Thursday, October 25, 2012

My Serendipity moment

Our booth from last Saturday.  I felt we did pretty good.  Put a little money in my savings to pay for the new loom I am looking for.
Have to tell about a little serendipity that happened to me last week.  A weaver friend (Mike) sent me a link to a weaving sales thru Yahoo for someone who had a rigid heddle loom that was just perfect for what I was looking for.  So I copied the info then went on line for with the name of the manufacture.  It is a Kromski Harp 32" Rigid Heddle/
While checking out Kromski I found their prices less than the ad, but also I found someone local who carries this brand.  So I copied this info.  All this was on Friday last week.  On Sunday I had my Fiber Guild meeting and I took all my info with me to pick some brains and ask for a workshop on the rigid heddle weaving.  Well you won't believe it but a couple ladies in my group are the owners of the distributor that I had found on line!  Soooooooooo to make a long story a little shorter, they were able to give me a good price on a new one and they are working on dates to do an all day workshop and if that's not feasible they will just do some one on one with me if I want to buy it. 

So now with my sales from the show Saturday I have enough money set aside to buy the loom.  I am excited to try something new.  I forgot to mention I sold 7 rugs!  Plus some other stuff, but the rugs were the big ticket items.  3 of them were the wool selvage rugs, so I am out of them.

I have registered for one more craft show at a local elementary school that is reported to do really well, in the middle of Nov. Folks buying stuff for Christmas.
Will be off line for a week unless I go to the Library,  hubby having a second knee done next Tue and so I will have the store closed for over a week.  Will have lots of catching up to do. 

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Weaving update


This is the table runner that I finished off about 3 weeks ago from my weaving class at the college.  It is cotton warp and weft, with a diamond pattern through out.  But the pattern shows up best in the gold.
I am warping the loom now for a scarf.  My goal to learn how to beat the weft SOFTLY.  Since I make rugs most of the time this will be a challenge.  Also am going to put a floating selvage in.  Never did that before.  I am using a fine warp in cream and tan, very shuttle for my pretty pink yarn.  Have forgotten the contents of it but a mixture.  I am doing a simple warping of 1,2,3,4-3,2,1  repeats.  Then the pattern is a simple twill.  So unless you are a weaver I am just using gibberish here.  LOL

Been having trouble getting in the mood to weave.  Hope when this craft show Saturday is over I can put all that stuff away.  I am hoping to make enough to buy a rigid heddle loom to use here at the store.  I think it would be fun to learn another way of weaving that is a sort of throw back to simple times.  Yet I understand that you can do many patterns and textures on it too.  So will see.  May put an ad on Craigs list that I am looking for one. 

Fall is definately here,  the air is crisp and the trees turning beautifully this year.  The 2 nites of frost a couple weeks ago must have triggered it.  Hummers are gone south to their winter homes.

Will post pictures of the craft fair next time.  Wish me luck!

Thursday, October 11, 2012

BookSneeze: explained

Sometimes I have to review a book for this web site.  booksneeze.com.  So you can read them or ignore.  Often I incorporate them in my newspaper column that I do, so lucky you, it is on here twice!  
If you go to that site you can log in and get free books too.  They are mostly Christian/self help type books but I have found some that are just good fiction, too.  Lots are E-book, so I am more limited.  I pick a book and they ship it to me.  All free.  I just have to do a book review and post it on a site like Amazon, which is easy and on my blog site.  Then I link my reviews into BookSneeze and then I can order another book.  Easy as pie to get a free book and I am all about getting FREE!
So just for heck I will leave you with this crazy cat!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

For Book Sneeze, review of The River

The River
by
Michael Neale

Why is Gabriel Clark so mysteriously drawn to The River? The book starts out with a chance meeting at an airport of the “author” and Gabriel. Gabriel is in the mood to tell his story about The River and so it unfolds into a wonderful story that the “author” claims changed his life. When he was 5 years old, Gabriel experienced something at the river that was so traumatic that he lived the next 15 years in fear and sadness and a lot of anger. He grows up in Kansas with his hard working mother and at age 20 a friend coaxed him into a trip back to Colorado where he was born and lived till age 5. He encounters the river and is changed forever. You could feel what he felt as he is challenged to find his inner peace, to give forgiveness, and to find love. This is so well written you forget that it is fiction. You must read the paperback copy as it has the look of a worn journal and that is a key part of the book as he finds his fathers old journal that speaks to him as the river speaks to him. The conclusion is so unexpected that you will be amazed. This is just one of those books that can change the way you see things.

October Newspaper column


I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful fall weather. We had a great trip to Wyoming and Colorado in September and enjoyed the beautiful fall foliage and a little trout fishing.

On the 22nd my sister and I did our first craft show at Crowder College. It was a great day and a lot of vendors. Sadly it didn't seem like there were very many buyers. Hopefully when they do this next year it will get more advertisement and there will be a better turn out. As I type this I am preparing to do a weaving demonstration at Prairie State Park on Sat the 29th. I will be wearing my prairie dress that I made for the event. This is an annual event with all day activities to enjoy for the whole family, complete with food and music.
I will be closed on Sat. the 22nd of October so I can do a craft booth at Maple Leaf in Carthage. I will be giving out coupons for the book store so find my booth.

As I mentioned last month I want to list a feature author and tell just a little bit about that person. I will also be offering $1.00 off on any of this authors books for that month. For October I will start with James Patterson since he is such a prolific author. Born in 1947, he started writing seriously in 1996. There are 17 books in the Alex Cross series about a forensic psychologist. Many know him by his Women's Murder Club series. He is up to book 11 now. He has many stand alone novels and my favorite was a surprise to me, a really sweet love story “Sundays at Tiffany's.”

While we were in Wyoming we got a private tour of the Saratoga Museum since my husbands cousin is one of the main volunteers. They have been promoting a Wyoming author who writes books about a game warden in Wyoming. I was given a copy of one of his books and really enjoyed it so it is my first book to review this month.

Winterkill
by
C.J. Box

Joe Pickett is a game warden in Wyoming. This is one of several books that Mr. Box has written about Joe and his family. The title is accurate as the area in the mountains in Wyoming is experiencing a very bad winter with blizzards raging. There is also a murderer loose and the prime suspect is just too good to be true. With several levels of authority trying to handle the case, you soon find a few people to hate and you are on Joe's side as he fights the elements to find the real suspect and save his family at the same time. An action packed book. Made me want to wear a warm parka while I read it.

The River
by
Michael Neale

Why is Gabriel Clark so mysteriously drawn to The River? The book starts out with a chance meeting at an airport of the “author” and Gabriel. Gabriel is in the mood to tell his story about The River and so it unfolds into a wonderful story that the “author” claims changed his life. When he was 5 years old, Gabriel experienced something at the river that was so traumatic that he lived the next 15 years in fear and sadness and a lot of anger. He grows up in Kansas with his hard working mother and at age 20 a friend coaxed him into a trip back to Colorado where he was born and lived till age 5. He encounters the river and is changed forever. You could feel what he felt as he is challenged to find his inner peace, to give forgiveness, and to find love. This is so well written you forget that it is fiction. You must read the paperback copy as it has the look of a worn journal and that is a key part of the book as he finds his fathers old journal that speaks to him as the river speaks to him. The conclusion is so unexpected that you will be amazed. This is just one of those books that can change the way you see things.
Michael Neale is also a song writer of gospel songs too.