I sed wot I sed! And more interesting things, too.

I was amused, after I said I only have a tablet and a modest smartphone, that a commenter still figured I also must have maybe a laptop! No. I've been blogging for many years with a tablet or phone. One-finger rapid typing. 

Heck, I've known people who've run entire channels and campaigns using nothing more than a phone. It's what you can afford, you do what you can do. Likewise I had an active exhibiting art career without a studio for many years. I worked in my kitchen mostly. And I weave quite a bit, with no loom other than what I built. 

Life is much more fun when you do your stuff from affordable tools.  I think I'd do this even with a bigger budget.  It suits me. Creating something from humbler beginnings. Like growing flowers from seed. 

Stepping off the soapbox now.

About trees and storms. We were in the direct path of Sandy, hours of nightmare fear as the wind and rain, roaring, tore down  huge trees, blocking roads for days.  My townhouse was literally rocking and groaning like a ship at sea.

As I started seeing news pictures,  I noticed that the more affluent neighborhoods, where residents had arborists regularly attending and (expensively)  pruning their trees, lost very few trees. 

The less affluent, where tree care was not so affordable, had enormous trees, unpruned, overgrown and top-heavy, torn up by the roots and crashing through houses and across streets. In some of those streets, people were trapped for days.  

Friends of mine were stranded. No power, phones out, trees blocking all their doors, until they were eventually rescued. One of them, who lived alone, sold her house once it was cleared, and moved into a retirement community! Never again!

I don't fear damage from my little maple, but don't want her damaged by winter weather.

Tuesday knitting group had a lovely new member, currently designing and stitching,  and we had a nice session, those sample bits of fabric went home with the recipient, to decide which to use, and here's the general doings 

Chat ranged over ballet, modern dance, teacher subbing, opera, hearing aids, Portugal, embroidery, an upcoming display of our projects, spinning, spurtzlers, dyeing -- yarn and hair -- and much more.

Home to Textiles and Tea with Neal Howard, a session on the creative impulse and honoring it. She's a silk yarn dyer and weaver of yard goods for clothing.

As you see, she loves color and the flow of silk. She uses a number of floor looms, and a rigid heddle loom, no major preference

She also studied theology, and this is an Advent cloth she made for her church. She's an interesting woman, who feels her creative life is a calling, like a religious vocation.

So that's where we are today! All over the place..

Happy day, everyone, and happy landings.

I know it's long past,  but it tickled me. Geezers for Kamala.

Sandy, sashiko and stumpwork

Sandy, enormous storm system, hurricane-close winds, inches of rain, local tornadoes, broke overhead ten years ago today. 

We've had big storms before and since but the hour upon hour of screaming wind, roofs trying to lift, houses demolished, trees bringing down power lines everywhere, cutting people off for days, roads everywhere blocking evacuation,  that was one I'd like to forget but can't quite. 

Damage is still evident years later. There are still people fighting to get the insurance payout for their demolished homes.

So, thankful for today's calm cool sunshine let's move on to the newly arrived edition of Tatter and a lovely kit and class offering

Tatter is an online magazine about hand stitching and natural fibers. You've seen sashiko stitching in work I've done, a peacefully calming stitching form.

It originally was a way of reinforcing warm outdoor work clothing in layers against the Japanese winter, and of repairing and preserving garments. Done in beautiful formations, it's also a stitching art. 

If you fancy trying a bit of embroidery, it's definitely possible as a starting place. A simple running stitch in a contrasting color, often white on blue fabric. Definitely worth a look. 

This reminds me to take a look at my jacket of many embroideries, a gallery in garment form, to see about finishing the sashiko stitching I marked out 

Also my goldworked signature piece which used to grace my exhibits, in its own frame , and some butterflies. These are goldworked, done as stumpwork, wired so they can be posed.

Tatter always reminds me of something I need to do, along with the energy needed to do it. 

Soon I'll need to organize a way to hang the robe better than on a clothes hanger.

Happy day everyone, do what you feel like doing as well as what you have to do today. If you're lucky, they're the same thing.