I wanted a striping yarn, so I tore off the different colored segments of the roving and spun them in long, single-colored passages. My first time spinning merino; not too bad, but I wasn't able to draft & spin as finely as I'd have liked too. And even though I felt as though I was spinning it with plenty of twist, I had to run the whole bobbin of singles through the wheel a second time, adding a bit more twist so it would ply well. By the time I chain-plied the yarn, it was, once again...bulky-weight!(Will I
ever be able to spin anything else?!)
The dark brown stripes are from yarn I picked up at
S.C.R.A.P.
Since my yarn was heavier than what the pattern called for, I knit up the child's size, and it turned out perfectly. I love how it fits, so cozy around the ears. Rick's already been wearing it when it cools down at night.
The pattern is so fun to knit, that right away I cast on to try knitting up the pointed version.
This time the change in guage didn't work out so well, and it came out rather too small. It's in the frog pond, waiting to be transformed into a pair of stripy mitts. I'll definitely be knitting up another "pointless" version for myself; this is a super fun knit and super comfy, groovy hat.
And just a few more photos from the New Mexico trip.
These are some little sage bundles we made out of sage growing not ten feet from my friend's front door!
We paid a visit to Bosque del Apache wildlife refuge south of Albuquerque. It's one of the country's largest migrating bird refuges. Apparently, during the spring and fall, there are millions of birds passing through here, and the sight of them taking flight at dawn is amazing. This time of year, though, there's not so much happening. We took a peek, anyway, and saw some Snowy Egrets, turtles basking on logs, a wild turkey, and a goofy Roadrunner skittling along with a huge bug in it's beak. An interesting thing I learned about this refuge, is that it is intensely managed to provide optimum food and habitat for migrating birds. Not only are various areas drained and flooded to create wetlands at certain times of the year, extensive crops such as wheat, oats, and other seed-producers are grown for the birds to feast on while they're here.
We also toured one of the most interesting arboretums I've been through; a cactus arboretum!
It's difficult to see the scale, but some of these babies are
huge!
There was some interesting art scattered throughout.
I was wearing flip-flops as I strolled the pathways, and some of these plants really made my exposed toes & ankles cringe!
Here I am bouncing around in the back of a pickup with the dogs, on the way to a dusk visit of a very special spring hidden in the nearby dessert, outside of Socorro.
This is me in the plaza on Museum Hill in Santa Fe.
This is a huge bronze sculpture of a Native American dance. I love how fluid and active the forms are, even though they are cast of this very hard metal.
And this is a view of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, up near Tres Piedras. Mostly it's all dry & sagebrush dessert around there, but we went on what was my favorite walk of the trip, up around one of the Piedras, and this is what we saw.
Viva New Mexico
Crocheted and felted; waiting for eyes.
I spun up this yummy yarn from the samples I received in Phat Fiber's May box. The theme was "Blossom and Bark" and there were quite a few samples that were in the pink family. I arranged all the samples in order by color, and just spun them up one after another into a long single. I decided to ply it with another single in green, to balance out all of that pink. This is my first multi-colored barber-pole type of yarn, and I just love it. I'm thinking to use it to make some squares for an afghan. 
Even though I wish I could spend all the days in the studio, the farm in August requires a bit of attention, mainly in the form of harvesting and food processing.
Here's the labor of a recent weekend, left to right: boysenberry-honey jam; super chutney with squash, plums, apples, onions, and dried tomatoes (I know, I know...it's chutney enough for two years!); and sweet & sour Asian plum sauce.
Last but not least, August's star....blueberries! (by the bushel!)
I've been dying to knit up Leethal's Vortex hat ever since it appeared in Knitty's winter 08 issue.
On my recent trip to California, I picked up some luscious merino roving dyed by Beesybee Fibers and quickly spun up this:
I wanted a striping yarn, so I tore off the different colored segments of the roving and spun them in long, single-colored passages. My first time spinning merino; not too bad, but I wasn't able to draft & spin as finely as I'd have liked too. And even though I felt as though I was spinning it with plenty of twist, I had to run the whole bobbin of singles through the wheel a second time, adding a bit more twist so it would ply well. By the time I chain-plied the yarn, it was, once again...bulky-weight!(Will I ever be able to spin anything else?!)
The dark brown stripes are from yarn I picked up at S.C.R.A.P.
Since my yarn was heavier than what the pattern called for, I knit up the child's size, and it turned out perfectly. I love how it fits, so cozy around the ears. Rick's already been wearing it when it cools down at night.
The pattern is so fun to knit, that right away I cast on to try knitting up the pointed version.
This time the change in guage didn't work out so well, and it came out rather too small. It's in the frog pond, waiting to be transformed into a pair of stripy mitts. I'll definitely be knitting up another "pointless" version for myself; this is a super fun knit and super comfy, groovy hat. 
And just a few more photos from the New Mexico trip.
These are some little sage bundles we made out of sage growing not ten feet from my friend's front door!
We paid a visit to Bosque del Apache wildlife refuge south of Albuquerque. It's one of the country's largest migrating bird refuges. Apparently, during the spring and fall, there are millions of birds passing through here, and the sight of them taking flight at dawn is amazing. This time of year, though, there's not so much happening. We took a peek, anyway, and saw some Snowy Egrets, turtles basking on logs, a wild turkey, and a goofy Roadrunner skittling along with a huge bug in it's beak. An interesting thing I learned about this refuge, is that it is intensely managed to provide optimum food and habitat for migrating birds. Not only are various areas drained and flooded to create wetlands at certain times of the year, extensive crops such as wheat, oats, and other seed-producers are grown for the birds to feast on while they're here.
We also toured one of the most interesting arboretums I've been through; a cactus arboretum!
It's difficult to see the scale, but some of these babies are huge!
There was some interesting art scattered throughout.
I was wearing flip-flops as I strolled the pathways, and some of these plants really made my exposed toes & ankles cringe!
Here I am bouncing around in the back of a pickup with the dogs, on the way to a dusk visit of a very special spring hidden in the nearby dessert, outside of Socorro.
This is me in the plaza on Museum Hill in Santa Fe.
This is a huge bronze sculpture of a Native American dance. I love how fluid and active the forms are, even though they are cast of this very hard metal.
And this is a view of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, up near Tres Piedras. Mostly it's all dry & sagebrush dessert around there, but we went on what was my favorite walk of the trip, up around one of the Piedras, and this is what we saw.
Viva New Mexico
At $1.35 per oz., the Mystery Batts are a real deal. I was told that this year, they have lots of alpaca in them, and they are very soft.
When Li'l B. saw me taking photos, she promptly wrapped herself in a batt and took a snooze. 
Check it out; this: 
Opens up to this:
And this one:
looks like this inside:
It's kinda like eating a box of chocolates.
It's my first time spinning from a batt, and I love it! All I want to do is spin and spin and spin...I'll try my hand at making some art yarns with these, experimenting with new techniques.
I also came home with a lovely, bi-colored CVM (California Variegated Mutant) fleece; I'll show you later when I wash it.
Between the fleece, the mystery batts, and some other oddiments, I ended up having to make two trips with the bike to haul it all! Definitely a year's supply of fiber (at least!)
And, since I know you've all been dying to hear about my trip to New Mexico, I'll share a few wedding photos.
Here we are, cheering on the bride. 
We were all friends together in Corvallis, about 23 years ago! It was great reconnecting with everyone, and we all got to stay together at a sweet little guest house in downtown Santa Fe.
This is the wedding arch..it's framing a "tree" of clematis, on which guests hung colorful paper dragonflies inscribed with personal well-wishings to the couple. 
Aren't the wedding cakes lovely!
Each was a different flavor, all very delicious...I liked the raspberry creme the best.
I've been rather out of commission this week, with back issues...total drag, except that I have been able to knit! Next time I'll show you what I made, and share some more desserty photos.
It's good to be back!
