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Summer Eye Candy

August 29, 2009 in August 2009 | No comments

Hibiscus

Hibiscus 2

Fresh from the garden – my hibiscus is in full bloom, filled with big, bold flowers.

I managed to get outside on Friday morning before work and take these before this weekend’s rainy and unusually cool weather set in.  Now, I sit in my house, on a late August Saturday afternoon, windows just cracked and curled up in sweats and handknit socks.  At last check, it was only 61.  To think, it was 90 earlier in the week.  Gotta love New England weather.  The rain is not conducive to dyeing, so I’ve spent the day catching up on some other Painted Sheep stuff – namely, paperwork.  Not how I originally intended to spend my day but in the end, it feels good to finally have my books in great shape.  I intend to spend the rest of this day making a big pot of chili and working on Allegoro.  Not such a bad way to spend a Saturday.

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Sweet Caroline

May 26, 2008 in May 2008 | 1 comment

One of the highlights of this weekend was Sweet Caroline – both the colorway and the plant that inspired it. There’s a story behind both. And of course, the thought of this gets the song running through my head – sing along with me and I’ll me explain.

Of all the flowers in my gardens, Sweet Caroline is my favorite. And when I refer to gardens, I mean all those I’ve had – in our current house and the house in Baldwinsville. My first attempts at gardening were at the house in Baldwinsville. I had no idea what I was doing. I got lucky and found a fabulous local place, Phoenix Flower Farm, that specialized in perennials. The owner was so helpful to me, showing me all kinds of wonderful things that I could plant and inviting me to come visit the farm frequently to wander the gardens and see things as they changed during season, picking out things here and there for my garden. He was especially good at helping me choose things that would both do well in our snowy climate and that would add a special touch to the garden. On one of my mid summer visits, I fell in love with a bright pink hibiscus, with a beautiful yellow center and deep green leaves – Sweet Caroline (of course, named after the Neil Diamond song). It looked like something that belonged in Hawaii – not the middle of snow country. The owner was encouraging and adamant that I would make it work in the garden and that it would make a perfect centerpiece. Still skeptical, I planted it mid summer. The next year when everything but Sweet Caroline came back in the spring, I returned to the farm, explaining that I needed a replacement for my beloved hibiscus. I was sent home empty handed and told to be patient – that it would come back bigger and better. It took its sweet time, but it came back. I was rewarded with a beautiful show of those bright pink flowers every summer that we lived in Baldwinsville.

Our move to CT in 2005 meant leaving our garden and all of the wonderful plants. I kept detailed notes and pictures of my favorites. The first spring in our current house, we planned our garden and started looking for our favorite plants. The one thing that I just couldn’t find was my Sweet Caroline. I looked for it in every garden shop, asked about ordering it – no one had and no one could get it. I planted a couple of other varieties of hibiscus instead – pretty but not so pretty as Sweet Caroline.

During a dye day sometime last summer, I recreated Sweet Caroline from my memory of the flowers in a colorway of the same name. Bright pink with bits of yellow and deep green, just like Sweet Caroline in bloom. And yes, I sing the song every time I dye it!

A couple of weeks ago, I stopped at a local garden center. I stopped dead and squealed when I spotted them – my Sweet Caroline! I found it!!! At last! I picked up one for me and one for my Mom for a Mother’s Day gift. It made my day. They’re little shoots still that Ev planted them in the flower bed in front of the living room window this weekend: In late July or early August, I’ll have the floral version of this: Sweet Caroline on merino/tencel.  While Ev planted, I dyed up the colorway inspired by my favorite flower.  Can’t wait to see the two side by side!

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Done!

May 26, 2008 in May 2008 | 1 comment

Dyeing: done!

Melody: finished!

Garden: planted!

Me: sore all over but so, so happy!

All that was finished since Saturday night (not to mention that Ev painted the bathroom ceiling while I was gone Saturday). It was a very productive weekend. Here’s a rundown and pictures of what we accomplished this long weekend.

Dyeing – the Guild’s order is done and my shop is restocked. After yesterday’s record-breaker, I woke up this morning and immediately thought, “I should just do a couple of extra pounds of BFL for the shop while I’m at it”. No doubt I was still fuzzy from the muscle relaxants! In spite of my sore muscles, I did indeed do 2 pounds of BFL for the shop, in addition to finishing up the last 5 pounds of BFL for the Guild. Grand total for the weekend: a whopping 25 pounds of roving. Holy shit! Its a LOT of roving. Here’s a picture of just yesterday’s 12 pounds of dyeing: Once its all piled up, the weekends’ dyeing will cover my 6 foot table – at least 18 inches deep. As you can see, I played with colors! I did a lot of my more popular colorways and experimented a bit with the merino/tencel. Here’s pictures of my favorite stuff from the weekend:

Merino/Tencel Rovings Alpaca Blend Roving

Merino Superwash Roving

Here’s the sad news: this was just a tease, unless of course, you come to the Coventry Regional Farmer’s Market on June 1 or the Nutmeg Spinner’s Guild meeting on June 7. No Etsy update until after June 7. In all fairness, only the merino/tencel and the superwash are ready yet – the rest (including the Guild stuff) needs to be pre-drafted and packaged yet. The good news, for me at any rate, is that the dyeing is done. The rest will come in bits of spare time over the next week or two.

Melody: finished this afternoon! Woo hoo! I did two things absolutely against my knitter’s better judgement: I dropped a whole lot stitches and then cut. Melody is now a fringed rectangular shawl, as she was meant to be. Right now, she’s getting a good soaking in some warm water and Eucalan, then I’ll pin her out to dry. Pictures of every step and the finished product tomorrow. If you catch me in the right mood, I might even model her…

Garden: we planted our herbs and our vegetable garden today. Well technically, Ev planted. My back would have none of it. Believe me, I tried. I’ve been aching to play in the garden. I “supervised” – meaning I placed plants where they should go, Ev moved them around before planting them and I kept my mouth shut. Say hi to my hard working hubby! We kept things simple this year, planting only what we know does well and that we will eat every last bit of: tomatoes and peppers. Same varieties as last year in the tomatoes – Roma, Big Boy and cherries and like last year, a total of 6. In the peppers, we did red and green bell and a jalepeno. And as usual, we did our herbs in pots on the deck. Nothing like walking outside to snip fresh herbs for dinner. I can’t wait for summer! While Ev worked, I walked around the yard and took a few pictures of the gardens on the front and sides of the house. This rose bush (one of three that have been at the house for years and years) is about to bloom. As usual, its loaded with buds. The Siberian Iris is just starting to bloom and my day lilies are taking off. Both of the Fairy mini-roses that I planted last year are doing well – in fact you’d never know that I pruned them way back around Easter. We planted 3 lilac bushes (3 different varieties) during our first spring in the house. For the first time, all three bloomed this year. This one’s my favorite. This is the “problem child” of our yard. We didn’t plant this forsythia, nor did we plant the hydrangea to its left or the climbing rose to its right and for the life of me, I can’t figure out why they’re planted this close together. The forsythia is doing well – so well that its threatening to choke out both of its neighbors, especially the rose. Much as I love forsythia, I’m trying to figure out how to get rid of it without taking out both of the other plants. Ev wants to “prune” it. I see a battle in our future. A decision for another day. I’m ticked that everything is doing so well in the yard.

I’m exhausted, sore and I still need to finish washing out some of today’s dyeing. More pictures of the weekend’s activity over the next few days. Hope you had a great weekend!

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