More On The Tri Loom Workshop

To add to what I said earlier about the tri loom workshop.... Friday started with the worst snow storm of the year.... and it was the first day of spring. Usually this is neither here nor there since March is usually a month like a mad dog in Nefoundland and I'm a good Newfy.... in other words I'm used to snow in March. But for some reason when I woke up on March 21 this year at 4:30 a.m. (that was bad enough) and looked out my window to see the street light opliterated by snow falling I was most upset. Meanwhile Daughter #2 came to me and said, "Mom my sinuses are really blocked and I'm coughing too much to sleep." This is not good! Hubby and I are supposed to be going window shopping (that doesn't mean looking through windows at items for sale that means shopping for windows for the new addition) in just a few hours, after which I am supposed to take Hubby to the airport before a lovely weekend of spinning and weaving and drinking tea.

Daughter #2 has sinuses so bad that her nose is swolen. She looks like sh--! I can't leave this poor child to the mercy of Mudder. She is likely to poor molases and Buckly's down her throat! And then there is my ailing father. Fadder has serious health issues and even a cold can land him in the hospital. I know this is the end of my workshop and retreat. My brain begins furiously working to figure out what I can do..... but by 7 a.m. and full daylight, I am resigned to my by now coughing daughter holding me back. I finally admit to Hubby who is crawling out of bed that I can't go and he has to get a ride to the airport with his travelling partner.

We get Daughter #1 ready for school and I proceed to load up Daughter #2 with medication while Hubby drives Daughter #1 to school. A short while later Hubby arrives home and says that he just passed his ride, who has already left. Panic sets in because now I know I am going to be driving in the, by now, heavy snow fall. I call my wonderful friend who was supposed to put me up for the night, with the news that I won't be coming. Disappointment abounds on all sides. I have told her that maybe I can make it to the workshop the next day. But when Hubby arrives with the news of his missed ride I call again to let her know that I will be coming after all and that I have no choice but to leave Daughter #1 and 2 with the parents and hope that Fadder doesn't catch anything. WF (wonderful friend) says that I can bring Daughter #2 with me..... Solution at last! Fadder won't get sick, Hubby will make it to the airport and I will get to have a spinning day and my tri loom workshop.... I might even get in some window shopping. And so begins the fury to get ready!

Packing was a mad scrabble and I through myself into forgetting half of what I needed including fibre for weaving.... I'd like to know how a person can weave if they forget their weaving yarn..... obviously my head is not screwed on.... it didn't matter as I'm almost stashless anyway.... that's bad... bad, bad, bad! Being stashless is like being nacked. ACK! (I'm not completely stashless as it turns out I have discovered this morning as there was a few suitable skeins of yarn in a drawer that I had forgotten about. However I am already planning atri loom project with that stuff too!)

The day progressed as planned except I ended up in the ditch at WF's place. (This was no biggy as another friend... lets call her GF for good friend, came along and pulled me out of the ditch with their truck ... and there was no damage either.) I even got to learn how to knit a mobias scarf at a different workshop on Friday night (the snow was grotesque when we came out of that one). The only drawback was that Daughter #1 had to spend the weekend with my parents which requires sainthood!

The snow fell and the wind blew and it was more winter than spring. Driving was treacherous, but I got my windows picked out. And I loved learning how to weave on the tri loom. The instructor was scarey but that's another story for another day.

Tri Loom Workshop

I just got home last night from a great workshop. I went to FSJ to learn how to weave on a triangular loom. I now have a new 7 foot triangular loom and a 3 foot triangular loom. I haven't started weaving on the 7 foot loom yet as I want to try spinning fibre for that and of course my level 2 homework comes first. I did however learn three different methods for weaving on my 3" loom. I have the first part of a shawl that I started on the 3" loom. It is green boucle and cream wool, and it is lovely so far. I do have a tendency towards green and cream.

I think I will try several triangles woven on the small loom with acrylic before I get the nerve up to try my homespun. It is so much work to get all the spinning done for a project like that that I want to make sure that I really know what I am doing before I start something with my own wool.

This was a really wonder workshop to do and for a while I was thinking that I might not be able to go since we had a spring blizzard on Friday and I wasn't sure we were going to be able to drive in. But Hubby had to fly to Comox for a workshop of his own and so we headed in to FSJ in spite of everything. Daughter #2 came with me since she had a cold and I couldn't leave her with my parents one of whom can't handle getting sick at this point. I am pleased to say that she was very good and kept herself occupied with a square loom of her own. Poor Daughter #1 got stuck grandparent sitting. She didn't even get paid like she would if she were babysitting. "No fair Mom!" she said, and I felt really bad for her. But she was in school when we left and I couldn't drag her along.

I expect that this tri loom workshop will stand me in good stead for a long time to come as I hope to be able to weave lots of things on these looms. So I better get to it if I am going to get anything finished.

Everyting Old Is New Again

I really can't tell you what people are going to think. I'm sure they are going to think Hubby and I have lost it altogether. But then I've always said that age is just a state of mind. I always hope that my mind is considered young.... even though some days I feel like I'm positively ancient.

Hubby and I have decided that in the process of financing the renovations that we should finance a new vehicle as well. It is part of staying young.... buying a new vehicle ... and of course the vehicle that we have chosen to buy... will add to the fun of life quite a bit.

Now sit down because when I tell you the kind of car that we are buying you will laugh your guts out. We are buying a Firefly convertible!

Ok so those of you who know us will know too that this was the first car that we ever bought after we were married. We drove around in 1992 - 1994 a firefly convertible and drove it across Canada twice. It is a delicate thing telling people that they are too old for such vices but better that than become an aging alcoholic who makes a fool of themselves at events. (I've known a few of them!)

I want to use the car as a promotional vehicle for my business.... I want to paint Ye Olde Batt on the side of the car so that I can call it my Batt mobile. Hee hee!

It is white with a black vinyl roof (that doesn't work and will need replacing). But otherwise for an ancient car it is in great shape. I expect that Hubby and I will have to get the engine rebuilt at some point but hopefully not for a while. We both have to renew our know how on a standard because neither one of us has the proficiency to drive standard.

But either way the Batt mobile is in our future and we will just have to let every one know that old fogies like to have fun too!

Blah! Cold!

It's still cold.... -31 : \ I am not impressed. We were all up at 6 a.m. this morning to get the girls on the bus for he regional science fair which is being held in FSJ today. Daughter #1 won in her category for an experiment in acidic soil and plant growth. Daughter #2 won in her category for an experiment in food tasting and how smell affects taste. The standards are very high at the regional level so we will see how they do.

I am taking my mom and heading to FSJ later this morning to bare witness to the event and to do a little shopping too. I need batteries for my camera so that I can post pics here of my weaving. A few groceries will make it into my cart and hopefully a new toaster oven which I miss greatly since mine caught on fire last summer and I have been doing without since then.

I just read my post from yesterday and have decided that my brain really was frozen when I wrote it. Sorry that it was so incoherent. I am not going to write about spring today.... I refuse.

I am instead going to write about what I am doing which for the most part has been weaving on pin looms and doing research for a level 2 question on spindles. I have spent an inordinate amount of time working on research for spindle information. I have discovered a number of different kinds but frankly it is pretty hard to find out background information on them. Spindle spinning is not terribly popular and so I gleam bits of information from here and there but never finding any really good sites. The one that I am having most trouble with is a double whorl spindle called the Balkan spindle. This morning before I go will be an opportunity to do some more research.

The other time consumer lately has been my pin loom. I have been weaving 6 inch squares on my pin loom with yarn that I bought for socks a while ago.... you may remember my secretive purchase from my local yarn shop.... and I am weaving squares with it as I have decided I like cotton socks better than wool. I am doing alternating squares. Ones is woven on the bias and one is woven straight. So far it is looking quite nice.... I am no sure I like my HRL loom as much as I like my Weavette.... well I know I don't actually... but it is ok.

Anyway when I am done I am hoping to have a baby blanket for a new child we support through Foster Parents Plan. We have three now. The new one is named Thavyne and comes from Brazil. We have Maria in Peru and Rosa in Dominican Republic. It gives me great pleasure to be able to make things for these little girls. Maria is 12. Rosa is 5 and Thavyne is not quite 2. Maria is getting a quilt and Rosa is getting a woven purse. I will see about posting pics here next time.

I will end here today as I have to get ready to go and still want to do some of that research....

I'm Over It... Yeah Right!

It is now a balmy -11 degrees and there is water dripping off my roof. I did go back to bed but then I had a friend drop by for lunch. This picture was taken a couple of years ago.... we look like a couple of real winners. Anyway we had a very nice lunch and it is not often that we get together to do that. She is my fitness instructor but primarily she is a good friend.

I've pretty much decided to hibernate until spring. I have to take my girls into FSJ tomorrow because they are both in the regional science fair. I'm really proud of the fact that they have made it so far. But after tomorrow I'm not leaving the house until it goes above freezing. Then I might think about leaving the house. So for now I will only think spring thoughts and I will only spin spring things and sew spring things and weave spring things...... if I deny that it is STILL winter like out then eventually it will have to change to spring..... make sense????? I thought not?

Who says you have to make sense anyhow.... my brain is too frozen to make sense. I need some spring to thaw me out. It's all good, as my friend who came for lunch says, it's all good!

Well I'm sorry... winter sucks! I'm tired of winter... I NEED spring. I love to hear that first pattering of rainfall when spring comes. I love to hear the buzz of the flies and bees. There's chirping in the air and you can almost hear the sap rising in the trees. And the smells... oh the smells of spring. I just love the smell of the earth and the warm air in the leaves. The musty smell of last falls debris rotting. Then there are the smells of the flowers. You can't beat spring.... well I like autumn too.

I'm weaving and hope to have pictures of it soon.... my weaving looks like spring, with its Easter colours....see ya soon.... here's hoping its spring in your neck of the woods.

@%#$^%&%^*

-44 windchill! It's March 9 for God's sake. No wonder there are Snow Buntings flying around..... they'd freeze their wee bums off if they stayed still. Brrr... I'm going back to bed. : {

Snow Buntings And Cold

Yesterday was stormy. It was stormy pretty much all day. I would look out at the falling blowing snow and wonder where spring was. It's March for God's sake shouldn't we be getting more seasonal temperatures by now. I just checked the thermometre and it is reading -23 degrees. Brrr! Hubby and I are heading off to church this morning and Hubby had to go plug in the truck because otherwise it might not start. It is sunny today but yesterday was a different story altogether.

Hubby left early in the afternoon yesterday, to take a bunch of kids sledding. I can't believe that they braved the storm and went off sliding. Daughter #1 who is a JCR did not go as she was hoping that her friend would come over and stay overnight... I think she was avoiding the cold too. I stayed home because I thought they were nuts to go sliding in such frigid temperatures.

It was while I was watching TV and weaving on my pin loom that I glanced up and noticed a flock of Snow Buntings flying around out over the sheep paddock. Snow Buntings are harbingers of spring. So while it is -23 this morning I know that it can't be long now. I think Hubby thinks I'm nuts but hang on I will until the gentle breezes of spring blow instead of the frigid winds of he North.

Crows are also a harbinger of spring. Not the big ravens but it's smaller cousin the crow. When I lived in the south there were always ravens and crows around, so it was strange when I came north and discovered that crows actually fly south for the winter. When I see crows now I know that it is spring. Then come the sparrows. With the sparrows come the wild crocuses and then dandelions.

For now the ground is white and everything is still frozen. The sheep are not moving much today. They are saving their energy and trying to stay warm. I have been watching closely because we are only a matter of weeks away from lambing. Each morning I look out and watch to see if there are any changes in behaviour. Lambs mean spring too. So i diligently watch for all signs spring.

What are signs of spring for you?