Snowed in and making do

I am writing this post with no idea when I’ll get to publish it on the blog. Shortly after the last post, while the snow continued to fall, we lost power, including our internet connection. Two hours later the power returned, briefly, but went out again about 7 pm. It stayed off until after 1 pm Saturday. Fortunately our energy efficient house held enough heat that we stayed warm with extra jackets.

We ended up with about 12 inches of snow outside the front door, but closer to 16 inches in the driveway where it drifted. That meant the car was going nowhere outside the garage. It’s now Sunday night and the “maintenance-free” management company here has yet to clear our driveway. Our shovels remain in New Jersey, along with our boots.

The cable, and internet connection, has never returned. Lots of reading, and playing cards. I started to bake cookies, but my pantry isn’t completely stocked yet and I had no vanilla. Thankful we had gone grocery shopping before Friday, we have been able to prepare meals. The investment in the gas range paid off during the blackout.

So what’s a weaver to do with all this time on her hands? Warp a loom, of course. I have some yummy sock yarn I picked up at Woolbearers in Mount Holly before I left that was meant for the Handwoven sock yarn challenge. I scoured the books I have here for an interesting draft, finding one in Sharon Alderman’s Mastering Weave Structures. Then I headed up to my still-pretty-sparse home studio to wind the warp. Alas, the yarn was in a skein and my swift and ball winder are in, you guessed it, New Jersey. Barb has one at sutherland, but that didn’t help me here.

I looked at my husband and almost asked him to hold the skein for me, but thought better of it. There must be something here the right circumference to hold the skein. After turning over a couple of small tables and chairs to no avail, I spotted the step stool I had out to decorate the Christmas tree. I slipped the skein over the top and it slid about 3/4 of the way down before resting comfortably. Up we all went to the warping board where I patiently wound the warp directly from the skein. I had to unwind a bunch from the step stool and drop it on the floor before winding it on the warping board, but only had a few nasty snarls. And with a little silk in it, this yarn felt wonderful in my fingers.

Sunday, with no snow plows in sight, I started warping. Again, some of my good warping tools are in a bag at sutherland and others are in New Jersey, including my long raddle. Front to back it was. Thinking the sett should be 8 epi, I looked for the reeds I’d remembered to bring down this time. A 10 and a 12. I opted for the 10 and settled for 7 1/2 epi. But now that I have it on the loom and have woven a few picks, I think I’ll resley to 10 epi. The sock yarn is a lot thinner when it’s stretched out under tension, and the weft was packing in too much.

I’ll leave that for Monday, although I’m supposed to work at sutherland in the afternoon…if I can get out of the driveway. (Monday morning update: still stuck)

By the way, I talked to my  Philadelphia son earlier who told me they got 2 feet of snow in New Jersey. Good thing I’m in THE SOUTH.