Summer Weaving

With a summer art festival coming up quickly - July 30 - I am busy weaving some fun, bright cotton products.  I don't have finished photos yet - all are waiting for the sewing process.  Here are some pictures of the projects in progress.

 A table runner on the rigid heddle loom - this one striped, a second one done in a plaid pattern.

An experiment - all went well, except for a mistake in my weaving :)

Ohio State Entry - Huck Lace Scarf

!00% Cotton Table runner and placemat set for the festival

The Art Festival is in Fremont, IN at the Old Mill Shoppesjust down the road from Clear Lake - should be fun.

Here is my new weaving helper:

Butthead is "helping" me warp the 42" loom in the fiber room.

Weaving is hard work!  Time for a nap!

On the Loom. . .. .

After a long day of house cleaning yesterday ... I decided to sit down at the rigid heddle loom and weave off the item that has been on in it for longer than I care to determine!  It started as a demo project at McFarland's Llama Farm Fall Festival . .. .a couple years ago. . it was a cotton warp with a handspun llama weft. .. something easy.  It was to be fabric for purses. .. . well.. . needless to say, since it's been on the loom for so long, it held very little interest for me.

So, I decided that rather than waste the warp. .. I would cut some warp threads from one side, make the piece a bit narrower, change to weavng with navy cotton rather than llama . . .and make it a table runner. .. I started weaving late last night . .and had 15" done by the time I went to bed.  (That's probably longer than the llama part that I did originally). 

Here is a picture of the table runner in progress:

I will post finished pictures as soon as it is off the loom and the fringe is twisted.

Stalking MY Chickens. . ..

Really, truly . .. . .my chickens are thinking I am crazy!  I sold all of our eggs, right down to the ones in my basket that I collected yesterday. . .. then I decided to make a pan of brownies for the holiday weekend festivities. . ... .BROWINES TAKE EGGS. .. . Duh! . . .. So, I did manage to get three eggs - but I had to stalk the chickens all morning to get them. .. two eggs for brownies. . yea!

Have a safe and happy Fourth of July Holiday Weekend!

Holiday Weekend on the Farm

It's time to get the farm ready for the Holiday weekend.  The farm gets lots of visitors during a holiday weekend - usually during nice weather.  Typically, it's friends and family coming to visit.

This July 4th weekend is to be very hot - so I'll spend tomorrow and part of Friday making sure everyone is ready for the vistors and heat.

Tonight is "bunny cage maintenance" night - all the bunnies will come out of their cages, their cages will be scrubbed and put back together.  Then the bunny barn area of the barn will have to be cleaned - similar to cleaning a llama stall.  The bunnies will be extremely happy when it is done.

Tomorrow will be a bucket washing, topping off all the various food containers and a little bit of barn clean up.  Then over to mom's to finish my mowing and take the weed eater in to be fixed.

I AM WEAVING!

For those of you who know me. .. . .this title seems a little funny . . . you're thinking. .. "Of course, you're weaving" . .. .well actually I seemed to have taken many months off from weaving - not really sure why . . .then I was poking around on etsy.com and ran across a store with the most beautiful woven scarves - talk about inspiration. ... these are beautiful!  Then to find out they are woven using 16/2 bamboo yarn. .. . for those of you that are thinking "16/2" .. what the heck . .. this refers to the size of thread. . I say "thread" because this is about the size of heavy sewing thread. .. .there are 60 ends in every inch. . .. this is very fine weaving. 

If you would like to see the scarves that popped me back into weaving mode. .. go to http://www.loomonthelake.etsy.com/ or http://www.loomonthelake.com/. . ... Lynn's weaving is inspiring!

As for my current weaving . . .I finished warping some chenille scarves and just need to tie the fringe and wet finish them. .. .here is a picture on the loom. . ..these are woven at just 12 epi and go quickly.  

The colors are a bit washed out in the picture, it is a chocolate brown, a chestnut brown and an olive green with a nice sheen. 

Once I have them wet finished, I will post a better picture.

So, what's next on the loom .. . .. well. . .many, many projects are fighting to be next. .. more chenille scarves? A chenille/llama scarf?  A chenille/novelty yarn window pane scarf?  Or, a cotton scarf inspired by Loom on the Lake. .. .   Maybe some dishtowels - lord knows I have enough cotton to make one for everyone I know! 

Debbie and I did go through my coned cotton stash and pick out the beautiful "jewel tones" shown below. .. that might be next . .....check back to see. . ...

Happy Weaving!

Focus on Fiber - Sauder Village

We will be participating in the Focus on Fiber day at Sauder Village in Archbold on Saturday, June 25th.  The focus on fiber brings in many, many fiber artists who will be demonstrating all day - knitting, spinning, weaving, crocheting, natural fiber dyeing, kumihimo braiding . .. and as an added attaction - there will be vendors this year. 

Of course, the village is open and all the buildings are fun to visit.  Bring your family and come visit Sauder Village during the focus on fiber.  The event is from 10am - 5pm.

See you at Sauder!

Little Chicken Littles!

I've always called our chickens by the nickname "Chicken Little" . .. .so when we got some new chicks. . .. they needed a name. . so until they grow up . . .or maybe forever, their nickname is "little chicken littles".  The new chicks started out in the chicken coop in a big water tub . . just like you see at the farm store.    that lasted quite a while. .. when it was time for them to move to a bigger space. .. my original plan did not work. . so I moved them to the "old chicken coop"  aka  "bunny barn"  aka my soon to be fiber dyeing shed. .. . anyway. . .this past week they began coming out into a little pasture to start exploring the great outdoors. 

It did not take long for them to figure out how to jump the fence and wander around the back yard.  So, now their gate is open and they are beginning to mingle with the big "chicken littles". .. this should introduce them and then plan will be for the little chicken littles to migrate to the big chicken littles chicken coop and all live together. .. . this will make chores easier. .  .nature will take it's course and they will slowly move to the big coop!

The new chicks are Barred Rocks (black w/white speckles) and a couple aracanas - the "easter egg" chickens - they lay eggs with green, pink or blue shells. .. the colored eggs are really pretty!

Barn Cleaning Vacation!

So, to most, a barn cleaning vacation sounds like a crazy thing to do!  However, I have been on vacation most of this past week and barn cleaning was one huge task that I accomplished.  Just like house cleaning - barn cleaning has to be done. .. maintenance and spring and fall cleaning. .. .it can be very satisfying work!  Here is a picture of the boys, and the chickens, enjoying the clean barn. . .


Who let the chicken in the llama barn?



More chickens in the llama barn

My barn cleaning was made a bit easier by what most would think is "just a tractor" . .to me it's a great big pooper scooper!

I'll post more fun "vacation" pics this week . . .stay tuned. . .. . Have a great week!

Relaxing, Productive weekend

Seems like a funny title . . .relaxing AND productive. . .. .something just seems to not fit. . but . . my weekend was quite relaxing and very productive.  I started wayyyy too early on Saturday morning - spun some of the gray llama/angora blend - then headed outside to clean part of the llama barn.  The chickens have made a complete disaster.  It was hard work, but I got it done.  Got the tractor stuck atleast three times!

Hay was delivered to make the llamas happy!  Then I headed off to the mill to pick up my processed wool and then to the lake to check on the cottage.  All was well at the cottage.  Then home for a night of spinning and nascar. ..well, I could have done w/o the nascar - but it was on the tv.

Then Sunday, I dyed a bunch of alpaca yarn, helped Jeff split wood and read a book.  Great book - The Choice by Nicholas Sparks - will have to look for some more books by this author.

Here are some yarn pics from my productive day . . the rest of the yarn is still baking. :)

Bright, solids :)

Ready to Rinse

Dry, ready for sale

I crocheted!

This is quite a statement for a confirmed knitting addict.  Anyone who knows me, knows I ALWAYS have my knitting. .. well since I really like the crochet flowers. .. thought I would try knitting these chicks from a pattern from Rebecca at S Type Creative.  But you have to crochet the comb, tail and beak. . .I did it! ! !