Spun Yarn & This & That

   Good afternoon,

   I was able to get the hose out and water the perennials early this morning, the weather at dawn was cooler with less humidity but that  still wore me out. I have the thermostat set at 81F degrees-any lower than that-- the a/c runs constantly-I hear dollar signs haha for the electric bill coming in. The house is actually comfortable at that setting too.

  I have been having fun with the spinning-and working on getting the right amount of fiber on the carders-I was getting too much at first.

   It is a bit rough but getting better I was looking for these niddy noddys as I knew I had two of them

       (click on photos to enlarge)

  I found the other one with spun bison fibers on it-so will work on that too  I still have a few balls left of roving from my purchase-I love this fiber.  I will be weaving this in with other fibers I have already spun for my garment--this could be a good winter project for me

    I have been on a buying spree online. I was curious about the magazine artists watercolors I think it is called but the year subscription is very expensive-so I searched for used on ebay and bought one years worth that featured the different seasons-so some painting inspiration there.

  I did pick up mostly on Ebay a couple coloring books, another book from same author that I shared where you paint in the book-hers has quality watercolor papers in the book-others when I read the reviews had bad papers in them. I also bought two books suggested by a you tube video that I will share when I get those. and I splurged on a new dip pen with different nibs. Do any of you have this one? It also includes two different pens to hold the nibs. This pen set was actually very inexpensive under $20.00 I think it was. This one was less expensive on amazon but I didn't have other items I needed to get the free shipping. 

  In the slow cooker I have a made up recipe for stuffed large yellow bell peppers. I used chicken-white beans, sauted vidalia onions and sweet peppers, diced up poblano mushrooms, added cooked cabbage-it wasn't quite done yesterday in time for our main 2 pm meal so am serving it today-hopefully it will be good. Update: this was really good and Larry liked it too. He add Newman's salsa to his.

   No mistaking today is Friday-as the boats are on the lake-loud and clear haha

Happy Friday and weekend

Surprise-Rain, a Cool Down, Spinning

     I woke up early to very strong winds that lasted a bit, that left and then rain-a nice soaking rain, no sun so far and a cool down. Wonderful!!

    Catching up on laundry this morning, been reading a lot lately, and wasn't quite in the mood for painting-sooo I grabbed fibers to spin. Smiles  It has been awhile-since before Larry's accident.

   When I was buying fibers-before moving to the lake-I bought all sorts of different fibers from different sheep species just to feel the differences.

  I grabbed bison fibers and also karakul. The karakul is not a soft fiber but very sturdy-for outer wear, rugs etc. The bison fibers are very soft and not sturdy at all so got to thinking how would they do carded together?

  So I asked Google this question and came back that these work perfect together. Strength from the one and softness with the other.

  I grabbed my carders, drop spindle-and playing with these two fibers. I have never mastered  "perfect" spun fibers but it relaxes me and I love the feel of fibers. I really need to get back to this, and plan out the rhana or poncho I want to weave. At 75 now I am Not getting any younger going forward- HaHa   I do want to continue with my watercolor painting as well. I am getting some tips shared from a friend.

Karakul on the left the bison fiber on the right.   This bag of bison fiber I salvaged for spinning, from a huge bag of left over fibers from the Buffalo Wool Co  It was sold for garden soil amendment.  I went through it all-and salvaged this bag full for spinning. I need to find where I put the rest of it and dig it into the garden this fall. That was a huge savings, the fibers were clean and washed and I think they gave free shipping too   In comments many used these fibers for stuffing little toys or pillows. To buy bison fibers for spinning is very very expensive normally

Here is a photo I just took-fiber ready to spin off the carders-you roll up the fibers-then gently stretch it out to spin

Here are a couple photos of the karkul sheep-different colors

Happy Monday-I am so thankful for this break of a cool day with some rain-my plants will be happy too

Good Morning Monday-Ramblings

 Happy Monday and New Week!

   Missouri gets crazy weather this time of year, over the weekend high 80's F full sun, but no wind. Today is to be another high 80 F degree day but storms are coming n, so it is very overcast and eerie out there and very calm at the moment. Lots of fisherman on the lake since dawn this morning. Overcast is good fishing weather.

  I did need to turn the air conditioner on last night. We had gotten up to 87 degrees f  on Sunday and the house was quite warm. Needed to cool it down for Larry's heart health. Hopefully we will not need it again for awhile.

  I didn't get out to do what I wanted to over the weekend in the flower garden area. Hot sun is not a good time to transplant. This morning would be good though-no sun. We'll see. 

    We find out this morning when the supervisor stops by if Larry is approved for more physical therapy-hoping so since he is coming out.

  Not to complain, but I am hoping my eyes get better. Sometimes I think the drops are making them worse, and still getting used to the new stronger prescription for my glasses.

 I did sign up for the free trial with Amazon Prime over the weekend-but scheduled to cancel last night. These streaming services have such old material-old movies, old tv shows that are the free services. I get free shipping at Amazon when I buy $35.00 minimum so I just save items in my wish list til I have that amount. Their shipping is always fast too even without Prime.  We live rural so their free grocery delivery service can't be used here. If we want to listen to music we turn on the radio so their music is not worth it to us. It just doesn't fit us for the money.  I cancelled but they kept the free trial open for the 30 days before they cancel. Also could not get their service to load on the app on Larry's tv so I just checked it out on my computer  We each have a tv-Larry's in the bedroom and the one I use in the living room area. We watch completely different programs and we don't turn the tv's on til evenings. I felt guilty about this for a long time, but I had a friend at work that told me that's what her and her husband do  since their interests for tv shows were totally opposite-that's us..

  Before we moved to the lake we had used Directv since they first came on the market-thinking over 25 years. I called them about their streaming service and would get their Premier package do to all the sports and movies. The sale price would be locked in for two years. They would send that plug in like roku has for the back of the tv through the mail-so no techs which is nice.  .The first device is free but the second device would be 7.00 a month (usa dollars) so that is that wasted money for rental.  I am actually ready to just go with this service but Larry still wants to talk with roku to understand the pricing.  What a "pain" to even have to deal with this haha  We have a year but I would rather just do this and be set up going forward. This Directv package is loaded with movie channels and sports channels and my Hallmark channels and DIY shows so I am ready to go back to them..

  The hot weekend finished off the early lilac blooms, and the later flowering lilacs are in full bloom now.  I was so happy when I found these lilac bushes blooming that first spring we had moved here

This is the ground cover-this one really grew  had bought this a few years ago from the Amish greenhouse. I think it is phlox

However the second one is the one I need to move-the creeping thyme is choking it out-I should have moved this last fall after I had gotten the left side of this rock wall area prepared to plant I may just take some of the above one to transplant as well

I took a photo of the bison fiber blended with shetland wool. the bison fiber was sold as a soil amendment so I went through it and ended up with one pillowcase "bag" for the soil and two bags I thought I could spin,  Blended with my hand carders with the shetland wool it came out pretty decent. Once this niddy noddy is full of the spin yarn-I am going to really soak it in warm soapy water and see how it holds up.  It is bulky but that's ok for weaving something with it.

     I still had a couple packages of baby back ribs in the freezer since last early summer. Yesterday was the perfect day to make one of these.  I did them in the oven and they turned out soooo delicious. I need to write down how I cooked them.

Happy new week every one

Update: whoo hooo Larry got approved for twice a week physical therapy for the next three weeks. They found out that if they ask for once a week physical therapy,  insurance turns them down because they think it is not really needed just maintenance..  I was surprised when a month ago they dropped Larry to once a week.  So this is good news, especially since Larry's latest setback.

 I so much appreciate your continued healing thoughts thank you

Another Rare Sheep Breed

 I did get some grass cut early morning before we got hot and humid today, progress but more to do My back lasts for 3 of the batteries for the weed eater

Yesterday I worked with the Navajo churro wool, and discovered it still has too much lanolin in the wool even after washing a couple years ago. So I set that aside and looked for a wool I bought back in 2016 that is even more rare and has an interesting history North Ronaldsay. This one has two layers, the under coat is soft and then there is a long top coat that is more coarse. I worked on separating some of it today. I grabbed my drop spindle and my hand carders. After a few tries I decided I got a nicer yarn using a layer of the softer wool on the bottom of the carder and added the coarser wool on top-card and then make into those rolags to spin. This is a really large bag of wool too and was not processed at all when I bought it. I am loving it though and it is a very dark brown to black. I like spinning these rarer wools and learning about their history-this sheep lives on sea weed see why in link below

  This link is a good one for it's history, location, and uniqueness

The brown colors of these wools are very similiar but the wool I worked with today is darker and parts of the fleece almost black

   Sunday we are to get to 104 degrees F so I will be out at daybreak working on cutting more grass  

  My eyes have gotten worse over this past year and I will need new glasses for sure-we see the specialist this coming Wednesday He is an excellent eye surgeon and eye specialist we will need to drive an hour and past our woods home. Last year he told me I had the start of glaucoma 

Have an awesome new week everyone Stay cool and safe if you are in this heat wave too

Wood Ducks, Gardening and Spinning for T

    I was not going to hook up with T 'til the 10th anniversary, but since I am caught up a bit with outdoor work for now and  that we are back to the high 90's F  again I will have time to visit.

   We had a few days of much cooler weather-finally-but still not a drop of rain. The grass is all burnt up here except for what splashes on from the lake.  Good thing though is no mowing for me smiles.

   Find link up for T with Bleubeard and Elizabeth in my side panel, you are welcome to join in just post a drink related photo.

  Today and Yesterday, I raked out the smaller stones and added 8 large bags of garden soil to part of the area. I will need to add more for sure but at least I got these bags on the ground. I collect my zinnia, marigold, and other seeds so I spread a bunch over this area-to keep weeds from growing and the butterflies will love the flowers too. It is way too hot, and with no rain, not a good idea to be transplanting perennials to this area right now.

  By the front door are the steps to the top-and then to either side is the rock wall with a curved area on both sides. I have a bird bath on the other side, so I added this large metal leaf for drinking water to this left side that we are working on. The rock came from the woods property I am thinking this is a drink reference as the butterflies and little birds love this for a drink of water.

Larry has been scraping off the dead grass with his skid steer on the left side of this area-we will be placing landscape fabric and adding stone to that area very soon.

   Doing that he found this large heart rock-so I brought it up to this corner area At the woods home, some of you may remember my rock shower project-sadly we never got to use that, but in the process of gathering rocks I found many many small and medium size heart rocks-never one this large-I love it.

The bags of soil were so heavy that I worked from both ends-ran out there in the middle-oh well, I need lots more soil before fall. I need Larry to decide about that hill in the back area-would need allot of garden soil added to level a bit. To the right is the pallet of brick for the outdoor cooking area.

We learned that our duck visitors are a family of wood ducks, that have been breeding in the area for many years-according to one of our neighbors. The hen discovered our bird seed early mornings and sometimes her youngsters come too. She had 6 survivors out of 10 or 12 little ones.

     I am realizing I spin better with less processed wools. I have found a couple sellers on Etsy that I really love, including the Icelandic wool. I was inspired to search out this wool from Erika's Iceland trip, learning that many of the sheep are not penned in-love that.  It spins like a dream I love it, feel like I know what I am doing even haha. I had bought a variegated roving with black, white and dark grey.

  Ready to spin

  This is very soft yarn, I am in love with this one-and ordered a little bit more of this one and the dark grey.

     I am still spinning thick and thin but it is not over spun which is a good thing. I love the textures of that in weaving. I am still spinning singles opposed to a finer yarn that is then plied together with two or three-right now I don't need to strive for that as I am not a knitter or do crochet-weaving is more forgiving I think depending on the garment being made.

    We have been enjoying root beer floats during these hot humid days. I shared one in my last post but I did make us another one last night.

   I make them with my own homemade vanilla ice cream-yum summer for me is a root beer float.

  This is a photo of me layering the ice cream and the root beer.

Happy T

Spinning Fibers-updated

   Good morning, I thought I would drop in with a post.  I have been spinning most every day for the last 10 days or so.

  Over the weekend I grabbed the bag I had of odds in fibers and blended them together on my blending board. This is always a fun project, and I now have pretty much used up everything that was in the odd fibers bag. I had allot of yellows left with a few other colors-this yarn will go into my bag of Yellowstone colors for weaving.

This is a bulky yarn, which will go well with the other Yellowstone spun skeins I really love how this came out.

   After this one I have been spinning a UK Wensleydale fiber over the weekend-wow this is an amazing fiber. Very very soft and a very long staple length, and soooo easy to spin-wish I would have tried this before.  Here is a photo I found online   I am in love with this fiber. If I didn't have so many bags of fiber to spin already I would buy more.

Some of my readers may remember back around 2016 and later I went to Fiber U for classes on spinning and other fiber related classes. During that period I did go a bit overboard buying fibers to spin. smiles

  I went through my stash early this morning-which is a surprise now after all these years and the move from the woods home-and found another good spinning practice bag of roving. It was full with 2 pounds of USA blended long wools. I couldn't believe the price either-the 2 pounds of roving plus shipping was less than $24.00. Now that price will get you around less than half the amount of fiber plus shipping

  This will keep me busy and hopefully improve my wheel spinning.

    I did buy some new wool breeds to try though-which should arrive in the mail this week. I was intrigued about the sheep in Iceland that Erika posted about. I enjoy spinning the different rare breeds that are not as popular any more. I found an etsy seller that had icelandic white and greys. I bought two greys.

 Here is a photo of the darker grey and a link to the shop

  I found this photo online of an Icelandic sheep-grey

I also bought a rare Shetland roving from another Etsy shop which is a dark brown.

 Those of you that know me-I do not like white, so all the white yarns I am spinning will be going into the dye pot-I have allot of dyeing to do in the near future, more than I had realized.

Have an awesome new week

Oh and this is a view of Lake in the Ozarks-Father's Day weekend-found online

T Stands for Tuesday-We Have Photos

  Hellos to the T gang and all my readers

     It's Saturday morning so writing this up early for Tuesday. For the T Party we gather over at Bleubeard and Elizabeth's and link up with a drink related photo in our post, and visit others on the link up. 

  We have spring blooms here, and another round of severe weather coming through today. Here are a few photos from early today (Saturday)  Tornadoes etc are still in the forecast for the rest of the day. There are allot of boats on the lake today for the big Bass Tournament-winning fish prize is $100,000.

  The skies were very black for awhile, windy with white caps on the lake-and then it left. I would not want to be on the lake during this type of weather.

  We also have lovely blooms.

  This first photo are dwarf size iris's I brought home from the family farm years ago in Indiana. This is the first year they are blooming well here at the lake-they got settled back in.

Lots more full size iris-different colors and gladiolas  growing

There is a very old red bud tree here-to the left-and the lilacs began to bloom

This is last year's crop of creeping thyme ground cover that I grew in bottles last year-the root system seemed to really spread over winter-these will get dug up soon and transferred to other areas.

Last week I estimated that I had 50 bottles-I actually have around 70, with 9 more to plant.

 The pink blooms are the ground cover phlox I bought from the Amish greenhouse last year

And the amaryllis has bloomed-it was slow to open up which was nice for longer lasting views.

 There will be 3 blooms on this stalk

Saturday the bloom opened even larger

I really love this color

  I also gathered dandelion flowers for my soap making-I infuse it in the soap with my lavender flowers-strain it and add the melt and pour soap to the molds. The dandelions here at the lake are large and lovely

I have always loved dandelions with their pretty yellow flowers welcoming in warmer weather.

   I am still spinning, getting better at the wheel, but still not even yarn and I don't always keep the wheel moving constantly-still spinning every day to hopefully improve.

  I found a bag of alpaca I had bought at one of the Fiber U events that I shared in the past of the classes I took there. I also found a big bag of small sample bits of alpaca that were for needle felting-so they were quite short-I blended them on the blending board. 

Rolags made from the blending board-the browns were small samples of alpaca

Here is the green-drawn out to spin 

Above greens spun into a very arty yarn-below photo

 I am now spinning on the wheel- white alpaca, next up a grey alpaca. I also found our (late) wolf Nikita's hair that she grew over winter-and then needed brushed out-very very short fibers and soft-I am carding that with alpaca and spinning on the drop spindle for better control. That will be an art yarn as well, will see how this looks after washed and dried-could go into a scarf. I have been able to spin it finer since this photo.

  Since I took above photo-found out how to delete date and time on photos

  I have been drinking my decaf coffee with whipped cream this past week, and a splash of my homemade kahlua  This is a hand thrown pottery mug we bought way back before retirement I have always loved handmade pottery dishes.

   

   I  make pancakes for Larry once or twice a week now for his breakfast-I made a gluten free batch for me today. I am using up the dried blueberries I had picked up at the Amish grocery store last year, with maple syrup-of course-smiles.

   This pure maple syrup we buy online from Pennsylvania-we were gifted this syrup from a friend years ago, so now I buy this for us. The best flavor we have ever had and we have tried many different homemade maple syrups from different states.  My cup of decaf black lemon Bigelow tea is also in a hand thrown pottery cup.

Sunrise early last week The sky was a brilliant red for just a bit

After the reds faded out

Happy T and new week