berry days

The sharing of squash has begun, so I consider this week the start of the dog days of summer. Soon the beans will be curling on the vine and the tomatoes will shift from green to orange to fire engine red. We've been hot here, I'll hazard to guess that it's hot where you are too. Dog days.

All of my summer dresses have been getting a work out this week, and it still feels good to have the sun heat up my shoulders, so I'm not complaining yet. I can still remember the long winter we just lived through. If the heat holds and the garden starts to wilt, then I may complain a bit, but not much.

It happens every year.

We've been grilling and berry picking and I've been knitting. The lace is getting longer on my shawl. I can't wait to block it and see how the pattern reads.

Stay cool everyone.

metamorphosis

Metamorphosis. The power of change. I know I've commented before about how my garden teaches me about transformation and change. The images above of the coneflower were taken over the course of a day and a half. The blossom literally transformed itself.

An observer, inexperienced in the ways of a papaya coneflower, would have never been able to guess that what was present sixteen hours before the gorgeous orange blossom above could ever become such a graceful, vibrant organism. I'm always surprised. Every year, I'm just happy when I see the orange petals array themselves, but then they start to swoop back and the flower becomes a graceful orange dancer - and I'm their biggest fan.

My coneflower is loaded with blossoms this year, so I'll get to see this again and again.

Speaking of change, as usual I changed my mind about what to use my "golden fields" yarn for. As you can see, it's not on the loom. It's on the needles. This lace shawl is call The Lonely Tree shawl. It's a fast knit and the finishing touches make it interesting and unique. Thank you Softsweater! 

I felt like this colorway needed to be worked into something with a botanical theme, given its rich earth toned hues.
 
Happy weekend, everyone.

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.

high summer

High summer on the farm. We made mad dashes outside to gather eggs and search out rhubarb, while trying to avoid the swarms of gnats and mosquitoes that have hatched out over the course of the rainy spring months. Strawberry picking happened in the wee hours of the morning, before the bugs and high heat.

We baked, we ate, we did dishes and then we did it all over again.

The sheep completely ignored us.

Their business is the grass this time of year. I can't say I blame them. Their concentration and complete fixation on the tender edibles in front of their noses - despite the human with her camera waving her arms in front of them - was amazing.  These are the same sheep that bolted at the sound of a bird flapping her wings last time I was home, but this month they couldn't be swayed from the task at hand by a marching band.

You gotta love the complexity of a sheep. I do.

book of days

For the first time yesterday, Garrett and I took a holiday for ourselves. We usually love to spend special days like the 4th, Labor and Memorial day with family and friends, but this year we flew under the radar and had a quiet picnic in the park.

We learned this past December that there's a very real chance that Garrett will be deployed in June 2014 and I can't help but think about that fact on a days like yesterday. I think to myself: "He will not be here next year at this time." So I'm trying to store up a well of really good memories to sustain me while he's gone. We're hoping for so many things to fall into place these next eleven months. Its very hard to have a husband leave for a year when you're both in your thirties and hoping to start a family. The stress is starting to creep in. I have good days and bad days.

And so . . . deep breath. I will focus on how yesterday was a beautiful day.

The breeze was warm, the shadows danced and the grass was green and fragrant. We laid on our blanket for over three hours, reading, chatting, eating and napping. I've started a new project. I've had this yarn for over five years. It used to be a half-knit shawl until I tore it out last week. The little illustration above is from a card I made Garrett a few years ago. I found our old correspondence and have is strewn across my work space. Sometimes I'm amazed by what I've created and written.

In hindsight, I can on occasion be wise. Why do we never realize this in the present? Words to ponder.

Have a lovely holiday, everyone.

green pastures

We've updated our shop with more yarn. Please stop by. These bundles of yarn are the perfect weight and yardage for summer knitting projects. You may notice while you're in our shop that we've sold out of all of our raw fleeces. Thank you everyone who supported us this season. We look forward to providing you with more beautiful fleeces in the season to come.

Our 2013 breeding stock are also for sale. Do you need more than a bag of fiber? Do you need your own CVM romeldale sheep to keep you busy and spinning their lovely fleeces into the years ahead? Please visit the Crosby Hill Farm website for more info.

We'll be heading to the farm over the course of this long (and long-awaited) 4th of July weekend. I'll be visiting the sheep, dying fiber, spinning yarn and eating a lot of good food.

Take care, everyone.