Not Good, Not Good, Not Good

I have had email notification on whenever someone leaves a comment from the very start. I have not changed it, but I'm receiving about one-third of the notifications. The result is, I don't notice right away if you comment, ergo the slow response. I shall be more vigilant in checking, but if all of a sudden I turn on comment moderation, this would be why. Ta.

We've had two lovely days of quiet rain part of the day, not followed by scorching sun or blustery gales. Plants are happy, but I think the ground could use a bit more, and I'd appreciate another day or two of not having to close the curtains during the day. Pretty please.

I threaded the 4-shaft and sampled. Boy, is it nice handling scaly wool. I don't like the threading so I'm going to rethread. Color is a-b-a-b so if I change the direction of the twill, all a's go one way and all b's go another. Doh! But I have too many good weft options; I see at least two achromatic pieces and one introducing another hue. The mid-light blue, I have recollections of seeing lots of winter fabric like this when I was a child, but I don't know if I really did. It sings out, "Nostalgia".

I also retied the mohair/merino knots in the last post, put it through a lukewarm vinegar rinse in lieu of washing, not wet-finishing, but again the knots came loose. I thought mixing another, sticker, fiber might work better; Dot suggested stitching them "invisibly" and I think that's what I'll try. Later.

The brown wool fabric, also in the last post, finished wonderfully, (imagine a large dog leaning on you,) and I wanted to make it into a shawl, so the crochet hook came out. I don't like poking holes into properly fulled wool fabric, and there were so many weft ends needing to be stitched, hooked, back in. Then I saw the selvedge is pretty bad, and I treated the start and the end of the fabric differently; at the start I wove plain weave with a different thick weft and wove two "sets" with the first weft; at the end I only added plain weave with the last weft. Because this is an extra-long piece, (3.20m), I could sacrifice a few properly woven rows, fold and hem. Or, weave a thinner fabric, maybe with thin merino, dye with walnuts, and cover the way some blanket edges are encased in smooth fabric. Or use as fabric.

This morning I finished putting my receipts and invoices chronologically. For tax returns. I was so pleased I lived a frugal life between April 2014 and March this year, in spite of a small drawing exhibition and a big trip to Australia. (And thanks to the generosity of my Aussie friends.) Until I realized there were websites and emails that contain a whole other set of receipts. Yikes.

Not a good news day. I don't know how it's not state-sanctioned terrorism when Western countries bomb civilians and infrastructures in non-Western countries. I won't even touch the gun issue. I think there are enough problems, climate change and natural disasters for starters, food safety, economic inequity and child poverty even in wealthy nations, without cooking up more vote-mongering travesties. These last 30 or so years prove to me our species collectively isn't interested in learning from history nor taking responsibilities for our actions.

I try to concentrate on what I can do but have a hard time focusing on one cause or region. I vote and sign petitions, try to be informed and give to victims when I can. That makes me a largely-silent majority, in effect endorsing madness. I'm feeling bad as usual I didn't choose a life helping people but I've never contemplated medicine because that's like teaching a goldfish to skydive. I do live a privileged life. In spite of my tax return complaints. And it matters not if there are more privileged folks.

Be strong, good people. Take responsibility. Don't say things you don't mean. Look on the cheerful side of things; the world is only as good as we make it. Then tell me how to be cheerful on a day like today.