Living in Alaska???

This is what our back yard looked like about noon yesterday....It cleared off for a while.  Then this is what it looked like again at five o'clock. 

Yes.  That is snow...It came down in about a half hour time period.  It was snowing hard for Tucson.

It even managed to stop the pro golf tournament up at Dove Mountain. Walter was out there and still didn't get home until five or so.  Someone gave him a pass to the fancy "party tent".  He had a great time.  Even without benefit of golf.

This morning, Tessie got her first taste of snow.  She insisted upon building a snowman....She got as far as the small ball that you see at her feet. 

Then she started shivering and zapped herself out of there.  She was barefoot, after all...  All I heard before she disappeared was, "This is not fit for human beings or witches!!!  I'm out of here!!!".

I came back in and started playing with basket making materials.

Here you see the four steps for starting a twined basket. 

You can do them on strips of poster board like this, or on wire, stuck into the bottom.  The poster board can be stained with wood stain or painted.

I used Woodsies for the base. I cut the poster board, the cheapest I could find.  It's softer than the good stuff and bends easily.  I cut it in about 1/8" strips and glued pieces to the edge of the woodsie.  Then I used my thumb nail to curl a strip to glue around the bottom.

The nice thing about twining is, you can do it over fat strips like the poster board or over wires.  Another advantage is, you don't have to worry about whether there are an odd or even number of spokes to weave on. 

Here I am using embroidery thread(all six strands).  You double it and slip the middle over one of the spokes.  Then you take the thread to the left and bring it to the right, over the other thread and behind the next spoke.  You just keep doing this until the basket is the height that you want it.

I would normally do the basket over the same color spokes.  I started the ones to the left with a contrasting color, so that you could see what I was doing.

If you need to add more thread, you simply pull the threads to the inside and  put a dab of glue on them and cut them off short.  Then you start another thread the same way that you did the first one.

So far, I have three threads, that were about 18" when doubled over.  If I want the top to flair out, I will just bend the wires or poster board the way that I want the weaving to go.

I will have these finished by tomorrow and will be able to show you the finishing....I was waylaid today by April, Amare and their cat.  I had to watch Amare whilst April took Klava to the vet.

Otherwise I would be done by now...

Are you wondering what happened to Tessie?  She zapped herself into the living room of the townhouse.  Then she zapped three afghans to snuggle under and announced that she would be staying there for the rest of the day with her kumihimo wheel.  Hot tea and cookies by her side...And I quote her, "Don't call me the next time that infernal white stuff falls out of the sky!  I am staying in for at least three days, until my toes thaw out.  Now go away and don't bother me anymore!"

I guess  I will go back and finish the baskets...It's not as much fun when Tessie ignores both Zar and me.

Please, don't forget to go back to the top and vote for Tessie!  Maybe she will forgive me for sticking her feet in the snow....Maybe....Probably not...

See you tomorrow.