Camping with the spindle

Kevin, Brett and I enjoyed our labor day weekend this year camping with sweet friends- Palu, his Papi, and their puppy Dasher.  With many of the popular campsites being full, we still managed to find a peaceful place where no one else was camped.  I can't disclose the name of this place because that would ruin any chances of it remaining peaceful in the future... :)  We hiked and played music together mostly.  Brought my fiddle, and a basket full of instruments for Kevin and Palu.  Here we are waiting for breakfast on day two:

Here is a view looking north up part of the Pacific Crest Trail:

We narrowly avoided the Poison Oak that surrounded our camp, and were well armed with karate moves.   This PO has already turned red for us, but was not too virulent or oily, yet:

Kevin dressed like a dragon.  Palu taught us a lot of cool moves.

Of course, there were many interesting rock faces all around us.  We thought this one was talking to us and that it looked like either a chicken or melting ice cream:

After watching some of the beautiful seed pods blow around in the early Santa Ana winds, we were drawn to this bush and took note of the spirally seeds that are perfect for flight travel.  There were also cottonwood trees in the area, providing cotton seeds on the ground.

That sort of sums up our recent craziness and fun.  Oh, can't forget to mention that I brought one of my drop spindles and finished two skeins of three ply yarn that I had started working on the week before.  It was time consuming, and perfect for me to relax and enjoy the weekend outside.  I do like the weight of the yarn:

And you can see here that we also got a tattoo of the whole Peanuts gang.

Chuck Bennett Spindle and Rachels' Seamstress Broadfall Trousers & new Bonnet

Yesterday morning I decided to try out one of my new hand-made Chuck Bennett drop spindles.  I purchased the spindle through a friend, who knows and works with Chuck.  My friend had brought a basket full of spindles to Old Town on the 4th of July.   After much fighting and resistance, I was pressured by the "Sue Crew" into buying 2 of them!  Thanks ladies....  The spindle pictured below is made of Olive wood.  So the story goes, it is wood from an olive tree that recently fell down in front of an apartment building in Borrego Springs.  The wood is very smooth and beautiful.  The spindle is sort of bulky, but light-weight, and it spins quite nicely.  Also, fits in my hand very comfortably and is very soft.

Here is some 2-ply yarn that I am in the middle of spinning on the spindle, resting in my mother's heirloom monkey bowl:

Kevin and I are excited that his new broadfall trousers arrived in the mail this past Wednesday.  These were hand-made with care, by Rachels' Seamstress Services.  They are made of black light-weight twill fabric, which is perfect for San Diego weather.  I have been wanting to get Kevin these trousers for over a year now.  They will be great pants for him to wear to school, and perfect for wearing to Old Town when he comes to sit with me (and the fellow lilies), while I spin with my traveller on the 3rd Saturdays.  The length is long, and I will hem them up a little for him to wear now, and will be able to let the hem out as he grows.

And, thanks again to Rachels' Seamstress Services, I also got myself a new linen bonnet to wear.  It is called the Laura Day Frill Cap.  I love the fit and the color, it will go well with either of my two dresses.  Here is view from above:

On a side note, we just felt an earthquake.  Not a huge surprise for southern California, but we all ran outside, nonetheless.  Now I am trying to decide if I have time this afternoon to dye the fleece that I washed last weekend.  I may dye the remaining locks before I card them, or may card and spin them and then dye the yarn when I am done.  Can't decide....  Either way, I will dye using greens, for a future project.

The never ending scarf part III

I have been knitting this scarf off and on, since April.  I learned this pattern from a fellow knitter friend last October, while sitting and spinning/knitting with the fellow lilies at the National City Train Depot.   Although I do not know the name of this pattern, it is still my favorite at this moment in time.  Sort of feathery, and the mistakes hide very well.  

I started knitting this with one small ball of yarn, then ran out and had to start with a second ball.  This afternoon I started at it again, and decided  that I want to make this a long scarf (to wrap around my head, of course).  So, naturally, as I ran out of the second ball, I had to switch to a third.  I could never have planned how beautiful this would turn out, and this is a great reminder to me to always be adaptable, flexible, and to go with the flow.  You can never plan fun.  And beautiful things are born usually with little effort, and lot of patience.  

Once again I find myself mezmorized by the colors that I dyed- there are so many hidden in here I cannot begin to list them all.  When I dye wool I always write down the colors and repeats that I chose, as well as the way I dyed it.  If I remember correctly, all of this yarn was "painted" using the sponge method.  And every color in my dye stash is present here.  With a three ply yarn one can never go wrong, and this scarf will last forever, as a three ply cord is not easily broken.

Dave- I know you are reading this- and I hope you enjoy.  We should meet up soon, until then email me your favorite colors and I will start on something for you.  Can't guarantee it will be ready anytime soon, but nevertheless...  let me know.  Also- I won't be at RBD this year :(  Wish I could....  I do hope you have fun in Montana...  Just let me know when you get back from the wedding?

Here is one more pic of the scarf, you can see more of it in this one...  And, Kevin says hi everyone.  He has been sick the past 2 days and is slowly getting over his summer cold.  Luckily he is a trooper.  Fingers crossed I don't catch it.  

Hope to finish this never ending scarf part III by the end of the.....  summer?  By the way, this is the third scarf I have knit using this pattern.  Second one is also almost complete.  More later on that one.  From the yarn fairy.

Floppy Beret and Skinny Scarf

I had made this yarn some time ago, perhaps in late December of 2011.  Using combed USA top from Village Spinning and Weaving that I dyed with mostly hunter green, with some yellow,  and I plied it with more combed top that I dyed plum mixed with copenhagen blue (and a little royal blue because I couldn't help myself).  I also spun some raw wool that I got from my friend Lorraine's sheep, I washed it and hand carded, and plyed it with some gold.  I also mixed in some little flecks of gold & bronze to add some sparkle.  Here is the skein of yarn after I soaked it to set the twist and it dried, very funky:

I was home about 6 weeks ago visiting family, and for a beautiful wedding reception for an old wonderful friend, Ann, and her new sweet hubby Jarrod.  Congratulations to Dr. Jarrod Smith :)  Well done.  I must admit, I enjoyed myself very much with these old friends, and also enjoyed the weekend with with my grandmother - grandma Camilla, who is a long time knitter/crocheter.  I mentioned this before on a previous post, she wanted me to bring her some of my handspun yarn, so I did....  and she is currently working on making me a hat.  I brought her some extra yarn (of course...) and while I was in Yankton I got in touch with my dear friend Joe Yaggie, and after a late night rendezvous I tracked him down the next day at Majestic Bluffs and dropped off some yarn for him to have some fun with.  I ended up giving him the same green/gold/white/plum yarn that is pictured above.  He is a very creative and cheerful person, and someone who makes me smile no matter what!  So, today I come home from another crazy day at work, and what do I find in the mailbox???  Joseph W. Yaggie Originals:

Joe also made me a skinny scarf, and I temporarily tied it on my fiddle case as a strap, but now am hesitant because it is so pretty I don't dare stretch it out.  Will make for a nice belt, too.  Here is a picture of the hat next to the fiddle case with the skinny scarf draped through.  The hat has a cute flower, which comes off if I chose to take it off.  I could pin it on my shirt or jacket...  I am in love with it!

On to make more yarn, after dinner with the boys.

Downstairs Dye Day

No one reads my blog, except for a brilliant CBS editor...  But anaway, here I go!  

This weekend was very productive around the house, and with friends.  Enjoyed hiking at Torrey Pines North Extension, and on the beach at Torrey Pines, did some yard work in the mornings (too much perhaps).  Delicious food all around, and now finally sitting down to relax with a hard apple cider.  On to today, Sontag.  Today has brought the usual putzing around.  I made it a point to get a new book, to weave a little, to make pancakes, not drink too much coffee (it is Sontag, for crying out loud), and I even squeezed in a little nap after visiting with my grandmother who told me that she finished the hat she knit for me.  She said she put a darling little flower on it!  Besides all of that I still wanted to keep myself out of trouble and off of the streets, so, I also made a point to dye some prepared top.  And, instead of working upstairs, I brought just what I needed downstairs, and dyed in the kitchen down here.  I kept the front door open to air out the wonderful vinegar smell.  

Kevin helped me with my indecisiveness as I struggled to pick out the right colors to dye with.  Usually picking the colors is not a problem for me, and I don't even have to think much about it.  But, today for some reason it was a little bit harder to decide.  So, I let Kevin pick.  He picked Scarlet Red and Gold. 

Here it was cooking.

And, here after it is done cooking.

And the second and final rinses.

Not much of the color bled in the rinse, so that is good.  But, I still wish they were more colorful.  Maybe I need to lower my expectations, and perhaps I can ply this with something bolder and it will be just fine.

I am happier with it as it is drying.

Here is some three-ply yarn that I finished the other week.  Plum, Plum & Scarlet, and Gold.  Turned out beautifully.  I made quite a lot of it, and will hang it by the kitchen window until I decide what it shall become.

Now off to make some bow-tie pasta with no sauce, the way Kevin likes it.  Have some dough that I will bake, with some garlic on top.  And if the basil is still fresh enough it will accompany the garlic.

Here is Kevin at the beach, and one of his drawings in the sand.  He wrote "No fireworks" I think he remembers a new sign that we saw in the forest from camping last weekend.  Or else he heard us talking again about how unfortunate it was that all of the 15 minutes of fireworks went off around San Diego Bay within less than 20 seconds this year.  Oops, maybe someone hit their big butt on the switches.  At least now I know we didn't have the movie turned up to loud, we were watching Mouse Trap and I thought we missed the fireworks show and only heard the finale.  Good to know I'm not losing it!

no *fireworks.

Sky Blue Old Ivory two ply

Made some yummy bread, loaded with garlic and fresh basil.  I was introduced to this recipe some time ago, and have since been perfecting it.  Thank you to a dear friend Teresa for teaching me how to take care of dough!  

Also- I two-plied the Old Ivory and Sky Blue roving that I dyed previously.  It is balled up and ready to send to  my grandmother, who wants to make me a hat with it.  I am plying some more yarn for her to keep, too.  I heard she has recovered smoothly from a recent hip replacement surgery, so I need to get this in the mail.  Here is is soaking:

Here it is dry, and balled up.  Turned out great.

Green three ply

I plied this yarn tonight, of green, green and gold.  Now back to the blue and ivory.  With two spinning wheels it is easy to get side tracked....