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Another January about gone…

Jan29

February coming up. That’s Spring in some places. In other places it means winter is underway. Strange how the world works. Just random thoughts generated by the weather these days. We’re having another sunny day. We didn’t even have have a fire last night. I slept great! When he stokes the fire for the night he doesn’t want to get up to a dead fire so I roast all night with the covers kicked off while he’s bundled up to the neck. Go figger. Ah well, they do say opposites attract. I think that must of been the case with us.

But Cat thinks they are soulmates and loves it!

But on other subjects, we’re threatened with heavy rain this week leading to lowering snow levels on Friday. Sun’s shining today, tho. We took a ride up the road  so Randy could check on a customers place for them, all’s well there. Coffee Creek is roaring along nicely, raising the lake level daily. Well, I haven’t been up that way recently but it’s probably getting a little help from Trinity river. But so far they are not sending it elsewhere so the possibility is there that we might have a lake once again this summer! That’ll be good for everyone here as well as visitors. Which are also good for everyone here!

But I guess we ought to talk about Weaving. We have a couple new looms in the works, not ready for debut yet. But I can show you one. I call it Peg, Jr. I’m think of offering a class at one of the fairs using the peg loom and thought it might be fun for parent and kid so we came up with this one with just 7 pegs. Kind of like straw weaving but with a base.

I had him shorten the pegs since this photo & wove a long 3 pin belt which I then rolled up and stitched in place… a pin cushion! And a scarf in the making.

Anything else? Well, I’m thinking it’s about time to get the coles started. I did buy a new seed tray and a bag of potting soil. Now I just have to find space for it. The biggy. I guess maybe the xmas cactuses will have to move next door. And I have a lot of pumpkins in storage that need to be used pretty soon. Can’t seem to find much to use them for. We don’t need a regular supply of pies and we tried pumpkin soup and, while it was not bad, it didn’t really inspire more.

But Valentines day is coming up. That’s always fun! Mug Rugs!

So that’s it for the end of January. I hope you all got the year off to a beautiful start.

An ideal life!

 

 

Christmas Cards, weaving your own.

Dec2

These are fun to make tho if you have a lot of people- Special people- on your list you might want to start a bit sooner than December 2!

But I’ll share a bit if what I’ve done here. You can take it and run with it on your own. You can use this same method for making cards for birthday, Easter or any other celebrations, of course. Or a pretty patch on an item of clothing.  Maybe pretty patches like we used to make back in the day, once this ugly fad for torn up jeans fades! You can reclaim these garments!

But I did this on the 4″ Multi loom. First you need a graft to fit your loom. I did this for you so you can just print these out and design away! The red dot is the center of the loom to help place your design so that it will fit. You want at least one stitch as a border, more is better, especially of you plan to attach these to other squares. I made a baby blanket using this and some cute little animal pictures. I also added the one with the centered circle in case you ae doing round ornament type projects.

Here’s a couple  simple charts you can start with to give you an idea how to go about this. Penguin is worked on a white background, the gray squares here should be black, the snowman needs a color to let him stand out. I just suggest weaving the square with some pale aqua, an icy color then stitching the white for his body. You can do it the other way if you want, stitching the back ground to outline  him. You can also use a running stich to kind of outline him. I arbitrarily added a bit of bright pink in his scarf but I have to say, it can and should be done better, You decide!

You can work these with a cross stitch, even a single ‘cross’ might work,  like needle point. This will depend on the size of yarn you are using. You want a solid coverage without distorting the pattern. When you are looking for patterns search Free Cross stitch Christmas patterns. Also look at the same but needlepoint. Like this one. You can work any of these either way, just be sure to coordinate your yarn sizes.

  

I worked the little penguin using the half cross, or needle point stitch. I think it turned out okay except some of my colors are not the best choices but what I had to work with. His feet and beak should have been a darker yellow, more ‘school bus’, and my green is a bit too dark. I worked little French knots for his berries and I like that. I think I may do a bit of detailing on this one. He also looks very sad, It’s his eyes, not sure how to cheer him up but I’ll make a few sketches and see what I can work out. Since there is a limited number of squares here details are a little difficult to fit in. I also worked the stitches in his white parts. I was thinking about letting the back ground white do it, but I thought that looked too unfinished.
Hoping someone else will work him and share!

Here’s some I have done, I didn’t keep track of them all, tho, too bad. If you are unfamiliar with embroidery There are lots of instruction on line, I expect. Also Gabi had a WAL on the subject some time ago and she may still have links to that information. Here’s the one I made in that WAL & c couple Xmas squares. The gnome is  on the 4×6″.

       

This was a mug rug for my MIL. In case yo can figure out my symbolism its the sun coming up in the coffee cup.

These were for my baby blanket, (except the last one) which I also can’t find a picture of.

Well, I hope you get some inspiration out of this post and will let me know what you make, I always love to see your projects! Let me know, too if something is unclear more info is needed.

 

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

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This is mine.

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

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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