Thursday, 07/30/2009

I just realized that I haven't blogged about the new picture I put up as a header. This is a Bottlebrush plant and while I have read about them many times, this was the first one I had ever seen. It was growing in front of the elevator that we took to get to our room in El Cajon while we were on vacation. It was so big, it tipped the 3rd floor and was in full bloom. I want one... ;o) If you click on the link, there is a picture of the hotel and the bottlebrush plant in front of the blue tiled elevator.

There's not been a lot of hobby-ing in the last few days except in the evening. Since we had to take the curtains down anyway, I decided to cut them down. While the "puddle" look with fabric on the floor might look ok, it's not too great at keeping the dust and dirt off the curtains...not to mention the bugs out here in the semi-country. No.. I'm not drinking 2 or 3 cups at a time.. lol The coffee cups are to hold the fabric down...

As an aside... Now that DH has assisted with cutting the window film and the curtains, he has decided that he needs one these cutting mats to use in his shop. He cuts the glass for the picture frames he builds and this would sure help to line it up straight. Wonder what they'll say at JoAnn's! lol

Isn't it great to have gardening friends? ;o) DH came home yesterday with this batch of wonders. Today they will be peeled, sliced, blanched and dipped into corn meal to be frozen. It's a shame I can't eat them right now... sigh But... I'm 10 pounds down on my diet, so there's no stopping now.

Tuesday I found that I had finished spinning the chocolate merino, the Cotswold and the bamboo. I dyed the Cotswold blue and tried to dye the chocolate Merino, but there was no way. I think if I want to dye it I will have to use acid dyes or some other type professional dye instead my old stand by Kool Aid. Since it has been raining the drying was time was quite long, so it wasn't until last night that they could be rolled into center pull balls.

Have a good day... ;o)

"What you see is evidence of what you believe. Believe it and you'll see it." ... Dr. Wayne Dyer

What's Up?

We are finally feeling better. Went to the grocery store yesterday because the cupboards were getting extremely bare. We have been using Agave Nectar instead of sugar...well... I have. He doesn't use sweetener in his coffee. Anyway.. according to the research I have done, the glycemic index is about 1/2 as high for Agave Nectar than it is for sugar.

I finished spinning the bamboo roving that I got a while back. It was definitely different from the wool. I then spun a bobbin full of wool and plied the two together. Then I over dyed using purple (grape) kool aid to match the bamboo. (As I was in the process of doing this, I pulled off about 20 yards of silk that I had spindle spun into a single and stuck it in the dye pot...by this time most of

the dye had been absorbed by the wool and this lovely robin's egg blue is what I got for the silk!)

Sorry for the Lack of Posts

It's been a really busy week...go, go, go... Will say hello this morning with a couple of things...

First and foremost... our new granddaughter Hannah.... Is she not lovely?...








And second...what I have been working on in the evenings...home spun, dyed and woven..then sewn and embroidered needlebooks....

I have just been reminded that I have to be at the dentist in 40 minutes...lol ... (Does your DH do that too?...) Will try to blog more later and catch up on my Simple Woman's Daybook!

Finally Finished Hand Spun..Tiny Booties

I finally finished spinning the first hand dyed roving I ever tried. I gave up on the hand spindle since I only use the spindle when I am out and about .. perhaps at the doctor's office or such.. so i finished it on my wheel. Ended with 120 yards of triple ply that measures out at 10-12 wpi. It has not been wet finished yet and I think it may be plyed a little to tight...we'll see. I'm thinking this will be joining the pink merino that I did last winter and be woven into a check pattern scarf...

I've had the knitting needles out again in the evening and when I had some yellow alpaca blend left over from the fabric I did on the Harp .. I decided to try this little pair of booties... How cute are they?!! The pattern is here at Bev's Country Cottage. I think I found the pattern via Mariella at Knitting Nonni ... I'm not sure..lol I know one thing... I need to ask her to do a tutorial on how to sew them together... ;O) I never seem to be able to do that so the seam is invisible...

And It's Red..& Blue.. & Green

Yesterday was dyeing day for all the Corriedale homespun.

I had the green in a pot that was so deep that the center did not get much of the dye.. parts of it not any at all, but it is spread out enough that I think I will call it variegated instead of re-dyeing it. I love the way the reds and blues came out. I think that perhaps I have enough for an afghan.. perhaps small, but an afghan at any rate.

It's the Magic...

I've had several people watch me spindling or spinning (or doing whatever hobby I'm working on at the time) and say "You know.. you really can buy that stuff." And I readily agree.. I could. And it probably would be cheaper in the long run... I guess it's like fishing.. buy the boat, the rods, the reels, the bait.. then catch a couple of fish.. how much would those couple of fish actually cost per pound?

I was discussing this with a friend the other day... her answer... "It's the Magic!" And you can't buy that. So it feels like magic as I work with my homespun and have begun a shawl with my green. I guess I am still new enough with the spinning wheel that I am awed by the fact that this yarn was spun and dyed by me...lol It is definitely "Magic".

All's Well..

It's been another while since posting... In the interim my DH has had TULP (which is laser prostate) surgery on the 19th. All went well and he is recuperating very nicely. Up and about and off to daily afternoon coffee with friends yesterday..grin

The pic is my first try at coffee dying. I just used the left over coffee in the pot and added enough water to cover the yarn and about 1/4 cup vinegar...heated it just below the boiling point for about 30 minutes or so and then let stand overnight to cool. I'm really tickled with the light tan color and now am looking forward to trying a medium and darker color.

First Batch Dyed...

It took me a while to work up the nerve... but here it is....

The picture is "antique" looking because my camera is acting up a bit... These skeins are....from left to right.... orange, lemon-lime, pina pineapple kool-aid dyed. The picture just does not do it justice.. the yellow is so perfect, the green is variegated a bit, and the orange is soft enough to be lovely. I can hardly believe it actually worked..grin ...