Random Bits of Gratitude 021312

Downtown Raleighwood
February 2013

Three Bits o' Gratitude

1. Being Farther Along Than I Thought
I've picked up my chainmail project again after several years. Back in our Craft Show days I spent a lot of show time cutting links and bending them into the proper chainmail pattern. Then my wrists and arms gave out and I had to put it up for a while. And a while turned into years.

When the weather turns cold I start to think again about wanting to learn how to knit. Working with yarn to create something warm sounds like such a great idea to me. When I mentioned this to Bonn a few years ago she made me promise to finish the chainmail shirt first. So, last month, I dove back in.

I spent about two or three weeks cutting the links at night. Now I'm back into the bending of links -- and I'm very happy to discover that when I stopped work on the shirt I was actually much farther along than I had remembered. All that's left is to finish the shoulders, connect the front and the back together, and add sleeves.

The thing is, however, that making chainmail is just a slow moving project. In the course of a few hours at night I can get about a 6" x 6" section done.

The kicker, however, is that since I'm using steel instead of aluminum, the shirt is going to probably be too danged heavy to wear.

2. My wrists and arms are still fine for chainmail work.

3. Bill Burton's Tuesday Night Radio Show on WXYC.FM
I live outside of the broadcast signal so I download his show on Wednesday mornings. At his best he reminds me of the mix of music from my early 20s as played by WHFS. (At his worst, he's practically unlistenable. Still, that's the gamble with free-form radio -- and with a podcast I can always fast-forward through parts.)