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October already!!

Oct8

Well, Sorry I’ve been so slow posting here. We’ve been to OFFF, had nice weather this year, and nice crowd, did well, met lots of interesting people, took the long way home, calling it a vacation and here we are again. Himself has gone off for the week to help a friend re-roof his Mom’s house so Cori and I are In Charge here. She’s a little confused and just a bit worried. Didn’t want to come in Monday night, but finally had to come eat dinner, then wanted out again but he still hadn’t returned so agreed to come in at last but spent the evening watching the kitchen door. She was better last night. She likes me but she’s not my dog. lol

waiting for her master

Meanwhile, on the fiber front, I’m knitting at the moment. Working on a Christmas gift. I bought the yarn in April but am falling behind, as usual, as other projects also need doing. And one that really didn’t need doing. Himself found in the trash at OFFF this great wad of fiber, someone’s very beginning spinning, maybe a child’s even as there were two colors involved. It was very little spun, from thread size to fatter than my thumb. He was shocked that anyone would throw away something that cost as much as $5 an OUNCE! (He’d been looking at a neighbors booth and noticed some roving at that price and was shocked at that, too. This is the guy who paid $30 for a rusty old wood  plane on eBay!) He gave it to me asking me if I thought it would be usable. So not being able to settle into anything the other evening I re-carded and re-spun his ‘find’ and presented him with a 1.8 oz skein of soft wool yarn. He felt justified. 😉

offf yarn

Have not started to wash my fleece. I bought a pound of mohair at OFFF to blend with it to make the kid fleece a bit stronger, I hope. Did I say I bought a Navajo Churro kid fleece? I want to try my hand at a little Navajo type tapestry weaving. Very basic and simple. It will be awhile before I get to that, I’m sure. Have to do a little research first. And some spinning, of course.

And I’ve been making lists of projects I need/want to accomplish this winter. Yikes! The winter better be  long one! lol  Well, I have my book, Weaving For Your American Girl Doll ready and will get it on the web page soon. The projects fit most any 18″ girl type doll. They start out with just the 4″ Multi square, as that is the most common sized loom people have, I think, and then there are more complicated projects, too, using more than one loom. Some you’ve seen but there’s new ones, too. I have lots of patterns to write up, people have been asking for them. It’s laborsome work so I keep putting it off, but it’s on The List now so…

Okay, there are projects to finish and I will get to them, but those two white buckets in the photo with Cori are full of wind fall apples that have to be tended to first. And because the sow bear and her cub cleaned the tree of all the good ones, these are all I have this fall so don’t want to lose them. And the tomatoes are still producing. Well, you know how it goes, but I will get back to weaving soon. Hope you’re making progress on your projects!

 

 

Busy Bees!

Sep20

Well, we’re not bees but busy we are! Having been gone about a week and a half to fiber shows we have a lot of catching up to do before we leave again for Canby and the Oregon Flock and Fiber Fair. Got rained out last year… well, more like blown out, so are watching the forecasts closely. This was the Natural Fiber Fair in Arcata, Ca. I failed to get a picture in Booneville, where the event was held in conjunction with the county fair, midway and all. It was pretty exciting!

Arcata 2014

Meantime, we found orders for over 70 looms when we got back plus ripe tomatoes and wind fall apples that are attracting the deer and  have to be canned this week. The apples might wait but the tomatoes and beans wouldn’t. And trip laundry and 200+emails lol Such problems! Anyway, if you are waiting for your order, please be patient, we are peddling as fast as we can!

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The fairs were enjoyable and we sold looms and made a few new weavers, I think. We did some ‘boondocking’  at the ocean side, too, which was fun. Going to sleep with the sound of the crashing waves was at first a bit of a challenge. Crashing was certainly the correct word! I hadn’t realized how much noise water hitting on rocks would be. Much more than our little stream running over the smallish dam here at home.

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But speaking of water sounds, we got to go to sleep with the sound of falling rain a couple nights ago! That was indeed a welcomed sound! A neighboring town, just over the hill, has suffered quite a tragedy, they are saying at least a quarter of the town has burned. I feel much better  with this rain and more predicted for next week.

And I think I have my Weaving for your Doll book nearly ready. Last evening I got to finish the leotard  and will try to get photo’s for it today between shop work and applesauce! But now I need to get Himself some breakfast and go to work. Hope you get some weaving time today!

 

Another new dress

May5

This one has the detail in the top of the skirt, which in this white color does not show very well. It had a strapless top (but you could add straps. i didn’t like that so gave it a bodice and the pattern called for crocheted edgings. I knitted the bond off at the neck line but the sleeves and skirt ‘hem’ are crocheted.

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New dress

May4

I found a “new” doll named Hitty. I have ordered her book called, “The First Hundred Years” so you know she’s not really new, only new to me. But I find that she is about the same size as Mini Molly and  so this Virginia Larkin pattern (5G) fits her just fine. I used fingering yarn and #00 needles for this one. I added the flowers and the picot bind off. I am knitting another pattern for her but using lace yarn #1 yarn for it. Time will tell. I am planning some woven outfits for this little lady as well.

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End of WAL

Mar1

The Weave Along is finished and was a great success. I think everyone enjoyed it and  they turned out some wonderful projects. I think it even converted a few new weavers to the  craft! Here’s a little overview of some of the projects. If you didn’t finish your project, it’s not too late! You missed the drawing for the little prize, but we’d love to see your dress!

All projects 2All projects 3

An invitation

Jan23

I am issuing an invitation to anyone interested to join us on American Girl Knitters for a WeaveALong to make a dress for an 18 inch girl doll. She doesn’t have to be an AG. I will be using the 4” Square Multi Loom but you can also use your weave-it or the Tiny Weaver Square or any other loom you have that will make a 3 1/2” to 4” square.
As a little bonus, I am offering 10% off the 4” Multi loom  for weavers who would like to join in but don’t have a loom. (Sorry you missed the sale but you can still get your hand crafted hard wood loom at www.hazelroselooms.com )
This is a great group for doll lovers of all ages and we’d be delighted to have you join us. The WAL will start
February 1 so you have time to go though your stash, find your looms and yarn. I will be using a variety of yarns, mostly sock yarns but any that makes a nice fabric on your loom will do fine.
No age limits, either direction! Come play with us!!

Samantha is modeling the dress we’ll be making but I have several other patterns to share with WAL Members!

Original Dress 8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lexi’s shorts set is one of the extras. Made with the same loom as are all the rest of these dresses!

Shorts & top

 

Here is Samantha and Addy all ready for the holiday parties.

December twins

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This peasant girl skirt can be made as full as you like. Mine may not be quite full enough. I guess Molly hasn’t spun up enough sock yarn! lol

Peasant Girl

And there are more, once you see the possibilities with small looms, there’ll be no stopping you!

Here’s a couple of the fancier ones I’ve made, some using more than one loom. Well, you get the idea! Even tho the layout of these pictures is getting weird on me you can see that you can do a lot with your little loom.  You don’t need to knit to make a great wardrobe for you doll! But come join us and learn how easy it really is. And how much fun!

Marigold3BSwimSuit1Pants and Tee1a

North to Washington… and back

Oct30

We’re home again. It was a nice trip tho parts were less enjoyable than others. We spent most of the first day visiting with Les Schwab. In case you aren’t familiar with that gentleman, he sells tires. He sold us 6 that day. Two for the truck which we had planned to buy and 4 for the 5th wheel, which we had planned to put off until winter. They had other plans! lol But we had no tire worries for the rest of the trip, which was good as parts of highway 101 would have been a test of an old tire!

But we got to Monroe and the Fiber Fusion North West  event and tho we enjoyed the company, the sale was pretty much a bust and I doubt we’ll return again. We left there and headed for Seattle where we visited the American Girl Store and REI and both of us spent our allowance! lol

Then we headed west to the Olympic Peninsula, a part of the country we had not visited before. The weather, of course, decided to be wet and rainy but we enjoyed it anyway. We road the ferry, this was a first for me, and saw the rain forest, shipping, viewed Canada across the bay, and finally down into Oregon and the Real Pacific Ocean. I love watching the waves. Once we got into California again the skies cleared up and we got to walk on the beach once before we headed inland and home. Here’s some trip pictures.

Our booth at the fiber fair.

A view of the volcano of Mt. St. Helens in Washington. It blew ion 1988, I think.

Randy standing the the bow of the ferry. Not exactly a classic movie shot but we didn’t sink, either, so that’s okay with me! lol

Here’s the truck and trailer parked on the ferry.

Looking back as we left the ferry. We’re on the islands, now. Next to get off this island was the ‘floating’ bridge.

Most of tie trip was foggy or raining but it was still interesting and Very Green. I did not get a picture of the looong green tunnels between the fir hedges. Thousands of trees of the same size jammed together in large plantations.

The rain forest was even wetter and most of the trees were covered in long grey green or yellow green moss ‘beards’ like these. Too wet for man or animal but there were lost of these, including, they said, a large heard of elk.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition was not thrilled with this camp on the coast of Washington. I think they got there in about the same time of year as we did when they named this spot. lol

Well, it looks like I have jammed things up so will post the rest a bit later. The sun did come out as we got south so they pics will be a bit cheerier!

Rain?

Oct13

Our promised rain… well, they said 60% chance…. turned out to be 40% that it wouldn’t. Not a drop. Very disappointing as we really do need it and our rain is very late this year. This storm all went north of us it looks like, tho we did have our first little fire last evening. I’m going to have to turn the water back in the garden. But it’s been cool enough nights that all but the Kale and the other few cool weather plants have done. I picked the last of things yesterday.  There are still quite a few tomatoes that I’m hoping will at least show a little color before frost so that they can ripen indoors. A late cold spring and a long cool dry fall do not make for good gardening. But here’s yesterdays harvest. The little green melon would have been a cantaloupe but the vine died so it was only starting to show some orange. Bummer. The apples are windfall, those on the tree are better after frost.

We are getting ready to leave for the next show. It’s near Seattle, the Northwest Fiber Fusion, on Oct 20-21, in Winston at the fairground. If you are in the area do come by and see us. And Randy wants to visit Grizzly Tools, which is in the area, so I get to go to the American Girl Doll Store! I’ve never been to one so I am excited. I am going to take Addy and see if they can do something about her hair in the salon, there. Meantime, I made a couple Halloween outfits for them. The knitted Sweater is a pattern from a Ravelry knitter,  Jacqueline Gibb. The woven one is mine, ‘stealing’ her Boo idea, but Kanani doesn’t need a heavy sweater in Hawaii, after all! Hope your autumn is going as it should!