Friday, July 18, 2008

Discoveries



I've been discovering things. Did you know if you hang around with sick people there is a good chance you will get ill too? You did, oh. I guess I did too, but, well, I didn't think about it at the weekend. So I spent yesterday not doing much except feeling ill. Fortunately I do feel better today, but the cough is very annoying. I still haven't felt like doing much so I decided the time had come to sort clean socks into pairs. Conclusion, I am too lazy to own plain black socks. So off the the recycling a lot of them will go. I like socks with some design, they are so much easier to pair up. Still I do now have a whole drawer full of nicely paired socks. Perhaps not much of an achievement for most people, but for me something of a novelty. I've been living out of bags for a long time, so clothes in drawers it really nice.

I've also discovered something I can do when I am too tired to do anything but can't sleep. Stick weaving. It's thought to have been brought to Europe by the Crusaders, according to Finniwig Studios the company who made the kit I have. It's very easy and quite soothing to do (OK if you're well and active it possibly would be boring) and you get pretty quick results. I am thinking of getting some more sticks and trying to weave bigger pieces. I think starting with more than 6 sticks will be interesting but once it gets going it should be fine. The fabric you make is quite thick but feels fairly fragile, the weft will move around quite easily. It looks like it might be a very interesting base for stitching. I an plotting ideas for some quite structural belts. I think with more sticks (and a less lurgied brain) I might even be able to weave patterns in as I go. It's certainly a technique with a lot of potential. The sample in the photographs is about 3" wide and 23" long, just to give you an idea of scale.

We have also discovered that blinds, bath screens and taps are all ridiculously overpriced, and that when you are bored and ill the Internet can suck hours of time without effort.

2 comments:

Leni said...

Sorry to hear you've not been feeling well :-(

That woven strip looks interesting! Could you somehow sew strips together and make ...... er .... wider strips? LOL! ;-D

My youngest has had the lurgy for the past few days, and he's done nothing at all, so 'go you' for still managing to be creative!

Been thinking about you, as I struggle to quilt a throw. Alternating between "Dammit, I could be paying Ferret to make a good job of this, instead of this cobble I'm producing" and "If I don't persevere at this, I'll never improve!"

Ho hum. Need some tuition I guess. Somewhere in Harrow, maybe? ;-D

Get well soon;
Leni xx

Ferret said...

Sewing the strips together is a definate maybe :) As is making wider ones to start with.

You're right if you don't practice you won't improve and you would be paying me forever, now where is the fun in that :) Small quilts are ideal for practice so stick with it. You'll be surprised how much you will improve just over one quilt.

I am sure we can come up with a plan for some tuition.