Monday, July 02, 2007

Old Toys, New Tricks

Whew. Our apartment is sooooo hot! Our air conditioner just blows the hot air around so I feel like I am back in Carson City playing in our sagebrush backyard. My family moved to Carson City in 1983, right after I turned 5. We lived in a rental on Agate Drive for most of my time there, until my parents sold their house in McCall, Idaho (where we moved from). They built a new home up by the college and we moved in during December of 1987. Before my father could even finish the basement, we packed up and moved again to St. Anthony, Idaho. My poor mother...living in a junky ol' 1200 square foot rental with 5 kids while they tried to sell that house. Then, to finally move into a dream home that was more than twice the size of the rental house, only to be told that she could only live in it for eight months before she would move again. (Whew...what a sentence)

Anyway, the reason I brought up Carson City is that in 1986 my older sister received a Fisher Price weaving loom for Christmas. My mother, who is the queen of sewing, had made her own fabric in a textile class in college and is very fond of weaving. So, she bought my sister a weaving loom and a few rolls of Red Heart and off we went knitting loads of hour-glass shaped pot holders and blankets for Barbie. After a few months, and no more acrylic goodness, the weaving loom found it's way into the closet with the rest of the misfit toys.

Well, here it is 20 years later, and my mom still has the loom YAY! I don't even know what triggered the memory of it, but I think she was quite pleased when I asked about it. (Through all of our family moves, thanks for keeping the good stuff, Mom!) So, while having a nice visit with my favorite Gardiners, I figured out how to get the thing going. It has a few broken spots, but it works. YAY!

I had one skein of this great hand spun wool yarn that I didn't know what to do with. So, I threw it on the loom and got going. It was quite fun and took me about 3 hours to weave a long and skinny scarf.
Too bad it is hotter than Carson City today so my finished scarf just hangs with the others on my hook. I can't wait for fall.

I'm off to finish the organization nightmare that is my fabric. I bought some shelves today so I can be right up with Nicki when she returns from her trip.

3 comments:

Samsara said...

That loom is so cool! Sometimes the vintage stuff is the best!

Anonymous said...

That is a cool toy! I didn't even know that they had a toy like that out there - I just had the pot holder loom when I was a kid (I made a lot of potholders).

Unknown said...

GASP! I had that when I was a kid, too! I got it for Christmas from my dad and step-mom ~ I can still vividly recall the scarf I made using it! WOW!!!

 
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