Sky Loom Weavers

08/03/2026

Just wonderful!

07/12/2026

06/14/2026

Ducklings!

Here it the only photo I've managed to get of "our" duck on her nest. I'm calling her Daisy. Our driveway is the upper right portion of the photo. Our front door is just to the left of the stone pillar she is sitting next to.

Daisy is a Muscovy duck that lives in the pond across the street from our house. She showed up in our front yard early in March and spent about 10 days laying her eggs. Once she had produced 14 eggs she started sitting on her nest. She spent most of the day on the nest, only leaving occasionally to eat and stretch her wings. We put out a pan of water for her so she could get fresh water within a few feet of her nest. I'm hoping the bits of dirt we found in the water were from her although we never saw her near the water.

This may be me feeling very anthropomorphic about Daisy duck but I think she had her own support group available. There were a group of four other ducks who would come and sit in our front garden daily. They were near Daisy's nest but did not come too close nor did they seem to interfere in any way. Daisy seemed unconcerned about them being there and would wander off with them when she took her rest time off the nest.

Most ducks sit their nests for about 25 days. Muscovy ducks sit longer - nearly 10 days longer. Daisy duck started sitting her nest towards the end of March. The photo above was taken on April 29th when the eggs were hatching.

Our first indication that something was happening was Daisy kicking empty shells out of her nest. First one, then a couple more. By the time we went to bed that night she had kicked 4 or 5 shells out. When we got up the next morning she was gone. There were 14 broken eggs shells still there but Daisy and the ducklings were long gone.

We saw Daisy again a couple of days later down by the pond. She had 9 ducklings with her at that point and the ducklings were already considerably larger than when they hatched. We spotted her again a couple of weeks later and she had 5 ducklings with her. We have not seen her since. The ducklings should be full grown by 6 to 9 weeks old and it's about 6 weeks right now.

When we moved into this house, I was concerned about snakes. I know there are snakes in the area since residents post photos of them but we have never seen any. It does make a nice change from Ron having to check the back yard for snakes before we let the dogs out after dark out in Cat Spring. It never occurred to me I might have a duck sitting her nest in my front garden. It's been wonderful to watch!

06/04/2026

Dried Marigolds Available!

I have been picking and drying marigold blooms every three or four days for quite a while now. It takes quite a few fresh blooms to make four ounces of dried material ready for the dye pot. And gone are the days when I had a seven foot diameter raised bed to grow them in. I'm working with a much smaller raised bed these days so the process takes a bit longer.

I just put the first of what I hope will be many four ounce bags of dried marigolds up on the website. And today's pickings are drying in the oven right now.

These are a great dye plant that gives lovely color to protein fibers like wool, silk, mohair. The colors are yellow to gold to greenish gold depending on your choice of mordant. The flowers are beautiful, even when they are dried and they smell wonderful. Happy dyeing!

05/26/2026

People who weave are happier, more intelligent, and better looking according to a study I just made up!

05/14/2026

Marigolds - Spring 2026

I am picking marigolds every three or four days right now. Back when we lived out in Cat Spring, every year I planted a 7' diameter garden bin full of marigolds. It was one of six garden bins so we had room to grow flowers, vegetables, fruit and cotton. I have no idea how many plants that garden bin could hold but it was quite a few. Now that we have moved to a much smaller house in Katy, TX, with a much smaller yard, I have two new smaller garden bins that are about 8' long and 2' wide. That's one garden bin for marigolds and one for whatever my husband wants to plant. Last year is was tomatoes and peppers. This year its herbs.

Last year the marigolds were in the garden bin next to our bedroom window. I could check on how the were growing every time I opened the blinds. I didn't get nearly as many blooms as I had hoped for from that location. I don't think there was enough sun for the marigolds. Also there was the fact that I think our landscapers filled the garden bins with fill dirt rather than good rich dirt for growing things. 

This spring I bought good black dirt, good compost and good fertilized for the garden bins. I don't have access to llama poo anymore so have had to make due with what's available at Tractor Supply. So far, my choices seem to be doing well. The herbs are thriving and the marigolds have been doing really well. 

I don't have the dried marigolds up on the website yet but that should happen quite soon. Keep an eye peeled for them and you'll find them.

04/26/2026

This weekend, we were vendors at the Yellow Rose Fiber Fiesta in Seguin, Texas. We had a lovely visit from this young woman. She came by to get some fiber from us and show us the vest she was wearing. She spun the dark yarn using our Shetland fiber which she mixed with some mohair, all on a drop spindle. It is lovely work. What is most impressive is that she’s only been spinning a year. Her first introduction to spinning was a short lesson we gave her in our booth last year at Yellow Rose. We were so tickled to see the result.