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Back to the Regularly Scheduled Chaos
Going to try to keep this to a quick(ish) update, and get back into posting regularly again. I last posted way back in November, and surprising no one, there’s been a lot that’s happened since then. December was the normal holiday blur, and I took some much needed time off. Got to do a little bit of interpretation at Fort Dobbs (and try to figure out how to make the oven work when we burned the door by accident). January was slow in a mostly good way, and I tried to establish some new habits to give myself the kind of routine that makes me more comfortable day to day.…
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A Question of Motivation
Here we are at the very end of August 2021, and I’m feeling like I’ve simultaneously gotten nothing and a bunch of things done over the course of the year so far. When it comes to fiber arts related things, I feel like I’ve made really good progress. I’ve completed six challenges (some self-selected and some from outside sources, which is way more than my goal of three challenges), and I’m making a bit of a dent in my fiber stash without buying too much just because it’s pretty. I’ve gotten the newest antique wheel repaired (hopefully more on that later). I’m maintaining a fairly consistent “making” habit, though I…
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Dropping a Line
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Do All The Things!
Apparently June/July has turned into a chunk of time where I try to do everything. All at once. I signed up for the Livestock Conservancy’s Wrap It Up Shawl Challenge (June 16 to July 14). I didn’t pick out my pattern/yarn until the 16th (and had to wait for the yarn to be delivered), so I didn’t get started knitting until about a week later. I opted to knit the Reflection Line Shawl by Tetiana Otruta, as I’ve knit it once before and knew about how long it would take. But since the recommended yarn did not match the yarn Leicester Longwool yarn that I purchased from Gypsy Mountain Farm,…
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Dropping a Line
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Sewing a New Cap
Back before Covid hit, I’d cut out and started sewing myself a new 18th century cap. I was working from the Kannik’s Korner round eared cap pattern, and was using handkerchief weight linen from Wm. Booth, Draper. I’d gotten it all cut out and the headpiece seamed and hemmed. But when events started getting cancelled, I completely stalled on it. When I committed to going to Taken Shelter in Fort Dobbs on June 26, I knew I needed to finish the cap. But until the weekend before the event, I couldn’t find the motivation to work on it. So on the 19th, I sat down for a few hours to…
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A New Pair of Shoes
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Back Into the Swing of Things
Back on May 16th, I got up early, put on funny clothes, and got in the car to head out to the High Point Museum to do a flax spinning demo. I’d loaded my wheel and most of my gear the night before, and just had a few things to grab in the morning. In 2019, that would have been a pretty typical Saturday. It should have been a typical Saturday in 2020 as well. It was definitely not a typical Saturday in 2021. It was my first event back post-vaccine. It was outdoors and small (about half a dozen of us in kit, with under 50 total visitors over…
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Time to Impose Some Order on Things
I’m not usually a new year, new goals kind of person. But in the interest of imposing some order in my life while outside order isn’t being imposed on me, I’m going to give it a whirl. In no particular order… Create a fiber arts related challenge for myself for three months in 2021. Doing my 100 Days of Stashbusting challenge helped get me back into more regular spinning and knitting. I even got a couple of spinning projects done as a result. And since I got a subscription to the Paradise Fibers Fiber of the Month Club, the stash is going to keep growing quickly if I don’t stay…
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A Year Without Events
I certainly didn’t expect 2020 to be ending this way, and looking back at my post from May, I really wasn’t prepared for *everything* to be cancelled (either officially or unofficially because it seemed too risky to me). I’ve finally managed to finish the dark blue check linen apron I started ages ago. The cap and the patchwork pocket are still not finished, and I’ve added an embroidered pocket and a flame stitch pinball to my pile of history projects. There’s even some modern embroidery there. I finished a couple of books, but added even more to the stack. And we won’t even start on the spinning projects that are…
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Dropping a Line
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With A Little Help From My Friends
Looking at the calendar, it’s already shaping up to be a busy summer. At least one event (usually more) every month between now and the end of October. I’m really looking forward to them – some are at new sites, and some at sites I’ve been going to for years. I’ll be talking about historic clothing, spinning, cooking, and medicine from the 18th and 19th centuries. I love doing living history, but between the clothing, gear, food, and travel costs, going to these events isn’t exactly cheap. Most of the time, I’m a volunteer at these sites, so I’m carrying all of these costs. As a result, I’ve set up…
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Dropping a Line
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Disaster, Loss, and Coming Home Again
BT/FA is my “home” site, even though I live in Durham now. It was Jim and Shannon who first convinced me to put on funny clothes and talk to people about spinning. It didn’t take long for me to ask my mom to make an outfit for me to wear during events. For a number of years, BT/FA was pretty much the only place I did living history. It was there that I learned how to tell the stories of the past in ways that people today could relate to. The erosion on the waterfront, and the artifacts recovered as a result, also provided a topic for my MA thesis…
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A Short Introduction
Maybe we’ve met in person, maybe we follow each other on social media, or maybe you’ve just stumbled across my site while searching for a place to buy yarn or looking for information about the fiber arts, archaeology, or living history. Regardless of how you found me, an introduction of sorts seems to be in order. I’m the creative type who also enjoys structure, so it’s not surprising that I picked up knitting during my freshman year of college. I wanted a way to make things outside of my art classes, and I’d seen the pretty things on display in the local yarn shop in my college town. After a…
