Towel Day 2026

Do you know where your towel is? "...any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the Galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through and still know where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with."

I resisted the draw of Douglas Adams' books for many years, but when I finally gave in and read them in order to find out what the hoopla was all about, I found myself caught up in his web of words. Admittedly, sometimes I questioned his possible relationship with mind-altering substances, but there was something in his mad verbal meanderings and the (at times) nonsensical and tangential interludes in the books which had a magnetic appeal. I identified deeply with Arthur Dent, the hapless human in a situation clearly not of his own making, who craved desperately for one item of normality: a cup of tea amid the chaos. There is much in "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" which is relevant in modern times, so I ask you again: Do you know where your towel is?

Fiber Manipulation 2021

Day 80: If I was asked to write "How I Spent 2020," the largest chapter (indeed, perhaps 85 percent of the essay) would be on fiber arts. I see nothing to indicate that 2021 will follow a different course. I'm already off to a grand start with one towel finished since Christmas and another well on the way (a project done on my big loom, right), and besides having knitting projects on needles and on the rake, cardweaving (above, left) plus a piece of sprang, a quilt, spinning, kumihimo using yarn and a crocheted tablecloth all going presently, I am anxious to get started on a hand-manipulated piece for rigid heddle and am just waiting for the supplies to arrive. I have my maternal grandmother to thank for initiating me into many of the ways one can create textiles, and for instilling in me the patience to see such long-term projects through to completion. Admittedly, I'd have preferred to spend more time outdoors, but on the same hand, I am enjoying my adventures with strings of all sorts.