Woolybuns

Oh, The Weather Outside Is Delightful!

And my dear, I'm so enjoying.
Let it shine! Let it shine! Let it shine!

Yes, finally, after an entire month plus of nearly daily deluge, today is day three of pretty much perfect weather.  Not only lots of brilliant blue sky and abundant sun, but temperatures warm enough in the day to nudge growth on the tomatoes, low humidity, and so far, not many bugs.  Even the snails which were attacking my Niko blue hydrangea seem to be gone.  That might have something to do with my daily squashing of them (yuck).  My Niko did not bloom this year.  Last year, it only grudgingly gave up about 3 blooms.  I think I planted it in the wrong spot and need to move it. 

I can't show you any photos at the moment.  I seem to have misplaced my camera battery charger.  And my computer seems to have misplaced it's card reader technology.   Grrrr.  On Saturday, I did two blog fodder things and I can't show you!  First thing that morning, I took another hike, same place as last time but stayed on the simpler trail.  Good thing, too, because I discovered on that hike all that rain frustration translated into losing condition.  I was huffing all the way up!!  At the end of that trail is a tower.  From the top of the tower, the view is panoramically beautiful and begs for camera time. 

Saturday afternoon, my daughter and I headed for the nursery again.  Before the rains hit, we'd been bonding in the dirt and my yard was really starting to shape up.  Both of us have been itching to get back to it.  But this latest trip did not involve any digging.  I've wanted to add some garden glory to my deck and she has developed a fondness for dahlias.  She planted three in the garden before the rains and they are just now sprouting.  When we saw the big pots of dahlias in full bloom at the nursery, there was no question what was coming home with us.  A couple of them are pretty tall and some stems did not take to the car so well.  Perfect excuse to snip them off and showcase them in a couple of vases.  One for the dining room and one for the living room, although the smaller one in the living room is kind of a traveler.  If I'm heading for the deck, I take that vase with me.  Totally blog worthy and I can't show you.  But that's ok.  The weather outside is delightful and nothing is taking that joy away from me!!  In fact, it's time to turn off the computer, gather up the poodle, and get out in it.

Who Threw Me Back Into Basic Training?!!

Years ago, when I was still naive, shy and stupid, I joined the US Air Force.  Recruiters were so friendly and enthusiastic, as were the moderators of the written tests.  Several other young, naive recruits made the journey to Texas for basic training with me, all of us chatting along the way, oblivious to what was about to hit us.  Once a larger bunch of us were all gathered off assorted planes and put on the bus to the base, an Air Force NCO of some rank or other climbed aboard and life as we knew it instantly changed forever.  He did not have the open, friendly demeanor of the recruiters.  His hair was much shorter than theirs, everything about him was crisp and cold, and he barked at us.  Growled and bared teeth, even.  Woe to those chewing gum. We'd all been happy puppies cavorting in the back yard until that NCO grabbed us by our collars and pulled us up short.  Gacckk!

That's kind of what taking my first green belt tae kwon do class was like.  Here I was thinking I'd been working hard, progressing from belt to belt and getting stronger and more toned, and pretty pleased with myself.  Ha!  Those were just baby steps.  Green belt is aptly colored.  It is the first level of the higher belts and you'd think from our performance last night, we new greenies hadn't ever taken a class before.  The higher belt class is 15 minutes longer, about 5 times more complex, and done at warp speed.  All those lower back muscles and assorted other soft tissue structures I thought were so nicely stretched and limber?  Yeah.  Owwwie. 

And yet... the new form for green belt, Won Hyo, is amazingly fun, almost peaceful.  This guy makes it look easy.  Someday, so will I. 

Kickin' Green

Yeah, sorry about that craptastic photo but Woot!  I'm a green belt now. 

Yikes!  I'm a green belt now.  I'm no longer a beginner.  Master expects more of me now.  The workout is longer.  The kicks I'm  still working on doing right?  Yeah, now I have to do some of them while jumping into the air.  Let's hope the ankles hold up so I don't trigger an earthquake by falling. 

Another First With The Bonita Senorita

CC (full name CC Senorita, cause her mom is Spanish Arabian) had an Important First yesterday: working under saddle in the ring With. Other. Horses.  I'm sure some people instantly understand all that implies but for you non-horse savvy folks, let me explain: it's a big deal.  First off, it's a big deal that I was riding her.  I'm still honing my own riding skills and have only ridden CC a few times.  We are not used to each other in the saddle.  And CC is still in early training, hasn't been ridden by other more seasoned riders much, either (damn all this rain!).  She's got lots of energy and plenty of forward motion on her own.  Put her under saddle and her modus operandi is avoid it all and don't do anything, so she requires a very strong leg, which I'm still working on developing.  And any horse in any new situation (or familiar setting, for that matter) can come unglued over absolutely nothing.  That cavaletti she trotted over a gazillion times?  Maybe today it's really a snake lying in wait.  A leaf waving in the wind?  Perhaps it's hiding a giant drooling beast.  Another horse trotting up behind her?  Kill it.  Yes, my sweet tempered, gentle soul who yields dominance to all other mares becomes quite snarky about sharing the ring.  Ears back, teeth grinding, butt locked and loaded.  Makes for an interesting ride.  CC and I stayed at a walk and we all lived.  My thigh muscles, however...

Today

I'm supposed to be at the barn, loading a pair of horses into the horse trailer and otherwise getting ready for my first trail ride in a gazillion years.  I was supposed to do this last Friday as well, but it got rained out.  Lucy, my trainer, wants me on the trail as a good way to better develop my thigh  muscles, which is essential to my progress as a rider.  But.  Today is yet another cloudy humid day, probably no rain but with yesterday's persistant day long rain and something like 20 of the last 26 days involving rain, the trails are not good for riding.  Yeah, yeah, I know rain is good for gardens, but so is sun.

On the other hand, I'm not living in the middle of violent protests, in a war zone, under extremist rule, in a refugee camp, under the thumb of an abuser, bankrupt nor hungry.  Sun shines in other ways.

Knee Deep In It

Cormo. This bag full is the 4 fleeces I bought at CTSW, all nicely washed by my favorite mill.  I guestimated something over 8 pounds but don't have a scale to verify that.  Well.  At spinning guild yesterday, our hostess Heidi pulled out her bathroom scale  and weighed the wool.  About 13 pounds!  Thirteen pounds of really white really soft crimpy fine Cormo, ready for decisions.  What color combinations?  Which fibers to blend in?  What percentages?   This is the first time I've had this much of one glorious wool to work with.  And I've got about 4 pounds or so of white alpaca, a couple pounds of silk, and 2 pounds (so far) of angora.  I've been playing on paper with the possibilities this morning, and getting a bit tingly with anticipation.  All that texture!  Color choices!  So far, I've got 5 different lots figured out, each a different colorway, three different fiber combinations.  I'm about to swoon. I just need the bunnies to grow more fiber because 2 pounds is just not enough.

Speaking of spinning guild: Heidi put together a delightful day for us.  She has a beautiful house sitting in it's own snug woodland arena nestled away from hustle and bustle.  Besides the soft swirl of treadling wheels and comfortable chat, the only sounds came from the birds outside.  She spread out a hefty helping of snacks, too.  Yum!  I did keep my focus on spinning long enough to finally finish filling another bobbin of corrieblue bunny singles.  Now do I ply it on itself or spin up another bobbin full before allowing myself to work on some of my peppermint ice cream cormo silk angora roving?

Show And Tell

Kiri makes a good, albeit reluctant, model.  She's extremely trainable and has caught on to sit stay nicely.  We're still working on don't eat the scarf.  Fortunately, I snapped the photos quickly, before her confusion about why that thing is draped around her neck morphed into chops licking "oooo - wool!"  I made the scarf this morning at spinning guild.  It's nuno felt, using a silk base topped with merino tussah roving, embellished and fringed with merino silk yarn.  The whole thing weighs maybe enough to register on the grams setting of my scale but will keep my neck nicely warm this fall.   This morning's guild program was supposed to be pool noodled nuno felt but that method just annoys me.  Much too slow and tedious.  I did it my way instead.*  Same result faster with much more of the terrific tactile sensations I enjoy.  Still takes time and elbow grease, though.  Turns out others also tire of all that rolling and many of them ended up following my lead.  Some pretty scarves at the end of the day.  I took no class photos cause I kind of had my hands full. 

* If you'd like to learn my technique, I do teach it so feel free to contact me for details on arranging a workshop.

WIP Me Wednesday 6-10-09

Finally.  I did get some knitting in.  Not a lot but knitting nonetheless.  Waterfall Rib sock one is done except for the weaving in.  Even better, WR sock 2 is started.  I got through the cuff (2x1 rib) and started the lace leg, intending to do 2 repeats of the lace before putting it down last night.  But about half way through round two of the first repeat, Kiri announced it was time to go out.  Right. Then.  With a 4 month old puppy, you pay attention to that sort of pronouncement.  And then I just didn't get back to knitting.  Kiri takes a really crappy photo because she doesn't stay still long likes to either play or snuggle once we come back in and both are just too pleasant to deny her.

Along the way, I've knit a bit on Montana Tunic as well.  Of course, row after row after row of stockinette doesn't really show up as a lot of progress but progress it is.  That's nine inches of progress.  One of these days I need to go back and read the pattern to find out how many inches of stockinette I need before something changes.  Hopefully, I'll get to that before I knit beyond that point. 

My goals continue to be modest, since neither of these projects have a real deadline anymore, and it turns out I'm much better at finishing stuff when there is an event to act as a deadline.  So next week, hopefully I'll have the leg finished on sock 2 and a couple more inches of MT. 

Oh, That Felt Good

Saturday was a spinner's guild day.  I belong to three guilds, so it would seem there would be many such days.  But fiber season comes along and that generally  means I miss a few guild meetings.  Yesterday was Nutmeg Spinners and the program was all about plying, presented by a Ellen Rodzen, blogless long time guild member.  Very good program, both informative and hands on.  I didn't spin.  Didn't even bring a wheel with me because I had a vendor table instead.  But.  That gave me an opportunity to corrupt addict teach a newbie.  Nancy started spinning one week ago, and said she was struggling with making a continuous yarn.  The plying program was really beyond her at this point.  I tucked her in behind my table and offered her some pointers and Ooo.  She's a natural spinner!  The drafting triangle is clearly her zone.  She had with her several bits of roings, some of it wool of dubious repute, some of it  alpaca.  Nancy spun them each, but none of them were really helpful for the learning process.  While she was spinning, I scouted out a few other vendors for newbie friendly top.  Along the way, I discovered someone had a Majacraft Rose for sale.  Nancy and I had already talked about finding the right wheel for her, as the one she was borrowing with option to buy really is too small for her.  She got to try out the Rose and at least one other wheel.  And bought a wonderfully colorful Mystery Bump from Still River Mill.  The fiber is, I think, merino and alpaca, with assorted color palettes that change from the outside to the inside.  You get a hint of what the color is on the inside but don't know for sure until you spin it.  Fun!  Of course, in my scouting expedition, I happened upon things I really did not need to know were there.  Like a booth full of alpaca fleeces.  Nice alpaca fleeces.  Alpaca fleeces my fiber processor approved.  Alpaca fleeces at a good price.  I excercised restraint: only 2 of them came home with me.  What else came home with me?  Those lovely cormo fleeces I bought at CTSW and turned over to Deirdre for washing.  Sooo convenient having your fiber processor at spinning guild!  Now I have to pick some colors and figure out blend percentages. Obviously, one roving will be a cormo angora alpaca blend, but there will also be another colorway of cormo, angora, silk roving but no pinks this time.  Possibly fall type reds and greens. But first I have to clip some bunnies. 

Next weekend?  It's a two fiber guilds weekend, one of them with a felt program.  According to the newsletter, the felt process will be different from the approach I use.  That will be fun!

Hoppy Dance!

This little girl is about 12 months old, from a litter of 8.  I kept two from the litter on purpose, and this doe stayed here because each time someone picked her out, the person's circumstances changed before the doe got to the new home.  Because she was promised multiple times and I did not expect her to stay, I did not name her, and she continued to share housing with her sister.  A couple months ago I noticed dominance issues evolving, so I finally moved this doe to a hutch by herself.  Even though she was the picked on one, she apparently missed her sister because she went into a depression and stopped eating.  Usually the bunnies are so relieved to get away from each other under those circumstances.   I coaxed her back into eating with dandelions and clover, and worried for her because as part of a small herd, she probably would not get the individual attention she apparently needs.  Yesterday, a woman came over, looking for a bunny her kids could snuggle and love and pal around with.  I put the doe in the woman's arms and both of them melted into each other.  I'm not sure the kids will get their time with this bunny because it was obvious some instant bonding happened.  I am pleased.

I think today some knitting will happen.  I did finish Waterfall Rib sock 1 and need to start sock 2.  But I'm exhausted.  Back to back to back to back events every weekend since the end of April is wonderful but the bones, joints and muscles have their own take on things.  Stockinette while camped on the couch in front of the tv is sounding quite appealing.