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

We got our storm

The storm that was predicted for day after Christmas, the day all my kids would be traveling to us, came like predicted.

Wednesday it started snowing. 

The kids all made it Wednesday evening - winter weather driving made the drives unpleasant but doable.  I'm really glad the kids from the SE part of the state decided to come Wednesday night instead of Thursday morning, as they wouldn't have made it then.

Thursday morning Leah's husband helped my brother do chores and then we went to the horses to water and check them.  They were offered water, but they didn't leave the shelter to come to the water - it was blowing and cold!

I haven't been to see them since....

By Friday morning we had 12.5 inches of snow that was blown about by high gusty winds.

Photo from the warmth of the house...

My brother started pushing snow and by about 1 PM the driveway was cleared out so my kids to continue on to their father's for that Christmas get together.  I and the son in law helped my brother do chores that we could do - hauling feed buckets to the pens we could and checking to make sure waterers were open and unfrozen.  All but two we could get to without crawling through deep drifts, those two pens we could see the cows had plenty of hay, so they would be ok.

I helped feed again Friday evening and we brought 3 cows down to the barn that need to calve yet.  It got cold overnight, - 20 or so.  Ugh!  Brother was out all day moving snow so we could get closer to the other pens and to the hay.

This morning I went out right away, fed all bucket chores while more snow was being moved so we could get hay to the pens.  I filled and carried 16 - 5 gallon buckets of corn ration to 5 different pens - through snow and drifts :)   I'm tired...

We finally got all the cows with fresh hay and everyone grained - we decided to leave the 3 cows in overnight again, so they got watered and fed some hay, too.

After lunch, I went to the neighbors and fed their lone horse, while my brother started on the drive up to the barn and my horses.  If all goes as planned, I should get to them this afternoon.

All for now,

JULIE

PS.  I wish I lived in a barn that was all stocked and prepared for weather such as this - that I wouldn't need to leave until it's warm again :)

Merry Christmas

It's been a quiet day today. 

The family get together is Thursday - my kids are coming if the weather doesn't alter the plan.

My parents and I drove to my childhood church about an hour away - met my sister there and attended their childrens program and candlelight service.

After, we went to my aunt and uncles - dad's brother - and had a light supper.  There were 22 people there from church or family -  Just an intimate get together!

It was an enjoyable evening, I got to see the house I grew up in, and some cousins I don't see often.

Of course we were the last to leave, that is a family trait and normal for my parents.  :)

The other day I beamed on my next warp -

I wanted neutral so that I can use the varied wefts I have prepared.

But I just can't seem to use just black and white.

So...  The 'white' sections have natural, gray, heather and tan.

The 'black' sections have charcoal, black, maroon and purple.

We will see how well these play with the weft strips coming down the pipe.

Today I finished threading the loom.

So now I'm ready to start weaving again.

The next few days will be grocery shopping and some food prep prior to the kids coming Wednesday evening. 

That is if the weather doesn't keep them away.  There is noise that we can expect up to 20 inches of snow.  Lord, I hope that isn't what happens!

I have to get to the barn where my loom is each day to take care of the my horses.  The plan had been to move them to the main place, but so far we haven't found an empty lot for them there.  It's been good for them to be there tho, as I am able to step inside with Queenie when it's time change bandages on her injury.  The other location we would have to walk some ways to get to that darker barn that is not as wind/weather tight.

I took the ponies a little treat of homegrown apples.  They got a fresh bale of hay 2 days ago and have a shed to get into if they choose when and if the snow starts.  Daily I get to draw water for them - if there is snow they would survive if they had to, but it's not ideal so I will get there if at all possible. 


Someday I want to have a stable that is just for them.  It may be an impossible dream, but I still have it :)

All for now,
JULIE

All done!

Twenty seven finished rugs, all with tans, browns, greens in them.

They came off this warp...

This warp came about because 1. I had very few greens, browns and tans in finished rugs in inventory, and 2.  I had alot of tans, browns and greens in the weft stash material. and 3. I have been fixated on warp based stripes lately. 



The last batch off the loom, I tried to use up some old materials that I inherited and that have been hanging around in my stash for awhile.

This one turned out really fun -

It used up many different dibs and dabs of twill type materials.



And then this rug happened with what was left of the twill materials.  I was hoping it wouldn't look too random and unplanned :)

There was still warp on the loom, but I can never tell what's left with any certainty.  So it's hard to do a planned pattern - so I did this and ended up with an "eclectic" rug.   It is ok, but not one I would choose - we'll see how long it takes to sell!  It is made of corduroy that was gifted already in strips.

Next warp is in my mind -- something that I can put any color of weft on, and yes, I'm still fixated on stripes.   Not sure when I will get that warp on the loom with the holiday and kids coming to visit, but I can't wait to weave some of the strips I have prepared. 

All for now, 

JULIE

Textile Photography Struggle

I've been exposed enough to photography and what makes a good photo through the 4-H program.  I can tell a good one from a poor one.

I think I do alright, but it's not a passion for me, like it is for my daughter...

I really struggle with photos of my textile based rugs.  I can never seem to get the look that I see in real life.

Could be that I'm never real satisfied as I am in the real world a "toucher".   I hate buying thru catalogs or online.  I NEED to touch and feel!

The latest finished rugs are challenging me.  They are exciting to me in real life and I've been taking pictures, but I haven't been happy with them so far. 

Could be the harsh winter lighting?

I tried different floors in the house.  Open curtains, closed curtains.  Lights on, lights off.

Finally decided this is the best location.  Just no flat area to take a normal picture :)

This rug is made from twill/khaki pants.  This grouping is from the darker end of the spectrum of the pants that I had sourced.  I included greens and browns and green based tans.  I REALLY like these :)

This photo shows the colors the closest to true life. 

I have two fringed rugs of this, and 3 hemmed ones. 

Another rug that was difficult to shoot is this one of a kind.

This is a lighter weight rug made from bedsheets.   Kind of a greige color with stripes of green/tan - I think the warp pattern really helps this rug.

There is another pair that was done weaving, but as I was taking them off the loom, I realized one of them I had failed to put in fringe spacer... That one gets to be rewoven today.

Guess my mind was on other things while it should have been paying better attention.

Some days I struggle :)

All for now,
JULIE

More finishes

 Some of my favorite rugs are made from corduroy.  These two are from the same batch of mixed materials from pants and sewing scraps.  I've got another corduroy rug finished, but it was from the last of the material after I ran out of some of the colors from these.  Planning Fail!  I didn't get the plan to work like it wanted it to.  :)  

 This rug is from bed sheets.  I have to work hard to pay attention to get stripe detail done the way I want it to.  I get in a groove and forget to watch my length.

Can you tell this rug shares some fabric as the previous one?  This is bed sheet.  I have been trying to measure my rugs as I work on them.  It seems some of my rugs get somewhat large - and more expensive to sell- so I am trying to stop basic rugs at about 42 inches.  That means I have some smaller amounts of random material left over that I can incorporate into patterned rugs.

I'm stretching my normal mode of operation.  I seem to get into ruts and do alot one way and I don't see other opportunities sometimes.  Right now I seem to prefer the look of hemmed rugs.  Used to be I really didn't like them!

This morning I was awake again at 5 AM.  Maybe I am getting back to somewhat normal.  It wasn't that long ago that I was sleeping until 8 or later every morning.  Twelve hour nights!  Now I'm down to the 8 - 9 hours horizontal and then feeling the need to get up and get going.  I'm just not sure if I should be trying to stay up later, or be ok with the early hours!

All for now,
JULIE