Tornado Warnings and a New Sewing Machine

This has been a busy week for us. On Tuesday Bob and I went to see granddaughter Jillian’s kindergarten play. She made the most adorable butterfly, and knew all her lines and gestures without prompting.

On Wednesday I had an appointment with a retinal specialist about the blurriness in my left eye. I have a retinal wrinkle that will most likely need to be addressed when we get back to Mesa, AZ this October. The treatment is surgery, which as a side effect will increase the rate of growth of my cataracts so I can expect cataract surgery in a year or two. Sigh. Growing old is not easy!

On Thursday Bob and I went to daughter Emily’s house where I watched my three adorable grandchildren and Bob helped Anthony with fix-it projects. We returned to the motorhome in time to get an alert from our weather apps: TORNADO WARNING—TAKE SHELTER! We’ve never had a “take shelter” warning so I grabbed Auggie and my purse, called for Bob and we rushed over to Kristen’s house. We didn’t even have a chance to pull in slideouts. We watched the storm pass over us on my Storm Shield weather app and were relieved that we got no worse than a bad storm. Others in the area were not so fortunate. Two confirmed tornadoes hit Mullica Hill, NJ, not far from us. And in Pittman, our son and daughter in law heard a tornado siren, the first time it had gone off in 30 years. Fortunately for them the tornado passed right overhead and touched down the next town over.

On Friday Bob took the MH to a tire shop to replace two tires that were five years old, while I headed to my daughter Catherine’s house to babysit for Jillian for a few hours. We had fun “playing school” and then played Candyland and Chutes and Ladders. She beat me every time.

When I got home, my “new” sewing machine was waiting for me. It’s a Kenmore model 158.1040 from the early 1970s, an all metal 3/4 size machine. And a real beauty. She comes with a rose embossed case, too.

This machine does straight stitch, zigzag, stretch zig zag, blind hem stitch, and a mending stitch. It also makes buttonholes. And it will be much easier to travel with than my big Viking. I’ll have to figure out what to do with my big machine now. It’s just a little heavy to pull out from under the bed when I need it.

Only nine more days until GrandCamp! We are looking forward to it!

Making Pottery With Alex

My grandson, Alex, has shown an interest in making pottery. Fortunately we are not too far from The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, PA, where they offer classes for children and adults in using a pottery wheel. On Saturday Kristen (who came along to show us where to go and to visit a Philadelphia bead shop,) Alex, and I took the train into Philly to attend a class.

We walked 6 blocks from the train station at 8th and Market St to 2nd Ave, passing a large sign with the words of George Washington.

Very inspirational.

When you walk down 2nd Ave you will pass Elfreth’s Alley, the oldest continually inhabited street in America.

We took a few minutes and walked down it, marveling at how it must have been to live here in colonial times.

Not far from Elfreth’s Alley was the Clay Studio.

As you enter the door leading to the classrooms you pass through an amazing hallway with walls and ceilings covered in pottery pieces.

You must climb to the third floor for the classrooms. And there we began our class. Such fun (I was not able to take pictures of the wheel work because my hands were all gooey.) I had tried out a pottery wheel in high school many many many years ago but it was a first for Alex. We learned how to hold our hands, tuck in our elbows, and center the clay on the wheel. And then how to shape a bowl or cup. We were allowed to make mistakes and get more clay as needed (the studio reprocesses and recycles the messed-up balls which become used in the next week’s classes) which was a very good thing since we both had fails!

It was very relaxing feeling the slippery clay ooze through our hands, and we both enjoyed the experience very much. It’s harder than it looks, though.

After we made a couple of pieces the teachers showed us how to paint our projects using slip paint.

It will take 2-4 weeks for them to dry and the studio will then fire them in the kiln; at which point we’ll be able to either pick them up or have them shipped at a nominal fee.

I look forward to seeing them after firing.

More Details on the Red PVC Loom

While visiting with the South Jersey Guild of Spinners and Handweavers last week I was asked about my method of making a shed on my red PVC loom. I am using weaving tablets, aka weaving cards, instead of a rigid heddle. Now, traditional tablets are used to create a weave structure similar to a four shaft loom. In standard tablets there are four holes, one in each corner, and one thread passes through each hole so that when you rotate the tablets any thread may be on top. What I’m doing here, however, is to only use two background threads/tablet with each thread on an opposite corner. The pattern threads pass between the cards so that they float in a neutral position. The pattern threads do not pass through any holes. For this band I am weaving with 10/2 cotton and the threads are doubled for the pattern threads, which is typical for Baltic weaving.

Then I pass a thin dowel through each tablet using the unthreaded tablet holes, and add a metal washer from the hardware store between each tablet.

This is a setup that was taught to me by my friend and weaving instructor Barbara Parman who works with individuals with disabilities. I wrapped a rubber band around each dowel end to prevent the dowels from slipping out.

The dowels keep the tablets in order and provide a handle to turn them easily, making two sheds, while the washers allow the tablets to rock back and forth without effort. Note that the dowels also prevent the tablets from making more than 1/2 rotation. I rotate the cards forward (away from me) for one shed and back for the second shed. A nice tight tension and a quick slide of the tablets back and forth allows the pattern threads to be chosen easily.

I’ve also wrapped a ponytail holder around part of the loom to use as a shuttle holder...

...and I used a couple of pieces of string taped to the end of the brake rods with the other end tied to the loom to prevent the rods from falling out and dropping to the floor.

So what is the advantage of using tablets rather than a rigid heddle? You may not have a Sunna or Sigga type heddle available. Or you may wish to have more background threads than your specialty heddle has slots and holes. It’s just one more option to use if you are doing pickup weaving.

South Jersey Spinners and Handweavers Meeting

I was fortunate to be a part of the local spinners and weavers guild when we lived in NJ, and it was very hard to say goodbye to them. Fortunately, on some of our visits to NJ I can attend the guild’s last meeting of the season, which was what I did today. What a joy to see my old friends and to be able to make new ones! On the June meeting the group has a show and tell session which is always great fun. Plus they have  a potluck, too, with lots of time to socialize. I brought my red PVC loom which was well received.

Here are some of the projects that were completed this year by the very talented SJGSH members. Various items were knitted, crocheted, handspun, woven, beaded, sewn, felted, or tatted.  I wish I could have gotten good shots of every project to show here.

Very inspiring!