Summer morning

Jul29

Yeah, it’s my breakfast. Our local organic gardener got a new puppy. A 10 month old 95 lb. Pyrenees. Very playfull and untrained when they got him. Bosco rammed playfully into the side of Tami’s knee and so she is now wearing a brace for at least 6 weeks. I’ve been helping out by picking raspberries for her. Which leads back to my breakfast. 🙂  I’m also working on a project with the looms… it’s a secret! This loom is one of Randy’s Art looms. I snagged it before he could sell it to somebody! Walnut and maple with brass pins. Cool.

It’s been pretty warm days here but last night got rather chilly, had to get up and find an afghan to supplement the one blanket we’ve had on the bed. Had some thunder in the distance a couple days ago but no rain and as far as I can gather, no fires.

Randy will be home this evening and once we get the drip system set up for the tomatoes and the loom orders caught up we’re heading for the coast for a couple days with Justin before he has to head home again.  Haven’t been over in awhile and next summer he plans to go to Alaska so we won’t see the ocean then, either.

But I hope you hare having a summer with hot, but not too hot, days and cool nights! And have some raspberries for your Cheerios!

Summer Fun

Jul24

The first picture is the local swimming hole in the Trinity River and Grandson Justin taking a leap off the rocks. A thing I could never make myself do! It’s a nice deep hole with wide shallows for the little ones and a shady sloping sandy bank for the mom’s and Dad’s in lawn chairs. The water is no longer quite as snowy cold but still fresh and fairly fast flowing. A popular afternoon site.

The second picture is taken in Hell’s Gate on the Rogue River in Oregon. We went on the Jet Boat tour with sister and her dh. I could not get far enough back to get a good picture and it is a goal of the pilots (with encouragement from the tourists) to get us as wet as possible. I did not want to chance soaking the camera. But I have to admit, I also enjoyed the wetting as it was a hot afternoon. I missed one shoulder with the sun block and it is quite bright this morning! lol

But we had an enjoyable visit, got a bit of shopping done, and are now home again.

Another project finished!

Jul11

I finished my baby blanket, woven on the 6″ Multi square loom. I used Paton’s Cotton top (from stash & discontinued) and Knit Picks Crayon cotton to assemble it. The finished size is 38″ square, which I’m told is a good size for a receiving blanket. I was hoping for crib sized but found I was short on a couple of the colors. This took a bit over a month to make, I did not work on it every day but stuck to my resolve not to start another project until I finished this one. I tried out a few fancy edgings but in the end just worked three rounds of sc and a row of picots. What I did not want was any lacy holes for little fingers and toes to get caught in. I think it’s pretty without them.

I am quite happy with the finished blanket. It’s for a young neighbor having her first child. I ran it though the gentle cycle of the washing machine yesterday, I had to be sure it was machine washable. I have to admit I was a bit nervous about this.  picturing it coming out with gaping holes so that I’d have to rush off to town to buy her a gift before the shower! It came out just fine and tho it did not shrink, it fluffed and is really soft and ‘huggable’. I am delighted and hope she will be as well. (The picture enlarges if you click it.)

Nearly July

Jun29

July is almost  upon us and summer is just getting started. Well, by the calendar, that’s correct, but it usually starts in fact a few weeks earlier.  It has gotten warm finally.  Well.. hot actually but I’m not tired of it yet! lol  The deck is going up slowly as time allows and we’re getting looms made. Justin, our oldest grandson is here to lend a hand for the summer & we’re enjoying his visit as well.

I was sorting though some stuff and found these. They came with some loom things I was given by a widowed neighbor. His wife had been a weaver and there were some nice shuttles as well as a bobbin winder which I was extremely happy to see.  but I haven’t a clue what these things are. They seem to have been made with standard doctor sized tongue depressors.  If you know, would you tell me please?

Happy Birthday, Hazel Rose!

Jun18

Hazel Rose is celebrating her first birthday! She and her parents live in Oregon and Hazel came by to visit with us at OFFF last October. We wanted to help celcbrate her 1st birthday so sent along this little doll woven on the looms, of course. She seems to like it so we are happy, too.  Thanks Mom for sharing the pictires!

Progress

Jun16

Check below.. I found my flower!

I think I have nearly enough blocks to start assembling this blanket. I’d like it to be Crib sized or nearly so but need to research how big that is. I have ordered the white yarn for assembling but it has not arrived yet, should be here any time. It’s coming from KnitPicks, their Crayon, which should match this discontinued Paton’s Cotton Top. I hope.

It’s been cool enough in the evenings that we’ve just been staying indoors listening to the Giant’s games on XM, so I am getting more weaving time. I pretty much have the garden, such as it is, in and waiting for some warm growing weather. We had two optimistic days in the 80’s and now it’s back in the lower 60’s. 😦

But I am also getting things straightened around so our grandson has a place to stay. He’s arriving next week to spend some of the summer helping Randy build our new shop.  But as there has been a snag in those plans it looks like he’ll get to help build the new deck first & anything else that needs doing.

Hope your summer is both warm and going smoothly!

It may start being summer soon…

Jun12

I got a little matchy-matchy here maybe but I think it’s going to be pretty. Started out with three Eggplants, purple stems and green leaves, but I needed some fillers and went over to the nursery looking for herbs but ended up with a variegated  sweet potato, green with a purple edging on the leaves, a bright fuschia geranium, and the other thing, one of those new petunia looking plants whose name escapes me but this one has purple flowers. It’s portable so I can move it to mow and, like I said, I think it’s going to be pretty once it fills out. My whole garden this year is in pots and …er… stuff. lol I have Pop’s old cement wagon with tomatoes and nasturtiums, more tomatoes in large brightly colored tubs (the tubs were given to me) and assorted other veggie plants in large flower pots. The peas are in the flower bed and not doing as well as I had hoped. Peas do well in cold weather so I thought this would be the year for them. I actually built a fire yesterday as it got down to 39 Thursday morning! In June!

Well, sorry I have not been posting like I ought, Randy has been gone this week and Cori and I have been goofing off. She slept in to nearly 8am yesterday!
But he’s on his way home this morning so I am scurrying around (Yes, I am!) putting up the yarn projects I have scattered around and washing up my sink full of dishes. I really have been goofing off! lol

SUNSHINE!!!

May29

I found it! Or rather, my sister did. it’s called iris japonica or japanese iris and seems to be considered a weed by some people. lol I gether from google-ing that is mulitplies rapidly in some areas. this isn’t one, it does multiplyhere, too, but reasonably & I am fine with it as it has a lovely flower, as you can see.

The sun is shining again at last! It is soooo lovely!  lol I am not usually bothered by cloudy and rainy days but it was getting to me this spring. Tho I had to spend some time in the shop today I’ve been out transplanting garden plants and flowers. I found another blossom on the Orchid Iris. I don’t  know the real name of this plant and cannot remember where I got the start but it’s a lovely plant and I hope someone will be able to recognize it for me. They grow about a foot tall and multiply rapidly but only bloom if they like where they are. I have not come up with a no-fail place but sometimes I get lucky and meet their conditions. If you know who this is, Please let me know!

Just wondering…

May25

Just wondering if it really matters if we are vegetarians or not. This vegetable knows it is spring. It was growing roots in my fridge and had little leaflets on top. Trying to grow, still obviously alive. But I had to kill it for our dinner. Well, Nature made it so and I can’t eat sand.

I think it’s the rain rain rain rain rain rain that’s bringing on these dreary fits! The world is certainly green and that’s good but oh so wet. The lilacs and iris are beginning to look a bit worse for wear. The cats have been suffering advanced Cabin Fever, but when I let them out this morning, they declined and went back to bed. I wanted to, but we had looms to build. I know, in a month or less we’ll be complaining about the heat.. happens most every year. Still… right now I can hardly wait!

Hope you aren’t too soggy.