It fair time again.....

Here is our display at the fair - we have a spinning circle in front of it where we sit all day long, and a few spinners and felters come in the evening too. Nothing is hanging low to keep sticky fingers from touching. Not so sure those sticky fingers want to touch the stinky fleeces......which will be judged tomorrow morning.

And here's what I started spinning today, forgot to get a picture of it so took it when I got home, the wheel is seatbelted into the van until tomorrow. It's Panda - a blend of superwash merino/bamboo/nylon - what a dream to spin........and wear on my black pants today.....stuck to them like tussah silk does......
If you look at my post of July 27th you'll see what the roving looks like and the sample I spun of it, it's the 3rd roving down on the page of those dyed rovings.

Already tired of fair food.....had to eat a yummy lion burger (Lions Club)......friend Boom had to ask the high school gal at the counter if it was from free range lions - totally threw that young girl for a loop, don't think she knew what free range meant and she really wasn't sure if Boom was serious about it being from lions. Looked around at the rest of the fair food and nothing looks interesting to me and I can't eat a lion burger every single day......

New fun thing at the fair right in front of our building - animal races - turkeys, roosters, ducks, goats, sheep, pigs all running against each other - pretty funny but the gals running it talk too much.

And just in time for fair week - the heat has finally arrived.....and I just heard on the news about several fires being fought right now.....summer has finally arrived after a mild spring and summer....I hate fire season......

Another sad day......

Another sad day this summer........my Uncle Pudge, my father's brother, died today in Michigan. I will always remember him for his friendly smile, much like my father's, and how fun he was to be around when the family visited ours in the DC area and the rare times we made it up to Michigan. My heart goes out to my Aunt Ilene who has cared for him during his battle with alzheimers and my cousins Debbie & Denise......this summer is shaping up to be a pretty stinky one........

Busy weekend.......

It was a busy fiber filled weekend for me....first thing yesterday morning we set up our exhibit at the county fair, we'll be spinning in front of it Tues-Sat....always a fun event (picture to follow on Tuesday). In the afternoon I attended a weaving guild board meeting....very unlike a board meeting, was very enjoyable! Then last night I was cutting up veggies for today - Sewing Sunday was at my house. So, you won't see pictures of what I accomplished, I forgot to take a picture of the big salad bar I set up for lunch before everyone attacked it and the only other thing I did was stick hundreds of stickers on flyers to be given out at the fair advertising Fiber Mania in November. But I have some pictures of what a few were working on. There was a whole lot more talking going on today than anything else.....it was lovely sitting out on the deck. Tomorrow I'll be getting ready for the fair.......I need to decide what I want to spin this week, I have my own huge stash (aside from what I sell) but there are a few of the ones I dyed recently for sale that are calling my name......I'll post what I work on later once I make a decision.....Deb bought one of them today.

Cheryl was spinning away on her Kromski wheel

Barbara is quilting squares using paper pattern pieces for a large quilt - her technique looks perfect for the Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt I want to make someday

Ellie is handquilting this applique quilt - after finishing up this square she moved onto starting the last square - then the borders - it's a beauty

Deb was needlefelting catnip balls - she's thinking ahead for holiday sales

Karen was working on felting one of her little sheep, she's working on the butt of this one - look at those cute rusted horse shoe nail legs! Go see a finished one in her esty shop

Such a loss......

Such a loss in my world and the weaving world......my dear friend Janette lost her long battle with cancer on Tuesday. I'm going to miss her creativity, wry wit, fun laugh and friendship so much. And my heart goes out to her wonderful husband Mark and his loss. This picture of her was from last fall when she had an exhibit at the Corvallis Art Center - she wove incredible transparencies. 

This summer has been a summer of losses....makes one examine life with thoughts of not letting more days pass by not doing the things that really matter instead of being caught up in the craziness.....

Shawlette in progress

I started knitting a shawlette this weekend, a shawlette is smaller than a shawl, meant to be an embellishment for the shoulders....and will keep me warm too. This pattern is Traveling Woman by Liz Abinante, a free download off of Ravelry. You can see my lifeline in at the beginning of the lace section, I'll put one in at the beginning of each repeat in the pattern as insurance. The yarn I'm using is from Lobster Pot Yarns, colorway is called Lobster Bisque. It's mostly wool with some angora and cashmere, so soft, such a pleasure to knit with. Theresa brought it back from the NE for me when I said to bring me back a lobster! What a surprise! The label says "This yarn was hand-dyed in a lobster pot and hung to dry in the salt air of Cape Cod".

Tea parties and other thoughts......

   Ok, so this is not a new picture - it's from one of my tea parties a few years back. I didn't have any new pictures to share today so I pulled this one so you wouldn't have to look at only text. This was a tea party for 8 - the biggest I've ever done. And believe it or not every person got their own tiered tower of goodies......and I do believe we ate it all........drank a lot of tea..........and did a lot of visiting all afternoon.
   On the bottom level we started with scones, I know one of them is lemon, one hazelnut, can't remember the other. Lemon curd, homemade peach jam and homemade clotted cream.
   Then next were the savories on the middle level, I know there's stilton/pear sandwiches with pistachios around the edge, phyllo cup with crab, cream cheese with veggies, can't remember the others. I do have an extensive tea party recipe file but am too lazy to go look them up.
   Then the sweets on the top...pecan tassies, currant tea cakes, fruit mini-pies and pudding with cream in chocolate cups. And throughout the afternoon we had an assortment of teas. I haven't taken the time to do any tea parties lately.....will need to start thinking about it again.
   So, on to what's happening fiber wise - not much. The spinning I was working on is at a standstill. I'm not sure I like the art yarn I was spinning that I had started plying beads onto but it doesn't matter at this exact moment because the poly footman on my Lendrum broke the other night bringing plying to a standstill. I still don't like the romney/mohair I started spinning, feels too rough even going through my hands. I'll probably finish spinning this bobbin and call it quits, might do ok in a felting project. My friend Yvonne will love spinning this stuff.
   Yesterday was a trying day in the sewing room. I wanted to sew a simple little top to match an outfit I made earlier in the season. First pattern I didn't have enough leftover fabric to make, second pattern the directions were all screwed up, page 2 printed on the backside of page 1 was for another pattern. I will compliment Butterick though, I emailed them about it and within 30 minutes I received a pdf with the correct instructions. Of course, I don't have enough material left for this pattern either. So, a third pattern sits out that will work but I was tired of the thought of sewing by then so I moved on to finishing up a 3 scarf warp - scarves woven and washed, fringes need to be twisted now. I think I'll plan the next warp for the loom - I need some seaglass themed towels for the beach cottage.

Kids.....sheesh.......

Bailey had a seizure this evening. Boy, kids sure know how to scare their parents! He's fine now. And it wasn't as bad as his only other seizure last September. We held him and kept him calm, no stimulation, just quiet and he recovered fairly quickly.

So, that was the end to a pretty uneventful weekend of not doing much other than spinning and us watching movies - too hot to be outside doing anything. Felt kind of like a slug but sometimes that's ok, I tend to be hard on myself if I'm idle so this was a good thing that I could handle frittering my time like that.

Got the fiber I had started spinning last week plyed - plyed silk ribbons in it - but now I'm at a standstill on it because I want to put an additional ply of rayon embroidery thread with beads on it. I overplyed thinking when I then went back the other direction of the ply with the beads that it would fix the overply and be balanced - not! Tryed several different samples, not happy with results so am at a standstill on that project complete with beads on the rayon thread laying on the loveseat. So, I moved on to spinning something new on the other wheel - a crazy lumpy/bumpy roving of romney and mohair - been in my stash for a number of years. Now I know why - it's so rough feeling going through my hands. I'll stick with it though, I've got around 2 pounds of it. I like the colors but not so sure I'll like the resulting yarn - will be able to tell once I ply and block it. At worst it can be used for felting projects like nice thick knitted felted slippers.

Fun in the studio.....

Trying to keep myself very busy today....too much on my mind so trying not to dwell on things I can't control. So, after blocking the knitting and crocheting this morning it was to the studio to decorate some frames. I bought these 3 notecards at a quilt shop in Coos Bay, OR, they were 5"x5". I immediately thought of framing them for the beach cottage, or the 'villa' as my friend Diane from Idaho calls it.....she won't call it a villa once she sees it! I found these nice black frames at Michael's with plans on decorating them. I pulled out the Shiva Paintstiks and went to town. I masked off an 1/8" on the inside and outside of the frame to keep a small black border then started applying color followed by white using stencils. I love the way they turned out. Now they sit and cure for around a week. I thought the next thing on the agenda today would be weaving that scarf warp of the loom but even with the window open and fan on the Citrasolve I used to clean my stencil brushes created fumes I just can't tolerate so no more working in the studio today. Hmm, that means I could either spin or knit, or clean house but that's just not happening today!

More blocking underway....

More blocking here - the crocheted scarf in the background made from my handspun and the square in front knit for a friendship afghan for a friend who just lost her husband......he was a very talented lace knitter. I knit a basket weave design in her favorite color - chartreuse. My square is to be 12"x12" - I swatched (which I rarely do) and figured out how many stitches it should be - I knit it, measuring along the way - it still came out short - a perfect square but not 12" - argh! So, I'll see what happens after this blocking and it's relaxed again, if need be I'll crochet a trim around the edge to make it a little bigger.  Now on to the next project......

My best attempt......

My best attempt to take a picture of the shawl that was blocked yesterday. Would be much better if I had a model holding it but Bailey said it really wasn't his colors........

Roving for sale.....

Newly dyed roving going up for sale in my etsy shop starting today, will probably list one colorway each day. This is Panda which is 60% superwash merino/30% bamboo/10% nylon - it spins up so beautifully. I love spinning up the samples to see what they'll end up looking like.....sure wish I could find the time to spin up samples of all the roving I have for sale. Big problem is that then I want to set aside too many colorways for myself and I'd never find the time to spin it all!!

The best thing since.......

Oh my gosh - I love these blocking wires! I've had straight blocking wires for quite a while now but recently found these very thin flexible ones - they are outstanding! The perfect solution for edges like those on my shawl. This was the merino/tussah silk I spun from Butternut Woolens hand-dyed roving. The blocking wires are from InSpinKnitty on etsy. The pattern is called the Holden Shawlette by Mindy Wilkes, I found it on Ravelry. Obviously this is not a shawlette - I repeated the pattern 9 1/2 times to get a full size shawl. I think these colors will be great with jeans......little too warm out now for it but could wear it on the coast.

Much needed weekend away......

Rocks islands at the beach - these pictures were taken with the phone so couldn't zoom in on the sealions on the smaller rock in the middle of the picture in front of the rock island - there were 8 of them out there sunning themselves. We saw hundreds of common murres nesting on left side of this island rock, and a puffin burrow. Below is a starfish on the beach, I'm hoping the tide came in and saved it. I'd love to find a starfish on the beach to put with my tiny shell collection but wasn't taking this one since I was hoping it was still living

Life is short......

Last night I went to bed with tears in my eyes knowing this was coming, another loss in my close fiber community overnight, that’s two in a very short period of time. So, this morning the tears are still flowing for the one lost and the one left behind. Life is short…..and stinks at times…...

Lately I’ve been thinking about what I’m doing and not doing, it’s a conversation in my head that’s been nagging me on a daily basis for weeks. So, this morning I went back to read my December 31, 2010 post – how quickly one can go astray.

Somehow I need to figure out how to make changes, and make them stick. It will always be a work in process but as long as I’m heading in the right direction that’s progress.

fiber follies.......

This is what I started spinning yesterday, some Polwarth I had dyed last year and set aside for myself. I've almost got half of it spun up. The second half I'll add some glitz, then when I ply the two I'll add a bunch of 'stuff' to make some art yarn. Don't ask me what I'll do with it but I'm going to have fun making it.

This is today's dyeing - 10+ pounds of Panda which is a blend of superwash merino/bamboo/nylon. It's lovely fiber to spin. I can't wait to spin samples of these to see how they spin up.

And these are small handspun samples of the merino/tussah I dyed last week. The pictures don't do them justice, they're really beautiful. My plan worked - dyed the roving many colors but when spun up it looks like beautiful tonal colorways - no striping in this roving. That's my hope for the roving above too - won't know until it dries and I can spin some samples.

I especially like the top two handspun samples, am considering keeping some of those for my own use.

Not much to show.....

Not much to show on the fiber front right so here's a picture of the merino/tencel roving dyed last week. Last night I did spin up some samples of the merino/tussah dyed last week, love the way they turned out. I don't know how my customers feel but right now I'm feeling like I don't want handspun that ends up having stripes so I'm dyeing the roving using up to 10 coordinating colors in small sections which results in a beautiful tonal handspun. Will get a picture later of those samples. I haven't spun samples of these two yet.


Sunday was spent over-hauling the studio. Sam helped with moving one small loom out, it's being stored in the under the steps closet right now, emptying and moving out a big entertainment center which has now found a new home, unloading wire shelving, moving the shelving and loading it back up all in preparation for the new AVL coming sometime next month.

Yesterday I moved the big Macomber to it's new spot with hopes that the empty space will accomodate the new loom, it should since I have the measurements. I also took down critters on high shelves, Boyd's plush animals - all sheep & a few llamas! And out of that entertainment center came tons, and I mean tons, of small sheep & llamas and sheep related 'stuff''. I picked out my favorites, ones that were gifts or handmade by friends, put them back up on those shelves, not crammed like before but nicely arranged. It felt good to keep the ones that really have meaning to me......and some others I just can't part with. It's time for all the sheep related items to find new homes. I have loved them over the years but they're becoming too much, too cluttered, I can't think in there. Hopefully those that gifted them will forgive me for passing them on, it's time......and I hope they stop buying. So, right now my brain is hard at work figuring out ways to find new homes for all these critters - maybe some giveaways on my blog, maybe some of the little ones will become gifts with purchase, maybe $1 grab bags at Fiber Mania...... will be doing some brainstorming. I was feeling so good in my newly transformed digs that late yesterday afternoon I got back to work on those needlefelted pincushions, have 2 left to finish.....and finished up my marathon watching of the 4th season of Dexter.

My shameless plug....yes, I'll be there in my booth......

SECOND ANNUAL FIBER MANIA
A Celebration of Mother Nature’s Fibers
November 12 & 13 - 9am-5pm
Josephine County Fairgrounds in Grants Pass, Oregon

Sale of fiber, Fiber arts, Equipment, Fiber animals, Classes, Informal Fashion Show, Door Prizes and Demonstrations
Registration is now open for classes/workshops, booth space and animal space

To entice you, here are classes available
Intro to Continuous Strand Weaving (weaving)
Wet Felting a Hat (felting)
Knitting with Beads (knitting)
Coquille Shawl (knitting)
Warm up your Neck (knitting)
Nuno Felting (felting)
Adventures in Color (drum carding)
Whorld Exploration (spinning)
Tame Lace (knitting)
Odds & Ends (knitting)
Beginning Needlefelting (felting)
Intermediate Needlefelting (felting)
Learn to Knit a Beaded Bracelet (knitting)

Dyeing......now dead tired.......

You'd think dyeing only 3 pounds of merino/tencel and a pound of silk hankies would be an easier dye day. Not so, it took just as long as if I had dyed 10 pounds of roving. Love all the color today.

Here's what yesterday's dyeing of the merino/tussah silk looks like dried, braided and ready for sale. I love the sheen in this roving and these colorways, approximately 2 pounds of each color that will be showing up over the next several days in my etsy shop.

Was originially thinking I'd dye again tomorrow, think I need to take the day off, it's still supposed to be on the cooler side Monday so will get back to dyeing then. Tomorrow will get the merino/bamboo braided and weighed and all the silk hankies packaged and weighed.......and weigh out the next 10 pounds of fiber to be dyed.

10 pounds of dyed merino/tussah silk roving...all in a day's work

Sunshine Marmalade.....aka Three-Fruit Marmalade

Since this is such an unusual and yummy recipe I thought I'd post it. It's called Three-Fruit Marmalade by Lorraine Wright and I got it out of the August/September 2011 Country Woman Magazine. I thought it needed a more descriptive name so I've renamed it 'Sunshine Marmalade' because it looks (and tastes) like sunshine in a jar. Hmm, I need to make some scones......

1 medium orange
2 cups chopped peeled fresh peaches
2 cups chopped peeeled fresh pears
1 pkg powdered fruit pectin
5 cups sugar

Finely grate peel from orange; peel and sectoin the fruit. Place peel and section in a Dutch oven. Add peaches and pears. Stir in pectin. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar; bring to a full rolling boil. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; skim off foam.

Ladle hot mixture into hot sterilized pint jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. Remove air bubbles; wipe rims and adjust lids. Process for 5 minutes in a boiling-water canner. Yield: 4 pints

Ok, here's my change - I don't process jam in a boiling-water canner. The extension service would not approve but it works just fine. I put the hot jam mixture into the jars, put the lids on tight and turn the jars upside down on a towel for around 5 minutes, then I turn the jars upright. Then the popping begins as the lids seal - makes me smile as it does. Over 20+ years I've only had a couple jars that didn't seal, they just went straight in the fridge.

Not doing what I should be......

I'm getting good at not doing what I should be. Today I should have been hard at work at the dyepots. It was a perfect day for it, cloudy and cool. But no, I ran to town for some more Sure Jell so I could make jam this afternoon - 2 batches of strawberry and 2 batches of marmalade. I'm not a huge marmalade fan but this recipe looked intriguing...orange, peaches & pears....it's yummy!

Tomorrow must be a dye day....have so much dyeing ahead of me this summer.........

Yum!

Yum! Blueberry Jam is my all time favorite jam....love huckleberry jam too. Played catch-up this morning after being away for 10 days, this afternoon I decided to pick up some blueberries and make jam - 3 batches in all. It was a toss up....weave off that scarf warp or make jam and today just seemed like a jam making day. Might have to pick up more berries and make a pie or crisp this week.

It's been a great 10 days......

It's been a great 10 days on the coast, Bandon by the Sea, Oregon. We hate to head home but must and will be there a couple hours from now. The beach cottage is coming along, some furniture painted this week but mostly time spent relaxing taking walks on the beach and into Old Town, reading, sitting on the deck enjoying the sounds of the coast....the surf hitting the beach & rocks, fog horns, gulls overhead and the soft sound of the Catholic church bells playing a tune at different times of the day. We've been picking up tiny little cockle shells on our walks, not many to be had but they're starting to fill this glass teacup.

....needlefelting elbow....

...needlefelting elbow, that's what I think I have now but it's been fun. Below are the finished teacup & planter pincushions....

....and here are the antique jello mold and little pail pincushions in progress....3 are done, the others have the layer of background color on them.....will work on the those as the mood strikes....

excuse the photos, taking them with my phone, it does a decent job, but.....

Ah....life is good........

Today's play.....

Today's playing was working on needlefelted pincushions - starting at the left is step one of putting the natural wool in for a base, I put a little white glue in the bottom to hold it in place. Step 2, in the center is where I needlefelt the perfect color for the top. Then Step 3, on the right, is where I've needlefelted a design on it. This is way fun. I've got a total of 8 in the works in these little teacup planters and some square planters, then I've got some antique jello molds for more pincushions. The bread in the background really isn't burnt, the photo doesn't do it justice, it's a very yummy lemon blueberry bread to share with a couple of my fiber friends tomorrow that are coming over to learn how to make felted soaps.

Small town parade....

Small town America 4th of July parade....

...the Coast Guard float - that cute little lady in the hat is the grandma of a Japanese family, she speaks no english but she waved at all the military floats and collected candy thrown for her grandson.....her grandson who was very taken with Bailey.....

...can't remember what this float was but it was colorful.....

....very nice float but no comment on separation of church and state from me....you don't need to hear it....

....lots of fun old cars.....lots of very fun corvettes that I was looking at but never raised the phone to take a picture of.....

....and my favorite....the native americans with dog toting another dog behind him.....it's hard to see the dog being toted but it's a tiny one who was enjoying his ride....  Fun little parade but no band....where was the high school band? probably on vacation elsewhere.....

Crocheted scarf in progress....

I don't crochet very often but it's really the first playing with yarn I had ever done, my grandmother taught me when I was very young, she left-handed, started the project, handed it to me and somehow I learned right-handed. This scarf is called the Crocheted Mesh Scarf by Heidi Hirtle. I saw a scarf like this but then couldn't find where that was so I went looking on Ravelry for something similar, this is a free pattern. I'm using her basic instructions but have changed the width of mine and will continue crocheting for a much longer scarf than hers. Unfortunately the picture doesn't do my handspun justice, it's got lots of deep purple and orange in it, spun from a corriedale cross hand-dyed roving. When blocked these will be nice orderly little rectangular windows, not skewed like it looks in progress.

But it ain't no Maryland Blue Crab......

.....but it is one gigantic crab, as in well over 6 feet.....

...a pretty to share.....

I'm sorry I don't know what kind of butterfly this is - I took this picture in the butterfly garden at the history museum at the Seattle park that also houses the Space Needle. I didn't have anything fiber related to share today so thought I would share a pretty.

Today was a meeting of the Fiber Mania committee of which I had been invited to join a few months back. Fiber Mania is a fiber festival that held it's first event last November, I had a booth there selling my rovings and weavings and did very well.....and it's in my own backyard! This year's event is on Nov 12th & 13th at the Josephine County Fairgrounds in Grants Pass, OR. So, if you're anywhere within driving distance, or further, mark your calendar. There will be plenty of fiber vendors (me again), classes, demonstrations, fiber animals, equipment sale, fashion show, door prizes and a silent auction. Registration is now open for vendor booths, animal booths and classes.........there are a number of great classes up on the site already, more to come so be sure and check back. Right now there is mail in registration but hopefully sometime next week the online registration will be up and running, bugs are being worked out now.

Weaving......a bit......

Here is scarf #2 - blue bamboo weft, not my favorite color of blue.....but then I'm not a blue person......but I like it anyhow. I should have finished up the 3rd scarf on the warp today but there was a bit of sewing and then scrubbing and washing down an outdoor table once our pressure tank for the well was replaced. Many thanks go to Murphy Plumbing here in Grants Pass that got our call yesterday, ordered the tank and got it installed this afternoon.....what a delight to do business with them, we'd recommend them to anyone here local.

Finally.......

......finally back to the loom. Bamboo warp in summery sea inspired colors.......well, in real life these colors look much prettier than in this photo

A weekend on the coast does wonders......

for one's soul and state of mind...........

We walked from the house to the South Jetty, then up the beach for a long ways, then up the stairs to where we took these pictures from up on the bluff. Bailey had a grand time meeting new pooch pals.

To put things in perspective the driftwood down on the beach is the size of trees.....would love a nice big piece, not allowed to take anything longer than 4 ft, don't think we could lug even 4 ft up the hill anyhow!

Snap out of it.......

That's what Bailey said to me this morning - snap out of it!

He's right, I need to snap out of this funk I've been in this week. I've been letting things bother me more than I should be, too many I know are dealing with incredible challenges in their lives and I've been letting it get me down....or maybe I've just been worrying too much. So, not a tremendous amount being accomplished here this week other than some knitting. At least I've given myself permission not to beat up on myself for not getting that sewing and dyeing done this week.....have been able to let that go. Next week will be better, I'm convinced of it!

So, this year for the first time in 15 years when my brother decided to get married on Black Sheep Gathering weekend I'm not attending the event. Just coming off two fiber conferences and not needing to buy a single thing I just didn't feel a need to go.......and I'm quite fine with that. If I had gone I might have been tempted by that Hansen electric spinner, which I don't need to buy right now after putting that deposit down on the AVL loom earlier this month. My friend Kathy has one and she's a speed demon spinning these days, it's a tempting thought......will give it thought in the fall or next spring.......