Smatterings

  • Weekending

    The weekend was all about winter. Getting ready implies it is in the future. I shoveled our deck. No more procrastination.

    We managed to outfit the tractors with their snow blowers and chains. It takes both of us to get the chains on this one. Her name is Millie. She has big wheels. I'm pretty sure that we did it in record time this year.

    All of our big outdoor planters got their winter covers. The canoe was pulled up and kayaks dragged up the hill, down to the barn and onto the kayak rack. We cut enough balsam (brush) to fill our van entirely. Another 50 ft. of heavy wire fencing was wrapped around tree trunks (another chapter in the beaver wars).

    We baked pies.

    It wasn't all work. We had dinner with friends, drank wine and caught up on news. Ate pie. Had coffee with friends. Ate pie. Sunday night, we finished off the weekend relaxing in front of the woodstove, eating pie. A pretty good weekend, indeed.

    Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

    5 responses to “Weekending”

    1. Kathy

      Mmmm, pie. Exept that I am a sucky pie baker. Just can’t deal with the crust. Or the filling. Not my forte.

    2. Carole

      All I heard was pie. PIE!

    3. claudia

      What Carole said. Although I’ll bet you could make a blog post out of the beaver wars.

    4. JJ

      Pie is a team effort here. I make the filling and seal the crust, Chris makes and rolls the dough.
      Judy

    5. Manise

      Oooh a pie themed weekend! Love it and the fact you got a lot done on your to-do list up there. Hope the beavers respect the wire fencing or at least break a tooth or three trying.

  • change in seeing

    This picture was taken yesterday.  See that bit of open water? It is gone today under a thin layer of ice and snow.

    IMG_3738

    As beautiful as it is, I am always sad to lose my mirror.  It is hard for me to imagine stars that twinkle only in the night sky or clouds sailing overhead without anchor.  I don't see this way, a plane is missing.  Perhaps it's hidden in the winter shadows, another place to explore.  For the next 4-5 months, the world will have to remain upright until the spring thaw once again releases my mirrored world.

    NaBloPoMo #16

    2 responses to “change in seeing”

    1. Manise

      Beautiful post! Snow covers so much, otherwise the muted mirror effect ice has to offer would be kinda cool. And of course all of the frozen bubbles and textures.

    2. claudia

      What a view. Winter beauty is lovely, but in a different way. I hope you get your mirror back soon!

  • Ply on the Fly

    Ply-on-the-fly1

     

    At last Saturday's guild meeting, I sat next to a woman that was using the Play on the Fly technique with her spindle.  She remarked that this was the first time she'd seen me bring a wheel to the meeting.  I usually bring a spindle. So much easier.  The timing was great though as I had been thinking about playing with that technique and asked her to show me what she was doing.  It has been a couple years since I was introduced to it and never actually got a comfortable rhythm using it.  Over the week, I've experimented.  I now feel comfortable using it. 

    My thoughts are this..

    It is great for sampling a three ply yarn.  If you use an Andean ply or chain ply for your three ply, this is another option.  Because your spindle size limits the amount of yarn that you can produce for one skein (or one cop), it isn't particularly good for my use.  I spindle to make enough yarn for a project.  I want good size skeins.  If I make 3 cops and ply them together, I can produce a 200 yd., 3 ply skein. Using this technique, I'd have 3 skeins of about 67 yds.  Something to consider when you are making a project.  How many joins do you want to deal with.  I played mostly with silk and if you knit with silk, you already know that it really requires a Russian or sewn join.  That alone would make my decision.

    I'll use this, as I said, when I want a fast three ply sample.  Give it a try. There are several good You Tube tutorials.

    2 responses to “Ply on the Fly”

    1. claudia

      I love your spindle and the color of the proto-yarn.

    2. Manise

      Cool! Pretty spindle and fiber too. Is that a Bosworth Moosie spindle?

“Our lives are dyed the colors of our imagination.” ~ Marcus Aurelius

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