oh, My Dear Mr Bingley, thank you!
i've been doing some writing (real writing, where i sit down, and edit, and spell check and cross all my t's and dot all my eyes, and submitting it (90% has been knitting, and trust me, if i get accepted and published, you guys will be among the first to know!

right now, i am working on an article about 'fasteners'-those humble little things that keep clothing on-- zippers are rather easy, (one of the new fasteners) snaps, are pretty new too, hooks and eyes are older, belt buckles too but buttons.. buttons are old. Not used by common folk till after the industrial revolution, but used by the ancient romans! (allegedly!--from inference drawn from pictures, mosaics, statuary)-- there is lots of stuff on broaches (which continued to be used to fasten clothes right up to 1920's or so-- illustrations of immigrants coming to US still show women wearing shawls/capes/cloaks secured with broaches. (i have cloak/cape that is secured with a broach-- one of my gt. grandmother's-the broach that is!)--

smaller broaches don't work as well, they stress the fabric, lead to tears.. and eventually the 'tears' create holes,....holes get sewn/bound.
(since once torn, fabric will easily tear along a thread line)--and eventually someone figures out, a broach that has lost its pin, or has a broken pin, can be bound to one edge, and the 'hole' can be sews/bound so it doesn't tear, but is looped over the broach--and voila--Buttons!
--so its nice to have a bit of trivia, showing why broaches might have been made smaller.


my other obsession