Scribbles For Sanity

Having no training in art doesn't stop me from trying.

I continue to play with art in my own way because it calms my soul and makes me happy.

Saturday was a play day mostly.

Some watercolor paint and a fountain pen.

Good therapy.

Karen Ann

Pressed Plants

I can't tell you what any of these plants are except for the little "Fiddle Heads". I gathered them a few months ago along the half mile lane that leads to my house. Today is such a hot day here in PA that I am staying indoors where it's cool. I'm playing today. Playing with pressed plants. I've removed them from the press and attached them to watercolor paper to be placed in a sort of journal. 

There are blossoms from the garden in the press now. Cant wait to add them to the journal. One day I'll fill in all the gaps with little stories to go with all the pressed plants.

Karen Ann

Happy Milo

Haven't been here in a while. Just took a look at my last post and realized that all of the abnormal starts to feel normal after a while.

This is Milo. He is smiling at me because it's time for him to eat.

Here he is doing a happy dance in the kitchen because something on the stove smells good. 

"It's mom's awful healthy soup stuff. No meat here."

Hope all of you are well and happy. Sending positive thoughts out to everyone.

kAREN aNN

March 2020

 What is happening?

Everything is crazy and scary.

I miss my family.

How will everything ever be normal again?

This is me and my favorite little guy in the whole world.

It's been weeks since I've been able to hold him.

What if I never get to hug him again?

I've been keeping it together pretty well until today.

I'm so sorry.

I'm so sad.

I'm sure tomorrow will be better.

I hope everyone is keeping it together out there.

I would hug all of you if I could.

Be safe.

Karen Ann

Mr. Milo

Mr. Milo is my new furry best friend.

He's a 4 month old Golden Retriever. He came here to live with me just a few short days ago and already I couldn't imagine life without him.

I'm pretty sure the people who sold him to me were not breeders as they said they were.

I found some awful things online about them after the fact and even though I suspected things weren't quite right before I took him, I just couldn't leave him there. He has his first vet appointment on Wednesday and I hope they can tell me that he is healthy and as a 4 month old puppy should be.

Have a great weekend all.

Karen

Spin Therapy

I'm taking a break from washing fiber this week and doing a little spinning.

This was created from all the bits I saved from cleaning the carder.

No plan- no stress.

Loving the fluffy messiness of this.

I'm trying to relax and not try too hard.

Sort of meditating I guess.

From Sheep to Whatever

From the sheep to the whatever.

Actually, from bags of dirty fiber to yarn.

After picking through it and removing as much of the vegetable matter as possible it went into 

mesh laundry bags.

Then out to the kitchen.

Into hot soapy water to soak.

Some were very dirty and required repeated soaking while some only needed a couple of soaks. I was careful not to change the temperature of the water throughout the process.

I used shampoo for the first few and then switched to Dawn.

It is easier to rinse the fiber washed in shampoo. The dawn seems to need more rinsing and I ended up felting a bag of alpaca fiber trying to rinse out all the soap. Into the trash it went. Less soap from now on.

 I used a few drops of lavender oil in the final rinse.

This Chesterfield wool was washed a few days ago. I had it drying on the sweater drying rack, on the deck and the wind blew it everywhere. My driveway looked like a sheep exploded.

These net laundry baskets hung on the railing work well.

The fiber stays put and drys well in the sun and wind.

Some mohair.

Some alpaca.

Some Chesterfield.

Washing small batches at a time.

The process is time consuming and I haven't put a dent in the bags of dirty fiber.

Learning as I go.

Karen