hay bales

Many years have passed since those summer days
Among the fields of barley
See the children run as the sun goes down
Among the fields of gold

Sting

I love it in the summer time when the fields are filled with big bales and the air smells like cut grass.  I'm going to start another weaving project with the yarn above. I can wrap it around my neck in the winter and remember these golden fields.

weaving project #4

Tying off some loose ends here. It feels good to wrap something up and clean up my workspace for what's coming next. I'm not sure what I'm going to be working on, but there are several unfinished projects lurking in the corners of our house.

I found another wooden fence to snap photos of. I've discovered that I have a fondness for wooden fences. The more distressed the better - and if it's tangled with vines and flowers it's even better than that.

I think this weaving project is the softest project I've made to date. I didn't weave it very tight, and then when I was finished with it I placed it in the washing machine with cold water and a little soup for under a minute of agitation. It really helped "puff" out the fiber. It filled into itself and now it's soft with a flexible drape.

I can't wait to wear it - in November. (Actually, I can wait.)

We're gearing up for the weekend and then the holiday after that. Hope you all had a good day.

farm roads

The grassy road above is my favorite road in the whole world. It leads to a shady forest with a lazy stream (and a bunch of ticks this time of year) - as well as a vast collection of childhood memories and stories. Somewhere out there is a time capsule my cousins and I buried and lost the map to and weedy campfire rings that haven't been used for almost a decade, but they're still out there waiting - possibly for the grandkids to discover and use again.

What a lovely weekend here. You couldn't ask for better weather today. A breeze is tossing the tree tops around and lacy clouds are moving over in slow motion. I have a rhubarb crisp in the oven and the whole house smells like cinnamon spice.

I'm expecting Garrett home any minute and we'll be grilling and hanging out in the back yard. Maybe we'll have a fire later on and get caught up on the events of the past two weeks as the sun sets. Is it Monday already tomorrow? Feels like the weekend should be starting now.

weaving project #4

I set up the loom in our porch this evening and had the pleasure of looking out at the garden as I worked. The dianthuses are finally blossoming. They caught me by surprise. I love their ever-varying shades of magenta. I think each dianthus plant in the garden has its own signature hue.

Can you see the hot blue stamens on the lighter pink dianthus? For a second I thought my camera plugged that color in, but it really is there and I'd never noticed it before.

So far this weaving project is working out as I had hoped. There have been some surprises. I'm very happy with the smooth color transitions, but just adore it when a fleck or stretch of random color pops out for a moment before blending back in.

Handspun yarn keeps you on your toes.

I'm using single-ply of the same color-way for the weft and weaving in the double-ply that I spun up last weekend. I like the stripes that are showing up now, so I'm going to try to maintain them with whatever pattern I work into the weave. Here again, I'm hoping for a slow color shift. We'll see what happens, I guess. At this point it's all still an experiment. 

Happy weekend, everyone.

weaving project # 2

I finished weaving project # 2 with the help of my mother.

To achieve the gray stripes we used a combination of two of our gray yarns. They're slightly different shades, which adds a nice depth to the project. The colored stripes came from my Valentine's yarn. (Keep spreading the love, I guess!!) It's all gone now, though. You can find the other yarns here and here.

This turned out to be a special project, because I set up the loom and then brought it to my mother - who finished it. We plan on starting another as soon as I can get up North and teach her how to set up the loom herself. It's nice to be able to share something with someone that I just learned myself.

Hope you all are surviving this most recent spell of winter weather that seems to be effecting the Midwest and Northeast. Today is supposed to be the last day of Winter.

Do you hear that, Mother Nature? The last day.