Okay, I apologize…

Jan4

I know I have not been posting after saying I would but I figure you have all been busy with Christmas and the new year and all the other holidays this time of the year, too. I have not gotten back to my woven cardigan but in part because I have some new ideas about its construction and partly because I’ve been knitting. Yes, I love weaving but I also love knitting. I finished my MIL’s vest in time and it fit her perfectly and she loves it- really! And I forgot to get a picture of her in it. 😦

Also I have been knitting a cardigan for me. Sis was making this one and I loved it so I am combining sis’s with the vest pattern for MIL’s. Yeah, I liked that ruffle so incorporated it. Now I’m on the sleeves, except I don’t have any #9 dps so I’m going to have to take care of that first.

But I hope you are all having a great start to 2015! It’s been cold here after all the rain but now there’s no precip so no snow. 😦 Mother Nature just can’t seem to get things together.

Himself and I bought ourselves a new bed for our gift to each other. A Number Bed. It’s due to arrive this week from Salt Lake City. He built a base for it, one which will have drawers one of these days. That’ll be handy.

I guess that’s all our news and I’ll get back on the cardigan as soon as I find out if my idea is going to work. Be patient with me and let me see you weavings, meantime!

Have a happy & creative New year!

Happy Christmas!

Dec19

Sorry I haven’t been keeping up here. My computer is really sick and as soon as 2015 gets started up it is going into the shop. But I just wanted to say that I am still working on my cardigan and have finished my Christmas projects so I think I am as ready as I’m going to be! Hope you are all set for a great celebration at your house, too. Have a wonderful Christmas and best wishes for the coming year and, as always,

Happy Weaving!

Hazel & Randy

I’m sorry…

Dec2

Looks like it’s been over a month since I last posted. Time flies whether you’re having fun or not! Not that I haven’t been having fun… well… not no fun, anyway. Just busy. I am nearly finished knitting MIL’s xmas gift so thought I ought to get out the squares and see if I have finally woven enough. It looks like I may have. I might need a couple triangles, we’ll see.

laying out

It looks like this lighter cardigan may even be too heavy for this ‘winter’. I mean, it’s Dec 2 and 45 degrees out! We’ve had killing frost exactly twice so the garden is dead but the apple still has it’s leaves and the weeping willow is just now losing its. There was a bit of snow on the 7000 foot peaks before this last storm. That should have dumped a bit on the tips. Not encouraging for next years water supply. New England and the Great Lakes are hogging it all. Hey guys, we need some, too!

But back to weaving. I am going to spend as much of today as I am allowed, working on this project and will get back to you asap! Hope you are getting a lot of weaving done! It makes great gifts!

Trying freeform again

Oct11

I have tried before but it always seems to end up– well– normal. what happens to my free spirited creativity here??! I am trying to take a lead from Frida. I am starting with a rectangle of knitted fabric. This was a huge bit of knitted something a friend gave me. she had tried to make some kind of garment with it but gave up. I frogged most of it. Got 11 1/2 balls of yarn from that part, and am using the rest in this experiment. so far. I have sleeves, a shrug-like thing.

With chained underarms. Now i am exploring free from web sites. And I am getting out my little diamond to make some star or flower shapes to add in. Not very creative yet but we’ll see.

Meanwhile, I have garden stuff to tend to yet.

Rain early next week and it feels like frost is not far off. Only 65 at noon, today.

And the Giants are playing the Cardinals tonight! Go Giants!

A couple of new old projects.

Sep23

I was rummaging and found these two. The quilt top was one of the first projects I made with our looms. I used the Tiny Weaver set, the 3 1/2″ square and triangle, to make this quilt top. I ran it though the washer and found some quilt batting and fabric for a backing and now it’s a proper quilt. I think it’s about crib size. The backing color is not ideal, but it was the only bit of fabric I could find in my stash that fit.

The other thing I found was a blouse I made for myself back in the day, too. It has used an assortment of loom sizes. The 12″ and the 3 1/2″ I think. The yoke and sleeves in this one are knitted. I can’t recall off hand what the yarn is called but it’s a sport weight (I think) cotton. It was comfortable and nice to wear but you probably notice that I am speaking in the past tense. Well, you know how things go when you ‘grow up’.

But now we’re almost ready to leave for Canby and OFFF. Randy is finishing up his 7 foot shawl loom. He promised someone (Sorry but we can neither of us remember who) that he’d have one this year. I think I am ready. Tomorrow I take the cats in to the ‘motel’ & buy groceries for the trailer and Thursday we hit the road. Keep your fingers x-ed for a cool but dry weekend!

Do come see us if you can!

Busy Bees!

Sep20

Well, we’re not bees but busy we are! Having been gone about a week and a half to fiber shows we have a lot of catching up to do before we leave again for Canby and the Oregon Flock and Fiber Fair. Got rained out last year… well, more like blown out, so are watching the forecasts closely. This was the Natural Fiber Fair in Arcata, Ca. I failed to get a picture in Booneville, where the event was held in conjunction with the county fair, midway and all. It was pretty exciting!

Meantime, we found orders for over 70 looms when we got back plus ripe tomatoes and wind fall apples that are attracting the deer and have to be canned this week. The apples might wait but the tomatoes and beans wouldn’t. And trip laundry and 200+emails lol Such problems! Anyway, if you are waiting for your order, please be patient, we are peddling as fast as we can!

The fairs were enjoyable and we sold looms and made a few new weavers, I think. We did some ‘boondocking’ at the ocean side, too, which was fun. Going to sleep with the sound of the crashing waves was at first a bit of a challenge. Crashing was certainly the correct word! I hadn’t realized how much noise water hitting on rocks would be. Much more than our little stream running over the smallish dam here at home.

But speaking of water sounds, we got to go to sleep with the sound of falling rain a couple nights ago! That was indeed a welcomed sound! A neighboring town, just over the hill, has suffered quite a tragedy, they are saying at least a quarter of the town has burned. I feel much better with this rain and more predicted for next week.

And I think I have my Weaving for your Doll book nearly ready. Last evening I got to finish the leotard and will try to get photo’s for it today between shop work and applesauce! But now I need to get Himself some breakfast and go to work. Hope you get some weaving time today!

On the road again….

Sep5

We are getting ready to leave for a couple shows. First in Arcata for the Natural Fibers fair and then next weekend to Booneville for the Californian Wool and Fiber Fair. If you are in either area, we hope you’ll come by and see us. Later this month we’ll be in Canby for the Oregon Flock and Fiber Fair up near Portland.

So not much time at home this month and tho I don’t have any projects to share this time I will be weaving as we go. I was given some yarn, a generic wool and alpaca, nice but not next to skin soft and I am weaving 7″ squares with it. I am thinking I might make an afghan but it would also make a nice jacket, and a little more conservative than my last one. But right now I’m weaving and considering. We’ll see what happens!

I also just got my Weaving for Dolls book finished and will have it with us if any of you are also doll fans. I’ll be working on a project for them on this trip as well.

But I have been clipping pictures from magazines and catalogs for my ideas file. I found this one & thought the collar was rather interesting. I’m never sure if anything will come of the collection but they do help ideas to simmer in the background and sometime inspiration happens. We’ll see.

Meantime, hope to see you are one of the fairs but if not…

Happy Weaving!

The ear warmer

Aug23

I promised photos of me wearing it so you could get an idea how it works. so here they are. I’m hoping this will work when hat is too warm but you need your ears covered. Won’t be able to test this theory for a few months yet. You could do the same thing for a smaller person or child using the Tiny Weaver set or even the square and triangle Multi Looms.

Oh my… how time flies…

Aug22

And that’s even if you’re not having fun. Not that I’m having un-fun, it’s just that time of year, but sorry I have been so long in posting. Peaches got ripe, then the fire and three shows coming up in September, then his truck had to go to the shop. We have to go pick it up today. You know how these things go.

But sis was down this week for an all too short visit and brought along a couple skeins she has spun from her birthday fleece.. I got a chance to try it out with a little weaving in the evening while we chatted. I used the 7 inch set. We had been discussing pattern weaves on the Multi and I thought I’d try one diagonally. I think it worked pretty well so will have to get busy and try a few more of them. This one is the slide stitch. I wove a few rows, six I think, and then worked a slide row with three regular rows in between & it came out nicely spaced. Now don’t take my word for this as I can’t really remember for sure. I’m not going to tell you the details of how to do it this morning but will work it as I type tomorrow so hopefully can get it right. Meantime if you’re interested you can go to my YouTube- Weaver Hazel– and take a look at the Multi version.

But here’s what I made with the sample yarn. Two squares and two triangles, sc around the edges and a tie string. It’s an ear warmer. I’ll also try to get a photo of it on. This kind of shows the pattern stitch.

Not what I started but…

Aug7

I think it worked out okay, tho a more simple garment. I know poncho’s haven’t really been in style since Martha Stewart got out of jail but I’ve never had one and thought it might really work as well as a shrug for those coolish times of the day when you don’t really want a sweater. For one thing, sleeves are difficult in the shop. The sleeves either catch on the nails or sweep them off the work table, then I have to get out my handy dandy magnet on a handle and get them up off the floor. And same thing just sitting and weaving, they get hung up on everything. Not sure this garment will work any better but I’m going to try it. After trying it on again, I think I might end up adding a couple more rows to the neckline to raise it a bit, but I might wait until cooler weather to decide if I need that. I fitted a 12″ triangle at the back neck to raise the back a bit. I just about had a heat stroke wearing this for Himself to take the photo. lol What with the smoke from the fire and the thunder storms, the heat and humidity are trapped at ground level here and it gets pretty uncomfortable. But here’s what I came up with. I’ve had some suggestions for the shrug and I have more Jiffy so it is still a possibility. But next on my to-do is tending to the peach crop!

Hazel Rose

My Life in the Country

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