sweet

violets! love 'em. and i read today that the flower is edible and tho it doesn't have much of a taste, it does look pretty in a salad. hate to sacrifice them to the table when there are so few flowers in bloom now.

spin in

a whole lot of spinnin' going on... also, talking, laughing, grazing, show'n'telling and a general fine time! 3 sisters not here because of flu and one enjoying sunny spring weather at the beach.

sorry the photos aren't better. don't know what's going on with my camera. it usually does a better job than this! i suppose we could blame it on the operator, but she's not willing to take all the responsibility.

the journey

life is not a journey to the grave with intentions of arriving safely in a pretty, well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming... WOW!! what a ride!

i love this attitude and put it here so that it's written down for when i can't remember it. it is listed on a quotes page on the interwebs without any attribution.

i just can't quit..

not doing a lot of dyeing lately, but couldn't resist when Linda said she'd sold all the BFL yarn bundles i'd brought in to the shop and would like to have more! she has a really cute baby sweater hanging in the shop window for which this yarn works beautifully. so.. there's another batch ready for the shop.

and i keep thinking i need more yarn for the "Poppy" sweater, so keep on dyeing more of the alpaca/merino/silk yarn and the new BFL/silk top. i know there's more than enough for this project, but one can't really have too much yarn. right??? (and the correct answer to that is "absolutely right!) so, here's part of that accumulation of yarn.

Madrona Yarn Market

Saturday was our yearly trek to Tacoma to the Madrona Yarn Market. the lazy kate (by Will Taylor) is one i've been wanting for a long time and wonderful Morgaine from Carolina Homespun in SF,CA brought it up for me. it will hold any of my bobbins and is tensioned, which i've also wanted! i tried very diligently to not want/buy any of the yarn and fiber which i fondled, but these 2 skeins doomed my resolve as they will be perfect in the "Poppy" creation. and i also bought a few ounces of some raw coopworth wool. i won't say i needed any of this, but i'm weak. so there!

we spend several hours wandering, looking, meeting up with friends, having a nice lunch and just enjoying the day with fiber and fiber lovers!

Kate and Rene found something wonderful in these bins at Crown Mountain Fibers!

more

some of the homeschooler friends have formed a brownie troop and Z wanted to join... so here she is in her uniform with badges (or maybe they're called patches?) pretty cute, huh?

last week in Duvall

the kids taught me to play their lego rock band video game. they have drums, bass and guitar to go with this game. they gave me some kind of sketchy instructions, handed me the bass, helped me pick out and construct my band member self, and i became one bad ass rockin' gramma in no time at all! Alex went crazy on the drums and Zylie had the mic, though i couldn't hear her at all over Alex's "performance"! it was wild and crazy fun!

Lego Rock Band

more or less

it's always kind of daunting to get back to the blog after 2 weeks... esp. when i actually DID something away from home (i don't get out much, ya know). so, i'll just jump in even though it may all turn out in jumbled fashion.

took amtrak to Seattle last Wed and Kate picked me up at the station. one stop on the way to duvall to get patches for Z's brownie uniform. for dinner that night Chris and Alex fixed up a luscious salad... tho you can't see it, there is romaine lettuce under there. also grilled some chicken. Z wanted to know just who it was and was reassured to know it was not from their little flock of chickens. that didn't make it "right" to be eating something that had once been living, but it was not one she knew.

one of the first things i did was admire all the fabulous dyed fibers and Kate's newest "toy"... an electric skein winder! even got to use it while i was there!

a new fiber that Kate has been dyeing is BFL blended with tussah silk... and what a lovely blend that is. shiny and soft and spins like buttah and i love it! lucky me! she shared some with me. and i think it will probably work well with my next project (the Kaffe Fasset "Poppy" vest or sweater).

and good news while i was there... Chris accepted a job offer with Clearwire and starts march 1. i think this is a little bit bitter-sweet, as he seems to have enjoyed being at home the past 9 months and has gotten really involved in the running of the fiber business, besides having all kinds of time to do stuff with the kids.

sunny day!

not a very common happening in february, but on tuesday it was a warm and sunny day. on my way out to the greenhouse, i spotted these tiny flower sproutlets that had started from a seed head of one of my fave flowers of last summer. (don't remember its name)

in december Jim had planted salad greens in the greenhouse.... which is not temp controlled and is covered in clear plastic and not really weather proofed. then came snow and several days of temps in the teens. we hadn't gone back to check on the progress as we just assumed that no baby plant would survive that. wrong!!! although many had not made it thru freeze and no watering, some were alive and thriving! what a surprise!

i'm glad now that we neglected the end-of-season cleaning up of the garden. there is a beauty in those old seed heads on the dead flowers.

a self-seeded poppy and more of those tiny plantlets.

another seed head with sprouts growing in it. that one is going to the greenhouse and we'll see what it produces.

this one, too..... altho it might be queen anne's lace, which is an abundant weed.

you can see what a bright and clear day it was.... sigh...

and then the reality of winter. i think it's name is hellebore, also called december rose. but i did feel the promise of spring that day... and it made me happy.