live and learn

last tuesday our fiber guild had a tie dye party at the local library! we were dying our guild t-shirts. what a blast! i usually don't dye cotton-i'm a wooly gurl. we mixed our colors and folded and twirled. We then had to wait....something i'm not good at... till friday to rinse. here it is before i rinsed.
see the green-it was blue when i mixed it and poured it on.... the alchemy of the color mixing turned it green. here is the unveiling-drum roll please......here's a close up.when i washed my shirt....a lot of the dye washed out. it's still beautiful-just lighter. but i'm excited to do more-like dye the family's grody socks...yes-they like to walk outside in their socks. that soil just doesn't come out.we did a mushroom hike yesterday and found over 35 different kinds. when we arrived at our local secret mushroom spot-where no one ever goes. two cars were leaving. and we noticed lots of spots where mushrooms had been harvested. i'm sure the were harvesting boletes! you can get a good price for boletes and matsutakes-which grow around here. i only found one bolete. i did find an interesting cluster-that looked like "jack-o-lantern"-which is poisonous. but the spore print did not match up. i'm perplexed. here's a picture:i've been getting ready for my annual craft faire at the north columbia school house this coming saturday. as usual.. procrastination happens. heavy sigh. oh well. live and learn. i seem to have trouble with the learning part. i have all these great ideas and i never get them done before the sale. later.

gobble gobble! (thanks sara!)

it's thanksgiving morning. the family is still sleeping. blue has grown out of two crates and i haven't been able to get a bigger one yet. so.......i have to get up with him. (or all hell breaks loose!) i thought i'd get caught up on my blog. but i'd rather be sleeping in. i haven't been sleeping well-so i'm feeling worn out and tired.

we always watched the macy's day parade on the tube when i was a kid-alas we have no tv. liam has never seen it. maybe carey watches it at his mom's. i hear the big smurf float was awesome. for those who also missed it.....
we finally got a little much needed rain yesterday. not enough though. i'm worried. i'm having to water the fall garden. i planted some soil builder cover crop in my raised beds. it is finally coming up. i love borage. it thrives in the cooler weather!


blue's not allowed in the garden-he loves to dig...in all the wrong places. sorry blue!

i planted onions and garlic for the first time ever. i'm very excited. it's been so warm look at my garlic already!my radishes are about 3 inches tall, i don't know if my beets are gonna make it. i planted everything too late. the lettuce is like half and inch tall. procrastination happens. on the hen front.....the gurls have been molting.....not a pretty site.egg production has been very low. but hey...i think they deserve a break! the stray dogs have been migrating thru the property a lot these days. free ranging days are over for the time being. i almost let them out yesterday. not 5 minutes later 3 large strays were there ready for trouble. my throat hurts from screaming at them. i'm going to expand the fenced in hen yard this winter so they have even more room to run around and give them more shade in the summer. i'm starting to plan some murals for the hen house....it's gonna be fun! it's a bit plain right now.i have a new apron to add to my collection. i got it from joan at "ala mode" in grass valley. i wish i had a picture of her cute little vintage clothing store. maybe i'll do that another day. i've been visiting her store which has moved around; since carey was 4 years old- he's almost 17 now-gulp!close up of the pocket.....
happy thanksgiving everyone! i have much to be thankful for. i feel blessed.

for the love of old shoes

no time for post toastie this weekend...... it's courrier time!!! got to get the paper done and sent to the printers!! but i want to leave you with a picture i love. a picture that makes me smile, a picture that makes me feel good, a picture that says wow! i want to get to know this woman. i found this picture while cruising around ravelry. i added her blog to my list. please check it out. thanks for the wonderful picture magnusmog! enjoy. check out the hand knit socks!

bring back the apron!!

i was going to try and post last night but my tired bod wouldn't allow it. you see we went on a hike not a particularly strenuous hike but a long one. at least 7 miles. we think it was longer-aching protesting hips say so. we decided to hike to the end of canyon creek trail which follows the north fork of the yuba river. we always seem to turn around before we reach the end. blue was very exciting as he had been sporting(much to his grief and embarrassment) an Elizabethan collar for 7 days and just had it removed on thursday. blue got neutered. when i picked him up he was wearing this! at least he doesn't look as miserable as morton the corgi-click on the collar link. the vet staff informed me i had to keep him quiet for 7 days-no running, jumping, stairs etc. i looked at them in disbelief. "helloooo what did you say? i've got a 5 month queensland heeler here and you are asking me to do what????" keep him quiet. that's a joke!!!!! they could have at least given me some doggie downers to bring home and aid me in this impossible task. so after a week of trying to restrain him-i was exhausted and at my wits end. hence the nice long walk.

what a beautiful day. temps in the 70's and scary but true no rain in sight! when we finally made it too the end of the trail we were excited to have our picnic. yet the place was already inhabited by others..1000's and 1000's perhaps millions! yes, we had to share the space with an orgy of ladybugs. this being their breeding ground. you couldn't walk without stepping on them. you couldn't sit on a rock with squishing them.this picture is just a few square inches-they were everywhere! we tried brushing off rocks to sit on and they would crawl all over you-and get under your clothes....kind of creepy. i don't want to bog down this post with too many photos but maybe i will share more pictures of our walk. liam did some mushroom collecting. here's some of his score as he was classifying them when we got home.
as promised here is a picture of the awesome hand woven bag i bought from bj at our farmstore spin day. see previous post. it holds my spinning wheel oil and my little hook. don't ya just love it!!!
i had started spinning some awesome naturally dyed fiber from tactile at the farmstore. i finished and i love it!!! i can't wait to make something with it-after the damn holidays-i've got way way too many projects going between gifts and stuff to sell at shows. here's my yarn: ooh la la and it's soft too~ i've decided to bring back the apron. i collect old aprons. i have a plethora of them.( i so love that word!) but they stay in a drawer. no one ever sees them. i've decided to let them out. i sported this one today.

yeah-i guess i wanted you to check out my boots too- remember these? flea market 8$ red wing effin boots! here's more of the apron.too sweet for words. i'll try and post a few more pics from the weekend during the week. blue needs another walk!

guineas and geese

post election bliss bummed out by the passing of prop 8. taking away the rights of Californian gays and lesbians right to wed. very sad and unfair-what is wrong with people? it hurts! what can i say? i voted. heavy sigh.

on a lighter note today.... we had a spinning gathering at a local farm. members of our fiber guild met at jenny brown's farm store in oregon house. what fun it was to get together with friends spinning without guilt(as i was not at home plagued with chores.) the rain cleared for us and we had a splendid time.
i was spinning some marvelous natural dyed merino roving from tactile.
here was my little space.....

my friend sue had a gorgeous basket full of rovings from her own sheep. see it? all the beautiful natural wool. B.j. brought her weavings, lavender, yarns and hats too. i bought a handwoven bag from B.J. to hold my spinning supplies.. photo to come. i also bought a beret. knowing i could knit myself a beret....but when you fall in love with a chapeau made of alpaca, mohair and wool you just gotta have it. they were my colors.the picture does not do the hat justice. way more green..... i was trying to take a self portrait -ha! i have lizard eyes. slurp slurp!
there was a wine tasting of local wine. yum. i had to have local honey, local pomegranates, a bottle of ...something i can't pronounce unless i'm in mafia mode(hence the accent)-sangiovese. birdsong and sara said it perfectly. possible mafia connections? and yes, believe it or not i bought some beef. jenny raises her own grass fed beef and i bought a chunk of her summer sausage that was to die for. most of you know me as a vegetarian. but what can i say...when my body screams at me for meat and i start acting a bit too carnivorous for my own liking.. i need to imbibe. i don't want to be caught chasing deer down the road in a carnivorous frenzie. here's my score: jenny had a woodstove installed in the barn for warmth... but we had such a glorious day we took advantage of spinning outdoors. the geese and guineas hens supplied us with glorious music and entertainment. there were many more spinners and a weaver but i didn't catch it on camera. too busy having fun i guess..

HIP HOP HOORAY!!!!!

what can i say? i'm so excited!!!! the people were finally fed up!!! thanks to all who voted. we were so excited watching the states votes come in. liam was really into this election. he wore his buttons yesterday.when word was out that obama was gonna be prez-liam got his party popper and let it explode and was using his gramophone to cheer into! CELBRATION!!!i don't envy obama's new job in any way.....what a royal mess he has to deal with. it's gonna take some time........ and finally a president you don't mind seeing in a swim suit-heh heh heh!!!!!!!

election eve!

wow! i'm so scared about this election. i can't even believe we vote tomorrow! gads-i hope i can sleep. i can't even discuss it. i'm wearing my shirt though!!!!!!


but i actually have a bit of fiber for you! i received some beautifully dyed targhee fiber from a fiber swap on ravelry. i love targhee...so soft and spongy!

i finally got to spin it!!! yipee yahoo...eeee!

i'm happy to put something wooly on my site. i even started some holiday gifts!! but can't show pics!

now to Halloween-the boys had fun carving-as you can see "pilsner" really wanted to help too.carey went to a sleep over for a movie marathon night. liam dressed up as the ghost of Lester Allen Pelton. he's into local historical stuff. we went trick or treating and it was like the ole days. very small town fun. i dressed up as a coastal leprechaun-ess from belfast complete with a bull kelp shilaylee(spelling?) hubby was my husband! we ended up at the local watering hole where dancing and singing was had by all. birdsong dressed as a witch and her hubby were there too! been a long time since i've done that! fun!it's been raining for days-finally! this rain is gorgeous and wonderful to me.....i love rain. especially after not having any for months. things are turning green already. last thursday i finished the last of the chicken coop roofing right as the rain began...whew! a bit messy but it's finally done. that was close as it's been pouring! well, i'm feeling my energy being sucked into the machine. i need to get off and do some knitting!! get out and vote tomorrow!