Spring has sprung and the rug is done

This past week was beautiful. Warmth and sun. The tree buds are opening (aaahchooo) and the pastures are turning green.





Here is one doe with her two kids.




Whose pants are these, anyway?
I begged all I knew for their jeans so I suppose you could say this was a community project. There is 84 yards of braid, 252 yards of strips that were sewn and pressed into quarters. I still have yards and yards left but the rug was getting too heavy. I'll either make more braided rugs or use the strips for weaving a denim rug. I was initially worried when I put it on the floor. It looked like a giant sombrero. I had to stomp on it for a few minutes before it lay flat. Nothing like a good Mexican Hat Dance.

Charleen-here is "that" warp

Here are two pictures of the green/blue dye run during Bev's visit.












Wool and leaves can be a bothersome mix.








The Union Loom is cleaned and waxed and sitting in her corner. There are no empty corners left in this room.

For Claudia

First there was the chicken.

We won't go into the chicken or the egg debacle here.

This guy is still alive and photographed for demonstrative purposes only.




In the foreground right is the killing cone with the chicken inserted. The throat is slit and the chicken is bled out. When the cone is not in use it can be detached from the tree branch, flipped over and worn as a dunce cap. Photo upon request.





The square red tub is the scalding tank. The recently deceased is dunked into the hot water a few times to loosen the feathers. My, this area looks so junky you'd think this was a WV photo.






Here is the electric chicken plucker that Bob built. The bottom disc spins the chicken around and the rubber fingers remove all, ok sometimes "most" feathers. I don't pluck unless I'm hounded to do so. I won't post the next series of pictures. Let's just say the chicken is relieved of excess baggage then placed in icy water to cool down the body.




Many of the ancestors of the above chicken.






I was going to add a photo of a cooked chicken but there is only a wing and leg left. That would make for a "lame" picture. I hope you enjoyed this, Claudia!

Look at what I just bought

I always wanted to weave and I always wanted to weave rugs. As a weaver-wannabe I found a "good deal" and bought a loom. Little did I know that not all looms are rug looms. So I wove a sleazy rug. Lesson well learned, though the rug is still used in the kitchen. It's not pretty but I spent a lot of time knocking that baby out so I use it.

The other night I was perusing weaving sale lists for used looms and found a 2h 36" wide Union Loom and it lives only 2 hours away. The best part is it's a "good deal"! I was going to pick it up today but due to illness in the sellers family today's pick up was cancelled . I'm hoping to bring 'er home this weekend.