All kinds of people tell you to make everyday count. CARPE DIEM. It is hard to put aside all the little nags in your head and enjoy the cherry blossoms or the hyacinths just coming up. Even harder to listen closely to the people who talk to you and  to understand what they are saying, and how fortunate it is that you have them to talk to.Telling anyone you love them requires an act of courage.   This is one of those weeks when I am meditating on the value a dear friend has brought to my life, because she is gone, for real, for good. I did say “I love you” at our last meeting, as she was falling asleep drugged by her medicati... » Read More

The word is legend. Pockets have been around since the beginning of time and are practical because they attach your belongings to your body clothing and therefore help to ensure that those belongings are not lost. Even a Kleenes on an allergy-infused day is a precious possession that must not be lost!Before someone invented the pocket in a seam-clever!- pockets were often tied on, as in Colonial times in America when the mistress of the household carried her important keys and such in a pocket that was tied to her waist. I have studied thos early pockets and made some quilted ones for myself,often wearing them to reenactments where my sewing suppl... » Read More

NO PERFECTION                                                         January 30,2012   Because I make things by hand, and my hands are not precision ground and/or always making the same movements repetitively, I am not bothered by the slight imperfections that don’t show up (ofcourse) until I am finished with a project. Infact, I welcome them,as reminding me that I am still human and that my perspective can sometimes be skewed and my eyesight dismissive and my judgment faulty. In other words, I can make mistakes.   Much of my work these days is based on quilting prin... » Read More

I get a" picture of the week" of my new grandbaby,who lives 1300 miles away.Today's picture is a testimony to the importance of having quilt pieces around, which I yakked about in my last post. Her mother says she looked at it and touched it for a full 10 minutes. Anna is 3 months old.... » Read More

Scholars of American cultural history have declared that the two arts America has contributed to the world are patchwork quilting and jazz. They represent improvisation and the spirit of independence.also the will to have uplifting elements in a  harsh environment and “making something out of nothing” as the folk songs say.   It is not true that either was born out of nothing. European settlers had the heritage of whole cloth quilts, and trapunto (stuffed quilting) , to remember as well as heraldic design and celtic knots, and jazz musicians had drumbeat and wailing and storytelling to lay their foundations on. Both these ... » Read More

I hate to do gauge swatches when I am starting a knitting project. I hate to postpone the excitement of seeing how the yarn and the color and the pattern will interact. But it is really essential, especially when you are knitting a garment that has to fit a certain body! Otherwise what you get is a sack.Maybe you don't know what gauge means. It is the measurement of the knitting both crosswise and lengthwise. It is affected by the fiber content and needle size you are using, even in machine knitting but especially in hand knitting.So, you take your yarn and the needle you plan to use and make a small ,usually 4 in. swatch. You count the rows whic... » Read More

As I work on handknit hats and mittens, scarves and socks for the winter months, it occurs to me that many of you do not know the various fibers and their usefulness and longevity. This post will be a general overview. Later I will get into some more detail about special manmade and exotic fibers.   Wool vs. synthetic: Wool ofcourse is a natural fiber, coming mostly from various breeds of sheep, but also from goats,rabbits,alpacas,wild animals and sometimes dogs. The quality of the fiber is determined by the breed from which it comes and the care with which it is harvested. Fine merino wool, baby alpaca, cashmere and  cormo (to nam... » Read More

The skies are gloomy and gray this Sunday morning on the edge of winter,the beginning of the week of Thanksgiving and then Black Friday and then Small Business Saturday and then Cyber Monday and then...The Festivals of Light!It's a hard time of year for many. Light itself is essential for the happiness of many people. SAD used to be a phantom illness, one I didn't believe in,but I have seen its effects on several friends. The whole holiday season requires money (the ability to buy), and reunions with family and friends, some of whom you'd rather not see, some of whom are no longer here,some of whom are going away. The stories of sadness and want a... » Read More

This will be quick: my cleaning for the holidays is long overdue Making new things and maintaining old ones is a balance issue. Although I value my family antiques I don't daily polish,wipe,dust the way my grandmother did!She didn't drive. She didn't have a computer.Discussion in my knitting group yesterday centered around getting unusual cleaning jobs done, like polishing the family silverware. I mentioned that I had read an article recently about using aluminum foil and (I thought) salt to clean utensils without toxic chemicals. Everyone wanted to know the details. So I came home and ofcourse couldn't find what I had read, so went to the all-kno... » Read More

The Value of Handmade    Earth Day, 2011   NBC reports this morning that, at a bank in India, termites have had a feast on 1 million rupees! So much for the value of  paper currency.   Earth Day dawns here in the Heartland of USA with thunder and heavy rain and flash flood warnings, gray skies but bright green grass, flowers, shrubs and flowering trees, birds nesting (including a pair of geese nesting beside our lake), birds chirping,  hawks circling, fresh  air. It is my husband’s 72 birthday.   Before we homo sapiens invented machines, everything was handmade.  We knit our stockings, wove our textiles, const... » Read More

Yesterday I listed a handknit cotton washcloth with the pink breast cancer awareness looped ribbon on it. I had charted this ribbon for knitting so the design was mine, but after I thought about it I decided to research the origin of that ribbon and its copyright status. I found that the Komen Foundation had introduced that ribbon at one of its fundraiser races in 1997, replacing a pink hat that they had been giving out. The term "pink ribbon" is owned by the Pink Ribbon association of NY (www.pink ribbon.com) but the symbol itself is designated internationally as a " descriptive mark" and legally protected in most countries as a "free trademark.... » Read More

April 19, 2011   Where My Ideas Come From   Category:Mindspins   I have decided to blog more (I hope). Having once been an English teacher,and still a lover of words, I have a yen to talk (if only to myself,but some of you might be interested) about the process in my mind that yields the items I post in my Artfire shop.: Tenthousandthreads.   A few days ago I listed a pair of anklet socks in a candy stripe called “Coney Island” by the producer.  The yarn is hand-dyed in Peru and available from Knit Picks. I have had it for a year or so thinking I would do some socks for my Birkenstock season,but as I studi... » Read More