Mayberry, Michigan

 That 's what you might as well call this place.  You can ride your bike everywhere; to town, to the beach, to the woods, to dinner.  I love it.  The  "cottages" are to-die-for.  I am a new transplant to a condo from our family cottage of thirty-three years.

 I walk everywhere.  This is in Wequetonsing.
 

The kids learn sailing early and get out in the smaller boats on the left about the second day of camp.  What a thrill.

 This is my friend, Barbara's house.  It's actually new but built to look in keeping with the older "cottages".  She has a fabulous view of the lake from her porch and her bedroom up there with the round windows.

 The is the "cottage" we sold this spring.  See, no streets in front of houses in this association.  All cars are in the alley or parking lot.  I have only been down this block once this summer.  Still a little hard to go there, but I am loving life in the condo..

I found this cluster of "lady" bikes on the lawn outside my condo "cottage".  I like saying that better than saying, my "unit". Eweeee!
(photos #1 and #2 by Eliza).

Funky Handspuns

Wacky? Spontaneous? Distracted? Easily amused?   These are some things I have in common with these yarns I spun this month.  Above are three kinds of moss greens in merino left over from plying projects.  I plied them with some of the eternal (read huge) bump of corriedale/merino morrit-colored roving I bought at Kid N Ewe last November.  This stuff just won't go away.  I have dyed it as roving and now am spinning it uber finely  to use in these crazy  projects.

Below is the wackiest.

I took the huge bag of detritus left from the licker-in of my Fancy Kitty Carder and started just spinning it as it came from the bag.  I reached down and grabbed a fluff, so it is all kinds of thing;  merino, alpaca, silk noil bits, silk, BFL, random wools, and bits of sparkle from angelina and Firestar.  I have 3 big skeins of this stuff, or 396 yards of chunky, funky yarn.  I'm thinking funny hats this winter.

Camp Mimi Trip to Jacob's Reward Farm

Ms. Cindy has one chicken you can pet.  Z, C, S and S got to feel the texture of feathers of Ms. Rachel, the hen.  Chickens are just part of the animal component of Jacob Rewards Farm, a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) venture.  We drove a short 30 minutes out to Parker, Texas to check out this sweet farm.

The alpaca, below was a gorgeous model.  Great head shots from him.

We ended up in the air-conditioned little Red Barn to try out drop spindle spinning.  Zoe let Sophie have a turn, as she had already gotten the hang of it in another session with Ms. Cindy.

Mary Elizabeth, the lone ewe sheep, was taking in the shade as we drove out the drive and headed back to the HOT big city.

From the Dye Pots

This week I have been dyeing stuff here at the studio, out at Fancy Fibers Farm and then back here to set up a long table in the garage to do some painted rovings for the shop.   The first four above are from my loosely titled Sea Shore collection and are mostly pale and cool.  If the weather won't be cool, then at least the colors I work with can!

The last two, Pinwheel and Koi Pond, are back to the brighter colors.  Koi Pond was painted, and Pinwheel was control dyed in my big giant turkey roaster.  I have some super elegant dye pots.  You should see the collection of crockpots.  But, hey, they work!

After the Dyeing...

Pretty regal, in homely sort of way, huh?  This Cashgora ewe was a great model.  I was able to take abundant head shots.   After we dyed all the available fiber we could find in the dye shed, Mary, of Fancy Fibers, took us on a brief, as it was a cool 100 degrees outside, tour of the farm.  This Cashgora is one of the herd below that Mary acquired from Terri B. who was getting out of the goat business.

The smaller three on the right are a set of triplets.  I think their fiber will be delicious colors.

Mr. Rooster, here, is king of the hen house.  He shows no agression but keeps a careful eye on his girls.
Having had my time in the farm/ranch world when we did horses in a big way, I can appreciate all the work that goes into keeping Mary's farm running.  AND, I am so glad to be able to say, "loved seeing your place, gotta run!"

Fun with Fancy Fiber Kid Mohair

Monday Mary of Fancy Fibers Farm brought me some luscious clean, clean, clean mohair locks to play with in the dye pot.  When I it comes to dyeing I am like Peter Rabbit, "please, throw me in the briar patch".  Soft peach and pink tones have been eluding me, so I went after it.  I am still not totally satisfied, but what comes from the dye pot is never wrong, just maybe not quite on target.  I still love these colors and love them together.
Look for these to show up at Cordova Studios in little one ounce packs for you to play with.  I think I want to use them to do some more lock spinning like I did with my "Clementine" yarn.

Below is a shot of what the locks looked like spread out on the drying racks.  That hot pink is a bit of mystery wool I dyed in a mystery pink dye pot.  Love the surprises. 
What colors would you like to see next???

 

Wow! Endless Summer Hydrangeas

Here is why I focus on flowers more that veggies in my garden. This year my faithful hydreangeas by my front door are getting more faithful care and nourishment.   I trotted out to the garden center and bought 8  two pound bags of aluminum sulphate, the silver bullet for achieving maximum blue blossoms.  I think it worked beautifully.  I apply the granules very liberally around the roots and water it in.   Caution, though. I did put too much on a miniature variety of Endless Summer and killed it.  That's a first for me. 
In the alkaline soil of Dallas, aluminum sulphate has to be applied several times throughout the growing season but it's worth.
What are your experiences with hydrangeas?