Hard work

This lily finally bloomed. It is taller than me, and I kept thinking that something badwould happen to it before it bloomed.

Here is Shanny hard at work carrying wood with her father. Notice the little brown spot on her forehead, it is a mosquito. We cannot enjoy much time outside without the bugs attacking.

Pink,Finally!

I dyed some more yarn for Doris yesterday, and I finally got a decent pale pink. It is not my favourite for me, but it seems lots of other people like it.

I have also been spinning some merino roving that I got at Hands on Crafts.

It is pretty chunky, but I love it. It is very round, and tightly plied, which I like. I have been afraid to ply tightly, but so far the tighter I ply, the more I like it. It was a little kinky before I washed it, but after, it was nice and straight without weighting it down.

Alpaca

This is alpaca that I got from a woman in Shelbourne. She and her husband have a bed and breakfast, and also, some alpacas and llamas. This fibre is straight off the animal, so I need to find out what is the best way to use it.I just got a small bag of each of three natural colours, so that I could sample to see if raw fleece is something I want to deal with. So far I think I am going to like it. I juat need the proper tools. I don't have any yet, and I was able to spin some ok yarn straight from the unwashed fleece.

I'm not sure how to distinguish good alpaca from bad. I got some grey so that I could maybe overdye it, but I can tell that it is not as soft as the brown and black. It is still nice though. The black is beautiful, it has so much shine and is really heavy and drapey.

Once I experiment a little, I will decide if I want more.

A pool with a view

Yesterday, I took Shanny to my sister's pool to swim and play with her cousin. I think she has one of the nicest backyard views. They live on the bay of Fundy, so that is the ocean in the background. It is so hot and humid here today, I think we awill go back today.

Bad Hat Day

I started this top down hat, because I never know how many stitches to cast on, and I always get kid sized hats but this time it ended up being too big, and I ran out of yarn. I thought I might have enough if I added the pink, but no.

Yummy Thrums

I finished the first thrummed mitten, and I am happy with the orange for the thrums.

I also dyed some sock yarn for Doris, but it didn't turn out the way I intended. That seems to be the way it goes every time I dye yarn for her.

I made these stepping stones last year, and we finally put them in the ground this Spring.


Inside the thrums.

Eye poppingly bright

This is the merino roving that I dyed last night to use with the blue from yesterday.It is very bright, but I think it will work.

I finished this sock this afternoon, it is also very bright, but I like that in a sock! I dyed some roving(polwarth, I think) in a whole bunch of colours, and navaho plyed them. I really like the yarn I got with this. It is really soft and more like real sock yarn.

I used a star toe, It is my favourite, because I always screw up grafting, and also it fits me well.

It is really hard to take a picture of your own foot! I wish I had realized that the pink was going to end up on the heel, and then not repeat, because it is one of the colours I liked the best.

It's not what I thought it would be

This is even more polwarth, from the last big dyeing fest.

Again I love how pre drafting makes it pretty.

I navaho plyed this from a slightly thicker than my usual single.

I lked the roving and the yarn, but knit up it has lost some of its livelyness or something. I just find it a bit boring somehow. I think I may try adding another colour to it, maybe do some thrum mitts, with yellow or orange thrums to perk it up a little.

What do you think? Yes, you! my only bloglines subscriber, who ever you are!

I like it

I think I like this yarn better as a single. It knits up nice, and after washing, it hangs straight and doesn't kink up. It is even softer than the two ply or three ply polwarth that I spun.

Abraham Darby

My new roses have finally bloomed. This is the only picture that is not blurry. For some reason my camera will not focus on close up things, even if I have it on macro. The background will be in perfect focus but the rest is all blurry. It drives me crazy, especially now that mom has her good camera, and I am used to using hers. I guess I have outgrown mine, but they are so expensive.

I am spinning some more of the red hat roving, this time I decided to try to do a thicker single, and not ply it, to see if I like it.

Green

Or maybe a little brown. This is polwarth that I dyed different colours of green and I guess brown as well. This is after I predrafted it. I love how soft and smooth it looks.
I am knitting a pair of mittens, I finished one and the other has the cuff done.
Close up of the roving. I can't get the pictures uploaded in the order that I want. They seem to be random, not the order I put them or the reverse either.
Close up of mittem.
I got two skeins of about 100 yards each. I did a two ply yarn, and I love the subtle stripes.
Close up of the yarn. I need to work on my consistency, the parts that are evenly spun and plyed, I really like.

Forgetful

This is one of many yellow roses on an old bush that was growing on the back of one of our old barns. They are so nice, and they continue to bloom for a long time.

Somehow I managed to forget to go to spinning group, even though it is one of my favourite things that I look forward to each month. I think probably the double funeral had something to do with it. I am going to knitting group tonight though. Shanny has soccer, but I'm hoping Doug can take her home with his mother, so I don't have to be late again.

I haven't spun or knit in the last few days, I've been too edgy for that. Things are settled down a little now, so hopefully, I'll get back to it. It was nice to visit with all the family yesterday, and hopefully tomorrow, as some are sticking around for a few days.

I just found out that I will be late to knitting again, Charlene is sick,and can't drive.

Not the best Day

This is a picture of my Grandparents the way I like to remember them. That day, Grampie got down on the floor on this knees to play with Shanny. It was about three years ago. He died yesterday, and we expect Grammie to go today or very soon. They were together so long, I don't think they could live without each other.

Mom told me today, that they had made their own funeral arrangements 16 years ago, and that they wanted a simple funeral, and for us to go out to eat together after. This makes me laugh, because if there is anything we Goodwins know how to do, it is go out to eat.For years, my grandparents have gone out to eat every day if they were able, and if any relatives were visiting we would all meet up to eat. They had a few favourite places, and would usually go to the same place every day for months, until one place closed for the season(we are a tourist town).