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So, last weekend, Elayne, my partner in crime, and I escaped the howling winds and drenching rains of Tropical Storm Fay and headed to Mountain City, GA for a fun filled weekend of natural dyeing at the Foxfire Museum – yes, the Foxfire of multi-volume fame.
The weather was sunny and balmy, in the 70’s both days for a delightful workshop that was held mostly outdoors due to the nature of the workshop. We had some lecture and skein preparation time on the first day in the Long House, however.
There were 13 eager learners, some of them repeat students from last year and mostly local to the area.
Our esteemed teacher was Cheri Jackson, R.N., midwife, herbalist and natural dyer extraordinaire. This lady really knows her chemistry. She was knocking about words I haven’t heard since pharmacy school. Here she is tending the pot of cochineal I posted in my teaser post.
Between all of us, we managed to produce 22 samples, some of which are shown here drying:
We used, in addition to the cochineal, osage orange. Here I am peering into that pot.
We also used, day lilies, dog fennel (which I am delighted to discover we have in abundance adjacent to our property), broom sedge, marigolds…
which produce a vivid yellow, as does the osage orange, alkanet, which turned out to be a muddy gray. I was expecting purple… ah well.
We also did an indigo bath and dyed some wool up straight…..
(the skein on the left is mine – dog fennel overdyed with indigo), then overdyed various skeins to get these stunning results…
Gosh, it was fun, but I’m not kidding when I say it was hard work, too. Lucky Elayne took some good pictures, as I was too busy most of the time flitting from pot to pot.
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Tags: handspinning, dyeing, natural dyes
What I did last weekend.
More to come. Right now, I must be off to work. 
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I pooped…
ETA: I’m pooped. Thanks, Theresa for pointing out my boo boo. See even my fingers were tired.
We’re moved.
I came back over to the rental to pick up a few more things, so I thought I’d check in.
I told Bill tonight I feel like I am 100 years old. He snapped back with, “You don’t look a day over 90.” It might be due to my total exhaustion, but I actually thought that was funny.
The good news is that my kitchen is about ready to go. Feels good not to have to unpack all that stuff after moving in.
I may be in and out of touch. We don’t get internet at the new digs until Thursday, even though I can tote my laptop around and get some free Wi-Fi at restaurants and such.
Wish us luck!
Looks like we are reverting to our original plan and moving Saturday. Yes, THIS Saturday!!
What with all the stress we have been going through, something had to give. We took off, almost at a moment’s notice, on a whirlwind trip to see the kids. Left about 3 o’clock on Saturday, got down there a little after 6 on Saturday night and stayed until about 8:30 last night. You can do a lot in 26.5 hours, if you have a mind to. It was good for us, too. We needed some pampering, and the kids excelled at this.
First, we went over to the Polynesian Resort and had a lovely dinner at Kona. The food was wonderful – the company even more so. We walked around and shopped a little bit afterward, then strolled along the lagoon for a bit before going back to Phillip and Jessie’s house in Celebration. We watched TV a bit, talked, and generally had a relaxing evening. We watched a show about Disney Cruises, since the 4 of us will be taking a short one in September! Should be fun. I have never been on a cruise.
This is their adorable house. I would say, “little”, but it is bigger than the one we are building, so I guess I can’t get away with that. Their 2 cats really adjusted fast to their new digs. I have never seen them happier. ( Jessie and Phillip love it too). Had a wonderfully relaxing sleep. (Should have, since their guest bed used to be the bed Bill and I had). The next morning, I was up before the average bear and looked at one of their cookbooks…. Everyday Italian by Giada De Laurentis. Ymmmm. What a great cookbook!
After everyone got their gears going, we headed toward the Home Depot Expo Center. Before going in, we had to get our strength up and ate at a place called Greens and Grille. I had a “Summer Sweet” Salad that had a spring mix, apples, oranges, cranberries, sugared almonds with a citrus vinaigrette. I had it topped off with grilled Tiger Shrimp. (Are you getting a feel for this mini trip yet? We ate quite well.) We went along to the Expo and bought a brushed nickel soap and shampoo holder for our shower. Didn’t really buy anything else, but had fun looking at all the things they had, including an electric, heated toilet seat.
We headed back to the house awhile. I forgot to mention that Phillip and Jessie had just gotten iPhones. We had fun all through the day playing with them. Here, Jessie smiles and shows hers off:
While Phillip is just smiling:
We then decided to spend a couple of hours over at Animal Kingdom, so we rode over that way.
It was a little hot to be in a theme park set out to mostly be a forest. Not much air moving around to cut the humidity, but we had a good time on the safari ride. Some giraffes decided to really get up close and personal. I don’t think I have ever been this close to a giraffe ever.
After that, we opted to go get BLT sandwiches and flop back at the house yet again. We watched a very different movie. Interesting, but quite surreal, all the same. The name of the movie was MirrorMask.
After that, it was time to head home. We got home around 12:30 am… tired, but contented. It was definitely what we needed.
I was reading a post on Ravelry recently and was delighted to discover this great resource on the internet.
It is called Smartflix. It is just what it sounds like. It is an online video store that specializes in “how to” DVDs. And yes, you cant rent spinning, knitting, dyeing and weaving videos from the site. A rental costs $9.99 and you get to keep it a week from the time of receiving it. It has a prepaid return box. Pretty cool if there is something you really want to learn.
Can I bore you with more kitchen pictures:
You can’t tell I am getting anxious to get moved, can you? And yes, we have a moving date. August 20.
(The next day Elayne and I leave for the natural dye workshop at Foxfire. She is getting to share our first night in our new house. Fortunately, she is up for the adventure!!)
Another look at the bee-you-tee-ful finished kitchen:
Look closely and you can see our pretty drawer handles. Our cabinet man could not believe we wanted so many drawers. Drawers do totally rock!! We had lots in our last house and got very spoiled.
Today, Sally comes to pick up some more llama poo for her composting.
Grin… I get to show off the house. It looks a lot different from the last time she came.
I want to thank all my friends for their recent comments. For going with me through the building process (good and bad) and the grieving process. You are all precious to me.
Goodnight, Bongo
November 2005 – August 5,2008
You whistled, talked and flew your way into our hearts. We will never forget your winning ways nor your adorable antics. Your unexpected and untimely passing will leave a big void in our lives.
Sleep well, sweet baby bird.
Bill grouted our kitchen tile this afternoon (and did a great job, by the way). The tile person was another sub we had some problems with. Did you know it is almost impossible to get someone to do a small tile job around these parts? Anyhow, here is a close up of our tile:
It sure is nice to have a handy husband at hand.
OK, you are getting this in increments. Too much at once might cause hyperventilation (by me, at least!)
Here is the wall that still needs some spit and polish. The crown molding is not finished on the cabinets on this side. (Cabinet man and his wife and adorable daughter went on vacation this week – that’s fine, he has been a great help and does awesome work. His cabinet business is his “second” job, and he really, really deserved a rest). Also, there is a boo boo on the tile on this wall we have to figure out how to fix. (Not in the picture). Also, please note we didn’t have the protective wrapping off the dishwasher yet).
Now, isn’t this nice? This picture shows off my lovely duel fuel range and Advantium oven. The tile looks especially nice in this corner, don’t you think?
Now, get ready for maximum impact.
Tada…
Shifting gears, here is my good friend Donna, whom I taught to knit recently. She is showing off her first shawl. I think she knit a gazillion wash cloths before starting on a shawl. She did an excellent job. She is so clever… see her beads? She is an awesome beader also!
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