New band striking up, and cotton

I'm about to weave the band I originally had in mind when I thought about this whole bandweaving idea. I now have more knowledge and skills and I'm hopeful. 

Sorting the warp threads after deciding on colors 

The heddle threaded and ready to mount on the loom.  This design is a Sami traditional one. You'll see.

These bands aren't exactly for anything other than the experience of making them, and if they develop a use that's fine, but it's not a goal. They can just be. 

I'm studying the great fiberartist Anni Albers just now. I was able to get her classic book on hoopla, and it's brilliant.

She talks about the intersection of art and engineering in textile arts, and how we're lacking in opportunities to experience texture, in a predigested world full of images and readymades. 

She taught at Black Mountain College, in the 1940s, as a Bauhaus proponent, after she was obliged to escape the Nazi regime in Germany, along with her husband. What a powerhouse she was in art.

She experimented with weave structures, unusual materials and had great respect for the ancient textile artists of Peru and other civilizations. 

Originally a painter, she was forced into the fiberarts by the sexism of the contemporary painting world, denying her opportunity, and her own physical disability limiting her movement, and she triumphed. The fiberarts world gained a genius. 

Meanwhile, speaking of fiber, my cotton plants are doing well, soon to go outside, a couple promised to another gardener. 

She grew cotton last year and I got the cotton bolls from her, but the seeds I harvested are doing better than hers this year,so I'm giving back.

Happy day everyone, grow all the things or get them from your friends.

Flower filled walk and Misfits

Before I went walking I did a bit of finish work on my bands and here's the collection to date, most recent at the top

I alternated the places of the knots so they'd lie smoothly.

Little rabbit so young he didn't realize he should run, squirrel on the fence alerting him

And here's a natural gargoyle in a tree root.

Ramon is in charge of Misfits delivery today 

Usual cans to share with the food pantry, beautiful large brown eggs, for a quiche or two, with leafy greens already in the freezer, chocolate chips and bar because they're nutritious. Or something. 

Strawberries, cherries, apricots, for eating fresh or as jam, depending on how they taste. Bananaz maybe strawberry banana smoothie..

Spaghetti for when I can't think what to make, always easy with diced tomatoes in the house. I have plenty of cheese, too, to make a tomato-cheese-egg bake for the no-idea days. Spicy plant sausage likewise.

Meanwhile supper chez Boud on Misfits day 

Two egg two cheese omelette, with fruit.

Happy day everyone, the larder is filled chez Boud. I hope yours is too. And I'm sure you share, sez Ted and Big Ursy and Pony and Ursula.

Noise galore

All over the development today, men were up on cherry pickers, sawing away at foliage, chipping, grinding. It was windy so I sneezed on and off all day, what with wood dust and pollen and probably molds.

Billie the Pup was not amused by the wind and the noise 

They took down a massive overgrown evergreen close by, and my view is much improved.

This one was on a patio, not association property so maybe the owner arranged for it to go.  The house was a rental for many years and nobody really tended the patio, but a new owner is on it now, and evidently tackling it.

In other news, I more or less wove 8647 into my current band, on the left

a bit tricky, few available threads, but the spirit was there 

And here's my summer supply of cotton yarns for bandweaving. 

This will be great, now that I'm starting to develop some skills. Many more to go.

Happy day everyone, warm here today, I had to take off a layer, then the wind got up and I had to add a jacket.  Then I gave up and came in and wove.

Coda on HOA: Manager got back to me to confirm he'd got the docs and that he'd been stuck in traffic, arrived an hour late. Just as well I didn't wait.  

Tuesday textiles and other things

One of the squirrels apparently can tell time. Midmorning I eat an apple and toss the core onto the deck and in no time he's there, hauling it up to the fence to eat at leisure

It's just right for his paws.

I was weaving this morning, doing random designs to see how they looked, as well as motifs from the book. I'm learning to read the work and understand when things go wrong, why, and what to do about it. 

I don't know when I've enjoyed a skill more. And there's plenty to learn yet. This band looks like a Klingon scroll.

Then the Tuesday afternoon knitting group, and we had to come home again halfway there,  because I'd forgotten to put in my hearing aids.  

Eventually we got there, for the Big Reveal of Frog and Toad! There were other items,  shawls, socks, sweaters,

But the greatest of these was

Shown with proud knitter, and with the pattern. Note the extra touches, Toad's fancy neckline, frog's belt and suspenders, and tweed blazer. Frog had to be borrowed back from his young owner for the occasion. To

Conversation ranged over synaesthia, naming food animals, baby raccoons, hoarding, Mikado costumes, Tai chi, baby clothes, lighting, communes, HOA fails, knitting lessons, cowls and more.

Then to the post office to send out another artwork, and home just in time for Textiles and Tea with 

She's an inventive weaver, specializing in waffle weave and brilliant colors, in wool she dyes herself. She's also a spinner.

She's exploring depth and shadow and the fall of light on three dimensional work. Just look 

She's exciting and I think her colors aren't as dazzling as last week's artist whose impact was a bit too much for some of us.

Happy day everyone, I certainly had one, and a lovely evening walk after a fiber-and- people-filled day!