Bucolic

That is definitely the way to describe my weekend. Saturday's class went really well, and everyone had fun. I think it was just a great combination of people. It was supposed to be 1-4, but at 4:30 everyone was still there talking - always a nice sign.

Anyone who thinks the perfect Sunday morning means sleeping in and having a leisurely brunch would have been out of luck at the farm this week. By 9:30 or 10, everyone was up and fed, dishes done, Mom was taking the dog for his walk before work, Dad was taking the lawnmower for a walk before church, and I was hanging my second load of laundry on the clothesline - slightly delayed, since I hadn't wanted to interrupt a pair of flycatchers who seemed to be discussing the possibilities of the shed eaves near the clothesline as a nest-building site.

After the parents went off to their respective destinations and the day started getting warmer, I settled on the porch to do a little picking. Not banjo, like in some country song, but llama fibre. It's a mindless task, but rather nice to do it on a sunny spring day in the country. All the birds were chirping like mad, about mates and territory, and nest-building. Maybe some of them will have llama-lined nests from my discards!

The llama is my cousins' from last year's shearing. Lots of second cuts to pick out (it was Shawn's first time shearing, and he hadn't been thinking of it going to me at the time), but I got about a 50% yield, and what I was keeping was nice.

It was so nice to be able to sit out and enjoy the spring, and I spent the whole morning there. From the porch I could look out to the front border and the new bush, and to the left, past the apple trees, a gleam of yellow was visible from one of the gardens, where crocuses and daffodils, and forsythia were in bloom.

I wasn't alone in enjoying the weather, or the fibre, either. Abby was stretched out on one of the other chairs, and Rex was busy holding the door closed. Then Gail wandered over, and helped with the picking. She can't resist raw fleece - behaves like it's catnip.

It was, despite the help, a productive session, since about half the garbage-bag-full got picked. I spent the rest of the afternoon in the dye garden, hacking back the greenweed, and collecting the weathered stems from the madder. Last year's experiments showed that stems dried green give an olive colour, but stems that weather overwinter like these will give a peachy-pink similar to bedstraw. No point in wasting them!

 

On To The Fun Part

It's been a bit crowded this past week. 5 final exams in 4 days, and finished off all but one of my commissions for people at school.

Erin's mittens

Marilyn's baby set

Marianna's fingerless mitts

But as of about 10:30 this morning, it's Christmas vacation for yours truly. Well, in a manner of speaking, anyway! I don't leave town until Tuesday, but in that space, somehow, I get to cram in the following:

- Finish the last pair of mitts commissioned by a classmate, and pass them on to her. I cast on last night, and the first mitt is over half done. They're for a Christmas gift, so definitely they get priority.

- Clean the apartment. Properly. It's been kind of neglected lately - and I've got a friend coming to stay Monday. So I will have to find places to put things besides on piles everywhere, and then see about removing the cobwebs and cat hair and whatnot...

- Dye 2 skeins with indigo, and start my Christmas knitting. It's not much (redo the feet on a pair of socks, and knit a stole) and neither piece is really 'due' until after Christmas.

- Bake cookies for a cookie exchange on Sunday. No rolled cookies this time - I'm thinking our family Holiday Oatmeal cookies, with coconut and maraschino cherries and raisins and nuts. Nice simple drop cookies, and the dough is practically addictive.

-  Finish a bit of Christmas shopping, and pick up the ingredients for the cookies. I think I can do that all in one session, and maybe work in handing off the mitts at the same time. Nothing like getting all the errands done in one shot.

- Maybe, just maybe, if I have time, put up my little Christmas tree. Didn't get to it last year. It's not as important usually since I'm out of town for the holidays, but if my friend is here, it'll be nice for her to have a bit of decoration. I'm thinking if I can find a place for my schoolbooks, the tree should fit on the dining table...

You know what? It sounds like a lot, but it's all fun stuff, really. Even the cleaning. I don't usually like it, but I feel a tidying mood coming on to fill the space where school assignments used to be. Now to roll up my sleeves and get cracking!

Le Weekend

Friday counts as a good day, even if it's raining. No labs today, so we stayed dry - but a whole day of safety lectures. Employer and employee responsibility and laws, which is always good to know.

The horse sweater is blocking on my bedroom floor, so today's class knitting was on a baby surprise jacket, in scraps of worsted yarn. It should go pretty fast, especially since I fully plan to veg on the couch tonight with a movie and my knitting. That'll be a second project for the September stripe-a-long KAL.

Lots of stuff planned for the weekend. English presentation due Monday. Meeting Sunday for OVWSG Guild Sale vendors. Finish spinning the black yarn I need to complete my entrelac cushion (which I want done for the next Guild meeting). Do the laundry and baking and cleaning. Maybe some garden clean-up...we'll see what the weather's like, and how much time and ambition I have.

I did take slips off a couple tender plants (like the coleus) this week to root them, as it's been really close to freezing a couple nights. The squirrelly harvest mentality is on the air - pick everything, don't waste food, pack it away for winter, scurry around. Mom's been using her new toy, a food dryer, on the tomatoes and peppers, with good results, so I'm looking forward to trying those!

I'm Alive

Just checking in. No pictures again, but maybe I will manage to remember some tomorrow - have a friend coming over for a half-day to mordant wool, in prep for dyeing days Friday and Monday. It's been busy, all right? So far, vacation day one I've transplanted a row of little coreopsis plants, weeded my dye garden, helped move the baby chicks into their new home, gotten my list of chores for the week sorted out, carded a skein's worth of yarn and spun half of it, and done several loads of laundry, including one of handwash. Vacation day two (today) I was up at 5:30 to see Mom off, did my chores, picked berries, mordanted over 2 kg of yarn and roving, went to a Strawberry Social, and am aiming to finish the bobbin of yarn I'm spinning before I turn in. Only a couple days left until Tour de Fleece...

It's been raining yesterday and today, which is good timing. All the transplants will be happy, and the rain barrels are full of nice soft water for dyeing. But I do hope the weekend is sunny. My two white llama fleeces have arrived. I haven't had a chance to see them, but I'm hoping I can start cleaning them then.

Busman's Holiday

Tomorrow evening I shall be off to the parents' for a week. In my mind, I've been going "vacation! holiday!" But in thinking about packing list and scheduling stuff, I came to the conclusion that what I really have coming is a busman's holiday - a holiday where you do pretty much the same thing you do all the time. No lounging on the porch and reading for me! And while I'll try to get to the computer once a day, I have my doubts on that score.

All the berries are weeks ahead of schedule. Apparently the blackberries were reddening last week. So there will be, no doubt, berries to pick and freeze. The snow peas may be at a stage to pick and freeze also. Depending on the bugs, things may need to be sprayed. Plants will need watering and the chicks will need feeding. So will the dog, the cats, and Dad and I. That's all going to be on my to-do list.

Then I have 'my' stuff. Fiber stuff. There's a pile of dyeing to do to bring to Twist, and wherever else I'm selling yarn and fiber in the next few months. Probably a day's worth of mordanting, and 2-3 days' worth of dyeing, including gathering dyeplants. One of those days has to be co-ordinated with a neighbor, who wants to learn, so I have to find out when is good for her and whether she wants to try anything in particular. Tour de Fleece starts Friday, so I have a pile of things set for that too. A garbage bag, actually. Probably significantly overestimating the amount of spinning I'll get done, but I'd hate to run out! And if I get a chance, I'd like to finish picking and washing the llama fleece I've got before the two from my cousins show up.

Add a little knitting to the pile, and then hopefully a visit to some friends. I haven't seen them since last summer, which is very sad, because they live all of 20 min from my parents. I just seem to spend most of my visits home getting stuff done, and time goes too danged fast. So it'll be nice to catch up, and see how their daughter's grown - she's 2 now - and how their gardening and renovations progress.

Now, however, it's back to work. The freezer is being thawed, and I'd like to get another skein's worth of the wool I'm spinning picked today. That should be enough, once spun, to do the dyeing for the baby sweater it's earmarked for.    

Weekend@home

Out to the parents’ for the weekend – an 1843 farmhouse on a hill, with a woodstove doing most of the heating. Hung the laundry out on the line Saturday, as the sun was shining bright and the wind was blowing the woodsmoke away from the clothesline. My aunt sent 4 braided rugs for me to mend – her daughter is being married this summer, and the reception will be at their home. She wants it to look nice, but my aunt has neither the time, inclination or skill for most needlework. I had her crochet curtains to mend a while ago also.

The signs of spring continue to increase. Mom found the first flowers of the year, can you imagine? Snowdrops, hiding under a pile of leaf mulch. The geese were honking overhead while I hung the laundry out, and the chickens were all happily strolling about the lawn and clucking, cleaning up the seeds under the bird feeders. And the barbecue was shoveled out and used for the first time this year. (It's basically a large stone fireplace shaped a bit like an easy chair. Wood-burning, not charcoal, and the results are seriously tasty.)

Of course the weather went nasty again Monday, all rain and snow, but you don't mind so much now. It'll all be gone again soon.