Fun Day!

Today was the second of our guild's new once-a-month informal meetings to sit in a circle and chat about projects and successes, so I took the galley proofs from my Handwoven article along with all the documentation they required and some towels from my two latest color incarnations.  I was worried that I would come off as a show-off and I was truly touched by the positive responses I received.  And it's really wonderful to see what the new weavers are working on.  Some of the old members who haven't been weaving in a while admit to feeling a desire to get back to their looms.

I had planned to leave the meeting and since I was in town, would just go to 4:00 Mass.  However the meeting ended at 2:00 and that's a lot of time to kill, but Lorene told us that Art in the Garden was today and our member Kate Hanlon had a booth.  She passed around a postcard with the address so off I went to find it.  I've heard about it for years but this is my first time to attend.  It's put on by the Friends of Washoe County Library to benefit the public library system.

Within minutes I was chatting with Charlotte Voitoff and Shiree Wallace who have been "friends" of the library for over 20 years.  I met them when we used to set up the library auction benefit at the main library (where I worked) called Tisket-a-Tasket, a Literary Basket.  They were both tireless workers and today's event is in Shiree's garden.  BTW, Shiree is my boss as a school library sub.  Small world!!  And I could not believe how many old friends I ran into.  I was glad I had so much time to kill.

Within moments I had spotted this chair and knew it was going home with me, which makes no sense since I've been getting rid of things.  I knew Charlotte had painted it.  I have a highchair that I bought 15 years ago at a Tisket-a-Tasket auction.  Plus I also knew instantly that this was one of the University classroom chairs that were sold out of storage a number of years ago.  I sent the picture to Ian and he said - Purchase it!

I love it and have made it the charging station for my laptop.  I can just sit down and flip it open.  I had a few minutes left before Mass so drove by Amy's house and had her confirm that indeed this is one of the University chairs.  She would know because she and Allison had decorated one for a University contest years ago when they were removed from storage.  I am thrilled.

And when I got home, I had another treat - before and after pictures from Toni.  This is Zephie just out of the trailer.

And here she is in the chute, waiting to be sheared.

Here they are, looking really pretty after their new hair-dos.

The End of an Era

In the string of odd weather we've been having lately, we woke up socked in by fog, an auspicious beginning for our llamas last day here.

Toni showed up a little before 9:00 and by then the fog was gone.  She has lost about 100 pounds over the past couple of years.  She looks great and her health is much improved.

We call her the llama whisperer.

The smaller darker llama on the left is Zaria, who was five when we bought her 12 years ago, and her daughter Zephie on the right was just a year old.  Zaria has been halter trained; Zephie has not.

 Toni was pleasantly surprised that Zephie let her easily slip on the halter.

And she had absolutely no problem leading her to the trailer.

And that's when it got complicated.  Toni expected to have trouble haltering her.  The trouble was that Zephie was not going into that dark trailer.  We took turns pushing and pulling to no avail.  We got so winded we had to take breaks, but even with the enticement of alfalfa hay and COB (corn, oats, barley) which she ordinarily loves, it was a no go.  Finally Toni decided to get mama instead and left her tied up to the back of the trailer.

Zaria stuck her head in the trailer, and as soon she smelled the alfalfa, she was in.  Toni closed that stall and we went back to work on Zephie.  I got the bucket of COB and stood in front of her with a hand full right under her mouth.  She was happy to eat it - llama candy - so I inched it a little towards me while Ian and Toni pushed.  I could see her legs were shaking from exhaustion so we gave a big push and pull and she was in - finally!  She instantly kushed (knelt) and we had a hard time getting her butt all the way in to close the stall door.

One in and kushed, Zephie wasn't going to budge so when her mama llama was turning around to watch what we were doing, Zephie reared her head back and that's all the accommodation she was willing to make.  Poor scared girl.

And yes, Toni has pack llamas.

And this is how they ended up turned around as it was time to go.  Notice Zephie hasn't budged one bit.  They're really beautiful girls.

And then it was over, both kushed for the ride - the end of an era.  I talked to Toni later today to verify her PO address.  I was putting some paperwork away and found the llama registration that I couldn't locate when she was here.  She said they transported and unloaded just fine.  She took that opportunity to shear them both and now they're turned out with her llamas in a smaller pen, getting a sense of their home.  Another piece of moving puzzle falls into place.

Weaving Anyway

I realized that I'll be climbing the walls before our 45-day escrow closes if the only thing I do is pack, so I decided yesterday to put together my warping reel and wind a warp.  I could see it was going to be a little more complicated than just "put together" when I saw the notice on the top of the contents - Unpack Carefully!

So I identified each piece and checked it off the list.  The instructions were to sand everything carefully - all the pieces!  Then I needed to apply a coat of their special oil to each piece, let set for 30 minutes and then repeat.

While I was waiting I found an inspiration photo for tide pool colors.

I'm limited in my colors since I had my big order of replacement yarn shipped to my son's house in Oregon.  I don't want to pay to ship it twice!

From start to finish it took me four hours.  I was very careful though and I'm sure someone else who is experienced in wood working would have done it in half the time.  Needless to say it wasn't ready to use yesterday so I used my warping board instead.

These are the colors I ultimately chose and the color pairing.  It felt great to be planning a project and just be in my studio.  I'll start weaving on it today.  Mel Sharp, a weaver in Arizona, quoted George Burns as saying - doing normal things makes you feel normal.  This made me feel like myself again.  I'll face packing another day.

And good news on the llamas.  We couldn't get in touch with Toni, the woman we had expected to help us with them.  Her phone was disconnected and no one had the new number.  Her dad is our neighbor but he wasn't home.  When I finally got in touch with him, he explained the Toni had disconnected her landline and only had a cell now - phew!  I called and left a message which was unanswered for several days.  One morning she called early and chatted with Ian.  They agreed to wait until after this heat spells breaks so Ian is going to town today for more hay.  She thinks she knows someone who would like to have a couple of seasoned guard animals.  So another piece of this puzzle has fallen into place.  It takes a huge load off my mind.

A Day in the Life

A week ago the bitterbrush hadn't bloomed.  It always comes after the desert peach, but when I walked the dogs on Tuesday, it was everywhere and it felt like it happened overnight.  The frost I feared did come.  No apples for us this year.

I couldn't resist sharing a picture of our lazy llama, laying there stuffing her face

I'm cutting it really close to getting everything done before the craft fair Wednesday.  This stack of towels has been washed once.  I need to hem them, wash them again, press them on my mangle and attach labels.

I also want to get two scarves woven from this warp, my fluffy granite look.  I need to finish weaving, twist fringe, then wash and press them.

I subbed at Elmcrest Elementary today, an older school and also from our old neighborhood in town. It's a nice school and it goes to show that neighborhoods matter.  The librarian left me a book processing project which involved a lot of standing.  I was pooped when I got home so decided to reknit a sleeve and chill out. I think it will look better after it's been finished - it's the one on the right.  I did two decreases and took it down by over 20 stitches.  I tried it on and had Ian take of picture of me in it because I could see that it's going to work.  The sweater looked good but I did not.

I'm subbing again tomorrow but the project is done and I'll have more class visits, ie., more fun.  I also have playground duty - not fun.  Plus it going to be 51 degrees so I'll have to dress accordingly.  There was a message on my phone asking me to sub for a junior high school on Monday.  There is *no* way I want to sub for those grades just six weeks from the end of the school year. I didn't return the call. The 6th graders I had today reinforced my decision.

Christina and I are planning to go back to Massachusetts in June for John's wedding.  John is my oldest grandson.  My daughter got pregnant with him when she just 15 years old and gave him up for adoption - it's a long story but I blogged about it here.  Actually, that was the post about when we first met him in 2009.  Then last March we went back to MA when his baby girl was born.  Now we're going back for the wedding.  We plan to buy our tickets on Tuesday which is when Southwest releases their specials.  I doubt there will be a special on a Reno to Hartford CT flight but you never know.

Rugdom

This is Zaria. Last night just before total darkness, I looked out the French doors and saw her looking right back in at me. She knew the grass was greener on the other side of the pasture and jumped the fence. Ian kept telling me that he read that llamas doen't jump their own fences. Ian stands corrected.

I keep saying we live in the arid high desert and then I keep telling you that it is raining, but it rained all night last night. It was too dark to catch her, let alone see her. It was a wrenching night as her cria cried and cried for her mother. She sounds like Chewbacca the Wookie, plaintive. Zaria is about ten and her cria is probably eight. They have always been together and I think the reason we were able to finally nab Zaria this morning is because, while she wanted the green eats, she wanted her cria more. We roped off an area and while Ian hung onto the ropes and I moved toward her, she just jumped right back over the fence from where she was standing, like a deer. We were stunned. Poof. Okay, that's not exactly nab.
So this morning was all about mending fences. Ian was angry at himself for not addressing the weak places before now and I'm happy that, if this was going to happen, it's when we're home and not on vacation for a house sitter to deal with. Catching an unsocialized llama is not high on my entertainment list.

Meanwhile, I have entered into the realm of rug weavers - rugdom! Gold star. I got to spend the afternoon in my studio and have thrown the last of the rag weft here - this rug is just about done. I still need two more inches of double warp threads to end - I've decided to hem and not fringe. I have loved every inch of this project and am already cutting new strips. This isn't rug weaving - this is an addiction.

I was dropping my floating selvedge for the last few inches when I noticed my apron bar. Oh my goodness - look at that bow. In the future, I see that I need to tie it in multiple places. I just assumed that because it was steel it would be rigid. Sharon stands corrected - a day of Campbell corrections.
It's a runner - not sure where it needs to run. We desperately need runners so we're holding an election - which area is the most desperate. These two don't get to vote. It's raining again. We live in the arid high desert and it feels like an alien species has invaded - wait. Did I already say that? Honest. It's dry here and we have water wars because of it.

Meanwhile, Ian dashed out to cover the tomatoes in their walls of water. We have snow predicted tonight. What part of organic are you seeing? This is the realm of plastic farming, but originally a working ranch. They had a garden which was only mentioned in the oral history in passing. I would love to know what they knew. I am exhausted tonight.

It's Still Sheep and Llamas

We've noticed that our black sheep George tends to hang out with the llamas. He eats with them and always seems to be where they are. I fished around on the Internet to see if that behavior is source of the term "black sheep," but I couldn't find anything that relates to term to animal behavior. It seems to be something coined for human behavior. George is an odd duck, a bit reticent, so perhaps he just hangs with llamas because he wants to hang with llamas. He's the one who comes to fence and rubs noses with Buster, our Queenie.



Here, on the other hand, here are the light sheep. Robbie is the dominant in this group. He won an award at the Lane County Fair in Eugene for best yearling lamb. He wasn't wethered until after the fair so has a wonderful set of horns. (To see them, click for big.) Our grandson Kiernan named him Robbie the Ram, (in Kiernan-speak that's Wobbie the Wam) because his daddy is a fan of the St. Louis Rams. Mim points out that he's actually Wobbie the Wetheu.


In the end, it's still sheep and llamas. What you see is our mama llama moving the sheep back to the shed. She lowers her head and walks their way and they run. They acted scared for their lives, but when they get there, they stop, wait for her to turn around and then follow her back. A woman who lives across the valley told me that she loves to watch our guys through her field glasses. They really are wonderful entertainment.