bobbin lace – ArgoKnot

Nostalgic Holiday

December 16, 2017 | 1 Comment

By the end of this brief month we’ve been home we will have visited our older son and his family, which includes our delightful granddaughter Tori, three times. That is a LOT of driving, and it always includes a trek through New York City… and that brings back memories from the decades we lived in New Jersey.

On our last trip home, after Tori’s 1st birthday party, we drove into the city for an appointment that should have taken place over the summer. It was a sparkling mid-December day, where the snow that had blanketed most of the northeast had already melted on the city streets. It was the morning the suicide bomber had set off his pipe bomb in the subway near Times Square. Hearing this news, we decided to avoid the West Side, so we took the Holland Tunnel. What a view with the sun directly behind Freedom Tower!

We drove down to Battery Park to get on the East Side FDR.

What memories! Foremost in my mind was a very different day–a late summer day in September, five years ago, when our son Christopher met us at Battery Park. We were onboard our last Pandora, and Chris was on his bike! We said our goodbyes across the water, and I was crying. It was our farewell moment at the beginning of a 9-month trip down the east coast of the US and across to the Bahamas, where we spent 4 months sailing about 1,000 miles among the islands from the Abacos, the Berries and the Exumas, before retracing our tracks back up the eastern seaboard. I’d never been away from home that long before–actually haven’t been away that long since either.

Chris first met us near Gracie Mansion, where Hells Gate flows into the East River. He took this wonderful panorama of us. We were alone on the river that morning.

Then we raced him down to Battery Park, Pandora against Chris on a bicycle. We won, by only 10 minutes, and he had to navigate far more traffic than we did that morning!

While we lived in New Jersey, I almost never had an occasion to drive on the East Side, so driving up the FDR brought this single memory back in full force. I can still feel the breeze and smell the river and the city from that September day. What a difference a few years make. Chris was at the beginning of his doctoral studies; Bob and I were neophytes at long distance sailing. Now Chris has been working in quantum physics for a couple years, and Bob has put 10,000 miles under the keels of two Pandoras since then.

This December day, we parked our car near the East River and walked west into the throngs of midtown… past Lex and Park and Madison, and on to 5th Ave. It was fitting to me that Saks has chosen Snow White as the theme for this year’s windows. Our little Tori seems like Snow White to us with her ivory skin and dark hair. I wish she could have been with us to see this!

As it happens, Tori’s Mom loves Mini Mouse, and now so does Tori. I made Tori a Mini Mouse dress to wear for her birthday, and her parents decided to have photos taken to commemorate this milestone. We don’t have any of the final photos yet, but here are a couple of proofs. I love the middle one (kind of wish I’d made her a Snow White dress, though!).

During our visit for Tori’s 1st birthday party, the first snow of the season fell on the day of her party! Grampy gave her the first taste of snow.

The rest of us made party preparations. Kandice had seen this Mini Mouse fruit bowl on Pinterest, and Rob and I enjoyed creating it!

Rob and Bob finished decorating the huge tree. We always say that Rob likes to “Clark Griswold the heck out of Christmas”–and he does.

But….back to our drive through New York….our appointment was only half a block from THE TREE so we had to take a moment for that. Due to the earlier incident with the bomber, the streets were heavily patrolled by policemen in groups, all carrying automatic weapons. I haven’t seen that kind of police presence since the 70s in Rome, but I will refrain from saying more.

The promenade and the shops along it were still as festive as ever. My favorite shop is Penahaligons!

Earlier this week Bob gave a slide presentation locally about our travels through the Windward Islands during the past winter season. As usual, he was entertaining and humorous and his slides were stunning.

One of the highlights of the evening for me was that a woman approached me to tell me that she’d missed hearing me add to the presentation with whatever handwork I’d discovered on our travels. I had no idea that any of the sailors in the audience would want to hear about textiles and handwork!

And on that note, it seems I’ve gotten quite far off track on writing about textiles lately. Perhaps my final thoughts will center on that. A couple of my gifts this year focused on Idrija lace from Slovenia, which I quite love. I ordered these little lace hearts from Slovenia. I should have ordered many more!

My favorite purchase this year came from the Hartford Artisans’ holiday sale back in late November. It is a short piece of Deflected Double Weave sewn into a cowl. What a terrific idea to weave cowls in this structure! For one thing, when sewn together with a flat fell seam they are reversible! Another bonus is that from a warp that would normally be used to make only two scarves, I can probably get six cowls! Oh! And a 3rd bonus–no fringes to twist. I’ve already made my warp, in a much different colorway than this cowl which I bought at the sale. I’ll be ready to dress my small Baby Wolf to weave some gifts when I return next spring.

Today marks the halfway point of Hanukah, and it is only 10 days until Christmas. We’ve had three snowfalls already and some record breaking cold temperatures. As I write this today I am steeping a large quantity of gin in a mixture of dried hisbiscus flowers, cardamon and peppercorns. It is my ‘plan B’ from years of searching for damson plums with no luck. I hope hibiscus gin will make a delicious gin and tonic this evening to warm me as I make a batch of cookie and get started on tomorrow’s beef wellington. I hope you are doing similar things to make your holiday festive and to keep warm. Best wishes….

The Royal Visit

December 3, 2017 | Leave a Comment

Right up front I’ll tell you we missed seeing Prince Charles. Right now it feels like old news, but believe me I still smart a little from this! The Prince arrived hours earlier than predicted, and I was still onboard Pandora, carefully choosing what to wear for a royal visit. He was gone by the time we got ashore (although we did not know that until hours later!–until others told us all about it). Some of our friends only saw the royal motorcade while they were out on their morning walk. Our friends on Exodus were on the dock in English Harbour, due to the many gear failures that occurred during their passage that needed professional attention. They were having their morning coffee in the cockpit when Prince Charles strolled up to have a chat! It was then that they all wished they’d taken more care with their morning attire!

One of our Salty Dawgs, Ardys Richards, took this fabulous photo!

As you can see, not many were on hand when the Prince arrived.

It has taken me awhile to catch up on the all the happenings since we left Antigua. Thanksgiving seemed to come right after Prince Charles left, and I cannot account for the three days in the middle. I think we were having more of Bob’s planned events–it was a whirlwind! What an experience to have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner in such a tropical setting, with a significant number of non-Americans sharing the experience with us. Dinner was served just after sunset, on the deck above the Antigua Yacht Club, where we enjoyed a balmy breeze and beautiful views of the harbor. The cooks made 10 turkeys for the 100+ diners, and we all tucked into plates full of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and various roasted veggies….not island fare at all! (photo also by Ardys, I think!)

We left on Friday to head back to the States, in particular to our older son’s house to participate in our granddaughter’s christening. That was quite an adventure–although too boring to write. We didn’t arrive until just before dawn on Saturday morning. Our younger son arrived on Friday from San Francisco, and we all enjoyed a belated non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner together on Saturday night. Rob and I have always wanted to make a Beef Wellington together, and at last we did! It was a special evening to have our whole Osborn family together, that now includes a daughter in law and a granddaughter, along with one of Rob’s oldest friends and his new wife. I was overflowing with thankfulness!

And then Sunday brought the christening! Of course I think Little Tori would be beautiful in a burlap sack, but I was thrilled to see her wearing the dress I’d spent most of the summer and fall making for her.

Tori’s mom chose the fabric–silk shantung, and it had that mesmerizing rustle of silk as Tori walked around in it. The sleeves are silk organdy (mostly because they were a bit complicated for me and I could not face the idea of trying to make them in the shantung when it came to inserting them into the tiny armhole!). As it worked out, I love the sheerness of the organdy that shows off Tori’s tiny, delicate shoulders! I barely know what I’m doing to make a dress like this–French seams, a lining, petal sleeves, bound seams on the armholes, buttonholes. The credit for this dress really goes to my sewing teacher Marie, who directed every move I made in the construction, and then sewed a few things herself when I could not, such as inserting the 4-piece petal sleeves into the dress and making those buttonholes!

Tori is looking a little shop worn after the long ride to the church and back along with the christening ceremony! She was happy to get back to bare feet!

I had to make the dress in spite of my sewing INexpertise because I wanted to use the lace I’d been making for the 5 month months leading up to the big day. I spent somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 hours making the two yards of lace border for the bodice and hem of the dress. There is a smaller lace at the neckline that I had saved from an earlier project (members of Metro IOLI will recognize it as Gunvor Jorgenson’s workbook, lace #3). Making this dress meant the world to me! I was thrilled to see my little princess in it and I was glad that she wore it all day!

Christopher documented the whole day in photos for us….just about the best gift we could imagine! He took 600 photos! I’ll just share a few….though it will be more than I usually post…. what can I say? I am smitten with Tori and with Chris’ photos of her!

Here she is with her dad, walking along the altar at the church.

Meeting the priest.

Getting baptised.

Aftereward, posing with Mom and Dad in front of the Christmas tree on the altar.

The party at home afterward included good friends and both families for a late lunch and play time with Tori. I don’t think she took a nap that day…. she held up well, like a royal would do!

Our little Tori is as royal to us as Prince Charles. She is certainly the little sovereign in our family, and we all do our best to serve her needs! She our tiny super moon (still), and we are all caught up in her orbit. In fact, December’s full moon is occurring now, the same full moon (actually a ‘super moon’ like the one that occurred last year when she was born!) In lunar cycles, she has turned one on this full moon! Her calendar birthday will be in 10 days, after this moon cycle has finished. It’s a wonderful place to be–in her orbit….I’m enjoying every moment of it!

Changing Gears

November 14, 2017 | Leave a Comment

Tomorrow at this time I will be in the air heading for Antigua. Hard to believe that time marches on as it does. For weeks now I’ve been entirely focused on other things–things with deadlines that had to happen before I took off to warmer shores.

First! The dress fits! Can you imagine what a relief this is??? I am not an experienced seamstress, and not particularly knowledgeable about how quickly a baby grows during the six weeks since I fitted the muslin to my granddaughter. I thought she might get taller, but I was counting on her NOT getting wider in the chest.

She is such a beauty! –not that I’m partial or anything! I owe the success of making this dress to my sewing teacher Marie, and to my lace mentors, Mary and Clare. This dress was beyond my limited sewing skills, so I’m lucky to have found such a great teacher!

At this point I don’t even remember what projects I put onboard Pandora before Bob left to sail south. I will have fun discovering what’s waiting for me. I will bring Tori’s Mini Mouse dress to finish during the 10 days we’re there. I decided not to bring my new band loom on this trip. I’ll wait to let Bob help me with the logistics of that when we return at the end of December. We will be in Antigua for only 10 days before we come back for Tori’s christening and to spend the month of December celebrating her 1st birthday and the Christmas holiday. Our younger son Chris will come out for both the christening and Christmas, so I’m thrilled we will all be together twice in one month.

Tomorrow afternoon I’ll be arriving here. Bob says we are one of only a handful of boats on the dock right now. It won’t last as the super yachts will be arriving everyday now, until the docks are full of mega-yachts. We’ll move off the dock and out into the breezes in the middle of the harbor after I arrive. But tomorrow I will move aboard while Pandora is at the dock…

…and we will enjoy dinner together at Pillars on my first evening there.

I imagine I will have a bit of culture shock as I transition from all the conveniences of living on land along with the transition of late fall into tropical weather. Now I’ll be in permanent summer, while living off the grid. When I get used to it, it does have its pleasures, but I never get entirely beyond missing home. One thing I cannot live without these days is good internet! I need to get photos of my Tori Tiny Super Moon at least once a week!

Calm after the Storm

November 7, 2017 | 1 Comment

This morning I sewed on the newly bleached lace to the front bodice of my granddaughter’s christening dress. What a relief that it looks good to these old eyes of mine!

Here is the front of the dress, looking rather golden because of my kitchen lighting and the cherry cabinets in the background. Trust me, this dress–and the lace!–is bright white!

Here is the back. As you can see, I cannot finish attaching the narrow lace to the back until I’ve done the buttonholes. That will get done on Wednesday at my sewing class. Actually, my teacher is going to do that….if you mess them up the dress is ruined, so that is WAY out of my comfort zone.

I tied off the the rest of the lace on the pillow and have just finished bleaching and soaking it in hydrogen peroxide. When it dries I hope I will find that it got as light at the lace I did yesterday…my fingers are crossed and I’ll just pause here a moment to go throw some salt over my shoulder!

Alrighty then! It’s a damp fall day here, drizzly and dreary. It will get dark an hour earlier than I’m used to this evening. I have taken a moment to enjoy what will be close to the last things blooming in the garden. It’s been such a mild fall, and surely the first hard frost can’t be too far away now.

These are the last few roses in the garden.

I couldn’t resist cutting a few of them, along with some lavender, to bring inside. The summer colors looked quite out of place in the house. I’ve moved them to my bathroom (of all places!) where a bit of pale pink, bright pink and purple look better.

It’s almost time to bring in my extended sheep family. During the winter they stay warm in front of the fireplace.

The birds who lived here are long gone, along with all the hummingbirds who were attracted to the red mandevilla and sat on the wire waiting for a drink at the feeders. The mandevilla doesn’t have much time left, so it’s singing its swan song.

I’ve already brought in some of the plants I want to keep for the winter. l didn’t realize this geranium cutting had a bud on it. It is sitting on the window sill above the kitchen sink, and it opened yesterday during my trials with bleaching. Today this bloom seems like a benevolent onlooker to yesterday’s events.

Lastly, here is the kitchen table. It hasn’t been used much lately for eating! While Bob is off sailing to Antigua, I haven’t felt much like cooking for one and sitting down to a meal at the table.

Mostly I’ve been using the table as I am now, to write emails and blog posts, with morning coffee or a glass something stronger in the evening. I’m feeling pretty lucky that I had the opportunity to write this particular post. The storm is past, and it’s looking pretty likely that there will be a christening dress worthy of dear little Tori, my tiny super moon!

On Impulse

October 29, 2017 | Leave a Comment

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.

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.

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

….and the collection of vintage sewing machines.

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

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

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

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.

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.

Here is a closer look at their kimono!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!

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!