State of Fiber

The baby sweater is done. I just need to get down to Jimmy Beans for buttons. I absolutely love the unique look that you get from the Schaffer Elaine thick-and-thin yarn and realize that with practice and dedication, I could actually spin something like it - oh well. I just wish this were machine washable, but then they don't advertise it as baby yarn. In fact, the first issue of Weavezine has a scarf using this yarn in the warp.

I have used Mr. Rabbit as my model so you can see how cute the sweater is, but his ears are in the way. Best I can do - no babies here.
My spinning hasn't been very exciting, I must admit. I just finished this triple-plied Lincoln, spun for warp. I have decided that I want to learn the Cut Pile weaving that Sara has been teaching and so have spun this according to her instructions at the retreat last June. I realize that I process and move slowly.
Are you as impressed as I am at how closely I guessed the filling of my three bobbins?

Allison and I are going to start meeting next week for a small tapestry study group - a Tapestry Club! I am so so excited. We'll also be doing the Sara Swett tapestry bag, woven from a box. I have a wretched work schedule for the next four months and won't get to see much of my friends or family, and so this was Allison's idea of how to sweeten this lonely period. Aaah, friends~ I am rich.

My Favorite Book

I'm not sure what happened to this slow reader recently, but I've fallen a pattern of reading my old favorites again. With so many books yet to be read and me such a slow reader, I feel a little conflicted, yet it's been good. I finished rereading Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood a couple of weeks ago. I read it the first time when it was new fiction and gave a copy to my running partner for her birthday. We were taking a writing class together at the time and she rued that someone had already written her story. I'm thinking that Annie Proulx's Shipping News is going to be a future reread. Lee says she is getting ready to reread The Great Gatsby, another book that I'd like to revisit.

However, today at lunch I finished reading Angle of Repose for the third time. I bought a copy at the Dog Eared Bookstore on Valencia Street and have been marking the heck out it. I bought a copy and Ian bought another copy which he gave to Sharon's husband. Michael's a reader and Ian wanted him to have a copy of my favorite book. It is still my favorite book. If this isn't the perfect novel, will someone please tell me what is?! It's the two parallel stories, both powerful and playing off of each other, that make my jaw drop. The last paragraph is so powerful, but only in context of the whole story. I confess that the first time I read it, I devoured it in a matter of a couple of sittings, but I also had a crush on Oliver - maybe I still do. Outside of the Bible, I think this is *the* story of forgiveness, lack of forgiveness and power of redemption. Will I read it again? Probably.

On creativity, if you haven't caught it, Google sponsored a contest for children to submit art to be used as one of their creative logos, like Earth Day and Mother's Day. They asked children to submit art, themed around "what if" and provided teachers with teaching unit guides across a number of disciplines so all children would be included. Submissions are divided into four age categories. If you have time, I hope you'll click on the link to see what the kids have done. You can vote on their submissions until May 22nd.

Morning Walk

Because spring is so late this year, the pink Desert Peach is blooming at the same time as the yellow Bitter Brush. It's a specta-
cular show and very hard to capture on camera - can't say "on film" anymore, can we now.

What was easy to get a picture of was Buster trying his best to herd Sammi, which is pretty much like trying to herd cats. He's just trying to do his job and she thinks he's cute and quite funny. Almost the entire walk, Buster is herding and she's playing. It can get annoying, but they seem to have an understanding.

Then there's Eddie, the old man, waiting for the kids to shake out their sillies at the end of the walk. We begin with everyone trying to herd everyone, then it digresses into chasing rabbits and ends up with Buster trying be the boss. I walk a mile - they run three.

Here's Bitter Brush growing alongside Desert Peach. When almost all vegetation is sage green, it is absolutely delightful to see these banks of yellow and pink dotting the hillsides throughout the whole valley. I took dozens of photos but just couldn't capture what I was actually seeing.
One of our staff lives on the Reserva-
tion and said that the wild-
flowers are exploding up in her valley. Nope - I said - we don't have any at all and definitely no explosion. I haven't seen any yet and so took the camera this morning, just in case. Nothing again, then here at the bottom of our driveway, I see it. Phlox! Isn't it a sweet little thing?! Not an explosion but I'll take it.
Before going into the house, I decided to pull some of the weeds from our flower bed, such as it is. Then I realized that the finches were completely ignoring me.
I was still yanking up grass and weeds, when Mr. Quail ran down the bank, followed by Mrs. Quail, but by the time I depressed the shutter for a second shot, they had both run out of the frame.

To Dye For

Last month I received notice that the Brewery Arts Center Artisans' Store would be closing the end of May for remodeling into a coffee shop. Huh? Like, did you walk or bring your lunch? I'm not sure about the intent, other than the hope to make more money, but it seems incongruous with the Center's goals. I drove down yesterday and retrieved my stuff, which is now on the dining room table. If you look carefully, you will see a feline presence. I haven't decided what to do with all these hats but probably will recycle some into bags.

How about now - do you see a feline presence now? One of our neighbors said she wanted to see the hats as possible Christmas presents. She saw them and ordered five, to be knit hats. I think I'll be phasing out of the hats very soon. It's just that they are such a fun way to use up bits of handspun.
Becky and Mim were here last Saturday for a dye day and this is my loot. It looks like a lot but doesn't even weigh a pound altogether. Mim is the master of producing intended color. I'm afraid I got some surprises this time, but until I spin them, I won't know if I'm pleased or not.



It wasn't our best photo - Ian took several - but I thought it showed our work area. Becky is holding some fruits of our labor, actually her's since those are her skeins. It was a good day and remains a good memory.

Hook and Ladder Rescue

This post is out of time sequence and dates back to our visit with the kids in San Francisco. We had walked down to eat at a wonderful East Indian restaurant, my favorite cuisine, on Valencia Street and ended up walking back home in near gale force winds. We could hear emergency vehicle sirens going off all over the city. We got home to find this outside the bedroom window. There was a car right below this. The lamp fixture was clearly compromised, lights hadn't come on yet and this is a tinder dry city. Sharon called emergency services.

We were flabber-
asted when within minutes we could hear a distant siren, which then slowed to turn on 17th Street. I think this is the closest I have even been to a hook and ladder truck. What to do? Oh what to do. Grab the camera!
Up came the ladder, up came the fireman who waved to Noah, who had the best seat in the house. They were worried about spark and risk of fire - we could hear the whole conversation. He was only feet away.
We also heard him lambaste PG&E for putting in a fixture that didn't fit the base. He couldn't restore the lamp and so removed everything and secured it with duct tape. I want you to notice to color of a fireman's duct tape.
Wait, wait. The story is not over. See the tall tan house in the center of the picture? There is a cocktail party going on and the ladies, all it their black dresses, have been hooting at the firemen. They make gestures of "come on up" and the firemen make gestures of "come on down." Finally the ladder driver says, "Put me on, send me up."


And they do. Noah is enthralled. Okay, so are we. Will Noah remember this and want to be a fireman when he grows up? They are the heroes, modern days heroes, however you look at it. After returning to the other fireman, we could hear the ladder driver say - "She really wanted to kiss me." Yup.

Tomato Factory

And here you have it. One Early Girl tomato in a tomato cage sur-
rounded by Walls of Water. It survived the 24 degrees and I am optimistic that I will have fruit this year. I planted two of these and it took forever. I took my pail down to the pen because I wanted some llama guano to blend into the soil. I was followed by trotting hooves, and I turned around to face three wethers and two llamas - such an unorthodox flock. They were so curious - and expectant. The other half of forever was filling the tubes from the hose. If I get red ripe tomatoes, this will be the first year. See the tips of my toes at the bottom?


Hey babe - we're a couple of cool dudes, out looking for a good time. Want to go for a ride??

Moving On

I have a lot of yarn that I've spun in the past and need to work up. To that end, I've been swatch-
ing this yarn that I spun a couple of years ago when we rented a cabin on the Fern River in Felton, California. It was a delightful experience and I've wanted to do the yarn justice to preserve the memory. One ply is grey Corriedale/ Rambouillet and the other ply is something I got from Kate Painter when I bought my Lendrum, way back when she owned Paradise Fibers. She had created a fiber cocktail from a variety of colors blend into a white wool. I assume the wool is Coopworth since that's what she raises. When I saw Michelle's Sonnet sweater yesterday, I knew that I had found my pattern. Sonnet can be made from any gauge fiber since you plug your figures into the spaces. I had thought about dyeing the yarn with indigo, but I've decided to leave it as it is. But first I have a baby sweater to knit. It's a girl! We're going to have a grandniece in October.
I stopped at the nursery yesterday and picked up two tomato plants. The nursery's tomato stock had been hit hard by the frost and I figured if these two could still look this vigorous, then they have to be pretty hardy. It was 24 degrees yesterday morning when I got up. This what these tomatoes are up against.

My poor colum-
bines are as trauma-
tized as the day lilies by the frosts. That's why I'm planting the tomatoes in Walls of Water. By the time I'm done, it'll look like a tomato prison!

Robin asked to see some of Joe's pottery so here goes. These two pieces actually cost the same. The large one was in Joe's "Old and in the Way" section a couple of years ago. We came home but couldn't stop thinking about it, so Ian went back on got it. There's a seam that shows a join about a quarter of the way up. We love it anyway.


This is actually a large pasta bowl, but since we don't often have enough mouths to feed to fill it, we mostly look at it here.


And this is our most recent acqui-
sition. Notice, I didn't say purchase. Joe's wife Shiho liked one of my felted bags so we traded, my bag for his pot. I absolutely love it. By the way, the dark specks on the right are complete arrowheads that son Josh found last summer in the creek runs behind our house.

Last Day of April

Today is the last day of April and the temper-
ature this morning is 28. I can see my breath as I take this picture. It blew furiously all day yesterday, bringing yet another cold front. My day lilies are prostrate - again. We ran out of firewood over the weekend but Ian was able to scrounge some downed trees so we have a fire in the woodstove this morning.
This appears to be another year where we will skip Spring entirely. I need to get tomatoes planted even so, and will put them in Walls of Water this weekend. Otherwise, the growing season will be too short.
On the good news front, I stopped to snap this shot - no, the place isn't on fire. Our neighbor, Joe Winter, is a potter who participates in a community wood-kiln firing, and clearly today is the day they're firing for the Spring show this weekend. Joe saw me, waved and started walking down the driveway, so already late for work anyway, I walked to meet him. He reminded me that the show is this weekend and asked me to bring soap down. I sold enough soap at his Christmas sale to pay for part of this computer. This is very good news. More good news is that the quakes seem to dimishing.

Check out this Palette Generator, sent to me by a friend in California. I tried it on my photos of Nevada, using a variety of seasons, settings and times of day, including sunsets. The palettes are really exciting and I think will be a wonderful took when I plan my next dye day. Warning, once you start, it's pretty hard to stop - just one more photo, okay, just one more...

I realized as I was ready to his Publish Post, that it was two years ago sometime during this month that I posted my first blog. I've made so many wonderful friends in that two years. How quickly that time has gone.

Spring in Nevada

It's starting to look like spring. I know, I know. I've said that before. But this morning when I took the dogs for their walk, I didn't have to bundle up and it sure was nice for a change.

The desert peach is now in blossom; it's a front runner of blooming things here. This color will last another couple of weeks and I can already see the bitter brush queueing up behind it with yellow bud nubs.

We walked to where the folks raise the wolves before turning around. Mim says she can always tell where I have taken my pictures. I'm sure she'll weigh in on desert peach too, since her farm is named for it, but she is still in the middle of the lambing season from hell.
Ian discovered that we have a new wildflower growing just inside the gate and had me walk up with him to see it a couple of weeks ago. It's been so cold, it has been in a semi-wilted state, huddling while waiting for warm. Today I could see the bracts had opened into flowers so I could identify it.
It's a shy wild flower, the blossoms hang their heads. It's called Brown's Peony, or paeonia brownii, and it appears there is more to come from this plant. Our book says, "As striking as the flowers may be in bloom, they are even more so in seed, for the pistils enlarge and enlarge until they're 2-4" swollen sausages. The weight of these amazing seedpods, even with the petals and stamens having fallen off the plant, is enough to pull the pods and sepals almost all the way to the ground." It's always exciting when a new-to-us wild flower appears. The California poppies that had seeded themselves up on the road didn't survive the winter. I was disappointed.
Look at my poor day lilies. They have wanted so badly to grow and they give it the collegiate effort, to be slapped back down by another cold spell. And they're supposed to get slapped down again over the next couple of days. We are so close to being out of firewood and now it looks like we'll be using our last twigs.

House/Studio Cleaning

I was pretty tired this weekend after all the energy spent on our San Francisco visit and four days of work. I had "plans" but realized that I didn't have the umph to carry them out for decided to spend a little time organizing my studio. I have bags of stuff that I have shuffled from spot to space for literally years. I decided that I'd identify what was in the bags and either do something with them or move them on. I have eliminated all but these three on the floor and there are still another half dozen little ones in the closet.
One bag had some stuff from over five years ago at least. When I blended them up and spun them, that obnoxious bag turned into these two skeins of yarn. I'm on a mission.
And another bag contained clots of Border Leicester that I had felted when trying to dye the locks with lupin a couple of years ago. I patiently picked through the locks and ran the good stuff through my drum carder to get these batts of yellow fluff. Laura had said to me when I was so enthralled with natural dyes that it's pretty straight forward. Most all plants dye up yellow.

And in answer to Birdsong's question, the Turkoman rug exhibit was thrilling. I had seen one of Silk Road bags at the Textile Museum in Washington DC and I had also seen an Ikat weaving exhibit at the Met in New York. Both had supplementary educational information, about the region and the peoples. My disappointment in this exhibit, and it was absolutely spectacular, was the lack of supplementary information.

It's a been unsettling, pun intended, in Reno as of late- you may have heard the news. We are experiencing an epidemic of earthquakes as reported by the USGS, and they are keeping people pretty shook up. Ian and I are 35 miles north of Reno and our house is on bed rock so we haven't been feeling them here. Amy said one of her collectible sheep feel last night and broke his legs in an unglueable way. If you look at the site I linked to, below the map is a list of quakes, the date and time and magnitude. Folks in Reno are pretty jittery right now.

San Francisco

In San Francisco, the city of self expres-
sion, you get this. It's the door to a flat that we walked by on our way home.

And you get this - the new DeYoung art museum. I wanted to see the exhibit of historic Turkmen-
istan weavings. We took the bus and had a transfer pass that would have allowed up to also visit the Palace of the Legion of Honor, which had a photographic exhibit that I wanted to see. By the time we left, I wasn't so keen on catching it after all.

I think my favorite exhibit was the city, as seen in the observa-
tion tower. This view catches the natural history museum, which will reopen in September. Sharon has already bought passes and I think it's symbolic that the hospital where Noah was born in right behind it.
Of course I could never do the museum justice, but I wanted to share this quilt, cum wall hanging. It's made from the aluminum caps from twist off wine bottles. You'll have to click for big to believe me.
And I do apologize that I don't have picture editing software, because this George Washing-
ton image is created from sewn dollar bills. I hope click for big will do him justice.

Recent Acquisitions

This the Schaeffer's Elaine that I chose for our new grand niece or nephew. Since we still don't know what Allison is expecting, this seemed safe, but there were a couple of other color pathways that were really calling to me. I also want to knit that great baby sweater pattern that Jodi sent me. She comes up with the greatest baby sweaters.

Noah's hat was so much fun. I have to admit that it was great having him right there while the hat was growing. He kept checking on its progress. For you who haven't seen me knit, I'm a Continental knitter - it's the way my mother taught me - and its really fast. Only Hermi Hiatt knits faster than I do. I'm not saying that I'm a good knitter, but I am fast. That said, I went back to the shop and bought more balls.

ImaginKint had these hats in the window so I bought the pattern. I wanted to get a hat made while we were there - no muss, no fuss. I asked the guy in the shop (notice I said guy) what yarn he would recomend and he directed me to the Karabella Aurora 8. It's a washable wool and really lovely and really spendy, but it's my grandkids so that doesn't count. Alexia's berry hat is finished and I have enough for at least three more hats.
We stopped at Ikeda's in upper Auburn on the way. It's a fruit stand on steroids and it's been there ever since I moved to the foothills in 1972. They've added a bakery, local honey, nuts and it's hard to escape for under $50. Speaking of steroids, will you look at this artichoke. It is no more - I ate it for lunch yesterday.

I added the dinner fork for perspective.