New Things

These are the colors I've chosen for my next warp. The pattern is a block weave, so the A block, or odd harnesses, are on the right with the B block (even harnesses) yarns on the left. I think I should have used some stronger values for the B block in retrospect.
I started winding the warp this afternoon. I'm under-
whelmed by the values of these colors, but hey, that's what this exercise is all about for me. I'm trying to learn on my own since I can't go to a weaving boot camp like the John C. Campbell School. The next set will have stronger values to satisfy my curiosity.
My High County Gardens order arrived today. This nursery is in Santa Fe and our own cooperative extension turned me onto them. If they say their cultivar is browse resistant to rabbits, then it is. That's what I'll be doing tomorrow, planting these. I always try to buy local but in this instance it's not practical. That's over $100 worth of future yard and when it's green and growing, it's so worth it.
Charlie and I have been to our vets twice in the past two days. I took him in yesterday for a wellness check because his coat doesn't look good and he seems to be losing weight. So now he's on such a large dose of antibiotics, and after his twice-a-day dosing, he sleeps. Laura just messaged me that sleeping is good for healing and I'm glad to think of it that way.

Our vets are a married couple who have cared for our pets for over 20 years, though now due to physical limitations, they no longer see pets over 30 pounds. Only Charlie qualifies and that was a sad day for us when we had to move our dogs. I saw Dr. Tom yesterday who was worried about weight loss, so they kept him for a couple hours to do some tests. Rather than shop and spend money, I decided to spend money on parking meters and go the campus. I had my Kindle in my purse - thought I'd read at the library. Amy had a half hour before a meeting so I got to sneak in a visit. She warned me to be prepared to some kidney problems.

Forward to today, Dr. Tom called me at 6:30 this morning with the lab results. I lied and told him he didn't wake me and scrambled for a pencil and paper. The lab results: Normal BUN is 15-34, Charlie's is 138: Normal creatinine is 0.8-2.3, Charlie's is 8.0: Normal phosphorus is 3-7, Charlie's is 9.3: Normal WBC neutrophils should be below 12,500, Charlie's are 20,375. Diagnosis: Stage 4 kidney disease which means he should be showing signs of kidney failure.

But the interesting thing is that he's still a thriving cat. The recommended treatment is over a thousand dollars so we're going at a second tier treatment which is about half that. Today Dr. Tom drew more urine which is being cultured for the specific antibiotic to use. He's currently on amoxycillin - same pink stuff as my kids used to take. He's on a feline treatment that transfers urea from the urine, away from the kidneys and to the intestines where it's passed. We're transitioning him to special kidney food and Dr. Tom is optimistic that we can be successful with this regime to enjoy Charlie for several more years. He recommended we buy feline pill pockets since he's on pills for life. After that phone call this morning, it was a long sad drive to town for me today. According to Dr Tom, the fat lady hasn't sung yet for Charlie. It's the dark side of owning and loving pets. Sigh.

The good news is that our friend Petey is coming tomorrow to spend some time with us - the guest room bed is made. We're all going to Joe Winter's open kiln party Saturday where a blue grass/folk band will play. I hope Petey will sit in with his Old Timey banjo - TBA.

I Think It's Finally Spring

I think it's finally spring! Monday was absolutely lovely, not too warm with a nice breeze, so Laura and I sat outside with our wheels and spun. Laura finished the roving she had dyed so started on some she bought from Mim the day before. I'm spinning stash reduction.

I realized I would run out of weft for my lap robe so on Sunday while we were visiting at Mim's I spun up the last 4 ounces of the gray wool, and then Monday I collected more rabbitbrush and overdyed it in the house. Thank goodness we could have the windows open because it's stinky!
And since we were already outside, I decided to put some alpaca in laundry bags and soak it for a couple of days to get some of the sediment out. I'll take it out of the bags tomorrow and rinse it on the grass, what little of bit of grass we have. I discovered I have five alpaca fleeces - two were in one tub!
Yesterday I went to town for book club, a swim and our CSA box pick-up. When I got home, my yarn order had been delivered and was being carefully guarded. Actually Charlie perches on anything that's new and catches his attention.
Look at my new toys!! I love these colors. I'm moving them around, trying to decide how I'll pair them up for another set of turned taquete towels. This is a block weave structure, so I think whatever I decide on for this set, I'll alternate the colors on the next set, just to see what that would look like.
I let the gray yarn soak in the rabbit-
brush dye liquor from Monday until late this afternoon, then rinsed it and hung it to dry. I checked it this evening. The yarn is dry and I think the color is going to be very close. I was worried because even though I used the same weights and ratios, the rabbitbrush is much greener than when I dyed with it a couple weeks ago. Laura suggested some contrast stripes in between the yarn I'm running out and the new yarn, only it's getting pretty close to the end and I think that might look even stranger than a subtle shift in color. This is a problem for tomorrow.

Laura left this morning and Petey called last night to say that he didn't get picked for jury duty so will be here on Friday for Joe Winter's spring kiln opening show on Saturday. Joe hires a blue grass/folk band for this event and he invited Petey to bring his banjo and sit in. I'm broke in greenbacks but rich in everything else!

Old Friends

This is the view that initially captured my heart. Today we are sitting on Mim's front porch for a spin-in. I came with our friend Linda eleven years ago for a spin-in and ended up falling in love with this valley.
We - being the five, minus one (Linda) - members of an old sheep-to-shawl team that grew into genuine friendships. Linda is in Portland, and that's the only thing that could have made this day better.
Laura, in the blue shirt, also lives in Oregon, but her visit is the reason we've all come together. We're looking at some of Mim's fleeces. The weather was a little crisp but what a great day.

We did a walk-
about, checking in on her new goats and sheep.. These are some of the newest additions to her flock. Their little voices and antics are irresistible.
I love Mim's place. Her verdant yard is a mere few miles from our house and so different from the rabbit damage we experienced. It was a lovely day.

Quick Post

This is the colors in my warp, still on the apron rod, still on the floor. I realized that if I didn't post tonight, it would be next week sometime and I really want to show the last set of towels that I hemmed and wet finished today. Laura is coming down from Oregon tomorrow for several days and I know we'll be busy.
Once again, I'm flabbergasted that all these different colored towels come from that one warp, and probably the towel on the bottom best preserves the warp colors. I have a craft fair next Saturday. I'm going to Kiernan's Little League game tomorrow in the cold blustery wind because I won't be able to go next week. I know he likes it when we come to his games.
I decided to set some bread after breakfast. I'm really not enjoying the gummy store bread and on the other hand, I don't enjoy the taste of heavy health breads either. This is half white, half whole wheat. Bread is so easy - it doesn't require much attention but it does take time. I tended to it in between doing laundry and hemming towels. Everything went swimmingly until I realized that the bread had been rising in the pans for an hour and a half. Sigh. I punched it down again and let it rise for the third time. I didn't think to rewet the towel, which stuck to the top of the bread and made it lumpy. It ended up coming out of the oven just as the stew was ready - perfect timing - and it takes so good that we ate this much of it at dinner!


Never underestimate the power of what you can do when you believe in yourself!

Seven Years

Spring is really dragging its heels here. The wind has been blustery and all the rain that I hear about isn't falling here. Nevertheless, the Desert Peach, the harbinger of spring is now in bloom.
It's such a cheerful shrub and very fragrant - a member of the rose family. I took my camera this morning when I walked Buster.
Oddly, the blossoms aren't a uniform shade. Some are this light pink.
Some are this hot pink, and in fact, I used this shade today in one of my desert pond towels. I thought heck yeah. That's a naturally occurring color. Check out the thorns. They are lethal. I have scratches on the my car doors from venturing too close to the side of our driveway too many times. Those bushes are going away this month - soon.
And it's not just Desert Peach, but Bitter-
brush is in bloom at the same time this year. It's another subtle plant but across the brush you see the dots of yellow.
The color is intense but the blossoms are tiny. It's hard to relate how much color these two bushes will provide along the roadsides over the next couple of weeks.
The rabbits have been voracious this winter. They have eaten the lower limbs of the pines and destroyed many other plants. I'm not sure why, since this wasn't a particularly cold or snowy year.
We have been con-
founded at how they managed to eat inside the rabbit-
guard, which is the name of this fencing. They have permanently disfigured this holly plant. The signature of a cottontail attack is the 45 degree angle they leave at their point of munching, so said the Cooperative Extension when I took in some of our damaged plants last year.
This is the tree that has us scratching our heads. They've eaten up for a couple of feet. That would have made sense if we had gotten any kind of appreciable snow this winter, but we didn't. Can a cottontail stand on it's hind feet and eat this high? They ate our Oregon grape too, supposedly a rabbit-safe plant. We know they don't like: lavendar, santolina, Scotch broom, lemon thyme and day lilies. I'm sticking to that menu.
On the tea-towel front, this is the desert-
peach pink that I tried today. It absolutely masks the yellow. I find that fascinating. After talking to Beryl last night, I've decided to change up the warp next time, the threads per pattern and use the Fibonacci sequence. My new order of warp is supposed to arrive on Tuesday, so you know what I'll be doing on Wednesday!

And I've started weaving on the next lap blanket. This is the light gray wool from one of my brother's sheep that I then overdyed with out-of-season rabbitbrush. It's a very pale gold but what I especially like is that the dark gray flecks of the fleece are showing through the dye.

I got an email this afternoon that absolutely thrilled me. My friend Heidi said that she has been infected by my dish towels and has warped her loom to weave a set of her own. I cannot think of any higher praise.

Oh, and I've meant to say since last month that I've now embarked on my 7th year of blogging. It doesn't feel like seven years, but it does to Google, because I'm now paying storage. That seems fair for a seven years worth of words and pictures. Since it was really last month, I should have waiting until May 7th for drama but I wasn't sure I'd remember on May 7th so today is my 7th anniversary.

Out with the Old, In with the New

Out with the old, in with the new. My old swim goggles had gotten to a point where they were leaking, and in trying to stop that, they were so tight they were too painful to use. I asked a woman I swim with what goggles she uses - I was leaving the lane and she was getting in - she showed me hers and told me why she loves them so much, but warned me that I could probably only get them online. Finis - she pointed to the label.

I called Sports Authority from the car and asked if they carried Finis swim goggles. She said, we sure do! The gym is at the north end of the Truckee Meadows and the store it at least 20 minutes south - that's why I called. I couldn't find the Finis goggles so asked a clerk to help me. She cheerfully showed the Swedish brand swim goggles. I guess all Scandinavians run together in her brain. Actually, I've since learned that Finis is a Northern California company - sigh. I bought Tyr anti-fog goggles and for the first time can see underwater. It's really weird looking into the faces of swimmers as we pass each other in the lanes but it's also kinda cool.
I picked up our second CSA box yesterday after my swim. It is an astounding horn of plenty. We ate the asparagus last night. It's the first time I've eaten it the same day it was picked. I'll probably put the turnips in with mashed potatoes again. Did I mention that it's $417 for six months of weekly vegetables???? Color me smug.

The program at my weaving guild meeting tonight was a hands-on presen-
tation of pick-up in inkle weaving. Beryl Moody and Igor Raven came over from Nevada City to present this program and then drove back afterwards. I complain that I drive two hours for an 1 1/2 meeting. They drove four hours! They have both been huge influences in my weaving life so I didn't think I was interested in the subject, but I wouldn't have missed them unless I had broken legs and couldn't shift my car. Beryl prepped all four of those looms for us to mess up.

This is the Gilmore modified inkle loom that Bob Allen has created and it was the loom that Beryl did her demonstration on. I suppose it's really a modern cousin of the indigenous people's backstrap loom. I took an inkle weaving class and hated it so much that I gave my loom to Amy, my instructor, no reflection on her instruction. It was too primitive a technique.
Several of us had a go at this warp and pattern. I ended up sticking to it with Suzanne's help - she explained that we're going to be doing a lot of this in our Pebble Weave workshop next month, which reminds me - I need to make arrangements with Jeanne to pick up her loom! I started to get the hang of it and everyone was packing up. I had no idea I'd enjoy this so much and I think it was because the loom had two sheds - no primitive finger action.

I got to chat with Beryl about the turned taquete towels that I've been weaving. I got the pattern from her. She told me about the colors that she likes to pair, and I came away with a plan for a little different warp, but I'll wait for my new yarns to get here. I could have had them en route by now, but I'm so horrible with numbers that I muffed up the online order. They emailed me that I got an F in credit card information. Okay, not quite that harsh. So I'll just have to weave the next lap robe. Since I spun and dyed the wool, I don't have to wait for delivery.
This is the display that Beryl and Igor brought for us to peruse. They will be back to teach a full workshop on Saturday, but I'm committed to Kiernan's Little League and am sorry to miss this learning opportunity.

We started the meeting with the election of officers. I'm so excited - Igor and Beryl are going to do the newsletter for next year. I got a call several months ago from Lorene, asking if I'd be willing to accept the nomination of president. We are a small guild and everyone has had a turn at the offices. I've been lurking. I felt it only fair to say yes, since I've never served in any office and this guild has fed me for a very long time. So ta-da - the 2012/2013 prez is I. In with the new.

Every Day is Friday

Sean and Bobbie from Ross Creek Ranch delivered our quarter share of a steer this morning and it all has to go in that chest freezer. Ian was in town so I just had Sean leave it right there. The center box is all hamburger - 36 1 1/2 pound packages. The steer was 900 pounds on the hoof and has been curing for 28 days. With shrinkage and waste, we figure we have close to 200 pounds of meat. It was raised in Sierra Valley, grass-fed, grass-finished, no grown hormones or antibiotics. It's going to last us a long time. And yes, it all fit in the freezer.

I've gone back to the pond colors but I played with the threading on WeaveDesign. I'm starting to get more comfortable with the program, thanks to Amanda's tutorial. I'm really getting low on my 8/2 cottons so ordered nine more cones today from Webs. I can't say that their Valley Cotton is the finest, but the price is certainly right, and by ordering $120, I got their 25% discount.

I'm really antsy to see if it will make a change in the interplay of the color. I won't have much weaving time over the next four days. Sometimes I'm home for several days in a row and then I have to go to town for several days in a row, and a trip to town is a lost day, given the two hours of driving.



I learned this trick from Becky this morning and wanted to pass it along to anyone who has a drum carder and prepares their own fiber. I can't get to it right away, but when I'm ready to process the bins of alpaca in the garage, I'm going to give this a try. For now I'll continue to work on already prepared roving, and there's a lot of it to work on.

More Tea Towels

The rabbitbrush dyed yarn is ready to weave and I simply cannot get an accurate photo of the color which I think of as gentle gold. You can probably only tell that it's no longer gray. It'll be several more weeks before I get started weaving with it, but I did want to show my results.

The dye bath is brassy gold and another dye bath later in a few months with green plants will be a brighter gold, and then when they're in bloom in September, it will be National Geographic yellow. I'll do it again.
I really need to place an order for more yarns but for now I need inspiration for the colors I do have, which are a lot of purples, yellows and greens. When I was trying to decide how to use them together, I thought of hyacinths, which are blooming now. I found this through Google images.


I was trying to use wefts that were in the warp, but after playing with Weave-Design for a couple hours to plan the next colors, I realized that there's no reason I should be limited to wefts that are in the stripes on my warp. I made that up!

For the last towel, I threw on Prussian blue and got a really interesting teal effect, but then after all, yellow and blue make green. The purples all but disappear. I sold all the Desert Pond towels on the same day I posted them on Facebook. I just put the last three in the mail today.
I finished the Hyacinth series towels today and have started winding more "desert pond" colors - can't argue with success. Kerry made me realize that these are great gifts for Mothers Day so I wanted to get a couple sets in the Artists Co-op for the May show. I had planned to call Cherilyn, the gallery manager, and ask to show them to her, when she called me yesterday. She is taking some sheets to the Goodwill, do I want them to weave with? Yes!!! She's thrilled to have my towels in the show, sight unseen, so in they go on Monday.
Everything has to have a label and be priced to be in the gallery, so I made up these in Publisher today, using the "label's template. I have to increase my price to compensate for the gallery's commission. Ian says tea towels have a nice ring than dish towels, so now they're tea towels.

I have another craft fair May 12th and then again June 2nd. I need to get a few more sets under my belt to feel like I have something to sell, and selling is just an excuse to make more.
I picked up our first CSA box, which stands for commun-
ity supported agricul-
ture, on Tuesday afternoon, which means I'm back to swimming every Tuesday - double win for me. The pool and the pickup are at the same facility.

I am astounded and thrilled at the bounty in our first box, double that of last year, and since we split with another family (Harry, Carol and Kerry), it's fantastic. The carrots were wintered in hoop houses so they could treat us with a surprise in our first box. They were like candy. Carol thought it was last week and was so disappointed. We have been counting the days. Our half of the subscription is $417 and for that Ian and I will get organic produce every week for the next six months. The high desert is such a hostile growing environment and our Fallon farmers are wizards at coaxing this wealth from unwilling earth. We love them!!!!

Natural Dye Day

I finished spinning the light gray Romney/
cross fleece from my brother's flock - actually I have a little more fleece left but this is what I calculate I'll need to weave a lap robe. I had this fleece processed quite a while ago, and since it's not a particularly interesting color or soft for that matter, I haven't been inspired to spin it. And now I have, 1 1/2 pounds of it - here are both warp chains and weft skeins.
I decided to overdye this yarn with rabbit-
brush before weaving with it. The gold over gray should give me a brassy color, or even better, a military green. The bushes with the light fluffy tips are rabbitbrush. It's just starting to green up but won't bloom until September, but the dye is in the plant more than the blossoms. The green plant in the foreground is Brown's Peony.
This peony is a shy plant. It's flower heads droop and never show unless you lift them to to view them. They're prevalent in the south end of the valley but this is the only one we have and it comes back every year. Livestock don't eat it so it's not particularly popular. Hmm, I wonder what color it would be in a dye pot.
Collecting the dye stuff took about 45 minutes and it was intense work, cutting and snipping into pieces. It takes a lot of bending and stooping to get 1 1/2 pounds of rabbitbrush. And I wondered why I was so sore tonight!
I checked the dye liquor after cooking the brew for a little over an hour. This is the last of our nice days and the weather was already starting to turn and I was starting to feel rushed.
The challenge in changing weather is the wind, and after the wind blew out my burners a couple of times near the end, I realized I needed to call it good. It didn't quite get the hour it needed, but I've set it all in the garage and will leave it for the next several days where the color should intensify. I'm pleased with the color as it is and know it will look great in our living room. I had planned to gift this lap robe but I think it has parts of both my brother and me, and so it will stay here.
Ian helped me with the whole thing, lifting the heavy pot, straining the liquor and babysitting the burners. He helped me get that pot in the garage and took apart and stored the burners for me and not a moment too soon. We had barely finished when the storm ripped though here, mixed hail and heavy rain.

Storms come through here in bands which is very typical. We were getting drenched and our neighbors to the south of us were not. I'm not complaining - rain is welcome - but it was a close call for my project. The spring weather we've had for the past three days has thusly concluded.
This is my new and current spinning project, the last fleece from my brother's flock. He said the ewe was a Churo/Corriedale cross. I have no idea what it is - not sure of his assessement - but it's easy to spin, has no crimp and is actually quite soft. It was make a great lap robe. I'm making a dent in that massive stash - even better!