Spring Squam 2015: Day 3. Extras and a Walk

Day 3 (Saturday) dawned bright and sunny and warm. It was such a gift after the cooler days that had proceeded it. Everyone was excited to be finishing up their last class and attending the Art Fair on Saturday night. The atmosphere was excited, although tinged with the knowledge that it was our last day.

I dressed in my now-temperature-appropriate capris and my two-tosh Scarpetta. And not to trust first impressions of the weather, I wore my orange tulip socks again!

The morning was spent in class which I wrote about here. The afternoon schedule was free with a couple more "Extras" offered. The first one was billed as making your own perfume (no thanks) and turned out to be more about making home skin products. I skipped it and went for the walk I had been intending to take at last Squam!

Or, not really the intended walk because I headed out to find the path that goes up West Rattlesnake Mountain (1,243 ft), but I couldn't find the entrance to the path from the road. So I took a much more clearly marked path that mostly followed the road and didn't involve any steep climbs.

I enjoyed getting out, getting moving and, I'll say it again, the glorious weather. (Too cool for me to sit in the shade, but perfect for walking or sitting in the sun.)

I bent down and saw little things like this slip of a plant pushing its way up through the matted leaves:

And this tiny frog:

And I looked up and saw the sun play on needles

and leaves.

These leaves had apparently fallen on the road and then been either pushed into the dirt, or covered by a thin layer of dirt.

I was fascinated with how it looked like a stain or an impression of leaves. But there were still real leaves under there.

After the walk, I returned to my dock, switched my wool shirt for a tshirt and soaked my feet in the cold lake water.

I also enjoyed a lie-down on the dock in the sun. The cool breeze couldn't find me there and I was so happy to be laying there.

The second "Extra" of the afternoon was on Boro stitching taught by Samantha Hoyt Lindgren.

Boro stitching is similar to Sashiko, but Samantha explained that whereas Sashiko was used by the rich to decorate and embellish fabric, Boro was used by the working class to mend everyday clothing. It is normally done on denim or other heavy duty fabrics, but like any technique you can use it for what you want.

I had a pair of pants with me that were ripping along the top inside pocket seams. I also had some extra denim. First thing was to decide if you want the patch fabric to be on the inside or outside. Since I was dealing with pockets and flaps, I pinned the patch on the inside.

The jeans were made from a stretch denim but the patch fabric was not, so I placed the patch on the bias so it would have a little stretch to match the main fabric.

I then stitched through the layers with a sturdy quilting thread. There is special Japanese thread or floss made just for this stitching. Or you can use pearl cotton if you can't find the Japanese stuff. In this case, I liked that the quilting thread matched the jeans. I didn't want to draw a lot of attention to my butt.

You can do any pattern: horizontal lines, vertical lines, concentric circles or squares, diagonals or you can echo the shape of the rip you're mending. Or another variation was random small stitches that look like little grains of rice!

You can see that I chose to work horizontally. I had to open the pockets and stitch from inside them so I wouldn't sew the pockets shut.

Samantha thought my stitches were a little larger than they should be (I confess I was rushing to get them done!) so she suggested adding the vertical stitching as reinforcement.

You can also see that the knots are on the outside! You don't have to, but that is what is traditional. It is a real "honesty" in mending...you're not trying to blend or make it disappear but at the same time you're still making it beautiful. I'm sure you can imagine some garments look better after the mending than they did originally!

Once I had finished the stitching, I cut away the patch from the inside close to the stitching. I didn't do anything to finish the edges. Denim is too thick to be folding the edges over and I really don't think it will ravel. I suppose if I were really concerned about it, I could have just done a whip stitch around the edges, but I didn't.

I was so excited to be able to wear these pants again, I wasted no time in putting them on as I changed for the Art Fair. Here I am showing off the mend (not my butt, in case that is not clear!)

I also added my "Mesa" sweater as I expected the evening to be cooler.

And to keep you up-to-date with the knitting progress, I was still working away at the necklace.

I had some time during the beginning of the embroidery class when Joetta was talking to us and on Friday evening when I invited myself and my roommate over to the neighbouring cabin. (I was not about to spend a lonely night in my cabin while the rest slept the evening away!) We had a nice time knitting, chatting and sometimes being quiet. (You're not surprised most knitters are introverts, right?)

By this point I had the pattern "down" so I could make progress fairly quickly. It would be nice to finish it within the time frame of this trip and it was looking like it might be possible...