Escaping Suburbia

Four Years

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

We’ve been living in Oregon four years as of today. Still feels like home!

Heceta Head Lighthouse

Editing… I wanted to add this photo, taken just now:

10 Minutes in the Back Yard

Filed in General, Photos | Tagged home, Oregon, photography | Comments (2)

Etsy updates – two new yarns & some stitch markers

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

I’ve updated my Etsy shop in the last couple of days. I’ve got two new skeins of yarn and some little beaded stitch markers. The new yarns are the two shown below on the upper right, the dark Polwarth and the pink BFL. They were both from Portland based Abstract Fiber and I loved spinning both of them. I’m working on another of their Polwarth tops now. They’re hard to give up once they become yarn!

The stitch markers are just something I’m trying out. I use them myself for the little bit of knitting I do, but I’m not sure about them yet for the shop.

Filed in Crafts | | Comments (0)

More Droid Photography

Monday, August 30, 2010

Still having fun playing around with two free camera apps for the Droid. Yesterday, to compare, I took this similar shot with the FXCamera app (using the toy camera setting), and then the Retro Camera app (using the Bärbl camera setting):

FXCamera – Toy Camera

Retro Camera – The Bärbl

They both have their charms.

I also took this shot, which I mainly like for the composition, using the Retro Camera app and the Little Orange Box setting:

Finley Wildlife Refuge - Little Orange Box

Retro Camera – Little Orange Box

All of these were taken at the Finley Wildlife Refuge, south of Corvallis.

Filed in Photos | Tagged Android, droid apps, droid photography, Finley Wildlife Refuge, Photos | Comments (0)

The Oregon Garden

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Giant Lily Pads at the Oregon Garden

Filed in Photos | | Comments (0)

Yarnie Update

Saturday, August 21, 2010

First things first…

Whoo hoo!

My fuzzy little cloche hat won a blue ribbon at the county fair! This was in the crochet category, and I honestly was not expecting to receive a ribbon. After reading a story in the paper about some of the exquisite fiber arts, I almost didn’t even take it in… but, yay!

So, that was a nice result for my first time out. Will probably try again next year, if I can make something nice by then.

Here’s a scarf I started with some of my handspun:

"Arachne's Tears"

I spun this yarn during Tour de Fleece and started to make something else with it, but just wasn’t loving it. I think this pattern is showcasing the yarn nicely, though.

closer… closer…

Here’s what I started to knit with that yarn:

Age of Brass & Steam Kerchief

My knitting is so crappy. This pattern is really nice (and easy for someone like me who hasn’t really honed her knitting skills after all this time… derrrr…), but I think I would like it better in a thinner yarn. Still I am determined to finish this one.

Filed in Crafts | Tagged Arts and crafts, Crafts, crochet, Knitting, yarn | Comments (3)

Time flies like an arrow…

Friday, August 20, 2010

August 2nd? AUGUST 2nd is the last time I posted anything here? How can that be? It seems like yesterday, not three weeks ago.

I know I neglect my two blogs fairly often. I’ve often been sucked into that microclimate of Facebook and it’s easy to forget that not everyone is there.

Anyway… not much going on here, just chipping away at the house, organization/improvements/getting rid of stuff. This article in the NY Times really inspired me, at least as far as getting rid of stuff… it’s hard to cut down totally on spending when you’re trying to make improvements to a house, but I am at least working on not accumulating new stuff. (Exception: an occasional book.)

Trying to get out and enjoy our open spaces this summer… at least on the days where it’s not a million degrees. Or, what, 90 degrees. Whatever. After 85, it’s just hot as far as I’m concerned. Yes, I am a weirdo who likes clouds and rain. Anyway, we headed out to the Finley Wildlife Refuge one afternoon & I took this shot with my Android phone. I’ve been playing around with a free app called FXCamera. This is the “toy camera” setting and I love the square format and the way it handles color. It reminds me of old photographs from when I was a kid.

Finley Wildlife Refuge

Here are a couple more shots taken with the same color settings:

Downtown Corvallis

My Morning View

These are obviously intended to evoke a mood, rather than be fine photography.

Well, guess I’d better go and do some chores or something. Ta!

Filed in Nostalgia, Photos | Tagged camera phone, droid, FXCamera, Photos, stuff | Comments (3)

Adjusting to Life on the Inside

Monday, August 2, 2010

I finally settled on a name for our new kitty… Mei Mei.

Now, if only I could get all three cats to become friends. *sadface*

Filed in Pets | | Comments (0)

Strange Visitors

Sunday, August 1, 2010

One morning, around 5:30 am, I’d just come back inside from letting the chickens out and was heading back to bed, when I happened to glance out the bedroom window and was startled to see these two birds sitting on the roof, peering down into our yard:

unexpected peahens are unexpected

Well, that’s new.

They flapped down into the yard and proceeded to spend the entire day there, freaking out the chickens and the cat and just generally being weird. Actually, at some point they both settled down on the deck in front of our sliding door and didn’t budge for a long time.

And then they just disappeared, some time before it got dark, and we have never seen them again. I still wonder where they were going, where they belonged, and if they’re okay. They were beautiful… but I’m glad they didn’t stay.

Filed in The Homestead | Tagged peahens | Comments (0)

Tour de Fleece 2010 – Extra

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Wanted to show the solution for that super-twisty corespun stuff:

Now I love it! Thanks to my friends at Ravelry for helping me figure out what to do with this fiber.

Also wanted to share this… I was randomly drawn for a prize on one of the days of the tour, and this is what I received:

I can’t wait to spin this! It is 4 oz. of South African Fine Wool from Yarnadoodledoo called “Orange Blossom Special”. I’ve had my eye on her Etsy shop for a while, so when I saw that one of the prizes available to select from was from her, it was my first choice!

Filed in Crafts | Tagged spinning, wool, yarn | Comments (0)

Tour de Fleece 2010 – Days 18 – 23

Saturday, July 31, 2010

This post is photo-heavy… ready?!

So, I figured I should go ahead and wrap this up. Had fun, won a prize (more on that in the next post), and got lots of yarn spun! Without further ado, here are my final photos from this year’s Tour de Fleece:

Days 18-19 – No photos. Day 18 was a frustrating day and I didn’t really produce anything I wanted to take a photo of. Day 19 was officially a rest day, though I still spun. More frustrating stuff. Moving along.

Day 20

50/50 Merino/Bamboo from Creatively Dyed – corespun

I could not figure out what to do with this fiber for the longest time. It’s absolutely gorgeous, I love the colors and the shine of the merino/bamboo, but the color repeats were so small and it was so slippery that trying to spin straight-up yarn with it was not working out for me. Muddy yuck. So, finally, I thought of trying corespinning. This is only my second attempt and I thought it was going pretty well…

Day 21 – Hilarity ensues!

Fruit Loops - Tour de Fleece 2010 Day 21

Corespun – way, way, way spun

Whoops.

Day 22

I seem not to have taken a photo on day 22. I started spinning something new, and the finished yarn is shown on the last day. But for day 22, let’s take another look at that corespun:

twiiiiiist!

So, so, pretty. But so, so twisty. I despaired.

Day 23

Merino/Tussah Silk from Dicentra Designs

This yarn was so shiny and bright, it was hard to photograph. It’s not my best… think I was getting a little tired of spinning by this time.

So, that’s everything for this year! Here’s a little collage of everything I worked on:

Thanks for following along! A couple of these are up for sale at my Etsy shop if you see anything that interests you.

Filed in Crafts | Tagged handspun, spinning, Tour de Fleece, yarn | Comments (1)