Gardening, Spinning, Beading, and Estes

A little bit about my garden:

Same bed in the back yard--2006,2007 and 2008. This bed is a challenge because it is in a very shady spot in the back yard. Ground covers work best in it.


2008 Iris--in the bed in the back yard and on the north side of the house.

I'm a flower gardener (ie--I don't grow a vegetable garden)--We moved into this house 3 years ago (literally a day before Hannah was born--not on purpose, mind you--anyway--that's another long story). So the first summer we were here we didn't work on the yard at all, in fact it wasn't until later in the summer that we discovered that we had a huge thistle plantation on the side of the house that we hadn't noticed at all. They went to seed. We're still digging up thistles on that side of the house--though they are under control now.
I'm working on putting in drought tolerant plants (this is Colorado, after all) that bloom at different times of the summer so that there is always something blooming. The great thing about my garden this year is that it is pretty much taking care of itself. I can't tell you how much I adore Iris. And my Iris this year were spectacular. Now the lilies are getting ready to bloom. Last year the first blossom opened on my birthday--we'll see if that happens again!

Hannah's sweater
I'm working on Hannah's sweater with the hope of finishing it this Autumn. I had spun up more yarn, but it is too thin . I tried knitting it up and it would distort the sweater eventually--not right away--but by the time I made enough squares the top half of the sweater would be shorter, way shorter. So I purchased more BFL dyed top from Chameleon Colorworks (though they didn't have the same colorway (!)--originally I had purchased Autumn, but now they stock October--it has less acid green in it and more pink. I think that I'll be able to make it work. I still have some of the original Autumn left so I can transition to the new colorway.

Here are two bumps of October over the portion of the sweater that is knitted with Autumn. Next to it all the bumps I have--the one on top is a silk/Merino blend in the Autumn colorway--which I wasn't planning on using for this project because it is a different fiber content.
Then the bump on the right is the Autumn, the bumps in the center and on the left are October. The ball of yarn in the top left hand corner is the too thin yarn that I'll have to use for something else.
Beading



I'm nearly done with Hannah in Helen's Hands. I think it will happen this week. It is headed to a good home. I've enjoyed the time I've spent with it. It is hard for me to put into words what it means--I guess that's why it is visual. This photo that my sister took captures the essence of amazing strength in people who appear fragile, the powerful connection between generations, the cycles of life.




Estes Park Wool Market
Hannah and I went together--she was great.



I love the mountain setting combined with sheep, llamas, alpacas, goats, rabbits, and mountains of fiber! We had a great time.