Intrepid Fiber Wizard

The Floral Edition

A case of Mistaken Identity

Being in a new garden for the very first season has so many delightful surprises... and this one is no exception. What I mistakenly thought was a wisteria vine last fall, is in fact a clematis.
Behold.

The rainy Pacific Northwest weather has given way to a brief respite of sun - and 94 degree temperatures yesterday. The garden is awakening from its slumber.

 

If you happen to be wondering where I am, you can find me in the garden.

Gardening Curiosity

One of the delightful surprises in my new-to-me garden this year is this amazing bush.
It stands beside my driveway, and reaches almost 8 feet tall.
I suspect, that like all the rest of the yard, it has been ignored by the previous tenants for the past five years.

It gave me a few blooms last Sept after I moved in (perhaps grateful for the drinks of water - finally)
And now this spring, it has fully blossomed -
It is so lovely.
One friend called it a "tulip tree" - and perhaps she is correct - yet, I am sending out this query to my gardening pals. Do you know what specifically this is? Its leaves resemble a rhododendron, and open after it has bloomed.    

As you can see, the leaves are just beginning to appear now.
(And yes, for those of you who might ask.. that is my neighbor's yard in the background... the rhodies & azaleas are in full bloom here too!)  I look forward to all your thoughts about whether I should feed it, or trim it, or just let it continue to be the "wild child" that it is right now (which I must admit I am rather enjoying)

G is for....

Garden.

" A plot of land used for the cultivation of flowers , vegetables or fruit."

I am most at home in my garden. It is here that the rich earth calls me to plant myself. I dig and hoe, oblivious to all that surrounds me. Time passes, and suddenly I find that I am weary, and ready for bed.

It is a delightful kind of exhaustion - of a day well spent. Contentment ensues. I feel complete.

It is not unusual for me to lose hours amid my flowers.  I seek their solace often when the rest of the world does not make sense, or when I have a dilemma too large for my hands - and every time, I find solutions in my garden. The world always seems to set a bit easier with me at the end of my day in the garden.

My tending of this small portion of the earth is humbling, invigorating and joyous. I stretch the limits of my knowledge, and the flowers oblige by teaching me their rhythm.
Last week, it snowed and rained from Tuesday until Friday, then Saturday, the first Rhodedendron opened it's petals. Incredible.

So many things have survived my lack of "tending" last fall.

Roses that had not been watered nor pruned for five years prior to my moving to this land, are showing amazing resilience.

I praise their strength and am delighted.

The sweet peas which I sowed in June (very late for them) not only survived but re-seeded.

hurrah.

This unknown shrub survived my harsh pruning - I was yelling at it for smothering another flowering shrub (an azalea I suspect) and I chopped it back so harshly. I thank it for forgiving my harsh pruning, and returning to life.
It not only survived, but has been blooming all winter.

My Wisteria - I ignored it completely last fall. I wasn't familiar with what type it is, and was hesitant to prune it, plus my hand injury limited my ability to do a good job, so I just let it go fallow - wondering if it would survive my negligence.

The garden has been forgiving - and once again welcomes Spring in spite of me. and I am grateful.

I have found that I have learned some of the best  wisdom in the garden. I have learned of impermanence, of right timing, of life that outlasts my own.  I have learned from soil that is too rocky and soil that is rich. I am anxious for spring to settle in, so that I may learn more from this small plot of earth which I now caretake. And I feel completely blessed.

One last word on gardening: I have begun reading a complete gift of a book. "Gardening at the Dragon's Gate" by Wendy Johnson. If you too love gardening, this will be a welcome addition to your shelves. The author is an astute student of life - of history - of gardens. It reads like a novel, and I find that I can hardly put it down. It is an epic work of organic gardening information, as well as history and folk lore from many cultures. Wendy writes as though you were walking through her garden with her on a summer's day - speaking in soft conversational tones of a great master. Bless her.

I leave you with a quote from her marvelous book: "In the first years of Green Gulch Farm, whenever a new Zen student came to work in the garden, he or she was sent out alone to spend the day sitting in meditation somewhere in the garden. When you slow down like this, the real garden is uncovered. And so is the real gardener. You unfold together. This takes time and a willingness to sit still past the moment when you get bored,  or past the moment when you think of at least thirty worthy garden tasks that you need to accomplish immediately. Instead, give yourself all the time in the world, and don't move, even if by the clock you only have half an hour to be in the garden. This is radical cultivation, for out of this stillness,, the real nature of your garden soil is exposed...... but beyond any particular lesson, sitting still on the earth restores you to yourself and to the freshness of the whole garden."

The author, Wendy Johnson, invites you not only into her incredible wisdom about the land, the folklore and it's history, but into her heart as she works the earth. It reads like a novel - and is dense with wisdom about life and gardens.

I do not know if I own my garden, or if it owns me. I am simply grateful for this small plot of earth in which to sink my fingers and feet.

E is for...

Enchant.

..to cast under a spell; bewitch.

..to delight completely; charm; enrapture.

Last fall, amid coping with a smashed heart and crushed hand, I knelt in the misty rain, using my left hand, covered in mud,  and planted bulbs in my backyard garden. It was the promise of spring - the renewal of joy - the continuation of all things good.

Spring is creeping into our lives, and the fairies are dancing.

On the Road again...

So tomorrow, bright and early (think 6-7am folks) we'll be on the road to Idaho. It's about a seven hour drive. (think tons of knitting time! woo hoo)
The big ol' RV is rolling down the road - me knitting, Klaus driving (yay) and our first "road show" of the fiber season.
We're headed off to Idaho, Coeur d'Alene, to be specific. It's the annual conference for Northwest Regional Spinners Association.
Everything's a go - the food is ready, the RV's loaded , the fiber's packed, the wheel is packed, the knitting's in my bag,  - WAIT... the frig in the RV isn't working. sigh.... it's always something (grin) - truly, it's not working. bummer.... yet, we rally !  We'll go loaded with a coleman ice chest or two, and plenty of ice. It'll be fine. The weather predicts mid to high 90's for Idaho this weekend. wow. This show goes from 9 am to 11 pm .. long days, yet wonderful people. good times!

Rv's ..... definition: a hole that drives on the road that you pour money into. yup . that's true. $230 just to fill the gas tanks. (however do those retired folks do it?!)
Anyway, we're off - a grin and a giggle, and looking forward to meeting up with a bunch of spinning friends of ours.
Yay!
Oh - I keep forgetting... here's some lovely stash enhancement from Mia, that I won from a blog contest she held a couple weeks ago. Nice yarn Eh? I love it - thanks so much!

And here are a few parting shots

of my office garden beauties - I just loves me my flowers.

Have a great weekend all - we'll be back Monday or Tuesday. (with an empty RV we hope!)

May 007 Snapshot

May is for mulch.  The month of May is all about gardening for me - preparation for the flowers to come.
As with much of my life, the better I have prepared the garden at this time of year, the sweeter my summer will be.
Some find the mulching stage of life tedious, yet I very much enjoy it.
I dig deep to get the roots of errant grasses who have forced their way, unwanted into the landscape of my garden. The digging is fairly easy where I have mulched in previous years; Turning over new soil, as I widen my garden is tougher - rather like the places in my life that I examine deeply for the first time. I stand on the shovel and jump slightly, spading deep into the dirt, to get the root of each weed. I uproot many of them, the deeper I dig. I find quiet comfort in this step of the journey towards summer.. Surrounded by the heady smell of fresh cedar bark, rich brown soil, and the blooms of nearby lilacs. Uprooting grass blades and wild dandelions offers a time for dreaming as I work. Quiet, soothing conversations with my flowers ensue.  They do not ask much of me - a bit of water, a spritz of liquid fence to keep the deer away, and a bit of mulch to protect their roots in the heat of life. My garden is an easy friend.
Each year the garden offers up a small new treat.
This year's surprise was the bloom of forget-me-nots that I seeded two years ago.
I began the garden here in 2002. Where only rocks and weedy grass stood, there now is a sweet delight for our eyes. The wildflowers are beginning to bloom across the entire hillside - riots of tiny white blooms, vivid orange california poppies, a tall yellow wildflower (who's name I do not know) beckon the goldfinches to come out and play. Amid all these, my garden welcomes the first bloomers of the season - the regal iris - soon to be followed by the scented geraniums, and gladiolas.
While there doesn't seem like much is happening at this time of year in the majority of the garden bed , everything is stirring deep in the dirt. Seeds have been planted, and dream of the flowers they will be. Every week the nights grow warmer, our toes will dance in the grass, fresh laundry will snap on the clothesline - and I count the days until first tomatoes..

Mornings will soon find me up early, wandering the garden in my pj's, watering & nurturing the future beauty.

Every week is new.

 

Friday Eye Candy 2

Ahhh - one of the few hardy survivors of this year's garden neglect. I am truly grateful for gladiolas. :-)

Unexpected Treasures

It was a day of small treasures.

Our hillside, which has grown wild around the house, is filled with wildflowers - normally we have clipped the long grass around our gardens by this time of year, yet due to a busy fiber season, it grows and grows. At this moment, there are actually more flowers than grass. this is good.

california poppies in orange, - yellow -  red, wild daisies, bachelor buttons, dandelions, and a few as yet unknown species. It is beautiful.

My garden, despite it's lack of attention is growing. thank you.

Sock Hop Yarn "Wild Thing" has been spun thin enough (by me) to sell - 1300 yards out of a pound. Life is good. (note to all, our other spinner consistently spins this thin.. I'm improving! :-)

All 45 skeins of superwash merino that I dyed this weekend in Sock Hop colorways came out perfectly - no "oopps" in the batches this time !

And a glorious sunset to complete the day.

What more could a fiberwizard ask ?
absolutely nothing.

A Lovely day off

It was close to the end of the week - and I was ready.... it was time for a day off!  Yippee !
I drove up to Seattle (about 1 hour & 45 minutes from our farm). I got pampered, I treated myself to a gift, and had a fabulous pizza.  Nothing quite beats a fabulous pizza.

The spinning continues, and Cheryl & I wonder how we can squeeze another 10 hours in a day :-) All knitting had ceased, sleep barely happened, the fiber dyeing pots have been cooking up pounds of fiber every day.  The garden is jammed full with weeds that threaten to squish my lovely flowers, laundry isn't getting done, and the dust... well, let's not go there.  I had seen a full quota of clients this week. Our preparations for the two big upcoming fiber fairs were in progress. A rest was in order.

Before my couple of hours being pampered as my daughter did my hair (thank you Erin !), I wandered over to my favorite little yarn shop in Seattle (So Much Yarn). This is a shop that just makes you want to sigh with delight as you enter. The sales staff is cheerful, fun and knowledgable (yahoo) All the yarn is amazing.  I walk around grinning, touching, ooohhing and aaahhing for hours. I never fail to find some grand new project to play with when I visit there.
Here's what I came home with this time :
Lauren (shop owner) designed a fabulous  shrug that has ruffles around the edges. I couldn't help myself - I dove in. (and needless-to-say, I cast on this morning)

Now here's my thought for all you blog knitters around the world : Support your local yarn shops ! Yes, it's true that you might find an amazing bargin on line from one of the humongo cut throat discounters, yes it's true that you might save a few dollars .... BUT (and that's a big but) whatever would we do without a place to go "touch and see" the yarn of our dreams? Who would be there to talk to if we need help with a complicated pattern?.... just sayin'..... How about we all make a little promise to ourselves, to buy at least 1 skein of yarn a month from a small local shop.  Who's in with me?

Meanwhile, back at the farm... it's raining here. Now, some of you might moan over a week's worth of rain, not I, says the fiberwizard. There's weeding to be done (and afterall you can't weed in the rain, all that mud you know) there's grass to be cut (same as before) and there's watering to be done (normally.. ha ha). So instead, I celebrate, doing a small happy dance when I wake and see that it's still raining.. now I can knit! (she giggles in glee)
The flowers are popping open here - and it's truly spring.

On Friday a lovely gift came in my mailbow, from my blogging buddy Leah.... handmade sock yarn bags ! She must have heard me say that I could never have enough (grins). Aren't they lovely ! and yup, I just had to cast on a new sock to jump right into it's lovely bag. Doesn't the  pelennor sock coordinate nicely with the bag? (tee-hee) So now I am the proud owner of three sock bags hand made by Leah and Trek (see earlier post). wander over to their blogs and tell them how fabulous you think they are okay?
I sure am one fortunate fiberwizard. :-)