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I think September is the start of Fall…?

Sep1

At least I hope so. The Weather Wizards have been speculating on La Nina, telling us we may get a colder and wetter winter this year. What a wonderful thing that would be. I’m afraid to believe it, tho because if they are wrong it is going to be just too disappointing! Anyone who has been watching the goings on out in the US west know we are drying up and burning up. Here in Coffee Creek we are under Evacuation Warning and the fire is creeping closer. We have the trailer parked in the driveway and are loading what we want to save. Have you ever had to make decisions on what you want and what you have room for? Then you know what it’s like around here these days. Not only that but we don’t know we are going to have to leave so meantime we have to go about our lives. There  are still looms to make, the garden to tend and veggies to can, he has unfinished jobs… It’s hard to pack what we need to take if we have to leave when meantime we have to live here and need those things for that! If you can figure that out!

Space station photo. I tried to mark the fires for those in the area. Not guaranteed, tho.

Here’s a picture of the fires on Aug 2 from the space station. That was before the Haypress fire (ours) got over the hill and down into Coffee Creek drainage. Since that time it’s been creeping down toward us. The canyon is filled with smoke from it and from the rest of the fires in N CA. But the fire people tell us that’s a good thing as it keeps the fires down, less oxygen for them. Also for us! But I don’t think we’re going to be able to count on La Nina to arrive in time to save us so we’re just going to have to count on the fire crews and our own resources. And your good thoughts or prayers!

But meantime…

Bread and Butter pickles from the basket of cukes.

Looking up at a Tall sunflower!

Meantime since I was disturbing the dust I decided to run all these dust collectors through the dishwasher. My, they are shiny!

He mulched the potatoes with straw and now we have a crop of wheat! I can make potato bread! ;-D

Himself thinks these old games are worth a lot of money to game collectors, but I think those guys want unopened new “old”
games and mine have a lot of miles on them! I played and so did every kid that came around. It was fun but I expect I’d get Zelda slaughtered these days. If I could figure out how to hook it up to the modern TV. But it just goes to show what you can find when you start digging out dusty corners. I didn’t find my wedding rings, tho. 😦

Is it history?

Weaving content is still missing for the same reason. But there will be projects in a couple of Little Looms magazines next year so is that something to look forward too?! I hope!

Meantime get out your dancing shoes and give us a rain dance or two!

The neighbor brought her kids over for lunch.

 

 

Yeah, still summer.

Aug14

 

Local fires. Coffee Creek is the yellow oval on the right. It’s about 14 miles mostly bad dirt road. 

https://zoom.earth/#view=41.058244,-122.847436,12z/layers=fires

But while the fires aren’t all that near, the smoke is! It was really bad yesterday. We were closed up and it got hot and muggy in here but we could breath at least. Today the smoke is higher and I have the house open to get some new air in here. I can’t smell it today at least. Not a good ‘aroma’.

I took these pictures this morning. The smoke is starting to settle now so I’ll be closing up soon.

Where we can’t see Bonanza King Mt.

Where we can’t see Morrison gulch.

I think we’ll be safe, at least for some time yet, You really can’t predict where these things will go and until we get a good rain they won’t be out. They are usually pretty good at protecting small towns, tho we’ve seen examples where there is just nothing anyone can do. I’m looking on the bright side. but if it happens and we burnt, I seriously doubt I could bring myself to come back. That would be a issue I hope we don’t have to face.

On the more cheerful side, I’ve finished with the peaches. We have a bowl of sliced in the fridge for dinner and then we’re done for another year. I’m knitting a “meet dress” for my new used American Girl Kirsten. That’s been interesting making up the pattern as I go along. As you can see from the pro photo, I have a way to go! I’m thinking I may embroider one row of little red flowers on her bodice but no way are they going to be all over!

 

The long view of the garden that’s my potato bed ther in the front. his corn, cucumbers on the trellis and really giant sunflower out in the middle. it planted itself, likely with the help of the jays last year!

 

The kale and green beans make a nice back drop for some pretty zinnias in the garden.

Hope your August is going well!

If you smell smoke it must be summer….

Aug12

It’s another hot summer in California. No- in the western US! So far we’ve been lucky in our part but it’s getting closer and we’re not having fun. The Summer Fire, part of the River Complex, is now on our side of the mountain. There are towns on both sides of us being evacuated or burnt so we’re still luckier than some, but it’s getting hard to breath and we are starting to pack up the important stuff we need to have if/when we also have to go elsewhere. We, at least, have the 5th wheel so will have a place to live in that case, again luckier than some.

Western US

Coffee Creek is in the square, the little hand points to the area where the fire is edging down toward the Coffee Creek drainage and our way. Just now it’s about 14 road miles and moving, they tell us, slowly downhill.

Meantime, life goes on as well as we can manage. I’ve closed up the house now, the smoke is starting to settle in & they are predicting thunder storms this afternoon, not what any of us want to hear. This time of year it rarely comes with rain. 

He’s about got a handle on the water system so we do now have water for domestic use. We water the garden with a pump in the creek, being lucky enough to live near that resource. And the garden is producing. We didn’t plant a lot this spring, not being sure if we would be able to water it. But I have been canning beans and drying various veggies as they ripen for my winter soup mix: peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, onions, whatever crosses my path really! And yesterday I made peach jam, have more of that to do, maybe later today. Meantime, I wanted to post here and then I have to get out to the shop and finish looms. 

Blackberry puree via the Squeezo! Love that machine!

Where’s the weaving content? Well, the only weaving I’ve gotten done this month has gone off the Little Looms magazine and I can’t show you that yet! But when I catch up on my chores I’ll find some to  share!

Fun in July

Jul24

Today we “meet and Greet” with new neighbors. Then there is music at the Trailhead Pizza here in town. It’s a busy day! Part of one of the bands is staying in the cabin. Watered the flower bed this morning, It’s showing new blooms now. Then got some breads baked before it gets, I hope, too hot! Now, I’m doing a little knitting. In fact, a little Little knitting! For a tiny doll I have not gotten yet. But I needed a break from my weaving project for just a day. I may be getting a further break from all yarning projects in a few days as Himself says the beans are getting very close to harvest time! We’ll be eating a lot fresh but we got a little, shall we say – Generous? with seed this spring and so there’s a Lot of beans out there! The canner is going to get worked as well!

I don’t have any new or even any old weaving to add to todays post but a neighbor said she’s help me figure out how to use this blog to best advantage so may be I can get things so it’s easier to find. I hope she was being sincere! I need some help! Meantime, I hope you are all far from any fires and keeping at least moderately cool.

It’s Still July…

Jul14

So I’m not too far behind! I think I managed to add a new page to Weavings. I failed to get the last two posts into that category and haven’t yet found a way to move them. I don’t know if I can repost them as a page and then delete, my blogging skills are stuff not up to par. I can find tutorials that will tell me how to start a new blog but so far have not found one that will tell me how to use the one I have! lol Problem is I don’t speak the language. So they may be telling me but I am not understanding.

They tell me how to be a more mesmerizing writer, or so they claim, an unlikely goal I’m afraid, but avoid telling me what all that long ‘menu’ of things I can do means! Mostly it means when I try something everything goes away! I have several blogs worth of postings floating around out in the ether somewhere!

But at least today is a cooler day. That means it has not quite hit 100 before noon. It’s only 99 with 20 minutes to go. But we are surviving, unlike a lot of less fortunate people is this warm west. Meantime, I understand the east is being deluged with more rain than they can handle. Whatever happened to the Happy medium?! The way I see it Mother Nature is trying to rid herself of the plague of “locusts” that has infested her. We have drought, flooding, hurricane type storms, pandemic diseases. Add to that a younger generation already outnumbered by us older folk, who do not seem to want to have children. Well, you can’t really blame Nature, we’ve made a mess of everything we get hold of. We pave over forests and meadows, we fill the oceans with plastic and garbage, we treat everything nature has given us with greed and distain, and waste what’s left. The old saw says, ” Your made your bed, now lie in it”. We may even get to die in it. I hope not, I hope we as the people of the world will figure ourselves out before it’s too late. I will do what I can and hope right down to my end.

And will to be more cheerful next time. But I did add a new page with some weaving content, that at least is cheerful!

Is it spring or is it summer?

May16

Well, It’s May but it’s warm, some say hot, and sunny.  Flowers are blooming like it’s their last chance! I hope they are wrong about that! We did have a little thunder storm yesterday. Right over head so rather startling! We even got a bit of rain, not enough but it was wet. I heard they got a small fire in southern Trinity. 

It has been a gorgeous spring. The State Of California says the whole state is Officially in a drought condition. That’s not good, but comes as no surprise. I have no weaving to share because tho I have been busy at it, what I am working on is for the magazine submissions which I’m not suppose to share just yet. But if you get a chance to see the Spring Little Looms magazine you can find my last project in there. The editor suggested it and I managed to get it done.

But I have some pretty pictures to share, the iris are doing a fabulous job this year! And a couple of peonies, a dark fuchsia tree peony and a single with a visitor! Hope you are having a lovely spring, too!

          

 

 

Happy St. Pat’s day!

Mar9

Here we are in March again! St. Valentines day is gone and Easter is coming. It was spring yesterday and today started with winter white! St Pat’s day is right in the middle. I started weaving this little project awhile back but time got by me and now it’s nearly here, But this one is a quick one so go ahead and start!

Have a happy March!

Shamrocks 

© HazelRoseSpencer 2021

Small HazelRose SweetHeart Loom

100% wool worsted weight yarn, green.

Weaving needle

Notes:

You can weave this with man-made fibers but it will be bigger as it will not felt. You’ll need a washing machine to felt this. These are useful as well as decorative. They work as a doily under a tea cup or soup bowl or as a mug rug to protect your furniture from drips. They are quick to make and make nice little hostess gifts as well.

Felted they will measure about 5″ or 12.5cm across.

 Instructions:

Weave four hearts.

Weave in tails leaving about a half inch of yarn hanging out. Once these are felted you can clip these ends. This helps make sure nothing comes undone.

Sew two hearts together on one side. Twice.

 4.Sew the two sets together.

Crochet a double chain* to make a stem.  Connecting it just off the underside edge, weave in ends.

Felt. I put these in a small laundry bag and washed them in hot water with a couple bath towels. Smooth them out when washed and lay the flat to dry. I did not put them in the drier. When they were dry I steamed them flat and trimmed the ends. These are sort of felted to the back so you would not have to clip them but I think it helps them lay flat.

 

 Crocheted double chain:

Pull loop though to the back, chain 2.

   

Insert hook into stitch on the left and pull a loop up. Chain though both loops on hook. Repeat until your chain is as long as you want it. Fasten off and weave ends into chain to hide.

To use as mug rug, using a good fabric glue & glue the Shamrocks to a piece of non-skid backing. Cover the top with a bit of saran or foil and place a moderate weight, like a book, on it and let it set for at least several hours. Cut around the non-skid, making the backing just a little smaller than the wool so that it does not show from the front. Check your glue label for washing instructions. The saran is to keep any glue from accidently getting on your weight.

February again. 2021

Feb6

We did have some winter, 30″ of snow almost two weeks ago and bits and inches later which mostly melted off as fast as they fell. We still have 10 or so inches of that first one left on the ground.

I send in my seed order early as the companies are advising us to. And plants which I had set the ship Date at the end of March. Got my onion plants the day after the snow storm. What the heck? Not shoveling out the garden so I can plant onions in February! Lady at the seed company apologized, said their shipper thought we lived in south California. Isn’t that was zip codes are for? But she ordered more to be shipped early April and promised to hold the rest until then also. Hope so. The garden this year will be almost as big but different. Cutting back on tomatoes for one thing.

We go to town today to get or virus vaccinations. We’re luck to live in an area where there is not much of this plague so are comparatively safe. We do wear our masks and maintain social distancing. We go to the Grocery and the gas station and the hardware store, that’s about it. If we need anything else, there’s Amazon. I can use stash yarn for the nest 20 years and not run out so am good there, too! lol

I have been weaving on the large SweetHeart loom. The plan is a cowl using Crochet to joining and fill out a bit tho I have yet to discover if this will work. Maybe this way.

  

 

 

Christmas Again…

Dec20

Here it is nearly Christmas again and I am once more way behind on posting to this blog. If fact, the web page for making this post has been changed so radically since I was here last that I’m not sure even what’s happening! Another lesson in why it’s a good idea to stay current. Oh well, nothing this year is as it has been. I’m sure you will all agree with that!

Just wanted to say I hope you are all doing fine and let you know that Randy and I are also surviving, if not thriving. We are luckier than some, living out here in the boonies. We may have really lousey internet, when we have it at all, but at least we have a little space and are not locked in an apartment. We grew a pretty good garden this summer and canned veggies which we are still enjoying. I got my new knee in spite of being canceled and rescheduled on short notice. It seems to be working fine now. Randy has been working both in the shop and at his carpentering. I have gotten a couple projects published in the Little Looms magazines and have submitted a couple more & have more in the works for the future. So am keeping busy. I hope you are all keeping your looms polished, too! Check projects on the web page for some ideas if you need inspiration.

We had a bit of snow earlier this month which is mostly gone now and the weather people are suggesting we might get more Christmas day, tho they are being very cautious with this forecast! Just as well. I’ll believe it when I see it falling! But white or not, I hope you all have a lovely and comfortable holiday. Stay home, stay safe, and spend your social time via the telephone!

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!