El Fruitablo

Elizabeth, at the end of this post I respond to your question about the Easter dress.
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And another one's gone
and another one's down...

Weeks just keep flowing by and I barely notice.

Work continues on the Shetland project: I have finished all the washing and am carding and spinning. I've done two skeins of grey (showed you that before) and two skeins of white.

The white fleece, which I have the most of, was the dirtiest one of all. In the words of my shepherd boy, "She's a real pig." This ewe rolls in anything she finds, and the day before she was shorn, got into the woodchip pile and wriggled down deep. Have a gander at her fleece, soaking in the tub:



and this is what the water looked like afterwards (three washes like this, then two rinses, gets most of it out):




The dirt isn't the problem though - the woodchips and grass seed are the problem. There's only one way to remove that: card, card, and then card again. When you're done carding, card it a few more times. Couple more times through the carders for good measure, keeping your tweezers handy to pick out more grass seed, and then give up and roll it into a rolag. What you didn't get out in the washing and carding, you have to pick out as you spin the singles.

I borrowed this little sweetie from the guild the other day: it's not as helpful as I thought it would be though. Turns out wool is like bread: if you want it done right, you have to finish by hand.



Spinning outside is lovely nowadays, but I have to get out there early - by 10:30 the shade is mostly gone from the back garden, and I need shade: it is hot. 42 today (109.4). Hot enough, as Auntie Bina says, to make the tongue of a crow hang out.

The garden has bloomed


faded

and gone to seed

These pictures will get bigger if you click on them.

As hot as it is, though, these little dudes don't seem bothered by it. They're the only ones hard at it, in the scorching sun. Talk about a work ethic.
Notice that the children have stripped my lavandula angustifolia Hidcote - they were making potions last week and had to use the better part of six lavender plants' worth of blooms, to create an effective curse. I didn't ask what they were cursing - it sounded like the answer might be "The neighbour's house" and I wanted to be sure of plausible deniability, later. In the event that they turn out to be unexpectedly good at hexes, though, with that much lavender I imagine the effect won't be anything more ominous than a sudden lassitude followed by fits of remarkably soothing narcolepsy.

And maybe softer skin.

The shade garden is doing fairly well - thanks Rona for the Lady's Mantle. The best part about alchemilla vulgaris is the way it looks after you've watered. Not that you can tell - in this weather the water is mostly gone within minutes.

Lastly, here's my beautiful, chilled dinner - isn't it lovely?

I have no idea what the other people who live here will be eating: I suspect I'll have to turn a burner on at some point, but only when I'm forced to.

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In response to Elizabeth's question on the Easter Dress post:

I suspect the pattern piece you're trying to lay out is supposed to be cut on a single layer. Double-check that, and if it still doesn't fit, cut two and seam them together. The skirt is just a huge square (rectangle?) anyway, so it won't affect the fit. Just try to make sure the seam lands on a side, and matches with the side seam of the bodice when sewn. It IS possible that the dress is designed for 60" fabric only, and that your one particular piece won't fit on a 44" fabric, if that's what you have. Sometimes that happens - it just means you seam the piece and have to buy a little extra. Good luck! If you have any questions, ask me again. Maybe email me at the address in the sidebar, so I know how to get in touch.

New Happy Place

I spent this past weekend camping with my daughters, along with my cousin and her two girls, at a lake in the mountains about forty minutes from town. It was a sun-drenched, lazy-water weekend with long, hot afternoons and just the right amount of breeze. I took some pictures for you. (Click 'em - you'll be glad you did.)




I love how the lakes around here are all the same - deep, cold, clean, with conifers right slap up to the edge. It was a bit crowded, though: there were four other families enjoying this lake on the same day we were there - a Saturday. It was hard to get along sometimes, but we managed not to step on each other's feet too often.


I'm being facetious.






Here's where I realised I was not capturing the feel of the day and the lure of the water, so I shifted my perspective a bit. I put my camera in mortal danger for you all




but decided it was worth it.


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This is such a cool spot. On the left of the above picture you can see there is a narrow channel (it's about 8 meters wide) between the mainland and the sandy beach of an island. The children could easily cross this little land bridge - it was covered by only about 70 centimeters of water.



We took the girls up to one of the boat-in sites we could see from the beach - it was vacant but I promise you, at this time next year it won't be. (I'm looking at you, Mark. I'll bring the Hermann's.) This was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been - looking down on the bay in which we'd just been swimming.





There - you can clearly see the little neck of water between the island and the mainland.





It was hard to get a smile - everybody was hot and thirsty by now.





And here they are, happy and tired. They're smiling now because I am holding up two golden marshmallows on a stick.

Pepsi and a Top Dog, and a spot out of the smoke...doesn't get any better than that...even if you DO have a gigantic mosquito bite on your leg.

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I have finished Drifting, and will show you blocking pictures tomorrow. It's beautiful. I'm seaming right now but have yet to pick out buttons. Maybe I'll get to that tomorrow as well.

Someone’s in the kitchen with Dyyye-NAH.

We went for a drive today. We went here and here and stopped to walk around here for a bit. On the way there I did one of these, and on the way back I did the other one.

Above was the post I originally wrote. I think I was going for succinct (though links would have been provided) but ended up just sounding tired and thought I should rework it.

I've been working in the garden, meditating on the teachings of St Alsatius, watching Buffy by night, and planning my spring knitting. Things calmed down a bit in the last few days but right now my oldest daughter has an attitude that would curl your liver. I thought we're about 9 years early for this kind of crap, but apparently 6 year olds are known for it. So I will trudge on, hoping desperately that it's a phase that will pass, and in the meantime flexing my disciplinarian muscles. I have developed several strategies for causing her various degrees of pain and anguish depending on the severity of the offense, so as to avoid having to come up with something on the spur of the moment and, as likely as not, ending up either yelling at her until we both burst into tears (been there, done that, resolved never to go back, but went back so many times I ended up with a frequent customer punch card) or taking away all her toys FOREVER.

By the way, GREAT sentence structure there.

So we are dealing with the six year old. Then there's the saintly almost-4 year old, who has cultivated this lovely nice-as-pie expression which she uses as she's cooing to me "Whatever you say Mummy". She might as well just say "I'm the good daughter" because that's exactly what she means. She puts on this toddlerised smile and cavorts around, pretending to be all innocent and daisy-chain-making, and though she's not fooling me, her poor sister grinds her teeth into a fine grit watching this display of disingenuousness.

Anyway, between the two of them I feel like my mental faculties are always on the brink of mutiny. One of these days I will answer the door wearing a tinfoil hat, playing a paper banjo and chewing on my own hair.

So, this drive. We went to look at the teensy doggies!! And may I say, they have NO RIGHT to be that cute. They wooed me. They chewed on my fingers and lost their footing on my lap and fell asleep with their noses in the crook of my elbow. They did not wee on my jeans (no doubt they've planned that for later).

We left my daughter's cotton rag quilt with the breeder. She will put it into the puppies' kennel for the next month and on April 20, we can go pick up puppy and blankie and bring them both home. It was tricky talking to her and bringing the blanket in and whatnot without alerting my children to our plans (as far as they knew, this was just a friend of ours that offered to let us look at her puppies), but they were luckily absorbed enough in the dogs that they weren't listening too closely to the adults. I didn't manage to get any pictures for you, but there will be plenty after April 20.

On the way to and from, I did this:

This picture makes it look like the baby is half Lilliputian and half Brobdingnagian. I assure you the booties are not so disparate in size as they appear.

Isn't this yarn scrumptious? It's the beautiful Icelandic "Tinkerbell's Wings" colourway that darling Lizbon sent me from Rhinebeck.

We stopped at a place called "Coombs Country Candy and Creamery". I saw the billboard announcing it, then there was one of those highway signs, or whatever, saying "Artisan – Candy". Sounds promising, doesn't it? Well, it was okay, but not fantastic. They were playing this really loud music so you had to almost shout to make yourself heard by the (vacant, barely-civil) girl behind the counter.* But they had a sale where you could get three slabs of fudge for $11. So we got chocolate peanut butter, vanilla, and maple walnut.

The kids wanted an all-day sucker but I'm not such a chump.


We also stopped here. Enjoy the photos (click to embiggen), as well as your first ever (sideways, blurry, distant) glimpse of Mr HSBoots' handsome visage. I have used him as scale for the root system of one of the "Fallen Forest Giants" we passed. (So dubbed by the Forest Service, or maybe Environment, Lands and Parks, or maybe just the dude who writes the text for the nifty signs.)

Boy it's dark in there under the canopy.

This tree is practically roaring "Clumsy Ox come home!"

Where's Waldo?

Too bad I can't provide scale for this fallen tree. I can only tell you it is HUGE. Like, I don't know, maybe a hundred or so meters long? Dunno. HUGE.

Duh.

"...opened the forest". I like that.

I'll be back soonish. I just realized tomorrow is Monday, and if I can dredge up a book review I'll post it. I'm sure you'll understand if I don't get around to it though….I might be busy cutting out my banjo.

*Note: I have bad luck with these candy-counter girls, don't I?

East, West, Home's Best

Well, I've been away. Now I'm back - 3200 kilometres later. Wanna see some sights?

We stopped in Williams Lake for the night and stayed there barely 12 hours, just long enough for Emily to work up the courage to pat Donovan.



When we left Williams Lake, it was finally time to give Holly Hobbie to Charlotte. Here she is a few hours later: "Show me how you feel about your Design My Style dolls!"



The Seven Sisters, as seen through the bug-spattered windshield at 140 kms/hour. But I knew better than to suggest we stop for something as paltry as enjoying the scenery. When Mr HalfSoledBoots is on a road trip, it is the destination that matters - the journey is of supreme insignificance.


The hustle and bustle of downtown New Hazelton.




But though they may not have much, they do have this, which you have to admit is impressive:



Most of the drive is through fairly flat country - quite a few ranches, long loooooong trains, and even some areas of taiga. Mr HSBoots is a man of few words, so I whiled away the hours, as the children watched Tom and Jerry on the two-screen travel DVD player (LIFESAVER), by working on my Sockapalooooza sock. Therefore, the scenery I saw was about 40% this:


and 60% this:


When we set out, I had done the ribbing and one lace repeat. By the time we got to our destination, I just had to knit the toe and graft it.

More on the sock in the next post. In the meanwhile, I conquered a new skill while at my sister's, where they have (gasp!) a trampoline. I love trampolines. And now, after 25 or so years of wishing I could do something better than a seat drop, I can add this to my resume of life:


We finally made our way home night-before-last, and this coastal girl was pretty happy to be back among the familiar.


I think Em agrees with me. After three days of whining and tearfulness, she gave me this look while on our beloved BC Ferry:


So that's your little glimpse of beautiful British Columbia. I hope you liked it. I will leave you with one last image from the Coastal Mountain Range. In the next installment I will introduce my Sockapalooooza socks properly, and maybe bring you up to date on the garden, which flourished in my absence due to a sudden lack of cloud.
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Thanks for your words on the transplant post. Since the transplant, and even more since your comments on the anniversary post, I am newly aware of the tenuous grasp each of us has on this fleeting life, and of the utter sameness of each life to the others. Our apparent differences are in fact circumstantial - at their core, humans all fear, long for, and treasure the same things.

Vegetarians Beware.

My brother turns 35 today. I would like to do a blog tribute to him, but I'm afraid Gwen is a tough act to follow. So, Mark, I'll just say an affectionate "Many Happy Returns of Your Birthday With Love from Shuber", and show you my idea of your perfect B-day celebration.

Actually, now that I see it (in the flesh, so to speak), I realize that it could in fact be an artist's conception of your actual self.

Get it?
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In knitting news, I finished the first Ogee sleeve the night before last, at one in the morning. I was tempted to cast on for the next one Right! That! Second! but decided I should opt for sleep instead...once again life gets in the way of knitting.

But last night I cast on the second sleeve, and am halfway through the ogee chart at the wrist. If I can keep my (half-hearted) momentum up, I should be done the whole sweater by the end of May. Ordinarily I would expect its completion sooner, but I have started a new pair of geisha socks for a flip-flop-wearing friend, and would like to finish those before the tunic.

I walked to Knit Night this week, and saw some pretty things while moseying.


I do love driftwood.


And lighthouses.


Go Canucks!

And AT Knit Night, Karen had this beauty on display:

It's "Better Than A Hundred Hands"!! It's an "Improved Money Maker"!! You could make a whole dollar and a half for every dozen pairs of socks you cranked out of this beauty, according to the attractive brochure (dated 1920). Karen picked it up at AAA Salvage years ago, and is now ready to clean it, oil it, and give it a whirl. Hopefully she'll post all about it, on our group's fledgling blog.

Now, I've got some busyness to do -- Mr HSBoots is on his way home, and when he gets here I should at least look like I've been productive today (and knitting doesn't count). Wish me luck.

A Lot Can Happen in 50km

So here it is: our Fun Day in pictures. Captions are below the photos, not above them (in case the spacing goes all random again).




First, a dress I was dying to buy. Unfortunately, it fit none of us.



Do you recall things like this being in toy stores? Because I don't.



"Oh Mummy, thank you for buying me a nice pasta lunch."



That's Better.



The Gelato Counter. Scene of my humiliation.



The Gelato Customers. That's Caramelatte on the left, and Raspberry Cassis on the right. In the foreground you see Mango.

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On the way home, I took the scenic route. These pictures are of things that all made me feel better, while brooding about my paucity of glamour and surfeit of children.

Clumsy, Bletherer: these are for you. ('Though it wasn't a Sunday morning.)

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What my lovely Nanny used to call 'Happy Cows'.



Study: Barn with Cumulonimbus.



Sounds like fun.



Dear Sir-Who-Drives-This-Vehicle: You should not tickle your female passenger so persistently. Even I can tell she is getting annoyed - it was probably kind of titillating at first, but now it is just pissing her off. Plus, all that distraction might cause you to crash your car. Signed, the Lady Behind You Who Took Most of These Pictures Without Even Slowing Down.




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And now these following are kind of special pictures. When I was a kid growing up here, the most annoying part of this particular route was the tendency of other drivers (particularly tourists) to allow their attention to wander severely while navigating this stretch of road, causing a drastic reduction in speed, and a dangerous meandering. I never got why they were quite so enamoured of the view. But then I matured, and now I have a proper appreciation for it.



To my right




To my left. (That darkish promontory there at centre left is Quadra Island - home of Fun Knits.)



At centre, some people who obviously have their priorities straight.