Basking in Spring

Loving Spring and all the beautiful colors popping out all around us! Lots of adventures exploring the mountains.

Spring Backwoods Mama

I did an interview for Kathy over at Bliss Beyond Naptime to help promote her Spring Backwoods Mama Sew Camp. I had a blast and sewed some very functional and cute clothes at home after my little ones went to bed. I was in her camp last Spring and recommend it if you are beginning to sew or already know what you are doing. I wear my clothes all the time, especially while hanging around the homestead as a Backwoods Mama.

Violet honey

As you can tell I like Violets around here. One of my favorite spring flowers, so sweet and dainty. The little ones helped me pick some Violet flowers from a grassy, sunny spot in our yard. I have been waiting and checking everyday for weeks now. We did not get very many, but we filled a 1/2 pint jar with as much as we had and poured local honey on top. I am hoping to find more throughout the next few weeks to add to our jar, which will be sitting in the sun. The sun will warm the honey and allow the medicinal properties of the flowers to steep out, plus they have a wonderful sweetness. It will make a delicious honey to add to teas, toast and even by the spoonful. Beautiful and we will enjoy every drop!

Violet Star

We welcomed a new french/german angora bunny to our home this past week and named her Violet Star. I was in love with her the moment I petted her long fuzzy ears. Her beautiful silvery fur (known as blue chinchilla) drew me in thinking about moments of future blissful spinning. The woman who raised her cut her fur before Adeline and I brought her home. She probably had about 3 inches of fur sticking out from her body, a big fluff ball. I was amazed at how much smaller she was after she lost her coat! Of course the little ones are thrilled to pet her and give her plenty of treats. They carry her bits of papaya, apples, banana, parsley, kale, chickweed, oregano, and willow sticks. She is very sweet and we are planning on building her a small run in our yard tomorrow so she can be a bit more active. She lives in a hutch outside our kitchen door and comes in our house from time to time to play. Bunny love over here!

Spring scarf

My mother in law, June, was visiting last week and I thought I would wip up a quick project while she was around and offering to help. I made the figure 8 scarf from Anna Maria Horner's blog post. I used up fabric I had in my stash, a soft voile on one side and a hemp cotton knit on the other. I did not have enough voile so it was not quite as wide as the one in her pattern. But I love how it turned out for cool spring mornings and evenings. Now that it is done it feels like early summer!! Guess I need to start on my summer sewing projects. I also had a wee little sprite running around mischievously with a water bottle today.
I got a few mists as well as our german shepherd Aliya. She thought it was the funniest thing, silly one! Next time I may add a few drops of lavender essential oil, rose water and mint leaves for a cooling and relaxing spritz.

Milk magic

I forgot to share a project the little ones had fun doing a few weeks ago when we were all stuck at home sick. I poured milk in a shallow dish. Kelwyn and Adeline put drops of food coloring into the milk making rainbow colors. Next we all dipped toothpicks into dish soap and added drops of it to the milk mixture. It was really wild to watch the colors swirl and change, creating beautiful color combinations and shapes! Very neat and easy project. I cannot remember exactly where I found it, maybe on Pinterest.

Winding

I had wee little hands helping me get ready for my next knitting project this afternoon. She said "Mama the yellow is so beautiful!" I must agree with her. We were winding 2 skeins of Quince and Co., Osprey, in Carrie's yellow.
It will make a lovely spring knit, turning into the Annabel cardigan. I hear it is a quick knit, so hopefully I can wear it while we are still having some cool mornings and evenings. I have been working on some fingerless gloves for Slater the past few weeks and needed a bit of a break from the tiny size 2 needles. I am getting close to finishing one of them, crossing my fingers they will fit!! I have been working on these gloves off and on for a couple years now, adjusting the pattern, ripping it out and starting over several times.Loving the bright and sunny Spring yellow! It reminds me of all the dancing daffodils Kelwyn has proudly been bringing me all week. Sweet one.A future knitter or winder of yarn perhaps.....

Core spun

I spun my first official core spun yarn (spinning fibers around an inner layer of fiber or yarn) out of a lovely art batt from Hobbledehoy. I love this technique, it is a bit different than spinning two separate yarns and plying them together, which is what I have done with most of my fiber. I have been trying out a few new techniques lately that produce yarns with more texture or art yarns. The possibilities with spinning is endless and so exciting! The finished core spun yarn has lots of texture in thick and thin, different fibers (wool, alpaca, camel, bamboo, silk) scattered throughout and a bit of sparkle. I think I will try to knit a loose shawl or cowl to bring out some of my favorite colors in one yarn!