There is no sunspot activity at this time -- if you all need something to worry about here is my candidate -- sunspot activity plays a very important role in earth's weather . The  Little Ice Age (1300 - 1850 ) had a minimum of sunspot activity during the worse of it.

While science is still debating the importance of the Maunder minimum to the little ice age I have read statements that it absolutely DID have an effect and that extreme sunspot activity also occurs during hot spells here on earth--- so , I suspect the sun has a great deal to do with Earth's weather, what about you all ?   --- so would you all rather freeze then burn ? I'm still debating but I think I would rather do neither.

Just because... Leon saw some horror pictures of what happens to people that have motorcycle accidents without protective clothing and he says I am not riding until I get my leathers...
The jacket is on hold -- though with this cool summer we are having I may sew it, anyway.   He is more than likely right so I yielded to his superior wisdom and insight -- actually, I debated a little further but I did not have anything like a reasonable weapon; saying I Just WANT to ride the bike did not exactly sound like a grown-up thing to say.

Its going to rain this weekend... starting tonight... Well, Happy Fourth of July, folks !! I will be doing inside things and absolutely no outside cooking unless NOAA is wrong - Once again!

OH -- for those of you who have clear skies ... look towards the west at sundown on the Fourth ... you will see a very spectacular sight - Saturn, Mars (Regulus) and the Moon are pretty much lined up (alignment)    as pretty as they can be... that's in Leo (Regulus is Leo's brightest star!)  for all you who slept through astronomy class.  Not sure what that might imply for all you astrologers but I tend to love sky watching for its own sake. I will take a peek if NOAA proves to be wrong about the weather. (PLEASE, Oh, God let them be wrong!!!!!!)

As an American Italian,  I thank our founders for my freedom and rights ... Long live the USA, and many blessings on all Americans of all colors and sizes  !!!!!!

Our summer has finally bloomed. Its lovely here - truly warm and it's deeply wonderful to feel the sun on my skin, once again. I spend all winter sighing for just such a day and wondering why I am doomed to live in the North West for an entire lifetime... though, being married to Leon makes up for some of the dark, gray days I suffer through!

I walked early down our little strip mall to a store looking for ink for my fountain pen and came back with only 2 small boxes of Mont Blanc ink cartridges - no bottled ink except in a little kit... do you think I was born too late, I often do lately - this world is too chaotic for me.  I'd use quills if I knew where to find them. And don't suggest the backs of fowls, I know that, already - I actually have a recipe in one of my books about how to make your own quill pens - they boiled the quills for hours before using them but I forget what they used in the liquid and I am not sure what boiling really accomplished - perhaps making them last longer as pens?

Leon promises me that if I find a Jean jacket to fit me he will take me out on the motorcycle this summer... I found a McCall's pattern -- M 4385 -- its rather complex but I am going to give it a try, so you might not hear from me much beyond moans and curses for the next few days... and yes, I searched the near by stores but no one carries a Jean Jacket in size 16 petite this time of year !
I am not losing weight right now and I don't really know why... it may be time get back down to 500 calories day. Any sane person gets a bit faint around 600 a day, but well, enough said or suggested about my sanity -- especially since I am about to leave this computer and go prepare Mr. McCalls pattern no. M 4385 for pinning !

Oh, this is going to be a very BIG Challenge, I can see that already and I've not even made copies of all the pieces, yet !

Contrary to reports of profound laziness, the reason I am not posting right now is not a vacation or leisure.. its been work. Been sewing up endless miles of strips for the new rugs and cleaning up the back yard. I lost two more 2 more pounds, this week, too - I am now, by our scales, 156. Heavens, I feel good - I should have never given up on controlling my weight! Looking good,too - I went through all my summer clothes - most are going to Good Will, tomorrow. (oh, make me, make me...) I think I am going to sew up a few pairs of shorts and Capri pants for summer. Size 16 pants are now fitting looser and the 18's are nearly falling off if I don't tighten my belt  .. it doesn't get terribly warm here... only rarely do we get into the 90's so most of the time the only difference between my summer and winter clothes are the length of my sleeves.
We've Been cleaning up the yard too - our strange new neighbors - the ones with the $ 390,000  brand new house, right next to our little tiny 3 bedroom $ 100,000 home, 55 years-old home,  sawed down several trees on their side of the divide late last year and somehow  most of the branches ended up on our territory - not to mention some of the large trunks. Somehow, nearly magically those tree trunks are now slowly moving over to their side of the divide... not sure how, you know how fairies work... invisibly, at night or early morning, when none but the most astute, are awake.
They've not made move one to work on it this spring and I suspect they are either very busy working to pay off that mansion of theirs or they are just don't care. My Italian dignity has been bruised ( Doing such a thing has caused wars in ancient Italy but I am a peaceful Italian Matron, really, I am !) so I am cleaning it up, slowly, with my Honey - well, actually, perhaps, I should say I am helping him?
I fell in the yard today and hit my lovely Italian nose on the side of our recycling bin...I Was sure that I damaged it because it started to bleed ... (When it bleeds, the Red Sea! (from Cyrano De Bergerac, act 1)) But the pain has faded and my very Italian nose bulb is intact; I am very affectionate towards that bulb, I inherited it from my mother.
So, perhaps next posting will be something far more serious? One might hope !

You can use a rotary cutter and a cutting board to cut the strips but it is a lot of bother and adds, I believe, unnecessary expense. I wore many of rotary cutter blade out before deciding to just cut and pull. I think I saw the suggestion in a book - or did I remember my mom's advice.. not sure.., lots cheaper and I don't really lose that much fabric to threads.

Wash all fabrics before making strips - at least once. This isn't quite as important if they are true rags.

Did I mention that you have cut off the selvage before you  begin making the strips?

You can find books on making rag rugs. I suggest reading them.. look at your local library. I found the original suggestion in a book from the late 1960's - one of those old Better Housekeeping crochet books, I think.
 Many use wider strips or cut the strips on the Bias, etc..I would suggest that bias cut fabric would stretch too much. One thing a crocheted rug doesn't need is more reason to stretch.

Google "Rag Rugs" and you will come up with lots of resources. You can buy already cut fabrics on line at WEBS.com - I doubt profoundly that they are the only source - for me, the rag rugs are a way to save money ... if you have more money than time there are alternatives.

http://crochet.about.com/library/weekly/aa092599.htm
 http://crochet.about.com/library/weekly/aa100299.htm
http://vintagechica.typepad.com/the_life_and_times_of_thi/2006/10/rag_rug_tutoria.html
http://www.netw.com/~rafter4/
( very good site - I need to look it over, again, even has some videos! They have added new material. )

You can use cotton strips to crochet lots of things - even baskets ! Think about a cat or dog bed crocheted, or place mats ... or little hot mats for the table or well,... lots of uses.


An alternative to Rag Rugs are rugs in cheap cotton yarns in either size four (worsted) or larger - I have seen crocheted rugs in rope.. like sisal (can you imagine what that would do to your hands?) , though the cats would love the rug, wouldn't they? Sometimes you see this kind of rug in import stores. I would worry about keeping them clean... remember the cats?

You can actually USE rags - I suggest cotton but people make rugs out of all kinds of fabrics. I think cotton tee shirts & pantie hose are popular. I am seriously considering going to Good Will for some sheets .. you can vary color, experiment with fabrics, dye fabrics, etc.

I really don't know about yardage... just never worried about it because I use sheets mostly. I would suspect that there are several good sized sheets or about 15 yards of fabric in a medium sized rug (5-6 feet across), I usually just keep tearing and sewing until I have several big balls and then start crocheting. Tommorrow, for instance I am going through my fabric collection to see if I have any green fabric pieces I would like to get rid of... I also have the some green left, to sew.

 I don't bother with using clothes.. we are just two people and usually wear our clothes till they fall part - if you want to try, go ahead, again, think about Good Will or Salvation Army - I am considering getting old sheets and dying them .. I would like to see what I would get !

Blue Jeans may be a good source of fabric but I have never crocheted such a stiff fabric.
Look for sales at fabric stores - you can often find calicoes/cottons on sale for just a few dollars a yard. If you don't care about color, you can just about buy anything.

I also suggest Wal-Mart - they often have large fabric departments - look for sales at the end of seasons. I tried one Rayon - it looked great but it stretched too much.

The big lesson I have learned is to use two strands or 1 (2 inch) strand... 1 inch strand alone wears out too quickly and the rug doesn't weigh enough to stay stable. Think about constantly finding the rug bunched up because of playing cats or Gremlins or both ! I was just pretty much sick and tired of tripping up on a stretching rug.

Well, I am busy. I should be busy... the dishes from yesterday need washing and I am still working on the new rag rugs, but, well, rainy Mondays make me lazy.

 Here are some pictures of the process I go through making rugs.
I first tear the fabric in one inch strips by hand. I just measure it on a quilting mat, make a small starting cut and then pull. The sound drives my husband crazy !

 This keeps it straight and is easier & faster than cutting endless yards - literal miles - of fabric by hand.
Next I put the strips in a plastic bag, pull out my big basket of balls of fabric from the last time I made rugs, set up my sewing machine and start sewing...

Special very important note :
As you can it is an awful mess, at first. I carefully dispose of any threads - cats, for some reason, love to eat threads - I lost Mrs. Tibbles that way back in the 1980's - so if you own cats keep them away from threads - the finer the thread the more danger the cat will try to eat it.
I clean a few strips of their threads and I start joining. I  immediately put all  threads in a collection bag by the sewing machine...
This is a simple miter join. Put the two pieces at right angles and sew on the bias or angle. Cut the excess and move on. When you do so it because a straight rather neat join.






I roll the balls up every few strips because it is a terrible bother to wait.. it gets all tangled if I don't.

(It's not space science, exactly, is it, so far?)
I used to make rugs out of only one strand of 1 inch fabric, but they stretched out of shape, broke easily, and had a  tendency to trip people, myself, included, up --- I've experimented with two strands - some people use 2 inch wide strips  - and crochet them. I like the two strands because  I can play with color combinations and get interesting effects. It is a preference of mine to do so. Isn't Cammy cute? How do cats know where to sit and look cute? They gravitate towards being admired just like any screen actress you care to name. The only thing she didn't do is look demurely into the camera lens and blink her eyes!
Hook size: I used to use a K but it hurts my shoulder to do all that pulling and fighting both the hook and the fabric strips so I am now using a larger hook. I try to keep the hook as small as possible because I am looking for a dense fabric that does not stretch or get out of shape. I think a "N" or a "P" will work fine. Experiment and see which produces the best fabric.
I use a simple pattern and increase slowly. If I see I am increasing too much I stop for a row or to until I see it is starting to become a bowled shape. I know anyone who crochets will understand the sentence I just wrote. I found several simple patterns in books over the years but now use my own. The rug above is starting to show signs of having too many increases and I am on a none-increase row.
I am going to experiment some with dying old fabrics that are in either boring colors -  imagine beige or faded colors - or,  just plain, awful colors... (exactly what was I thinking when I bought that lime colored fabric? )

Why don't I just go buy rugs at Wal-Mart ? I like the work ... I like recycling old sheets into rag rugs. Oh, I should mention I do buy simple cottons, the same fabrics that others use for quilting, for my rugs - I usually look for it on sale. (Frugal, it isn't a philosophy, its my life.)

I own cats, cats have hair balls... they seem to choose rugs to vomit on - I've spoken about this to them but they don't seem to understand that if they are going to do vomit please don't do it on the bed or on the rugs - it makes extra work for big mama cat !

I can wash and rewash my cheap hand-made rugs until they begin to fall apart, and, then, not cry when I throw them out. They have served me well. Lastly, they are profoundly cheap.  And they don't show the effects of cat claws on their fabric.. cats claw, cats claw rugs, rugs age quickly, etc.
I might sigh over wool rugs and dream of having magnificently complex oriental rugs on my floors but I am way too practical to do something  so impractical  and I know in my heart they would never surrive for more than a week in this house!
Hey, I finally spell checked and edited... am I good or what?

I'm sewing strips of old sheets to make rag rugs, tonight - our old rugs are beginning to fall apart and, well, its time for them to be retired to that great rug heaven up in the sky. I think tomorrow I will take some pictures of what I am doing and post them, also, with some explanation about the process and even several patterns that I have used for years. I have a few new ways of making rugs. also - and, may attempt one of them - my old standby is, of course, crocheted rag rugs, which last many years even with cats in the House.

 One of the problems with hand crocheted rugs is that they stretch and can easily trip a person walking quickly - recently, I decided to experiment with a heavier rug and I am now crocheting two strands of 1-in. Cloth together and it is far heavier and stable.. it makes for some interesting color patterns, also. I truly enjoy the process of making this sort of household item.. it's not that I can't afford rugs or even carpets, but I like making most anything of cloth, fabric, yarn or thread so this is just another interesting item to make. 
I am even considering dying some of the fabric that is rather dull in color - mostly beige... most of my sheets tend to be very pale colors -- even thinking doing some experimentation with the dying process a little like hand-painting yarns - or perhaps I will just do it on the stove the way I normally do .
I am also typing up the notes to my novel, - slowly, I admit. I have perhaps years of work ahead, but it is interesting work, but difficult... many things I had forgotten, now completely surprise me in both their complexity and depth - and some things make me shake my head and wonder what I was drinking that day ... ! (On second thought, never mention drinking to an Italian on a diet - I haven't had a glass of wine with my pasta in months!)

It is always so with my passionate love of writing. I wish I was more skilled but even if I never publish, at least, I enjoy the work ! What is really sad, though, are the times when the notes make no sense or contradict the plot so far. "Well, that's a good line, too back I can't use it..." is a reoccurring line of thought this week...  I also need to research early printing methods, weaving in the Middle Ages, Horses and the distilling process ... and I need to have a clearer idea about the general plan of the castle... I am always amazed about the Castle in Harry Potter, because I have been trying to design Luecadia for a decade and still have some problems with its general architecture. This may all sound like hard work but I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't enjoy it  -  I suspect, before this process of organization is finished I will be writing the entire thing over again. I understand J.R.R. Tolkien did rewrote several times - and he was a university professor, so I need not be embarrassed.

There have only been a few times in my life when someone had the courage to tell me that something was 'all in my head...' but recently my husband had the courage - or, shear foolishness - to say that there was no squeak, it was all in my imagination. Dear man, he doesn't know how he just crossed into dangerous territory.
There is a squeak in this room - I can't figure it out. It sounds like it is behind me. It sounds, for the life of me like dear, old Bedford squeaking  to come up on my lap he was the oddest cat - his voice would squeak in a breathy manner when ever he wanted to mew and he rarely mewed properly - he could, though, purr up a storm.
(sometimes it sounds like it is to my left - the last few have sounded like they were coming from my left. ) could it be outside ? but what would make a squeak outside this part of the house... there are no big tree limbs or ropes... not even a street light?
squeak, squeak .. then silence.
My guess it is that it is my computer, but what could make a squeak in a computer ... the cooling system ? the motor? I don't have fans like Leon does because my CPU doesn't need the extra cooling....
I am not suggesting a ghost, far from it... no, its not Bedford, though I would give a good inch of my height to have had him with me until he was an old, old cat... no, something is going on. I think its my computer - I have liquid cooling and it could be a motor of that system, I suspect. But it is definitely in this room - Tomorrow, I will move things about, I want to start sewing, again, any way, and need to, besides so I will use the effort to get the sewing machine out and set up. I need to put some yarn away, though God knows where.. But this squeak and I need to settle accounts. Either it goes or I do... My dream would be finding a small kitten hidden... just a perfect black and white short hair...Little Bedford, but now, IT is all in my head. He's gone, even if his squeak hasn't.

I have a clothes line in this room that is extended while my silk shirts are drying... there is only one big problem... the squeak is here when it is rolled up in its box.
I wouldn't mind a ghost but a squeak is annoying.