Black Sheep Gathering!!

it's that time of year again... the black sheep gathering in Eugene, OR and i think i've only missed maybe 1 or 2 of these events since about 1984.  the first couple of times i went, it was still being held in Cottage Grove, OR.... back in the day when it was really small.  and now it's so big that 3 large rooms of vendors isn't enough, so there are several outside on the lawn... and the fleece show and sale is in a separate building (which i stayed FAR away from as i knew i'd be tempted and be unable to resist coming home with wool and/or mohair fleeces).  Kate took amtrak to portland, i picked her up and we drove on down to eugene.  got there about 2pm, giving us plenty of time for the first cruise around the vendors booths and thru the animal barns.  we were on a mission to find the newborn angora kids we'd heard about and they were so adorable!!  and little!  not sure how i ever resisted adding angora goats to the farm when we had other fiber animals.  they have the sweetest faces ever... esp. the kids!  and i love to spin mohair locks.  after the initial quick tour thru the show and reconnecting with lots of friends, we went to the motel and had a little lie-down before meeting twisted sisters and So.Cal. friends for the traditional Sat. night chinese dinner at Ocean Sky (and yes, Rachael, we did have the fabulous garlic eggplant... and thought of you!)  damn... i do love traditions... after dinner we went back to the motel, went next door to Laurie, Jane and Crystal's room and had some spinning, wine and show-and-tell.  Kate and i weren't able to live up to our night-owl reputations, as she was really sleep-deprived and i was just getting over the cold from hell which turned into pneumonia followed by painful reaction to antibiotic.  by sunday morning, we were ready to go again and did some serious shopping.  i'll take some photos of the fiber purchases soon.

here's Janis Thompson... an incredibly creative person.. and one of my favorite people!

Peggy and Richard Lundquist of Black Sheep Newsletter.
vendors, shoppers and spinning circle.

To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.

- Joseph Chilton Pearce

hoya blossom

quilting project

Still in the planning stages... some asian style fabrics which could become a quilted vest... or maybe short kimono type jacket, not sure yet.  but somehow i want to use these beads, lovely handmade glass beads that Lynne gave me at spring equinox.  i've had them sitting out on my desk, loving them and waiting for the inspiration of just how to use them.  i think they'd be perfect with this fabric!!

she LOVES her pet chicken... in fact, she loves all 10 of 'em.  some are just easier to catch than others!

it's Joon!!!

June equals lots of roses in bloom, plus of course, lots of other flowers, too!  and the poppies are getting started with their extravaganza!  yay i love it!

this is what came of the bud in the last post.  hoping Lynne will tell me the name of this rose!  it is beautiful and fragrant!

and this is a flowering bush whose name i've also forgotten.  see a pattern here??
so.... what's happening on the selling of dome central? and the move up to WA.??  it's on hold til we know if the new job that Chris gets will require them to move... or not.  if they stay where they are, we'll activate the plan again for selling here and building and moving there.  limbo...

this and that

first... a shameless promotion:  Kate took lots and lots of newly dyed spinning fibers to Northwest Wools

today, including BFL, superwash BFL, merino/tencel... all really beautiful!

the first photo is my granddog, Tiki, a big ole lovin' Chinook.  she tries very hard to get along with our 2 spoiled pooches, but doesn't meet with a lot of success.  they tolerate her and that's about all.

it's a sunny and hot day.  when i went to the garden to water thirsty plants, i took my camera and found this sweet rosebud getting ready to open.  it's one of the "old" roses and i don't remember its name... but Lynne will know.  after it opens i'll take another pic.
i just have to use an expression i heard Whoopi use in describing Glenn Beck on The View.  and since i have a congested-cough-all-night-get-no-sleep-dreaded-lurgy kind of thing wearing me out, i'll use it this way.... i feel "like a sack of dog mess" and will now take myself to the sofa and see if possibly there is anything worth having on tv while i try to nap.

time flies/flees... so i guess i must be having a good time.  seriously, the days and weeks seem to just disappear into the past with great speed!  today we had a small family get-together for lunch.  Pop came with Judy,  Jordan and Maisy (both Jen and Maggie were working), and David, Della and Max also came.  it was a beautiful spring-type day and perfect for swings, blowing bubbles, climbing an apple tree and putting the hammock to good use!  Pop seemed to enjoy being here with kids, grands and great-grands, and after lunch, he got in  a good nap in his favorite chair    and i did the kind thing ... and did not take a pic of him sleeping.

the answer is YES!

proving i should believe in my intuition... year old dye solutions, even after being exposed to extremes in weather, are still usable... and in fact, are good and reliable and true to color!   bravo!!

Dyeing again....

today i began the process of resurrecting my dye studio, beginning with the banishing of wet dogs left here to dry off after their morning walk!  in the cleaning out mania last summer in preparation for putting the house on the market, there were lots of things that got sent to recycle or banished to the dump, and now i'm having trouble finding my most favorite old old very old beat up roaster pan for steaming.  i think it's just plain gone, never to be found.  i did find, however, many jars of what used to be dye stock solution and through evaporation had become dye powder again.  i put boiling water in them and returned them to solution state...  and on friday will try the grand experiment of pouring them on fiber and see what happens.  my intuition says they will still do the job, proving that the colors will be true... and light- and wash-fast after a year of sitting in my studio through the heat of summer and a very cold winter.  so, tomorrow, after doctor appt, then lunch with my brother Curbhead, i'll go to good will in search of another roaster pan.. and any other bargains too good to pass up.  and i'll post the results of the grand experiment.

regarding fiber dyeing and color, i was looking through Dazzling Knits by Patricia Werner and read this, which so well expresses my thoughts on putting colors together.. "No one dies, fortunes aren't lost, wars don't spontaneously ignite if you put hot pink next to yellow!  You learn in the doing..... Have fun and don't take colors too seriously."   There's lots in this book that i really love!!

some people like to watch the grass grow... Alex, however, contemplates the possibility of the blossoms on this tree becoming apples!

somehow, Zylie wearing Chris's hoodie reminds me of Yoda.

fibers

newly dyed fibers drying in the sun.  Kate and i spent a bit of time applying color to plain ole white BFL.  doncha just love the wavy-ness of the BFL??

beauty of handdyed fibers by Kate!

Kate has been busy dyeing spinning fibers (BFL,

merino/tussah, domestic  wool) and you can get an idea here just how gorgeous they are.... but wait!  We delivered them to Northwest Wools

where they can be seen in person, fondled and purchased!  We have decided to keep the Woolgatherings name going and the label will indicate which of us did the handdyeing... and it will be mostly Kate, and i'll still have the option of keeping my fingers in the dye and fibers and yarn when my muse dictates.  and just in case there is any doubt.... yes, this is a shameless commercial plug!  

seriously, Kate really has an artistic eye for color... and i'm not just saying that because she's my daughter-in-law!

just south of Wheeler, OR is one of those places from the past.... from maybe 40 years ago, maybe longer ... where you can buy fresh-just-caught crab.  you choose the one you want from the tank of live ones and it gets cooked for you while you wait.  there is also a dock where you can do your own crabbing and folks were out there pulling up nets full of 'em.  or rent a little motor boat and go out in the bay and catch them.  it was a funky old place... very interesting.  Linda bought a crab to take home, and while it cooked, we watched the seagulls, and the people and amused ourselves with some picture-taking.  I'd have bought one, too, but had just spent all my $$$ on smoked salmon to take home to Jim.

Linda and I amused ourselves.

a warm sun, clear blue skies and water, a picturesque setting....  ah, a simple gift.

twisted sisters at the beach

Jane seems to have a real talent for getting wrapped up in her fibers.  and look at that gorgeous yarn!  this is from a kit with pattern (from Dicentra) to make a "stained glass" scarf/shawl.

see the empty space on the sofa?  Laurie, Linda and Jane were waiting for me to sit there, while i fooled around trying to set the timer on my camera and get there so we could have a photo of the fearless four.  by the time i had that figured out, the camera battery ran out of its ooomph.

i caught Jan holding up the wall.  she was able to be there for 1 of the 3 nights.  we missed all the twisted sisters who couldn't be there and tried to do their share of spinning, laughing, knitting, grazing and all those things that twisted sisters do.  as usual, we had late nights, too much food, lots of fiber, much laughter, wine, movies, planning for future adventures and a totally fine time!  oh, and it was a glorious sunny weekend and there was even some beach walking done... i won't say how much or by whom.

big one

Chris went fishin'.. this is one of the 2 he caught!

declaration of spring!! tra la

OK!  i'm ready now to say that spring has really finally come to my queendom.  I had my first hummingbird sighting of the year yesterday, which is quite late actually as that usually happens March 6 or 7.  So, i quickly cleaned up the hummingbird feeder, filled it and hung it... waiting, waiting...

then went to look for them in the blooming current bush/tree.. and there they were.  2 of them having a territorial disagreement, like as if there's not enough gorgeous pink blossoms there for a family or 2!

i'm loving the contrast of the new bright pink blossoms against the winter grey of the almost but not yet leafing of the twisted willow.

can you see the hummingbird in there??  i can't either, but it was there when i pointed the camera and clicked.  really!

another sign of spring around here... there are salad greens ready for harvest in the greenhouse!

(the ones in first photo will need a couple more weeks, 2nd photo... yummy now!)

this climbing hydrangea on the gazebo is one of my faves... just wish it would blossom. 
end of photo tour of some signs of spring around dome central.

signs of spring

I might see this as a sign that spring is here.... if i hadn't become a cynical old crone.  well, maybe it's not cynical to know that we still have lots of soggy and cold days ahead before spring is really here!  but what's blooming is glorious... til the rain and slugs get 'em.

life

the next quilting project will be a nap quilt for Jim, hopefully completed in time for his birthday in May.  This fabric immediately made me think of a dinner table in Vamos, Crete, and i thought Jim would like it with that fine array of bottles of wine.  i'm not sure yet of the design of it, but also got a variety of fabrics with grapes, and with olives, figs, tomatoes, limes which looked good.

and my house nap quilt is finished and works very well... i've already had a couple of 2-hour naps under it... mmmm, i do love naps and the quilt is so warm and comfy.... mmmmm

my fiber life hasn't been exercised much lately, especially spinning.  i can't find a chair that's comfortable enough to keep my back and hip from aching, and despite having an over-abundance of yarn in many colors and weights, i haven't received any inspiration from my muse, so i just keep on admiring the stash and fondling it occasionally!  waiting waiting waiting

i'm still awaiting the beauty and uplift that is spring.  driving around this week (yep... i did get out into the world this week!) i found an abundance of glory in the blossoming trees.  there's been not much sunny and warm weather to tell me that it's spring.  i haven't even seen the first hummingbird of the season and they usually appear around the 4th or 5th of March.  but those bloomin' trees!!... one of those simple gifts....

dome central... my queendom... no action... no offers.  we didn't re-list with our realtor when the listing time was up and will probably try the "for sale by owner" route and see what happens.  yep, the market is bad and yadda yadda yadda, but i hate this limbo and will be so happy when we can go on to the next step/adventure, which we cannot do until the house is sold.  i'm sure hoping for some time in crete in the fall.  i was looking at the Vamos SA website site (link in right hand column) last night... all those lovely sunny photos and scenes of our village...and thinking of spring and easter there...  and the rain here was coming down in torrents.

anyone who knows me, knows i've never been a flag-wavin'-rah-rah-patriot kind of person and have, in fact, when we've been out of the country in the past few years,  been embarrassed to admit to being an American.  however, since the election in november and the inauguration in january, my pride has increased.  my cynicism is even decreasing.  and watching the MSNBC news tonight, and seeing our president and first lady out there "in the world" reflecting honesty and humility and realness of character, i really did feel hope that we can regain a place of trust again in the world, and not be thought of as war-mongering ugly american hypocrites.    i really do feel that Barack Obama will be instrumental in big changes!!  oh my dear goddess, it feels so dorky to even write this.  well, now i'm all verklempt... talk among yourselves.