Crocheted Mat for my dogs

Here is a mat that I crocheted for my dogs. The fiber is a mixture of Merino wool and a bit of cotton. The colors are mauve (which shows up a bit as orange red on my monitor, but is actually mauve), lavender and teal.

Bumble is not real good at crocheting. In fact, it took me the better part of 30 years to even figure it out. So this hand dyed, handspun and crocheted mat is quite an accomplishment on my part. Not that my dogs care much about that, but they do seem to enjoy sleeping on it.

Typical Bumble, Behind as Always

It has been a mighty long time since I have posted, but we sure have been busy. This past fall brought heavy rain and flooding to many Puget Sound areas and while our home in Seattle was fine, our property in Randal took a massive hit from both the Cowlitz River and Davis River.

I haven't been out there as yet, but I'm told that much damage was done to the ranch. Our part of it, Dancing Elk, has no buildings on it so we didn't lose anything in the way of buildings. I don't know how our road has been affected and that may need to be rebuilt as well as a massive cleanup in the spring.

More storms hit in the winter and we were without power for a few days and off and on again after that. Not much fun to be in cold weather and have no heat, but we made do with an old wood stove that needs replacing and we will definitely replace it this spring. Just another thing on our list of things that needs doing. I kept busy spinning during that time, and just trying to stay warm.

Things start warming up and looking better and our van gets stolen. Yep, the one with the wheelchair lift so that I can get out and about. We did get it back and with only minor damage. It is back from the shop and works fine.

I have a new grandchild, a boy named Alexander Bradley and he was born on November 17. Makes two grandchildren now, the boy and a girl who is three named Chloe Joleen.

All in all, things are getting back to normal around here and the weather isn't as cold. Even have a bit of sun today. I am about to upload some hats to my etsy store, so if you get the chance to wander over and take a look the url is: fromewetoyou.etsy.com

Blessings all and have a marvelous day!

The Rainy Season has begun

If it were possible to rain cats and dogs, the streets in Bumble's town would be littered--pardon the pun. Rain has been coming down hard and steady all day long and the news forcasters have warned that we should all check the storm drains and make sure that all are cleared. Doesn't look like it will let up any time soon, or at least not through this weekend.

The temps are chilly, but at least not enough to snow. I wasn't going anywhere anyway, but the family is out and about and I always worry when they are driving in snow, or waiting for a bus.

Today was quiet, as I was here alone with just the dogs for company. Had thought and planned on getting lots of things done, but it didn't turn out that way. A busy day, but didn't accomplish much or at least not as much as I wanted to.

My computer went goofy the other day and I've been busy getting things up and running again. Lost lots of data, but such seems to be the norm with computers and I have a feeling this one is about to go bytes up.

If anyone is trying to log on to my Stuff A Friend site, the company is switching things around and all should be finished in a few days and access will be back up and normal.

Of course, along about that time, etsy will begin to update their end of things and my etsy store will be down for a few days. Hang in there, things should be normal before the end of the month.

Its been awhile

Autumn is nearing an end, winter isn't far away and the weather reflects the chill that will soon be in the air whenever one steps outside. The leaves that were worn by trees have dropped to the ground and the artist's palette of colors is tread underfoot. Sad but necessary, as they have spent their use to the trees and now will decay and nourish the ground to once again serve a purpose as compost. It is raining today, a steady downpour. Some people don't care for rainy days, but I enjoy all that nature brings us in the way of weather. It is variety and there is something to do with each changing weather pattern.

Its too cold to wash fiber outdoors, but I have several bags of merino that need tending and I am washing it in small batches on the stove. Merino needs lots of hot water to remove the excess lanolin that Merino is known for. A lovely fiber to spin, but needs lots of care in prepping.

I await a new spinning wheel, a mini Hitchhiker. It is advertised as being airline compatable and I need a spinning wheel that I can take with me when I baby-sit my grandchildren. It must be a small wheel as there is little room in the car when they come to get me. Hopefully, this will fit the bill.

If you haven't had the chance lately to check out my etsy store, you should do so. I am now offering free shipping on all purchases--that's right, FREE SHIPPING! With the holidays coming, it is time to do your shopping and I have lots of goodies available and will be adding more soon. There are some changes coming to Etsy, notably a shopping cart which should make shopping easier for customers. I will have to bumble my way through the changes, I'm not one to find changes easy but will figure it out as I go. The store url is:

http://fromewetoyou.etsy.com

Gotta go tend that merino, it doesn't do to forget wool on the stove.

Bumble's Summer

I'm back from a month of vacations and fiber shopping and must now get down to some serious work. Fiber that I would normally have washed and processed myself is coming back from the processor ready for me to spin. I feel so lazy as half the work is done for me and I am not used to this. I send some fiber out for processing each year, but never in this amount.

My etsy store is up and running and off to a good start. Slowly, I will be switching my storefront over to mostly etsy although I will continue to use the From Ewe to You Storefront for those extra items that I would like to show but have no room for in my etsy store. I've heard that many folk don't like to click page after page, so I will have to test this out and see how many pages an etsy store will take and continue to get views on those extra pages.

For those who haven't been to Bumble's etsy store as yet, the url is: http://fromewetoyou.etsy.com

You can always find that url easily on my web site: http://fromewetoyou.com

The web site includes all the important urls to my various businesses and this means you don't have to hunt anything up in past email or blog pages.

I didn't get any quiviut in Alaska like I had hoped to pick up. Seems it is sold to the local coop and used for knitting/weaving up there and the finished products sold around the world. The cruise to Alaska was a wonderful experience and the husband and I enjoyed ourselves immensely. How much? Well, we both would like to do such a cruise again and the husband isn't one that likes to travel all that much. Oh, he will go, but generally only when I plan something or somewhere for us to go to.

Speaking of travel, summer is almost to an end and that means that we want to squeeze in one more trip out to Dancing Elk before fall/winter sets in. Snow comes early out there and Bumble isn't one to enjoy driving in snow--at least not in a motorhome. So, about the end of September we will be headed out for a few days. I'm itching to see my elk herd again and gather a bit of lichen. The blackberries will probably be pretty much gone by that time, but I'm hoping my cotton plants will have grown and may have some cotton bolls ready for picking. The weather gets nice and hot out at Dancing Elk and I think I got the cotton planted early enough for the plants to have had a chance to do something. We planted lots of flower seeds and vegetable seeds and it will be interesting to see what all came of all those seeds and if we got lots of flowers or vegetable plants. With our vacationing, we haven't had the chance to go out and see what came up from of all that planting.

We're Back!!

The trip to Montana was wonderful, but ever so hot! Temps were in the 100s and once we reached the ghost town of Virginia City, the temps actually reached 110 degrees. Oh so hot! And much too hot for the Bumble. I embarrassed myself horribly by becoming ill and the husband and I barely made it back to our hotel from the restaurant right next door. I did make it up the steps and almost to our room, before passing out on the floor.

Well, the husband sends our friends off to call 911 whilst he proceeds to drag me into our room. Thank goodness for an air conditioned room. After a brief rest, I decide that I'm gonna live and all the fuss was for nothing. Ever try to cancel a 911 call? Can't.

Here come the paramedics. Here comes the ambulance. Oh goodness!! They put an oxygen mask on me and proceed to poke and prod and all the other stuff they do and no one notices the oxygen tank has gone empty. I'm beginning to find it a bit difficult to breathe, but trying to be polite, I said nothing. Soon, I just had to ask if I could remove the mask and they allowed me to do so and only then did they notice that no air was coming through that mask.

While they wanted to hospitalize me, I wasn't having any of that. Too far from home and as long as I could talk and think (at least a little), I wasn't leaving that room.

Did we see or hear any ghosts? I didn't see any, but I was awakened around 2 AM by someone singing the Canadian National Anthem in our room. Singing softly, but singing none the less. Now I don't know the song, so it is interesting that I would hear such and the actual words, not just the tune. Our friends "felt" something and the husband did as well. Just no actual sightings--durn it!

Back home now and getting ready to head out on a cruise ship to Alaska at the end of next week. More on that later.

Head 'em up, move 'em out!

Now does that sound like a cattledrive to Montana? Bumble heads out tomorrow morning and while I don't plan on herding cattle (although highland cattle might be fun as they at least have some fiber for me to work with) I do hope to be herding quite a few bags of fiber back home with me.

I will be home late on July 24 and that means that any purchases made from customers in the mean time will be on shipping hold until I get back. I've made the notation in several spots in my etsy store, and my son (who is dog sitting at home for me) will also acknowledge sales with an email to remind all.

This is for my etsy or storefront stores only, the others are drop ship and won't be affected by my vacation.

It is early morning and I am already looking forward to my afternoon tea break with a big mug of Chocolate Raspberry Mint tea--definitely a favorite of mine.