Monthly Archives: August 2015

2015
08/21

Category:
Life

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Friday report

I have not finished any knitting this week, so my numbers have not changed.

Nor do I have anything to show for my day.   We spent 4.5 hours driving each way to a funeral for my uncle today – yes, I’m glad we did.  But It did make for a full  day.    I’m so glad tomorrow is a new day.   And just maybe we will be having a little sheep visiting us from the area that is on fire.    I hear she needs a temporary home.

The other piece of news that I have (without a photo) is that my Dr. is on extended emergency medical leave and I have to change to a different doctor to get my replacement ankle replaced.   The earliest appointment I could get was end of September, which means the surgery probably won’t happen until the end of the year.   The good is that I have time to get more sewing done before I get put off my feet for healing.   I’ll bet I can make my goal of 200 yards of fabric used this year.   And I can put together more things to do from a sitting position.    The garden will just have to wait.

2015
08/20

Category:
charity
Life
spinning

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Closet cleanout

IMG_2932 It’s difficult to take a good photo of the area under the stairs that I use as a storage closet.   But I certainly did get a lot of items stored in there.   And since I did most of it about 10-12 years ago, I didn’t know for sure what was there.   So Mary came over and we took everything out – EVERYTHING!  We spent the day going through mostly fibers, but some other things.   made a big stack for “freecycle”, another for Goodwill, a third for trash, another to work on in the immediate future and the last is fibers that I will do eventually, but there is no real rush . IMG_2933 The wool, I took samples of and put in a notebook along with a number on the tote, the alpaca, mohair, and angora are noted as such. IMG_2934 Though it’s difficult to tell from photos, this is now organized.   I know what is in each tote, and

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this is part of what is going to freecycle.    There was also a stack like this of items going to a nursing home, trash and Goodwill

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And I found the missing dremmel and table.     And we uncovered an extra spinning wheel, which I will sell.    So the totes with organized fibers and all the totes with decorations for each of the holidays now are in that closet.  And stacked so I can easily get to the one I want.    I am so happy to have this done.

 

2015
08/19

Category:
Life
quilts

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A finished fox flimsy

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This fox flimsy is now in one piece despite the fact that we spent too much of the day shopping for bathroom counter top, groceries and signing up at the gym.   It is infant size and  I think some baby boy will look adorable wrapped in this.   Oops, amazing what one sees in a photo.   Tomorrow, I will put the eye on that I missed.

2015
08/18

Category:
food
Knitting
Life

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2 Comments »

PEACHES and a gift

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I  love good, fresh, sweet Red Haven peaches.   We brought home

40# yesterday and today after eating some and putting some in the refrigerator to eat fresh,

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I canned 40 pints.   As we open each jar during the winter, it will help to bring back summer memories.    Peckham pears will probably be the last of this summers canning.

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I received a surprise package in the mail.   Well, first it was surprise email asking for my address.   I don’t remember entering anything, but that’s okay, I’m very happy to receive these 4 balls of cotton yarn for dishcloths.   They are all new to me and oh, so soft.

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And she included pretty stitch markers – something I didn’t have.    It was fun opening these and will be fun using them.   Janet runs the yahoo monthly dishcloth group and maybe selects from members to send out such wonderful gifts.

2015
08/17

Category:
farming
food
Life
spinning

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2 Comments »

The car failed me

 

IMG_2920 My cousin has been cleaning out items she thinks she no longer needs and has sent me several doll clothes books.    Interestingly enough not a one of them has been a duplicate of what I have.    Now I need to get busy and trace patterns so I can make clothes.    Christmas will soon be here and I want some little girls to be happy.

Today, the plan was to go to Seattle (an hour drive) to get some organic peaches.   I got about 5 miles from home when the car shuddered, started shaking, and sounded horrible.  So I called DH  – cell phones are wonderful  – and he came to my rescue.  We took it to our mechanic fearing the worst.   However, a spark plug had worked loose and that bill was only $70.   As long as the car was there, we had the annual service done, so now I’m ready for the winter and nothing should go wrong.   I do like to have the car trustworthy as there is no other service here in case of emergency.

We did get the peaches while the car was being serviced.   After coming home, we took my computer in for a new hard drive.   The technician argued that he didn’t think it was a hard drive problem, even though the Geek squad did think so.   He talked me into leaving it there for a week so they can check it out.   I nearly had a heart attack over being without it for a week     I have this little laptop, but if I save any messages on here, I can’t get them into the proper folders when the desktop comes back.

We went to Panera’s for lunch after taking the computer in.   This was the first time they really scrambled our orders.   When I asked the manager if they had new help, he said several were new and offered us a free meal next time we come in.

My days always seems so full and I wonder why.    Maybe it’s just all these little interferences.     I was able to do a bit of sewing and spinning which I find relaxing.   But nothing was finished.   I’ll get some photos tomorrow when I figure out how to load them on this computer.   I have some really terrific sticky stuff to show you – stay tuned.

 

2015
08/16

Category:
Life
spinning

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Spinning the blue roving

 

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If you don’t raise your own fiber and you want to spin, you can purchase wool this way.   It is called roving and is the top 1% of Merino wool, which makes it very soft.

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It is so collapsed when you purchase it, that it must be opened and then

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the fibers pulled apart from top to bottom – so they separate somewhat, but are not pulled apart.

IMG_2918Then I elongate them so that I have a fairly small diameter in my hand while spinning.

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A two foot piece of roving can keep me spinning for a long time.  I did not measure before I started, but I bought a pound which is enough for a sweater.  I’ve been spinning on this in odd moments and have about 6 feet of roving left to spin.   Then it all needs to be plied.   At some point, I will be choosing a sweater pattern.

The news had a bit of weather forecast from the Old Farmer’s Almanac.  In the PNW,  I’m supposed to gear up for snow from mid Dec through mid January and then again mid February until the end.     I so hope it is wrong.   But I find that it is usually more on than off.   For the rest of the country it is forecasting a lot of snow and cold unless you are in California.   Then you get early bad weather followed by drought again.   I really think the weather for most of you could be improved upon.

IMPORTANT

This computer is going in to get a new hard drive tomorrow.   I’m hoping to be up and running by tomorrow night, but if not, that is the reason.   I spent about 6 hours today, making sure that everything was backed up and it is possible I still missed some.

2015
08/14

Category:
Life

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2 Comments »

A new dress

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The girls have decided they need new dresses.   So that was today’s project.   It takes just as long or longer to make one of these little ones, than it would for a human child.  Someday, I’ll have to make them some shoes.

2015
08/13

Category:
quilts

COMMENTS:
2 Comments »

Fox quilt

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I found this photo on the internet, but it was late and I didn’t bother to do the proper calculations, so it is a bit small right now.   I will add another 3 triangles to each row and probably another row or two.  It will be perfect for a baby after I add the borders.    It looks long right now, but each time I sew a row together I take 1/2 inch off the length.     The current plan is for felt circles for the whites of the eye and embroider the black iris.   I’d love to put those cute buttons on, but this is for someone who might ingest them, so I’ll curb my desires.   It consists of totally one size triangle.   These are 3″.   If I do it again, I’ll choose a larger size so it will be for an older child.

2015
08/12

Category:
food
Garden
Life
spinning

COMMENTS:
3 Comments »

Dyeing pots

 IMG_2903Lisa, who is very thoughtful, brought these beautiful roses and lilies when she and Christian came to visit yesterday.

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Today Mary and I drove him to a half way point, which was about an hour and a half drive,  so Lisa wouldn’t have to come so far.  We let his mother take him south to lunch and  we went north to Subway.   That way we could all get on with our day.  He complained that the child’s menu just wasn’t enough food.   Maybe at 11, it is time to move up menu wise.

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When we got home we took a look through the greenhouse and somehow missed these.

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When I went back out to water, I found 7 cukes.  I brought in these 4 and left the other 3 near the top to grow a bit more.

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Then back into the house as it was time to finish mixing up the dyes.   There were 9 powder packages which must be opened underwater and then simmered for 30 minutes.   So it takes about an hour to process each of them.   I managed to make that take 3 days by doing a bit each day.   However, they are now ready to be used to dye the wool. Sometimes, I can just make something drag out.

 

2015
08/11

Category:
Life

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Family day

It seems that last night’s post did not go through so am trying again tonight with a different post. IMG_2896 Our oldest daughter and her son came to visit for awhile today.   So I thought I’d share with you a photo of us.

IMG_2886 and with Christian, her son, and his aunt Keri.

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For lunch we had a 3 bean and rice salad, potato salad, and a green salad.   However, we dived into them before I remembered to snap a photo.

IMG_2892 It has been a good day and she was thrilled with her quilt.