mendo coast part 2

i thought i'd better finish up ''washboard woolies" coastal trip before moving on.

i found us a little affordable motel in fort bragg with a kitchen. the curtains made the place!

the bathroom curtains were even better! embroidered!

one of the things i love about the coast are all the flowers. the geraniums outside our room were gorgeous!

a visit to fort bragg is never complete unless breakfast has been had at "eggheads." yum!

then a call for glass beach is a must! from a distance it looks like a regular beach. but it's actually an old dump site(three dumps liam has informed me!)

closer observation reveals a beach full of treasures-sea glass!


much of it is sea glass-not rocks. here's a closer look:

you can spend hours finding all sorts of things-not just sea glass. stone fruit pits that have been polished by the waves are a special find. lots of shoe heels and pottery and car parts too!

rhodi and i had great fun before leaving town-checking out antique stores, galleries, thrift stores(i totally scored!!!) a road side flea market, but the best of all was a stop at "pippi longstockings."

now listen folks i NEVER EVER EVER buy myself nice socks-in fact besides my few pairs of hand knit socks i have absolutely the suckiest socks around. since the fair went well, i indulged in some wonderfully awesome, soft, squishy, orgasmic merino socks-some even had cashmere.....i wish i had pics to show you- but i really need to finish this post so i thought i would just post a picture every now and then to tantalize you...to make sure the next time you are in fort bragg you stop by and support this store. the owner is the sweetest! and the selection amazing!!!

well-the rain is pattering and the night is getting older and i'm getting sleepier-i leave you with this wonderful statue in mendocino-you could see it from all over town!

debut for washboard woolies

"washboard woolies" made it's debut at the 50th annual thanksgiving mendocino arts/crafts fair this past weekend. rhodie and i left thanksgiving day and made great time. normally a 5 hour drive only took a little over 4 hours. the recreation center was a great venue-the building was an old school shaped like a big 'V." i wish i'd taken more pics of it. it had amazing windows-lots of light.
we got set up thursday night and were all ready to go saturday morning.

you can see my spinning wheel in the lower left corner. we spun all weekend to the delight of the shoppers. it amazes me how many people have never seen a spinning wheel in action. the best thing we heard was-a woman telling her child that our wheels were "yarn machines." we had visions of strange H. G. Wells contraptions.

the above dresser was painted by rhodie's great aunt chiquita years ago and added a special touch to our booth. i forgot the old washboards at home-damn!

here's some close ups:

we had a wonderful time and wish to thank all who came and supported the artists and craftsters. it was reviving to get away and go to the ocean-i did forget my coat. luckily rhodi had extra woolies. the wind was fierce at times. gotta love mendocino!

BUY HANDMADE!

i know many of you out there take part in the "buy nothing day" the day after Thanksgiving. i understand that and have participated in the past. but i feel there are exceptions. call me a hypocrite but many of us artisans and craftsters rely on sales from craft fairs around the holiday season. Many of these fairs fall on "Black Fiday." Such as the one i am participating in this weekend in Mendocino.
i ask you, i urge you, i jump up and down and yell at you- to support your local artisans and craftsters and buy handmade gifts this holiday season. most towns have craft fairs but there are also many awesome websites out there that make it very easy to buy handmade wares- such as Etsy and 1000 markets. here's another website if you want to take the "buy handmade pledge." click here too.
okay-enough ranting- hope ya get my drift!

gotta run-but i wanted to let you know that we found a home for one of our banty roosters!

FDR is going to live at Avalon Gardens up the road from here. I hear he is doing well and the girls love him! he is handsome isn't he? thanks mimi and jori!

fungi & pie

first of all- i need to share with you a card i received in the mail! a real card-made of card stock paper-with a real stamp on it!!! it sure made my day. thanks milissa!!! the card even had a real handwritten letter in it! how wonderful-so much better than an email or electronic card. in my younger days-letter writing was a favorite past time for me. i think i just might have to revive this old favorite pastime of mine. yes! here's the card-grand isn't it?

i also got a bundle of postcards to share in the mail for our holiday craft/art fair in mendocino.

i'm too busy right now to be blogging as i have much to do to get ready as for the show. so the rest of the post is more of a photo essay of what's going on here -besides all the fibery goodness.


view from the front porch. we've been mushroom hunting lately. the recent gentle rains have brought them to the surface. lovely bolete:

here's more we saw on a walk:

it's been a long time since i've made homemade pie crust. gave it a shot-not too bad. made apple pie from our rogue wild apple tree that never gets watered.

cute vs. Eeyore

this morning i had about 5 minutes to read some blogs-never enough time to read them all. i managed to catch up on birdsong's blog and the picture of her new granddaughter was just too cute! then i traveled to scotland to check on magnusmog. she also had cuteness all over her blog with a photo of a wood mouse. i'm sure other blogs were full of cuteness as well but i only had time to read these two.

as i started stressing and focusing on everything that isn't going very well right now-i felt myself slipping into the dark land of "Eeyore!" i pulled myself together and decided to focus on"cute." cute makes people smile. cute makes people feel warm and fuzzy. everyone needs a dose of cute now and then. so i'm going to try my luck at 'cute'.

acorns to me- are really cute. i've posted many pics of acorns so i won't bore you with more- but check out what i got on etsy. actually soxchik turned me on to these cuties and i HAD to have them....

they are hand blown glass with real acorn tops-and they are tiny! cute huh? i think so. if you need a pair as well- go here.

blue was cute today. he actually sat with kitsie on the outside couch without attacking her.

now here is some real cuteness- remember blue as a puppy?-the cutest of all puppies ever!

check out these oh so cute baby booties knit from rowan felted tweed. NO! i am not pregnant- at 46 yrs of age with a "fixed" husband-this would not be cute!

instead-i've been wicked busy dyeing wool and yarn and knitting things for our upcoming show. sorry no pics of the other stuff-yet. i do hope to photograph later.

how's that for cute? that's all i have for cuteness today-it did make me feel better to focus on that instead of whining. i did want to quickly update you on the banty bungalow-i did finally finish the nesting boxes and even painted them before yesterday's rain!


the bantums are very excited about this and are laying in them instead of the floor.

on a completely different note-our family loves the "film noir" genre of movies and last night we watched a great one. "gun crazy!"


need to go play "clue" with the family- don't forget to add a bit of "cute" to your day.

Happy Samhain!

Last night was a fabulous treat or treat fest! Trick or treating in our little town is always special. like the ole days. Liam dressed up as Judge Van Cleef-a poker playing judge from the 1800's.

here's part of our motley crew:

Birdsong's house is always the best-how's this for spookiness:

i dressed as a crazed zombie knitter. while getting ready i realized i don't own a stitch of make- up. how could i make my face zombie-esque? i can tell you what doesn't work- face cream and a dusting of flour-definitely does not work. burnt wood chips from the burn pile didn't work either. what a dilemma i was in-no stores for face paint or make up. i had to make do- oil pastels from the art box! at least i could put on some stitches-

red modeling paint on my knitting needles worked great!

can you see the blood tipped needles? should have done a close up. oh well. Liam brought in a haul- jeez we only eat this stuff once a year. some houses gave out full size candy bars! and one even gave fancy italian truffles-wow!

check out the baby ruth bar-i totally snagged it. i can't remember the last time i had a baby ruth bar. all this candy brings back memories. liam got a huge score of kit kats. did you know the Japanese are REALLY into kit kats and they have tons of different and unique flavors.


i leave you with a fabulous image......the book in the buggy is "rosemary's baby"

I'm gonna kill him!

This is not the first time "blue" has wrecked a valuable skein-i know it's my fault for leaving the skein at his level-but......i feel like weeping. but i can't. my tear ducts are completely dried up after last night's friday movie. I watched the 1969 version of "david copperfield" and just sobbed and sobbed. Okay i admit to having a slight case of PMS. But why did it have to be my chartruese skein of targhee wool yarn from "sweet grass" and not the cheap-ass "knit picks" skeins next to it-sigh. nothing against knit picks yarn-i use it all the time! but you fibery folk know exactly what i mean. at least it was not a skein of cashmere, buffalo or quiviet. (uh-right steph-you don't own any of those luxury fibers....guess i better not get any.)

"blue" in action

here's blue checking out a praying mantis.

for the love of gudrun!

okay- can i just say i'm gaga for Gudrun! She is such an amazing designer and she has the coolest name! GUDRUN- it's so fun to say! GUDRUN GUDRUN GUDRUN! say it-just give it a try:GUDRUN. okay okay enough weirdness. i found her on RAVELRY-of course! she also has an awesome and ever inspiring blog. i need to add her to my blog list!

normally i focus on the free patterns that ravelry offers- believe me there are tons! but every once in awhile i just have to buy a pattern-and they make it oh so easy to do and it downloads right to your computer!-oh for the love of technology. which is where i found GUDRUN'S "moch" sweater pattern- it was an instant "have to have!" no debating here! check it out! i even have some yarn in my stash for it!! hubby will appreciate that! here is Gudrun modeling her creation:

isn't that just the cutest sweater ever? i think so! and as soon as i'm done with the thanksgiving show and holiday gifts-i'm going to embark on this-really! and i will finish it! really!

been dyeing up a storm- only a few pictures though. here are some BFL rovings for spinners.

LOOK at that crimp~! dreamy,eh? okay-some of you non fiber folks maybe be thinking "what the hell is BFL?" it stands for a breed of sheep-Blue Faced Leicester. glorious stuff i tell you! here's the magnificent creature the fiber comes from:

here's some more fiber-you can see the rovings on the left are BFL by the amazing crimp!

hope to get more pictures but i need to get them ready to take to meadowfarm tomorrow-so we will see if time permits.

on the garden front-it is done except for the 2 kale varieties-dino and purple, garlic and a special kind of boc choy-can't remember the name!

liam loves making my kitchen window above the sink esthetically pleasing for me. he cleans my insulators for me, arranges them and always puts fresh cuttings from the property. i think this cutting is from the coffee berry. and course some oak!

good news and new shoes!

as usual life has been way too busy. we had our first storm-it was a bit of a let down as the weather folks made a huge deal of it-but i shingled the roof of the banty bungalow and got many winterizing chores done-forgot to clean the rain gutters though-damn! our front porch was bombarded with acorns and oak leaves-
chicken little would have been totally freaking out at my house that night-total universe destruction from his point of view. sounded way worse than it was. but my freshly planted garlic got a great watering!

the good news of the day-rhodie and i got accepted to the mendocino arts and craft fair thanksgiving weekend. totally psyched but freaking as we have tons o work to do. business cards, booth design etc. we have a general idea-but need to fine tune it. and we need a cheap motel!!!! not an easy find in mendocino-might have to lodge in fort bragg.

i've been away from the ocean way too long! i can't wait to go!! been dyeing yarn:


here's some dye day results:

bummed that this skein below has some light spots in it! i was not liking the colors at all-i got fed up and disgusted and grabbed some orange dye and sponged it all over and loved the results-i love transforming ugly colors by mixing unusual combinations and seeing what happens-the result is not always pleasing to the eye but most of the time it is. the problem-very hard to recreate colors when i put my mad scientist coat on.

the following is a result of a new technique i tried called sprinkle dyeing. where you just sprinkle dye powder onto the wet yarn and spray it down and bake. i solar cooked it in the last of the hot summer sun.it turned out a bit grainy for my liking. i did a few more of these but have no pictures. been dyeing roving as well but was without a camera for awhile so missed many kodak moments. will try and catch up. need to get back to work- oh! almost forgot- i'm so loving my cheap-ass $15 dollar new shoes. check them out-sorry there is no calico to go with them..yet! neo-amish photo shoot has to happen.

i leave you with a picture of the Blue dragon- so worried i'm goin to go somewhere without him he has taken to napping on my shoes!