Monthly Archives: June 2011

cauldrons and cosmos.

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Or, more spinning.

This is the second skein of cauldron/Rhinebeck, pre-soak.


And here it is, hanging to dry. (This strikes me as a temporary fix, as it probably isn’t a good idea to hang things on heating pipes when the heat is actually on…)

Boh and I spent more time on the porch yesterday: he surveyed the scene, ears twitching at every squirrel and chipmunk he spotted, while I picked out more fiber to spin. I managed to spin up both bobbins of Cosmopolitan, a Southern Cross Fibre Club organic merino.

Here’s the first bobbin. I’m aiming for a light dk-ish 2-ply that preserves the color progression. I split the fiber lengthwise, and weighed the two parts to make sure I was in the range of equal bobbins. The test will be whether my spinning is consistent enough. This felt really good in my fingers, but I am noticing that there is a bit of all those “getting back on the bike/horse/whatever” feelings, since it has been several months since I spent any serious time at my wheel. This morning my right thumb is a little sore from gripping the fiber too tightly. Part of my summer routine will be to get back into a comfortable rhythm with my spinning. And pretty soon I’m going to have to find that rhythm with my academic work, too. (I’m guessing I won’t have to readjust to avoid a death grip on the books I’m reading…)

I’ll probably post a whole cluster of photos once I feel like I’m mostly settled here, but today I’ll share this shot of the guest room. My mom is bringing me her old sewing machine, and I’m planning to put that in the corner underneath the windows. I like the idea of finding ways to use this room and enjoy it, even when I don’t have guests!

I snapped this picture of Boh right after I got out of bed — much later than usual — this morning. I’m still feeling a bit under the weather, and I’m hoping another day of porch spinning and lazing about the house will help me to shake this combination of head cold/seasonal allergies that’s had me feeling less than 100% this week. Sweet, sweet dog. Somebody has earned a stroll in the woods behind our house today.

kitchen playtime.

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My allergies have really knocked me down today, so all I’ve got for you is a series of photos from my dinner prep (and enjoyment) last night. First, I made a mess in the kitchen. (And by mess, I mean Farro with Green Onion Sauce, Toasted Walnuts, and Asparagus, from Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Cooking. I subbed brown rice for farro and lemon juice for the zest, and tried to stick to her instructions.) The outcome? A delicious, satisfying sunset meal (pictured above).

Happy weekend!

porch spinning.

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Yesterday I brought my wheel to the porch and spun the singles for my second skein of my Cauldron/Rhinebeck mash-up yarn.

This one is Hello Yarn Cauldron.

And this one is SCF Rhinebeck. I was having so much fun that I plyed them together as the sky grew dark. (Dark = no pictures of the 2-ply. I’ll take a few tomorrow.) Porch spinning might be my new favorite thing. Lots more of that to come.

red at night, sailors’ delight.

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Or so they say.

Yesterday I started feeling better — hooray! I returned an overdue library book, did some grocery shopping, went to the bank, and when I got home, I decided it was time to (literally) test the waters. So I threw on a tank top and shorts, grabbed a towel and Boh, and we went for a swim. (And by swim, I mean I waded and coaxed Boh into a depth requiring that he swim. He did, but he didn’t seem thrilled about it. So we got out of the water, I hooked him to the picnic table at the end of the dock, and swam a few “laps” nearby.) It was cold, but refreshing, and surprisingly deep! There are stairs at water’s edge and then a ladder at the end of the dock — plenty of the kind of depth Boh likes at the shore (read: places he can stand without needing to swim), but at the end of the dock, definitely over my head. I’m not a big swimmer (I don’t like to get my face wet, though I did go through a phase in high school where my mom and I would swim laps at the Y), but one of my goals for this summer is to get into the lake regularly. (Tough, I know.)

Last night’s sunset was lovely, and I enjoyed it from the porch with my knitting, a small glass of a dear friend’s homebrew, and my sweet dog. Hello, June.