I know some of you are having more than enough already. We have our first snow predicted for tomorrow evening. We’re not ready, either! The garden is mostly put away and we’ve only one more trip. We’ll be in Grant’s Pass for Fiber Mania on Nov 12/13. That’s if the pass stays open!
But here’s Taz taking her ease on Randy’s lap, a sure sign of cold weather. This is the Mighty Hunter who does not come in before 10pm on summer evenings, but she appreciates a good warm fire when the temps reach freezing! As we all do. Randy’s looking at expensive tools on his laptop and I’ve weaving and reading my mystery by turns. If you’re looking for a project for the up coming season be sure to check the web site projects page where I’ve posted instructions for the Chirstmas Stocking.
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Home again!
We’re back in Coffee Creek after our long trip to Washington. We drove up for the Fiber Fusion NW show in Monroe, Washington and enjoyed greatly meeting new folks there. The crew put on a very professional show and we look forward to going back next year.
And since we spent our ‘vacation time’ this year building a new shop we decided to come home the long way. We went east from Monroe and explored Washington, Idaho, and into the western part of Montana. What a huge variety of country, everything from forested and craggy mountains to miles and miles of nearly flat country, not quite desert and not quite prairie. Long green valleys surrounded by bald and rolling hills. And the fall colors were brilliant. This photo was taken at Steamboat Rock Campground in Washington, not far from Boulder Dam, which we also visited.
It was an great trip, I have many, many photos, too many to share but any time you get a chance to visit this great country of ours, do it!
But now we’re back to work making looms and getting in firewood for the fast approaching winter. And somewhere in there I need to weave a couple of Christmas gifts! Oh yes… on that subject, be sure to check the project page on the web site for the newly posted Christmas Socking pattern! Free, of course!
Some weaving…
Getting ready for OFFF next week so I thought I’d whip up a new hooded scarf. I bought this yarn for a doll dress but found it not really suitable, The label has a pattern for a knitted “one skein” scarf so I thought I’d weave one instead, naturally! But this one is going to be a two skein scarf. I got four 12 inch squares out of it with a bit left over. Randy will just have to stop in Yreka on the way up so I can buy more.
I had to bring my weaving indoors last evening as we had a whopping thunder storm and rain just after dark. In spite of the rain I’m afraid there are probably going to be at least little fires this morning. Too early to tell yet but there were very many strikes. Power went out several times for a minuet or two each time. We have more predicted for the next few evenings.
August Harvest
The garden is finally starting to produce. I picked my peaches a couple days ago as the Jays had found them. They are ripe enough to soften indoors the rest of the way. Good! But now I’m itching. Those little zucchinis were growing on huge stickery plants, darn’em! And I chased the doe out before she got to the beans again. She was outside the window munching my America roses, darn’er! And the cherry & pear tomatoes are over=growing my big Brandywines and so they aren’t getting the sunshine they need. I guess I’ll have to prune some more. Next year those little sprawly guys are going in pots out in the danger zone. Let the doe prune them! My big ones need more room.
But I got several of those white eggplant fruits and there’s more of the japanese types, too. And I have a standard one a pot but it’s not ripe yet. Oh, and the bell peppers… They have done really well in spite of the fact that I cut the top out of one accidentally with the first pepper I cut. 😦 But Now we eat!
and we’re making looms again so if you have an order due… keep the faith, we’re getting there!
Fiber artists at work!
One of our weavers sent me these photo’s of a wrap she made, Valerie Dawson was inspired by Zann Carter’s Mangos for Breakfast. Both these woman are so creative! You may remember that Zann won in HandWoven Magazines sock yarn contest last year using our triangle loom. It’s good to see she’s still at it and still inspiring other artists! Thanks to Valerie for letting me post the photo’s of her wonderful wrap!
Valerie says, “This is my first piece with the triangle loom. I loved a Zann Carter piece called Mangos for Breakfast and this is my interpretation in carnival colors. It is very light weight so perfect for Arizona (or California) evenings.” Her first piece! She’s off to a great start!
Summer memories
Their Mom sent the boys each a journal, so when the ball game comes on in the evenings I print out a photo of something that we’ve done that day and they get to make an entry in the journal so Mom can share in their trip when they get home. They are doing pretty good at it with a little encouragement. Here Shane is checking what Mac wrote in his. Randy reads or Googles and I weave while the ball game is on the XM radio. Since the weather has kind of settled into summer warm, it’s actually a peaceful way to spend the evening on the deck. Sometimes the boys and I have a game of scrabble or dominoes. As a rule Shane is the best at scrabble and Mac excels at dominoes. But I occasionally win at both.
Water, water… brim full!
The grandsons worked hard today so I took them swimming. They even got Cori in and up on the log! I sat in the shade and read while they froliced. It was cool enough to be comfortable and I’m just not often attracted to swimming anymore.
Today we have a small possibility of thunder storms and it’s a little cooler. Both of them have weaving project underway and so do I so we’ll probably sit in the shade and weave.
I have to go buy veggies from our local farmer as these two teens are fond of green food. My little garden can’t keep up with 4 people so I have to supplement. But it makes me happy to see. They’ll be here for another 3 weeks & We’re enjoying each others company! Wish their Mom could have come, too.
Happy Birthday to our little namesake, Hazel Rose! She is two years old this month and it looks like the little woven doggy we sent was a hit.
I should have more rug pictures to post later today. I’ve been experimenting with I-Cord and I think that turned out well. It’s a little time consuming but is a way to use up lighter yarns. It will go faster, of course with a knitting machine. I’ll get some pictures today.
I think it’s summer!
Things are warming up and blooming! We have 76 here this morning and it’s not done yet. But I worked up quite a.. er.. glow on my walk this morning. lol I’m loving it, too. Sis got rain yesterday but there’s none of that in our forecast! But everything plant has loved our wet spring and things are blooming all out now. My iris bed, for instance! And I’m just cutting those that are out of our usual view but they look great on my deck and last much longer than I thought they might. They sit in the sun all day, too.
But we’re using the salad greens and radishes 😉 and have our first little green tomato. The corn is sprouting, too, tho I don’t think it’s going to be eye high by the 4th of July.
Meantime, I am still working on inventing bulky yarn out of thinner for the rug loom. The little I-cord machine from Bond seemed like a good idea but it only wants fingering yarn and I want to use worsted. I have ideas, tho!
If you do too, I hope you’ll share.
Here’s my bouquet.
The new Mat Maker and Rug loom
The new rug looms seems to be stirring up a bit of interest, I love it myself. I wove another place-mat yesterday after noon on the deck while listening to the game. Did not take very long, either. I want this set for the patio table. I like this bright red knit but I got a blister from the scissors cutting these strips last time and I need more. I might get out the rotary cutter and see if I can use that this time. This is a bit heavier than your average Tee shirt fabric. I have done a few using Tee shirt which I cut with the rotary cutter. Still, it was worth the blister! I like the way they turned out.
I have a ton of ideas for this loom, I think I’ll be using it a lot.
Hazel Rose 