Spring is Springing Here

Enough said.

For The Love of Fiber

I have about a million more pictures of the Rose Cottage project, but since this blog is supposedly about fiber arts and travel, I though maybe a little shot of a few things I have been working on lately might be fun.  Not to mention easier than the next 75 steps of the cottage project!

For the love of Bumbles

  I "unvented" a new way to make catnip toys: a needle-felted, scarily realistic, cat-nip rat.

Take a little fiber (washed, but still a little sheep-y seems to intrigue Bumbles better than scoured within an inch of its life fleece) and needle it to make a little mat.

 I forgot to take a picture of the next step where you put some catnip on it and fold the fiber around it.

Then needle it into a basic mousey shape.

Make some whiskers and a tail by braiding yarn scraps together.

Attach the whiskers and tail by needle felting a little more fiber over them.  Detail pointy nose shape.

Add some eyes with little bits of a darker color, and Viola! A pet rat for your beloved cat.

I keep getting a little scare every time I see it on the floor!

For the love of Byron

I love my cat, but I love my brother-in-law, at least as much.  A few years ago I made him a cotton throw, but it was always just a little small for him (though he loves it dearly!). I knew he would appreciate this:

It's based on the Modern Miters Afghan free pattern from LionBrand, and is made with super easy care Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick yarn.  I started it at the end of December managed to finish it in time for it to arrive right on his birthday the day after Valentine's Day. He called me to thank me even before he called his own mother!

For the love of Myself

I dumped all of my knitting notions out, sorted them by type into a gazillion saucers and then reorganized them into various pouches, and even managed to clean up after myself!

Love is all you need!

Rose Cottage Goin' Up Like a House A'fire ----- (FIGURATIVELY, of course!)

Things have progressed so quickly on my studio I can hardly believe it. Between Seth and our friend Andrew of Salamnader Construction and various sub contractors we already have walls and a roof!

STEP 8:
When the form is ready:

 have these guys

come and do this:

.

Then, with a stick,  scrape something meaningful into the concrete.

O-kay, so it was still 2013, but the building wouldn't be done until 2014, so I post-dated it!

STEP 9:

When the concrete dries and the snow all melts again, draw the stairs in on form to be sure they will line up with walls properly.

STEP 10: Have Pete of Sunstone Hardscapes go to the quarry with his big ol' truck and get a bunch of rocks so you can start landscaping (by "you" I do actually mean I helped, though Seth and Pete of course handled the ginormous ones!)

Golly gee. I haven't taken any pictures of the landscaping?! I actually helped with it! Sheesh.

Anyhow…

STEP 11: Get a lumber order figured out and delivered.

STEP 12: Build 3 walls all on top of each other flat on the ground so you can see if they line up with the stairs.  Be sure you build them in the right order as this will be important later!

Ah-ha! Seth had some pictures of Bumbles looking for opportunities which show the walkway at least. 

NOW FOR SOME REAL EXCITEMENT!

STEP 13: Get as many big strapping men as you can roust up on a weekday morning to come a push the walls into place!  Just like the barn raising in Witness! But with fewer Amish people and no intrigue. We did have a cute little 2 year old girl and a dog at least.

 The 2 year old exclaims, "It's a HOUSE!"



Then later, in awe, "It's a Biig House!"

She was very helpful in keeping the dog out of the way.

view from Seth's shop

STEP 14- oh, about  STEP 22:
Finish the sheathing. Get it inspected. Build the roof framing. Tar paper the roof. Get a bunch of windows you ordered months ago delivered. Put them in. Wrap the whole thing in Tyvek.  Get Brett from Baxter's Plumbing to come and do a bunch of plumbing (duh). Do a bunch of framing inside for the loft.  Seriously, this all happened in like a week!  I hardly did any of this (though I did take all the packaging off the windows!) and I'm exhausted just typing about it!

As my scientist housemate in college would often say when she had to write a paper, "Well begun is half done!"

Rose Cottage Puts Down Roots

HELLO!

I am so excited!

During my year off from work, while trying to figure out to do when I grow up, I am being allowed to build a fiber arts studio on the rental property owned by my in-laws next door to my house.  It took awhile to get going,a s these things are wont to do. Then it snowed and froze here for a week (which is highly unusual) so that slowed us down, but now we are really moving along.

Step 1:

Find an empty corner in the neighbor's yard:

Try not to worry what that old slab might be covering up.

Step 2:

Spend lots of time making plans and getting a permit the with help of Architects, friends relatives, engineers, City of Eugene Workers etc.

Step 3:

Hire some big guys with loud cutting machines to come slice out the slab.  

 


Be shocked that that tiny slab was like 8-10 inches thick.
Be Very Happy that it was just covering up good clean dirt.

Step 4:

Dig a Big Hole.  Then immediately fill it partway back up again with gravel.  Be Happy you have good contractors with big trucks and strong arms as friends!

 

Dig a big ditch while you're at it.

Step 5:
Build a Really Strong Box (a.k.a. a form) to hold all the concrete you plan to pour into the hole.

Step 6:
Enjoy a visit from a big truck with Spiral Stair parts. The spiral-y bit is the railing.

Step 7:

Call in electricians and plumbers and inspectors and start filling in the hole with pipes and bars and whatnot.  Keep digging.

Whatever you do, just keep digging.

I notice I said "I" get to build, but somehow I'm not in any of these photos.  Hmmm.