Snowed In

It started snowing on Sunday, really a mix of rain and snow, but it froze on the roads and we were notified that all schools would be closed on Monday.  I'm signed up for text notices from the community college and knew when I went to bed I wouldn't be going to art class the next day. We woke to this Monday morning and it kept coming.  The weather service reported a record-breaking 26" of snow on Monday, more than an inch an hour.  At this point schools have been closed for three days.

Monday morning Ian was out with the snowblower, trying to dig us out, but the icy under layer made it difficult to get any kind of traction.  He had to plow several passes before he could get the wheels on top of the freshly exposed snow.  We measured 13" of snow at that point.  The first thing we needed were pee-pee paths for Sammie. 

She didn't need any encouragement, just did her business and ran back to the garage.  Even in that short time she was covered in snow and I'd have to clean her off before she could go back in the house.

This is from our bedroom looking into the back yard when I woke up this morning.  Juniper bushes are under the lumps in the background but that lump in the foreground is nothing but a barricade of snow on our deck, and it's going to be there for a while.

I measured several places Monday afternoon and all were 18 inches, and even though it kept coming, I  lost interest in bundling up to go out and measure again.

Today there's no sign of the bench that I posted in my first shot.

We're getting a little break this morning and it's so nice to see the sun.  It took a couple hours this morning but Ian has us dug out to the street.  Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and a break between storm systems.  Time to go grocery shopping!

We're going to get a little break before more snow, though with these temps, it's going to be with us for a while.

My sentiments exactly!!

Healthy Hobby

This is the retired machine.  I still haven't decided what to do with it, but I'll either have it serviced or give it to the shop so they can refurb it and sell it.  It has something like 40 different stitches but I only use straight and zigzag so 38 of those are wasted on me.

This is the refurbished machine which to my great delight is mechanical.  The settings are the same when I turn it on as they were when I turned it off.  No more going through all the menus to get the correct needle position and stitch length which was a challenge since it was almost impossible to read the display against that bright window.  The cost was $57 but I had some Amazon dollars so it ended up being more like $37.  I'm happy.

The Campbell tartan scarves are underway.  We were gone all day today but we're supposed to get a foot of snow starting tomorrow and over the next five days so it will be nice to have this cheerful scarf to spend some time with.

I have completed these to add to my inventory.  I have very little in the way of blue/green towels but my backordered yarn is coming on Wednesday so I'll have plenty of time to remedy that. 

This is my fourth year as a vendor at Fiber Market Day.  The past three years have been at the fairgrounds in Prineville which is an hour east of here.  This year for the first time the event is going to be at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds in Redmond, just 20 minutes north of us and more accessible to more people. This has been a good event for me and I think it's going to be even better this year.  I'll have as much inventory as I possibly can finish which should pay for all the yarn I've recently ordered and the sewing machine.  It's nice to have a hobby that pays its own way.

February and Ennui

I finally have a surgery date.  They called me last Monday and scheduled it for February 28th.  I thought it over for a day and called back to request something later, so it's April 11th.  I don't want to drop my art class and I can't attend it on crutches.  Even the scheduler agreed with me on that.  Plus I'd rather not be in a surgical boot for Fiber Market Day, March 30th.  So here's my boot, still waiting for me.  I'm hobbling along a little better, thanks to the silicon metatarsal pads Ian got for me online.

Plus, by waiting I'll have more weaving time.  I pulled these towels off the loom the middle of last week and got four hemmed when my sewing machine stopped functioning.  The needle only goes up and down in the same place.  I've done all the trouble shooting I can, and finally decided since this machine only cost $130 seven years ago that I'd see if I could find a replacment on Amazon, which is where this one came from.  It was supposed to be delivered on Saturday but it's lost in route and they're trying to locate it.  It's not a new machine but a refurbished one, another Brother.  Meanwhile I've had a doozy of a cold and have done nothing but read since Friday.

On Thursdays at Smart we get a break between our kinders, time to make notes in their file, time to take a breath, time to get ready to do it again.  I saw a boy "dumpster diving" in the hall leading to the kindergarten wing.  What?!!  It was too funny to not take a shot, and since his face is hidden, I knew it was okay.  I heard him explaining himself to one of our kinders:  "When you're older, like 8 or 9, and you realize you threw away the picture that you worked on so hard, you have have to work hard to get it back."  Priceless!

Last Wednesday our instructor moved us on from drawing with charcoal to painting with it in the form of sumi-e ink.  We spent the three-hour class period practicing the use of the ink, how to hold the brush and how to make brush strokes.  And then there was clean-up!  I think it's during the chaos of cleaning up our materials and moving tables and chairs that I picked up my cold.  Rest and Alka-Seltzer Plus have done wonders for my symptoms and I'm looking forward to going to class today where we'll finish up this module.  Wednesday we start something new.

Last week before I got hit with the cold I manged to get this warp wound for two more Campbell tartan scarves.  I've sold the three I've made and am optimistic that I can sell another one next month.  This will be my fourth year as a vendor in this event and it will be the first held at the Deschutes County Fair Grounds which I think will improve foot traffic greatly.  

I talked to Webs about a half hour ago and the Stone Green yarn that I'm waiting on is going to ship tomorrow and will be here sometime next week.  I'll focus on the scarves and be ready to do some blue/green towels, something I am sorely lacking in my inventory.  Other than having to continue living with this sore foot, I think it will all be good.  I'm glad to be able to keep busy as we are in the middle of a cold gray streak.

Still Waiting

We are halfway through the semester which means its time for our midterm.  The 9:00 class assembled this pile as a still life study for both of our classes.  At first it felt like they were punishing us, but they have to draw it too. We're to pick an area to focus on, not draw the whole thing.

This is the area I chose and I wish I had zoned in on a smaller area.

This is where I left off on Monday.  I asked my instructor if I could skip Wednesday and attend my book group.  "What book are you reading?" he asked.  He was fine with it and I'll finish up this Monday afternoon.

This is my current warp.  I was short on colors and didn't think this through carefully enough.  There's a big problem with the values - just hope they attract buyers.  I called the orthopedic center and found out that my insurance approved my surgery last Monday so hope to hear from them this week.  I suspect this is the last warp I'll have time to weave for the next couple of months.

These are the colors I'm short on, all of my favorites.  Webs is backordered on Stone Green, a color that I use in many colorways, so I'm trying to come up with some alternatives now that I have received these eight colors.

The cupboard looks pretty bare, even after I plugged in my new yarns.  I called Eugene Textile today and order three additional colors that I'm limping along without.  I'll be lucky to sell enough at Fiber Market Day the end of March to cover some of my costs, but I remind myself that I'm lucky to have a hobby that pays for itself.

These are the previous towels, waiting to be hemmed.  I'm trying to get as much weaving as I can before I'm stuck with a surgical boot for six weeks.  Ian says he doesn't mind that he'll have to drive me during that time.  Gerry Sharp, one of my friends at SMART (the program where we read to kinders) has said that she would be glad to pick me up and bring me home during those six weeks.  I hope to wind several warps while I'm passing that time, including some Campbell tartan dish towels.

I read some where that at the beginning of the year you should turn all your hangers around backwards, then after you wear and launder your clothes, put them on the hangers turned the correct way.  At the end of the year, pull out the clothes whose hangers that never got turned around and take those clothes to the thrift store.  So I'm one month into this and wearing an awful lot of the same clothes.