07.29.07
Posted in Redwood Living at 9:12 am by Lynette
Just 21 spaces left in the Rainy Day Yarn Club. Go here to sign up!
I’ve added an option to receive an additional 100 yards per skein per month for an additional $10. When you sign up, just be sure to add in your comments that you want the 450 yards and I’ll ‘bill’ you the additional $10.
I never been to a Ren Fair. Saturday we spend the day vending at one in Brookings Oregon. It was an absolutely beautiful day. 
The sun came out about 11 and it got very hot. In fact, I got sunburn on my shoulders and….gasp….my (ahem) cleavage. I purchased a pretty dress from a local clothing store because I didn’t have anything Ren Fair like. It is Rayon (my most favorite fabric!), long, redish with a plunging neck line to give you that ‘uplift’ you see in Juliet type clothing. The good news is this costume was much cooler to wear than the 1900’s because of many less layers. The bad news, as I said above, was I got burned.
It was a beautiful day in Azalea park, not many people came but the music was fun to listen to and the fighting from the SCE people was interesting. We didn’t sell a blasted thing but I still came away with a positive reaction. It gave us exposure (no, not my continental shelf poking out of the neckline!) to a new group of customers and hopefully this will result in sales at events during the holidays.
We also did alot of demo-ing. Linda on the Wheels and me on the sock machine and drop spindle. Basically a good time had by all!
Notice how I always have control of the camera? I’m no fool!
Additions
Now that the baby birds have literally flown the coup, I’ve felt compelled to keep the universe in balance by adding two additional members to our family.
Calipso (Meeting Shasta for the first time….Shasta thinks she is a cat and cannot understand why the cats don’t want to play)
Twilight is much smaller than her sister and has adopted Brad’s tummy to lay on…
We visited the cat house, a store that pays for spaying and neutering cats, and wanted to adopt her. I love calico cats, they have so much personality and I was in the ‘market’ for a house cat. But when I went to pick her up they asked is I would also take her much smaller sister. Well….I could not say no so we had adopted Calipso and are fostering Twilight but I bet they both will become permanent members of the family.
Two things I’ve learned this fine Sunday morning are little kitty paws can type on my lap top and they love to chase the curser as it moves over the screen.
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07.24.07
Posted in Redwood Living at 6:44 pm by Lynette
I think that is what the Mom and Pop Swallow are saying as they cruise through our sky trying to entice their babies to leave the nest box.
The 3 birdies spend all day looking out the box hole at Mom and Dad flying by.
Every now and then the parents popped in with a bug.
As of tonight they are still looking outside.
I had a nice heart to wing talk with them. I explained even though they like their nice warm nesting box and even though it is the only home they’ve ever known, it is time to fly. They just looked back at me without a word. Your parents cannot be expected to feed you the rest of your life. You’ve got wings…fly away already. (Apparently tough love on birds does not work!)
Now the Chickadees left yesterday. About 10am KT came running through the house yelling…”THERE IS A BIRD ON THE WINDOW, THERE IS A BIRD ON THE WINDOW”. I thought maybe she meant there was a bird that hit the window but, you know, she was right. There on the living room screen was a little birdie clinging with it’s little feet for dear life. The window was open so I had a very nice chat telling him that it was OK that Mom was flying around and would be back soon. We stood and watched to be sure the nasty neighbor’s gray cat didn’t come for a free meal. I wish I had the camera in the house to capture this event. He looked very scared but I would like to think our little therapy session perhaps delayed any future trama that may re-emerge later in his life.
Finally Mom flew by and the baby took the leap, flying in kind of a ,.:~.,~ up and down motion he made it to the redwood tree. So now that all 3 of those babies are gone we can clean out the box. One of our favorite things is to check out the nests and see what was used. Sometimes it is grass, usually there is some yarn and occasionally wool. Unfortunately, far too often, we find a dead baby bird.
Three down and three to go… I expect we’ll be birdie-less by tomorrow afternoon.
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07.23.07
Posted in Redwood Living at 9:14 am by Lynette
Fernwood Woolworks is announcing open sign-ups for the 2007 Rainy Day Yarn Club.
Located in the Redwood National Forest in Northern California, Fernwood Woolworks is an independently owned business that specializes in hand painting self-patterning sock yarns. Each skein you receive is from superwash wool raised, processed, manufactured and hand dyed in the USA with the colors and patterns reflecting our surroundings – the Redwood National Forest, Pacific Ocean and Northern California.
Past offerings have included:
This years yarns will be new colorways available first to Rainy Day Yarn Club Members
How it works:
Starting – October 2007
Ending – March 2008
You will receive 5 skeins sock weight yarn (no shippment in December)
Shippment dates:
October 10, 2007
November 12, 2007
January 10, 2008
February 11, 2008
March 10, 2008
Yarn will be Superwash sock weight with these limited edition colorways available to Rainy Day Sock Club members this fall and winter.
Cost $100 per membership (limit 2 memberships per person)
Includes:
5 (five) skeins superwash sock yarn
5 (five) packets Soak Wash
2 (two) hand crafted stitch markers per month
Included is shipping to the USA. (Choose the Worldwide option for outside the USA)
To sign up
To reserve your membership in the Rainy Day Yarn Club, click Here
You will be redirected to our secure internet catalog where you can complete your registration.
Please Note:
As each skein is hand paint we will be limiting sign ups to 50.
These will go fast so sign up now!
Sign Ups close September 10, 2007
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07.17.07
Posted in Redwood Living at 7:58 am by Lynette
I guess you could say
I am a compulsive creator. Ever since my Grand Mother taught me to crochet, then knit, then sew, I’ve almost always had something in my hands. It is just about impossible for me to be ‘just sitting’ doing nothing. I have a knitting project that rides in the car with me for those down times waiting for kids after lessons. I have a complicated lace project in the works (actually two lace projects) for those times I need knitting therapy. I have socks, always socks waiting to be finished and dying to do. I almost feel guilty just sitting.
As a result of this ongoing thought process of always ‘doing’ something I find my creativity is an ongoing process. My paternal Grandfather painted. He took it up when he was forced to retire at 50 and it provided him some extra spending $$’s by selling and then teaching oil painting. He tried to get me interested in the art of painting but I would sit at a canvas and draw a blank. I asked how he could finish a large canvas in only 3 days. He said his trick was he had a fine tuned bag of ’skills’. Things he knew how to paint really well like trees, creeks, hills and ocean waves. All he would do is ‘work’ on a painting during his down time (like while he was sleeping) so by the time he actually sat at the canvas the painting was complete in his mind.
This brings me to today’s post. My mind is always working. Thinking about how to improve the dying process for sock yarn. How to make the best use of the equipment I own. How to come up with that really unique product, a unique idea. (I’ve been working on the unique idea thing for 4 years now and am still waiting for that bolt from above!)
I settled on one idea, a purse. I am tired using my $9.99 purse from Wally World. It is ugly, too small and I almost curse every time I have to dig in it. So here is what my ‘mind’ came up with.
A felted purse, dyed after felting with beading on the flowers. What is so special about this? Everyone can felt…right?
Well mine is made on my flat bed knitter. Knit in 3 pieces. Yes, even the handle is made on the knitter. I actually made it in a wedge so I would have enough on the top ‘brim’ to cut out shapes. I dyed it with acid dyes, added the beads and handle. It is not what I had ‘worked out’ in my mind but I like it better then the original idea I had imagined.
From this purse concept came a happy mistake. I saw a purse at Black Sheep this year and it took me a while to figure out how it was made. I fooled around with ideas and finally it came to me.
I’d just received my shipment of Ah Kimono recycled silk and needed to get working on using up some of my silk stash. How about felted silk? This worked great!
Little silk felted bags with vintage lace around the top, some beading and zippers.
Now on to the next project….I have two drawers of flannel left over from the closing of my quilt shop. I’m thinking felted flannel slippers.
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07.14.07
Posted in Redwood Living at 7:10 am by Lynette
Yes, it is a jungle in my front yard. Some would say I’ve over planted but this is the way I like it in the summer. The neat thing about this is it requires only twice a year work. In the fall to cut stuff back and in the spring to spruce things up. I call it my praire. It is very butterfly, hummingbird and bird friendly. We’ve even had quail and babies. As you can see the Fire Crackers are in full bloom.
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07.13.07
Posted in Redwood Living at 10:41 am by Lynette
Not really eye candy but perhaps Bird Friday would be a better name.
The babies have hatched and if you go out two of the 3 entrances to the garage you are welcomed by chirping babies and zooming mom’s and dads.
This year’s batch of parents are very good. So far we’ve not had any fall outs (birdies falling out of their nest boxes) or invaders (neighbor’s cat climbing up the wall to snatch a parent as they fly home).
First the Swallows.
These birds have returned to our house for the past 9 years. Some how they find these nesting boxes every year. We’ve only missed one hatching season when the above mentioned neighbor cat clawed it’s way up the wall ( a 12 foot wall mind you) and snatched a mom or dad as they flew home with a snack. The babies died…it was very sad. What could we do, we were inside watching it happen and how do you nurse baby birds? The other parent flew around chirping for their mate. Very, very sad. Damn cat!
The swallows method is to fly fast and zoom into the nesting box without stopping. Their sheer speed scares away other birds and our cat and my kids.
The only way to get a picture of them is to catch them as the leave.
The other residents are Chickadees (I think). They are more cautious. They sit on the garden rose trellis with their snack in their beak, watching and chirping as though testing the waters for predators. They they swoop into the box and feed the babies. But before they go in, one last check of the area then in they go.
I think they have the better of the two homes because they have the Digital Cable Antenna above them. I’m sure by now the dad has pirated cable into the house.
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07.11.07
Posted in Redwood Living at 11:44 am by Lynette
Unleaded $3.49 (no change in 5 months) Who says the price of gas is dropping?
Temperature 68 degrees and overcast. What heat wave?
It seems summer is a catch 22 around here. If I have the kids take swimming lessons, dance, girl scout events, go to baseball camp, and piano someone has to get them there. If I don’t have them ‘doing’ something they sit and bother me. So I’ve opted for the doing things this summer and the transport, therefore, falls on me.
I remember years ago watching the ‘accross the road neighbor’ drive up and down the road several times. (Living in a small rural town on a private road there isn’t much to see beside watching neighbors, birds and bugs.) Where could she be going? Why doesn’t she combine these trips to avoid so many trips into town.Well, I now see why. Everything my two kids are doing does not happen at the same time. They have totally ruined my theory of only driving in a circle. Yesterday I drove up and down the road 10 times. TEN times. That means ten times the amount of dust going into the neighbors house (he waters the road in front of his property to avoid dust. I think his wife tells him to go outside or else!) I did not drive in anything resembling a circle…more like a rombus (or however you spell that one.) I’m sure the neighbors now say about me…why does so go into town so much? Why cannot she combine her errands to avoid driving down the road so many times? What comes around, goes around.
Knitting update
I also go sucked into the MS3 knit a long shawl challange. I posted the link but sign ups closed last Friday. You will be able to purchase the pattern after the knit-a-long though.
Basically what happens is she posts a part of the shawl each Friday and you knit along. I like to knit lace. I enjoy doing something other than straight knitting. The joy in knitting lace comes from the fact that there are only two, yes for you non-knitters, TWO stitches in knitting; Knit, Purl. Add a few yarn overs (which is basically just making a stitch) and you have all that is needed to knit a lace shawl. If you can count (now counting much higher than 5 sometimes is a problem for me).
I’ve shown you how I mark my grid patterns. I make every 5 rows in yellow highlighter and use many place markers along the way to be sure I don’t get off track on the knitting.
This shawl is easy. How easy you may ask? Well I’ve decided to start on my second one. I knit up the first two weeks worth of instructions in 2 days and still have 6 days left until the next instructions are posted. I did not choose to add the beads because why complicate my life further.
Shawl #1 is knit with Merino Superwash sock weight yarn.
You can see it is much further along the #2 but I am up to date until she posts the next part of the pattern on Friday.
I plan on dying the outstanding patterns with a light pink or blue dye. But I’ll make that decision later because, you see, I have no idea that this will look like when done. That is part of the fun.
Shawl #2 is knit with Bamboo/Silk/Merino. I love this yarn, in fact I just ordered two more cones and will be putting some up for sale in my EBAY store on Friday.
It is silky, has a lovely drape will will make this shawl look really good.
The miracle of knitting lace is in the blocking. Right now it looks like a jumbled up pile of crap messy yarn, but block it and Oh my, a miracle happens. Just like a butterfly, it comes to life.
Socks – 68 pair ready and waiting for homes.
Need socks? Boy do I have your size or what? I know, I know, why would you want to wear wool socks when there is a heat wave over most of the country? Just think winter, rain, snow and Christmas gifts. Now is the time people to start thinking about these.
Here is some of the inventory of socks completed getting ready for the summer vending spree. Most are also listed on my internet store here but I do take orders and knit socks from you stash yarn. Keep that in mind too.
Finally, I received my Ah Kimono! shippment yesterday. 
These silk fat quarters are reclaimed from recycled silk Kimono. 
I also knit up a swatch of felting yarn yesterday on my flat bed knitter. I visited the local discount store today to purchase small zippers. I will be making up silk/wool felted zippered bags. I’ve been working on this project in my mind for a while. I’ll post pictures when they’re done. The elk horn buttons and chinese coins will be use for decoration. Won’t they be cute?
That’s about it. How could I get so much done when tootling the kids around town? Well, we do only have 6 stop lights and it takes me 8 minutes to drive to the otherside of town. I just love living in rural America, come visit some time and be sure to email me first.
I’ll meet ya at the Denny’s.
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07.06.07
Posted in Redwood Living at 6:45 am by Lynette
To view today’s blog…go here
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