Still Cold! And Big Changes.

I let Rowdy lay on the Pendleton wool rug I am mailing to son Sam/Zac/Satchmo in California.  I thought he might like to know a bit of Rowdy is there.  Rowdy was a puppy the summer between Zac's high school graduation and college, so he and Zac have a special relationship.  Rowdy will be 13 on the 30th of this month.  Last fall I wasn't sure he would be here for that birthday.  But he continues on, for which I am glad.

Both rugs are finished.  Zac's is packaged for mailing tomorrow and Ian's will accompany me when I fly to Oregon in just a few days.  Baby has not put in his appearance yet, but it should happen any day now!  The package with the baby wrap and the 12m size sweater was received and the parents to be seemed very happy with both.  I understand wrapping has been practiced.

 



Since my last post, the weather has been mostly quite cold still.  We did have 3 days that were nice last week, even into the 80's one day, but then right back into the freezer we went. 


In fact it was warm enough that the bees were out flying everywhere. I have been feeding them sugar water, a quart every other day or so, but I will stop that as soon as the weather stays a little warmer and more things start to bloom.  I want honey made with nectar, not sugar water.
 
 



Flowers have bloomed, but in general I think everything is behind.  Monday, it snowed.  Today it is near 50.  It was 26 degrees when I awoke this morning and we had a heavy frost.

 So I have been spending a lot of time indoors.  Last week I tore down my big loom, which had been at our office since I bought it 6 or 7 years ago, and moved it home and put it in my studio.  I also brought almost everything else from the loom room at our office home and there is still some organizing that needs to be done.  There is a large storage cabinet that needs to be moved from the office, and all its contents are in boxes waiting for it to be moved in.  
On Sunday I gave the big loom, Mira (the model of the loom), a good cleaning and conditioning and reassembled it.  Sam was able to make some improvements to the brake system on Mira, which I had contemplated replacing while I had the loom apart.  Now I think I may not need to do that.  Once I get a warp on Mira I will be able to tell.  This loom was built in the 1940's and I would like to keep it as original as I can.

The reason for clearing out my loom room at the office is that after 20 years, we have decided to close our Real Estate business and retire.  It seems like such a huge step, but then again, it just seems like yet another change.  Life has been a series of changes for Sam and myself.  We have not been afraid to take on new things, and it has worked out well for us. We feel very fortunate that the choices we have made and the chances we have taken have led us to this place in our life together.  We have been greatly blessed in so many ways.  At then end of this month, our business will officially be closed.  My studio was built last year with that in mind since there was no place in our house that would house Mira, my rug loom.  So it appears that I will now have a lot of time for weaving, gardening, doing dog agility and hiking in the woods and maybe some horseback riding....

And speaking of dog agility, Grover and I attended 1 day of a trial last Friday and earned our QQ18!  This weekend, we will spend 3 days bar hopping in Zanesville.  And then on Tuesday I will be off to Oregon for 6 days.

The lightweight cardigan is still on my knitting needles, though I have given it a break while I work on a kind of secret project.  Something totally new for me.  Details to be revealed at a later date.

I also plied 2 bobbins of hand dyed, handspun alpaca/silk yarn.  I LOVE how this came out.  I have 600 yards in this one skein, that is about 4 1/2 ounces.  And I still have 2 bobbins to ply.  I am not sure what this will become, but it may need to be a big lace shawl.  Whatever it becomes, it needs to be something spectacular!

By the next time I post, I should be a grandmother!  I should say I will be a "Nana" as that is what I will be called, following in the footsteps of some great women I have had the pleasure to know (and be related to!).