Lexi wearing the 2×6″ Book mark skirt and top.
Tag Archive | Hazel Rose
Uh-oh…
Found one of my bins of woven doll things out in Le Shed. I thought those bins were mouse proof. Live and learn.
That was Molly’s Miss Liberty costume. But the rest of the bin was okay so I’ll get some pictures of other things I’ve made.
It’s still snowing but (knock knock) the lights are still on!
WAL 2023
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…
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
Another WAL project.
Been snowing all day, what a good time for making these projects! This time it’s the little baskets. If you are anywhere near my age, you remember making these little May Day baskets. We made them in school or at home, picked a few poor wildflowers and hung them on neighbors door knobs. Then ring the bell and run and hide! Fun for both parties! Well these are woven and you can fill them with flowers or greenery or little gifts, whatever and hang then on the tree.
Easy easy as you can see! Fold the square to make a cone, add a tassel to the bottom and a loop to the top. They look pretty int sparkly yarns, too.
And don’t forget the little deer. They looks cute on the mantle or the table with the little snow persons as well as the tree.
You can find the instruction for these on the web site under projects.
Making clothing
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.
Another winter…
We started out this month with some early snow. Is it early? Seemed so, the trees also thought so as almost all of them still have their leaves. We had no damage here other than a few broken branches but there were long stretches of power outages which very likely mean some other trees along the way weren’t so lucky. I felt for the PUD guys out in that weather but they did a good job of getting us powered up again and I appreciate it! Yeah, we have a generator but it’s a noisy contraption so don’t engage it unless the fridge and freezer start to suffer. We can hear all the neighbors machines well enough!
It’s been awhile, as has been pointed out to me, since I posted here. Things have been happening but not interesting stuff to write about. Gardening and canning, cooking and cleaning, you know that kind of thing. I have been weaving but mostly it’s all for Little Looms magazine which I can’t share here. If they don’t take it I can share but if they do it’ll be sometime next year. I’m not as fast as I used to be, especially at the writing it up part, so that pretty much covers my weaving time.
We’ve gone to three shows this year, Black Sheep Gathering last June, Lambtown in first part of October and OFFF in the last part. He’s looking at accepting the invitation to go to Utah for the Great Basin event. We’ve never been to it. That, of course, set him off looking for other events of this nature that he might want to attend! There’s are a lot of them scattered around but it all involves timing and the size of the event, too. And the distance! But that’s all day dreaming right now.
He’s got the wood shed full, says he thinks he has next years wood already, too. About the only good thing to come out of last years fires, there’s a lot of dead wood. So we get to burn it again. The woodshed below is full but he still has room for his drop cord collection and a few other items of manly interest. And they yard out there still has more. The unsplit pile next to the splitter is madrone. It’s a hard wood for those of you who don’t know it and makes a really hot fire. There’s lots of it after last years event. The best thing about madrone is that even tho the tree was burnt and died of it, it will come back from the root nearly every time so they aren’t really lost. I don’t want a Madrone in the yard, they are a messy tree, but I enjoy them out in the forest. They are also handsome and have white blossoms that make pretty red berries in the winter.
My broken Hyde King apple tree is making a come back after it got smashed by the fallen alder a couple years ago. It had one apple this year, which was not bad as the crop on all the apples this year was negligible. I got one pie and no applesauce. Got some nice winter squashes off my couple of vines. And the woodbine was once again brightening up the yard.
First Hyde King!
One of many tasty winter squashes.
So now I guess it’s time to settle in for the winter. We have a couple more guests for the cabin and we’ll close that up. It’s already in the Twenties at night and we don’t need any frozen pipes! Thanksgiving will be just the two of us and probably Christmas, too. I have a little turkey and a little ham so we can have our celebrations here properly! I even bought a can of cranberries so we’re all set! ;-D Hope you are all doing well and getting ready for a cozy winter!
It’s August already!
Which makes me late again. Oh well, Late, as the saying goes, seems to be my middle name. But while I have been busy, I don’t know that all that much has been going on. Garden, loom projects, cabin rentals… We had a week of over 100 degrees. It hit 114 one day. Then the next week, this past one .was cool. We had one day with a high in the mid 70’s. I think the drives the garden nuts, too. My peaches are just now starting to soften and we had our first tomato for dinner last night. It was yummy! It’s an heirloom Oxheart. There’s another one ripe now, too, and lots of green ones.
And yesterday we were threatened by the Weather Wizards with heavy Thunder storms and flash floods. All we had was some distant thunder.
Until…
…about 1am I heard water running in the dry flume outside my bedroom window. Our “flash flood” had arrived. It fid not seem enough to worry about so went back to sleep. And it did no damage to us but the poor fishes did not fair so well. Apparently the heave storms were up in the alps in the burn scares from last year. Nothing to stop the runoff & it brought all sorts of mud and muck with it down Coffee Creek, into Treasure Creek and branched into the dry flume though the yard. It’s ugly and it looks like Coffee Creek Road is out again, too. The dump trucks being used for clean up of last years fire went up this morning as usual but came down again empty, which indicates they can’t get to where they are working. A while later some county road dept trucks and equipment went up and we haven’t seen them back yet.
Bur you may remember seeing the pictures I’ve posted of Treasure Creek that runs though our yard. 
Here’s what it looked like this morning. and it still looks like that. The water level has dropped a little from the early hours but it is just as dark and thick.
This is the flume behind the shop. That ‘hill’ is mucky foam that forms when the stuff if forced though the culvert.
And now the thunder is booming overhead. This in spite of the wizards telling us the storm has moved on. Crystal ball is wrong again!
Randy been called by Search and Rescue to go to Siskiyou to the fire over there and help hunt for missing people. Not a search he’s looking forward to.
Hope you are having a reasonable summer!
Spring Little Looms is out….
I haven’t gotten my “hard copy” yet but did get to take a look at the digital one. I’ve gotten a few emails about the pattern. People seem to like it. Those, at least, who love larger projects, as this blanket it pretty big. But you can, of course, make it any size you like. It’s easy to make smaller. Or bigger should you lean that way!
The neat thing about this one is that with care it is machine washable and not only can be varied in size but also in usage. It will fit a twin bed, It covers the top of my Queen bed so may fit a double and could easily be made a big wider to fit the queen better. You can use any colors that fit your scheme and actually, it would work with other fibers, too. If you wanted a winter blanket, you could use your hand spun or favorite commercial wool. A nice acrylic might make a good dorm blanket that could just be tossed in the washer at need.
I am adding a chart there that Little Looms did not publish. I found it a help and maybe some of you will also.
This is the 2nd largest project I’ve woven on the pin looms and actually did not find it that difficult & it really didn’t take long to make. Well worth the time I think! You have lots of choices with this one. But whatever you decide, I’d love to see what you weave!
Photo from Little looms
Another oldie.
I finished this one in 2014. It’s a collection of my handspun yarns. Woven on several looms, mostly, if I remember, the 7″ and the 3 1/2″ squares. Randy made the wood buttons. The button holes are just an unstitched space between the little squares on the front band. I like 3/4 sleeves but these were probably a little wide and the bottom edges. It works okay, tho.
Just been going though older projects, posting to my 3 “social media” places, here, Ravelry, and the facebook pin loom group. I’m working on a new everyday sweater but thinking of reworking that idea. I’ve been weaving either 12″ or 10.5″ squares, can’t remember just now. Needless to say that last one woven was a couple months back! But someone posted about shape weaving the other day which reminded me of the shape woven I’ve done in the past. I still have the cardboard looms and am thinking I might just employ that method on this sweater. I seem to get a better fit with less blocks than the cut and sew method. I’m too big to get a good fit with the totally block woven things. The one above is cut and sew. This one is the shape woven. The yoke and the arm skye as well as the back yoke were shape woven. And a much better fit than the others I’ve done, I think. The sleeves as shown were cut and sew but both made from the same pattern. Well, I’ll have to think about this some more. I have a little time between now and my next deadline, I hope!
Hazel Rose 