Robert, grandson of an old friend, was one year old today and Grandmother will be 100 years old on the 26th so we thought they should have their picture taken together in their party hats! We had lots of cake and icecream and plenty of presents. Robert fed his cake to the dog with his spoon. Luckily his Gramma didn’t catch that!

Karen went home an got some LB Homespun and some chenille and went to weaving! She has one afghan finished and another almost finished and is working on a purse. She wove the purse squares with two strands on LB Homespun on every other nail. It came out bulky and plush. I think she’s doing a great job. I love the mixture of square sizes and the way the colors are arranged, too.

My husband couldn’t resist when offered this treasure and the neighbors daughter thought it was wonderful and wanted to put right where her Dad could see it so here it is… in my front yard. It can stay as long as Dad is here but when the family reunion breaks up it’s going back behind the garage or for sale on ebay! There is no phone in it and I don’t have a “game room” to decorate anyway! 😀

Got Randy to make a rectangle loom yesterday. I had him do the 14 x 18 size. It’s too big for placemats but about right for a hand towel, I think. He thinks the 12 x 24 might work for placemats but I think that’s still going to be too big. I’m afraid placemats are going to have to be made with more than one in order to get them to the correct size. The one I made with the big square and 3 Tiny squares was about right.
But I think this loom might work well for small rugs or bath mats. I think I might try rag on it, I’ve been wanting to do that. May have to skip nails, tho.
Anyway, I think the variegated kitchen cotton is turning out pretty, whether it works as a towel or not.

This is what I have in mind for the diamond loom! 🙂

One of our best customers and a really fine weaver wanted a diamond shaped loom. Randy made a proto-type last night and I wove these on it today to be sure it ws going to do the job for her. So now I have a big yarn doily! She has ambitious plans for hers, but I think mine is probably as big as it’s going to get… for awhile, anyway. I have plans for a diamond, too, but a smaller one. It was still too hot for mowing lawns so this was a good excuse to sit in front of the fan again today! 😀

I haven’t been entirely idle since the kids left. Here is my bulky yarn for the next Spin-Off skeins. I just love Kool-Aid orange! I may have to spin some fine and knit a top. I’ll look like a CalTrans flagman! lol Been cleaning and printing books and even did a bit of loom designing. I think I’m planning to start getting ready to begin Christmas projects, too. And it’s only not quite August. Well, it’s too hot to mow the lawn, which needs it desperately. But, we’ll see…. 🙄

Here they are lined up on Grandmother’s porch to say Goodbye! Oh no! 😥 Stephanie called last eve to say they had arrived safely and I talked to Karen this morning. Said the flight went well and they even arrived early. But, boy, is it quiet around here today! This blog is going to be a lot slower and less interesting now when it’s just us old folk again! 😦
Oh well, I have a couple boxes of “mementos” left under the beds and behind the dresser and in the yard! :laugh: I’ll get them packed up and to the post office in a week or so.
Meantime… Karen wants her looms… NOW, Mom! 😉
Heehee… I’ve hooked her at last!

Here they all are with their works in fiber. Shane is holding his handspun llama yarn rake-knitted pillow. He did the carding and helped spin and then knitted it on the knitting rake all by himself. Chris was our main weaver man. He wove the squares and made the bear and he wove from acrylic all the triangles to make his blanket. He also made his own set of Tiny Weaver looms with a little help from Grumpa.
Mac used Lion Brand Bulky and the knitting rake to make his dog a blanket. He got quite a way along and then decided to enlarge it to fit Cori (the real dog), instead of Midnight (the stuffed one). The result you see on the right. It turned out nicely, tho, because his clever Grandma saw at once that with the addition of a nice wooden button, the result made a fine cape for Midnight! Cori isn’t very fond of clothes anyway so was persuaded to let it go. 🙄

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She got it finished. She used three 14″ squares, woven every-other nail with her very bulky first time-spinning handspun yarn. She and Stephanie spun the yarn and Kool-aid dyed it. Karen wove the squares and I crocheted the strap for her. She says she wants to use it for carrying fat file folders around the school.