Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Happy All Hallow's Eve!

It's been a busy day. First there was the Halloween parade at Little Hill's school....wherein all the students march around and the parents ogle and click camera shutters in their general direction. Then pick up Littlest from preschool, stop at home briefly, and then back to school to show support for the class Halloween party, wherein all students were loaded up on sweets and then packed off home.

Shortly thereafter, this family friend stopped by to help out with the trick or treaters. Then, The Rock's friend Rick popped in too with the other ghouls, and for a little black magic in the front yard. You will note that Rick had a little trouble with the coordinates, and managed to rematerialize partly entombed in our dry pan front yard....don't you worry, when the rains come, the ground will soften right up, freeing him mebbe by spring.......Besides he has his cauldron to keep him warm through the harsh Cali winter.And we wound down the evening with another friend that just wanted to hang out forever.... honestly, we can never get this guy to go home..... but then, he's always saying that he can never get out the door either, so who's to say??
I have been a busy girl....knitting some mini shawls with Ceallach Dyes Lace in Opinionated Pink to prepare for a show, and give all you knitters something dun-knit-up to look at. This is a simple mini-shawl done with two strands of Lace knit together, with a simple frill on the bottom edge. (Of course, now that I am looking for the link, I see that the Opinionated Pink is not on the site, I will take care of that, but if you have to have it NOW, drop me an email, it's in stock.)
Here is Littlest's new sweater for fall....knit with two colors of Knit Picks Simple Stripes carried together....please don't ask which ones, I don't remember now, and it's a discon yarn anyway....but the two strands together makes the yarn way better. Trust me on this one.
Some handspun Ceallach Dyes Superwash Merino. This is two colorways plied together, the Blue Corn Moon and Pink Passion....I had some leftover from dyeing and it was not enough to really do much with so I tried this....I quite like the effect.

And finally, last but certainly not least.....Meet Bertha. Bertha is my new solar oven, of my own design and build, specifically for the dyeing of your yarn hopefully through the winter and early spring. I should note that Bertha here may in fact be able to withstand atmospheric re-entry with her sleek NASA shuttle heatproofing. I have not actually launched Bertha, but am happy to say that she is built with a good portion of recycled and repurposed materials, which is good for everyone.
Ain't Bertha purty??

5 comments:

Bezzie said...

I think I have Bertha envy. Could you bake bread in there while dyeing?

Anonymous said...

Wow! Bertha sure is purdy! Can't wait to see what she produces.

HoJo said...

Bertha and the little shawly are both cute.

Ceallach said...

Bezzie, no. Bertha does not bake, stew or otherwise affect the temperature of food. Since I will be using her for dyeing, it's not a good idea to share hot space between food and dyes....the dyes are safe, as are the materials used to build her, but why borrow trouble?

However, her sleek design and aeronautic construction could be set to the task of cooking, but then she would not be Bertha, I would have to call her Cook or the like.

Batty said...

So what is going to come out of Bertha? Can't wait to see!

Very pretty shawl, and it looks like you had a great time.