Hops & Summer Camp & Spinning & Weaving

The boys are enjoying the cool comfort of the ceramic tile floor in the mostly complete kitchen (is anything really ever completely complete?)!  So look at that view and then look at this one:

 Same kitchen as it was when the property was purchased 12 or so years ago.  It went from that look to this one:

And actually had a couple re-paintings prior to its new incarnation.





Here is the other side of the room

A bit of an improvement, wouldn't you agree?

Sam actually brewed his first batch of beer in the new kitchen this past weekend while I was away.  And speaking of beer, here are a few photos of this year's hop crop.

 The hops are a perennial and they like to climb.  These are the first ones he planted and they do very well in this spot.

The other batch of vines is growing in a field and Sam rigged up guy wires for the plants to climb.  These don't seem to be as prolific.  They are also several different varieties, so that may explain the smaller vines.  I don't know.  These hop cones will soon be picked and Sam will dry them and freeze what he doesn't use right away for use in future batches of home brewed beer.

I traveled to eastern Maryland this past weekend to attend a knitting summer camp hosted by the Twinset Designs Podcast  which is an audio podcast I listen to hosted by twin sisters.  They put together a retreat at a rather rustic summer camp Ramblewood Resort which was attended by myself and about 14 others.  It really was great fun.  It went from Friday through Sunday and we had campfires at night and lounged in the pool during the day and learned some new crafts, such as Tablet Weaving.  Everyone brought snacks and drinks to share (there was a huge cooler FULL of beer and wine and other wonderful stuff that we all shared) and we had our meals in the camp dining hall.  The meals were not standard camp fare.  The owner takes pride in serving locally produced food whenever possible and it shows.  I look forward to attending again next year.

So I've had a bit of fibery time.  I managed to finish spinning and plying 625 yards of fawn alpaca which is part of the ongoing woven blanket project.  I need about another 600 or so yards of this color before I move on to dark brown.

In last week's post I said I had been spinning at the festival in town and I worked on the same fiber at my spinning guild last Thursday.  It has black and grey alpaca and about a 1/3 of the fiber in the roving was dyed in a dark teal color.

I also warped my small loom for some gift weaving.  It was fairly quick to warp because it is only 9" wide and I am used to projects that are much wider.  The weaving will also go fairly fast and it is fun so far.  I am anxious to get back to it!