BRRRRR

I reside right in the center of the area where we have a 'polar vortex' happening.

It's been cold and snowy, but buckle up, it's gonna get worse.

Sundogs this morning while I was checking the horses and giving them water.  It was about -15 I think at this point.  Didn't get stuck today driving in, but I did have to back out and hit the snowy area again to get through.

Because of the weather I've not been getting to spend alot of time at the loom.  Each time I'm there I do just a little bit.  Today I wove the header while I let the truck run to warm up, so next time maybe I can actually start weaving?!?  Full width on my loom here we come!

Yesterday my brother and I brought a day old calf up to the garage to warm him up a bit.  His ears were cold and he was a bit shivery.  One ear seems a little frostbit, but he warmed up quickly and was able to really dry out - he was still a little damp from being inside his mama :)   I shared my polar fleece hood with him when we brought him in.

While he was warming up I quick made a rough hood for him to take back to the barn.  We weren't sure his mama would leave the blue one of mine on, and I wasn't sure I wanted to give it up permanently.  It's still on him today!  It holds his ears next to his neck and helps keep them warmer.  It's not a perfect product, it spins so sometimes he is a little bit blind, but he finds his mama no problem.  I straightened it out this afternoon while we were doing what we could for the night.

Here's me warming up in the truck while I waited for my brother who was on the loader.  I'm in charge of opening and holding gates as well as checking waterers and hauling buckets of grain.

At this point it was only about -22.   Ugh :)

Pray for the animals that all survive tonite while it's -30 or more plus chill.  

Why do we live here?


All for now,
JULIE

Not much to say today

 Twenty eight rugs from the prior warp...

Next warp.  Full width and the first time I've attempted it....

All for now,

JULIE

More finishes

 Wool like orange and black plaid yardage created these wonderful zig zags.

 70's era bedspreads - Tried a different stripe pattern.  Kinda like it!

Surgical scrub pants come in some bright colors!  Framed in black make them really pop.

Slogging through winter

Winter can be a struggle for me.  That seasonal depression thing.  Also, the older I get, the physical demands of dealing with snow and cold and ice are harder - and more irritating.

The weather has settled finally a little bit and I've made it to the loom more, as well as a visit to friends in my old home town.  That helped the attitude a little :)

I've been weaving colors on my basic dark and light striped warp.

Just a sample!

I'm about halfway done with this warp, so I'm thinking on the next.

An order for rug warp is on the way, and as soon as that arrives I believe I will jump in and work on a full width warp for a customer.  Believe it or not, I have never done that yet!  I'm not sure how many revolutions I will go with yet.  Not sure I want that many high price rugs in my inventory.

I'm also contemplating after that warp to reduce the width of my standard rugs to 12 sections, or 24/25 inches.   I think I will try it.  Less warp, less weft, and a bit less $ per rug.  It will be an experiment. I do have a few that width from a single warp back a couple years and also a few 18 inch wide rugs from the same sort of project.

I've been getting requests for mug rugs.  I probably should try some, but they sure seem piddly!

All for now,
JULIE

Stymied

I keep getting stymied by the weather.

Snow, wind, cold, etc is keeping me either A.  too busy helping keep cows and calves alive and snow shoveled. and B. not being able to even get to the loom because of snow.

This was yesterday .... Overnight the wind picked up and blew again.  Once again I can't get there without some major snow moving.  My brother has been moving snow since the 27th...

Each time I get up there, I try to spend a little time at the loom if the wind isn't actively blowing me in.

Purple corduroy mix is what went first on the this warp.

Then the reds corduroy mix.  There is alot of orange and other colors in here, too.  I wove one, and then it was a couple days before I got back and did a second one like this.

The snow... the snow... the snow....

A couple deer took shelter under the pines right behind the house.  They left soon after we started moving about in the house.

And this is what I finished up with yesterday while I was there.  I had to bust thru some pretty big scary drifts, but the wind was calm and I felt safe enough there for the moment.  These was twill pant material in black, tan, oranges and greens.  Not my usual mix of colors, but I think it works!

So tomorrow I will have to make a concerted effort to get thru the snow to the barn to check the horses, and hopefully I will get to weave the next two rugs that I have ready to go on the shuttles.

All for now,
JULIE