Month: January 2022

Almost a week. . .

Since I posted the Olio post. It has been a cold one, but we have gotten in our walk each day. We got caught in a sprinkling rain one day that turned into real rain and snow showers after we got back to the car.

The weather prognosticators are threatening us with a real winter storm starting tonight. The predictions have been all over the place from 8″ to 16″ of snow, maybe some ice, then more snow. We took heed, I brought in several loads of firewood for the wood stove and the fireplace. Our Sunday grocery run was moved up to Friday, a Farmer’s market run this morning with veggies, meats, and sourdough bread purchased, a large pot of chili made last night and stew tonight that can be heated on the wood stove or camp stove if we end up without power, and we will wait and see what it brings. More than about 6 inches and we won’t be going anywhere, our mountain roads aren’t priority for clearing.

The January spinning challenge has a changing theme every few days, but all encouraging the continuation of the practice. I am working on the batts that hubby gave me for Christmas to make myself a large scarf and simultaneously spinning neutrals for a second blanket that will have some repeat breeds and some I never got to on the first one. I must like these colors.

The base square is one that was too small for the first blanket and I am doing a log cabin pattern around it. It will be a small lap blanket when finished.

It is getting dark, the hens are secured with food and water. Regardless of tomorrow’s weather, they will need thawed water once or twice during the day and probably won’t come out of their coop until they can see hay or grass on the ground. The coop will need cleaning again once they do leave the confines of their indoor shelter.

The fall predictions for this winter were for warmer than average temperatures and wet. Instead it has been colder and white. I have concluded the way to tell the weather is to look outside and see what it is doing.

I have two paperback books and one ebook, lots of yarn, fiber, spindles, spinning wheels, and knitting needles. There are both a two burner camp stove and an alcohol burner that can be used for heating water or cooking. This won’t be the biggest snow we have had and we have no where to go, so we will just enjoy it. Maybe some Senior Olympics can be had with sled runs.

Sunday Olio

Olio: a miscellaneous collection

I haven’t done an Olio in quite a while. They are easier to do when more activity occurs outdoors, and this definitely hasn’t been a week for that. With snow twice, temperatures rarely getting above freezing and even dropping to 8 f night before last. With hubby gone for several days, I have literally stayed in and kept the homefires burning. The wood stove is in the finished basement and though it makes that area too warm, the warm air drifts up the stairs and warms the upper reaches of the house above. The winter setting for the thermostats is 68 during the daytime hours and with the stove going, it will show main floor temperatures of 72 or 73.

Today is warm, going up into the upper 40’s and it is raining, all day long according to the forecast.

The remants of snow will disappear today, but it is going to get cold again tonight and stay cold but sunny for several days. It is winter.

I did make it to the Farmer’s Market yesterday, and the donation center. Though there were some icy spots on the mountain road, the highways were clear and dry and the new car handled it nicely.

With hubby gone for those days, lots of soup was made and consumed in single serving batches. There was a half loaf of sour dough bread from a Farmer’s Market vendor that was enjoyed with the soups. My cooking will return to the fare favored by hubby now that he is home.

My time was spent spinning on my spindles some and working on using up the bits of yarn left over from making the blanket last year. Those bits are becoming bulky hats, the first one sent home with Son 1 after Christmas. The second finished last night.

They are a great way to use up the small yardage as 4 strands are held together and when one runs out, another is added in, making a marled look. The pattern calls for the purl or “wrong” side out. The first one looked better on “right” or knit side, this one is kind of interesting on the purl side.

My time was also spent with cleaning, organizing, and destashing unused items. A box of random clothing, bags, and household goods was taken to donation. and a major overhaul of my craft area that still needs more work. I think shelves that have bags of fiber will be cleared and the fiber stored in a sealed plastic bin and yarn in another so only tools and books are on the folding and fixed shelves. I am putting myself on a “low fiber” diet, no more fluff in until what I have is used up. A lot of the natural colors are being spun a bit at a time to make a second, probably small blanket. The remaining square that was too small for last year’s blanket will be the center of a log cabin style blanket.

The rest of my spinning time is starting on the 4 ounces of gorgeous Marion Berry colored BFL wool that hubby gave me for Christmas. It is a gradient dyed pair of batts and I plan to spin them in the gradient to make myself a large scarf.

After being housebound for days, I’m looking forward to sunshine tomorrow even if I have to bundle up and get outside for a good, not icy walk.

Repeat

The unusual weather is continuing. We get a few snows each winter, usually just a couple inches, occassionally more and my Facebook memory for today showed snow two years ago today, but not this cold. We had about 7 inches on the ground Monday morning from overnight and early morning accumulation. It was mostly gone by yesterday afternoon.

When I walked up to get the mail late yesterday afternoon, it was beginning to snow flurry with a little bit of sleet in it, but it was still a few degrees above freezing. When the German Shepherd came in from her last outdoor run last night, she was coated in wet snow and I awoke to this:

and 15 f with howling wind and a wind chill advisory. The snow finally stopped with only a couple inches on the ground and the wind is intermitent now, but still blowing strong at times. It has gotten to 19 f which is the expected high and a single digit low tonight. Tomorrow it will be sunny and warm back up to normal January temperatures for here and hopefully most of the snow on the roads will melt off. They did pretreat prior to this round, that should help.

The hens got fresh thawed water and scratch in the coop, the wildbirds a supply of seed, and I don’t want to go back out again except to check to late eggs near dusk. I brought in 6 warm eggs before they could freeze.

Soup for lunch, soup for dinner tonight, different ones, both homemade. A pot of decaf coffee made, lots of hot tea available, a woodstove and a fireplace if I feel the need. I’m dressed in extra layers and longjohns today, the heatpump doesn’t like it this cold. I have spindles, fiber, yarn, knitting needles, books and no need to go out in this weather.

I spent the morning cleaning a closet and filling a donation box that will go down tomorrow if the roads clear. I want to make it to the first winter Farmer’s Market tomorrow, but again, only if the roads clear. And I hope it has cleared and dried by late tomorrow night when hubby will have to drive back up the mountain roads in the dark in our old car.