Lisa's Handspun Hats Blog

New Hat

2011-12-21T13:42:00.000-08:00

I made a new cloche style hat today that I like. Too late for Christmas but just fine for the New Year. I decided as I was working on this hat that I would use unusual color combinations and fibers. A good way to spark some creativity.

So I started the top with some pre-dyed Corriedale roving in a range of colors from orange to greenish brown. Then I decided to accent this with some green tussah silk that I dyed sometime last year. I had some dyed dark brown husky hair handy so added that for a bit of soft, fuzziness. While I was in pet hair mode I grabbed some puce colored lumpy poodle hair followed by a thin stripe of dark green Suffolk wool and a couple of rows of natural medium brown Corriedale wool. Then I decided to get really interesting so made a row of some black Corriedale plied with novelty yarn in rosy red and silver. That led to a wide stripe of rose colored Corriedale followed by another thin stripe of the green silk. Then more of the natural brown, another thin stripe of dark green, some more orange and a wide stripe of another natural brown that I think might be Merino. The edge ended up with green silk. I finished it off with a rose type flower made from the same two ply wool and novelty fiber. I'm not telling how I made the flower because it's just too silly. But it looks great.

The Big Blanket Project

2011-11-03T15:42:00.000-07:00

I've been neglecting my blog due to a very large project I've been working on for the past two and a half months. It's a custom ordered king size blanket, which I'm doing in pieced together squares like an afghan. I've been keeping a photo journal of the project as I work on it on facebook here: Blanket Project

Here are some photos of how it looked when I first got started. The rectangular piece goes in the center.

It's made from mostly wool, with some poodle hair and alpaca. No two of the squares are alike, and the finished blanket will fit a California king size bed with enough extra to hang down on both sides.. It's now big enough to fit a queen size, so I'm hoping to be finished in another couple of weeks. Then maybe I'll make one for myself!

Toy Poodle Hair Scarf

2011-07-18T11:35:00.000-07:00

It's been a year now since the woman who ordered this scarf originally contacted me with her request. I told her how much fiber it would take to make a good size scarf, and she said she would save it up. I didn't hear back from her until a couple of weeks ago when a package arrived in the mail with a bag of poodle hair! I had completely forgotten about it, since it had been so long, but luckily had saved her email. After getting in touch with her and finding out exactly what she wanted, I made this scarf.

It's seven feet long counting the fringe and eight inches wide, and is knitted on #8 needles. Very soft with little curls of the hair showing here and there. I purposely spun it that way in order to create a more interesting texture. She loved it and sent me this photo of her dog wearing it!

Hemp Brimmed Hat

2011-06-17T12:45:00.000-07:00

This extra large and beautiful brimmed hat was made by my daughter, Allie, entirely from hemp. It was a custom order from a woman who lives in LA. It's perfect for the usually sunny weather there, providing protection from the sun as well as great style. The extra fancy flower really works well, and I'm sure this hat is getting lots of compliments.

You can find more of Allie's brimmed hats on her page at www.handpsunhats.com/allie's_hats.htm. She also has some very cute skull caps with and without flowers.

Big Custom Order

2011-06-17T12:32:00.000-07:00

Being as how there is still snow in the mountains here in California, I recently received a custom order for a ski cap and large extra wide scarf to match. I finished it a couple of days ago. The scarf is 8 feet long counting the fringe and 9 inches wide. The materials used were a variety of wools, with some alpaca, llama wool and wool/silk blend. Big job, but I think it came out well.

And, believe it or not it is in the low 60's today in LA where I'm visiting my daughter and son in law, and it rained last nite! I'm headed home to Ukiah next week where it's expected to be close to 100 though.

Plant Fiber Hats and Caps

2011-05-28T16:35:00.000-07:00

This is the time of year that I usually start making lighter weight hats and caps out of plant fibers such as hemp, cotton, linen, bamboo and silk. However it's been so cold where I live in Northern California that I just haven't had much inspiration. People are still wearing their warm wool hats around here, and it's almost June!

So I'm just now getting around to posting the first of my "spring caps" here. I put this hat up on the website a couple of weeks ago, thinking I would be making more soon. Hopefully we'll have a shift to warm weather any day now, which will get me in the mood.

This cap is made from medium weight organic cotton, so is actually fine for any time of year, though it's not as warm as wool. Cotton also works well for those with sensitivity to wool. The olive and gray/green wide stripes are both cotton, and the thinner accent stripes are tan colored undyed linen and beige colorganic cotton, which is the natural color of the fiber.

For more views of this hat see http://www.handspunhats.com/green_cotton_round_cap.htm

To see more plant fiber hats go to http://www.handsunhats.com/spring.htm

Pill Box With Woven Scarf

2011-03-09T09:32:00.000-08:00

I made this scarf awhile back. Since I didn't have a hat to go with it, I put it away and forgot about it. Then my daughter made some really great thick lumpy yarn and gave it to me. It was just the right colors, so I got the scarf out and made this pill box style hat to go with it.

This is the first woven scarf I've posted on my website, so I'm not sure how it will go over. Generally I only make woven scarves as custom orders. They are quite laborious to set up, but after that are fun to make. I use a small table loom which I can set in my lap while working. I enjoy the process but doubt I'll ever get into learning how to use one of the larger, more complex looms.

The lumpy yarn at the top of the hat is made from wool, mohair, and silk, and the gray band is undyed Jacob wool. It's all crocheted. This style of hat is meant to fit snugly and cover just part of the ears.

Allie's new hats

2011-01-22T14:44:00.000-08:00

My daughter, Allie, has been making some really nice new hats out of organic cotton, hemp, linen and bamboo. All plant fibers. She even has some fiber made out of corn. It looks sort of like the bamboo, which looks a lot like silk. Hats made from plant fibers are a good alternative for those with sensitive skin or wool allergies. They're very versatile in that they provide some warmth in cold weather and are fine for warmer weather, too.

Aliie's husband, Marshall, asked her to make him one, and this is how it turned out. It's made from hemp and bamboo and looks great on him. I love the subtle colors! She also made one for her yoga teacher. This one has more cotton in it. It's a short skull cap, while Marshall's is what I call a round cap, meaning a skull cap that covers the ears.

To see more of these plant fiber caps, go to www.handspunhats.com/allie's_hats.htm

Something for Pink Fans

2010-12-09T12:27:00.000-08:00

This hat has bobbles similar to those seen in the green hat below. It's a tighter knit though, so fits a smaller head. Probably a smallish medium. I like the art yarn top that looks sort of like a yarn garden. It's mostly wool, with mohair locks, silk and some bits of novelty fiber spun into the art yarn. The pale pink is two ply fine spun Shetland wool. The bobbles are Corriedale wool, mohair and silk.

Some New Hats

2010-09-23T13:55:00.000-07:00

I've been busy getting settled in my new/old home in the country. Lot's of cleaning up to do, and lots of friends visiting. I've managed to make a few new hats, though, so am finally getting around to posting them here.

This one is a sort of snood style floppy hat done in a mesh pattern. It's made out of mostly linen with a bit of cotton in the flower. Good for warm weather or for those who may be allergic to wool. See more images at www.handspunhats.com/spring.htm

I've also invented a new style of lumpy knit hat with a stitch I made up for the bobbles. The yarns in this hat are not quite as bulky as some of my other lumpies. It's a one size fits all with a slouchy, semi-tam look and plenty of room for big hair. See more at www.handspunhats.com/lumpy_knit_hats.htm

I've also just finished a modified version of my tassel fez hat that has a slightly wider top that curves under slightly a bit like a tam. The original tassel fez hat looked like this and seemed to attract mostly male buyers - possibly because I pictured it on a male display head:

So I've photographed the new style on a female model. This does not mean it's only for women though. Either style is fine for either gender.

The top of these hats is made with two ply yarns that make it a bit thicker, which helps it hold it's shape very nicely. The band is one ply natural color soft Romney wool and the beads are hand painted glass. I didn't use any dyes in either of these hats, though a brighter colored one with dyed yarns would probably look very nice, too. These hats can be found on my website at www.handspunhats.com/wool_skull_caps.htm

Unusual Necktie

2010-07-12T11:33:00.000-07:00

I had to put my hat making aside for awhile in order to figure out how to finish this project. A very nice customer asked me almost a year ago if I could make him a necktie out of his dog's hair. I told him I could make a hat, but a necktie was doubtful. I tried to discourage him thinking that he really wouldn't actually want to wear this thing. So he agreed to the hat and loved the result. (There's a photo of it here at #B.) He still wanted the tie, though. So I finally agreed to try and make it, and this is the result.

I first tried felting the fiber, but that didn't work very well. Felting is something I need to learn more about. So I ended up knitting it on small needles in a seed stitch. It took awhile, but seems to have been worth the effort. The customer is very happy with the result, and I've received some favorable comments on my Facebook page where I posted this same photo.

Poodle Hair Scarf

2010-05-16T13:18:00.000-07:00

My poodle hair order is now almost complete. I've finished both the blanket and a scarf and am now getting ready to make a hat to match the scarf. The hat will be a watch cap style with turned up brim.

The scarf is 7 1/2 feet long including the fringe and about 6 1/2 inches wide. The fiber I used for the scarf is a shade or two lighter than the blanket because this very productive doggy is apparently getting lighter as he grows older. So the most recent shaving is almost white. The owners have had the dog since he was a puppy and have sent me about three years worth of shavings. So there is quite a bit left over for future projects.

Poodle hair blanket

2010-03-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

I know it sounds weird, but it's actually quite pretty. A customer sent me a very big box of shavings from his camel colored poodle and asked me to make a small blanket with it. I've posted a couple of photos of the project on my facebook page, so thought I should put them up here, too. I don't usually do large projects like this, but am glad I took it on - a new challenge that seems to be turning out well.

I'm posting photos of the start of the blanket and how it looks now. It's about 20X30 inches now and will eventually be 3ft X 4ft., so I'm guessing I'm probably about half way done. The little ball of yarn in the first photo is some natural color tussah silk that I will be using to make a border to finish off the edges.

I don't usually spin skeins of pet hair for people unless they want something made out of it, and I do get some unusual requests! However, if you have some pet hair combings saved that you would like spun into yarn, my daughter might be able to do it. She loves to spin and dye all kinds of fiber and is working on a malamute hair order now.

Allie's Hats

2010-01-15T17:22:00.000-08:00

This is my daughter, Alexis, at her spinning wheel. She's been helping me out with some of the spinning for my hats and is now making some of her own. She's very good at making lumpy yarn and especially enjoys experimenting with hand painting and various other dye techniques. She likes to make kids' hats, so has decided to make that her specialty. I'm posting some of them here and will be putting up a page on my website for her soon. I don't make a lot of kids' hats, so this will be a nice addition to the site.

This one fits a nine or ten year old up to a smallish medium size adult. It's spun bulky using Corriedale wool roving and is crocheted. She's made some nice knit ones, too, but I don't have photos of those yet.

The white stripes in this hat are malamute hair, which makes for a nice variation in texture. Allie has a Persian cat, so she may be finding ways to use that, too. This one is about the same size as the blue and orange one above and the yarn thickness is about the same, too. I like the green sunglasses! Definitely a good choice with this hat.

I like the turned up brim on this one black and gray one, too. It's a bit smaller than the other two, but would still fit a child up to small adult size. It's made from undyed gray Jacob wool and dyed Corriedale wool. The yarns for this hat are finer spun, but still bulkier than a worsted weight.

Extra Fancy New Hat

2009-11-11T09:15:00.000-08:00

I put this one together up in my cabin in the Mendocino County hills. Maybe a result of cabin fever? It was the first rainy day of the season, and I had a nice fire going in the wood heater. It's pretty much necessary to stay right in front of that heater to stay warm there because the rest of the house tends to be cold and drafty. So that's where I stayed for most of the day. In my opinion, there's nothing nicer than a wood fire, a cup of tea, and a pile of outrageous yarn to work with!

I do like how this hat came out, too. It's got a little bit of everything - kid mohair curls, coils with blends of all kinds of fibers, a sprinkling of angelina for a bit of added sparkle, a glass bead on the tassel in back, and feathers! The blue is a bit more muted and grayish than the photo shows, though.

New Style Big Flower Hats

2009-09-07T16:18:00.000-07:00

I've been kind of busy this summer. I had to find a new place to stay in Berkeley, which took about six weeks. Meanwhile my daughter and her husband were getting our spring and water system upgraded at our place in Ukiah. This was a really big job, and I wanted to be around for as much of it as I could. So I was running back and forth between Berkeley and Ukiah all summer. Not much time for hatting.

However, somehow or other in the midst of all the chaos I managed to come up with a new hat style. Got the old energy moving I guess. Anyhow, here are two examples. Both are on my website and are now sold, but I will probably make more at some point. They are both made out of lighter weight plant fibers and silk, so were intended for warmer weather.

The first one was fairly close fitting and made out of teal green organic cotton with a linen band and flower center and gold tussah silk flower border.

The next one was bigger and more slouchy. The body of the hat was made out of the same home grown flax as the brimmed hat in the next post, and the flower had a dark green linen center and gold tussah silk border similar to the first hat. These hats are quite labor intensive even though they are well ventilated with an open stitch pattern. I'm now considering making some wool and or silk ones geared more for dressy winter wear. No telling what the idea fairy may bring. She does keep me busy though!

Linen Brimmed Hat

2009-06-04T11:48:00.000-07:00

I recently found a fellow online who sells his own home grown hand retted flax fiber for spinning. He has both the unprocessed loose fiber and some roving. I thought the less processed might work as a replacement for the raw hemp that I'm now all out of. If anyone knows where I can get some more, please email me!

Anyhow, I tried making a sort of straw hat style out of the new flax fiber, but it was too limp for the brim to hold it's shape. So then I tried spinning the fiber extra thin and then plying it. I got a nice two-ply yarn, which I used to make this cute short brim linen hat with a silk flower. The two-ply gives just enough stiffness for the brim to hold it's shape nicely and still be pliant enough to be able to tip and flip it in various ways. Definitely a fun hat! The fiber is rough enough to provide a nice straw hat looking texture, but not at all scratchy because it's actually quite soft. I may decide to keep it myself, but for now it's for sale on my website at http://handspunhats.com/spring.htm. (I guess I now have to say "was." It got sold today (6/6), but I will make another similar one soon, and I can also take custom orders with choice of color for the flower. I may make different types of flowers, too.)

Ski cap and scarf in Berlin

2009-05-21T12:21:00.000-07:00

This is a photo of my son in law, Marshall, wearing a ski cap I made him awhile back along with my daughter's scarf, which he had apparently borrowed. She was taking the photo. They were in Germany for his mom's one woman show at Aanant & Zoo in Berlin. It was February and plenty cold by the looks of it. (Click photo to enlarge.) The scarf is about 11 feet long and is woven. I've only made two this long so far. The other is shown in one of my October 2008 posts.

Marshall's mom is Channa Horwitz, whose interesting mathematical art has been shown in LA at the Getty Museum as well as at many other galleries in the US. The Berlin show was entitled "Searching Structures" and is listed at http://www.argobooks.de/en/aktuelles.html She was also in a group show at Aanant & Zoo last winter, and she has another solo one going on now at Brandenburgischer Kunstverein, Potsdam called "Variations in Counting One Through Eight." She is quite the busy lady!

A purse and a snood

2009-05-14T16:32:00.000-07:00

These were two birthday presents that I gave my daughter a couple of weeks ago while she and her husband were up from LA for a few days.

I'm calling the hat a snood because it sort of looks like one, though it could also be called a well-ventilated beret or tam. It's made from white linen which I spun from bleached flax that had been prepared for spinning, but was not overly processed, so the yarn had quite a lot of texture. It's roomy enough for stuffing a big lot of hair so is quite slouchy when not stuffed. It looks great on her, and I'm hoping to get a photo of her wearing it soon. I made a similar one out of hemp to sell and posted it on my website on the Spring and Summer Hats page.

The purse is made from various lumpy yarns that have been woven into a mesh of loosely knitted linen. I used wool, mohair locks, and some llama wool. The button is vintage leather and came out of my grandmother's button box, which is my very best source of fabulous buttons. It's lined with sturdy cotton fabric, and the shoulder strap is crocheted.

I made a big double decker carrot cake for the occasion with some incredibly rich cream cheese frosting. Very moist and yummy. Ice cream, too, of course. No big party - just a small family gathering at the old homestead. We had a wonderful time, and I gained three pounds!

As green as it gets in California

2009-05-13T11:23:00.000-07:00

This is the real deal California country spring. Lush green grass, clover, and a carpet of spring flowers everywhere. It will soon be all brown, though, so I always like to grab a few photos each spring in order to remember how beautiful it can be. We had warm, balmy weather with no blasts of arctic wind at all off and on for a couple of weeks. It was heavenly! It's still too early for the tics and snakes to be out yet, so safe to walk around in the wonderful, cool grass.

Snake season will be happening any day now, since it's getting a lot warmer, and that's something I don't look forward to. We have rattlesnakes along with other less scary varieties, and some of the tics carry Lyme disease, so I'll be wearing high top black rubber boots around for awhile until the grass is cut.

One of our two pear trees was in full bloom, so it looks like there will be lots of pears in the fall. That small tree can put out a couple of bushels of huge, sweet Bartlett pears. We also have a big apple tree up near the road, a nectarine tree inside the greenhouse(!), and another pear, dwarf apricot, and apple in with the Bartlett pear tree. I also have a small strawberry patch outside the front door in a little fenced-in area. Plenty of fruit for a small family.

I took a couple of photos of the house, too, one showing a bit of my daughter and son-in-law's new cabin, which is still under construction. I'll take more when it's done, as none of us like the pale gray stucco looking finish of the fire proof siding. We're going to paint it dark brown to match the rest of the place, with maybe some blue and red trim. Looks like a busy summer ahead with all the projects we've got planned.

I may be moving into the old house in the fall, so there are all kinds of things needing done to make it survivable in the winter. Lots of roof work, caulking cracks in the floor and walls, grading the driveway down to the house - plus finishing the new cabin.

Hopefully we won't have another disastrous fire season like last year. We are definitely seeing problematic weather patterns due to global warming, including a persistent drought. We did get more spring rain this year, though, so that should help with the fire danger.

Spring in Mendocino County

2009-04-12T15:12:00.000-07:00

We don't really get spring here in Northern California, at least not like they do in places where there are real seasons. Sometimes it snows as late as May or even June where I live, which is at an altitude of about 2800 feet. So we're often right on the snow line, and when I look out across the hills to the west, everything is green, while I'm standing in snow. When I drive down to town with snow all over my car, people know where I came from and often laugh and wave. They drive "up the hill" to our area to gawk or sometimes get out and try sliding down a hill on a piece of cardboard. We're too busy trying to keep warm to mess around with stuff like that.

This late snow business wreaks havoc on our fruit trees, as they often get nipped with frost and snow late into the spring months. For this reason and other more stupid ones, I have a nectarine tree in my greenhouse. It takes up about half the space and has to be trimmed at the top to keep it from growing out the roof, but we often get a bushel or two of really tasty nectarines in September.

Anyhow, this is where I've been off and on since early March. Not much happening in the hat business since nobody is buying anything, so I get to do all kinds of other things. Like catch up with some of the work around my cabin and finish non hat related projects.

A couple of weeks ago I left Berkeley to go stay at the cabin for awhile because the weather was so warm and wonderful. The plum and pear trees were blooming, and there were wild flowers everywhere. It was nippy enough at night to need a fire in the wood heater, but during the day, it was in the high 70's.

There was a flock of about 20 wild turkeys hanging around down the hill from the cabin. They're really ugly until they fan their tails, which changes everything. They have to hold their heads up high in order to do this, so about all they can do is strut around showing off, while the rest of the flock gets to peck at the ground getting all the yummy bugs and such.

Two days later it snowed. The weather report said it was going to, but I was sitting in the sun in a tee shirt as I listened to the radio, and I just didn't believe it. Then about an hour later, the temperature started to drop, and when I got up in the night to feed the fire I could hear that old familiar very soft swooshing noise that snow makes as it falls on the roof.

So I got all excited and got up before dawn to take a look. Sure enough snow all over the place. I grabbed my camera and went out to take photos. They came out looking almost black and white in the pre-dawn light. Then I took a couple of vids of the snow coming at me and swirling about the house and my little meditation room. By then it was a bit lighter.

My cat was not about to go out and just stayed glued to the window watching. So I went back inside and stoked the fire, fed the cat and made some tea. By then the sun was up and peaking through the clouds, and the snow had mostly stopped. By ten o'clock there was enough sun on the solar panels to feed my computer and the toaster. Believe me, toast is a treat when you're living the rustic life off the grid.

I got a couple more photos of the sun on the snow then got back to the normal routine of chores, hauling in wood for the fire and working on my various projects. It was still good and cold, but I knew that spring would be back again in a couple of days.

Now I'm getting ready to go back up for another couple of weeks with my family. We'll be doing fun things like moving the stove, getting the heater in the meditation room fixed and cleaning out the shed. My daughter and son in law are coming up from LA, and they love doing this stuff. I guess if I lived in LA I'd be pretty glad to get away, too! Maybe we'll have a birthday party for my daughter. Mmm, carrot cake and maybe ice cream, since it'll probably hot again by then.

Photo find

2009-01-15T20:17:00.000-08:00

I was looking through a box of photos trying to organize them to put them in an album the other day and came across this one of me at my oldest and just barely still working spinning wheel. I still like to use it when I have time to spare, but usually prefer my more efficient upright with double treadle for most of the yarn I make for my hats. The photo is sort of dark because it was taken inside my cabin in Ukiah without a flash. I still haven't gotten around to getting the photo album together, so this seems as good a place as any to put it.

The chair I'm sitting in is made out of madrone wood, and is a sort of free form sculpture. Madrone trees are plentiful in Northern California. The wood is very hard, and the branches are all curvy, so totally useless for lumber. Great for sculpture, though, and good firewood.

Just about everything in the cabin is hand made. I made the braided rug and the cushion in the chair, and my ex-husband made the chair and the drum - and for that matter, also the house, which is pretty much of a free form sculpture as well. There are more photos of it at the very beginning of this blog.

Second try

2009-01-15T16:22:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I made a new hat style that I posted here and on my website. (See below) It just kind of happened on it's own without my paying too much attention to how I'd done it. That's how my best designs always develop. If I try too hard or think too much about it, then it might come out all right, but not really a totally new creation. Of course not all out-of-nowhere new creations necessarily work well enough to try to duplicate. I really liked this one, though, so when it got sold during the holidays, I wanted to try and make another similar one.

That was not so easy, though, because I couldn't remember what I'd done. It took me over two weeks of pulling out and redoing before I finally succeeded. I ended up doing it backwards and upside down. I know that doesn't make any sense, but that's what I did.

With the first one I started at the top and ended up at the brim, but that was really hard to do, so I wanted to figure out an easier way. I figured it might work better if I started at the brim and worked up, but then I ran into all kinds of problems because the stitches were upside down. Eventually I ended up fudging it a bit in various ways, and it finally came out looking pretty good. I doubt I'll be making too many more like this though. They look great, but are really a pain to put together.

Here they both are along with a photo of the woman who nabbed the first one. It's now found a happy home somewhere in Chicago.

The fuzzy part is dyed Samoyed hair, and the rest is wool. I added a tiny bit of blue angelina in the section above the brim in the blue one, which gives it a bit of subtle sparkle. I like the soft blue, and the extra poofy clumps of unspun fiber added in. I've just put it up on the website, but may change my mind and keep it. I think it looks sort of Russian or Mongolian.

Hats and Scarves

2008-12-08T11:22:00.000-08:00

I decided to get some fancy display heads for my hats to dress things up a bit for the holiday fairs. When they arrived I realized they were a lot bigger than the ones I usually use, and they needed scarves to go with the hats. So I made some to match a few of the nicest hats. Here are three hat and scarf combos I came up with.

The white and light rosy puce colored hat has silver beads in it that are a little hard to see, but if you click on the images they enlarge to full size, which helps a lot. The hat that goes with it is a blend of wool and white mohair and matches some of the yarn used in the hat.

The black one has quite a bit of sparkly in it, which is also hard to see because for some reason computer images can't register sparkles very well. This one is made from wool with novelty eyelash added. The scarf is a little wider and longer than the other two. All the scarves are knitted.

The yarn for the top of the black and gray pill box hat has bits of different colors of commercial yarn plied in with black cord. I used that same yarn for the scarf. This hat is crocheted. After I'd finished the scarf, I realized that it would also go well with the red and gray hat in the following post because it has some of this same yarn in it. Juaquetta Holcomb gave me the idea for this yarn, and some of it is hers.

I've now made a Hats and Scarves page for my website. All of these plus one more are on it.

Two New Hat Styles

2008-11-19T12:29:00.000-08:00

I've been busy preparing for the upcoming holiday craft fairs. This year I'm doing one in Ukiah, California, and my daughter, Alexis, is going to help out and contribute some of her own creations to the display. She's very excited and is working like crazy to get some hats made. Her's look similar to the one posted here in April. This fair is a benefit for the local Waldorf School, so I feel very good about participating. Too many craft events these days are run by greedy people wanting to make money off of crafters who are already making less than minimum wage. There are lots of creative people in the Ukiah area, so it should be a fun event worth checking out if you're anywhere nearby. I'm posting a separate entry with details about time and place, etc. for those of you who might want to come, along with dates for the annual Telegraph Ave. Holiday Fair in Berkeley, which is not going to a good cause, and may or may not be worth a visit.

I have a couple of new styles that I'll be showing. One of them is on my website, but I'm keeping the other for the fairs. If the one on the website gets sold before the fairs, I'll make another that's similar. If they both get sold in Ukiah, so be it. By that time, I may not have time to make replacements.

This is the one that's 'already out' - It has a very nice beaded tassel, and the top part is extra sturdy, being made from two ply wool and llama wool, so it holds it's shape perfectly.

The one that I'm saving is a bit fancier with fluffy dyed Samoyed hair, pink poofies and a feisty tassel on top. They're both my own original designs, as are all my hats, which brings me to something I'd like to state here for the record. I would prefer that admirers of my hats refrain from expressing their appreciation by trying to copy them. I've seen various such attempts online done up in store bought yarns, and I have to say they don't look especially nice. My hats tend to maintain their own inherent copy write protection in that they can only be made with my yarns combined with my particular sense of design and color - plus I never use patterns. It's all a product of my own completely individual brand of creativity, and a little respect would be nice.

A woman once asked me how I get the ideas for these hats. When I told her they come out of my brain, she just stared at me blankly and said "No, I want to know how you learned to do this." When I told her I'd been to art school, that seemed to settle the matter. For her there had to be a prescribed method for doing everything, so anything could thereby be learned. Well, it can't. Some things just sprout out of nowhere. If it's especially great, it's called inspiration. Obviously my hats aren't particularly inspirational, but for sure there is no way and nobody - not even me - who can teach a course in how to make them. So there is also no way to reproduce them.

You can however go to art school and take courses in Fiber Art - something that wasn't available when I was in school. Then you can go out and create all kinds of wonderful designs of your own. It takes a little more effort, but let's face it - plagiarism is just plain tacky, and creating something new and original is a whole lot more fun and rewarding.

My Holiday Fair Schedule

2008-11-18T19:40:00.000-08:00

The 36th Annual

Children's Holiday Faire

Presented by

The Waldorf School
of Mendocino County

Saturday, December 6, 2008
11 AM to 5 PM

Carl Purdy Hall, Ukiah Fairgrounds

Telegraph Avenue Holiday Street Fair

Berkeley, California

Saturday and Sunday
December 13th and 14th
11AM to 5 PM

I'll be on the west side of the street between Haste and Channing

Saturday, December 20th
11 AM to 5 PM

West side between Haste and Channing

Sunday, December 21st
11 AM to 5 PM

Northwest corner of Channing and Telegraph on the sidewalk, not in the street

Since this is an outdoor street fair, I won't be able to be there if it's either raining or extremely windy.

Another scarf

2008-10-10T18:13:00.000-07:00

I just finished another scarf today. This one is only 6 1/2 ft long and about 5 1/2 inches wide and was a custom order. It's made from malamute hair blended with a small amount of wool. I spun it somewhat lumpy and then crocheted it. Husky hair tends to be fragile and holds up much better when blended with another fiber. The hair was a mixture of white, gray/brown, and light gray. Carding it together with some off white Corriedale wool made it come out mostly light gray with bits of white and darker gray/brown.

It's incredibly soft, thick and warm and looks great wrapped around the neck with both ends hanging down in front. I hope I'll get a photo of its new owner wearing it.

For those who don't like the idea of using pet hair to make a scarf, please understand that that I always soak the finished yarn in baking soda in order to eliminate any odor.

The eleven foot scarf

2008-10-05T09:18:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite customers had been wanting a very long scarf for a very long time, so I finally decided to make him one. He wanted it woven and in earth tones, and I promised it would be about nine feet long at least.

This took some doing, as I had to find a spot where there was enough space to warp my little heddle loom to that length. I decided to do it in my cabin, since there isn't all that much space in the room I rent in Berkeley. So I paced off about 12 of my size 9 feet and figured that would do it including the fringe.

I spun the warp yarn a thin two ply for extra strength, as I've had problems with my handspun fraying as it went through the reed. That took about six hours at least, as 12 feet of 2 ply warping for a 4 inch wide scarf is one heck of a lot of yarn. Once I got it on the loom, it went well though. No fraying at all.

I made the warp in undyed natural brown Romney wool, then dyed some thicker Corriedale for the contrasting weft colors in subtle greens and browns. About a week later, I took it off the loom and found it was about 11 feet long!

I called my customer and told him that it wrapped around my neck and hung down to my feet. He was completely thrilled to hear that, and very glad it wasn't just some kind of skimpy nine footer. He loved how it came out and has promised to send me a photo of himself (and maybe his girlfriend, too) wrapped up in this scarf. Definitely the longest scarf I've ever made!

Finally found some raw flax

2008-10-05T09:03:00.000-07:00

Now that summer is over, I've finally found some raw flax to make an old fashioned straw hat. What with the wild fires and various other distractions, I got a bit behind in my work.

I've been trying to find spinable flax off and on all summer. All my suppliers were out. I am also out of the raw hemp that I like use to make my straw hats. I had given up on ever making another straw hat when a new member of my spinner's yahoo group showed up selling flax that he grows and processes himself. I immediately ordered some of his less processed fiber, thinking that it might replace the hemp. He also sells roving that's been prepared for spinning, and I'll probably get some of that at some point, too.

The flax is not quite as rough as the hemp was, but it's a good substitute. So I went ahead and made a straw hat even though it's now fall and put it up on my website. Heck, maybe somebody in Australia will want it! It just looked too nice to put away until spring.

Here's a photo of it outside my cabin in Mendocino County.

Greenfield Ranch Fire Brigade

2008-06-30T18:40:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of photos of some of the folks who turned out to fight the fires in our area of Mendocino County, California, when the local firefighters were too overwhelmed with the number of fires started in the county by dry lightning last week. We've always been a do it yourself community, and that includes fighting our own wildfires. Cal Fire is now on the job, and some of the fires are coming under partial control. It's still very smoky, though, and I've got a bad headache from breathing it. It seeps in through the cracks in the walls and floor of my cabin, so it's even smoky inside.

I went up to my homestead on Friday to stand watch because of a weather report that predicted more dry lightning. Fortunately that didn't happen, but I did have to prepare for a mandatory evacuation. Then, once the mandatory was lifted, there were all kinds of other jobs to do, like trying to make sure my water system would have enough pressure if needed. This was hampered by a wood rat who has been hanging around my cabin stashing acorns and old nectarine pits. Seems he found an opening in the top of my water tank and has been dropping the acorns in there. When I turned on the tank nothing came out because it was all plugged up with acorns. Took me about a half hour to clear them all out. My house would have burned down by that time if I'd needed the water to put out a fire!

Maybe now that things have calmed down a bit, some hats may happen this week!

No hats today

2008-06-25T07:18:00.000-07:00

My home in Mendocino County is threatened by wildfires, and I've been busy cutting weeds and preparing to evacuate for the past few days. The fires were started by dry lightning strikes all over northern California last Friday night. We are safe for now, but things can change in a minute when winds shift.

From Saturday till late Monday our neighbors who are at 'ground zero' and able to see flames from their kitchen window had no help fighting the fires other than our local community fire brigade. The CDF is currently understaffed, and the resources they have were stretched too thin to respond to all of the over 100 fires started by the lightning strikes. They are also extremely restricted in using their "fire bombers" that spray fire retardant to stop fires. This has always been the most effective way to protect homes and stop the fires. They are now using only fire breaks cut by bulldozers around threatened structures and are just letting the fires burn.

We are now officially classified as a "disaster area" so help is being sent in from other states, and I'm hoping our homes will be saved. The National Guard has been called in also. Unfortunately most of the National Guard is in Iraq, however, along with many of the men and women who might otherwise be available to be working with Cal Fire.

People who are very close to the two fires have described seeing "a 50' wall of flame coming over the ridge." Ash from the fires is now blowing onto houses that are several miles away.

This is an unprecedented event. The last time we saw fires started by dry lightning was over 20 years ago, when 70 fires flared up overnight all over the county. This is twice as big and with drastically cut resources to fight it.

I've posted some photos. They don't really show the extent of what's going on, but it's all I have right now. The cloud looking stuff is smoke plumes. The valleys are so filled with smoke that they are advising people to stay indoors. I had to bring my son back to the Bay Area because he has asthma, but I will be going back to prepare for evacuation.

So, not much hat making going on right now!

Allie's first hat

2008-04-28T09:56:00.000-07:00

My daughter, Alexis, learned to spin about a year ago, but hasn't wanted to learn to make anything with the yarn until recently. I got her a pegged knitter, which seemed like an easy way to get started. She's now graduated to round knitting needles, but her first hat was made entirely on the pegged knitter, with a little help from me with the funky not quite pompom bit on top. I think it turned out very well. She's going to give it to a friend as a graduation present.

She went on to make another two and is working on a third. She used the pegged knitter to get the second one started then transferred the stitches to a round knitting needle. That one went to her husband Marshall, who grabbed it in a hurry! I don't have a photo of hat number three yet, but am encouraging her to start selling these hats on my website. I think they look fantastic!

Been making scarves

2008-03-27T20:45:00.000-07:00

I've been recovering from a bad back brought on by the December rush. I always work too hard, then have to spend the next three months recovering!

Now I'm getting ready to head up to the hills to spend most of the spring and summer at my funky little cabin, which badly needs a good cleaning. I'll be spinning more extra lumpy art yarn with my daughter, who will be spending the month of April with me. She loves to spin and dye the fiber but still hasn't learned to knit, crochet or weave, so I guess we make a good team. I've promised to show her how to make art yarn, and she's going to have another go at the small "knitter's loom" that I bought awhile back. Hopefully we won't freeze to death. It stays really cold up there until some time in May or June.

Meanwhile, I've been making scarves. The knitter's loom takes forever, so I tried making a lumpy knitted one with a few beads added. It's about five and a half feet long and about five or six inches wide (that varies because of the lumpiness). It's made out of wool, mohair and silk. Some of the yarns have been plied with various types of thin cord. Not sure if I want to make them to sell, but am considering it. I've had a lot of requests.

Something different

2007-12-07T18:34:00.001-08:00

This is a hat I just made that features some unusual yarn I bought from an online spinner whose work I admire - see link in my sidebar for Handspun Yarns by Juaquetta. I like to buy interesting yarns from other spinners every now and then, and Juaquetta is one of my favorites. The top part of this hat is made from a natural gray wool that's been plied with black thread. It appears that in the plying process bits of random colored commercial wool yarn were joined in.

The hat came out looking sort of like a yarn garden with colored bits popping up all over. I've also used this yarn in a couple of my lumpy knits, but this hat is crocheted. I wanted to post it before it gets sold at one of the holiday craft fairs that are coming up.

My latest extra fancy hat

2007-11-23T21:14:00.000-08:00

Well, the freeform crochet hat got sold last week on Telegraph Ave. I kept telling people it wasn't for sale, then made the mistake of quoting a price I was reasonably sure would be more than anybody would want to pay. Big surprise! I had seller's regret for a while. The woman who got it looked really happy, though, so I guess it all worked out OK.

I don't know if I'll make any more, but in the meantime I spun some yarn that's a crazy mixture of wool, silk, mohair, malamute hair and angelina with beads and some lace spun in. Here's the hat I made with it. The back part has locks of fuchsia mohair swirling about. I really like the big turquoise bead. The gray part is plied with some silvery cord, which makes it look very sparkly.

Holiday Fair Schedule

2007-11-23T20:58:00.000-08:00

I'm now signed up for four days in the Telegraph Ave. Holiday Street Fair. If it's not raining or too windy, I will be there on the following days:

Saturday, December 15th (Between Channing and Haste, west side, mid-block)

Sunday, December 16 (Probably on the sidewalk at the corner of Channing and Telegraph)

Friday, December 21 (Between Channing and Haste, west side mid-block)

Saturday, December 22 (Near the corner of Channing and Telegraph, west side)

Sunday, December 23 - Have not yet decided if I'll be there or not. Will wait and see how many hats I have left.

Computer Crash

2007-10-16T07:35:00.000-07:00

I've had a bad week. Last Monday my computer crashed, and I had to take it into the shop. There I found out that the crash was a result of Norton System Works having taken over my computer and shut it down. There was no way to get in at all. The very excellent tech guy who was working on it spent two days emailing back and forth with Symantec, which is the company that now owns Norton. These people are evil incarnate. Turns out they actually have a "fix" somewhere on their website for what to do when System Works crashes your computer. So they are very well aware of the fact that their software is destroying people's computers, yet they are still selling it. Makes one wonder how they get away with it. Seems like there might be a class action suit going on by now. There were four other computers in the same shop where I took mine, all with Norton related crashes. Anyhow, the fix didn't work, nor did any of their other suggestions.

Well, long story short, they did finally retrieve most of my data, and I'm now spending this week sorting out the jumble of files I've got all over the place on my computer. I now have a different virus protection program, which I'm told works very much like Norton used to, back when it was a very excellent and well respected program (ie. before Symantec got hold of it). I asked the scummers for a refund, and guess what? - they said their system was not programmed to do that!

Apparently this problem is only happening with Norton, so seems to me that getting anything related to Symantec off one's computer would not be a bad idea. Got to be careful about that, though. A simple uninstall leaves bits and pieces behind which have to be removed manually by a techy who knows what they're doing. Otherwise the new virus program will have conflicts with the old one, and while they are fighting it out on your computer, the hackers will be getting in with no problem.

Before all this happened I had taken some photos of some of the yarn I've been making lately for my lumpy knit hats. I've posted some here so it won't look like I've given up fiber art entirely!

Freeform Crochet

2007-09-15T07:58:00.000-07:00

I've been out of town, up at my place in the country, where I put together my very first freeform crochet hat! I really like how it came out, though it took hours to make. Definitely not the sort of thing I can do on a regular basis to sell on my website. I also made a very fancy ski cap, which I will post later.

The hat's made from my own handspun, and includes various types of wool, mohair, silk, tencel, and some white malamute hair.

Cats and Spinners

2007-07-06T11:13:00.000-07:00

I've been looking at other spinner's blogs and websites and am finding that spinners seem to have a special preference for cats. I haven't yet seen a site that features photos of a pet dog, bird or other animal friend. It's always a cat. Seems that cats and spinners go way back, and I'm not sure why. But, true to form, I too have cats. Only two at present, unfortunately, but perhaps in this case quality makes up for quantity. So, since other spinners are posting pics of their feline friends, I thought maybe I should, too.

So first, but not necessarily best, is Ted. She has a strange dent in her upper lip that gives her a permanent sneer. She also has a 'don't mess with me' attitude to go with it, but is extremely affectionate - and playful, too, if you don't mind getting bitten!

Ted is an originally wild, homeless cat who had been hanging around my cabin way out in the boonies near Ukiah, CA. (See first posts for photos.) Ted is a girl cat, but because ginger colored female cats are rare, and because I thought for a long time that she belonged to a neighbor named Ted, I started calling her by that name. It turned out that the neighbor did have a ginger cat with long hair, but it was a male. Since I don't live up there full time, I only saw this cat intermittently and didn't pay much attention for quite some time. Then one evening after a scorching triple digit day she came right up to my door obviously needing water and food. Of course I obliged with a big bowl of milk and a can of cat food. After making all appropriate inquiries about her possible ownership, I took her in, and brought her back to Berkeley with me. The vet told me she was about 2 years old. This was in the fall of 2006.

Then I took her back up to the country with me and my other cat, Moose. It was a warm, balmy day in April that soon turned freezing cold with gale force winds that lasted for a week. As I was unloading the car when we first arrived and the weather was still reasonable, a very large, strange dog showed up at the door and started to come inside. I yelled at it and finally got it to leave, but in the meantime Ted had run out the back door. Moose was still under the table and hadn't even twitched a whisker.

I called Ted for days, phoned all the neighbors and put up a 'lost cat' note, but no Ted. About a week later, I reluctantly left without her. After a couple more trips up to the cabin and more calling without results, we gave her up for dead or kidnapped. However, we underestimated this tough cat's survival skills. A month later, in late May, we returned to the cabin and found Ted under the house meowing to come in! Wow - what a cat! She's now back in Berkeley, is gradually getting just a bit tamer, and even sleeps on the bed sometimes. She still prefers the backyard, though.

My other cat, Moose, is a whole different story. Moose is about 15 years old, and is part Siamese, though she doesn't look it. She has the yowlish voice though and seems to feel a need to comment on just about everything. Unfortunately Ted has not made friends. At least not yet. Ted seems to view all other animals as a possible threat, and so growls at Moose whenever she comes too close. Moose ignores her. She could care less. Both cats are very intelligent, each in their own way. Moose, being much older, has learned lots of words and understands me quite well. She has a much more cooperative attitude and aims to please.

Moose has no hunting skills whatsoever, though, and after Ted left, I had to resort to mouse traps to rid the cabin of it's sizable mouse population.

The little pests were squeezing their way into my little electric fridge whenever I shut it off at nite to avoid draining the solar batteries. So every nite when the fridge wasn't on, the mice would go in. I finally got some traps that weren't supposed to kill them. After emptying the fridge one nite and putting two traps loaded with peanut butter in, I found two dead mice in the morning. Yuk! So, in an attempt to interest Moose in hunting I gave her one of the dead mice. Much to my surprise she chomped it right down and was standing by the fridge the next morning waiting for another. Guess she figured this was a new special treat I was keeping for her in the fridge! She still won't hunt, though.

**UPDATE 6/2/08
A few weeks ago I found out that Moose actually can hunt when she wants to even though she's lost 5 teeth including one of her front fangs, which I always thought were essential for killing prey. But apparently I was wrong.

Moose is now on a special diet for cats with kidney problems, and she hates it because it's low protein. She will do most anything to get some "real" protein and is constantly trying to steal Ted's food. So I have to feed them separately.

Shortly after we returned to the cabin in April, Moose started sniffing around the woodpile that we keep inside for the wood heater. It soon became obvious that she was stalking something, but we didn't take it seriously because she'd never been known to hunt. Then one night as I had just gone to sleep upstairs on the upper level of our split level round cabin, my daughter, Allie, who was down on the lower level in the kitchen area, let out a loud scream. I woke up thinking the house was on fire or something, but not - it was Moose chasing a mouse across the floor from the woodpile to under the old wood cook stove. Allie yelled something about "She's got a mouse!" and then "Oh YUK - she's eating it under the table." Moose had bagged a mouse with only one killer fang and toted it in her mouth across the kitchen area to her favorite hideout under the coffee table where she was making loud crunching noises. A couple of nights later she bagged another and ate that one, too. I took this photo of her sleeping it off the next day. (That's my handmade rug she's sleeping on btw.)

Meanwhile Ted, the outdoor survivalist, seems totally uninterested in hunting. Too well fed I guess. I suspect she has a preference for birds, which I don't like at all. She watches them from the window or from under the house, but has never caught one that I know of. But she's useless as a mouser. So my old decrepit, half toothless cat with kidney failure and wheezing allergies does all the hunting while my young, strong, healthy cat with a full set of very sharp teeth and claws just lays around either sleeping or preening herself.

Been busy

2007-06-15T15:13:00.000-07:00

Spring is a busy time for me. I've just returned from an exhausting few days of cutting the dry grass around my cabin out in the hills near Ukiah. As the weeds dry out, fire danger increases, and the cabin sits on a hillside completely surrounded by a sea of weeds. So I've been on weedeating duty with two family members working hard trying to get it all cut down. It's a huge job even for three people. Very hard work out in the hot sun. We got about a third of it done before two of the weedeaters needed a tune up. So I'm now back in my little room in Berkeley getting ready to go out on Telegraph Ave. tomorrow with my hats.

Being as how we don't really have seasons here, the hats are pretty popular year round. It can be warm in Berkeley and freezing cold in San Francisco due to the fog, which tends to stick around a lot during the summer. We also start getting a lot of tourists this time of year, so sales are doing well, and I've been trying to keep up with the hats while running back and forth up to the country dealing with cabin maintenance.

Here are a couple of my latest hats. The blue green one is a light weight skull cap made from plant fibers. The other one is yet another lumpy knit made from wool, silk and mohair. People still love the lumpies, so I try to keep a good supply.

Schedule

2007-03-10T08:29:00.000-08:00

At this point my schedule is not easy to predict. It's rained almost every weekend for several weeks, and the Farmer's Market doesn't have much produce this time of year, so not so many customers showing up there. I've also been having back problems, so a slow period is probably a good thing for me. I've been showing up on Telegraph for a couple of hours when it wasn't raining, and I'll probably go down there today since it's a really nice day.

There's another Farmer's Market in El Cerrito Plaza that I'm considering when my back gets a bit better. I'll post something about that in a couple of weeks.

The best way to find out where I'm going to be is to just send me an email or call.

The Knitter's Loom

2007-03-10T07:51:00.000-08:00

I haven't had much time for posting lately because I bought one of these widely advertised, and I might add, completely overhyped table looms that you may have seen on the Ashford site and lots of other places. It's actually just a heddle loom that folds up.

It's quite a nice little loom, and I do like it now that I'm used to it, but don't for a minute fall for the ads stating that anybody - even people who know nothing about weaving- can learn to use this loom in no time and soon be making scarves in only two hours! Ha! I've been at it for three weeks and still can't begin to make a scarf in two hours. All day maybe if everything goes well, but if you're thinking of buying this thing in the hopes of being able to make scarves really fast - forget it!

They call it the Knitter's Loom because supposedly you can make a scarf on it quicker than knitting. Of course it depends on the length and width of the scarf, but I believe that if two people set out to make the same size scarf - one knitting and one using the loom - the knitter would definitely come out ahead!

It is of course very nice to have a folding loom, however, you will most likely need to also buy their bag to store or carry it in. There are various bits that are likely to get lost if they aren't kept together in the bag. That's an extra $65 most places.

Then there are the instructions that come with the loom. Well, it took me all day to figure out how to work everything, partly because of me, but mostly because the instructions tend to leave out the bits you really need to know and concentrate on the bits that you eventually find out are actually unimportant. I had to call two people for help before I finally was able to use the loom. One of those people was a distributor who admitted that she was having all the same problems I was having. I ended up buying the full size instruction book for another $30.

Since I have a wholesale account with a very nice distributor that I've been doing business with for years, I got a good price on everything, but for someone buying at the full price, I'd suggest some careful consideration. If you just like to knit as a hobby, then this loom is probably not going to save you time, be as handy to carry around with you, or produce a dramatically better looking scarf than a knitted one. Two hour woven scarves are very unlikely to happen any time soon for me, or as far as I've been hearing, for anybody else either! It takes one hour to set the darn thing up (ie. "warp" it.)

Catching up

2007-02-12T21:17:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted a schedule this month because it's been so rainy. I'm hoping to get out to the Temescal market next Sunday though.

Here are some photos I took about three weeks ago.

They always have live music, and this time it was a a sort of jazz/soul group. They were pretty good. The guy on the keyboard did all the singing until this little cutie stepped right up and demanded the mic. She did an impromptu performance that stole the show, making up lyrics, which went something like "I love to go to the farm..." Then the musicians would back her up with "Go to the farm, go to the farm" and so on. A born performer for sure!

The stands in the background are some of the yummy bakeries that show up regularly. The crafts are to the right of the musicians. There's all kinds of prepared food, including Thai, Indian and some fantastic Afghan breads. It's a very pleasant way to spend a Sunday morning, but I usually go home with a tummy ache!

This is the vegetarian burrito stand, with James, the market manager standing to the left. The Feel Good Bakery is behind the three people standing in front of Donna's. I'm addicted to their pumpkin muffins with chocolate chunks and their jalapena bread sticks with pumpkin seeds. The rosemary chocolate chip scones aren't bad either.

They do have farm produce, too, or course - lots of it and all organic. When fruit is in season, I snack on that, but this time of year I go for the big time major carbs to stay warm. Also, since I have to get up at 5:00 to get there in time to get a good space, I'm usually starving by the time the market opens, so the prepared food is what keeps me going.

Schedule

2007-01-20T14:22:00.000-08:00

Well the month's half gone, and I still don't have a schedule up. Partly at least because I haven't figured it out yet. It's been so freezing cold here I haven't been able to get it together to get down to the market yet. I'm trying for tomorrow though, as it's warmed up just a bit. Going to the market involves getting up at 5:30 am to get a spot, and who wants to do that when there's ice all over everything. Not me. I'm a wimp!

Will see how it goes tomorrow.

Getting Back to Normal

2007-01-04T14:35:00.000-08:00

I'm still recovering from the holidays, but am finally starting to enjoy some relative normalcy. It was so freezing cold at the Holiday Street Fairs that I didn't get a chance to take many photos. It was all I could do to stay warm and deal with customers! Here I am bundled up in five layers including my most bulky warm ski jacket, two pairs of pants plus long johns, and of course my lumpy knit hat!

My friend, May, was out the day before when the weather was somewhat warmer, but she was pretty bundled up, too. And, yes, that's one of my lumpies she's wearing. She hand paints her baby tee shirts and draws on them free hand - something I could never do! Like many of us crafty types, she's a painter and shows in the Bay Area.

This is the customer who got the best hat deal of the day. Behind him are the booths across the street from my stand. The hat he's wearing is a lumpy knit stocking cap. I'd never tried to make one before, so since it was an experiment, I sold it for way less than I should have. It looks great, though, and he went home happy. Maybe I'll make some more if I get requests. There's an image of it still on the website that shows it with the stocking part folded over.

A Very Chilly Affair

2006-12-19T09:14:00.000-08:00

A big thank you to everyone who braved the very cold weather on Sunday to come out to the Telegraph Ave. Holiday Street Fair. We seem to be having an especially severe cold snap here, with freezing temperatures in the S.F. Bay Area, which is very rare. Even though I had to chicken out and pack up early due to wind threatening to blow everything away, people bought a record number of hats - some probably just to try and stay warm! One woman refused to take the hat off even for the minute it would take me to remove the tag!

As of now, it looks like it may warm up just a bit by the weekend, and no rain is predicted, so I plan to set up on the sidewalk in front of Mrs. Fields on the northeast corner of Channing and Telegraph. I don't have a space in the street, but since I'll be on the corner, people should be able to find me.

Peace, Happy Holidays, and Best Wishes for your New Year!

Temescal Farmers' Market

2006-11-12T22:18:00.000-08:00

I was back at the Oakland Temescal Farmers' Market today, where a nice customer took some photos of his grandchildren trying on hats. He emailed them to me, so I'm posting them here. Even though I have to get up at 4:30 -5AM to participate in this market, it's always fun. Nice people, fantastic food, and live music. There are always lots of kids, and they love to try on my hats!

These little girls made their selection, and then headed home with mom pulling the wagon. I plan to be there again next Sunday, then take a break for Thanksgiving.

Interesting spinning technique

2006-10-26T10:07:00.000-07:00

I recently bought some handspun two plied yarn from Joybilee Farms (www.joybileefarms.com) for my Lumpy Knit Hats. It was spun in a way I have never seen before that creates a very interesting effect. There are two yarns plied together in the usual way except that one of them is randomly knotted. The knots look a bit like the crochet stitch known as the popcorn. So it appears that a medium fine spun dark brown yarn was plied with some hand painted red/orange, lavender, gray yarn of about the same weight. The hand painted yarn has the random knots. This is a technique I'd like to learn! I've made some pretty wild hats out of it, which you can see pictured here. They are also on my website.

The hat above is a long round cap that covers the ears or can be worn turned up. The one below is a Lumpy Knit Hat.

Schedule update

2006-08-27T19:55:00.000-07:00

I'm going to try something new next weekend, and I'm not sure if it'll work out, but the plan as of now is to be at Telegraph Ave. on Saturday, September 2nd and the Temescal Farmer's Market in Oakland on Sunday, September 3rd. The Farmer's Market is open from 9:00 to 1:00 and is located on Claremont Ave. in the parking lot at the DMV. It's a new market and looked very nice when I visited a couple of weeks ago. However, if I can't get a space, I'll go to Telegraph as usual. There's also the possiblity that if the market is a hopeless dud, I may head on down to Telegraph after it closes and set up there by around 2:00.

This will be my first time attempting to participate in this market, so I'm not entirely sure how it'll all work out or how easy it will be to reserve a space. If there's a change of plans, I'll post an update here on Tuesday.

The following weekend - the 9th and 10th - I'll be up in the country with my family taking a short vacation from the 6th to the 14th. I may do a bit of spinning, dyeing and hat making, but mostly it's going to be a family work party for doing repairs on the house and finishing the foundation of a small cabin for my daughter and her husband. So this is not exactly a "laying around in the sun sipping lemonade" type vacation! I'll be checking my email every couple of days at the library in Ukiah, and hat purchases will be shipped as usual.

If all goes well, I'll be back out with the hats and my spinning wheel on the weekend of the 16th and 17th. I plan to be on Telegraph on Saturday and the Farmer's Market on Sunday. The same goes for the 23rd and 24th.

Anyone wanting to know for sure where I'm going to show up is always welcome to call or email me on the Friday before the weekend in question. I check my email regularly and answer calls during normal business hours. My contact information is on my home page at www.handspunhats.com.

My first spinning wheel

2006-07-31T18:58:00.000-07:00

So here's a peek inside my house and a look at my first spinning wheel. It's an Ashford Elizabeth and still works 20 years later, though it could use some repairs. The chair with the curly parts was made by my partner out of manzanita and madrone wood. He made the bent wood chairs in the background also. I can't remember what kind of wood he used though.

This is where I cook up my dyes. That's a wood stove on the left. The upper oven has kerosene burners under it, and I've actually baked in it. The other little stove uses propane. There's a counter to the right of little stove that provides some work space.

This is another shot of the inside of the house that shows the 'kitchen sink' and some of the structure of the house. It looks like a big unbrella, with a tree-sized center pole and smaller ones branching out supporting the roof.

This one shows more of the 'umbrella'. The sky light in the background is at the back of the house in the sleeping area. The whole house is 40 feet in diameter and split level because it's built on an incline. So the sleeping area is on the upper level, which is about 3 -4 feet higher than the lower one. The roof boards are all redwood bought way before the current problems with clear cutting. The center pole is fir, I'm pretty sure.

This is some dyed yarn that's drying on the fence outside my door. There are strawberries and some herbs inside the fence. Once I've dyed the yarn and rinsed it in the sink, I throw the water on the strawberries so as not to waste it, and then hang the yarn out to dry in the wind. I like to use whatever local vegetation I can find for plant extract dyes, as well as some of the basics that can be found in most any kitchen - like onion skins and black tea or coffee grounds. Lichens and moss make a nice pale gray/green, as do Japanese flowering plum tree leaves. I have a couple of these trees in the front yard, and they can also be found all around the Bay Area. Another of my favorites is walnut hulls (not the shells, but the green hulls around the outside of the shells). These make a very nice, rich brown. Walnut hulls have a lot of tannin in them, so no fixing agent is needed. For the onion skins, leaves and moss a mordant is needed though. I generally use alum, tin and chrome, depending on what shade I want. Alum makes a medium bright color, tin brightens it more, and chrome dulls the color. Copper sulfate also can be used to make the color browner and darker.

Schedule update

2006-07-20T09:59:00.000-07:00

Well, even though we are in the middle of a monster heat wave, temps in Berkeley are still only in the high 70's so I will be out displaying my hats this weekend on Telegraph. If all goes well, I plan to be out every weekend between now and the end of August. I've been making hemp hats with brims and lightweight skull caps for summer, so come by and have a look if you're in the area.

A tour of the boonies

2006-07-19T12:40:00.000-07:00

I guess if I'm going to talk about where I make my hats, a tour of the old homestead might be good idea. This is a bird's eye view of my place from my nearest neighbor's hill, which is about a half mile away. I'm about 20 miles from the town of Mendocino on the coast and 10 miles from Ukiah to the east inland. The nearest paved road is about 3/4 of a mile away, and there is a dirt access road about an eighth of a mile up a hill to the right in the photo. This is reasonably passable and connects with the paved county road. However, my driveway is steep and winding and gets pretty iffy in the winter when it rains a lot. Definitely a four wheel drive situation, and even some perfectly functional 4 wheelers have managed to get stuck there. This is one reason I don't live there year round.

Here's a photo of the driveway. It can't even really be seen from the public dirt road - just looks like some tracks through the grass. This has it's advantages and disadvantages. The photo doesn't really show how steep it is, and when it's nice and dry like this it's perfectly passable. My spring box, which is my main water supply, is to the right of the road near the top. I do also keep a big water tank for emergency use in case of fire though. Fire is perhaps the biggest danger in the area where summer wild grass fires can start up and spread quickly.

OK, getting closer to home so to speak, here is a photo I took one morning before the sun was high enough to reach the house. The fog was still in to the west and just starting to move back out to the ocean. This is a common sight in the summer. Very beautiful!

The bigger building is the main house, which is about 40 feet in diameter with a sort of free form roof. The smaller building is my meditation room when I'm there by myself and guest room otherwise.

This is a closeup of the little meditation room. It was built relatively recently by someone with a more conventional approach. It's better insulated and has sheet rock interior walls, so is warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. A wonderful place for a retreat!

I put up all the redwood shakes on the outside myself. What a job - but fun! The original house was shaked, so I figured the new addition should be, too. I guess that's considered more of a fire problem, but we cut the dry grass down to the dirt for 100 feet around, so feel reasonably fire safe. We've just finished the weed whacking for this year. It takes several people about three days to get it all done. Just in time for the triple digit temps that have hit the area over the past week! One good reason I'm sitting in front of a computer in Berkeley, where it's only in the 70's :)

Next is a photo of the front side of the main house. It shows the weird roof, which was under repair at the time. There are two more big windows continuing on around the rest of the front of the house. Looks like we hadn't finished the weed whacking when this was taken! You can see just a glimpse of the bent wood chair inside that my partner made. He also made some free form chairs out of madrone and manzanita. Maybe I'll get some good photos of them next time I'm up there - hopefully next week if it gets a bit cooler. All for now. Cheerio!

Some history

2006-07-18T22:56:00.000-07:00

A lot of people ask me if I raise sheep or live on a farm when they see me spinning raw fiber. The answer is no, not exactly. I did start out spinning fleece from my own angora goats, though. I was living on some land out in the hills in Mendocino County, California, where my partner and I had built a house of sorts, and we kept a few goats and chickens. One day a wild angora goat showed up, we fed him, and he decided to stay. So I found someone to show me how to spin and bought my first spinning wheel. I still have the place and it's basically the family home, even though it's a bit too rough to live there full time. I spend as much time as I can, though, and this is where I get my best inspiration and make my best hats. Here's a photo of my house. As you can see, there aren't a lot of neighbors!

Where to buy handspun yarns

2006-07-15T20:19:00.000-07:00

I'm posting some links in the sidebar to sites that sell handspun yarn, since I don't sell my own. These are some that I have had personal experience with. There are more which I also believe to be very good on my website at www.handspunhats.com/links.htm

2006-07-15T19:52:00.000-07:00

This is me at my spinning wheel on Telegraph Ave. on a very cold day wearing my very own Rainbow Hat.

Lisa's Intro

2006-07-10T16:54:00.000-07:00

Hello, it's me finally doing a blog! Not something I ever thought I'd want to do, but it does seem like a handy way to post news and comments about my hats, fiber art, craft fairs, etc., so I'm giving it a try.

I thought it might be useful for me to post some sort of schedule of where and when I'll be displaying my hats. Generally I set up a table with my spinning wheel on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley CA on weekends, where I do spinning demos and sell the hats. This is an open crafts market that was originally started by a group of crafts people in the late 60's. It's been a loosly organized ongoing crafts fair every since, where artists and crafts people can purchase a license from the City of Berkeley to display their work in a four block area of Telegraph just south of UC Campus. I've been setting up my spinning wheel there and displaying my hats off and on for a few years now. I also participate in other crafts fairs and farmer's markets from time to time.

So, my schedule for the next few weeks is as follows: I plan to be on Telegraph Ave. on July 15th and 16th and probably on the 22nd and 23rd as well. Not sure about the 29th and 30th just yet. I may be out of town. I do plan to be there every weekend in August, though. I generally set up somewhere between Haste and Channing Streets around 11 A.M. and stay until 5 P.M., though sometimes a bit later during the summer.

I also plan to use this blog to tell a little bit about how and where and why I make the hats, the materials I use, etc., along with whatever other info seems appropriate.

Comments are welcome, too, of course. I'd probably rather not hear about how much you hate the hats and how you can get a cheaper one at an imports store or Walmarts, but I guess if that's what you feel you need to "share" then by all means post it!

I won't be posting patterns because I don't have any. I make everything up as I go along, and even if I did figure out how to write down a pattern, it would never come out right using commercial yarns. I can recommend places to buy handspun yarns, though, and where to buy spinning fiber. I don't sell my yarn because it's really all I can do to just supply myself.

Questions are always welcome!