Lemon Lime

Fresh off the spinning wheel:

Green in all it's forms has long been a favorite color of mine. Seeing this yarn drying while it hung from a tree in the backyard made it really obvious to me why these batts came home with me earlier this year. Fresh springy greens are fabulous!

I've been trying to be relatively stationary today. Our newly adopted dog is supposed to stay calm and as inactive as possible for several days, and since she loves to follow me everywhere I go, I'm trying to make it easier for her to be still. More spinning in my near future I think while she's working on getting healthy.

A Slippery Slope

A very slippery slope I'm on........I started learning to spin last November. Within a month, I was a multi-wheel owner. Now I own a drum carder (love it) and today worked on processing my first raw fleece. I never thought I'd be washing and carding raw fleece........ but I have photos to prove that I did!

The fleece is from Susan at Windy Wool. She's a member of my local fiber guild, the Piedmont Fiber Guild. Recently, at one of our gatherings, she brought some of her fleeces. I bought about 2# of this Montadale fleece. Here it is in it's raw form.

A while back I bought some of these mesh bags at the dollar store. There were 3 or 4 in each package. I might go buy some more. Remember I mentioned my husband built an outdoor studio space for me, complete with hot and cold water? Maybe he knew I'd be washing fleece and figured he'd better get this hooked up before we had sheep fleeces on the kitchen counter. Smart man.

It's been unusually cool with relatively low humidity for the Carolinas in the summertime, so I spread the washed fleece outside in the sun to dry. I haven't decided yet whether I'm going to blend the fleece as I card it, or keep the browns and grays separate. I'm thinking separate right now, and then maybe knit something stripey from it, but we'll see when I actually start carding. This photo show more color contrast than there really is. I need to learn more about my camera settings......

After it was all dry, I ran some through my new (to me - thanks Sandra!) Strauch Finest Drum Carder to make this small rolag.

Here's my first sample skein, still on my small niddy noddy.

Here's the 2 ply Montadale wool yarn from my first skein - about 90 yards - enough to knit some swatches and see what the yarn might like to become.

Oh, and I had good company outside while I was doing this today. Here's Blu, the Australian Cattle Dog mix we rescued from the animal shelter last month. Isn't she a sweetie? She's still going through heartworm treatment, so we have to restrict her activity, but she enjoyed laying on the cool concrete floor outside today while I was playing with fiber.

A very slippery slope indeed..........

What Would You Do?

I listened to news today about the Powerball winning ticket, which was purchased in a nearby town. Every once in a while, when I hear these stories, I think "what would I do if I had that much money all of a sudden".

Now this is a purely theoretical question for me, since as an elected official (I've been serving on my local school board for the past 11 years), I cannot legally buy lottery tickets, but that's beside the point for this mental exercise.

Today on the way home from the grocery store (boy have grocery prices shot up or what?), I heard the man who won had stepped forward to claim his prize, which started my mental "what would I do" list again.

Here's what I came up with:

1. I'd encourage my husband to buy a new vehicle for himself. His car is still running fine, but it's the oldest car we have, and has lots of miles on it, so I'd encourage him to buy something new. I wonder what he'd get?

2. We will have 2 kids in college this fall. I would set aside enough money for them for undergraduate, and graduate/advanced degrees so they would have lots of options without worrying about future debt.

3. I would ask my Mom what she would like. She would say she doesn't need anything, so I would ask her what she would like.

4. I would set aside money so that we wouldn't need to worry about our financial future - retirement would not mean monetary stress. I suspect part of this retirement picture would include buying a large enough boat that we could spend extended amounts of time on the water. Nothing fancy, but I would require a working bathroom...... If you missed the fact that I'm married to a boat/water man, just look back at some previous posts.

4. I would sign up for classes. Spinning classes, jewelry making, dyeing, maybe try some weaving. Places like Madrona, SOAR, maybe Haystack, Arrowmont, John C Campbell Folk School, or Penland. I love to try new things.

5. I would seriously consider going back to school full time.

6. We would travel.

And that's when my mental list stopped. I know. Shocking. Given millions of dollars to consider, I can only come up with 6 things I would do with it. Just reminds me that I am in reality lacking nothing in my life & that I have no right to complain.

So what would you do if you won the lottery?

Still Here? Why Yes, I Am, Thanks for Noticing.......

Poor neglected blog. Soo much has happened since I last posted and I've shared basically none of it. I kept trying to think of the best way back "in". Try to start where I left off and, through a marathon of picture sorting and blog posting, catch up to real time?

Much too intimidating. This kept me away from here for months.

Randomly post stuff from the past and later give everything "real" dates so they'd be back in chronological order?

Why bother - no one else knows or probably cares the real sequence of events anyway.

So, here's what I'm going to try to do: Just jump right back into posting and see what happens. Sounds simple enough, right? Thanks - I think so too.

So if you've visited my blog before, I really appreciate you coming back again. If you're here for the first time, I hope you'll add my page to your blog roll so you'll get notified when I post something new. I'd love to have comments filling me in on some highlights of your past year.

Alright, let's get started on catching up with one another already! Here are 10 things that have happened since I last posted. They are in no particular order, since I'm trying to just post and not worry about all the details:

1. I spent three challenging but really interesting weeks in South America with both my kids. Argentina, Bolivia and Peru. I will probably share some photos & stories every once in a while, but feel free to nudge me for them if you're particularly interested in seeing some.

2. My daughter spent two additional semesters abroad after Argentina. She spent a semester each in Mexico and England. I was lucky enough to be able to visit her in both places. She's back stateside now and moving into her college apartment soon.

3. I have been pretty consumed by knitting and crochet projects. Mostly knitting, which is odd, because I actually enjoy the process of crochet more. I think it's because there are so many more knitting patterns out there that I like than crochet patterns. Someone do something about that please.

4. I bought a spinning wheel and learned how to spin my own yarn. My husband thought I wanted to do this so I could save money on yarn. He's usually a smart man so I don't know what happened there.

5. Within 3 weeks of buying my first spinning wheel, I bought another. Now I own three. Before I was a spinner I said I didn't want to be one of those people who had multiple wheels. I'm sorry I ever said that. I swear I get it now. Each of the wheels is different.

6. I worked a full time temporary job with the Census Bureau. I had a blast and I have money in the bank to show for it.

7. My husband built an outdoor studio space for me. Running hot and cold water are included.

8. Our boy turned 18 and graduated high school. He's off to college in the fall. Two kids in college. At the same time.

9. My husband and I are going to be empty nesters.

10. I rescued a dog from the shelter last week. We call her Blu.

Sydney Australia

From Brisbane we went north to the Great Barrier Reef and did some scuba diving. Right now the only photo I can find is this one of part of the reef from the airplane on our way into Cairns. Probably best that I can't find one of me in scuba gear anyway; it's not necessarily one of my best looks.

The reef was amazing and the corals were fabulous. The weather was chilly, and the water was 

not all that warm, but is was fall after all...... We loved having the opportunity to dive at the Great Barrier Reef.

Sydney

Next we flew south to Sydney and started walking. We walked through Hyde Park....... yes, as a matter of fact, it was named after London's Hyde Park.

We went to Darling Harbour. This is the view of Sydney from the Maritime Museum in the harbor.

Our cab driver in from the airport recommended lunch at the Fish Market. We agreed that sounded like fun, so we arrived in time for lunch.

Even though the harbor area is full of ferries, tourist boats, sailboats, rowers, etc., it still has real fishing boats too. The fish market still has fresh deliveries.

And fishing nets still need to be repaired.

Fresh ocean perch are there to buy.

I love this fountain and had a good time watching these kids play in it. I have no idea now why I didn't take off my shoes and join them. I'm totally doing that if I ever get back there.

I went into the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Here's a detail of Still Life by Godfrey Miller. Love his work. 

We walked through the Royal Botanic Garden, which is on an amazing peninsula within easy walking distance of the harbor and downtown. Well, I say easy walking distance, but individual mileage may vary......

Those things in the tree - right there in the Botanic Garden, within easy walking distance of downtown Sydney, there by the hundreds? Yep, they're Bats.  Grey Headed Flying Foxes as they are otherwise know.

Here's how close the path around the Botanic Garden is to the downtown skyline.

Look at everything going on in this photo. A gorgeous fall day, puffy clouds, the famous Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, a tourist boat, a wedding photographer and the newlyweds, and tourists like us.

We walked and walked and walked some more. We ended up on the other side of the Opera House after buying tickets for the evening Sydney Symphony orchestra performance (it was wonderful). 

I think there is a really good reason that this landmark is one of the most recognizable buildings in the world. It's an incredibly interesting structure and so much fun to see from different angles. When we were walking across the harbor bridge (yes, the one in the earlier photo), the roof lines of the buildings looked like row boats, all propped up against one another on the shore, like this.

You should go there. It's fabulous.

Brisbane, Australia

We flew from New Zealand to Brisbane, Australia. Brisbane is a great city, developed around the Brisbane River,  which was great fun to see from the air.  I usually have a great sense of direction, even in places I've never been; I inherited it from my Dad. But, I don't think I would ever have a sense of direction in this city, since the river winds in, around, and back on itself numerous times.  Click here to see how winding more of the river is.

If you've seen my photos before, you already know that my husband is a boat and water loving guy, so of course one of our first priorities was to get out on the water! I had read about a trip up the river to a wildlife park, so we quickly boarded a boat and were headed up river. The city is nice from this perspective too.

The Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary has more than just koalas, which was interesting for us, since everything there is native to Australia. Here's a beautiful kookaburra, which fascinated me.

I have mixed feelings about whether this is an animal sanctuary, or a petting zoo, but seriously, how many chances will I have in my life to hold a koala? So I had to do it. Here I am, pretending to be a tree, which is what I was told to do to keep the koala from being stressed. By the way, they are heavy little guys, and all his weight seemed to be in his lower half.  Really solid.

The wallabies and the kangaroos were completely unfazed by the people walking around in their habitat.

Back in the city, we wandering into St. John's Cathedral. I know I was supposed to be admiring the incredibly Gothic architecture of this yet-to-be-completed landmark. It was begun in 1906, and when we were there, the West End was under construction - talk about a long term building project........ you can take a virtual tour here.  Anyway, I realized that it's an amazing structure, but I couldn't take my eyes off of the needlepoint bench cushions.

There are over 400 hand stitched cushions, no two alike. Some are whole scenes that run the length of the wooden bench.

Some are related subjects, stitched as stand-alone cushions. Aren't they amazing???

The Queensland Art Gallery is right alongside the river. Which really won't help you find it if you visit Brisbane, since you already saw from the air how much of the city is on the banks of the river somewhere, but it's in an area that's called the South Bank, which was the site of the 1988 World Expo. I was especially interested in the Indigenous Australian Art. Here's a bark painting. 

And a canvas work. I'm embarrassed to say that I can't find my notes right now with the artists' names, but if you know, please contact me and I'll update to include details. This piece was 8-10 feet wide, which makes a real impact when you're standing in front of it.

Thanks for letting me share Brisbane with you. It's an easy city to visit, walk around and enjoy.

Oh, and an added bonus, I saw one of my books on the shelf in a small, independent bookstore near downtown. Always a nice find ;-)

New Zealand

Finally. I'm sorting photos from our recent travels. It was a fantastic trip, and I'll admit it, re-entry into my "normal" life has taken me longer than I expected. Whether it's the incredible heat that hit our area once we got home, whether it was the overwhelming "stuff" I needed to catch up on, or whether it was just me not wanting to admit the trip was over with, I've been having a weird couple of weeks. 

On with the photos already. Today I'm sharing some photos of our time in New Zealand. We found it to be a wonderful place to visit, although everything was expensive for us, since the dollar isn't having a really good time anywhere lately. We flew into Auckland, which is obviously on the water. Oh, yeah, since it's (2 large & many small) islands, most of New Zealand seems to be on, or at least not too far from, the water. Which made my boat-and-water-loving-husband quite happy, thank you very much.

We didn't go up the sky tower, and we certainly weren't tempted to bungee jump off of it (yes, some people really do that), but I loved the perspective we did get of it:

Did I mention that New Zealand is surrounded by water & lots of boats?

In case you missed my comment about boats and lots of water, here's a shot of the regatta we passed while we were on an inter-island ferry.

I love signs. I especially like signs that make me smile.  I don't know about you, but I would be more tempted to shop in a Really Good Gift Shop instead of this OK Gift Shop. It must be better than OK, since we saw several of them. Imagine: a successful chain of merely OK Gift Shops.

Our second day in Auckland it was really raining. Really raining. We went to their botanic garden anyway. I'm glad we did, since everything looks fresher and greener in the rain. Except maybe people walking in the rain, but I'm referring to plants right now, not tourists.

Flying from Auckland on the North Island to Christ Church on the South Island served as a really good visual reminder that May is their fall season. Look at those tree colors!

Look, Sheep! Being a knitter/crocheter/fiber & yarn lover, I loved noticing the different breeds and colors of sheep. I lucked upon one roadside wool shop. It was in what looked like a converted gas station. They process fiber for other people and their own as well (sorry, I checked, no online presence). I bought enough really earthy, lanolin-rich wool to make a sweater - hopefully. I'll let you know.

We drove east of Christ Church to Akaroa on the Banks Peninsula.  Still surrounded by water. See how happy my husband is on the beach? Even during polarfleece weather?

We drove around a lot of the Peninsula. More than we needed to, but let's not dwell on that. Quite a lovely place, isn't it?

I really doubt that these sheep have any idea how gorgeous their view is on days like this........

We saw and did so much during our short visit to the islands. We learned about Maori culture, saw the thriving vineyards, watched a sperm whale breeching, stood really close to some fur seals, kayaked on the Avon River, visited the Arts Centre in Christ Church, enjoyed each city's botanic garden, sampled the local brews, listened to the boy's choir in the Cathedral, enjoyed the crisp fall weather, rode the cable car in the capital city of Wellington, photographed sheep, and shopped for wool. We felt so lucky to have the opportunity to be in New Zealand. It's a beautiful place and 3-4 weeks might be enough time to really start exploring the South Island.... It's on my wish list.

Stay Tuned - I'm Back.....

Just in case you were wondering - I haven't completely dropped off the face of the earth. I just returned from a wonderful trip that included time in New Zealand (the most beautiful and expensive place), Australia (the most cosmopolitan place), and Cambodia (the most interesting place). I can't wait to share some of my photos and impressions with you, as soon as the jet lag eases a bit and I get my photos sorted. Stay tuned if you're interested - I'll be posting soon!

Fibery Goodness

A couple of weeks ago, my Mom, my sister and I decided we wanted to have a girls weekend. Since they both live in Michigan, it made sense for me to fly up, and my sister was in charge of finding a place for us to go. We headed to the thumb area of Michigan.

It's been a while since I've seen a real, still in use for cars, covered bridge. Here's the Zehnder's bridge in Frankenmuth, Michigan. Idyllic setting, don't you agree?

Yep, that's my Mom and my sister posing for me before we cross the bridge.

Why were we crossing the bridge? Well, because I searched for fiber/yarn sources in the area and discovered that Zeilinger Wool Co. was "just around the corner". FYI: if you're ever traveling with me and I say "it's about a 15 minute walk", go get the car, 'cuz that usually means it's about a 45 minute walk. My Mom is a smart lady and knows this, so we went back and got the car. Good plan. That means we had more time at the wool mill. Yep, that's right. A real, live small scale wool mill still operating in the United States of America. 

How this place operates is that they process people's fiber for them. You can drop it off or ship it. You can wash it, or they'll do it for you. You can dye it before or after you ship it to them. They'll process sheep wool, angora (goat or rabbit), alpaca, dog hair (in case you were wondering), etc. 

Since they are a small operation by mill standards, they aim to please. Apparently some customers request that their fiber be processed one animal at a time. Why you ask? So they can knit a sweater from Dolly or from Sally or from Betsey and know whose wool they are wearing. Cool, huh?

Bags of fiber with tags attached to keep it all straight.

In the back room, there are these huge tubs for scouring the fiber.

Then, it's gotta dry somewhere. They have lots of racks. I thought the fiber was beautiful, my Mom didn't agree.

In the middle room (the front room was the retail shop - I was so busy fondling yarn and fiber that I forgot to get a picture of that room. Sorry about that.) are these gigantic machines. One of them was in the process of having it's once a year overhaul and cleaning, but the far one was being used to process the fiber someone had brought in that morning. She'd already scoured it all, so it was ready to be put right into the machine.

See that guy sitting down on the far side in front of the window? He was rolling the fiber into large balls and weighing the processed fiber. I apologize for the quality of the next picture, but since we weren't allowed closer to the machine, the best we could do was press our faces up against the glass next to the machine to see more closely how the 2 colors of fiber were being blended as they were put through the machine. Look at how soft and fuzzy that looks on the roller!

Then, upstairs was the quilt/mattress pad/comforter room. These are wool batts ready to be used.  They had a brown wool batt they had just started sandwiching to be made into a soft, cushy mattress pad. Some people had brought in the fiber from their very own sheep to be made into a deluxe mattress pad. How cool would that be to sleep on a mattress pad made soft and warm by the animals you tend every day? I love that idea - but I own no animals...... It's not a perfect world.

More bags of fiber, these are all processed and ready for sale or pickup. They have yarn and fiber for sale to those of us who don't own animals too.

It's that a gorgeous rack of delicious brown wool?

My sister 'did good' choosing a place for us to go, don't you agree?

P.S. I took all these photos with the camera on my phone, so they are not as clear as I'd like, but I left them big, so you can click on them and see the images much larger if you want to see more detail.

Hasta La Vista Baby

A ceremonial ending.

I really love ceremonies. 

Here's one I had not participated in before. 

I once owned a business called Batiks Etcetera. I started the company when my children were very small and had a great time running and growing the business over the course of several years. There came a time in 1999 when I knew it was time for me to make a change and I sold the business. Here's where you can find Batiks Etcetera now. (I found the right person to buy the business from me and am happy to say it's still your number one source for batik fabrics.)

Anyway, the IRS requires us to keep tax records for 7 years after that tax year has ended. Imagine my joy a few months ago when I realized that the 7 years had passed and I could now dispose of those records. Perfect time to clear some space, since my studio was going to be moving back into my home again. 

As I handed the boxes down (from their storage shelves) to my husband, I realized I couldn't just put these papers out on the curb. There were personal records in there of my former customers. Addresses, phone numbers, and credit card number sprinkled throughout. OK, time to be a responsible former business owner. I did some research and found out that there are portable shredding services. Who knew?

So I packed all the boxes of paperwork in the trunk of my car and went off to meet Bob, now referred to as "my shredder man". We unceremoniously dumped the contents of my boxes into one large, wheeled dumpster.

Then, Bob wheeled the dumpster up to the side of his high tech truck and the end was near.

Here's a look at all the controls for the truck. It was amazingly high tech (and LOUD).

Just in case I was worried about gremlins inside the truck stealing my old paperwork, there is a monitor to watch to be sure the paper is really emptying out into the shredder inside the truck. Glad to know the gremlins weren't there - I was worried about that once I realized the possibilities.

And then, respectful of the ending that this signified for me, Bob lowered his head in a moment of silence.

My thoughts: Hasta La Vista Baby!