Blooming after a fallow state - the Victoria Flax to Linen Group

“The theory was that while in a Fallow state you were gathering and conserving strength, nourishing yourself through meditation, sending invisible rootlets out into the universe.”

― Margaret Atwood, MaddAddam

Got to hang out with the Victoria Flax to Linen group last weekend.  It was really special to connect after so many years in hibernation.  

Button, button, who's got the button? Also WOW! that's a lot of paper!

 The duffle coat project advances.  A decision has been made and after much humming and hawing, I decided to go with the Albion Coat sewing pattern.  I chose this pattern because they gave away some great resources for free and it gave me confidence that I would be able to make a beautiful coat with their instructions.  

Because I can never be easy on myself, I am going to sew a version of the longer coat, but unlined in keeping with the duffle coat of my past.  

I've got a few other changes up my sleeve, but that's going to have to wait because this: 

Combining calm

They say lavender is a calming herb, and I will concede it smells nice.  

What I find even more healing is hanging out in the garden doing small, repetitive tasks.  

Let's combine the two.

The lore around these magic wands is that the smell of the lavender hides the smell of wool clothing when we put them in storage for the summer.  I think that's a lovely idea.  Even if it doesn't work, stashing a few of these with my handknits and handwovens until next winter makes me happy.  

And if I'm going to start having more clothes, I will either need to get more room to stash them, or put the off-season clothes into storage.  The latter seems like less bother.  

My PO box project

 This arrived in my PO box this week.  

This cloth is a gift from an online friend and I'm so honoured they thought of me.  

Winter coat - fabric choice for a duffle coat

It's complicated, but basically last year, I didn't have a winter coat.  Given that we had some record-breaking rainfall and cold, looking back... it might have been a mistake to try to deal with winter without a coat.  I figure the rest of my clothing can last me well enough but for my health and wellbeing, I need a coat before winter gets here which means, I had best start sewing now.

Thinking back on all the coats I've owned in my life, one coat stands out in my memory more than all the others.  I remember it with great fondness.  It was a real duffle coat.  Fawn coloured, I bought it used for a steal because of the cigarette burns (which I patched with strawberry patches so it looked cute and I could always tell my coat from the others).  What I thought was really neat was the way the fabric was double-sided, but all one fabric.  There was plaid on the inside but fulled fawn twill on the outside.  Very thick cloth - almost too thick.  No lining (so sometimes arms would be difficult to get in and out).  Just a single layer of double-sided cloth.  

It could almost be worn inside out coat if the buttons and pockets were in the right place.  But alas, no. 

I finally wore it out after over a decade of constant use.

Looking at my wardrobe goals, a Duffle Coat would fit with the Farmwear (good elemental protection, vintage look) and with the Scholarly Functional look.  I love that it can do double duty. 

I couldn't find the fawn fabric that I wanted, but I did find some pretty amazing fabric on sale at the local fabric shop.  It's a wool nylon blend.  Knowing this shop, it's probably vintage as they bought a huge amount of overstock of wool and wool blends over the decades and this has that vintage mothball smell.  It would be fun to find out more about the history of this cloth.

momentum - where did it go?

 

The most frustrating thing about recovering is trying to find momentum.  But I'm working on it, building a bit more each day.  Finally got into a routine with making coffee and having an hour of craft time while listening to an audiobook or lo-fi girl each morning. 

Mostly I'm working on my sewing, trying to make a block pattern.  This is a map of my body that I can use to make my own sewing patterns.  I need this because my body is now a massively different shape and it could open a huge world of possibilities to me - and save loads of money in that I don't need to buy new patterns each time I want to make something new.

All wool has value

It began as a compost pile and a birthday present.  

When I asked what he wanted for his Birthday, he said something like, you know that yarn you have stashed away as a treasure?  You know how you promised me a rug?  That's what I want.  

The yarn has a story.  It's spun at the (former) local fibre mill from a mixture of fibre from the farm.  Some of the animals like the rich deep black alpaca, are no longer with us.  This is sad, but also happy because the rug helps us remember the good times we had.

But it's not just any old fibre, this fibre was destined for the compost heap, to get smothered with squash plants as it slowly transforms into soil.  The fibre was too fragile, too dirty, too... whatever to spin into a sensible yarn.  But the mill had this machine that could use inferior fibre to twist around a core and make it soft and strong and valuable.  

The results are gorgeous!  

 

Redefining or finding my style?

 Life is messy and stuff.  Today is the first day I've turned my computer on after coming out of the hospital and very soon, I'll be heading back to bed for my second nap of the morning.  Like I said, life is messy.

But it has given me lots of thinking and I want to leave my future self a note.  Because THIS is an awesome opportunity to deliberately choose my new wardrobe.  My shape has changed and I will need to buy or make new clothing, so why not see if I can find clothes I like.  

What do I like?  What is my style?

I have no idea.

How do I find out?

Internet detox

 It used to be that once a year I would take an internet vacation.  A month without internet, usually in February (because it's a short month).  I would try to get my work holiday to match and I would worry away at projects that need finishing or something I want to get started and done.

The last time I did that, I wrote a book.  

It's been a few years since I took my internet vacation and it's a bit like cookies on the browser, too much internet and I start to slow down and life clogs up.  It's hard to get away and spend time doing real-world things.

This year I can't do a proper internet detox, so I'm doing a longer one.  Max 1 hour per day on the internet (but more time for video editing).  Trying very hard to get the farm ready for spring, grow extra food in the garden, and film more projects for youtube.  

Sheep are very helpful... or enthusiastic.  

It means the same thing when you are a sheep.

But this internet vacation means I haven't had much time for blogging lately.  It also makes me realize how much I enjoy blogging again.  So I'll be back.

Just as soon as I can get a few more things done around the farm.  

Laying the flax out to dew ret - for more on that, here's a video:

Could Craft With Me become a thing? I think so.

 My attention span isn't always what I would like.  I admit, I find it difficult to stick to one task for long enough to get anything done.  So I look around for tricks to hack my brain into getting stuff done.

One of those tricks is watching youtube videos in the background.  It's a lot like when I used to watch TV, I knew the show was a set amount of time, and used that to guide my action.  I would work until the show was over and it really helped to have the background noise to distract the part of my brain that want's to get up and do something else.  Music helps too.

This last few years, I've been using Study With Me and LoFi Girl videos to help my crafting.  But to be honest, studying isn't a good friend for crafting.  It's so serious, the music is designed to cause deep focus and my crafting is more light brain work and repetitive tasks.  I'm not engaging the same part of the brain.

I really needed something more craft specific.  Preferably something with yarn, good music, and no talking.   

But alas, the internet seems to be lacking in this.

So I made a thing.

I really enjoyed making this!  

I want to make more.

I worry it's going to flop pretty badly by youtube standards.  There's very little out there like this and even if I'm not the only one who needs something like this in their life to help make things, people don't know to search for it because it's too new.

Maybe I can make one a month, if I can stick to a schedule that much, if only to use up the extra footage that didn't make it into my main videos.  

And maybe it will become a thing.  I hope so.  I imagine having a whole bunch of people making Craft With Me videos about many different crafts, so I can choose today I want to spin yarn, so I watch a spin with me video.  Tomorrow maybe I'm in the mood for a woodworking with me video.  I don't know.  

If you think it's a good idea, please share with your friends who need a little motivation to get crafty. 

Knit a sweater in a day, they said! It would be easy, they said! yeh right.

 I think the title says it all really.  

This wonderful machine fell in my lap and in my hubris I thought I knew plenty of knitting and this would be easier than the two pointy sticks.

yah right.

At the end of the sweater, I am overwhelmed by how much love and respect I now have for machine knitting and machine knitters.

It really is true that it doesn't matter what tools we use.  It's what the knitter brings to the yarn that makes all the difference.  

I can't wait to find out how to use my ribber.  Any ideas?  There don't seem to be many tutorials on this that I can find.

(oh, and there is dyeing and sheep in there too because, well, sheep)

Some thoughts on weavers - and why we can sometimes seem cold to the uninitiated

Pilfered from my other blog.   

Can I borrow your toothbrush?

Not A toothbrush. YOUR toothbrush.  

The one you use at least twice a day (and hopefully more). I’ll bring it back tonight, or at least by next week... or soon...ish. Soon-ish. I promise. I know it’s your only toothbrush and you don’t have a chance to go out and get another one because it was a super-deluxe toothbrush you spent years of your life finding the perfect one to fit the shape of your mouth. You don’t mind if I borrow it, right?

It may seem like an unusual request and an even odder analogy to weaving. As a new weaver, I had trouble understanding that silence that invaded the room every time someone asked to borrow (or even touch) a weaving tool. Nearly 20 years later, I’m starting to understand what that bated-breath moment was and why weavers can seem incredibly cold on the idea. And yet...

​Weavers are some of the most generous and helpful people in the fibre arts community - and given how amazing all yarn people are, that’s saying something! Weavers are happy to give their time and spend hours troubleshooting in return for nothing more than a cuppa tea. My guild is filled with hundreds of kind-hearted individuals who will drop everything to help a fellow guildmate.  

Why then, does the thought of lending tools or sharing studio space send so many weavers running for the hills?

If weaving was a personality, it would be ISTP on the Myers Briggs scale. Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving = The Craftsman (or for most of my guild, Craftswoman!). If I was choosing labels, I would call this personality The Artizan. More than a craftsperson, a person with tremendous dedication to improving their skill and attention to detail that doesn’t borderline on the obsessed - it has a fast-pass to that border and spends every second week on the far side of it.  

Introverted:  Weaving is a solitary craft. Yes, we gather together to share and learn, but then we go home, to our studio, alone. Our looms are generally too big to lug to weave-ins. Spinning, knitting, crochet, and most other fibre arts don’t have this demand for solitary time to be able to accomplish the most simple aspects of their craft. I came from a knitting and spinning background, where weekly meetups for tea, yarn, and society, were standard. It took me a long time to understand why weavers are such isolated animals.

And let’s face it, there’s the counting! I mean, counting to four is hard enough, but some of these drafts require us to count to 10, 20, or over 810 for one pattern repeat. This does not make for a kind reaction to destruction. One error can cause hours of frustration. If we are alone, the only person we can get frustrated at is ourself and life is safer that way. 

Sensing: in this instance, sensing is all about noticing the details. I suspect every fibre artist is strong in this area. We absorb the world around us through our senses - all of them - and remember the details. It’s one of the reasons why textures and smells are so important to us when buying yarn.  

The texture, shape, feel, smell, and occasionally taste (I only have two hands, two feet, and sometimes I need to hold things in my mouth) is important to us.

Weavers generally take this focus to the extreme. Forest - trees. A weaver has to see both in excruciating detail. Each thread needs to be measured to the centimetre (or better yet, the 1/16th of an inch). We need to be intimately equated with how much pressure and friction we can apply to a warp thread - as an individual and as a group. Not to mention, the precise tolerances of our tools. This precision was never needed in knitting - where the biggest problem I had was whether the yarn would make the cables pop or if it would pill if knit into a sweater.  

Thinking: The thinking personalty analyzes the pros and cons, and seeks consistency and logic in decision making. Weaving is all about consistency. There are so many right ways to do a weaving technique, but the only real wrong way to do it is to be inconsistent. Weaving naturally attracts people who adore consistency. I suspect from an outside point of view, moving the weaving bench two inches to the left isn’t going to be a big deal. But to a weaver, that is a massive deal as it will change the shape of the cloth. Inconsistency in the placement of the tools means the weaver will change their behaviour to accommodate, which changes the finished fabric.

The cloth reflects the moment. This is known in every historical weaving tradition, from the Cowichan people on the West Coast of Canada to the Irish Linen weavers who wove in dark, stone cottages. SAORI weaving technique embraces this understanding that cloth is like a river. Capture that moment and flow in time, and it can never be repeated. Be it our mood, the humidity, the pinched nerve while sneezing, the placement of the tools - weaving is capturing and trapping the moment as the weft is locked into the warp.

But for most weavers, we strive against this. We seek consistency in our work. We often struggle to keep out the influences of the moment and the person, and this too is part of the Thinking element of this personality type.

Perceiving: The balance to perceiving on the Myers Briggs scale, is ‘judging’. And I wonder how to say this without defaulting to the “not a cat” definition of dog. These are both about how we analyze information. Judging likes to put the information in boxes that gives the information value. This was a good thing, that was a good meal, this crosswalk isn’t pedestrian-friendly.

Perceivers are less about organizing where the information belongs and more about accepting it. A thing happened. I ate a meal. Oh, that car almost hit me, I will be more careful in that crosswalk in future. Often the two styles of processing information assume the other style is the same as them. Conflict happens when Judging style assumes the perceiving style assigns moral meaning to each item. The perceivers can’t imagine that anyone would, or even could, file information into groups like that.  

Most weavers I know prefer to take in information rather than spend time sorting it into categories. If something happens, no one has to be to blame. We simply look at the situation and see if there is something we can try to prevent it in the future. If the shuttle drops. That’s what happened. The solution is to try different throwing, or bobbin winding, or beaming techniques until we find the way that works. There is too much to do to waste time categorizing events into judgement boxes.

Interesting. But what’s this got to do with toothbrushes?

​

You remember the toothbrush? I’m honoured. And surprised anyone made it this far.  

Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving

As an introverted craft, we are used to working alone. Without help.  

Actually, between you and me, most “help” isn’t. It’s not that it’s unwanted, it’s that it usually comes without asking. People assume they are helping, and they don’t stop to ask first.  

But if someone was willing to ask first, that would be helpful. The SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) taught me one important thing above all else - Always be willing to offer help, and Always be able to accept no as an answer. Once you get weaving a while and get to know the community, it’s evident that there is no moral value or judgement assigned to the word “no”). They just didn’t need help at that moment in time. But they might later.  

Weavers tools, and by extension the placement of them in the studio, are acquired and perfected over decades. Each tool is chosen because it is a perfect match for the weaver, and for many weavers, that means using irreplaceable antique (more than 100 years old) tools. As the weaver uses the tool, it adapts to their body - like a gold fountain pen nib adapts to the writer - and can be majorly messed up when used by someone with a different slant.  

Each tool has associated with memories. This loom belonged to so-and-so who wove the most amazing such-and-such and died at the ripe age of 96. This warping mill was made by this famous maker, and the repairs were done by... I got that shuttle from the fibre festival where so-and-so had a heart attack and was saved by ... These scissors are the only heirloom I have from Strawberry Grandma, my great grandmother, and was given to her as a graduation gift, by her aunt who bought them in Portugal in the 1880s. They are the best darn scissors I’ve ever had, and I don’t want them messed up by cutting paper as they are a pain in the ass to sharpen.

Each tool has many hours invested in choosing, repairing, and maintaining. Each and every tool in a studio is an extension of the weaver’s true self. To borrow a toothbrush is nothing compared to borrowing a weaving tool.  

Lending a toothbrush may mean nothing more than having someone use it for a photograph. Or they may brush their teeth with it. They may, out of kindness, clean it under boiling water, melting the bristles. Or they may just use it to clean the toilet. To lend a toothbrush not knowing what will happen to it while absent, nor how long it will stay away, would be folly.  

But that’s a rubbish analogy. Weaving tools are nothing like a toothbrush. They are far more sacred.  

As a new weaver, it took me a while to learn that lending tools was an issue. So many weavers have more than one of a thing just so they can lend out their extra for people just getting started. But many weavers don’t have the space. Their basement isn’t brimming over with spare weaving tools. They streamline and keep just enough space and tools to fulfil their personal weaving needs. These people are more cautious about lending tools. They tend to set little tests with small things before they are willing to let go of the big things.  

​

What worked for me was to listen to the weaver and repeat back what I understood so that my mentor could understand that I absorbed the information. More importantly, that I was willing to treat their tool as they wanted, not the way I thought it should be treated. Small tests would be made to see how good I was at respecting the weaver and their idiosyncracies. Sometimes I passed, and sometimes I didn’t. The worst times were when I tried to be helpful by repairing something - that wasn’t actually broken! 

Bunny Substitutes - featuring Angora

13 years ago, I met one of you in a yarn shop.  It was good.  There was fibre and friend.  A delightful combination.  Like silk, angora, and merino

With that fibre, I wove my first, 100% handmade cloth (both spun and woven by me).  It was a significant moment in my life - empowering.  

This scarf started me on a path that I'm still travelling today.

Which brings us to today's video.  Another landmark on this journey.  An attempt to capture some of those feelings from that first scarf and weave them into today's life.  

Not only is it a pivot from tutorials to storytelling, but it's also my first collaboration.  A few youtube coconspirators and I decided to make videos about angora fibre in honour of Easter and Spring!  The videos will show up here as they are published.  I encourage you to check them out - there is some great info about angora from knitters, spinners, and other yarncrafters.  

Alas, the only bunnies on the farm are wild and don't hang out much with the humans this time of year, I had to make do with Bunny Substitutes.  I hope you enjoy.  

April showers. No wait, that's not rain.

Photo taken at dawn.

Poor plum blossoms.  

It's not looking like a good fruit harvest this year.

Giving yourself the Gift of Time

This is something I wrote a long time ago to help someone going through a tough customer service situation.

It's not relevant to me right now, but I stumbled on it and wanted to put it somewhere I could find it if when I need it.







What do you do to give yourself the gift of time?

You know that situation. A message comes from a customer or friend or official or someone being wrong on the internet, or...? They are more frustrated than you would like. It gets you flustered in return. You want to hammer out a reply about all the ways you are right and they are wrong and... but you know that won't help. Answering in the heat of the moment only escalates the problem.

What is the thing you do for yourself to create distance from that frustration?

For me, I hammer out the reply, then save it. Not send. Save. Then I put the kettle on.

While the kettle is heating up, I allow myself to brood about the problem. If it is a big problem, I fill the kettle all the way so I have ample brooding time. But the moment the water boils and I pour the tea, I force myself to think and do unrelated things - usually crafting.

Sometimes one cuppa tea is enough. Sometimes I need several. Some problems need sleeping on and I put them aside until the next morning with a quick note to the customer about how I hear their problem and am looking into it. I will get back to them in 24 hours.

Quite often, that reply I wrote in the heat of the moment gets binned. It was not helpful. After tea, I can write something actually useful towards claiming and fixing the situation.

Giving myself, and my customer/friend/official/internet idiot, the gift of time has been one of the most helpful tools in defusing difficult situations.

What's your go-to solution for getting distance from a tricky situation?

New friends from the Cowichan valley - or how much yarn can I spin on a road trip?

Winters here are dark.  Far darker than you think for our latitude, but with the clouds, rain, and oppressive conifers hemming us in on all sides, we can go weeks needing the lights on in the house at noon.  

It's also very hard on the animals.  We have lights in the hen house our they forget to wake up and eat.  It's always a battle to keep everyone healthy - critters and humans alike.

Basically, winters on the farm are dark.  But what makes them bearable is spring and all the new life it brings.

A while back, I put an advert in the local UsedAnywhere seeking bummers.  A bummer is a lamb whose mum is unable to feed it, either because the lamb is an orphan or they have too many siblings competing for limited milk supply or other reasons.  

Well, I got a reply so I'm off on an adventure to meet some lambs.

It's a day trip and a ferry trip from home.  But it's a lot of fun to see what's up in the Cowichan Valley.  Enjoy.  

Piecing fabric - my upcycling sewing project

Previously published in my crowing hen blog

As part of my sewing journey, I am learning how to make the most out of fabric.  For this project, I used a technique called piecing which combines smaller pieces of cloth to create larger. 

I adore this fabric, but it belonged to a pair of trousers that were way too small.  I also needed a new jacket, so I deconstructed the trousers and combined the fabric with cabbage (cloth left over from sewing projects) to see if I could do it.

I read about this technique on Foundations Revealed which admittedly is the reason why I'm needing to be so frugal with my fabric and clothing budget.  The paywall isn't ... well, ... (since then, I had to cancel my membership.  I found I couldn't make the things I wanted to because all the money was going into this and I just wasn't sure I was getting out of it what I put in)

The pieces of fabric are sewn together, attempting to match the flow of the pattern as there isn't enough fabric to match the pattern seamlessly.  

But you know what, it actually worked.  

I lined it with some roughspun silk fabric from my cabbage stash.  I probably should have done more to finish the edges, but it was an experiment and there were a lot of edges.  I can see this being hand-wash only, wear into town, not mucking out the chickens kind of clothing.  

 

Early bird gets the worm

The internet is a better place because I made this video.

At least that is what Mrs Clint tells me.

I also promised Mrs Clint a special treat if her video went viral.  She said any video with her in it will go viral so I might as well give her the treat now.  I said, let's wait and see.

The goal is 50K views in the first month to go viral for a channel my size.  I think I'm safe.  

How do wattles hold up in the garden?

 Five years ago:

The garden is growing, but the soil needs improving.  It just gobbles up water and when we can go months between rainfall... well, here's the rain star for the station nearest the farm.

See how we get just about all our rain from about the 13th of October, until the second week of Jan?  Then it's rainy until the first of May.  And then nothing.  Just dew.  

Click here to learn more about how the garden was made and the challenges (and successes) of growing in this garden (SPOILERS: it was awesome for our climate)

That was fun, but the big question is, how did woven wattle raised bed walls hold up?  Well, the best way to find out is to take it apart and look.  

And oh look, that's todays video:

I can see using this technique for garden beds again (especially that the price of wood has increase ten fold over the last three years).  This is made with materials not only I have to hand, but that would otherwise be tossed on the burn pile.  Wattle has a lot of use outside the keyhole design.  I'm hoping this spring to use it to solve a different problem.

But that's for another day.

Patiently waiting for spring.  Happy gardening all.  

fun and fluffy

 Long story.  There was a question about spinning fluffy yarn - probably angora.  But making sure it stays fluffy.

So we talked about all the different ways and I mentioned just ply it in.  

What?  

I tried to describe it. 

Failed

Tried to find a tutorial.

failed

So I grabbed my camera and spent the morning making one:

Sorry about the lack of cute animals.  These youtube shorts are great exercise for me, but hard to get everything in under 58 seconds.  

I'm pretty sure I learned this technique from my spinning group.  But I can't for the life of me remember what it's called.

If anyone knows the name of this, please let me know.  

ps, this is even better if you use handspun silk, overtwisted, singles for the ply yarn, then ply as per usual but with the fluffy stuff getting caught between.