fiber celebs and missing the boat!

i think i'd like to rewind my life a bit and post on happenings in my life that i have not yet blogged about. many weekends ago-seems like a lifetime ago-my LYS ("local yarn store" for those of you that are not fiber minded)-MeadowFarms Yarn Studio held a champagne "GALA" affair celebrating and honoring some local celebrities.

the fall issue of "spin off" featuring an article by our very own famous & fabulous Sara Lamb!!!!! "the fall leaves shawl saga-make 1 shawl 11 ways!" there were a lot of shawls and scarves to knit so she called upon 4 more of our "local" (as well as one other out-o-stater-that be you deb!) talented knitters that spin as well as dye their own fiber to help her in this conquest. (note-autographs below)

the "Gala" was also celebrating a new book which featured 2 of Sara's knitting patterns! yes, i had to buy both!

Sara is pictured below on the left along with Eileen Lee-one of the celeb shawl knitters!

here is Sue Flynn below- dyer, spinner and knitter extraordinaire (on the right) after autographing comrade Rhodi's magazine! Dee Jones was there as well but Lindsey Cleveland did not grace us with her presence. where were you Lindsey?

MeadowFarm was full of life and color that Saturday! here's Kate and Barbara Sue always ready for a good time!

now, i debated with myself quite awhile whether to put this next bit in or not. but i figured-ah, what the heck. why not-being that i'm rather low on the spectrum of fiber celebrity-ness a little bit of notoriety couldn't hurt. it's my 15 seconds of fame! ha!

Okay-i'm not used to this but..........see the green yarn below:

pictured on page 67-yes that's page 67-in the new fall issue of Spin off- is green wool i dyed! yes, it is really true. see below:

how cool is that? trying not to brag here. BUT how lame can i be? now check this out:

on page 72 at the end of the article are the Resources-(see above) my etsy shop in print for all to see! guess what? my shop at the moment is empty-ZERO, NADA, ABSO-EFFIN-LUTELY EMPTY! heavy sigh! can you believe it? missed that boat! better get off this machine and get me arse busy!!

happy equinox!

we celebrated equinox with an evening naked swim at strawberry hole- it was a delight! No one in sight, cold as hell(despite the hot day) but awesome anyway!!! once you're numb you can swim and swim.

photo credit:Liam

the sweetness in life

we got our first bantam egg today! it's the sweetness in life that keeps me going!

we're #37!

fiber blog?

okay okay! i know this is suppose to be somewhat of a fiber blog. life in these parts are just so ever consuming and busy that knitted items and other fibery goodness go un-noticed, un-photographed and un-posted! this is a disgrace, pathetic, and down right slanderous!!! i am SO going to try and be a better post-er. i actually do more fiber stuff than is shown but with time constraints and a funky computer-pictures and post just don't always happen-then life takes over and just forget IT! not gonna happen.

but i actually did finish the Gaia shoulder hug shawl back in august. was worried about having enough yarn for the picot bind off-so i stopped early but ended up having enough for a bigger shawl. oh well, it's a nice small shawl and being that i am hobbit like-it fits me perfect!
this picture makes it look way bigger than it is! don't want to bore you with 20 pictures of this shawl-i'll just post a few. even though i have about 20 pictures of this thing! why?

haven't sewn the ends in yet-so you can see some stragglers.

now if i only had time to post the pics on ravelry!!!

on a much delighted note-for hubby. we found a home for zeemic. what a swell rooster-beautiful crow, sweet disposition and he had the effin biggest wattles and comb i have ever seen. wish i could have seen how big he got. he's only 4 months old. the girls are missin their man-as he was such a gentleman! hope gaia decides to raise him rather than eat him. but thank you gaia what ever you choose! if you do eat him-his meat is gonna be sweet! no nasty rooster meat there!

i leave you with a picture of the dragon-

this is his state of being during the day after keeping the foxes and coyotes away from the property at nite! also wrestling with "montana" the alpha female great pyranese/anatolian mix in the early morning-he loves/hates that she visits every morning. the minute i tell her to go home- blue is on it and gets so mad that she doesn't care what he says. later!

summer time-the fair!!!

after listening to prarie home companion's minnesota state fair episode last night on the radio, i realized i still had time to post about our country fair-even though it was weeks ago.

i actually crawled out from underneath my rock and spun in "public" for 4 hours. i don't usually do this. i'm more of a behind the scenes kinda gal- love helping with set up or tear down. but generally don't do things that involve communicating with the general public-yes, i'm a true hermitess at heart! but spinning with friends made it easier for me. i can't believe i did not take one picture of the fiber area-so lame!

my most favorite part of the fair is always the animals. i should have been born on a farm. in fact visiting my aunt/uncle's farm when i was a child was the best time ever for me.

COWS-love 'em- here's holly she was my favorite-wanted to take her home!

the animal bonds were sweet:

and of course the merino sheep-the fiber we would sell our children for...are so magestic and regal! gee- he looks a little stoned. california happy sheep!

this guy is blowing the hair off his steer for showing.


horses-what can i say? wish i could trade my car in for one. my fav-the work/draft breeds. the gentle giants. riding them bareback-always a joy!!!! nice neck!!!

liam scored this year at the fair. carey-is 17.5 and didn't want to enter anything this year.

5 blue ribbons-2 photos, a poem, a hand carved power pole, and a bottle collection. his bottle collection brought in best of show:(note the wool roving under the bottles!)

here's a close up of the power pole model:


i will post his poem later as you can't see it. okay enough mama bragging.

the fair is always fun for us. no deep fried butter for me. we always go back every year to see our favorite stuff-the mobile beehive, checking out the tractors, animals, leering at the republican booth, we always hit the "beef-it's whats for dinner" booth, the narrow gauge project-the local model train diorama, no veggie brats this year:( i'm so lucky my kids are NOT into rides and we can avoid the midway totally- liam won't even walk thru it. bummer for me as i love the people watching and checking out the carnis. the boys saw more of the fair than i did as i was spinning. carey and girlfriend sage hung out at his favorite booth-the vita mix! they know him now! i so want a vita mix but jeeze- they are the price of a spinning wheel!!!! you can never have too many spinning wheels.

what? i gotta make dinner-later!

just because

okay- i have like 873,860 things to post about.....think i'll just leave you with this. just because.

that time of year.....again!

yes, it's that time of year again. happens every end of august! i must post a picture of someone freaking out. why? schooling begins. don't get me wrong-i love homeschooling but after months of doing non- academic things my brain gets mushy and lazy and the thought of starting school again is like dragging your ass out of bed on a cold, dark, winter rainy morning and you have clean sheets and a big feather comforter with a flannel duvet cover! i want to moan and cry-maybe become two again- have a good kicking and floor pounding tantrum.
but alas- i come to scenes put my big gurl panties on....and face the day! and try not to think about what i didn't get done this summer.

cool foods for hot days!

i am no longer living the zombie life-i'm happy to say that teadog finally got one of my drugs of choice back in stock!!! and not a moment too soon-i'm sorry but what's with that stuff they call tea and tastes like warm wet bandages? now this is a cup o tea!!!

despite the fire we are going about life as usual. saturday we attended our local gardeners' market(eat your zip code!) i wanted cucumbers for lacto/fermented pickles and tomatoes for gazpacho as mine are not ripening!!! we spent $20 on cantaloupe, peaches, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and corn that tastes like corn. probably more but my memory fails. forgot to take a picture of the score! the boys picked a bit and were dubbed the "corn pickers." hubby is trying to get liam over his shyness of playing in public.check out this beautiful eggplant-i didn't buy it as i'm the only one in the family that likes eggplant. i guess i could have made a huge batch of baba ganoush!

one of my favorite foods is lacto- fermented pickles-i can eat a jar in one sitting. that's not so good on the pocket book. after researching i found this recipe online-great blog for healthy recipes!!! thank you winnie!!!!!

started with cucumbers:

lots of garlic from our garden :)

the recipe is so ridiculously simple makes me wonder why raw lacto-fermented foods are so expensive in the stores. it's basically veggies and salt-you can add whey if you'd like-check out the recipe link for more info-winnie has kraut and kim chee recipes too!

i chose to buy the expensive 250 million year old himalayan salt over regular sea salt-just got a bit crazy with the thought of 250 million year old himalayan salt-i may not be able to climb those babies but ingesting something from there just seems magical to me.

nice huh? decided to try the wax beans i got at the market as well-thinking of trying beets next!!!

then i made some gazpacho(cold soup)- great for hot days. another ridiculously easy recipe-if you have a blender.

just throw in tomatoes, cucumbers, cilantro, parsley, garlic, bell pepper, onion, spicy peppers if you'd like, salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar-give it a whirl-yum!!

fire update

thanks for all the fire concern. the fire is close but we are not in danger at the moment-let's hope the wind remains quiet. last night hubby and i went to town on a date- i took these pics on the
way.

this morning a big DC-10 tanker circled over our house for about 30 minutes. liam got some shots.

the fire is about 15 miles away-the winds are picking up which is a total bummer-blowing smoke our way. liam took a photo of our view this morning.
this is our view now-can't even be outside the smoke is too much!

updates at yubanet.

ashes are falling

ashes are falling here at my house-soft and subtle-like snow flurries. yes, we've been lucky this summer so far-but alas fire happens in california. i drove about 5 miles down the road and took these pictures.i'm wondering if that is one of shirley's ospreys?

poor town of dobbins-always blasted with fire! evacuations occurring and campers fleeing. i was going to cross the reservoir to take pics for the "courier" but heard fire fighter traffic was being inhibited by traffic- so i kept my distance. i'm a lousy "press" person i guess. a DC tanker is on the way!!!! hang on!

more information and pictures at yubanet. great picture grover!!!

folks gathering at the rebel ridge market that have been evacuated-caged birds and dogs in tow.
sadness.

spinning summit 4000 feet

most of you fiber folks out there know that the big "sock summit" happened this past weekend in portland, oregon. there was a lot of jealousy going around these parts-pertaining to not being able to attend the summit. my buddy birdsong got the fabulous idea of hosting a spinning summit at her mountain house in forest city . forest city is a historic ghost town that is inhabited by very few. check my old post on "sunflowers and art" there are some great photos of the museum in the old dance hall.

as seen in my previous post-i packed up "jimmy" on friday and headed up to forest city-a bit over 4000 elevation feet i believe. i was the first to arrive. here's birdsong's most wonderful house built in 1864.

it is an amazing walk back in time-almost kind a sorta like time travel being there. we quickly set up my tent after unloading all my immense provisions-food, fiber and beer! spinning and knitting chairs-and of course my wheel.

we were soon joined by barbara sue(damn i forgot to have her sing "oklahoma" in hebrew for us-it's totally amazing), rowen and maizie(her delightful 4 year old girl), claudia and a bit later luci arrived. unfortunately she got an unplanned tour of the whole area-as the road sign does not exsist anymore and she continued up 49(instead of taking a very crucial right hand turn) ending up at the north fork of the yuba! after realizing she'd gone too far turned around found the right road but missed the forest city turn off and ended up in allegany. they don't take too kindly to strangers there. but she made it!!!!!

above is rowen and maizie. wish i got photos of everyone but i was having way too much fun to remember to shoot away. below claudia is knitting a pair of socks-

unfortunately she is not making them for herself.

i know what to make claud for solstice!!!!!!!! she made an awesome needle felted finger puppet to help teach her waldorf inspired kindergarden class. we all coveted spider woman!

liam loves forest city-he especially loves birdsong's old truck-which we adorned with a bag and t.p. for the gals that chose woods over the outhouse.

i must admit the outhouse was quite comfortable for those "special" times.

we stayed up late eating, spinning, knitting and laughing our butts off! when we retired i was the only one camping-everyone else was in the house. i was doing okay listening to the animals scurrying about-thought once or twice about attracting bear as i was on my period and bear poop did abound. i usually have my whole family in the tent with me and i was having a bit of trouble falling asleep. soon i heard off in the distance dirt bikes approaching. the buzzing got louder and louder till they were zooming right by birdsong's house. now, it was well after 1:00am and we are in the middle of nowhere. i have an intense overactive imagination and i saw way too many horror films in high school-they never leave your psyche. i saw them all-friday the 13th, nightmare on elm street, texas chain saw massacre etc. the reoccurring setting in most of these movies-----can you say "RURAL"- middle of nowhere places. you get my drift-i was imagining the drivers of these bikes wearing hockey masks, brandishing chain saws and ice picks- i tried to remain calm and talk myself down but when the bikes stopped instead of driving away in the distance-i grabbed my sleeping bag and pillows and ran tripping and stumbling into the house and slept on couch. the house folks never heard a thing!

on to calmer, sedate and nicer things-this is the awesome stove we cooked on all weekend-it wasn't hot enough to use the solar oven-although birdsong tried! check out the authentic 1930's wallpaper!! many different spinning wheels came and went thru out the weekend as not everyone could stay the whole time.


rhodie and mary lou joined us on saturday bringing yet more food and beer and the much needed toilet paper! cheryl joined us, sunflowers in tow for evening laughter (she is 1 of the 3 year round residents.) i slept inside again :)

sunday morning we took a nice hike and found the new mountain bike bridge-i love rock work!! what a beautiful bridge-want to come back and walk the dragon here.

remember my lisa souza roving? i finished it on sunday. i was thrilled.

there is another skein as well! i was also able to start my crosspatch creations-in the wolf creek(thanks b. sue) color way.


i also started my box car willie socks-my best imaginary friend soxchic sent me this sock blank she hand dyed-i'm using toothpicks to knit the damn things(size 0)and they are still coming out big- dear luci helped me to adjust the pattern-i hate being such a loose gurl-i just can't help myself!!!

sunday brought jan and angela venturing up to spinning summit-

no, jan is not trying out a new yoga position or checking to see if her deodorant is working-she is spinning on her drop spindle and angela (pink shirt) is knitting an amazing fitted jacket. rhodie-periwinkle dress-kintting lace hat. a fine photo of the back of mary lou's head-she is working away on a ultra soft tam, claudia still isn't knitting socks for herself and birdsong seems to be looking at something in her lap? a bobbin perhaps?

the weekend was fabulous and i want to thank birdsong for being a most marvelous host!!!! check out her blog for more photos and stories.