Another Productive Day at the Carder!

Yesterday I carded up several more Custom Fiber Blend batts to list in our Etsy store. I recently sorted through a ton of boxes and bags of fiber that I had stashed in our soaking tub in the master bath (I know it sounds crazy but the tub is freaking ginormous and the water heater runs out of hot water when the tub is only half full so what's the point?) Anyway, I sorted out fibers that will work well blended together and filled a huge plastic bin with bags of blending fibers. Yesterday I had a blast going through that bin and picking out all kinds of fibers that went well together. Following are three of the batts: The top one is Lilacs, the middle one is Hydrangeas and the bottom one is Bahama Bay

I also made this - Glacier Bay - a blend of custom dyed merino/silk, tussah silk, mohair and bamboo. This reminds me of the colors of a glacier with that eerie seafoam green glow under the white snow and ice.

And while we're on the subject of snow and ice - guess what we got (yet again) last night?!

Yep, more snow! They predicted that snow would start Tuesday night and go into Wednesday but all we got Tuesday night was a fireworks show complete with tons of lightning and thunder but not a drop of moisture. Then yesterday evening I looked out the office window and it was snowing like crazy so I grabbed my handy camera and snapped several shots. Can you see the thermometer on the deck railing? I think it says about 30 degrees F. And it is mid-May. Ahhh, Springtime in the Rockies - you gotta love it! Not really...

I have a ton of flowers I need to get planted but I obviously don't dare put them out just yet. I have Hollyhocks, Columbine, Lupine, Hosta, Iris and Pansies. I uncovered the rose bushes and I think they made it through the winter but there is no new growth on them yet. It appears that the raspberry bush didn't make it through the winter but the lilac bush I planted last Fall is showing new sprouts so I mulched that day before yesterday with an old llama fleece to keep the buds from getting frostbit. The catnip plant is coming up - I already cut that back to the ground last week and I'm hoping it doesn't get frostbit either, except I think it has a much better chance of coming back than most of the other plants since its pretty hardy. I am going to go buy several straw bales and put them together out in the front flower garden where I can't seem to get things to grow very well and I'll fill in the "straw container" with composted llama manure and try making a raised bed this year. I used to garden a lot at our old house in Colorado Springs. We turned most of the front yard into a terraced flower garden and we had people stopping all the time to take pictures of it. It was a real show stopper! The decomposed granite soils, the short growing season (i.e., two whole days of real summer) and the hungry deer make gardening extremely challenging here but I'm struggling each year to get at least one more decent tree, bush, plant or garden area growing.