piglet

Too much to catch up on, so we're just gonna drop in medias res.

F'KING MOTHS!! Infestation discovered in my studio (closet) when I ripped it apart to find my roving for a tutorial with a friend in the park the other day on how to use my enigmatically frustrating EEW Nano 2 (it's an e-spinner [I would have said JFGI, but have you *SEEN* Google results lately!?]). (I successfully spun under supervision, am bumble-fingered again left to my own devices.)

I have too much invested in wool (stash acquired beyond life expectancy) not to treat this as an emergency.

It's been a long year of extremely limited mobility, with lots of relying on non-crafters to retrieve tools and materials for me, and then to jam things back into the closet, to get them out of the way of the rest of the house. I would have to empty the closet to investigate, purge and re-organize. Only mildly daunted, I fortified myself with a rolling shop stool, and enlisted the support of family members.

A week later, I am thrilled with my freshly reset studio, and so am taking a moment to record for my future enjoyment the sheer bliss of this space.

[photoessay] Ed: photoessay sat in draft for 4 months. giving up, posting without photos...

Moth update: I lost a partially processed fleece (the culprit -- it was drying in a large milk carton when put away in the top back recesses of the closet... oops!), a small fleece, a hand-spun cop, and some dyed roving. Containment failures were one loose-lidded plastic box and several plastic bags of insufficient mil. The 3 other fleeces have been moved to better-sealed plastic boxes. All loose wool balls have been frozen, just in case.

Lesson: get yourself the mobility device. You can do so much more when you are not fighting your limits. Every single accommodation I have made, from the shower stool and grab bar through cane, rollator, e-bike, rolling shop stool, sit/stand stool, zero-gravity chair, needlework stand, iPad holder, pick-up stick, boot hooks all the way to this e-chair has massively improved my condition by supporting me where my body is failing. Flip-up lighted magnifier glasses! *Remove the strain.* Life is too damn painful already to suffer this much.

As part of my recovery from the utter brainless of having had Covid (worse brain fog than being pregnant!), I've been playing my way backwards through the New Yorker's cryptic crosswords. Made it all the way to June 27, 2021, and hey! No more links! Except there is a link to "Announcing an All-New Weekly Cryptic Crossword from The New Yorker", and whaddaya know? Inaugural puzzle. Well, re-inaugural. Turns out, they started putting their 90s era puzzles online a couple years earlier. W00!

Disappointment of reaching the end of the new puzzles flushed by the exalt of discovering *12 pages* (20 puzzles each!) of puzzles, w000 to the HOO!! Weekly for the last 2.5 years is about 130 puzzles, over the course of which I got my solve time down to about 15 minutes. Not puzzle competitor speed, like some of my friends, but pleasantly diverting. Baffling clues turn into groaner puns of the wurst variety.

100+ puzzles to go!

I also have a treat reserved. *pets box* I was inspired by something Kim Scheinberg said to google "crossword jigsaw" and hot damn!! There it was, a New Yorker crossword jigsaw, just as I stumbled onto their puzzles. (Regular, not cryptic; still fun.) Dissuading cats will be my only hurdle. Step 1: remove cat. Step 2: remove cat. Step 3: remove cat. Step 4: profit?

https://www.newyorker.com/puzzles-and-games-dept/cryptic-crossword/announcing-an-all-new-weekly-cryptic-crossword-from-the-new-yorker

Opened keyboard intended to reply to a comment asking about iOS executive function assistance... took a photo shoot of refilling my pillbox... now posting about scheduled Reminders. Because executive function!

Because I sold my soul to Apple the day I saw a Lisa demo & wept at the $10k pricetag, I am enmeshed in

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Pretty sure I drafted the above at the end of this past summer. I have been out of commission since Oct. 4th. I missed my 60th birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, helping sestra move... *every* function, celebration, hobby over the last 4 months. Bike accident, PT gaslighting, mystery illness, Covid... I've probably blocked something?

Documenting that this ends here & now. Universe, on notice. From here on out is all celebrations, all the time. No fucks left.

[NOTE: OMG, I found this in my drafts. Posting so I don't lose it. Feeling cute, may update later?]

Oct. 10, 2022, I set out on the Empire State Trail from my front door, with reservations at hotels along the way, a booty call in Poughkeepsie, and an ultimate destination in Rhinebeck (for the Sheep & Wool festival). What a fantastic way to celebrate my birthday week, and to encourage me to Do It Again, because OMG SO MUCH FUn!! I cannot odd.

Packing list, with notes for next trip.

Preparation and thanks.

Route itinerary, navigation and analysis.

*Oct. 10-11: Westchester Marriott, 670 White Plains Rd, Tarrytown [22 mi]
Country Kitchen Cafe, 564 N Main St, Brewster [35 mi.]
*Oct. 11-12: Comfort Inn(?), 7-11 Peach Lake Rd., Brewster
Daddy O's, 3 Turner st., Hopewell Junction [halfway to Poughkeepsie]
*Oct. 12-14: poughkeepsie grand hotel, 40 civic center plaza Poughkeepsie [39 mi.]
*Oct. 14-16: 11 Beacham Rd., Rhinebeck [17 mi.]

bike back to poughkeepsie, train home?

test pack: 15 lbs front bag; 10.5 lbs rear rack

Photos(!!!) and commentary.

Furniture-maker of the early mid-20th century. We inherited a dining set (table, chairs, hutch) from boy's maternal grandparents, late of Braintree, MA. (I broke the table unloading Thanksgiving groceries onto it over a decade ago. We do not speak of this. Unless you can recommend a reliable carpenter?) Today's family project: recovering the seats of the 2 dining room chairs we use daily.

The results are lovely and comfortable. The fabric roses are perfect for the rose back carved chairs. The upholstery dates from the first days of our relationship. On the weekend that I realized I couldn't breathe without him, he was in Quebec, at Carnaval. I was hitting an upholstery fabric warehouse sale in NJ. Such a great investment in our future, lol.

Discovering the label in the chair corners led me (through the magic of Google) to some history on the furniture company. Now I feel compelled to repair the afore-unmentioned rare cherry pedestal dining room table. http://www.dldebertin.com/willett/willett.htm

Dear Martin Luther,

Thank you for installing this Protestant Work Ethic. I regret to inform you it is not fit for purpose. I wish to return it forthwith.


No love,
me


WHYYYYYYYYYY is it easier to reject the gender binary than to reject the PWE!? *weedkiller*

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October

November

These two potholders are for a friend who loves ALL COLORS. If I had more colors left among my loops, I’d’ve used more. :-) Super fun designing with what I had available. The white background potholder has 2 each of 8 colors, plus 1 each of 2 more colors. The repeated colors run from the outside edges to the middle, separated in the center by the 2 unique colors. They alternate hot-and-cold colors, so when you remove every other one, you get a gradient from hot to cold (because of the order reversal in the center).

The black background has 3 each of 6 colors, ordered from dark to light, bookended by hot colors (red and pink). The red loops visually tie the two potholders more closely together. The repeated colors in the black potholder are in *almost* the same order they appear in the white potholder. Both potholders are basic tabby weave (over/under/over/under/etc.).

This one went out to my cousin (first cousin once removed) Jane. I based it on her personal style (as deduced through her Facebook photos), and was THRILLED when she sent me a picture of it in situ, in her kitchen, because OMG PERFECT!! <3 It’s a tabby plaid in silver, winter white & robin’s egg. I was delighted to find Harrisville Designs putting out a silver / winter white / powder blue gift combination after I made this one. Validation!



This is going to a school friend. Our teams were purple and white — she was a white. Is a white. #teampurple It’s a spiral twill!! I joined the FB group Potholder Loom Weaving and immediately came away with 4 amazing tips, including this spiral twill pattern by Deborah Jean Cohen.

I’ve been weaving up a storm this summer, and failing to update. So, here’s my recent output — 7 gift sets of potholders in 8 photos.

2-tone elegance in intense jewel tones — some of the recipient’s favorite colors (as manifested in her garb).


A yellow 2-tone potholder for the recipient who squee-ed over the yellow potholder from the above set.


2 potholders to coordinate with the recipient’s kitchen wall & accent tiles: white and almost-black blue.



3 potholders in the same weave pattern as the above, in the colors of love for the warm heart of the recipient.


2 potholders for a fancy landsknecht.


2 potholders, small and large, for a recipient of style, to coordinate with her wardrobe.


A potholder to coordinate with the recipient’s garb.