making a slow day of it

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...

ps. finished the "honeysuckle" shawl so i'll have it and my new "greek island" shawl in the show/sale

humber valley resort craft celebration

this 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.

ps i'm trying to finish my honeysuckle shawl for the sale...

reaching another goal

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 that's breaking out in bloom right now. i'll be knitting a honeysuckle shawl.

frida's 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...

what we don't know...

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...

the mind slows...

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...

frida

i'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.