lulubeans

i think i'm getting my spinning groove back, after my 7 month baby break. it feels really good.

this set of yarn looks like a wild romp through some wonka-esque candy shop to me. i'm not letting summer go until it's obvious that there's no other option.

thank you!

thanks so much to everyone who commented on my last post!  your kind words really mean so much to me.
this pregnancy has been amazing so far.  (i can say this now that i am out of the insane nausea and out of control exhaustion of the first three months.  all of that added an extra layer of challenge to the big renegade adventure!)  but hurray for the second trimester!   it's totally crazy how all this physical stuff completely reverse itself, pretty much overnight.  you can go from feeling like complete and utter crap one day to feeling  this absolute, blissful feeling of wellness humming through every cell of your being the next. hormones are so cool.

i want to show you some yarn that melissa recently sent me.   i am seriously in love with it.
isn't it gorgeous? 

i need to think of something cool to make with it.  definitely something for myself.

i have been (finally!) processing some of the fleece i bought last september.  it is washing up really nicely and looks so lovely dyed:

oh! also, local knitters- if you are in the market for some cotton yarn, hit the salvation army on warren ave.

i don't do a lot of knitting with cotton, but at $1.99 for a giant spool, i see some cotton tank top type things in my future. it's all stuff from silk city fibers. they had A TON of yarn left on saturday when i was there, in really nice colors, and a fair amount of ribbon and novelty yarn as well.

the wash me shelf

i have been having so much fun spinning yarn over the past couple of weeks.  this shelf is everything that i need to wash!  i have to be in the right mood to finish my yarn.

today we are having a picnic lunch near the beach with friends.  i'm a little sad that this school vacation week is nearing its end.  it's been such a good week. 

sun + carding

it's been so incredibly sunny, warm and perfect outside this week.  N has been on school vacation and i have had lots of time to spin yarn on the deck while she has been playing in a way that usually involves imaginary dogs, cats, and her most current obsession, teenagers.  and dirt, lots of (real) dirt.  6 is going to be a wonderfully grubby summer.

there is also a drum carder living with me now, which i am so excited about.  this is something that i have wanted for what seems like forever!  i want to offer handcarded batts for sale at some point in the near future, but at present it's just too tempting to spin everything that i have been carding, pretty much right away.  i did have time to get some pictures of this one though:

 

i love it.  i reminds me of watermelon hard candy,  salty tangled hair, sand in sheets, new sandals, the taste of wooden popsicle sticks.   i love spring, but i love summer just a little bit more.

fiber + flowers

it is absolutely perfect outside today and i have no business being inside.
however,  i am taking advantage of the sweet, quiet solace that is a play date at someone else's house (ahhhh!)   and adding some roving to my etsy store and uploading some pictures of odds and ends to my flickr page.
today's  roving  is more handpainted falklands wool, this time in a bright + cheery summery colorway.

click on the photo for details.

  i am really an amateur gardener (at best!) and have no well designed garden to show off, but i am very much enjoying each little thing that is growing and blossoming and ripening around my house.

 

i love how my morning glory vines look like plied yarn, and the cheeriness of zinnias is something that nearly always makes me very happy.

 

 
i should really get outside!
the dishes and the tidying and everything else can wait, right?

happiness is...

... surprise goodies in the mail from linda.

 

that batt there is like a warm + lofty cloud straight out of some magical, heavenly place.  i am very much excited about spinning it tonight.

(N ran off with her treats from linda before i could take a picture.   she was so very impressed by the collection of teeny things.   she's much like me in her love of little odds and ends.) 

linda also sent me some wool boucle to ply yarn with.   i had to dive right in and start plying as soon as i came home from work last night. 

 

i plied

 

and i plied

 

and i plied some more. 

this morning i woke up to a giant heap o' fiber-y goodness that seemed to have appeared as if by magic.

 

thank you linda!!

a sink of one's own

i know that there is no real way to take a very flattering or interesting photo of this new sink, nor can i create an image that could convey the kind of excitement i feel when gazing upon this newest member of our appliance family. 
and yet, here she is, nestled snugly between my embarrassingly non-energy-efficient clunky old (free hand-me-down) washer and dryer:

 

<

this will be my new dyeing area.  i will be able to get the whole endeavor entirely out of my kitchen,  with the sole exception of roasting pans in the oven.   i haven't gotten shelves for dye up yet,  but i am hoping to get everything all set up later today.  i am just happy to be able to wash yarn in it for the moment.

 

sorry for the incredibly boring pictures!  perhaps you will enjoy seeing the teeny tiny deer i found at a yard sale this weekend?  he's all nestled up in a terrarium and i love him.

 

thrifting, spinning, eating

i super love my new (thrifted) wrap-around skirt.

    i failed to get a very good picture of it,  but you can probably get the idea.   it's a soft but sturdy cotton,  and it wraps around enough so that i feel reasonably safe in all but the strongest gusty breezes.   plus it makes me feel like i am on a one woman mission to bring back my mother's wardrobe circa my early childhood.   i wish i had the dr. scholl's or the espadrilles that she would have worn with a skirt like this.   (luckily, i also don't have the deep, dark tan shown off by a stretchy, vibrantly colored tube top as she would have had during this era.)

oh, and i discovered the very best thing about my new skirt when i sat down to spin this morning.  look:

 

matchy!  i don't think i could have matched this colors any better had i tried. 

the yarn in progress:

 

    i also cooked a bunch today.   i had a spurt of kitchen-centered energy and i decided to try to cook as much as i could so that i have to do very little of it this week,  when i will most likely be all tired and lazy-like.   for lunch i made this quinoa salad with raw, shredded golden beets, tomato, cucumber, green onion, capers, feta and lemony green olives.   i also mixed in some flax oil because it makes me feel like i'm being all healthy.   it could have used about half a lemon's worth of juice, but it was still pretty damn good.   dessert tonight was homemade hot fudge sundaes with maraschino cherries and whipped cream and sprinkles.   natasha is miss pun-o-rific and insists that we should all eat a sundae every sunday.  i'm not inclined to disagree! 

from fiber to yarn

i am so in love with the yarn that carrie of funky carolina created with merino roving that I dyed.  carrie is such a talented fiber artist, and she's a genuinely sweet girl to boot.  thanks for letting me share this photo of your gorgeous spinning, carrie! 

and here's a "before" shot from me: 

 

i love the process involved here, and the way it switched hands.  now what, squishy little merino friend?  what will you become next?