A View from Sierra County

WIP Wednesday + FO

Time for a project update!  As you already heard, we made it out the other side of yet another major storm system and resultant power outage, which led to some knitting time, but no hat steaming.  Today was a fabulous spring day, and after working all morning, DD and I took a drive over to the South Fork of the Yuba (flowing high, strong and serpentine green!) and hiked along one of the trails.  I also gathered some oakmoss lichen, which I will be steadily collecting all spring for my CSA shareholders.  So, here's where the major projects stand in my life:

Carnivale and Gone With the Wind

Both hats are languishing, since the power returned just in time for my work week to begin as scheduled.  I expect to spend time with the hand steamer over the weekend, shaping and blocking each, then doing the wiring process.  I posted a photo of the unblocked Carnivale in last week's Wednesday update.

Garter Rib Sock

My sock got lots of attention during the power outage, and then last night at Knit Night.  While chatting away, I started my toe decreases, only to come home and realize the toe was too pointed... I didn't have my usual instructions from Sharon on drawstring toes (which I really like and which have been hole-free for her over the years) and hadn't shifted to decreasing every row at the right point.  I printed off a new copy earlier this evening, quickly re-worked the toe and have one whole sock and the second cast on and ready for knitting.  I am pretty excited about this, as regular readers will probably note that my sock mojo took an extemely long sabbatical, and only returned when I promised to make sport weight and worsted socks before tackling the smaller needles again.

Here's a photo of sock one earlier in the week; we figured out how to keep our phones powered up while the electricity was off, so I did take a few project photos to share.

I wish that I could more easily locate Grayce's wonderful yarns; I want to make more socks in this lovely, soft yet rugged, yarn.  Anyone want to keep an eye out at fiber festivals for me this year?

The garter rib does an excellent job of turning the multi-colored yarn into a tweedy look rather than striping or pooling, and I am quite happy about the whole process.

I have another pair of socks waiting in the wings, a worsted weight kit from Morehouse Merino, gifted to me by dear friend Ruinwin, and will have a few pair of handknitted boot socks to help launch me into the hiking season.  Then, Steph pointed out to me last night that we can get a sock pattern along with our Irish Mystery Shawl KAL (which starts in just a week!!), also done in worsted.  The love story/mystery behind the KAL has our heroine making a pair of men's socks from her beloved's sweater that she unravels.  There is still time to participate in this KAL that Meggie Ryan of the Ravelry Ryan Eejits group has put together.  Besides the KAL excitement, she is matching all the pattern fees collected and donating the funds to victims of the Japan earthquake/tsunami.

Ragtop Mitts

Since the weather was soo nasty and cold, and I had already fallen in love with Margene's warm, high-top mitts, I decided to spend a day and a half of my storm-induced down time making Susan's terrific mitt design.  This is the best-designed mitt I have made to date, with a great, fitted thumb.  I chose to use some lovely Nature's Palette Green Organic worsted (Columbia sheep!) in a cherry red that probably contains cochineal.  I bought this yarn last month at the sale when Fibers was closing the shop, and am pretty excited to be using organic wool naturally dyed by Darlene Hayes less than 100 miles from where I live!  If you get a chance, please support this small, woman-owned yarn company.

I have worn my mitts daily since completing them, as the weather is still frosty-cold in the mornings, but now I can hear birds before dawn, and frogs this evening!  I can't begin to tell you how exciting this is... this year's winter has been long, wet, dark, cold, etc., etc.  I am NOT complaining even one bit, but can say that seeing the light returning and feeling the warmth is wonderful.

Fairwind and Kaellingesjal

Both didn't get much attention in the past week; I did commit to finishing my sweater... sometime this spring, and also managed to put a few rows more in on the shawl, though there's still a lot of stockinette knitting to go.  Last night, Steph and I put our heads together and figured out how to use a Mc Morran yarn balance (calculating whether she had enough of her chosen yarn for the Mystery Shawl) and I realized that I would have plenty of my chosen heather green yarn to help me fill in, if I run out on the K shawl... all will get done in good time.  The only question I really have is why I knit shawls so compulsively!  I am already so excited to see that Romi is teasing us with another new pattern, that I will be pawing through my stash and eager to start on it, later this spring!

Sustainable Sunday: How to Survive a Power Outage

This post is a day late because the electricity was out in the last, strong round of storms... this time for 64 hours, ending yesterday evening.  We have had two other storm-related extended outages since November, one for six days and the other for four.  Although we are ready with several redundant systems to back us up, every time we go through this, I realize just how dependent our entire culture IS on electric power!

The first problem people run up against is water!  Water is the second-most essential thing humans need, after oxygen to breathe.  If it's raining, you can leave lots of pots outside and catch the rainwater, and even (probably, mostly) safely drink it, though I recommend that while life is treating you kindly, you bottle up and set aside a gallon per day per person of water for emergency use.  I am lax in this area, partly because I have gravity-fed spring water, however, that could fail too.  I intend to follow my own advice.

Water is also required for flushing toilets; most of us still need to think of this problem.  You could use that rainwater you didn't want to drink for this purpose, in which case, your ice chests might come in handy as big receptacles.  Or, maybe you are in the position to consider converting your household over to composting toilets, which will still be functioning during extended power outages.  If you are interested, click that link and you will find a good, simple-to-understand, discussion of systems available and how they work.

Several of my friends who don't live on our tiny town's gravity-fed system were seen during this winter's outages hauling home garbage cans full of water to take care of personal hygiene needs, or visiting with towel and shampoo in hand to beg a shower off those who did have running, hot water.  Bathing is another need that sometimes has to go by the wayside in power outages.  What kind of water heating are YOU using?  I have always favored propane water heaters, in part because I could make sure to stock up on the propane during the calm periods, and have enough to get me through the storms.  Of course, this is still dependency on our oil-driven culture, and I have also researched what it would take to convert to either solar or wood-heated water.

The solar option is a costly set-up, but I believe we are going to see a round of rebates and tax cuts again, as our country tries to break its dependency on foriegn oil.  Now could be the time to research and plan for some conversion in your home's systems.  Here's a link to Real Goods, one of the oldest and most comprehensive solar consulting businesses.  I do love my on-demand propane water heater, and am also concerned that a solar system would be yet another failure during the weeks of storms we have had this very wet winter.

Such weather is just when a back-up system attached to a wood stove would come in handy.  Here's a great little video to watch about using a stovepipe water heater:

 

The video references this article from the Mother Earth News archives, both together will give you some really good information on how you can get hot water independently in winter.  Of course, you won't be wanting to use your wood stove in summer, so snag one of those camping solar showers to set aside for the rare instance of a summer power outage.  That hot sun will come in handy!

Now that you have looked over your immediate health needs, take a look in the cupboard... how are you doing with keeping up on food storage?  Any number of emergencies can interfere with your ability to get food, and even though I prefer getting my food fresh, I still maintain a cupboard full of staple grains and beans.  I always notice how empty the store shelves look right after a power outage, and that makes me realize that people have a tendency to panic in the face of an outage and rush out and buy a lot of food.  I particularly feel sorry for those who need electricity to heat their homes and cook their food, and for those who never learned to cook!  A pot of soup simmering on the wood stove is a good alternative, and so is keeping a campstove that you can cook on in an emergency... even that outdoor bar-be-que can come in handy.  

Which reminds me... be aware that you are not using unvented heat sources that allow carbon monoxide to build up inside your house!  This fact sheet from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention goes over the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, and how to avoid it in a power outage.

How can you pursue your usual interests in a power outage?  Sometimes, this sense of boredom is what makes them seem so difficult to people.  We have a large collection of kerosene lanterns, several of which emit enough light for reading or craft work; once again, we turn to the oil industry.  There are good candle options that don't contain oil, however they also don't provide much in the way of light.  Take advantage of the natural daylight coming into your home during a power outage, and adjust your tasks accordingly.  You can also use personal headlamps that run on batteries that can be recharged out on your porch during the day and returned to use in the evening.  REI offers an assortment solar charging panels that can keep you connected with the outside world during an outage or other emergency; when an outage is caused by a storm or other natural disaster, knowing what is going on also reduces your stress level!  Of course, a drive to the store to gossip about the weather with the neighbors might be enough to recharge your cell phone, so you can call Grandma and let her know you are all right!

These outages inconvenienced us, but also gave us personal re-charging time... to read, to knit, to play board games, to make plans for the coming spring.  Sometimes, when the culture grinds to a halt, we become aware of just how much 'busyness' we have allowed to overtake us.  Being prepared helps me to let go of the stress of an unexpected change and enjoy the down time.  I know I haven't covered all of the strategies that help with emergency preparedness, and would love to hear your suggestions in the comments!

WIP Wednesday

I haven't written much lately about what I am working on... that tends to happen when I can't get good photos of my WIPs.  It has been a long, dark and stormy month here at Slate Range Camp, and indoor photos in low light just turn out so un-inspiring!   Here's the current, and mostly picture-less list:

Carnivale

This hat is the one that I have finished to date, at least the knitting portion.  I have only rave reviews for my knitted millinery class, and if you are interested in expanding your knitting skills, and know some basic sewing, you can succeed at this too.  The class site is very well organized, the videos clear and so helpful, and Annie is a witty and encouraging teacher.  I hope to meet her in person one day!

I was going along great guns on my other hat (see below), when I ran into a snag and gauge challenges.  In true procrastinator's fashion, I pulled out the 2nd Time Cotton I had purchased when I first started working for Fibers, back three years ago, and got the first edition of Annie Modisett's Knitting Millinery book, and started a second hat.  Carnivale is done in worsted weight and just about flew off the needles.  In fact, the hat laid around the house for a week while I waited for millinery wire ordered online to arrive.  Then, I stumbled upon a small, hand-held steamer at the thrift store last Friday, and trialed it over the weekend. 

The first time I plugged it in, I was pretty sure it didn't work, and struggled to shake all the water back out... I did decide to give the steamer a second chance, which was good.  I plugged it into a bathroom outlet, and left for over a half hour to return to steam wafting out!  I was shocked, and am not certain I shouldn't just keep the new model I had ordered earlier in the week, a larger Conair steamer with a bigger water tank.

However, I don't intend to make that many brimmed hats per year, and believe in being frugal, re-using things, etc, etc.  So, I probably can just be patient enough to wait for the steaming element to warm up on my cute little travel steamer when I have the rare finished hat to steam.

This photo is a bit dark, but it does show the stitch detail of the Cable and Horseshoe pattern.  The hat is sitting on my faux hatblock, described in the millinery book, though I still need to fully steam the hat, turning over a second bowl to make a stand and elevate the hatblock.  I also might need to add more padding (several kitchen towels stuffed into a pillowcase) to the soft portion of the block, which you can see peeking through the hat, to get the proper head circumference.  I hope to be able to show you a wired hat by next week!

Gone With the Wind

This is the 'class' pattern, and my variation is a solid pink, to match an outfit I wear to officiate weddings.  I don't have an updated photo, but am almost done with the knitting, only needing to finish the patterned tip (that portion on top of the crown where the decreasing takes place).  Knitting should finish tonight and hat-steaming should be in full swing later this week, followed by hat wiring.  It is a great, intriguing process, and I am loving the connection to milliners of past generations.

Kaellingesjal

This is a pretty darn big shawl... I have completed the bottom borders, which are each as long as my wingspan, picked up and knitted the intriguing stockinette and reverse stockinette borders that are in the initial decreased shaping of the shawl and moved on to the long stretch of simple stockinette.  I am finding it much easier to be decreasing towards a point of the last five stitches, rather than steadily increasing and seeing each row grow longer and longer.  However, I began to be worried about running out of yarn!  The pattern calls for approximately 900 yards of DK weight... I am using a light fingering, and decided to add an interesting stripe pattern to the middle section of the shawl, which will appear as chevrons when worn, since the fabric is diagonal because of the steady center back decreases, and save the last 100 or so yards of my deep green for the top border.  I have a feeling this shawl has a long, long ways yet to go.  It has been accompanying me to meetings and Knit Nights since plain stockinette, even with a striping pattern is so easy to keep track of, but there's a lot of other knitting to be done, so the poor shawl only sees part of my attention.  I am sure I can have it finished by next fall's Celtic Festival to wear with my costume, but that is the only deadline for it.

Garter Rib Sock

I know you won't believe it, but there is a sock on the needles!  I got some lovely Grace's Yarn several years ago, and actually cast this sock on last year around this time, but took it up this week and have about 5 inches on the leg of the first sock done.  It will probably be a travel-along project until completed.  I am using the formulas from Sensational Knitted Socks for the pattern.  Photo to follow!

Fairwind

This cardi is our Knit Night's knit-along... I haven't touched mine in several weeks.  This really IS a beautiful sweater, and my group is planning to have a fashion show of our efforts in June, so I better get to it!  To make matters even worse, Stephanie sucked me into another KAL, which will start in early April, to make the Irish Mystery Shawl.

There are a few other items in my queue, including this cute pattern for my dear granddaughter.  I actually have some Frog Tree Picoboo to make it up in, and expect I will cast on and make it in April, once the hats are finished.  I also want to make a sleeveless top for when warm weather finally, finally gets here.  I already have appropriate yarn for this tank, but favor this design a bit more.... decisions, decisions.  What are you up to?

Sustainable Sunday: But What Will We Wear?

DH and I got to have a day together, just doing fun things on Friday, and headed to Oroville for the California State Old-Time Fiddle Championships.  We arrived just as things were getting set up, and were informed that the contestants wouldn't begin playing until the mid-afternoon, so we trundled about doing a few errands and checking on the local thrift stores.  As we left one with some great finds, DH said "We should get all our clothes from thrift stores", to which I replied "Well, it seems like that has been pretty much what we've done the past few years".  Truth be told, I managed to escape from poverty between the two major recessions and buy some of my clothing new at retail outlets, but for most of my adult life, living that part of the "American dream" has been beyond my means; when I first discovered thrift stores in my teens, I could buy something for less than the cost of the fabric I would need to sew it, and developed an individual style around that fact.

Clothing is often on my mind, in part because I love fashion and costume, and in part because I am usually always working on one piece of clothing or another, mainly as a knitter.  Which makes my earlier statement a bit inaccurate... I do make a portion of my own clothing annually.

Another reason why I am pondering the concept of how we are clothed is that I have been following the progress of the Fibershed Project, as the year winds to a close.  Rebecca Burgess put together a team of fiber artists (and fiber geeks like me) to help her wear only clothing sourced within 150 miles from her Marin County home for one entire year, including the plants used to color her clothing.  There were two primary reasons she embarked upon such a journey, first, that the textile industry is the number one polluter of fresh water on the planet, both for growing and processing, and second, that the carbon footprint (amount of carbon spent to get something fully produced and into our hands) for our clothing, much of which comes from China these days, is just huge.  She states that the carbon emitted for the production of a t-shirt is up to 40 times the weight of the shirt itself!

I decided to take a harder look at what we need to wear in our daily lives... much of the work clothing DH needs is either provided by his job (seasonal USFS ranger; uniform shirts and pants provided by the agency), however he routinely needs to purchase shoes, t-shirts and undergarments.  He has a large collection of Pendleton shirts for fancier occasions, some of which were gifts and some sourced used by his loving wife.  He has invested in element-proofing outerwear appropriate to our mountain life, and doesn't need to replace those items frequently. He is far less style-conscious than I am so only occasionally needs a 'special' outfit purchased new.  He would really love it if I knitted more socks for him!  He has been very successful in recycling other peoples' clothing, and the carbon footprint of doing so is probably relatively low, as we include such searches into trips for other, more pressing purposes.

In my case, I tend to wear jeans and tops, and have made enough shawls and scarves to last a long while.  I realized when I also surveyed my fiber stash as a part of this general 'accounting' that I have enough yarn stashed for at least a dozen more lace projects, have a shawl for myself on the needles, and committed to a Mystery Shawl KAL next month... and really for my amusement rather than to clothe myself!  I have given away several of the lace pieces I have knitted in the past several years, and have a half-dozen or more to rotate already.  Maybe I will take a break once the KAL is done!  I also have enough hats and mitts for my basic needs, and better finish those crocheted mittens, or knit up a pair, since we continue to get snow!

What I really need - probably nothing immediately!  I do replace socks and underwear somewhat frequently, and could use a nice skirt that would serve me year-round.  Maybe a camisole or two, so that I have summer tops that serve under winter garments.  I will probably be able to outfit myself for the coming summer season fairly well through keeping someone else's discards going another year.

I started thinking about re-tooling my knitting.  What if I tried to make what I needed more than what I wanted?  Some of my regular readers know that I took an interest in knitted millinery, signing up for an online class that I am halfway through.  I will have made myself three hats by the end of spring: one to match my wedding officiant outfit, one for casual shade with summer clothing, and one to use as a garden hat.  This seems excessive, especially considering how many people in the world might be lucky to have even one shade hat!  However all three are for distinctly separate purposes, and I have worn out the summer hats I had.  Looking at the materials I picked, only one of the hats will be crafted from local materials... using a cone of Sally Fox's color-grown cotton.  Although developed less than 100 miles from me, I think most of her product is grown and milled in Texas.  Another uses 2nd Time Cotton, which I purchased a few years back while working at my LYS.  Though milled from recycled (pre-used, leftover waste from t-shirt production) materials, I am sure that yarn wasn't milled within 150 miles from here!  The third yarn is a bamboo/cotton blend from Southwest Trading Company, and while bamboo is a lovely renewable resource, I am aware that cotton is one of the most pesticide-heavy crops grown!  If you are following my logic here, you will see that even if I make something myself, there's a good chance that my desires are only adding to the burden placed on the planet when we clothe ourselves.

I did some research prior to writing this post, looking into what alternatives I had, should I consider making some of the clothing I will need in the coming year.  I already have yarn stashed that will allow me to enhance my sock drawer, so there's no need at present to purchase anything, but I was happy to see that Yolo Wool Mill, located about 100 miles away, could either mill up yarn for me with wool I got from a local sheep flock, or sell me with some for socks.  I could then dye it using my own plants or those I wildcrafted.  Of course, some of you could spin your own, however, I am really only an intermediate-level spinner, so will probably turn to the mill and support their continued presence in our region.

According to the research Rebecca Burgess did for the Fibershed year, there no longer is a cotton mill in my region.  I could still locate US-milled cotton, grown organically and without chemical dyes, in order to make a summer camisole or two, however if I want true 'bras' or underwire-able camisoles, such as the patterns in Knitting Lingerie Style, I would want a cotton/elastic yarn such as Elann's Esprit.  Elann states on their website that this yarn comes from Brazil, and judging from the colors shown, it is not available undyed. 

You might be shaking your head and wondering why I would even consider making undies!  After all, you can now find organic cotton items to purchase at places like this. The problem is that product diversity in the organic market just is not the same, especially with prices being higher, than what it is at your local Walmart, or a specialty lingerie store.  If I want a lower-impact item, I might just have to make it myself.  If I want an item that is also 'regional', I will have to start raising my voice in support of a re-localizing of production!  I got pretty worn out searching the 'net the other night, and really only found a handful of organic yarns that were produced in my own country, let alone my own state.  There's a lot of work to be done here! 

I did discover EcoButterfly, a wonderful purveyor of organic, fair-trade cotton yarns for those summer items worn close to my skin.  For those thinking of sewing up some t-shirts or other clothing, they also carry a line of fabrics from Pachuko in Peru.  Seamstresses might also want to check out Hemp Traders, a large online seller of several kinds of organic fabrics; the offerings I looked at didn't list country/state of origin, though I did fall in love with this beautiful fabric for a skirt.  Once again... lots of carbon used to get these products into our hands, though less impact in their growth and processing.  You probably have noticed that I haven't even considered footwear!  That will have to be the subject of a whole lot more research and a future post.

All of this searching led me back to the place I started from... that conversation with DH after leaving a thrift store.  The clothing we purchased was not originally made to my standards regarding avoiding sweat shops, sourcing regionally, wearing organic materials, etc.  However, those items were being kept out of the waste stream, given more life for the resources that had already been expended in their creation, and still had plenty of wear left in them.  Their purchase did not make much of a dent in our budget, nor did it require the large expenditure of time that knitting one sweater would involve.  Was it better to simply keep on wearing second-hand clothing, with maybe the exception of intimates and shoes?

What I have learned at this point is that 'local' clothing is much more difficult to come by than local food.  Those of us in the fiber arts have been busy creating, but also need to step back and look at the sources of our supplies and what impacts those sources create.  Are we supporting producers who are ethical?  Are we getting our own clothing needs met in ways that match our conscience? Perhaps the best alternative for that skirt would be to simply keep on searching until I locate a choice piece of second-hand material to sew up one!

I am hoping that my readers will weigh in on how they feel about this subject, which is really close to my heart as I embark upon my dye garden expansion to a 'commercial' level this season.  Talk to me in the comments!

Milliner's Apprentice

Last week, I stumbled upon a message somewhere (FB?) that directed me to Annie Modesitt's website, Knitting Heretic, where she has set up an online knitting class format.  Now, I have read a few of Annie's books, and been in love with her romantic style for years. In fact, one of the first purchases I made when I went to work for Fibers was her Knitting Millinery book.  I got excited about the concept at that point, having always loved making and wearing hats.  In fact, I even bought some 2nd Time Cotton the next week I worked, and swatched for Carnivale(Rav link).  However, I was intimidated by all the millinery techniques that would follow the knitting portion of the project, and never got around to making that hat.

Well, now must be the moment for me to launch into this new dimension of knitting, because I felt that old familiar race of excitement, and in the wee morning hours, immediately signed up for the class!  I could hardly stand the wait until my sign-up had been processed and I could enter my class site!  I have to say that my teacher is wonderful, patiently working out the technical bugs that came up in the platform, and by Friday morning  I printed off the class pattern, Gone With the Wind (which appeared previously in Romantic Hand Knits), and read through the instructions, digging out my copy of Annie's millinery book.  Happily for me, Annie has since gone into a new printing, and I will soon receive an updated copy of her book, and probably place the earlier version into our guild's library.

I made a trip to town on Friday morning to pick up dear granddaughter, who spent the night and went to the Bok Kai parade with grandpappy and grammie, and we also made a stop-off at my local crafts supply shop (now that the LYS is officially closed), where I found a terrific deal on SWTC's Terra yarn, a bamboo and cotton blend.  It didn't hurt that the yarn was on close-out at $1.87 a ball!

After the baby fell asleep, I was swatching and steaming a gauge swatch and sailing on ahead to the cast on.  The weekend has led to finishing the hatband (see photo below) and starting up the sideband (or the straight-knit head portion, for you non-milliners!). 

There is a lacy bit at the tip (also called the crown) that incorporates the decreases, and then I will be done and awaiting my millinery wire shipment.  I will be able to use Annie's class handout to turn out a 'faux head block' for blocking and am scrounging around amongst friends, acquaintances and Freecycle to see if I can locate a fabric steamer, but may have to resort to purchasing one.

While I endure the enforced waiting, I am going to go ahead and knit up Carnivale as well, so that I have two hats to practice steaming, blocking and wiring!  This is so fun, and is reminding me that spring really IS right around the corner.  A new hat wardrobe is probably just the thing to get me through the last of winter's stormy weather, though I better get to work finishing up my spring sweater, Fairwind, as well.  What have you been up to?

Flying at The Speed of Light!

I am so excited to share with my few remaining loyal readers that we just got much faster Internet service!  Our 'high-speed' company had apparently oversold their bandwidth, or at least was adding users who wanted complex service faster than they were updating their equipment.  Calling didn't help, and we just wailed in the evenings, when everyone in our area was probably also trying to stream a movie or surf the web, or take an online class, or simply catch up on their blogging and Facebooking. Well, in the middle of February, DD came to stay with us for a while (long story, not for the blog), and she had been using ATT's UVerse with much better success.  She convinced me to switch, and last night was our 'hook-up' time... and it really IS much, much faster.... bye bye to the non-responsive company.  I am crossing my fingers, but this certainly should lead to more frequent blogging, as creating this post has been soo much easier!

That means I can at least quickly catch you up to how we are doing following the Northern California Snowpocalypse.  A week ago, we left school early because it was snowing heavy, and roads were quickly filling up... we awoke Friday morning to no power and over two feet of snow!  It kept right on snowing, through the day and into Saturday, leaving us with over three feet of fine powder!  This is not the usual kind or amount of snow we get at our elevation... snowshoes were required, trails needed to be dug, and our cars were even snowed in!

Here's a photo of our house late Saturday afternoon, with the sun breaking through the beautiful clouds, and much of our roof having its snow slid off.  Fabulously beautiful, isn't it?  What you don't see is that the temps dropped to about 16 degrees the following morning!  We still didn't have power, but are pretty adaptable.

For those who follow my Sustainable Sunday posts, I am happy to point out that redundant systems really do work!  We have three ways to generate heat, and the same number of ways to cook.  We use propane mainly for both, but there are back-up systems to cover failure in an area, such as extended outages.  We even were gifted with a generator, which is useful to circulate the heat from the other sources when the electric is gone.

We are also fortunate to have spring-fed water, which doesn't require power to get to us; I would like to work on a back-up water system for 'just in case'.

This is more snow at once than most of my neighbors could remember, and certainly the most we had experienced since buying Slate Range Camp back in 1998.  We ended up needing to shovel off the roof of the rental mobile unit on Sunday, which took about 10 human hours and four people. We were very sore, tired and even a little sunburnt!  Storms in the Sierras are so beautiful, especially when they are followed by skies like the one in the photo.

This photo also gives you some idea of how big our project was, and why there wasn't much in the way of knitting to show for being snowbound.

Sunday was also the day DH finally got the tractor running and started moving some of the snow out of the way.  He had done all his prep ahead of time, but the low temperatures had taken their toll, and it was harder to turn the enging over.  He ended up needing to use generator power and re-charge the battery, then a small camp stove under the diesel oilpan, in order to get the beast started.

Such a heartwarming sight... a man and his tractor!

We did suffer a lot of tree damage, the sheltering porch roof over the donkeys' barn collapsed Friday night, and one of the old rafters in the house porch also cracked and will need repair, but overall we weathered our region's severe weather event well!

The weather shifted away from cold, and right on into wet by yesterday, with lots of blowing rain.  We were happy for those few bright and sunny days, in order to restock the larder and prepare for the next round!

There has been knitting (though no FOs) and jewelry-making over the past month, and lots of reading.  Below is an example of the Four Seasons Tree of Life pendant that I am making, though I haven't gotten good enough photos for Etsy yet.  I have also made several special order Family Tree pendants, using family birthstones.

There is a special project that got a lot of my attention on last Friday's snow day where we were all huddled inside next to the woodstove.... planning for the summer gardening!

I have let some of my dear friends in on my secret, and decided to include all my loyal readers before making an 'official' announcement; I have been steadily planning to plant a quarter acre of natural dye plants and start a small CSA!  I am really excited and also a little scared about this venture.  It will be a challenge to grow to a commercial scale, but will also allow me to generate some income while following two of my passions.  I am planning for four shipments from harvest season beginning in August 2011 into March 2010, and will be including foraged dyestuffs as well.  I am so very lucky to live in a rich natural environment which also provides support for artists and farmers!  I have gotten support and encouragement and spent the day mapping out my planting and gathering calendar.  There will be much more news on the blog over the spring, as well as construction of a separate website, so stay tuned!