In Oklahoma

lives David's daughter, who is the mother of our three lovely young granddaughters. Gillian is 7,Annabelle is almost 3, and Gaberielle is just about a month in these photos.




The girls adore David, and all three of them have a great time playing together. David is really just a kid in disguise, anyway.

Annabelle is intensely interested in "Baby Sissy" and has to be assisted often because she's too young to be able to hold her properly. But Gaberielle will not grow up without lots of love and assistance from her older sisters.

Locally......

First, flowers in our yard:

And recently spun yarn, fiber from local shepherds and fiber artists. On the left, a merino, silk, camel blend spun from a carded batt produced by Barb. I spun one ply using a long woolen draw, and one ply using a short worsted draw. I really could tell a difference in the finished singles, which was the purpose of the experiment. Then I plied the two together and I'm very happy with the result. This yarn is wonderfully soft.

On the right are singles spun from a delightful roving acquired from Kay. The ewe from which it came is a Shetland/Romney cross and this was just a joy to spin. It let me finally understand how important the fiber and preparation are to being able to "spin for softness and speed" (from the title of the Paula Simmons book which details how to spin lofty singles). I could spin this roving for hours with pleasure. I've already asked Kay for more of this gorgeous stuff.

And yes, Diana, there is a shocking lack of color. Will this help? Coopworth, beautiful, lustrous stuff, acquried from Martha who got it SAFF last year, and I added a tiny bit of naturally dyed Corriedale. This was my own carded batt and very nice to spin as well.

Mr. Maize

Isn't he adorable? And he's knitting!! (click to make him bigger)

Mr. Maize was a present from my friend, spinning and knitting buddy Jan. He was made by needle felting, and dressed in recyled and felted clothing.

Jan is so creative - a real artist!

Mr. Maize has takien up residence as my spinning and ball winding supervisor. He can't hang out upstairs because the cats would disassemble him. He keeps my Stash Weasel company.

Thanks Jan!!