This and That

We had some really nasty weather last night! The tornado siren went off and that rarely happens here in Addison. We used to get them going off all the time when the kids were young and we lived in Romeoville. It was a bit scary, but it all blew through pretty fast. Other than a couple small branches down, we didn't have any damage. Some places got hit much harder though and are still without power. John just called me from work and told me that the power line over the car exploded while he was sitting in it eating his lunch. North was hit pretty bad, so maybe there was an overload from power being spread too thin, or maybe the power line was weak from last night, I don't know. Whatever, the power has been cut from his work so he'll probably be home early.
I have been washing wool all morning, trying to get as much done as I could before more rain came. There ended up being a couple of showers and I had to bring it all in again, but it looks like it's over now. I am still combing Nfld wool, and then spinning as I go. With the lanolin content of this wool it should make some nice semi-waterproof mittens. I'm hoping to get at least 2 pairs, maybe even 3. They will make excellent Christmas presents.
Still haven't taken any pics to post, but maybe I will later today.

Back From Hiatus

I have been out of the blogging sphere for so long I don't know where to start. I have closed the Etsy store. Irene has been sick, and there is just too much dampness in the basement for me to spend a lot of time down here. The mold and mildew really affects my allergies, so I have been confined to the upstairs more. We have had such a damp spring and early summer that even though there haven't been huge amounts of water coming in, there always seems to be a treickle here and a trickle there, and the damp mustiness is too much to deal with. On the upside, though, I discovered the dampness was not good for the loom, so I brought it and my wheel upstairs. I warped the loom with cotton rug warp and then wove a nice rag rug with all blue rags. I got some cotton thread in a blue green color and a cream and am going to warp for a table runner sometime in the next couple of weeks. I think I'm going to weave checks, it will look nice and is easy. I have tons of pics of crocheted and knitted items to post, I made a pair of mittens from handspun that I really like, also several shawls and hats. I've made 5 pairs of mittens since I posted last. I am currently working on a pair of socks (my first!) and a spinning project using the 12 oz or so of Nfld wool I had left. I just got 6 lbs of fleece I was going to start washing tomorrow, but it's supposed to rain again and keep raining off and on for the next 5 days.

On the fishing front, John and I have both landed some nice bass this year. I caught an 18 inch in Westmore woods during spawn. Suprised the hell out of me, I didn't realize there was anything that big in there. John caught his at Bass Lake about a week or so ago. Chris has only caught a nice crappie and small bass so far. We're going to Shelbyville the 8-11th of July. It will be Chris, Sio John and I, so a nice family trip. Hopefully the rain will be gone and it won't be too hot.

I didn't put in a garden this year, but my herbs from last year came back. The sage is enormous, I planted it 2 years ago, and I need to dig it up and divide it. The flowers are pretty and it makes a nice decorative plant, I might put some in the front of the house. My St Johns wort came back and it has to be 2 feet tall. It is getting small yellow flowers. The golden oregano I planted last year is doing really well too. I have been using it in different Italian recipes. And my lavender is flowering and almost ready to be harvested. I want to let some of it go to seed so I can plant more next year. I got a few ripe mulberries yesterday, just a handful, but in a week or so the should be ready to be picked. I checked the raspberries and they are tiny and very green still. I'm looking forward to raspberry jam so I hope they end up being nice. It's hard to say with the weather being so weird this year.