Two Months?!?!?!

Once again, my brother has reminded me that I haven't posted here for a looooong time. That must mean that I've been busy, right? Between weaving, knitting, and driving 'Grandmother's Taxi', I do keep busy. I drive about 300 miles a week, much of it care for and transport my great-grandchildren. They're worth it.

On the weaving front, I've woven a small scarf for 2-year-old Violet and an adult-size one for 13-year-old Rose, and I am working on a shawl for the prayer shawl ministry at church. Violet's is currently with Lexi, who is braiding the fringe for me. It is pink, and Rose's is red and black (school colors). I just realized that I don't have pictures of either of them.

The shawl is several shades of gray, a long rectangle, suitable for a man. I don't know how I'm going to finish the ends - short loose fringe? knotted fringe? twisted fringe? I guess I need to talk to some men. I'm doing this, plus one that I'm knitting, because the parish nurse said in the parish newsletter that more shawls are needed, particularly ones suitable for men.

And of course, I'm always knitting. In addition to the shawl mentioned above, I'm currently working on a baptismal blanket and a hat. One project that I have finished recently was a special request from Lexi. Last fall for one of the "dress like a . . ." days at school, her costume included a shawl I made several years ago. One of her teachers made such a fuss over it that Lexi asked me to duplicate it for the teacher. I gave it to Lexi a few days ago; don't know when she'll give it to the teacher.

The weather has not been bad this winter - no snow. BUT there has been a lot of flooding. Paducah has had the gates in the flood wall for a few weeks, and many roads in the area have been flooded. In mid-February we had a little ice storm - not nearly as bad as ten years ago, when I lost electricity for three weeks. Fortunately, the electric company had been here the day before trimming trees away from the lines. They took out one limb from one of my pine trees, that I had been concerned about for a year or two. Then the storm broke off another large limb from that tree. That one didn't endanger the power lines. I need to get someone with a chain saw to cut it up so we can burn it.

Then on March 14 there were a couple of tornadoes in the area. I had a luncheon at church that day, and also some errands in Paducah. I was checking emails when the power went out about 9:20. There had been a few flash-flood and tornado warnings, but I decided to head out anyway about 10. About ten miles from home, just after I turned onto US62, there was a "Water over roadway' sign. There wasn't actually water on the road, but it was lapping at the shoulder. (If you are familiar with KY roads, you know that the shoulders on 2-lane roads are about 6 inches wide.) About 7 miles later, I saw a house with about 1/3 of it's roof missing and a lot of trees down, and people starting to clean up. Another 1/4 mile and each lane was blocked by a vehicle. The drivers were trying to move a good-sized tree from the road. I was able to back up and get onto KY726. In about two miles, I turned right on KY286 and shortly got back on US62. But, in about 3 miles, traffic was stopped. The vehicle in front of me finally pulled up enough to back into a driveway and turn around. I did the same and turned onto Gholson Road, following its curving route up to US60. Smooth sailing on 60 until the edge of Paducah. Then a fire truck was blocking both east-bound lanes of the road, and I could see utility poles leaning at about a 60-degree angle. I made a couple more turns and got back on US60, but the traffic lights were out until I was east of I-24. Finally made it to the church for the luncheon, and one of the women told me I had followed the tornado. It did a huge amount of damage to a large church, as well as to a vault company. There is a preschool/day care in that church, but they have drilled on their tornado plan, and followed it that day, so the kids and teachers were all safe. Just before it hit the church, it lifted a large, metal grain bin, rolling it across the road, along with a tractor-trailer. The truck driver had some minor injuries.

The daffodils have been blooming for about a month, and now the forsythia and Bradford pears are in full bloom. I've even seen a few dandelions, and my flowering crabapple is showing a lot of green. Soon it will be dogwoods and redbuds.

Lexi gave me the dates in April and May that the high school jazz band will be playing at a couple of restaurants and the mall, so that's a few more trips to Metropolis and Paducah. Then on May 17 she will be graduating from Massac County High School. Unbelievable! She will enroll in the University of Kentucky this fall. In fact, on Thursday, she, her mom and I will drive out there after Alyssa gets off work and spend Friday and Saturday morning at an orientation-tyoe event. That should be interesting.

I'm Weaving Scarves!!!

Every year I say I'm going to weave scarves and other things when I get my loom back from the Walk through Bethlehem and get the rugs off. This year I'm actually doing it!

On December 29, I put a 7-foot warp on the loom, using Lion Brand Ice Cream yarn in the colorway Strawberry. The Ice Cream is a variegated yarn with quite long runs of each color. Using it as both warp and weft resulted in a plaidish appearance.

 When the girls saw it, Lily said, "Can I have it; I like pink." I told her it is much too long (62") for her, but I have more of the yarn, so I can make one her size. Then Calla popped us, "I want blue." I have that yarn in the colorway Moon Mist, so I was able to do that, too.

With fewer threads, it doesn't look plaid. This picture shows the color better.

After the girls got their scarves, of course, Brady couldn't be left out. He wanted dark blue. I found some navy and some medium/royal blue unknown acrylic, worsted weight yarn for a striped warp, and used Bernat Hot Sox in navy for the weft. I put on a 3-yard warp and got two 35-inch scarves. I used a different treadling sequence for each scarf and let Brady choose which one he liked better. One of them reminded him of the Minecraft video game he likes to play, so he chose that one. They are not really as messy as they appear in this picture, although my selvedges should be a lot better. 
 

I now have a 6-yard warp on in red and white. For the weft on the first scarf, I alternated 3 inches of navy with 6 inches of white, for a total of 66 inches in plain weave. After I take it off the loom and wash it, I expect it to be about 60 inches. I don't have a picture of it. The second one is all white weft. I'm using a different treadling sequence and getting a more interesting cloth.

And in another craft, I took a class at the Itty Bitty Knitty Shop on Corner-to-corner crochet. I had printed out a baby blanket pattern and couldn't figure it out. Since the class was coming up, I decided to take it. Here is the little scarf I crocheted.

 

Christmas, day three

Last week was one of those weeks - I drove 471 miles and was never more than 40 miles from home.

On Sunday (12/16) I went to Metropolis to see Lily, Brady, and Calla sing a few Christmas songs with the other Sunday School kids at Immanuel Baptist Church.

On Monday (12/17), I was back in Metropolis for Brady's Christmas program at school at 2 pm. Then I hung out at Alyssa's house for a few hours and went to the High School band and chorus concert at 6:30. Lexi and Devin both play trumpet.

On Tuesday (12/18) I was back at Metropolis Elementary School for Lily's Christmas program at 2 pm.

Wednesday (12/19) I went to Paducah for a bit of shopping and to knit at the yarn shop.

On Thursday (12/20), it was back to Metropolis at 10:30 am for Calla's Christmas program at Head Start.

Back to Metropolis on Friday (12/21), this time by way of Wickliffe, which added 20 miles to the trip. A church in Wickliffe had some gifts for Lily and Calla, and Alyssa asked me to pick them up for her. Then I stayed with the kids while Alyssa and Stephen went to do some shopping.

I think I stayed home on Saturday.

Then started all the Christmas meals.
Sunday (12/23) I had Carmen and her friend, Alyssa and Stephen, Lexi, Lily, Brady, and Calla over for supper and to open the gifts I got for them (Hallmark ornaments). Last year I decided I wanted family over for chili on Christmas Eve, and wanted to make that a new tradition. This year Christmas Eve Eve worked out better for the working people. I had chili, broccoli/cheese soup and carrot/raisin salad, and Carmen and Alyssa both brought some sweet stuff. When I told the kids a few days before what my menu would be, Lily said she definitely didn't want the broccoli/cheese soup.

On Monday (12/24) Lexi called from her grandparents' house where she had spent the night. She said her Nana had cooked a whole lot of food, and then her father called and said he and his wife and step-daughters couldn't come. So Lexi wanted me to come over and help eat it. Her grandparents are some of my favorite people, so I was glad to spend some time with them. Alyssa and Stephen and the three little ones were there, too. Beverly (Nana) had a children's table set up in her back room, like I had here. (But her children's table is not 74 years old like mine is.)

Then on Christmas morning I went and had brunch with Carmen and Lanny and visited with them for a bit. 

So I think I'm all Christmased out, and will enjoy a few days alone. The kids don't go back to school until January 7, so I'll probably be called upon to babysit some next week.

 Probably Lexi's best gift was notification that she has been accepted by the University of Kentucky. She got an acceptance letter from University of Tennessee - Martin a few weeks ago, but UK is her first choice.

The Rugs

The five on top are the ones I wove at the Walk through Bethlehem. Actually, I only started the fifth one there and finished it at home after my loom was returned. Those five were woven with cut up t-shirts. The bottom five were woven with some stuff that a friend got from a pajama factory years ago. This is the first year I have used a striped warp - I like it! They vary in length depending on how much there was of a particular color or shade. Counting from the top, numbers 1, 3, and 5 are all white, but not exactly the same shade. Number 2 is black and number 4 is dark blue.

On Tuesday, I plan to take them to The Lighthouse women's shelter in Mayfield to see if anyone there wants them. If not, I will take them to the Paducah Cooperative Ministries on Wednesday for women in the Fresh Start Village. I think I have some knit things I can take, too. 

I put on a 12-yard warp with no thought to whether that many rugs would fit on the cloth beam. They did, with about half an inch to spare. Last year, when we were able to do all five nights, I almost ran out of the 8-yard warp I had put on; that's why I put on 12 yards this time,

Over for this year

The Walk through Bethlehem was cancelled both Friday and Saturday. Although the weather in the 6 to 8 pm time slot on Saturday was not bad, it had poured rain through much of the night Friday night/Saturday morning. The men of the church worked throughout the day Saturday diverting rain water from the village. They even build a bridge at the entrance. By Sunday evening, things were good enough for us to go ahead. I guess they were afraid their bridge wouldn't hold the garden tractor and trailer they move my loom with, so two men carried it between the entrance and my stall. Good thing I'm the first stall inside the gate. 

Pastor Steve brought my loom and other stuff home this morning. Now I need to weave a couple more rugs to finish off the 12-yard warp.

Since we only did three nights instead of five, there is a lot of stuff left over. I had made 387 miniature rugs - 220 are left. I also had 366 two-inch squares - 310 remain. That means I won't need to make as many next year. I keep saying each year that I am going to weave some scarves; maybe this will be the time I actually do. I might learn more about weaving that way.

Two down, three to go

Nights of the Walk through Bethlehem at the Nazarene Church in Mayfield KY, that is. Wednesday night was cold (35 F), but last night was comfortable (52 F). It looks like we may be rained out tonight, but I think Saturday and Sunday will be OK.

Someone took my picture Wednesday night and posted it on FaceBook. I swiped it to post here. I'm the one weaving and my daughter, Carmen, is the merchant in the rug stall.

At least for weaving I can wear fingerless gloves with hand warmers inside, so only my fingers got cold. I felt sorry for the potter; not only could she not wear gloves, she was working with wet clay. Her hands were completely red when we finished.

This is the tenth year I've done this event. I enjoy it - the weaving, the talking about weaving to the visitors to 'Bethlehem'.

I'm here, I think

Once again it has been about six weeks since I posted. Things have been a bit hectic, and I've done a lot of driving back and forth to Metropolis. Sara and her girls moved in with Alyssa, but Sara was not doing what she was supposed to, so now only Lily and Calla are there, and Rose is back in New Jersey with her father.

The Fall Festival was interesting. The club decided that they wanted to put my 'critters' in the Country Store, rather than use them in the fishing booth, so I had to price them. Only a couple of them sold - people don't want to pay $5 or $10 when most of the items on the tables are one tenth of that. The dishcloths and hotpads sold at $2 or $3. I took the 'critters' that were left, along with some scarves to the craft sale at church. I don't know if they sold there or not. I told them to donate any that didn't sell to Paducah Cooperative Ministries for them to use however they saw fit.

The next thing coming up soon is the Walk through Bethlehem that I've been doing since 2008. I have 386 miniature rugs (mugrugs/coasters) and 366 2-inch squares for the kids to 'buy' with the 'shekels' they are given when they enter the village. Pray for good weather - no wind or rain, and temperatures around 50. I have the loom warped and ready for someone to pick up on Wednesday morning. The Walk is Wednesday through Sunday next week, 6 to 8 pm.