7th day

whew-what a week! at least the new potato patch got finished and planted!!!!!!

i'm a bit spacey. today marks the 7th day of my annual spring brown rice cleanse. i used to do it for two weeks. then it went down to 10 days. now, since having kids-it's only seven days. it's about all i can manage without killing everyone. you know- having to school and cook everyone meals. i never juice fast(i'm not that masochistic!)-my body just can't handle it but i do a brown rice cleanse- besides rice, i eat veggies and miso soup with lots of seaweed. tonight i made my last pot of rice-it's starting to make me gag. how did i ever do it for 2 weeks? i guess not having to cook for a family made a difference. tonight carey made dinner-homemade spaghetti sauce-the smell made me salivate-mmmm! i almost grabbed a handful of noodles and shoved them in my mouth-but i was so close to making the 7 seven days i restrained. here was lunch:this weekend we did what needed to be done since we moved in. the weather conditions were perfect-it had been very dry then it started raining late friday aternoon-all thru the night and into saturday. we had to burn a massive slash pile. not only was it an eyesore-it was a big fire hazard. but the less than intelligent guy(i'm trying to be nice here) whom we bought the property from logged the land and made huge monster machine slash piles of old dead manzanita-highly flammable and a hot burner! the egit pushed the pile right under a big live oak-can you say "duh?" how the hell can anyone burn this without lighting the whole damn forest on fire. hubby was able to drag some out with the truck-but even the guy with the big tractor that cleared our manzanita earlier couldn't budge the pile-manzanita locks together. we got brave-(i've been super paranoid about burning this pile) and we did it-armed with hoses, shovels, picks and hard rakes. yesterday:today:what a relief to have it finally done. we still have more piles but this was the worst! my body is so sore-tending these fires is very strenuous work. i thought i was sore after putting in potatoes. ha! then we decide to take a little hike today-which turned out to be up hill most of the way. it was gorgeous-very glad it was not a hot summer day though. see carey: i love this tree:liam took this shot from the top of the ridge:the hike was great except for trying to pee on the windy ridge-i managed to get pee all over myself and then i was pulling pine needles out of my butt all the way down-don't ask!

so now night has fallen and my body is really sore now.... my bed is calling. but! i wanted to share with you what i've been spinning. i'm going to a dye workshop this weekend taught by sara lamb. i really wanted to dye some yarn this time and not roving. but i've put myself on yarn restriction so i can't buy any new yarn. so i won't buy any undyed yarn-i have to make it. i have plenty of white roving so i've been spinning up a storm. this is the roving i got from 13 mile lamb & wool co. when me and the boys drove to idaho, wyoming and montana last summer. the ranch is in montana. i have a previous post about our visit. check out their solar powered mill! the sheep are raised organically and they follow predator-friendly guide lines. they also use natural dyes for their yarns. i was a bit bummed when the tag on this roving said- lamb w625. i mean couldn't the lamb have a cute name like buttercup or clover?here's lamb w625 being spun:

ostara celebration!

we've been celebrating and welcoming in spring since thursday. hubby got work off on friday which was really nice. we made our spring altar.here's a close up of the little hanky i got last fall at an insulator/bottle show-too cute to pass up-i got a green one too.(see it on the the right side of the altar)the hens seemed to feel the vernal equinox -as we got our first 10 egg day ever-which means all of the girls popped out an egg that day! thanks ladies!on friday we also went on a hike with the boys-on the way we spotted a place that had been logged and look what we found-liam was in heaven.i'm so happy that our boys ages 16 and 10 (we are talking double digits here)-still like to color eggs at spring time-that they are not too "cool" to imbibe in such practices. although the process doesn't seem to take as long as it once did. and yes-we still do an egg hunt. although next year i think we'll have the boys hide them for hubby and i to find.i've been busy trying to get my new potato patch ready. last years site was way too small! we love our prates in this house-we are not afraid of carbohydrates. i was trying to get them planted by st. paddy's day-ha! i have to dig deep and lay the damn gopher wire down which is a pain in the ass.-literally a pain in my ass! so it's slow going. but i did manage to plant a small patch of peas, scallions and radishes.hey look! it's me!ha ha ha hee hee hee-april fools!!! gee i guess i'm early for once-i couldn't resist. although all you knitters out there know her-yes-she's the gorgeous model for interweave knits magazine. i guess i couldn't fool you guys. unless you really thought i was the interweave knit model-ha! okay. anyway-she's modeling the effin sweater i have wanted to knit for myself since the issue came out back in------i'm very excited to finally start it as i finally have yarn for it-i chose cascade 220 as it is in my budget, they have great colors and it's soft. i hope to get it finished for fall equinox! here's the yarn-color #4010. purchased from my local yarn store-meadow farm.the color is way more awesome in real life. it's a warm, golden, wheaty, lite mustardy woodsy, wooly, yummy, tasty, delectable steph color.

we also found time to enjoy a bit of magic watching one of my favorite childhood movies-"bedknobs and broomsticks" back when disney was worth watching.happy spring!!!!!!!!!!!

happy guinness day!

happy st. patrick's day!!!! one of my favorite days!!! not for what st. patrick did-supposedly getting rid of the snakes(i.e. pagens) of ireland-hey! wasn't he english? whatever-forget the history-it's a grand time for me to celebrate my irish roots and drink beer- and celebrate the serpent! i always dress in green on this day-a tradition from my childhood-so you wouldn't get pinched. but-we couldn't wear orange with our green because that meant you were "protestant."-god forbid!!!! i remember the chicago river dyed green for this grand day.-i hear they still do it today! here's my leprechaun outfit for the day-my last year's hand-dyed, handspun, hand knit green socks-no shawl yet- not finished. maybe next year!sorry to tell you- there will be no wild stories to tell of this nite-no singing back up to a 70's pop band at the crazy horse saloon-like last year. mellow night hanging with the family.

my mom used to make the BEST corned beef and cabbage every st. paddy's day. it's funny cause she's not even the irish one-i get my irish from my dad's side.( yes it was also my mom who made sure we wore green with no orange!) tonight we had the poor irish peasant dinner-since the family won't eat meat-i omited the corned beef from my mom's recipe- boiled potato, cabbage, onions and carrots-but i didn't have any turnips to add. i like having the kids experience this kind of meal(makes them complain less about other meals i make. you know-the olden day meal trip. carey was at his mom's so he missed this spectacular dinner. makes you really appreciate salt and pepper.when my dear friend jeanette went to ireland she brought me back this awesome poster from st. patrick's day! too cool!i leave you tonight with a picture of my little leprechaun-
erin go bragh!

beer sweaters

now, i may not knit for my chickens but i will knit sweaters for beer bottles. i have a beer lovin, fellow piscean friend with a birthday coming up this week-what a better gift than a beer cozy!!! free pattern found here. this is a fun and fast gift idea-easy to knit too-if you can handle cables and double pointed needles.yea! it's done! while i'm on the subject of beer-i have just found a new store bought favorite(hubby's are the best!)-from weed, california.gotta love the bottle cap-liam and i have spent the last few days sprinkling the property with native wild california poppy seeds-in hopes of a colorful spring-let's hope the chickens don't find these delectable tidbits!!today we've had a true wild and crazy spring day-sun, rain, hail and bits of snow flurries-spring is definitely close. the other evening we had the most spectacular sunset. the picture doesn't do it justice-the pinks were more shocking and the lavenders below the pinks were so much more intense!!!!! but this gives you an idea:

it's the little things.........

.........that help you thru life.

i missed spinning saturday as i was "moonie cramping monster" and didn't want to go in public. i had good intentions-birdsong and i had plans to drive together as she never has a saturday off. i had to cancel.

on her way into town she dropped this by my house-totally made my day.and then later my little neighbor morgan(turning 12 this april) bought this for me at an estate sale.too cute eh?

i finally finished the commissioned vest for finn. yea!i don't think i will finish my st. paddy's day shawl in time-oh well. here it is so far.my afghan dilemma has taken a turn-i made a total of 6 4X4 squares-not gonna happen. too many ends to sew in. what was i thinking??? so i thought i would try to make a bigger square that is the size of 4 small squares. this just might work.i have been spinning some of the new fiber i got at stitches-lovin this colorway. what to make with it-or shall i sell it? dilemma.
i'll leave you with another stitches score- nature's palette-a naturally dyed merino yarn-i bought for a beautiful lace shawl. the color name is "odd duck" fits me perfect. i bought the last of it. the fiber artist is dying no more of it. it's a beautiful blue with green spots in it. thank you all for the little things in life-a letter, an email, a thought, a small gift or just being there for me. thank you thank you thank you-you are so special to me.

hookie

liam and i played hookie today. we headed to chico this morning for the 42nd bidwell bottle and insulator show. we went the first day as to not miss out on the good stuff. liam was a bit bummed at first as he said the was "overpriced or crap." he had been counting the days for this show-so it was a bit of a let down for him. so we took a break ate our sandwiches and kumquats that we packed early this morning and had a new outlook on life.this little break perked liam up immensely and we went back in and had a ball. he's learning that things that are more collectible-cost more.(that's tough when you are 10) he took his time thinking about his purchases. here's some examples of the choice dilemmas.he was probably just overwhelmed as i was at "stitches west." you want it all but you can't have it. i found myself loving all the beautiful colors-and trying to sway liam's choices due to my selfish color preferences.(i.e. chartreuse or citron) he wasn't going for it. that's when i got the grand idea to start my own collection-not to compete mind you-but to be able buy the colors i like to put in my window and enjoy the colors. so i bought my first insulator-a pony insulator that was marked 15$ but i talked the guy down to 10$ because of chips. i may be hooked-shit! see the diamond? that means it's canadian.

i was on the look out for swanky swigs-i collect these small drinking glasses from the 30-50's. they used to come with processed cheese in them. they are a cheap thing for me to collect-i like them. liam gave me one for solstice that has a spinning wheel on it!!! here's my new one with the spinning wheel. 3$.

i love the drive to chico-lower elevation allows us to drive back country roads thru olive groves-yes!!!!! lots of green rolling hills and funky things to see. i love this fence:they have more to hang.as we ventured back home -i needed an unsweetened lipton ice tea in a glass bottle. we have to stop at what liam calls the steven king grocery- no one ever comes out!!!! this photo makes this place look good!
we made it out alive-but no luck on the tea(sold out)-guess steven king likes the unsweetened stuff too.

liam wanted everyone to see his prize insulator-he's pretty excited about this one-it's a deeper purple in real life.

knits for chicks

if i EVER start knitting for my chickens......... please shoot me!

more stitches!

after a beautiful morning rain the sun is shining and the chickens are happy to be scratching about. the boys are on a hike-i'm recovering from another broken toe-so i'm hanging at home for a bit of peace and quiet. i hope to finish the commissioned vest and get some banjo practice in.

i thought i'd show you a few more "STITCHES" scores. i loved the sweet grass wool booth! i asked them to bring some undyed targhee fiber for dying ands spinning. and they did!! they traveled from montana-the wool is raised in montana. i can hardly wait to get my dyes out! so i bought some fiber and i treated myself to this delightful sock yarn in my favorite color!!!!!
isn't that gorgeous!!! and the gals were so nice at the booth-i really focused on supporting the little folks at this show. i wanted to support small companies and get things i couldn't get just anywhere.

another booth i enjoyed was judy's novelty wool. she doesn't have a website. she's from centerville, utah. her logo is "fun fibers for hand spinners." fun indeed!!!!! she was so personable and will to share knowledge-i could have hung out with her all day-i've started to spin the bottom roving and it is turning out beautifully!!! it is corriedale and so easy to spin-and soft too.

one booth i'm soooooooo regretting not buying at was the tactile and a verb for keeping warm booth. these gals had awesome naturally dyed spinning fibers and yarns to dye for. in fact-i was so overwhelmed i couldn't decide what to buy-i meant to go back and time didn't allow it-damn!!!! very inspiring stuff for me indeed. i want to explore natural dyes more-i've dabbled in the past but ready to do more.