WORKING HARD TOWARDS SHOWS

Now that the year is starting to get away from me -- mid-April already!! I have begun working hard towards the shows I will be doing. One of the shows I participate in is Artistic License (the last weekend of October). This is a great arts/crafts venue. I've been working on some felted pieces for AL -- here's a sampling of a couple scarves.

Close up of stitching using my hand-dyed handspun yarns and applique.

Another piece, with dred lock like fringe. Lots of stitching with handspun.

I've also been making up batches of a fiber mix that I call "Pastiche". This can be used by handspinners to create art yarns.

Like this skein --

Another batch of "Pastiche".

Another skein of art yarn.

Here is a skein of "coiled" yarn that I spun using one of my handpainted rovings of merino wool and bombyx silk. I love the little cocoons.

Another skein of "coiled" art yarn. This one was spun using a roving of merino/silk/angora in my colorway "Herb Garden". These are more than fun to spin.

I love these art yarns because they're all one of a kind and very unique. More to come!

SHEEP SHEARING IN ESCONDIDO

Yesterday, Margie and I drove down to the K-9 dog training ranch of Terry Parrish in rural Escondido for the sheep shearing. The Greater Los Angeles Spinning Guild had emailed about this event. A glorious day and unbelievably beautiful country not far from city life.

The ranch is across the road from the San Diego Wild Animal Park, which is in the distance.

We brought our spinning wheels and spun along with some of the other guild members.

There were about 100 sheep that were going to get haircuts. These were predominantly Dorset and Rambouillet sheep.

Sheep waiting to be shorn.

Here is the shearer at work. He is from Oregon and planned to shear about 100 sheep during the day. He puts this Rambouillet sheep on its back end to immobilize it during the shearing.

Almost done. The fleece comes off in one piece.

Here's one of the dark brown sheep being shorn.

The fleece intact.

Margie discussing the characteristics of the dark fleece with some spinners.

Bags of fleece ready to be chosen by spinners.

Here are some of the sheep after their haircuts.

The other fun thing of the day was a short, very informative talk and demo by Terry on sheepherding by her dogs. Based on the whistle commands given to the dog, he corraled this little flock of sheep. Terry said that each dog can distinguish the subtle difference between his owner's whistle and that of another.

There were many, many sheep dogs at the ranch yesterday. These dogs were just dying to get out there and herd the sheep, but most of them had to stand and watch. All of them seemed focused on the sheep and had their ears perked up like this little guy.

What a great day!

Last week I worked on a couple of new fibery things. I recently got a shipment of some fibers I have not dyed before: Polwarth wool and Blueface Leicester Wool blended with Tussah Silk. After dyeing a batch of each of these, I spun up some sample skeins. The verdict is in -- I love both of these new fibers. This is the BFL/silk in "Sargasso Sea" colorway, 380 yards.

Polwarth wool, randomly handpainted, 425 yards.

I am also continuing to pursue my interest in felting. Here is a felted scarf in progress -- it still is in need of embellishments and stitching.

Happy Easter or whatever you're doing today ---

MORE SPRING TIME FLOWERS

Here's a little walk through my garden. I just love this time of year. Irises!

Calla lillies and camelias.

My garden.

Lavender in bloom.

Roses in bloom and the rose arbor getting ready.

Very special pink rose bush.

Tomato garden and herb garden.

Salvia Eveline - pink.

More irises and lavender.

A monarch butterfly catepillar munching on butterfly weed.

And, here's a pile of rovings I dyed yesterday. Just messing around with Spring colors on some merino/silk fiber.

Just having a fun day, enjoying the weather, and thinking about my summer trip to Oregon and summer camp with my buds up at Golden Gate Fiber Institute.

SPRING IS HERE!!!

Well, it's been a while. I've been busy at the dyepot readying my inventory for Black Sheep Gathering in Oregon mid-June. Hunkered down is what I've been. It's less than 3 months away and I can't believe how this year has flown by so far. But . . . daylight savings time was last weekend. Oh how I love it to be lighter in the evening. Here is the first work day of daylight savings. We actually got to go take a walk down at our lovely Dana Point Harbor after the end of the work day. Did I mention, we are so spoiled.

Everyone was out in their boats, on their paddle boards enjoying the evening.

And could there be a better sunset, with Catalina Island as a backdrop?

So, the first day of Spring was yesterday and it was warm enough to have dinner on the patio.(Believe me, this won't last.) We had been talking all week about driving out to the desert to see the wildflowers. Since there has been an abundance of rain in the desert this year, that makes for awesome wildflowers. This morning, we decided to make the trek out to the Anza Borrego State Park. One of our favorite spots in the park is Coyote Canyon. We parked and walked about 2 miles down a dirt road/trail to the Desert Gardens and on the way the following pictures show what we saw.

We were stunned at the beauty. And all of the citrus groves were in bloom, too, so the fragrance of orange blossoms perfumed the air. Here are some little delicate white flowers.

Blue and yellow flowers.

These large bushes of yellow flowers were everywhere, all over the hills.

Purple lupines in among varied yellow and white flowers.

Dark pink desert verbena in amongst various white flowers.

Vibrant yellow flowers and verbena.

This big reddish boulder was almost like a grotto with yellow everywhere.

The ground was blanketed with flowers.

A desert lily.

Many of the cacti had not bloomed yet, but we did see some vibrant pink blooms.

Note the blanket of white button flowers on the hillside behind this pink cactus.

And finally, we reach the Desert Gardens -- what I call the Ocotillo forest. Beautiful, majestic Ocotillo with red flame flowers everywhere.

Close up of the flowers.

Close view of the Ocotillo trunk.

And totally amazing -- this Ocotillo laying over on its side, dead? well, flowers were blooming out of it. The desert comes alive in Spring.

What a lovely day and hike. I feel rejuvenated and ready to get back to work tomorrow. I hope to be a better blogger in the days to come. Well . . . we'll see. I'm working on some fun stuff and sometimes blogging just gets put at the bottom of the list.