Woolthing

Last post I mentioned that I’ve got a puppy in the studio. It has been a challenge. When I thought about a studio dog, I imagined something like this.

Or even something like this.

Of course, the key word here is puppy, so what I got was this.

Topaz, the pup, loves wool.

I did manage to save this warp and with some patience I got it on the loom.

And I started a run of baby blankets.

First one …

And even though the little rotter drives me crazy she also makes me smile … a lot.

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Well, I’d like to break the silence but WordPress is making it a bit trying right now. I can’t post pictures and doesn’t it figure that when I finally decide to do a blog I can’t.

So it’ll just be words which is not great cause I wanted to show you a picture of our puppy. She’s been fun and frustrating. I’m hoping to make a studio dog out of her but she gets into everything. So why try?

Well, I’m living with my mother in law, who frankly, seems to be just waiting to die. It’s not a great way to live. A puppy takes great joy in life and I needed that. She’s also good company at the studio. She forces me to take breaks and take walks. That’s all good.

So next time I post hopefully I’ll get a picture in there.

I haven’t seen any sign of the mother raccoon and the babies for a couple of days now.   I’m hoping that she just moved herself and her kits to a better location but realistically I’m pretty sure it was death by farmer.  Raccoons are real pests and good looks will only take you so far.  After you’ve had a crop damaged or destroyed by raccoons you harden up.

The swallows were harassing me yesterday …

but I didn’t see them today.

So they may have finally found another place to build a nest.

I’m trying to get the studio presentable so that means I’m not actually doing that much weaving or spinning.  Mostly I’m cleaning and sawing and hammering and painting and yard work.

But I am working on some towels.  They aren’t all that exciting but I like them a lot.

A natural colour and a subtle pattern.

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One of the nice things about moving back home to Ontario has been getting back into a rural setting.  Today I went for another asparagus hunting walk (at least five pounds this time) and I spotted this not so little family.

Isn’t that sweet?  I also saw some carp (that’s a fish) spawning (not nearly so cute) and a mud coloured fish near the bottom of a muddy creek is hard to photograph so no pictures of that.

The birds are very busy flying in and out of the large tree in front of the studio.  I can’t see any nests but there must be several in there.  It’s like a bird condo.

The swallows, even though they have no nest, still feel it necessary to harass me a couple of times a day.

And there is a mother raccoon and her kits nesting on my roof.  It’s a bit of a problem.

They are very well hidden and we wouldn’t have known they were there but one of the kits crawled/tumbled partway down the roof and Mom had to rescue it while we were in the backyard working on the garden.

I tried to take a picture.  This is the best I could do.

You can just make out her bandit face.  I don’t know how many kits there are but as they get older I’m sure we’ll catch glimpses of them.

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I’m back home and almost over my jet lag.

I was happy to get reacquainted with this little beauty, who loves balloons.

And to welcome this new little girl into the family.

Of course, I also enjoyed spending time with my daughter and her hubby.  It was very hard to leave and there were tears, but although the heart can be in many places the body can only be in one.  So, a very long travel day and I was back home.  I wish they had a pill for jet lag, but not yet.

When I got back to my studio my father told me that he had taken down a swallows nest twice while I was gone.  The remnants were still there to be seen.

I love birds, but swallows are very protective of their nest and babies.  I once allowed a nest to remain over our front door because I thought it would be fun to watch the birds hatch and fledge.  And it was, if you call it fun to feel the wind of the swallow’s wings as it warns you away, and you have to use your back door for a month, till the nest is empty again.  I’d happily share, but there is no sharing with these guys.

So I cleaned it all up, and three days later the swallow pair are still very annoyed with me.  I hope that they’ve nested elsewhere, but they keep coming back to sit on the roof of the garage and let me know what I’ve done.

It’s been raining a lot here, so there’s lots of mud for nest building, but I’m keeping my eye on them.

Today was lovely.  It started out all foggy and wet.

I went for a walk looking for wild asparagus. 

When we were kids we’d walk between the fields looking for asparagus and we got good at spotting it.  Of course, we also learned where the good patches were.

This is what I was looking for.

And I did okay.

On my walk I spotted these trees which we think might be wild cherry trees.

I think I might have trouble beating the birds to the fruit so I’m not counting on getting any of these.

So back to the studio where the sun was beginning to shine for gardening, weaving and spinning.

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Some of you might be wondering where I am.  I’m in China.  Never would have thought that would happen when I was a child watching cartoons.  I’m here because one of children is here and she is having a baby, her second.  This is my sixth, and probably last, grandchild.  The babe was born very early this morning and I can’t wait to meet here when she comes home.  I’m guessing her little sister will be less thrilled, although she was very interested in her sister’s picture.

There is no weaving or spinning going on, only childcare, reading and knitting.

I’ll be here till the middle of May so I’ll start posting again then.

There is a lot of activity in the big tree in front of my studio.  Birds are coming and going.  It is a big healthy tree and I can’t see much in it but I suspect that it has become the home of many birds and their nests.

I cleaned out some swallow nests from under the front awning.  I know from past experience that if I wanted hassle free entrance I couldn’t have nests there.  Cute as it is to see baby beaks peeking out of nests, it’s not so cute when their parents come swooping down millimeters from your head.

Speaking of cute … I had this visitor a couple of days ago nibbling on the new grass shots.

There were actually two of them so you know what that means …

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I am gradually making the studio more and more my space.  The most recent improvement was a room that once looked like this.

And this …

It now looks like this …

And with all my stuff…

It will be known as the fibre room, I think.

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My Macomber loom is older than I am and that’s getting up there.  I’ve only had it a few years but I’ve anthropomorphized it, stopping short of calling it anything other than “the Mac”, it is a bit like a friend to me but I know it is just a machine that is replaceable. You would expect to do some maintenance on any machine that you use a lot and once in a while I do.  Cleaning, oiling and tightening screws.  I was, however, not happy to see this.

On not one but two screws.  I tried to get the ends out of the loom with no success so the only thing left to do was some major surgery.  There will be scars.

I found the drill, took a deep breath (maybe more than one) and did this.

A couple of bolts later and the loom was back in business.  Just a little the worst for wear.  Maybe it will keep weaving for another 50+ years.

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When I got home today I saw this in the back yard.

How cool is that?  I did manage to get a picture and I wish I could have gotten closer but as I got there it took off.

No idea what breed this is but judging by the size it’s a hawk.

Sure wish I had a telephoto lens.

Of course, there is always a price to pay.  Eat or be eaten.

Yup, that’s life … and death.

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