Faith, Hope, and Charity

I've been busy inside this last week setting up looms. This takes a bit of time, especially if you're not really sure about a couple of really old looms.

This first loom was donated to the village late in the season last fall. From what I could tell about the loom, it was built in the early 1900's. It had been in someones barn or shed for many years, and was in bad condition. The loom came with a warp still on it and rugs from the last person that wove on the loom. The old warp was very dirty, and you could see where mice had been all over it. Needless to say that had to come off. The reed was very rusty as were the headles.

This spring I decided this would be my first task in the house. As I was working on this loom I thought how much faith I must have in this old loom. It did after all come with warp on it, so I knew at one time it worked, but would it work for me? I wouldn't know until I had put a new warp on it. So that is how this loom got it's new name, Faith.

I replaced the reed, and the headles, and warped it up with 5 yards of yarn, and holding my breath I slowly opened each shed. Yeaaaa, I had a clean shed on all 4 shafts.

One more hurdle to overcome was that this loom is a counter balance loom so now I had to attach the treadles and see if the balance was correct. If the shafts aren't balance you won't have very much luck weaving.
Again my faith was rewarded and I was able to weave on this old Cambridge Loom.

This is the other loom that is in my house. This loom was built in 1885, it too is a counter balance loom. We did a little weaving on this loom last year, but it wasn't set up correctly. So I am now working on this loom, and I hope that I can get it up and running again. So the name of this loom is Hope. I found several missing parts in the upstairs of the house, so instead of a two shaft, I hope to restore it back to it's original four shaft glory.
Now, I know what you're thinking, you can't have Faith, and Hope without Charity, so meet my dependable little spinning wheel Charity. She has never failed me. She is my go to wheel, and she has always spun up a mighty fine yarn every time I've sat in front of her.

So there you have it. If you're ever in Salt Lake come up and visit Faith, Hope, and Charity.

I'm Back !!!!!

Yea it's spring????? Can you believe this weather? It's April 13th and there is about 4 inches of snow on the ground. Spring season 2010 has begun here at This Is The Place, and that means that any type of weather can happen here in the Rocky Mountains.

This is one of the apricot trees that is in my yard. It's really hard to see the apricot blossoms, (what with all the snow on them) they where just starting to bloom. I hope the snow wasn't enough to damage the blossoms. These trees produce some of the best apricots and this year is suppose to be a good year for the trees to produce.
I won't be sitting on the front porch today. The village looks more like it's getting ready for Candle Light Christmas than spring season. My neighbor, Sister Andrus won't be in her house for another month, but slowly the houses will all start to open up, and air out after a long winter. My dye garden will have to wait a few more days before I can begin the spring planting. Many of the plants in the garden are perennials, like Day Lilies, Sage, Lavender, Irises, Golden Rod, and Madder. But I do need to plant a few annuals such as Marigolds.

The wild Canadian Geese like to come to the village as well and raise there goslings. If you listen carefully you can almost hear what they're saying.

Dear, are sure you read that map correctly?

Do you think we went to far north?

I could have sworn that the GPS told me to take that last right.

I knew we should have asked for directions at that last pond, but nooooo, you said you knew the way.

I hope you're happy now.

The good thing about getting snow this time of year, is that it melts quickly. By tomorrow it should all be gone.