OFFF - first day

today was one of those perfect days! we had a booth on the lawn at the fiber festival, a warm and sunny day, lots of happy people, saw lots of friends, we were very close to the live music which was great, good booth location... and i was able to spend lots of time spinning... and we sold lots of fiber!

more photos tomorrow.

sock

here's one of (how many??) works in progress... a sock to display at OFFF with other of this BFL yarn which i dyed. maybe i'll get it finished... and if not, it will be displayed anyway.

Autumn Equinox at the Oregon Coast

We were at Cape Meares on the oregon coast yesterday and overnight with some friends. it was glorious weather... esp. for the first day of fall... sunny, slight warm breeze and temp. in the 80s. their house is in the woods about 5 minute walk from the beach. i didn't take any beach photos, but the link will take you to some nice beach scenes. had a lovely time, Deborah fixed a great salmon dinner, then we sat around drinking wine and solving all the problems of the world. we spent some time looking at the structures all around their property, including the Poetry House, a couple of world class tree houses, his workshop, her workshop, some works in progress such as decks and porches which Deborah is roofing and closing in to have a dry place for re-finishing and painting things. all of this is very photo-worthy, but lame-brained me didn't think to get the camera out til we were leaving Roseanna's in Oceanside where we had lunch before starting home. a funky looking place, overlooks the beach, serves fabulous food~

simple gifts

Jim has 400 (yes, that many)wine grape plants growing in various locations around the queendom. looks like it won't be long now til harvest of these gevurtztraminer (my fave wine), with the pinot noir not far behind!!

autumn is not my favorite season only because it means the dark days of winter will follow close behind. i do love the crisp mornings, clear blue skies, and the bounty in the garden... and the ripening of the grapes in the vineyard. i cannot get enough of the sunflowers!! as evidenced by my iphoto album.

Dancer

this is Carol our neighbor and her miniature horse, Dancer. Carol works in Mental Health and plans to use Dancer as a "therapy horse". this is the first time i've met a miniature horse and i was impressed with how sweet (and how small!) she is. she would have loved to follow me right into the garden when i went to pick some of our abundance of green beans for Carol. it was a hoot watching Dancer push the newly spread gravel aside so she could get at the weeds under neath. poor thing must have callouses on her upper lip.

A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.
-- Unknown Author

new yarn

this is called Baby WooBoo and it's baby alpaca/merino/bamboo boucle with nylon binding. it's luscious and lustrous and soft and delicious... just might end up in the booth at OFFF!!

lunch at Maggie's Buns

belatedly, i took my brother, Bud, for his birthday lunch today at one of our favorite places.... a small funky eatery in lovely downtown Forest Grove, OR! It started out as mainly a place to have really heavenly cinnamon buns and other yummy items baked right there on the premises by... of course... Maggie. it has evolved to include a large menu of excellent (really!) and unusual food not usually found in small town America. you can select from the dishes shown in the case... from sandwich wraps to lasagna to pasta dishes, greek salad and several varieties of salads, and too much to even begin trying to name. i've never had a bad meal there. and in the winter they make Hungarian Mushroom soup that is the best EVER! the decor of the place really appeals to me (but then i adore anything with pink flamingoes theme...if that gives any clues to my "taste"). it's funky and kitsch and must be seen to believe.

and in honor of the birthday occasion, i got a photo of Bud, known affectionately by me as "Curbhead", and yes, there is a story behind that.

fiber dyeing marathon

Kate came down for a few days this week to do some intensive dyeing in my studio. The necessary amount of water involved in dyeing massive amounts of fiber wasn't available at their house because the well they share with 7 other households was dry for a couple of days, then they were limited to 200 gallons/day, which doesn't even begin to cover showers, laundry, dish washer etc. But first! we had to go to the wholesaler's warehouse to stock up on lots of yummy fibers and yarns. i thoroughly enjoyed helping Kate spend her $$ and did a bit of damage myself, even tho i kept reminding myself that i'm "sort of retired" from all this now. mostly, i bought yarn to dye... including one very promising new one called "Baby WooBoo" which is baby alpaca, silk and bamboo and is kind of a chubby boucle. i have some in pre-dye soaking now and hope to get it dyed tomorrow. we are expecting cool and rain for the next few days, which is perfect dyeing weather in my studio (it gets blistering hot in there on typical summer days). anyway, Kate got an awesome amount of fiber dyed, and together with what she has already done at home, will have a booth at OFFF totally filled with luscious spinning fibers!!