tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238114312024-03-06T22:57:44.283-08:00Carpe diem!'Seize the day'. Or the yarn. Or the fibre!
Thoughts and questions about the things that interest me, in hope that you'll be interested too, or be able to answer the questions...sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291326380557787987noreply@blogger.comBlogger192125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23811431.post-53258019631418941262014-12-22T08:09:00.001-08:002014-12-22T08:09:16.188-08:00A Wordpress test post is upI had such trouble posting to Blogger from my phone and iPad during our California trip that in the end I stopped trying. Wordpress gets better press, so I'm testing it:
colddrake.wordpress.com
I hope to be blogging more in future: I need somewhere to record ideas and my progress in making ideas into tangible things.
sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291326380557787987noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23811431.post-62368591282870879632014-10-31T06:15:00.001-07:002014-10-31T06:15:09.835-07:00The Last DayThe next morning was so utterly perfectly beautiful that I suspect any gods in the vicinity of being sadists. We could see a far distant fog bank offshore, but on shore it was warm and sunny once again. Looking at these photos I am reminded that, when I commented to a Californian friend that a particular shade of turquoise meant 'summer sky' to me, she disagreed, saying it should be darker, more sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291326380557787987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23811431.post-70919796854778405792014-10-28T03:27:00.002-07:002014-10-28T03:27:21.326-07:00Last Day -1Rarely have we felt more melancholy than we did as we packed our bags the next morning. Good company, good food, lovely surroundings (and geology!) … we'd had a wonderful time, but it was all downhill from here.
Literally. We left early on Hwy 20 downhill, out of the Sierra Nevada.
Roadside Geology of Northern and Central California in hand, I tried to note the different formations as wesarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291326380557787987noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23811431.post-75550248429731277172014-10-22T04:07:00.002-07:002014-10-22T07:17:31.591-07:00Malakoff Diggins and the Bear Who (fortunately) Wasn't There.Our friends wanted to show us a good time while we were with them. They'd clearly given it a lot of thought, because the first part of the excursion focused on geology, while the second part was food. What could be better?
Part One was a visit to Malakoff Diggins Californa State Historic Park. That's the official site, which is much less enthusiastic (and gives much less info) than the park sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291326380557787987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23811431.post-80344564631588046762014-10-20T04:22:00.003-07:002014-10-20T04:27:18.914-07:00To Bodie and Beyond!Writing this nearly three weeks later is bittersweet. The trip is fading from remembered reality to memory, but blogging is recalling it to present mind. I sit and look at the photos and I can again smell the dust, feel the sun on the back of my neck, the woodgrain under my hand.
So. We didn't check to see if we could have Mono Cone milkshakes for breakfast - that would have been just plain sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291326380557787987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23811431.post-40510886475766837392014-10-16T06:23:00.002-07:002014-10-16T09:34:25.782-07:00The beginning of the end.All good things must come to an end, or we'd have nothing against which to compare them. But we were distinctly melancholy as we packed our bags into the car and headed out the next morning. After so long driving south, ever south, driving north made it very clear that the end of the adventure was inevitable.
We'd waffled all evening and part of the morning about today's route. North, yes, as sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291326380557787987noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23811431.post-11941730508764446922014-10-14T03:24:00.003-07:002014-10-14T03:26:35.925-07:00Death Valley after noon: 20 Mule Team Canyon, Dantes View, Zabriskie Point and a parking lot.So. On this grey, cool and dank (we had a lot of rain yesterday, persistent streaming all-day UK rain, not cataclysmic desert rain) British morning, I am thinking of heat and colourful rocks glowing in the sun under a rich blue sky.
We ate lunch, looked at the map and speculated on the origin of the sand dunes, which veered into nonsensical assessment of the possibility of buying good sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291326380557787987noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23811431.post-57213234822855451542014-10-13T04:49:00.002-07:002014-10-13T09:24:36.312-07:00Death Valley Morning: Mosaic Canyon and the Mesquite Flat Sand DunesIt's hard to believe that a week ago (as I type, not necessarily as I publish), we were in San Francisco airport waiting for the flight to bring us back to the UK. For only the first or perhaps the second time in our travels together, neither of us wanted to get on that plane. This was the best, – or one of the best – holidays we've ever had. And this was one of the best days, so full of wonders sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291326380557787987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23811431.post-32723035877030271652014-10-08T07:30:00.002-07:002014-10-09T06:41:38.748-07:00Yosemite to Death Valley: a day of extremes!I've just (8 Oct) added more photos to Yosemite Day Two.
Also, be warned: this is an exceedingly long post, as befits the journey it describes.
Also again: if I make the photos as large as they deserve, Blogger crops the righthand edge. You'll have to click to embiggen.
We woke early, breakfasted early, and left early because we had a long drive ahead of us. Retracing our steps east to getsarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291326380557787987noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23811431.post-75577465749968847002014-10-07T23:46:00.000-07:002014-10-07T23:47:06.592-07:00Yosemite Day One (Bother, I thought I'd published this yesterday. Sorry!)On Friday morning we said our sad farewells, then headed south and east. Talking with our friends and people in Jackson had left us very aware of the fire hazard - the woman in the gas station had swallowed hard before mentioning recent lightning storms, and I could hear the dread in her voice - so we wished people well when we noticed the scent of smoke on the air. We drove through San Andreas sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291326380557787987noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23811431.post-46975029007549725132014-10-07T08:54:00.000-07:002014-10-08T04:22:19.367-07:00Yosemite Day Two: our new shoes prove their worthWe're always looking for better walking shoes, because we walk hard. I've almost given up buying the ones I find, as every one of the last three pairs has almost crippled me the first time I've worn them across London. Only my trustworthy Saucony trainers have stood the test of time, so in SF I bought another pair (much cheaper there than here in the UK). Keen were almost the only brand A. sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291326380557787987noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23811431.post-72813870851698201042014-10-07T05:58:00.001-07:002014-10-07T09:01:11.635-07:00East to the Sierras (and beyond, alas*)*because this has been written and posted from much further east. The UK. Which was grey and cold and raining stair-rods when we arrived on Monday morning. The contrast with California could not have been greater, and we both fervently wish we were still there.
I stopped posting updates on our travels because the mobile apps for Blogger are very nearly worse than useless for text and worse than sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291326380557787987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23811431.post-60289017389742232412014-09-23T20:14:00.001-07:002014-09-24T04:10:49.915-07:00San Francisco Day TwoAs we walked past the tourist tat along Fisherman's Wharf yesterday, we noticed several bike rental companies advertising 'Bike the Bridge!': ride the bike paths across the Golden Gate Bridge and return via the ferry from Sausalito. It seemed a good way to see the sights (and earn a meal), so after pastries and coffee this morning we made our way to Blazing Saddles and rented a couple of hybrids.sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291326380557787987noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23811431.post-22919601574727492112014-09-22T22:16:00.001-07:002014-09-22T22:16:46.807-07:00San Francisco Day OneAnother day of Memorable Food! Yesterday proved unexpectedly long and stressful, as our flight south did not leave Victoria until after the time at which it was supposed to land at SFO. The wait to collect our bags and Customs clearance (they didn't object to the seaweed), plus rental pick-up meant we didn't find our way onto 101 into the heart of SF until after dark. Not fun driving a big sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291326380557787987noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23811431.post-63545792743996072532014-09-21T13:53:00.001-07:002014-09-21T13:53:50.102-07:00On the road againIt's been some time since I had anything to share as well as time to share it, but we're about to embark on a journey with ample opportunity for adventure, not least the trialling of different blogging software. I may end up migrating to Wordpress, because Google seems so very keen on preventing me from using anything but their proprietary software, er, protecting my account from unauthorised sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291326380557787987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23811431.post-29946894308539167362013-10-24T04:16:00.000-07:002013-10-24T04:16:22.982-07:00Blue! from Leaves!!!The Hat has been my main focus for the last few months and I can't blog about it because I hope it will be published. Sorry …
But I can tell you all about another chapter in My Adventures with Indigo. It's a long one; you might want to make a cup of your favourite beverage now, before you start.
About 12 months ago I ordered both Japanese Indigo and Woad seeds, my cunning plan being to sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291326380557787987noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23811431.post-75066326849259968562013-04-02T03:55:00.003-07:002013-04-02T03:55:29.921-07:00A project for the Cotswold.The 'wrong fibre, wrong place' Cotswold now has ambitions, or more accurately I have an ambitious goal for it. I was whining on Ravelry about lack of desire/inspiration for the 2013 Rampton Project of a Fun and Frivolous Hat when …
(insert wavy lines and flying calendar pages here).
Some weeks previously Sara Lamb had recommended books by Sheila Paine as of use to someone elsesarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291326380557787987noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23811431.post-6011397693540539592013-02-28T02:44:00.001-08:002013-02-28T02:44:52.599-08:00The wrong fibre in the wrong place at the wrong timeThat's a remarkably vague title, but it's what unites the two topics of this post. First, some spinning fibre: Cotswold sliver.
It doesn't look too bad from a distance. Creamy white, reasonably lustrous… feels relatively soft, not harsh. Could be good, but look at it more closely.
There are inconsistencies, curds of shorter, finer fibre. Also, as you can see, sliver is a carded prep, not sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291326380557787987noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23811431.post-58926632083166089742013-02-13T03:20:00.001-08:002013-02-14T03:32:33.841-08:00Passionate Weavers: thoughts on a great weaving weekend
See? I'm keeping my word. Another post, to share my 'Natural Time Out' weekend weaving with Janet Phillips, and some of my thoughts about it as I drove home. I'll spare you the "oh, why aren't I there yet?" thoughts (four hours on the road is even longer after a long, engrossing weekend).
So. After I returned from the gym on Friday morning I did the dishes, the housework, packed, etc, and sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291326380557787987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23811431.post-58741632027142793442013-02-04T07:18:00.001-08:002013-02-04T07:21:33.579-08:00Hullo again!It's been a while, I know. I began a draft post last summer to tell you about Paradise Mill and the Silk Heritage Museums, in Macclesfield, but was distracted. But of late I've been thinking I should be doing more to document my fibre work, particularly my weaving, and this would be a good place to do that. I'd like to – I need to – acquire the habit of keeping records, and this is a good way to sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291326380557787987noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23811431.post-41510016241153282982011-11-24T08:08:00.001-08:002011-11-25T07:11:40.674-08:00A Bradford Adventure part II: the Haworth Scouring and Combing CompanyAt the end of the Depot tour we handed back the hi-viz vests, piled into the vans and headed at some speed (we were running late) for the Haworth Scouring Plant, itself once a cashmere processing plant, passing other disused cashmere processing plants and discussing the sad, rapid decline of the industrial north. We parked outside a nondescript building, with odd scraps of fleece on the ground sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291326380557787987noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23811431.post-39216677590323775792011-11-23T06:24:00.001-08:002011-11-23T08:27:09.158-08:00A Bradford Adventure I: the BWMB and the North of England Wools DepotIt's been a long time. I have excuses and reasons, primarily that I began blogging to record my adventures in fibre, but it turned into a way to record walks and hikes and my interest in the history of the British landscape and the people who live in it. Sadly we've had fewer walks this year and so I spent my time outdoors enjoying being outdoors rather than documenting the experience. The same sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291326380557787987noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23811431.post-50040415603067210152010-10-31T20:02:00.001-07:002010-10-31T20:02:11.533-07:00The WorkshopBast Fibres, sorry, Fibres. We were the noisy ones, so noisy that Jacey came to find out what we were doing. Several times. Sometimes we were pounding fibres - the flax strick needed only hackling to be ready to spin, but pounding the finished skeins with the beautiful wooden mallet on a chunk of the tree that fell on the studio softens and polishes the yarn. Sometimes we were singing. But most sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291326380557787987noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23811431.post-74214489954121658382010-10-26T05:04:00.001-07:002010-10-26T05:04:13.838-07:00Monday is Flax Day OneAnd no photos on my phone, only on the camera and no way to transfer them here. In short: Stephenie summarised the characteristics of bast fibres as a group, talked about the cultivation of flax (including the story of an abortive DEA raid on one of her 4' by 8' flax plots (lush, green, what else could it be? Flax???). And then we learned about prep. Retting, rippling, breaking, scutching, sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291326380557787987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23811431.post-91604585162429642772010-10-25T04:07:00.000-07:002010-10-25T04:07:00.840-07:00Some of the funLake Lawn is a maze of glassed-in corridors connecting residence blocks and various function centres. Having spent Friday learning the layout I knew where spinners were likely to congregate; I headed for the well-lit tables in the window alcoves by the deli (coffee and hot chocolate). And as if by magic, spinners appeared. Old friends and new. We sat and spun and talked and knitted until the delisarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16291326380557787987noreply@blogger.com1