Tuesday, May 12, 2015

UnWeaving

When I first started sewing, my mother said to me, "What you sew, sometimes you must also rip".  I guess that holds true for weavers also.   I had been making some progress on my blackbird tapestry, but I hit a snafu when I realized the tail looked really odd.  In the photos that I based my tapestry on, the tail is quite large, but I think we are so used to seeing crows a certain way, that when I wove to what was really in the photo, it looked odd.  So, I am going to go back and reweave more to the expectation of what we think we see when we see the crow, or at least what we see on most crows.  So, I don't have any weaving to share.  

However, I thought I would share other happenings.  I did some sewing these past few weeks to have juried for the studio tour here in Bainbridge Island, along with some of my tapestries.  (You can see the vests that I made on my blog With Needle and Stick.)  I am awaiting the verdict of the jury to see if I am accepted.  In between the sewing and the weaving of the blackbirds, we have been enjoying the spring weather.  You can see Muppie the Spinone in the winter fog and the spring sun still begging to come in no matter the weather.




The weather this spring has been really variable.  One day or even one hour might be cold and rainy with periods of sun breaks throughout the day.  (I was not familiar with this term until moving to the PNW (Pacific Northwest), and yes, we really do have sun breaks).   The next day will be clear and sunny, and even occasionally downright hot in the sun.   

We have tried to spend at least a couple of days a month exploring our new environs. In March, we spent one day during the kids' spring break over at the Skagit Valley tulip festival.  The tulips were really quite beautiful and it was fun to see all the different varieties.  The colors are really lovely.




A couple of weeks ago, we traveled up to Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park.  There was still a bit of snow left there, although normally at this time of year there should be over 100 inches there.  It will be a really dry summer here, unfortunately.  




Many of our weekends are spent at soccer games.   The last fews weeks were spent going to the State Cup games.  Despite a season of only one tie and one win, my son's U14 team managed to win the State Cup.  The boys were really excited and were hamming it up for all of the cameras turned on them.  I don't blame them, they really made some great strides playing as a team over the last couple of months.  It was a warm sunny weekend, but natives keep telling us, don't get used to this spring weather, it is not normal.



One thing that has been really fun for me and my daughter has been spotting the wildlife around the Puget Sound.  She spends one day a week in an after school program that has the kids out on the Sound paddling kayaks or stand-up paddle boards or canoes.  We seem to spot wild sea creatures every time I go to pick her up.  The week it was a purple sea star.  Apparently, they have been under pressure from a wasting disease the last few years, but I recently heard on the news that they are making a comeback this year.  The second photo is of a ratfish which is usually deep in the Sound, but comes to the surface in the spring and fall to either feed or breed.  It is a very beautiful fish with a long skinny tail like a rat or mouse, but glides through the water more like a skate.  This past weekend we even spotted a school of dolphin at the north side of the island.  



The view from our back windows is ever changing.  Today a strange sight glided past, a bit Loch Ness like?



In the photo above you can see it is being towed by a tug boat.  They tow rafts of logs through the Sound.  It is an interesting sight, however, it leads to many free floating logs and parts of logs throughout the Sound ensuring that you must have an alert boat driver if you want to safely navigate the waters.

The Puget Sound is an interesting place.  I am intrigued by the sea life here and want to return to weaving fish.  If I can just finish this doggone blackbird!

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