A New Blog

I have enjoyed posting to my blog here at Fibres For Ewe. However, I have decided to leave it and start a new one at TerrificFibers.blogspot.com. I hope you will come on over and chat with me there. This name is better suited for me, it matches my Ravelry name and business.

Portuguese Knitting at the Whiners Retreat

"Whiner's Retreat?," you ask, "What is that?" Well, in March, yes almost two months ago, my favorite spinning retreat took place in Tyler, TX. Several of us in the Texas Twisters spinning group didn't get to attend this year. We weren't very happy about it either, we kept whining at spinning about not getting to go. Liz decided to host us at her home for the day on the Saturday of the weekend, so we could continue to whine. Instead we had a great time. We had lemon bars, cinnamon crumb cake, and coffee! Oh, yeah, we did eat some nutritious food too.


One of the things that we did, was to watch a DVD on Portuguese Knitting. It is an intriguing way to knit. Click on the link and you can see how it is done. The movements of your hands and wrists are different than in continental or American/English style of knitting. You use your left thumb to pass the yarn around the right hand needle. Once you get the process down and practiced it is a very quick way to knit. You don't have to tension the yarn through your fingers, the pin does that.



One option is to have a pin to put your yarn through, and that pin is what tensions your yarn. Notice in picture at top and in the second picture. You are seeing my hands in the top and Laurie is knitting in the second. If you don't have a pin that is OK, we didn't either. We used safety pins. But, you can also put the yarn around the back of your neck for tensioning.



Laurie caught on quickly to this, but I was a little slower. Actually, I felt like a knittingly challenged person that day! AND I have been knitting for about 48 years. I would think I had it down, but infact, I was purling and not knitting! I would try again and end up purling. I think if I had a real teacher there, I would've flunked the class or at least been given a dunce cap. :) Or maybe received an A for effort. It was a lot of fun, trying something new, and I will succeed in Portuguese Knitting, one day.


Out of our group of 6, only Laurie and I ventured into the world of Portuguese knitting that day. The others watched, laughed with us(about my confusion), and spun yarn.

Liz has Whippets. They are great dogs and they were at our retreat. If you notice, the minute we got up they took back their territory! :)

We decided, after all, that we had a great time and want to have another Saturday spin day. However, we all hope to be able to return to our favorite retreat next March. Yes, we still whine about missing Wildflower Retreat.

DFW Fiberfest

On April 26, I went to the DFW Fiberfest. It has been held for several years now. They offer classes and they also have vendors there to sell their wares. I attended for the vendor end of the show. The fiberfest started mainly as a knitter's event, but has also grown to encompass spinners.

I went and had a great time roaming around seeing folks I knew and chatting. I met up with some old friends that I haven't seen in years and it was great fun. I saw all kinds of tempting yarns and spinning fibers.

I did spend some money there, although, I was REALLY good. You see, I had just arranged my spinning and yarn stash, uh oh, so I knew how much I had. I am trying to use up some of what I have before I buy more.

So, even though I have about 10 sheep mugs, I found another one that I couldn't resist. Isn't it adorable? I met the potter who made the mug and she lives in the Houston area of TX. It is a wonderful mug and I just think the sheep is adorable. The potter has named her copyrighted sheep, Knitting Lagniappe. Lagniappe is a cajun(Louisiana) term and pronounced "lon yop' ". It means 'a small gift.'

We are drying out from 5 1/4 inches of rain that we received on Saturday night. Our ground is saturated. I am hoping my little seedlings in the garden will make it. They are a little scraggly looking, poor things. I keep telling them to be greatful for rain, we don't get that much and it is better for them than our water from the hose. They look at me and say, we may not get much, but why do we have to get it all in one night???? I told them that I didn't know. I haven't told them that we are to get more rain tonight. Shhhhhh. I don't want them to know. We'll just let them be surprised.

Swine Flu and Sock Machines

Wow! Who would've thought that we would be having to educate ourselves about the Swine flu?? Today life in the state of Texas has been interesting, to say the least.

Several schools are closed in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex area. Some of them have children who definitely have Swine Flu and some have children who have been tested. The schools are not just closed for one day, but are closed from today, April 29, until May 11. School activities are being cancelled too.

One small town, south of Fort Worth, is actually shutting down its schools and daycare facilities. They have also cancelled many city activities and sports games. They have 3 cases.

Many of you, who venture to my blog, know that we have two FABULOUS daughters. :) One of them works in the health industry and sent out some links for us. Here is one that has some good common sense info, should you be interested. The link.

Have you ever seen a sock machine? Here are two antique sock machines! They are not mine. But, they belong to friends of mine. These machines are becoming more and more popular and more and more valuable. This is the way that socks used to be mass produced AND now some people are mass producing socks for themselves and for sale using these machines. I find the sock machines truly intriguing. They do take some practice in getting used to them, but once you get it down, the socks take a fraction of the time compared to handknitting a pair. The red one, doesn't have a sock on it, but you can see the hooks that go around the outer circumference. Notice the crank to the right? As you turn the crank, the needles will go up and down and the yarn will go around and be knit by the needles.

Do I want one? No, not really. I just like to watch them and find them fascinating. I still prefer to knit my socks, the really old fashioned way. By hand. :)

Look What I Found in the Pool! and some knitting, too

This morning, The UPS man and I were out looking at the pool. I had just checked the water temperature and he was working on the equipment and mechanical aspects. I was thinking of swimming and he was thinking gears, motors, blah, blah, blah. All that man stuff. Anyway, after I went back to work last fall, he was gracious and decided to help me with some of the chores and took over the pool. That has been a blessing. Since I was out there, with him, this morning I thought, I'll help him and empty the skimmer. If you don't know what a skimmer is, it is a basket, set into the return for the water, before it goes back to the pumps and big filter in the back. Leaves, branches, dirt, and critters will get caught there. They tell you to be prepared for anything, when you open the lid. Well, I wasn't thinking about the warnings today when I opened the lid. I should have been. After all, I am the one who has found frogs, frogs and more frogs in that thing. I have found the copperhead snake in there last summer. Talk about freaking out, but that is another story. Well, today, I opened the lid and jumped back as a TURTLE popped his little head up at me. Geesh! You know, we have a lake, not more than 30 feet from the pool and they come up the hill and go for the CHLORINE!! Crazy if you ask me. All I ask of them, is that they stay at their water and I will stay at my water. LOL! No, they think my water is just as good, but soon they find out, that I don't have a beach front like they do and by then it is too late. Well, this little turtle, was still alive. Thankfully, the UPS man was right there and rescued me from having to rescue the turtle. Oh, yes, that is a kitchen strainer that the turtle is in. You see, you also learn to turn ordinary household and kitchen tools into pool tools. This one has its personal hanger on the fence behind the pool skimmer, ready for such emergencies. After the rescue the poor turtle was placed in the leaves to rest for a few minutes, I imagine if turtles get dizzy, he was quite dizzy after spinning around in the skimmer, for who knows how long. He also had been fighting quite an under tow, since he was fighting the suction of the pump to pull him in. The UPS man then went down and placed him on the net and carried him back to the lake. He is back on his side of the water now, and we are on ours.

Knitting!!! Yes, I have been knitting. Yesterday, I started a new project. I had a new idea for a hat pattern, it sort of worked, but when it was finished, it would've fit a giant black bear. So, it was ripped out and started again. I am working on a pattern for a felted bag. I actually made the bag years ago and never wrote the pattern, so it is now being written. Also, I am working on a couple of other patterns too. Stay tuned, they will emerge eventually. It just takes a while, to get it all done correctly. You know, I knit a hat yesterday and today the hat is gone. That is how it goes. Today, I will knit it again.

I do follow other peoples patterns too. It is fun to just sit down and knit, without figuring out all the steps and knowing that someone else has done the prototypes and ripping. When we were in Austin TX, last summer, I went yarn shopping. Both of our hosts down there know that I love to knit. So, off I went, with Judy when we were at their home and then with Clyda when were at their home. With Clyda, I found some Noro yarn and a cute pattern for a mitered bag. The finished size of the bag is about 6 inches square. It was fun to make. I found the pattern at the Bluebonnet Yarn Shoppe . The pattern is written by, Jennie Might.

before felting

and

after felting

Earth Day Moon

Jeff leaves pretty early in the morning for work. As he left, my cell phone started ringing and it was him. He wanted to tell me how pretty the sunrise was. You see, the sun was just rising and starting to light up the sky.

Outside I went, with camera in hand, and this is what I saw. I am thinking, with the little research that I did, that this is the moon(a given) and Venus. Because of the trees, I didn't see any other planet or star. Apparently, Mars and Jupiter could be seen at certain times, too .
What I really like about this, is that you can see the rest of the moon, if you look closely.
The sky was this gorgeous blue color too. Which just made my day! I love blue!

Pictures

I have been slowly taking pictures of spinning rovings, as well as knitting and spinning tools, to put in my etsy shop. I don't want to list things too quickly in there, but I need to keep going and steadily list my new items. I have a lot of rovings here, that I need to put in there and quite a few tools for knitting and spinning.

Yesterday, I was trying to get some good pictures of a Raspberry colored roving. It is a gorgeous deep, dark rich pink. But, in trying to capture it, the camera always lightened it. Even without the flash, which I wasn't using. One of the best things for true color is the natural sunlight. So, I had put the basket of fiber in a south window, then a west window, then under the skylight, then in the shadow under the skylight. Finally, I took it upstairs, and put it in the window next to my computer. This is an east window. I had to take down the curtain for this too, it was a major production. However, I FINALLY met with success and was able to list the roving with some great pictures. The first picture that I took in my office window, is this one, it too, is too light. But, to me it is such a gorgeous picture. You almost have the illusion that the roving and basket are flying.

All my efforts were worth it, the fiber has sold already. :)

Wildfires

Wow! The state of Texas is dry. We haven't had very much rain this winter and our lakes are very low. Then if that hasn't been enough we have had some really WINDY days. This past Thursday the wind was unbelievable with gusts about 40mph+. We were under a red flag warning, which means, fire danger.

In the middle of the afternoon, it started smelling like someone was burning a wood stove.

Remembering the weather report, from that morning, I turned on the TV to see if there was a fire and where. It smelled so strong in my house, that I thought it probably was not that far away. Turns out the fire was far away and there were actually 3 or 4 of them. They were all about 100 miles west of our home. The winds were fueling the fires. Several small towns were being evacuated and one town was burning. I watched the TV in horror as people's homes were burning to the ground. The towns fire departments were working very hard. Citizens were determined and were helping. They had garden hoses hooked up and were spraying water on the flames and houses.

Many towns around sent engines, as well as, Dallas and Fort Worth.

I looked outside and was surprised still, to see the smoke and ashes in the yard. It was so windy. I decided to take a few pictures and see if the camera would catch it.

As you look at the top two pictures, the trees in the background look fuzzy. That isn't fuzz. It is smoke.

In the second picture, near the bottom is a pond, my house is on a hill that leads down there, but looking across to the other side is where you can notice the smoke.

The bottom picture is the sunset and what the firey sun was doing to the smoke etc in the sky.

Today the fires are under control, if not out. The wind has settled down to a breeze. We are expecting rain and thunderstorms tonight.

Knitting during rough times

Many of you know that I have a shop on etsy, called Terrific Creations. Well, I am on a team there, called the etsy knitters team. One of our wonderful leaders is a Dane, living in Italy. Her daughter was close enough to feel some tremors of that awful earthquake earlier this week and apparently now, my knitter friend has felt some tremors herself. She sent this link for an article. I clipped out a portion of the article that interested me the most, and it is below. Of course, it is about knitting AND an 98 year old lady.

Another of those rescued today was Maria D’Antuono, 98, who said that she had spent 30 hours knitting as she waited to be freed from her ruined home. "I worked, I knitted," said Mrs D'Antuono, from the village of Tempera, close to L'Aquila. The redoubtable nonagenarian told rescuers that she was in good health when she was found this morning, according to Sky TG24.

My thoughts and prayers are with the people over there and they have lost so much.

Fire Ants

Well, with that title, my family will cringe. No, I didn't get any fire ant bites, just so you know. (They are a real difficulty with my system). Anyway, on Saturday, 4/4, I went to Home Depot to get some plants and good stuff for the dirt. We have a clay soil here, actually we have a copper brown, rocky clay, soil here. It is a REAL treat to work with, I am being very sarcastic. Back to the Home Depot. When I drove up to the store, I sat there wishing I had a camera phone so that I could take a picture. In front of the store was a giant blow up fire ant! No kidding. When I say giant, I mean taller than the store giant. It was put there by Ortho Max, fire ant killer. Well, I purchased my items and left, still kicking myself that I don't take my camera with me to get pics like that. I miss so many opportunities. So, I thought, you know, I can come by here on Sunday and get a picture then. So, early on Sunday morning, we drove by with my camera, and no fire ant. I am not sure if the high winds that we were having, kept the store from blowing up the unsightly creature, or maybe it scared some children away on Saturday, so they took it down. OR maybe it moved to another unsuspecting community. Be on the watch, the giant fire ant blow up balloon may be coming to a Home Depot near you. Oh, I passed a second Home Depot on the way to work today, and they don't have it either......... and I had my camera.......

Now onto a cuter topic. I have been knitting some bunnies. Aren't they cute? I purchased the pattern from a gal on etsy. They are called Patchwork Bunnies. Each one has 5 different colors and they have unique personalities. My granddaughters will get the pleasure of naming them, since they will be caring for them now.

Soccer

The weather was cloudy, windy( 30 mph+ winds), and cold, for north Texas in March. Why did I venture outside? Well, to see a fabulous soccer game. Our granddaughter, was playing soccer that day and Gramma wanted to go see her play. She is a good soccer player and I had fun watching her game and rooting for her team, The Cowgirls. Her coach pictured in the top picture, has what seems to be, undying patience to be coaching 9 year old girls, but he is doing a great job. Enjoy the pictures.

Once Upon a Time...There Was A Vest?

Once upon a time, there was a magazine that had a wonderful vest pattern in it. So, I thought, I might make that vest someday and ripped the pattern out.

Once upon a time there was a pretty cone of cotton yarn, that said, BUY ME. So, I bought it and thought, I will make a vest out of it, one day.

Two weeks ago I put the two together and started my vest. I did a large gauge swatch and I even met gauge! So, I cast on and started knitting. The yarn was working up so pretty and nice, and looking good in the vest pattern. Then I double checked my gauge, Oh, no!!!!! The gauge was now too big and the yarn although pretty, was making too heavy/thick a vest to be worn in TX in the summer!


So, once upon a time there was a vest, that became a cone of yarn, again. It is lonely as can be, but maybe one day, it may become another vest.

The pattern?? Well, it is filed away, until another yarn comes along..............

Sonnet and Weather

If I was a poet I would write a sonnet about our weather. Of course, there are others in our country who could write a horror story about their weather, so I guess a sonnet is pretty good.

However, the Sonnet that I mean, in my title, is a sweater pattern. It is from Knitty.com and found here. It is a pattern written by Kristi Porter and is a free pattern from Knitty. Kristi actually wrote the original pattern, Haiku, for a baby. It is a really cute pattern and people asked her for an adult version.

I made my Sonnet out of a purple colored, handspun Merino from Ashland Bay Trading Co, Inc. It is spun to a bulky weight and I used my Ashford Joy to spin the yarn. The original sweater had a very wide neckline, and since I am not into sweaters falling off my shoulders, I added a crocheted neckline. I decreased stitches while crocheting several rows around the neck, so it would lay flat. It still has a bit of scoop to the neck, but is more comfortable this way. I use it as a cardigan and wear it over a blouse/shirt. Which brings us back to the weather. :)

I had thought I wouldn't get to wear this until next winter, since it is March and I am in Texas. However, we have had some pretty cold weather and very high winds down here. So, much so that outside garden plants have had to be covered. So, out I went with sheets to cover my garden plants. Needless to say, I have worn my Sonnet several times and absolutely love it.

Anna's Shawl Pattern is ready!

When I write a pattern, it can sometimes be what seems like a slow process, especially if you are waiting for me to finish it, so you can make it. However, that is because I try very hard, to get it right for those who wish to purchase it and knit it. First, I sketch it out and write down the ideas and goals for the design. Then, I write it as I knit a proto-type. After that, I type it up. Next I will knit it again, a few weeks later. That way I sort of forget what I did, so I have to read the pattern. :) Then there are corrections that need to be made. After that, I find some test knitters to help me out. They knit the item and let me know where I should fix certain wordings or math issues. I think I have some of the BEST test knitters out there. Kate and Liz test knitted Anna's Shawl. Their shawls are absolutely fabulous! Pictured here is Kate's blue shawl and Liz's green shawl. Mine is the black one.

You can find this pattern for sale at www.TerrificCreations.etsy.com or on Ravelry, listed as Anna's Shawl.

Dyed Roving Etc.

When we last met, I was telling you about the roving I dyed

at the Fancy Fibers Retreat. Since I love blue, I wanted to use mostly blue. The picture in my last entry had it hanging still chained and wet.

Here it is pulled out of the chain and laying on a blanket on my floor. I cannot wait to spin this into yarn and see what I will have with the next step. I have one pound dyed, so I have enough for a great project.

The red and orange roving was done by Liz, our fearless leader and teacher! She stepped in to teach at the last minute, when the gal who had hoped to teach became ill.

Liz was a great teacher and I think everyone loved the class.

Colors to Dye For

Last Saturday, Feb 14, I was at a retreat. The retreat wasn't far from my home, which was really nice. We were at a great campgrounds with wonderful accomodations. The workshop that I took, was dying rovings. I thought I would let you see our pictures here. First, we chained the rovings and soaked them. Later we squeezed out the extra water and laid them on a covered table. Notice, we are wearing stylish plastic aprons and plastic gloves.

After painting the roving we rolled it up to look like a cinnamon roll and put plastic wrap around it. We used a great plastic tape and wrote our name on that and tied it tothe fiber.

Next we stuffed the fiber rolls, like a turkey, onto a rack suspended
over water by bricks, into a turkey roaster. We covered the roaster and let them cook.

The next photo shows them from the top of the roaster. All this color!!!! Isn't it gorgeous?
Warning: Once you use your kitchen tools for dying you cannot use them in the kitchen again. Be safe.

After cooking we layed them out to cool a bit.

Then each person could unroll them and rinse them. Mine are on the right hanging on the rack, still braided.

Anther warning:

color is contagious. :)

Scarves

When I found out one of my mom's good friends was going to have surgery for cancer, I decided to make her a pink scarf. It was almost Valentine's Day, so I had to hurry to get it done.

I also thought it would be fun to send my mom a red scarf for Valentine's Day. She tries not to eat a lot of chocolate, so I sent a scarf instead.

Well, I went to work. Found the yarn in my stash and found the needles and cast on.

They were fun to make, I used 2 strands of yarn and some fairly large needles.

Doll Clothes

I remember when I was very young and playing with dolls that my great aunt sent me some doll clothes for Barbie. She lived in Maine, an absolutely gorgeous state. So, when the manilla envelope addressed to me, arrived at our home in New York, I was so excited. This aunt, Aunt Elizabeth, was one of the people who influenced and encouraged me to knit. She would knit and sew such absolutely gorgeous items. I don't know if I will ever knit as good as she did, but I sure try. Others who have influenced me in my knitting are my Mom and my Aunt Florence. My mom is the person who put the knitting needles into my hands and taught me how to knit. Isn't that wonderful? She would knit sweaters, mittens, hats and scarves for me while I was growing up, I loved them all. She has made some things for me, as adult too, which are really appreciated. I used to sit amazed watching Aunt Florence knitting up gorgeous aran sweaters. But, Aunt Elizabeth was a very fast knitter, I remember seeing her knit a sweater vest in one day on size US8 needles. She would tell me that her job in the family, as a child in Canada, was to knit for their needs and to card the wool to prepare it for spinning. Her sister was the one who spun the yarn.


Anyway, back to the doll clothes. When the granddaughters' birthdays were upon us, I wanted to make something for their American Girls dolls. I searched around the internet for patterns, but finally decided that I could just make the sweaters without a pattern. I do have Felicity here at our house, she is our model today. The green sweater is made in all garter stitch and the purple sweater does have a cable down each front. They were lots of fun to make.

Birthday Fun

Even though we had breakfast together for the birthday celebration, it was a late breakfast. So, we had a birthday cake and what a birthday cake it was too. Auntie(Anna) made the cake and decorated it. She is soooooo talented! One granddaughter likes blue and the other, pink. It was difficult to cut into such a gorgeous cake, but we all knew what it would taste like, so the knife did its job.

We have a new member to our extended family. We have a new "grand-doggie." Skye is very cute and cuddly. She made herself at home, when they arrived for the birthday celebration. She is 4 years old and is loved very much by her new adopted family. Skye is a miniature white schnauzer.

Birthdays are upon us!

In our family we start in November with Jeff's birthday, then we have Thanksgiving, then Christmas and 2 days later, we have Anna's birthday. Then the New Year arrives and in January we have mine and Rebekah's birthday and about a week later in February we have Nicole's and Claire's birthday. We get a little break and Chad's birthday is in June.

We have fun at birthdays and try to get together. So, tomorrow we will be having breakfast together and Gramma has made cinnamon rolls for such an occasion! Years ago, Jeff would travel to Cedar Rapids IA and stay there for a couple of weeks, teaching a seminar for his work. He used to go and eat at the Amana's and brought home this cookbook. It has some really great recipes in it. One recipe is for the cinnamon rolls that I have made. Yummmmm........

Sonnet

I haven't posted much of my knitting lately. I am busily working on designing and writing two patterns right now. They are both written and they are in the final stages of editing/test knitting. While that is going on, I am taking a bit of a break and knitting for myself and my family.

For myself, I am knitting a Sonnet. Sonnet is a great design found on Knitty.com and written by Kristi Porter. She also has a baby pattern called Haiku which is the child size of the Sonnet. You can use any yarn for any size. Kristi gives you the directions to figure out the number of stitches you need to cast on and how far to knit. The sweater is knit sideways, starting at the left front and knitting around to the right front.

I am using my handspun. The yarn was spun from Ashland Bay Merino and it is a bulky weight 2 ply. It is are very soft yarn and the color is a purple. The sleeves are started and will be done soon, hopefully before it gets to warm to wear it down here in TX.

Ahhh, weather. When I last posted we had ice. We are having an absolutely gorgeous day today. No need for a jacket even. Amazing! We do get these days during our winter and really do enjoy them. By the end of this coming week, I think winter will return.

Winter Storm Warning

In north Texas we do occasionally get winter storms. They aren't what our northern friends and family are used to, but they are winter storms, non the less. Ice is never fun, to walk on or drive on. But, that is what we get a lot of. This is what we had on January 28, 2009.
After much work, by the two of us, Jeff was able to drive his car out of the driveway and make the slow trek to the store, to get it opened. See the blank spot? All the white around it was about 1/2 inch of ice. Thankfully, we have a gravel driveway, to add traction.
After he left, I thought, oh what is my car like?? So, I very carefully walked over to the Chevy Blazer. Here it is. The front grill had icicles!
Then the rest of the car was a thick sheet of ice. So, I decided to let the sun do its thing and walked back in the house. Yesterday's high, was to get above freezing and I wasn't going anywhere on icy roads anyway. We had called off our spinning group gathering, a very hard thing to do. :)

Here is the view of some of the woods from my front porch.

This picture of icicles is on the back deck.

Then the grass! Let's not forget every piece of grass, had its own individual coating too.

As the sun came up, came the promise of a good day and a beautiful blue sky with the sparkles of ice.

We did stay safe, which is a major concern. We found out that a customer of ours fell and was in ICU over night. The doctors were hoping to move her to a regular room today though. Thank you, Father God for Your care.

Nature

About a week or two ago we had some really horrendous winds here. The mph was enough to blow over the table on the deck and the umbrella and stand with it. I went into the kitchen and was fixing dinner and looked out the back window and saw this. This little nest was hanging on by a thread! I hadn't seen it there before and with the tree being right outside my window, I don't think it had been. It was truly amazing to me to see hit hanging there as the tree was swaying back and forth.

Then a couple of days later, I started hearing some banging on the bathroom window. Now it is

20 feet in the air, so I was really curious about what was making this racket. I went and looked and there was a tiny bird there, knocking on the window. When I moved closer to look at him, he turned his head to see me and didn't fly away. When I talked to him he listened and then left. He did come back many times over the next hour and I saw him stretching his neck to see me when I walked into the room. Note to self: This is why you don't get a lot done, you are distracted by cute little animals.

Well, I told the man about it and he was like, ho-hum. So, I went on. I got out my camera and had it ready to take a picture the next time he came by. My visitor kept coming each morning. Then he came on Sunday. He had changed his routine a bit. Figured out he could see into the house at the front door. Well, Jeff FINALLY saw him. He was perched on the "spider stick" in front of the window by the door. These photos were taken by me, through the window next to the front door. He sure is a tiny little guy.Haven't figured out what he is yet, but that is one reason to take the picture and post it here. Maybe someone else will know. :)

The spider stick is a long stick that we use to knock down spider webs around the front door. Spiders are good to have, but we are trying to train them not to build their webs, in front of our front or back doors. There is the whole of the woods to do that, even the side of the house or to the side of the front door, not in front of it. So, that is how the spider stick came into being. We scoop up the web and spider and move it or else we will have to walk through it and that is not a wonderful concept.