...my age.

Or, maybe I just look exhausted. After looking at this, I've decided that I should start caring about my appearance again. If not plucking the unibrow, perhaps at the very least trimming the fly-away Boris Karloff-esque bits. C has always really liked my crazy, unkempt brows, and I thought that was great because it saved me five minutes here and there to just leave them be, but...
Anyway, I took these pics for a fabulous friend of mine who sent me this gorgeous piece of jewelry. She only asked for a photo of the piece, like, six months ago. Sorry, Cinder! Will email them to yous shortly.

In other news, I picked dandies:

and we'll be making wine. They are currently steeping in water, and we are hoping to track down some fermentation caps before I'm supposed to start the next step tomorrow. The beer/wine making supply shop is, of course, closed on Mondays and Tuesdays (and yes, we drove there to find this out). So, I guess I should say hopefully making wine.

And we ate these:

Definitely in my Top 10 Things I Love About New England. I sauteed them in garlic and fresh raw butter, added some feta, mustard and balsamic and holy wow. The little guy was so very excited to be eating "Spirals!" that he cleaned his plate and asked for more. Oh, how I adore thee, Fiddlehead, and how I weep for the shortness of your harvest season.

And I made some yarn:


Well, that's the short and sweet of it. Tonight I have a date with some denim/hemp/wool batts...what a freaking mess. Now I remember why I dislike carding plant fibers. There was a fine layer of fluff all over everything in the room.

Happy Monday...

I woke today, refreshed and feeling much better...so I decided to take one more day off from crafting to work on the studio space and garden. C had the day off, so we took advantage and made some things happen:

Raised beds, baby. Oh, yes. These are for the lettuces.
And then there are these precious babies:

From left to right: borage, broccoli and...melons! There are 'maters and peppers and lots of culinary herbs, too. Everything else (corn, peas, squash, etc.) will be directly sown this coming weekend, so long as frosts remain absent from the forecast. And flowers! I'm planting bachelor buttons and Job's Tears...hooray for nature's perfect bead! I hope we are able to harvest before we move.

And I was actually a wee bit productive on my sick-bed yesterday. I think I mentioned that a peruser at market requested I have some examples of how the corespun yarns knit up, since I had a plethora of the landscape series on display. I was just going to play with a simple scarf or some such, and then decided that I should really have a free pattern to go along with this series of yarns. So, the One-Hour Corespun Hat was born!

I will take better pics and make up a nice little pdf. Hard copies will go out with orders and I'll make sure to have a free Ravelry download, as well. It really took me less than an hour, knit flat on US 19s. I will also provide instruction for knitting in the round, which I would have preferred had I some size 19 circulars.

So, we're all feeling pretty good and accomplished around here, AND, we have a brand spanking new realtor coming tomorrow. It has been one whole, solid year since we put the house on the market. Time for a fresh approach, a lower price and some mooooooovement. Oh, my sweet Cali, we are homeward bound.



:)

So, my insane (in a good way) husband, built me a timber-framed booth, with mortis and tenon joints and everything, cut from trees in our own backyard. Here is a picture of our $4.97 structure:

Yes, I know the chalkboard is blank...I forgot the damn pens. Next time it will advertise workshops and private instruction as well as some pricing info for the scarves. We all forget something on the first day.

Here is the side you can't see in the above pic:

There are more pics on my Flickr (thespunmonkey) if you wanna see some other views.
After a little roof tune-up, it's going to be a great spot to hang out and spin in public on Saturdays. I love being next to Laurie, who sells gorgeous perennial plants and Bingo granola is on my other side...yummy, local sprouted goodness. We're also going to build a little platform for the chair/wheel because the ground is a bit too lumpy, and on a day like yesterday, damp.

I'm taking a break today, as I am muchly under-the-weather, but have plenty on the plate for this coming week. The card printing will hopefully commence, and it was requested by a few folks that I knit up some of the corespun so they can see how it looks. Happy to oblige! I think I will be much more prepared for Art Star at the end of this month than I was for Baz Biz and the MDSW this weekend. I am wishing now that I hadn't committed myself to the latter, as I feel I didn't send down a good representation of my work. It was sort of thrown together, stuff pulled from months ago, and it just didn't even really look like my spinning anymore. There were a few new pieces that I was proud of, but other than that, I kind of think it would have been better just to pass as I'm feeling very self-conscious about it.

Well, off to update the site and then pass out in a chamomile-induced haze.

Yes, of course, it rained most of the opening day of the Farmer's Market. We learned a lot about the roof of our structure (needs more). I am currently drying many yarns and scarves before they get stored again. BUT, C built the most gorgeous, amazing booth for me. Roof will be extended in the next couple of days so there won't be any problems on future rainy market days. My camera ran out of batteries (drat!), but I borrowed my booth-neighbor's camera and he will send me the pics so I can post 'em up for you to see...(and so you all can tell me how awesome my sign is that I painted with cheap-o hardware store paintbrushes and old acrylic paint that has been freezing and thawing in the barn for the last few years). Our structure cost a whopping total of $4.97.

Due to the above-mentioned rainy-ness, it was a slow biz day for everyone at market. I wasn't expecting fantastical sales on the first day, anyway, so no worries. I received some lovely compliments that just made it all worth it, even whilst chilled to my damp little bones.

And FYI, hanging out in the open-air of an icy-cold, wet day is not such a brilliant idea when you have the beginnings of another nasty Spring cold coming on. I am feeling much worse than I did this morning...yippee. So, in case I feel too much like garbage tomorrow, I made sure to take pictures of the yarns I will be adding to the shop, in case I need to do my update in my jammies with elderflower tea by my side.
Here is a preview:



I made a bunch of scarves, but not sure if I'll get a chance to photograph them...depends on the weather and if I feel like standing up at all. Right now, I am thinking about a hot water bottle, pillows, a blankie and some chamomile tea.

Night!

Yes, I know it's after 10pm, and Market starts at 9am tomorrow (if you're local, come visit me!!!). But, really, I just need to take a freaking break. I am still labeling and pricing, and have two scarves left for the second stage of felting...

Here is Rhoda modeling the latest:

Super squishy-soft merino, was a bit greasy and resisted felting...I took advantage and let my fingers pull it into cobwebby-ness...
I think Rhoda looks hotter in my dress than I do. Sigh. This is the dress I was wearing when I first kissed the father of my children. It always makes me feel beautiful and it happens to compliment most of the colors of scarves I have available for Market tomorrow.

Some other things that will be there:

A very productive week. It's too bad I had to stay up every night until 1am to make it happen. I will be caught up soon, and then can have a more sane kind of production schedule. Heaped the plate up a little too high this time around. Ah, well.

Booth is not quite finished, but will take pics tomorrow...It is wanting of a shelf/cabinet-y thing that will probably go in before next week's market.

Okay, back to the hot soapy water.
Wish me luck!

Firstly...the bats. It is so strange not to hear them making their summer home in our barn at night. To see the few, confused creatures that are still alive, flying about during the day in a mad search for food, salvation...and to think that they, too, will soon die and we will have no upside-down friends guanofying our stuff in the barn, eating our mosquitos, and occasionally sneaking into our house to swoop by our heads while we're watching a scary movie, is just heartbreaking. They have been part of our Vermont life, and we adore them, and now my heart aches for them. The bat population in New England will be decimated by white nose disease this year, coincidentally (or not) very similar to the colony collapse of the bees...this is one theory:

    "Some researchers say the evidence of emaciation and the unprecedented numbers that are emerging early from hibernation, apparently in a desperate search for food, could be suggestive of chemical interference with hibernation metabolism or of an insufficient availability of food for the bats to store enough fat to last until spring. Extensive spraying of some pesticides might be capable of altering metabolism. Or such spraying could severely diminish the amount of insect prey that bats require before entering hibernation. Northeastern states have experienced a major increase in pesticide use to combat West Nile Virus during the past few years." from this article   

Fucking chemicals. I will not go on, as I'm feeling quite a bit more misanthropic than usual, and I'll spare you all my piss and vinegar. If you want to read more, click the link above, as there are more theories being explored and without my bias. Just this, if you will...

    "...many of America’s largest remaining bat populations and the ecosystems they protect may be at extreme risk. When ecologically and economically essential creatures as diverse as bees and bats begin to die off in large numbers, there may well be a “canary-in-the-coal-mine” message that we cannot afford to ignore."

Secondly, I am alone.
Felt shall commence. Pictures later.

Thirdly, I lust for THIS, if you must know.

...my own judgment. so, no one answered my poll, but that's cool. i think i'm going to go with the hemp paper because it's pretty and i like the texture.
edit: okay, so livejournal told me no one answered the poll, but insubordiknit says i got eight answers! how weird! so, screw my own judgment...the people speak and i'll start with the 100% recycled and maybe just get a few of the hemp to see what people think of it.

i have piles of batts to spin, but i'm feeling very run-down and may just take tonight to rest...C has the day off tomorrow and i'm sure if i sweet talk him, i'll have a few morning hours of spin time.
it's not as if he will be driving me four hours round trip in the afternoon/evening to get my real fake tooth, or anything.

oh, but he is!

tomorrow i will be whole again. i can't believe how the extraction of one tiny tooth has so profoundly affected me. how much it made me not want to get up in the mornings or look at myself in the mirror, or go to anyone's house for dinner...
it's not just vanity, although, as much as i hate to admit, that is surely part of it. and it isn't so much that something is missing, so much that there is a hole there to replace it. a hole i cannot forget about, as there is either a tongue poking into it or an uncomfortable, ill-fitting contraption to fill it (and the rest of my mouth). and somehow this hole represents some dismal failure on my part, a weakness. a how-can-i-be-such-a-pushover. i have been beating myself up for the last few months for letting someone yank a piece of me away without doing any research or seeking out alternative solutions. i am always seeking for alternatives to every convention, but this time i thought they knew better. and now i know they were wrong and there is nothing i can do about it. that tooth was not a lizard's tail or an ivy vine. it will never grow back and tomorrow i inherit a new contraption that will need constant maintenance for always.

i know it's just a tooth. but it became a whole heckuva lot more than that for me, and i'm just trying to honor that here. a tiny thing that came to represent so much...fear being the most notable...fear of losing control, fear of accepting myself and the cards i am dealt.

needless to say, many lessons learned. an important step in my personal journey, whose harshness will now be tempered with a bit of well-placed porcelain, cast just for me...

as usual, the little guy can sum up my experience with a single expression:


and now i am off to cuddle my evening away with a mug of steamy cocoa...Spring is good for warm days and chilly nights...my favorite combination.

life is good.

night night!

-I have not worn long woolen underwear for at least a week, and the forecast is for continued Springy-ness.

-I picked a bright, sunny spot for my booth at Market, so as not to let myself hide in shadows, as is my inclination. I am proud of this.

-Poo-Poo Lip Balm is Yucky, according to my son. Seemed like important information to pass along, should you ever encounter such a thing.

-I need only wear my "stay plate" (fake tooth in retainer form) for three more days. On Friday, I will be made whole again.

-My "Spam" folder currently contains these three gems:
    More meat is never excessive
    High-end watches for respectable people
    Learn how to be masterpecker

-I will delete these gems promptly.

-At the library the other day, the little guy was making a Picture-Book Mountain (remove all picture books from the shelves and stack them in a pile on the floor....I love cleaning up this one), and came across a Teletubbies book. We do not use screen media in our house (no TV, no videos, etc.), so he has never encountered said abhorrent creatures (and I'd like to keep it that way). He brought the book over to me, pointed to the freakish dancing blobs on the cover and said, "Hippies!"

- Duuuuuuuuuuuude.

-I have been spinning: Dream
    I had a beach dream the other night...I live in southern Vermont and have not seen a beach in almost three years. I wanted to spin myself a seashell.

-There are some very exciting developments underway that will bring us back to Cali before the end of the year.

-More on that later.

-Happy Tuesday!

...my skin, my muscles...the sunshine and a full weekend of hard labor has me wanting a cool bath in a tub full of aloe gel...and then hot packs after that...but i think i'll just settle for a good night's sleep.

it doesn't look like much, but:

The plot for my herb garden is tilled. Later this week, we'll be raking in manure and compost and if we're feeling frisky, will start directly sowing seeds into this and the veggie garden plots...just the hardier stuff, as we may still have a chance of frost. I have starts brewing for the rest.
I have been raking all week and weekend...there seems to be endless debris from last fall to clean up to give the grass and bulbs some breathing room, and all manner of sticks and stalks to clip down.
Timing is not everything, but is much in these matters, so I failed dismally in meeting my personal quota for MDSW and Farmer's Market prep. It just seemed really important to be digging in the dirt this weekend...and Saturday was site clean-up day for the Farmer's Market...a community effort to get the market site all cleaned up from a brutal winter and for all the vendors to choose their spots for the season. I was at the bottom of the list, having not been a full-time vendor before, but there really isn't a bad spot at this market. I have a very sunny six-foot site for my booth, so will have to be creative in construction for maximum display space as well as maximum shade. We have this week to design it and gather materials, and then we need to build it this coming weekend...a whirlwind, really, especially since C is working all week and I have my appointment for my bridge (finally...I will be whole again!) this Friday.

So...no website update tonight, but...I did get some spinning done this week...and some over-dying, too! I don't want to use acid dyes anymore, because our waste-water gets dumped directly into the watershed, so I had given them all away...but I still have jars of dye I had already mixed. I was craving a session with the kettle, and so overdyed a bit of pink merino top...which was a new experience for me. I was terrified I would felt it, but it came out great. It's the purple in the pics below. This summer I'm going to explore some truly non-toxic dying options...
Anyway, here are the results of the overdye:

Ectoplasm and His Purple Friend
a matchy little pair of singles, spun a very sport-ish weight...

And now, to sleep off my sunburn...

I used a pitchfork yesterday...really! I think that makes it official...my farmgirl status, that is. I raked and raked and then I pitched and pitched...gobs of leafy matter for the fabulous chickens. I think we're officially friends now. See, the fella is the one out there at 6AM feeding them and what-not every morning, so he is their super-hero and I am just that other human, the useless creature that visits them during the day and steals things and tries in vain to lovingly pat their silkiness. BUT, then I brought them LEAVES! Oh, their joy. It was infectious. They scratched and spread it around and cooed and warbled...how they have been longing for a taste of Spring! Their ranging yard is still under snow, poor dears, but soon they will be happily chickening about in their tractors all over the pasture. Anyway, a pile full of mucky, rotten leaves full of tiny, yummy grubs and things and now we are tight, those chickens and I. Tight.

And this will be my duty all week long...when I am not in fiber-prep-madness mode. Rake, rake, rake. Pitch, pitch, pitch. We are determined to stay on top of it and get the most fabulous garden in the universe rolling this year...we have a billion-and-one butterfly-and-bee-attracting flowers to plant, and climbing peas for shade (and snacking) around the sandbox, a veggie garden to map out whilst we start our seeds indoors, and bricks to lay for paths and patios.

In shoppe news, viva_death and I will be rockin' the Art Star Craft Bazaar May 31st and June 1st. Whoot!
So, the mad crafting will continue beyond MDSW, but I think it will be really good for me to keep the momentum going, challenge myself to find new ways to keep the creative mojo fires stoked, and have fun whilst I'm at it.



Happy Monday!

2 thingses:

The Brattleboro Area Farmer's Market starts on Saturday, May 3, and I will be a regular vendor this time around, with my very own reserved booth! I am terribly excited, as I can really make the space mine, with hooks and shelves and, and...all manner of displayity (yes, this should be a word), with the bonus being that I don't need to take it down and put it back up every single weekend. I just bring me and my stuffs and all is well. Market happens every Saturday through late October, rain or shine!!!

The Cloverhill Yarn Shop will be rockin' booth #27 at the Maryland Sheep and Wool fest the weekend of May 3 and 4, 2008. The Spun Monkey Fiber Shoppe will be featured at said booth, along with 17 other fabulous indie artists. I'm honored to have a place there, and wish I could go check it out in person, so...all of you go! Check it out! Send me a full report! Cloverhill has set up a countdown blog with info about the artists, contests and other joyous what-not.

I'm in a bit of a tizzy about the latter, as I have had very little time to create...mom visiting, kid sick, husband sick. I have staved off the sickies myself, but taking care of everyone and everything has left me with zero spin/craft time. So, I'm hopping back to it this weekend, and hope to get a mad stash piled up for both of the above-mentioned events before the end of the month. I might have to put off a few of my new offerings and works-in-progress until after Market starts, for the sake of my sanity.

To help myself tie it all together, and also for chronicling my personal film photography project, I have a new friend:


It's my new favorite journal in the whole wide universe. Blank on one page, lined on the facing page. I can sketch an idea, and then write about it, and be able to look at both at once. Perfect. Bonus party is that the journal has a protective plastic sleeve that makes it feel and sound like a library book. mmmmm...crinkly.

And here, finally, is the Chocolate Cherry DROP jacket on me:


Sorry, it's the best I can do with my little outstretched arm.
I want a thousand of these buttons.

...and I have found a few spinny moments:


Bohemian Rhapsody
Some cotswold roving hollyeqq dyed up for me in hot magenta and black, all mashed up in the carder with gobs of contrasting colors of sari silk. I find yarns with sari silk very difficult to photograph, I think because of the way the fibers reflect the light. Anyway, yes, I am still on the core-spinning kick. I think the weekend has some very even, sport-weight 2-plies in store for me, though. I need some wheel meditation time.

Okay, off to a play-date we go...
Happy Friday!

A box full of sweetness came in the post today:

C built the most amazing brooder for them, and he's been hanging out in the barn with them all day and most of this evening. It's pretty adorable. He was way more excited about them than the kiddo was...got all curled up on the shavings and just adored them all night. I think it brings back very fond childhood memories for him.
When they are big enough, they'll join our grown chickens and soon, I hope, they'll all be out ranging in the pasture...you know, the one that will be free of SNOW. That day will come soon, yes? Let's not even talk about the inch of snow that was on my car this morning and the GIANT FLAKES of the stuff that continued to fall from the sky for...a while. The rain, however, did wash most of it away, so I'll shut up about it. The crocuses and irises are still shooting up, a few are even blooming already, and I can see that the black-cap raspberry bushes really want to do something. We pruned the crap out of it last year, so I'm hoping for a bumper crop...like, enough at one time to make a nice project, like a pie.
Anyway, we are loving the sweet li'l chickens, and I think we've found a better hatchery...these little girls are much more robust and happy and healthy than the ones we got last year.

I'm sure the Little Guy would have appreciated them more, but he looked like this for most of the afternoon:

Wasted. This picture was taken shortly after he fell asleep standing up. Standing up! It was totally bizarre, but a little bit later he definitely had a fever and was quite obviously not feeling well. When he feels better, I'm sure he'll curl up in the shavings with his Papa, too.

I have actually been knitting, btw, and finished a project:

My first me-sized sweater! I will model it as soon as I've blocked it/set the stitches. This is a heavily modified version of the Garn Studio jacket about a million Ravelers have already knit up. I adore it, and would definitely knit it again, but probably not with Malabrigo. It is fabulously soft, and they have nice colorways, but I think if I sneeze while wearing this jacket, it will probably felt. Breathing will definitely pill it. I'm thinking a dark, tweedy two-ply yarn in the heavier gauge next time...
Anyway, the buttons are by Happy Silence, and I heart them much, much, much.
I wanted to make the collar longer, but I ran out of yarn. Boo.



This weekend will be all about list-making and scheduling for the insanity that will be the next few weeks. I did make it into the Farmer's Market, and while I am thrilled and looking forward to it immensely, I have a lot of work ahead of me this month to get ready for it, plus MSW, plus possibly Art Star, plus deciding whether to put updates on hiatus for the shop or to try and keep up on that, also. Plus, a personal project I'm working on and would like to chronicle in my journal...still thinking about the format. It involves my first baby...the one that eats 35mm film and has been sadly neglected for a couple of years. My sampler of b/w films has arrived, and as I loaded the TMax 400 (not my favorite, but I'm saving the Ilford and the Plus-X 125 for after I've gotten my feet wet again) I was transported back in time, bathing in chemicals in the lab, relishing the magic that happens in the dark...

Two piles of the same fiber selection, including rovings and clumps of locks...
One pile was mashed up in the drumcarder, the other pile was not...I ended up with these two yarns:


Lichen and Autumn POP!
Can you tell which is which?

And yes, I know it's Spring here, but there are two hemispheres on this planet and each deserves a celebration of the changing seasons...

Am currently posting on Etsy...will get them on the website later...

In other news, my child turned 3 yesterday. Did you know that on the eve of 3, the male child begins to practice the age-old craft of belching the alphabet? More on this and other fascinations later...

We turned Earth Hour into Earth Night and now we're ready to invest in oil lamps and say screw electricity in the evening hours. Seriously. It was so sweet to read bedtime story to our boy by candlelight, and then to come downstairs and not have the distraction of the internet and no wifi radiation bouncing off the walls, just the quiet, contemplative, flickery candles...I must admit, it was difficult to engage in anything...I just sort of floated in a sleepy bubble until we went up to bed. But, I feel more rested than I have in months, maybe years. Just not having all the artificial lights and the computer screen right up until the lights-out moment before bed made such a huge difference in the quality of my sleep. I think if we did use oil lamps instead of candles, I could spin and do the usual what-not, but still get the benefits of resting my body and eyes and ears from the onslaught of electricity and radiation and have that great sleep every night. 

New Things:

-I taught my first spinning class today! Two lovely ladies came from NYC and participated in my wittle coils class. They were eager, it was quite fun, and I hope another opportunity to teach comes up soon! I'd like to do a series of classes, covering techniques that build on each other, but I'm not sure there are enough folks around here who spin to really get something like that going.

-The Cortido is brewing in the pineapple vinegar I made:


-I finally spun up for a swap that is long overdue:

swap on the left, a fun little example for my class today on the right

Old Things:

-It is 5pm and I have had two visitors to my website today. No traffic is getting old. I am wondering if it is even worth it to keep the website going. When I had a Knitty Covet Central ad, I think I had maybe 30 folks per day. The site has been live for just about a year at this point...for those of you with your own websites, how long did it take you to get decent traffic? Do I need to saw off a limb? Sure, some days are better than others, but today is just saaaaaaaaaad.

-Snow.

Two days in a row. Before yesterday, we had bulbs coming up...a sure sign of Spring. Now, I wonder if they will have their chance at all this year, having been buried again. Really, snow...get the hell off my car, my house and my damn garden. You have had several months of these surfaces all to yourself, and now I would like the sun to shine on them. Thank you.

Other Things:

-My boy will be 3 next week. I'm not sure how I feel about this. He is quite sure, however, that he is a mammal, quite possibly a bear, and that when it turns April he will be cake with candles in it.

-I'm waiting a week and a half to hear back from the Farmer's Market jury. Ugh.

Ooooh, lookie what I got in the post! The new glass needles by Infiknitty arrived today and are now up in the shoppe, including these fabulous squid and koi:


Oh, how I heart them. There are also elephants, more mice on cheese, canaries and more koi.

I spent the evening waiting around Bratt whilst jurying went on for the Saturday Farmer's Market. Hence, getting so much done on the website. Yay for free wifi and a mexican hot chocolate. Anyway, I'm a little bit nervous. I must wait almost two weeks to hear back about my status. I know there aren't many open spots and I really, really want to do it this year. I've been getting excited about the idea of having a real booth this time (rather than lugging display stuff back and forth), with shelves and pegs and a rack for my scarves. Sigh. Wish me luck!

mmmmm....fermentation:



Pineapple Vinegar (for making Latin American Sauerkraut) and Apple Chutney
The best part is that only the skin and core are used to make the vinegar, so we were able to feast on the perfect fruit. I try to buy local and in season 90% of the time, so this is definitely a treat to splurge on an organic pineapple.

Car (affectionately referred to as the Vulva) has experienced a minor miracle. I think I must have miscalculated it's lives, and it was only on the 8th. Now, it must be on the 9th after a $65 repair. I went to the bike shop today...wondering if I can get myself back in shape to tote my little dude behind me the 17 miles into town, muchly uphill, on a hybrid bike. On a regular basis. Hmmmmm. I used to cycle Century rides often in the Bay Area, but that was many moons ago, in my life BC (Before Child). But, this idea is not entirely removed from the realm of possibility. It is not, however, going to be an adequate replacement for a vehicle,...but I would like to think I could be that burly again.

So, now that I've cried over spilled milk and been handed a towel, yet again, I will leave you all with this:



The Little Guy can always sum up a situation more succinctly than I. And he has an adorable tongue.

Oh, whoops. I said projects, plural, didn't I?
So, I'm working on knitting up examples of the French Girl patterns for sale on my site, with handspun yarns. Fantine has now been frogged into a giant ball:



...and will soon become Giselle. I have the US 35 circulars to prove it. I really hope it works this time, because I carded up a whole heckuva lot of batts to make a blue on gray version of the above yarn, and want to sell it as a kit.

And, have I ever mentioned how much I heart Ravelry? Am trading some handspun for a giant pile of discontinued Berocco Denim Silk for a summer knit. Yay!

Really, really, that is all. Night night!

I think I really did it this time. Car is officially driven into the ground. My mechanic told me I'm better off making payments on a new or newer car than to keep bringing it to him, paying hundreds and hundreds just to prevent the inevitable. Car death. If I still lived in Berkeley, this would not be a problem. Unfortunately, I currently live a half hour from civilization...so, about that new ride. Buy or lease. Lease or buy. Try to find a cheap used car somewhere down south where there's no rust? It'd be worth the bus trip, right? Crap.

Well, here's some yarn pics to take the edge off:

Sari Skunk
There are a bazillion purty hairs of color in this, but sari silk is a total bitch to photograph. At least with my camera. You can almost see it in the close-up. Anyway, it's my favorite from this week, except for this one:


Gentle Landscape
This one is softer than soft and lighter than air. I would marry it if it wasn't...yarn.
Can you tell I'm on a core-spinning kick?

I really want to have more to say, but I'm exhausted from the stress of the day...being stranded SUCKS. I hate having to rely on a gas-guzzling machine just so I can have a bit of a life. Fortunately, thaw is still occuring, although we have snow in the forecast for this evening and the next few days. It is not likely to stick, but it is disappointing. Anyway, as soon as I have dirt to play in, I won't feel the need to ride into town as much...the garden, the sandbox, the warm, soggy air. Spinning in the sunshine....

eggs...
...
...so the top left is what happens when you put an egg in a hibiscus tea blend bath. Black! I was thinking...purple, maybe? Nope. I got a mottled black. Not what I was going for, but delightfully macabre and interesting nonetheless. Middle is spinach...very subtle...and the right is red cabbage. I think the mottled colors are due to the home-grown egg factor. Commercial eggs, even the organic ones are routinely washed in bleach and then coated with mineral oil to keep them fresh. We just wash our eggs in warm, soapy water, so there must be some residue that prevents the dye from taking evenly. Personally, I find it charming.



And here is how the red onion skin dye bath worked with cotswold wool yarn:

Cry Me a River
A bronze-y sort of gold. Nice, but not my color. So, it's up on Etsy.

There are some yarn photos to posty-post, but alas, uploading pics and updating even just the Etsy shop took forever. Must sleep. More tomorrow!