Since the weather has not been the greatest for riding my horses I find myself spending these winter months doing little projects while I dream of spring.
I might be in “English” leather country but I’m a cowgirl at heart and love the feel of a mecate or rope reins in my hands. The weight and lay of a good rope cannot be beat in my book and I decided to make one for myself.
Since I raise alpacas it seemed only fitting to make my new reins out of alpaca. Each cord I used to braid with is made up of 8 strands spun fiber (or yarn) this part requires a rope machine. Each cord is made up of 8 strands; 2 strands per hook; a total of 4 hooks. Using a rope machine, these strands are kept under even tension and twisted counter clockwise up to 15% shrinkage (differs for each type of fiber)) and then counter spun clockwise around one another creating a rope cord. I made 6 of these cords and a 7th to use as a core.
Since I’m still new to rope making I haven’t yet mastered the art of twisting cords around a core into rope. So I opted to do a 6 plait round braid around the core, back braided scissor snaps on each end and left the fringe on to a little character.
Hope you enjoy the photos. First 2 are of the reins the last one is of a lead rope I made to show my alpacas with. See our Shop for what is available.
Fiber Arts Friday as moved to it’s new home with WonderWhyGal! Check her out!
Video is from Back At The Ranch please give them a visit.
Shows great detail of spinning horse hair and twisting it into rope.
They call it the January Thaw. To me it’s a pain in the $(@*#. The snow pack by January has usually built up higher than the step up into the run-in sheds which means when a thaw comes all that snow melt runs right into the barn! It doesn’t help that our farm is also built on a slope and ALL the rain/snow melt from the pastures also makes its way right into the barn.
I’m sure the original farmer who built this barn put it in this location because of its close proximity to the artesian well. Great for hauling water, not so great for getting out of the way of run-off.
Future plans have us rebuilding the barn in a new location but until then it is a constant battle with Mother Nature. With the heavy rain we got this weekend on a frozen ground I knew I’d be in trouble. My only defense against the onslot of water, a spade. I spend about 15 minutes of my AM/PM chores digging trenches to control the flow of water away from the barn. Labor intensive but it works!
Hmm, the Mega Millions is at 121M. Maybe I should buy a ticket and dream of a new barn and landscaping.
Finally the weekend! I was so excited about being able to sleep in to 7am on Saturday morning. The week was busy with long days and short nights and all I wanted was to catch up on some sleep.
All that hope turned to panic with M. jabbing me in the side at 5:15am Saturday morning. “Do you hear that?” he said. The sound was unmistakable, coyotes. Usually we hear them far off in the distance but they sounded like they were right out our window.
I couldn’t get the lights, clothes, shoes on fast enough. My blood was boiling. If they sounded that close I just came to the immediate concussion that they had gotten into the alpaca paddock.
Armed with nothing but flashlights we bolted out the front door which thankfully was enough to scare off the coyotes. To my relief all alpacas and horses were accounted for and unharmed. Needless to say with that much adrenaline running through my system there was no going back to bed. *sigh*
Instead I decided that putting a full effort into researching livestock guard dogs(LGD) was a better use of my time. Looks like I have a lot of reading and talking to breeders to do before I settle on which one would be right for our farm. I’ll keep you updated in future posts of our LGD research, purchase and integration.
Rag rugs are a blast to make and do not require any fancy techniques like crocheting. The rugs are fairly quick to make and you can see the results of your efforts take shape in just a few rows. This technique is not limited to rugs, you can also make other items like a rag placemat, dog bed, cat bed, bedspread, basket, or anything else you can think of. These rugs can be great kids projects too since it involves fun things like ripping of fabric.
Making a Rug Tool:
Rag rugs are often called Toothbrush rugs because of the type of tool used to make them. Folks used to cut the head off an old toothbrush and file it down to a point while using the pre-drilled hole (for hanging your tooth brush) as a place to attach the fabric to. Today, there are fancy prefabricated tools you can use or you can still make your own. Technically a rug tool is just a really big needle.
I’m cheap so I chose to make my rug tool out of scraps I found in the basement. My needle is made out of scrap copper wire and electrical tape. It might not be pretty but who cares, it’s free.
Making Fabric Strips:
For my rug project I decided to repurpose some old flannel sheets. I cut a little slits along one edge of the sheet every ½ inch or so. Now comes the fun part! Grab that little fabric tag and rip! The flannel sheets tore very evenly right down to the end without the need to cut each strip out by hand. If you have a cat hanging around this process is very fascinating and you might have to fight for some of your strips back.
How To Connect Fabric Strips:
Now that you have all of these strips hanging around you need to be able to put them together. Many suggestions have you sewing the strips together, which is great, if you have that kind of time to waste. Easiest method I found is to cut a small slit in the ends of each strip and slipknot them together. Thread one strip through the slit you made in the other and then feed the tail of the 1st strip through the slit you made in the end. Pull tight and voila you have connected the 2 strips together.
Starting Your 1st Row:
These directions are for a rectangular rug. I will cover oval rugs and circle rugs on another post. Start your rug at the connecting slipknot where your 2 fabric strips meet. 1 of these strips will be the “core” the other will be used to tie the knots. I’m right handed so find it easier to hold my strips in my left hand and use my rug tool in my right. In the photos the light colored fabric is the “core” and the red is what I’ll be tying knots with.
– First cross the red over the white so it looks like the number “4”
– Feed the tail of the red behind the white and through the loop hole in the “4”
– Pull the red all the way through and make your first knot. Keep this first row fairly taught but not so tight that you won’t be able to get your tool through again later
– Make sure your “core” fabric stays straight and doesn’t get curled up into your knots
– Continue knotting until you achieve the width of the rug that you want
– Row 1 can be a bit of a pain. You may find it easier to use a safety pin to secure it to something. I usually like to stand up and place the first knot on a hook and knot my first row from there.
Starting Row 2 – ? Again, these directions are for a rectangular rug. This is the easier of the rug patterns to make and does not require any extra stitches per row. The length of your first row is the width of your rug. How many rows you add on from this point determines the length of your rug.
– When you’re ready to start your next row, fold your “core” fabric over so it is now playing alongside your row of knots.
– With your rug tool stab the center of the last knot you had just made
– Make sure you still go behind the “core” fabric before you come through the loop
Changing colors:
Solid color rugs are no fun of course you want to change colors. When you get to a point you want a new color just cut the fabric off, cut a new slit in the end that is part of your rug and tie in your new color.
I decided to keep track of everything I did this morning before 9am. Yes, this is typical day. In the summer months all the shoveling/plowing is substituted with fence repairs, mowing, weed whacking etc. Then there are the fun days when you have a sick, cold, bottle fed alpaca, or vet, dentist, farrier visits.
Let out dogs to potty
Feed dogs and indoor cats
Shoveled walk ways and around the car and barn
Barn chores
Feed 10 alpacas 5 horses grain
Muck stalls
Fill water buckets
Give everyone hay
Prep stalls for night chores
Plowed driveway
Tended to the coal stove (we heat our house with coal)
Checked email for any new Farm Store Purchases
Packed sold items
Decided to check inventory of all Farm Store Items
Let dogs out again and played with them so they got some exercise
Showered got ready for the “day job”
Went to Post Office to mail out sold items
Thank you Tim Horton’s I had forgotten to eat breakfast again!
Phew! All I can say is thank goodness I don’t have human kids!
