Today is one of the days to get things into order, and clean stuff, and rearrange things, and find new storage solutions. This has been in the pipeline for a while, but today's been earmarked for this for the whole week... and it has been off to a good start already.

The kitchen is dealt with, as is the bathroom, and a bit of the conservatory is still left to tackle, but it's mostly done too. The biggest part of today's reordering work, though, is finding a sensible system to stash all the goods I have for sale.

I've expanded the range of goods I sell quite a bit during the last year, and it has come to the point where I have more stock than my previous system can handle. This is exhilarating, and fun, and I feel very proud that the shop is doing so well - but it has also thrown my workspace into perpetual chaos, and it is time to finally tackle this. There's already been some shuffling of books and restacking of boxes to make a bit of space where it is needed, and if all goes well, I'll be done tonight and have the new system...

(This post was supposed to go up yesterday, but it looks like it misfired - so here you are. Surprise Saturday Blogpost!)

How nice that it's Friday again! And even better, it's the Friday before a long weekend, since it's a public holiday on Monday here in good ol' Germany. (That also means there will be no blog post for you on Monday.)

Even though the last long weekend wasn't so long ago, I am very much looking forward to this one. There are tomatoes that need to be set out into the garden, I have beans that should be planted, and we're planning to go on a paddle with friends this weekend as well - so there will be plenty of nice activity for us. And maybe I'll even finish the gold embroidery prototype that I am still working on, as there's not much left to do.

First, though, there's less pleasant work lined up for the afternoon: filing invoices and taking care of tax paperwork...

As posted a while ago, I wrote up some spinning instructions to go with a hand-spindle kit.



It did get ready in time for the wool festival at Backnang, and now I have finished translating the instructions into English.

The German version is already available in the online shop - it should be downloadable for free, if there should be any trouble, please let me know. Before I post the English version to the shop, though, I'd like to have a native speaker give it the once-over to catch any stupid bits of Denglish (which tends to happen when translating, unfortunately).

Any volunteers?

Friday, linktime...

Amica and Maria, two textile nerds (according to their own description) have started a new blog called Historical Textiles.

Gillian Polack is collecting recipes from SF fandom, and she wants yours too. The recipes will end up in a book - fandom deliciousness!

apc has a monograph about an excavation from York online, and it includes textile-related finds (among them a needle): Blue Bridge Lane & Fishergate House.

More research literature? Uni of Groningen has a publications database that might make you happy.

If you prefer something with more pictures, here's a collection of bizarre images from medieval manuscripts.

Sad things are happening too, unfortunately: The Tsock Tsarina has returned to her blog, but for the worst of all reasons - to announce that she has terminal cancer. I learned how to knit while following her instructions on how to make socks in "Tsocks 101", and her sock designs are something that always make me smile. Fuck cancer.

When I looked around for medieval-style spindle sticks several years ago and couldn't find any, I went and searched for a woodworker who could make soe for me. I quickly discovered that it's not easy to lathe-turn something that is long and thin and getting even thinner towards its ends, so I was very happy to find someone willing and able to produce spindle sticks for me, to my specifications and measurements.

Now, several years later, they have turned out to be one of the best-selling items in my shop. I have sent those spindle sticks off to do their job and twirl to make yarn into places all around the globe, something I would never have expected when I started selling them.

Since I started selling the sticks, they have remained the same price. Today the day has come when I will have to raise the price a little bit - they will sell for 8 € a piece from now on instead of for 7 €. However, to make up for that slightly higher price, I am now able to offer a little more variety: you can now choose between beechwood, pearwood, or (European) maplewood. All three are hard, durable woods that have their own charm. Maple is the lightest-coloured of the three, beech is a little darker with the characteristic longish speckles, and the pearwood is a warm, reddish colour with scarcely visible tree rings.






The picture shows the new kids along with the old beech version - from left to right, they are a beechwood spindle, a pearwood spindle, and a maplewood spindle. I actually can't decide which kind I like best... what a good thing, then, that I can have all three!

(You could, too. Here's the direct link to the spindle sticks in my shop.)

Really, all the wheels.
The wheels in my brain (since I'm still working on that last proofread, and any minute now the doorbell will ring and I'll have somebody here to assist with a garment cut); the wheels on the bicycle when we go to town; on Monday the wheels on the car, when I'll pick up Gary from Britain and we'll zoom over to Bamberg for a library visit.

Wheels are also, figuratively, turning on a few other projects and events - planning is going on, and it is nice to feel that things are moving, moving, moving and that there will be no day where I think "what could I be doing" in the near future.


And recently (in Backnang) the Great Wheel was also turning. Here's picture proof:

This was a very productive weekend - much more so than planned: we went to a demonstration against TTIP, strolled through a furniture store and tried to help a friend find a table for his living room, and - most importantly - we spent the sunny Sunday afternoon outside, renewing the waterproofing on our tent.

Said tent has been our home on medieval markets for more than ten years now, so it's understandable if the waterproofing is not as fresh as on day one anymore. Last year we noticed that there were a few parts where it was more moist than usual, and especially the door flap turned rather soggy in wet weather. Which meant... time to do something.

So we got ourselves two large brushes and a suitable waterproofing product and went to work, first painting the roof and then painting all the side panels with it. There was a lot of painting - but now it is standing outside in the sun, all dry and ready to be packed away for Freienfels (coming soon!).

The tent, lowered for good roof access. A definitive plus of a two-part central pole!

We are confident that it will be good for a nice long while now. And as an additional bonus... our getting it waterproofed in time for the start of the season might mean a dry festival, following Murphy's Law!