weekend meanderings

No, we didn't make the doo-dad above, but it seems to illustrate the past few days quite nicely. We have gone in all directions, together, in pairs, and as individuals, to try a little of this, experience a little of that, visit with this person and those folks, intermittently checking back in at home and focusing on things here too.

It all started Thursday, when a 36" floor loom, much like this, came into our lives as part of a visit to the beautiful northwest corner of Connecticut.

Then there was the sewing. The Goob has used the sewing machine off and on over the past few years, but is lately consumed with making clothes for herself and her dolls. So there have been small skirts and shirts, working up to her plan of making herself a dress very soon.

I have no idea what prompted them all, but Saturday morning there was a string of calls from old friends. Leah and I were on our way to Vermont, so we missed them, but Scott got to chat with everybody and passed along their news later in the day. Meanwhile, Leah and I spent the day at the Jamaica VT Fiber Festival and Webs for their tent sale, running into friends and acquaintances at both destinations. Hoo boy, did we come home with some fun goodies!

Scott and Jesse had an outstanding time at Armed Forces Day, Three Centuries of Soldiers and Their Weapons at the Springfield Armory in Mass. Jesse finds this place fascinating even when there's nothing special going on, so he was absolutely in his element for this big event and told me all about it, with such enthusiasm, when we were together again in the evening. If you know Jesse, read the itinerary at the link above and I'm sure you can imagine his delight. :-)

Leah was away for a sleepover on Saturday night. Scott and I bumbled our way through putting the new loom together on Sunday morning. Anybody with half a clue about weaving would've laughed at us -- the blind leading the blind -- but with the help of the internet and some library books, we think both looms are put together properly and ready to warp with the yarn from Webs.

In between all this was painting of a bathroom, installing some refinished doors, fixing basement stair treads, clearing out the fridge by making many lasagnas, that pesky work thing, getting new tires on the Jeep, and winning a $100 gift card! The second sleeve of my sweater has also been lengthened and I spent some time with an awesome weaver doing a demo on a 300-year-old loom (kids were busy with a geography puzzle/game, so they chose to stay home).

A forecast of thunderstorms and hail caused us to cancel a picnic and fishing jaunt with friends Sunday evening, so we instead fetched a triangle loom and figured out how to use it. Clever, clever, clever! At bedtime, Leah was weaving in her room and Jesse was working on a Lego safe and plans for something that involved plumbing valves and the shop vac as an air compressor, so I can't wait to see what they pop up with this morning.