Love Seats

The much promised love seat shots. I'm very happy with the covers. They look better than I had expected. Okay, and maybe, after a little breather I might even attempt a second set, for summer maybe....a BIG maybe.

Thanks again Linda. I couldn't have done it without you!

Running By

Well, it seems like that, actually I'm sitting with coffee to gear up and fortify myself for going out to feed. The thorough fall cleaning is in full swing. The parents arrive this weekend and there is still a lot to do on the punch list plus all the regular stuff.

Thursday I am going to treat myself to some time with my favorite riding buddy and Friday I will do a lick and a promise run through the house again. The open work linen and alpaca scarf has GOT to get off the Hollandia and it would be nice to wash a couple of the dogs. BEWARE FURBUTTS! You know who you are.

I would like to say a HUGE thank you to my patient and generous friend Linda who gave me a whole day of her time and use of her sewing machines to help me get the 8 cushion covers done in time. I NEVER could have done it without you. And thank you too when for standing firm when I got cranky about the whole dang project. I will say the zippers you put in where much better than the ones I did get in, but by the 4th one it wasn't looking too bad. I promised you pictures and pictures you'll get on blog Saturday morning. I'm waiting until the last minute to put those suckers on. They are almost too pretty to use....almost! ;)

It will be sporadic blogging for the next two weeks. I'm so looking forward to the visit and hoping for sunny skies for a good part of the visit. Oregon in October can be fickle but she usually brings us some beautiful days.

Parting shots. No one adores me quite like Charlotte.

Look, Up in the Sky, It's Some Nut!

It was a busy weekend around here. I was hoofing along alone while DH took off for a trip up to Seaside OR to go paramotoring. Oh yes, folks, there is a certain flavor of nut that likes to strap on a lawnmower motor and jet around the sky with their para wing on. And I have one of those. He had a blast and showed up back on the doorstep at 3:30am Monday morning just as I was getting all the house critters fed. There was a lot of noise and excitement at both the arrival of feeding time and "Papa's" arrival.

So while Gene flew the friendly coastal skies of Oregon ( and saw whales) I did a little weaving. Having finished up the first pillowcase, started in on the second.

This one I decided to do a pale green for the weft and stay in pattern for the hem area, then of course, the 20/2 cream for the body of the case. At this update I have about 10 inches of cream body woven.

Wrote out some prayers for the warp waiting on the Julia loom, knitted a bit on the vest and waited for hay to arrive. And arrive it did. 14 tons have been delivered and stacked in my barn and all I had to do was write out a check. Easy peasy for me, but Gene usually sheds a tear or two. ;) This year we went with all second cutting and all small bales. One bale fits perfectly in the front end loader of Bob the tractor and is just right to feed out each meal. MUCH nicer than wrestling those 125# bales from last year. I did a happy dance, the horses did a happy dance, the goats did a happy dance. Gene was gone flying and avoided it all together. I brought up buckets of loose hay for a little snack while they unloaded to an audience of 10 ( 5 horses, 5 goats).

I will admit that Sunday I did a lot of football watching and a fair amount of reading, so rather than go through scores, I'll give you a run down on the current reading list.

In process is "Rosa" By Jonathan Nabb and after a rocky start I am finally into the book and enjoying it.

Finished and enjoyed was "Death in a Strange Country" by Donna Leon and is the start of a series of detective mysteries set in Venice Italy. The second in the series is already on my Kindle waiting to be read. Also read are two period mysteries written by C. S. Harris, "When Gods Die" and "What Angels Fear". I enjoyed both these series mysteries set in the early 1800's (Regency period) in England and there are more to be read!

Stacked up either on the Kindle or on the wish list, are the following books:

A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron

A Small Furry Prayer: Dog Rescue and the Meaning of Life by Steven Kotler

The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam by Eliza Griswold

Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne

Marie Antoinette: The Journey by Antonia Fraser.

All the books listed here are available at Amazon even though I didn't do individual links.

Before I forget (again) I wanted to show you all this little charmer of a knitting book, Whimsical Knits 2 by Ysolda Teague.

Since I do seem to be spinning a little more and have some wonderful fibers/yarns available in smaller amounts, these patterns really appealed to me.

Lastly, Parting Shots.

Silk

I'm on the fence about silk. In some things I love it, in others, it doesn't send me. I did however find some tussah silk yarn I love. It all started out with some reconnaissance for my Dad. He informed me he wants to work on a silk scarf during his visit and what are the local resources like. First I went really local, like my stash and sent some pics of lovely Gems silk with a Curious Creek Fiber yarn, which he liked.

It was set aside. But, being my father's daughter in some respects I know he, like me, would like some other options and that's what I was looking for. I came up pretty much goose eggs for fine silk fiber in the valley except for a very small amount of some lovely Silk Tree #6 in the most amazing gold. I had just the project in mind, one I had been searching for a complimentary silk casually for a while and the 2 skeins available might just do it if I planned right.

In fact Llamas and Llambs in Jacksonville had another 2 skeins of a lighter brighter yellow which I had them hold. I'll pick them up next week. So, I wrote my Dad, told him he'll need to find silk at home or order something up from the Silk Tree and here is a list of colors that would go with that Curious Creek yarn, Earl Grey. The trouble came when I started twisting that lovely CC fiber with my coveted golden silk. Then instead of keeping the secret to myself, I had to send a picture to my Dad.

Needless to say, we have some lovely silk coming in #14 gold and #5 grey. It should all arrive in time for the visit starting the 15th.

While I'm on my silk kick, I'll also update on my merino/silk spinning adventure. I've fallen hard for this fiber.

Who would have thunk it after all my complaining about merino, but it's true. I love spinning this.

So, heading off of fiber and into the world just inside my front door.

The much anticipated settle bench has finally made it from Cindie's garage to my foyer and it is just as wonderful as it looked.

That silly looking raccoon just puts a grin on my face. We use a bench there a lot. In fact every time we go in or out so having something so unique has made the changing of the footwear extra fun. And it's always nice to have a little extra storage for hats, mittens, gloves, flashlights and scarves.

There's lots of other news but I'll save it for the next post. Instead I'll leave you with this silky duo.