34 is the new 27, right?
Actually, in a lot of ways I feel the same as when I was 21. My knees are louder, though!
A few weeks ago, Jeremy's mom asked me what would be a perfect birthday for me. I think she may have been offering to babysit so Jeremy and I could go do something together, but I realized that what I really wanted to do was to go see my grandmother up in Pennsylvania. I usually go in July or August, but there is no reason I can't see her twice in one year, right? She is almost 89 years old, and she lives by herself in a farmhouse in Northern Central PA. I love going up there, and I always cry when I leave. Even my kids love to go up there, even though the car ride feels super-long to them.
Last week when Cindy came over, we went to Cloverhill Yarn Shop and I talked to the owner for a few minutes about the spinning wheel I had on order. (more about that later) and she mentioned that there was a spinning wheel exhibit in Bedford PA at the National Museum of the American Coverlet. Bedford just happens to be on the way to my grandmother's house, so of course we had to go there!
So on Friday, we went to PA and stopped at the museum. It is in an OLD, converted school building. It isn't big, so I figured we could go in, wander for about half an hour or so, then continue north. When we got there, (at 12:40) a hand-written sign said that the museum would open at 1pm, so we hung out for a while, and at 1:10 I called the museum's number from my cell, and got the curator, who said her husband was on his way back from lunch. When he came in (walking with a crutch and a cane) he apologized for keeping us waiting and said he would be happy to give us the grand tour.
This is a picture of Laszlo, the tour guide, and his wife, the curator of the museum. They are standing in front of his favorite coverlet.
He told us that the tour would be an hour. Oops. Jeremy kindly took the kids outside to play, and my mom and I took the tour. It was really interesting. I now know more about coverlets and weaving than I ever knew there was to know! In a nutshell, he talked about how the older, harness looms worked, and how the invention of the Jacquard loom put thousands of weavers out of work. (An aside that I know, but he didn't talk about: The Luddites were weavers in England who reacted to their displacement by burning down these new factories and mills! Now the term refers to people who hate modern technology.) Many of the weavers came to America, trying to stay ahead of the new looms, so they could find work. Settlers from different European countries settled in different states, bringing their own styles from the old country. A coverlet, by the way, is a bedspread woven on a loom, usually from cotton and wool.
The exhibit also had a lot of spinning wheels, which is what I originally went to go see.
This is a harness loom. The more complex the pattern, the more harnesses you need to lift the warp threads in different combinations.
Even though I had the flash turned off on my camera, I didn't want to be obvious about taking pictures.
If you are ever in the area, and you enjoy art, history, or fiber crafts, I recommend you go.
We didn't get to my grandmother's house until after 4:00. Saturday, my two of my cousins came over, with their mom, for a visit. We are all about the same age, and as kids we played together a fair amount, but one of them I haven't seen in about 6 years, even though she lives in Virgina now. She had a baby a year ago, so my kids loved playing with him.
My aunt came over for dinner too!
While I was in PA, I got an email from Cloverhill that I could pick up my new spinning wheel. Woohoo! The new one hadn't come in yet, but Jolene was letting me have the old one, with the old drive wheel design. After we got home on Sunday, I went and picked it up.
Now I need to back up to Thursday. I was at work, and had some spare time, and decided to look up Schact on Ebay. (That's the company that made my spinning wheel.) Maybe a mistake, because up for auction was the Cadillac of spinning wheels. They cost a whole lot of money when they are new. And they don't depreciate much with age. After all, it's a spinning wheel. What's worse, the seller was in Baltimore.
So I sent her a message and asked if I could get it from her directly and save the $60 in shipping if I were to win it. She said yes.
Then I waited to talk to Jeremy.
I told him that I had this crazy idea that I could have both wheels. They use the same accessories. I could probably get it for a really good price. And if I was asking for too much, he could give me reality check and I would forget about it. He said, "If you really want it, go for it." And I did. And I won. And I drove out to White Marsh today to pick it up. It seems to be in good shape, but I haven't spun anything on it yet. I am working on the Ladybug, which is wonderful. I don't have anything against the Ashford Joy that I borrowed last month, but I felt like I had to fight it more.
Here is a picture of my 2 wheels.
The Ebay Matchless is on the left, and the Ladybug is on the right. So far, the fact that the Matchless is a single treadle does not seem to be an issue.
Today is my birthday, so Jeremy stated home from work. We went out for breakfast, drove out to White Marsh to get the wheel, went to Ikea, took Samantha to preschool, went to Columbia mall so I could get a haircut, went to the Savage Mill Family Game Store so Jeremy could get a game that he had ordered, got Samantha from preschool, came home for a bit, went to Coal Fire for dinner, Cold Stone for dessert, then came back home and put the kids to bed. Whew. Then I spun on the Ladybug and watched TV with Jeremy, then came over to LJ to post all this stuff. I know I'm forgetting something, but it will have to wait until tomorrow. Good night all.
A few weeks ago, Jeremy's mom asked me what would be a perfect birthday for me. I think she may have been offering to babysit so Jeremy and I could go do something together, but I realized that what I really wanted to do was to go see my grandmother up in Pennsylvania. I usually go in July or August, but there is no reason I can't see her twice in one year, right? She is almost 89 years old, and she lives by herself in a farmhouse in Northern Central PA. I love going up there, and I always cry when I leave. Even my kids love to go up there, even though the car ride feels super-long to them.
Last week when Cindy came over, we went to Cloverhill Yarn Shop and I talked to the owner for a few minutes about the spinning wheel I had on order. (more about that later) and she mentioned that there was a spinning wheel exhibit in Bedford PA at the National Museum of the American Coverlet. Bedford just happens to be on the way to my grandmother's house, so of course we had to go there!
So on Friday, we went to PA and stopped at the museum. It is in an OLD, converted school building. It isn't big, so I figured we could go in, wander for about half an hour or so, then continue north. When we got there, (at 12:40) a hand-written sign said that the museum would open at 1pm, so we hung out for a while, and at 1:10 I called the museum's number from my cell, and got the curator, who said her husband was on his way back from lunch. When he came in (walking with a crutch and a cane) he apologized for keeping us waiting and said he would be happy to give us the grand tour.
This is a picture of Laszlo, the tour guide, and his wife, the curator of the museum. They are standing in front of his favorite coverlet.
He told us that the tour would be an hour. Oops. Jeremy kindly took the kids outside to play, and my mom and I took the tour. It was really interesting. I now know more about coverlets and weaving than I ever knew there was to know! In a nutshell, he talked about how the older, harness looms worked, and how the invention of the Jacquard loom put thousands of weavers out of work. (An aside that I know, but he didn't talk about: The Luddites were weavers in England who reacted to their displacement by burning down these new factories and mills! Now the term refers to people who hate modern technology.) Many of the weavers came to America, trying to stay ahead of the new looms, so they could find work. Settlers from different European countries settled in different states, bringing their own styles from the old country. A coverlet, by the way, is a bedspread woven on a loom, usually from cotton and wool.
The exhibit also had a lot of spinning wheels, which is what I originally went to go see.
This is a harness loom. The more complex the pattern, the more harnesses you need to lift the warp threads in different combinations.
Even though I had the flash turned off on my camera, I didn't want to be obvious about taking pictures.
If you are ever in the area, and you enjoy art, history, or fiber crafts, I recommend you go.
We didn't get to my grandmother's house until after 4:00. Saturday, my two of my cousins came over, with their mom, for a visit. We are all about the same age, and as kids we played together a fair amount, but one of them I haven't seen in about 6 years, even though she lives in Virgina now. She had a baby a year ago, so my kids loved playing with him.
My aunt came over for dinner too!
While I was in PA, I got an email from Cloverhill that I could pick up my new spinning wheel. Woohoo! The new one hadn't come in yet, but Jolene was letting me have the old one, with the old drive wheel design. After we got home on Sunday, I went and picked it up.
Now I need to back up to Thursday. I was at work, and had some spare time, and decided to look up Schact on Ebay. (That's the company that made my spinning wheel.) Maybe a mistake, because up for auction was the Cadillac of spinning wheels. They cost a whole lot of money when they are new. And they don't depreciate much with age. After all, it's a spinning wheel. What's worse, the seller was in Baltimore.
So I sent her a message and asked if I could get it from her directly and save the $60 in shipping if I were to win it. She said yes.
Then I waited to talk to Jeremy.
I told him that I had this crazy idea that I could have both wheels. They use the same accessories. I could probably get it for a really good price. And if I was asking for too much, he could give me reality check and I would forget about it. He said, "If you really want it, go for it." And I did. And I won. And I drove out to White Marsh today to pick it up. It seems to be in good shape, but I haven't spun anything on it yet. I am working on the Ladybug, which is wonderful. I don't have anything against the Ashford Joy that I borrowed last month, but I felt like I had to fight it more.
Here is a picture of my 2 wheels.
The Ebay Matchless is on the left, and the Ladybug is on the right. So far, the fact that the Matchless is a single treadle does not seem to be an issue.
Today is my birthday, so Jeremy stated home from work. We went out for breakfast, drove out to White Marsh to get the wheel, went to Ikea, took Samantha to preschool, went to Columbia mall so I could get a haircut, went to the Savage Mill Family Game Store so Jeremy could get a game that he had ordered, got Samantha from preschool, came home for a bit, went to Coal Fire for dinner, Cold Stone for dessert, then came back home and put the kids to bed. Whew. Then I spun on the Ladybug and watched TV with Jeremy, then came over to LJ to post all this stuff. I know I'm forgetting something, but it will have to wait until tomorrow. Good night all.