Spring 2017 I have missed sharing with you all

Well just thought I'd let you know I'm still here in the beautiful Methow Valley. Now it's spring 2017, gosh time flies by. Just to let you know briefly what I've been up to say in the last year. This is a  very simple scarf I purchased the pattern from Ravelry, Hitch Hiker. I had so much fun with this  project, it went well every step of the way. First I bought a four once hand painted braid from Shooting Yarns in Montana. Then I took a Crafsy class on spinning hand painted roving, and the fiber is Polworth, so lovely. This yarn I spun in a very specific way to get the effect that you see. It is so soft. I wish you could feel it ! I love it so much. I'll post some pictures of some more knitting another time. I have also been doing some weaving projects, and this is one of them, they are the most interesting pattern, and very  beautiful in person. I will continue to knit and more, and share it with you soon. A sad note I must add, I lost my Dad in October, then his brother less than two months later. It's hard, but he would want me to continue to enjoy my life and all the things I do. with Love Diana

      

Hitch Hiker

Eight Harness cotton towels

Knitting had nothing to do with it.

Well it's been a while my.friends since I made a post, over a year. The year of 2014 well was not very interesting . Then came July, it was a Monday, the Monday I have my spinning friends over for the day. Everyone was leaving, oh it was around 3pm, and well we all noticed smoke coming up over the hill across from our house. We had thunder and lightning the night before, dry lightning the worse kind. This was the beginning of what was the Carlton Complex fire. Burned 300,000 acres, burned down over 300 homes, it was pure hell for several days, and we were right in the middle of it, but we came out just fine. I still have a hard time talking about it, I just am grateful everything and every day. Then once the fires were under control, we had rain storms that gave us 1 inch an hour and caused massive flooding. Pseople who made it through the fires, were now losing there homes, out buildings, animals, and pasture land to mud and boulders, what a mess it was. We must go on, and so we did through the rest of the year. I did get some knitting and weaving done.

This is Helen the bear you have seen before, she is wearing a knitted scarf that I started last yesr.

      A fun hat !

  

A beautiful Chenille scarf that I weaved .

Twill

 N

towels and these cute little guest towels done with plain weave and overshot. Now what will this be ?   I hope to drop a line a little more often, and hope your have an easy  breezy summer !
        

Time Well Spent

With the Holidays behind us, these are the kind of days we can spend doing the things we don't have time to do like in the spring or summer, I consider time well spent. Even before the holidays, after a three years of not weaving, I pulled my loom out away from the wall and planned a weaving project of cotton towels, every thing came back to me like getting back on the horse after falling off. I enjoyed my time back on the loom. I needed some cotton towels for gifts, and one of them was for our annual hand woven towel exchange at our Shear Creative Guild Christmas party. As always a great time with great creative people, my friends.


Five towels in all

                                                                
 

Shear Creative Guild members, Christmas Party 2013     

We had a great time visiting Family, the kids, my Dad, and brother and his family. Best of all the weather was perfect for winter driving.

Our Grand Daughter

One of the best things about the Holidays is being able to see our Grand Daughter, she turns Eighteen this year.

Once we got home, and made it through the New Year , I decided to finish the shawl that I started in November. I really love it, and the color, also it feels awesome  too.

New Lace project

This is my latest lace project, I'm really loving the color, and the pattern. The Yarn that is dyed in the state of Washington, the company is called Marinated Yarns. I'll have pictures later of it finished. January has been extremely cold, and long, but there have been moments that take your breath away, such as this sunrise.

 

        I wasn't sorry to see January done, and now February is going by quickly. So the evenings are being spent knitting while watching TV , but now it's staying lighter out later, that excites me, knowing spring is really around the corner.    My plans right now are to get a weaving project finished that I did for a friend, I made a warp and took it to her house and put it on her loom,  Then I will give her the weaving directions to follow, and she will be surprised to see what she will have when she's done. Then I've been also putting a warp on my loom, with the plan to make a couple of Rayon Chenille scarves. 

Coal says Hello

Jr. stays cozy on the Quilt on the back of the sofa

We will continue to work on our projects, trying to keep warm by the fire, hope the athletes do well in the Olympics. Have a great Valentines Day, and we will see you next month.

It was very clear to me...

It was very clear to me what I needed to do to be prepared for going to knitting retreat. One thing for sure was to finish a sweater I had started after the Holidays last year. I have felt that I was missing my knitting ojo, seems I would start something then loose interest, or get distracted by some other project, but I did get my act together and got my sweater done.

 

My finished three quarter length sleeve sweater

Really cute buttons

This was a very simple sweater for me, I have done far more complicated ones, but I needed to start and finish it. I love this sweater it's so comfortable, and I love the color too.

 



What the heck is it

 

This is Helen, she models hat, scarves, just about anything that fits. I needed a very warm hat, the weather here gets extremely cold in the winter, so for walking, taking the dog out, I have a nice warm hat. I used some hand spun that I did last year, another goal of mine, to use my hand spun up, just a small feat. So having those done I needed a project to work on at knitting retreat, so I remembered to take something easy, because I would most the time come home and rip it. So I cast on 648 stitches for a scarf. Well it seems I'm ready to go off on my trip. This year my walking buddy went with me, we were so excited. The first Morning at Fort Warden we went for a walk on the beach, and walked to the light house.

Light House at Fort Warden Washington.

We all had such a great time, it makes my year to see my dear friends, I love every minute I spend with them. We had a field trip to a local fiber processor, they have a small operation, but they work for a lot of people, and also dye the fiber too. I like the combination of wools I purchased, corridale,
Blue Faced Leister and Mohair.


   

Taylor Farms

                   

I finished my scarf, and started a shawl, then it was over, and time to go home.   

Helen with the new scarf

                       I'm always happy to get home, but many times during the next year my mind will drift off and think of what a wonderful time I had. We came home with a full load.

Full load

Fall is rolling along nicely

Fall, so far has been very nice, and even though we are preparing for winter ,it's nice to do it in the sun. The wood is put up, the picnic tables are put away out of the weather, and most importantly my Dad's trailer is set for the snow and cold. The cat has stopped shedding, and the Dog is really putting on his under coat.


                                                                                             

Mr. Coal Man               

We had a couple of weeks that we didn't meet at our Quilting group at the quilt shop, but I did get something done.

The Pink One

I call this the Pink One for reasons apparent in the picture, but in person it's lovely, and it will grow on me. I'll be sending it off to the quilter later this year.

The Thirties Reproduction Fabric

 My pin wheel thirties reproduction quilt came home from the long arm quilter, I'm very happy to have it back, and it turned out so beautiful.

A Happy Quilt

So I was reading a Blog that I always look forward to, this person doesn't post real often, but when she does it makes me happy. On her most recent post, she has been considering that she would stop Blogging. Several people wrote and protested, and begged for her to continue, and she is going to continue. I myself had been considering doing the same because I felt as though I was being to repetitious, but then I realized that I'm not just boring my family and friends, but people from all over the world. Blog Spot shows who and from where people are visiting your Blog. Well I'll keep posting and maybe someone from China may find my ramblings interesting. It's crazy, I have almost more people in Russia reading this blog than from here. 

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  The bonus cutting of hay

  With the weather being so cooperative some of the hay farmers  got a third cutting ,  this is a bonus for them.            I will be heading for Port Townsend at the end of the month, for of course my yearly trek to see my friends at Knitting retreat. Katie and I usually go together, but we are bring some of our friends from here with us to share such a wonderful experience with them.

  

  What the heck is it ?

            I am knitting here in the Methow, I've been a little worried that I've lost my knitting Mojo, but maybe I'll be inspired at retreat. In the time before, I'm knitting this, and when I'm done I'll show you.   Hope your fall has been heart warming. Diana                                                                                                                     

Feeling it in My Bones

I am feeling it my bones, our already strange weather summer is coming to it's end. Our beautiful Methow valley has been hit with several storms lately. The humidity has been high, so our normally very dry area has made us hot and sticky. The powerful lightening storms have really been putting on a show, and the heavy rains, well they have closed one of the Mt. passes twice. This of course gives all us locals something to talk about at the, Post office, Hanks Market, and maybe the feed store. Life goes on regardless.

Black Eyed Susan

Some of the projects I've been busy with this summer, are a couple of Quilts. This one called the Black Eyed Susan, designed by Thimbleberries, I finished earlier at the beginning of this season, then sent it off to the capable hands of a Long Arm Quilter. Here's the finished Quilt.    

 





Thirties reproduction fabric

This I just finished a week ago, when my last finished Quilt came back, off went this one to be quilted. I had a fun time making both of these beauties. 

A Sneak Peek

Just a little sneak peek at the next one, yes pink and green, very cute. This one is small, but it will be beautiful. 

 

Country Craftsman

I have been spinning on my Country Craftsman wheel. I took it to the Shear Creative Guild, to keep there to spin on when I'm at a meeting. I'm spinning Blue faced Lester wool, I'm really enjoying it.  This weekend there are many things going on, such as the Okanagan Fair. Well that's all for now, oh but wait in a few weeks I will be preparing for my yearly trek off to Port Townsend, for my Knitting Retreat !

Gosh it's been over a year

Over a year, time continues to go by at a fast rate. Things are much the same here, and since it's been so long since I've posted, I will keep it short. The Methow is still beautiful as ever, it's always unpredictably beautiful always no mater the seasons. Just the other day my walking buddy and I where on our evening walk and took this picture.

We feel so lucky and blessed to have so many opportunities to be a part of this area, to live breath and see so many wonderful sights.  I'm still knitting and spinning here too. No pictures of knitting right now, but I have been busy spinning, mostly this last  winter.

I finished a couple of quilts, and started another, I'm finding it still to be fun.

      Two finished

One ready to be shipped off to the quitter and one just started.   So yeah, I've been busy.  What have you been up to?                                                                                                            

I'm feeling good today and......

I'm  feeling good today, and hopeful that this garden season will be a great one. Friday I started to cut the old canes from my Raspberries, it's good to be out side after a long winter. We had lots of snow, and cold temps, but now that the snow is almost gone we can see the open window to spring. This year I have a new helper in the garden. I told Lonny there was no need for him to rototill because our new addition is doing a fine job. Not the clearest video, but you get the idea. So back to the raspberries, well there all done and the mess is picked up, now on to all the other many things out there that need to be done. So I guess you can say, from now till next fall I'll be busy.

                                                                    

Just  startting to prune

 





All done and tied up and ready to grow

1. Some of you know that at the end of January, we got some bad news, that our Son Jens  had an episode with his heart, his defibulator went off several times in about three days. So he went to the hospital and he had surgery. Looks like he'll be going in shortly to finish up, we hope for the best.

2. 

   1930's reproduction fabrics and lots of applique

   I also got my quilt top done just recently, so in a month I'll take it to my local quilt shop to have it quilted.  In the mean time I'm startting yet another one. I have lots of fabric to use up, since I purchased alot of it befor we even moved here.
3.                                                                                                      



                        This is a fun and easy one

This Blogspot has changed it's format so I'm not use to it yet, so excuse the mistakes  

It's Days Like This......

It's days like this that make you forget about the hard work of moving all that snow around, and trudging through it to get were you need to go. This is our view from our bed room window, and today it's sunny and it makes the snow sparkle, these are the winter days that make you feel better, and give you a new out look on life.
Coal and I took a drive to appreciate this beautiful day. Why do dogs like to stick their heads out of a moving car window at 22 degrees, he loves to, and I get cold. Makes him happy! So we took a drive to the Lower Beaver Creek Rd and took some pics. 

This is the road that my walking buddie and I walk on every day, actually most the time it's at night, because she works. Here are some of the sites we see during the day, and that isn't a strange animal in the picture, well maybe.  

Looking East

What a privilege to see an eagle

Then here we are home again, renewed from the breath taking beauty of it all!

Lonny thinks his yard art is the breath taking beauty here. Well maybe it is, it's in the eye of the guy with the sun in his eye's LOL

Yard Art

Here's a Quilt that I started last Summer, I'm making progress.