My Corner Of The World - December 2010

I had a wonderful visit with Claudia. We enjoyed seeing and meeting each other, chatted for about an hour, and looked at some of the features of Weavolution.  I also showed her my latest project-a baby blanket woven in wool using the Barleycorn pattern (pictures to be added soon). 

But the BEST thing about our visit is that we both didn't have to leave our own homes!  I was in Jordan and Claudia was in the US. We connected online, saw each other, and had a great visit. 

It really helps me in so many ways, to be able to connect like this with other weavers since there aren't any foreign weavers here (or a guild, for that matter). 

Thank you again, Claudia, and I look forward to more meetings with others as well as taking a class.

Alaa

Hi Franco,

I have really enjoyed watching how you have progressed in your primitive weaving, especially when you use non-traditional equipment. 

I was wondering if you may like to do a WAL for twining here on Weavolution? 

Thanks for your time,

Weave2

I, too, had a 'chat' with Claudia last night.  Unfortunately I couldn't get my mic to work even with the help of the nice tech at Webex.  By the time we'd fussed over it for a while I'd had enough with computers and went and had a very late dinner, giving up on it for the time being.  :}

It was nice to see Claudia and Brenda on screen and hear their discussion.  And Alison, too at the end.  :)

The world is a much larger - and smaller - place than we can fathom at times.  And the technology is wonderful - when it works.  :}  I'll try to get my computer geek to go through the settings with me and see if it's my settings or possibly my mic that's the issue.........

Cheers,

Laura

Inky managed to get out of the car before we headed home on Tuesday. Any ideas *exactly* where he was photographed? (And note the warp is gradually winding it's way upward. I want to have this warp completed and off the loom by New Year's!)

Ocotillo plants and pink rock. How about Anza Borrego National Park, Calif?

Have good day!

Weave2,

I'm glad you are enojoying my fiber adventure. I would like to do a WAL on twining, but really I'm just a beginner.

Maybe some of the more experienced people that can be talked into running a WAL for twining.

Maybe next summer after I get some more study and time into this.

Have a good day!
Franco Rios

A friend brought me a very special treat tonight.  We cooked them up and will enjoy them tomorrow.  Guess what!

that this lichen....

pounded and soaked in ammonia (used to be stale urine - not me!)

could give you this! (brown on left is from oak leaves and acorns)

Beautiful colors Deb! What color will you obtain from the brussel sprouts Claudia?
;-)

Your yarn is so beautiful.  Yes, who would have thought?

Brussel Sprouts!!  They are great roasted in the oven with a little olive oil and your favorite seasonings.

I'm in SE PA and spending this month planning projects and reading about new techniques. I've got another month of recovery from surgery before I can get back to weaving on my floor loom and while I have smaller looms that I can manage right now, I rarely have the time (with work) to just explore (in a leisurely manner) what other weavers are up to--so this is kind of nice!

So far my plans include: a shawl on my floor loom and a year long self-challenge to work my way through Woven Treasures as a way of learning new techniques and better acquaint myself with my Emilia.

In January, I'll be using some of the Woolworks curriculum in an after school enrichment program--now that's going to be fun!

Deb, Do you think there would be any color difference between using ammonia and using stale urine?  DH actually saves that stuff to use on the garden.  Lots of nitrogen and no pathegens.

Just wondering.  I don't think I want to go that route either.

Aunt Janet

I'm not Deb, and haven't tried either, but I'm good at reading ;-) Therefore, I can tell you that you are supposed to get different results from stale urine coming from pergnant heifers, from male drunks (esp good for using with indigo, according to an old Swe book), from babies...  It would be interesting to know if it is actually true!

I think Inky has been in or near Arizona recently, though I've seen lots of saguaros in the desert, but never a loom perched nearby!

I hope you're feeling well soon.  The after school program does sound like fun!  Keep us posted on how it goes and please give me your opinion of the curriculum.

Being from the midwest, I can only guess Nevada. 

Barbara—You are correct! Woo HOO! This was taken along Gates Pass, on the way from the Sonoran Desert Museum to Tucson. 

Congratulations Barbara!

With the rain around here lately (Sacramento Calif) all this talk about the desert makes me want to take a road trip. Sadly, I'd have to put on snow chains to get over the pass into Nevada.

I need to recalibrate my thinking and take a Snow Day.

Have a good day!

Sally, Thought it looked like a Gates Pass scene.  If you happened to be at the Desert Museum on a Tuesday, you likely were give a map by my husband who's been volunteering out there for many years.  He's the retired one in the family...  I'm an elementary school librarian, which does not give me a lot of time to weave during the school year.  However, a third grade teacher and I co-teach fiber arts when we can work it into her busy classroom schedule.

This week, can't tell if it's winter or summer.  Earlier this week, we were rivalling (is that a word??) Minneapolis for a low temp.  Yesterday, we reached 80 something.  Snow, that's what we see in the mountains around Tucson!

Stay dry in Sacramento and revel in the fact that you're probably smart to live where the rain falls and you can count on a good water supply.

In Scotland we have had absurd amounts of snow this week, and as I have an ankle injury (healing nicely, though) it has been very difficult to get out and about. So I stayed home in the studio, of course!

The snowy blob below is "where our raised herb garden formerly was"...

...and this is what I've been doing inside.

Cally

Francorios, I don't think you need to be the expert to lead a WAL. It's more like being the organizer: pick the project or structure, direct folks to the resources, show your work as inspiration and be the cheerleader as folks share their progress. 

Can you tell I'm practicing for the program I am presenting to Jockey Hollow Weavers about the Rosepath WAL? Jerri

Thank you Jerri S,

Thanks for reminding me. I did lead the first rigid heddle WAL on Weavo even though I'm not an expert.

I'll plan on doing something in January or February after I get a couple more practice pieces done.

Have a good day!
Franco Rios

I'm sure there would be a color difference.  If you look at my projects you'll see where I also used denatured alcohol to pull color and I pulled a corel color rather than the pink that the ammonia gave me.  

Kerstin's comment reminds me of some research we did for Greenbank Mill about the weaving/dyeing industry in the Mid-Atlantic region prior to the War of 1812.  The Philadelphia Agricultural Society had some great letters and articles written that we went thru that discussed in great detail how to clean fleece and prepare it for dyeing and the use of urine.  This was during the window of hand technology slowing yielding to machine technlogy and alot of mill documentation was based on hand technology. Now I'm talking from memory and not from the source document but there was a serious paragraph about the pros and cons of British versus French urine used to clean fleece and prepare some of the dye baths.  If I remember correctly it really did have something to do with the beer or wine that was consumed.  My pardons to folk's sensibilities but that brought a whole new meaning to a pissing contest!  regards  Deb Mc (but I'm still sticking to store bought ammonia!)

Deb, what about UREA, which you should be able to find at a farm center?

Michael

Darn, with all this talk, I might just have to try using urine.  It would be more french style, since DH drinks a little wine, and no beer.  I have a good outdoors spot to brew the stuff.  I'm sure you all want to know the results of this test.  I'll do a bath of each just to get the difference test.  Oh boy.  I have several skeins of handspun rug weft to dye.

Stinky fun in California

I'll move this over to the dye forum when I get started.

The snow looks beautiful from here in Jordan.  The weaving is so lovely. I don't think not being able to go is so bad when you can stay in a studio and weave!

Aunt Janet ! Definitely start the ammonia versus urine thread over to the natural dye group! I'm sure you probably know this but most references say the liquid needs to age at least two weeks! Good luck!

Saw the Singing Christmas Tree musical program at Capital Christian Center, the tree on left holds a choir of 100 singers, the orchestra has over 40 musicians, and there is over a hundred cast and crew involved. 54th year of production, great show this year.

It was a good day!
Franco Rios, Sacramento, Calif.

That is a beautiful piece on your loom there, and a lovely view onto the snow. But I do know all that snow can be bothersome, too. We have had lots and lots of snow here in Denmark as well, and it is still snowing... I'll run out of stash at this rate!! Hope you have enough to keep you happy in your studio.

Help- Test I am trying to post a photo. This is a leather bag that I made my daughter last year. lol I thought I was posting a pic of a knitted hat. Well at least I think the pic is there. My husband tanned the leather, and I beaded and handsewed the bag. Plus I wove the strap. It was a neat project because my daughter helped in the design and color.

Here is another pic of it. Sorry, I can't figure out how to put more than one pic in a post.

Ok. One more pic just so I remember how I did it. This is a close up of the bead work. Trust me, I'm not the best bead worker. I only do one or two bead projects a year. Just enought to remind me that I need more practice. lol OH, somehow it stretched the pic. Well at least the pics are showing up. Thanks for you patience with me learning,

Liza

Liza,

Nice strap. Is that embroidery floss? It also looks like classic diagonal finger weaving with braided fringe.

How big is the bag?

Have a good day!

This is lovely!

The bag is beautiful.  Thank you for sharing it with us. 

post #35

franco,

Yes, it is a classic diagonal finger weaving. It is woven out of fingering weight sock yarn. My daughter chose the colors. I think she did a good job. The bag is rather small. It is 6 inches long and 5 1/2 inches across at the widest point. Right now I'm trying to finish up a leather belt bag for my son. I find it funny, because I offered him different choices for his belt, however he just wants a plain diagonal finger woven leather belt. Sometimes simple is best. lol

Liza

Post # 27

Just a a note of interest. Their are many old leather tanning recipes that call for certain types (age and gender) of urine too. We have never try them out though. Just read them.

Post #37

weave2,

I usually spent my time researching twining on this side of the ocean. Occasionally I would jump across when I found something that interested me. I believe that most of the camel bags in your area used to be twined, and maybe they still are. It might be a starting place to meet others who twine in Jordon. Just a thought I really don't know how easy it would be find a camel over there let alone befriend its owner.

Liza

There's snow here in France -- though not so much as in Scotland!

These plants are completely covered now.  ...Meanwhile, indoors, my weavings aren't as beautiful as Cally's or as innovative as Lisa's -- but we're finishing off some in-progress things, one after another:

That's a rather narrow narrow band -- the first warp on the Inklette (which I yearned after because of Sally!).  ...Our weaving community affects us in many ways!

Ruth

OMG Ruth! I am trying to finish MY inkle pattern to weave off one of similar size to yours, for small dog collars. (Thanks to inspiration from Ms. Thimble & Fog!)

AND, France was on my mind this weekend, too! Here's a photo from Les Toiles Du Soleil in NYC. (A visual feast for the color-and-stripe fan.) If you visit the website, you can see where in France this fabric is made, and the looms look to be 100+ years old. If you are in Manhattan, the store is on 19th in Chelsea, between 7th & 8th.

Off and on flurries here in New Jersey, but nothing is sticking.

Don't talk down your lovely little band, Ruth! I am impressed with such narrow weaving. I have been having a go at weaving some Baltic pick-up bands, thanks to an online guild workshop, and I discovered how hard it is to keep the edges straight.

We are still snowed up to our armpits here, but warmer weather is promised... in the meantime, well, I have run out of the cashmere I was using above, Ellen, but I have plenty more yarn to keep me occupied.

The view from my window , today .The third time I start to weave pillow. I'm unable to right edge of the fabric weave.But I have an idea how to do it . Keep your fingers crossed:)

Hi Franco, this is so nice what you're doing here!  I made this card especially for all my weaving friends wherever they are.  So to all the Weavolutionaries, Season's Greetings and my best wishes for a

Eva :)

Though much more snow has fallen recently, I will show a winter picture of one of my favourite historic buildings taken last weekend in the open-air-museum of Rhineland-Palatinate at Bad Sobernheim (Germany). There I did a little bit of spinning wool during the advent-festival in one of the historic buildings.

http://www.freilichtmuseum-rlp.de/ - the official site of the museum.

Greets Rigana/Andrea

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrvH2OJiF...

*click above link for youtube video

Looking at pictures of snow reminded me of a song lyric "My woody's outside, covered in snow, New York's a lonely town when you're the only surfer boy around" I found this youtube video featuring the song "New York's A Lonely Town"

FYI:A woody is a wood sided station wagon/panel van suitable for carrying surfboards.

Dedicated to all you California expatriates...dude!

Going to the last guild meeting of the year, this is what was on the other side of the windscreen:

It was a few minutes past 5. (5 pm, just so I'm not misunderstood :-).

The guild meeting was the next-to-last in our series about rug techniques - this time about rya and kilim. Pictures will soon appear on our website - in the meantime, read about the other meetings in the series here (in English) or here (in Swedish)

Don't tell the gardener. It's the lawn in front of the building where I work. After days of dreary cloudiness, it was sunny afternoon.

Have a joyful day!
West Sacramento, Calif.

Dogwood berries on a misty morning in Sacramento Calif.

Have a joyful day!

I was going to be doing some scarf weaving on my Structo Loom at the local Frontier Christmas event.  We may be hardy but we're not dumb.  It has been postponed.  Actual temp now at 3 degrees dropping to -15 to -20 tonite with 35 - 40 mph winds.  Good day to stay at home.  Too bad they made the decision after I was already there!

Frontier Christmas. How appropriately named. Makes me shiver just looking at it. I'm gonna walk to the store for milk so I can make some mexican hot chocolate.

If you like the taste of Huevos Rancheros, but don't have time to do all the steps, I'd like to share my Tortilla Scramble

1 corn tortilla
2 eggs

2 tablespoons olive oil
salt, pepper to taste
salsa
shredded cheese (optional)

Tear the tortilla into about 16 pieces
(tear in half 2, tear those in half 4, tear those in half 8, tear those in half 16)

In a six inch fry pan heat the oil until just smoking. It looks like a lot of oil but the tortilla will soak up some of it.

Drop the tortilla pieces into the pan in a single layer and let them get slightly brown in the oil. Don't bother trying to flip over to brown both sides, one side brown is fine.

Drop the eggs over the tortilla and scramble in the pan, Cook until done. Salt and pepper to taste.

You can stop here and eat them like that but I suggest you put it on a plate and top it with your choice of salsa and shredded cheese.

It's fast and easy. The fried tortilla adds a crunchy texture to an otherwise plain egg.

If you have more time, you can add a little this and that like onion, mushroom, peppers, chopped meat, whatever you want.

Have a good day!
Franco Rios
Sacramento, Calif.

No place to hang stockings? Here's my Christmas loom.

When I want to weave, I move the board the dolls are on, take down the stockings, put up my lamps and I'm ready to weave.

And here's what's on the loom - six block summer and winter scarves. This one is variagated soy silk pattern weft, 20/2 cotton warp and tabby. The next one will have a dark cranberry pattern weft if I have enough in my stash.

Happy weaving.

Carie

New York, NY

Very clever!  And your weaving looks brilliant!  My family thinks my looms are for other purposes (clothes rack, wall to lean on, ect) much to my annoyance. 

This looks like what I need on this snowy day.  Thanks for sharing.

Hi Carie, New Yorkers are so resourceful! The scarf is awesome! Hmmmm, I've got a few projects to get on and off the loom, then to revisit summer and winter looks like a good direction.  Jerri

Outdoor Ice Skating, 7th & K St, Sacramento, Calif. - I take public transit to work and this seasonal outdoor skate rink is near my transfer to light rail. It's always novel to see ice skating when the temps are 50F by day and 40F by night.

We actually had a snow day here. School was canceled. That does not happen very often. Here is a pic of my wood pile and also one of my drive way.

Glad to have dry wood in the basement.

Liza

Check out Laverne's blog to see what's been going on in my part of the world.  We're home now and we had a wonderful time.

Claudia

This may be heresy to folks from the South (USA) and I apologize deeply.

But the fact is that I don't have the wherewithal to make one of those traditional "King Cake" recipes like you may have seen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_cake

I'm sorry I can't find a picture of last year's cake so I'll have to
describe it. Last year I made a Faux King Cake for a Christmas party. I
wanted a pretty cake to sit on the buffet and it had to be festive. I
started with a bundt cake since it had a shape similar to the classic
King's Cake. I used cake mix for spice cake.

After I baked it and turned it onto the plate and let it cool, I pushed
the "baby" underneath the cake. I couldn't get my hands on a plastic
baby toy to push into the cake. Then I read that sometimes a pecan nut
was used, I got a pecan and drew a little face on it with a marker.
That was the baby. By tradition whoever gets the piece of cake with the
baby gets to host the next party or bring the cake to the next party.

I then got some white frosting and divided it into 4 parts. I used food
color to make purple, green, yellow, blue and then frosted different
sections of the cake in different colors. It was a riot of color. A few
sugar crystal sprinkles on top to make it sparkle. A little hand printed
sign to say "Happy Birthday Jesus" and it was done.

While it wasn't a real King Cake, I like to think my Faux King Cake
conveyed the spirit of the season and celebrates the coming of the King.

I hope this idea finds a place in your plan or inspires you to make a traditional King Cake.

Have a joyful day!
Franco Rios
Sacramento, Calif.

Annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count Day

First birds of the day - 2 great horned owls!  It is still very dark out this morning at 6:55am

I am back from the Fronter Christmas at Fort Sisseton.  No Blizzard :) Not many poeple showed up, only the hearty!  But a good time was had by those that did come.  Riding Teacher and I hooked up!  We have lots in common... weaving was only one of the things.  Glad we meet up!  See you again!

This is what I watched as I worked on my loom and tied some rug fringe!  Kind of a "brisk" day, but hey! we are tough :)  I am torn -  weave instead where it's warm?  Or bring my one horse open sleigh?  I'm getting older- the warm wins out usually...

I was given the bird this season. Meet Jingle Bells. He is a yellow Pacific Parrotlet. He's a ittle bitty parrot the size of a budgie (parakeet). He likes to ring the bell hanging in his cage. He was given to us by a friend last week. Well, my lovely wife bought for me a female yellow parrotlet. Her name is Holly Berry. We are so clever with pet names. Right now they are living in separate cages but next to each other until they get used to each other. I've always enjoyed birds and I am thrilled to have a pair of birds again in our little condo. These birds are captive bred since restrictions prevent them from being imported (USA) from South America.

It's a good day! - Franco Rios, Sacramento, Calif.

It's definitely winter here, and staying warm weaving is my option.  Finished one scarf warp this morning, now for lunch and dress the loom with the next.

Cheers,

Laura

Laura, I am glad to see SOMEONE is weaving! 

The neighborhood "Spinsters" (+ Jacob) took a break from spinning to make stained glass cookies. As my hubster pointed out, it was more of a craft project than a cookie-eating event. We cut out the centers of the shaped dough and added crushed hard candies, so when baked, the cookies looked like mini stained glass windows!

I'm tying on another warp.  It is a mix of silk and wool with natural dye.  I learned how to paint and steam skeins with natural dye extracts from Diane DeSouza at the Taos Earth Palette and am now experimenting with what weave shows off hand painted skeins!  So far I like plain weave best but am going to try 4 shaft crepe....

and here's the first scarf that I am tying to now with the left over skein

Let's see, Franco is talking to his birds.
Laura is staying warm and weaving.
Sally is spinning and baking cookies.
Deb is weaving beautiful scarf.

Can I get a closeup picture of the cookies?

Have a joyful day!

Your scarf is so beautiful.  The colors are rich, yet subtle. 

How interesting, I never heard of these birds before.  Will they get any bigger or remain the same size they are now? 

We have two finches and their sound is like a honk of a horn.  Our cockatiel has an 'attitude' and can't even weave! 

Last night was the Luna Eclipse. It was pretty cool. The color wasn't as bright as I expected, perhaps it was due to high atmosphere haze. Still glad I stayed up.

I have a picture of my wife settled in watching the "show". I'll post it when I figure out how. 

You mean the parrotlets? They are about 3-4 inch long (8-9cm) full grown. I guess some people call them "pocket parrots". Usually only keep one as a pet to bond with people, but we've been raising livestock for so long we don't really like have one of anything.

If they bond, they'll live in same cage. If they don't bond, I'll need to keep them in separate cages, but living next to each other.

Sometimes it's hard to say what goes on in those little bird brains.

Have a good day!

One of the first days if december I had visitors for lunch in my garden. I did not actually say hello to my visitor, but I took a picture of the results. Then my hard disc brok down and time passed, but here I am back with a new hard disc and a picture.

after I took the first picture I turned a bit to the south and took one more. This happened round noon, and as you can see the sun is hiding behind the mountains in the background. We ar still waiting to see it come back, but we wil have to have patience for some weeks still.

Eva

I forgot to mention that my visitor was a moose. 

Another little pleasure I have had recently is a small star, that my mother sent to me. I was made by an aunt of mine who is over 80. My aunt complains that she cannot hear and she cannot see, but she makes the most beautiful things in lace.

I have been "awol" for a while, but I too have a bird:

Meet Fred, my little Barbary dove! He moved in three years ago and happily lives in an aviary close to the kitchen window. He has a thing about sirens: whenever he hears the police, ambulance or fire engines go past, he tries to drown them out!

Nor have I been doing too many things weaverly:

like rust dyeing, must do some more, and:

preparing batts to spin a rug weft, from Finn, Border Leicester cross. The spindle is a find at my local guild, in amongst a box of dusty weaving tools. Its a real beauty, but beyond its European design I have no idea where its from - it may have been made here in Adelaide.

We too have had bad winter weather, very bad storms, rain and flooding, and on sunday night there was 12 inches of snow in parts of Victoria and New South Wales, not bad for an Aussie summer!

In case I don't get a chance to catch up with everyone again;

I wish every one a safe and peaceful holiday season, and for the New year, may it be filled with all good things to do with textile, fibres and yarns!

Cheers, Caroline in Adelaide, who is STILL wearing winter clothes in the middle of summer.

Eva, what a lovely bobbin lace star that you aunt made! I have been busy making mittens and such for Christmas and have neglected to make any ornaments for the tree this year. Many people don't think that bobbin lace is weaving, but in this piece the cloth stitch clearly shows the woven structure. Something to treasure always.

Franco, will Jingle Bells and Holly Berry be talkers? I had a Patagonian parrot many years ago named Captain Hook. He had a 3 word vocabulary - "Mom!" and "Bad kitty." I always had to remember to remove my earrings before taking him out of his cage.

Happy holidays to all!

Savannah's historic squares are spectacular... but breath-taking during a night time Christmas time stroll...

Happy Holidays everyone!

...Suzy

Savannah, GA at Christmas time—I was there...10 years ago! Your photo brought back memories, and you are *so* correct, it was/is spectacular!

Reply to Franco, message #68...Here's a photo of one of the cookies, hanging on the tree. (Trying to capture something translucent is tricky!)

Seeing Eva Hall's aunt's hand-crafted star ornament is *really* remarkable, and she captured it so nicely to share with all of us!

Sally, thank you for the picture of the ornament. I've never seen anything like that made with sugar.

Eva, thank you for sharing the lace ornament. What a treasure your aunt is. This is just a wild guess, but does she drink schnapps? Don't know why I am thinking that.

WOGM, I don't know if the birds will talk. If they just whistle a tune, that would be nice. But anything not a screech is considered pleasant.

Caroline, are you telling me that rust dyeing is a textile technique if you do it on purpose? I think I need to go to the garage and frame some shop cloths.

Have a Merry Christmas!
Franco Rios, Sacramento, CA

This recipe comes from, "Favorite Brand Name Recipes; Treasury of Christmas Recipe Collection," 1989 Publications International, Ltd.

Stained Glass Cookies

3 1/2 Cups AP Flour (14 oz)

1Tbs Baking Power    (15 ml)

1/2 tsp salt              (2ml)

1 (14 oz can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed milk) (?)

3/4 Cup Butter soften (6 oz)

2 eggs

1 Tbs Vanilla or 2 tsp almond or lemon extract (1/2 oz)

Beat milk, butter, eggs & vanilla untill well blended. Add dry ingredients, mix well. Chill two hours. On well-floured surface, knead dough to form a smooth ball. Round out to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut with any shape floured cookie cutters. Cut out holes for "stained glass" in each cookie with a small cutter or knife. Place on aluminum foil-lined baking sheets. Fill holes with crushed hard candies. If planning to hang cookies make hole in each cookie with a straw (drinking) near edge. Bake 6-8 minutes, remove from foil. Makes around 8 doz cookies. The conversions are mine so use your eye and best judgement.

I have made these cookies depending on the candy the stained glass window can be hard or can be chewy.

Have fun, enjoy, my wish for the New Year is world peace. Make love not war.

Michael

10:30 pm Number 3 Son (Oscar) and I finished wrapping tamales for tomorrow. Above is chicken in red chile sauce. We also made tamales with green chilis and cheese.

So beautiful!

My garden guest.  (not as large as a moose!)

May Peace and Joy reign throughout all the lands.

We are looking very ho-ho-hoey in my house.

Claudia

Inky meets the Jolly Old Elf!

...posted with fond thoughts of you all here at Weavolution!

You crack me up!

It's Christmas and Number Three Son (Oscar) has received "The Sword of Thunder Fury!" - So as not to annoy the chihuahuas or the chihuahua mama, Do not poke or jab at persons or animals. Only swing in area free of obstructions.

Merry Christmas!
My corner of the world, Sacramento, Calif.

I weaving guild member called to ask if we had our Christmas tree yet. Cheryl told her we have a "Charley Brown Christmas tree"(Red cedar)in her weaving studio that I cut down in the pouring down rain. Small and very open. But we had not gotten a tree for the house yet. Well she had a tree that fell off a truck and it was looking for a home. She brought this nice fir tree to our guild meeting this past Sunday. Not as tall or as full as what we nomally put up, but the price was right. In the past 10 years this has been the 3rd tree that was found on the side of the road. One of the advantages of living in the deep woods. From the picture you can not tell the tree is 8 feet tall 

Franco, Your son looks so much like you, I thought you were showing a picture of yourself as a youth.  Good looking kid, too.  He looks happy with his gift.

I don't usually get any new weaving in this time of year but put on a warp and hoped for the time to weave. I got some done afew days ago. Its M and W. Its my first with this threading. I have working to fine one I liked for months, finally found it. First one of 3. Don't know how to put a picture in here. I'll post it in projects.

Snowing, snowing, blowing, in my corner of the world in the WV mountains, as it is in many other places. I'm hoping that all have power and heat through this storm.

The day after Christmas is my traditional day for beginning my most important project of the year - my Fasnacht mask. You can read more about how we celebrate this, and put an end to winter here: http://helvetiawv.com/Events/Fasnacht/Fa...
I've put aside some Christmas paper for possible paper mache, and selected some of the more interesting objects from among the packaging, though I don't know yet what my mask will be.
This year's date will be March 5th, so I still have some time to plan and work on it.

Went to "The Bird Shop" in Sacramento Calif to find a book on parrotlets. Since my cell phone has a camera I snapped couple of rough pics. This pretty green bird with yellow beak is a male Eclectus parrot.

This is a baby Scarlet Macaw who won't stay still long enough for me to get it centered in the picture.

Now look at the colors. Imagine clothing with hood and shoulders and back with those shades! It's like a tie-dye shirt!

Have a good day!

WOGM, I've never heard of Fasnacht, thanks for the link. It's so much fun to hear about different traditions that people have.

Have a joyful day!

Our corner of the world just got a little bigger...I just noticed Weavolution has surpassed 7,000 weaver-members! How cool is that?

7000 members focused on weaving sounds cool to me!

Viva la Weavolution!

Have a joyful day!

What a beautiful and meaningful project!  Your daughter must treasure it!

Fascinating.! I looked at the pictures with my grandson, age 7. The various customs of the people are always a good reason to know the countries of the world.I would like to see your finished mask, and if possible, the process of realization. I promised my grandson that we will  made one in cartapesta and paper mache.Thanks for share! Graciela

You're welcome Graciela! I have started my real mask and my decoy mask, but it is tradition that they be absolutely secret until Fasnacht! I'll be happy to show you pictures then, but in the meantime I will look for some pictures of previous masks. My foundation is usually paper mache, but with a lot of other stuff added. What a great project to do with your grandson!

P.S. What is "cartapesta?"

WOGM,

I wondered about cartapesta and spent an hour looking at stuff online.

But check these two sites for the basics.

Cartapesta
http://www.mookychick.co.uk/diy_ethic/ca...

http://cascinidesigns.cameoez.com/Script...

Have a good day!

Thanks for the links! Now I know, and I've sort of done this already, just didn't know it had another name than paper mache. The first page doesn't use glue of any kind, and I haven't tried that. The second page uses plaster and I've done some similar things using lightweight spackling compound. The gears are turning on my mask plan!