Another homeschool-less year.

I've had a huge pile of our homeschool books sitting in a corner for some time.  Our kids started public school last August.  I guess there was a reason I had delayed doing anything about these books. Today, I purchased 2 plastic storage tubs to get it all put away.  They have taken up this space too long now.


But, as I sifted through the books and papers, little snippets of our homeschooling days drifted in and out of my mind.  I miss most parts of those days terribly.  I never woke them up early and forced school upon them.  I allowed the luxury of waking up naturally-unless it was ridiculously late.  School came when they were well rested and fed.  I came across pages of vocabulary words, sentences, math quizzes, and artwork...like the one below.

 This kind of thing tugs at my heart.  Sometimes, I feel like we threw away their innocence.  The lump in my throat is proportionate to the amount of  books I packed away and drawings those precious little hands created.

 Then I ran across these two books.   Many were the days, when we were tired or the weather was rainy and gloomy and we didn't feel like doing the normal work.  We would simply read.  I read Rare Catholic Stories and many other books to them.  Sometimes they listened, sometimes squirmed, sometimes they just went to Bora Bora while I read...

And the Family Journal...I never put one mark in it.  I never had time. 

I know they have moved on to a different way of having school and they like it for the most part.  I enjoy seeing the complexity of things they're learning.  A tiny little part of me is glad I don't have to teach them math I haven't done in many years or listen to them bicker and watch them distract each other... But there will always be that part of me that cherishes every moment we spent together as a homeschooling family.

Sweet, sweet precious babes of mine.

And now for something completely different...

For some time, I have been watching a pair of (get this) Black Vultures.  They've nested in an empty building on our property.  I like these craggy, crusty, old looking creatures.  When one considers the vulture, the mental picture usually isn't pleasing.  But over time, I have to come to see them in a different light. 

There was an old, dead tree near our property some years ago.  It was home to various creatures.  But Black Vultures would use this tree for what I like to call 'conventions'.  They would silently gather in large numbers and talk about their day, plan for the future, gossip...I assume!  I would sometimes go out to stand near this tree and see them-and even talk to them.  I always think of the vultures talking to each other in their best English accents in the movie Jungle Book... "What do you wanna do?"  "I dunno, what do you wanna do?" 

I've lived in a farm-like setting for all of my 22 1/2 years in the South. I've always been somewhat amazed at how quickly vultures can eliminate a...problem. (we shall say for lack of a more genteel word)  I began to realize that these completely hideous creatures were "God's clean up crew".  Everyone and everything has a purpose, and as unpleasant as it is to see these birds for who they are, I now appreciate them.

So, back to the little vulture family in my building.  The Black Vulture incubation period is 37 to 41 days. Young are capable of flight about 75 to 80 days after hatching. So, I've been waiting for quite some time to see their little darling!  When I first spotted their little hatchling, it's body was absolutely covered with light brown fuzz.  Every time I passed this building on the way to or from our house, I was lacking my camera and never got a shot of him.  Finally one day, I had my camera and "Buzz" was sitting on a window sil. 

"Buzz"

 

 

You can only see traces of Buzz's baby fuzz.  I wish I had been able to get a photo of Buzz when he still had it.  It was definitely cute.  I'm also glad I didn't shoo the parents out of this building.  I was told how unpleasant they would be...  But so far, all I'm seeing is the joy it's given me to see this bird grow and change and watch his parents care for him.  I haven't' seen Buzz in several days now.  So I assume he has finally learned to fly and has gone on to better activities-other than cautiously observing me in my car as I pause to talk to him. 

So the next time you see vultures congregating in trees or soaring on updrafts, you might think of them a little differently.  You could be watching Baby Buzz.  :)

If necessity is the mother of invention...

I can say I'm giving it a pretty good work out!  I decided to weave a "wrap " (I dislike that word...too old for me) for a late September wedding.  Since I have a project on my floor loom, my mind began to wander-thinking of how else I could facilitate my desire with my loom already in use.  I thought of using a large picture frame-into  which I would have to hammer nails.  Not good.  I could cut some wood and make the frame myself-too much work!  Other ideas came to mind and left as swiftly as my children are able to devour a bag of sun dried tomato and basil potato chips I purchased over the weekend....

Finally, after walking past my floor loom, I spied my 2 raddles!  This is what I came up with...

My new, no cost to me loom!

This is a 4 X 6 sheet of particle board-to which I have screwed my 2 raddles!  I strung my warp directly on the nails of the raddle and started weaving.  I'm using my own handspun and/or hand dyed single strand yarns.  The list of yarns-A deep purple mohair single, dyed some time ago with Log wood, multicolored bamboo single, a natural colored taupe Alpaca single and from my friend Annie the Romney, a lilac single strand.  I love all these yarns together.  When I put all the skeins next to each other, it instantly felt harmonious.  So, without further ado, I  started weaving.  There's only one problem.  I don't like!  This project was in as simple as can be my head.  Just a loose, plain weave with beautiful, harmonious, luxurious fibers.  But when I look at what is already woven, I fall completely
out of love.

Partially woven wrap I don't like!

So now, the whole contraption is sitting on my living room floor.  It's waiting for me to make some momentous decision, some small change (that does not involve ripping it out and reweaving it!), that will make me fall in love with it all over again... I am wishing myself luck...!

Here is the dress that goes with the 'wrap'.  Maybe now it will make more sense.

Dreamy Blue Softness.

I recently had occasion to spin some beautiful blue fiber comprised of Merino wool and Bamboo.  It was so lovely to spin. I wanted a fairly fine yarn so that when plied, would be something close to dk weight.  

After the yarn was spun, set and dry, I began to knit a lovely hat with a scalloped lace edge and a beautiful star closure at the crown. :)  I spun and knitted this hat for my cousin.  She is going through a rough time as she is receiving chemotherapy.  Her mood is wonderful.  I only see what she posts on Facebook-I'm 500 miles away.  But I haven't 'heard' her complain once.  I have witnessed other people I know go through the process of chemotherapy and it is debilitating.  She has every reason to be crabby and complaining.  God bless her, she is cheerful and positive. 

I hope to be like her when I grow up.  

This is the lovely hat I made for her.  I hope she likes it.

Hopefully. she won't catch my blog and see this.  But if she does, *Surprise*! :)

Faaaat yarn.

The other day, I began to spin some 'fat yarn' as I will call it for now.  It will be made into a hat for my little, great niece. :) I always tell my spinning students to embrace the fat singles they spin in the beginning.  I continue by saying "When you're an experienced spinner, you won't be able to easily spin yarn like this." We can call this yarn 'novelty' yarn.  They usually look at me as if I'm just trying to coddle them to make them feel better about their fat to skinny to fat, lumpy, bumpy yarn.  In all honesty, I am trying to make them feel better, but for a very good reason. 

It's been a very long time since I've wanted such a fat yarn for any project.  I really didn't think too hard about the difficulty involved in transitioning from fine to fat again-until I sat down to spin on Monday.  It is so contradictory to allow so much roving  from my hand into the the spinning triangle and then into the yarn.. I've spun nearly 1.5 ounces of this lovely white, Peruvian  wool roving. This yarn might have to become a project for something else.  There are so many places where I've gone from the thickness I want, to something much more fine.  There has been a lot of eye rolling and sighing happening as I spin.  The words to my students come back to me, echoing in the sound of my s-l-o-w-l-y- spinning wheel.  "It will be difficult to spin thick yarn as an experienced spinner."  Yeah, right..... @@

 

This is the lovely little hat that will sit upon my lovely little great niece's head this Winter.

I will just persist until I get it right! 

Happy Wednesday.

Life is Good

It rolls along at it's own pace, not bothering to see if anyone is lagging behind or getting ahead which is not possible.  The last few weeks have been quite a whirlwind and had nothing to do with fiber aside from cleaning around the massive stockpiles.  This results form what I like to call F.A.D.  For those of you who don't know that's Fiber Accumulation Disorder.  Many of us suffer from it and actually live to tell about it.  Suffer though, is a rather strong word.

This last week has brought interesting changes to our household.  A very loud and electric thunderstorm passed over us Monday morning and destroyed our old (very old) computer-thus necessitating it's replacement.  The new computer is wonderfully fast and large with all the newest, coolest bells and whistles.  But when I attempted to plug my phone line into the nonexistent phone modem,I had an aha moment.  I had never considered the fact that new computers might not even have phone modems.  These days, everything is either dsl, cable or wireless...We were about to step even further into the here and now with a new form of internet connection.   Our end result since only one of the aforementioned internet connections are available to us.  We are now the proud  (and poorer for it) operators of our own wireless hot-spot.  (Insert huge grin here)  Now, using the internet has become a sharply contrasting pleasure compared to where we were before.

So even though jumping ahead of life is not possible, we feel through our new technological advancements, we might just be one step ahead of the game. I think, I might just have more time for fiber now.  lol

Have we talked about Yaks yet.... ::grin::

It's putting a smile on my face to even think about them. But I'll back up and give a little history.  In 1992,  I began raising sheep.  They were part of my fiber philosophy-I wanted to raise my own wool and process it myself right from the beginning-and I did.  My little darlings multiplied like rabbits and soon, I had wool coming out my ears.  I sold it, spun it, processed it, dyed it, wove it, felted it and knitted it!  Hence my title of "Shepherdess".

Nearly 22 years have passed since then.  One by one, due to their age or various illnesses, my sweet sheep have all left me.  Lulabelle, my last remaining sheep, passed away over a year ago.  Do I miss her!  :/  Chip the horse misses her too.  They were buddies.  But I digress... 

Ruthie (front) and Lulabelle (rear)

Yaks are hauntingly beautiful creatures.  Their fiber is fine, soft, quite expensive to purchase and dreamy to spin..  Secretly,  I've longed to have my very own Yak.  But I imagined they were cumbersome and ornery creatures.  A couple years ago, I found an article in Country Woman magazine that lead me to believe none of the above is true!  A female Yak is approximately 4 to 4-1/2 feet tall.   They are reported to have sweet and gentle personalities.  They don't appear to eat much either.  This is yet another fine quality in a fiber animal!

Ohhhh I want her!

The fiber from this soft and beautiful creature can be gently plucked or combed.  They are very bovine-like  in their care and feeding.  I have read Yaks are efficient at browsing scrubby pasture and basically prefer it.  Sounds like a winner to me.  I can't wait to have one!  Although, I'm sure I'll have to. Yaks are not inexpensive...  But when I do have one, think of all the Yak jokes you can send me! :)

Pioneer Woman... Book review?? lol

I hadn't been a fan of Pioneer Woman-Ree Drummond, only because I didn't know that much about her.  My wonderful sister gave me a copy of "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels" for Mother's Day. This book is the story of how she met the infamous Marlboro Man and how their relationship developed.  I had heard a little bit about her husband "Marlboro Man"  and was curious to know the rest of the story.

For those of you who might not be familiar with The Pioneer Woman (yeah right), she is a blogger who has been entertaining readers since 2006 with her stories of  transition from city life to a rancher's life and all the recipes that go along with it. 

I began reading this book and could not put it down.  My eyes blurred and teared (from weariness and laughter).  I read every available moment.  I seldom devour books like this anymore. I think it has something to do with the 3 children my husband and I are raising...At any rate, I finished my book shortly after receiving it. I loved it.  Every word. I even spent a few days in a mini-funk because I was done living in Ree and Marlboro Man world. We actually had quite a bit in common.

If ever I could recommend a book that would make a person feel good-even though there are a few parts that aren't happy, this would be the one.  As I would read into the night next to my snoring husband, I could even overlook the 100 decibel snores emanating from his head.  I could do this because Ree's book made me remember the reasons why I fell in love with him in the first place. 

I even made her Chicken Spaghetti recipe (from the back of the book).  It's comfort food and I really needed some last week.  It was yummy.  Thanks Ree.


If you have the chance, I highly recommend "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels".  It's one I know I will go back and read again and again. :)

It's done, it's done, it's done! :)

After several months of knitting in seed stitch, my Great Niece's coat is finished!  This sweet little coat was to be one of her Christmas presents.  But it took this semi-experienced knitter, nearly 7 months to complete!  I didn't knit my every waking moment on it's completion.  There were several stops along the way attempting to decipher the instructions for button holes and the collar.  Both were ambiguous...to say the very least.  Fortunately, with the help of the experienced knitters around me, I finally finished it.  In the photo, the coat is  hanging on an adult size hanger and makes it appear disproportionate.  The coat is really a 24 month size and will hopefully fit my adorable little Great Niece for a very long time!

 

 I cannot wait to see "E" in her new coat! :)

I love these beautiful little buttons purchased at Enchanted Yarn and Fiber. At the time, they were in Russellville, Kentucky and have since moved and opened a lovely store in Sango (Clarksville), Tennessee.  The yarn is a Merino, Alpaca and Donegal Tweed blend in "Lemon Curd". (Mmm...the yarn was' purchased' and not spun by me, as I wanted a specific color and fiber blend).  I used ivory buttons and velvet ribbon.  I'm so pleased with this little coat.  I stepped outside my normal range of garments; mittens, hats, socks, scarves, etc., when I began this project.  Some parts were difficult, because of the poorly written pattern.  But overall, I'm very glad I trudged through it all.  Step outside your fiber or other comfort zone once in a while and see where it takes you.  You might be pleasantly surprised! 

Break-

I took a break on Friday afternoon, from all things fiber and otherwise to keep track of the impending weather doom.  I am very grateful the doom was not meant to be for us.  I managed to capture more beautiful clouds.  The sky was so angry, yet beautiful. When I'm able to put my fear aside, I see beauty. 

Isn't he adorable?

 "Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has a purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences. All events are blessings given to us to learn from."
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

I think this is where I missed the boat...

I did not get this memo.  In the book from which this was taken, (shhh), I read where the author writes...not to be tempted to comb the warp.  @@  My guess is her warp doesn't contain 32 ends per inch (e.p.i.) Oh yes, and this weaver has a friend.  Maybe the cats will lend a hand/paw to help expedite matters! 

A demain mes amies!