Getting Back on Track but Cancer Strikes Our Family Again

Yes, it's sad... after just losing both our father and step father, cancer has again struck another family member.  As we go through this, with support and love for our family, we are asking for prayers and kind thoughts.  

Steve's family has also had too many family members suffer with this horrible disease, and has lost some of them too.  It has been a shocking time for Steve and I, and for the members of both of our families.

Mom is adjusting well to the loss of Lowell, and we are in contact multiple times a day via computer, chats, email and phone.  I am sure it's hard for her to get used to being alone, cooking for one, and filling her days with things to do.  She is doing well, organizing her craft stuff, and handling the rest of the details that need to be done when one loses your spouse.  I am so proud of her for stepping up and coping so well at age of 77.


On one bright note... we have something positive to look forward to!  Our oldest daughter and husband have announced the forthcoming new arrival!   Sometime in November we will be greeting our seventh grandchild!

Now, isn't he or she extremely handsome, beautiful,

educationally advanced and spectacular? 

*just like ALL of our grandchildren???*

Since our coming home from Florida a few weeks ago, we have been getting back on track at home.  With multiple obligations slated for Steve's work schedule and our family gatherings, we are trying to get the repairs completed on the motorhome too.  We need to fix the waterpump seal leak and replace the clips on the alternator.  Both projects require getting out on the ground underneath the motorhome to work on it.  The only problem is that the weather isn't cooperating!

FIVE times since we got home, we have woken up to ***S*N*O*W***~~~~  

The weatherman is promising warmer weather this week, and hopefully encouraging Spring to make it's appearance? After basking in the 80+ degree days in Florida a few weeks ago, this wet heavy icky frozen Wisconsin has been kinda hard to deal with.

My flowers are poking up their feeble leaves along the house on the south side.   I carefully covered all of the tulips, daffodils and crocus to shelter them for the first two snow storms because I knew in advance.  The last few snowfalls were more of a "surprise" so they didn't get covered.  I hope they all survive.


I have been working on customer's orders for rugs that I had put aside while we were gone.  Got a few orders completed and shipped out, and working on a few more.

My Newcomb Studio loom needed a front take up lever on the front beam  The loom had come to me without a take-up lever.  Until Steve could make me one, I had to either borrow the one from the other Newcomb or use a "strap wrench" for taking oil filters off cars!   Finally, he took off the other one, matched up the materials to make a new one, and installed it last night for me!!!!

 Back in business without having to swap levers from loom to loom just to weave.

Last weekend we had the opportunity to babysit for a couple grandtots.  It was so good to fill the house with childish laughter and squeals of delight.  We put the kiddos to work with projects and baking tasks and positive attention.  It was a great time....

Making Auntie Lois's banana bread recipe:

Grandpa Pfun attended Chelsea's Hair Salon

Grandpa also attended their medical clinic.... 

using our blood pressure monitor and oxygen sensor, 

they put Grandpa through a full medical checkup.  He passed. 

Any task we ask of them, at this age, they gladly join in and help. 

 They helped me work on this quilt, and also to finish up these rugs....

With the arrival of spring, we have a lot of projects in mind to get done around here. If the weather cooperates, we can perhaps start a few things this weekend.  

Tonight Steve is going to lead the orientation for the camphosts we have lined up for the park this season. I am cooking up a meal to serve out of crock pots to the group of volunteers before the meeting starts.  But then.....  I am going to "play hooky" on the meeting and head up to Green Bay.  Granddaughter Allegra is having her dance recital, and if you ask me, that is WAY more important.  

Finally - a Fiber Post! Weaving a Peacock Throw, and some rugs

Oh, my poor blog readers who love my fiber posts.  I have been sorely ignoring you!   Filling you up with posts of packing, moving, motorhome stuff and grandkids.  FINALLY I will do a post on a fiber project!

YAYYYYYYYY

I didn't post this one before because it was a gift, and the couple who received it read my blog (nephew Chris and his new wife Lyndsay).    So I saved the pics of the project until now.

They were married 2 weeks ago, and I finished up the throw in advance and mailed it to them in Pennsylvania.  They got married up in Michigan and would have had to haul it all the way back to Pennsylvania in the car.  I knew they would have more than enough to haul, so shipping it ahead of time to their home seemed to make the most sense.

This woven throw I named Peacock Throw because the theme for their wedding was peacock feathers and all the rich colors were part of their wedding.

I wove this up as the LAST item I wove on my big 60" wide LeClerc loom.  The warp yarns came from Chris's mom, my sister, Linda.  The weft was a thick bumpy boucle yarn from Lion Brand yarns.

It wove up very easy and once it was done, 

I washed it first gently in the machine 

and hung it out to dry.... 

Then I twisted the fringes with my small LeClerc fringe twister, so they all came out like little ropes.   I beefed up each knotted fringe first with extra boucle yarns so the "ropes" would be thicker than just from the warp yarns.

and soon it was done!!

Also, I recently wove off a few rugs from the Union loom before we tore it down for storage.   I really like these burgundy and grey wool rugs.  They are woven with thick wool blankets that were cut up and woven in plain 2 harness weave.  For the borders, I twist 2 half width pieces into "arrows".  What fun, but a little tricky to make the arrows come out evenly and pointing the right ways.  I liked doing them opposite, going one way and then the other. 

Here are some solid colored faded denim rugs I wove up for a customer, but she decided she wanted stripes instead?  So they are thin denim colored cotton fabric, not as thick as I normally do my rugs.  Great for fitting under opening door thresholds, or where a thin rug is desired.

This rug was woven in my Granny Patches technique,

using clasped wefts to make blocks of colors in the rug.

Amazingly, THIS Is my union loom, on the right pic it is all torn down (and each piece marked)   so I can reassemble it again when I want it up and running.  It's torn down with the warp intact from the back beam through the heddles on each harness, and through the reed. I can just set it up and continue weaving without having to beam on a warp, thread or sley the reed.  It can even be torn down while in the middle of weaving a rug if need be, and just let the front takeup beam be added to the same bundle and tied or taped carefully together.

 It's not too big of a pile... about 12 inches high and spread out a bit in this pic.  

Takes about 20 minutes to put it together.   But before I re-assemble it, I am going to replace the bolts and nuts and washers with new ones.  These were pretty rusty, and some were even bent.

We loaded it all easily into the back trunk of the Saturn car.  Just look at that! 

I am storing it for a while in our son's garage until I get more organized and get some stash depleted in the motorhome compartments.  I have to get a lot of these bins contents knitted up for socks for fall inventory.  Right now the loom pieces would fit on top of all these bins, but I think I would prefer to finish arranging and sorting before I load it up for full-timing.

I will get this figured out yet, I will... I will... I will! 

Fibery Day with Rugs and Socks and Yarn

I have been sorely neglecting my fibery blog readers here.... it's been SO busy around here with working on the house projects and 2 new grandsons and doing our open houses.  I heartfully apologize!  Thanks for hanging in there with me and waiting for something -anything- relating to fibery creations!

First of all, because of selling some of my looms, I had projects on them that had to get woven and cut off quick.   I didn't do much finishing of fringes until the other day, during our boring rainy Open House.

I started beefing up the fringed areas on these two rugs, so the fringes were colorful and thicker.  (the warp was natural white... not a good color to have as just all plain fringes on a colorful rug)

I beef up each section with doubled over strands of other colors to match the rug....  using a wide eyed needle.  Once the colors are added, I then tie the knot with one huge overhand which includes the original warp threads and the newly added colored threads.    So instead of all white fringes, they now blend in and match the header and the rug.

This woven rug is called a "3 end block weave" pattern, similar to double binding technique.  Here is the rug.. it's reversible and has the opposite pattern on the back side. I call it my "Ticked Denim" design, because the light areas are a heavy cream and blue striped mattress ticking, and the darker block blue sections are denim fabric.  I have done a number of these rugs, and am finally at the end of the fabric of mattress ticking.  It was a HUGE roll given to me by friends Norma and Jim Burkett of Beloit, WI.

The next set of fringes I worked on was for this rug... which is made with blocks of black/tan  and blocks of green/white.  Kinda wild, eh?  I added threads of green and black to the cream warp.

I also used this same fabric combination in a plain weave striped rug.  

They would make a cool pair! 

The above rugs were all cut off the bigger Newcomb Studio loom, right before I sold it to Ellen Houseward from Illinois.  When she bought the loom, she also got the rest of the warp that was wound on there, so I am hoping to see some pics soon of more rugs she made on that lovely loom!  

Speaking of Ellen, she sent ME a box this week.  Oh me oh my, it was like Christmas in May!  The box was chock full of sock yarns that she said would never get around to using!   Some were custom dyed and others were fancy commercial brands I can never, ever afford to buy.  It's hard to make a pair of $20 socks for sale when the yarn costs $15.99 a skein!  

I already started cranking some last night and got a pair of socks done and another pair underway.  See the pretty socks on the right side?  ooooooohh laaa laaaah!

 THANK YOU, ELLEN!!!!

A few weeks ago, I had cut off my last two Birch Tree Rugs from the Union loom before Rosie took the loom out the door and back to Missouri with her.  I finally got around to hemming the ends up.  Instead of tying knots, on these two rugs I did a hemmed edge. 

These Birch Tree Rugs take a while to make. 

 They are recycling at it's finest!  

Commercially-made factory socks leave behind a loop of knit material when the toes are stitched and the excess is cut free.  These loops normally end up in landfills!   But--- smart weavers soon learned we could loop them together to make very interesting thick and thirsty rugs!  My good weaving buddy Barb Barnett sells them by the pound. She hauls huge bales from the factory over to her NE Iowa Weaving Loom Museum in Plainfield, Iowa. She then bags them up and sells them via mail to weavers around the country.  Here is her website:

http://www.barnettsheepwool.com/

It's a messy process to prepare these loopers, so I chain them up outside.  I prefer the double loop thickness like in the photos, but some weavers like the single looping chain, making for a thinner rug.  I set the loom at 8epi and weave them up in no time flat.  The prep work takes the longest.



One of the last blankets I cut off the big LeClerc Nilart loom, before it went to it's new home with Lisa, is finally getting it's fringes twisted.  I am also "beefing up" the warp threads with another piece of the bumpy boucle yarn doubled over in the header area.  The photo of the basket shows the fringes on the left are already twisted, but the bottom tassels below the knots are not trimmed yet. I will do those after washing.

When I say "twisting fringes" I use this little device, made by LeClerc.  

• Clamp on the sections of yarns, 
• twist them up in one direction,  
• knot the end,  
• let it twist back onto itself like a little rope! 

Okay, this blog is long enough.  Time here to get off the computer.  Today is bill paying day, then finish up these socks and clean up the livingroom.  I am trying to keep the house "show worthy" in case we get more calls for private showings.  

This afternoon I am going to help my friend Rosie with her GoDaddy website.  We both changed over from the Office Live program for our websites to have GoDaddy host us instead.   We will work toegether over the phone and finish up all the business parts of changing over the domain and starting the new site on her nameserver.  

Here is mine I got up and running already

(just started it, I need to add more fiber stuff)  ....  

www.kareninthewoods.com     

I have our house for sale on the first page for now.  But I will add more of my rugs, socks, and other fibery things.   I have the About Me page done, and will hope to get it up and running with all of my things soon. 

I also sell my items on Etsy:  

http://kareninthewoods.etsy.com/

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What's been going on in my loom room this week....

Thought I would take a bit of time to write about what I have been working on....   down in my Loom Room Studio, located in the lower walk-out level of my home. 

My studio is filled with three large rug looms, a wide blanket loom, various table looms,  and lots and lots of colorful cones of yarn!   I look out the two sets of bright patio doors,  and gaze upon the woods and the river for inspiration---- (THE FOLLOWING PORTION IS NOT A COMMERCIAL, BUT JUST TO LET MY  BLOG READERS SEE WHAT KIND OF STUFF I DO EACH DAY....)

Scandinavian Block Weave Rug- 

I have threaded up one loom in a block weave pattern for some interesting cotton runner rugs.
It's a fun pattern and being a block weave type rug, it's thicker than a normal plain weave rag rug. 

I did a couple in greens and creams.....  and now I am working on one in denim blues and cream striped ticking fabric.

Neon Lights at Night Rugs-

I whipped up three of these rugs with a new design from my studio.  It's a traditional rag rug, but with a little ZING with the colors! 

This is a very interesting rug with new heavy black rustic fabric, slightly fringey and stringey for a dramatic texture.  Then for the "zing" it is woven with inserts of colorful neon knit pieces that are from factory surplus materials.  This keeps a pile of factory textiles from cluttering up the landfills! 

The colorful alternation warp colors peek through the rows of rug fabric,  creating an image of neon lights twinkling in the dark. here is another messy project I am working on....  sock loopers!~   They are also factory waste from commecial sock factories.   Weavers buy it before it gets tossed in some landfill,  and use it to make the most thick lovely textured rugs! It is messy, so I chain together the loops while sitting out on the deck.   Last night, I got two bins full made into chains, enough for 1 big rugs.  After I do a batch of these rugs, I bring in the shop vac to clean up after myself!

 Once chained together, I wind them on long stick shuttles and weave them up into rugs on the loom. 

I call them my Birch Tree Rugs, because they look like the texture of the birch bark on the trees that grow in our area of the Northwoods of Wisconsin.

What is BLACK AND WHITE AND RED ALL OVER???

Answer that age old riddle with this lovely textured set of rugs! 

Basic colors of Black and White and Red All Over  are found in this textured rug with a random striping design.  These fringey style rugs are created from thick cotton/wool/acrylic factory surplus,  This is Recycling at it's Finest!   After factories create upholstery material, they cut  this fringey product off the ends of the rolls and discard it.  Weavers have learned  that purchasing this clean surplus fiber, we can turn it into something productive!

The sock machine is always a-crankin' something --these socks are from some custom hand-dyed yarn that a friend Ellen created and sent to me. 

Next up on the Project List..... I am getting ready to rewarp my table loom for a batch of dishtowels.   This is what I do to get the cotton yarn from one large cone, into 18 smaller spools.   I use a power drill and a tapered paintbrush handle.  Easy Peasy! Now I am able to wind them all on in each 1 inch section on the back of my table loom.   Sure beats winding long long chains on a warping reel.

There is always something being planned, cut, woven or finished  in my Loom RoomAnd when I am not in the Loom Room, I am in my chair either spinning, knitting or working on my website and blog! 
a quick PS note...  My fiberholic fun will follow me.  One loom comes apart in 20 minutes to a pile of boards that stow in the basement of the motorhome.  I also have a portable table loom that rides inside the motorhome, an upright castle spinning wheel that stows in the closet of the motorhome and my sock machine packs away into a tool box and stand folds up flat for storage.