The Learning Curve of Yarn....and other Stuff

Ok, just a quick post to show what I've been up to the passed week....
Below are pictures of Tanglwood Fiber Creation's "new toy": a mini spin-machine that really does work wonders. However, the teeny weeny cup that the directions showed catching water was very misleading....hence the towels in the picture. I was frantically looking for containers to catch the water as it poured out of the spigot, snatching bowls, cups, tupperware, anything within reach-gasping with horror as still more and more water gushed all over the floor. It filled the ceramic bowl in the photo three times before it finally slowed to a drip...drip..drip. Relieved to see the water finally slowing, I surveyed the damage. A small lake had enveloped my feet and it took four kitchen towels to clean up the mess. Next time, before installation, I'm calling the Laundry Alternative, Inc. sales rep and having him come out to do a training session for all operations personnel....
Anyway, after the initial learning curve, I found that it worked wonderfully and all the skeins were dry by the morning, ready for me to take to St. Helens for Courtney.

After spinning, the skeins were only slightly damp.

Another big event this week: Mt. Angel's Oktoberfest! It's the largest of it's kind in Oregon, but neither RaNita or I could figure out what the heck the people in the RVs do for three days. It was fun in a corny tourist, Americanized kinda way, but people drive hundreds of miles to Mt. Angel (the town with no traffic light, or stop sign) to partake. The two of us just didn't get it (but RaNita is LDS and I don't like beer, so perhaps we weren't the demographic?) but had fun lunch, starting with a ear of corn each from the Mt. Angel Fire Station booth, then a Brat with Kraut (of course), and Apple cake with Butter Sauce (which was the devil). All in all we were glad we went, but were able to see the whole festival in one hour. Seriously, what do those people do for three whole days???? Don't understand.....
The "famous" Oktoberfest clock. This has fully rotating figures, including an indian, a pioneer couple, nun, bishop, and a german man playing a tuba. It plays music and the grand finale is the two children on the swing roll out and sing "Eidelvas". Creamed corny....

Bloomin' Onions....very German....wink, wink....

Yes, they even had Mt. Angel citizens dressed in costumes pulling innocent people out of the crowd to do the Chicken Polka. I started to get a glazed look of horror on my face and heard RaNita quietly mention that it might be time to get back to work....

Hey, I did see the actual stones that were the inspiration for our new colorway: "Erica's Sunstone". This is a native Oregon semi-precious stone and I think the colorway matches it perfectly. Great job Erica!

And finally, new big-girl dishes! Well, new to me. Jan's mother is moving to a new place where the staff cooks meals and so kindly offered to let me purchase them for a good price. It's a set for twelve that includes dinner plates, salad plates, bread plates, cups, saucers, a gravy boat, a platter, a serving dish, salt and pepper shakers, soup bowls, dessert bowls, and a sugar bowl. Yeah, I've had to some reorganizing....but aren't they nice? It's great to have matching dishes and I can't wait to cook for Mom when she comes up (two more days).

All lined up for a wash and this was only one box :-)

Carlos Santana and the Museum of Glass

Well, this weekend was another one spent jaunting off to some far away location, concert-bound! This time, my good friend Adrienne (who has made many appearances on my blog) was kind enough to accompany me to Tacoma, Washington to see Carlos Santana. Jan McMahon once told me that if I ever had a chance to see Santana, I should jump at it, so I did and purchased two tickets to his show at the White River Amphitheater. It was great and I was again surprised at the variety of social demographics that showed up to see him. There were hardcore latin fans (that knew all the spanish words), old hippies (who tried to say the spanish words), and young college students (who didn't care about the words at all). All-in-all, totally worth what I paid for the tickets, which is always nice.
Here are pictures of Sunday morning, after a very late night listening to car alarms going off and people arguing in the parking lot of our hotel room. Adrienne and I decided that since we were in the area, we should check out the Museum of Glass in Tacoma. Mom, Dad, and Erica went about a month ago and I've wanted to go since I saw Mom's pictures.
Adrienne doing a fantastic Vanna White impression...

One of the galleries (that I technically wasn't supposed to take pictures of)...



These photos are from inside the Hot Glass Studio. A whole team of glass artists were working on one project, two artists making clear glass rings and the other two attaching them to a long, cylindrical vase.
Here are the two artists who were making rings of various sizes...


The two artists attaching the rings to the vase...


Adrienne watching from the mezzanine...

Here is the large screen close-up of the floor action for all the people in the theater-style seats.

Now, we couldn't go to a Museum like this and not visit the gift shop! Here are a couple of pictures I took while inside.
Hand-blown Christmas tree ornaments...


Some artwork for sale....



Here is a shot Adrienne took of me and Molla outside the Museum. This large cone is actually the roof of the Hot Glass Studio....


Molla, being her lovable self. She was very good the whole trip (well, pretty good. She did get into her extra food and chow it all while we were at the concert. The only evidence was a very clean plastic bag...)

Here is The Bridge and Wall of Art that you can see from the highway. This wall and the two blue glass towers welcome visitors to Tacoma.

Adrienne and I took turns taking pictures of each other.....




My splurges...the green one will be mine forever, but the rainbow colored sphere is on its way to LA, destined for Niki Taguchi's house. It was her 50th birthday this year and although I was invited, I was unfortunately unable to make the party. Hope she likes it!


We had a great time and if you're ever in the Tacoma area, I highly recommend the Museum of Glass!

There is a Season, Yarn, Yarn, Yarn.....

....and as counter-intuitive as it is, the hot summer months are our busy season! Everyone is getting ready for Fall and Christmas and, as a result, we get frantic last-minute orders that need to be started right away! Since Mom is still down in SoCal, I have done my best to pick up the slack for Tanglewood Fiber Creations. I have been plying non-stop in my afternoons after work and any time during the weekends, so I would have enough to fill orders. Courtney and I spent five and a half hours working at the St. Helens house, getting yarn packaged with labels, then filling customer cubbies and making out invoices. There are seven boxes in the back of my truck, waiting to be mailed to anxious customers.
One of our spinners requested that I post pictures of the finished yarn, since all she sees are singles going out and not the finished product. Well, here you go!

This is some Calypso Cove and Winter in Cashmere/ Silk setting in my sink.

Lots of Cashmere/ Silk in Newport Rocks and Columbia GORGE-ous, drying over my shower curtain rod. I had both fans going underneath in an attempt to get them dry before labeling them the next day. Without a washer to spin them out, I got mixed results.

Some finished skeins waiting for label sleeves...


Here, Courtney is skeining away, writing down yardage....

...and here is the finished product, ready to be invoiced and packaged up!

Joe Cocker and Steve Miller!

I know, I know, it's been a long while since I've updated, but the world never, ever stops for you to catch your breath and such is the case with my blog. However, since it was a three-day weekend, I managed to find time in between going up to St. Helens on behalf of TFC and doing laundry to download some photos. Chronicled below is the Washington trip that Jan, Neil, Erica, Ginger, and myself all took on the first weekend in August.
This first photo is the view from the rest stop. The whole drive out to George, Washington (isn't that name just ridiculous) was beautiful and the weather couldn't have been better. Anyone who has driven through the Gorge to Washington knows what I mean. You follow the river toward Eastern Oregon until cutting over to Washington, watching as it meanders from your right side to your left side then up, up into the hills to your final destination. There were many wind surfers and boaters out on the river, taking advantage of the perfect weather. Here are a few shots of the view from the speeding RV.


Our first road stop. Jan and Neil tasted wine while Erica and I got ice cream cones and poked around.

A view into the cockpit....There was much agreeing, then disagreeing with the GPS, turning around, then circling again in favor of the original direction once we got into town....

Erica and Ginger hanging out in the back, newly designated "kids area".

After no small amount of excitement in the camp ground (finding a suitable spot, setting up "camp", making dinner, and finding the bathrooms), we were relieved to find our seats and this spectacular view of the Gorge.

The stage with it's magnificent backdrop...

A view of the "non-assigned" seating area. It was like one of those ancient Greek theaters, with grass-covered benches carved into the hillside.


The Steve Miller Band...

We retired to the campground, pleasantly sated from rock and roll to a cool, inviting RV and very enthusiastic Austrialian Shepherd. I alone braved the portable showers that night and fell gratefully into bed afterward. The last thing I remember before drifting off to sleep was the sound of Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band playing in the background, eminating from someone's car stereo.
The next morning dawned bright and cool and we had a leisurly breakfast of egg sandwiches and juice before breaking camp and heading home. We stopped at several fruit stands on the way home and bought peppers, tomatillos, corn, vanilla extract and candy from the various stands. It was fun; I got everything I needed to make taco meat and Jan bought corn for that night's dinner.
Here is Erica and me goofing around, yet again....

Food porn shot for Mom (she loves heirloom tomatoes)...

An industrious Jan shrewdly picking out only the best tomatillos....

After stand number three, the day began to really heat up and we decided to make for home, stopping only to make lunch in the RV, then hit the road again. We all had a great time and my only regret was that Mom couldn't go, as originally planned. She would've had a great time. On the other hand, I wonder how many TNNA interns got to see Joe Cocker and the Steve Miller Band during their summer work program. I'm betting, not many. :-)

Perserverance Continued...

I saw her. She's tiny and yellow and still there. She peeks out from between the mirror and mirror shell until I start up the car, then she disappears to ride it out. A new web appeared this morning, unbreakable and glistening, even at 70 mph....