Here is a closer look at their kimono!

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We were all intrigued with the tools and implements used in the ceremony.  Everything has has a function while also being an example of beautiful craftsmanship.  One of the implements used in the ceremony is a small ceramic stand that holds the lid to the kettle while the host is pouring the hot water into the tea cup.  The stand he chose to bring for our ceremony was fashioned to look like a silk reel.  It was a delicate thing, and he chose to bring this particular piece to acknowledge that his guests were weavers.  This is the kind of attention to detail that is at the core of a tea ceremony.

Perhaps the item I loved most was the small silk drawstring bag that held the tea caddy.

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I love the Japanese sense of color! I love the way the braid has been laced to the bag, and the braid itself is so ingenious!

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Can you see that the bitter end of the braid is twice as thick as the rest?  I believe the braid was started leaving a length of unwoven silk at the beginning, braided in the narrower design.  When the length needed to encircle the bag had been woven, the two ends of the narrower braid were brought together to finish in a thicker braid.  The drawstring can be closed by making a loop in the thinner part of the braid and slipping the thick end through the loop.  When the drawstring is tightened it will not come undone.  I also think the braid has to be inserted through the lacing before the braid is finished, when the two ends of the thinner braid are brought together to begin the thicker braid.  I’m not an expert, but this is how I would attempt to do this…..and I hope to give it a try next spring when I return home!

Our hostess for the tea ceremony venue also surprised us with a hot meal after the ceremony!  This gave us some additional time to get to know Anthony and Noriko a bit better and ask them questions about Japanese culture and their traditional textiles.  It was also a wonderful time to be together and share a meal.  It’s yet another day spent with weavers that will be a treasured memory for all of us.

It’s almost time for me to slip my moorings at home and join Bob on our floating winter home.  He is in Hampton, Virginia, now, waiting for November 1, and a good weather window to sail to Antigua.  I will join him there in mid-November.  So I am beginning the process of winding down things at home–gardens, projects, preparing to close our house.  Sometimes when my list of chores gets overwhelming I start something new as an escape from the things I’d rather not do!  This week I found myself pulled to make more throw pillow for our boat–this time for the cockpit–our outside sitting area, what you might call our outside terrace, if you will.  Here are the fabrics I chose when I made an impromptu visit to the fabric store earlier this week.

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I am making two pillows that are 18″ x 18″ out of the shell fabric with the striped fabric used for piping along the edge.

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Here is one of them–a bit odd to see this summery shell fabric against a backdrop of fall decorations.  Today I plan to make two smaller, rectangular pillows (12″ x 16″) out of the coordinating striped fabric.  Photos to come soon, I hope!  Since Bob has already left, I will deliver these pillows and a trove of other things we forgot to put onboard, to one of Bob’s crew members.  He is renting a car and driving to Virginia on Tuesday.  It’s my last chance to put bulky things onboard.  The list is long, and I hope Jim is renting a BIG car!

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The last impulse of this impulsive month was a purchase!  I bought a tape loom on etsy.  It’s a little gem made by a woodworking woman who calls herself Handywoman.  She makes the looms out of cherry then embellishes them with images.  The one I’ve chosen has images of England and Scotland on each side, and there is even a carrying bag made out of flag fabric!  I can’t wait for it to arrive.  There should just be time for me to put a warp on it before I have take it with me.  I will have to plan my packing carefully to allow room for traveling with this loom!

It’s raining buckets today, so it’s a good day for chores.  I will make the last two pillows and then tackle some more lace for the christening gown.  Time to get down to work!

 

 

 

 

Pinned down in Falmouth, Antigua

We are back in Falmouth Harbor on Antigua, which is only a short walk to the very pretty English Harbor where the ambience of 18th c. British naval history is well preserved.  We are back here because Bob decided to call in the professionals to whack the mole that is playing havoc with our SSB.  It turns out that the mole won this round; the SSB is dead.  At the moment there are no new ones available for shipment from the US, so we wait.

Meanwhile, to bide time, Bob met a rigger name Bishop yesterday, and after watching him make some soft shackles, Bob asked if he would be willing to teach us how to do it.  They made a date for Bob to bring Bishop out to Pandora right after work.  I thought I’d stay out of their way (not that easy on a boat!), but Bob thought I’d enjoy learning along with him.  And he was right!  A soft shackle is a bit of rigging that is one of the strongest things ever….way stronger than a typical shackle.  What a little bit of wonder–and Bishop is a good teacher!

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First you make the splice, then with the two ends that come out of the splice you make a knot that ends up looking a bit like a small Turk’s head.

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I practiced this little bit of splicing and knot tying about five times yesterday to make sure I learned it.  Today I’m not so sure I can do it again–I’d better keep practicing.  I’m fascinated by it!  I think there must be some wonderful use for this in kumihimo.  I have lots of time to ponder this, and then I can try a few ideas when I get home.

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While we are back here in Falmouth for repairs and waiting out some strong weather, we went to dinner Sunday night at the beautiful Pillars resort.  I did get my G&T under the canopy in the garden that overlooks English Harbor.  It’s even prettier at dusk!

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There was a bougainvillea that had been trimmed into small shrub right near my leg, and a little hummingbird was flitting all around it.  He was not in the least concerned about my proximity.  He has a little crested head and from certain angles his crest is a brilliant, tropical green.  What a sight!

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As dusk fell we began to hear very sharp tweets from what we thought were little birds that were starting to settle down for the night in the trees above us.  But instead of settling down, the tweets became louder and more like sharp shrieks.  It turns out there are lots of big tree frogs here that are quite loud.  I’m glad we can’t hear them out on Pandora.  There’s no sleeping when these things are calling.

After dinner we took a walk around English Harbor…as pretty at night as it is during the day.

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Today is very unsettled with passing squalls that disrupt the bright blue skies and puffy white clouds that are sailing by in these high winds.  The squalls darken the whole sky and send down horizontal deluges of water.  In the midst of the quickly changing weather we happened to see a rainbow right behind Pandora!  I have never seen both ends of a rainbow before!  What a thrill!  Shouldn’t there be two pots of gold?

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P.S. It’s now afternoon.  I have answered emails and made two two soft shackles for practice. Bob went ashore to consult with Arrougoo, our electronics repair guy, and while there he went to the rigger and bought some finer spectra ‘dyneemo’ line for me to try.

Both of these were supposed to be bracelets, but as you can see I made some miscalculations on measuring the materials for the first one.  It is way to small for a bracelet, yet too big for a ring.  Voila!  A belt for Louis the sailor mouse.  He really wanted a nautical belt.  So, now I know that I must measure 4x’s the length of what the finished item should be. I now also know that the knot is called a stopper knot.  Here is the first bracelet, along with little Louis and his new belt.

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>Making a list…

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The winter holidays always bring out the list-making, goal -oriented part of my personality.  Here is this year’s list of goals, all unrealistically slated to be accomplished during the week between Christmas and New Year!

1.  Texsolv tie-ups to be applied to my 60” Toika loom

2.  Choose pattern for napkins which will be woven as test samples for future tablecloth project on the Toika . Warp the loom!

2.  Taka dai to be made by Bob according to Rodrick’s plans.  Naturally I will be turning out my first braid within hours of the taka dai’s completion.

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3. Dyeing with my avocado pit brew which has been steeping for almost 3 months now. This means spinning some white wool to dye.

4.  Weave the small test tapestry for the medieval spinner with the wonderful wools that have arrived from Renaissance Dyeing in France.

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Won’t I have a busy week!  And somehow I imagine myself sharing delicious meals with my visiting family, lounging on the sofa reading all the fiber magazines that never got opened during the course of this year, continuing to knit my handspun Fair Isle sweater project, and starting a new baby sweater for the upcoming Feb. birth.  Dec. 2009 006

I need a dose of reality!…but then dreaming is so much more fun!

>Bravery

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Yesterday I spent the day in the cancer center at Hackensack Hospital with a friend who was undergoing her third chemo treatment for breast cancer. I’ve never seen such a crowded area in a hospital, but in spite of the lack of chairs for the all the patients and visitors, in spite of the long delays, in spite of what appeared to be an unacceptable level of confusion, everyone was treated with care and concern. I knew I was in the presence of people with a lot of courage. It was a lesson to me that good health is the greatest gift, and that we should all take notice of our good fortunes every day. It was a good example of the different kinds of bravery people find in themselves to go through such scary, trying times. My friend is certainly one of the bravest. She is an amazing example for me. In spite of the terrible reason to be with her yesterday, I enjoyed having a day with her to talk about our past lives before we met, to crochet together, to observe those around us. While my friend was attached to the IV she spent the time teaching me to make crocheted flowers and leaves. People watched her directing me and started conversations with her. The chemo center is certainly a place where people get to know each other easily.

This past weekend was very hectic for me, and now I’m quite grateful for yesterday’s ability to put things in perspective. Saturday I taught a class on kumihimo and met six interesting women who were my students. They came from quite varied backgrounds, from one woman who had never done any kind of handwork either with threads or pottery or metal work (but she was interested in kumihimo because she’d seen it being done in Japan during a recent visit), to another woman who came with a background in jewelry making and wanted to learn to make cords for some of her metal works. The others had varying backgrounds in weaving and knitting. They were very interesting women, and I hope our paths cross again. They have my contact information, but I don’t have a way of reconnecting with them!

After that class, I came home to a house full of people that I don’t know well, sailing friends of my husband’s. What a friendly bunch of people who were already enjoying each other and patiently waiting for my arrival to get some dinner on the table! My older son and his finance were part of this party of about two dozen people, and they spent the night. It was quite a treat to spend time with Rob and Lauren on Sunday, which included going to the movies….we saw “American Gangster.” Wow!