Coming Soon -

My first offerings of the hand-dyed yarn have been successful at the last two events

and more hand-dyed lace weight will be ready soon.

Within the next few weeks the first online purchasing will be available here.

But for now... teasers.

Each skein unique, but all are rinsed in a gentle bath of lavender.

Silk, merino, alpaca...

  Now don't you want to knit something?

Back in Tulsa!

After a wonderful week of vacation fun in New York, we're back on the farm.  For a bit anyway. There are a few photos of our trip on my knitting blog if you want to see what we look like when we're stoked up on Magnolia Bakery cupcakes.

Tomorrow begins the Garden Deva Open House in Tulsa.  The studio is easy to find on Trenton between 3rd & 4th and I highly recommend everyone coming out to spend an hour (or two or three) perusing the art, crafts, and delicious food available.  This is the last event for us in Tulsa so be sure to pick up those lavender holiday gifts!  We'll have Handmade Naked Lavender Soap, Soap in Sachets, Shea Butter, and several options of gift combos.

The music at the Garden Deva is always outstanding.  Especially fun is the final hour of the event on Saturday when the djembe drummers from the Tulsa area show up in great numbers and really get the crowd's mojo working.

Don't miss it!

Edited to add:
Sadly the djembe drummers did not make it the Deva this year - but there were fire dancers!!

War Eagle Weekend

We're home again after the four day weekend that is War Eagle Crafts Fair.  It always takes a few days to recover after a long stint of festival fun and talking lavender non-stop.

War Eagle 2009 was a bit slower than years past due (I believe) the big Arkansas football game at Florida. (It was a heartbreaking loss for the Razorbacks.) The mornings were cold but without fail there were shoppers lined up at the front gate waiting for entry and the shopping frenzy to begin.  While we sell at other events that are as big as War Eagle, there are unique traditions at this long time festival.

For instance, the costumes.  Not the vendors (thank goodness!) but the shoppers show up in funky and fun Halloween hats, shirts, and vests.  My guess is the tradition began with groups of women who wanted to be able to locate each other in the crowds.  Obviously this was before you could stand at one end of Tent 2 and call your shopping partner , who had gone on to Tent 4, on her cell phone to come back and taste the salsa or give her opinion on the jewelry that you think is destined to return home with you.

This year we went armed with a camera to catch some of the War Eagle fun and preserve it for all eternity.  (Or until we're bribed to take down photos that are evidence of non-sanctioned shopping sprees.)

As you can see War Eagle is not just about shopping.

It's about fun, family, and friendship.  The revelry crosses all generations.

I love when women show their witchy side!

Celebrating forty years of friendship!

It's been decades since Carol and I rode around on our bikes singing Moonshadow.

What say we meet on Aspen Drive and do it one more time?

Eastbound and down...

We're loaded up and truckin'....

Well, enough of Jerry Reed's classic song.  It's War Eagle Weekend in Northwest Arkansas and Chris and I have loaded the van with a bevy of lavender products to sell.

If you're heading to the many craft fairs planned for this weekend in the War Eagle area be sure to stop by and say hello.  We'll be found in Tent Two, Side One, Booth Six.

Personally I'll be stocking up on Jalapeno Jelly from WHH Ranch, candles from RC, and woven towels.  Maybe a new broom from the Grassy Creek men.  There's also a yarn barn that I've been coveting from the potter Kevin Byrnes. Who knows!

4x4 Required

As forecasted the rain began yesterday.

And continued.

It may sound a bit strange (but if you know me you're used to me being strange - yes?) but I absolutely love heavy rains.  Yes they make for a mess and can be dangerous.  I love the deafening sounds of heavy rain.  I love the roaring of an overflowing creek.  I even love the feeling of isolation.

Yesterday evening Chris checked the rain gauge between our house and the red barn - it held three and a half inches of water.  This morning I checked it again - another two and a half inches had fallen.  After coffee and a bagel we put on wellies, jackets, and hats and walked down to the lower pasture where the creek was over flowing.  It is at least twice as wide now and the large boulders that lined the crossing are no longer visible.

Still curious - we walked down the lane to the dirt road and further to the blacktop where there is a low-water bridge about a mile away.  Actually it isn't as bad as expected but still overflowing with water.  Last year they cleaned the "whistles" or pipes that run beneath the cement and allow water to pass under the bridge.  Because Clear Creek is lined with gravel the whistles can easily be clogged when heavy rains erode the floor and banks of the creek.

If necessary we could possibly cross in our truck which has 4x4 or maybe use the big tractor to cross (which poses the question of what to do then?).  It's not necessary as far as I'm concerned.  I enjoy a little isolation.

For an update on knitting - while going to and from, and staying in, Memphis last week I finished four of the five repeats of Chart A on the Icarus Shawl in llama yarn.  It's going to be great!

Chris and I went to the Tulsa State Fair to see the knitting displays.  I won a blue ribbon for the Blue Silk Aeolian.  Sorry no photos - but we'll take some nice ones when I get it back home next week.

On the way to Memphis I was knitting away when Chris pulled over the van.

"Get out" he said.

"What? Why?" I asked.

"Just get out."

So - being the sort of trusting type I hopped out.  He didn't appear angry so I only worried a mild amount that I was being deposited on the side of a highway for knitting and not carrying my side of the conversation.

I love this guy!  He'd found a sign for me!

cross posted on lostcityknits.blogspot.com

Heading South

Clear Creek Lavender is once again headed south to Memphis and the Pink Palace Festival.

Earlier this evening I reread a blog post from my personal blog written while we were in Memphis last year.  While I haven't practiced or perfected my southern drawl in the past year I am delighted to be going back to Memphis where being polite is natural and even the barbs are sugar-coated.

I asked Christopher tonight at dinner where we'd had the great ribs and since his memory for names is much better than mine he immediately said "Corky's".

MMmmm Corky's dry rub bar-b-que!

If you too are attending the Pink Palace Festival, be sure to stop by and say hello!

Vodka tonic anyone?

Fall Festival kick off at Winfield!

Autumn is in the air here on the farm. The past week has been foggy, rainy, and mild in temperature. The second round of coreopsis is blooming as is the Munstead. Combine the changes in weather with the flurry of activity in the studio and surely you will know it's time for the Fall Season to begin!

First show up is the Walnut Valley Festival or as everyone refers to it "Winfield". Winfield is a festival like none other we attend. First - there's the camping. Land Rush was on September 10th but people began lining up for the land rush on August 20th. Yes - really! We know people who have been attending Winfield for twenty plus years, each year camping with the same crowd of twenty-thirty-forty families under a huge lighted peace sign.  There'll be jamming and laughing into the wee hours.

Then there's the music - six official stages, plus a few more will give any attendee a chance to see and hear the music they enjoy. Small groups or duos traveling and singing on tour, big names that you recognize and of course the contests for flatpicking, dulcimer, fiddle and a few more. The next rising star may be competing. Heck Allison Krauss won in 1984!

And of course, there's the tie-dye. I've never seen more tie-dye in one place than Winfield, Kansas in September! It's crazy good! There are oodles of tie-dye vendors, along with the traditional crafts of jewelry, pottery, and you guessed it - lavender soap and sundries! You'll find us in the pavilion. Or most probably you'll find one of us in the pavilion and the other in the crowds enjoying some of the fantastic music Winfield has to offer this year. Come and say hello!