Laffing Horse Crafts

We’ve just finished up a nice weekend at the Pagosa Fiber Festival. It was a nice relaxed weekend and a chance to get to visit with people we only see once or twice a year… moreso now that we’ve moved to Arkansas.

The trip over the mountains was beautiful, but we could still see the reasons for the move.

The truck got a nice round 20 mpg average… fully loaded over the mountain passes. Nice! It’s also a lot more comfortable for me to drive long distances in than the van which I always thought was built for someone about 5′ 10″ or so.

Now, I’m writing this from the dining room table in my inlaws home. They were nice enough to provide wi-fi. I’m looking out the windows at the very nice views of the pine forest that is Black Forest, Colorado and I find that, as nice as it is, I miss the variety of Arkansas.

The dogs also traveled well. I hated leaving them at the kennel, but we had to for the three days of the fiber festival. They were well cared for and quite happy to see us and everyone fell in love with Anakin.

I spent a lot of time at the fiber festival talking with folks that knew us from these blog posts, but had never met us… or had met us and not put two and two together. A lovely, warm fuzzy feeling, that.

I also spent an afternoon talking with another woodworker. Lots of fun and shared advice.

As much as I miss Arkansas and the critters out there, I’ve missed the shows, too, and the people. Soon, I’ll be shackled to my workbench to get caught up and then ahead. I’ve got lots to make and plans for more if I ever get caught up.

Then the real fun – the Colorado Renaissance Festival – begins. See you there!

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Isn’t that the way it goes so very often? Just when you’re ready to spit out the answer to the question… time’s up!

The questions I’m dealing with today are wild and varied… this is going to be one of those long, drawn out how-can-lose-my-train-of-thought-when-I-don’t-have-a-train-only-a-pogo-stick-of-thought posts. Brace yourselves!

• Why is it Jeanette, who I had to cajole and prod into maintaining a blog, is doing such a good job with her blog while I, equipped with desire, software and experience, can’t seem to write a post more than once a week?

That’s easy! Shes doing all kinds of interesting things… checking lambs, chores, building fences, gardening, shearing, listening to the birds, packing and shipping and dealing with customers online.

I’m making looms and knitting needles and crochet hooks and spindles. How many times can I write that and make it sound interesting?

In fairness, the last loom I finished this morning, a 4-foot Sorraia with wooden pegs is very nice. And the set of knitting needles she wrote about this morning are also very unique (for now… remember, she has a tendency to take all my ideas and, once they work, post ‘em and I have to make more <grin>). Jen took some pictures, but they’re over on her computer and she’s busy so…

And, I did help with the hay and a load of slab from the sawyer and work with the bees.

• And, speaking of bees, shouldn’t we take notes when dealing with bees?

They’ve got it made! They’re captains of industry and orderly and structured…

My new spacesuit… beam me up Scotty!
That’s a pith helmet under the netting, so with just a quick costume change, I can be exploring the deepest darkest… Dr. Livingstone I presume…

Nope, not a phaser… We’re told that the smoke doesn’t really calm them, although that’s the end result. The smoke makes ‘em think that there’s a fire (duh!) and they go grabbing honey to make good their escape. So, they’re fat on honey and focussed on getting out and that makes ‘em slow down. Or so we’re told…

“What’s the buzz, tell me what’s a happenin’…”

And there they are. They seem pretty healthy, but not as prolific as I’d like to see. however, I’m an inexperienced beekeeper and these are still relatively new hives.

Inexperienced? yep, but lucky, too… checked most every frame in both hives and not one bite… from a bee…

It seems to me that if we would just accept our role in life and acknowledge that Jen is the queen and do what we’re told (or know needs to be done instinctively) we’d all get along so much better. I mean, who needs ambition or creativity or… ah, forget I said anything…

• Why is it I can never seem to get caught up or ahead?

Because business is brisk, and thats a good thing. Because there’s so much to do, and that’s a good thing. Because there are only so many hours a day… can we get Congress to change that? Because when I do get caught up I take a day off and that’s a bad thing.

I wouldn’t know caught up or ahead if it walked up and bit me!

• What should I pack?

Starting tonight and continuing all day tomorrow I have to be sorting and packing clothes, books, tools, woods, videos, stains, and pieces and parts. Come Thursday morning we’re leaving to head back to Colorado for the Summer. We have the Pagosa Springs Fiber Festival and then the Colorado Renaissance Festival to occupy us.

Now, however, I hear the queen buzzing and the buzzing can either be translated as “get back to work, you still have looms to finish before you pack your tools.” or “BZZZZZ – Time’s up!”

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How do you slap a definition on a good day?

Is a good day one that is productive? Yesterday, I finished all of the small items on my TO DO list… about a dozen crochet hooks and knitting needles and weaving hooks.

A set of 5 Square Crochet Hooks, sizes g-h-i-j-k … Available here

From Hooks

NEW Dual Sett Weaving Hooks … Available here

 From Hooks

A set of 14-inch Afghan Crochet Hooks, sizes h-i-j-k… Available here

From Hooks

And, while taking breaks from the carving and shaping and sanding and smoothing and polishing of the hooks, I managed to set up our NetDisk and start the monumental task of rebuilding our library of files and photos from the backups we made prior to the move.

As a nice bonus, I found a lot of old episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise we had recorded on the NetDisk, too. Something to watch while the work was being done!

But that doesn’t necessarily make for a good day. I’ve had real productive days that, well, sucked!

Can getting a little bit of praise can make a day good? Perhaps you’ll recall the Andalusian I wrote about just a couple days ago. The loom was received and she had this to say about it:

The Andalusian and stand came today, and OMGoodness, is this loom ever beautiful! I truly think the concept of the different hypotenuses is the nuts! Many less looms about yet one can have all the sizes. Its so easy to change the rails too, and the extra supports at the top and point, very nice touches!I am truly thrilled, thank you so much for making this for me and getting it to me quickly, what with all your homesteading needing so much of your attention. I really appreciate your service. I also have to tell you the fun conincidence about the hook with the aqua bead–of course you would not know this, but an aquamarine is my birthstone, so I thought that was really cool :O)

Thanks, Laticia. It was my pleasure.

But, again, I’ve had days that a lot of praise was given me and they still weren’t good.

Quality time with family! That can make a good day, right? I had a lovely breakfast with Jeanette, spent some time on the phone to both of my kids. Had a really nice dinner with Jeanette and Lena, too.

But those are not defining moments, either.

Maybe getting out and spreading the good word… the fiber word, that is… and sharing some passion and enthusiasm with a bunch of kids can make for a good day, don’t you think? Yesterday, we were asked to come and demonstrate what we do at the local school. So, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. we had a room full of 4th, 5th and 6th grade children (and their teachers) and we… er… um… plied them with yarns of the fiber arts.

Sorry, had to do that.

Still, that was only a part of the day.

Here I am a day later and I think maybe I have it figured out…

A good day is what you make of it… forget the definitions!

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Turns out that the recycle and knitting idea is not new in any way shape or form… literally…

Pie and Coffee » How to knit a plastic bag
Greenbeing Nancy: Plastic Bags? Before you throw check this out.
Boing Boing: Sandals crocheted from twisted-shopping-bag yarn

Although this might be taking it a bit to far…
White Plastic Wedding – tribe.net

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I’ve managed to get through a bit of my TO DO list and I’m happy enough with the results that I just have to share them.
Now if only I could get through the rest of my list…

The loom, the whole loom and nothing but the loom
(and the wall and the grass).

You might not believe it, but this loom only weighs about
14 pounds.

Here’s the back side of the loom with all the hardware
and back plates visible. You can’t see it in this photograph,
but the name of the loom is carved into the center
section and the sizes of the beams are carved into
the back plate ‘wings.’

Want to make a 6′3″ tall person feel short?
Photograph them with a 7′ loom.

Here’s the weaving hook. I used a nice glass aqua bead.
The hook is stained to match the back plates. It’s nestled
into its storage slot, which on this loom is at the bottom
rather than on the top… to put it on the top, I’d have to
slot it through two rails rather than just one.

Here’s the first Andalusian.
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Here’s the new afghan crochet hook. It’s oak with a beeswax finish.
It’s a 14″ long size K.

Detail of the hook.

And the hand-crafted glass bead by Tom and Sage Holland
perched atop the hook and a little bit of a swirl carved in.

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You know your numbers up when…

On or about May 24, I’ll no longer have a cell phone. This is a sad moment for me… I would have never thought 10 years ago that I’d be feeling anything about getting rid of a cell phone. Now, however… well, it’s less than losing a friend and more than losing a favorite toy.

That doesn’t mean that you can’t call me. What was Jen’s cell phone will become “our” cell phone… that number is 719-254-3837.

It only makes sense, really… Jen and I don’t spend more than a couple of hours apart at any give time so each of us carrying a cell phone seemed kinds silly.

I can also be reached, most of the time, at our shop number which is 870-363-4442.

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How cool is this?

You take fiber arts, combine it with recycling and get a shopping bag!

MagKnits, your friendly online knitting magazine

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Blogger’s Bock?

It’s not like we’re not doing 67547747474497 things right now (and that might be a slight exaggeration… but only slight). I should be able to write about any of ‘em.

I could write about my TODO list.

• I’m putting the finishing touches on a new Andalusian (Hi Laticia),
• and starting another (Hi Linda).
• There’s also a stack of about two dozen one-foot and learn-to TriLooms,
• one four-foot TriLoom (Hi Kris and Val),
• another seven-foot TriLoom (Hi Gail),
• a one-foot square loom (Hi Joyce),
• 791736871 (again, this might be a slight exaggeration) crochet hooks and knitting needles including a giant 30″ size Q double ended crochet hook (I made one and Jeanette tested it and wants one of her own… if I had known that…).
• I’ve got a prototype rectangle loom, and a new stand on the drawing board, too.

I could write about the mushrooms. I’ve identified 3 varieties growing on the farm so far. Of the three, two might be edible, but I don’t know if I want to test it without more information.

• There’s the inky cap which are cute… about 5 inches tall, growing on dung piles, very very spindly with caps that start out brownish and deteriorate to black inky goo when mature. These might be edible, but are listed as not being worth the trouble as they are so small and dissolve so quickly.
• There’s a russula. This also might be edible, but as there are sooooo many varieties and narrowing it down to just one is beyond my current ken.
• There’s the Panaeolus Semiovatus. This one is listed as not edible. Sure is pretty though… to see a huge knot of mushrooms each startling white and more than an inch across against a pile of manure.

Where are my morels? If I don’t get some morels soon, I’ll never be able to start the morel majority!!!

I could write about my building woes… It’s not building them that’s the problem, it’s deciding on a method and getting started and sticking to it. Each method has its positives and negatives and each method has its proponents and detractors. Oh, woes is me… should I choose

• Slipform stone
• Cordwood
• Post and beam
• Cob
• Ferrocement
• Rammed earth
• strawbale
• conventional stick
• or should I say *()^&*%, and put a trailer on the property. I fear that, as busy as we tend to get, if we put a trailer on there, we’d never get anything else and that I do not want.

I could write about the choice between chickens and guinea keets. A lot of people have told us that guinea keets are far better at controlling the tick population. However, regular ol’  chickens (and we’ve found a guy here with game bird chicken crosses that are specially tough and canny) are cheaper, easier to get, easier to raise, and do about as good. I’m thinking we’ll raise double the number of chickens and skip the guineas for a while.

I could write about the show we just attended at Baker Creek. Nice show, great people. However, Jeanette already beat me to the punch on the real interesting aspect of that show. Not one person we spoke to said “you’re living our dream.” Instead, they said “Hey! That’s what we’re doing/did/are going to do.” Kinda refreshing.

I could write about the cria, Kermit (hate that name… I wanted to name him either Istanbul or Cardigan – It’s a “C” year). Whatever his name, he looks like a bandit… a pure black mask covers his eyes and his nose and above his eyes are snowy white. Jen beat me to the punch on this one, too.

I could talk more about the bees, but other than taking a few minutes each day to walk down and watch ‘em buzz about, we’ve done nothing with them. There are lots of blossoms out though and I think they’re probably doing fine!

I could write about our dear friend, Bruce Jacobs. You might have read about him here before. Great guy. He goes in for surgery this morning to have his kidney removed as they found a mass on it. The good news is that the mass seemed to be benign and had not spread. We’re all praying for him and his family.

See? There’s a lot of things I could write about, but as I seem to have bloggers’s block, I can’t!

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From the first day we set up in the shop, we’ve had people stopping and telling us we needed to meet Tom and Sage Holland. When we went into town and met Cynthia and Gus, they mentioned Tom and Sage. Mona said we needed to meet Tom and Sage.

We really wanted to, but how do you go about doing that… What? Call ‘em up and say “You don’t know us, but everyone on the mountain thinks we should meet you. Whatcha doin’ for dinner?”

Now, I think I’m a fairly well spoken and polite individual (when I want to be) and so I agonized over this situation for quite a while. I wasn’t comfortable calling a complete stranger with some wacko story about people on the mountain trying to play matchmaker twixt them and us. I was less comfortable driving around Meadow Creek looking for someone’s house…

Two nights ago, however, opportunity presented itself in the form of an old label on the front of the Fox Grocery and Gas Store’s refrigerator: Frozen Organic Edamame Soybeans, ready to eat in the pod. $2.50. If there are questions, call Sage at XXX-XXXX.

There weren’t any soybeans, but they sure sounded good and I thought, maybe, just maybe, they’d have some elsewhere and just need to run up the hill to stock up. Then I could meet them! Genius, right?

Trust me, it was.

I spoke to Sage for about half an hour on the phone that night after discovering that the note on the fridge was old and she had no more soybeans. She offered us lettuce to eat, and tomatoes and basil to plant. Wonderful stuff, indeed… and so tasty!

However, that was not the reason people wanted us to meet… They are crafters, too, but they make beads and such beads! They don’t have a website (I’ll see if I can’t fix that for them), but a quick search turns up page after page of their history, their teaching schedule, and pictures of their beads…

• Studio Tour 2007…
• Studio Tour 2007…
• tom and sage holland – Google Search

So, starting early next week, you’ll be seeing special edition hand-carved knitting needles and crochet hooks featuring their wonderful glass beads. They’ll be here on this blog and our eBay store.

I don’t know about you, but I’m excited!

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We seem to have set our sights higher and our goals smaller.

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Massey Featherson?

I’ve just about finished building a 5×5x9 foot chicken tractor. I’ve dubbed it the Massey Featherson. Other candidates included John Chickene (nothing clucks like a chickene), Allis Cluckers, and Cluckota.

The tractor is basically a large frame box built on skids (in this case, logs which I saddle notched) and covered with chicken wire and a tarp. It’s a great way to put young chickens (or older ones) that need the exposure, but aren’t ready to handle the big, bad outdoors (read: predators) all on their own. The tractor can also be moved about so they can fertilize and turn the soil hither thither and yon whenever we want to move them.

I have to attach the gate and tie on the tarp and install the chickens.

It may not look like much, but it’ll secure the chickens for a while (until a larger coop is built… if we choose to build a larger coop – there’s a fella down the road apiece that has his chicks roosting in trees with the help of a ladder leaned up against a tree here and there… He has his nest boxes attached to the same trees). Best of all, the total cost of this tractor, in new material, was about $5 for the nails and fuel in the chainsaw. The wire was used previously, the logs were standing dead trees and the boards were trimmed from free slab from the local sawmill.

TaDa!

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