Starting out a little too early

What a morning! I awakened about 3 a.m. and after some tossing about finally got up, made a cup of tea, and was in the Studio before 4:00 this morning. And here it is, just after lunch, and I feel as if I should be in jammies and waiting for it to be dark enough to go to bed. I won't do this again any time soon. Next time it will be decaf tea and a snooze on the sofa.

I went into the dark back yard and began the little walk to the Studio. The night was alive with the sounds of tree frogs and rustling grasses. There was even a tiny movement of air. Above, the sky was still star-speckled. I felt quite alone in the universe, except for my cup of tea.

With all this sudden gift of time on my hands, I made a list of things to do today. At the top of the list was to assemble the four-harness loom my son built while he was still in college. The assorted pieces have been propped against walls of the studio for a long, long time, and since the wool-roving weaving experience, I have contracted the bug to make something using yarn and shuttles-- a "regular" sort of weaving. I thought the assembly of the floor loom wouldn't be too hard, that I just had to get the beams in place and everything else would line up and fall into a neat order. Was that ever a pie-in-the-sky dream! After a lot of struggling and nothing too much to show for it except that I finally began to understand which was the front and which the back, there was daylight enough to enlist Charles to help. Result: now there were two supervising personnel and no worker bees. In the end, I put everything back against a wall (the front wall, against the windows, unfortunately), and I will do this another day. Jordan and Julie are camping with the Adorables this weekend, so maybe I can persuade him to give me some guidance one evening next week and show me where the left-over parts go.

I am also working with the three wool roving pieces. The idea of weaving from roving and tossing the results into the washing machine is good in theory, but the truth is that some weavings are better suited for felting than others. I pored over the three pieces (blue/green, pinkish, and yellow/orange) and chose the pink for experimented with the embellishing machine, needle felting, and embroidery. I think I have an idea. It needs some nurturing, though. And it especially needs a clear head that has had lots of sleep before anyone starts doing drastic, non-reversible things to it. Right now I need a boring, repetitive job that will keep my hands busy while I think. Yes, I'm thinking about that bucket of bolts and screws and why the beams don't line up properly . . .