Tag Archive | loom

Looking forward to Fall!

Aug16

We had a couple trips in the spring, to Great Basin Fiber Arts Festival in Utah and to Washington for Fiber Fusion and then we had the summer off. Well, kinda. There’s the garden! Don’t want to be without my fresh, pesticide free veggies, which means canning in the hottest part of the year. But it’s worth it when I see my pantry stocked so prettily!

Made cucumber relish yesterday. For today I’ll put some of our huge crop of green & yellow beans in the dehydrator,  already canned plenty of those, and make a Buckle. I found a recipe for that old fashioned dessert. I have peaches for it unless he brings me more black berries. I have a stock of blackberry jam, of course, and had to tell him stop! lol But only temporarily until I got caught up with what he has already brought. I have them for lunch with toast or in my breakfast cereal.

        

Too many beans and cukes, they out produced all the rest! I am pleased with my onions this year. I’m sure Rosy is proud of me. I always got my onions from her as I never had any luck with them. But now I have to do it on my own so tried extra hard. They aren’t going to win prizes at the fair but they are the best I’ve grown so far! There are red ones in the bottom. We’ve used quite a few already

  And I actually grew some okra this year. I thought that this big it would be tough, but it was not!

But back to trips! Heading to Washington again end of September! I have the kits ready for the Spokane classes. If you are in that area, check out https://spokanefleeceandfiberfestival.com/. It’s a new Festival but Katrina is working hard to make it a good show. I have two classes but there are other good teachers having classes there too, not to mention a flock of vendors with fiber goodies you’ll want to check out!

 

Well, it’s clouding up which makes it a nice cool day. Which after the heat of last week is rather enjoyable! But I have to spend some time in the shop, too.  Weavers are waiting for their looms!

Hope you are seeing signs of fall at your place! No red leaves yet but the asters are blooming!

Wishing you happy!   Hazel

 

 

 

A little Post Script.

Apr12

It must really be spring this time!  Look at all the sunshine and blue sky! It hit 79 today! The cottonwoods are leafing out. So is my weeping willow. The oaks are always conservative and wait, just in case. Phooey on them! It’s spring!

 

We planted the tomatoes out this morning and planted peas and beets, too.  Onions and Kale next as soon as he gets the bed ready.

     

Yes, I know it’s early yet. We will have covers for the toms at night, just in case. But it’s nice to sit on the garden bench and feel too hot!

The other thing is packing for the Great Basin Fiber Festival in Farmington, Utah. I think we leave on the 20th.

  

Okay… Hope you’re having some spring at your house!  (or fall if you’re in the other half of the world!)

Hazel

Some stuff for kids…

Feb16

If your kids are restless in this snowy wet winter weather here’s a few little projects that might keep them interested for a bit. A little discrete help or advice from Mom might be a good thing, as always. My philosophy for kids and adults as far as that goes, is that making it yourself makes it more interesting and valuable.

Bitty Bear is made from one densely woven square

There’s more and of course you’ll want to try any idea that appeals to you! These two are offered for inspiration, the pictures and charts are pretty self explanatory.

I have a lot more that I’ll get organized but this is just a start for today. Have fun!

It’s snowing here again this morning….

Tomorrow is Feburary already

Jan31

But we are getting some winter today. All we’ve had since the Big Snow at Thanksgiving is some cold weather, sometimes into the 20’s. Today is mostly slush alternating with real snow. The Wizards are not sure. Their forecasts, even this morning’s, contradict each other. We might get a couple days of slush or we might get buried!  We can use more of a snow pack in the upper reaches, not sure I really want more here.

I planted my tomato seeds this morning, getting ready to send in my seed order so already thinking spring. Speaking of seeds, if you like saving your own seed, or growing heirloom plants, you might like to check out Seed Treasures.  They live in Minnesota and sell the seeds they grow so if you live in snowy areas you know you are getting seed for plants that are hardy.

But meantime, I am learning that there is more to weaving on the peg loom than at first meets the eye. I got my circle chair pad woven but there are a few things I need to pay more attention to. I got the warp lengths right but had a difficult time pulling the warp through the outside rows. I’m about to start the 2nd pad so will be paying more attention to that. But all in all I think it came out pretty well. I used fabric strips with some stash Aunt Lydia rug yarn for warp. Thought I’d better add a bit about the 2nd picture. I did not skip  pegs, I just found that slipping the center pegs thought before the end pegs helps keep them from coming off the loom while you are moving the warp up.

Thought I’d make another batch of the Boston Brown Bread. It turned out nicely last time. This bread is not baked, it’s steamed. I was a bit leery of that but it came out right and is pretty good. Himself like it but asked for no raisins so this time I left them out of his but added them to mine. I tired it with cream cheese, which the writer of the recipe said was “required” to be authentic, but frankly… no. I’ll stay with a little butter and some applesauce!

Okay, Gotta go back to chores. Hope you are having a comfortable and cozy day!

2025 in progress.

Jan5

I hope it’s progress, anyway. So far I just seem to be jammed with chores and projects left from 2024. Is that normal? I just rather thought I’d pretty much have the month of January off, a restful winter break. Ha! even Bah Humbug! Well, I broke down and made a LIST! I think here on Jan 5, I have managed to check off two things. It’s not that that’s all I’ve done, it’s just things on the list. I have manage to fill the day with chores in between list projects, some of which are at least underway. I think the problem is that I’m getting old. I used to be able to deal with all this and never even notice. Well, the Golden age is not living up to it’s name. It’s more like the Rusty Tin age! lol Ah well, enough bitchin’ for today.

I did manage to get one project woven on our invented circle loom. That was not actually on the list, just one of those things we’ve discussed in the past and it came up again while shopping at the GoodWill in Redding the other day. We bought a 12″ knitting loom. A plastic ring with pegs all around. I thought I could use it for a peg loom, but there turned out to be a few things I did not think of in my enthusiasm for the idea. Like that the pegs were only about an inch tall and there was no hole for the warp strings. But Himself came to the rescue and made a set of drilled pegs with dowels. The problem with the large circle is that there are too many warp strings in the center of the bottom to make a flat bottom. I was using some elderly Caron 100% Dacron rug yarn with the original price of 79 cents.  So the bundle of warp in the center was too big to bundle. I came up with a solution for that -after the fact- so it didn’t work very well here but I got a semi flat bottom to my bowl. I had planned it to be a basket but had to stop short this time. I’ll start from the bottom on the next one. I think it’ll work better. This one is only about 3″ deep. Himself thinks I could use this method to weave Rasta hats! I knitted one for my grandson years ago, like the 2nd one pictured. (That’s not mine, I can’t see to find a pic of it.) I guess it may be possible and I might try it later! The one with the braids definitely is a possible.

    

He’s making looms like crazy, I think he wants an entire years stock before the show season starts! lol I cannot keep up. Frankly, I’m not even trying to very hard. But I am getting things done in here tho they are still a little over whelming. Got the ceramic tree put back in storage. Got the houseplants back where they belong. My geraniums are all putting on blooms. I gave them a turn under the lights as they were not getting any sunshine from the widows lately and I didn’t want them getting really leggy. I guess the lights made them think it was spring. His 80 degree fires probably added to that! lol He can’t seem to get a Happy Medium. I just let it go out and rebuild when it starts cooling off but that is not the correct way according to him. I am not supposed to let it go out. Bah-Humbug! Ah well…We’ve only been married 40 years, I guess it takes time to get used to each others ways, huh?!

Just the two of us!

Okay, I spent a lot of time talking about how much I have to do so I supposed I ought to wish you all a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year and get on with my LIST! …and I do! I wish you all to accomplish just what you hope for this year and to stay safe in this chaotic world of today.

Hazel

September– Autumn?

Sep4

I guess it must be autumn since the Poison Oak is turning red again.

The maples are still a kind of green, tho.

Our garden was pretty much a bust this year. I got maybe a half dozen tomatoes so far. There are quite a lot of green ones on the Rome and a few on the (un)Early Girl. Cut 4 scranny, miss-shapened bell peppers and harvested on ice cabbage, the lone survivor.  The squashes were doing good until the mole arrived and started digging around the roots. I did get one nice acorn, which we had for dinner last night, and there’s still  a butternut out there alive. Even the Zucchini Were pretty much a low producing crop this year. We had a fairly good crop of peas early on, but the beans refused to even germinate. My beets did germinate but failed in the end, too. Have a couple cukes producing but they are bitter. None of my kale, which has never failed me before survived. Oh well, Good thing last year was a bumper year, I still have canned things from then. We’ll try again next year. I have to admit that it was not a good gardening spring with being gone with Rosy so much so it may not be all the early too hot weather, which we are blaming it on.

But at least I didn’t have to spend the summer standing watch over a pressure canner! There’s always a bright side, isn’t there!

We’re now getting ready for the fall shows. First will be OFFF in Albany, Oregon Sept 21-22 and then shortly thereafter is Lambtown in Dixon CA, Oct 5-6. I don’t have classes at OFFF this year, thankfully, but two at Lambtown assuming anyone signs up. I’m offering a beginning peg loom class and a full day Weaving Lace. Lace That Shouts instead of Pale Pastel Whispering lace! Well, these patterns work for both, really, but I think more people today want to see bright colors and there’s no reason lace has to be saved for traditional weddings or baby things or old ladies nighty’s. When I was a teen you did not wear sequins or rhinestones on your jeans, in fact, you did not even plain wear jeans to school or church like I see today. But these days you can wear pretty much anything you like so why not lace? I can dye my hair pink or purple or even green if I should want to, another thing you just Did Not Do back then. I love that I can now. So we’ll be weaving some colorful lace to decorate jeans, tee shirts, or even those baby things. And if you are planning an unconventional wedding… Go for it!

   

In the Peg Loom class we be making a headband, it’s a fairly fast project and also a useful product, practical me has to include that virtue. But the loom is good for much more. This is one I did this summer. I bought some cleaned skirtings from a shepherd at fiber Fusion NW this spring and wove this rug on my 22″ Peg loom. It is so lush! Soft and thick and, I think, nice looking. I am not sure how well it will wear but I joined an peg loom weaving group on face book and see that this is a very popular rug among those weavers so I’m thinking it must hold up pretty well or it seems there would be some mention of that.  Anyway, here it is. I didn’t have all the weft tails cut when I took this, but you can see how cozy it looks. I can picture my always cold feet snugged up on that this winter!

  

So… what else? Well, I want to find time to dig up my over-crowded iris and transplant them to a mostly barren flower bed in front of our rental BnB cabin. There are iris out by the mailbox that were planted by the snow plow digging them up from the neighbors across the road and they are thriving and blooming each spring without the hand of man (or woman) helping at all so I think being in this mostly ignored flower bed and maybe being watered a few times in the summer, they ought to thrive nicely! There are day lilies that need thinning, too, but they seem to like more water so not sure they’d like it in that bed and frankly, I’m running out of room!

The weather has been pretty nice lately, highs in the upper 80’s, but they are ‘promising’ us 100+ later this week before that elusive rain they see in the future that keeps disappearing is set to arrive… again!! lol But be that as it may, I think I am nearly ready for winter. Not prepared, just ready, if you see the subtle difference! I hope you are also looking forward to the future. I hope it’s going to be a brighter one. This world could use some bright and we can help if we refuse to follow the nay sayers and Walk on the

Sunny Side of the Street! 

with Louie Armstrong, this was a big hit for him years ago.

Or maybe you like Frankie?

Cyndi Lauper

Well… not my decade! lol

How about Willie Nelson?

Actually l like his version.

But judging by how many popular singers have recorded this song, I think it tells me a lot of people are looking to walk in the sunny side! I hope you’ll find me there!

 

 

2024… so far.

May14

“Cheer up, look for the bright side, they told me, things could be worse. So I cheered up, looked for the bright side… and things got worse”.

   

My baby Sister died May 7, 2024.  I was able to spend her last month with her but that did not make it easier. My sister and best friend, we emailed daily, sometimes several times. She ignored my advice on important subjects and I ignored hers but we enjoyed sharing none the less. She was a spinner with a huge stash of fleeces and yarn. I have her handspun now and will treasure using it. Her wheel I’ll sell, I hardly spin anymore and have my own anyway. She was also artistic and the best cook in the family. She loved animals and her little dog, Evie, will live with Rex and miss Rosy as the rest of us do. Our brother John is making the urns for her ashes, I know she’d be pleased with that gift.

and 

So now we have to move on. That means Fiber Shows. Fiber Fusion in Monroe, Washington is the first one this year. Two classes, Weaving a dishcloth, a beginning class,  and on Sunday it’s Beyond Plain Weave, but the link does not seem to work for me today. I’m sure you can find it if you are going to be in the area. Our next one at the end of May-first of June is Black Sheep Gathering in Albany, Oregon. I don’t have a class there this year. Then we get the summer off before OFFF and Lambtown in the fall. I’ll have classes listed at both of them & some new projects. The summer means, of course, garden and canning so not really a summer off!

 

Dishcloth and more… and beyond plain.

  And a new loom! Peg, Jr.

Well, I guess that’s all for now. This morning I am canning Rhubarb, something I have not done before, and putting pins in Fine Sett looms. And will try to get a walk in at some point. The sun is shinning and it’s a beautifully warm day here in Coffee Creek. I hope your day is bright as well.

 

Thank-full!

Nov26

Yes, We are thankfully full of turkey, ours was on Saturday as the bird was still frozen on Thursday so we had ham then, which made Himself happy as he much prefers it. Costco has a good ham, too, so I enjoyed it as well. And I am thankful that there is ‘punkin’ pie left over. This one was made out of one of sis’s butternut squashes, yummy. But mostly I’m thank full that the job of cutting up the carcass is done and the meat in the freezer and the bones  in the soup pot! My favorite part of turkey is a big pot of soup! I’ll be canning some of that later this week. As mentioned he’s not a great fan of turkey or soup, both of which I love so I can it in pint jars and have lunches for half the winter! Well, maybe not half, but there is another turkey in the freezer!

 

I have been doing a bit of weaving. Did some domestic stuff, dish cloths. Needed some new ones and wanted to try them on the 10 1/2″ loom. It’s been popular with weavers but I’ve always used the 12″ for my dishcloths. So I figured while I was doing it I might as well use up some of the cotton stash and weave a couple fancy ones. The first two I wove on the 12″ using my “grease rag” colors. That yellowy looking one is actually brown but my camera decided to “improve” on it I guess. I used the Random pattern (which you can find in Pages) for the blue one and the Red and white is the small hounds tooth, which is just two rows of each color, repeat.

   

And then I decided to get out a peg loom and my big bag of selvages from Pendleton Mills and weave a couple chair pads. I haven’t done much with this loom so they didn’t turn out too well. Pretty wonky in fact! neither the same size or the same shape. I need to work on my tension on this loom. I am thinking about weaving a third one just to see if it might match either of the first two! lol I haven’t woven in the ends on the last one yet.  Sis suggested they are correct because they have two different sized butts to accommodate!

 

Other than that I’ve been working in the shop a bit. He’s been making peg looms as we’ve had a bit of a ‘run’ on them lately. We had to make a trip to Medford, Oregon to buy the thick oak boards to make them and just about bought out dowels at Lowes. It takes a lot of dowels to fill the 36″ peg loom and he makes & drills each one by hand. Not a job he looks forward to. He says he gets cheated with these looms as they are labor intensive and my part is just sanding and oiling the big part. Well, that’s okay as my labor on the rest of the business makes up for it, I think! But together we get it done. Today he spent the early 24 degree morning in the shop and now he’s working on the trailer ramada again, trying to get the roof done before the weather changes for the worse. He  wants to get the trailer under cover before snow fall if he can.

So life just goes on. Cat is getting a really thick coat, ready for winter. He has grown into a big heavy  man, no longer the cute skinny teen we first adopted. Himself says he’s fat, but I think he’s just Big. Come spring he’ll have enough ‘angora’ to stock a spinner! I have never seen a cat with markings like his but yesterday I ran across his near twin! This one is shorter haired and not as cute ;-D and his markings are not identical but the same sort of pattern. I like the child’s drawing, too! She captured the cat’s sad expression very well! I wonder if it was a foundling, too.

 

   

Well, I guess I’ve been chatty enough for one morning. I hope you have all been able to find something to be thankful about and are looking forward the December! I’ll leave you with one last bit that we all need reminded of occasionally.

 

Must be fall, the poison oak is turning red!

Sep14

 

And while the bush beans are about done, the pole beans are just hitting their stride! I’ve already canned around 120 pints. Now I’m bagging them to take to the local Food program, along with some cucumbers which are also turning them out. And he just picked 4 lugs of pears and says that not all on that tree and there are two more trees! lol This is kind of funny in a way as in the past few years we were lucky to get 6 pears off the three! But I have pears in the dehydrator now and will be canning pears and making pear butter. They are ripening rapidly. I had two for breakfast. Delish, I have to admit. I just wish canned pears were as tasty as fresh.

And just out of curiosity, I looked up the nutrition comparison between apples and pears. It appears they are a lot alike but pears seen to have just a bit of an edge. They have more fiber and only just a few grams more sugar. I always thought of pears having a lot more sugar but at least the ones they tested did not seem to. These are Bartletts that Grandfather planted many years ago. But speaking of apples… They are about ready to pick, too. I want them to be ripe but we have to get there before the bear does! I’m surprised they haven’t hit the pears yet. Maybe because this has been such a productive year, they are finding plenty of food elsewhere. I hope so!

One of 4 lugs I have to deal with!

Other than that I am working on my class stuff for Lamb Town next month. Took Cat to the vet so get him the rest of his shots so he could spend a week or two in the Pet Motel while we attend the last two shows of the year. If you are in the area we’ll be at Lamb Town in Dixon, CA. and also the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival in Albany, Oregon. I had intended to let him just live outside as he’s used to doing but there is rumor of a lion in the village so I guess that wouldn’t be fair. He is pretty good at hiding in the snow but stands out pretty good in green grass. And I think that’s probably true even if you only see in black and white as I understand some/most animals do. He’s not going to like it but I doubt he’d like going to “dinner” with the lion, either!

Speaking of Cat, he was getting bored with his toys so I got the Cat Burglar out. It was a favorite of past critters and was a hit with Cat, too. He went from his pink Tribble to the cat burglar and had a great time! The stuffed squirrels that you can see under the dining table have lost their place for awhile!

          

So meantime I am trying to keep Sis cheered up after her knee surgery. It isn’t much fun for the first couple days.  I haven’t heard yet this morning and am hoping that means she’s getting some good Zzzz’s. Mine is still working and hope it will continue doing so. I have been able to lose a few pounds this month which ought to help it some.

Okay, I guess I’d better get back at it. Hope your September is not too hot or too wet! It’s pretty nice here in the Trinity Alps!

Yarn fun!

Jul14

Well… Sis is  on her way home after a couple of fun days. I don’t count the day she arrived or left as they weren’t full days and today was not really all that much fun waving good bye! But on a brighter note, we are already thinking of the next time! That will be at her place.

But did we play?! You betcha! There’s more but she took a bunch home with her, too, and , as usual, I got so involved I forgot the camera! That’s almost unheard of in these days of cell phones, huh? I guess it comes from not having one of those little devices! But now I Have Ideas! It’s going to be more fun playing with my new colors. I’m thinking of making Art with those paper towels we dribbled tests on! lol

 

And Sis sent a photo of her part of the pretties! All hers is handspun. Most of mine is commercial.

Dh is busy bringing in the early fruits of the summer squash. So it looks like I’ll be getting the dehydrator ready a little sooner than I figured. Everything else is starting to bloom so it won’t be long. I see some fruits on the winter squash and fancy pumpkins. The green beans, the peppers, the okra… the peas are putting on another go just in time for the 100+ summer heat. Off we go.

So now its back to everyday stuff and staying cool. It looks like the extreme heat is going to be fairly wide spread so I hope you can all manage to stay cool. Reasonably so at least! And spend your in-door time with your looms!

Hazel