Tempus fugit 🕰

Wow, 2023 speeds ahead.  Using the wayback machine, I need to catch things up since last September. We went to Ireland the last week of October. We visited friends along the way and made it up to County Donegal.  It was a treat to see Studio Donegal, where the tweed continues to be woven by hand.  

The mill shop at Kerry Wollen Mill, Co Kerry, Ireland.

It is where I bought the Kerry Gold color way of KWM

Aran Wool 3ply.

A lovely green tweed warp. The sound of the 
shuttles going back and forth was nice to hear.

Looking down at the at the warping room and all

the cones of yarn. A look just to the left, and on to the...

Cutting and sewing room. Pattern pieces hanging

at the ready.

  A closeup of some lovely wool tweed pieces

for garments.

Piece by beautiful piece. 

I produced quite a bit of knitting the past year, and expanded the sweater choices for the Pick A Sweater class at beWoolen.

Blomst

Forêts Paisibles, Ris, Anthology,
and Dreaming of Provence 

Cassis, Goldwyn Folly (with a dash of Anthology), 
and Inovec

Of course there are WIPs. One is fingering weight, which I love (but what was I thinking?!) and the other two are Aran weight.  

Simple Sweater TCK

Classic Cardigan, TCK

Lara by Di Gilpin is a fun and quick knitting project.
Donegal tweed for the body and some leftover KWM
in Kerry Gold from the Cassis for the neckband.

Camping

15.06.2020 It was lovely and breezy today, although a change is in the air.  The next two days will be very hot.  The good thing is that it will not last as long as it would in Alabama or Arizona.  We squeezed in our first (short) outing with the Escape Pod II last weekend. We went to Jay Cooke State Park, a place I camped with Ben when he was new to the Scout troop.  The swinging bridge that replaced the one washed out by a flood in 2012 is good place to stop and observe the rushing water and snap some photos.  We hiked the two mornings nice and early while the weather was cool.  The ferns and early summer flowers were blooming.

Jim and Gus on the swinging bridge

The view from the bridge was beautiful.

The weather was perfect and the hammock comfortable.

Hiking early in the day when the weather was nice and cool.

It was a treat to see gold lady slippers on the trail.

26.06.2020 Last week at this time we were camping at the Winnie Dam Campground in northern Minnesota's lake country.  It is on Winnibigoshish Lake in the Chippewa National Forest.  Speaking of forest, we hiked one of the trails, the Lost Forty, where the old growth pines are 300 to 400 years old and were spared from being axed due to a mapping error in 1882.  It was so beautiful but the mosquitoes were ruthless and stopping to take photos was difficult.  It was cool enough to be wearing hats, long pants and jackets, and some of the beasties managed to bite around our faces.  I snapped as many photos as I could.  On the way back to camp, we stopped along the Lady Slipper Scenic Byway to see the Pink and White Lady Slippers, Cypripedium Reginae (Showy Lady Slipper Orchid), Minnesota's state flower in bloom.  There was an elevated walkway at an interpretive site so one could view the natural surroundings and the wildflowers in bloom without disturbing the ground.  

How can one resist a big fish building?

 Part of the interpretive center on the Lady Slipper Scenic Byway.  

Jim and Gus relaxing on Father's Day.

Knitting a sock by the campfire...

...and watching the clouds roll by at sunset.

First the big fish and then the big black duck in Blackduck.

The Bemidji Woolen Mill was open and a small Paul Bunyan (sans Babe) came back with us.

Catching up, round 2

The latest fabric came off the loom recently.  I was so happy with this weaving project.  The pattern came out beautifully and when I fulled the fabric the color and drape are just what I wanted.  Hopefully it will be a jumper if I can get the pattern pieces to work.  

Harrisville Shetland warp (russet and walnut) and weft (loden blue)

We took the camper to Avon, MN for the third annual Hand Camp at the Avon Hills Folk School.  It was such a fun weekend and the weather was gorgeous.  Classes offered were:  Natural Dyeing Workshop, Bookbinding, Leatherwork, Birchbark Weaving, and Spoon Carving.  I took the dyeing class with Maddie, which was educational and just plain fun!  Jim enjoyed relaxing and even went fishing and he caught a fish.  

Campers sitting around the campfire on the first evening.

Foraging in the woods for plants for dyeing.

Maddie's beautiful sample swatches naturally dyed and some sumac that we used for our eco-dyed bags.

We each dyed two bags by laying out the flowers, bark, herbs, and leaves on the bags.  After rolling (while still adding bits and bobs) and then tying the bundles around sticks, we simmered them over the fire.  

There were three dye vats, walnut, buckthorn berry, and indigo.  The indigo is shown before we poured it into the large bucket with hot water.  

It was fun to unroll the bundles to reveal the colors on the eco-dyed bags.



I accordion-folded the towel, added marbles, and clothespins to make a pattern on the towel.
Dip-dyed for three minutes in the indigo dye.  It was cool to watch it turn from green to blue when it came out of the vat.

L to R top to bottom:  Indigo dyed tea towel using Shibori technique, overdyed handmade felt for vest, buckthorn berry dyed white handspun wool, walnut dyed wool fabric (the original white is to the left), and the eco-dyed bags showing the fronts and backs.  Some of the plants used were buckthorn leaves, goldenrod, fennel, sumac berries, purple basil, marigolds, turmeric powder, white birchbark (from a downed tree), and pine sprigs.
The white birchbark made the blue areas.

Catching up

September...Looking out the window I can see the latest painting project, which is the shed.  It took three days and (thankfully) the weather was relatively cool.  Jim and I finished before the heat wave hit.  It is beginning to rain and today is a good day to catch up on some projects.  The state fair begins this week and even though there is still a month of summer remaining, I see small changes like some of the sumac leaves turning orange and red.  Cooler sweater weather is on the way.

On Saturday, August 18, I volunteered to do a spinning demo beside the Three Rivers Fibershed.  Mary received an email inquiring about a volunteer spinner during The Great Makers Exchange at the American Swedish Institute.  The timing was perfect because I wanted to visit the ASI to see Gudrun Sjödén--A Colorful Universe and being a volunteer, my admission to the museum was free.  I did not take many photos during the demo time, as the stream of visitors was steady and the time seemed to fly by.

Twelve days pass...and I am back.  We took the little Escape Pod out to Banning State Park in Pine County.  It is a small park and three years ago we kayaked the rapids on the Kettle River.  Because it rained the first two days (5+ inches) the river was up and really rushing along.  It was a joy to get out and hike after the rain.

Late afternoon after the rain.  

Coffee time.  

The hiking was particularly good on the trail and along the Kettle River.

The spin-in after the campout Deb (Ewespun fiber Mill at Old Man Wool Farm) had some beautiful Leicster Longwool dyed the most beautiful moss green.  It was just the pop of color I was seeking for a project using the handspun Jacob wool from Chi Chi.  Her fleece was one I purchased at Shepherd's Harvest a few years ago.  I combed the wool and it spun up just beautifully.  

Pulling the wool through the diz that Mary's husband, Rob, made.  The Leicester Longwool spun and plied beautifully.  It will be a lovely pop of color against the grayscale of the Jacob wool.

Inspiration

The end of September campout was at the Camp-Inn Campout at Castle Rock County Park in Juneau County, WI.  While the majority of campers were teardrops, there were 28 home-builds, and various other tiny campers.  It was fun to visit with other folks from all over the United States.  

We spent Friday out and about the area.  We visited the Cranberry Fest in Warrens.  It is a small town, but is transformed with hundreds of visitors.  We took a short marsh tour to see how the cranberries are grown and harvested.  The guide is one of the local farmers.  At the end, we bought some craisins and cranberry honey.  The cinnamon craisins are delicious in the chocolate chip cookies I baked the other evening.

I finished my handspun beanie on the bus ride to the marsh.  The colors look just like the colors of a campfire.

The marshes before harvest.  

Wisconsin harvests about 60 percent of the country's crop of cranberries.  They are delicious and  I use them all year round.  Here is a link to some recipes.

Jim and I took a day to visit the Burr Oak Winery.  We tasted some whites and reds and settled on a bottle of white and a bottle of dessert wine.  The flowers in the courtyard were just beautiful.  Those mums were gigantic!

One place I was delighted to visit was Mielke's Fiber Arts.  I contacted Amy the day before and she opened the shop for a visit.  I found a left-handed Nalbinding book along with a larger needle, a couple of fun reads about spinning, spindles, and weaving, a Dealgan (Scottish spindle), and some naturally colored cotton spinning fiber.  I have some roving left from Texas, so the colors will coordinate nicely.  It was so nice to be able to wander around the shop and see all the wonderful tools for working with fiber 

A visit to Wisconsin isn't complete without cheese. We did not visit a cheese house, but we did buy a snack for the road.  The store carried a variety of cheesehead hats.  

Maiden voyage of the escape pod (Silver Traveler)

Summer's last hurrah, the last pre-season Vikings game and...

...the maiden voyage of the escape pod, aka Silver Traveler!

Leaving the launchpad

Nice landing spot at Wild River State Park

The flaming lantern, or as I like to call it, the reenactment of the microwave incident of 2005.

We took off on Saturday for wine tasting at Winehaven in Chisago County's gently rolling hills between three lakes.  They produce good wines and we purchased three bottles, white, port, and stinger mead.

Riesling

This medium-dry wine contains abundant peach, pear and floral notes that remain distinct through the soft finish. The perfect complement to fresh fish and poultry.Recent Awards:Bronze Medal - 2016 International Eastern Wine Competition (New York)

Port (750 ml)
This rich, premium port offers a seductive combination of luscious blackcurrant and cherry flavors culminating in an intense, lingering finish.  Pairs well with dark chocolates and aged cheeses.
Recent Awards:
Bronze Medal - 2014 International Cold Climate Wine Competition

Stinger Mead
A smooth, nicely balanced wine with a crisp, delicious finish that boasts a spectacular perfume of honey which is accompanied by an intriguing array of floral scents.
Recent Awards:

Silver Medal - 2016 International Eastern Wine Competition (New York)

Silver Medal - 2013 U.S. National Wine Competition
Gold Medal: 2012 Finger Lakes International Wine Competition

information from Winehaven's website.

We then took off for Taylor's Falls and the Wild Mountain Winery.  The wines were good and the Log Jam Hard Cider was a favorite for both of us.  I got to cork the bottle.  We got back to the campground and promptly had lunch, relaxed a bit, and hiked one of the trails.  

This friendly black bear greeted us

Making our way down the list with munchies

Chocolate and port!

We hiked along the St. Croix River

On Sunday we took another bike ride and enjoyed the beautiful weather and early fall colors around the park.

The view from the hammock

All is right with the world