I got the edging finished & laid them out. It made a rather tiny rectangle so I decided to space them a bit more. I’ll go out to Le Shed and go through the bin of Rosy’s small skeins. I’m sure she spun somthing that will go with this. The problem will be to find a compatable wool, size, and yes, color. Sis didn’t often spin for a project. She spun because she enjoyed spinning. In fact, she enjoyed making yarn, often starting from skirting, washing, carding, & dying, and of course the spinning, but she like to experiment so finding yarns that go together can sometimes be a challenge. It turned out that for this layout I was one square short but I manasged to find enough useable bits to weave another square.
So this is where the ‘free time’ project is today.
I “reorganized” my yarn shed recently and found a ball of my hand spun wool in a box that the silverfish had gotten into. One of the few really fine yarns i’d managed to make. Most of my handspun tends to be bulky ‘art’ yarn so I was bummed to find this in bits. The bits were reasonably long so i wove on the 4″ Multi loom, joining as I went. Now I’m working around each square with some of Sis’s handspun. I’ve never done a slip stitch edge, but trying new stuff here. I’ll likely use a different yarn to assemble these. Don’t know now many i have but probably a smallish project. Katt may get a new chair pad. I’m going to toss it in the washer once assambled. There may be damage i didn’t find so figure a bit of felting could be a good thing. Maybe a time waster project, but it relaxes me not to have a Goal! It’s free time!
Meanwhile we are making looms, getting trips to fiber fairs set up. Things like reservations for the trailer, fees and classes, you know. And hoping we can afford diesel for those trips! And, of course, the garden.
We started “spring” with a warm spell which got me all excited to be sure I was not late late last year, so I planted peas and cabbage but also started tomatoes and peppers. Then it got cold and rainy, a couple times even snow. Them it would warm up for a few day befpre going back to rain and or frost- and a lot of wind this year. So needless to say, those tomato and pepper plants are reaching indoor limits! They are practically trees! We are going to have to plant them out today. He has covered cages for them but they are not likely to be happy. I’ve started a few more in hopes that they won’t out grow the pots before summer happens! When it comes to weather these days “You can’t win for losing” sure applies!
Hope you get time to both garden and weave. Both enjoyable…when they aren’t being stressful! lol
I thought it was. I mean we didn’t have much of a winter but it felt like spring and Nature seemed to be agreeing, but now the Weather Wizards are predicting snow. Yes, we need it, but Up There, please! I’m passed wanting it down here now. Already have garden seedlings growing, just give us regular rain showers this spring, Mother Nature, please. It’s a bit chilly in here today. Shall I make a fire and chance it getting too warm or just put on a heavier sweater and wait until evening? What worrying problems I have to deal with these days! Maybe I should just bake something, that would solve the problem, too.
Ah well, I think I’ll just ignore the whole thing and go oil a few looms. I’m sure he haas the shop nice and warm. We sent a weaver a special order last week. She wante a Bobinga fine sett loom. I couldn’t remember what that wood looked like. It turned out to be very beautiful. He said he only had a little bit left so we asked about whether it was still availaable when were were at Beavertooth Hardwoods in Medford. Yes, they did have some…$30 a board foot! Yikes! The wood for her order we probably bought 10 years ago. Can’t remember what we paid for it, but I can gaurentee it was way less than that. She got a deal on her lovely loom and no one else will be getting one as we decided not to restock it. No one seems to be buying special woods these days except for Tennessee Red Cedar, always favorite, one of my favorites.
I’ve ben weavung 12″ squares using soome of Rosy’s hand spun. I think it was the last she spun and dyed. She started a scarf with it but told me she didn’t like it and would find smething else to make with it. She didn’t have time to do that so I thought I would do it for her. It’ll be a baby blanket, I think. I’ve been using differnt lace patterns. They’re pretty and more interesting to weave than just plain weave.
So, did you march with the No Kings? I’m not a marcher but I agree we don’t want a king, or a dictator. Or a president who can’t seem to keep his promises. Can’t afford to fill my gas tank and when I did get to the grocery store… Wow! Even chicken, the cheap meat has gone up! How is that making things more afordable? Meanwhile, he can make a gold plated ball room where as I’m lucky to afford a tin foil lined cooky sheet! Bah. And he wants the Nobel Peace Prize while attacking other countires and starting wars all over! Bah. I’ll be 85 on Wednesday. Seen too many wars already. Can we survive another one? Can we stay safe over here while he starts wars over there? One day we won’t be so lucky. Bah.
But in case we do get another Spring I have seedlings waiting for the weather to warm up a bit. And my peas are sticking their little green noses above ground!
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!
It will be nice. I realize that I am an old person these days but I seem to have been chilly all the last month, no matter what the thermometer says. So I am thinking I probably won’t have too much trouble with summer heat. That would be a tiny bonus for being 0ld! But my yard says it’s spring no matter what the temperature!
Meantime, we are getting ready to leave for Washington in a week. It’s Fiber Fusion NW Up in Monroe. That will be a nice trip, it’s a lovely part of the USA, which has a lot of lovely parts! We’ll be weaving on Peg Looms with weavers there. The next event on our calendar is Black Sheep Gathering in Albany, OR. Then we have a bit of time, which I will likely spend with the garden and my canner! We finish off the traveling year with Lambtown in Dixon, CA and OFFF back in Albany again.
Just one of those stray thoughts that pop into my head as I am weaving. Just read that Buster Posy, our beloved Giants Catcher of yore, is now part owner of the Giants Team and at least partly in charge of running it. It just seemed to me that if that works for Buster and the Giants, then Harry Potter ought to be one of the professors at Hogwarts, maybe even Head Master!
Another stray thought (It’s how my brain works these days! It’s full of strays!) I was looking at all the really neat bags I have that came with products or as gifts. I have used a lot of them for project bags but, lets face it, there’s a limit! And I have way more bags than I’ll ever have uses for. I’ve tried giving them way but it seems other people also have too many. Which got me to thinking about the stuff we order. Yeah it’s kinda fun to get a package with your order wrapped up in a pretty bag or some really nice wrapping of some kind, maybe the kind you feel compelled to keep, but what do do with that?! So I try not to add to that clutter here at Hazel Rose Looms. (And this morning I see that Gabi is offering a free bag! lol) We use a lot of used boxes and I don’t “gift wrap” your order. If I think your special wood stands a chance of being damaged in transit I’ll wrap it some tissue. If you mentions it’s for a gift I will sometimes fancy it up a bit, Depends on what I have at hand mostly. All our packing material is recycled. People in this community know I ship and they bring me their bubble wrap and air bags. It saves us a lot of money that we don’t have to add to the price of the looms and people are happy not to have to toss those things into the land fill. I hope you find a place to donate them once you get them. Shops that sell glass art might take them, at least our local one does. Check around.
I had a group young teens come into the booth recently and they were taken with the toddler Ragtag top I had displayed and wished there was a pattern for bigger people. Yesterday I got out some sock yarn and the 4×6″ multi and wove a couple test pieces. I think it will work. I made an estimate chart, it’ll take quite a lot of pieces so may be a test of young patience and determination!
And deciding on a size for a teen is pretty much impossible. What size is an adult woman?! Yeah, all of them. Well, the estimate I laid out gives me a 30″ chest. It’s been a long time since I had a teen girl to make things for and I no longer remember what size she was. But a weaver can work with it to come up with the size they need. The test right now is: Will I get it made?
And I found this this morning! Three pretty peonies and one degerative and dying one. Spring is so pretty! And there’s apples on my Hyde King! It’s had a hard life but has made a nice come back after the alder fell on it. That’s exciting!
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!)
It’s still march. Silly of me. So what if it’s in the mid 70’s, sunshine, snow gone from the yard and garden, daffies coming up…it’s still March.
But now it’s raining on that lovely snow. Yeah, that’s spring! Mother Nature will give us a few more sunny days, probably at least one more snow, lots of rain (if we’re lucky) and then sometime in May it Will be Spring! And we can start garden again. Strange about garden. By October I am so tired of garden, I don’t want to ever see another green bean or red tomato but by the end of February I can hardly wait. In fact, I didn’t wait this year. I planted my tomato’s too soon. They are going to have to live in pots indoors much longer than they ought. I don’t know why I thought it was time. A little sunshine does not make a spring, I should know by my age! Oh well… I guess we’ll all survive. Here they are keeping company with some geranium starts, all leaning toward the door where a little dim light is sneaking though the clouds. Yeah, I have a grow light but they are now too big to fit under it.
We head to Great Basin Fiber Arts Festival in Farmington, Utah at the end of April so we’ve been busy making looms. He says he wants to have the whole years inventory ready since there is so little time between shows/fairs. I’m not quite keeping up with him! But I am printing books and getting my class stuff ready. That is I am when I can get the (impolite adjectives) printer and computer to cooperate! The HP printer just told me that the HP authentic ink cartridge I installed is not make for that brand of printer!. Not the first time, either. I bought these from Staples. They are made in Indonesia it says on the wrappings. They look right. Staples makes good but it’s very frustrating to have to send them back, and it’s always the last one in the drawer of course, so I am out of business until the new order arrives! Ah well, goes along with the way the rest of things are going these days. I hope we survive it. Mother Nature is going to try for whatever our government leaves us.
Speaking of which, DH & I had an interesting discussion this morning- with minimal shouting, too. His computer quit working so he’s had a lot of time with his books and has been mulling things over. It started with prehistoric Geology and ended with religion. We ranged far and wide. Did we agree? Well, on some points I guess. I tend to be a skeptic on both science and religion. He’s religious on science but also skeptical on religion. It’s a difficult subject. I was reared by Southern Baptist parents so find myself going both ways. His grandparents donated the property and lumber to build the local church but I think Grandmother was really the only believer in his family.
But on geology, he has done much more studying than I have, I just think it’s always a good idea to believe the latest theories but to keep in mind that they are theories and have always been subject to change. And yes, I do believe you need to have your children vaccinated, and yourself, too, if you have not! Some things have been proven.
But enough of serious subjects! I threw myself a surprise birthday party at Bunko last week week. March is my month to host. The 12 of us each supply dinner in our month. I have made corned beef and cabbage the last few years since it is near St Pat’s day but decided to go with something more springy this time. I was telling, last month, that I had made my first Quiche, but sloppily pronounced it Qweech. They were all having fun with that so I made ham & cheese Qweech for them this month! And for the dessert I made a cake with colored sprinkles in it and coconut on top and I added one candle. Our game is in the firehouse kitchen so I figured if I lit up 84 candles in the firehouse I’d chance being arrested for attempted arson! Anyway, they all joined the fun and sang Happy Birthday to me. Yeah, I know, my birthday is not until April one but close enough and I haven’t had a birthday cake since my baking friend moved to Washington. Himself will happily help me celebrate by disposing of the left overs but is very unlikely to bake! lol
Since then I have been working in the shop and weaving stuff for magazine and class projects. I’m halfway though PT for my bum shoulder. I think it’s helping. And the sun came out today so I did my walk! I’m sure that’s going to help, too. I have three days, I think, before it’s ‘scheduled’ to rain again! lol
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.
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!
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!
Hazel Rose 