Rain followed by warm, sunny weather means my old garden roses are in full bloom. I just love them.
Category: Gardening
A Happy, But Sort of Slow Week
I've been a really bad blogger, and I apologize!
I've been off doing lots of fun things, like shopping for my oldest's dorm room and getting the littles off to the first day of school. I've also been doing some downright dull things too. Long overdue yardwork, like the dreaded task of cleaning out and thatching the tall garden iris.
Even that mundane work uncovers some beautiful surprises, though.
Anytime I work in the garden my dyeing muse goes into overtime and I find that I have to translate the colors onto fiber. The large yarn storage unit in the dining room sideboard in our dining room is overflowing with yarn waiting to be reskeined. It makes me think we have a late-summerl harvest of yarn, instead of melons or squash.
And knitting time! It seems like everyone we know is suddenly pregnant, so I have been spending a lot of time on baby sweaters. This one, in organic cotton, has a fun construction. The cardigan part of the sweater is knit in one piece, sleeves and all.
The lace panel buttons onto the body. I'm about three-quarters done with the panel and clearly in love with this sweater. The yarn (Blue Sky Alpaca) is very soft and a pleasure to knit with and the lace is simple enough that I haven't done it any major damage, even while laughing through the Daily Show and Colbert. I can't wait to finish this one and see how it looks!
A Day of Pictures: Swatching for Ellie’s Skirt while Babies Sleep
It is a pretty day here. A day of full sun that started with an early visit to the farmers market. There are beets roasting in the oven (they smell stunningly good), a bowl of blackberries macerating in sugar, and a breakfast room table that is covered in torn scraps of paper, glue, and paint (I collaged, the kids drew horns on people in the newspaper. I worry about them sometimes).
It really is pretty, so pretty I decided to have a day of pictures. This pretty.
It's a pretty day for yarn too. It must be pretty, because my seventeen year old, he who winds for movie money, stopped in the middle of the first skein and said, "this is really pretty yarn!" That has never happened before. It was a day-maker. Probably a month-maker. It may just be that his best friend's girlfriend crochets, which means having a mom who dyes and spins is suddenly cool.
I've been having a hard time with my knitting lately. Just when I want to knit on something, I can't find it or I can't find the directions. Despite my massive organizational overhaul of the house, knitting is still out of control. Even my swatches have been bad. This week, I swatched for Ollie's Bamboo socks, my fall cardigan, and Ellie's Be Sweet Skirt. The first two swatches have been repeat failures. So we will only discuss the Be Sweet Skirt, which is going to be gorgeous. here is the swatch.
This is some bamboo I'm going to use for the waist band. I think she's too big for an eyelet ribbon tie, so I'm going to do an elastic band at the top (you can see the garter ridge that I put in the swatch to make sure it would work to fold the band on). I'm hoping to get started tonight and then take all my yarn along to knit on the drive to Arkansas for Catherine's wedding.
I've stashed some Be Sweet yarn for the skirt, and have some silk I'm going to dye to work in with it.
Isn't it pretty? And lastly, I have to show you some "baby" pictures. Ollie was napping with the Judge.
Isn't he sweet? You can barely see the Judge, snoozing away obliviously in the far corner of this next photo, but I don't think the kids ever sleep. I don't remember naps being this much fun when I was little.
I'm off to roast some okra and zucchini and stuff some squash blossoms with goat cheese for dinner. I'll saute the beet greens to go with the beets and maybe sear a little bit of tuna or some scallops to go on the side. I love long, lazy summer days. I hope you enjoy all the pictures!
Harry eats yarn, we raise some money for charity, and all is good in our world
That very hairy leg you see belongs to my 17 year old, who has been helping to skein yarn for our effort to raise money for Heifer. While daydreaming about what ever it is that 17 year olds daydream about, he was attacked by Harry, the Maine Coon cat, who really loves the entire yarn dyeing process.
If you haven’t seen it yet, please take a minute to visit our fundraising effort. I’m hoping to raise $500 and donate a "Knitter’s Basket" — two sheep and an alpaca that can ultimately help an entire village become self-sufficient through breeding and raising wool and making products for sale. Pretty cool idea for knitters, no? If you want to participate but can’t afford a lot, consider buying a raffle ticket or two ($2) and getting a chance to win some great yarn, including silk/cashmere, while helping others. There will be more yarn starting on Thursday, as well.
Meanwhile, here are more photos of Harry messing with the yarn (click to enlarge).
I got a wonderful note in the mail from my friend Judy about the fundraiser. She wrote that one year, her daughter decided to host a big extended family Thanksgiving and do all the cooking. She told her mom that when people asked what they could bring, she was to suggest they make a contribution to Heifer, instead. Judy said the idea was a huge hit, they raised enough money to purchase several animals, and several of the family members still contribute to Heifer, as does my family, at the holidays. Judy also enclosed a very generous check for me to put towards our donation. I feel incredibly fortunate to have a friend like Judy, invariably a big supporter in all things I do, and I love her dearly.
Also in the mail, I got a cool bag from Crankypants that I ordered for a friend. Really, I wanted it for me, but it is going to a friend. Amy knew that, and she tucked in a smaller bag for me to keep for myself. How cool is that? Perfect for carrying around the tea cozies I’m knitting for a few friends for Christmas.
Thank you Amy!
The bag, however, forced me to raise a troubling subject. I have so much holiday knitting to do that I’ve been afraid to even make a list. There is no way I can do it all. Really. I’m totally screwed. Next year, I’m starting in January. But for now, I’m going to try and pare down to just a few things and hope that the combination of a little business travel and ballet rehearsals will give me lots of time. I have this.
- The Be Sweet yarn is all going for tea cozies for friends
- The white is some incredibly soft Blue Sky organic cotton, destined to be a baby bolero
- The pretty multicolored skein on the far right has a mate in back and is going to be felted bowls
- The darker multicolor in the back is some of my own yarn, destined to be hats (I have two more balls of it)
- The two small balls are for Blythe, Ellie’s new doll obsession
- The pale pink is some beaded Tillie Thomas yarn I got on sale along with her baby hat pattern
I’m also knitting a vest for Ollie — he’s been begging for one out of the same yarn I used for my Clapotis. It’s a very soft Debbie Bliss aran silk/alpaca blend, and I’m terrified I’m going to run out.
The color is the color of his eyes and he is going to look incredibly handsome in it…if I can find more yarn. What was I thinking? I’ve emailed the store it came from and may have to go stalk people with it on Ravelry.
I’m also dyeing some yarn. First up, some silk/merino yarn for a Clapotis.
This is for one of my customers on approval. I don’t really like doing custom dyeing, because I don’t want anyone to ever end up with yarn they don’t LOVE. But, I get so many requests for Clapotis yarn (I dye mine on the same core yarn used for the Lorna’s Laces Lion and Lamb yarn that the pattern is written for) that I’ve developed a list for interested people. They get to tell me the colors they want, I dye a yarn in my interpretation of the colorway and they get to choose whether they want it, or not. The idea is that if they don’t want it, it goes into the store. However I’ve never had any luck getting it into the store, so I’ve started dyeing it in batches big enough for two Clapotis, in hopes there will actually be some in stock that y’all can buy. (If you’re interested in getting on the list, drop me an email.) I’ve also been dyeing lots of roving this weekend. Here’s the first bit, some Blue Faced Leicester.
I’m off for the rest of the day. We have leaves to rake, a movie to see (should it be Enchanted or Beowulf?), and a pie to bake. All year long, through the extreme drought down here, we nursed along our seven year old Meyer Lemon tree. It has only had fruit the last two years and we were determined. Last night, with help from Harry, we had the most wonderful lemon meringue pie.
But it disappeared in no time and I’m longing for another slice. Fortunately, I have just enough lemons on the tree for a second pie. I love it when a plan comes together!
Drought Flowers
The drought in Alabama is terrible. I think the last information I saw said we were 28 inches behind in rain. We’ve been on a restriction for months now that lets us water twice a week. I turn off the shower while I wash my hair.
Most of my flowers grow in our front yard (so that the evil pups can romp in the back). This is my azaleas.
And here is my flower bed.
Early on, I decided to avoid watering, and see what survived. I don’t anticipate it getting any better next year. We’ve lost a mature peach tree and even the rose arch over our front door.
Amazingly, a few things have survived. My rosemary hedge is beautiful. And we have flowers here and there. I’ve taken to calling them drought flowers.
Every time we get a sprinkling of rain, they come out.
They’re so beautiful. They’re like a promise. I miss my tangled English garden dreadfully — I plan on doing some careful replanting and nursing. I’m hoping I haven’t lost all of my tall garden iris and I’m hoping my roses will all survive. I don’t think I’ll ever take a summer flower garden for granted again.
Even the cats seemed to languish in the hot summer weather. Harry has been looking peaked for the last few weeks. But, with the cooler air this week, the Main Coons are back outside and playing like their happy lunatic selves. I’m hoping that it will stay cool and their mood will be infectious.
We’re off to see Where the Wild Things Are, being performed as a ballet by Alabama Ballet. It’s going to be Ollie’s first trip to the ballet. He saw it in rehearsal and really wanted to go. I’m not sure four year old boys and the ballet are a good mix, so please wish me luck this afternoon!
Dyeing Silk
Did I mention that it’s hot here? Horribly hot. Hot enough to fry eggs on the sidewalk, so, I decided to dye silk on the sidewalk. Or at least to dye it in some of my long pans outside on the front porch.
Armed with a little plastic tub and some dyes in squirt top bottles (Procion H for silk), along with brushes and gloves, I went to work.
I uniformly scrunched the silk — sort of a lazy man’s version of even pleating — and put it into the tray. The first dye bath was blues and purples. Actually, I need to back up and tell you that after soaking the silk in vinegar, I put it into a very pale blue dye bath, and put down that first layer evenly over the silk in an extra large pot. So outdoors was the first varigated layer. I did the first side and then gently lifted the silk and turned it over, maintaining the "scrunch" and repeated the colors on the back side.
I let this heat up and then covered it in plastic, followed by aluminum foil, which quickly caused the temperature to soar. I let it sit for close to 24 hours.
This was followed with a second layer of color, which will hopefully produce highlights.
This second bath will sit, again covered, for another 24 to 48 hours, or as long as I can stand it because I’m dying to see the results. After rinsing, the silk is reconditioned (sort of like conditioning your hair) and voila, hopefully, beautiful hand-dyed silk.
If you’re interested in seeing more detail about this method, I have a full tutorial on Paula Burch’s fabulous dyeing website. There is a link in the upper right hand corner of this page.
As if all that fabulous silk wasn’t reward enough, the children were playing outside in our very parched yard while I was working. I was finishing up when I heard Ellie say "a butterfly!" It was an amazing butterfly, only the second one we’ve seen this week. Isn’t it beautiful?
Our Weekend: Harry Potter, Mudballs, & The Garden
It has been pretty much your average weekend around here. Food. Pool. Family. I thought I would share a couple of quick snippets with you.
First off: Tomatoes in the garden. Actually, it is just tomato, singular. As a native Californian, I just can’t bring myself to water during a drought. I figure anything that can’t make it on its own is just going to have to return to the earth. But look at this one lone little tomato, surviving through drought and some kind of nasty looking wilt. Isn’t it beautiful?
Next up: Mudballs. Ellie and I sat outside with my mother in law yesterday and worked on mudballs. Really. To be more exact, we were experimenting with the ancient Japanese art form dorodango. We were both fascinated by pictures we saw of balls that we first thought were glass, or maybe ceramic or even metal. But they turned out to be mud. Our first attempts were by no means anything like the photos we saw, but we have yet to burnish and finish our layers. One of our unfinished little balls is pictured below, but you have really got to go and see the real thing. Simply incredible. You can find instructions and photos here => http://www.dorodango.com/create.html if you want to try it.
Finally, Harry Potter. I actually know people who aren’t obsessed with the countdown to the exact moment when the book will be available. People who don’t plan on seeing the movie the very first day it opens. Let me tell y’all, my whole household is obsessed with both events. I decided to dye some Hogwart’s House Colors-themed yarn this weekend, and came up with a cool little Slytherin moss and gray. Although I can’t imagine any possible weather that would permit this to be worn in Alabama in July, I still intend to knit up a neat little Slytherin scarf. (The Judge is undoubtedly a Slytherin.)
Nearer and dearer to my own heart is this Hufflepuff sock yarn. It makes me think of bumblebees, or maybe even of Uma Thurman on her yellow motorcycle in Kill Bill I. But the colors are undoubtedly Hufflepuff and I am hoping to find a few quiet moments to knit myself some socks to wear while watching the movie and lounging around the house reading the book the following week.
