👩‍🎓 Cross Roads

 Say hello.... and good bye to this!   I just cut off the first scarf attempt this afternoon.   I wove roughly 30 slow inches and in that distance, the floating selvedge broke 8 times.  Its just not worth my time to keep on fighting with it.  

So I'm resleying and will give the second scarf a go for 10-12 inches and see how it behaves.  Its been warned and the scissors are on stand by.   There will be some changes made to the pattern and how I plan to weave it so we'll see how this pans out. It either will or it won't. 

I had such a good time weaving the recent Royal Stewart scarves and had hope to continue the fun but this has been a big disappointment.   I told my hubby it was yet another learning experience and today it was all about cutting your losses (literally) 😁✂️

So the Megado loom has a new warp on it.  Eleven yards of ring-spun cotton that fought us tooth and nail going on to the loom.   It was a bit awkward as it had a lot of over spin in the yarn and so it wanted to curl up and then cling to its neighbour.   I have 3- 3 pound cones of it so future warps will be shorter and hopefully sweeter.  Nothing much has happened there since beaming the warp as I went onto other battles on the Spring loom. 

I have mentioned before that I have issues with my feet so I have decided to make some changes in my other toys. I have my Louet Victoria wheel up for sale at Etsy and was nudged into buying a Hansen mini spinner a bit sooner than I planned due to Hansen having a brief sale last month I just couldn't say no to.   So I have been playing with this little  machine this week:

As you can see,  the introduction is going quite well and its  a lovely experience once you get the hang of the spinner and the foot pedal. The bobbins are quite large and I have put on an orifice reducer. I have a 12 volt battery pack and a folding camp table and so we're ready to take the show on the road when the pandemic is finally over. I bought a padded sewing machine carry bag with wheels and a telescoping handle to protect it and all the gear.  It even came with a plug to use in the cigarette lighter in the car.    🚗  

So besides the spinning wheel, I have been downsizing and selling off bits and pieces like weaving videos, books, yarn and a swift. I have come to realize that I'm just not going to use all this stuff I have accumulated.  Its quite liberating to move it all on.    Its leaving one parcel at a time.... 📦

Other news that also speaks to cross roads and changing the future..... is that my daughter graduated with her Masters of Arts in School Counselling last Sunday and had a new job just 15 minutes from home by Wednesday.  Its the result of much hard work and study and 4 years of her life (their life as she is married) and we are so darn proud of her! Carrie will be working with elementary school kids and she couldn't be happier!

We watched via live streaming and the ceremony was held outdoors, with a stiff wind blowing and a pause for a thunder storm.  It was a masked  and socially distanced event and the sun appeared from time to time.  I'm certain that there is a very large smile behind that mask!    I know we sure did!  😁

Perseverance Furthers

Well, we took the for sale sign down as we found people were walking around our property and / or coming right up to the house.  It did say "by appointment only" but its almost like the sign gives them permission.  If they are up against a time crunch for buying, I can sympathize! Its a sellers market and so very few homes to view right now.   We are also hearing that multiple offers are common. 

This is all as a result of the overheated housing market in Vancouver and it forced people to move to other areas.   The wave started in Victoria on the southern end of the island and has been working its way up island.  Victoria is about forty five minutes drive south of us, with ferries to Vancouver.  So to sell in the southern portion of the island and get more for your money when re-purchasing, you have to look northwards.   

The city of Nanaimo is also forty five minutes drive north of us and roughly mid island, and also with ferries to Vancouver.  We centred our search just north of Nanaimo and divided the search into areas: so Parksville / Qualicum Beach, then Courtenay / Comox and then Campbell River.    There are also lovely places in between all those towns too.  Our realtor Karen was fabulous!  We would drive every day up to Courtenay and then go and view homes in one of those chosen areas.   This went on for many days. We put a lot of miles on and many hours. (thank heavens for my new knee!) Our dog Calli was in the kennel one day only and injured her paw playing, so after that she came with us and enjoyed a fluffy bed, toys, food and cool water and AC in the car. We took turns staying with her so she was never alone.

We wrote the first offer on a lovely home in Courtenay, with a verbally accepted offer. The next morning when the final signatures were due by 10 am, they failed to arrive.  They squelched on the deal and let the time expire and went with another offer.  We were crushed.    But in hind sight it was a good thing as it threw us into the deep end of the housing pool and we toughened up after that. 

We took a couple of days to readjust our attitude and then built a new viewing lists and went back on the trail.  We found that the list was getting shorter and more expensive as homes sold. A listing viewed on line in the evening, could be gone come morning.  To be truthful, we started to doubt the "needs and wants" list we had built for our new home. It seemed to be a bad time to get picky.  Then we heard all the military families at the Comox Airforce Base were in the middle of looking for relocation homes too.  Oh, crap. 

We viewed many homes, some of which were nice but just not the right fit.  One we viewed was stunningly lovely, also fit the list but seemed 'too much'.  We have been living in a small house in the woods for 8 years.   But was it ever nice!

Our second offer written was on a home in Deep Bay. It was a big compromise for both hubby and me. It also had stairs to the main floor (again) and the yard needed work too.  It had been completely gutted and rebuilt and was a lovely modern reno, with an ocean view and short walk to the beach.   We gave them  their asking price but the listing realtor told our agent that we would have to compete with other offers (that weren't there yet).   What the....???     It didn't take us long to decide what to do with that. We walked away.... and as of this mornings search, its still for sale; (good).  Some very greedy people out there...

No time off after that loss; we rolled up our sleeves and were checking the daily hot sheet for new listings and being there the same day to view.  Our agent Karen received a message from the  listing agent for the fancy smancy house we viewed and we were invited to bring them an offer.  They had repurchased and moving at month's end. Karen checked and it had been on the market sixty nine days.... which is amazing given the market conditions!   Perhaps they had all been intimidated by it too?   We went to see it once more and..... oh, my!  It was as lovely as I remembered.    Its actually a bit smaller than our present house, but you would never know it.  Where would my looms go?    I'd make them fit somewhere, even downsize some more if I had to!  It fit our "needs and wants" list almost perfectly.

So we sat down and made a starting offer and gave them a full twenty four hours to respond. Karen presented our offer in person to the home owners the next morning.

They said yes.... and signed. No counter offer.  

Our new home!

So we will be moving to lovely Campbell River BC for October 1st.    There are just a couple of subjects to be removed shortly but we don't anticipate any problems.  We have visited Campbell River several times and have been quite impressed by the town and they are clearly progressive.  They have a beautiful waterfront, new developments and housing and a thriving tourist industry. They are known for salmon fishing charters, and miles of beaches with mountain back drops.    Any view from a spot on Vancouver Island is lovely, but at Campbell River, its simply jaw dropping beautiful!  These are the Coastal Mountain ranges on the mainland across the Salish Sea

There are literally miles of beaches to walk on and explore....

Its known for a variety of wild life but in particular, resident pods of Orcas:

So where is Campbell River?

We drove daily to Courtenay for the house hunting and used the main Island highway and  it took us 1 hour forty minutes.  This screen captured map below says its two hours and nine minutes from one house to the other.   The Island highway has speed limits of 120 kms (or 75 miles per hour).  As you can see from these two maps, its a very large island! 

I would like to direct your attention to my sale page and mention that I have many books, magazines and such for sale there, many already reduced.... and I'm open to offers. They have to go now!
I will be adding more items as we go through stuff and downsize some more.    I can get postage quotes in advance and payment is via Paypal.  

I'll be back again shortly with a weaving related post.... some new show and tell.  I'm  just stepping outside to take some pictures today.

A Rolling Stone...

There is one thing all this recent medical stuff  has shown us, is that we need to shift ourselves to a place where all the main living is on one level.... and a much smaller yard.   Right now our home is a two storey place with main floor up and we have 2.25 acres.   Some is natural, and another section is meadow with an orchard and an organic garden area. Lots of mowing and yard work!  The plus side is that the house is fully private and we have a delightful stream running through the property with all kinds of fish and crayfish, otters and even a muskrat.  

We've been here seven years and its time to move and let another family enjoy the property and improvements we have put in.   So it looks like the house is going up for sale and downsizing our "STUFF" has begun.  We are going to go with a full pack by a moving company due to my recovery and joint issues. We'll unpack ourselves in our own sweet time. We have some interest in the house which is very encouraging!

So now that I'm more mobile and in the studio some afternoons again (with short periods of slow weaving!)  I'm culling books and such and will be listing them for sale on the Sale Page which you can find at the top of the blog. I change the date as things are listed or sold so you can see the turn over.   Perhaps book mark it and check often to see if there is something you might like to add to your library or stash? Vintage items (1996 and older) will be listed at my Etsy page too.

I also still have the big Woolhouse Tools CM loom for sale and I need for it to find a new home. There is a sale page at the top of the blog with full details.  I have dropped the price to $4,500.00 which is half the price of a new one.   Pick up is still here at Duncan as I'm not able to do the dismantle myself.  The buyer will benefit from the educational dismantle as it will help putting it back together again!  There is a full manual of course too.

I'm continuing to improve and have some days that are pain free.... and others not so much. I have to take it day by day.  I'm weaving but slowly and for short intervals so that's not too shabby to have started again at 6 weeks post op. ( I'm now 7 weeks post op) Last surgery in 2001, I only could start at 12 weeks post surgery.  The knee is a real issue though and while the 'cure' is in the works, it takes time.  We hope to use the window in between to line up our ducks and take the next logical step.

Studio Spring Clean

When I show you any scenes of my studio, I'm always careful to show you the looms and the lighter corners of my space. It's a generous space measuring 14' x 26' but with only two natural light sources: a patio door and a window, that are all down at one end of the room. I placed the big loom next to them when we set up shop five years ago. Things like the yarn stash was tucked away in the opposite corner and I relied on portable lights to see into the dark corners. Or, I would take my potential yarn choices over to the window which meant I dug through a lot of yarns. I'm one of those annoying tidy people and so had things organized  and labeled as best I could but it was a hodge-podge of shelving, cobbled together and a large dash of plastic storage tubs.   I knew it had to change so over the past year to eighteen months I have been weeding out some cones and 're-homing' them on various sale pages.  Who bought all this stuff?? It was a slow collection phase of 16 years: friends sell you something,  an estate sale when a weaver leaves us, gifts and impulse buys at a conference, buy an old loom and it comes with do-dads that you keep when the loom movies on....it all just steadily grew! When you are still in those early learning phases of weaving, you just don't know which direction your interests will take you, so you tend to gather it all!  Its hard to let some of it go, but its high time for a purge..... and anything I'm unsure of, I keep until it feels okay to sell it. I've been keeping basket handy and tossing in cast off's.

For the yarn, books and equipment that has moved onto new owners , I must say.... it feels great! Liberating almost!   I sold the little tapestry loom and then some of the tapestry books. I have tapestry yarns to go next...and a host of others! But I'm getting ahead of myself here...

I had a hard time finding any pictures of the ugly stash corner! I found just a couple, so pardon the gloomy pictures:

You can see my labels, and my rough organization, but the shelves are stuffed!  Most of that chenille, centre shelf on right side, has moved onto new homes in BC and Washington.

So, it has to get a lot worse before it gets better. You knew that right? { I have to say, that my Hub is good with my stash and has his own collection of model trains and all the other things that go along with that hobby. He knows I'm in the studio most days working a loom.}

Boxes, cartons and bags of  'good' stuff everywhere all over the studio and even tucked under looms. Calli wasn't impressed with all the upheaval and would lay down across the walk-ways or leave toys under foot.  She's panting in the first picture with the stress of it all and I must admit, so was I!    The overflow even leaked into other rooms....

The laundry room doesn't have much space but we managed to squeak a box or three in there. Once the space was clear and cleaned, the building began. I had some great help:

Bruce had the first shelving unit done by the time I got there the next morning and we built the other two together.  We decided to have them stretched out along the wall to increase a more open feel and better exposure to light. We would have bought a fourth shelf unit but they only had the three at the time.  Then it was time to start reloading and while Bruce offered to help with this, I decided to go it alone and "be one with the stash" and make some decisions along the way....   At the days end at well past dinner time, it looked like this:

I had to find where ever the yarn was shoved during the clear out and schlep it back over and sort, usually stepping over a dog or toy.  I went through every cone or skein of yarn. Twenty four hours later, it looked like this:

Much more organized and open.... but still a bit dark over there (see what I mean?)  So I added this:

 Lighting is still an issue but at least things are more accessible now. I will need a fourth shelf unit and it will go where Madge is now so there is more rearranging to go. I have bits of equipment that need to be stored flat or out from the corners where they were tucked for the time being. I'm really happy with the new look and feel. It will never be 100% as only cupboards with closing doors would help with a clutter free look, and that's too expensive for us. Now I can see the  various colours on hand and  accomplish an inventory along with being inspired for the next project.

The tencel section: both 8/2 and 10/2

So, the hard decisions? They piled up and will be dealt with very quickly in the coming week and be inventoried / photographed for sale.

Knowing I have no room on the new shelves means none of these will worm their way back into my good graces. I like the leaner look and here's hoping that weaving will reduce things further now.  (....That's the plan anyhow...)

I also took the extra step of making small labels for each section of yarn so its all identified clearly. I have helped in the past with reducing and clearing out a weavers studio and stash before, and the best thing you can do is identify and organize so that those who come to help, have an easier time of it.  Yeah, a crummy and serious topic to close on today,  but that's real life... Do you know what's going to happen with your looms and stash when you're gone?  I do...