Vacation in the Mountains

This is as close to fiber as I've gotten this vacation. The bobbin on the left, I spun 2 summers ago; the one in the middle, last summer. The one on the right, this trip. Yeah, I like to age those singles... The fiber is grey alpaca. It will get plied (someday) with a mohair singles that's been aging even longer (!), which is mostly grey with splashes of many bright colors.



Also somewhat fiber-related, there are lots of mushrooms this year (it's been a very damp year, which is great for reducing the fire danger and for encouraging mushrooms). I found a colony of what I think are boletes. There is a lot of yellow color on the underside which would give color. These specimens are about 2.5 to 3 inches across, but there were more around that were larger. If I didn't have a 3-day drive to get home (with a bag of rapidly rotting mushrooms in the car) I'd pick a lot to take home to use for dye.



The weather was warm and sunny for a few days, then turned cold and rainy - down to 35 F last night - so the mountain range behind the lake is covered with snow. Today is sunny but cold, crisp, with hints of winter coming soon.