The Garden

There were wonderful and beautiful iris. Almost at peak bloom they were.  I scurried out to photograph one evening.  And later that night…we were wakened by…hail!  Loud hail.  Big! Loud! Hail!

Hail that not only sliced iris blooms but made lace of hollyhock leaves, mashed soapwort, mangled hosta, dashed the newly opened peonies, and also…watered the basement.

I dutifully deadheaded later, and noted that the hateful hail even damaged the buds of my iris! It’s a good year to be a roofer in northern Colorado.  But! There were still blooms to come and I enjoyed them even more, I think, because of the destruction.

And then, when the last vestige of the icey destroyer was shaken off?  The night before we left for Mexico?

More hail.  So much for Iris 2011.  Whatever. (At least it wasn’t a wheat crop….)

Now it’s time to move on.  Lavendar is in full spread.  Roses are starting.  Carrots show promise, and so do the peas.

And the first evening back from our trip, sitting on the patio?  The fragrance of my honeysuckle was evident.

My tomatoes survived.  So there’s that.

The Wool Market

(Which seems like ancient history)

On my own, I drove up early.  I will say that on most June mornings, a drive up the mountain is a glorious thing.  And so it was the Saturday of the Estes Park Wool Market.

I got there a shade before opening, which of course meant the vendor barn was OPEN! For business! Also not nearly as crowded that time of day as later. I win!

I think the EPWM is of a good size.  One vendor barn, lots of variety, and not terrible overwhelming.  Just right!  I managed to support the economy without breaking the personal bank.

And I added to the stash, and paid no attention to my goal of not adding to the stash (unless it is a killer bargain or souvenir yarn) (unless I consider the Wool Market a vacation, and ALL of it souvenir yarn) (but that is Extreme Rationalizing…even for me):

Prepared roving: 50/50 camel/silk; 50/50 bamboo/merino (dyed) (I had a gift cert!); some blue-faced Leicester; and some suri (a thank you gift) (see below)

Raw fleece: 2.6 lbs of Australian Bond, and 2.3 lbs of Romeldale

Yarn: 1 oz of 15% qiviut.  Oh yes I did!  And just for about a minute?  I thought seriously of the 100% qiviut….at $90/oz.

(Yeah….no.)  But as I write this…I am doing the math.  15% for $30….or 100% for $90.  I think the 100% is a better deal!  More qiviut for the buck!!! D-oh!

Accessories: Hand-turned Wraps Per Inch gauge

Wonderful Guy rode the Bandit up and met me for a lunch, picking me up at the fairgrounds. After lunch, I found the alpaca tent, and within the alpaca tent, the suri association booth.  I had seen a message in the EPWM forum on Ravelry that they were looking for some spinners to demo mad spinning skilz, and well, it worked out that I could do that.

And I did.  Now it is important to understand that this is scary stuff for me...people I don’t know, out in the public, doing stuff where others might be all judgey judgey.  Three strikes and I could bow out very easily. (Oh…I couldn’t find the door to the tent… I was going to be 5 minutes late so I figured you wouldn’t want me to come… the wind was blowing…any excuse will do!)

But I went, and I spun for strangers, on a wheel that wasn’t Molly the Marvelous Matchless, and it was fun and awesome, and people were friendly and there were two neighborly alpacas that kept looking over their pen at me wondering what I was doing.  AND! they gave me free suri roving to boot.  Win again!

After two hours, someone else came to spin, and I was done. I gathered my swag, and headed down the mountain.

Blue skies, snow capped mountains, a bit of a breeze, yarny goodness, wool bearing critters, good spinning, and a bit of a ride on the Bandit.

Life is good indeed.

Incidentals

(because I have been just overwhelmed and so busy of late)
Biking this year: 130+ miles (just June, got a late start)

Knitted on the flight to Mexico, packed bamboo needles for knitting on the way home, hearing how Mexican security is about knitting needles, but ended up packing them. I was past thinking that hard. I haven’t knit a stitch in 12 days and counting.

4 blocks left on Grandgirl #3’s quilt.

One raw fleece (of 4 requiring it) scoured. It’s a CVM/Romeldale from a local farm, a covered, skirted fleece that was so clean, I might just be in love.

I gained 2 pounds on vacation. We are going to visit the Guy’s dad and step-mom over the 4th…she who usually has home-made cookies for the snacking. I am doomed.

3 posts written but requiring photo editing. They are good, exciting posts. Sort of.

Today’s high…100 (or close enough).

RIP

Rest in peace, Sheba, under the lilac.

Your peeps are wating to greet you in Kitty Heaven, where everything is wild catnip and free range rodents.

You were a good cat, and I will miss you.

Why Don't She Write?

Well, it's like this.  I have been on the go.  And for a week, without internet.  Well, I could have paid for it, but see the new header?

Well...I didn't need the internet with that view a minute's walk from our room.

Since I last wrote, I went to the Estes Park Wool Market, and bought wonderful stuff, which I shall tell about. Later.

After the wool market weekend, which was wonderful, I picked up our passports from the safety deposit box at the bank, and gathering all necessary and appropriate documentation, I packed.  I even anticipated Mexican security prohibiting metal knitting needles on the flight back, and planned appropriately.

Armed with camera and laptop (for downloading all the photos I was going to take), knitting and reading, shorts, tanks, swimsuits, dress and shawl for the wedding, we flew south of the border.

Where right off the bat, the fancy smancy camera lenses fogged up! And continued to do so everytime it emerged from inside to outside. One cooler evening, I was able to take several photos, and thought I had 'the trick'. Booyah! However the next morning...camera wouldn't even turn on!! Seems condensate formed on some little contact somewhere.  It was torture as I was not the only one with a camera that was not functioning properly.  Fortunately, I, as well as others, had taken our little cameras that worked very well.

Very frustrating. At least the camera is working now.  Now that I am...you know....HOME!!!!

We saw Eldest married successfully. I snorkeled for the first time. We were allowed back into the country.

The following day, Lovely Step-Daughter arrived from Desert Crazy Town for a friend's bridal shower, and we saw her....for lunch!

Then I took a nap.  For 2 hours.  Or maybe more.  I didn't count.

More details will be forthcoming. I just felt the need to re-surface.