Yellowstone National Park

Dave is coming back to pick me up to go to Yellowstone National Park for the rest of the week. We have a small travel trailer that is perfect for 2-3 which is nice when its raining or snowing out. It can snow on any given day of the year in Yellowstone. We'll head home Saturday. I'll have knitting and spinning wheel packed in case of inclement weather. My journals and pens and paint go to in case I want to record something. We'll have our scope and cameras and binoculars too. I am looking forward to seeing all the birds, bears, and hopefully some wolves. We always see moose, elk and buffalo as they are really easy to find. I am looking for the unusual. Dave found a Peregrine Falcon nest so that will be fun to see too. I hope to come back with some great pictures to share. Here are some old pictures of black bears and some buffalo to wet your appetite.




























Quote of the Day:"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul." ~John Muir

I hope you have some time to spend in nature this weekend!

Sunday Morning

It's Sunday morning and I think I will just stay home and enjoy the morning. Dave called last night I think he is lonesome. He is seeing wondrous things and has no one to share them with. He may come back in a day or so and take me back with him. Now that I am feeling better I think I could take all the travel involved.

I have been reading this book














by Barbara Kingsolver and it is I am really enjoying it. Animal Vegetable Miracle is the story of how her family spent a year attempting to eat locally. What they couldn't grow or raise they bought from local sources. She tells whats wrong with our agricultural system and how we got that way. Truly fascinating reading. I already do some of this but not nearly enough. I have more options here than those in big cities. We always have a vegetable garden and have an apple, plum and peach trees. I buy my milk from a dairy whose cows don't have themselves pumped with hormones. I get eggs from friends who raise chickens. I try to either grow produce or buy at Farmers Markets or willing taking excess produce from friends but I could start pursuing ways of getting local meat. I know friends who buy free range chickens and turkeys from the Mennonites in Montana. Although they aren't what Barbara considers local they at least are raising the animals right. In the past we have gotten local pigs and I just found out about a friend who knows somewhere we can get beef. So I think with a little effort I can do better.

I really urge you to read this book, its really fascinating how our agriculture and food systems evolved. Its also scary that kids don't know where there food comes from. To think someone did not realize that a carrot is a root crop or that a potato has a plant part to it is amazing to me. I guess thats because I grew up with a garden and have had one most my adult life. In fact to me a garden has always meant vegetables not necessarily flowers. Now that I am making a flower garden I guess I need to change that idea.

Quote of the Day:"In my garden there is a large place for sentiment. My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams. The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful." ~Abram L. Urban

New ideas, new projects and supplies

Quite often after I have attended a Fiber festival, a workshop or Art class I am filled with new ideas and just can't wait to start something new. It equivalent to Julia Camerons's Artist Date but on a bigger scale. Sometimes there is just so much information that you can be overwhelmed.














At Ann's booth I saw Susan's pattern for the Branching Leaf Scarf and thought I might make it out of some bamboo yarn I bought in Missoula this past year. It turned out the yarn was much too fine, so instead AI chose this Alpaca/Silk I got at the Needlepoint Joint last summer. The yarn is exquisite and the pattern seems easy so far. Maybe I can do lace. I had been wanting to find a nice scarf pattern and this fit the bill perfectly. This pattern is free at Knitty.


















I have been making stitch markers. I have been using different kinds of findings to decide which kind I like best. All these beaded markers really jazz up your knitting.


























I picked out these fabrics to use for the fabric book I will be making with Kristin Steiner at the Artnest retreat in Park City in June. It was hard picking out plain fabrics, they will really be embellished so you need to choose simple patterns. I went with pastels for that reason. Then here is a pic of fabrics that I had on hand that will go with those colors. Now I need to see what trims and other embellishments I can find to take with me.

I have found a way to handle all the slow computer time of late. I have this fleece from way back when I used to dye fleece in a crock pot. I have been flicking opening the ends of the locks. Then I will combine colors and put them on the drum carder and make some wonderful batts. I have this pile by my computer and i just do a little while I am waiting for things to load and so forth. It makes me think I am accomplishing something.















Here is the basket of locks.














Now the combed locks, they look so nice now.

Multiple Mishaps

It seems like I am having lots of mishaps of late; do you ever find you seem to have a series of mishaps over and over again. Its like you need to step back from your life and say stop. What does this all mean. I am on the phone with Citibank right now since I can't find a credit card. So I am getting that closed off. Then this past weekend after teaching my weaving class Dave came to pick up my loom and I put all the tools and things in a bag and put them in the truck. It wasn't till almost everyone else had left that I realized my car keys were in the bag. I had to hitch a ride to the restaurant where I was meeting friends and then have to call Dave and have him bring me my keys. I really felt like an idiot.

I am trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up. The last 2 fairs I have both taught and had a booth selling my dyed fibers. Its very wearing physically. I am thinking maybe I should stick to one or the other. Perhaps I should just stick to dyeing since that is what I am good at. Its not that I am not good at teaching I think I can do that well too. I wish there was just this phone number that you could call and ask. What should I do? How should I best spend my time? I know it doesn't exist but it would make life so much easier.

It snowed yesterday, Only in Idaho. So its been cool the last few days, I am back to long sleeves and a jacket. I had turn the heat back on too. Weather is so unpredictable.

I guess it was spending all that time with Cyndi and her beads this past weekend. I found myself going downstairs to retrieve something only to sit down and sort some of my smaller beads. It is somehow very calming separating colors into their little piles. I am not done yet but I got a good start. I find when I don't have some semblance of order I really do not use the materials.














I recently purchases this book but haven't had any time to start some of the techniques. I think its the best book I have seen on wire work for jewelry. It has great pictures that demonstrate techniques.


Quote of the Day: "Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment,
or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." - Dr. Leo Buscaglia

Three baby owls

These pictures were taken by my Dave with his new camera a Sony Cybershot. This is the mother owl. We did find out that there are 3 baby owls. If you enlarge the baby pic you can see 3 of them.
















I woke up this morning and decided I just could not take the pain anymore. I have scheduled a steroid shot for Friday morning. I sure hope this one does the trick.

Ever since my trip to Maryland I have been in a lot of pain. I try to put on a happy face but it does get hard to even do that. I have had a few weeks of things that had to get done, like weaving the blanket or preparing for the Fiber Fair. I manage to pull through and do it all but when I get out of the other side of all this activity I am a mess. Dave is headed to Yellowstone for a week and I was going to go but I just can't be far from a heating pad. Its sad to think that my life has deteriorated to this stage. I find myself becoming a person who only can think about what she can't do instead of all the things that are possible. I guess that is why I felt I had to try the shot one more time. I need to move beyond this back problem, its starting to eat me alive in some ways. I am starting to feel like one of those people in the depression commercials on TV and I don't like it. Enough of all this downer talk.

Thrift Store Finds

I have been slowly accumulating materials for the class with Misty Mawn. Now I am looking for collage items like old books, magazines etc. So I went to a thrift store yesterday. I found some old sheet music and an old scrabble game. I took all the wood tile pieces out, kept the board since its heavy cardboard that I can use for some bookmaking and tossed the beat up box. Some old games have great collage elements to them. I think I will hit some of the other thrift store now to see if I can find other gems.

The Fiber Fair

The Fiber Fair went well. I taught my classes ran by booth bought new things and had a great time. Cyndi and Shirley came up a day early so we had a relaxing day before all the fair. Cyndi sat making yarn markers and zipper pulls, That was fun, she gave me some ideas for the Retreat Fiber Exchange so I have started working on that again.


This is what my booth looks like, lots of dyed rovings for sale. I did fairly well thanks to all my friends who buy from me. My classes went well too so that was great.















Here are Ginger and Shirley untangling a mess of Pendelton Wool Selvedges















This little puppy named Casey was everyones favorite.

Now what you have been waiting for all the things I bought.














I bought this Laurel Burch bag in my favorite colors, purple and teal.














Then I got this little bag to put inside to hold small things. I just love her cats.















This was a blend of mohair and alpaca, I wish you could feel it; it is so soft.


















This is from a kit the yarn is shades of purple in alpaca and I'll make a scarf with it like this.


























Last but but not least are these pair of fused glass earrings, I also got some charms but I will show them when they are made in to earrings.

Help find this girl

I have seen this little girl on several blogs so its time I helped pass her picture around in hopes that helps in finding her.

Please cut & paste today's post and send it to as many people as you can.It is a section from an e-mail I received last night.The world of blogging reaches far and wide,let's use it's power to get this into the news all around the world.

As you are aware my niece is still missing and I am asking everyone I know to sendthis as a chain letteri.e. you send it to everyone you know, and askthem to do the same, as the story is only being covered in Britain, Eire andPortugal.We don't believe that she is in Portugal anymore and need to get her picture and the story across Europe and USA as quickly aspossible.Suggestions are welcome.Phil McCannphilmccann@ecosse.net

Violette's Self Care Challenge

I should be cleaning but we all need a break sometime. Over at Violette's blog (link in sidebar). She did a Self Care Card and challenged us to do the same. Oh this was so much fun. Making yourself into a paper doll is such a blast. I think I want to do more now. Mine is only a single sheet not a card. Maybe I will follow directions next time and maybe not. That what it is all about. I used Golden fluid acrylics to paint the clothes, added some glitter to the wings and added the border paper and some stick on jewels for the dress. Try making one they are such fun.

The Trip East part 1

Here is Jack getting all comfortable while we wait for Julie and Nancy's plane to arrive. I had a 2 hour wait and was pretty tired so I bought one of these to haul around my stuff.

I had no trouble recognizing them when they got to the baggage area where I was waiting. We had a group hug and then waited for their luggage to show up. We picked up the rental car and then drove the 2 hours to the beach house. First stop was a liquor store so I knew this was to be an entertaining weekend for sure. We hit the grocery store next for some breakfast food. Then on to the house. In some instances I felt like the odd man out. Julie and Nancy had met before so they were familiar with each other. My comment had been that they look liked I expected buy different. They were not a flat picture anymore but dimensional beings now.















Here is Nancy on the left and Julie on the right. Nancy is from Phoenix and Julie is living in Napa.

The next day all the other women started to arrive. There were six other women who came. They were all Nancy's friends and most of them she met in an adoption support group and others were friends of her kids. It was a varied group and the conversation never failed to amaze me. The interesting thing is I think we all bonded as women. These women didn't know Julie or myself at all and yet we were sharing things that I have never shared with any other women before. It was incredible. We are talking about meeting in Sedona next year and I think that would really be awesome.















If you are into orbs look at the number of them in this picture
















Here is a better one, what a group of truly amazing women. B- Linda, Tammy, Deb Julie, Sharon. F- Vicki, Carolyn, Nancy and myself

Beyond Dyeing

It been 4 days since I started dyeing and 21 pots later I am done. I think that is plenty for a respectable showing at the fair. For awhile it seems like all I dyed was purple and orange. Its funny that I have 4 color ways with an orange base to them. It no surprise there is a lot of purple but I do try to do different things sometimes. I have the next 2 days to get the house cleaned and for all those other miscellaneous things that need to done for a show. I think I will make it. I have most of the stuff ready for my classes. I need to get to the copy shop and get the loom ready. I think I will do that on Friday after everything is done. I have 4 friends coming to stay too so I need room cleaned out for that and so forth. At least Sarah has gotten most of her stuff put away.

Sarah got a job at Linen and Things and she starts tomorrow. I need my car so I will driving her to and from work until our truck comes back from the shop. Then she can drive that.

Still thinking about Claire and wished they were something that I could do to help. It is so hard feeling so helpless. Sending thoughts of healing her way.

I know I still have not reported on my trip but I will soon.

Break Time

This is a scarf my friend Margaret wove out of some fiber that I dyed. She showed it to me when I was at the Knowltons for the Wool Trek. I think it is just beautiful!

I have dyed 6 pots of wool today so I am taking a break. I think I deserve it. I just heard that a dear friend Claire over in the UK had a stroke last week. Yikes that was a shock. She appears to recovering movement on her right side but the speech recovery is slow. Say a prayer or light a candle for her. She is such a wonderful artist that I am hoping she is back in the swing of things soon.

Isn't it strange how we can complain about not having enough time or these little issues and problems we all have. They all seem so big until we hear of something like this. It puts it all into perspective once more. Since I have heard about Claire its like my world has stopped. I have a zillion things to do but I find myself stopped in silence for the sadness of this event and my powerlessness to help at all.

Sarah is off at a job interview, so I hope she comes home with a job. I spent last evening weighing all the Shetland Roving I have to sell and some of the other fibers I have dyed. It takes a long time to do. I keep thinking I need to buy a digital scale to do this. The triple balance beam scale I use really takes a long time. I guess I just don't want to spend the money on it. Maybe if I start looking a bargain will present itself. I know you never know until you look.


Quote Of the Day Friends are the angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly."- Unknown

Mama Owl

We went to see the Owls on Saturday morning. The babies were deep in the nest sleeping and Mom was out hunting, but we found her here. Click on the pic to see her better. She was really watching us. We stayed a little while and then left so she could get back to the babies. It was great to see her.













The trip to pick up Sarah was grueling. Dave and I went up and back in one day. We planned to stop in Dell for breakfast. This little Cafe was so cool, Its an old school house. It still has the blackboards on the walls and other school memorabilia. The key though was the food is fantastic. In the close up you can see it was called the Standard school and its years of operation. Its funny that they called it the Calf-a.














Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers day to all the mothers out there whether you have children or not. We are all mothers in some way.













This is what Dave got me, some additions to my Fiestaware. I have been wanting these so it was nice to get them. Sarah gave me a flat niji waterbrush. I have been wanting one of them too.

Back to the Dyepot

At the last minute I got a booth for the Snake River Fiber Fair so I have got to start dyeing in earnest. I have Shetland to sell, but want some dyed fibers as well. I did 3 lbs yesterday and plan to some today too. I thought I had an extra week but I mis-caculated. So this will be a really busy week. It looks like my classes will go so I need to prepare for them too. I am teaching Introduction to Weaving and Preparing a Fleece. They will both be fun.

Quote of the Day: I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read and all the friends I want to see. ~John Burroughs

Wonderful Gifts

Angela tagged me with a meme of 7 statements about myself. So here they are. If you are reading this you are tagged.

1. I love the quote "Follow your Bliss" by Joseph Campbell. Its how I try to live my life.
2. My favorite poet in Mary Oliver, and my favorite poem by her is called The Journey.
3. I love books, I have several bookshelves full. Sometimes I will give one I don't need anymore away and other times I can not bear to part with them.
4. Blogging has changed my life in many ways, mainly with all the wonderful women that I have met all over the world. They are the best, you know who you are.
5. I like collecting rocks and shells, and other things from nature.
6. I like to help others find their creativity, When I taught classes it would irk me so much when women would say they weren't creative, I would say back everyone is creative and hope to show them a little of their own creativity.
7. I love keeping a journal, some I write in some I draw in, some I do both in. The worst thing for me would be to be somewhere with out pen and paper. I have a notebook of some sorts with me at all times.me

I received another birthday gift. This time from Lisa Oceandreamer. She sent this hand painted mug and crown for my weaving room. She also sent some make your own prayer flags. I just love her work and she is just the sweetest person on the planet. Thanks Lisa.































Then I won Anna's birthday giveaway and got these. I just love the Angel, she is just gorgeous. The notebook is in my favorite color so you can't beat that. Thanks Anna.


























Quote of the Day: Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Act as though it were impossible to fail. Dorothea Brandt

I think they liked it!

Some of you may wonder if I really finished that blanket on time. Yes I finished weaving on Wednesday, spent Thursday repairing mistakes and twisting the fringe, which gave me Friday to wash and let it dry. It was a surprise gift for friends Fred and Jo Knowlton. They raise sheep and do a tremendous amount for the spinning community I wanted them to know how much they were appreciated.

On Saturday morning when I got up we had almost a blizzard, yes it was snowing like a banshee. I waited an hour to leave when it let up a little. I had an uneventful drive and then arrived to the pandemonium of spinners in search of fleeces. I was all set to pick up a fleece for my friend Amy, so I headed to the fleece area once I put my stuff down. Luckily I did since there was not much left at that point. I got her a beautiful grey fleece I know she will love.

Right before lunch we presented the blanket. They were totally surprised which was good. Sometimes keeping things a secret can be difficult. There were a lot of people involved. I got Dee Jo's daughter in law to get a hold of the mailing list so I could write everyone and ask for yarn donations. A special thanks to Shirley who gave me stamps for the mailing and spun extra yarn for me. Thanks also to all those spinners who donated their time and talent. The gift was quite a success, I am sure that Fred an Jo know they are loved and appreciated by all of us.
















Here are Fred and Jo all wrapped up in their blanket.

Thursday we go and pick up Sarah from College. It is hard to believe that she's ready to come home for the summer. How time flies.

Quote if the Day: If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.
-Thomas A Edison

What a face

Who wouldn't love a face like this. This is a little Jacob ewe at my friend Judy's place. I stayed with Judy in Salr Lake City before my flight to Baltimore and then when I got back. I fell in love with this little critter, so cute.















This is a Mule Deer who traveled down from the Mountains and was in the pasture next door. The sheep were really curious about her.

I am still plugging away on the blanket. so I have to get back to work.

The Branchlings

I got home yesterday afternoon and had to take a quick trip to see the Owls. Once the trees are all full of leaves you won't be able to see them anymore. Look at these guys, I can't say they are that cute but they are really big fluff balls for sure. You can see a little bit of the mom. She was watching us very intently. What a treat this has been. Remember you can click on to make the pictures bigger.



























We also saw these swallows and a Sandhill Crane.


I have to get back to the loom so I this is it for now. I will report on the trip in the next week or so. It was fantastic!