I Knew She'd Be the First...

... to be taken in for an emergency x-ray.

That is Evelyn's broken tibia. She fell off the climber in our backyard before dinner and Phil and I figured we'd better take her in when our "tough girl" wouldn't put her weight on it even after being cheered up with corn dogs and ketchup. :( Poor baby...

She was a trooper at the doctor's office though and let them put a splint on - we have to wait until the swelling goes down before they put a cast on it which will probably get done on Monday. Then I have to tell a two-and-a-half year old to take it easy for the summer... Not good.

The bright side, I guess, is that I won't have to run around making sure she's out of the way of the fireworks this weekend. I'm sure she'll be getting the royal treatment with her leg elevated and Phil's relatives all visiting!

Settling into Summer

You know it's summer when you've spent all day outside, realize it's 7pm already, and end up preparing hard-boiled eggs and watermelon for dinner. (Hey, I made grilled salmon, oven baked potatoes, and spinach salad yesterday... give me a break!) Phil built us these amazing raised garden beds this year...

Those plants in the background belong to our neighbors, and you can see by the posts that a short fence is the next project on the agenda. I did my first set of planting today - and yes, those are string grids because I'm using the Square Foot Gardening method. I did this at my last house and liked it - plants usually don't survive under my care, so it's nice to have a little handbook to tell me what to do. Here's what the lower garden looked like after transplanting the tomatoes from the planter on my front porch...

(Yes, I labeled everything too... I am my father's child!) I found those cool spiral supports at Lowes and I stretched some netting between the arched ones for further support. The back row is where I planted snap peas, the tomatoes, cucumber, and squash. Nathan helped me plant some rainbow carrots, broccoli, lettuce, bush beans, rhubarb, and radishes. I also planted marigolds and nasturtiums because the book told me to. (Shrugs shoulders - I don't know... To add color? Pest control? Whatever... I really have no idea what I'm doing.)

On the upper garden bed I planted pumpkins, zucchini, corn, and sunflowers. Our neighbors are giving us some strawberries for that front row and over the next few weeks I'll stagger plantings so hopefully (fingers crossed) things will continue to grow into the Fall. We'll see.

Evelyn helped spritz the newly planted areas with water, but mostly she was too busy inside petting the watermelon. She was so adorable laying her head on it and sighing about how much she loved watermelons that I had to take a couple of pics...

See why we ended up having some for dinner? So, let's see... Aside from working on the garden, things have been very busy around here anyway... Phil's dad is in town for the next couple of weeks... I've been trading art lessons for piano lessons for the kids... And I've been trying to figure out what in the world is wrong with my washing machine... Nevertheless, I did manage to finish these socks.

And begin a new shawl. It's the Red Dragon Shawl designed by my friend Tuulia, knit in my own handspun!

No, I haven't finished the other one... Why do you ask?

Is There Such Thing?

... as having too much fun with fiber? Today I dyed some Lincoln wool...

and some Merino I bought from a destash on Ravelry!

That is going to be so delightful to spin... After finishing that 3-ply I whipped out a Romney single from an old Spunky Club shipment. There's a contest on Knittyspin, so now I need to just figure out what to make with it.

Oh, and if you're a spinner, one of my favorite dyers Poppyflower Fibers is doing a giveaway on her blog!

Right now I'm testing out how the batts spin up after they've been in the dye pot. So far, they want to be spun woolen and make a nice lofty yarn.

Today was the second-to-last day of school, so I'm helping Nathan put together a little vase of flower pens to give his teacher... but soon I've got to switch gears, make some dinner, and hurry off to a neighborhood meeting...

What Is It About 3-ply?

The first ply usually flies, and the 2nd ply I enjoy the feel of the fiber more because I take my time, then the 3rd ply seems to take for-ev-er. I get a bit tired of the same colorway. I start getting distracted by other projects...

Last week I got my Ashford back from Tara. I've been teaching spinning lessons at my house and I let her take it home for practice. Spinning on it again was like visiting with a wonderful old friend. I oiled her and replaced an E-clip. I fixed that clacking noise. That 3rd ply kept staring at me though, so I spun a quick single of Wensleydale to take the edge off...

Then as if it was enchanted by some replenishing charm, the fiber for the 3rd ply refuses to get smaller. I spin for hours and I seem to have the same amount of roving. I tell myself I will not do 3-ply again... Well, at least not for a very long while. But eventually I do finish the yarn and wind it all up into a skein and...

... it comes into focus as a stunning, shimmering 491 yds of fingering weight, heavenly soft Superwash Merino. Perfect for socks... Strong, yet fine. Durable, yet dainty. And I think oh yeah, this is why I put in all that time and effort!

I even had a little leftover which I chain-plied and got an additional 106 yds that I might use to reinforce the heels and toes of the socks. But first, this one's got to be entered in the Fair. It's just too lovely to use up right away... and besides I think I've got more singles to spin.

Seven!

Yesterday my eldest child, Nathan, turned seven years old. 

On Saturday, we threw him the easiest party ever at the neighborhood park. We served ice cream sundaes, and Nathan and I had gone to the store the night before to pick out all the toppings... We had candy, sprinkles, fruit, syrups, and even whipped cream and marachino cherries! The kids were so excited about assembling their treats and playing on the play equipment, and I even got to sit down for awhile and visit with my friends and family. It was fantastic!

May is really the big birthday month in our family so the weekend before we celebrated with my dad in a similar fashion - by having a picnic at Boulevard Park in Bellingham.

We grown-ups mostly sat around and watched the boats go by, but the kids were full of activity. Nathan kept climbing the trees behind us while I held my breath and tried to hold my tongue as well. Looks pretty sturdy, right?

And I took a nice photo series of the boys playing catch.

I got a couple of pics of the little sis' that day too, but they just weren't as cute as the one I took of her yesterday on our back deck.

Don't you just want to tickle under those arms? 

I can't believe Nathan is seven... We bought him a new bike since he had recently learned how to ride without the training wheels. It fits him a lot better too and now he, his dad, and brother can all ride bikes together. I've been back on a fitness kick lately and have been taking Evelyn out in the jogging stroller for walks (Yeah, no, I don't run... not yet, anyway.) I'm hoping we can all go out on some trails this summer - there are a lot of beautiful places to see in the Pacific Northwest!

Dabbling in the Dyepot

The last couple of days I've been playing with the acid dyes... 

Whoa... trippy. Chill out, man... It was just citric acid, I promise. I finally got some decent pics after trying several locations and backgrounds. I have all this white Romney fiber and when the friend who gave it to me told me he had four more fleeces for me this year, I thought I'd better start doing something with it!!! Here's another piece...

I've got to tell you, I was so surprised at how these batts just fluffed right back up... After getting them all wet with dye and water, rinsing, and then stuffing it all in my tiny salad spinner to get most of the water out again I thought they'd be all matted or at least need to be carded again. I'm glad I decided to be bold... These crazy batts will be added to my Etsy shop for spinners. Romney is a somewhat coarse fiber but is very easy to spin, wears well, and is inexpensive compared to the finer wools. I think if I keep dyeing pieces of it with fun colors, they should sell pretty well. 

I also had some New Zealand wool roving leftover from making Tandy's yarn. No one bought it at the Valley Spinners sale, so I dyed that too. 

Not bad for a day's work... kept an eye on the kids playing outside, listened to some music, spent a bit of time knitting... I've even started teaching private spinning lessons on weekdays. Watch out, Fiber Friends - I could get used to this!

The Rule Is...

They are allowed to treadle on it if there is no fiber or yarn attached. She was sitting on me so I had Jamie go and get the camera. After having her turn, Evelyn let me ply.

My kate in the above pic was made locally by Tracy of the Eastside Spinners. I hear she's going to be a vendor at Sock Summit! 

I was very pleased by the yardage I got with this fiber... The bobbins on the Pocket Wheel are quite a bit larger than my Ashford ones so I was surprised when this one became full before I ran out of my singles. I ended up making two skeins (both fingering weight) - one was about 346 yds and the other was 288 yds.

Pretty! I spun in public today and took the wheel to the park - just loaded it into the jogging stroller along with my little one... It was kind of funny - the moms (except for the ones that I knew) pretty much ignored me, but the teenaged boys wanted to know everything about wool, how it was processed and why it didn't just come apart when I spun it. 

Jamie really needed the distraction. Earlier today he was stung by a bee. Actually I think it was a wasp because I didn't find a stinger and they like to build their nests in the eaves of our house this time of year. He just ran in after playing outside, screaming - poor little guy. :(

Fortunately, I have a home remedy for this sort of thing. My mum used to do this whenever my sister or I got stung (or bitten by a spider) and it works well for drawing out the venom and stinger if there is one. Of course, it works best if applied right away and it probably won't help at all if the person is allergic - if they are wheezing or having trouble breathing you should call 911. Here's what I did: I whipped up a quick paste of baking soda and water and applied it directly to the sting. That's it.

After drying his tears, I played him some songs on my I-pod (a rare treat) while we waited for the goop to dry. 

We ended up covering it with a small piece of paper towel to speed up the process. Once dry you can lift the solid chunk of baking soda away from the affected area and re-apply the goo. After a few applications, the sting has been soothed and most, if not all, of the venom has been drawn out. Later at dinner, he couldn't even tell his dad which finger had been stung!