The wind blows softly against my face,
The shade cast by the tree cools my heart.
The ocean waves relax the tension within,
That would otherwise tear me apart.

Alone on a calm hill for hours I lie,
Waiting only for the golden sun to set,
Prepared to see a moment of true beauty,
One that which I could never forget.

The warm glow of the sun begins to fade,
The ambient noise of the beautiful birds dies down,
The air around me cools ever so much,
But not even to that do I ever frown.

There it hits; my big moment of peace,
I move not a muscle; not even a bit.
I breathe deeply gazing at it's beauty,
Until the skies have become truly starlit.

The moon shines now; the warm glow is gone.
The owls have taken over the birds place.
I still move not, as I continue to breathe the air.
And I continue to feel the soft breeze on my face…
Kenneth G Howard

The Song for Rain from Yawen Zheng on Vimeo.

I'm not going to lie…I was digging deep today, but when I saw this sweet video it made me stop, watch and smile.
Today we have become so accustomed to the 1 minute video that we rarely have the attention span to devote to a full 8 minute video, which is a bit sad.

When I stumbled upon this sweet video, I almost clicked off of it when I saw how long it was, but there was just something about the colors that captured my attention, so I clicked and watched.  The colors, the music, the animation, the artistry and the simple story are just wonderful.

Some days, this is just enough and it was enough to make me smile today.  I hope that you enjoy it as well.

I have been working on the scarves that I put on the loom.  I will end up with 2 scarves from the warp that I put on the loom, but the weft colors will be slightly different therefore the scarves will look a little different.  Not much, but enough that it will make it fun to weave them both. 🙂

I am so happy with how easy my last few projects have beamed onto the loom using the tips that I learned from Madelyn van der Hoogt's video, Warping Your Loom and using Angel Wings.  I know I mentioned them here before, but I have to say that using them has made me not dreading the beaming process of weaving.

In addition to the weaving I have been working on my cowl for the "A March In Time" knit along.  I am using my Sporty Kashmir in the Corn Husk Colorway and I love it.   For the most part I have been able to keep up with the knitting, but walking has taken a step back for a little bit for various reasons that I will talk about next week, but it's all good. 🙂

I love this pattern!  Easy enough to almost be mindless, but that almost part keeps it interesting.

What are you working on this week?

Good Lord, why does picking out paint have to be SO blessed hard?  I decided a few years ago when we started renovating this old house that I was going to stick with shades of neutral gray thinking it would keep things easy, but no….there has been nothing easy about it.  Nothing easy at all!

When we did our living room a few years ago, I slathered shades of gray on all of the walls to see what I liked and hit it on the nail with Benjamin Moore's Coastal Gray, which is a green based gray.  I was and still am so happy with it.

  When we did the dining room, Ken requested that we use a more pure gray color.  Well, the first choice that we put up looked almost pink…ick.
Ken being the frugal guy that he is, had our local paint guy balance it out to a more even gray and we went with that, but to be honest with you, I have never liked it.  It's a cold gray and I am a warm colored person.  It's been up long enough now that it will be safe for me to change it..ha!

So…I thought that I would love to put the Coastal Gray in my kitchen, but my floor is more of a blue gray with shades of soft gray brown, so again another different shade of gray for the kitchen and mud room.  These colors pictured are not very accurate, but you get the sense of my struggle. 

I need more of a brown gray or a blue gray and given that I am not a huge fan of blue, I am leaning more towards a brown based gray.  Ey yi yi!  I've narrowed it down to these 3 and think I will probably go with the one on the far right and have them desaturate it by 10%.  The one on the far left matches the bathroom floor tiles the best, but the amount of purple that I see makes me hesitate to paint a big kitchen with it.

See…..you can make yourself crazy!

Well, I was going to be delicate about this, or maybe find a way to incorporate a beautiful prose about nature for what greeted me in our yard today, but when you get an email like this from your husband who leaves for work before you do….you just have to go with it.

"Bear scat out by the telephone pole in the tick field .  Blog THAT!"

Yep….blogging every day is a challenge. :) 

Happy Monday!

Today we spent the morning working around the house.  Ken ran the mower over the yard to collect the last batch of leaves and trimmed the bushes while I clipped back all of the perennials so they could rest for the impending winter.  The Kayaks were put away for the season and the windows on the first floor were all washed….whew! 
We worked hard this morning so we could spend the afternoon watching the Patriots win…again. 🙂

Do you notice anything different in this picture above?  Yes…it's the end of an era for me.  The big garden has also been put to rest and will be grassed over in the Spring.  It was a hard decision, but we both knew it was time.  Now that the kids are grown, we really do not need the amount of food that we once needed with a growing family.
  Next spring we were going to have to rebuild all of the boxes and put up a new fence, which we knew would be very expensive and time consuming. The wood on everything was starting to rot, which is why it would need to be replaced.

I decided to do something a little different for next Spring instead.

Ken and I do eat a lot of salads so I love having salad greens all summer. There is nothing better than walking out to the yard to pick the greens for your meals…easy peasy and inexpensive.  I also use a lot of herbs for cooking both fresh and dried, so we have decided to build 2 beds similar to this one and add big wheels to them so that they can be moved to make mowing easier for Ken….or maybe even better if I can convince him to put down a patio like this so nothing would have to be moved at all and I could add a sitting area.  I have been trying to get him to do this for years. 😉

I like how easy it will be to add shade covers during the hot days of summer to keep the lettuce from bolting and frost covers for the early spring and late fall to extend the season.  This will make it so much easier for my back and we will be able to tuck some single vegetable plants that we enjoy in between the lettuce. 

It made us both a bit sad to say good bye to the big garden, but life changes and the new beds will make things more manageable for me next summer during busy times. 🙂

The only splash of color now is this little bucket of Mums and cabbage surrounded by pumpkins and the green yuck on the porch that is being replaced next year….and yes, I have dogs, so my gates have gates to keep them safe from the road and the wildlife that wanders frequently into my yard.;-)

I love, love, love Autumn, but I am always sad putting the gardens to bed because we all know what comes next.
  A chill is definitely in the air tonight….brrr!

Whew….it has been a very busy 2 months that will quiet down now for a little bit, at least on The Woolen Rabbit front.  I know I said a while back that I feel as though I have been chasing my tail since we returned home from vacation the end of August and it is true.  I am exhausted, but it's always nice to spend time with friends isn't it?  Being with fiber people is always time spent with friends and I always enjoy it.

Today I worked at the Northeast Handpinner's Open House and the guest speaker was Gail Callahan the Kangaroo Dyer.  She created the color grid which is a wonderful tool, that I frequently use, not only for fiber but for home decorating ideas. It  was interesting to hear her talk and watch her videos.  I enjoy learning new things and new ways of thinking about things, so it really was an extra treat to experience.

The guild put on a lovely lunch in addition to the color theory class which was very much appreciated after getting up at dark o'clock and traveling 2 hours down to work for the day.  Ken and I both really appreciated it.

It's been a very enjoyable and productive fall, but I am looking forward to a little down time and a new adventure that I will tell you about later next week. 🙂

 

I have been crazy busy this week getting caught up on orders and getting ready for a show in Newburyport, MA tomorrow, so when Anne Podlesak put up these pictures of a sweater that she designed with my Sporty Biffle I smiled.
As you know Anne has been a long time friend of mine and we have worked together many times.
I am always in awe of her designing talent.  I love this sweater in it's beautiful shades of warm gold.

Another extra special surprise was her book, Free Spirit Knits, that I received as a gift this week.  The photos in this book are breathtaking.  I will be giving this book a review next week….it is lovely!!

Have a wonderful weekend in your neck of the woods and if you are in Newburyport tomorrow, come visit us at the Hope Community Church for the NE Handspinners Open House

Learning is the fountain of youth,
No matter how old you are.
You mustn't stop growing.
Deng Ming~Dao

So…to continue a little further with yesterday's post about repetition, I am almost at the close of another pottery class.  I am going to take one more set of classes to learn a few specific things such as throwing a pot with a lid and a footed berry bowl, but then I am going to practice here at home.

This summer I was fortunate to find the same pottery wheel that we use in class on craig's list for a third of what it would have cost to purchase new.  Once we get the treadmill that my parents gifted to us for winter walking upstairs in the house, I am going to set up the pottery wheel.

I have been watching Tammy Jo's series called 365 days of clay cups.  She filmed this 4 years ago, but it's been fascinating to watch her growth as she goes along.  This goes right back to what I said about spinning 15 minutes every day, with repetition comes confidence and knowledge.  In this series, Tammy Jo commits to throwing a clay cup every day for a full year and I love that she shares her fails along with her successes.
While I won't be doing a video diary, once I get my wheel set up, I am going to do something much like this, except I will use the same block of clay and just keep repeating and recycling the clay until I have a good feeling for the clay in my hands as I pull it up. 

I have learned so much in my classes and a lot more watching Tammy Jo struggle along, so I am looking forward to giving it a try and gaining experience, growth and confidence.

Tuesday we glazed our pots and we will have an a kiln opening in a week or so.  I will share my successes and failures with you..ha!  I have met some super nice people in my classes.  I love the people who are drawn to the arts, whether it is fiber, paint or clay.  It's all good.