Who is Orange Sink?

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Rice Lake, WI, United States
My home town is Rice Lake, a small town in northern Wisconsin. I own Red House Wool Studio~ an in-home wool and rug hooking business. I enjoy collecting and decorating with antiques and primitives. Orange Sink Blog is a journal of my interests and ramblings about life. Cathy Greschner

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Thursday, November 5, 2009

Hungry Mouths to Feed~A 40 Dollar Skirt!


There sure are a lot of hungry mouths to feed around here lately. Last but not least the big one in the photo above. Every few hours the trip to the basement finds it waiting to devour another chunk of that carefully seasoned firewood Dave so judiciously prepared earlier this fall. With temperatures in the 30's at night already we have gone through a fair amount of our pile usually preserved for the later part of November. With Mother living here we are keeping the house a tad warmer than we would like. I don't like to see her shivering and uncomfortable after her recent heart surgery not even a month ago. Turning up the gas heat would likely be easier but financially a disaster! So it's down the steps to the cast iron beast like a faithful march to the alter of Old Man Winter.

Then there was the 40 dollar skirt. While searching for wool for the background of my hooked mittens, I discovered that my stash is lacking much in the creams, whites, and lights. Anything I've acquired in those shades I've tea dyed and dirtied up because of the primitive hooker I am. I've always considered them to be nasty, not fitting in with the drab, dull colors of the primitive patterns I tend to favor. Not that I don't like color, oh yes I do.......but WHITE......I've only recently started to use it in rugs, and then only for Santa's beard! I found a few little pieces of cream that I decided to use for the background(Gayle you were right, the cream did it for me too) but not enough for both mittens. Then I remembered I had bought a cream wool skirt at a thrift shop a while ago. Upon finding the skirt still in the bag from the store I proceeded to throw it in the washing machine. Whoa!! I hadn't noticed the original price tag still attached when I bought it. The skirt was brand new with the 40.00 price tag and extra button too. A size 10.......MMmmmmm.....Maybe not. Don't think my waist is going there any time soon. What the heck, I only paid 3.50 so throw it in the washer and get it over with. Now I'm wondering if I am the only one who ruthlessly washes beautiful wool clothing to shrink and strip for rugs. I've closed my eyes and plunged gorgeous Pendleton jackets, skirts and pants that cost a pretty penny into the washer and dryer. I must say it has gotten easier over the years and sometimes a downright pleasure when I've scored a particularly beautiful piece of wool for a song!

Here are the mittens in progress. The hooking is complete on the left one. I hope to get the hooking done by this weekend and then try and figure out how to sew these little babies together! Wish me luck!

5 comments:

  1. Hi Cathy, the mittens look so nice and are they gonna be WARM!!! Yes, expensive wool clothing goes right into the washer without a thought, while I wear jeans and a sweatshirt. LOL!!!
    My hungry black beast sends it's regards to yours!

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  2. Great job on the mittens, Cathy! I know what you mean about the woodstove. I have a gas furnace but with the high price of fuel, I prefer to use my woodstove. Besides, I think your mom would find the heat from wood more comforting.

    Right now, it is -1 Celius (28?F?, I think) and snowing to boot. I think winter might be here to stay!

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  3. Oh, the mittens are gorgeous. The light background was a good choice. I hear ya about the heat issue. Mom is always cold and the oil bill for our furnace is ridiculous! I am going to look at electric fireplaces after work today. We spend most of our time in the living room so if I can heat that room up, maybe I can keep the furnace at a reasonable temperature.

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  4. oh YES! It looks fantastic - the white background is perfect! I've done the same as you many times - torn apart brand new wool clothing and felt a twinge of guilt. But then I realized that it came from a thrift store - if I didn't buy it and use it, where exactly would it go next? Makes me feel lots better! LOL

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  5. I am sooo impressed! A woolrich skirt...who knew?!

    Those mittens are going to be gorgeous!

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