Summer hours for July

Mondays have just become more interesting. Not that blogging isn't interesting, but we are coming back from our camp on Monday mornings to get the most out of being there.

My day is significantly shorter as a result. We all love being there, so it isn't a hardship.

Here are the yarns from Iceland that I didn't have photos for last week. The yellow/orange combination is dyed with Lupine leaf. It is so cheerful, I will have to make it up into something before winter arrives. The yardage isn't part of the label, so some fooling around with the swift and ball winder will have to happen.

In the second set the brown and gold are dyed using Rhubarb root and different mordants. The colours aren't showing true here. The brown is a rich red/brown, the gold an old fashioned gold and the top whitish looking one is really lime green. The lime green is dyed using Lupine florets. The lupines in Iceland are a dark purple with a white strip at the lip. I am hoping i have enough for a loose striped tunic. I may even overcome my aversion to knitting lace. There are a few lacey stitch patterns to choose from rather than something complicated. I will take it to camp with me in August and fool around.

This is the time of year when stitching gets easily overlooked.

I do a lot of writing in the summer. The best spot in the world is at that little table behind the screen door. We have just arrived to open the camp up, so not everything is in place.

This is one of my views. I blithered on for years about how I needed solitude and inspiration, when finally Steve pointed out I had it, I just wasn't seeing the trees for the forest. How apt. 

There isn't any electricity up at the camp, so all computer work has to take place in town. I write mostly with old fashioned paper and pencil. As for my studio work, it is frequently in whites and the camp is very....well.... dirty. Lots of pine needle duff and bugs squished in a hurry. I would hate to have a dead mosquito on stitching that has taken hours. Given how many dead mosquitoes I have on my T-shirts or jeans, it seems a likely event.

Squishing happens at this time of year and I will organize that for the next post. I get so excited as I strew bits of plant matter on my fabric and paper that I forget to take a before picture.

This is an after image with pansy bits and some perennial geranium added to last years. I think I should make notes on the back of the paper so I can tell the truth and not be tempted to tell a fib. Time for me to pay attention.

Tuesdays became a whole lot more interesting as well. I have engaged a trainer at the gym and she is very kind, and very merciless. Today, after showing me how to use a bunch of new machines and some exercises that I have been avoiding, she ended our session with two minutes of steps at a furious pace. Oh my god, my legs hurt. I had to carry home about 30 lbs in groceries afterwards. It has taken me a while to recover. But all in a good cause, as in working to avoid Diabetes. It runs in the family and given my sweet tooth, I think it likely. Exercise is one of the best ways to control it, so I'm working for the future. And the present, because I don't want to buy another pair of pants.