Daybreak

Lily resting from a lazy day

This morning I went out with Lily a little early on our walk to meet friend Kym. Lily was all nose to the ground and I dawdled along with her while she checked out fascinating scents along Concord Road. Mourning doves called across the dark trees and a light breeze brought a scent of earth from the corn maze field. We walked quietly and I looked up at a burnished pale gold moon riding in a rose streaked silvery sky. As we reached the empty house of a fondly remembered neighbor couple, a small doe lifted her head in the yard. She stood, still, watchful, curious, against the peeling board fence while long grass whispered in the wind around us.

Now the sun is shining bright over a dozen brilliant and soft greens in the woods, fields and lawns around the shop. Hummingbirds visit the feeder and hosta blooms busily by the window and occasionally check out the yarn on the porch table in disappointment. High under the eaves a delicate barn swallow nests as her mate keeps a wary eye out from my yarn drying line.

Had a lovely dinner with friends last night, who were gracious enough to invite me again after I forgot to show up on Wednesday! I dashed over to Chateau Morrisette on the way, where the Patrick County Chamber of Commerce was hosting a "Business After Hours". As usual, Nora and Doss, and the other winery staff, were quite wonderful as hosts!

I really do things lately....

Galax Leaf 'n String Festival 2008

...it just seems that there's never any time to talk about what's going on! The shop has been busy, and I put up yarn and fiber all weekend. Then I sheared several rabbits to get them more comfortable with the warmer weather and met with a fellow from the Invisible Fence Brand company to talk about a way to keep TJ safe and exercised more. Then I finally got my car back, and fences, invisible or otherwise, got pushed aside for the moment with more busy times.

Over the weekend I traveled to Galax, Virginia, just up the road, really. The directors of the Chestnut Creek School of the Arts, a new project in Southwest Virginia, had asked me to teach a crochet class over the weekend. So I went up on Friday and Saturday morning to demonstrate. Odd not to be spinning! I had two lovely students, very bright and quick to catch on, and we had a terrific afternoon. I didn't see much of the festival but I heard some awesome music through the weekend.


Morning Surf Scarf

And the Morning Surf scarf is coming along. I think I'll do it again, maybe not right away, but in some sort of soft, finely spun yarn. I like the Maizy's crispness for this but I also think I'd like a version with some softer drape.


Country Cotton Shawl

I finally finished Violet Beauregard, that wild purple skirt. No picture yet because it needs blocking, and because I forgot to do one last night when I had the camera out. I have to have a crochet project going, so I started this shawl yesterday. Have to love the way crochet zooms along; twelve rows of crochet is half what you see here and twelve rows of knitting is about an inch in the Morning Surf pattern. Not that I'm knocking Morning Surf. That's the fun of having so many different projects going. Some can go quickly to fulfill the need for immediate finishing gratification! The shawl is made from some funky Regia Design sock yarn that I bought down in Charleston, along with a more refined colored skein of the same brand. The pattern calls for two strands. I'm not sure I would have loved the brighter colors alone!

Quick Note

Last night I walked out late, to check on a computer upload at Sue's shop. Lily went along with me to enjoy the cool breezes of the evening. A few lightning bugs drifted across the fields in lazy archs, just above the waving grass. In the little field beside the Parkway it seemed very dark; clouds piled heavy above the tree line. I looked up at the lightning bugs, signaling as they have done for centuries, against the deep shadows of the trees.


New Greenberry House Yarns

As you can see from the pictures, I have a lot to do today!


More new yarns!

Claudia and Ann came by on Thursday, and left this lovely selection of beautiful yarns. I love their stuff; the yarns are as individual as the spinners! I also have two of Claudia's special knitting bags. Hoping to get everything on the web site as quickly as possible. The yarn will be on the shelves today.

Then yesterday a local farmer brought me some fleeces. He's a shearer and had several different varieties. I bought the Jacob he brought; love spinning that and it sells well as yarn, and took some other fleeces on consignment. I'll have to do some investigating on the uses of the fleece he brought; one of them is from a hair sheep. I know nothing about them, but a quick search on the Internet indicated it might be used to make rug yarn. I thought I'd wash a bit and spin up a sample to see.

And while I was waiting out a stormy afternoon while sitting and knitting with my neighbor while she quilted, a big box came in the mail that was full of yarn from another North Carolina Jane. She included some kits so I'm looking forward to diving into this box!


Ripples in the Corn Field

The Summer 2008 Spin-Off came into the shop this week and I read it cover to cover. Some really good articles but I was really taken with the Handspun Gallery this time. Some lovely scarves in the Morning Surf pattern by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer. Since I'm such a beginning knitter, it's surprising that this captured my fancy, but it's really quite easy, despite the multiple yarn overs. I've been having fun knitting it in odd moments. I needed to make a sample for the shop in Crystal Palace Yarns Maizy, anyway, so I'm using the Indian Corn colorway. The yarn is nice, not as soft as the Panda Cotton but it looks nice in this pattern so far.