Laffing Horse Crafts

I’ve a sudden craving for blue raspberry shaved ice. Y’know the stuff. You get it on those hot Summer days and watch the guy in the tiny little trailer vendor kitchen shave the ice until it’s really fine and crystalline. Then he’ll hold the cone filled with powdered while coolness under a pump bottle and spray it with blue sugary goodness. Maybe you’ve only seen ‘em at county fairs or maybe you’re thinking of a Slushee(tm) or Slurpee(tm). It’s really all the same.

Don’t know why I’ve got a craving for it.

I suppose it might be the 9-inches of raw materials – no shaving needed – that’s been falling out of the ski for the past 18 hours.

In fairness, things could be a lot worse than a silly craving. Last year, about this time, we had a devastating ice storm that led the Governor of Arkansas to declare just about everything a disaster area. He never saw our kitchen, or that would have been included. By this time in the storm last year we had been without power for 12 hours. The outage would last us another 16 days. Some went without power much longer than that. Some only a few days. This time (knocking furiously on wood), the power’s stayed on.

Two years ago, there was an 18 inch snow a little later than that and then the rains that led to the two back-to-back floods. Niether one of those did more than make us soggy and inconvenienced.

Three years ago, and a month later than this, there was a tornado that left us without power for several days.

The folks over at Accuweather and WeatherUnderground and The Weather Channel all say about the same thing. It’s gonna continue for another couple hours and then taper off and be bitter cold for a few days.

Then, warmer and rainy.

Don’t like the weather? Wait a while and it’ll change.

So, it could be worse, and I’m not complaining. I’ve just got this craving and, well, the problem is, I’m not EVEN going to attempt to drive on these roads (even thought the plows are out and I do have a weighted 4×4 with new AT tires), and all I’ve got is lemon syrup and you know what they say about yellow snow!

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A long long time ago in a galaxy far far away (OK, so it was the Renaissance Festival in Colorado some 7 years ago) an elderly lady visited our shop and fondled the yarn and said, wistfully, “I used to love yarn and knitting, but I have arthritis now and it hurts to grip the needles for any length of time.”

That sounded like a challenge to me!

“M’lady,” says I. “Wouldst thou like to knit once again? I believe I canst make needles that wouldst alleviate the painful aggravation thou art feeling.”

Well, it was something like that.

She responded in the positive and I bade her return on the week.

During the days that followed, I read up on as much online literature and research as I could regarding ergonomic this and stress relieving that. The solution was actually quite simple once one knew the right questions to ask: Why did gripping the needles hurt? Because, in order to keep them from rolling about in ones fingers, one had to hold them tight. What would prevent that AND allow the yarn to slide up the needles? I say AND so loudly because one of the solutions for crocheters is to use oversize rubber grips – obviously not a solution, when the yarn needs to slide. The solution: Square Knitting Needles!

She tried ‘em, she like ‘em, she bought lots of ‘em and yarns, too. I still hear from her every once in a while…

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You'll see more brooms than you can shake a ...er... broomstick at

The Ozark Folk Center State Park in Mountain View Arkansas will be the site of a historic gathering of craftspeople honoring the centuries old skill of broom making on Friday, April 23 through Saturday April 25, 2010.

The gathering, a first of it’s kind, has been named the “SweepIn” and will feature some of the most recognized Broom Squires in the United States.

“A lot of well known broom makers have signed up to be a part of this event. They’re bringing broom making styles, stories, and equipment from all over the United States and Canada,” says Shawn Hoefer, artist and broom squire.   “Much of the SweepIn will be open to the visitors to the Ozark Folk Center, too. Once people enter the crafts village at the Ozark Folk Center they can view the demonstrations, look at the displays, participate in the talks and even take a class or two. There are some additional fees for some of the classes, though.”

Some of the activities in the works include learning how to make small hand brooms or a traditional round hearth broom, discuss the materials used in broommaking, see demonstrations of the dying of broomcorn, and watch demonstrations of fancy stitching and the creation of one-of-a-kind art brooms.

“Among some of the educational events,”, says Hoefer with a smile, “There will be someone there demonstrating the proper use of brooms… which does not involve straddling or flying!”

Information on the historic event or registration procedures can be obtained by emailing Shawn Hoefer at shawnhoefer@gmail.com.

You can also subscribe to this website’s RSS feed for more information as it becomes available.

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Ouch! That *%^*$%^#%* hurts!!!!!

About 6 days ago, I bent over to pick up my boots from the floor (the better to slip them on my feet, you see) and felt something give. What I felt next was enough to bring me to tears. I had thrown my back out. I later told people that I hadn’t thrown it out, it left on its own… went on vacation or something. I only wish it had given notice.

We think this was brought on slowly before exploding… the strain of moving and working in unfamiliar conditions, etc.

So, for the last week I have been flat on my back with ice-packs, lots of ‘profen and Doan’s, the occasional hot pad. I get off the couch to hobble on a newly purchased cane to the bathroom, or the kitchen for a drink, or the porch for a breath of air about 4 times a day. That’s it!

I edited some web stuff (what do you think of the new design?), and wrote a press release, and moaned a lot. But I haven’t been able to tie any brooms or turn any hooks. I wrote a novel in my head… I watched several movies (including the newly on DVD Pandorum… worth a watch if you like sci fi and don’t mind a little gore)

That’s why there’s no new…

I am getting better! I figure a couple more days and I’ll be in good enough shape to go back to work in the shop and get out of the house further than the porch. It might be some time though before I lift anything as heavy as a refrigerator again.

Keep  watching and as soon as I am up and about, there’ll be some new stuff!

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I normally use glass beads on the ends of my afghan crochet hooks. I carefully pick out the bead that I think goes with the texture and tone and grain of the wood. The beads are either hand-crafted by Sage and Tom Holland or carefully selected from my collection.

This time, having finished a move, I could not find my bead stash. I had to fall back to my lathe and turn some pretty beads to top the sticks.

I’ve had some fun lately, though, turning captive rings or jingle rings as seen in my regular crochet hooks, and I didn’t want to give it up. I also knew I could not turn a regular captive ring in such a small space and a large space would make the sticks look odd.

Introducing the sliding ring. It’s smaller, tighter and does not slide up and down, but spins around.

Here’s some pictures…

Size 10, 20-inch long custom knitting needles for Susan. They’re birch with cherry tops.

And a size L 14-inch long crochet hook for Sarah. It’s oak with a walnut topper.

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Or just the N size.

This is a size N (10 mm) crochet hook turned and carved out of a very light piece of walnut. It is about seven-inches long and features a comfortable engraved (size on front, and year, wood and signature on back) thumbrest and double jingle rings on top.

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So, a customer gets a hold of me the other day (Hi Linda) via email and says:

You said on your website that if you don’t see what you are looking for, ask. Have you ever made a whistling crochet hook? The end of the handle is carved into a working whistle. I found a photo of one a while back and have attached it. I would love to “whistle while I work”. {GRINS} I tend to be drawn to the unusual, or as Sarah would say, downright strange. If there is a possibility that you might consider making one, let me know. I want it! (Referring to your earlier post on Facebook, I would think that a whistling crochet hook would be pretty darned clever!)

Here it is!

She asked for a size G (4 mm) and that’s what she’s getting.This particular one is cherry. Take a closer look, though…

Now, I have to think up a name or a tagline… Whistle Sticks? Yarn Tootin’ ! Amaze your friends, annoy your dogs! If you have suggestions, email them to me. Meanwhile, I’m off to the shop to make some more… these are fun!

Before anyone else asks, there are no piccolos or flute or recorder (Hi Sheila) versions in the works. No trumpeting trilooms, either. However, now that I think about it, a slide trombone broom might help to get into those hard to reach corners…

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… until everything is unpacked, right?

Do you suppose tossing a match into everything that’s not yet unpacked is cheating?

Here we are folks. We’ve (basically) completed the move from Meadowcreek to the new place that Jeanette has named Havencroft. Turns out we have much more stuff than we have space. I think that was always true and once we get creative, we’ll find space for the stuff again and add to it. That’s life… We’ve been kippled!

(Not sure what kipple is? Read “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” by Phillip K. Dick – that’s the book they used as the basis of “Blade Runner”, an all-time fave.)

Still, the problem remains today with what to do with all the stuff!

For starters, we are sorting as we unpack (I wanted to sort as we packed, but Jeanette’s not fond of my method of sorting and Lena even less so and we woulda had to bring it all here to take it to the dump anyways). There’s a lot of stuff going to the second hand store. A lot of stuff is going to the dump.

But, we discovered, with little bit of re-packing. A lot of it can fit in the attic.

Hoo-ray for attic space!

Now, would somebody please come and get me offa this ladder?

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This is a nicely fanned out Turkey Wing broom bound with strong, durable, yet fine nylon twine. As I approached the top of the broom… the end of the binding. At that point, I switched by way of a secure splice, to a yellow twine which I used to plait (the woven handle) over purple hand-dyed basket reed. Read the rest of this entry »

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Going green? This kitchen broom is just the thing. Featuring a smooth standard hardwood handle, hand-dyed green broomcorn, matching hand-dyed green split and trimmed broomcorn stalk plait (the weave at the top of the sweep), and a fancy green over white pattern band of stitching, this is one very functional, very artistic broom. Great for work or decoration.

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