Tag Archive | loom

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

My 2nd for the WAL

Mar3

I finally finished her blue dress and the jacket. I’m not sure the blues are a perfect fit but i am quite happy with both. I especially like the jacket. I used some yarn by Universal yarn company called Uptown worsted. It is 100% acrylic and wonderfully soft but still holds stitch definition well and is just nice to work with. I turned the neckline out on this jacket to give it a bit of faux collar. I’m not sure about the sleeve length, I may go back and work a little edging to make them a bit longer.

   

 

Some Weavers have ask about the SweetHeart blanket Heart Valentine Block.  That is basically a woven design that you can put together into a blanket

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This is mine.

This one was made by Penny Tennerman and given me by her daughter.

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Progress…

Mar1

I redid my seams so she now has sleeves. This is only pinned together as you can likely see but I am making progress. I do think I like the vertical alignment of the floats better but not enough to disassemble the whole thing!

 

While rummaging in my loom basket, I also found the 1×6 Randy made for me some time ago. Just for fun I used it to weave her headband and I really like it for that! It’s needs two plus the few rows of garter stitch. I did this blue on in plain weave as it seems a bit flimsy with the pattern stitch, but I did a 2nd using some Red Heat worsted, it was tight weaving but I did the pattern stitch with that, giving it a bit of ease, and it worked fine that way.

So I am happy to see some of you are making progress, too. I did get a head start of you all so ought to finish first, tho I can see that’s going to be close, too! lol

I’m deciding what I am going to offer as a bonus pattern to finishers.

WAL 2023

Feb21

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.

More Clothing…

Dec15

Weavers have asked for more so here’s another. This was the first pull over that worked really well. It was back in the Olden Days, when I was spinning my own yarn. This was the first whole Jacob fleece I bought and spun up. I used the colors as they came. I’m not sure what became of it, I wasn’t able to find it this morning to take new photo so this is kind of fuzzy. I used the 7″ Quilt Weaver square, we were only making two sizes of looms back them the 7 & the 12″. You can see that the sleeves are a bit odd. If I make this one again I’ll use the sewing machine and modify the sleeve where I drew the red line on the chart. I was scared of cut and sew back then, too, I guess! But it’s a easy one to make and you can use any nice yarn. You can also use cut and sew to modify the neckline if you wanted a different one.

Another WAL project.

Dec9

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

Dec5

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.

Lazy Summer Log Cabin Picnic Blanket

Apr24

I made a video showing how to weave the log cabin. I demonstrated it on the Tiny Weaver square as it’s the one that I can get in the whole view, but it starts exactly the same on the bigger looms, there are just more repeats on those. I also did not notice that the orientation would be slantwise to the camera but I think it is still pretty plain. I will try to remember that in the future.

So now we see if my new internet is fast enough to load this little video.