Archives

Thank-full!

Nov26

Yes, We are thankfully full of turkey, ours was on Saturday as the bird was still frozen on Thursday so we had ham then, which made Himself happy as he much prefers it. Costco has a good ham, too, so I enjoyed it as well. And I am thankful that there is ‘punkin’ pie left over. This one was made out of one of sis’s butternut squashes, yummy. But mostly I’m thank full that the job of cutting up the carcass is done and the meat in the freezer and the bones  in the soup pot! My favorite part of turkey is a big pot of soup! I’ll be canning some of that later this week. As mentioned he’s not a great fan of turkey or soup, both of which I love so I can it in pint jars and have lunches for half the winter! Well, maybe not half, but there is another turkey in the freezer!

 

I have been doing a bit of weaving. Did some domestic stuff, dish cloths. Needed some new ones and wanted to try them on the 10 1/2″ loom. It’s been popular with weavers but I’ve always used the 12″ for my dishcloths. So I figured while I was doing it I might as well use up some of the cotton stash and weave a couple fancy ones. The first two I wove on the 12″ using my “grease rag” colors. That yellowy looking one is actually brown but my camera decided to “improve” on it I guess. I used the Random pattern (which you can find in Pages) for the blue one and the Red and white is the small hounds tooth, which is just two rows of each color, repeat.

   

And then I decided to get out a peg loom and my big bag of selvages from Pendleton Mills and weave a couple chair pads. I haven’t done much with this loom so they didn’t turn out too well. Pretty wonky in fact! neither the same size or the same shape. I need to work on my tension on this loom. I am thinking about weaving a third one just to see if it might match either of the first two! lol I haven’t woven in the ends on the last one yet.  Sis suggested they are correct because they have two different sized butts to accommodate!

 

Other than that I’ve been working in the shop a bit. He’s been making peg looms as we’ve had a bit of a ‘run’ on them lately. We had to make a trip to Medford, Oregon to buy the thick oak boards to make them and just about bought out dowels at Lowes. It takes a lot of dowels to fill the 36″ peg loom and he makes & drills each one by hand. Not a job he looks forward to. He says he gets cheated with these looms as they are labor intensive and my part is just sanding and oiling the big part. Well, that’s okay as my labor on the rest of the business makes up for it, I think! But together we get it done. Today he spent the early 24 degree morning in the shop and now he’s working on the trailer ramada again, trying to get the roof done before the weather changes for the worse. He  wants to get the trailer under cover before snow fall if he can.

So life just goes on. Cat is getting a really thick coat, ready for winter. He has grown into a big heavy  man, no longer the cute skinny teen we first adopted. Himself says he’s fat, but I think he’s just Big. Come spring he’ll have enough ‘angora’ to stock a spinner! I have never seen a cat with markings like his but yesterday I ran across his near twin! This one is shorter haired and not as cute ;-D and his markings are not identical but the same sort of pattern. I like the child’s drawing, too! She captured the cat’s sad expression very well! I wonder if it was a foundling, too.

 

   

Well, I guess I’ve been chatty enough for one morning. I hope you have all been able to find something to be thankful about and are looking forward the December! I’ll leave you with one last bit that we all need reminded of occasionally.

 

Heading into winter now…

Nov8

When I go back through my photos, looking for inspiration for this blog post I find the same thing all summer and it’s not weaving or yarn of much any kind. Garden, canning, veggies and fruits, even a few flowers and lately apples and pears and apples and apples and…

                   

There’s more apples. These are the Romes, best after a bit of frost. The Hyde king as the earliest, good for eating and baking and making applesauce. The unknown from the neighbors tree are a good firm tart cooking apples but also tasty if you like a tart apple. There’s a few more what I call wild trees, that produce good apples. No telling their linage but they all produced magnificently this year! As did the pears. It’s the same with them. There are a couple we know are Bartletts but there are others that are older trees. The pears are good but they do produce stones, those hard little “rocks’ that form around a bruise or the core so their use is limited if you don’t care for grit in your pears! However, there are plenty of good ones so we mostly leave these for the bear and whoever else likes a sweet fruit.

I could have posted more baskets of green beans, they were another prolific producer this summer. Along with cucumbers! Way more than we could use. I dried some and added them to the mix. Rehydrated and added to soup or a scramble you can’t tell them from anything else. I dehydrated most everything that grew in the garden this year. I put 11 quarts of dried Veggies in the pantry  a couple weeks ago. The garden is pretty much gone now. There are still carrots and the celery plants Sis brought me are still looking happy. They haven’t really made stalks as we think of them, but lots of tops which have a good celery flavor. I’ll dry some of that, too. It’ll serve as parsley if nothing else!

But there has been yarn happening.  This spring there was a happy class of beginning weavers making dish cloths over in Farmington, Utah, and five weavers joined me at Lambtown in Dixon Ca in October to weave Tartans. That was interesting and fun as well.  The skirt is a project of mine. Not entirely successful, still not finished, I just have to give a little more thought to it! The scarf is more successful and a lot easier project! The samples shown from the class are family tartans the weavers wanted to copy. It’s challenging to take a floor loom woven tartan pattern and translate it into diagonal continuous strand weaving, but these ladies were doing a good job of it. I’ve recently heard from one who is still working on her project. I hope they all are!

  

The fiber fairs are over for this year. We’re looking at next year, thinking about adding one or two. Himself wants to “take a trip” in the spring. He’s exploring via Google Earth to find the interesting places to go within our reach. Our reach has a time frame as we do have stuff to do here as well.  It would be interesting, I think, to be one of those vagabonds who live in their RV and just go from place to place. But not in the present 5th wheel! We’d need  a larger and roomier ‘home’. And even the ‘previously loved’ ones are pretty pricey, not to mention Big. We need a Tesseract! But it’s not practical, anyway. We have to be here to make looms, I don’t see being able to take the shop with us! lol And Cat wouldn’t like it. He likes his outdoor time which he wouldn’t get on the road. So we’ll take a week or so and then come back and take care of the garden and the rental cabin and the shop, and get ready for the next fiber fairs! And I might submit to magazines again, maybe, that takes up a lot of time.

But meantime, we’re heading into winter. What that will be like is anybody’s guess. The weather/climate experts are so far covering both sides! I love it. You might be cold and wet or you might be warm and dry! I think I could have predicted that! But hey, they are trying to predict nature so I guess we have to give them a break. They have fancier equipment to work with now days but Grampa’s arthritic knee was probably as accurate at predicting. But whatever it is, we’re ready. Wood shed and pantry well stocked. What else do you need?! I hope you have a lovely cosy one whether warm or cold! i’m looking forward to some snow… but not before Christmas!

 

 

It’s October– time for Lambtown and OFFF!

Oct1

Fall Fiber Fairs are Fun! 

Sometimes it’s cool enough to have us thinking wool! Sometimes not quite that cool but we can feel it in the air and we can see it in the leaves of the trees! Stores are done with Halloween candy and stocking up on Christmas! lol A sure sign it’s autumn.  Apples are ripening and it’s time to make pies and can applesauce for your winter oatmeal. But hey! we’re almost ready and it is time to start weaving your gift list.

  

We’re heading to Dixon and Lambtown in a couple days. I have 10 weavers joining me for a class on Friday. It’s my first all day class so something new to look forward to. We’re going to have fun! I hope! The scarf is just the start! We’ll be real Scotsmen before we’re done! and almost immediately after that it’s Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival in Albany, Oregon so if you can’t make Dixon I’ll see you at OFFF!

 

 

 

 

My 2nd for the WAL

Mar3

I finally finished her blue dress and the jacket. I’m not sure the blues are a perfect fit but i am quite happy with both. I especially like the jacket. I used some yarn by Universal yarn company called Uptown worsted. It is 100% acrylic and wonderfully soft but still holds stitch definition well and is just nice to work with. I turned the neckline out on this jacket to give it a bit of faux collar. I’m not sure about the sleeve length, I may go back and work a little edging to make them a bit longer.

   

 

Some Weavers have ask about the SweetHeart blanket Heart Valentine Block.  That is basically a woven design that you can put together into a blanket

\

This is mine.

This one was made by Penny Tennerman and given me by her daughter.

.

Another year gone by…

Dec22

…And I’m still alive and comparatively healthy for my age group. That gives me plenty to be thankful for right from the start! Last week was Very Cold, the snow frozen solidly. This morning we are supposed to see temps into the 40’s and rain. This reminds me of a couple of photo’s I took a few years ago to explain snow to those who don’t live with it. It’s pretty as it falls and for a while after, but we do live here! It’s not usually this bad but the loader was broke down just then so he wasn’t able to plow us out. I still enjoy the snow, more so if the power stays on.

   

But no rain so far today. Sis says they have ice storms predicted up in Oregon and my walking buddy is traveling to Chicago. I have to laugh, it is all typical winter stuff! as much pain as pleasure!

But ‘my’ little fox still comes for dinner. I give him just enough that he doesn’t go hungry but he is still doing his job with the mice. Have not had one all winter, a rare thing when the fox is not around!

I have nothing new to add to the mini WAL. There are a few more under projects on the web page that you are free to download and make in case your tree has a bare spot yet! The candles are fast and fun as are the elf shoes. You can make these in any size, from table center piece, filled with fir boughs and berries to a pair to fit your American Girl doll!

 

Anyway, I hope you all have a happy and comfortable Christmas day. And even if you don’t believe in Santa Clause I hope you can enjoy the holiday in whatever way you do enjoy it and enjoy it for all your friends in their ways, too!  And join me in hoping for and working for a wonderful peaceful and kind 2023!

Best wishes from Hazel and Randy.

Chilly moring!

Dec13

High, low, and present temps At 7 am. It’s clear up to 18 now at almost 9 am and the sun’s shinning brightly! But we have power again. After three days without you find out how spoiled we modern folk are! lol But we have plenty of firewood to stay warm, propane cookstove and water heater. Our water is gravity so no shortage of that, tho that spring is just as cold as you’d guess! You have to warm up the tap water before you can drink it! It was kind of peaceful being ‘out of the world’. We didn’t hear any bad news. Any news at all until yesterday when we found out the whole county had been out of power, a lot of damage from the very heavy wet snow. But the good part of that is that it’s started a nice snow pack for next years water supply! Just hope it’s not the last one! Tho I’d not mind if the next one was just a little lighter and drier! There’s just no pleasing some folk, huh!?!

Little icicles dripping off the patio table. But we’re in the shop today catching up on last weeks orders. Hope you are enjoying the winter and getting ready for the holidays. Also hope that if you’re in the other half of the country you don’t get too much snow out of this next storm! There is a limit to how much White Christmas we can use!

Another WAL project.

Dec9

Been snowing all day, what a good time for making these projects! This time it’s the little baskets. If you are anywhere near my age, you remember making these little May Day baskets.  We made them in school or at home, picked a few poor wildflowers and hung them on neighbors door knobs. Then ring the bell and run and hide! Fun for both parties! Well these are woven and you can fill them with flowers or greenery or little gifts, whatever and hang then on the tree.

Easy easy as you can see! Fold the square to make a cone, add a tassel to the bottom and a loop to the top. They look pretty int sparkly yarns, too.

And don’t forget the little deer. They looks cute on the mantle or the table with the little snow persons as well as the tree.

You can find the instruction for these on the web site under projects.

 

A couple more Easy Holiday WAL projects.

Dec1

Another one you may have seen and forgotten and a New One!

Name tag

And don’t forget your little SweetHeart loom! There’s no instructor for this one but I think you can see how it’s done. I made a little lightly stuffed pillow with the felt and attached the heart.

   

And the new One! some of you start to feel stressed by all the work involved in making a the perfect Christmas for your family. I hope you remember that they’ll love you even if it isn’t perfect! But here’s a little reminder to cheer up and it all works out in the end! There’s more -click the (misspelled) link below!

Gtinch

The night visitors…

Nov26

I know you’re not supposed to feed the wild ones but it was just a Thanks Giving treat. I want him to stay around. He mostly lives on mice of which we have too many, enough to keep him and his family as fat and healthy as he looks now.

Easy Holiday WAL Week 1

Nov25

The project for this week is just a little “gift”. Gift uses two squares and Easy Single, as you might guess uses just one. You can use already woven squares you may have for either if these or just spend a few relaxing minutes to weave new ones.  They are squares and can be any size you want and any style square as well. I used the 2″ square Multi loom but the Quilt weaver squares would work as well. For tree ornaments you’ll probably want to stay with the smaller looms but the choice is always yours. I just want to say, don’t judge the project by my bows! lol My old fingers are not very handy at these tiny bows anymore.

Gift

Easy Single Square Pretty