Where's the mojo?

Yesterday I did get the last of the tablerunner warp woven off.  I felt inspired enough to put on the next warp.

I'm doing black based rugs now.

The warp looks like this...

The warp colors are black, dark charcoal, a lighter charcoal that was probably another die lot, light gray, natural (white) and just a little bit of purple.

This warping was filled with challenges from the start.

I found I had very little natural left, but thought I'd have enough.  Turns out there wasn't as much there as I thought and the last few sections I had to switch over to light gray and even was forced into switching out to the next darker gray as I was running low on the light gray, too.   It should work tho. No one will even notice it!

Also along the way, because I was using partial cones, I lost focus and ran out of one end without noticing... several times..... eyeroll inserted here....

And then the worst situation.   I was doing 80 revolutions per section.  I usually verbally count to 50 and then start over and go to 30 in this situation.

I counted to 50.... and cut off the warp to start the next section before I realized what I had done.

After stewing a bit and trying to figure out the best way to proceed, I just overlapped the ends and wound on the next 30 turns.  When I get to that area, I will have 24 ends to tie knots into and adjust the warp to even it all out.

Urg.  This type of mess up drives me crazy!

After that I decided it was best to go to bed and revisit the project in the morning.

Hopefully the weaving mojo will have returned when I start threading.

It will be a few days before I'm weaving unless I really get on a roll.  I'm off from my town job for a few days and it's not nice enough to spend any time outside anyway. So maybe I'll actually get something accomplished.

Tonite I sat down and started a 2020 calender of vendor events.  Applications are starting to arrive and I'm always watching for new events to try out.

Positive note to remind myself of....

The looms are HERE with you, so no getting snowed out from them :)

All for now,
JULIE

'Bout time!

It's about time I have some finished pieces to show ---

It seems as if this warping will never end - the Christmasy colored tablerunner warp, that is.

I had thought I had alot of Christmas tableclothes and solids that would work on this warp, but I guess not as much as I thought!  I've been scrounging and frankly, not been very inspired with this one.

I was trying to weave it all off, but I filled up the take up beam and had to get me some room for a few more.  I think I will just go ahead and do denim and finish it off.  It will give me some variety in the denim runners with this color warp.

Here are a few....

There are five more that are finished, but I won't burden the blog with that many downloads...

If you want to see them, I've got them all on facebook.

You would think I would be getting into the weaving mode - as the weather is definately not conducive to wanting to go anywhere or be outside.

Since last evening the wind has been howling - from the south which means the temps aren't terrible.  I believe the thermometer said 26 degrees this afternoon, but when the wind is sustained above 30 MPH and gusts over 50 mph, it's still cold.  Ground blizzard conditions and drifting.

I'm kind of forcing myself to work on the warp and weft that are in the pipeline.  I'm hoping as soon as I get the next batch going, it will inspire me and I'll get a little more excited.  

Hope so anyway!

All for now,
JULIE

New to me loom

Sometime during this last year -- springtime?  A new friend gave me a loom.

It had been her mothers!  I wove her a rug in exchange :)

This will be a fun little loom to use - if I can get used to it!

It's a Sears and Roebuck  'fairloom'

From what I can tell, these were made by Newcomb Looms.  And yes, it sure looks like it to me.  I used to have a Newcomb Studio Loom and this is just like it, except this one is a simple 2 harness.

The other afternoon I decided to see if I could figure it out.  I have been getting requests for mug rugs, so I decided to do a quick run of those to try things out.  I don't own a tension box - a spool rack came with tho.   I had to get creative to use my warping comb from the union. I got it done, but I'm thinking of a different way on my next warp.  I believe this will be my tablerunner loom.   Max weaving width is about 27 inches.

The breast beam is tall compared to my unions.  And the treadles aren't on the floor, so I may need to figure  out a bench...   We'll see how we get along in time.

Weather here is typical winter. Cold. Cold. Cold.   :)   It's negative 6 F right now with a stiff breeze.  Last night we got 5-6 inches of fluffy new snow, so it's rearranging itself.  Supposed to get more this weekend with wind - blizzard style it sounds like.   Someone said the other day we are already over 40 inches of the white stuff this winter.

The older I get, the less I handle winter with grace and good humor............   LOL

All for now,
JULIE

New Year

A new year means much change here this year.

The arrival of my daughter and SIL is a great change :)

Winter is here - cold, snow, wind, etc.  The older I get the more it makes me cranky!

We've acquired a tractor - so now snow management and chores are much easier - and the SIL does the cow chores  -  I help on occasion, and it's nice not being ultimately responsible for them.

There has been drama on the brother front, but we are handling it, my father has been in the hospital since Jan 1 with UTI infections and an e coli diagnosis in addition. But things are looking up - the parents pickup has a new motor -( my brother had driven it til it wouldn't drive no more and abandoned it) so they have a vehicle to use.

New furbabies -  Jack and Jane moved here with the kids.  

They like to sleep with me sometimes - it's nice as Cooper used to every night and they keep me company in the night when I can't sleep.

I've moved my bed to a bedroom and now my former sleeping/working/relax space is affectionately know as the loom room.  I'm working at getting the weaving stuff from the garage to there and getting ramped up to do some production.

I'm picking away at bookwork for 2019.   Crunching numbers tells me I attended 15 different vendor events this year with an average fee of $57.57.  I drove an average of 88 miles each to attend these events.

In 2019 I sold 124 rugs and 59 tablerunners.

The average sale price was about $28 per  tablerunner and $72 per rug.  

Close estimates anyway, as I'm sure I missed some private sales and other items that I need to find in my records.

Not enough to support myself with, but enough to make it worth my efforts!

There are event paperwork deadlines that are imminent, so I must focus on those ASAP. 

No time for the weary!

All for now,
JULIE

Almost to the end, and the future

Since my last post, I've been to 3 vendor events. Two events were awesome, and the one in the middle was OK.  Not sure if I'll go back to that one next year....  we'll see what the calender looks like next fall!

I am seeing holes in my inventory - I think there is only one hemmed denim regular width rug.  Many of the bright colorful rugs are gone, and even the neutral light ones are getting to be gone.  Still some very nice rugs, some of my favorites are still there - Plenty of Christmassy table runners and such, so I have plenty going into this last small show this weekend.  But I'm glad it's the last one for awhile.

 This past week was an open week for me, thank goodness, as this happened...

Big snow event. 

Also I am home alone and in charge of chores again.

So, big changes around here.  I had mentioned my parents moved to an apartment in town...

So it was my brother and I here at the ranch- he has been the person who was supposed to take care of things these last 5-6 years.  He hasn't wanted to do that, so consequently, it hasn't been done as well as it could have been. Finally something had to be done because of finances.  My daughter and her husband have decided to buy a portion of the ranch and my dad's cows.  We are still waiting on financing from the bank - it is crazy the hoops you have to jump thru to do this -

My son in law came up about 3 weeks ago and the two of us have been trying to get things set for winter - weaned calves, bought hay, fixed what we could with what we have.   Since the banks are being difficult, my parents have to retain ownership for a bit yet, and the kids have to take a leap of faith that the financing will come thru.  My brother has abandoned us to pick up the pieces that he created and we are on our own.

So last week J (the son in law) went home to work his own cows and to pack up and prepare for the move.  He will be coming back this week sometime, weather permitting.  He also went to see L (my daughter)  LOL

Of course, right before he left, the old, worn out, touchy skid loader went to pot.  It is sitting out by the pasture locked up and can't be moved without fixing it.  We tried, but finally we had to throw in the towel because of the holiday and the need for J to get going.

We threw ourselves at the mercy of a neighbor to come and feed hay (as much as we could) and hoped the weather would cooperate.  Well, from the pictures you can tell it didn't!

Finally today, the neighbor could come back with his tractor and we fed hay and he pushed some snow so I could get out and around.

We are desperately looking for a tractor to purchase ---   I guess I'm doing that instead of a house :)

I am feeling my age - trudging thru snow carrying buckets of grain, and pitching hay to my horses is very tiring.  The lack of equipment and the state of the facilities is hard to deal with, but now we can move forward and have some control of the inputs and outcomes.

I didn't get in to my job today - thankfully my bosses are understanding.

I'm looking forward to working with my daughter and son in law - we can do this!

All for now,
JULIE

Craft Fairs and Vendor Events

Here is a picture of my booth from this last weekend right as I was finishing setting up.

I'd reserved a 15 foot spot.  Cost me all of 25$

It was 37 miles from home, so it's close by South Dakota standards :)

Everyone had said this is a good show, although as I got set up, I wasn't sure as the vendor mix was handmade, direct sales, bake sales and community groups.

Most of the booth items average price I guess to be about half of what my average price is. 

I was thinking I might be above this market.

Pleasantly surprised by the day, tho!   Sold 15 rugs and 4 table runners.  Very good day!

You just never know what the day will bring at these things.  I only sold one Christmas themed tablerunner - that's what I'm currently weaving to have Christmas items available. 

I'm getting a little sparse in the hemmed denim rug group, and I keep having people looking for gray -- of which I have none.  I decided to try a discount bin of rugs.   So far I've only sold one from that group.  Still, and always I think, a sale will happen when the right person sees the right rug.

I have three confirmed shows left this year, yet, and I'm exploring options for another open weekend.

Seems I'm weathering having only Sundays off, so I might as well get my rugs out there and try to sell!

Hope the weather stays agreeable.  Today was blustery, cold, and snowy.  As long as the roads don't get slippery, we're still good to go!

All for now,
JULIE

Not yet

So time keeps moving on.

Some days take forever, and others I don't know where the day went while I'm trying to get things done.

It's been a challenging couple of weeks.

I'm in the midst of fall craft fair season, so I've been at an event every weekend - and will be for a bit yet.

I've been to two since my last post.  

In the midst of those, a person always has the regular day to day 'stuff'.  Seems I drive alot.... LOL

I'm a chauffeur some days, an accountant others, a 4-H youth leader others days, in addition to the job in town, and the list goes on.

The weather is steadily marching into and towards winter.  It is daunting to think of another winter like last year, but I'm afraid with the available moisture, it could get ugly again.

I also had to say goodbye to my closest buddy, Cooper.

My little guy was my constant companion for better than 11 years. 

It had gotten to the point where his quality of life was suffering, so the difficult decision was made to say goodbye.

I still find myself factoring him into my planning, and I seem to check for him underfoot, still.

I'm trying to stay busy and upbeat, but there are times I just want to sit down and do nothing.  I'm hoping this shall pass quickly.

Some friends have asked already if I'm going to get a new dog. 

Not yet.  Not yet.

All for now, JULIE