Follow the adventures of me, QuiltmakerB, as I continue to raise my nearly adult children, help run the family farm, and begin my new online business, Alpaca Flats, LLC.
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
We are into the final days of autumn here in NW Ohio. Actually, our season has lasted longer than normal, I think. It's beginning to get chilly overnight, but the days are rather warm and very breezy. Towards evening we often get short, fast-moving showers. Then the sun tries to peek back under the clouds just before sunset and makes beautiful rainbows. Last week we had rainbows two evenings in a row!
In the kitchen we're working on putting up apples. We have over 30 quarts of apple pie filling, a multitude of applesauce, and a fair amount of apple butter. After three days of cranking the apple peeler/slicer/corer and processing jar after jar of produce, I have had my fill of the smell of apples and cinnamon!
This year's crop of alpaca fiber is back from the mill. This year I have skeins and skeins of yarn in different natural colors and weights. I also have rovings to spin, great heavy bumps for large-needle knitting, and felted sheets for sewing. By special request I've dyed some fiber...my first foray into professional dyes. I used my trusty old crockpot and dyed three or four skeins at a time. The yarn came out of the pot bright and variegated. Happy dyer, happy customer!
I've been working on my knitting over the last year or so. I now consider myself to be a confident advanced beginner! I've just finished this watermelon-colored shawl. Making the triangles was a slight challenge, but I'm very pleased with the results! Next I will try to conquer cables!
And last, but certainly not least...reading material! When I can find a quiet moment, I've been working my way through the Murdoch Mysteries by Maureen Jennings. I started reading them after I finished the Murdoch Mysteries tv series. I would say that the programs are loosely based on the books. The William Murdoch in the books is now a completely different character in my head. But I love the historical nature of the novels and will be very disappointed when these are finished as well. Enjoy!