-N- – Page 605 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

On a Winter Day

Allium

The past few weekends have made me feel so cramped and crazy, mostly because the puppies are growing, and needing a lot of attention. Sometimes it makes me wonder if I was nuts to get two, but when they are all cute and cuddly, the answer is always a loud “Yes!” Luckily, the other half is superlative at caring for them, but he abandoned me for the Super Bowl. As the puppies are crate trained, I made good my escape for a couple of hours to the local botanical garden.

Where I live, endless blue skies are endlessly blue and cloudless. We are in the middle of a drought. The state does not plan to release reservoirs, and I don’t blame them. Weather is weird, extremes showing up which seem abnormal. Global warming? I think so, but this is not a political / ecological foray, so we will leave it at that. Back to the skies: we had rain clouds! And some light rain! I went out to shoot landscapes with a long lens, 70-300mm, but could not produce any I liked – I expect my view-point was wrong.

Sage

Instead, tripod in hand, I also focused on flowers. Always, flowers. Leaves, rocks, trees, branches. I love the shapes of nature, and ultimately these seem to be the ones I love the most. Long lenses are great for blurring the background, and with flowers it is no exception. On this trip, I took my time, crawled around, and looked through the camera to frame my shot. At times, I used live view because I was down so low (luckily, no mud), and my battery was draining faster than normal.

Small patches of bright color are always welcome on a dreary day. The smell of sage and earth and decaying leaves are wonderful. I took my time to enjoy the garden, and even though it started to rain – and my camera gear was sadly unprotected – it was such a pleasure to be outdoors (sans puppies pulling on a leash) to enjoy the beauties of nature.

Allysum

Golden

Puppies take up soooooo much time. Reprieve in the parking lot!

A Good Day to Dye

I have been feeling really all over the map of late – partly because the puppies do require a lot of work, such as walking, training, feeding, kissing, disciplining. They are coming along fine. Me, I am in need of sleep. And a change of pace.

Today is overcast along the California central coast. We even got a few drops of rain. I nearly fainted. The puppies, too, were shocked, because I don’t think they knew what it was. And because it was dreary, what better way to pass some time than dyeing some yarn?

I have powdered dyes which I use; however, I need more colors in my palette as all are toward violets and teals. There is a black and a lime green and a red, but really, not enough for a bigger variety of color choice. I think I will order some new colors soon.

Anyway, I dug out my supplies – a couple of boxes of stuff dedicated to dyeing. Nothing that is eaten out of is used in the process. Pots, wooden spoons, steamers, pitchers, whatever. I had some Bare Hare, an angora-merino blend from KnitPicks, along with their merino-silk blend. I also had two balls of Lion’s “Sockease,” which is 75% wool and 25% nylon.

The process of dyeing this yarn was quite simple. In little plastic bowls, some dye powder, add boiling water, stir, and use a 60cc syringe to deliver the colors in stripes. I poured some hot water between the stripes and patted the yarn to blend the colors, wearing, of course, my stylish blue nitrile gloves.

I wrapped the skeins up in plastic wrap, placed them on vegetable steamers in the boiling pots of water (water is just above the level of the steamer), and let them go to town for 30 minutes. Then, dump onto a towel, take apart the plastic wrap, and dump the yarns into a water-vinegar rinse to cool and set the dye. Lots of dumping.

Once that is done, put them into cool, soapy water, wash, and rinse. You can spin them out in your washing machine, but place the skeins in lingerie bags.

The picture below is really bad. All the colors are actually fairly nice. And mostly violets and turquoises . . .

Puppies!

Not sure which is which. Adopted them yesterday. They are sisters, about 10 weeks old, Lab and Aussie mix. Very mellow. Mutts are the best!

Puppies!

Let me introduce you to two new family members: Inky and Smudge, labrador-Aussie mix. Mellow, fuzzy, cute. 10 weeks old. From St. Martin’s Animal Rescue. Cutest little things (we think!). Smudge is bigger (at 13 lbs.) and a dark grey, and Inky is smaller (at 11 lbs.) and blacker.