Sometimes, things change unexpectedly, and while that can be a nuisance, it's somehow also an opportunity. Or at least t can be seen as such.

And something like that happened semi-recently, when my woodcrafter, who has been quick and friendly and reliable for years now, suddenly decided not to answer my mails anymore. Which is weird, and annoying, and I'm debating with myself whether to give them one last try now or not, but let's say that I am not amused at all about this situation.

Something similar happened to me twice ago. In one case, the crafter had changed his line of work, which I found out through a common contact later. In the second case, I never found out why - a supplier suddenly broke contact and there was no reaction anymore. Weirdly, I got a number of letters a good while afterwards asking me to update my customer information.

In the previous case, I was rather annoyed as well - but in the end, I found a new supplier, and the result was good - the linen yarn I carry now is even closer to the yarns used historically than what I had before, and it is at a better value as well.

So. Now I'm sitting here, using the opportunity to go through the wooden things that I offer and review whether I want to change anything, add anything, or take something out of the stock while I am at the search for someone new to make things according to archaeological originals.

As always, your input is welcome. Any wooden textile tools you're aching to have available?

There are quite a few things in the works here right now, behind the scenes. For instance, I've sent off a huge package of wool to be carded, and I hope that the outcome will be wonderful, and that I will hear about it soon.

When I'm saying huge, by the way, I do mean huge. German post is rather generous in what it lets you send as a parcel in the higher ranges of weight and size, and I did make the most of it. This is the maximum size allowed - 120 by 60 by 60 cm - and I stuffed it chock full with wool. So much wool that I needed a lashing belt to help close it. So much that it was much, much easier to handle with my husband's help (which he was so nice as to give, as you can see from the picture).



I'm also conspiring with a metalworker to get some more, and some different, pins and needles into my stock. This is still in the starting phase, and we're working on prototypes and figuring out things, but it already looks promising, and I'm quite excited about this, too.

Finally, my colleague and I are waiting for the last bits to fall into place for the Bernuthsfeld tunic project. As soon as this has happened, we'll be able to set a date for handing over the tunic and its accompanying bits and pieces - something that I am also looking forward to very much!

 

It's time for a stack of links again - here you go:

There's a four-wheel velomobile being developed, and the 0-series has now been unveiled: Podbike. It's a bicycle with electric assist, a fully closed chassis, and it sort of smudges the line betwen car and cycle. To my great and utter delight, as I firmly believe that human-powered vehicles with additional energy sources are the thing of the fture, and one way to make personal transportation more sustainable.

The Lendbreen site has an interesting article about why they are not wearing gloves when handling their finds. Gloves can be a good thing and necessary in some cases, but there's been a relatively recent development towards handling things without gloves again, also out of the field. The reason? While gloves may protect the artefact from body oils and sweat and DNA traces, they will also reduce feeling in the fingers of the wearer, and handling may then be rougher than necessary - resulting in damage to the objects. So in the end, it's a trade-off, and when there is no danger to the person handling it (as there might be with contamination with pesticides) and no danger for the object from body oil or moisture (as will be with polished metal, for instance) it may be best to leave the gloves off.

Speaking of pesticides: There's a public survey run by the EU to learn about citizen's takes on pesticides, and how much of their use should be allowed. In Germany, the use of pesticides has increased since 2006 - which is not a good thing. You can go here to fill out the survey, and please do spread the word about it.

 
 

There's a freakingly large box sitting in the wintergarden, and the wool to be carded is almost fully sorted. Numbers are accumulating in the Kickstarter planning spreadsheet - still lacking some crucial ones, but at least there are more ideas coming up, and that's a good thing. There's some other sorting and sifting going on, to get the stock back into order before the next season starts.

Also - more writing. Some editing on a very, very overdue project, and I start to believe that at one point it will be done and finished... which is a very nice feeling indeed.

Finally, the Textile Forum survey is all done and tested, so there will soon be a newsletter regarding the Forum - plus the website is, wonder over wonders, almost in a state where I can launch it. So. Things are moving, in a good way.

Have some crocus buds to celebrate with me:



 

If you happen to be in the Netherlands, you might be interested in going to see the exhibition in the Rijksmuseum that this video advertises. Especially if you are familiar with this painting:

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="737"] Rembrandt's The Nightwatch.


If you do not happen to be in the Netherlands, you want to watch the video anyway. Trust me. It is a good minute of your life very, very well spent.

I have packed spindles and distaffs, comfy clothing and shoes, stuff to read on the train, something to knit and a busload of excitement - I'm off to Denmark and Sweden for the MoCap project!

There will be no blogging while I do my spinning shenanigans; I'll be back here next Monday, hopefully already with exciting news on how it went!

Here's not one, but two links on fun language stuff - the first one shows how very clear German is, in five tweets.

The second one is a list of old words that described certain specific things, but have fallen out of use. For some of them, I'm not wondering why at all - but others would certainly still have their uses today. So. Excuse me while I fudgel a bit more...