Won't You Take Me To Funkytown?

Gotta make a move to a
Town that's right for me
Town to keep me movin'
Keep me groovin' with some energy

Well, I talk about it
Talk about it
Talk about it
Talk about it
Talk about, Talk about
Talk about movin'

Gotta move on
Gotta move on
Gotta move on

Won't you take me to Funkytown?

- Funkytown, Lipps Inc.

So you may just have spotted that I have not been posting this summer - not my own scarves, nor the lovely guest scarves I still have lined up to share with you guys, nor the super keen stash scarf project that my dear ol' Mum cooked up for us while she was visiting in May, nor even the absolutely lovely tea towel that Beth Mullins wove for me Just Because she's a sweetheart. At first this was 'cause I needed a bit of a break after the madness that was May. Then it was 'cause I was in a bit of a weaving funk, and then a funk in general. After that it was just... inertia, I suppose? It is very hard to get back to something once you've had a break from it, no matter how much you love doing it. At least for me: I've always been a binge kind of person, and tend to do things intensely for a while and then not at all for a while rather than a little bit all the time. I'm a hare rather than a tortoise, you might say, and lately I've been sitting under my tree by the side of the race track, taking a break and watching the tortoises trundle slowly by.

And, although I fully expect to dust myself off and get back onto the racetrack that is Scarf A Day eventually, for the moment what's stretching out in front of me is miles of placemats, punctuated by the occasional blanket. I've got zero (0) blankets, wool or cotton, left in either store, and zero (0) placemats or runners left in my store 'cause I sent everything I had, which wasn't much really, off to Arts North so they'd have at least a little bit of something. Happily¹, I've got eighteen (18) yards worth of placemat warp on the loom at the mo' and materials for lots more after that², so I'll be able to restock once I get myself in gear. It's the getting into gear thing that's causing me trouble these days. ;)

So, since this blog is supposed to be about scarves and all I've got to share is placemats, I'm in a bit of a quandry. Do I talk up placemats over on High Fibre Diet and leave Scarf A Day gathering dust? Do I post about them here and pretend they're just very short, very wide scarves? Do I convert the whole business to a Wordpress blog and try out their intriguing category wossit which, if I understand it correctly, will let me have different pages all as part of one blog, with Scarf A Day on one page, HFD on another, and possibly other stuff on other pages³ Choices, choices, choices...


And now, since no blog post is complete without pictures and because nothing cheers a person up like unexpected pressies arriving by post and because I have had this lovely little item sitting out on my kitchen table for weeks as a reminder of good friends online and encouragement to keep blogging, I invite you to join me on a little trip from Funk to Funkytown...


This mysterious package arrived in my mail one day in early July:



Well, okay, the customs label kept it from being totally mysterious but it was totally unexpected! I had no idea anything of this nature was Afoot. Naturally, I was like a kid on Christmas morning all anxious to tear off the wrappings and see what was inside but I managed to restrain myself long enough to grab Bella and take some pics of the unveiling.




Aahh! Yet more wrapping between me and my "one (1) towel - handwoven"! But such pretty wrappings, aren't they? And a card and everything. The anticipation rises...




Isn't that the cutest card EVAR? And how could Beth have known how much I love cats? Okay, so I may have mentioned cats a time or two (or three or four or five...) but how could she have known that this particular kitty looks just like our No.1 Cat? I know I've never posted pics of him on either blog 'cause he died before I started blogging and, truly, this card looks just like him:

He had a bent ear and way more toes (26!!) than the guy on the card, BUT STILL. You'll just have to take my word for the legs and body being a nearly perfect match, apart from the toes.

And now for the pressie itself! I wish I could somehow squeeze the towel right through the intertubes so you could feel the lovely weight and hand of it. Beth, you'll have to correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's woven of 100% unmercerized cotton; I'm guessing a 2/8, or is it a 2/10?



As you can see, the shade of blue is a ridiculously perfect match for my dishes; what you can't see is that my kitchen floor has diamonds on it just like her little turned twill block structure⁴. Srsly, how does the woman know!? I know I've posted about the cats and I have a vague recollection of putting a picture of one of my blue plates on HFD but I'm quite certain I've never put my kitchen floor online 'cause, really, who's got time for housework anyway? I think there must have been an inside man on this one, or an inside Mum if my sources are correct.

Here's another shot of the towel fabric, sans props:


And a closeup of her lovely turned twill:


Isn't it beeooootiful?? I just lurve it, yes I do. Thank you thank you thank you, Beth!

I can't tell you what a pick-me-up it was to get this in the mail when I was feeling so funky (and not in a good way). I mean yeah, sure, I really love the towel and will use it heaps⁵ but the best bit about getting pressies like this one and the one Laura sent in April isn't so much the towels - it's the friendship that comes wrapped up in them, the reminder that people out there are thinking of me fondly (and not with irritation or judgment that I haven't been blogging, as I am wont to imagine). I told Beth when it arrived that I'd keep it out where I could see it as a gentle encouragement to blog again when the funk wore off and I think, I hope that's right about now. :)

Speaking of which, thanks so much to everyone else who's sent little notes to keep in touch over the past few months. Barbara, Ellie, Annie, and all the rest - I really appreciate that you took the time to drop me a line even when I wasn't feeling very communicado. :)

So! I dunno how much I'll blog or when I'll get around to posting the guest scarves that I'd meant to post back in May but it'll happen eventually. :) And I'll figure out what to do about the whole Placemat A Day issue as well. I'm going to take Barbara's excellent advice and not make any promises that I have to live up to so that whatever happens is all good, but I am going to try to just Do Something 'cause that's what always gets me out of the funk in the end and, like the Lipps say, it's time to be groovin' with some energy.



1. Who am I kidding? I am dreading these placemats, yea and verily. They are just so monotonous and endless... Every year I tell myself I'm done with placemats and yet, they are what sells at Arts North and I get lots of orders for them. The very idea of 18 yards of mats, followed by many more yards of other mats, makes me wail and gnash my teeth. However, since I'm not weaving anything else lately, I might as well do these. Does anyone have any advice on how to make placemats less tedious?

2. *sob*

3. Wordpress bloggers, am I right about this or is it Fantasy?

4. Is dornik the same as turned twill? I've never been entirely sure just what "dornik" refers to, except that it seems to be a point twill block where the turns aren't true points but are offset in order to prevent floats. Can anyone help me out here?

5. Or maybe I'll just pet it and admire it... I rant and rail at folks that refuse to use the handwoven gifts I give them for fear of getting them dirty or damaging them yet I must confess to being just the same myself.