About Robin

Owner of Meridian Jacobs, farm and fiber shop. I raise Jacob sheep, teach fiber arts classes, weave handwovens for sale, and manage the store.

Catching up in the Shop

Posted on February 11, 2014 by Robin

I spent the weekend demonstrating weaving at the Sacramento Weavers and Spinner Guild annual Open House. I knew that if I was going to spend two days there I needed to get something useful done. I wove two more of the scarf warps from the Box of Chenille to end the weekend with six new scarves. These are three from one warp.This is a bike that was parked outside the show. Baby blankets 849 Back at the shop I have been trying to get caught up on weaving jobs. This is part of a baby blanket warp. I cut these off before I finished all of the warp because I had someone waiting for three of them. I finally finished these cotton blankets that were on the loom a long time. Some are baby blanket size and some are larger for throws. The next project to finish is a custom king-sized blanket woven of yarn that is a blend of llama and wool. I finished getting this on the sectional beam last night and started threading it today. I hope that I can finish it by next week and move on to the throws for this customer.

Fixing a Big Mistake

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Robin

My largest loom is 60″ wide. A queen-size blanket is supposed to be about 90″ wide. When I weave a large blanket (full or queen size) I use double weave. This means that I weave two layers of cloth at the same time and they are connected on one side. When the blankets comes off the loom I open it up and it is double-width.

Sometimes things don’t go as planned. Here is an example: That is a big OOPS on the underside. (And that wasn’t the only one on this warp of two blankets. In fact some of you might notice another error that was THROUGHOUT the whole warp.) Both of these errors were fixable–it just takes time…and patience… …and a good audio book. Here is how I fixed the most obvious error (all those skipped warp threads). I knew that I could pull the warp threads out and needle weave them all the way back to the end of the warp (about 30″ I think). I found the correct path above the error and marked it with a needle. It’s not just a simple over-under. I think this pattern was under 2, over 1, under 1, over 1, under 1, over 2. I really didn’t want to have to do that pattern with a needle for all of those threads. So I tied a thin thread (brown) to the warp thread (wool yarn) that needed to be rewoven and as I pulled it out the brown thread held the place. Then I untied the brown thread from the wool yarn. Using a tapestry needle I wove the wool yarn over and under the correct yarns in the area where there was a skip. Then I tied the brown thread back to the wool yarn and pulled it all the way through to the end of the blanket….for all those threads. After fixing other errors the blankets were washed and they are finally in the mail.

Here is the stack of blankets that I sent to the customer. There are 8 throws and 2 queen blankets (the ones on the bottom of the stack).

Weaving Love

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Robin

It’s the Artery‘s 40th year anniversary and we’re celebrating all year. There will be an all-member Gallery Show for part of February and, when we brainstormed ideas, we decided to call the show Forty Years of Love and to incorporate hearts into the pieces. Here are yarns that I picked up at TNNA with the idea of suing something new different for this project And here are some buttons that I have in the shop. The first piece is woven with s soft super wash wool that sparkles with some metallic fibers. This scarf is woven with Targhee wool dyed by Sincere Sheep. I’ll be carrying some of these yarns in the shop soon.This shawl was woven from yarns that were dyed in such a way that they they change color from one end of the ball to the other. Combing four balls gave me this warp:Luv ya!

Farm Club Retreat

Posted on January 23, 2014 by Robin

Last week we had our annual Farm Club Retreat in San Francisco. Six of us were able to get away for 24 hours of camaraderie and relaxation (and one more member joined us for the evening). We started by visiting the Alemany Farm in southeast San Francisco and meeting two of the volunteers. The Farm’s website states: “Friends of Alemany Farm is a volunteer group that manages the horticulture, volunteer, and educational programs at Alemany Farm, a 3.5 acre organic farm ecosystem in southeast San Francisco.” The farm is on city property at the edge of a park and was formerly an eyesore. It has been developed and used by community groups in one way or another for about 20 years. It was certainly nice to see a bit of color since our drought landscape seems so dreary right now. 017 Shelby tasted most of what we saw… …including the pineapple guavas… …which were sweet inside, but you really didn’t want to taste the outside part.A small community farm in the heart of the city.

After the farm tour we drove back to the NDGW Home where we met up with Lisa…

…and later Stephany, who had broken her ankle and wasn’t up for walking the hills of San Francisco. We had a splendid dinner at a Green Chili Kitchen just up the street from the Home. We spent the evening lounging in the parlor with our knitting, spinning wheels, and Mary’s wonderful cookies and pom-poms.

Unfortunately I somehow lost all the photos I took with my iPhone from the pjs and pom-pons in the parlor through the next day’s field trip. BUMMER. The next morning we enjoyed the now traditional Lemon Custard pie (from Green Chili’s)for breakfast and then five of us drove to Berkeley to visit Lacis, a shop filled with all kinds of cool gadgets and featuring a museum. The exhibit in the museum was a private collection of lace complete with the history of the development of lace and it’s impact on European history, as told by the owner of the collection and of Lacis. Fascinating.

I look forward to our next FC retreat in January, 2015.

Robin Goes Shopping

Posted on January 13, 2014 by Robin

I am not a shopper. I once told the guys at Higby’s, my favorite feed store (that carries some clothing), that if either they or Ace Hardware carried underwear then I’d never have to shop anywhere else.

Shopping for yarn and fiber related toys is another story. That’s what the TNNA trade show is all about. It is where shop owners go to find all the products they want in their shops for the coming year. Every year I meet up with my friend, Irene, of Cotton Clouds and we spend the weekend shopping and working on weaving ideas and solving life problems.

This year’s show was in San Diego, but the show was in the Convention Center so no scenic outdoor photos. You don’t get to buy things in the main trade show hall because its set up to place orders for items to be carried in stores. However, the first night they have Sample It, where vendors can sell one or two of their new items and us hungry shoppers can go away with yarn and other goodies. This is the line to get into Sample It. This is the Yarn Wall where you can fill pages with samples of all the distributors newest yarns.The Spinning and Weaving market segment now has it’s own group under the umbrella of TNNA. Spinzilla was a very successful promotion that began in 2013 to raise funds to bring the spinning craft into the Needle Arts Mentoring program. Meridian Jacobs hosted a team last year and will do so again in 2014.There are also opportunities to take classes. I took a class to learn about making felfs. Wouldn’t these be nice in Jacob yarn with a horn button? cardboard sheep

I found sheep without even going outside……in all colors……and styles……and things in colors of sheep. Some will be arriving in my shop soon!Yarn is presented in a variety of ways.Hungry?This one reminds me of gummy worms but I don’t think that is the intent.Unusual colors were inspired by a yarn enthusiast who is involved in cat rescue.But the best thing about going to TNNA is getting together with friends… …during the show… …and after.

Lambs Grow Up

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Robin

Lambs will be here at the end of February and I have been thinking about how fast they grow. Here are some of the 2013 favorite lambs as they grew up.

This is Marilyn with her mom, Hot Lips. 2 1/2 weeks old. First in her class at Black Sheep Gathering, 4 months old. Marilyn at 8 months old. Isn’t she pretty? Santana at 10 days old. About a month old. Not quite two months old. 5 1/2 months old with a great horn spread. Santana with his ewes 7 1/2 months old. That’s Alex on the right at about 10 days old. Not much color on that side. Fortunately he has more on the other. 019 About 4 months old. About 8 months old.Alex after shearing, 9 months.This is Cascade at 10 days old.Two months old. 022 Here she is at 7 1/2 months.

Across the Road at Sunset

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Robin

I took these photos with my i-phone last week. As I was looking into the phone I didn’t think that the phone’s camera was catching the brilliance of the sunset. I snapped them anyway, but then forgot about it. It was only when I saw the photos on my computer that I realized how amazing that camera is.

Across the Road Close-up

Posted on January 1, 2014 by Robin

I just wrote a post using photos that I took Across the Road from our mailbox. I started that to document the changes in the field that we see from our house everyday. The photos themselves are kind of boring and not all that attractive. Here is some of what I see when I walk Across the Road. (And here is Rusty’s version.) Last year the main crop was sunflowers but there is a corner of land owned by someone else. Last summer’s crop on that parcel was corn. Hot dog. Irrigating the sunflower field. Pollenating the sunflowers. Stickers in someone’s fur. Sometimes our road seems like an alfalfa highway. Swarm of bugs. Another hot dog. Irrigation water. This sure looks appealing when it is 100+ degrees.

Signs that I’m not the only one Across the Road. Hope of the next harvest.

Last Year’s View Across the Road

Posted on January 1, 2014 by Robin

We don’t have very much acreage, but across the road is a much larger parcel. We appreciate living here and being able to walk, run the dogs, and just a enjoy the view across the road. In 2013 I planned to take photos from the same location, of the same view, and at the same time each week to document the changes through the year. You probably don’t mind that it didn’t work because who would want to see 52 photos of the same thing? This field has been planted to alfalfa for several years but in 2013 there were sunflowers. Here is the year Across the Road:

January 10 January 25 January 31 March 7 March 26 April 4 April 11 May 5 May 21 May 28 June 13 July 4July 12 August 8 September 30October 10October 18 November 24December 31

There you have it. I stood at the mailbox for each photo. But the photos are obviously now always the same view or even using the same camera.

The most striking thing in my mind is how dry it was last year. The Central Valley of CA enjoys a Mediterranean climate which means hot dry summers and cool wet winters. We rely on winter rainfall to replenish aquifers and reservoirs to provide the water that keeps the valley from being a desert in the summer. This link shows graphs of the average precipitation and temperature for our area. According to accuweather.com the average annual rainfall for Sacramento is 18.5″. We have had only 30% of that (5″ in all of 2013). The hills (and the field across the road) should be green right now with the growth of the annual grasses that germinate from fall rains. Grass started to grow with each of the two (only 2) rainy days that we had but has mostly dried up.

On the bright side, I’m not slogging through calf-deep mud when doing chores and we don’t have to run the sump pump to keep the the water heater in the basement from flooding.

Hoping for a wet 2014!

Amaryllis is a Good Sport

Posted on December 7, 2013 by Robin

Rusty has never been a willing partner in taking cute holiday photos. His friend, Moby wasn’t much better. Nor was Ozzie.Maybe it would have worked with a smaller hat.

Some of the sheep are OK with it. This is Noel.Here is Paulette. But now we have a new star. Spinners’ Day Out was yesterday. Most of the people here were part of Farm Club (which, by the way, anyone can now join as an e-Farm Club member) and they were willing (more like insistent) on getting photos with Amaryllis. Dona and Mary took these photos. “Would you get that thing away from my eye?”

Meridian Jacobs' Blog

Life on the farm and at the loom.

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