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2025 in progress.

Jan5

I hope it’s progress, anyway. So far I just seem to be jammed with chores and projects left from 2024. Is that normal? I just rather thought I’d pretty much have the month of January off, a restful winter break. Ha! even Bah Humbug! Well, I broke down and made a LIST! I think here on Jan 5, I have managed to check off two things. It’s not that that’s all I’ve done, it’s just things on the list. I have manage to fill the day with chores in between list projects, some of which are at least underway. I think the problem is that I’m getting old. I used to be able to deal with all this and never even notice. Well, the Golden age is not living up to it’s name. It’s more like the Rusty Tin age! lol Ah well, enough bitchin’ for today.

I did manage to get one project woven on our invented circle loom. That was not actually on the list, just one of those things we’ve discussed in the past and it came up again while shopping at the GoodWill in Redding the other day. We bought a 12″ knitting loom. A plastic ring with pegs all around. I thought I could use it for a peg loom, but there turned out to be a few things I did not think of in my enthusiasm for the idea. Like that the pegs were only about an inch tall and there was no hole for the warp strings. But Himself came to the rescue and made a set of drilled pegs with dowels. The problem with the large circle is that there are too many warp strings in the center of the bottom to make a flat bottom. I was using some elderly Caron 100% Dacron rug yarn with the original price of 79 cents.  So the bundle of warp in the center was too big to bundle. I came up with a solution for that -after the fact- so it didn’t work very well here but I got a semi flat bottom to my bowl. I had planned it to be a basket but had to stop short this time. I’ll start from the bottom on the next one. I think it’ll work better. This one is only about 3″ deep. Himself thinks I could use this method to weave Rasta hats! I knitted one for my grandson years ago, like the 2nd one pictured. (That’s not mine, I can’t see to find a pic of it.) I guess it may be possible and I might try it later! The one with the braids definitely is a possible.

    

He’s making looms like crazy, I think he wants an entire years stock before the show season starts! lol I cannot keep up. Frankly, I’m not even trying to very hard. But I am getting things done in here tho they are still a little over whelming. Got the ceramic tree put back in storage. Got the houseplants back where they belong. My geraniums are all putting on blooms. I gave them a turn under the lights as they were not getting any sunshine from the widows lately and I didn’t want them getting really leggy. I guess the lights made them think it was spring. His 80 degree fires probably added to that! lol He can’t seem to get a Happy Medium. I just let it go out and rebuild when it starts cooling off but that is not the correct way according to him. I am not supposed to let it go out. Bah-Humbug! Ah well…We’ve only been married 40 years, I guess it takes time to get used to each others ways, huh?!

Just the two of us!

Okay, I spent a lot of time talking about how much I have to do so I supposed I ought to wish you all a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year and get on with my LIST! …and I do! I wish you all to accomplish just what you hope for this year and to stay safe in this chaotic world of today.

Hazel

The end for fire season and the beginning of fire season!

Nov16

Yeah, I know but they are two different things. In summer it means be careful and aware of wild fire. In winter it means heat when the morning temp is 29 degrees! And the snow level is around 35oo’ this morning and there are snow flakes in the forecast for the next week! Whether it happens or not remains to be seems but it was enough for him to crank up the chain saw again. The wood shed is pretty full but we don’t usually need to watch for snow this time of year so just in case, he’s working on the pile of madrone logs. These were fire killed trees from a few years ago that he was asked to remove. He says it leaves a lot of ash but it is a good hardwood and does produce heat. We are ready for winter, I think.

This time of year is full of pretty mundane chores. Today it’s laundry and I am baking a pie from dried apples. We dried these for snacks but neither of us much cares for them in this condition so I am rehydrating them for this pie. I did make a new bowl of snack mix. I eat a little of it but it is mostly his. I get the big bags of nuts from Costco and I bought a jug of pretzel ‘pillows’ to add to it this time. I discovered when I got it home that they are filled with peanut butter. That’s okay, I guess, but not what I was after. I guess I’m going to have to learn to read labels a little better! This batch of snacks has walnuts (he requested fewer), pecans, and almonds. I added some white chocolate which he likes but I am offended by them even calling it chocolate! And the sweet part is dried cranberries. Last time it was cherries so I’m not sure what his response to that is going to be. They taste sweet enough to me but he really has a sweet tooth so may not see it that way. I can guarantee it’ll disappear anyway, tho!

But exciting new appliances! Well, yes, a housewifely thing, I suppose, but I really needed a new stove. I am still learning this one but so far I am delighted with it! It has an air fry and air bake setting on the oven which I have not tried yet. And a broiler which had died in my old one so that’s a good thing, too! And while we were there I also bought a new microwave as the number settings on the old one were quitting. For one, I could not set anything at 30 seconds, it had to be 31! That made for some interesting mental math for me. And the 5 had also quit. It was time!

I got several pair of jeans from my sister’s things and I took them up as they were too long for me, she having been a tall woman. However, they are all still too long for me. I know I’ve shrunk but didn’t think it was that much. It’s not fair, really, as I only seem to shrink in height, not width! Ah, well… That’s life, I suppose.

We’ve had rain for the last week and it was pretty heavy at times, bringing down the pretty autumn leaves.  I am sorry to see them go but if we’re going to get early snow, it’s good as trees with leaves still on tend to get broken or worse, they’ll fall which is hardly ever good for anything around them. But the drives to town these last couple weeks have been lovely. I tried to get pictures but haven’t gotten many good ones. There are enough deciduous trees to light up the forest of deep green with their yellow and gold and orange and reds. Sometimes the gullies running down the mountain sides look like water falls of gold! We’re not the Ozarks but just as beautiful. I think the contrast of the pines and firs show up the color better. This one is our driveway.

Randy cooked dinner this week. He does that every few years! Made his World Famous Beef Stew. We invited company for this momentous occasion and had a lovely time. The stew was good, too, and we had home baked (by me) bread to go with. And for the next two days! lol But it’s gone now and I’m back to doing the cooking. He’s taking about making lasagna but I am not holding my breath.

As for yarn… Well, I have not done any weaving lately but have gotten out my knitting needles and made a dress for one of my mini AG’s and am working on a project for another. The idea is to make them all new Xmas outfits but they are not all likely for that. It’s been a couple years since I did much knitting, tho and am enjoying it. She’ll need some shoes for this season I think! And maybe a shawl. She’s young but my arms  get cold these days. And like most Mom’s, if we’re cold, our kids need jackets!

But I think that’s probably more than enough for this posting! I hope you are having a lovely fall where you are, not too much rain or wind or snow. Thanksgiving in a week and then time to put up your tree if you have one of those. I think I’ll get out Momma’s Ceramic tree. It sets on the dining table. There’s not much room for a real tree in this small house and it’s just us two old people. I think the last time we had a real tree was when my oldest grandson was a toddler. Oh gosh, nearly 30 years ago!  But I hope you are looking forward to having family or friends around this season.

 Hazel

 

WAL 2023

Feb21

The Month of March is Weave ALong month on Ravelry  Knitting for American Girl Dolls, for those who would like to try their hand at a different yarn craft. You do not need to be a weaver, because while this is weaving it is a simple and easy form of that ancient handcraft.
I will be weaving on the 4” Hazel Rose Multi Loom but this project can be made with many different brands of looms. You may own or be able to talk Mom or Grandmom out of their old Lomette, Weave-it, Weavette, even the more modern plastic zoom loom. If you have the HR Tiny Weaver square, that will also work. There are probably several other small looms that weave a 3 ½” to 4” square that can also be used

The larger looms, like the HR 7” square and the Potholder looms, will not be suitable for this project.
We will, of course, be happy to sell you one of our quality, hand-made hardwood looms but I am also offering a do-it-yourself instruction to make a temporary loom for those of you who think you might like to weave with us but aren’t sure enough to want to invest a lot in this project. This little foam board or cardboard loom will be sturdy enough to weave the blocks needed for this project and will last long enough for you to decide if you enjoy the craft. If you find you love weaving, you may then decide if you want to purchase a more permanent loom. email or PM me for this one.
Meantime, you will need your loom, a weaving needle, and your yarn.  The needle you can buy are a low cost at most any carft or yarn store. The Yarn can be fingering, Knit Picks Palette makes a thin, light fabric, but suitable, Stroll sport is the one I used for this dress, and have also used light weight worsted sizes. Unlike knitting, which will change the size of the garment when you change the size of the yarn, these squares will always be right around the same size. What does change is the texture of the fabric. The heavier the yarn the stiffer the fabric. If you decide to use the self made loom, I’d advise using the finer yarns so as to put less stress on your little loom. The hard wood looms are stronger and can handle the draw-up for any of these yarns, of course.

I am going to be offering a 10% rebate or coupon* to WAL members on the 4” Multi Loom for this event. That includes the loom, the weaving needle, and the booklet with instruction as well as the project instruction for the dress we will be making & a couple others as options. * I’m trying to figure out how to do that on my web site so be patient. If you want to go ahead and buy one now it’ll have to be the rebate. But you need to let me know you are in the WAL.

We would like to start this project on Feburary 27. This is an early notice to allow time to find your loom and to select your yarns and weave a few practice squares. I would be happy to have an idea of how many of you are planning to join this WAL.

I will be posting the WAL info to my blog, https://hazelroselooms.blog/ and also inviting members of the Facebook pin loom group to join us if they wish. My view is that of “The more the merrier”!

We had great fun with the WAL’s the last times we did this and I hope this one will be just as much fun.

I picked the Starry Day dress because it is all 4″ squares but if you have another choice please feel free to suggest. We can decide together. I will post some pictures of possible patterns that do not need a collection of looms.

There will be a prize winner chosen at random between the finishers. I will keep a list of finishers on Ravelry but you will have to let me know via email with a photo if you are not a member.

February again…

Feb18

But don’t worry, it’s not spring yet! More snow in the forecast on Tuesday and through the week it sounds like. I’m okay with that. We have gotten quite a bit of precip this winter but are still not caught up with the last dozen or more years of drought. Garden started to thaw a bit this week with the highs in the upper 40’s but there’s still plenty of time for that , too.

I’ve done little yarn things this winter, knitted myself a scrap vest. This is all the scraps and snippets saved from projects over the last decade, probably. Tied together in an overhand knot. Will that hold? Ask me in a few years of wearing it!

And played with a few weaving techniques, that’s about it. Just did this one yesterday. From a photo posted on the pin loom facebook group.

Randy is planning our trip to Utah next month to take part in the Great Basin Fiber Arts Fair, Friday April 28 and Saturday April 29
The Legacy Event Center – Farmington, Utah. I’ll be teaching a basic class on the 4 inch Multi loom, we’ll make a little needle book to learn plain weave and a texture pattern or two. The other class is the dishcloth class on the 10.5″ Quit Weaver Square. We’ll start with plain weave and see how far we get. The class schedule hasn’t been posted yet but should be soon–keep checking!

We’ll be at the Black Sheep Gathering, June 23, 24, & 25 and the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival,  October 14 & 15. Both in Albany, OR. I think we’ll also be at Lambtown in Dixon, CA, Oct 7 & 8. We’re also looking at Fiber Fusion Northwest in Monroe, Washington.  June 4 & 5. Maybe. Sounds like a lot, beginning to feel like a lot as well. I think I’m getting old as these affairs are a lot more stressful than they used to be. I suppose it’s good for me. At least that’s what Himself keeps telling! lol

Did I mention that we can almost see the lake again? Yes, indeed, it has been coming up rapidly this winter. Authorities warn us not to expect it to fill this spring, tho, Partly it appears, because they have other uses for the water up here. I don’t mind sharing but it would be nice if we had some lake. Our local businesses mostly rely on that body of water to draw the tourists that they rely on to stay in business. We’ve lost a few already who weren’t able to tough it out. That’s rough on us all.

Way in the back, that thin line of blue is the lake. The rock piles (a remnant of the mining days) show the river wending its way to join that pool. This is the view across the Lake(bottom) from Trinity Center where we had tp go last month to get internet and cell service from the Verizon tower there.

And my little Fox friend is still coming for dinner each evening. He doesn’t get much, I want him to still hunt but while the snow was still frozen on the ground hunting was difficult and I wanted to keep him around. He’s my best mouser!

I guess that’s all for now. I hope it’s not too Winter where ever you are. Spring isn’t far and we can all be outdoors grubbing in the dirt again!

 

Carrots & Radishes

 

Making clothing

Dec5

The subject of making clothing has come up in pin loon chatting recently. I posted a couple of the tops I’ve made in the past so thought I’d put them here, too. They are easy loom-shaped garments so can be made to fit just about any size. I used the 6″ Multi looms for both of these. My figure changed and the drape between the alpaca and the wool is also much different. I’d like to try one of these in a nice sock yarn, too, but that hasn’t happened so far. I added a  knitted ribbing to the waist of the orange wool one which gave a better fit and the brown alpaca has a 2×6 slide stitch woven waist band. (and the hearts have come off since)

This type of garment fits a little better on a slimmer figure for the most part. The drape of your yarn also makes a difference. The alpaca drapes beautifully while this wool made a bit stiffer fabric.

Summertime…

Jul4

The livin’ may not be easy for everyone, but up here in the boonies it’s not too bad. The garden is thriving. I picked peas this morning. There is something so satisfying about shelling peas. The one chore I actually look forward to.

  Shelling peas.

Big bowl full

The zucchini are in full stride too, of course! Tomatoes growing, beans- bush, climbing, and lima- blooming. I’ll be sweating away in the kitchen with the canner soon. Not a chore I really look forward to, but the results are satisfactory.

I am weaving, too, a couple projects I intend to offer to magazines so won’t show those yet. But I was doing some stuff with Log cabin that turned out pretty well. They’ll make nice coasters or, well, about anything else you might want to make!

  Diagonal weaving on the weave-it loom. Plain and log cabin.

Same thing in Green. This one done of the Multi 4″ square.

Still hoping to make it up to Sis’s this year, but will be a couple months yet, it seems. I’m getting a new knee middle of this month and then there’ll be some visits to the Torturer to learn how to use it, but I hope to get though that part quickly. I go in the 13th to get my lecture from the surgeon on being too heavy, but I have actually been losing. We’ve been walking up the hill every morning. Made it to the top again with only one stop to pant , this morning!

So I hope you all have a sense-able 4th of July weekend. I want you to all stay safe! Both heath-wise and fire-wise. There’s been a lot of air traffic around here this morning that I am hoping is just precautionary. We can save our fireworks for New Years when there is snow on the ground. They look even prettier then anyway!

Meantime…Happy Birthday USA-I hope you are around for another one!

It’s already June!

Jun4

Yes, I know it’s been 6 months coming but it sure seems to have gotten here quickly. I suppose some of you stuck at home don’t see it that way, but I hope you’ve been able to stay busy and moderately happy. All this has not changed our lives much here in the country. Both of us retired, more or less, and pretty much stay at home people anyway. We do miss going to the fiber fairs, all of which have been canceled this summer. But I hope we can get in one trip up to visit sis a little later.

Meantime, I just turned in my two projects for Handwoven Mag so am taking a bit of a break but getting out a knitting project I started a year or two ago! It’s tee for myself. Cotton, top down, all stockinette, what they call mindless knitting. I can sort of watch a movie or listen to Himself talk and still knit without getting lost. Hope that Vee is not too deep for an old lady! It’ll have elbow length sleeves.

Other than that it’s the garden. Himself is doing most of that this year, the physical labor anyway. I’ve started a lot of plants. We lost our first cukes and cantaloupes to a lot of rain and a late frost. We’ve been in the 90’s all week and now they tell us we may get more frost Sunday night! Yikes! What is Mother Nature up to?!

   Long shot of most of the garden.

Beans. Bush and the Limas just coming up. Pole bans are a couple inches up there 6′ trellis, too.

If we make it past this week end we’ll be okay, as what’s out there is looking pretty good. I potted up sweet potato starts yesterday but they’ll have to live in pots probably for another month. That should give them time to develop nice roots. And (knock knock!) he has managed to get carrots (so far) growing this year! Something for some reason we have not been successful at the last few years.

Carrots & Radishes

I guess that pretty much covers it for today. I walked this morning by myself as Tsuneko says the earliest she can go is 11 am, she usually goes at 1pm! That’s way too hot for me! It was over 80 the last time we walked and I just can’t deal with that. So I went about 7:30. It was not quite 60 by that time but I worked up a sweat!

So I guess I’ll knit a little more and maybe read. Himself says they are knocking off for about 4 hours mid day as it is too hot to work on that deck project during that time, too. They’ll start up again about 3 as he says it’s in the shade by then. Seems like we old folk just can’t deal with the heat.

Hope all you are doing fine with whatever temperatures you have!

 

Looking though some old photos….

Apr24

I found this top which is made with some really nice Blue Sky cotton. But it, as you see, was a fashion fail! I think I’m going to frog it and find a better use for this nice yarn. In fact,  any ideas?

It’s just as well that it’s a fuzzy photo! lol  But you have to admit it is not flattering. Maybe if it was sewn instead of crocheted together and the sleeves were smaller, not so baggy…

Or how about this one. That goes way back! In fact, I think this one was woven on my first triangle loom, and adjustable 7′ tri. It’s supposed to be a cowboy style jacket. Not even sure what happened to that or whether it’s still around.

Another bad idea. Saw a picture of a knitted “cocoon”. Seemed like a great idea so used some nice alpaca to weave a bunch of 12″ squares and put them together into the same shape. Knitted about 100,000 rows of ribbing around it. Nope- definitely not. So I frogged the ribbing and ended up with this. It looks better on my ‘dummy’ with a belt. And has since been washed and pressed, which also helps but it was a hit on her at the last show.

So, anyway, just  a few examples of how things don’t always work like the ideas in your head. So then you look for another idea and try again! Sometimes you just have to give up in the end, but I won’t show you those just now. I hope to be able to show you the new cotton project sometime this summer.  It’s going to take awhile to disassemble this one and figure out just what can be done to save this lovely cotton yarn.

Hope you’re all getting some nice weaving done! And starting your gardens, of course. It almost May!

 

February Nearly Over….

Feb21

It’s been a heck of a month. Way too much going on, things that were not what I was hoping to see in the new year. But this too shall pass… I hope.

And speaking of passing… Winter seems to have passed us. My son in Georgia was telling me his yard is flooded and now they are predicting snow for his area. Meanwhile we have to turn on the sprinklers, the yard is drying up! We had a nice snow just at Thanksgiving, but hardly a drop of anything since.  It’s going to be a hot dry summer if something doesn’t change fast. And there’s no sign of it doing that. But we may get the garden stated early. Is that looking on the bright side?

I mentioned (for the umpteeth time) to my sis that I really need to post to this blog, but nothing worth writing about has been happening. She said forget writing about the exciting, just write about your life, what you do. Or something to that affect.  So: I have no loom project going. Well, one old one that I’ve been ignoring. I just can’t seem to come up with any ideas that get me excited about anything. Have not knit a doll thing in over a year. I started knitting a sweater for myself last summer and it’s been idling in a bag by my chair. But I found a new project today. It’ll be also one that takes years but this one I start off knowing that. I’ve saved my bits and pieces forever. Every now and then I get the box down and tie them together, making some interesting yarn. And I just happened to see a pattern that is perfect for it. So I have cast one for my Waste Not Sweater Tee.

Official title of the pattern is Fresh Berry Tee by Universal Yarn Co.

Other than that I have moved all the bulbs from misc pots scattered around the yarn into the deck bed. I intend to move my best iris into that bed as well and will also plant heat loving annuals there. Veggies moving to the garden spot out in the sun, as none of them seem to thrive here anyway. And I redid the rhubarb bed and spread manure on it and the asparagus bed. I weeded it first,  some strawberry plants were taking over. Don’t know what they were doing there to start with. There’s couple other raised beds out there that are mostly weeds that need to be taken care of. I hope I get to them.

Well, I made bread, cooked rice for the dogs dinner, walked a lap this morning, did dishes, made the bed, labeled the storage bins in the pantry. You see what I mean about excitement! lol

I can tell you about Randy’s hike the other day. He told me he’d probably be back before 4 pm. It was after 6:30 when they showed up. He said they’d misjudged the route and he figures they ended up hiking 10 miles up to the Twin lakes& back, labeled Ponds by the USFS. He says they are Frog farms! lol But scenic. However, both him and Dog were mighty sore next day. Neither in shape for a hike like that. Stella spent most of the next two days laying in her bed, but she’s up and around today, seems to be feeling frisky again. Himself isn’t quite frisky but not so sore. But here a couple pictures.

This pretty much shows how she felt by the time they reached the little lakes!

One of the “frog farms”.

The ice on the right gives you an idea of temperature. He says it’s about 5000′ elevation. The reflections are vivid!

So that pretty much covers life in Coffee Creek in February.  I hope you are not too cold and wet or too cold and dry where you are!

December.

Dec15

We celebrated Thanksgiving with 3 foot of light powdery snow. But as we were not going anywhere or expecting company we were able to sit back and enjoy it. Lost power for 13 hours, not bad. It’s failed a couple times since but just for a short time, 3-5 hours.

Not going anywhere for Christmas, either. first time in years we’ve spent that holiday at home. It’s rained since the snow so melted about half off. Still enough white out there to light up the house all night with the full moon! I think we are assured of a White Christmas, even tho it’s not quite as pretty as it was! He’s been shoveling and putting away all the stuff we got caught short of with that big early snowfall. And he’s done shop work, of course. We’ve been working on a couple experimental looms, looking at the future. We’ve been to a few social events, school plays and Lion’s Club dinner. Went to see Sound Of Music by the Trinity Players. Very professional job. They always put on a good show.

Have a few gifts to get in the mail tomorrow. Yes, I’ve done some weaving & some knitting. Weaving squares with the WAL on Looms to go, Ravelry. Not doing a project, just using imagination to weave a 4″ square to a theme. Relaxing, really.  Not too much imagination probably. My snow angel ended up just being what i call a set of wings. maybe you can see them? I gave the gingerbread some red gumdrops in case it was what was left of a gingerbread man! There are a lot more themes for this and I’ll get a few more made, maybe.

Mostly its the time of year to sit back and relax, enjoy the fire, read, and let it all flow over you. New year coming on, plenty of time to get back to Real Life then.

Have a wonderful end of this year!