Phoenix Rising

This is Josh. I've known Josh for almost 8 years now. He is graduating from high school this year. Last night was his prom. There is some kind of tradition that kids wear their prom clothes to church the next day. When I saw Josh at church this morning he told me that he was all dressed up for me. Soooo.....now we have a prom picture. That's me with no shoes after church. Josh stopped by to borrow some soy sauce for his mom and so I grabbed the opportunity to get a prom picture with the coolest kid in school.

Yesterday at the shop several people came for a lesson including Blogless Sarah, my favorite black cat and also Becky who has So Many Hobbies. All of them made some big progress in their respective spinning. They all came wanting different things and I think that together we were able to get them closer to their goals.

Before they came and also after the lessons I worked on the yarn that is above and below. I bought the fiber last year at Rhinebeck from Shadeyside Farm. I looked at the bin of fiber first because it was very intriguing - especially the name - Phoenix Blend. But when I asked about it I just loved the story and had to buy some.

Now I wish I had bought some more because I LOVE the novelty yarn I'm getting from this stuff.

The story goes like this. The couple that own Shadeyside Farms was getting ready to go to Rhinebeck and had a lot of their fibers gathered in one room. They left to do some other things and when they got back their dog - Phoenix had been into the fibers and blended them up. Hee.

In the mix is alpaca, silk, plenty of wool top, wool rovings, nylon shimmer, dyed mohair locks, and even some unprocessed wool locks. I love it and I've never spun novelty yarn on purpose before and this stuff is great.

I'm not sure I can get this effect myself. You know. Without the help of Phoenix. Maybe they'll let him make me some more.

And finally, this is for Maggie. Maggie is quite the little math wiz (takes after her mom ; ) These are pattern blocks that we use with our Saxon Math curriculum. But both kids like to play with them outside of math. Here's what she made on Saturday. I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.