off to TN

leaving this a.m. to TN, then Alabama with Lynne to be her assistant for a workshop retreat. 3 1/2 days of fiber and color with a bunch of fiber fanciers!! it just doesn't get any better! then to Knoxville for a weekend with my dear sisters! (the bio ones) (as opposed to twisted ones)

and I just gotta say... Tom Diak (Grafton Fibers) is truly an artist, and a fine person in the bargain!! story at 11. gotta see if i can close my suitcase and get outa here!!

from Eugene Saturday Market

The earrings I bought are silver disks with an image etched on of "She Who Watches". This legend was included with the earrings. I tried taking a pic of them, but they're just too shiny... the image is the top center one. They were purchased from Philip Dietz of Spirit Rocks (Springfield, OR)


This information was also included


And I bought cloth origami cranes to give to my sister to hang in her new home to bring good luck and love. They are really sweet..

about the bunny cake

Yep, Charleen, it's the same bunny cake you mention in your comment! I don't bake much anymore, but always love to make that cake. It was the first time the grands had seen one, and were quite impressed. Of course, it probably helped that there were M&Ms decorating the bow tie.

another Black Sheep Gathering

We went to Eugene on Thursday afternoon, even tho nothing starts til Friday... the other choice was to arrive in Eugene on Friday in time for an 8:30 a.m. class, which i just don't think i could have pulled off. The class was great (even if it was early a.m.). Linda, Jeanne and I all took Joan Schrouder's class on knitting tips, techniques and tricks and I'm SO glad I signed up for that. the best trick was knitting back backward... and i need to go practice that so I won't forget. There are others I need to practice, and she gave us really helpful handouts, so I should be able to do it!! Shopping was, of course, a consuming activity and was productive. I was able to find some washed, super shiny and soft mohair locks at an excellent price, well.. actually Linda found the vendor and we both snapped up a couple of pounds! I actually didn't buy very much, a kilo of recycled silk thread at an excellent price, part of which i'll use for blending with wool and part i'll package and sell at NW Wools. and i found a couple of small bundles of merino/cashmere on sale at Lisa Milliman's Dicentra booth. seems like i always buy something from her because her color sense is just so wonderful. There was lots more I wanted, but just tried to keep in mind what my stash looks like and managed to curb myself. Must admit to lots of "enabling"!! It was wonderful to see old friends, and BSG is always a place you can count on getting lots of hugs, which feels so good! This morning we went to the Saturday Market ... and it was overwhelming to find so many choices of really beautiful jewelry, lots and lots of tie-dyed everything, enticing aromas of greasy overpriced food, the usual soaps and candles and the interesting contrast of old hippies/hippie wannabe types and tourists. I found a woman who made really lovely cloth origami cranes and good luck fishes and bought a string of 3 cranes for my sister to hang in her new home. also bought earrings... silver with etching of the "she who watches" petriglyph from the rocks along the Columbia River gorge... for my other sister. Then we got lost in Eugene again and finally found the fairground. I just don't understand why i get so flummoxed driving around Eugene, because usually i have no problems finding my way around. it's just that city that does it to me! After a little more shopping and enabling, i sat watch at the Fiber Arts display for an hour, then Jeanne and I drove back to home. This was the second year of not having a booth at BSG and i do miss that!! it was awfully hot today.. mid 90's. i'm so grateful for ac in the car. oh, and we got 52 mpg on this trip! yippeeeee. gotta get organized and get packed for trip to Tennessee on tuesday.

More birthdays!!

This was indeed a party weekend! My very sweet son, Chris, had his 35th birthday on Sat., 6/17.... and I celebrated a bd with him actually ON his birthday for the first time in a lot of years!! for many years now, Black Sheep Gathering has been on or close to his bd and I've had to be in Eugene to sell fibers and, of course, party with twisted sisters and other friends! guess i'm just a bad mom, but... well... it was always my biggest fiber show of the year, and i honestly don't think it made much difference to him after he grew up! Anyway, he, Kate, Alex and Zylie came down from Duvall on Saturday, I fixed him a bunny cake (blast from the past kind of thing), Jim cooked his birthday dinner, and then we got busy planning for Alex's 6th birthday on the 19th. In the meantime, Sunday was Fathers' Day and Chris took Jim and all the rest of us to Newport Bay for brunch... which was a magnificent meal, and was quite enjoyable til Zylie got pissed off about something, made her way out of the booth by crawling under the table, and in her inimitable dramatic gesture of displeasure, began pulling her dress off, which is her supreme expression of displeasure..... no shrieking or tantrum. Her favorite dresses to wear (when she will agree to even wear a dress) are the cotton knits which are very easily removable!! And then Monday, we got into party prep mode, and Jen, Judy, Jordan, Maisy and Max came at noon, Deborah and Jack got here soon after, and Alex had a really fine celebration! The party had all the trimmings he had requested... choc. cake with his name on it and with M&Ms and sprinkles, balloons, goody bags for his guests, lots of presents, pizza, really LOTS of balloons!!! Chris and Kate really do this bd party for kids in a big way!! Soon after the party ended they packed up and went back home... and wanna guess who collapsed with an ice pack on her back?? aw, you know.....
Kids partying:...


Alex w/gifts


and he DOES love Legos!!


escaped balloons drift up to the ceiling, which in a dome is a long way up!


Chris and Zylie


Kate, Chris and Jordan


Jack (Alex's cousin)


more photos later

global warming

yesterday we went to Portland to see Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. In my not so humble opinion, this is an absolute must-see movie. Though I've been aware that global warming is a fact, I really had no idea the extent of it and what is actually happening to our planet. The possibilities are mind boggling of what could happen in the next decade if we don't ALL make some effort to stop this. Here at home I know I can do better, tho we do try to "live green" and garden almost organically, there's always more that can be done without a lot of effort or inconvenience! If i sound evangelical that's how I'm feeling right now! What's happened/happening on our planet is really shocking! If you can see this movie, please do. Here's the website to learn more:
http://www.climatecrisis.net And it really does come down to individual choices, plus insisting that our leaders make the right choices.

new fibers for sale

I have listed some handdyed Corriedale top and Merino/Kid mohair for sale at
http://woolgatheringsfibers.blogspot.com/

O frabjous day! ...

Callooh! Callay!* It is indeed a frabjous day Why??? because the sun is shining, it's warm outside, the flowers of my queendom are picking up their heads from the mud where the rain had slung them, rhodies are blooming in wild glory, clematis covers the arbor, there are even roses in bloom! and the poppies... bless 'em for seeding themselves in unexpected places. when the sun first started peeking out today, i went for a walk about to check on things. truth be told, i was out to assault the slug population with my shaker of salt, and was quickly diverted into deep appreciation for all this glory of great goddesses and mother of us all ... abounding everywhere i looked. and then i went to my studio and made an attempt to pay homage to the poppies and the multitude of reds, oranges, cream, pale pale peach, many pinks. in my eye it will remind me of the poppies, whether anyone else sees this corriedale roving and thinks of poppies doesnt really matter to me! photos maybe ... when it's dry.

and here's a photo of the Poppies corriedale top. havent spun any of it yet.


*thanks to Lewis Carroll and his jabberwocky

update

it's been so long since i made an entry here that i hardly know where to begin. have not been doing much dyeing or spinning, but have been working on a baby sweater from the Mason Dixon Knitting book... it's a super easy kimono type and i'm using some washable wool yarn that's been lingering in my stash for many years. i probably shouldn't mention any knitting projects on this blog as it seems to be the kiss of death of projects never to be completed. I've really been enjoying this book and there are a few patterns I might use, but besides that it's good reading... entertaining and funny.

And... yesterday was Jim's birthday. His family had been wanting to get together to go over some geneology stuff, so we just combined that with a birthday party. And i guess i was possessed by my inner domestic goddess... while roomba vacced the kitchen i actually baked a cake from scratch. it's been many many moons since i've given in to that impulse and the carrot cake actually turned out quite edible. I used a recipe from a low-fat cookbook, whose name escapes me at the moment, but it's by 2 docs from OHSU and we got it right after his bypass surgery. so, it was low enough in fat that he could eat some! I got a big bunch of salmon at Costco and we were going to barbeque it, but the rain has still not quit, so the fishy went into the oven and came out quite delicious. there's a LOT left over, so now i need to find a recipe for what to do with it before it rots in the frig.

have i said lately just how much i adore my roomba robot??? damn, i totally love having my very own robot to clean the floors and she does a damn good job, too. top on my wish list now is a wet mop robot. between muddy dog paws and the general tracked in mud resulting from farm livin', the floor is always in need of mopping and i'm almost never possessed by that inner domestic goddess who inspires me to clean... thus the kitchen floor usually looks like a pig pen.

What else? have sporadically been dyeing fibers to take to the Shakerag reunion in
Alabama... so far there's silk top and merino/kid mohair top, and i want to get some BFL and/or corriedale dyed up. have been lacking in motivation and energy to do much of anything lately... so, haven't done much of anything until there's an urgency of some kind or guilt sets in.

I've written to Elena in Vamos to start looking for a place for us to rent when we go back to Crete next November. Plans are to go to Italy for 10 days or so before going to Crete, and we can't go til Jim gets his grapes harvested. (hoping for an early harvest)

when i get the baby sweater closer to finished (have back, one arm and left front done so far) i will post a photo.

yarn

here's some yarn i spun while at the beach. it's the merino/tencel superwash that's been aging for many moons. took some pictures of other yarns from the weekend, but the color was so far from true that i trashed them. guess i need to dig out the instruction manual for this camera. i'm sure it will do lots more things than i've managed to figure out.


and here's Buster... one HUGE cat. the dogs are afraid of her (as they should be!!)She follows me around like a puppy when i'm outside.


it's raining again and the weed population and size is exploding... yikes...

Stephen Colbert

this is a link to the transcript of Stephen Colbert's address at the White House correspondent's dinner. i've watched his show on comedy channel and been amazed at some of his comments..... now i am in awe of the man for saying things about this administration that the media has tiptoed around and avoided! read it for yourself and be amazed!

http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/4/30/1441/59811

sorry i can't make it easy to click on, you'll need to copy and paste the url. maybe i'll get it figured out later.

PSA

in the public interest, i pass along this information which i received this morning:

Subject: New STD Warning!!


The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a warning about a new virulent strain of Sexually Transmitted Disease. The disease is contracted through dangerous and high risk behavior.

The disease is called Gonorrhea Lectim and pronounced "gonna re-elect him." Many victims contracted it in 2004, after having been screwed for the past four years. Cognitive characteristics of individuals infected include: anti-social personality disorders, delusions of grandeur with messianic overtones, extreme cognitive dissonance, inability to incorporate new information, pronounced xenophobia and paranoia, inability to accept responsibility for own actions, cowardice masked by misplaced bravado, uncontrolled facial smirking, ignorance of geography and history, tendencies towards evangelical theocracy, categorical all-or-nothing behavior.

Naturalists and epidemiologists are amazed at how this destructive disease originated only a few years ago from a bush found in Texas.

is it spring yet??

sure looks like it today! though the temp did get down to 32 last night. the yard and flower beds are really showing the effects of all the rain.. the weeds are high and lush green and trying to take over again. the vegetable garden is lookin' pretty good tho... well, the weeds are out and some of the raised beds are fertilized and tilled and Jim has cleared a space where the new solar panels will go on the north edge of the garden. the flower beds are an entirely other story and are high on the do-it list. i'm pretty much a month behind in everything since April was taken over by my dad... both his hospital stay and his birthday party.

had a relaxing and happy time at the beach with 3 twisted sisters. we rented a condo this time which was on the 4th floor so had a wonderful view of the ocean. it was pretty cool, too, to see the seagulls soaring from such an up-close vantage point. I spun some silk and plyed it with an aged bobbin of mohair locks. it is SO soft and shiny!! also spun a bobbin full of the merino/tencel and totally love how it looks. the disappointment was the mohair locks i took ... it was chockfull of debris. that's the last batch of mohair i will buy online from an unknown source.
silly me to believe that her defininition of well-skirted and VM free would be the same as mine. in all these years i've had a pretty crappy track record on buying mohair fleece, whether in person or on the internet. should i keep trying? oh, i probably will. didn't get any beach pics, but may get around to taking some of the yarn i spun and posting them.

made my reservation this a.m. to go to TN in late June, after BSG! so, there's something i can check off the do-it list! bravo.....

life is good!

and today I spent some time in my studio dyeing! definitely a good day here!! and tomorrow at noon i'm leaving for a weekend at the beach (a rental condo in Rockaway, OR) with a few twisted sisters. here are some of the fibers i'll take with me...

this is a 50/50 merino and tencel blend that has been languishing - i mean aging - in my stash for a very long time. I really love the soft, muted colors. See, it isn't ALL about in your face color, just mostly.


dyed mohair locks using lanaset and/or pro washfast dyes with the heat it up in the electric skillet, add vinegar, splash on dyes and simmer.


Blue Face Leicester top featuring "in-your-face-orange" and "attitude pink" which may not make the cut for the beach trip. i'm in the mood to spin some silk and love spinning it on my Journey wheel which is packed and ready to go! will need to go digging in the stash for some sensuous silk.

My dad has improved to the point that he wants to go back to his apt. at assisted living, so Curbhead will take him there tomorrow. Hoping Home Infusion nurses will come early tomorrow a.m. to remove his picc line... last infusion is midnight tonight, for which he and i will both be grateful!

my Dad's 90th birthday party

and what a party it was!!! THe day of the party (22nd) i had doubts he'd be able to find enough energy to last the 5 hours the party was scheduled for... but he seemed to be having a good time up until the end and was more than ready to crash into bed when we got home. I don't have an exact count of how many people showed up, but had 110 who RSVPed that they would be there! The setting was very nice... The Kingstad Center in Beaverton, OR, which is a conference center that used to belong to Nike, was bought several years ago by the Kingstad brothers and is used for meetings, receptions, parties, etc. Their menu choices gave lots of choices and the buffet table they set up was wonderful... great food and nicely presented. Hawley, the event planner, was great to work with and was there while the party was going on. Bud (Curbhead) really came thru with entertainment, a trio and a keyboardist who alternated with each other for at least 3 of the 5 hours of the party. And David had put together a slide show of family pictures which included some of Pop's baby pics. Anyway, it was a wonderful event!! but i'll wait awhile before planning another one of this magnitude!!!

So Pop stayed 8 days at King City rehab and i was not happy with their "nursing care". he had already had a week of inactivity in the hospital, and other than the 30 min. of PT and 30 min. of OT/day, they seemed happy to just let him lie in bed. he was still on his 3 weeks of IV therapy and even if we'd arranged to have that done by the home infusion nurses, he was no where near able to take care of himself. so, i brought him home to stay with us, with the warning to him that i would not let him just lie around in bed or sit all cozy in a chair all day... so he had advance warning!! Kaiser has been wonderful about the home care... 2 RNs from the home infusion dept. came out the day i brought him home,and the next day. we picked up his antibiotics at our nearest Kaiser pharmacy, the pharmacist called to be sure i had the equipment i needed, PT has been to visit him and OT is coming tomorrow. there is a 24 hour on call person if i need help. and everything is going very well. i took the infusion to the party for his afternoon dose. so he'll be here til he finishes the iv on Thursday, and since he's already doing well with his own care, he'll probably go back to his apartment on friday.


i've got a couple of fiber projects this week... a custom dyeing job for a friend and a pile of blue face leicester roving that's dyed and ready for weighing and tagging and taking to NW Wools. friday some of the twisted sisters are going to the beach for the weekend... and i am SO looking forward to it!

very cute..

hard to believe that my grandson, Alex, is almost 6 years old! I snitched this from Kate's blog. She took it when the 2 of them were out whale watching last weekend. He looks like he's enjoying his day!!

Friday already

A short update.... took my dad to King City rehab on monday to continue the iv antibiotics and get him steady on his feet after a week of lying in bed in the hospital. He's doing well and is anxious to go home!

Accomplished my 2 goals of the week... get the paper work done for taxes and get them to the tax guy, and clear out/clean up my studio for a dye workshop on saturday. well, the studio is almost ready. i guess i need to do workshops more often to keep it from looking like something the board of health would condemn. and i discovered a LOT of dyed fiber and yarn that needs to be moved out of here and into someone elses stash! being a pack rat can be a real burden sometimes!

so, today i'll finish up in the studio and then go visit my dad. didn't go yesterday, but knew Curbhead would be there so Pop wouldn't be without family there to visit with him. and next week... finish up the party planning, including figuring out what to do for table decorations. hoping some inspiration will come to me soon!

long week...

My dad is still in the hospital and on IV antibiotics for a 3 week course. The short story is: infection in his wrist of unknown origin and unknown organism, finally went to surgery on Wed. or Thurs. to flush the wrist with antibiotics and put in a drain, lots of pain and pain meds and very little activity, will go to King City rehab center tomorrow for a week to work on getting his strength up so he can go back home with a calibrated pump which will deliver the antibiotics every 8 hours. and 2 weeks from yesterday, we will whisk him away to his big 90th birthday bash to be celebrated by family and lots of friends, with some musical entertainment, lots of good food and wine and merriment! Della, my nephew's wife, made a wonderful invitation and is working on banners and scanned enlargements of lots of photos of Pop and family thru the years. if you can manage to have a graphic artist in the family... go for it, as it's very good thing! which reminds me i need to do some web searching for some ideas for table decorations. have spent a lot of time at the hospital this week, which means that i STILL haven't gotten all my tax stuff together. luckily (i guess), it was a pretty slow year on the business front with 3 months in Crete, so there are fewer papers to shuffle this year. Also, high on the do it list is getting my studio in shape for a dyeing workshop next saturday, and the way it's lookin', that ain't no small task. where is Cinderella when i need her???? and i am SO wishing for that simple life in Crete!

Fiber Workshop with Lynne Vogel

Lynne Vogel, author of the Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook, will be teaching Spinning for Colorwork Knitting at the Red Rooster Retreat, Crane Hill, Alabama June 29-July2 2006, assisted by Sandy Sitzman, twisted mom. Red Rooster is a residential craft retreat center where we can come together and indulge in color up to our eyeballs to the exclusion of all else, except maybe the swimming pool. We will cover loads of colorwork knitting and spinning techniques during this three day, three night intensive. We hope you will join us for the fun.

You can find more information on Lynne's Blog

http://workshopcentral.blogspot.com

We are asking that you reserve a place in this workshop by April 15. Please contact Blaine Harkness at BHark12345@aol.com to register.

a long night in the ER

My Dad came up with a sudden onset of swelling and pain in his wrist and hand, so I took him to the ER about 7p.m. last night. Foolishly, I thought since there was no full moon, no big events going on in town, it was not friday or sat. night, that the ER wouldn't be TOO crowded... and was I ever wrong! There were 16 people ahead of him.. lots of them children and very unhappy screaming babies and very sick-looking folks. So, we sat and waited as his pain and swelling increased. He had no fever and for an almost 90-year-old man, is really in pretty good health, so he didn't get on any high priority list (if there is one) Finally, about 10:45 we were taken to an exam room, and the first diagnosis was probably cellulitis and they started iv antibiotics and then gave him some morphine... which did not even touch the pain, about which he was becoming more and more vocal. So, because of this pain they began talking about other possibilities for diagnosis. So, before being admitted at 4a..m., he was seen by the ER resident, Kaiser Internist, surgical resident, xray, CT scan, had blood work. Poor guy... i felt SO sorry for him and couldn't do a thing for him! He kept trying to send me home, but I stuck it out til he was in a room and had morphine PCP going. Today, an orthopod was added to the mix, thought it might be gout and tapped his wrist for fluid... and there was none. so, hmmm... still no definitive diagnosis, but he still has iv antibiotics and morphine going, blood work still to come back and still in pain if anyone touches his hand or wrist.

I'm glad it's still more than 2 weeks before his big 90th birthday celebration, so he'll have time to recover from this whatever it is! He said he wanted a huge blow out birthday party, and that's what we have planned! We've rented a room at a really nice conference center, ordered up lots of yummy sounding food, plenty of wine, Curbhead and David are in charge of entertainment, there will be a slide show of some sort... and we've sent out about 110 invitations (so far!) Sounds like a good party, huh?

Think i better go take some magic vitamin C potion to ward off anything nasty i might have breathed in while waiting in the ER last night.