I have not woven anything for several weeks. I feel bereft. Other interests and duties are taking priority temporally. I have decided to take a short break from blogging. Not writing regularly causes guilt and anxiety (pathetic is it not) I value the blogging community very much. So…while busy NOT WEAVING I will have a short interlude. But I will be back!!
So what am I doing. First of all I am now feeling energetic enough to garden. For the 18 months since having a new hip my mobility has not been brilliant (good for weaving though) The garden has looked sad and unloved. Derry has made me two raised beds so that I can grow some vegetables. Our soil is sandy with hundreds of stones…we are near the sea. All goodness leaches out. So I have filled the beds with compost and manure, a purpose made environment.
We inherited an old greenhouse when we came here 14 years ago and already battered it had become unusable. An eyesore. My good husband (though not a natural do-it-yourselfer) has repaired all the broken panes. I am growing seeds and potting up and really enjoying myself. I am hoping for a cucumber, and tomatoes under glass, and mainly salads outside.
The primroses and daffodils are making it a real Easter garden at the moment.
Second interuption. My neice has asked me to make her prom dress ( a strange new US custom that has crept into English society!!!) I foolishly agreed. We went to buy a pattern. She has excellent taste. She chose a Vintage Vogue circa 1956.
This dress is much more fiddly than expected. The skirt is massive and will require yards of dress net. I have half done the bodice. Its got those little covered buttons and rouleau loops at the back!!
So I can’t concentrate on warping and weaving just now. But when I do it will be yardage for a summer jacket.
Third event. I am trying to organise a 70th birthday for Derry in the garden for end of May. Not enormous but our 4 children and families and a few old friends from his gigging datys. All are musiciens of some sort or another, so music will range from be-bop to ceilidh!! I will have to invite the neighbours to keep them on board.
And lastly we have been heavily into the Swedish writer Henning Mankell after watching the Swedish series on TV starring his wonderful detective Kurt Wallander. Depressed, impetuous and very human. So enthralled we are going to South Sweden in 3 weeks to follow his trail. (I know he is only a literary character) but there is such a sense of place…southern Sweden Skane, and Ystad!!! We are flying to Copenhagen, then the train over the bridge into Sweden, hire a car and Bed and Breakfast. Hope I might see some weaving en-route. Sadly Margaret Bergmans area is north of Stockholm so will have to wait for another visit.
So happy weaving and spinning everyone and I will return in the summer.
Its great to hear from you, though I’m sad you feel pressured to write when you are clearly so busy! Sewing yards of net and gathered satin would definitely be at the bottom of my “enjoyable sewing” list.
Greenhouses, even battered ones, are great! I am doing starts in a greenhouse basement. I find its a little like cooking something over a campfire; I have to keep turning them to the light source.
Oh, oh, oh! Southern Sweden! My favorite! I’m not familiar with Henning Mankel, but I thought Blekinge was heaven on earth when I was there 12 years ago. There is an old spa town called Ronneby with a lovely nature park called Ronneby Brunnspark. And tons of history just everywhere, since Skane has been passed back and forth between Sweden and Denmark. It also has a unique weaving tradition I am gaga for, of geometric folk tapestries called rolakan. Have you heard of this Skane weaver’s bed and breakfast?
http://www.sodervidinge.com/
You made a good choice to stay south for now. It would be early and chilly for Margaret Bergman’s Jamtland, which is the *other* most beautiful place in Sweden. I was in Sweden in April and in summer. I remember I pretty much froze in Stockholm in April. Happy travels!
Whoops, I said I was doing starts in a “greenhouse basement.” I meant “daylight basement.”
I know what you mean about feeling bereft when you aren’t weaving. I will be so glad when I can find time to get a warp on my loom again!
I’m sure you’ll have a lovely holiday in Sweden, it sounds like a fun idea to go and see places that you have read about.
Hi,
When going to Sweden why not go and find Blomqvist in Sweden. outhttp://www.clb.se/
Blomqvist / Nordiska
Textil-Garner AB
512 84 Överlida
Tel. 0325-32290
Fax. 0325-32500
E-post: blomqvist@clb.se
Maybe you ‘ ll like it, there comes my Gubbatacken from about 11 years ago, and now nearly finished.
Enjoy your trip.
wish I was going too.
Greetings,
Ineke