The long weekend

Friday we loaded up the dogs and headed to Cannon Beach. Brandon ideally would have preferred leaving the dogs at home and walking the shops, but I had wanted a beach trip with the dogs "on" the beach. ;-) Cannon Beach by Haystack Rock had a lot of people, less than I'm sure there would be later in the weekend. We did walk from one end to the other though. We then headed south to Manzanita and after Brandon showed me were as a kid the family would stay we headed to their beach. Another long hike down the beach to rock where Brandon remembered during low tide there would be tidal pools to look through. Once we were past the majority of people and dogs we were able to let both dogs romp off leash. Nessa gets scared by big dogs, so Norbert protects her, often when not needed.

Beach pics, if you're curious:

Beach Trip Labor Day Weekend 2009

Saturday was, what and how much did I spin for "Summer of Spinning"? So a spreadsheet was created and I went back through the photo album and refreshed my memory of all that I had spun. Thankfully Tour de Fleece was also in there or I think I probably would have less to show for my summer. ;-) As it is for finished spun yarns I have 2744 yards(math error had a previous 2800) and I think what I have will fit into the "If It's Furry, Spin It" with sixteen different fibers spun up.

Sunday I was offered apricots from Lavendarknits. She'd bought a box and made a couple batches of apricot jam and didn't want them to go to waste. So a trip over to her house with some Peach-Pepper Jam, Fig Jam and a small jar of Salsa in exchange. Brandon really enjoys apricots but when asked if he wanted regular or pepper, he went with the pepper jam. So, that's how I spent part of my afternoon, making Apricot-Pepper Jam:

This is trying to show the difference between the Peach-Pepper and the Apricot-Pepper jams, can you tell which is which?


Monday was the last day for Summer of Spinning and I had already started some Stitchjones BFL (Blue Faced Leicester) in red-orange, yellow, cream, and purple. Here's the finished singles:

I decided that I would try to keep the color stripes that were going on, so that meant chain plying. My right thumb is really unhappy with me today from repetitive stress. The yarn was unwound from the stuffed bobbin and the twist set in a hot water bath. The finished yarn was a little damp still when I took photos but I wanted them before it got dark. Here's the finished yarn, 383.5 yards of 3 ply, newly named Sunset (the colors just reminded me of some of the sunsets I've seen), since it had a name of 'Untitled' from Sharon.




This morning I took the rest of the apricots that needed another day to ripen up and cut them up for the food dehydrator. We'll have dried apricots for the winter. I might even dip them in chocolate and give them at Christmas. A neighbor dehydrates pineapple and chocolate dips them and gives them along with mini cherry cheesecakes.

Used up the last of the peaches by making a coffee cake that came from Emerile Legasse. It's been cut, but I haven't eaten it yet, but it smelled fabulous.