In The Zone

The past couple of weeks since I’ve been home from Maine have been a blur of hangin’ with friends and just generally running around like a cranium-less barnyard fowl. There’s been Farmer’s Markets, brunches, lunches and suppers…knit nights, knit days, geocaching, game playing, shopping, and movies. But this week I started to feel it; that little hint of crisp in the air that germinates the barest glimmering, inkling of feelings of snuggling in and enjoying my spinning wheel, knitting, tea pot and books. I LOVE autumn. I do a large amount of running around to orchards, parks, festivals, quilt shows etc., but then about the end of October, the hibernation gene starts to kick in more and I start preparing the den for the long winter ahead. And you know what that means…

TWO WEEKS UNTIL THE JEFFERSON SHEEP AND WOOL FESTIVAL! I go at that vendor show like a squirrel hording nuts for a chilly day; tucking bits of wool fleece and yarn away to warm my nest in January, February and March; choosing lively color ways to brighten up the dreary, grey, days and contrast against the glaring, white of the stark, snowy, landscape. Sigh... I get warm fuzzies just thinking about it. Usually the week before the festival, I start getting tingles but this year I’ve been chomping at the bit for a full month now. I shudder to think at what my poor pocketbook is going to go through on the 11th! I restrained myself really well last year. I had such a stockpile of goods at home that I went with a $20 budget (not counting the cost of the new dog seat belt restraint that I have to buy at the herding booth every year because Bentley keeps gnawing through them.) and I stuck to it. But this year, my yarn larder is a little depleted….(insert maniacal laughter here). Can’t wait!

I’ve also started in with the pine needle baskets again. I decided to make a small one for Grammie for Christmas (don’t worry, she doesn’t read this blog, but don’t mention it to her OK?) so I boiled the needles and was out in the yard getting the sheaths off them when I started “snottin’ and blowin” and my Mum says. ‘Course I was in the zone, outside in the fresh air, plotting the new design so I didn’t’ put two and two together that I was having an allergic reaction to the needles…until I scratched the corner of my eye with my finger and it pretty much instantly swelled shut. Sheesh! I said I was going to finish the basket if it killed me, but I wasn’t serious! That’s never happened before! All I can think is that maybe there were mold spores on the needles that had been stored for a year and that I didn’t boil them long enough. Three Benadryl fixed the problem and gave me a comatose night’s sleep so I woke up 'normal' again the next morning…in as much as that is a possibility where I’m concerned! Will have to reboil the needles again tonight before I continue. I got this far anyway….
I’m thinking about using some of my ultra-colorful hand spun on future baskets. The only thing is, I'm thinking there would be no way to clean them other than dusting them. Right now I use artificial sinew and/or waxed linen thread. Does anyone have any thought on using yarn? How do you clean your baskets?

And here's today's Awwwww picture:
This handsome fella has been living somewhere around my patio this summer. He's by my door every evening. I've been tempted to pick him up and kiss him to see what happens. Then I thought, 'If he actually did turn into Prince Charming, would he still eat bugs and mosquitoes around the patio for me?" Nope. So I left him as he is; handsome, faithful and useful. My kinda guy. He eats what bugs me and I keep Ben from noshing on him-a symbiotic relationship. (Shhh! Don't tell Knute! I don't want him to get jealous!)