awayuq

attachments

When I don't use things for a while, I often forget that I have them. (Which is why I believe in frequent cleaning, but that's another story). Lately I've become curious about the extra presser feet that came with my machine. Ordinarily I only use the zig zag foot and the zipper foot. Last weekend I was quite pleased to discover that this odd looking thing with a screw can be used to sew even tucks! Way cool. I have a feeling tucks may be coming back into my repetoire of sewing techniques.

What I don't seem to have in my bundle of attachments is one for stitching ribbon. That would be nice. Pictures like the one below, from my white treadle sewing machine manual (ca. 1915 at a wild guess), show seemingly incredible perfectly aligned attachments all achieved with one line of sewing. In this case, on the top, the ruffle is being pleated and attached under a piping all in one step. Makes me dizzy. Still, it would be fun to try...

crimp

This afternoon a friend of mine brought me some wool from a sheep she sheared last month. I've never worked with raw fleece before. I'm thinking of spinning it on a drop spindle, something soft and not too tiny. I know the inclination is to wash before you spin, but I can't imagine how I would wash fleece in my condo, even though there's only three pounds of it. (The frustrations of living in a city. There is a reason for basements and utility tubs or at the very least multiple bathrooms.) Heretic that I am, I am considering spinning this andean style, in the grease. The friend who gave it to me recommended flicking the tips first to get the worst of the dirt and grass out. It seems ridiculous for me to take home raw wool right now, with so much else going on, but I was seduced by the crimp:

Isn't it gorgeous? I'm not a great spinner and I've always been a prepared-roving person, so I'm enchanted by the separate locks and regular undulations of this fiber. I hope I can do it justice.

Many thanks to everyone who commented on my last post-- it is great to have such nice friends. :)

it's a fish shoal

Whenever it gets quiet on this blog, it is not because nothing is happening, but because lots is happening. This spring I don't have much textile progress to report. The lengthy silences correspond to periods of investigation, internal debate, uncertainty, and intense negotiating. With the end result that last week I signed on a (solid) line, sent my form in, and:

I will be starting graduate school this September.

What! Yes, I kept it very quiet, I didn't even tell my mother I applied. It was such a long shot that if it didn't come through I wanted the whole thing to dissolve with a minimum of fuss. As it turned out, I got in (one of 4 out of 50!) and I'm sure all the deities are chuckling. I will be starting a PhD program in archaeology at that big H school in Cambridge, MA. As a child, I once thought for about three months that it would be cool to be an archaeologist, and then I forgot all about it. Archaeology never occurred to me again until I met some archaeologists, and even then I had no desire to be one of them. I have no background in archaeology, have never even taken a course in it. It just happens to be the department where the person I want to work with teaches, so I guess that makes me an archaeologist.

Many people have given me exuberant congratulations, but I confess I'm still stunned and overwhelmed. Not the most positive kind of overwhelmed, not the oh-I-just-won-a-prize kind, but the overwhelmed that comes with making major life changes. Can I afford to keep paying my mortgage? (no) Will I be able to work while I'm in school? (thank goodness, yes, that was the negotiating part) Is this really what I want to do? (still unclear) How do I really feel about never having a summer again in the forseeable future, since I'll be spending June July and August south of the Equator? (not so great) How am I going to face being in classes with people ten years younger than me? What am I going to do with a PhD in archaeology anyway??

On the positive side, I'm hoping to be able to do a lot of textile research, and keep looking at the collections in the museum where I've been working. I am enthusiastic about my topic (khipu) so I hope I'll be able to grind my way through the pottery shards and bone fragments and get to the good stuff without too much turmoil. I'll be able to stay involved with the project I've been working on for the past three years, which is great, since you never know if the grant money for a full-time salary will come through.

All this figuring and negotiating and deciding is why textile pursuits have been hushed for a while. Now that the decision is made, I hope to get my head up again and start playing with yarn.