I didn’t go to Belgium

I have sad news. I was denied boarding for my trip to Belgium for the European Textile forum. We all went through so much effort to get me there (via crowdfunding) so I could conduct very important experiments with the warp-weighted loom, and get advice from other scholars during the process, and I can't even get back most of the money I spent on the trip. Traveling during a pandemic is obviously tricky, but I didn’t realize I’d be caught in the middle of rule changes like I was. I'll be uploading a video tomorrow (hopefully) that explains my plan for the interim. I am absolutely crushed.

To brighten my mood, I have been working this week to make further improvements to the website. I've added some Google ads to help with operating costs (until I'm finally weaned from Etsy). I’ve done my best to keep them unobtrusive so your user experience isn’t compromised. I’ve been tweaking SEO on the back end so it’s easier to find me organically and then I can turn them off again.

I got my old drive back the other day which contained the entirety of my Expertly Dyed archive. It includes my very first YouTube videos when I was just a baby youtuber! So, with this in hand again, I can begin the conversion of my old blog (on blogspot, if you've been around long enough to remember that!) to my new blog. I'll be integrating old posts that were very useful as well as producing new content. I'm hoping to do this 'daily'. I've had so many things I've wanted to say but writing a thesis took up most of my writing energy.

I also have these lovely Wild Batts in the shop. I just love looking at them. They’ve been really popular so I will keep making them.

Wild Batt - ‘Retted Flax’

This batt has been made from Merino wool which is incredibly soft and bouncy. The staple length is at least 4 inches. It has been carded with small amounts of the following (some hand dyed by me): ryeland, alpaca, tussah and mulberry silk, muga silk, nylon, and firestar. Also contains angelina fibers for added sparkle.