Autumn has Sprung!

Happy Autumn to the Southern Hemisphere
and Happy Spring to the Northern one!

Either way it means more mild temperatures if we are all lucky.
:)

We have a butternut pumpkin that looks like it is ready to pick any day now.
It was a complete surprise- a volunteer from the compost bin. I don't remember the last time we had butternut pumpkin- so you could've knocked me over when that is the kind of curcurbit it grew to be. The little female flowering fruits are so adorable- and quite big for an unfertilized "fruit"- the first one we had I thought for sure must've got pollinated without our help, it was so large when it withered. But since that happened the next one we made sure we helped Mother Nature along. We had plenty of bees around when the gum tree was blooming- but that was done by the time this blossomed... and now we have a lovely butternut to grace our table one of these days. I need to look up on how to best take care of it after picking. Some pumpkins do better left on the vine as long a possible- but since the butternut is so thin-skinned- I am not sure.

Made some cupcakes for St. Patrick's Day- will try to place a photo or two here to show them to you. I baked and iced- DS decorated.







Hope you are well.

Homesick

Even after 10 yrs of being here and making some lovely friends and owning my own home ( well- paying it off), which is a lifetime dream- I am still homesick.
Homesick, family- sick, friend-sick, tree-sick... the whole lot.
Not everyday, but often enough that I wonder that even if we won the lottery (Which we don't play, BTW) would moving to the bush/countryside make me happy enough to want to stay? I don't know how one figures this kind of thing out.

I know I should be thankful for what I have- and I am- but I long for more peaceful surroundings. Sirens and loud vehicles, smelly exhaust, and constant human voices are my daily life and it doesn't sit well with my interior. I don't know how to help that either.

It was a lovely day today- mostly sunny with cooler temps- about 23C as the high.
I got laundry,dishes, and two skeins of handspun all washed and dried. That's saying something for a Monday!
I also got an entire batt of fibre from Kathy (www.KathysFibres.com)spun!
Just into singles at the moment.
Last week I did a pair of slippers (as a test for a designer) in crochet and finished up a hooded scarf that I was testing for someone else. I have been quite prolific for someone who seems to get little done in a week most weeks! I am feeling happy about that.
Now I've agreed to test crochet a pair of baby slippers- if they turn out nicely I'd like to send them to Karla- my friend Jane's daughter - who, along with her DH of course, is expecting their first child this September!!!! I am so very excited for them!!

Thanks for reading.
Hope you are well.

Happier Post

Since it's been so long since I had posted before the last not so happy post- you'd think I would have so much to write and tell. Not so. Well- not to my mind so much.
It's summer- it's already 25C/80F in the house.(at 6 in the morning!) It's been hot this summer- not so many days of over 35C but we have had a few bouts of around 35C and it stays warm at night (in the 80's- fine for a deacde but not so fine for a night temperature!) and is just hot hot hot outside- and in. I am VERY thankful it hasn't reached 40C too much this year. Enough about the weather- let me just say I am ready for summer to leave and cooler temps come back.

DS is in Class 2 at school. This year is more like 'school' than the previous years. They are even learning to write in cursive this year! ( Wasn't I in, like, 4th or 5th grade before I learned that!?) It is very interesting how Waldorf schools teach/help children learn.
I recommend it.
( I don't like the forced socialization of the adults/families, but that's me. Most others seem to enjoy it. But as far as learning goes- I couldn't ask for more/better by the end of the year!)

Still spinning and crocheting. Not as much as I'd like.
Still disorganised and messy- at this age I am wondering if I will ever be neat. I aspire to it- is that good or bad?

I am still homesick on a daily basis. Some days I think I am just tree-sick- or greenery-sick. The train station is horrifically moving along as they plan. And the govt. has decided to turn the fields below Seaford into more suburbia- and many trees lost their lives for a new $18 million overpass at McLaren Vale. We needed to do something about the clogged T junction there- but this answer is extreme. UNLESS you are the govt. and knew in advance that you were intending on eradicating one of the major drawcards to the south- the green area. It is my firm belief they knew more than 10 yrs ago they were going to do all this. However what they 'promised' was no more urban sprawl beyond Seaford. They'd fill in and not extend building any further South. So they have filled in alright- again at the expense of Nature and healthy living spaces. And they are not 'technically' going much more south than "Seaford" because they just keep renaming the areas built to be "Seaford SOMETHING"-Seaford Heights, Seaford Meadows, Seaford Esates...
Of course we won't mention all the housing (read: tiny houses on virtually NO land all packed together like sardines in a tin...)they have not only allowed to be built in Seaford and the northern areas from us, but also McLaren Vale, McLaren Flat, Aldinga/Aldinga Beach ( horrific for sure!), Mt Compass, even Victor Harbor can't escape the grip and greediness of the govt. and the developers. I complain- but the real losers are the animals. The kangaroos and koalas are being pushed out. Well- road kill for the 'roos... there aren't many Koalas anymore because there are virtually no trees and they apparently just move on and don't try to live with humans and their stupid ways.
Hmm...... I thought this was a happier post??
Let me see.....
happy... happy....
oh- I know! Fruit has been very lovely and affordable this summer! Mmmmm.
Coming into apple and pear time now. And some oranges too. But I'm not buying those yet- we will have all winter to eat them- I am sticking with peaches, nectarines, apricots, strawberries, and melons! Oh - and grapes! Goodness the grapes are lovely this year too!- until we can't get those in season anymroe ( Nothing has beat how nice the peaches were this year overall though! We've eaten several kilos over the last two months!) :)
There! Something to smile about.

Hope you are well.

A New Year- 2012

I am missing Skylar.
Needed somewhere to write it. Here it is.

Yarns Made Recently

It's nearing 6 am- been up since 4 am....after going to bed around midnight(?)-

so I am not going to try to be fancy or even too coherent !

Just thought I'd show some yarns I recently finished- washed and everything (now, but not in the pictures)- although not measured. Some show the singles before plying, too.

This yarn is from 2 Romney sliver balls from Kathy's Fibres (http://www.kathysfibres.com/) that were done in the "Tequila" colourway. Very easy to spin and made the nicest yarn- it passed the 'prickle test' on a 6 yr old's bare skin! Pretty impressive! I love the colour.

Singles on the bobbins above, the yarn is below:

This shows a partial bobbin left of singles made from a special extra batt made by Jane of Moseley Wool ( http://www.moseleyparkhome.com/ ) that had been included with the last fibre club mailing of 2010. ( or was it the next to last- can't remember at the moment...)

and I plied this singles with some plain dyed English Leicester ( EL) /Merino in the Electra colourway - also from Jane.

This singles made from alpaca,tussah silk, & wool was plied with a solid purple singles spun from wool batts in the most divine purple from Kathy ( the photo I took of them turned out MUCH too blue so haven't included them here....

to create the yarn below: Soft and squooshy- I think it will make a very interesting hat and mittens set... I hope there's enough anyway! ;)

Thanks for looking!

Hope all is well.

Summertime Delights!

Well! Over the holidays we certainly did have some fun going around to some different places on a PYO fruit/fresh from the farmgate sales search!

Our first venture out we found some peaches and tomatoes. And some sundried bananas.
Also got some cherries from Beerenberg Farm in Hahndorf and some from a place called Adelaide Cherries just outside Echunga...wouldn't recommend the latter of the two.
Wasn't too impressed with the fruit or the waitstaff sorry to say.

But our next adventure out was FABULOUSNESS!!
We headed out for PYO strawberries in the fields of Beerenberg Farm instead of just buying from the shop like last time. After paying $3 each for the two adults to get into the fields, we picked nearly 3kilos ( 6.5 lbs) of strawberries. Paid for them and then decided since we were that close to Melba's Chocolate Factory and DS LOVES the place we'd go there... after that I drove and we were going to go through Lobethal to get to Lenswood to have a lovely drive and if we happened upon some cherry orchard/s- all the better...
well! What an adventure!- on the way we saw signs for cherries- so we followed it to Charleston and voila! We arrived at Balhannah Nursery where they had their orchard open for PYO! I think we just happened to luck out- but let me tell you- I wanted some sour cherries- well! -they didn't have 'real' sour cherries- but "sour-ish" ones- the man rode his motorbike out to the orchard and showed us where we could taste a few to see if that was what we wanted and then directed us to the Vans ( a variety of cherry here) if we decided we wanted some sweet cherries instead/also.
What a wonderful time we had= nearly the only people there and the sour cherry trees were just loaded with BEAUTIFUL fruit. Riley was nibbling as he picked and kept saying "Mmmmm~" every so often! I think he likes sour ones more than sweet ones! We only picked just over a kilo as we had no idea how much we had or if we had enough money with us to pay for what we picked! lol ( Thankfully we did!)
We picked a kilo of sweet ones as well and made our way back. Drove through Lenswood on the way home and we saw a few cherry places, but were too chuffed with what we had to worry about stopping for more! There only 3 of us and not alot of freezer space- and we were pleased with what we had! Oh- yeah- somewhere in there we fitted in a stop at The Wooden Toy Factory with the Big Rocking Horse. :) Riley had wanted to stop there too. It was SOOOOOOOO crazybusy! We couldn't believe our eyes!
We didn't stay too long. Were going to get some hot chips as we'd not eaten all day- but the wait was at least 40 minutes! No way were we waiting that long for hot chips!
( we stopped at a Foodland grocery store that was open instead and got potato chips and a 1.25 litre of soda instead! lol)

Anyway- below are some photos of our spoils from a very productive Adventure Day! :D

This is the cherry pie we made today. OMG- I havent' made a pie in YEARS! It's cooling now- hope it is nice. Sour cherry pie is about the only pie I actually miss from the USA, not being a crust person too much. Love the fruit- prefer it fresh over any other way. But sour cherry pie is one that I really do love.

So here it is before being baked:

And here it is after. My oven is much too hot and always burns things- esp. in the back right corner- so I try to move things around. Didn't remember to with this .....*sigh* but It wasn't too bad in the end. Next pie I will try the 'cover it with foil' trick.


The last two pictures are of wee little Sugar Pies made like my mom used to do with her pie scraps. Riley and I filled 3 wee little pie tins with dough and then put in brown sugar, butter, and milk- i popped them in the oven and a few minutes later out came these 3 adorable and YUMMY sugar pies that tasted as good as mom's did! I was / am very happy about that. :)



I will try to add on a photo of the cherry pie once it's been cut a bit later. Will probably do a separate post though- to save on confusion. :)

Oh and that night Riley lost his 3rd tooth,too! He was so excited about the day and how special it was and then to lose his tooth too- that topped it off! :D

Hope you are well!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011

Some Lantana flowers old and new- to celebrate New Year's Eve and Day. :)

Well- today's date has got to be mentioned!

1/1/11

I am the nerdy sort who thinks that is brilliant!;)

How was your Christmas? Ours was nice and peaceful over all! The weather even stayed cool enough that I could cook a 'traditional' roast meal! ( Sanitarium brought back their veg-friendly roast so we could have that plus potatoes, stuffing, and brussel sprouts! :D)

Here's what Riley left out for Santa (and the reindeer!)He even made him a small card. It was brilliant!


Being early in the whole Christmas eve parcel delivering- Santa was hungry! He ate nearly ALL gone!

I hope your holidays of 2010 were wonderful and my the year of 2011 find you enjoying life even more than you did in 2010.

:)

Summer has hit us here in SA- temps have been pretty darn hot!
Thankfully no long spells of it. And with all the winter rains in 2010- I've seen some amazing flowers and such growth on things that haven't grown this well in all the years ( 9 ) I've been here!

This is a short post this time. Just wanted to be sure to wish you all the best 2011 you can have! And then some!!

I hope you are well.

Some Photos To Share

Hi! I have some pictures I'd like to share- many more to come but for now- here is DS in a hooded vest I made for him. The pattern is from Spotlight- www.spotlight.com.au- and can be more readily accessed via Ravelry if you are a member there. :)

These were taken several months ago- still in 2010- but think it might've been just before the cool weather was going to set in. He does wear it occasionally still! :)
The next photos are of the Bottlebrush plant ( bush) ( Callistemon is the 'proper' name, though I'm not sure I have spelled it correctly....)
It's still quite small but has grown ALOT this last year- it's 3 years old now.


ANd here are our Halloween pumpkins... You cant' tell it but the one on the left is an actual "Jack-o-Lantern" type pumpkin! It was originally $22 for ONE pumpkin from the local Woolworth's..... we got it reduced at $8 and I have saved virtually every seed from it in hopes of raising more from this one outlay! lol
More photos in future posts... for now ~
Hope you are well.

It's Nearly Summer *and* The End Of The Year!

Aw heck- it's been more than a year since I posted- I am not even going to try to catch up or apologise profusely... If you are reading this, please know I am thankful for your visit!

Not much new/different to talk about.....
I just thought I would copy a post I had on Ravelry and put it here for posterity's sake....
about the hopeful wantings for our garden. :) It was a pretty wet winter for us here so things have really responded and the soil has even been diggable in places it hasn't been for 8 years!
I am planting things in hopes of the sun being 'nice' this year and the weather cooperating for us to have a very nice garden.... I'm also investing in some more pea straw and potting mix to help improve the chances.

I'm still spinning / creating yarn- and even used a good amount of it making a 6 pointed star blanket for DS. :) It's a continuing work in progress... it's big enough for him now- but probably not so much by next winter so will spin some more soft smooshy merino for the rest of the blanket.

OK- here's my garden line-up......
in no particular order:
I/we have plants: 2 wax begonias ( 1 green, 1 red )
2 coleus- 1 green with pink, 1 burgundy with pink /green
1 dusty miller
3 cockscombs ( yellow,pink, multi) (DH’s choice) (can’t think of the proper ‘latin’ name for them- will fill it in when I do! Celosia!)
1 snapdragon (pink) (DS’s choice)
2 strawberry plants & a petunia mix ( in hanging baskets)
Seeds/seedlings started at home: Popcorn avocado watermelon pumpkin( halloween ones) dill basil lemon balm silver beet/swiss chard (white) thyme cucumbers Marigolds (african, not calendula although we have these as well!), snapdragons, alyssum, cosmos, nigella (love in a mist), salpiglossis(painted tongue), rockery and cottage garden packet mixtures , and nasturtiums. Oh and volunteer tomatoes in pots out front. (fingers crossed)

The lily of the valley plants ( 2 of 5) are coming up! I AM SOO excited about that!),
a tuberose is also coming up that I didn’t know if it would make it or not!,
Iris/Flags from freecycle,
------------------ ended here as it was time for school drop off! --------------------------
On the way home from school this morning we stopped at the McLaren Vale nursery where we found rose scented, pot-pourri scented, and peppermint scented geraniums, of which the latter has come to live with us. :) I also had DH help me pull up a healthy piece of Vinca Vine from the outside the Kindy fence….. I love vinca although I know it is a big old pest going crazy and filling up space- but that’s OK with me! ( except things like that tend to be a haven for the snails….). They had an amazing little plant that looked like it was a cross between a small dogtooth violet and a maiden hair fern that was growing everywhere - it is sooooo pretty and charming- it obviously wouldn’t grow here too readily as it likes moist shade, but when I asked about it all he said is that it is a weed and that I don’t want it to get started! :( I would say it’s my business if I want a lovely delicate looking weed like that to grow in my garden- but I just really wanted to know what it was!!!!!! I also know one needs to be careful so as not to cause a problem. ANyhow- now I am back but I am out of sorts as to what I have plants/seeds wise that I haven’t listed. I know I would like to get a zucchini plant or two in….. still waiting to see if my old seeds are going to sprout at all before I go buy new ones- or seedlings likely at this late of a date.
oh! I have seeds that I saved from a nice butternut squash/pumpkin we just had the other day… so might plant some of those and a few of the seeds from the halloween pumpkin that I saved as I mentioned before. ANd ohhhhhhhhhhhh I would just LOVE to grow a few cantaloupe/rockmelons! But not sure.
( chives, parsely, and choc. mint plants from last year/earlier in the year also should be mentioned I reckon!!! The first two varieties having been put into the ground after surviving last summer and winter in pots…… )
Also hope to manage a few pea plants and red /purple runner beans. :)

Yellow peppers and zucchini plants came to live at my house today too.

I also just remembered I have a “Rose of Sharon” bush that was given to me ( small stick with leaves! lol) last Autumn which needs a permanent home…. it’s a deciduous hibiscus….not sure what it’s called here.


Hope all is well.

July is Busting Out All Over

Hello!
Gosh- it's been so long since I posted- things have changed from the pre-published side of things.
I think I like them!
:)

So- how is everyone?
Not much new here at the moment- but soon RJB will be starting kindergarten!
Little did we know that at the tender age of 5, he is out of the loop already with school things!
We called the local kindy place at Moana and were promptly told he couldn't be there as he was too old! Children who are 5 go to first grade!
Now- for most children that may be OK- but we live rather unsocial ( for lack of a better word) lives so being among a bunch of strangers AND expected to know all about school and how it works ( being in first grade and all) seemed daunting to US let alone DS. He had even lately gone into hiding behind me when people spoke to him...much to my embarrassment. I mean- I didn't expect him to talk away,but did think he would be able to say HI or at least wave!
Ah well- how the tables have turned- we've got an interview with the Willunga Waldorf (Steiner) school this coming Tuesday (followed Wed. with a dental appt. for me- can anyone say 'suffering with nerves?'), then at some point they come for a home visit to chat, then he should get to start their Kindy program ( first year of Kindy is age 5 and three part days a week, age 6 is second year kindy where he goes all day...not sure how many days a week- I'll worry about that when we get to it......). They have a gentle approach it seems, and while I think he will be disappointed that he is not going to have a desk and all that- I am hoping he will enjoy getting the social skills that we were unable (or unwilling in the case of daycare) to offer him. PLUS he has now taken to wanting to go ( alone! "Mum/Mom- you stay here") visiting the neighbours. Thankfully the folks he goes to see are very kind and caring and don't mind at all that he comes to visit.....although I am sure if he visited like he wants ( every day all day) he'd wear out his welcome quickly.
These folks have places to go and things they do!
Anyway- trying to cut down the visiting to one house/person per day and only once a week per person! lol The odd part is how he much prefers to go alone! I will not lie and say it doesn't hurt my feelings. It does. But only because ( I think) it feels as though I've done something wrong that he doesn't want me around while he talks. Not sure what I've done to create it- if I have...
but while it's nice to have him out and being social and having a bit of time for myself- it does feel weird/odd. I figured I'd lose him to school before I'd lose him to friends! lol
So- I do intend to update things about school and all as it happens- or during.....
fingers crossed we can afford to keep him in the Waldorf system- all school costs 'something' here (as opposed to the USA where public school is free to attend), but this one is def. more expensive. But hey- what price can you place on FREEDOM!? -He doesn't have to wear a uniform! YAY! Although- again, is this my child?- he actually wants to wear one- he has a shirt all picked out for it- a deep golden yellow colour. Not sure if he has the bottoms figured out yet. We'll worry about that part later too! lol
We'll be driving him there- about 20 mins each way....... which I am mostly not looking forward to- but there are no school buses that I am aware of to take him there and I wouldn't put him on the public bus ! I am also not keen on early mornings. But that too will be dealt with.....it'll be interesting to see how it goes for DS as well. He likes mornings- but gets up when he wants- no schedule. I don't expect I'll have any trouble the first day. ;)

Well- that's about it for me....
I continue to spin- am loving this time of year with lots of fresh fleeces available...
the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show is happening in Victoria at the moment- so most fleecey folks are at that this weekend. Maybe next year for us. But for now I have so much fibre to spin it isn't funny ( delightful to know, but guilt inducing when I buy more and cant' figure out where to put it as the spare room is about full to the ceiling with boxes of fluff now!), and Aug. 8 is the second of two events we like to attend- Mt Pleasant's SACSOS fibre event day. And this year- Jane from Moseley Wool over in Kimba is making the trip to sell her fleeces- which will be the first time I get to touch before I buy! and of course I am looking forward to Kathy B's things- her batts and 2 new colourways in the roving/tops!!! By the way- she has a new online store- I haven't posted since she opened I believe- all her colourways are there except the 2 new ones- I am sure she will be adding them soon..... why not go have a peek and treat yourself to some amazing colourways on 24micron wool? Plus lots of other things on offer- including matching yarn to the spinning fibre colourways! I think that is brilliant. She offers lots of interesting fibres on her webstore- click HERE for Kathy's webstore . :)

Well- I hear my little angel calling for his Dad- so I better get going.
This has been an EXCEPTIONALLY wet winter for us here in SA and I am loving it.
This is the most rain I've seen in 7 years in Australia! Woo hoo!
Everything is so green and lovely.
I do wish winter would not hurry so much.
Spring will see the grass start to turn brown and I am not ready for that-haven't had enough of green yet.
Maybe we will go to Kuitpo Forest tomorrow!

Must go- "Dad" is not responding the bleats!

Hope all is well.

Longtime No Blog

Aw heck!
What can I say?! No excuses offered ( even though I have reasons why I haven't blogged-but who cares in the end, really?)- Ravelry is where I tend to spend most of my online 'free' time- and my blog has suffered.
This weekend we went to the Fiber event in Littlehampton and when Chris *waves to Chris* saw us she mentioned it had been since FEBRUARY (!!) since I blogged! I honestly hadn't realised it had been that long!

I don't have any pictures resized to post today- but will try to get back soon to show off what we brought home at the Adelaide Spinners and Weavers Guild Open day... but it's too close to dinner time to do alot of photo editing and adding.

Suffice to say I've been busy with life in general- have had a few times when I've been feeling pretty crappy- and am currently dealing with pain from a tooth extraction. What a fancy word- extraction. It's been a week and a piece of jawbone did come out with the tooth- but am wondering how long it is to be hurting and when I need to worry things aren't right.

Spinning is still my preferred free time filler and spin whenever I can. I now have a wheel and two spindles on the go with active spinning on them! Nearly every spindle I own has some sort of fiber on them- but mostly are small bits I've spun from leftover singles and there they sit! lol

Next post I will write about yesterday's fiber fun and add pics- and will show a few of RJB- as he is nearing his 5th birthday and is just growing up so fast. We also are going this week to check out a school for him ...... he will need to go starting in June or July I think it is.
It's going to be a rough first few days I think- but we have bought workbooks from the stores and he does them with ease on most things- understanding what i mean before I even explain the instructions and let me tell you- I am one proud momma/mum! Math is going to be so easy for him..... I fear he will outsmart us at grade 3! lol he whizzes through math related things so easily and can read some words as well! His writing is coming along so well- he wouldn't write letters with me when I tried to get him to- but with these write on/wipe off books that I got- he writes the letters and fills in the numbers and all that with ease! The workbooks that I got are more for children in 1-2 grade- and he is still doing them so easily. And MAZES- he can do those so quickly with no or very few mistakes it is awe inspiring! I reckon I sound a bit of a mother peahen about him - but for all the times people have expressed concern about his not being in school *yet*... I think he is going to show everyone that he is s.m.a.r.t! ;)
It's the social part of it and leaving me/us that is going to be the challenge- as most children do have day care experience while ours has been spoiled and raised with me and not away from me.
It's pretty overwhelming at times- but I am proud to be a SAHM! ANd Ideally I would like to continue that or be a WAHM. ( Yarn anyone!?) but one thing at a time- let's get DS in school and settled. We've done ok this far and believe things will be good for us after he goes to school as well.

OK- off to get things around for dinner/tea. Thanks for reading!
If you are on Ravelry- I am Twirlygig ( if you don't know it already! lol) and have way too much posted there for you to read if you want to look me up and read my posts! ;)
I also Twitter under the same name- let me know if you Twitter too- follow me! I do have my tweets protected so I don't have to deal with s p a m too much.....but if you just let me know who you are I will be glad to have you follow me and I will follow you! ( strains of John Denver's "Follow Me" are playing in my mind now...... bless him.)

Hope all is well!

Back for more!

After two days of less hot ( still above 30°c/in the 90°'s f) weather the old heatwave has decided to give us a 1-2 punch in the kidneys and we are meant to be 40°c (103°f) plus today with humidity and an overnight temp of over 30°c!!!! And then tomorrow is meant to be WINDY and HOT until the cool change comes through- but they can't (or won't) predict just when that will be- meanwhile they are forecasting another HOT day. I know you are doing it rough in parts of the USA with such cold temps..... I wish you some of our heat and we'll take some of your cold,ok? Please? Just looking forward to Sunday now.
OK- enough about the weather- how about some yarn and other pictures to see?
(Can you imagine!? On this blog!?? ) ;)

First off is a continuity set of photos of a roving I got back in Aug of last year... created by Kathy Baschiera of SA. ( There are rumblings of the birth of a new website for this talented lady- updates as I know them! )



This photo below is not so great but shows the whole hank/skein in not it's quite true colours. The camera we have doesn't like greens, purples, or oranges. I've tried different settings,etc.- no no avail- so now I try to find something that will colour balance the item I am trying to get.

Sometimes it works- sometimes it doesn't. This one didn't- but you can see the whole amount of yarn I made and then see the closer pictures for true colours.
The next photos are of some fibre called Rockmelon Fizz from Moseley Park Home. It was this most amazing electric peach colour- until I left it to soak (unintentionally, it was the rinse and I forogt about them being in the basin!) with another skein that has some blue in it and that coloured the water and didn't this take up some of it and toned it down! :( I bought more so this time it will be washed by itself!! ( Lesson learned!) It's soft and squooshy. :)

This is the fibre in lock form and after I hand carded it into rolags...

Light and airy rolags are fun and easy to spin!

The singles before plying...

The finished 2ply yarn. :)

This next picture shows lovely dark purple and lime green machine dyed merino blend I did after reading about it in Spin-Off magazine. It was an interesting experiment- doubt that I will try it again any time soon- wsa very prep. intensive and I am not keen on alot of prep time. I like to SPIN!!!!!!!!!! : D This was as close to purple as I was going to get- nothing else added to the picture would make it more purple...*sigh*

Speaking of shocking colour differences- here is nearly the true colour of a skein of yarn made from some mixed wool ( can't remember the combo- romneyX?) batts Jane of MPH sent dh and I as a surprise at Christmas! He spun a batt and I spun one- then we combined them. Each plying a skein. This is Dh's... since they showed up awful on camera- I didn't bother to try the other one! lol Such a lovely dark Teal colour- verrrrry nice! Once again- I apologise for the awful picture.... it was the best i could do to get close to the real colour. Another squooshy yarn,too.

But here's how the skein shows!! Shocking/Crazy- isn't it??

OK- and now I have to add on just a few garden photos of pre-heatwave....Here is the beginning- corn and various squash/pumpkin vines.

It was nice to sit in the early morning and late evening then and enjoy the garden and its changes.
Then it all grew and grew and grew!!!!!!

Some zucchini's are in there!

The corn did well- the best we've ever done

And here are the spoils!

Here are some sunflowers and my butterfly bush in bloom- the honeyeaters love the butterfly bush! I love them both! :)

And this little beauty is my Salpiglossis! I didn't get a photo of the yellow one. :(

But I had three that looked like this. They didn't get as large as they could've- I've seen them in Longwood Gardens, near Philadelphia,PA,USA- but am so delighted I finally got some to grow!

I will try for a better place next year!

OK- been here for hours now- need to get up and move, plus the rest of the family is awake! lol

Hope you are well.

ps. Happy Birthday Mom - Feb. 5 - I miss you every day.

Pics of Yarn, Yarn, and Oh- Did I Mention Yarn?

Will keep this short word-wise ( don't be shocked! )
and will post many photos of my current FY- ( finished yarns ) - and even some hand dyed roving we did!~
Before all that though- Happy Groundhog Day! ;) Go Phil!

Below is a photo of our first attempts at dyeing wool roving/tops with food colouring.
These two were dyed with leftover dye......







Then the 3 pictures below this is the one RJB did mostly on his own-the top one shows the true colours best.

OK and to the yarn- this I just finished today- not even washed yet! It's English Leicester Locks in the "Fairy" colourway done by fabulous Jane at Moseley Wool. :)
On the spindle is the small amount I had left over of singles so I navajo plied (3ply) them on the spindle so I could free up my bobbin for the next yarn. The yarn skeins show yarn I spun on my Ashford Traditional spinning wheel- 2 ply. Don't know the WPI or the length yet- sorry!







This shows it up close- I really wanted to have lots of 'hairiness' to it. While it isn't as much as I had hoped for- it is still wonderful!

The next bunch of photos are of a Merino roving I got given at Christmas from DH- (also from Jane's store)- called "Kalaidascope" (2 ply)... the top picture is of the fibre after I split it into thinner long pieces to do less drafting of the fibre so I could keep the colourway intact as much as possible. :) It's always so soft and fluffy in this state- you just want to bury your face in it! yummmmmm. :)

On the bobbin- the plied yarn waits for the niddy noddy ......


Then here are the before and afters of some EL locks ( From Jane's store Moseley Park Home, of course! lol! ) done in the 'Hotshots' colourway- the yarn is once again a 2 ply.... LOVE this one- one of my very favourite colourways- I hope she does more one day! :) I took OOOOOooooooodles of pictures- but only chose a few for here- the bottom picture shows the colours most true... yellow and pink and white and peachy colours!



OK- need to call it quits for now. More to share- but see I need photos of it! Thought I had done so before washing! Ooops!

Thanks for looking- will post some garden/flower pics inthe near future- from before the heatwave that is! ha!

Hope you are well.