The Weather has Turned

I got a phone call late last Saturday afternoon from Laura.  Her sister Mary had driven up from Gardnerville and they had spent the day in Bend but were on their way home - would we like a visit?  Yes please.  Mary had decided to go home a day early because a snowstorm was in the forecast for Tuesday and she wasn't taking any chances. 

And it came as promised, beginning about 7:00 Tuesday morning.  Make a note of that 18" plant stand to the right of center. (Click for big)

Now take a look at it as it appeared the next morning - just a spot in the snow.  

And this is what it looked like on the other side of the yard.  We figure about 14" of snow fell in a 24-hour period.  Mary was so happy she left a day early.

Check out Buster being his own snow plow.

Ian dug paths and areas for them to do their business. 

Josh came over that afternoon to dig us out after he had already spent five hours digging himself and his street out.  Bend plowed and sanded round-abouts and roads but people were pretty much on their own for residential snow removal.  We're hearing that this storm is early and heavier than expected.  Ian is shopping for a snowblower but there are a lot of factors to consider like size and usage.  He's still looking.

It's pretty from inside.  Easy for me to say..

I felt bad to eat and run but Thanksgiving was quick, quiet and delicious - just the eight of us.  We wanted to leave by 4:00 as Ian was concerned about driving on the icy roads in the dark, and it's getting dark at 4:00 this far north.  I took this last night to prove my point and then it was below zero by this morning. 

While Ian was shoveling snow I was finishing up my towels.  We weren't contributing much in the way of food this year so I wanted to take Missy and her mother Julie (the cooks) each a dish towel.

They really turned out pretty and were much appreciated by the cooks.

I finished blending my fiber on the drum carder.

When I got ready to ply I realized they were the same colors as in my Tidepool towels.  I've got the towel here so I can wipe the dogs off when they come in covered in snow and they like it.

So next I've started carding on this stuff but the felted silk is proving to be a challenge.  It's not going to spin well but should make interesting yarn.

I've also started working on a towel warp with these colors.

And I finally got this warp on the loom and started weaving.  It's just a sampler.  The Shadow Weave draft is from a recent Handwoven and I chose the six-shaft option.  The threading was extremely complex and I had to count, count again and then recount, yet I think there's an error because it doesn't look like the picture.  The treadling is also complex and I have to count aloud to myself, move my ruler every few pics and then recheck.  I already know I won't do this again but I feel the need to step outside of my comfort zone and challenge myself..

Maddie likes to lie on the back of the chair when I am reading, then steals my seat when I get up.  I just finished Louise Penny's latest book, The Nature of the Beast.  I really enjoyed it until the last 50 pages or so.  When the pace should have amped up, she threw in mountains of details and tedious conversations that slowed it way down, plus I found the "threat" unconvincing.  I was disappointed as I wanted to love it.  Ian just came home with my new library book, JoJo Moyes' After You, the sequel to Me before You.  Move over Maddie.