The Colors of September!

Every month since last October, Sue from Life Looms Large has hosted a fun challenge - to find the"colors" of the month. I have not only enjoyed doing this project myself, but have loved reading and seeing all the pictures from around the world as other bloggers have joined in the fun.

Quite frankly, it has been so-o-o-o warm this month, that I was not sure if we were going to get any color but blue (sky) and green (grass) - but



last week, the sun went away and the rain appeared - and we had some real cloud bursts - mind you, not like they are having on the east coast right now, but for us it was a lot.












Even though this oak leaf doesn't have any real "fall" colors - I did like the pattern of the rain drops and the veins of the leaf







The Shepherd has been so busy with other people's gardens that we are a little lacking in the fall flowers this year - but, hey, what the heck - the bills are getting paid - and this pretty chrysanthemum decorates our back porch.












Of course my trusty sidekick had to come along and snoopervise all the pictures that I was taking.









Out in the vegie garden, the corn is gone, the pumpkins are going wild and the asparagus weed looked so pretty covered with raindrops.
















Finally the colors are starting to creep into the yard - the katsura tree is starting to turn it's leaves make the yard smell slightly sweet.











The Japanese maples on the porch are a blaze with reds and oranges
















The rose hips are like sparkling jewels hidden in the blue foliage










The Bishop's Children dahlias that were planted from seed have finally decided to put on a show.









It's also time to start evaluating fleeces - this is Wicket's fleece - it is going to be wicked fun to spin - hope I get a chance at it...









I think this is either Ruby or Robin --- (unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the head that went with the fleece...) but this is going to be a lovely fleece and it is staying closely to original color - gonna be pretty!







And one little lone flower left over from summer - I hope you enjoyed my Colors of September - I almost didn't make it this month again - working on my church newsletter til all hours of the night...but it's done and I only have my spinner guild one left to do.

And guess what? I'm signed up to take another class from Judith McKenzie - but it's not until November - so you'll just have to wait to find out about it...

Back into the swing of things

And what have I been doing with all my time, you ask? Well, here's some of what I've been doing...

Some of you may remember that my big spinning & crocheting project for last year was Sophia's Sweater.

Well, last year right after my birthday and just before my spinner guild's Spin-In, I found out that my boss's wife would be having twin girls this summer. (They were born in July and you can see pictures of them by clicking here.)


So I got the idea that I would make two more sweaters for "our new girls" - (and by the way, I did clear it with the mom and dad before I did all this work on "wool" sweaters - yes, they said they would love to have them)

The Spin-In gave me a wonderful opportunity to look for some fiber to make these sweaters and I found just what I was looking for at the Sunset Fibers booth - they had all this gorgeous Corriedale fiber - I picked one with bright primary colors (above) and one with lavenders, pinks and greens - (little did I know at the time that they were naming one of the girls "Violet" - could this be more perfect for her?)


The rainbow yarn will be for Annie's sweater - I kind of panicked when I was about half way through spinning the rainbow yarn and was afraid that I wouldn't have enough (I really MUST start writing down how much yarn these projects take!) - so I plied part of it with white Shetland - I think it will make a nice contrast band on the bottom of the sweater and on the sleeves and hood - If I have some left over I'll make some boots or something.

If you click on the picture of the yarn for Violet's sweater, you will be able to see that I plied part of it with grey (Shetland of course).

They had the girls at our company party last week. It is astonishing how fast they are growing. I'm planning on making these in the 18 month size so they would be ready for next fall - but I want to get them done soon so they can use them next spring if they want - better sooner than later, huh?

The Corriedale, by the way was wonderful to spin - almost as much fun as spinning Targhee - there was also an article in the last "Spin-In" magazine about spinning specifically for crochet - Right now, I solve that issue by plying a little more tightly than most people - but I'll try it out and let you know what I think.

For your viewing pleasure -

Boy, haven't we all been there? I'll be back soon, I promise!

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