Another scarf

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.