Good Inside Weather

It has been hot and humid.  The type of weather where you just want to stay inside and lounge in the air conditioning. Due to that, this week's post will be heavy on fiber-y content.

Laci has been making herself at home, as you can see.  Rowdy seems quite pleased to have a companion who will play with him like he likes to play.

 This is what generally is going on when I am having my coffee in the morning.  The only problem right now is that Laci went to the vet and was spayed yesterday, so play, swimming, and off leash activities are highly curtailed  (forbidden) for the next week or 10 days.  Explaining this to two rambunctious Australian Shepherds is not easy.  Therefore, Laci is here at the office with me today where I can keep an eye on her and not worry about Rowdy running her over.  We will have to avoid the pond on our walks this week.  

Saturday Sam and I attended a party at our neighbors' down the road.  They were celebrating their 25th anniversary and roasted a pig and had lots of good food.  Volleyball, cornhole and, later in the evening, cards were enjoyed.  There were a lot of people there.  I think a good time was had by all.

I missed another party that my niece and her soon to be husband were throwing over in Toledo.  It's 4 hours each way to get there and I just didn't think it could be done without spending the night, so I decided not to go.  The party was a housewarming and a wedding shower in one.  Since I could not go, I sent a gift basket with mom that  I had done up that had some handwoven kitchen towels, a pint of maple syrup, and one jar each of raspberry and strawberry jam.  All from right here on the farm.  Hopefully in the future, honey will be added.  I was very pleased with how these towels came out.

Monday I dyed up my red rug yarn.  So the next plan is to warp up the loom with red, white and blue warp.  I have to sit down and work out  a pattern of stripes or blocks.   Once I get that figured out, it won't take long to get going.

Tuesday I canned a batch of pickled beets from the garden.  I think I will have one more small batch yet to do.  I also dug up all our garlic.  The garlic we put in in the fall definitely did better than the garlic we put in this spring.  We still got quite a bit and some of the bulbs are huge!  They are the elephant garlic I got from my spinning guild friend, JoAnn.  I need to get more from her this year and plant even more.  It's SO good!

Sam ate our first ripe tomato from the garden yesterday, and while we have lots and lots of green tomatoes, it looks like it may be a while before any more ripen up.  We are trying to remember to water the garden in the evenings since there has been almost no rain (tho we did get some last night).  Sam dug up our potatoes since the plants had dried up and we have enjoyed those little new potatoes.  Our squash plants are getting pretty dry as well and are not near an easy source of water.  They have lots of squash on them, so hopefully they will make it despite the drought.

I have had some knitting time and have one sock finished and the second about 1/2 done.  

I am very happy with the color and the pattern and will enjoy wearing these once the weather gets cooler!  

I have decided to "frog" the yellow mystery shawl.  Frog is knitting lingo for "Rip-it, rip-it" or unraveling knitted work.  I was somewhat disappointed with the clues for the shawl since they did not really change very much and once the last clue came out and I looked at other peoples' finished shawls, I decided I really didn't like it very much and would never wear it.  it almost looks like a capelet.  Here is a link to someone's finished project: 
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/coo27ky/summer-solstice-mystery-shawl-kal-2012  
There are a lot of beautiful patterns I could use the yarn for instead.

I am also starting to plan for my next fiber show, which is a month away.  I put together a few alpaca sampler packs yesterday.  Each one has 4 different colors of alpaca fiber that is carded and ready to spin, a total of 4 oz of fiber.  I ordered some nice plastic drawstring bags that work really nicely for this. 

 

My post is likely to be late next week.  My mother and I are going to Shipshewana, IN and meeting my aunt and my cousin there for a girls' outing.  There is a huge flea market there on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and we have reservations to stay at a  B&B where my sister-in-law and her friends have stayed a few times.  It has been 13 years or so since the last time I went and it is nice because my aunt and cousin live in Michigan so this is kind of in between, though a longer drive for us.  http://www.tradingplaceamerica.com/fleamarket.php  I enjoy spending time with my cousin.  She is the closest I have to a sister and even though there is 10 years between us, it doesn't matter now that we are adults.  You may remember that she and I went to Chicago together last October.  I am very much looking forward to this trip!