I'm a lucky woman

As part of my sanity program, I've been taking walks every day.  I go out in the morning for about an hour.  I've figured out a couple different loops that fit the criteria:  pretty flowers, some hills, not too many people, which is why I go out in the morning.  By 3 pm, people are getting a bit stir crazy.  Since it's been warm in the afternoon already, morning is my time.  There are a few dog walkers, some solitary runners and walkers, very few others.

It is Saturday, not that it makes much difference to me, but for those working and educating at home it's a day off.  I came across 2 families.  The first was 2 parents and 2 boys in the 9-11 range, on bikes. The boys were the kind of manic that is well suited to that age group.  The other family was 2 your parents with 2 small girls - may 1 & 3.  The girls were kind of weepy - not inconsolable crying, just clearly unhappy without the emotional maturity that (hopefully) comes later.  I chatted with the mom for just a minute - confirming that her job is hard right now, but my heart went out to her and her family. 

It again gave me a feeling of gratitude.  I am healthy, happy and even in lockdown I have some control over my life. 

Since we are in fact in 'Stay home; Stay Healthy' mode, It's been a good week in the garden and the studio.  I'm enlarging one of the garden beds and setting up a worm composting bin.  I'm also starting some plants from cuttings:  buddliea and lavender.  As I as in the back of the yard getting compost, sand and other amendments, I noticed some hostas coming up.  I planted these when I first moved to this house nearly 20 years ago,  but have't paid them much attention so they've gotten over run with vines.  I cleared out a space, and sure enough there were 2 - each about a foot across.  Nice surprise.

One of the most engaging project this week was the strap for one of my ukuleles.  2 ukes + 1 strap = 1 problem.  I thought of weaving one, then I remembered that I had a couple of bands woven on backstrap looms.  I cannot recall their origin, but why not press one into service?  So totally made from materials on hand (the strap, leather, belt hardware), and my 1949 Singer Featherweight sewing machine, I now have a strap that allows me to play either uke much more easily.  More funky than elegant, but hey, it's ukulele!

I am nearly finished with the red sweater - I just need to kitchener the  armpits.  I am very pleased.  It is exactly the 'farm sweater' I intended.  I'm also about 1/2 way through my THIRD scarf on the cricket loom.  I'm not a great weaver, but it has just the right amount of creativity and mindless physicality that I need right now.  I've left it set up in the basement.  So I can just pick up where I left off.  Audio books and weaving are the bomb!

With finishing the red sweater, I'm deciding on my next project.  I could knit a few hats and maybe a pair of socks while I decide.  There are some interesting sweater patterns popping up on Ravelry of late.

As for now, it's time to see what item is next on the list.  I think the chores so far today weren't actually on the list.  How does that happen!?!

Blueberry Season

We are at the time of year when Smoky Mountain Fibers shifts into serious gardening season.   The peas and lettuce are finishing up and the beans, cukes and squash are coming along nicely.

When I had my solar panels installed, it seemed like I had to move my 6 blueberry bushes (turns out I probably didn't have to).  They went from being in a line to a large (10 x 17') rectangle.  Since they are beginning to ripen, it's time to foil the birds. Sorry birdies, but there is lots of other food for you here in the temperate rainforest.

Now I'll say that my Dad was a master at figuring out how to make things work,  even without much of a blueprint.  So over Father's Day weekend,  I honored him in one of my favorite ways...the wacky DIY project... Making a cover for the blueberries that holds up the netting, is still easy to get under and keeps the birds out.

Think of this as a big hoop house covered in anti-bird netting.  I used 3/4 inch flexible pvc pipe and these great plastic 3 foot tall fence posts that have spike on the bottom.  You just step them in. Because the netting is in a few pieces, there are seams, mostly tied together with the biggish twist ties that Whole Foods uses (anyone who want's to analyze my diet, feel free to use the look up numbers and you'll find plenty of lentils, dried fruits and popcorn).  It's pretty self supporting, though I doubt it will stand up to too much wind. I tied up some of the connections (using handspun yarn of course) and may do a few more.  I bought the BIG container of staples to hold the netting down to the ground, so no rationing (or making them out of wire coat hangers) was required.

Lots of head scratching and only four trips to the hardware store. I think Daddy would be proud, but he might have made a few improvements. I'll find out how well it works as we get through the blueberry season.  More fine tuning and adjustments may be required, as well as few more trips to the store!

Going Analog

Although the blog is quiet, the world headquarters of Smoky Mountain Fibers has been a flurry of color.  I dyed lots of fiber for a felting class and even more fiber for my retail business.  I am a contributing member of a local yarn shop here in Asheville (NC), Friends & Fiberworks (aka FFW).  As one of the friends, I work at the shop several hours a month and they carry an array of my patterns and fibers.  The shop participates in a number of fiber festivals and knitting and crochet shows, so my fiber travels in the booth.  If you were at the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival in March or Stitches South in Atlanta a few weeks ago, you may have seen my work.  They'll be at the Kentucky Sheep &Fiber Festival in May, so my fiber will be a large part of the shop's display.

So in the interest of all this retail business, I've been keeping the dyepots warm.  I try to dye around the spectrum, so this weekend I concentrated on the reds.  Rosy golds, rusty oranges, fiery reds.  Last week it was all about the greens - blue-greens, olives, froggy, grassy, emerald, chartreuse, every green I can make - even one that was a rather poisonous neon green seldom found in nature.

But with all this dyeing, why am I ignoring my Etsy shop (and my blog)?  I say that it's my lack of a decent camera.  I tell myself that it is the time factor.  I am right on both counts.  I don't have a decent camera, though I could buy one.  The camera built into my phone is better than any stand-alone camera that I own.  Not bad as you can see here.  Not fabulous, but not bad.  I think that researching the perfect camera (and they keep changing) is standing in the way.  My essential cheapness is an issue too.  The perfect camera is scary expensive. 

The time factor is more telling.  Even though I have a demanding day job that requires considerable travel,  I work most Saturdays and an evening every week in the yarn shop.  I design workshops and teach classes as part of my day job, but I also write patterns and knit samples for the yarn shop and it's fun! I've also taught a number of classes and hosted a knit-along or two.  I'm also doing a good bit of knitting for myself.  This winter I completed 5 sweaters, although 3 were in timeout since the previous spring.  (I couldn't help it.  Spring came in February, 2012.  Who wants to knit on a wool sweater when it's 70 degrees out? I have another one on the needles, but need to figure out what I want to do for the closures, so that will likely marinate until next fall.  Hmmm...maybe a zipper?   I've already started a cotton top.  See what I mean?). 

I think the real 'problem' is that I'm involved in a strong, lively, in-person fiber community, so the pull of digital is not so strong.  I get positive feedback from my colleagues at the yarn shop, for my customers in the shop and the felting teachers who purchase my fibers.  I'm teaching knitting and dyeing classes.  People seek out my help with knitting problems, they want my advice in choosing yarns for projects.  Cyberspace is a wonderful place to visit and indeed I go there everyday, but it is not my main sense of community. 

As I make choices about how I spend my time, I am liking the present time and space.  Yesterday I spent my time doing what I love to do:  I took a walk. I cooked.  I dyed fiber. I worked played in the garden.  I even packaged fiber for the upcoming KY show, but I didn't post a one of those luscious rovings to my Etsy shop!

This doesn't mean I'm going offline - not at all.  I'm getting ready to host an online knit-along on the FFW Ravelry group & Facebook page.  I'm back on the blog.  Watch for some new patterns!  But I'm living in the real world as well as the digital.  They're both good. 

Not as Bleak as it Looks

Although at first glance it looks like the roving on my clothes line is the only color in the February. landscape, but that seems not tot be true.  Here in western. North Carolina, the early spring and winter are in competition.  I took a walk around my yard and found many more shades of green.

When I look closely there are lots of tiny splashes of color. But looking closer is the key.  When I take a moment, I can admire the snow drops. These tiny flowers that are a reminder that spring can't be far away.  They  are so cute, even without any snow to help them show off.

It won't be long before the daffodils are blooming . With our frequent warm spells, these bulbs take advantage of sunny days to get a head start. And with Mardi Gras just a few days away, the Lenten Rose has begun to begun to bloom.

Today was chilly and breezy but with the moist feeling that feels like spring is coming soon.  Last year I was so late getting the early spring veggies in, that I didn't even bother with peas and spinach.  That won't happen this year.  The bed is already prepped and waiting.

The recent dye activity is to fill a good sized order for an upcoming felting class.  I want to be sure that the students have plenty of choices and I don't mind having extra dyed fiber around. 

Coming Out of Hibernation

Only the blog has been hibernating.  I've been (in local parlance) covered up.  A few highlights...

Kitchen remodeling is mostly complete.  Cabinet knobs and a few minor issues remain (non-functional electrical outlets, but I am moving into my new kitchen and the rest of the house, but it's nearly done and I love it. 

The first picture is the view as you walk into the house.  The dining room wall is now green to better frame the mostly white kitchen and its orange accents.  Note the shiny wood floor.  There was oak flooring under those incredibly grungy tiles.  The best surprise of the project!

You'll also see new cabinets and appliances including the dishwasher (which I LOVE), a stove that heats up fast (the old extra slow stove has been moved to the (still non-functional) dye studio) and a counter-depth refrigerator with an icemaker.   I may not be in the 21st century, but I'm out of the 1950's!

Under-counter lighting, interesting tile work and a decent range hood make this a lovely kitchen.  It's not perfect, but on my budget, it's just fine. I now have a lazy Susan-equipped cabinet that gives me access to what was a wasted black hole, electrical outlets where I need them and a lovely space to work in.  There's more to it, but these are the best pictures.

Not having a kitchen for a month was annoying, but living on raw fruits & vegetables, yogurt, tomato sandwiches and roasted chicken from the grocery store left me 5 pounds lighter.  The garden was lovely and most of the produce was eaten raw, dehydrated or given away.  I spent a couple of quality hours last evening watering, weeding, picking beans and generally putting it back into shape for the cooler weather.  I need to shell about 3/4 of the 2 bags of Kentucky Wonder beans as they got WAY ahead of me.

On the fiber front, I finished and blocked 2 sweaters, made good progress on another, knit a few hats for the upcoming season and have spun a LOT!  I have gone to my spinning group most Wednesday evenings and have spun a good bit at home in the evening.  Not spending time cooking opens up time for spinning - a decent trade!

Because the kitchen stuff (and living & dining room stuff) had to go somewhere, the dye studio has been down.  After this weekend it will be back in force.  I have felting and spinning and knitting ideas and the right fiber colors are so important.  I need red!

The day job is also keeping me way too busy, but that's seldom blog fodder.  I think I'll keep it that way.

June Socks - Done

Should I mention that I started the June socks in August. 2010?  They were stalled on the needles for a long time, but were recently taken out of the hibernation chamber and finished.  I dislike the yarn as much as ever.  It is Knit Picks long discontinued 'Dancing' in the colorway 'Jig' - a wool/cotton/lycra blend.   It splits, the pooling looks terrible, but I really do like the way they feel on my feet.  I am wearing their fraternal twins today.  I bought a healthy amount of the yarn when it first came out.  I have knit 3 pair and still have enough to knit another pair, but no time soon.

The blog has been rather quiet and I mostly have the day job to blame.  I have been preparing for 3 summer teacher workshops, and am finishing up workshop #1.  It is going well, but it does take a lot of energy.  But because tonight is spinning night, I'll pump some of it right back in.

I've also been having a fine time in the garden.  It has seldom looked better and we've had good rain lately.  The vegies, fruit and flowers all look good.  I'm still eating peas and blueberries, the summer squash are beginning to come in, the green beans are very tiny but I really need to pick and cook and eat kale.  Yum!

There has been other knitting, spinning and dyeing, but more about that later.

Definitely Summer

There are a number of indicators that it's summer.  Well, it's hot out.  Today it may well hit 90 degrees F.  91 will break the record, but I'm ok if we fall short.

Yesterday was Memorial Day, the unofficial start of summer in the US.  Thanks to the vets who keep us safe.  I really appreciate the men and women who died for what they believed in.

We cooked burgers on the grill.  I love burgers cooked outside with mayo and mustard and a slice of tomato, even if the tomatoes aren't very good yet.  We had a big salad, potato salad, sugar snap peas from the garden and peach shortcake.  It was wonderful!

My dyeing has slowed down a bit.  I dyed a good bit of roving for a fiber fair where my colleagues were vendors brought a lot of it back, so I'm caught up.  I am dyeing some colors I need - and washing and dyeing mohair locks.

I want to hang out in the basement - a clear sign of summer.  It's cool and dark and I can card fiber for later spinning.  I've also been doing a bit of de-cluttering again.   I'm hitting kitchenware, clothing and quilting fabric this time.

Knitting?  That too, is in summer slow-down mode.  A hat or 2 a week, I'll likely finish the June socks fairly soon, since they were recently pulled from the marination chamber.  I actually like to spin in the summer, so I'll have hand spun yarn come fall.  I finished 2 skeins last week and the recent carding will help in that department.

The garden is planted and weeded and mulched.  Not much to do except cut the grass every week or so, keep ahead of the weeds and pick the vegies and fruits as they ripen.  The peas and onions are pumping out, we are eating kale, the beans are climbing.  The poppies are beautiful, but I don't take any credit for that.  They simply grow and spread their seeds around.

One of the surest signs of summer is the mood on campus - pretty relaxed.  My day job is a 12-month staff gig at a small liberal arts college.  Although I am busy getting ready for my summer workshops for teachers, the overall place is a ghost town.  The faculty are gone, except when they are here to teach a class.

Summer time, and the livin' is easy!

Herbs and Spices

I love greens!  Mossy green, deep forest green, the color of leaves and frogs.  Greens on the blue side and greens on the yellow side. So although the May Phat Fiber theme is Spice Market, I have to tell you that I went a bit herbal myself.  I dyed both Merino and Falklands roving in 2 shades of green - one kind of olive; another more on the bronze side - both beautiful.  The colors should be just right for leaves of you are a felt maker.  I will likely spin some yarn from this colorway.  It definitely belongs in the permanent line for my Etsy shop.


Perhaps green is my favorite color at the moment because my garden is looking so pretty right now.  The peas are in blossom, so I'll be munching on Sugar Snaps by the end of the week.  The Red Russian kale is coming up nicely and we can eat all the green onions and parsely we want.  It's time to start to plant warmer weather crops, with the most tender after mid-May.  No garden pictures yet, though I definitely should.  With everything weeded and mulched, it doesn't look too much better than it does right now.

I did a fun little weekend project.  As my faithful readers know, I knit a lot of hats that are sold in a number of local shops, so I need to start knitting about now so I'll have enough.  So over the weekend I pulled out lots and lots of yarn to make 'kits.'  Match yarns and patterns to knit later, put them in bags and then in totes.  One tote is already in my office for lunch hour knitting.  I just cast on a (green!) hat, then decided to write this little post instead.  But my knitting is ready and waiting for me.  I have a final to give today.  Perhaps I'll knit while my students write!

Early Spring

Spring has come early to the mountains this year.  Although the nights are chilly, the days have been warm and sunny.  A few of my bulb-like friends have come up early, like these tiny iris.  Yesterday the first daffodil bloomed.  I put in a row of peas and planted some onion sets & the fall planted greens (collards and turnips) are up and happy - tasty too!  But as lovely as it is, I am resisting the temptation to get too carried away this early.  I'm afraid that I'll clean up all the old leaves and other litter only to get some serious cold.  We have had some of our worst snows in March.  Still, I spent a few hours in the garden this weekend.

But I'm spinning and dyeing and knitting, as evidenced by this tiny still life.  The rust colored yarn is the merino silk roving that I have been spinning for a future sweater.  The creamy yarn on the bobbin is part of the everlasting Falklands wool that I spin for both my own knitting and for the local shops.  The dark brown is a sweet lamb's fleece that I purchased at last year's fleece show and am hand processing.  It is also destined to be a sweater, though no time soon. The small skein of purple yarn is a sample for the local fiber shop.  I have nearly finished the tiny baby cardi.  Just a few bits left to do.  The I'd better send it off before he grows out of it.

This week the design work continues and the day job will keep me hopping, but in a good way.  My students have an assignment due and so do I!

GoodBye Grover!

We have had a bit of a pest in the garden.  Someone was eating the leaves of the green beans.  Not the beans; not the vines.  The same someone was also eating the lettuce to the ground.  Since it was bolting, no complaints there.  But when the varmint started snacking on my tomatoes, it was war!

Turns out it was a groundhog and the leaves of green beans are one of their absolute favorite foods.  I saw him a few times, usually in the early mornings and after standing up in his cute little woodchuck way, he always dashed under the back deck. 

We took a low key approach, placing pinwheels in the garden, since they can be frightened of shiny moving objects, then didn't see him for a while.  But he reappeared, so my sweetie and a neighbor set up a have-a-heart trap to help him find a new home.

  Sometime yesterday, he finally decided that a lovely snack of apples was just what he wanted and in he went.  so today he will be taken on a little trip to the country.  Although I don't like him, I didn't want him to starve.  As I was pushing bok choi leaves through the cage, the little dickens snarled at me, ready to bite the hand that was feeding him. 

Goodbye, Gover!  Time to go to your new home!

Requisite fiber content:  In between feeding and photographing Grover, I dyed roving and packed bags of mixed fiber for the LYS and made up one-ounce bundles, affectionately known as bon-bons.  I also knitted a good bit on the orange socks, and am starting the gusset of sock #2.  I am loving these socks!  Fast + pretty = Fun! 

Mossy Green Moss Stitch

The mossy cardi continues to grow this week end, thanks to time in the passenger seat and a bit of porch sitting.  I finally made it to the arm holes - in fact the decreases are nearly finished and I can do a bit of mindless knitting until it's time for the collar shaping.  I am quite happy with it.  I love the color and the fabric, as well as the process.  I'm not having any trouble melding the 2 patterns, nor do I expect any trouble doing my own mods later.

I spent the weekend with a friend in North Georgia, with a side trip to Atlanta for a bit of retail therapy.  As I have mentioned in this blog, I have been spending some time and energy on my home.  Some delayed maintenance, some improvement and just a decision to make it a better place to live.  To that end, we went to Ikea where I continued that endeavor.  A classic bentwood 'Poang' chair & footstool, functional bed sidetables and a storage unit will go a long way to making my home a nicer place to be. At the risk of sounding like a commercial, I love Ikea.  The clean, modern design appeals to me and I love the tiny, model apartments set up in the store, though I always try to find a home for the spinning wheel, fiber stash and enough space for books.  Though I guess that's what all those storage units are for.   Then the fun comes when you get to assemble your goodies.  I am totally charmed by the elegant way everything fits together as well as the pictographic instructions.  

In the natural world:  It's raining!  A steady rain most of today, I came home to a naturally watered garden, lots of green beans but also evidence that some furry creature has been snacking in the garden.  Luckily bunny foo-foo (or whoever) likes the green bean leaves, but not the vines or beans themselves.  A few tiny okra pods have shown up and the butternut squash are turning buff.  The tomatoes are still green.

Not as Quiet as it Might Seem

Sometimes I don't blog because there is nothing happening.  Other times it is because the chaos is not blogworthy.  Then there are times that the busy-ness might be interesting, but I'm just so busy to take the time to blog.  You decide.

Day Job:  I am currently facilitating a Summer Institute for classroom teachers.  We are looking at using Primary Sources as we study the movements of people:  Immigration, Westward Expansion, Lewis & Clark, etc.  Lots more - you can fill in the blanks.  I've been prepping for this for the last couple of weeks & now I'm in the middle of it.  We'll repeat the Institute in July for another group. 

Fiber:  Although the Etsy shop is slowed down (and I have not been posting new items because of everything else going on), I've been dyeing sock yarn for the local yarn shops.  I'm also spinning some very pretty yarn, either for myself or the shops.  And if I'm spinning again, that means,...

Home:  It's getting put back together.  Walls & ceilings are repaired and newly painted.  Furniture is now in the correct rooms.  Soon there will be art on the walls and books in the book cases.  This is a very, very, very good thing.

Garden:  Cranking out  peas (still), beans, cukes, chard (very soon), summer squash (galore) and lots more.  Weeds a-plenty!

Knitting: Swatching for a new sweater.  It will be a moss green cardigan.  That's all I know so far.

Dance:  Just completed the Summer Soiree, a contra dance weekend here in Asheville.  My sweetie was on the committee.  I led an English Country Dance workshop.  I was rather nervous, but got very good feedback from the serious EC dancers as well as folks trying it for the very first time.  George Marshall was the main caller for the weekend and he danced every dance, so I think I did okay.  If not, he would have been gone pretty quick!

On the evening's menu, summer squash fritters (see above)! Yum!!!

Hidden Garden

There is a charming spot that I pass whenever I walk to downtown Asheville (which is to say, fairly frequently).  I live in an urban neighborhood, but there is a bit of open space.  Some of it is non-buildable, mostly because of the landforms that make it difficult, expensive, or just not a very good idea.  In this case, there is a creek in an underground culvert.  But someone in the neighborhood has a bit of a garden on this reclaimed bottom land.

As traffic goes overhead, pedestrians know to look into the ravine below....

Just about a quarter mile north of downtown, look over the guard rail on the left.  You'll see....

Beets, salad greens, squash, watermelons, all nicely mulched.

As well as potatoes, tomatoes, peas, beans and lots more.  I've never seen anyone tending the garden, but I so appreciate its charm, beauty and tender care.  Someone loves this hidden garden!

Requisite fiber content:  Yesterday I finished one knit hat and began another.  I also knit a bit on my gull lace hat, but it require some actual concentration, so it was had to do while on a web meeting!

Blowing in the Wind

What better place to dry my newly dyed roving than on the garden fence.  The green beans at the base are still too small to need the top (but give them a couple of weeks), so we are adding fiber the other way.

I sell grab bags of colored fiber in my Etsy shop as well as in the local yarn shops.  I started doing them to get rid of excess fibers and leftovers.  Now I have to dye specifically for the grab bags.  The reds and greens are here.  The blues were still in the dyepot when these pictures were taken.  In fact this fiber was still wet when it posed.  Merino wool, it was much fluffier once it was dry.

One of my favorite kinds of weekends (particularly after a busy travel time), I stayed home this weekend.  I worked in the garden pulling zillions of weeds and planting Roma beans, dyed roving and sock yarn, and did a few long-neglected household chores.  Not too many of course.  After all, I still need time to knit and spin and read and blog!

On the Fruit Farm

This is the time of year that this blog should be titled Smoky Mountain Gardens, although I'd had a good bit of fiber stuff going on.  But even my fiber is influenced by the plant world.  This is a roving I call delphiniums (Delphinia?) and was one of my Phat Fiber contributions.

Several years ago I had a friend who turned his suburban yard into something of an orchard, with fruit trees, grapes, strawberries and several other fruits.  I always admired his variation on the backyard vegie garden.  A few years ago I started on the same path.  My boyfriend like to dig holes and not only supported this idea but went a wee bit crazy with it.  It started innocently enough with a couple of elderberry bushes for a very practical reason:  they grow under black walnuts and they screen the neighbor's rather unsightly yard.  That set of neighbors have moved on, but the elderberries have filled in nicely and seem to like to spread.   Currently in bloom, look for elderberry cobblers and pies later this summer.

Do you like raspberries? I do.  So a couple of years ago the BF dug a trench and planted about a dozen red raspberry canes.  They are quite happy, even inside their 'cage.'  Last year we had a good crop - we even made 2 batches of preserves.  Yum!   

For a city lot, my yard a fairly big.  A house between my other (the Good Neighbor) neighbor burned down many years ago.  The then-owner of #95 bought the lot and for many years it was the 'hang out' yard for all the neighborhood kids.  A sloping lot, there is a ledge about 1/2 way down.  It is now the Blueberry bed.  About 6 plants with different varieties to stretch the season.  Because it is only their 2nd year, there was a good bit of domestic discord over whether the blossoms should be sacrificed to put energy into roots and leaves and branches.  In the end I persevered to allow a couple to bear fruit.  Science, after all.  And it is a banner year for blueberries in these parts, so I decided to tent the berries so the birds (and kids!) wouldn't get them all!  A couple have ripened and I gotta say, very tasty!

The newest kid on the lot is Miss Figgy - a brown turkey fig that we planted last fall, so this is her first summer. We hope to get a fall crop of figs.  So as not to bore you, my good readers, I'll just say that we also have grapes, rhubarb and a rogue stand of blackberries.   

I've been called a little fruity a time or two.  and I'm all for it!

Outside is a Good Place to Be

Since my house is undergoing destruction major repairs right now, outside is a good place to be.  I have spent a good bit of May digging in the dirt and am beginning to have something to show for it.  The sugar snap peas are a wonderful part of my diet right now, crunchy and full of green goodness.  I am having salads of lettuce (4 kinds) and radishes (Easter Egg mix) and baby beet greens.  I can probably start snitching baby chard leaves too.

The tomatoes are filling in nicely along with the peppers, eggplant and basil.  The summer squash seem to grow by leaps and bounds each day.  The Delicata squash are a bit slower, but they look good.  The winter squash are beginning their annual sprawl across the yard and this year I want to mulch them better, so I don't have a field of tall grass with squash runners amuck.

The flowers are happy too.  Each year we have poppies that self seed in seemingly random places.  I've been pulling them out of the beet bed, but I like them to grow in the flower beds, later I'll mow some of them, but their delightfully sculptural seed pods provide food for the birds as well as visual interest.  Next year's poppy surprise comes from them too.  This year we have doubles and singles.  Some are highly ruffled, others pleasantly simple.  Mostly red; a few purple.

Just above the poppies is the row of blueberries and eggplants; above them are the lavender roses.  This year I'm going to let the roses go natural.  No more sprays; just heavy mulching and frequent cutting back of the spent blooms.  Fine Gardening's article (though I can't find it on their site) has encouraged me to go organic and force them to toughen up!

One of my favorite totally (ok, nearly) maintenance-free plants is this big old-fashioned yellow rose.  I don't know the name of the variety, but I got a start from my friend Heather, how dug hers up from her grandmothers garden over in Brevard, NC.  Right now it has hundreds of fragrant blooms.  The only maintenance: cut it back now and them, tell it how beautiful it is, send loving thoughts to Heather & her grandmother and occasionally burst into a chorus of the 'Yellow Rose of Texas.'

Requisite fiber content:  I knit a bunch of hats!  My Memorial Day mini-break was to visit friends a couple of hours away.  While at their house, it rained a good bit, so swimming, working in their garden and hiking were somewhat curtailed.  Sitting on the porch, knitting, talking, knitting, eating, reading and knitting were in high demand.  My hostess knit at bit too, making an orange coaster.

I will be happy after the house is put back together and I can move around my dye studio more easily, every surface is not covered with non-fiber related tools and I have a place to sit and spin.  I am going a bit crazy in that department.

Naturally Clean

Today is another look at creative things that people make with Smoky Mountains Fibers.  Over in St. Louis, Missouri A Breath of French Air is a terrific soap maker who makes scented and unscented soaps for a variety of uses, including the Gardener's Scrub Soap.  Those of us who like to dig in the dirt, know that we need a little help after.  Scraping my nails on a bar of soap is a good start, though I have to remember to do it before I get dirty.  But one solution is this lovely felted soap.  It's a soap and a scrubby all in one, this time in natural, organic shapes and colors.

If you are an Etsy member, you can even vote for this item in the "What's in Your Ideal Garden?" poll.  There are lots of lovely things.  Check it out.  Wish I could vote early AND often!

I spent a bit of time in the garden this week.  The peas, beets, radishes and onions are up and looking very cute.  We have been eating wintered over collards and Kale, but they look ready to go to seed, so it's in the 'get it while you can' mode.  I also planted lettuce plants, but this warm weather is not their friend.

Signs of Spring!

Somehow... When my yards looks like this...

My dyepot looks like this!

Smoky Mountain Gardening

As spring is in full gear here in Asheville, my focus shifts - just a little - to gardening.  With the spring flowers like these tiny iris starting to peek out, and even Monday's strange snow flurry notwithstanding, the garden is calling me.   Having decided earlier to expand the beds, last weekend my sweetie and I laid out and dug out the new beds.  Winter has been tough, so I have not been in a giant hurry, but so far we have planted sugar snap peas, beets, onions and I have moved the self-sown leeks into a single spot. Radishes too!  The lilacs and budding out nicely and the daffodils are in full bloom.

Official fiber content:  Dyeing like crazy!  The LYS needs bonbons - in solid colors.  What a concept!  Yesterday I did t versions of blue with a purple tone.  Any thoughts on my inspiration?

Sings of Spring (Cleaning)

Crocuses!  Just a couple of little gold ones so far, but more crocuses, daffodils, day lilies and other signs of spring are on the way!  Including the squirrel who has been nesting on my porch. Because of the brutal weather, I have been less vigilant about ruining the rebuilt nest just about every day.  Today we noticed swollen squirrel-boobs.  Isn't that sweet?  Shirley is a nursing mother!  Now I will feel really guilty if I destroy the nest.

My BF and I are planning the garden, both vegies and flowers.  In fact we bought onion sets and lots of seeds,including sugar snap peas, various greens, radishes and cukes. Yum!!  We've also layed out a  planting plan - on graph paper, so you know it's a good one.

The spring cleaning is the continuation of de-stashing of yarns that I have not used in a good while.  Time to set them free!  Visit my Etsy shop to liberate these yarns. 

Cobblestone knitting continues!  I joined the sleeves to the body last evening.  Yeah!