Mischief in the Making

I'll bet you wonder who REALLY writes this blog. Well, I do, but in case I ever drop off the face of the earth. I have a sub. He may have figured out the Carolyn table loom too for all I know. Jack may not have a lot going for him in the beauty category, but he sure is one busy inquisitive pup. If the chair was closer he'd be giving the desk top the once over. While I was keeping the seat warm he was supposedly fast asleep in the blanket on the floor. 

On the weaving front, some progress was made on the saddle blankets. There is about 10 more inches of the single color to go before I get into the 3 color pattern to the end

of the first blanket.  I am slowly gearing up to put another curtain warp on the Murphy loom. I'm thinking natural 10/2 cotton with a small monks belt band in rose or, as I did previously, a canvas weave also with a band woven in. I have 20/2 here but I'm saving that to try a pillow case pattern I came across in an older Handwoven. It was shown in a feature for summer weaving projects. I was going through my older Handwoven's yesterday when I came to the much slammed pet issue one. Low and behold it did have one redeeming pattern, another saddle blanket draft which is quite pretty. I'll have to give it a go on the next round of them. Well, off to start that pesky cleaning.

I Want To Take You Higher

I am always enchanted with my drive up and back to the Greensprings except in the case of dire emergency. Then it's just a long white knuckle ride to get someone to the vet.

Yesterday I took my camera to record some of my drive up and back. The going down is hard, the corners are tighter and blinder and there are very few places to pull over safely next to the side of the mountain. The going up I just drove and held the camera!

37 years of New England winters did a fine job of preparing me for winter in the mountains but it never could have prepared me for the rugged and breathtaking beauty

of the Cascade-Siskiyou Mountains. Any time of year the ride is simply lovely. At night you feel like you are driving right to the stars. In the summer the raptors ride the thermals right up by your car on the drop off side. In spring you come down out of the sunlit mountains into the waiting clouds over the valley floor. There is always something of interest to see. The pines and firs give way to acres of oaks and many many woodpeckers of all types flit about. We also have some very cool Magpies. These pictures don't even begin to cover the 17 mile drive but it may give you at least a little taste of this unique part of Oregon. I have a hard time getting pictures into blogger well, so I will just upload them in order from valley to top and beyond the summit where we live nestled among peaks. If you look closely in some you can see the road cut into the side of the mountain and one was taken on the sunnier ride down. They can speak for themselves. I ran out memory in the camera before we reached the home stretch. Another day another blog.

Dead in the Driveway

Which is where my car sat yesterday. Oh, she started up just fine and then flung the

whole arm to her windshield wiper off. Drivers side of course. Coupled with a freezing rain sort of snow I decided yarn or no, I wasn't going to town. Gene did get out and fix

it for me, but by the time he was able to drop his work it wasn't worth going down the

mountain to run just half my errands and be back in time for feeding. 

Today we'll get all the errands done, grange for feed, parts store for a new hitch for the

trailer, yarn store, lunch with hubby, bookstore, liquor store and finish off at the 

market to be home by 2:30.

It wasn't a waste though, got some quality knitting time in on a sweater out of "A Fine Fleece", the October Frost cardigan. The yarn is Natures Palette Green Sheep Columbia Worsted in the Indian Paintbrush colorway. I love this

pattern and I love using this yarn. This is the second sweater I've made out of it but not of this pattern.

Your eyes are not deceiving you, one skein is from a different dye lot and I took it on purpose. I wanted ribbing, button bands, cuffs and collar the lighter shade.

The project on the Woolhouse Carolyn also got some much deserved attention. Another 4 inches was accomplished on her scarf warp. I so enjoyed spending time upstairs weaving under the skylight. The dogs all came up and sacked out on the bed

while I wove. I got up for another cup of coffee and when I returned Jack was sitting

in my chair contemplating the warp. I wish I had had the camera in hand instead of a coffee.  The picture of the scarf is at the beginning of the project. Hopefully, I will get it off the loom this month. 

When the Poodle Hits the Pond

I got the Murphy scarf warped, threaded, woven and finished yesterday. It was a very fast 10" wide scarf with about 80 ends total. I wanted to try a multicolored yarn as weft this time and some Curious Creek Fiber's mohair and silk boucle had been trying to grab me every time I walked by it.  Yesterday was the day to ball it up and let it do it's thing. Hence the title of this post. I have to say, I much prefer vertical striping and when I use this again (and I will use it again), I will do so in the warp. However, the scarf feels wonderful, nubby and soft all at the same time with that silk sheen coming through on the mohair loops.

This will go into the humane society heap of scarves. Gene loves it but feels it might be too girlie for him to wear, plus as he said, he would wreck it catching the loops on stuff. I've seen what he does to hand knits . I know this to be true.

Yesterday mid morning I ran out of yarn for the saddle blankets. I had forgotten how weft faced saddle blankets and wool rugs are and bought nowhere near enough of 

the dark natural brown. The nice gals at the Websters have tucked into their magic holding closet 8 more skeins of the same dye lot for me to pick up when I get to town.

I had some problems with the selvage and there is a big old skip there in the blanket

which I fixed by hand weaving the last of my yarn into. I broke a couple of teeth on my

temple. When they say to remember to loosen the warp some before placing, they mean it. I really should have a

metal temple for this project with heavier teeth instead

of the finer one I have. We'll limp along until another can be procured. Thankfully all fixes are under where the saddle goes and none would cause any chaffing problems for

the horse. I am enjoying the weaving itself and have a few horsey friends I would like to gift with a saddle blanket. I think the next go round I'll use a heavy twine that Harrisville makes for the warp. I'm not in love with the 8/5 linen at all even though it is traditional. I used this for a tapestry I started on Barbara while I was refurbishing her fabric frames. It is nice to use, strong as all get out and doesn't have that loose twist that I find so annoying with the linen. The beauty of making anything yourself is you get to have it your way!

Saddle Blanket Beginning

The warp got tied on and the shuttles all loaded and we began. I love this pattern using

the cream color as a solid, but the reality is horses are usually rather grubby unless

just washed and all horse owners know there is nothing that makes a horse want

to find that dust or mud to roll in more than a bath. Sweat also conspires to turn white to a permanently stained dingy beige. I'll be using the natural brown as a solid through the body of the blanket since it is covered by the saddle. The parts at the front and rear that show will get the fancy pattern. It has been challenging to keep 3 shuttles straight using a four treadle sequence but I think the results are well worth the slowness. I'm sure I'll get a bit faster. It's odd 

to have the Barbara loom only tied up on 4 treadles and 4 shafts.

It's always a reach for me using this loom and I have to be honest. I am not loving the commuter bench as much as I think I should. I may see if my Harrisville bench will adjust high enough to try with BV. There is always the phone book option!

I have another scarf warp ready to go on the Murphy loom and as I take a break from saddle blanket weaving I might get this warped on and start threading.

Winter arrived back last night with some sustained snow, looks

like about 4 inches out there this morning so far and it's still coming down. Gene has to trek over to the apartments in Shady Cove so it will be a quiet day around here. Oh, and I finally found a nice little used trailer to replace the one I sold. This one is a Thuro-bilt Spirit 2 horse slant load. Looks like spring will include some remedial trailer loading lessons for the guys. Boo and Imp have never been in a slant load and it's been 4 plus years since the older guys have had to negotiate a step up. I suspect Dandy and Nick will step right in, Cooper always needs a little more coaxing but even though small it is nice and open.

It's My Party and I'll Weave If I Want To

Around here, birthdays are extended from one day to become birthday week. The birthday appointee drives the bus all week so to speak. It's so hard to fit in all the stuff you may want to do that it takes the heat off everybody if it is extended to become a special week. Now, I'm at a severe disadvantage when it comes to BW (birthday week).

The beginning of March is not known for good weather. In fact, out of the last 7 years

the week before and the BW week itself has just plain sucked weather-wise and this year is no different. Sunday it was torrential rain, last night the weather gods brought pelleted snow and some ice. So Gene, bless his heart, is trying to come up with things to do.

I'm not a big go to the movies fan ( but I love Netflicks).  I think Hidalgo was the last one I went to see and only because it was about a horse,Viggo Mortensen is pretty easy on my eyes  and we're the same age! "How about Shasta City?" he says. Oh yeah, sure, lets go over the summit on I5 in the middle of a snow and ice event. Really, all I want to do is weave. Honest, I'm not letting you off the hook. Friday sounds nice for lunch and a browse around all the little Ashland shops I rarely get to.

On the weaving front, the heavy linen warp is on and ready for it's final tie to the front

apron. It is rather nasty stuff to work with. Stiff and hard on the hands. I let it rest overnight and today I'll tighten it up and do the final knot, using leather gloves no doubt.

I am happy to report that the heavy loop Texsolv has made a WORLD of difference in how I view tying up the Barbara V. I am only using 4 shafts and 4 treadles but the cord I precut and color coded went on like a charm. It will live there and eventually all I 'll

have to do is grab the correct tie (harness or lamm) for any given treadle/harness and slip it onto the treadle.

I also took my birthday booty gift certificate ( my big present is the gift of windows for our back porch) and ordered up 18 cones of Harrisville 

Shetland wool from Websters, enough for two big  blankets.

I have so been wanting to do double weave blankets and finally, enough yarn on order 

to get that project out of my head and onto paper planning. Harrisville has such a nice color range too it was hard to pick! I'm taking a mini double weave class on March 28th so hopefully I will have a good understanding of the whole process. To make my weaving world a little easier, my Dad, (who also weaves) gifted me with an electric bobbin winder. How cool is that! My mother, who is the queen of C's included cash, candy and clothes.

I'm going to start on the saddle blankets today, get my 3 shuttles loaded with yarn and do some sampling. I've never worked with 3 shuttles in rotation before. One thing is for sure, I'll spend the week immersed in the process, getting bobbins wound PDQ and nibbling on dark chocolates. A perfectly wonderful birthday week!

Dazzling Duo

With the few good days of mostly sunny weather, I made it out for some pictures

of the troublesome twosome. That would be Nick and Imp. These two always remind me of the Brownies of Scots lore. Helpful and brilliant at times and at others, just plain

mischievous. Nick is green broke under saddle and quite an enjoyable ride. I am not

quite convinced that he is convinced I run the show though. I raised this guy from a 

little weaner of 4 months old or so, and I can trace the good and bad right back to me.

He loves trail riding and if something should startle him, instead of being spooked he

will trot right towards the source. I haven't decided if this boldness is a good thing or a bad one. He does believe he is super man though and at this point in his training has little sense of self preservation on the trail. Partly because he is a young horse at 5

and partly because he has been walked, ponied and exposed to just about anything I could come up. Nick is a full Curly horse that does not exhibit any of the curls ( like a paint with no spots!) but he has proven hypo-allergenic just like curly coated ones. Gene thinks in his winter coat he would make a great set of car seats and sometimes,when he is being the quintessential teenager of a horse, I am inclined to agree.

The last of the horses is Imp and the name fits. We refer to him as Impish here and while supremely lazy when it comes to work as this one still will throw a bit of tantrum

when asked to work a little harder. At almost 3 I figured the little squeal and buck of protest ( sort of a horsey finger) would have subsided and it has in large part, but there are still flashes of it. He is smart and sweet though, a little stubborn but with another

year of ground work and growing up I think he is going to be a fine sensible mount.

At least I hope so! He'd make one heck of a berber rug though....he's curly from his eyelashes to his hooves

No More Grey Matter

Not a speck of grey remains on the master bedroom walls. The room has been lightened,

brightened and cleaned. The rest of our house is very tailored and I wanted something pastel, and soothing. The anti-grey in this case was soft petal pink. Without further ado, here are some pics of the freshened room.

The quilt on the bed is the very first one I ever made and the one

on the chest close to the last, a round art piece. I have two unfinished quilts that really deserve

to be completed. Both only need to be bound. The chest itself was built and painted by my grandfather many,many years ago.

Carolyn likes her new placement under the skylight. I've also included a couple of snaps of our funky bed art.