Card Weaving and Phoenix Comicon

Wow, I spent last weekend (Thursday through Sunday) at Phoenix Comicon as an exhibitor (vendor) in the Artists Alley. Exhausting but fun.

For months now, I've been card weaving (or tablet weaving) bracelets with sayings from or references to science fiction and fantasy books, shows, and movies. I've also been weaving material (on a four-harness floor loom) and sewing it into bags, particularly drawstring dice bags.

You now know the truth: I'm a sci-fi/fantasy geek. Firefly, Doctor Who, the Harry Potter books, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings -- they're great.

Here are a few of the bracelets I've woven.

Bad wolf in Welsh!

I used 40 cards and 160 threads for all of them except the TARDIS bracelets. For those, I used 54 cards and 216 threads because I needed  more width to make them look good. I wove all these bracelets with sewing thread. I know, I know. I'm kind of crazy, but it's fun.

Never Underestimate a Sheep

A couple of hours before feeding time, I went outside briefly.  The sheep moved together, waiting for the hay to arrive. I told them it was too early to feed them and went back into the house.

Through a window, I saw Minerva take a few steps forward, away from the other sheep. Laughing, I thought, "Wow, a spokes-sheep." And, next moment, looking straight at the door, she baa-ed.

I better watch what I think. Never underestimate a sheep.

Minerva

Gardening

Some late-season tomatoes from my garden

Dinnertime

Dierdre and I just fed the sheep. When we went out, they were on the far end of the property. I wanted each of them to have an equal chance at the hay, so I called them. They studiously ignored me.

Then Dierdre gave two sharp barks. Their heads shot up, and they started running towards us. I should have asked Dierdre to handle things to begin with.

"Let's see if Miss Kitty laid any eggs."

Believe it or not, the title of this post, what Kenneth said to his sister Violet, really does make sense.

Their parents, my friends, helped me shear one and 3/4 sheep on Sunday. (That's a tale for another time.) Anyway, while we were shearing, my lone surviving hen (see the post from 8/12/13 for that story) decided to perch on the open window sill of the chicken coop.

Violet quietly approached her and started stroking her feathers. The hen stayed put. Violet petted her some more. The hen seemed to really enjoy it. She remained sitting, facing into the chicken coop, with her tail to the world -- just like a cat wanting its rear end petted, according to Violet and Kenneth.

They asked what the hen was called. I said I hadn't named this bunch as they all looked pretty much the same, and I couldn't really tell them apart. However, now that only one chick remained, we decided it was fitting for her to have a name. So the kids dubbed her "Miss Kitty," since she wanted to be petted just like a cat.

"Let's see if Miss Kitty laid any eggs." Kenneth and Violet hurried into the barn and scrambled up a low partition to reach the rafters where Miss Kitty roosts. Now, you must understand that this hen has an avian form of OCD, what I call OED, Obsessive Egg Disorder. She insists on trying to hatch her eggs, despite the absence of a rooster.

When she indulged her obsession in the laying box, I was able to remove the eggs daily. Since she started laying them in the rafters of the barn, I've been remiss about collecting them. The kids discovered 13 eggs up there. Kenneth tested them and found, unfortunately, that they had all gone bad.

Not wanting them to go to waste, though, the kids created works of art. The masterpieces below include a dog, Pikachu, Bulbasaur, and Lilo and Stitch.

Dierdre Sporting Her New Accessory

I didn't attach the leash because I didn't want Dierdre to think we were going somewhere. She was amazingly patient for the photo shoot.

Tablet-woven Dog Leash Add-On

A few weeks ago I mentioned I had learned to tablet weave (or card weave). I'm really enjoying it.

I work on an inkle loom.

This system has several advantages over the traditional method of tying one end of the warp to a stationary object, such as a doorknob, and one end to your belt, making you one of the warp anchors. An inkle loom is portable, you can get up and walk away at any time, you can take the loom outside and run in if it starts raining, which has happened to me, to name a few benefits of not being literally tied to your work.

I've been weaving a variety of items, including this dog leash add-on for Dierdre. One end attaches to the end of her leash, the other end to her collar. Blue is a great color for her! Do you think she approves of my work?

For a demonstration of tablet weaving on an inkle loom, check out this youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex2gmUDmZAY.

http://www.earthguild.com/products/riff/rcdweave.htm offers a brief written introduction to card weaving.

For some history of the craft, go to  http://www.academia.edu/1488597/Hallstatt_Tablet_Weaving and  http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1199&context=tsaconf.

Devil's Claw

I pulled this little specimen off my dog, Dierdre, this afternoon. I've been disentangling them from sheep all summer.

It's called Devil's Claw, or Proboscidea parviflora. Traditionally it's used in basket making, medicine, and food, but it plays hell with furry and woolly animals. I received a nasty cut when I came across one unexpectedly while shearing a sheep.

I'm all for diverse and traditional uses of plants, but I would be quite happy NOT to find them on my property or on my animals.

http://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/cs_prpa2.pdf and http://www.fireflyforest.com/flowers/2215/proboscidea-parviflora-doubleclaw/ give more information on and pictures of the plant.

Sheep Breeds

Did you know there are more than 200 breeds of sheep? Some are raised for wool, some for meat, some for milk, some for a combination of those traits. A few are even wild, such as the Bighorn sheep of North America.

Some sheep reared for meat are hair sheep; they don't have wool, just hair that they shed yearly. The American Blackbelly is one of them.

American Blackbelly

The Cotswold is considered a tri-purpose sheep. They produce high-quality wool, meat, and milk.

Cotswold - Sierra and lamb

Some sheep have great wool, but they aren't so desirable for eating. Others represent the opposite: flavorful meat but so-so wool.

Friesian Milk Sheep and British Milk Sheep are examples of good dairy sheep. Yes, sheep can be milked just like goats. Sheep's milk feta is lovely.

Friesian Milk Sheep

British Milk Sheep

To see pictures of many of those 200+ breeds of sheep and to find out more about them, go to http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/sheep/. All of the photos in this post, except the one of the Cotswold (she's mine) are from that website.

Let me know which are your favorites. Mine, of course, is the Cotswold, but I find breeds such as the Welsh Mountain, the Manx Loaghtan, and the Exmoor Horn to be fascinating.

Welsh Mountain

Manx Loaghtan

Exmoor Horn

Catching Up

An August 12th resolution: blog frequently and on a regular basis.

A variety of things have happened around here -- good, bad, and peculiar.

I learned to tablet weave (or card weave) on an inkle loom and how to tablet weave words into the bands. I'll post more about that later and include pictures. It's fun and very cool.

Much to my dismay, a coyote killed three of my hens. I only have two left now. I walked out to feed them one morning a couple weeks ago and caught movement out of the corner of my eye. It took me several seconds to realize I was looking at a coyote. He ran, with one of my hens in his mouth, across the property and jumped a five-foot fence topped with a strand of barbed wire into the neighbors' property and raced out their open gate.

When I looked around, I found three piles of feathers. He had already eaten two hens before I appeared on the scene. I was so sad and so angry. The two hens that survived are my two obsessed chickens that keep sitting on eggs that won't hatch. But at least that kept them out of the coyote's reach.

I was very worried that he'd come back. I read up on how to keep coyotes out of your property. One suggestion was to spray ammonia on the fence. I bought a bottle of ammonia that afternoon after work and sprayed it along the fence line. The coyote hasn't been back.

I've raised free-range chickens for almost ten years. This is the first time I've lost any to a wild predator. A couple friends suggested the coyote may have been displaced by the Yarnell Hill fire which was only about 20 miles away. That makes sense. Perhaps he was passing through this area.

A peculiar incident happened today. The water pump inside the house kept running when it should have turned off. I dashed to the window looking for any signs of water flowing. The faucet at one of the water troughs was on, and water was pouring onto the grass. I hurried out and turned it off.

I guess one of the sheep turned it on somehow. That's never happened before, but I can't think of a better explanation. I certainly doubt someone walked all the way across my property, turned on a faucet, and then left. It was very odd, though. Am I going to have to lock the faucets to prevent the sheep from turning them on?

On another note, the monsoon rains resulted in lots of beautiful green grass. The sheep have certainly enjoyed grazing it.