Waiting...

I'm waiting for a couple of things but first, I was at the center last Monday and so were a few others. I took some pictures of those of us that were there working on things that needed more space. If you're ever in the area on  a Tuesday, please drop by. You'll be amazed at how we work. There really isn't a free inch in our small space. Somehow we all make it work, moving around as necessary to let people by. Even sitting at a loom, sometimes one of them will have to move so someone can get by. 

Because we had the new bookshelves (and more to come!) Sharon and Karin came to do an extensive catalogueing of the books we have. It was so fun to listen to them. They were discovering all kinds of books, some of which were old friends for me. I kept telling them things like, yeah, that book was one of the few we had for reference. 

 Because of all the discussion we had, it was decided that every week or so we should talk about a book from our library during our lunch break. Our library is organized and they will take care of shelving books! Imagine!! We have a basket or two to put the books in once we bring them back. Like a real library!!! I'm so thankful that our members come from so many backgrounds. We've got alot of things covered or have someone to refer to for information!!

 Marie needed room to fill the spools with yarn for our Macomber. You can see her red covered ipad on the table. Beside it is a grey metal spool.  She is filling them with about 20 yards of warp, 2 inches worth. The Macomber came with this system, metal winding apparatus, etc which our smart weavers were able to figure out (no instruction booklet!) and now they can prepare a warp while they're still weaving the one on the loom. However, you need alot of space to do this. So Marie came to work on filling what she needed.

 Sometimes on the weekend, I'll be emailing back and forth with beginning weavers. Sharon came for about 5 weeks over Christmas holidays. It was all the time she had because of her job. She had bought a table loom and wanted to learn how to use it. So we made it work. Now she's on her own and has questions. I am good with helping as I can. Because she was off last Monday and I was up at Norris, she came too. We got her problem solved and she could continue on.

 She misses our show and tell on Tuesdays so she showed the runner she had made on her loom. Looks great to me!! Carry on!! And email me if you get stuck or have questions again!!!

 Me....I pinned hems and casings on 20 curtain panels. I have to sew them today. It's the first day I have time to have a big block of time to sew. I also brought 5 baby quilt tops I'd made  and I pinned them as well. I know, I can use spray glue instead of pins but I don't know when I"ll have time to actually machine quilt them so the pins are a better solution for this.

 Why am I waiting? Two reasons. We're about to be slammed with ice and snow for the next 24 hours. It's calm now, nothing in our area yet. But people like Jocelyn, Shirley north of us and even LouAnn and Tina are feeling the effects of it all....we're about to get it! With my luck, we'll lose our power. Where I live power often goes out. I live in a very hilly, tree filled area which is awesome....unless it sleets or snows!!  We'll see what LouAnn ends up writing about tomorrow. I don't think we'll be able to get together for our usual weaving. I hate that because there's a bunch of stuff for us to do but it's the way life is in East Tennessee!  It is better than the 40 below my sister had a couple of days ago.
The other evening I was watching the weather and they were showing where this system we're about to experience came from. The big arrow was right in the middle between Calgary and Winnipeg. Yup, my sister lives right in the middle in Moose Jaw!! I was on the phone with her while they were showing it so I told her it was all her fault! ha!
The other reason I'm waiting? Well, Thursday I was weaving away on my rug warp. I had 4 rugs done with maybe 4 more to go when the warp just jumped loose. So I went back to check. Would you believe that the steel that goes around the break drum had suffered metal fatigue and snapped? Yup, I can't weave. See how little warp is left on that beam?

 See the metal end just hanging there? That end should go back underneath and connect to a screw that's attached to the loom. I contacted LeClerc immediately!!! and hopefully the part is already shipped UPS. All you have to do is email them with the part you need, they send you an invoice and you pay by paypal.

So we're waiting for the storm to hit. My question is will UPS be held up with all this weather? I hope not!! I have more rugs to weave!! Using stash is fun and I want to keep using my stash of rug weft. When you're on a roll the hardest thing to do is to wait for a part.
When I think of it, I bought this loom in 1980. It came Thanksgiving weekend and we picked it up in the several boxes it was in, put it together and I've woven on it almost every day since. Several years after I got it, they came out with a kit to add 4 harnesses so I have 8 of them now. I think that's what helps give it the strength to weave the rugs that I do every so often. I wouldn't weave rugs all the time on Nilus but it's fun to every so often!
Several years ago I had a problem with the advance lever for my warp and a friend helped fix it. This break is the first problem I've had with the loom in all these years. Well made loom indeed!
So I have enough food here for the week. I don't expect to leave here til Friday! The weather is going to be tricky til then at least. They're predicting we'll have below 0 lows this week and once this snow comes, it's not going to melt til the weekend so all of us are hunkered down waiting and as prepared as we can be for the week!! It's more than just having enough equipment to clear the roads. If I try to leave on my steep driveway and somehow it's too slick to make the turn to the road and I go off the driveway, it's a long way down the cliff. I live in a typical East Tennessee area and most everyone not in the city is in a similar situation where it's just not safe to leave until everything melts.
I've got lots of projects to work on (and boxes still to empty!!) so if my power stays on, I'm fine!
Until next week, stay warm and safe and if you can, keep weaving!!
Carol