Since I have nothing really relevant to blog about today, here's an image of decorative cabbages:

...and that's it. Nothing more to see here today.  

The Most Patient Husband of Them All has surprised me with an explanation for the phrase "pop goes the weasel" which, in turn, had surprised him - and it's an unexpected textile reference! (Well, at least possibly.)

If we go and trust Wikipedia, one of the many explanations is that it references the spinner's weasel, also called a clock reel. There are, of course, some insecurities and other interpretations possible, but, well, it could quite well be that it did come from the clock reel, which makes a noise every X rotations (intended to let you know when a skein was complete, or a part-skein, depending).

Also, I really like clock reels. One day, I'd love to work with one of them, just to try it out.

Is it really Monday already? 

But on the other hand, the weekend saw some nice hanging out, some bouldering, making a new batch of cat food so the furry lady can munch on something different, and some painting of miniatures. Which (the minis) will be seeing the gameboard this evening, if all goes according to plan!

The weekend also included some more puzzling over the Alpirsbach thing making, and I did get some helpful hints from Beatrix Nutz. Including the hint that they should not be called "trousers" but "hose" or, even better, "joined hose".

Eh. Terminology. I do like to complain about textile terminology and its many, many pitfalls and dark corners and its general horrible unreliableness, so it's good to see that at least there's reasons for my complaining! (In Middle High German, "hosen" would be the hose, too, but in modern German they are called "Beinling" and the full garment with everything covered and everything sewn together would be "Hose", in the singular, so of course I was assuming that English would handle it the same way and "trousers" are the full thing while "hose" are the Beinling equivalent. There you go.) 

It's definitely spring here now. How I know? We had the first hedgehog visiting our hedgehog restaurant last night.

Since the untimely appearance of a small hedgehog here last year, in spring, at high noon, and said hedgehog coming back here after having been treated against parasites and gaining some weight, we have a hedgehog feeding station. 

A few days ago, we started putting a little bit of food inside over night in case there'd be a taker. And last night, that was the case. If that doesn't make spring... 

Have I mentioned recently (or complained about, is probably more fitting) that I have really, really, really large numbers of yet-unsorted photos? No? Well, let it be said here, then. 

While I do have a lot of images that have been properly captioned, keyworded, and sorted into albums (and yes, the move to a new photo database has still not taken place, because I still haven't decided to commit to one) there are quite a few that I never tagged. So in an attempt to get at least down to reasonable numbers that are in the triple digits or so, there's been some effort of sorting lately. 

There is progress (that's the good news). There's still a lot of unsorted ones to do (that's the bad news). Occasionally, though, the sorting will turn up some memory of long(ish) ago, and that's nice.

Case in point: I just found an old photo of our little lemon tree.

That was back in 2019, and it was already blooming enthusiastically then. It's much larger now, though also looks a little, well, unkempt - but I never got around to trimming it back to a nice shape as it insists on having either flowers or fruits on the long, gangly twigs.

But, you know... I don't really care, as long as it is happily producing lemons! 

Easter has not only brought some time with family and plenty of eggs (both the coloured-shell chicken version and the chocolate version), but also some more prep for the exciting trouser project to come.

The trouser find from Alpirsbach, most probably dating to the late 15th or very early 16th century, is rather well-known for being, well, one of a kind. The fabric was a linen 2/1 twill, which is unusual by itself. The cut though very nicely corresponds to trousers shown on artwork from the same period. You can see an image of the find here (on a German page).

I'm currently working on a request of a museum to have a reconstruction of the piece, with the feet parts on. First problem was to research the fabric and figure out if there's someone who can weave it, and I'm very happy that Marie Ekstedt Bjersing is now going to take on that challenge, as the fabric is quite unique as well - not only because of the binding, but also having a thin warp and a comparatively very thick weft.

My task will be to make the fabric into a garment, and as I'm writing this, some modern, machine-made fabric is hanging outside to dry so I can do a test run in order to understand the pattern correctly before I'm cutting into the good stuff.

So. Exciting things. 

I am looking forward to a few quiet days, and hopefully to weather decent enough to putter around a bit in the garden. I am not sure where all the time is going all the time, but it really flies by, and maybe it's due to the time change (which always throws me for a bit), or to things going on in the world (where I'm always torn between catching up with the news and feeling a little sick because of all the things happening, or trying to ignore it and feeling bad because sticking one's head into the sand and living under a rock is also not the solution), but I'm not feeling overly energetic these past days.

Madame the Cat seems to be better again, and she also did not hold a personal grudge after the ordeal - quite the opposite, actually, she was extra snuggly the night after. To everybodys relief, I would say! 

Also, planning for one of the bigger museum projects is progressing, and I am delighted that I will get to cut into nice, hand-woven fabric fairly soon-ish. (Also more than a little anxious about it, but, eh, that's the textile equivalent to stage fever, I guess.) 

I will be off for the holidays, and see you back here after Easter - and I hope you will have some nice spring days to enjoy, whether you celebrate it as a holiday or not.