I'm back home from the fair, and now there's a nice stretch of time without fairs, for a change - time to take care of all the other things that need doing.

As always, it was great fun to share a booth with Margit. Also as always, it was both totally lovely and totally exhausting. Too much coffee was consumed. Chocolate was consumed, too, of course - there always is during fairs. It's quick energy for those times when there is too little time to eat something proper, and it's a wonderful excuse to have choc. Not that there really should be any excuse needed to have chocolate...

Also as always, there was a lot of stuff to unload, and to set up, and then, later, to stuff back into tha car and bring home again. So basically, this:



turned into this:



and then, finally, this:



And now I have the usual long list of post-fair affairs, and stuff to sort away (that hasn't all happened yet), and then it's back to normal. If there is a normal. I'll let you know once I found out...

It's fair time again - I am packing up my stuff and leaving for the Nadelwelt. This is one of the most exciting fairs for me each year, in the huge buildings of the Karlsruhe fair halls, right in the middle of everything.

[caption id="attachment_3096" align="alignnone" width="1142"] Margit and me at our Nadelwelt stall last year.


If you are into quilting, sewing, knitting or other textile-y stuff (modern, predominantly, of course) and can get into the Karlsruhe area, it definitely is worth a visit. There is a huge lot to see (and buy, if you want to spend some money). If you come, make sure to drop by and say hello!

So while I'm away, fairing, returning and then recuperating, there will be a little blogging break - I'll be back here and posting things on Wednesday next week.

I had a beyond wonderful time at the last fair - a lot of people stopped by to say hello that I see way, way too rarely; I had lovely food (Margit treated me to Königsburger Klopse for one dinner) and lots of nice coffee and there was sunshine and warmth and general enjoyment. The fair featured a nice, large, well-lighted space with tables to sit and eat and drink and knit in one part, and most of the stalls in the second part, with a little foyer inbetween.

As usual, I didn't get out much from behind my table, but it was enough time to go on a button-hunting safari for the Most Patient Husband of Them All, who has almost finished knitting his cardi and needed buttons for that. So out I went, armed with a yarn sample (for colour coordination) and my phone and a size indicator and sent him photos of buttons I supposed might please him. I can definitely tell you that proxy-button-shopping is an exciting thing! (It was also successful, to my great delight.)

[caption id="attachment_3753" align="alignnone" width="1632"] As usual, I'm standing side by side with Margit from Alte Künste...


There was even a little knitting done in the evening - my five-toe socks are slowly creeping towards being done. And I definitely need to knit faster. Or spend more time knitting. Or, preferably, both... because, you see, there might have been a tiny little mishap at the fair.

You know that good resolution that we knitters tend to have? About not buying any more yarn before the last project is finished, or the stash has been diminished a little? Well. While I was flanked on one side by Margit's stall, I had Holles Wollfärberei on my other side. And when I returned from a quick run to fetch some coffee, I sort of got confused for a few minutes and turned left a few metres too late, and by the time I had sorted out my directions, I might have accidentally dropped some money at that stall, and some yarn might, in turn, have accidentally dropped into my bag.



I blame fair-addled brains. And her choice of blues.

So. That does look, to me, like a little cardi and a pair of socks, some assembly required. See why I need to knit faster?

(She has an Etsy shop. Just in case you wonder how to get that stuff.)

The peach tree has started to bloom (probably because it felt like if Dutch trees are doing it, it should go ahead as well), my food for the weekend is all prepped and chilling in the fridge waiting to be packed, I'm cutting price tags (again! it is incredible how easy it is to not get them all right, or not cut straight!), and then I'll actually have some more time to spend on non-fair-prep stuff before I have to leave. I'd consider going out into the garden, but it's rather drab and grey today for a change - no complaints, though, as it makes the wise decision to do some writing instead easier, and it is also actually pleasant weather to drive in, as long as it won't turn to rain.

[caption id="attachment_3747" align="alignnone" width="393"] Peach blossoms!


If you're in the area, I will be stall number 52 at the Wollfest Hohenlohe - do drop by and say hello!

We now interrupt your regularly scheduled blog with a double Call for Papers - here you go:

Lessons Learned: Textile Conservation - Then and Now
12^th North American Textile Conservation Conference, Ottawa, Canada, September 23 - 29, 2019

The twelfth biennial North American Textile Conservation Conference (NATCC) will be held in Ottawa, Canada, and will focus on the theme of “Lessons Learned – Textile Conservation – Then and Now.” The choice of the topic was inspired by NATCC’s return to the City of Ottawa, venue of our first conference in 1997. Analytical studies, conservation protocols, treatments, exhibition displays, and materials and techniques have evolved during the past 20+ years, often dramatically. We propose to revisit conservation procedures, best practices, collaborations, and other preservation guidelines carried out during the 1980s through the present.

Presentations may include, but are not limited to, evolving conservation protocols and best practices, including those for treatment, storage, travel and display; methodologies for technical analyses, scientific and historical research, collaborations among different stakeholders, and other topics as they relate to the field of textile conservation of tangible and intangible culture. Both successful and unsuccessful “lessons learned” are welcome. Specific cases where past treatments, methodologies, and/or collaborations are contrasted and reassessed according to contemporary needs and approaches, are especially welcome. Conservators, curators, conservation scientists, art historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, collection managers, designers, preparators and others are invited to submit proposals for presentations. Collaborations among professions are encouraged. Projects already presented or published will not be considered and proposed projects must be complete by the end of 2018.

Abstracts must be submitted by May 11, 2018. Abstracts will be peer reviewed by the NATCC board. Authors of selected papers and posters will be notified by August 3, 2018. Presentations will be 20 minutes long; there will be time for questions.

Please visit the website for the full information on submission and any updates at http://natcconference.com .

If you're based in Europe, this one might be more accessible for you:

16. annual meeting of European association for the advancement of archaeology by experiment in Unteruhldingen/Germany, 27. September - 30. September 2018
This year's meeting of the European Association for the advancement of archaeology
by experiment takes place in Unteruhldingen/Germany in the Lake dwelling museum
and the World Heritage room. In the European year of cultural heritage 2018, we would
like to devote ourselves especially to the practice of experimental archaeology and
school as well as the mediation to young audiences. For this conference we ask for
presentations. Lectures on the latest methods of investigation of finds and findings,
possibilities of analysis and reconstruction as well as reports of scientific
demonstrations and associated museological methods of mediation are again in focus.

End date for submission of papers: 15 May 2018
The conference will take place from September 27 to September 30. 2018, lectures on
September 28 and 29, 2018
Conference languages are German and English.
Registration is possible via www.exar.org.

I don't know how much English will be actually spoken at the conference, as it's been years since I was last able to attend (the date somehow always clashed with some other event that I already had confirmed). It used to be rather German-heavy, language-wise, but things may have changed.

 
 

Only three days left before I leave for the first fair of the year- counting today. You michgt be able to imagine the state of things here, and if not, let me give you a hint: all kinds of things are stacked, heaped, drawn out, moved around, checked, and scattered over the place. There's packing material and flyers and there's the box with stuff that is helpful when setting up, and there's the immensely helpful master packing list for fairs that needs to be gone through.

There's also an insanely long list of stuff still to take care of. Much of it is just small things, but things that should not be forgotten, hence they are on the list. Some of the things are seemingly small things that I very much hope will turn out to be actual small things, or I will be in trouble. One of those is making a new Fummelkasten.

The Fummelkasten (which might be translated as "touchy-feely-box") is a thing I invented as a solution to the eternal fibre-selling problem: no spinner wants to buy fibres without touching them. Few people also want to buy fibres that have been touched by a gazillion people so they are all mated and felty, or have gotten disordered, or both. So I have a box with fibre samples of all the fibre types I am selling, and people can touch these to their heart's content, and wen they turn all matted and felty, I replace tha sample with a new one. The only problem is that with the addition of the Rhoen and Valais blacknose tops, I don't have enough space in the box anymore... so I have a new one, which needs finalising the inner structure, and then needs the samples, and of course an info sheet saying which fibre is which. And that you are welcome to touch.

Also, this sometimes gives me these priceless moments of a child going to the box, reading the "welcome to touch" message, and going ahead to compare the different fibres. Quite often, the parent then objects to this, and then gets educated by their offspring that in this case, it is perfectly fine to "look with the fingers". This has happened a few times already, and I always find it utterly hilarious!

I've been busy as a little busybody yesterday, winding yarns and making more distaffs and distaff DIY-kits and printing out info material and cutting reeds for spools for thread and counting things and casting new beeswax pieces and taking stock and re-ordering things, all in preparation for the Allgäuer Nadelstiche and Wollfest Hohenlohe, coming up the two next weekends. There's still plenty more to do - go over my display boards, check all the price tags, print out some new ones, and sort and pack even more things, but I think I'll get it all done in time. (There should be some writing going on, too, but alas, that has not happened the last few days.)

Today will see some more preparation for the fairs, and then it's the Easter weekend, which means I will be taking time off and having a breather, and hopefully the weather will be nice enough for a few longer hikes together with the most patient husband of them all.

So I'll be back on the blog on Tuesday - see you then, and have a lovely few days whether you celebrate Easter or not!