RECOMMENDED READING: SUMMERS WITH THE BEARS BY JACK BECKLUND -- A GREAT READ!!

Ruth Sandra Sperling
RSS Designs In Fiber - Internet Shop of Handmade Items
RSS Designs Wearable - Internet Shop of Wearable Items
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Being a lover of wildlife and all wild things in nature -- and having had the fortune since I was a child of seeing them -- some in zoos/gardens and some in the wild -- a book about people who made friends with wild bears is "right up my alley"!!





For some reasons, from the time I was a little girl, bears are one of my favorite wild animals.





I remember going to this one place on the north side of Chicago, where I grew up, and they had a wild bear there - we use to go there and feed him peanuts - just throw the peanuts to him - and I just loved it.





When I was somewhat older and in my teens (don't remember the exact year), there was the time my family and I were hiking in some woods in a park on the North Peninsula of Michigan when we were on vacation - and there were these bear cubs. My uncle said we should all freeze - we didn't want to get in-between the cubs and their mother!! So, we all froze and just watched -- I admit I remember being a little afraid but thinking they (the cubs) were really cute - eventually the cubs got back with their mother and we continued our hike.





Then there was the time a friend and I were driving down this road in the Angeles National Forest near the San Gabriel Wilderness - and this bear was running -- really running!! Yes, in the Angeles National Forest - Los Angeles's "green back yard" -- there are wild bears!!!





A few years ago, while in Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park - again while driving through - there were a couple of bears eating something at the side of the road.





Most of my closer encounters with wild animals have been with smaller ones - like raccoons and deer -- very quiet encounters as I just like to watch them and let them be. Even the skunks that got in this one house I lived in to eat the cat food -- oh, I just left the front door wide open and they eventually left without any problems!!





Of course, none of this comes close to the experiences of the Becklunds in their home in the North Minnesota forest with their wild bear friends.





But at least I have seen some of the wild animals of this earth in their native homes!!





The book "Summers With The Bears - Six Seasons In The North Woods" by Jack Becklund is a wonderful read!! I just finished re-reading it again - and I came away from it feeling a real personal affinity for those bears -- and wondering what happened to Little Bit, their bear cub friend who brought a whole bunch of her wild bear friends to their back porch and their box of seeds!! Of course, it takes some real special people to relate to the wild bears like they did!!





It looks to me, from the way they lived their life, that they must agree with Aldo Leopold and his Land Ethic!!





I checked on the Internet - if you would like to see more about this book and maybe buy a copyof the book "Summers With The Bears", check here on amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Summers-Bears-Seasons-North-Woods/dp/0786885378/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216269111&sr=1-2





Because of my love of bears - especially bears in the wild -- I have on sale in my etsy shop, RSS Designs In Fiber (http://www.RSSDesignsInFiber.etsy.com) -- a Filet Crochet Doily of a Bear:






http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=12896989




For all you other wild animal lovers -- and lovers of nature and "her" wild things -- and everyone else who has yet to experience the joy of life in wild things -- we should all appreciate all the life in this world!!

Ruth

A RIPARIAN FOREST PRESERVED -- KERN RIVER PRESERVE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Ruth Sandra Sperling
RSS Designs In Fiber - Internet Shop of Handmade Items
RSS Designs Wearable - Internet Shop of Wearable Items
RSS Crochet Thread Plus - Internet Shop of Crochet Thread


I love forests - all kinds of forests, but actually my favorites are riparian forests -- forests along the rivers and creeks. Not sure why - they just are.

The first one I "fell in love with" was what I knew as the Biological Reserve at "Allerton" - an Illinois Plains Forest along the Sangamon River in Central Illinois. I discovered somewhere around 10 years ago that much of it is a restored forest with a certain area of it having been virgin Illinois plains forest (hard to believe - it is naturally restored and all of it looked virgin to me). I went there while I was in college at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign - and for years afterwards while I lived in the midwest. During the quiet, private times that I had to wander through this small biological preserve of a woodland, I learned what a real forest was. http://www.continuinged.uiuc.edu/oce-sites/allerton/history.cfm

It was in the late 1980's, when I lived in Southern California, that I discovered the Conservancy Preserves of The Nature Conservancy - I bought one of their books, "California Wild Lands, A Guide To The Nature Conservancy Preserves" by Dwight Holing.

I looked in the book for forests -- much to my own pleasure I found out about the Kern River Preserve, a preserved riparian forest, near Walker Pass in Southern California, at the southern end of the Sierra Nevada. I stopped by there in my travelings a couple of times.

Recently, being concerned about the various fires that have been all over California the last few weeks -- and seeing that one was right in the area of the Kern River Preserve, I decided to look it up on the Internet. I had know it as a Nature Conservancy Preserve -- over the years it had been taken over by Audubon and is now run and managed by Audubon California (http://kern.audubon.org/). I was glad to read the article on their website - that as of sunset July 6th, the fire that threatens the area has been kept out of the riparian forest (http://kern.audubon.org/kelso_creek_sanctuary.htm). With the years and years of restoration and protection that has been done and the significance of this area as a wildlife corridor -- and this specific riparian forest for birds, reptiles and amphibians -- I am so glad that at least so far it has been protected.

I had read in Dwight Holing's book (copyright 1988) years ago about how in the 1800's, "...800,000 acres of forest lined the rivers that drained the Sierra Nevada. Today, only two percent of these woodlands survive, a total of about 12,000 acres. As the riparian habitat has dwindled, so have wildlife populations."

It makes me sad -- riparian forests are such a beautiful part of the "web of life".

The "Today" in his book was when he wrote it -- about 20 years ago. I am not sure how much is left now.

But a HUGE THANK YOU to The Naure Conservancy for first preserving it -- and AUDUBON CALIFORNIA for continuing the management of it.

Have you ever been in a riparian forest? Kern River Preserve is open dawn to dusk every day of the year. Maybe you want to go take a look and see what we need to preserve.

Ruth

A PRIVATE CUSTOM ORDER - A CROCHETED SUNHAT IN NAVY BLUE

Ruth Sandra Sperling
RSS Designs In Fiber - Internet Shop of Handmade Items
RSS Designs Wearable - Internet Shop of Wearable Items
RSS Crochet Thread Plus - Internet Shop of Crochet Thread





SPECIAL ORDER NAVY BLUE COTTON SUNHAT FOR GLORIA




I do my crafts because I enjoy doing them, but it is a real pleasure when someone likes what I make well enough to buy it.


Every once in a while, I get custom orders from people I see and/or know locally.


This time the custom order came from someone liking something that I had made and was wearing -- a beige crocheted sunhat.


I've been making myself hats for years. For the colder times, I have a variety of hats all in different colors to match coats, sweaters and scarves.


I also wear hats in the hot times - where I live in the Antelope Valley of Southern California - it is hot and sunny and windy most of the warmer months - May through September (sometimes even October), so I always have some hats to shade my face and cover my head - it keeps you cooler.


I had found a pattern for a hat in a book of hat patterns by Bernat that I felt was perfect for a Sunhat. It was the one I used for the Red & White one with the 3-d flower (featured in an earlier post).


So, I made myself one in beige that would go with just about everything during the summer.


Actually, I love it - all soft cotton - the brim as I made it, is stiff not floppy - and it is "foldable" or "crushable" so you can take it off and put it in a bag whenever you want to -- and put it back on again and it looks brand new!! The way it is -- it also doesn't blow off in the wind -- it stays on your head!!


So, Gloria saw it and asked me about it. She actually wanted one in black as she wears black a lot. I gave her my phone number. Some time later she called - she wanted one - and then she decided she also wanted one in navy blue.


I had to tell her I would have to special order the black and navy blue cotton yarn, but she wanted them in those colors!!


So, Peaches & Creme yarn to the rescue!! (Check out their website http://www.peaches-creme.com/) for their variety of colors in worsted cotton yarn - and other yarns!!) Of course, they had it -- I special ordered the black and navy blue and several other colors at the same time -- and when the package arrived, I made the 2 hats!!


So, now Gloria has her 2 cotton sunhats - one each in black and navy blue - for our hot, windy summer days!! (The navy blue one is pictured at the top.)


I have always been willing to do Custom Special Orders for people - hopefully, when everything works out right - it is a pleasure for them and for me!!



Ruth

ANOTHER WAY TO DO IMAGES IN CROCHET -- COLORWORK OR TAPESTRY CROCHET

Ruth Sandra Sperling
RSS Designs In Fiber - Internet Shop of Handmade Items
RSS Designs Wearables - Internet Shop of Wearable Items
RSS Crochet Thread Plus - Internet Shop of Crochet Thread


As I mentioned in an earlier post, there are actually a number of ways to do images in crochet.

The earlier post was about Filet Crochet. In it, I mentioned colorwork crochet - also known as tapestry crochet.


This is about colorwork crochet - or tapestry crochet - my style!!


I like to do images in crochet - why - I don't know!! I enjoy it!! Ever since I discovered doing designs and images with fibers, I have just loved doing it!!


I first discovered colorwork crochet in a Magic Crochet Magazine. I thought it was beautiful - but it is solid single crochet with color changes and I could tell it would be quite a bit of detailed work.

I did some - it sold rather quickly during the fall holiday season at the time.


I decided I wanted to do something of my own.


Trees being one of my favorite subjects - both as a crafter/artist and as an environmentalist, I thought a tree would be a good subject.


So here is what I made:




(This is in my ETSY Shop http://www.rssdesignsinfiber.etsy.com/)



I love the branches of a tree, so I wanted them to show with the leaves around them.


So I charted it out - a tree on a hilly landscape - and then I decided to put a golden bird up in the left-hand corner. I planned it with sky blue thread for the sky.


Sitting out in a field in my small town in the Antelope Valley of Southern California one day, I looked up -- way up there in the blue, blue sky was a golden bird circling and circling - the bird was so high up, I couldn't see if it was an eagle or a hawk, but I loved it.


So, the little golden bird in this crochet piece represents these wild birds still up there in our skies!!


Done in DMC Pearl Cotton and DMC Cebelia Crochet Thread in their vibrant colors, I "painted" a picture with crochet thread!!


What fun!!


Ruth

FRESH-PICKED APRICOTS AND PEACHES -- SO-O-O DELICIOUS RIGHT OFF THE TREE -- AND PART OF A LOW CARBON DIET

Ruth Sandra Sperling
RSS Designs In Fiber - Internet Shop of Handmade Items





LOOK GOOD, DON'T THEY!!??

BOY - ARE THEY!!

This is a picture of just a few of the apricots and peaches I picked myself yesterday locally - just a few miles from where I live!!

Actually, I went a little "wild" -- I picked right around 16 pounds of apricots and peaches!!!!

I went to a local U-PICK orchard in the Antelope Valley of Southern California - where they have about 16 acres of different fruit trees.

This is the beginning of the season -- and right now they have ripe on their trees apricots and the first crop of peaches (sorry - I don't remember the names of the varieties).

I just love apricots -- and they only have them for 3-4 weeks every year, so when I pick them, I pick a bunch. After few days, when I have eaten what I can so far, I take some of the rest (before they spoil) and cut them in half and take the pit out and put them in the freezer.

Then I have them through the summer for as long as they will last!! They make a great cold summer snack - alone or with some other foods such as yogurt or in a fruit salad or in a mildly hot (with jalapeno peppers, a little onion and celery) fruit salsa!!

So-o-o delicious!!

So-o-o much better than anything you can buy in the grocery stores!!

AND - THIS IS PART OF EATING A LOW CARBON DIET -- AS THERE IS MINIMAL, IF MUCH OF ANY, CONTRIBUTION TO GREENHOUSE GASES IN GETTING THEM!!! THIS IS WHY:

1. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION TO AND FROM THE ORCHARD!!
2. NO PACKAGING - PICKED RIGHT OFF THE TREE - PUT IN A REUSED BOX TO TAKE HOME!!
3. NO TRANSPORTATION BY THE SELLER AS I PICK IT AND PAY FOR IT IN THEIR ORCHARD!!

SO - ANOTHER PLUS POINT - HEALTHY FOR ME, HEALTHY FOR THE PLANET - GOT TO INCLUDE THE FACT THAT IT SUPPORTS A HETEROGENEOUS ORCHARD OF DIFFERENT SPECIES OF FRUIT TREES WHICH, BELIEVE ME, I HAVE HEARD -- SUPPORTS A CERTAIN WILDLIFE POPULATION. 16 ACRES ISN'T ACTUALLY CONSIDERED BIG ENOUGH TO BE ECOLOGICALLY SIGNIFICANT -- BUT EVERYTHING HELPS -- ESPECIALLY MORE TREES!!

Whereever you live -- are there any U-PICK orchards where you can get lucious fruit that you pick for yourself right off the tree??? Check it out -- you might find some!!

Even if you have to drive there -- make it an outing with a bunch of people (carpooling) -- and stock up -- and have some fun!!!!!

Ruth

A NEW SHOP ON ETSY -- FOR MY WEARABLE CROCHET AND KNITTING DESIGNS!!!

Ruth Sandra Sperling
RSS Designs In Fiber - Internet Shop of Handmade Items
RSS Designs Wearable - Internet Shop of Wearable Items
RSS Crochet Thread Plus - Internet Shop of Crochet Thread


I decided to separate out the wearable items from the home decor and gift-type items -- so I set up a new shop on etsy.com:

http://www.RSSDesignsWearables.etsy.com

Look below and to the right -- you will see a thumbnail gallery of a few of the wearable items I have made and put up for sale on etsy.com.

Having a separate shop gives me more ways to show and organize all my designs.

Over the years, I have made such a variety of items for myself and others - both in home decor and in wearable clothing -- that I want to have the opportunity to share what I have made and have for sale!!

Take a look -- anyone can email me about anything I have made - on etsy.com through their conversations -- or to the email address here on my blog!!

Ruth