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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Sunday Rainy Open House Day - and a motorhome for sale!

It was a dreary icky wet yucky day.....  

The Open House was a bust, and we sat here with our soft music playing, while watching the rain come down.  I tied fringes on some rugs, and started a twisted fringe on a blanket.  That was about it.

At 4pm Steveio left in our Tracker to take down our signs, and I started some ribs in the pressure cooker and sweet corn on the grill for supper.  We grilled in the garage door opening and under the overhang.  The rain and dark and dampness just didn't bring out any homebuyers, that is for sure.  

Until.... as I was cooking, a car drove up slowly.  The passengers were looking at the house through the raindrops!   They backed up and looked some more as I was putting on my shoes to go out and wave em on in!   But.... by the time I got outside, they must have decided to not intrude.  I had seen someone writing something down on a piece of paper, what I imagine is our phone number from the sign.  So maybe they will call now for a private showing.

We do have two other private showings scheduled in the next two weeks ...

Wish us luck!



Oh....  some good RVing friends of ours from California are selling their Winnebago Warrior Toyota Motorhome.  If anyone is interested, or you know someone, please pass this on?


"We are selling our beloved toy if you know anyone interested. As we have aged we need more amenities and space. I loved this little rig and it is good to go. We have cleaned it up this week end. Located in Pinole, CA.
Contact lgclark@gmail.com if interested.
We are asking $8,900 which everyone at the recent rally thought was very fair.
It's a 1989 20ft. Winnebago Warrior Toyota 3.OL V6 81,5000 miles. Gets 12-15 mpg
Complete engine rebuild at 58,500 miles
Complete tune up with new hoses, belts, radiator, front brakes and timing belt at 73,800 miles.


Features:
Kohler 2500 watt generator - noisy :-) 
Coleman 7100 BTU air conditioner/heater
Solar panels-150 wattts with monitor
Extend -a-stay propane system
Oversized refrigerator
Oversized dining table
Double sink
Four burner stove
Microwave oven
AGM 12V coach battery"


Photos can be seen:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lgclark/1989ToyotaWinnebagoWarrior

1989 Toyota Winnebago Warrior

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More painting on a gorgeous spring day

Ahhh more thunderstorms rolled on through during the night, but this morning dawned fresh and clean and sunny!  Blue skies and no clouds----  what a great day to wind up the week.

We have Open Houses scheduled for both Saturday and Sunday again...  today I will do our last spit lick and polish on the house and head on out to sleep in the motorhome for the weekend.  It's kinda fun to live out there, even if it's in the driveway.  Our neighbor again offered to let us park it over in his yard during the open houses.  He will be gone, so it's no problem for us to drive it and our cars over there.

We had some nice folks come through on last Saturday and Sunday, some serious lookers, some were just "lookee-loo's".  Hope this weekend will be just as busy.   We also added our home advertisement to the Green Bay paper and they automatically add it to the HomeFinders web page for more exposure:

http://www.homefinder.com/WI/Oconto/85872749d_3985_N_River_Rd

(anyone wanna buy a house?) 

My painting finger was still itchy... today was spray can paint day!

I have this adorable little doggie planter I got a number of years ago from my darling mother-in-law as a gift.  It has gotten a bit rusty and worn over the years, and needed some holes patched with JB Weld (wonderful stuff!)  Then once that dried, I bought a can of this wonderful speckle stone paint to give him a new look.   I had used this same type of spray paint on the light fixtures in our livingroom and it's a very good product.  The textured paint hides any imperfections or discolorations, and gives it a fresh new look.

I popped out the big round gem stone eyes, which I can glue them back in later.  I gave him two coats and he sure came our PURRTYY!

I think I am going to plant some African Violets in him this time, so I can take him in and out of the motorhome.  Violets don't grow fast, and the blooms last a long time.  This is the one planter we are going to take along in the rig with us when we go full time.


The next items to fall victim to my spray can are the two Maxxair vent covers for the motorhome. I had originally painted them to match our rig but didn't use the good plastic type paint meant for them.  They had flaked some, and Steve took them off the last time he was on the roof so I could give them a new coat (Steve hates painting)   I used Krylon brand Fusion spray paint.  Two good coats and now they are drying.  When Steve gets home he can put them back on, as I am a tad bit chicken to go up on the ladder with nobody home to call 911 if I fall off!

There are many reason to use a Maxxair vent on an RV, whether it's a motorhome, travel trailer or fifthwheel.   When it's raining, of course, it means you can still keep your roof vents open for fresh air without getting rain inside.  Okay... that is the obvious one and makes sense.

But, if you are an RVer, how many times were you AWAY from your rig, touring the sights or gone out to eat.  Suddenly it starts to rain, and you have the complete panic mode of wondering if you shut the roof vents or not?  Was rain pouring in on your couch, your bed, your bathroom, your carpeting?   If you had the Maxxair covers, you wouldn't have to worry about that.

Another reason is snow....   the weight of snow on the thin vent covers can crack them, especially if they are more brittle after a few years of UV exposure.   I can not imagine the horror of coming out to your rig after a winter's worth of snow was dripping inside, making a mound of snowy ice on the floors and furniture, and melting as the temps warm up.  Again, if you had the Maxxair covers that would not be such a worry.

Our friends Jim and Dee of http://tumbleweed-jimdee.blogspot.com/  just bought Maxxair covers for their fiver.  They had suffered a broken vent cover in a horrible hail storm last week!   So now when they went to the RV dealer to buy a new vent cover lid, they also bought a Maxxair cover to go over it for added protection.  Guess that's another reason for the Maxxair I never thought of!  Hail protection.  

Hmmm  I know that sounds like a commercial, but believe me, I have no connection to the company, just a satisfied customer!

They normally come in white or black or smoke colors.  No blue.  That is why we painted ours, as I think it looks nice to have them blue to kinda match with the painted air conditioners on our roof. The Krylon paint color was close enough of a match to make it look "spiffy" dontcha think?

As an added note,  please consider logging onto this link and voting for my RV friends Ruth and Kevin.

http://aussieexperiences.com/contest/entry/red-centre-kevin-read/

They stand a good chance of winning this trip to Australia.  You don't have to register or give any personal information.  Just click the link and hit the vote button once a day.  The contest ends June 7th, so if you want to, put this link on your desktop and vote every day!  Thanks!!!!

Their RV blog is here: http://www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

Motorhome Modifications - PAINTING DOOR FRAME and PROP POLE

Since I have all of the painting and touch-ups done around the house, my paint brushing hand was still a little itchy...   I usually give our motorhome steps a coat of black rustoleum paint every year, and again this spring, they needed a touch-up.     It was a gorgeous day after the thunderstorms moved on through, so I got out my can of paint and my little brush and went at it.

Steve had removed the icky fake indoor/outdoor carpeting on our steps a few years back, and installed two nice polished aluminum stair tread/bull nose pieces for traction on the stairs.  It matches with the aluminum lower portions of our motorhome and works very well.  But the black portions do need the touch-up.

Once I got the steps done, I was looking at how horribly marked up and grubby looking the cream paint was around the edge of the screen door.  Especially near the handle where we are always grabbing or pushing the door shut. 

Well, if the main door can have a strip of black around it, why can't the screen door???   So I cleaned the surface well and let it dry in the sun, and went to work on painting the frame of  the screen door! 

I carefully painted around the edges, here I am partially done....   I wanted the worst portion to adhere well, so I scrubbed it twice and was letting it dry while I painted around the other edges first. 

And here is the door all done!   See the frame around the edge of the inside of the main door?  So I think it kinda matches.  I didn't paint any of the cross pieces as many of them are plastic and didn't want the problem of peeling paint. (we got the stained glass insert in the big door when we were in Mexico last year)   Ahhhhh there, all done!  Steps and door.

On many of the Safari motorhomes, they had a goofy door latch that was kinda a sideways pull lever instead of the normal push down lever on most RV screen doors.  We decided to take that off a few years ago, and we just put in a roller catch for cabinetry instead.  The Steve added an angled piece of aluminum as a door pull.   Now we can just pull the door open or push it closed and the roller catch will latch it lightly.  It makes it much easier for going in and out, especially with trays of food or dishes when we cook outdoors.  We do that most of the time!

But..... every once in a while, this can be a problem with sassy doggers who know they can push on the screen door with their noses!  POP and it's wide open!   They only do this if we are sitting outside eating, and they want to come out too.  heh heh

So from the inside, we added this half-butterfly that is used for attaching screens or storm windows on a house.  From the inside we can turn it to keep the door from popping open by doggers' noses, or even from the outside we can reach in through the slider and turn it open or locked.

(roller catch on halfway painted door)                                 (the half butterfly catch)

See?

 




The other thing I finally got around to taking pictures of is our "prop pole" for when we work on the diesel engine.  Our motorhome has a king sized bed, and a very heavy household mattress.  This makes the bed very hard to lift and keep up in the air when working under it.  The little struts that hold up a normal RV bed and lightweight RV mattress just don't cut it on our bed.

Steve found this pole... it's called a cargo retainer pole and used for keeping items from sliding around in the back of trucks or cargo vans. It is very heavy pipe, adjustable, and has swiveling ends with rubber gripper surfaces.   He got it at Harbor Freight for about $15 or so?  We both lift the bed together, then Steve sets the pole into place with one rubber grip pad on the engine and the other grip pad on an angle under the lip edge of the bed.

 Now we are able to reach in underneath the bed to do our service and check things as needed.

He is even able to crawl right inside the engine compartment and reach stuff without having to shimmy in underneath the rig.  Engine access can sometimes be a problem with diesel pushers.  Many diesel truck companies don't even want to work on them because of the difficult positions of the bed, slide mechanisms and engine placement.  I was just reading on a fellow blogger's post about how the workmen had to cut into the actual floor/step area to make an access hole to get to a certain part of their engine.  Then they hinged the cutout piece so it could return to it's previous position.   I am glad we have full access, this is much easier!

We are almost done with our spring maintenance on our rig.... in the last few weeks we have:

• changed transmission fluid and filters
• changed the oil and filter
• changed the 2 fuel filters
• changed the radiator fluid over to long life antifreeze after a good flushing
• changed all the brake fluid and bled the brakes
• lubed the chassis and checked the hub oil in the front wheels
• installed another solar panel on the roof (now 500 watts up there)
• changed oil and filter in the generator and a new muffler for it
• new air filter on engine
• soldered back on a tab on the alternator that broke off, bought a spare alternator just in case

The last thing we need to do yet is double check all of our caulking along the three metal strips that run horizontally along the body of the aluminum sides of the rig, as it deteriorates over time and needs to be fill with a thin bead of a special caulk made for the UV rays that blast on the exterior. 

Whew... and who says the RV Life is easy and care-free living??????

Horrible thunderstorms and large amounts of rain to the south of us last night. They are showing flooding in the southern portions of the Fox River Valley around Lake Winnebago.  We are good up here in our northern area, but hope the sun comes out soon. 

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Toad Wiring - Open House Sunday - and Grandtots!

After a restful Saturday night in our motorhome in the driveway (so we didn't mess up the house for Sunday)  we woke up to a warm and wonderful sunny spring day!

While I was sprucing up  a few last minute things on the house on Sunday morning, that Busy Busy Zoom Zoom Steveio got to work on the wiring of the Tracker.  For those readers new to this blog, last February we bought a different Tracker to tow behind our motorhome.  Of course, that means mounting a baseplate and re-wiring the lights.  He did the baseplate last month, but the wiring remained as a task to take care of.

Plugging a line into a connector from the motorhome, this wire setup will allow the Tracker's taillights, brakelights, and signal lights to operate along with the motorhome's own lights.  No need for an extra "light bar" or "suction cup lights" you see on some toads.  (towed vehicles behind a motorhome are called "toads")   It takes more trouble to wire them up this way, but less hassle to hook up lights when we are travelling.

Towing a vehicle behind a motorhome is a very serious endeavor.  One needs to carefully inspect and have all the proper equipment in working order, or risk having a loose vehicle flying down the highway, uncontrollably destroying everyone behind you!


Mel, a fellow RVer and poster on our SafariCoaches List mentioned:
" NEVER TALK TO ANYONE while they, (or you), are DUMPING tanks or HOOKING-UP a toad!----
IMO that can not be mentioned too often, (or emphasized strongly enough)!
Mel
'96 Sahara"


I totally agree!   So I responded with this checklist:


Yup... interruptions can be a very costly or dangerous mistake to make while hooking up

(and messy if interrupted during a tank dumping) 

As a couple, we doublecheck each other's "jobs" when toading our Tracker.... 

Steve has 4 things to do while hooking up:

1. attach the arms of the towbar
2. attach the power cord plug
3. attach the safety cables
4. put on the padlocks on the pins

and I have 4 things to do inside the Tracker when hooking up

1. shift Tracker into 2nd gear
2. shift transaxle into neutral
3. turn key to "on"
4. tie a white rag to top center of steering wheel while checking that it is freely moving-- so we can see the white rag in our rear view camera.  Then with a glance in the camera, we know the tires are tracking correctly and not cocked sideways after turning a corner. 

-- then he goes inside and runs the motorhome signal lights through "left turn, right turn, tail, brake"  while I stand behind  the rig with the hand held CB telling him each one is okay

---- and then he pulls forward while I walk alongside for a short distance.  I am watching to the be sure all tires are rolling and the two little flip levers on the tow bars flip up.

Then, and finally then, he lets me inside... where I lock the door and make sure the steps are up on the motorhome as we take off on another adventure! 

For the non-RVers reading this, you can now see all the steps that we go through to have that extra vehicle nonchalantly following us as we go by on the highway.


Sunday morning flew by fast.  Once it got close to noon, it was time for our Open House!   The signs went up on both corners of our road, and one in front of the house.  We pulled the motorhome and car over to our neighbor's house and parked in his driveway.  Not only does it make our driveway look bigger when empty, but also prevents anyone accidentally backing into our motorhome or letting their car doors scrape the sides.

I had planted some lovely red geraniums in a pot by the entrance... and added baskets of flowers in between the newly arriving sprigs of hostas and sedum plants in my flowerbed alongside the garage.  We are still having frost at night, sometimes temps down in the mid-20's, so I can easily take the pots back up out of the ground and set them in the garage overnight.

I even put one planter out on the deck railing out in the back, and put the canopy up on the gazebo.  I had added a new coat of stain during the week to the deck boards, so all things were in ship shape for the Open House! Let em roll on it and fall in love with our home!

We had five more couples go through the house, and I would guess two couples would be considered good interested buyers.  We also had two long-distance inquiries who will be travelling to this area in 2 weeks to view the home in person. We won't say anything more till we see something on paper, or else we will jinx ourselves!~


Monday morning was up and at em.  Our oldest daughter Erin had a dental appointment in Green Bay, and arranged for little Chelsea, age 2, to have her first dentist visit for a checkup.  Hauling along a 3 week old baby is kinda difficult while trying to convince a toddler that dental visits are a good thing.... so Granmuddah to the Rescue!  I came along to help wrangle the kids in case Erin's appointment went longer and overlapped with Chelsea's appointment.  It didn't and things went smoothly.  She even let them apply flouride and polish her teeth!  Chelsea was happy to show us her new sticker, tooth brush, toothpaste and kiddie floss.

After the dentist, we went for a visit to daughter Heather's house to see her and our grandson Jameson.  The kids had a blast and we could hear mischief coming from Jameson's bedroom.  AH HAA!!!   Two Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed!!!

We discovered them launching themselves off the headboard and onto his race car bed!   We put an end to that and made em slow down a bit.  Later we did a visit to Panera Bread   with the kids for a nice lunch. It was our first time there, and it sure was good.  The kids behaved very well for a sit down restaurant. They are used to being taken to places other than fast food or the run amok craziness like Chuck E Cheez!  LOL   Even some nearby older diners commented on the kids, and I beamed with Granmuddah Pride!


Today (Tuesday) started out with one more little bit of time with newest grandson, Clayton.  Seems Erin had a chance to take over a cancelled teeth cleaning appointment today.  She dropped off the little guy here, dropped Chelsea at the day care, and off she ran to Green Bay.  She paid me in vine-ripe tomatoes, mini-cucumbers and some great "Everything Bagels" from Sam's Club in Green Bay for a treat!

(The little stinker slept almost the whole time!)

We didn't get to see the other two grandtots lately, but here are two pics of them... Mason is already a whole month old!   And Allegra, age 2, is taking very good care of him!

Time to get a few more things done around here.  Then I have a rug order to work on.  Life returns to normal until Saturday morning with two more Open Houses scheduled for the weekend.  Wish us luck!



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