The morning actually started with giving Cynthia a lift and saying goodbye to her, as she was catching a shuttle bus up to Tombstone National Park, where she wanted to do a backpacking trip. We became Facebook friends, and exchanged contact info, and she said to be sure to look her up when I got to Quebec. She was a little regretful about ending her holiday and going home, as it meant starting a new job, but she had a wonderful trip, and I was glad to have been even a small part of it. We adventurous traveling women — of any generation — need each other's support!
Expectations
Before I signed up for the class, I did Google "harvest bag" and, according to the world wide web, it's a bag that is held open so that you can put things into it as you are gathering. Some of the bags ride on your chest, with leather straps that go around your back, sort of like a reverse backpack, or a baby "snuggle" pack. This sounded good to me! One can always use another bag to put things in, and having something that had easy access to the inside when walking sounded great. Maybe I could even use it as a camera bag!So, I had some expectations.
Which were not really met.
The bag we ended up making was more of a "fashion" bag than what I thought we were going to make. But, as one of the participants said, "It would make a good gopher bag."
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| My "gopher bag" under construction: this is the inside.. |
Now I need to explain that this is only half a joke.
"Gophers" here are actually arctic ground squirrels. Elsewhere one might call them prairie dogs, as they have many of the same habits as those little critters. They are EVERYWHERE, and are sort of like the animal plankton of the boreal forest and tundra. Often, you'll see them sitting up and chirping, or playing Russian Roulette with cars on the roads. The little bodies of the losers litter the roads (although not for long, as the raven cleanup crews are very active). Everyone eats gophers. Humans trap them in snares, roast them, and also use their skins for lightweight fur parkas.
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| Arctic ground squirrel, aka "gopher" |
So, one always learns something. I really did enjoy the class, as much for the people who were in it as for the take-aways, which were:
Pattern-making: I've always pretty much adhered to using a pattern. I guess mostly because I want to succeed, and having a pattern seems like increasing the odds of success. So it was something of a surprise that THERE WAS NO PATTERN. Just sort of a general "idea" of how the bag would be put together. The take-away here was that no pattern can work, and you might even think of another way to do something.
Blind faith: Whitney did not have a finished example for us to look at, or even any examples. She actually had one, but had sold it the day before (someone offered her a deal she couldn't refuse), leaving her with no sample. So we were flying blind as to what we were doing. In some ways, this does foster creativity, since everyone in the class did something different and even used different construction techniques. I wish there had been more time to see and understand what the other people in the class were doing, as I think I would have learned as much from them as from the teacher. Even Whitney said she was learning!
Seize opportunity #1: When we were presented with the materials for the bag, we each got a circle of heavy white canvas that was the basis for the bag. Everything else sort of hinged off of that. Whitney had brought in a variety of other canvas fabrics: drab olive green (very traditional), a pink camo canvas, and some trendy zig zag in black and light blue. Given the project, I went with the very untraditional black zig zag, but I wanted a light inside (hate having black linings). This apparently hadn't been done before (in in Whitney's experience linings = outsides), but I thought I could do it, and, after advising me that it might be difficult to keep all those cut edged together, Whitney said, "Sure."
Seize opportunity #2: We also needed a strap to carry the bag (so much for the "hide" part). I had my eye on the black strap, but she only had one black strap, and another participant really kind of wanted it. I totally understood that her green bag would not look great with the red strap, so I threw utter caution to the wind and said I'd take the red. Turns out I LOVE THE RED STRAP. The red/black/white combination is actually very Tlingit, and the pop of color is just what it needed to keep from being "blah." Classmates also said that it would keep it from being lost in the woods, which prompted Whitney to tell a story about a mushroom hunter who was collecting mushrooms in his harvest bag, which was a green camo bag. Unfortunately, he put the bag down under a tree, and along with the mushrooms it contained several thousand dollars, which were the proceeds from his mushroom hunting expeditions. The bag was so well camouflaged that he couldn't find it again. (Rural communities are different; cash, not banks.) I guess I won't have to worry about that happening since my bag has its bright red strap!
Blanket stitch sucks. The entire bag is hand-stitched in locking blanket stitch with (artificial) sinew. This feels very traditional, and, as somebody said, "NOTHING is falling out of this bag." (There were more very fat gopher jokes.) However, getting an even seam with blanket stitch takes practice. The first time around I didn't pull tight enough, and when I turned the bag right side out, the stitching showed and was really ugly. So I had to go around again, really pulling on those locking stitches.
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| Lena working on her pink camo bag. Her cousin came to see what she was learning. It seems like everyone is related to everyone else. Family is really important here. |
Basically all there was to this bag was attaching the bottom circle to a rectangle, then sewing up the two sides of the rectangle. I had a couple challenges, in that I did want the zig-zags to meet at the seam. This sort of worked, but I was in a bit of a hurry, having been challenged by the handstitching, so it's not my best work.
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| Working on the big side seam (also locking blanket stitched) |
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| My finished bag |
I do wish she had brought in some other of her projects, so we could have been inspired. She did talk about finding cast-off treasures in the "free store" and then working with them to make something wonderful. I saw here later wearing a denim jacket that had been reworked with evident care and love.
I should probably mention something about the "free stores." From what I understand, it's the ultimate in recycling: it's a central location where people can bring stuff they no longer want, and others can come and take what they need. Especially in rural communities, this solves the twin problems of finding things you might need (that otherwise might be expensive and very far away) and disposal — with no landfills, there are rural middens or trash heaps of unused possessions). The free stores help minimize this.
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| One of Naomi's beaded cuffs |
I also wish I'd saved some of the fabric, as a matching inside or outside pocket would be helpful since the bag is so deep. All the gophers are going to drop to the bottom.
Also, the beaded ornament that the teacher gifted us with for the lacing is... okay, but unfortunately the Tacky Glue used to attach it to the bolo hardware did not adhere the leather to the metal, so it came off the next day when I was taking the picture! I'm actually not going to put it back on, as I'd prefer to have something that I have made, rather than one provided. Besides, it's a small enough project that I actually might even get it done. I just have to think about something meaningful in black, white and red. And, oh dear, I'll have to go to the store to get some plain red beads, because I don't have any in my library. Such a hardship. <sarcasm!>
I think it needs some other ornamentation, too, and I WAS inspired by Naomi Smith's beadwork cuffs. I may do something in black and red and put it at the base, or the top, or make some beaded tassels or something.
It's nice to have small projects to work on here. I just have to find a way to control wayward beads. N0MAD isn't exactly a friendly bead studio!
Takhini Hot Springs Hostel
The hostel was a lovely place to stay, and I'm actually glad that I did stay there rather than elsewhere in town. It was super clean, with comfortable beds, large showers, satellite TV, with games, books and DVDs to look at. The dorm-style rooms had bunk beds with individual lights and large lockers. The kitchen was huge, with pots, pans, ample utensils, microwave, coffeemaker, and electric kettle. The staff was kind and unruffled, and since they were in charge of checking in people that stayed at the hostel and the campground, could be quite busy. The only real issue I had was that the wifi kept dropping off frequently, asking one to reconnect. Just kind of annoying.For whatever reason, a LOT of motorcyclists seem to use the hostel. John from Winnipeg was one such rider. He did a trip a year (without his wife). A group of four friends from Washington state were riding up to Alaska, doing 600 miles a day, which is a lot, especially on a motorcycle, and in the rain. The 17-year old son of one of them was along for the adventure; what memories that boy will have! In another group of motorcyclists, one of them had an accident: he spun out, thrown off the bike, and got knocked out. He said when he woke up, he wondered where he was and how he'd gotten there. Fortunately he was okay, but with a headache and tired, which sounded to me like concussion, and his bike was still rideable. He was resting for a day and the pressing on with his buddies.
The roads here are tough on machines and tough on people, too.
But it is the land that speaks to me.
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