my blog will be one year old tomorrow. it's become part of my life. a visual and written record of my creative thought and activities. a means of sharing and connecting. my diary. thanks to all of you who check in regularly.
sooo... i picked up my drum carder in st. john's. now i can take fleece, dye it, spread it out and add all sorts of different colours, yarns, fibres, glitter, cut up commercial novelty yarns. run it through the carder. spin it. and have the yarn i dreamed of knitting with. i'm the
re.
i'm still trying to meet my (much reduced) quota of yarn/knitting each day, so eamon has been conscripted. here he's dyeing yarn in kool-aid (wonderful colours and non-toxic). he's doing well on the wheel too.
my friend colette has started an organic farm and each week now delivers a large bag of fresh greens. the light and colour of these greens inspired my latest yarn. 
ps. i leave early tomorrow morning to pick up my grandson in st. john's. he'll be spending most of august with us...
in north america, the sun rises first on signal hill, st. john's newfoundland, canada. often the cliffs are shrouded with early morning fog and the sun is but a pale whisper. this is what inspired my latest scarf. it's knit from a single large bobbin full of my handspun - corriedale and marino wool and a little angelina sparkle.
when i was 17 i moved from north of toronto to the core of the city. walking to work early every day (cashier at loblaws at yonge and bloor) i thrilled at the city waking up. the shop owners hosing down the sidewalks. the fruit and vegetable stands being set up. all the sounds, the sights a little louder and brighter. 
my goal today is to take it slow. a little knitting, a little spinning, a little time in the garden. reading the saturday globe on the back deck with a double iced cappucino. this evening we all get together at the humber resort and set up the "furniture" of the show. tomorrow morning at 7:00 we'll meet again and arrange the product. the show opens at 10:00 and lasts till 4:00. so today i'll take it slow...
his sunday, july 20th we're having a "craft celebration" show and sale at the eagle's perch at humber valley resort just outside of corner brook. it will take place between 10:00 and 4:00. it's open to the residents of the resort and the general public. 12 of our craft group are participating and there will be high end pottery, glass, yarn, knitting, felting, rug hooking, weaving, painted canvas mats and some small paintings. we'll also have some work (beadwork, carvings, tea dolls etc.) from labrador that the newfoundland and labrador craft council has sent for us to promote and sell. we organized this event to showcase what wonderful work is being made here on the west coast. we'll have demonstrations of many of the techniques we use.
i finished off the painted birdhouse yesterday (a fundraiser for the woody point writer's festival) and as a reward, attached my new jumbo flyer to my spinning wheel. last september, while i was in new york city, i found a skein of ozark handspun by david gentsch and knew i had to learn how to spin so that i could make yarn like that. it's thick and nubbly and wonky. this jumbo flyer is gonig to allow me to do that (the opening is larger so i can feed thicker yarn through it and the bobbin is bigger so it holds more). last night we were out to the opening of this summer's gros morne music festival, so it wasn't till i got home that i had a chance to try it out (i tore myself away at 11:30). my inspiration is the honeysuckle th
at's breaking out in bloom right now. i'll be knitting a honeysuckle shawl.
i finished my "frida kahlo" shawl on the weekend and since then have knit another ("greek island") and a number of scarves. my scarves and shawls have been selling well this week - a couple of shawls from my home studio on sunday and a couple of scarves on etsy yesterday. i'm adding more and more handspun and because of this have been raising my prices but it doesn't seem to matter. it's summer and sales are picking up. i just have to keep knitting...
ps. today i'm having a kid's showcase on the home page of etsy to highlight some of my baby and children's products...
for days the crows have been louder than usual. on sunday we discovered the cause of their distress. a baby crow was hidden in the tall grass behind the shed. he could hop but not fly.he still had fuzz on his head and breast, but feathers on his wings. when we picked him up and fed him bread his eyes showed more curiosity than fear. the adult crows hovered over us and sqwuaked. what to do? i called evelyn (my friend who runs the bay of islands spca and who has a rescued crow for a pet). she claims crows are smarter than dogs. she explained to me that this is what crows do. when the wing feathers appear, they scatter their babies (so that the babies aren't all in one place for predators to get). they continue to feed the babies, watch over them, and encourage them to learn how to fly. i'm always amazed at how little i know...
there are longer strands of time at the cabin. especially if i'm alone. i'm up with the sun and go to bed with the sun. there's little i need to do. most of the food preparation is done before i set out. there's no laundry. no phone. no computer. not even a shower.
my mind slows. i walk along the beach for water or up onto the land and pick wildflowers. i read (this weekend it was a new dyeing book) and i knit. a shawl and 2 scarves this weekend. i come back relaxed and refreshed...
m heading down to the cabin later today and will probably stay until sunday. yesterday i prepared alot of yarn (spinning and dyeing) to take with me for my next shawl. the colours are inspired by frida kahlo. hot and bright. cicadas and hibiscus. i even spun some lace into one of the skeins. 
y mother had 4 children in the first 5 years of her marriage. when the oldest were at school, and the baby was sleeping, she would harness me up and tie me to the big poplar tree in the front yard. this gave us both the freedom we needed. she could have a nap or clean the house. i could safely watch the happenings out in the street. i could play in the ditch that always seemed to have a trickle of water in it. mostly i remember the tree. the roughness of the bark. the smell of
the catkins in the spring. making "soup" out of the leaves.
when we bought this house 10 years ago, there were many magnificant trees on the property but no gardens. every year since i have added gardens. planted and replanted perrenials. shifted bushes around. discarded plants that weren't thriving. now - in it's 10th year- the garden is lush and mature and mostly just there to enjoy. and inspire...
thouse. i find i notice the day. am keenly aware of the sunset because when it's gone, i'm in darkness (the cabin is in dark cove - so named for good reason). this time of year it's well after 10:00, so long full days. i'm lucky that i can take my work with me. finished another shawl and knit a scarf. on sunday did a thorough clean of the cabin. abigail stays with me. a good little companion. back and forth across the beach for water and walks wears her out. when the sun sets we're both ready for bed... 
in all of my art - painting, rug hooking, and now knitting - colour is the element i find most exciting. so it makes sense that next i'll be wanting to make my own colours. yesterday i picked the remaining peony petals (we'd had strong wind and rain so they were finished). i boiled them up. 
are now available in my etsy shop.
yesterday was canada day. i didn't have a flag to fly so picked red and white flowers instead. the day started out cold and rainy (so cold that i was able to dry my yarn in front of the fire). but by afternoon the winds shifted, the skies cleared and summer began...
my mother was beautiful. when i was a child in the 1950's i would sit on the side of the bed and watch her get ready for an evening out. she had a skirted vanity table. she would apply pancake makeup and rouge and she would curl her eyelashes before applying cake maybeline mascara. she had a strapless evening gown that was pink and covered with spun-sugar netting. the finishing touch was a dab of evening in paris perfume behind each ear. the bottle was navy and elegant. my latest scarf reminds me of all that...
