I'm going to weave the rest of this day. Monte bought me this Swedish Glimakra loom nine years ago for Christmas. I need to finish the wool lap blanket I'm weaving so we can move the loom. I think I can finish it today if I get at it!
This loom is 54" wide. I wove our bedspread, which consists of three panels and a crocheted edging. I've woven many table runners, placemats, rugs, dishtowels, and material to make clothes and purses from.
I have several looms and we're going to have them all in one room. I have a 36" Schacht loom that can fold for traveling. Both of these looms have 10 foot peddles. I can weave very intricate designs with them.
Rug looms used to be shared in communities. We came home one day to one of these old rug looms sitting in our driveway. We were going to fix the loom (it was unusable with the wood needing fixing and rusted metal parts needing replacement), but have given it away.
These old looms typically only had 2-4 foot peddles which means they could only do a plain weave. I have a rigid-heddle loom that'll weave only plain weave, though the project looks can greatly alter with color and unique materials.
I've demonstrated weaving (like I demonstrate spinning - I wrote of in the Distaff Day post). Most kids have woven pot-holders (these are still my favorite pot-holders, and now that my kids are grown, I'm going to have to weave my own). Pot holders are a plain weave - alternating the 'over-under' of each row.
My 'weaving talk' helps people understand what weaving is versus knitting, etc. I use examples of things they are most familiar with. Sweaters and socks are knit with spun fiber. Jeans are wove with a 'twill' weave, which is a diagonal repeat every three threads. Then to mention that we're buying sheets these days with a 300+ thread count. I typically weave with 10-20 threads per inch and can't imagine threading 300 threads per inch for the warp, and then to have to weave that same amount per inch for the weft!
A fun history tidbit is that in days of old some tablecloths were wove with an asbestos fiber. They could simply put the cloth in the fire to clean.
I'm making yogurt today and currently waiting for the milk to cool down. I've been making yogurt for years. I bought my yogurt maker at a second-hand store and it makes a 1/2 gallon milk quantity of yogurt.
Here is the recipe that consistently works for me. Heat the milk to about 180 degrees. I do this in the microwave in a Pyrex glass bowl. Then let it cool down to 100-112 degrees. Mix in the starter and pour into jars in yogurt maker.
Hmmmm ... starter .... It used to be you could buy almost any plain yogurt in the store to use as a starter. But today, most yogurts have additives which seem to inhibit it's thickening. Some additives, like gelatin, will work, but it seems to take longer for the milk to firm. Your best bet is is yogurt in health food stores, but still read the labels. You can also find powdered starters, usually in a refrigerated section. If you use the powdered starter just follow the directions.
For a quart of milk I use a few tablespoons of yogurt stirred into the cooled down milk. Once you make yogurt, you can use your own homemade yogurt for starter. I always plug in my yogurt maker, with the empty jars in it, when I begin the yogurt making process for it to start heating. I'll put my yogurt starter in it at this time too, in one of the jars, to take off its chill.
When the starter is mixed into the cooled-down milk, pour the mixture into the jars in the yogurt maker, place the cover on the yogurt maker. Start checking after a few hours. Mine usually sets in 3-4 hours. When I start a fresh batch with the powdered starter it takes longer. Look for a slight firmness of the milk. It will firm up a bit more in the refrigerator. The shorter the time, the sweeter it is. If you forget and let it incubate longer, it gets tart, but still tastes better than store-bought yogurt.
I love the taste of plain homemade yogurt. You can add jam, fruit, frozen juice concentrate, maple syrup, wheat germ, ground flax seed ... whatever you like. Whenever a recipe calls for sour cream or mayonnaise I'll sometimes use yogurt. It can also be substituted for sour milk or buttermilk.
You want the good bacteria that yogurt provides - a 'live', active yogurt with its acidophilus, thermophilus, and bulgaricus. 'Friendly' bacteria helps aid food digestion. Yogurt is a predigested form of milk and it tends to 'crowd out' bacteria associated with indigestion. Lactose intolerant people can often eat yogurt.
When I was a kid, I was sick and on antibiotics a lot. My homeopathic grandmother told my mother to keep feeding me yogurt. "Thank you Grandma." Antibiotics kill the good bacteria along with the bad. Yogurt boosts the immune system and has a natural antibiotic effect.
When in Wisconsin we used to visit Monte's aunt and uncle who lived on a dairy farm. The yogurt Aunt Ruby made from their fresh milk she called "filabunk" (sp?). I brought home some starter from her and used it for awhile.
The cookbook on the stand behind the yogurt maker in the above picture is a cookbook I wrote 12 years ago. You can order a copy from me for $20 or from Amazon.
In days of old, today, which is the day after Epiphany, women returned to their spinning after the holiday season of Christmas. I know of this day because I have a spinning wheel and enjoy spinning yarn from wool. And in this world of spinning, I enjoy the little tidbits of history I learn.
Proverbs 31:19 uses the word distaff: "She stretches out her hands to the distaff, and her hand holds the spindle". It's been written about thru the ages, and Chaucer classed this art among the natural endowments of the fair sex: "Deceit, weeping, spinning, God hath given to women kindly, while they may live". (We've come a long way baby!)
If you wanted clothing to cover yourself, beyond wearing fig leaves or animal skins, a fiber would need to be twisted into a thread. Then it could be crocheted, knit, or woven into a textile material. The twisting of fiber probably was discovered about the same timing as fire, the lever, and then the wheel.
With industrialization we don't have to spin anymore. This puts spinning in the category of 'heirloom art'. Why would anyone want to spin? I like is because it's fun and relaxing. I can even do it while watching movies. Heirloom art brings us into the process of creating. Heirloom by definition means something of value that is passed down through the generations. Not only its beauty but the fact that your hands created it gives it value.
I have demonstrated spinning at the National Western Stock Show in Denver, and other places. It seems men and boys are more fascinated with the process than females, but I think it's because of the workmanship of my spinning wheel - it's beautiful. I had a man watch for a long time and ask me, "How many miles do you figure you're doing with your feet treadling? How many yards of thread in say a minute, or hour? How long would it take you to get enough and make me a sweater?"
People in days of old didn't have many idle moments, and spinning was one of those very necessary jobs. Hand-held distaffs and spindles were the beginning. Leonardo da Vinci probably made the earliest drawings of the spinning wheel's design. The distaff is different from my spinning wheel. It's used primarily for spinning flax, which is a very long fiber. Once the flax plant is soaked and pounded and the fibers teased apart, they can be woven into linen. It's a much more difficult process than making wool or cotton thread, and it's harder on your hands.
In many cultures, a drop-spindle is still the primary tool, and even used by kids walking to school. In our early American history, the colonists were required to give England a quota of yarn and woven material. In order to meet that demand, many single women were taken into households to spin - thus the name "spinster".
The 12 Days of Christmas are now over and this day, Epiphany, we remember the wise men of Matthew coming from afar following a star to find a child who they recognize as a king.
They came bearing gifts very strange and foreign to us. I still love the image in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever of the Herdman's dragging a ham before the manger - that was like the widows two mites to them; or the little drummer boy in the song; or the girl of Mexico bringing all she could find - weeds, which turned red (poinsettias). From Bible studies we've learned that frankincense, gold and myrrh were costly gifts fit for kings (for life and burial!).
(I have this work of art by Fabriano sitting on an easel in the house right now.)
What was the star? There's so much speculation, and maybe someday a gas streak tail of a super nova will show up in the sky letting us know the real story. About 25 years ago we went to our school district's planetarium and heard a great story. First they showed why a comet has been ruled out as the star; then they talked about the possibility of a super nova; and then described the various patterns of stars and planets we observe from earth and what we might be able to be see by the naked eye. Jupiter is the consistent star of the stories, and in astrology it symbolizes 'the king' planet. There's records of Jupiter and Regulus (the king star) coming together and in conjunction with the planet Venus.
The explanation for the Bethlehem Star story I like best describes a planet conjunction. Pisces is associated with the Jewish people in astrology, and within its constellation was a conjunction several times in 7 BCE of Jupiter and Saturn, and then Mars joined them. Saturn was known as representing Mesopotamian deity who protected Israel. And Mars symbolized war.
Christians are afraid of astrology and think it evil. Astronomy and astrology combined are the science of observation and interpretation. In 7 BCE there was no astronomy other than astrology. In Genesis we're told God made the stars for 'signs and seasons'. And here in Matthew God is bringing astrologers into Jesus' story.
Were there exactly three wise men? We are told of three gifts. The book Ben Hur names three kings and opens with a dramatic description of how they might have met and traveled together to Bethlehem, but there could have been a whole entourage.
If you were dramatizing the whole Advent season with nativity figures, your wise men would be off in a distance in your house progressing to Joseph and Mary - who would in December be progressing by Donkey to Bethlehem. And baby Jesus and the Shepherds wouldn't show up until Christmas Eve or Christmas day? Many, don't do gift giving until this day.The Epiphany story is a remarkable story of grace. God doesn't need anything from us - he is the Creator of everything. Here God is receiving gifts. The pagan astrologers were not religious insiders. This is a reminder to me that God is at work in the strangest places, and in the people I least expect to respond to him. I want my eyes to be open to the potential and possibilities of God's grace. God's grace is at work far outside the arbitrary boundaries I construct.
When I speak on the Calendar, I love to mention Simeon Stylite, who died on this day in 459. He was the most notorious of the popular pillar-sitting anchorites.
The son of a shepherd, he was moved by hearing the Beatitudes. Wanting to be 'pure of heart' he tried living in monasteries, but they all kicked him out for his extremism in self-mortifications. So in his naivete, he literally did what he could to get closer to God.This is a piece of early church history. Christians were persecuted and martyred, but when Constantine made the empire 'Christian' in the early 300's, the pagans were persecuted. Seeking safety they went to churches bringing their paganism with them. Serious Christians, frustrated with the watered down churches were asking, "How now to be holy?" Thus the serge of monasteries, and desert fathers. Outside of Antioch were many 'pillar saints'. People would pack lunches and for entertainment go listen to a pillar saint preach - they were tourist attractions. I wonder if these pillar saints could read and if they knew much of scripture. What would they preach about?
Since Simeon had 'separated' himself at age 13, when did he mingle with people to be able to truly know much of life, or have personal experience stuff to preach from.
They had converts: locals, Armenians, Persians, and Arabs. Simeon had followers - disciples, who in choosing to live close, ended up building a monastery. Simeon started out on a 10-foot-high pillar. For the last 37 years of his life he lived on a series of ever higher pillars. His final earthly home was a 6-foot-square platform on a 60-foot-high pillar!!! Now set your imagination to work: no roof or walls ... did he cut his hair? how did he sleep? how did he eat? what about excrement? Lightening strikes were prevalent. Maybe a sign of divine displeasure?
Lord Alfred Tennyson wrote a long poem entitled "St Simeon Stylites". Here's a link if you care to read it:
http://www.online-literature.com/tennyson/728/
I read (and listen to) many books, comprised of many genres. Periodically I like books that take me into other countries, whether they are biographical or historical fiction. I really like walking in the shoes of people to better get the context of 'the facts' about a place. The stories that carry the information give me a deeper understanding of a culture.
I just finished reading the book entitled above. It's a Burmese Odyssey by Pascal Khoo Thwe. This young man is surprisingly literate having grown up in the jungles of Burma, from the Padaung tribe famous for their 'giraffe-necked' women. He was a part of the earlier military dictatorship battles, finally able to escape to England, and graduate from Cambridge. But I can picture Burma better now when I hear the news of the thousands of red-robed Buddhist monks marching, and hear that Aung San Suu Kyi is still under house arrest, whom Pascal had put his hopes in.
Now when I hear of Darfur news I'm taken there from having read What is the What by Dave Eggers - a novel and autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng, one of the early "Lost Boys of the Sudan" (you can watch that documentary). I now have an understanding of behind the scenes of what's going on there.
I feel I understand more of Africa's history from a variety of books over the years. Like one from two guys bicycling across northern Africa, to The Poisonwood Bible in the Congo, to James Mitchner's huge book on South Africa.
I don't know if I can say I'm looking forward to watching "The Kite Runner", but I do want to see it having read the book. It's a good picture of life before and during Taliban rule. Then I lived with women in the Muslem Middle East world, from Reading Lolita in Tehran.
My latest genre in audio books is murder mysteries. I've enjoyed trying to solve mystery stories since I was a kid, like the old Perry Mason TV shows.
"About the time we think we can make ends meet, somebody moves the ends."
-Herbert Hoover
Isn't that the truth. Just like the phrases "come to the end of your rope" or "scraping the bottom of the barrel"... I've been there! and the rope is elastic, or more length appears. And barrels can have false bottoms and you never seem to reach the bottom.
But then ... there's a "light at the end of the tunnel", and I'm not so focused on where the end or bottom is.
Torah required boy babies to be circumcised eight days after their birth as a sign of the covenant between God and His people. So since our calendar has Jesus' birth on December 25, January 1 is the 8th day, the Octave Day of Christmas.
I'm not wanting to discuss this (like, what about us girls? or New Testament baptism ...). I only wanted to say that there's actually works of art depicting the possibilities of this scene! I have one, and if my printer-scanner-old computer set up weren't dismantled, I could post it. And I'm sure I could have found one on the web, but it seemed a little over the edge. I'll let you search and look, or just imagine.
Imagery often flows from my scripture reading that I create into art. I still have images like open files (or as Madeline L'Engle called them 'jags') that I'm still developing and adding to. But I have to say, I've not sat with the Luke text trying to visualize Jesus' circumcision.
Well, Dawson is gone again skiing for a couple days, so it's just Monte and me. What are we doing? - not watching TV. Would I watch the Rose Bowl Parade? Since I saw it in person several times as a kid, I don't need to watch it on TV. I think Monte is in his office still putting his music on his computer. He's set up his office with a nice sound system and the room dynamics are great!
Me? I'm going to weave again, but was googling toilets. Yes, toilets! Our toilets are 23 years old, and we have low water pressure, and the proper flush is requiring a bit of research. Yesterday I googled TV's. We don't watch TV cuz for the 23 years we've lived here we have not had good TV reception (unless we attach a long antennae cord and someone holds it in a strange position and periodically has to move). There's no cable here, and we're still not sure we want satellite (will it steal our time? and are we old enough yet to control it?). We've not ever had our TV in our great room where most of our living goes on (Monte's calculated that we've saved over 5 years of our time by not watching TV).
We do watch movies though. Now that Dawson and his friends watch movies in his room on his computer with his great sound system, Monte and I have been watching in our bedroom. Our TV is downstairs in our 'parlor', but it's about to die and we often have to hit it. And that room is cold in the winter, and is going to become the weaving, textile, as well as remain the piano room. And then a little TV my mom left here is dying and I've been hitting it too, so lately we've been watching movies on a laptop!
I stayed up weaving last night till midnight waiting for Dawson and Splara to come home from Skate the Lake. Well it ended up to be more than the two of them. So Lizzi and Splara slept in the guest room (actually hardly sleeping since they said they talked till 5:30), and Connor, Caleb, and Aaron were all in Dawson's room. They were all up making pancakes when I came down at 7:30, and Monte was deep in discussion with these blurry eyed youths covering philosophical, and analytical topics, using his typical curious conversational style of open-ended questioning.
It was Connor who was singing yesterday (I mentioned in the previous post), and I woke to him playing jazz on the piano beautifully! So Lizzi took Connor and Caleb back down the hill to their homes, and Dawson took Aaron and Splara further into the mountains to meet their families. Dawson is staying with Splara's family in Breckenridge skiing. (Her family sure had an ordeal getting there yesterday. The I-70 Interstate was practically shut down from the Utah border to Kansas most of the day due to extreme wind blowing snow - and avalanche mitigation.)
I cleaned up the kitchen, made a pot of tea while listening to news radio a bit, and then went to sit and drink my tea, and read about toilets.
I'm going to weave the rest of this day. Monte bought me this Swedish Glimakra loom nine years ago for Christmas. I need to finish the wool lap blanket I'm weaving so we can move the loom. I think I can finish it today if I get at it!
