There are so many facts that I didn't know about our history, especially the Civil War.
Recently, I came across an article about Roswell Mill and women.
Since I'm a weaver and very interested in the production of fiber, this was a story to read carefully. The Mills of the South had women workers, some with children on site.
Read this story and wonder--how could this happen?
I've been reading this book, especially since our annual spin-in theme is "Cotton Candy".
What a story! Our daily life is surrounded by so many cotton products--want to read,
Wisteria is an elegant, lacy, and gorgeous
project with all sizes from Girl's Small (5-7 Years) through Women's XXXL.
So it's perfect for all shapes and sizes
Check her website out for super neat crochet and knit patterns while
The mandala is one of humankind's most ancient art forms. With the circle as its basis, it reflects eternity and all of nature: the sun, the moon and even the bird's nest. Types of mandalas may be found in all religions, as well as in psychology.
The circle is the most natural form known to mankind. The universe is made up of planets, stars, moons and the sun---all spherical in shape. The sun rises and sets in a never-ending circle; seasons pass in an annual circle. Trees, rocks and raindrops are circular, and most fruits and flowers are spherical. The cells and atoms that make up everything within the universe are circular.
It's time to think about that sweetest time of the year--Valentine's Day! Did you know that Valentine's Day is celebrated in various countries around the world? It is a time to show your love and affection for someone special in your life.
I'm thinking about Valentine's Day because the brown headed kid asked for a table runner for her new home--she requested this valentine one.
Joy Shope has the tutorial--we are stash diving for this one!
Should be fun to create for her table.
Other patterns are found here on this site--have fun!
and for some history, we have this from Wikepedia........
Valentine's Day, also known as Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine,[1] is a celebration observed on February 14 each year. It is celebrated in many countries around the world, although it is not a public holiday in most of them.
St. Valentine's Day began as a liturgical celebration of one or more early Christian saints named Valentinus. Several martyrdom stories were invented for the various Valentines that belonged to February 14, and added to later martyrologies.[2] A popular hagiographical account of Saint Valentine of Rome states that he was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for ministering to Christians, who were persecuted under the Roman Empire. According to legend, during his imprisonment, he healed the daughter of his jailer, Asterius. An embellishment to this story states that before his execution he wrote her a letter signed "Your Valentine" as a farewell.[3]Saint Valentine's Day is an official feast day in the Anglican Communion,[4] as well as in the Lutheran Church.[5] The Eastern Orthodox Church also celebrates Saint Valentine's Day, albeit on July 6 and July 30, the former date in honor of the Roman presbyter Saint Valentine, and the latter date in honor of Hieromartyr Valentine, the Bishop of Interamna (modern Terni).
The day was first associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. In 18th-century England, it evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines"). In Europe, Saint Valentine's Keys are given to lovers "as a romantic symbol and an invitation to unlock the giver’s heart", as well as to children, in order to ward off epilepsy (called Saint Valentine's Malady).[6] Valentine's Day symbols that are used today include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards.[7]
The 10000 Hour Rule is just that. This is the idea that it takes approximately 10000 hours of deliberate practice to master a skill.
For instance, it would take 10 years of practicing 3 hours a day to become a master in your subject. It would take approximately 5 years of full-time employment to become proficient in your field. Simply work out how many hours you have already achieved and calculate how many more you need to clock up before you reach 10000.
the 100-Hour Rule:
For most disciplines, it only takes one hundred hours of active learning to become much more competent than an absolute beginner.
For example:
Cooking: it takes years to become a master chef, but one hundred hours of cooking lessons and classes and deliberate practice will make you a better cook than most of your friends.
Coding: it takes years of study and practice to become a strong software engineer, but going through a couple of Codecademy or Udacity courses will make you a good enough programmer for a lot of basic applications.
Sales: it takes years of experience to become great at sales, but reading a few key books and shadowing experienced sales people for several hours will help you learn enough to avoid the most common/dangerous sales mistakes.
So, if this is the case--what is the number of hours you need to be competent in your fiber field? Is it 10,000 hours, 1,000 hours or 100 hours? As someone who has been a weaver since 1979, I can personally say--I'm still learning! I AM NOT competent in my weaving! I don't think I ever will be. There is no way you can achieve the greatest number of hours and learn everything about weaving--how do colors mingle; weave structures abound; fiber combinations match, etc. So, I will continue to practice and build up more hours of learning!
What number of hours do you need to be proficient in your field?
It's back to the routine--January always brings out new thoughts, new beginnings, new challenges. And I'm always ready to be inspired by my fellow weavers--who have been more production and creative than I have!
D'Anne purchased a new loom--Glimakra Band Loom and she really went to town with her weaving.
Using stash yarns (5/2 perle cotton) she wove and wove
colorful band weaving--perfect for a jacket or even a guitar strap
Gretchen enjoyed weaving workshop with Rosalie Neilson that she wove this
wonderful 'snowflake' table runner.
Take a look at one of Rosalie's video
Close-up of Gretchen's snowflake in Rep Weave
She also had these wonderful turned twill block woven towels
Same warp, different wefts! Enchanting color changes--cottolin fiber
Karen I was at it with her small tapestry piece--super detail in this tiny (3"x5") piece
I love her backs too--she says she needs to weave in the ends, but
I like them just like this!
Karen I also had these lovely woven linen mats/towels
such wonderful weaving technique
She has an article in this month's Handwoven magazine--working with linen.
Her work is always superb! Another article in the January/February Handwoven
is by Tracy on towels. We had such a great knowledge of weaving in our
study group.
As an exercise, we played with colored papers and weave structures
or lack there of--fun just to play
and a good way to see how colors bounce of each other.
Okay, I'm inspired for the month--what to weave? and what color will I use?
There is nothing like an oak tree--and it is amazing that from a seedling it grows to be mighty and bold. Having lived in Louisiana for many years, the Oak was a symbol of love and endurance. There are so many lovely oaks around the state.
Edna Szymoniak Oak
35' 6" in circumference | #2072 of the Live Oak Society
A recent article in Countryroads Magazine caught my attention as we had a huge oak growing right beside our home in Gonzales, Louisiana. William Guion is documenting Louisiana's most ancient live oaks--the oldest 100 Oaks in the state. Take a stroll through his photographs and read the article on this project. I watched our tree grow from a sapling to over 15 ft tall, but it is still growing and enduring. Oh, the stories they could tell!
We can't do fudge without it! My mother said she ate so many peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwiches in her day that she had to swear off the stuff!
Nope, I'm talking about this Marshmallow Fluff knitting pattern
January must be the month to be called "chicken"! So many recipes popping up with chicken as the main meat ingredient. Do you know Erin? Erin Chase runs 31 days of certain recipes--She is $5 Dinner Mom.
January she is featuring 31 Days of Rotisserie Chicken Recipes--Not that I want to eat chicken for 31 days straight, but these recipes can be saved for future reference.
Then I got my January Cooking Light Magazine and guess what? It features chicken recipes too! Is it a conspiracy?
Chicken 25 Ways!
And Food Network Magazine has recipes for chicken wings!
Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner--
excuse me--I'm getting hungry and going to search for some
For those who have fiber animals, here is an opportunity for you to participate in an event. Many of our past fiber study groups have done a similar project. Each person in the group chose a sheep breed, did a study of that breed, collect the fleece to distribute to other members of the group. Then there was the spinning of each breed for our own workbook. It was a year long study with great results. We learned about different breeds, quality of their fleece and how it could be useful for our needs.
Washing/processing fleece January we’ll discuss the washing methods we all use and make up our very own booklet..
Plying February to April will focus on plying methods with a particular look at Andean plying so we can make our own document on plying too.
Finishing items eg knitting, felting, weaving or crochet etc March to April we’ll look at what we do with our processed fleece - ie end products- knitted crocheted felted woven.. Other?
Many moons ago, I was privileged to receive a couple of nice Shetland fleeces from a friend. Shetland wool is extremely interesting to process--it takes some time and energy to get the locks just right. Needless to say, I kept the fleeces in their lovely little storage bags until I decided it was best to pass them on to someone who would process them with the care they deserved.
Of course, now, I'm sorry that they went to another home!! But, here is the skinny on Shetland sheep and their fleece.
Shetland sheep are hardy, low maintenance animals, easy lambers and good mothers that fit with our 'no fuss' philosophy of animal husbandry,
Shetland sheep produce a high quality fibre in many attractive natural fleece colours, that has a ready market and is also useful for our own fibre works,
Shetland sheep can be used as dual purpose meat and fibre producers if required,
Shetland sheep have distinctive personalities,
Shetland sheep have a well run North American Registry (NASSA), and
Shetland sheep hark back to our own Celtic/Viking roots.
Susan Crawford is publishing a book on Shetland. Susan has studied hand-knitted garments and accessories from the 1920s to 1960s, which are held in the Museum's archives. She has chosen 25 pieces, recording their construction stitch for stitch then recreated them for theVintage Shetland Project. These pieces – all with their own unique story to tell – have been developed into comprehensive multi-sized knitting patterns, complete with instructions, technical advice and illustrated with colour photography shot on Shetland.
With an essay reflecting on the story of each hand-knit item this book is a treasury of Shetland knitting patterns and an insight into Shetland's rich textile traditions.
What peeked my return interest to Shetland fiber and knitting? Hazel Tindall's blog! I was reading through different Shetland knitting patterns and came across her blog with this cool "Benon Headband"
Did you get into the latest 2015 craze? I wrote about this in another blog several months ago.
I have two or maybe three coloring books for adults. On the other hand, I must have (mumble, mumble) children coloring books! Okay--I was into the craze loooooooong before the "adult" books came out.
It’s about “getting back to basics,” said Karen Larson, a Lathrup Village, MI graphic designer who has designed two adult coloring books.
Larson said coloring books offer an escape from today’s ever-electronic world and let you do something with your hands and be creative.
“It’s addictive, it’s meditative, it’s relaxing,” said Larson. “I find lately I’ve been really overbooked, so I take just a half hour to color and it does the trick. It soothes you, relaxes you. It’s that whole key of getting away from electronics.”
In her area of Detroit, there are even coloring workshops being held at Public Libraries! Can you believe?!! I would so be there!
I love love this coloring book that my friend Judy P gave me this summer! It is designed by
her friend, Susan Schmitt. I haven't taken the time to color though--it's such an entertaining book, I almost hate to mess it up.
Here is one of the pages from the book. Did you know: Art has long been considered therapeutic. A 2006 Swedish study found that mindfulness art therapy for women with cancer helped significantly reduce symptoms of physical and emotional distress during treatment.
I found a wonderful coloring book at our local Sprouts Grocery store and here is
the display at the Barnes and Nobles! Get on the band wagon--break out those
coloring books--whether for adults or children--get some wonderful coloring pens
I have done a couple of "365" challenges in my time. One was photography--posted each and every day--that was a challenge for sure! Just try to find 365 different and unusual photos to post each day. You certainly look at life differently doing that challenge.
Here is another challenge for me--this is 365 quilt block challenge! The challenge? Make a small block each and every day--don't despair! The blocks are posted for you through 365 Challenge Quilt website. There are over 7000 quilters taking this challenge--will you be one?
The blocks are going to finish at 3"! Some will finish at 6"!
Take a look at this photo! Isn't this a fascinating quilt! I've always been interested in small block quilts like "Farmer's Wife" but never had the courage to tackle it. Now, I think this will be easy to tackle a day at a time!
