This is a cabin on the side of a road -- Hwy. 129 North of Cleveland on the way to Blairsville GA. We stopped there for tomatoes as there was a huge sign calling attention to tomatoes.
What we found was a huge loom -- foot powered -- and handmade weaving wonders all over the place. We met the man, Mr. Knaus, who created all these weavings. He’s selling tomatoes out of his garden.
When we first stopped, Mr. Knaus wasn’t home.He had gone to Gainesville for his chemo treatment. He had “seconds” sitting in a basket on the front porch with a sign sayhing “69 cents/lb.” We picked out a few and took them home and weighed them with the intention of going back and to pay for them.
A few days later we did return and told Mr. Knaus we took his tomatoes and wanted to pay for them. Lois spotted a table runner with matching place mats. For these the price was right but 100X greater than the 80 cents we owed for the tomatoes.
Mr. Knaus was very forthright, being a man in his 70’s. He told us he was battling cancer for the second time and it is his intention to keep on doing what he loves to do -- weaving.
“This is where I live and work,” Knaus said, showing me his loom which took up at least 8’ x 10’.
Mr. Knaus was setting up for a table cloth run. He will weave six of them on one set-up.
“It takes me two days on average to do a set up, “ he said, “and every thread has to be just right, because one thread out of place ruins the whole job.”
Mr. Knaus had 18 yards of thread laid out and tied together in groups for his table cloth run. It will take two or three days of weaving to finish each table cloth. We wondered what his labor was worth because his weaving seemed to be very reasonably priced.
In addition to table cloths and runners, Mr. Knaus weaves bed and crib coverlets, lap robes and rugs. Looking around, we also spotted several shawls that Mr. Knaus had woven on traditional colonial patterns. Lois and I took a liking to Mr. Knaus immediately.
In talking with friends at Paradise Valley, we quickly learned that Mr. Knaus’ tomatoes are the best in this entire area. As long as they are in season, we’ll be buying our tomatoes from Mr. Knaus.
What we found was a huge loom -- foot powered -- and handmade weaving wonders all over the place. We met the man, Mr. Knaus, who created all these weavings. He’s selling tomatoes out of his garden.
When we first stopped, Mr. Knaus wasn’t home.He had gone to Gainesville for his chemo treatment. He had “seconds” sitting in a basket on the front porch with a sign sayhing “69 cents/lb.” We picked out a few and took them home and weighed them with the intention of going back and to pay for them.
A few days later we did return and told Mr. Knaus we took his tomatoes and wanted to pay for them. Lois spotted a table runner with matching place mats. For these the price was right but 100X greater than the 80 cents we owed for the tomatoes.
Mr. Knaus was very forthright, being a man in his 70’s. He told us he was battling cancer for the second time and it is his intention to keep on doing what he loves to do -- weaving.
“This is where I live and work,” Knaus said, showing me his loom which took up at least 8’ x 10’.
Mr. Knaus was setting up for a table cloth run. He will weave six of them on one set-up.
“It takes me two days on average to do a set up, “ he said, “and every thread has to be just right, because one thread out of place ruins the whole job.”
Mr. Knaus had 18 yards of thread laid out and tied together in groups for his table cloth run. It will take two or three days of weaving to finish each table cloth. We wondered what his labor was worth because his weaving seemed to be very reasonably priced.
In addition to table cloths and runners, Mr. Knaus weaves bed and crib coverlets, lap robes and rugs. Looking around, we also spotted several shawls that Mr. Knaus had woven on traditional colonial patterns. Lois and I took a liking to Mr. Knaus immediately.
In talking with friends at Paradise Valley, we quickly learned that Mr. Knaus’ tomatoes are the best in this entire area. As long as they are in season, we’ll be buying our tomatoes from Mr. Knaus.
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