OLD and NEW

It has been a very satisfying day. I continue to tidy up i.e.: get rid of stuff,  picking one closet,  a room, a theme at a time and dive down deep into the “ OMG I can’t believe I have saved this” to “ I have way too much stuff”!

Today 130 books were boxed, 120 VHS’s were boxed and moved out of the house. I realize I am still on the peak of the clutter iceberg but one has to start somewhere and the best place for me is where I am at today!

I also mordant 750 gms of yarn that will be dyed next week. I find it soothing  to wash, mordant and dye yarn. This is surprising to me since their is so many steps to naturally dying yarn. Perhaps it is soothing because I understand I can not skip steps and it is a long process!

Fall is in the air, I hear it when the wind breezes through the trees. That rustling of drying leaves…be still my heart. Hard to believe it is the end of September and more days than I care to mention are still close to 90 degrees.

The kitchen scale that I picked up years ago in a flea market is one of my favorite kitchen gadgets. It measure in grams and I use it all the time. Measuring out mordant (alum) from NUTs.com to measuring ingredients for soap making. I have another “modern” digital scale with measurements in ounces for baking, but it has no character like my  old whitey does!

Have a great weekend!

YARN ALONG

Can’t think of anything worthy of words….

Just pictures today.

linking up with 

Yarn Along

CLUTTER AND KNITS

Today I didn’t watch the clock and it seamed as if I had more time in the day. Started to purge my closet this morning. Three big boxes filled-packed and off to Goodwill! I’m tired of taking care of all my stuff, I can’t seam to concentrate and complete projects, but worse of all, I feel less creative. This is going to be a slow process, nothing that will be completed in a week or two. Though if I keep at it, a little every day, even if it is only one thing….oh my, how that could free up my house and mind. 

Of course I need to keep things from coming into the house as well. 

I love a challenge!

My fiber and material stash will be approached after much more needed practiced and courage!

Fall is here, this morning the wind came out of the north! How exciting! I’m a cool/cold weather person. Surprise,surprise, I’m a knitter! Can’t wear wool in the summer, at least I can’t. 

The adult hat is alpaca from Salida,Colorado. It was a fun easy quick knit, but the yarn had a bit of vegetation and I was doing a lot of picking.

The baby hat was a unique knit, a European pattern. I had to read and re-read the instructions and then the light went on….easy peasy!

My week-end will be spent in the garden, and going through at least  3 cabinets to purge and organize. If I am really full of energy I may hit another closet.

MORE KNITTING-MORE YELLOWSTONE

While in Yellowstone I spent most of my time sitting out knitting. I completed several projects and when we pulled out of the park-I was well satisfied with all that I accomplished.

Mittens were a FAST knit using bulky yarn ! Yarn is from My Sister Knits as is the pattern.

(I forgot to save the label for the yarn….oops).

On the way out of Yellowstone we were stopped several times due to Bison being on the road. I was driving and Eric was taking pictures. 

On the reading agenda:

Dry Bones

Earth Bound Cook Book

Harvesting Color

I dyed some yarn I bought in Montana and love it!!!!

Now I am the lady jumping out of my car on the side of the road with scissors in hand to cut anything with color! I love learning new things and looking at things ( like the weeds on the road side) differently. This kind of brain stretching feels so good!

Linking up with Ginny and Yarn Along.

Happy Wednesday.

BISON and KNITTING

I have spent the last 2 weeks in Yellowstone National Park. What did I do there for 2 whole weeks? Well, mainly knit and watch bison! Oh, I took a the customary walks, and a few drives to have a look see at wolves and grizzlies, didn’t see any grizzlies, but was told the dog looking creature running for the trees was a wolf. Not totally sure I believe the people telling me that animal was a wolf because I have been told several times by people “ look at that beautiful moose”, I look and can only see Elk in front of me. These are the Yellowstone tourist that think a great Christmas card would be to put their toddler on a breathing bison and everyone get nice and cozy for a family selfie. Yes, someone usually gets gored by a bison that didn’t see this as cute. Yellowstone had nine gorings' this summer due to these “let’s get a picture with the bison”.

This all brings me to my bison story…. 

I went above the Madison River to sit, knit and maybe see some bison move into this beautiful open space. Sure enough, Mr. Bison did not disappoint. I spent over an hour watching this bison and knitting away on a baby sweater, only to realize he was crossing the river and going to walk directly below me. I was in a very safe place to continue my knit-pearl rows. Every few minutes I would shoot a photo of Mr.Bison, all the while sitting on my bench knitting, when all of a sudden the Bison turned and started heading up the hill. I jumped up with my camera and moved into the trees to take more pictures keeping a BIG distance between him and me. It suddenly dawn on me I left my knitting on the bench and that is where Mr.Bison was going……ugh! Without thinking- I ran back to the bench, grabbed the knitting, all being WAY TO CLOSE to this Bison. I could of been the 10th goring of 2015 season at Yellowstone!

And not for a Christmas picture, but for a baby sweater that is not even for anybody, I just liked the pattern!

Since I am posting this, you all know, all turned out well. I got some pictures and saved my knitting!

But an after thought for me...why did I even think the bison would give my knitting a second look?

I have never heard of a bison grabbing anything and running with it like a dog, wolf or grizzly might for curosity sake.

I guess this knitter was not using her noggin.

Linking up with

YARN ALONG

Happy Wednesday to all!

PLANT YARN DYING

On our way home from Yellowstone, my husband made an abrupt stop on the side of the road. Not an easy thing to do when pulling a 25 foot trailer, oh no! I could not for the life of me figure out what possessed him to pull over like a man on a mission. Well, the reason was to cut for me some tumble weed blossoms, ( not sure if this is what it is really called, but a pretty yellow flower along the highway, mixed in with tumbleweeds). He cut about 3/4 of a large bucket full, slicing his hand all the while ;-(.

Today ,was my day, to plant dye some yarn. I have never done this before, but how hard can reading directions be? It is a long process all the cleaning, boiling flower heads, boiling mordant, boiling yarn in mordant, and the finally-boiling yarn the solution from boiling flower heads. My color turned out to be a lovely honey/yellow!

This was fun, playing with flowers, yarn and pretending I understood the chemistry. I have ordered 

Harvesting Color, that was recommended by ginny sheller over at Small Things.

For some bizarre reason, this plant dying yarn appeals to me. I in no way need another hobby, but I grow a garden and love flowers, so why not?

I wonder what kale would do or crab apples?

Happy Monday

It’s back to work for me in the morning ;-0)

BISON-KNITTING-BACK-AGING

Want to know why Bison fiber is so expensive?

You try shearing this guy…I dare you!

Have completed 5 knitting projects on this trip. Yes, I have been in knitting heaven, more details in a few days.

At the present moment, I need meds for my back! Went horse back riding in Galliton Natl. Park last week and have not been able to stand up straight since. Sure was fun though. The price of getting years on.