Not the blog I thought I'd write!

When the Loom Faerie came in from school last night, I asked how much homework she had to do. A lot! She did say she could go for groceries and gas with me. They deliver my groceries to the curb, but freeing up someone at the station to pump my gas has never happened.

Beggars can't, etc., and I settled for what I could get. And first there was snow. I woke to fat flakes putting down a couple of inches all over and around my get away car! Beggars can't be choosers, I groused, and set about turning on warp.

When I was this far on, three bouts, the Loom Faerie looked around the door frame and said she was on her way out to clear the car for the grocery run. What a kid! By the time she came back to say time to go, I had my all time record of four consecutive bouts done. I was too tired to argue.

We came back, I ate lunch, and felt decent enough to pick up warping where I'd left off. I made it through three more bouts of 125 turns each and then I crapped out.

I crawled to my room and flopped into my desk chair. I was well into a doze when I had a text: Still need help? I'll have time before I go back to school. And she showed up and cranked on the last four bouts. And put away the tools and stools and left over tubes of warp!

Monday morning she can start school with all her homework in order and I can start tying on eleven bouts of warp. That will take more than a day!

Going to be a long, cold winter

The local schools are closing because it's too cold for children to walk to school. The good news--no more 5:45 calls from the person who made that determination.

We have a fun outcome to look around to find. There was a contest to name the Ohio Turnpike snowplows. Well, eight of them, one for each salt barn, where the plow is stationed. Snow More Mr. Ice Guy is stationed in the Boston Maintenance Building. The others have been named O-H Snow U Didn't; Ah, Push It---Push It Real Good; Snow Force One; Sir Plows-A-Lot (my personal favorite, but stationed far, far away); Snowbi-Wan Kenobi; Plowy McPlowface; and Darth Blader.

I don't know if the idea originated in Ohio. I have read of the contest being held in other states and municipalities. I haven't learned of any new names.

Today I emptied the loom of a warp I began last fall, September 6th exactly. Then a long hiatus, until shortly after Christmas! Now there are four towels on the wheel. I will confess, before someone trips me up, the cream towel is on the wheel for the very first time. In the past it has only been alluded to, via the little rose.

I finished a couple of the towels today, to update the web page (everythingoldisnewagain.shop). Tomorrow I'll finish clearing out around the loom and begin turning on a new warp. 

Or maybe I'll mop the winter from the floors tomorrow, and see if my loom fayerie shows up on Saturday. It does take her only two hours for a full warp and it takes me a week and a lot of whining.

Best laid plans

Sunday night I called my doctor's after hours answering service and cancelled today's ten o'clock appointment. He'd already backed my appointment up half an hour to give him time to dash somewhere; now he'd have a whole hour to get there, in some mighty bad weather.

From the time it began snowing, about six in the evening last Saturday, we had 17" before it ended Sunday night, about six.  I woke this morning to snow, and it has not yet quit, at six. I am not impressed! The last time I dealt with this much snow was in the seventies. I had three snow shovelers in the house. The snow was stacked six feet high along the drive way. By the end we had only one lane shoveled from the two car garage.

There were two snow shovelers over the weekend, but now one is back in school. The other asked if I needed to go anywhere tomorrow. By good fortune, I have nowhere to be until a week from today. Such a relieved face! At least the job can be postponed until the snow ends. "Right now it's like emptying a swimming pool with a pail."

I'm so near the end of this warp, but I keep winding bobbins to finish. I did ask my sister about the stack of drawers with the long screwdriver in the top drawer. "Whoever has the drawers has the screwdriver," she said, and she does not remember who got the drawers.

So, I retreated to Amazon and called up screwdrivers. They barely come singly these days. I bought one that should work. Otherwise, I'll just go back and spend ten dollars on a longer one.

 

Lately I learn the hard way, or no way at all

My sewing skills are fairly rudimentary. I'm including machine maintenance in that skill set. Some things are burned into my brain. How about replacing a needle and not knowing which direction to face the groove in the needle. It can be a mystery, if you don't have it written down in ink somewhere on the machine.

My sister quilts professionally, as you know, and can disassemble her machine in the dark, clean it and put it back together by the light of a flashlight held between her lips. She knows her stuff! On time I interrupted her to ask where the needle groove went on my Husqvarna machine. "The thread follows the groove!" she said, and left. I never forgot that.

Yesterday I found I no longer remember how many pieces must be disassembled to clean a machine! I was hemming towels, of course. Short of a modicum of mending, it's what I do on a sewing machine now. My current machine is a Brother, and it was jamming the thread. After I'd extracted the broken looper thread a dozen times, I thought I'd see if it needed cleaned. 

The inside was brushed to shining, when I looked, and I could see nothing suspicious. In desperation, I began shoving my finger around the inside. Finally I decided it felt sort of soft, there under the throat plate. I located my screwdrivers and began. The screwdrivers provided by Brother are shite, by the way, but I got the job done.

Now I remember I used to do that job with a long screwdriver in a set of old Singer drawers that I no longer have. I wonder if I gave them to Janice. Must check and reclaim that screwdriver if possible.

Anyway, I freed the plate, turned it over, and smiled at the stuffed cushion it had become. What did I expect, shoving the needle through 100% cotton, the real deal, to hem towels? I cleaned and cleaned, replaced the plate and the screws, the latter with my thumbnails, and it sews like butter, to quote a malposition from my daughter.

Lint, but not in my machine.

Brain fog?

 I'm just beginning to understand how much of my dilemma with the newest Blogger is not my fault,  unless there was some manual issued with the last upgrade, whenever that was. In fact, I did not miss the missing pages under the banner until a reader pointed out their demise.

A new page there was added or subtracted on its regular blogger maintenance page, as I recall. We went to the layout page, for my purposes, only for changes to gadgets, and they were rather drag and drop complicated. Well, here's the real deal: you now fiddle with pages under their gadget in the layout page, too. Just another rule to memorize!

I've put back the Towels for Sale page. It's somewhat different; it lists the current color wheel with the option to click on it to go to my web page, https://www.everythingoldisnewagain.shop/. It shows the current towel finished, and will list all the colors I've made. I just finished the Brick set of towels, a color I see I did not weave in the past.

When I have some spare time, I may stop and list every color towel I have woven. I'm nearing the end of the current warp, so these last towels are a run of cream.

I am through with the at home physical therapists. That has not been an entire success, though I have improved visit over visit in these sessions. I will pick up again with Akron General, but not until the weather improves.

I made it to a doctor appointment today, but only because strong young women and men finished clearing our drive and behind my car. They left my car, according to K, the lone getaway car. I hope it is not a long winter!