MOONLIGHT AND LAUGHTER

Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival and New York State Sheep and Wool Festival, 2011

2011-11-01T09:57:00.003-04:00

We made it to the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival and home again safely with a lot of fun in between. Holly is the best festival companion. I really appreciate her sunny disposition and the help she gives me. I also appreciate her lovely husband Tom who lets us take his van and suffers with Holly's small car for the weekend. It was such a treat to be surrounded by happy fiber shopping people-out to have a great day with their friends or family-nice to see some familiar faces and meet many new yarn and fiber lovers as well.

Silk scarves all in a row.

The whole booth-we're on a corner, so there is a little more room to spread out.

My friend Andrea let me use her display shelf built by her husband John.

The shelves the batts are on are ones my parents used when they vended at antique shows.

Zoom forward a month and it was time to go to Rhinebeck and the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival. I went with Trina, Andrea and Suzanne and we had a wonderful time. The drive down was uneventful and we arrived at our hotel around 3. We unloaded the car, unpacked and went to an early dinner at the Eveready Diner, a must do destination for many. We walked because it was right down the road from the hotel. We returned to the room for some knitting and planning of what we wanted to see on Saturday. Suzanne was prepared with printed out lists of vendors for all of us, and she had her route already planned with an index card with vendors she wanted to see for each building. This was a great idea, and definitely helped all of us. We turned in early so that we could rise and shine at 5:30 since there were 4 of us and only one bathroom, and we wanted to be sure to be ready on time. We had breakfast at Pete's in Rhinebeck, another restaurant inundated with knitters-it's so much fun to see what people have knit to wear to the festival.

Trina and Suzanne

Andrea

Llama parade.

Sleepy sheepies.

This guy really wanted his picture taken.

Pendulum spinning wheel-not at all what I had pictured. The spinner said it's very temperamental.

We arrived at the fairgrounds a little early and were able to get in, which gave us the opportunity to wander a bit before the huge crowds arrived. I thought it seemed less crowded than usual in the morning, but by noon the hordes had arrived. There was a big issue with parking this year because of extremely water logged grounds, and some people waited for two hours just to get onto the fairgrounds. We were lucky and avoided all those issues. We split up to shop and came together around 2 when I had definitely met my saturation point with crowds and being knocked into in the buildings. It was time to go back to the hotel and see what everyone had purchased and do some knitting. We had pizza delivered to the room and shared some wine as well. The pizza delivery guy had his daughter, who was about a year old with him-so adorable.
More knitting and wine drinking and it was time to go to bed so we could get up bright and early and return for all those purchases we had regretted not making on Saturday.

More Llamas on parade.

Goat not wanting to be on parade.

Green leafed tree-usually they are brightly colored fall leaves.

Sunday morning breakfast of 4H apple cider donuts.

We did some more power shopping, hit the sale at Briar Rose, and were ready to leave by lunch time. The Eveready Diner has added a second location directly across from the Fairgrounds, so we had lunch there and began the long trip home. It rained most of the way, but having good traveling companions made it a fun trip.

I have read many reports from people who did not have the best experience at Rhinebeck this year. Parking was a mess because of the rain, a two hour wait to get onto the Fairgrounds, too many people, etc. etc. We somehow managed to avoid all those issues, and when it started to seem too crowded we were ready to go back to the hotel. Despite being able to avoid the pitfalls of attending Rhinebeck, next year I think I am going to be focusing on other fiber festivals that aren't as crowded and have many of the same vendors as Rhinebeck. I like to buy local when I ca and am going to make an even bigger effort to support New York farmers. There were people who stood in line two hours or longer to buy yarn from certain vendors, and I don't understand that. I would rather find a dyer who has things that are just as beautiful as the "in" person, and support that person instead.

Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival or Bust!!!

2011-09-22T09:24:00.002-04:00

It has been a busy couple of months. About the time of my last blog post, Conor decided he wanted to go to SUNY Potsdam, I discovered I was going to have house guests in Cranberry Lake for two weeks in August, and I realized I'd better start getting ready for the fiber festival. The fiber festival was weeks away, but I know how quickly those weeks can pass and I was correct.

It's also the season for the farmer's market, a fun time which will soon be coming to an end. Last Friday I thought I would never be able to rewarm myself after sitting in the blistering wind for five hours. It's the last time I will pay attention to what the weather report says about temperature. I had to resort to wearing handknit socks on my hands because I was not prepared with the proper woolens.

Canton Farmer's Market

Conor was successful in his quest to go to school, despite applying at such a late date. I filled out the dreaded FASFA and he even got financial aid. It just goes to show that, although it is a good thing to do things according to deadlines, it is also possible to attend college following a different time frame from the rest of the world.

My guests came to camp and we had a lovely time. Three visitors from Rhode Island and two from New Jersey. It was lovely to see them all and the weather was superb. There was spinning, knitting, great food (thank you, Caitlin, for the most delicious of stews and roasted vegetables), and conversation and laughter-truly memorable times.

Holly, Bev and Sandy on the porch at camp. Bev was fascinated by all the sheep talk.

Now it is the day before leaving for the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival. My mind is being boggled as I wonder why I felt that this was the perfect time to write a blog post. I think it is a major procrastination tool. I still have thrum mitten kits to finish, batts to make and bag, tablecloths and silk scarves to iron, labels to make for Angelina, lots of display items to be pulled together, and I suppose I also need to pack some clothes. I guess I'd better get moving. Oh, yes, I also designed this sock, so I need to get the patterns together for this. Oy vey!

Fern Bedsocks

The beginning of the preparations for the festival.

Hazy, Hot and Humid

2011-07-18T15:28:00.001-04:00

It is humid and warm here-I know this to be true because by the time I was done getting dressed after my shower I needed another shower. So now I am figuring out what to do with my day that will not require much physical effort, and writing a blog post seemed to be a good idea.

Since the beginning of July, I have been spending time spinning every day because of the Tour de Fleece. This has been fun for me and I've been spinning some pretty yarn using Phat Fiber samples that I have accumulated over time.

Samples sort of separated into color families

Seamus making sure the samples don't escape.

This is my favorite of the yarns I have spun so far, along with one of the batts from which it was spun.

The next day I made batts from the green and purple samples.

Seamus once again being a helper kitty

The yarn I did next, from the green and purple batts.

My other goal for the month of July is to return to reading more. I used to read incessantly, but since I have been knitting and spinning incessantly, the reading time has lessened. This stack of books is residing next to my bed so I don't have to go searching when I am looking for something to read. I just finished Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart. I have been a fan of hers since my teen years and truly enjoyed re-reading this book. I also want to revisit her Merlin series. I discovered three of the four books when I was cleaning some boxes of books out of the basement. (It seems there are five books in the series, Wikipedia knows everything.) So now I have two books to look for when I visit used book stores.

My final July project has been a giant granny square afghan using leftover yarn. Here it is as a baby.

And now almost done-it just needs a border. (The colors are brighter in person.) I really don't want to stop because it is so much fun to choose the next color, so I can see another afghan quickly being started. I have been looking in the book Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs as my inspiration for beginning the next one.

Time for lunch. I have a local tomato from the Canton Farmer's Market that is going to become a yummy cheese and tomato sandwich made on home baked bread from the market. Delicious!

I Yam What I Yam

2011-06-24T09:30:00.008-04:00

It's been too long since I have regularly posted. I used to enjoy writing posts, but lately have lost the desire to write, and have been trying to figure out what changed. I've concluded that it stemmed from a meeting I had with a teacher of a class I was taking who asked me the purpose of my blog. She was looking at it from a business perspective and was especially puzzled as to why I would post recipes and talk about my family if the blog was for my business.

I let that conversation keep me from doing something I enjoy. My idea of this forum had been to share not only what I am doing with my business but also what is happening in my life, because it is all interconnected. My job for the past 30 years has been that of mother. When my children began to move on, out of the house and start their own lives and no longer needed me as much, I realized that I needed something to fill my time, and I wanted it to be something that I loved to do. My passion as a fiber artist led me to this wonderful business of dyeing fiber and yarn, and I truly feel blessed to be able to be a part of this world. I also enjoy the people I connect with online and in person-I am amazed and feel honored to be a part of the friendships that have arisen through Moonlight and Laughter.

I am still a mom though, and my children are still an important part of my life. I don't see how I could write a blog and not include them occasionally, and include the things I love to do, like cooking. I have let someone else's idea of what is right for me keep me from doing what I know is right for me. I am not being true to myself, and I do not like that feeling-so I'm going with what I feel is right, and I'm back.

Be forewarned that every post will not be about yarn, knitting, dyeing or something to do with fiber. You may hear about where I've been visiting or who I've been visiting with, you'll get to know a little bit about my children, you'll hear about the joys, but also the sadness which are an integral part of my life, you're sure to see photos of my cats and hear about their antics, and I will definitely be sharing recipes with you because I think food and eating together help form community, something I feel that is often lacking in the crazy world that is the 21st century.

So in answer to the question I was asked as to what is the purpose of my blog-I want to share what is happening in my life, both in my business and personal life, with people who are interested. Perhaps we can form a community here. If you would like to join me, I hope you will stop in and see what is happening, both in the world of Moonlight and Laughter and in the world of Marilla, which can sometimes be a very crazy world indeed.

In the immortal word so Popeye "I Yam What I Yam".

In conclusion, let me tell you about Gerard and Seamus' new favorite sleeping spot-a box that has been residing on my kitchen table for a couple of weeks. They actually fight over the box,

Seamus.

Gerard.

If you have a moment, I'd love to hear from you in the comments what you think of this post and the purpose of my blog. Thanks for reading!

I Am Many Women

2011-04-22T16:39:00.003-04:00

I have been cleaning and sorting and getting rid of things in preparation for putting my house on the market. Today I found this poem that I had copied from the inside of my sister Jane's recipe book when I was at her house last year as she was dying. Jane was a wonderful cook and baker, and she loved to make bread.

It seems an appropriate poem for Good Friday.

I Am Many Women

When sky and street merge in sullen grayness

and black trees stir in sleep,

my stove becomes a hearth.

I am many women who have looked at rain

through a flap of hide, from a handhewn door,

and felt secure against a threatening world,

blessed within warm walls and sheltering roof.

Hands deep in flour,

powdered grain from a million fields

garnered in sweating sunlight,

I am many women who have kneaded resilient dough

with strong hands . . .

brown, red, yellow and white hands.

Folding and stretching, shaping

smoothly contoured loaves

rich with the smell of yeast.

(Bread is like nothing so much as bread,

sacred in its own identity.)

The sky trades snow for night,

and the scent of baking loaves

is calm benediction for my home.

I am many women who have taken bead from an oven,

and breaking it . . .

felt consecrated.

One Wanderer Returning, One Leaving

2011-03-17T12:25:00.008-04:00

Right now what I should be doing is gathering my tax information. Instead I am writing this post because I can't contain my excitement at the news that my son Tim is returning from Austria and will be settling, at least for a little while, in Lake. This means I will be able to see him on a regular basis, for the first time in nine years. It fills my heart with joy, and I am looking forward to a fun summer spent with three of my children, since the youngest boy is taking over his brother's wandering ways and leaving in April to go to Nevada to train for a bike trip from Arizona to San Francisco and down the coast to San Diego. I'm not quite sure where these wanderers sprang from, but I think it's a wonderful thing that they wander, as long as they return home.

I spent most of yesterday as a passenger riding to Ottawa airport to pick up my nephew and then going to Camden, New York to attend the wake of his Grandpa (my sister Jane's father-in-law). 390 miles as a passenger and 60 miles of driving to get to and from my brother's house made it a very long day, but I was glad to do it. As I told Ethan's Grandma, as she thanked us, that is what family is for. It also enabled me to spend some time with my cousin and his wife, something that hasn't happened in a long time. I appreciated the chance to reconnect and learn what is going on in their lives.

Camden is on Tug Hill and gets a lot of lake effect snow. This snow bank was on the edge of the funeral home parking lot. That is a huge Victorian house behind the snow bank. It seems they had a particularly snowy winter because this snow bank is somewhat melted.

All that riding gave me the opportunity to get some knitting done. I worked on my cardigan sweater, and I'm almost done with the body. I need to measure one of my sweaters to make sure I have the right length. I also started a pair of socks from some of my handspun.

I love the way these socks are turning out. I added stripes because I was afraid I wouldn't have enough of the main color. I tend not to knit with my handspun, and I am going to make an effort to do it more often. Although the yarn does provide wonderful insulating properties in my house, knitting or crocheting with it seems like a better thing to do. I'm thinking of making an afghan using handspun. I need to give that project a little more thought-crochet or knit would be one of the major decisions. When it comes to afghans I usually opt for crochet because it is faster, but I've never crocheted with handspun.

As I was taking photos of the sock this morning Seamus was busy sleeping on a pink sheepskin.

And Gerard was busy being his usual energetic self-scratching his neck on the carpet and almost tumbling down the stairs, embarrassing for a cat.

He also spent some time checking out the desk-seeming to have discovered it for the first time this morning, although it's been in that spot for over a year. Silly cat.

Gerard, Seamus and I wish you a Happy St. Patrick's Day! Don't drink too much green beer! Do they still make green beer?

I'm Late, I'm Late

2011-03-15T09:56:00.008-04:00

This post was promised on Sunday to those Facebook friends who wanted the recipe I talked about making for my friends who came to knit on Sunday. I made Heath Bar Cookies and they are quite yummy.

Heath Bar Cookies

2 1/2 cups unbleached flour 1 1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt 2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 package Heath Bar Toffee or Chocolate Bits (or you can chop up some Heath Bars)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside. In a separate bowl, combine Heath Bar pieces and chopped walnuts. Set aside. (I must confess that I did not sift the dry ingredients together and the cookies were fine.)

2. Beat together the butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and vanilla.

3. Alternatively mix in the flour mixture and the Heath Bar mixture, a third at a time, until well blended.

4. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Be sure to leave room between the cookies because they spread a little. (I did not line my cookie sheet with parchment paper because I couldn't find my parchment paper, so I used an ungreased cookie sheet. Cleanup was a bit difficult because some of the toffee melted and then hardened on the pan.)

5. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are just starting to turn brown. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack.

Makes between 5 and 6 dozen cookies.

I finished spinning the batts I threw together last week from bits and bobs I had left over from making batts for the shop. I was feeling the need to spin something light, fresh and spring-like, and ended up with approximately 420 yards of worsted weight yarn. I'm not sure what I am going to do with the yarn. I had intended to make socks, but I have more yardage than I expected, so now I'm thinking a little shawl of some sort. Or perhaps a cowl and some fingerless gloves. This yarn is definitely outside my color comfort zone-very pale and a bit pastel, but I still like it.

The yarn is actually a little more buttery yellow instead of white as it appears in the photos. I added a bit of angelina so the yarn has just the right amount of sparkle. From looking at the yarn on the bobbin it's easy to tell I don't have a Woolee Winder. I'm usually better at keeping the yarn even on the bobbin, but here was so much to talk about at my spinning group that I was distracted.

I'm also spinning two pounds of fiber I purchased at Rhinebeck a few years ago. I discovered it in the back of my fiber closet and have enjoyed spinning it, but sometimes need to take a break from the brownness of it to do something different. I'd say I have another pound and a quarter to go. I hope to get it done in time to make a sweater from it next winter.

Today is the day I finally need to face getting my tax information ready to take to the accountant. I am also going to the dentist this afternoon. Doesn't that sound like a fun day? Tomorrow I will be going south to attend the wake of my sister Jane's father-in-law. I will be riding with my brother so it will give me a lot of knitting time. We have decided that next year we should skip the month of March. Not only is it the season of frost heaves, pot holes and mud here in the north country, but it is a month filled with anniversaries of the days people I loved have left this world. It is also the month where we begin to see signs of spring, and the return of warmth to the north country, so it seems we have to keep it.

The return of warmth means the return of the Canton Farmer's Market. I'm pining for fresh, local vegetables, and it's such fun to be a vendor and see familiar faces returning to visit our booth. I especially love it when people bring projects to show me that have been knit with my hand dyed yarn or handspun from my fiber. I feel like I have been a part of their creative process, and that is a good feeling.

Seamus, pondering when that cold, white stuff is going to leave.

When Will the Madness Stop?

2011-03-09T22:59:00.003-05:00

The madness would be snow. I have tried not to complain too much about the snow here on the blog. (I save the complaints for Facebook.) I was on my way to bed and took a look outside and it's snowing! There is 100% chance of snow tonight, 100% chance of snow or rain tomorrow, and 90% chance of rain on Friday. I'm glad I don't live near any bodies of water that might flood. It seems that tomorrow ill be a good day for knitting and spinning.

Today was my spinning day. As always, I spent a lovely time with my spinning group with homemade vanilla pudding for dessert. Yum! My latest spinning project has been 2 pounds of wool I discovered at the back of my spinning closet that came from Rhinebeck a couple of years ago. It's been fun to spin, but because of the above mentioned continuation of snow, I was in the mood to spin something a little light and bright, so I quickly carded up 6 ounces of pastel and white batts before spinning today. I think I got a little carried away with Angelina because I was covered with it when I was done spinning. I'm happy with the way the fiber is turning out. I am focusing on spinning worsted weight. I have a natural tendency to spin fingering weight yarn, and really have to concentrate to spin anything heavier. I think I've been successful. The 6 ounces is spun and waiting to be plied.

I will take photos of the yarn tomorrow. Not that I think there will be sun, but at least there will be light. I really need to make a light box. I seem to be resistant to the idea, and I'm not quite sure why. Perhaps it's because one of the supplies is poster board, and the mention of poster board brings back many stressful times of being told by a child, usually at 8:45 at night, that poster board was needed for a project that was due the next day. And as hard as I tried to keep poster board on hand, I never seemed to have what was needed. I will work at overcoming my poster board aversion so I can create a light box and be able to take photos at any hour of the day or night.

Gerard's eyes look quite freaky in this photo. He does love to sleep with hand knits. Can you see from this photo how tiny and svelte he is? 15 pounds of solid muscle, that is Gerard Fuzzywinkles.

There's a Dalek in the House, and Avocado Melmac Too!

2011-03-06T14:30:00.013-05:00

I recently participated in a tea cosy swap on Ravelry. What a fun swap, and what a lovely swap partner I had. Her name is Eirian and she is from Penarth, Wales and works in Cardiff, both of which are locations where Dr. Who is filmed. I love Dr. Who! It's an odd thing, because I am far from a fan of science fiction, but there's something about this series that I love. The Daleks are Dr. Who's most feared enemies, and I now have a Dalek residing on top of my tea pot. It made my day when I opened the package and saw what Eirian had crocheted for me in lovely blue and green yarn, my favorite color combination.

There were also lots of other goodies-her favorite book of 2010, some Dragon's Bite Chocolate made in Wales, Yorkshire loose tea, some PG tips green tea, and "bits and bobs" from Wales-a Penarth thimble, a Wales stone coaster and a Wales refrigerator magnet.

The chocolate is broken because Seamus and Gerard were playing with it. I heard the fall of something to the floor, and then the thing being batted around. When I checked it was the chocolate. Darn cats!

Aside from the Dalek, the most exciting addition to the package was a chocolate Kinder Egg, which is contraband in the U.S. I feel so wicked. I personally think U.S. border agents are big fans of Kinder Eggs and are confiscating them and then eating them all. Here is Seamus, knowing it is evil, trying to knock the Kinder Egg to the floor.

And here's Gerard investigating the invading (the Dalek's love to invade) Dalek tea cosy. I had a difficult time photographing the tea cosy. It took me longer to get a good photo of the cosy than it takes me when I'm photographing my yarn and fiber for Etsy.

Eirian took the time to find out what I liked and created a lovely swap box, and I really appreciate it. It took almost a month to get here, and I'm thinking that was some kind of divine intervention, because I opened the package on March 4, which is the anniversary of Jane's death, a day I definitely needed a lift. In some ways it is hard to believe that it has been a year, and in other ways it seems like yesterday.

I took a trip yesterday with Holly to put some new goodies in our booth at North Country Neighbors. It's full of awesome new treasures, so if you are in the area you should check it out. While there both Holly and I made some finds in other booths that we could not resist. I realize that the reason I have the booth is to empty my house of way too much stuff, but this is the first time I've brought anything home (oops, there was that blue lamp), but other than the lamp I've been really good at not giving into temptation. So for $10.70 I am now the proud owner of these beautiful treasures.

OK, I'll admit I love little ceramic animals, and these were so darn adorable. Look at the bowing birds that were made in Japan. They do have cute little faces, but I couldn't get them to stand up. They actually rock. And since Bob Marley's Three Little Birds is one of my favorite songs, how could I leave them there? I always try to follow the advice in this song to not worry about a thing, 'cause every little thing is going to be alright.

A stoneware, oven proof bowl from Universal-Cambridge, O. I'm sure my children would be tsking at me for bringing another bowl into the house, but I did take one to the booth yesterday, so the count of bowls has not increased.

I also found four new plates that I am going to use as my summer dishes this year. I have a small problem with dishes I've been told because I have three sets of dishes that I change seasonally, along with two sets of "good china", one set my Mom's, one set we received as wedding gifts, and a set of everyday stoneware that we received as wedding gifts as well. That's not too bad, is it? These plates are Symphony from Salem China in Ohio and they are edged in 23 Karat Gold. Very fancy!

And the final, most awesome of purchases-avocado melmac-all this beauty for $2.50. How could I resist? I've been looking at them for weeks, and then there was this half price sale, and I realized resistance was futile.

I don't know why, but I'm feeling the urge to serve deviled eggs on that platter. Wouldn't they be beautiful? And I'm getting my Mom's Jell-o copper molds out of the basement and taking my Joys of Jell-o cookbook off the shelf and returning to the 1960's. We'll have some ice cream punch in the cups too. It will be a party!

Time for some spinning. I am participating in handspun swap, so I'm going to start to spinning for that. Thanks for sharing my weekend acquisitions with me!

Lion or Lamb?

2011-03-01T09:28:00.003-05:00

March has arrived. It's a sunny day, but very cold. Does this make March a lion or lamb? Yesterday was quite a lion day. Schools were closed because of freezing rain. My driveway is now a lovely skating rink. I hope the sun is going to help solve that dilemma, because I definitely don't have enough salt to melt the entire driveway.

A new business is opening soon in Waddington, a small town nearby on the St. Lawrence River, which is also the carp fishing capital of the world. I kid you not. A few years ago there were many international carp fishermen visiting for the world carp fishing tournament. The new business is called Grassroots Community Coop and their intention is to support home businesses and cottage industries. Their stated goal is to get back to grass roots: with neighbors supporting one another and their hard earned dollars remaining in St. Lawrence County. The space for the cooperative is huge, and I think it has wonderful potential. My yarn and fiber will be a part of the cooperative-very exciting. They are also planning to have art and craft classes. I have been searching for quite some time for a perfect place for a knitting group to be held, and I think this might just be the place.

Along with the coop there will be The Fireside Eatery. This will be a 50's retro restaurant, and they are planning to have fun events like dinner and a movie featuring a classic movie and murder mystery dinners. I'm looking forward to a new restaurant to try. The chef is a recent Paul Smiths graduate, so I'm sure the food will be delicious.

Yesterday after the roads had been cleared and salted I headed to Waddington to check out the Coop space and help with cleaning and painting. It was my first chance to see where my products will be, and I was delighted with what I saw-a huge sunny room with views of the St. Lawrence River. I can't wait to see it filled with beautiful things. It was good to meet Debbie and Suzanna, the two people bringing their vision to fruition in this venture, and to help a little in moving their plan forward. We did some cleaning, and I will go back again soon, once the water is turned on. It's a little hard to clean without water. I do love the smell of Murphy's Oil Soap!

I finished my hats for Warm Hats not Hot Heads, a group of knitters who have banded together to knit hats for members of Congress. The organizers are devoted to the idea that softer rhetoric would help our country to find better solutions to our challenges. Hats are being made and sent by the knitter or crocheter to a member of congress as a way of saying that soft words are appreciated, as is the person's service to his or her country. I made two hats, one for my representative, Bill Owens, and one for a representative I much admire who is from Long Island, Carolyn McCarthy. Enough hats have been knit to send one to every senator, and the effort is continuing to send hats to every member of congress. Here are some not so great photos of the hats I made.

This is Meret by Wooly Wormhead, a hat I have made several times and really enjoy knitting. It's lace, but an easy to remember lace pattern. This photo was taken before blocking. It's made with Lamb's Pride Worsted in the color Misty Blue, a color I love. It's sort of blue and sort of grey and beautiful.

The other hat is Turn a Square by Jared Flood, another hat I have made several times and enjoy knitting. This photo is also before blocking. It is made with navy and grey leftovers I had-one is Cascade 220 and one Lamb's Pride Worsted.

These two yarns are the old reliables in my knitting arsenal, and ones I turn to when I am low on colorways of my own yarn. What are your favorite yarns to knit with?

Does Anybody Know What Day It Is?

2011-02-22T21:25:00.012-05:00

I am confused as to what day it is , or even what date it is. This month has whizzed by, I've had 3 trips to the Adirondacks in the last week, didn't work last week and then we had President's Day, which took Monday away, all of these things led to my confusion.

On Sunday I visited Big Tupper with my sister-in-law. Big Tupper is a ski resort in the village of Tupper Lake in the Adirondacks that had been closed for several years. A group of local residents has banded together to try to bring it back. It was a gorgeous sunny, but freezing day. My brother Tim, the coffee roaster, is roasting coffee for the Big Tupper Brewing Company and the profits are going toward helping bring back the skiing to Big Tupper.

There was a coffee tasting, and that was the reason for our trip. I was amazed at how many people were skiing. Right now they don't make snow and there is no night skiing, but the great thing about Big Tupper is that the lift tickets are only $15.00, which makes it affordable for families.

Here's the view from inside the lodge. I sat in the sunshine knitting and watching skiers and snowboarders zooming down the hill.

Here's a photo of our happy group shortly before leaving. That's me, Lisa, Tim, and Lisa's daughter Sarah, who had a glorious day skiing.

My final photo is of my grandkitty Sterling Battleship Sylvia who is living with a big black dog (my granddog Begonia) temporarily and is finding all sorts of places to hide, like this high shelf, behind the green beans. She is staring at the evil Begonia, who was lying on the floor underneath the shelf and had no idea there was a cat right above her head. Smart Sterling.

Silk has arrived in the North Country!

2011-02-19T13:08:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was an exciting day. I received an order of recycled silk ribbons and pulled sari silk. I can't wait to get them in the shop and will be working on it over the next few days. I can see so many possibilities for working with the silk ribbons-weaving, add ins for art batts, splitting them and knitting directly with the ribbon, or using the ribbon to knit along with yarn are just some of the ideas. I'm also thinking of making bracelets by wrapping the silk around a bangle bracelet. Having lived through the 80's and not being good at getting rid of things, I may have a bangle bracelet or two hidden away.

I'm also doing a small shop update this weekend with some silks, milk fiber and superwash laceweight merino yarn.

Superwash merino laceweight yarn called "Red Hot Moon".

Milk Latte Fiber

Mulberry Silk brick

This is also an exciting weekend because it is Phat Fiber box drop day today. The theme for the month is Gems and Minerals. I submitted batt samples in Aquamarine and Merino, Cashmere, Nylon fingering weight sock yarn.

Here's the amethyst sock yarn.

And the aquamarine batt samples.

I went to visit my darling children at the beginning of the week, which is their weekend since they work in the hospitality industry. I returned home to find this sight in my shop living room.

I'm thinking the cats had something to do with it. My poor table will never be the same after having such pressure on the leaf, but the lamp survived! Those darn cats.

Silk has arrived in the North Country!

2011-02-19T13:08:00.000-05:00

2011-02-03T08:57:00.003-05:00

While reading a friend's blog yesterday I was pointed to the online exhibition of an exhibit called Threads of Feeling which is going on until March 2011 at the Foundling Museum in London, England. The museum tells the story of The Foundling Hospital, London's first home for abandoned children. When the children were left a small object or token was kept as an identifying record in case the baby might be reclaimed some day. The fabric was either cut from the child's clothing or provided by the mother, and was attached to a registration form. It was fascinating seeing the array of textiles in this online exhibit, which gives a look at the fabric of 18th century England. I only wish I could visit the museum and see them in person. It's also heartbreaking seeing the little notes some mother's left with their baby. I can't begin to imagine how horrible it would have to be to give up a child because you couldn't care for it.

Snow, Snow, Snow

2011-02-02T12:36:00.004-05:00

'Tis a cold and blustery day here in northern New York. All schools in our county, and the neighboring county are closed, which is very unusual. It's 12:30 and I have already shoveled the driveway twice and I imagine I'll have to do it at least one more time before the storm is over. It's finally looking like winter out there. I do love a snow storm as long as I don't have to be out and driving. My neighbor told me that her vehicle had to be towed out of the bank parking lot because the lot hadn't been plowed. I'm glad I did banking and went grocery shopping yesterday so I'm safely ensconced in my warm house with my two cuddly cat friends. Lots of time for knitting and spinning and watching some Dr. Who on Netflix.

I have no snowy photos from today, but I do have some from a stop I made at Cranberry Lake on Sunday. There was about two feet of snow, but I walked in and was able to get inside because of the way the snow had drifted by the door. It was very cold though and I didn't get to walk around as much as I would have liked. I bet there is a lot more snow now and that snowshoes will be necessary next time. The big expanse of snow is the frozen lake.

Today my spinning group was supposed to meet at my house, but we have postponed it until next week. One intrepid friend came anyway and we enjoyed some lovely conversation, some delicious St. Lawrence Valley Roasters Cost Rica coffee and some of Aunt Hilda's Stovetop Rice Pudding. My Aunt Hilda was a most awesome cook, and my recipe book is filled with recipes handed down from her, my Grandma Fish and my mom. I had forgotten about her rice pudding recipe and had been searching for a rice pudding that was made from uncooked rice, didn't need to be baked and was creamy and delicious. My sister Jane reminded me of Aunt Hilda's recipe which was published in 1981 in a cookbook put out by the First Baptist Church of Rome, New York, and the recipe satisfies all of my criteria.

Stove Top Rice Pudding

1/2 Cup Raw Rice (Arborio if you have it) 3 Eggs

1 Cup Boiling Water 1/2 Cup Sugar

1 Quart Milk 1 Teaspoon Vanilla

1/2 Cup Butter 1/2 Cup Raisins (Optional)

1 Teaspoon Cinnamon, 1/2 Teaspoon Nutmeg (Also Optional)

Boil rice and water for 7 minutes. Add milk and butter-boil slowly for 1 1/4 hours, covered. Watch carefully because it boils over easily. Stir frequently. Remove from heat. Beat 3 eggs and sugar until thick and foamy. Add egg mixture to rice mixture and fold in real well till foam disappears. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla, spices and 1/2 cup raisins. Pour into a pan or casserole and cool a little, then refrigerate.

I usually add a little bit more rice as I like the pudding a little more solid than soupy.

Enjoy!!!

I wanted to share a pair of socks I made from some of my handspun, hand dyed yarn. They were claimed by Travis when I was there this weekend. He said the color reminded him of the Razzle Dazzle popcorn at Maison du Popcorn at the Massena mall.

No blog post is complete without a cat photo. This was Gerard as I was leaving last weekend. I'm not sure if he was trying to sneak into the bag, or if he was checking to make sure I had everything I needed.

I now must remove Gerard from my right arm and repair to the sofa for a little knitting time. I'm still working on my Peace Fleece cardigan, having finished the Rosemary's Middle Sweater I was making, so I am moving toward accomplishing my knitting goals.

Baby, It's Cold Outside (and Inside Too)

2011-01-24T11:35:00.005-05:00

The temperature has risen to a balmy -10. I discovered my shower pipes are frozen again, despite having heat blowing on them all night from a portable heater-not good. I was grateful that my car started though. It did a little bit of rrrring, but then started right up. I took it for a little drive to get the battery warmed up, and it's supposed to get to the even balmier temperature of 0 today, so I think the car will be OK, I'm not so sure about the pipes. I think another space heater is going to be necessary if we are going to continue to have these freezing temperatures. Some insulating of the pipes would probably help too, but that would be entering a crawl space and that is not in my job description. I'll have to corral a child the next time one is home to help with that.

This frost is on the inside of my side door.

I'm very excited.! I have my first customer coming to my little shop in my living room.

The most exciting part is that it is someone I don't know. I have had friends come shopping, but no brand new customers. She is looking for wool for felting and I have a ton of that, so I hope she goes away happy.

I am working at getting some felting supplies to offer for sale. Living where I do, there is no one who sells felting supplies, and although they can be ordered online, there is nothing like immediate gratification and being able to purchase locally when you are in the mood to start a new project.

Spindies is officially no more. I packed the last of the fiber that was here to send back to the participating artists last week. I set the packages by the back door, left the room, and when I came back discovered that Gerard was making the final inspection to make sure the boxes were securely packaged. It's good that I have such helpful kitties.

BBBBRRRR!!!!!!

2011-01-23T22:08:00.002-05:00

Right Now	Next 36 Hours

	Tonight	Tomorrow	Tomorrow Night

Clear	Mostly Clear	Scattered Flurries	Light Snow
-13°F	-32°	3°	-1°
Feels Like: -25° Get FREE weather on your desktop	Low	High	Low
Past 24-hr: Precip: 0 in Snow: 0 in	Chance of Precip: 10%	Chance of Snow: 30%	Chance of Snow: 70%
Wind: From WNW at 5mph	Wind: W at 7 mph	Wind: SSW at 5 mph	Wind: E at 6 mph

It's a chilly one!

Baby Sweaters Needed for Newborn Lambs

2011-01-19T18:08:00.003-05:00

I have an online friend who lives in Kansas and is in desperate need of newborn to child sized baby sweaters for her newborn lambs. Here is her appeal and where to send the sweaters if you are able to donate. If you can help, I know Brenda and her lambs will really appreciate it.

Hi to everyone, I have been quite absent here, there and everywhere as I am up to my ears in lambs since Christmas and with the frigid temps I am in desparate need of used baby sweaters and I thought this might just be a good place to find some since I know there are lots of mommies here.

I normally have a stock of these but last year I didn't have much time to shop and with all the twins and triplets this year I am way short and its really harshly cold so these babies need sweaters. I normally buy these at local thriftstores but there just aren't any there now in the towns near my house.. The other used clothing stores i haunt are about an hour away and I just can't leave the farm for that long with all these bottle babies, I just don't have the time as I only have about one hour before I have to start the bottle cycle over again so.... my plea is this, if any of you young mommies have old baby sweaters - the smaller the better preferably preemie or newborn size, even 3 months is good and you want to get rid of them and would be taking them to goodwill or somewhere and want to donate them to a fiber worthy cause and warm up some sweet and very cute little lambs, I would be happy to pay the postage. I can use larger sizes as well, but am in desparate need of the tiny ones.

They don't need to be nice or fancy, so typical garage sale/thrift store stuff is fine stained, or damaged is fine too because i have to throw them away when they are done as they get pretty messed up. I would love to knit beautiful little fair isle felted sweaters for everyone but unfortunately its just impractical because they can only be used for a very short time and it would break my heart to throw them away when they get all lamby :o). I also have to trim away parts - so they can just be any old thing. Sweatshirts are fine too, but the heavier the fabric the better, some fleece is a little too thin to do much good. Just think below zero temps and they have a little bit of wool undershirt but not much yet.

Wool sweaters of course are the absolute warmest and best but are very hard to find - so I would love those in ANY child size and I can felt and shrink them into the perfect lamby sweater - I can usually only find a few of those each year.

The other thing is I need these pretty quickly so the sooner the better, and if you just have a couple, first class postage should get here soon enough. Please don't send priority because the costs will just add up too high for me to compensate you. First class or pacel is fine. Hopefully I will get a few quickly, so I don't need all of them immediately. If you will email me your postage costs and paypal address, I will paypal it back to you. Also if you need to be paid for the sweaters rather than donate them, just let me know as I can pay a dollar or two for each sweater if you want to be reimbursed for them, please let me know ahead of time so I can determine how many i can purchase.

if you just want to donate please send to

Natchwoolie Lambs

P O Box 523

Osawatomie KS 66064

and email your postage costs to wool at natchwoolie.com along with the exact paypal address you wish to be reimbursed.

Thanks to all and any help will be greatly appreciated by the lambs! Maybe I can do a flash mob lamb fashion show if i get a warm sunny day.

Brenda

Resolutions

2011-01-18T12:17:00.007-05:00

Wow, it's been a month since I posted. I think about writing every day, but then time just whizzes by and the day is over with no blog post having been written.

I have noticed several knitting blogs whose writers are making knitting resolutions . I am not much for making resolutions, as I'm pretty sure I'm not going to keep them, but have decided to take stock of what is on my needles and make a plan with some nebulous deadlines.

I found two bags with abandoned projects in my Fibber McGee yarn closet when I went looking for yarn for another sweater I started this week.

The sweater is Rosemary's Middle Sweater from Green Mountain Spinnery made with Cascade 220 that I bought years ago. I have started and ripped out at least three sweaters using this yarn. I think it may be because the color of the yarn is outside my color comfort zone. It's an easy pattern, and I only have the sleeves and collar left to do. I think I stopped knitting it because I thought I wouldn't have enough yarn and I knew it would be hard to match. I'm going to be optimistic that there is enough yarn and knit fast, because somehow knitting fast makes it seem more likely that there will be enough yarn. I know that makes no logical sense, but so far it has worked. The actual color of the sweater is more the color in the tote bag above.

These are a few of about 60 granny squares completed for an afghan I abandoned at least a year ago. I guess I was just fickle and moved on to another project, although I know I will love the afghan when it is completed. There is a lot of blocking, sewing together and weaving in of ends in my future. I chose random block patterns from the book 200 Crochet Blocks, and much of the yarn is either Harrisville Shetland or Elisabeth Lavold Silky Wool. Both yarns had the color palette I was looking for and the tweedy texture that I wanted for this project.

The sweater that I started this week is a Knitting Pure and Simple Neckdown Cardigan for Women pattern. I am very fond of Knitting Pure and Simple patterns. They are well written and easy to follow. The yarn I am using was bought for another sweater that was abandoned last year. It is Peace Fleece worsted, one of my all time favorite yarns, both because of the merino mohair blended yarn and the idea behind the company. Their mission statement is that they are a yarn company committed to helping historic enemies cooperate and prosper through trade. They offer yarn made from a blend of Russian, Romanian, American, Israeli and Palestinian wools.

I hope to have all three projects completed by the end of February. Perhaps making this commitment in such a public forum will make me actually stick to the deadline.

I also have several pairs of socks using my Moonlight and Laughter yarn going at all times. I don't really count socks as part of my UFO's because as soon as I finish a pair I cast on for another pair, almost always with my handdyed yarn. Right now I'm working on a pair using my merino, cashmere, nylon blend and I'm loving working with the yarn. The colorway is called "Twilight Time" and is a beautiful blending of blues and lavenders, all the shades one might see as night is falling.

I'm also making a commitment to knit more with my handspun yarn. I tend to spin and not use the yarn, and my collection is becoming quite large and unruly. I thought I had it all contained in one closet, but when I was in the yarn closet searching for the sweater yarn mentioned above I discovered a whole bin of handspun I had forgotten about. Oops! Maybe it's time to start thinking about adding some handspun to the shop.

Here is a picture of my supervisors Seamus and Gerard. They were helping me fill some orders, making sure I didn't make any mistakes. Right now Gerard is supervising the writing of this post while lying on my arms, making it practically impossible to type, but he is very warm. I appreciate the warmth on this cold January day.

A Happy Spinning Group

2010-12-18T20:35:00.007-05:00

Today was the day for my spinning group's Christmas Potluck lunch. We had a full house, with three first time visitors, Anita, her daughter Anna-home from school in Montreal, and her granddaughter Amber. Anna bought a drop spindle at the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival this fall and is doing a beautiful job spinning. Anita is also interested in learning to spin and they plan to get wheels in the coming year. It was good for them to get a chance to see a variety of wheels at the group. There was lots of delicious food, great conversation, and fellowship with fellow fiber fanatics.

Anna, Suzanne and Trina

Suzanne and me.

Barb, Barbara, Anita and Carol. Barbara was showing us the weaving sample she made at a beginner's weaving class at Harrisville Designs this fall. She learned a lot in the 5 day class! Anita's sweater was amazing-it was a map of the world.

Kathy, Amber, Vernice and Phyllis. Phyllis is spinning on a Hitchhiker that used to be our hostess Barb's. Barb named the wheel Miss Piggy and painted her pink-she's decorated with rhinestones, flowers, and has red toenails and a toe ring.

Anita, Carol, Andrea and Carolyn.

The dish I brought is an old family favorite called Hash Browns Deluxe. I'm going to be like Cooking Light magazine and show you the original recipe and then tell you what I have done to cut a lot of fat and calories out and still end up with a delicious dish.

Hash Browns Deluxe

2 pounds frozen hash browns

1 cup diced onions, sauteed

1 cup cream of chicken soup

1 pint sour cream

1/2 cup melted butter

8 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Thaw potatoes for 30 minutes. Mix everything together except for the potatoes. After the other ingredients are combined, add the potatoes and stir until they are throughly mixed with the liquid ingredients. Bake at 375 degrees for 1-1 1/2 hours until brown.

Now the lower fat recipe-just as delicious, I promise.

2 pounds frozen hash browns

1 cup diced onions, sauteed (You can use 1 1/2 teaspoons of onion flakes instead)

1 cup cream of chicken soup (Any cream of soup works well. I often use cream of broccoli soup and add lightly steamed broccoli)

3/4 cup of low fat sour cream

2 cups grated cheddar cheese.

Salt and pepper to taste

Walnut Scones, Yummmy!

2010-12-15T18:03:00.008-05:00

I spent part of today listing the rest of my thrum mitten kits in my Etsy shop. I am feeling the need to knit a pair of thrum mittens-I'm sure someone could use a pair for Christmas-perhaps my Adirondack dwelling, cross country skiing daughter. Thrum mittens are fun to knit and the knitting goes quickly because they are made with worsted weight yarn. They originated in Eastern Canada-made for the fishermen who found the mittens perfect because as the mittens were worn and became wet they became felted which made the mittens waterproof. Both the fiber and yarn felted so the mittens were super waterproof and warm. I think they used more utilitarian colors than are found in my kits.

Here is a photo of the mittens I knit as a sample. They have had a lot of hands inside them, feeling the soft warmth. It's fun to listen to people trying to figure out what they are and which is the inside and which the outside. My favorite idea was the person who decided they must be for dusting.

When I finished listing the kits I decided this cold, blustery day was a perfect baking day. I chose to make scones, which are one of my favorite things to bake, and I haven't made them in a long time. They are a quick treat-it probably took me 10 minutes to put them together once I got out all the ingredients. This is a recipe I've made many times over the years. I don't remember where the recipe came from, but they are nice and moist-a problem I sometimes find with scones is they can tend to be dry. I think this comes from too much flour and not enough liquid.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Walnut Scones

2 Cups unbleached flour

1 Tablespoons baking powder

4 Tablespoons granulated sugar

1/2 Teaspoon salt

1/3 Cup butter or margarine

1/2-3/4 Cup walnuts

3/4 Cup milk

Milk and granulated sugar (optional)

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, 4 Tablespoons sugar and salt. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Stir in walnuts. Add 3/4 cup milk and stir until dough clings together. Do not over stir or the scones will be tough.

On a lightly floured surface, roll or pat into a 7 inch circle that is 3/4 inch thick. Cut into 6 or 8 wedges. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. If desired, brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar (I used turbinado sugar).

Bake in a 425 degree oven 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

In place of walnuts, or in combination with the walnuts you can use other add ins such as chocolate chips, cranberries, candied ginger or anything else you think would be tasty in a scone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In knitting news I have been working on a scarf for Caitlin. When she was helping me at the Craft, Food and Wine Show we enjoyed checking out knits the attendees were wearing. A girl had a scarf with pockets on the end. I complimented her on the scarf and she said the pockets really come in handy. Caitlin liked the idea, so I am making her one using a skein of my Aran weight yarn. I designed the pattern myself-I will be writing the pattern up and sharing it on the blog once Christmas is over. It has cables, something I think I don't like to knit, but once I do them I remember how much fun they are. They are the kind of thing that entertain me as I am knitting and that makes knitting a scarf speed along.

Time for a cup of tea and scone and then bed. I'll leave you with a photo of Seamus modeling one of the hand dyed silk scarves I recently made.

Gerard wasn't quite as cooperative. He walked right out of his scarf. (Don't worry-the scarves were washed before they were sold.)

Can you see why I needed to spend a morning cleaning off my kitchen table?

Winter has Arrived!

2010-12-14T16:10:00.009-05:00

I find it hard to believe how quickly December is speeding by. It's looking like we will have a very White Christmas. I have spent a lot of time in the last few days shoveling. Today it took me almost 2 hours to shovel the driveway and front walkway. I was so proud of me-I even managed to shovel the end of the driveway after the snowplows passed by several times. It helped that it was relatively light snow. I'm looking forward to a nice soak in the clawfoot tub later.

By the end of the winter this pile of snow will be my nemesis (a formidable and usually victorious rival or opponent). The end of the driveway becomes narrower and narrower as the winter progresses and this pile gets higher and higher and it is harder and harder to throw the snow on top of the ever growing pile.

Here's a view of my winter garden. This is a chair that was not put away when all the other outdoor furniture was put away (why would that be Tim, Travis and Caitlin?) and it was lying down under the snow. I was able to extricate it and it has been safely stored, so it will see another summer. I don't think it could have survived a winter outside.

I had to shovel so I could get to the post office to mail my very late samples for Phat Fiber. This month the theme is "The Music Box" and I chose one of my favorite songs by Gordon Lightfoot to interpret called "Song for a Winter's Night". I dyed merino/nylon superwash sock yarn and created a batt from alpaca, merino, wensleydale, romney, tencel, superwash merino and angelina. I am loving the batts and think I may have to spin one myself.

The batt is black with some midnight blue and gold with dark blue angelina. The yarn is dyed in shades of midnight blue, sapphire, denim blue and gold. They will be available in my Etsy shopthis weekend following the box drop.

I had so many people at the Craft, Food and Wine show ask me where they could get my yarn and fiber locally that I have decided to set up a little shop in my front living room. (It's convenient to have three living rooms.) This is how it looked in the beginning.

As usual, I had a cat helper, which made it so much easier to accomplish my task and get the living room looking like this.

A visit to the shop will be by appointment-just send an email and a time will be arranged. This will also make filling Etsy orders easier-to have everything out and easily accessible. I filled an order this afternoon and it was lovely to just go the basket and pull the yarn. The yarn is already on it's way to California.

I'd better go and check to make sure the dastardly snow plows have not blocked me in . Stay warm!

Thanksgiving, 2010

2010-11-28T10:19:00.005-05:00

Life is moving quickly on. It's hard to believe Thanksgiving has come and gone. We had Thanksgiving this year at the bed and breakfast where Caitlin is living this winter. It was a delicious meal and a lovely time spent with my children and their friends. It was most wonderful having dinner cooked by 5 professional cooks, with 3 of them being my children. And what a beautiful place to have dinner, a century old farmhouse in the middle of the High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountains.

The thing I was most thankful for was having all four of my children together. We talked and laughed, cooked and washed dishes (commercial dishwashers rock when cleaning up after Thanksgiving dinner for 8), ate delicious food, drank a little wine, did a jigsaw puzzle, and a little football was watched too. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.

Guess what these young men are doing.

Our feast.

Hungry group.

Begonia being contained so that she couldn't eat cats.

The happy O'Brien family, well fed and content.

I have returned home to prepare for the 2010 Craft, Food and Wine Show to be held at Cheel Arena in Potsdam next Friday and Saturday, December 3 and 4. It is my first year doing the show, and my booth will be next to my brother Tim, who is St. Lawrence Valley Roasters, and my sister-in-law Lisa, who is North Fork Gifts. It should be a fun time, and I hope to see a lot of old friends and make some new ones. I am putting together kits with Anne Hanson patterns and my yarn, and will also have some new thrum mitten kits, which will make a great gift for the knitter in the family. Because this is a non-fiber show, I have also knit some hats, socks and miscellaneous things to sell, since many of the attendees will not be knitters, spinners or crocheters.

I have a lot to do in the next few days. My least favorite thing will be taking Tim to the train to return to New York City and then onto Dublin, Germany, and Austria, his final destination. I know I will see him again in six months, which is a lot better than a year, but it will still be hard to say goodbye. He is heading off on another great adventure, this one on the side of a snow covered Austrian mountain.

The Wanderer Has Returned

2010-11-05T09:34:00.005-04:00

I am filled with joy because my son Tim, who has been traveling and living in Australia, Southeast Asia and China, is almost home. He arrived in the states on Wednesday, and is currently in New York City visiting with friends and family there, and selling some things he has in storage. He will be continuing his travels in December and will be going to Austria to manage a kitchen at a ski resort. Since he is the only one of my children without culinary experience, I did ask if he had sent his brother's resume instead of his. (Travis has a degree in Culinary Arts from Paul Smiths College). Tim assured me he got the job all on his own.

When I think of the things he has seen and done in the past year it is mind boggling. Tim has been traveling with only a backpack that contains all his possessions. He told me the one pair of jeans he has is pretty bedraggled, but he is going to keep them because they have been on four continents. I will be traveling to New Jersey to pick him up soon, which will give us the opportunity to visit the old neighborhood. I can't wait!

In fiber news, the newest Spindies boxes went on sale on Wednesday. They are gorgeous! I know this because I am the Spindies member who mails out the boxes, which is great because I get to see all the beautiful fiber each month. The colors this month are Harvest Night (navy blue) and Harvest Moon (gold). I twitch a bit when I say the colors blue and gold together and flash back to way too many Blue and Gold Banquets I have attended over the years, both as a child when my brother was in Cub Scouts, and when my own children participated. But when I see the fiber, all those bad memories are swept away and I want to spin the gorgeousness that is the boxes.

This is my contribution to the Harvest Moon box-"Golden Slumbers", a blend of merino, silk, cormo, tencel, firestar and angelina.

This colorway was my contribution to the Harvest Night box-"Blue on Blue, although my contributions to the box were dyed on Finn wool instead of this merino/tencel blend. I discovered after dyeing the contribution that I had no more Finn to dye.

I will be listing full sized samples of the box contributions in my shop today.

I spent an hour in this little country cemetery on Tuesday, where some of my ancestors are buried. A cousin is interested in genealogy and traveled all the way from Kentucky to visit this cemetery, when my brother finally figured out it's exact location. Look at that beautiful sky. We were blessed with a sunshiny day-the only one this week.

My mother's maiden name was Fish, and this is the Fish family stone.

We visited this cemetery at least once a year as children, because it was important to my mother to honor her ancestors. When I started looking around I realized that this was the cemetery where I had decided the names of the five daughters I planned to have-Faith, Hope, Charity, Remembrance and Experience. Turns out I had four sons and one daughter, so that plan didn't work out. I'm sure Caitlin is happy I changed my mind when it came time to name her. Here is the stone of Experience Bacon. Can you imagine having that name, not just Experience, but the combination of the two conjures a lot of images to my mind.

We had a lovely visit with my cousin and his wife. I'm glad they decided to come to visit relatives, both passed on and still here.

Time to take a sick kitty to the vet. Gerard has been sneezing and is congested. Right now he has taken over Seamus' spot and is asleep on my arm as I type.

Yummy Applesauce Cookies

2010-11-01T16:57:00.006-04:00

I was cleaning my bedroom the other day and discovered this delicious recipe under my bed. I'm not quite sure how it got there, but I do remember going through some of my mom's recipes there a couple of months ago, and I'm assuming this one escaped from the basket. It seemed like a nice autumnal (love that word) recipe, so I made some and they were delicious. My one error was using sea salt to replace regular salt, since I seem to have no salt that isn't in huge chunks. As I was doing it I was thinking just skipping the salt would be a better idea, but I do love an experiment. It's a little odd to bite down on a chunk of salt in a cookie, but they are still tasty.

Applesauce Cookies

3/4 cup soft butter or shortening

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup applesauce

2 1/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/2 cup nuts, chopped

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix thoroughly together shortening or butter, brown sugar and egg. Stir in applesauce. sift together flour, soda, salt and spices and stir in. Mix in nuts. Drop by teaspoonfuls on greased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes.

Enjoy! You can also use pureed banana in place of the applesauce, and I increased the spices to 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of cloves.

I finished the Spiraling Leaves Fingerless Mitts I was making. It's a pattern by Lynne Vogel, very well written and easy to remember. I think it's a great pattern for someone just starting in lace knitting. I used some of my worsted weight merino yarn in the colorway "Celery Tonic".

I think the next pair I make will be fingering weight. I am looking forward to making another pair, and think it will be good to do it soon so I don't have to relearn the pattern. I did make two right gloves my mistake but realized my error before I was done and did a bit of frogging. They are very soft and warm and will bring some springtime cheer to a dark winter.

I know you are wondering if there will be a photo of a cat. Seamus has recently taken a great interest in helping me when I am at the computer. He likes to sit on my right hand as I am typing. Here he is in helper mode, not understanding my impatience with not being able to use my right hand, just purring away. He is a good hand warmer, but makes getting work done a bit difficult.

Saying Goodbye to the Farmer's Market

2010-10-23T15:50:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was the next to last farmer's market for the season. I was not looking forward to going and sitting in 40 degree temperatures, but as a knitter I was well prepared to face those temperatures with fingerless gloves, felted mittens, hat and scarf, along with long underwear and a down jacket. The thing I really needed was a nose warmer. That was the only part of me that wasn't warm after donning all my winter paraphernalia. After loading the car, as I was pulling out of the driveway, snowflakes began to drift down. I was sure I was crazy to be going, but continued on, as I was meeting my booth partner Andrea..

It had not snowed in Canton, so we were safe from snow at least, although there was a brisk wind blowing. It was a much smaller group of vendors than the last time we were there in September, but a friendly and cheerful group of people it was. There was a lot of talk about the temperature, many more squashes and pumpkins than were there last time, and we were all very grateful when the sun finally broke through the clouds at about noon. By then, my mission to get some thrum mitten kits to a customer had been completed, Andrea had sold the nuno felted scarf from her neck to a very persistent customer, and we decided to leave early and go out for a nice, warm lunch. All in all a good day at the market.

Andrea, having made a wind blocker out of a blanket, attempting to stay warm.

A basket of Moonlight and Laughter yarn basking in the sunshine.

I recently visited the St. Lawrence County Arts Council for an exhibit and saw this beautiful scarf when I walked in.

I thought it looked familiar, and upon looking at the tag discovered that it was made by a friend, Vernice Church, who is the best hand spinner I know. She knits beautiful things, and only uses her handspun when knitting. The reason this looked familiar was that I had seen her knitting it, and it looked even more familiar because I had dyed the fiber the yarn was spun from. It's always such a thrill to see what is created using the fiber or yarn that I have dyed, and to wonder what will be the final destination of this beautiful scarf.

I can't leave without a cat photo. This is Seamus, not so happily wearing a cowl I knit as a store sample for a yarn shop in Saranac Lake that sadly has closed. When the shop closed, I received the cowl back. I think it looks beautiful on Seamus, matches his fur, even the green matches his eyes sort of, and it has a ribbon threaded through it, so it gave Seamus something to do while having his photo taken.

The Best Laid Plans

2010-10-04T12:03:00.005-04:00

I had not intended to write a blog post today. I had intended to do a bit more dyeing because I'm addicted to dyeing, it would seem. When I sat down to eat my breakfast though, I noticed that the pool cover which had an immense amount of water in it due to the recent rain, had slipped and a lot of the water that had been in the cover was now in the pool. This is not a good thing with winter coming. I now need to call the pool company and have them come and check things out, but before I can call them I need to remove the rest of the water from the cover. So instead of dyeing, I have started the pump, started putting the garden to bed, discovered a rosemary plant I didn't know I had, and then decided to start photographing all the new yarn and fiber I had dyed for the fiber festival so I can put it in my shop. But, once again my plans were thwarted because my camera battery chose this moment to die, and I had not yet charged my backup battery. So now I am writing a blog post while the camera battery is charging and the pump is removing water from the pool cover.

This led me to thinking of the quote that the best laid plans of mice and men oft times go awry. But I wasn't sure that this was the proper quote, which led me on an internet search to find out the exact quote. It turns out that the quote is from a poem by Robert Burns called To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up In Her Nest With the Plough, a poem apologizing to a mouse for having destroyed it's house, just as the winter is approaching. And the verse is actually

The best-laid schemes o' mice an 'men

Gang aft agley,
An'lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,

For promis'd joy!

Who knew? It seems the verse I am remembering has been changed a bit from the original Scottish.

Now turning from our English lesson, I want to share a little bit about my time at the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival. It was a beautiful weekend, although Friday was more than a little warm. The temperature increased almost 30 degrees from leaving home in the rain and cold, to arriving in Greenwich to bright sunshine and 85 degree temperatures with lots of humidity. It was an interesting drive as well, as it turns out there are two routes with the same number, one a county route and one a state route, and Holly and I ended up on the wrong route. Although we had a lovely side trip along the Hudson River, I was rather anxious to arrive at the fairgrounds to start setting up. Once we were on the proper route, who would have thought there would be two Old Schylerville Roads in the same town, but there are, and we also took the wrong one. We finally arrived at the Fairgrounds. thanks to the internets and no thanks to Holly's navigation sytem Bertha, and began setting up my booth. I was fortunate to have a corner booth when you first walked in the barn, but on a hot, humid day with the sun streaming in, it didn't seem so lucky. We unloaded the car and got the layout of the booth figured out and then went to check into the motel with plans to finish setting up the booth in the morning.

It was a fun show. I met people who had purchased from my shop on Etsy, which is always a treat, people who remembered my yarn and fiber from a show I did two years ago at the Adirondack Museum, and made lots of new friends too. People seemed very intrigued by myThrum Mitten Kits, and I gave quite a few lessons in knitting thrums using the sock I was knitting. Which led me to think it would be a great idea to make a few thrum sock kits. Wouldn't they be warm and cozy on a cold winter evening, or slipped onto very cold feet when waking up to a chilly house? I was surprised at how little fiber I sold, but there will be many new pairs of socks knit with Moonlight and Laughter yarn.

I am planning to do the show again next year. It was well organized, the organizers did nice things like having volunteers who would man the booth if you needed a break, the 4-H kids came around and took lunch orders, and there was a nice steady stream of attendees. I think they need to advertise in a wider geographical area though. A lot of the same vendors who are at the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival and Rhinebeck were there, and the atmosphere was much less hectic.

I used this shelf unit for the first time at the show. While thinking about display pieces that I could use at shows, I remembered this shelf that my Uncle Lyle built for my parents when they had an antique shop and did antique shows. I removed Conor's books from the shelf, placing them in neat piles, of course, and took it to the fiber festival where it worked splendidly as a display piece. The great thing is that it breaks down so it will fit in my car.

Because of my lovely friend Holly, who came with me to the show, whose lovely husband let us use his van, I didn't have to take the shelf apart. Here is Holly spinning the Poppy Spindies box. Holly's favorite color is red, and so she had to buy the beautiful poppy box. She carded the 5 ounces of fiber together and made some beautiful batts which she spun into some gorgeous yarn. I really appreciated that she was able to come with me. Where would we be without our friends?

This is Luciole, a Knitspot pattern knit in my merino, nylon fingering weight yarn. The first picture is taken in natural light, the second with the sun streaming into the building in the late afternoon. It is a great patten if you are new to lace knitting because every other row is a purl row, and a lot of the middle of the pattern is stockinette stitch with an occasional lace motif. I am selling Knitspot patterns in my shop now. I am working on a big shop update, which I will return to once my camera battery is charged, and I will soon be listing the Knitspot patterns I have available.

I guess I'd best check on the pump-don't want it getting clogged with leaves.

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day!!!

2010-09-19T11:48:00.005-04:00

September 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Here is one of my favorite pirates. Avast and shiver me timbers. I'm sure if Jack were to knit, he would use beautiful hand dyed yarrrrrrn.

Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival

2010-09-18T09:36:00.006-04:00

I've been frantically busy the past two weeks preparing for the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival. It's hard to believe that in a week I will be in my booth, bopefully selling much fiber and yarn. I have had to put blinders on as I walk through my house though because the frantic dyeing and labeling has not left time for much of anything else, like housework. I keep telling myself there will be plenty of time for all that silliness in two weeks. It took me a whole day just to label my yarn, and I haven't even started on the fiber labeling, nor am I done with dyeing. I think I need a fairygodhelper. Where are you, Trina?

Yesterday was the farmer's market. It was pretty quiet, which gave me more time to purchase vegetables. I am very excited about getting 50 pounds of potatoes from a local farmer who is going to give me the 50 pounds in a variety of types of potatoes. My family and I adore potatoes-it must be the Irish in us. Travis makes the best mashed potatoes ever, and his scalloped potatoes with carmelized onions are to die for. Am I making you hungry?

It was a fun day at the farmer's market too because we had a visitor in the Donahue Family Farm booth, which is next to ours. Heather and her husband are organic dairy farmers, and also sell organic pork and beef, which is delicious. The visitor was a six week old golden lab puppy named Maddie. Heather brought her to help her get used to being around people and other dogs. There were some St. Lawrence University students who fell in love with Maddie and totally exhausted her. She kept trying to go under Andrea's chair to rest, and the girls kept pulling her back out. When they left, Maddie heaved a sigh of relief and returned to her box to collapse.

She was even too tired to play with her sticks.

When she woke up I was able to get a photo of my brother Tim without his hand in front of his face because he was distracted by the adorable puppy. Tim is also a vendor at the market selling his delicious coffee.

Perhaps I see a new dog in his future.

Here is Maddie with Heather after she woke up and was ready for more play.

One of the things I enjoy about the market is the opportunity to meet new people and make friends. I am sorry that the Donahue's will be moving back to New Hampshire this fall, but Heather has extended an invitation to us to visit anytime, so we will keep in touch.

Time to get back to work. This is my 4th blog post in September, which ties with January when I also had 4 posts. Stay tuned, with 12 days left in September, there is no telling what will happen.

Facebook is My Friend

2010-09-14T09:50:00.002-04:00

I just went down to the basement to rinse the pounds of fiber and yarn I dyed yesterday, and much to my dismay discovered standing water with toilet paper floating in it. Panic! I called the village and they sent a truck to clean out the lines, and I'm waiting to see if I need to call RotoRooter. This happened once before when we first moved into the house, but it was much worse that time. The water was over half the basement floor and we had to throw out all my and Paul's record albums (something my children wish we still had), tons of fabric, most of my stored books, cards and letter I had saved, and lots of other things too. I guess it' was a way to rid myself of an accumulation of "stuff" but not a very fun way. I am praying that the village will fix it.

So I figured why not write a blog post while I am waiting, since I can't do what I need to be doing, all of which involve water, such as showering, dishes and fiber rinsing. I am pondering why, when this occurred, one of the fist things I did, after calling for help was post my dilemma on Facebook. I think it is because I felt the need for support, and know that there is a community of people who care about me and my life, who will respond with a kind word and a virtual hug, and I guess that is what I need right now. I'm too nervous about it all to carry on a phone conversation, I have no humans in my house to talk about it with (although the cats are being incredibly supportive), so I reached out in a way made possible by this giant virtual community I have become a part of. Yesterday a friend had her Facebook account hacked, and her address book stolen by thieves wanting people to participate in an Ipad giveaway. She said she thought she would be leaving Facebook because of it. I think Facebook is just like the rest of the world, you have to be wary of strangers and take precautions to guard your privacy, but if you do those things, it's a great place to keep in touch and reconnect with friends and family. If you had told me a year ago I would be writing a blog post about my love of Facebook, I would have told you you were crazy. It just goes to show one should never say never.

That's all I got. All the new pretty fiber I haven't shared is still sitting in pots waiting to be rinsed. I am hearing a lot of noise outside, so think the village workers have arrived. I'd better go check to see what is happening. Thanks for listening, all you blog friends.

'Tis a Gloomy Day

2010-09-13T09:28:00.004-04:00

It's a rainy, gloomy day and I'm still here, dyeing, reskeining, labeling, blending batts, knitting and generally surrounded by tasks of a fiberous nature preparing for the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival, which takes place September 25 and 26. It's fun, but exhausting, and leaves not much time for anything else, although I did go to our spinning group on Saturday. It was a gorgeous day, and spent with good friends-laughing, eating, and spinning too. We had the opportunity to buy some mohair right off the goats too, but I didn't get any this time, although I did get some black alpaca and mohair roving from Angel to put in my Midnight Spindies batts for October.

I am also knitting a shawl that will be a sample garment at the festival to show that sock yarn can be used for things other than socks. It's Luciole, a Knitspot pattern, and it's been a fun knit. I think it's a great first lace project because all the purl rows are purl back which gives the new

lace knitter a chance to breathe for a row. I'm thinking positively that it will be done in time.

Here are a few photos of the results of my days of dyeing. Sorry for the obviously flash photos, but as I said in the title, it is a very gloomy day. Which means it's a great day to be dyeing because I don't feel that I am missing out on a beautiful fall day.

Seamus has arrived to lie on my right arm, which makes typing a bit difficult, so I guess it's time to go. I need to eat breakfast and get to the dyeing anyway.

Fall is in the Air

2010-09-08T10:17:00.004-04:00

Looking at the weather today, it is hard to believe that a week ago it was 91 degrees and humid. What a difference a week makes. It seems good to feel the cool night air and think about hand knit sweaters, socks, hats and mittens. I am working on a hooded sweater for Conor that only has the arms remaining to be done, but I keep putting it off. I'm not quite sure why I have such an aversion to knitting sweater arms. I tend to get to this point in a sweater and not finish, but with Conor's relentless questioning of when I am going to finish his sweater, I don't think that will happen this time. Now that it is cool enough to sit with a sweater on my lap while knitting I will have to finish it. Is there a particular kind of knitting that you have trouble finishing? I'd love to hear from you in the comments.

I am very busy right now preparing for the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival, which is being held at the Washington County Fairgrounds in Greenwich, New York on September 25 and 26. I am looking forward to vending there. It will be especially fun because I am going to meet two of my Spindies cohorts in person for the first time. I've been dyeing up a storm and creating some colorways that I hope will be pleasing to those visiting the festival. There are some already for sale in my Etsy shop.

Polwarth fiber in the colorway "Back Down to Earth".

Merino Tencel fiber in the colorway "Magic Carpet Ride".

The return of an old favorite "Loon Lake" in Merino Nylon Superwash

Another old favorite "Ghost and Goblins" in honor of the approaching fall season.

It's been a fun summer at the Canton Farmer's Market.

This year I've only gone on Friday, and that has worked out well. And unlike last summer when we missed numerous days because of rain, we have not missed any days this year. It's a lot of fun to meet and talk with people about yarn and fiber and find out what they love to knit most of all. It amazes me how many talented knitters are afraid of knitting socks, and I do my best to persuade them to try knitting socks, because they are the thing I like to knit most. I think it is a good idea to knit first socks out of worsted weight yarn because there are 40 stitches in a round instead of 60 or more, and the socks get done much faster, which gives the knitter a sense of accomplishment much more quickly. I had one customer who doubled sock yarn to make a pair of worsted weight socks, and she was really happy with the outcome. So we learn from our customers, as well as our customers learning from us.

Time to return to the dye studio and dye all that superwash merino and laceweight yarn that is soaking and waiting for me. I am making a commitment to blog more frequently. This has been a very difficult year for me, and that made blogging difficult. Things are looking up, and I promise to be here on a more regular basis.

July's Penultimate Post

2010-07-30T17:48:00.006-04:00

Time for another July post-sorry it's been a while. Time is just flying by. Today was a beautiful day spent at the Canton Farmer's Market spinning, chatting, and selling a little yarn.

There were also hula hoopers hooping it up to disco music. Lots of fun to watch.

I spent the beginning of the week at Camp Fi-Be-Gar with my children, some of their friends, and my friend Andrea, there to help me lend some adult sanity to the days. We went not knowing if we would have running water because we have had some issues this summer, it was sporadic, but it worked-nothing like being able take a hot bath and flush a toilet. We were treated to some fabulous food from the four professional cooks who were with us. Lots of time spent spinning on the front porch with Andrea and enjoying campfires with the kids, some swimming took place too, and a mountain was climbed, but not by me.

Here is Begonia doing her job keeping her people safe. She won't swim when the kids are swimming.

The camp isn't really on fire. I'm sure there is an explanation for why this happens which could be explained by someone who understands photography, but that would not be me.

One of the campfires. I think my children are maturing. I was not once in fear that we would catch a tree on fire this time. The campfires were not five feet high. It was great.

Andrea. Conor and I left early Wednesday morning. We took Conor to work at The Whiteface Club in Lake Placid, and then we went back to Saranac Lake where our spinning group was meeting at Eloise's house. It's a tiny house, but we all managed to fit in, although a couple people were sitting in doorways. It was a beautiful and enjoyable day.

Vernice and Barbara.

Holly and Dee, notice Holly has her very own spinning space on the porch.

Barbara again, Andrea peeking out of her spinning nook and Carolyn.

Time to unload the car and start packing for my trip to Harrisville Designs for Lynne Vogel's Spinning, Knitting and Dyeing class. It's my 4th year going, and it is such a hoot-a wonderful group of women, awesome teacher and I learn lots of new techniques too.

Friday at the Farmer's Market

2010-07-09T18:22:00.005-04:00

When I went to bed last night, I wasn't sure that Andrea and I would be going to the farmer's market as the forecast was for a 60% chance of thunder showers, and we tend to try to stay away from those because we have discovered that getting our yarn and fiber wet is not much fun. I received a call at 7:30 a.m. saying it was looking good that the showers would hold off until this afternoon, so I got myself ready and the car loaded and I was on my way.

Since it was still in the high 80's and very humid I wasn't sure how many people would be at the market, but it was quite busy. We left early because there were rumors that the rain was on its way, and having experienced a sudden rain storm last year, we didn't want to repeat the experience. It's good that we left when we did. It has been pouring since shortly after I arrived home. I'm hoping the rain will take away some of the humidity.

I came home with some lovely salad greens, organic blueberries, and from the Amish girls that set up next to us, the first cucumbers of the season and some delicious raspberries. As soon as we saw the raspberries, Andrea and I made a bee line for them. They are going to be my before bedtime treat.

I'm getting my phat fiber samples ready to go off to Phat Fiber headquarters. The theme this month is Seaweed, Ships and Scallywags. I did some Bluefaced Leicester roving in a colorway I am calling "Sea Song", which was inspired by seaweed in the ocean.

I also dyed some merino, cashmere, nylon sock yarn, which is oh, so soft. I used this picture as my inspiration.

I'm really pleased with the results. Now I just have to make all the tags and get the samples packaged before tomorrow morning so I can get them to the post office. It's a good think there is a Harry Potter weekend on ABC Family.

Busy Dyeing Days

2010-07-07T07:40:00.004-04:00

Before I left for a visit to my sister's family for the 4th of July I was busy dyeing some lovely fiber and yarn. I spent several days in my dye studio and am pleased with the results. One yarn I dyed is a rainbow yarn on both merino/bamboo sock yarn and worsted weight wool. Every time I dye a rainbow yarn, I tend to dye it a little bit differently, figuring that rainbows in real life are never quite the same. This rainbow is very bright and cheerful.

Here is "Rainbow to the Stars" on Merino/Bamboo sock yarn.

Here is "Rainbow to the Stars" on worsted weight wool.

I have been pondering the reskeining of my yarns. I personally like yarn better reskeined because you get a better idea of how the colors will combine in the final project. Reskeining also can make a tremendous difference in how a yarn looks in terms of how attractive the colors are together. I'm not quite sure why it is, but not having the color in blocks can totally change the look of the yarn, and gives a truer representation of how the yarn will look knit up. I have been reading that many people prefer the yarn in color blocks because they can see how large the color blocks are which gives them a better idea about color pooling in the finished project. I'm interested in what my readers think about this (if I have any readers left after my lack of blogging recently).

It would be much easier to not reskein, as it would save a lot of time and energy on my part. One of the things on my wish list is an electric reskeiner, although I've often thought it is a good upper body workout when I spend hours reskeining yarn.

I sold some yarn on Etsy this week that it turns out I already sold somewhere else, probably at the Farmer's Market. This is one of my biggest nightmares. Fortunately my customer was understanding, so I need to go and dye her yarn, and then I will be off to my spinning group. I'm hoping it's nice and cool at Andrea's this morning. I'm a baby when it comes to heat and humidity.

He Did It!!!!!!

2010-06-27T09:38:00.003-04:00

My little graduate, Conor. Oh, happy day!

2010-06-01T09:46:00.003-04:00

We made it safely home last night after a lovely day in Saranac Lake and Lake Placid. The smoke I smelled yesterday came from wild fires in southwest Quebec. The wind was blowing from the north and the smoke was over much of New England, including the Adirondacks. As I was driving toward Saranac Lake I did not see the beautiful view I anticipated because the mountains were shrouded in smoke. As the day progressed though, so did the visibility.

Conor and Travis had to work until 3, so we picked them up and headed to Lisa G's in Lake Placid for linner (that's lunch and dinner combined). It was a beautiful day and we sat outside. I had a mango margarita with cinnamon sugar on the rim of the glass which was delicious. I had a spicy tilapia sandwich with a yummy remoulade as my entree and enjoyed it but was surprised that the fish was friend instead of broiled. We then dropped Caitlin and Andy off because they had errands to run and laundry to do and Travis, Conor, Begonia and I went to the beach.

One of the great things about the Adirondacks is the number of beaches available which are likely to be pretty deserted, even on holiday weekends. We went to one of those beaches in Lake Clear. Begonia had a good swim that really tuckered her out. Travis and Conor were holding onto her in the water and she was pulling them, not an easy task even for big, strong Begonia. The water was amazingly warm for Memorial Day weekend. I found snail shells on the beach, along with some cool pine cones, birch bark and little pieces of driftwood to add to my nature table. I forgot to bring my camera, so the only photo I can share of Begonia is her guarding the door of Travis' apartment.

On the way back into town we stopped at Donnelly's Ice Cream stand. They are only open in the summer, serve one flavor of soft serve ice cream a day, and have lines of people out the door every day. Yesterday was nut day and the flavor was pistachio. It was delicious, and a good way to start the summer.

We are now home and ready for the painting to commence. I am looking forward to getting it done so that I can move forward with getting the house on the market. So I guess for the next couple of days, my knitting, spinning and dyeing will be put on the back burner. On the way home I did get a little bit knit on a sock I am making before it got too dark to read the pattern. It's from the book Knitted Socks East and West: 30 Designs Inspired by Japanese Stitch Patterns. There are quite a few patterns in the book I am interested in trying. The pattern I am making is not difficult, but requires concentration, a good thing when driving with Conor. I find I do much better as a passenger when I have something to focus on other than the road.

Time to wake the sleeping boys and start the work day.

How Can It Be Memorial Day Already?

2010-05-30T10:57:00.012-04:00

Memorial Day, 2010

It's hard to believe that it is the end of May already. 2010 is flying by. Memorial Day makes me think of the days of my childhood. We would go to our camp and spend the weekend and then come home for the parade on Monday. My father, as a veteran of World War II, and a past commander of the American Legion felt it was important that we be here for the parade and the ceremony afterward at the park where the veterans both fallen and still living were honored. My dad taught us the importance of remembering the men and women who have served our country and kept us safe. So if you see a veteran or current member of the service today be sure to say thank you. And buy a poppy too!

I woke up to the smell of smoke and heard a neighbor saying that there is a wild fire burning nearby. Not a good thing because it has been a dry spring.

I dropped Conor in Saranac Lake at The Whiteface Club on Thursday to begin his career as a dishwasher, or dishmonster, as they are called in our family. He will have his sister and brother as his immediate supervisors. It should be an interesting experience for them all. It's a sort of trial to see how Conor will do for the summer, and when I spoke to all three yesterday evening he was doing great-he'd even worked a double that day. The Whiteface Club is on Lake Placid in a beautiful setting, and they get to enjoy the outdoors a little bit when they are driving the golf cart between two restaurants.

A photo of Caitlin and Travis on their way to work, all ready to cook a wedding dinner for 113 wedding guests. They used 2 1/2 pounds of garlic in the dinner prep. I think that is a crazy amount of garlic, even for 113 people. Doesn't Caitlin look happy to be posing for a photo for her mom?

Here's Conor. We stopped in Gabriels on our way home so I could take photos of the Adirondack mountains.

Here is wandering son, Tim, looking at mountains that are a wee bit bigger than the mountains I am heading too. He is on an island south of Thailand getting his master diving certification. Tim is then booking it to the border ( I think his vis will be up) and going to Malaysia before he returns to western Australia and a job at a resort. A small part of me was hoping that he wouldn't get a job, because that would have meant a return home. But I am mostly happy that he is able to continue his great adventure.

In spinning news, we have a new member in our spinning group-my friend Suzanne. She decided she wanted to start spinning and after researching on the web and talking with spinners chose aKromski Minstrel and she is doing fantastically well.

It's nice to have a new spinning fanatic in our midst. And an unexpected plus is that Suzanne rarely plays Farmville anymore. This is a much more constructive use of time, in my humble opinion.

I dyed the fiber that was spun in the photo above. It's superwash merino and is really soft and fun to spin. I'm having a 20% off Memorial Day sale in my Etsy shop. Put the code Poppy in the message to seller and I will refund 20% to your paypal account. The sale runs until Tuesday at midnight EDT. Happy shopping!

It's time to get ready to go pick up the boy and his brother too. Travis is going to spackle and paint so I can get the house on the market. Wish us luck!

Here's what I will be driving toward in just a little bit. I do love those beautiful mountains, and hope to some day be living there.

Traveling Son Report

2010-05-11T08:39:00.009-04:00

For those who have been reading this blog for a while, you may remember that my oldest son Tim took a 3 month, (make that 6 month, now a year) trip to Australia. Having had me as a mother for 27 years, he eased me into the length of his stay by gradually increasing the time he planned to be away. I just received an email from Tim telling me he was on a bus on his way to Shangra-La. That sounds so romantic.

Thank goodness for Wikipedia. Geography is not one of my strong suits (if you want to beat me at Trivial Pursuit, choose Geography as my final category), so I turn to Wikipedia to see where Tim is. His adventures have included the east and west coast of Australia, Tasmania (he didn't see a Tasmanian Devil), Kuala Lumpur (the capital of Malaysia), Hong Kong to get a Visa to enter China (like New York City on acid), Shanhai to visit a friend (lingered there longer than expected due to a lost ATM card) , to visit Leaping Tiger Gorge (I have advised him to take the low road, not the high road-it's safer) and Shangra La (a stopping point on the trip to Leaping Tiger Gorge). The next stop on his itinerary is to travel to Thailand to meet up with a friend. I am so proud of Tim because one of the reasons he took this trip was to push past his fears and things that were holding him back from exploring the world, and he certainly has accomplished his goal. It is especially amazing to me that he is undertaking this journey by himself. I think that he must now know that there is nothing that he can't do, which is a wonderful lesson to learn at such a young age. And I have grown too, because I no longer assume he is dead if I haven't heard from him for three days. If you would like to check it out, he has written a few posts about his adventures at Tim Out: Australia.

Tim and his host Hunch in front of Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. I guess you can figure out that it's Tim on the right. The red beard is a new addition

In more mundane news, I have added some new yarn and fiber to my shop. I dyed some worsted weight yarn in some colors that make me wish I had a little girl to knit for. The first makes me think of a field of wildflowers in the spring and the second was inspired by one of my favorite flowers, Gerber daisies. They are such bright and cheerful flowers.

I've also been dyeing a little fiber.

"Jewel Box" in superwash bluefaced leicester. A member of my spinning group wanted jewel toned fiber to spin and knit socks for her daughter.

And "Ocean Blues" in Merino/Tencel fiber. I guess I'm anxious for summer to arrive because it seems that I've been dyeing colors that make me think of warm weather and sunshine.

Time to remove the sleeping cat from my arm and take a shower. Speaking of sleeping cats, here is a photo of Seamus sleeping after becoming totally exhausted the last time my spinning group met at my house. There is something very exciting to the cats about all that fiber and the ten spinning wheels that were here.

It Looks Like I Lied

2010-05-04T10:07:00.008-04:00

It seems that I wasn't really back when I said I was on March 16th. I apologize, and hope that there are one or two people still checking this old, sad blog. It's been a difficult few months. I'm hoping the arrival of spring and some sunshine are going to be helpful.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about this blog, and I have missed writing, but felt blocked from writing. This is supposed to be a knitting, spinning and dyeing blog with bits of my life thrown in. Part of what has inhibited me and stopped me from writing is those constraints I have place on myself. I am removing those constraints, so when you check in here I can't guarantee what you will find. There's no question there will still be dyeing, spinning and knitting but I have a feeling more of my real life will be sneaking in, I've also changed the name of the blog to Moonlight and Laughter, but the address is still the same-www.dyeingtospin.blogspot.com.

That being said, lets talk about dyeing. I have been busily dyeing fiber for the monthly Spindies Artists' Paintbox and Complements Box. The colors this month are still a secret but they both remind me of the ocean, and make me miss New Jersey. Travis is in Atlantic Highlands now visiting, and I am envious. I need to get down there before I have to start that stupid full time job that is looming in my future.

I will be making batts for the Phat Fiber Sampler box today at some point. The fiber is all dyed and ready to blend into batts. The theme this month is Blossoms and Bark. I dyed some worsted weight yarn in pretty blossom colors inspired by apple blossoms and gerber daisies, and now am making a bark batt inspired by a walk Travis, Cailtin, Conor and their friend Brian and I took into an old growth Adirondack forest a couple of years ago.

It was an awe inspiring experience, seeing these giant trees that had withstood all the harshness that is a part of the nature of the Adirondacks for hundreds of years.

Iit was hard to take photos that could show the grandeur and immensity of these beautiful, ancient trees. I think showing us standing beside one helps a little in showing their size.

It was a day I will always remember-a beautiful, crisp fall day in the Adirondacks, sharing it with my children and their friend and being totally awed by nature once again. I feel so fortunate to live in an area that has such beauty, and I truly am inspired by that nature when it comes to the fiber colors I create.

It's time to go and have some coffee. I am also inspired by Tim's great coffee. It helps keep me going and is so delicious that I have been spoiled when it comes to drinking other coffee. And some very exciting news is that he is buying a coffee shop and is going to be adding a bakery too. I can't wait-it's going to be so much fun.

I'm Back

2010-03-16T09:13:00.005-04:00

Just a quick post to say I am back in Massena and trying to get my life reorganized after having been away for a month. I am really looking forward to getting some dyeing done, and happy that the temperatures are warming up as I dye my yarn and fiber in my basement, which can be quite chilly in the midst of winter.

Almost all the snow is gone and it's only March 16th. I know this was a hard winter for those south of here, but it has been nice not to inundated with snow this winter. It was especially helpful with all the trips we made to Vermont this winter-snow was not an issue at all, which is pretty miraculous for northern New York and Vermont.

Time for some breakfast and some delicious St. Lawrence Valley Roaster coffee. I saw Tim roasted some Ethiopian coffee yesterday, very tasty I am sure. My new favorite is Kenyan AA. It is not mentioned in the flavor notes, but I always taste chocolate undertones when I am drinking it.

Here's a photo from last Labor Day weekend at Cranberry Lake. I can't wait to get back up there in the spring. This is one of my favorite rocks on our property. As children, my siblings and I spent hours playing on this rock imagining that it was all sorts of wonderful things-a pirate ship comes to mind right now.

My Dear Sister Jane

2010-03-05T09:10:00.005-05:00

Jane Elizabeth Gardner-Duffany

February 3, 1958-March 4, 2010

Jane died peacefully last night, with a few of the many who loved her by her side. When we were talking about her funeral and what poems she would like read, I suggested the following, and after I had read it to her, her only comment was that she didn't like ships, so we will not be reading this, but it brings me comfort.

Gone From My Sight
by Henry Van Dyke

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship, at my side,
spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts
for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck
of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

Then, someone at my side says, "There, she is gone"

Gone where?

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast,
hull and spar as she was when she left my side.
And, she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me -- not in her.
And, just at the moment when someone says, "There, she is gone,"
there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices
ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!"

And that is dying..

The poem Jane chose to be read is written by Mary Oliver, a Vermont poet. Jane, in her typical Jane fashion, told me that I could not read the poem at the funeral, the implication being that I would prefer a shopping center to a field. And while I will admit that am quite fond of shopping, I would much prefer a pond. Silly Jane.

What Was Once the Largest Shopping Center in Northern Ohio Was Built Where There Had Been a Pond I Used to Visit Every Summer Afternoon
by Mary Oliver

Loving the earth, seeing what has been done to it,
I grow sharp, I grow cold.

Where will the trilliums go, and the coltsfoot?
Where will the pond lilies go to continue living
their simple, penniless lives, lifting
their faces of gold?

Impossible to believe we need so much
as the world wants us to buy.
I have more clothes, lamps, dishes, paper clips
than I could possibly use before I die.

Oh, I would like to live in an empty house,
with vines for walls, and a carpet of grass.
No planks, no plastic, no fiberglass.

And I suppose sometime I will.
Old and cold I will lie apart
from all this buying and selling, with only
the beautiful earth in my heart.

A Quick Update

2010-02-27T14:06:00.006-05:00

I am still with my sister and her family. All is quiet at the moment, so I thought I would take the opportunity to write a brief post. Jane is still with us, surrounded by love and caring in the form of family and friends. The move went smoothly, thanks to the wonderful friends Jane and Marty have, as well as very efficient movers. I think if you walked in the house today, you would find it hard to believe that they moved in here only a week ago. My niece Emma is a model of efficiency and order, somewhat unusual in a 16 year old. She has done a marvelous job of unpacking and organizing.

I thought I would share a recipe that I have made several times over the last 2 weeks. It is my Aunt Hilda's Rice Pudding Recipe, and is one of the things Jane could tolerate eating for a while, so I made lots of it. Jane is no longer eating, and not drinking much either. Now I am making the pudding because we all need comfort food, and this is a classic comfort food.

Stove Top Rice Pudding

1/2 Cup Raw Rice (Arborio if you have it) 3 Eggs

1 Cup Boiling Water 1/2 Cup Sugar

1 Quart Milk 1 Teaspoon Vanilla

1/2 Cup Butter 1/2 Cup Raisins (Optional)

1 Teaspoon Cinnamon, 1/2 Teaspoon Nutmeg (Also Optional)

I usually add a little bit more rice as I like the pudding a little more solid than soupy.

My Aunt Hilda was an awesome cook, and this is one of her recipes that was included in a cookbook put out by the First Baptist Church of Rome, New York in 1981. Enjoy!

Temporary Interruption

2010-02-18T15:27:00.003-05:00

I am having to take a break from blogging, and I am sorry I did not convey this sooner. My sister is at the end of her life, and I am with her until I am no longer needed. I hope you will continue to check back here, so that when I return, I will still have some readers for my little blog.

Spinning on a Great Wheel

2010-02-07T10:24:00.003-05:00

I was invited to my friend Andrea's house today for lunch and to try to spin on her antique great wheel. It will be interesting to try. Trina is going too and she is very talented at spindle spinning, so I am guessing that she will be showing us how to spin, since my understanding of great wheels is that the technique is much like spinning on a drop spindle, something that I tried once, and never returned to.

We will also be meeting a baby Cotswald lamb whose name is Damnram, because she was hoping for a ewe lamb, but my understanding is that, despite being male, he is very curly and cute. I promise to post pictures.

I finished three projects last night-socks made from Galway yarn from a pattern I created, Travis' Striped Mittens (finally, figured I needed to finish them before winter was over), and a hat made from Lamb's Pride Yarn using Soule Mama's Favorite Knit Hat pattern. That was fun to knit and I was done in no time. It's good that I have a daughter who likes to wear hats, because I like to knit them.

I'm feeling a cold coming on, and I can't get sick because I am going to see Jane again at the end of the week. Jane and her family will be moving the following weekend, so I am going with her friend (they've been friends since the first day of 7th grade) to help them prepare for the move. Tim and I went to visit for Jane's birthday last week. When we arrived she was not home, which was kind of scary. It turned out that her blood levels were messed up and she required an IV to try to help get things back to normal. She arrived home in the early afternoon and we had a nice visit, but had to leave to come back early the next day so Tim could get some coffee roasting done. It is hard to leave, I want to stay, but have to be here since I still do have that darn last child left at home. And although he is 18 and can be left alone, I don't like to stay away for too long.

Time to get ready to go to Andrea's. I will return with cute damn ram photos.

The Girasole is Finally Finished!

2010-01-29T12:05:00.005-05:00

I am going to try again to write a post. My attempt on Sunday failed miserably because Seamus came to sit on my lap after I had typed two sentences, and walked on the keyboard striking a combination of keys that turned Windows from portrait to landscape. My usual computer fixing trick of turning the computer off and back on did not solve this problem, which necessitated a walk to the 3rd floor to wake a sleeping Conor and ask him to fix it-he loves it when I wake him up to fix my computer. He's never actually told me that, but I know it must be true. On the way back downstairs I walked by the laundry room and remembered that I needed to wash sheets. While I was in there, I decided to do a little straightening and folding of clothes, which led to cleaning the room. While cleaning, I unearthed a huge pile of lines that needed ironing, so I ironed for about two hours because, really, what is the point of having a collection of beautiful old linens if you can never use them because they are not ironed. I had forgotten how much I enjoy ironing linens. There is something so satisfying about turning that wrinkled lump of cloth into something beautifully smooth , and the smell of starch and warm linen evokes happy childhood memories. It was then time to move on to cooking dinner, and by then the urge to write a blog post had long ago disappeared.

So here we go for a second try. The sun is shining today. Hooray!!! But it was -8 degrees when I took Conor to school and there is a wicked wind blowing. Boo!!! But the sun is shining. Yay!!! I am so happy to see the sun, can you tell? I will ignore the fact that the heat, which is only set on 62 is coming on every five minutes, because I am so thrilled to see the sun.

I finally finished my afghan that I was slogging along on. I am quite pleased with it, and am not sure why I grew so tired of it. It is very warm-maybe I grew tired of it in the summer because I forgot how wonderful it would be to have such a warm thing to snuggle under during the long, cold winter nights. It is a Girasole-a pattern by Jared Flood and it was a relatively easy knit. I made it using Cascade Eco Wool, which is not at all the type of yarn called for in the pattern, but I have a hard time following directions when it comes to knitting, and I am glad that I used this yarn. It is a great value, and although it is considered to be a bulky yarn, I feel that it really is more of a heavy worsted weight. It is soft too, which surprised me when I first started knitting with it. It took a little less than two full skeins to do the body and I used leftovers in neutral tones to do the edging. So here it is. Ta Da!!! The first photo is Seamus enjoying it while I was putting on the edging. It was hard to photograph because it is so large, but I think the photos give an idea of what it looks like.

I'd better get back to the basement. I have fiber soaking to dye for the February Spindies Artist's Paintbox. The color is red, and I am dyeing some Cormo wool, and two types of fiber from local fleeces. One of the fibers is Romney wool from the very first fleece I ever bought, and the other is fiber from a member of my spinning group who is a shepherd and it is mainly Ile de France, a breed I never see mentioned, which is a cross between English Leicester and Rambouillet. Sandy mostly raised her sheep for meat, but the Ile de France is good for both meat and medium fiber, so I am really pleased with this fiber.

Alright now, I really need to go dye. I know I am putting it off because it is so cold in my dye studio because it is in the basement, and it's a bit nippy down there when the temperature is this low. It wouldn't be quite so bad if there wasn't so much water involved in the whole process, and since we don't want felted fiber, it has to be cold water. I will persevere though, and create some beautiful red fiber just in time for Valentine's Day.

2010-01-14T22:06:00.006-05:00

I wanted to report on the slogging that has been occurring with my Girasole. I have finished the body of the throw, and am now doing the edging, which is taking forever. I ran out of yarn for the edge, which is knitted on, so not only am I slogging, but I am also stash busting and using up a lot of bits and bobs of yarn leftovers. I am quite pleased with the results. Maybe some day I will even take a photo to show how gorgeous it is. I was thinking of knitting some more on it tonight, but am realizing that I really just need to go to sleep. I know this might be laughable to many, but I am worn out from working three days this week. I don't know how you all do it who have full time jobs, and also try to run an Internet business. I think if this hectic work pace continues, I am actually going to have to make myself a schedule in order to get anything accomplished with Moonlight and Laughter. Darn life and the need for money interfering with what I love to do.

Anyone interested in some cat photos? I'm afraid it's all I have in terms of recent photos. I still haven't managed to photograph my latest yarn colorways. I heard a rumor that the sun might shine this weekend, and it is supposed to be above freezing as well. Be still my heart-maybe the yarn and I can have a little photo session on the front porch-something to look forward to.

Seamus, not wanting to be photographed. Don't you love the ear fur. It's quite luxuriant.

Gerard took his cue from his brother and also turned his head. I think he's admiring the roving that is on the chair behind him.

Must go to bed so I can get up and go to work again. But then it will be Saturday and sunshiny and warm. All good things to look forward to. Happy Friday!

Please Help the Victims of the Haitian Earthquake

2010-01-13T22:03:00.004-05:00

If you have the opportunity, and feel that the desire to help the victims of the earthquake in Haiti, one way to help is to make a donation to Doctors Without Borders. The reason I like to donate to them is that the majority of their funding goes to directly help people, not to administrative costs. Through the Yarn Harlot's blog, over $600,000 has been donated to this wonderful organization by knitters over the last few years, and Stephanie has made an appeal to knitters once again to help in any way they can, if only by donating a few dollars. You can read her post for today to see what she has to say about how to help, and what is the most useful type of donation to make. It warms my heart to see how people working together for a common cause can make a difference, one dollar at a time. And it is heartbreaking to think of the hundreds of thousands of people whose lives have been changed forever because of this force of nature.

Happy New Year-Better Late Than Not At All

2010-01-09T15:31:00.008-05:00

Hello, remember me? Sorry for having gone missing once again. Life seems to be getting in the way of my blog writing, which is ironic because the blog is supposed to be somewhat of a record of what is going on in my life. I have missed writing and sharing the exciting adventures that have occurred recently. Or if not the exciting adventures, at least the day to day ennui that is my life right now. I love the word ennui, and seldom get a chance to use it in a sentence.

I've only done a little bit of dyeing recently, partly because the basement where my dyeing studio is located has a temperature not much warmer than the outside temperature, which right now is 7 degrees. It wouldn't be so bad if there wasn't all that cold water involved in the dyeing process. I did get my Spindies sample done for the January Paintbox. The color is Silver, and I am looking forward to seeing the results from the Spindies artists. It's hard to believe that we have been collaborating on Paintboxes for five months. I appreciate being a part of such a talented group of women. This is my sample from last month's box, which was the color champagne. I believe all the Champagne boxes are gone, but some of the individual stores still have larger sized batts of their samples.

I am adding a new sock yarn base to my shop. It is Bluefaced Leicester and Nylon. Bluefaced Leicester is my favorite spinning fiber, so I was pleased to find a BFL sock yarn. I dyed some recently in two colorways, but have not yet had the time, or the light needed, to take good photos. When I woke up this morning and saw sunshine I thought I might still be dreaming. It has been so long since I saw the sun, I wasn't sure what it was. Of course, there has to be a cosmic joke associated with this sun sighting. The joke is that despite the sunshine, the temperature is still only 7 degrees.

I was standing out on my front porch in my slippers with no coat on this morning taking photos of my silver Paintbox samples, when the mailman arrived. I wonder what he thought when he saw me with a camera, a white tablecloth on the porch floor, photographing a pile of what I am sure looked like grey fluff to him. It is actually very similar to the color of Gerard's fur, although I promise that there is none of his fur in these batts.

On the knitting front, I am making Conor a sweater from Son of Stitch and Bitch. It is a hoody with a Noro stripe through the body and the sleeves, and I am making it out of the yarn called for in the pattern, something that rarely happens. I was able to get Lambs Pride for $3.00 a skein from The Sheep Shed Studio, and the yarn color is avocado, a color that makes me happy. I think that I am going to use some of my hand dyed worsted weight yarn instead of the Noro for the stripe. I am not a big fan of Noro yarn, although I will admit that the long color repeats are quite nice.

I am making Travis a pair of Striped Mittens from Favorite Mittens by Robin Hansen. I think I have made almost 20 pairs of these mittens and I love them...both the making of them and how warm they are when worn. My sister Jane remembers that when we were young, many of the children we played with wore similarly patterned mittens. The pattern is a one stitch alternation of two colors, one carried ahead of the other, and the carrying of the yarn pulls the mitten fabric up into ridges. This gives the illusion that one color has been knit above the other. My favorite yarn to make these from is Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride. It's also fun to do the main color in a solid color and the contrasting color in a hand dyed multicolor yarn. In these mittens, the main color is ecru color Lamb's Pride and the multicolored yarn is the contrasting color. It's possible to see how the ecru stands out above the multicolored yarn. I have fun watching the striping patterns emerge, which goes to show that I am very easily entertained.

This was the year of the hat for Christmas gifts. I didn't take a lot of photos of the completed hats, but here is Travis' Dred Hat being modeled by Conor, who doesn't have nearly enough hair to fill it up. I think perhaps he has inadvertently watched a little too much America's Next Top Model, or perhaps this is the face of teenage angst.

I made my niece Emma a hat that is a quick and fun knit, with the hat including Basketweave stitch, 3 x 3 ribbing, and Seed Stitch. It is fun to make because it doesn't get boring. The pattern is called Patchwork Hat, and I have also made several of these hats over the past year. It helps to have a daughter who loves hats, and also loses them on a fairly regular basis.

On the traveling son front, Tim is back in Sydney, after having spent a few weeks in Tasmania. He is currently looking for work as he is feeling the need to recoup some of his money spent so far. I am loving reading his blog, which started out as a travel log, but has turned into something much more interesting to me. I am very proud of the man he has become.

It's time to go do some knitting. I am still slogging along on my Girasole, and tonight seems the perfect night to have a nice warm blanket on my lap as I am knitting. The reason I am slogging has nothing to do with the pattern, and more to do with my choice of yarn, which is not at all what was called for in the pattern. This blanket has helped me learn that occasionally, I should pay attention to the specifics of a pattern, but that is fodder for another post.

2009-12-23T00:52:00.004-05:00

A quick post, after a day of Christmas cookie baking with Conor, Travis and Alyssa. Lots of fun, and good cookies made. We have cut the types of cookies down considerably. We decided the types that were required to make each of us happy, and that is what we are making. Peanut blossoms (with Hershey kisses on top) were favorites of everyone and we had to make Candy Cane Cookies because I don't think there has been a Christmas that I haven't had those cookies. The original recipe was torn out of a woman's magazine in the 1950's by my mom. We made date filled cookies for my brother Tim and chocolate chip cookies, using the original Nestle's Toll House Cookie recipe cut from the back of the package by my grandmother, for my brother James. It's nice to be making these memories with my children. We listened to old fashioned Christmas music as we were baking. The kids have gone to get Taco Bell now. Ah, to be young again and able to eat fast food at 1 a.m.

We didn't do much decorating this year, but the Christmas figural candles were brought out and put out by Caitlin and Travis last week. We have just a few. I couldn't get them all into the photo, so had to take two. Some of these are from my childhood, some friends have given me, and some I have bought on E-bay. It's not Christmas without them. It turns out that the tiny Christmas tree in the first picture in the front to the right of the cat in the boot is the favorite candle of both Travis and Caitlin.

I must go to bed. Tomorrow is our 2nd annual White Christmas viewing party. Travis made homemade French Onion dip, which is awesome and he's making more appetizers tomorrow, and it's going to be a fun time. Andrea is coming, and has never seen the movie, so I'm excited to be initiating her into the White Christmas tradition. I can't wait to see Bing and Rosemary and Danny and hear all those wonderful songs again.

Happy Birthday, Caitlin!

2009-12-19T19:44:00.004-05:00

Today my beautiful, kind, gentle, caring, funny and other adjectives too numerous to mention, daughter is 22 years old. I don't know where the time has gone. She had to work today (boo), but doesn't have to work tomorrow, so she can enjoy a little get together with her friends tonight.

Happy Birthday, darling daughter!

2009-12-08T15:59:00.003-05:00

A quick post before bed. I am very tired from shoveling ice bergs from the end of the driveway. I've never seen such large chunks of ice created by a plow. And that darn Conor has been going to school, so he wasn't here to help. Advil and a heating pad will be my friends tonight.

I spent the afternoon making my portion of the December Spindies paint box. The color this month is champagne. I combined cormo wool, milk fiber, soysilk and angelina. They are very beautiful, if I do say so myself, but I haven't had a chance to photograph them. I need to build a light box now that I can no longer count on being able to take photos outside.

I have some good news. My cousin did very well with her surgery and there is minimal speech or vision loss, and what has been lost should return in time. She will be going home soon. It is a wonderful thing.

My niece Emma, who has been severely anemic, and was told she might have Crohn's disease or Celiacs was found to have a polyp, which is a runner's polyp and was probably the cause of her anemia, so that was excellent news also. I have been saying for years now that exercise is really not all it's cracked up to be, and this is positive proof. It can actually endanger your health.

Jane is feeling a bit stronger. She made a trip to the grocery store with Marty, something she hasn't done in a while. Sometimes it is the little things that make all the difference

Tim has spent a few days in Melbourne and is enjoying it, and is now heading to Tanzania, which is a 12 hour ferry ride from Melbourne. I told him about the lovely weather we have been having, and he tried to make me feel better with the news that the temperature is in the mid-50's and it is rainy, but it didn't help much. Here is a link to photos of his trip from Sydney to Melbourne.

Yesterday was a snowy, freezing rain, windy day here in Massena, but the wonderful school superintendent decided not to cancel school, despite the fact that all the other schools in the area closed. He did an early dismissal at 1:45, which is 40 minutes before school is normally out, right when the freezing rain was starting. We were not very happy with this decision. I drove Conor to school, got stuck going up a hill, finally got going and spun out and had a lovely slide from lane to lane, but was not hurt. The traffic coming toward me stopped and I got the car under control before I reached them. It was quite an adrenaline rush. I came home and spent the rest of the day knitting. Trina came for a long visit, as did my neighbor Neeny who was off from school, and Suzanne stopped by as well. It was wonderful being inside with knitting and friends.

My third red scarf is done. I ended up doing a basketweave out of some Knitpicks Alpaca I had in my stash. I am now going back to frantic Christmas knitting. I am making Travis a Rasta hat. It takes a long time to knit a hat that will contain all those dredlocks. Right now Gerard is guarding it while sleeping.

Isn't he cute. It is a good thing that he is cute. I just went to make a cup of Stash Lemon Ginger tea, yum, and walking past my spinning wheel noticed that something has chewed through the drive band. I am 99% sure it would be that cute cat-maybe that is why he is hiding his eyes. It's not really a problem except that the last time I remember having the string I use for the drive band was when I gave it to Travis to truss a roasted chicken. What are the odds that it was returned to my spinning basket? Not very high.

My typing has become dyslexic, so I thinkcit is time to toddle up to bed. Clean flannel sheets tonight-yippee.

Happy Friday to All!

2009-12-04T22:38:00.004-05:00

It's the 4th of December and my third post in December. I hope I'm not setting a precedent I can't live up to.

It snowed again today, but not for long. I guess winter is really coming our way, but I'm not getting the winter dishes out until December 21. Yes, I have winter dishes, fall dishes, and spring/summer dishes. It's crazy I know, but it is a small thing that makes me happy. I am on a hunt for some spring dishes, but haven't come across the right set yet. I'm thinking vintage dishes with some spring flowers. It's good to have a goal to work toward. I am also working at replacing all the Pyrex bowls that have been broken over the last few weeks. It makes going to garage sales and thrift stores fun to have something to look for.

I received good news this evening. My cousin had brain surgery today. She had a non-malignant brain tumor, but it had been growing for 20 or so years, so by the time it was discovered it was quite large. It was successfully removed, but she will probably have some language impairment and also possibly some vision impairment. They won't know for a while, so I would ask that you keep Gail and her family in your prayers.

More good news! I just received an email from Tim that he arrived safely in Melbourne. It was about a thousand mile drive, so I'm glad that they made it safely. He was too tired to write much, but I appreciate his letting his slightly concerned mother know he was OK. I am improving all the time-no longer anxiety laden, just slightly concerned. A few more weeks and he won't even need to write to me. No, I don't think I want to get that relaxed.

Can you stand it? Even more good news. I finished my second red scarf, and I even have a photo, although not a very good one. It's been raining or snowing here for several days, and since I take my photos outside, I haven't had a chance to take a good photo. As much as I am not loving the scarf knitting, I think there is time to squeeze a third one in. This was an easy knit, and I would link to the pattern but I can't find it. I thought it was on the Red Scarf page, but it seems to have disappeared.

My sister is feeling better since she had 18 pounds of fluid drained from her abdomen the day after Thanksgiving. Yes, I said 18 pounds-that is 8 liters of fluid. She said for the first time in a long time she could enjoy sitting at the kitchen table. It's the small things in life that matter. I am hoping to go and spend some time with her next week. I also have a child going through a difficult time, so that may keep me from visiting, but I hope we are heading in the right direction with him, and things will be better next week.

I'm thinking it might be time to get out a few Christmas decorations. I need to get my advent table set up too. I know I'm a bit behind, but that's OK. Time to get the candles and begin gathering the bits and pieces that will be added each week. The first week is stones, shells, crystals and bones. I can do all those things except the bones-lots of stones and shells thanks to many years of young boys and girls gathering treasures at the beach.

Look, cats sleeping in Tim's chair and on his ottoman. The bad thing is that Tim is very allergic to cats. I wonder how they know this is the one chair they shouldn't be sleeping on. Last night Gerard got up in the chair and pushed Seamus off. I've never seen them fight over a chair before. It must be the fine Ikea craftsmanship that is attracting them.

Random Thoughts

2009-12-02T22:49:00.007-05:00

I know this is shocking, but I am posting two days in a row. Don't get used to it though. I recently rearranged my wool room, and now have an actual desk with my laptop on it, which definitely makes writing posts easier. And now that I have organized the room, I actually enjoy being in here. Maybe it was a good thing that Tim brought his whole household here and deposited it in my house.

Today was a very fibery day. Spinning group during the day, and knitting at the library in the evening. We asked them to turn the fireplace on in the library, which made it very warm and toasty, but also sleep inducing. We broke up a little early because we couldn't keep our eyes open. I was knitting my second red scarf and that may have added to the soporific feelings. I now know that I really do not enjoy knitting scarves. I would rather knit 10 pairs of socks than one scarf. I have always wondered why scarves are often suggested to new knitters as a great beginner's project. They are boring and dull, at least in my humble opinion. I'm more than half way done with my second red scarf though, so should be done in plenty of time for the December 25th deadline.

If you would like a chance to win one of my Hand Dyed, Hand Carded Batts, visit the Phat Fiber Blog and enter the contest. You just have to visit my Etsy shop and leave a comment on the blog telling of one item from my shop that you like. Jessie said some very kind things about me, which I really appreciate. I think she is pretty awesome too, so I guess it is a mutual admiration society. This is the batt that is being offered in the giveaway. It is very lilac and very soft and sparkly. Sparkly is one of my favorite things in batts.

I'm listening to Christmas music as I type this. We had the annual official beginning of the Christmas music season driving to Tim and Lisa's on Thanksgiving with the playing of our John Denver and the Muppets CD. We also had an album and tape, and this is the second CD, the first having somehow migrated to Saranac Lake and returned scratched and unplayable. I was very sad when I discovered it was no longer being made, but Tim found me on on-line last year, thank goodness. It wouldn't be Christmas without John and the Muppets. I'm sure my children feel the same way, or at least they do in my imagination. Do you have a favorite Christmas or holiday CD? I'd love to hear what it is. I am also very fond of Peter, Paul and Mary, Vince Gill, Trisha Yearwood and Vince Gill's CD's, and of course the perennial favorite of Bing Crosby. Christmas isn't Christmas without White Christmas, both song and movie.

I was going to show you a Christmas picture, but it seems that I have none on my computer. That makes me quite sad. They must have all been lost the last time my computer crashed. How about goats in the snow-it's almost as good as a Christmas photo. Aren't they cute?

I must go to bed now. My friend Judy is coming to Massena tomorrow and we have an exciting lunch planned, so I'd better rest up.

One Never Knows, Do One?

2009-12-01T10:37:00.005-05:00

The day I have been fearing for months has arrived. It's snowing! When I lived in New Jersey, I couldn't wait for it to snow. I looked forward to those beautiful flakes gently falling from the sky. I now realize the reason for the love of snow was that it never lasted more than two days. That is not the case here though. I know that now the beautiful white stuff has begun falling, it's going to keep falling until March at least. And this year I witnessed a snow storm on May 30th in Saranac Lake, so I view the advent of snow with more trepidation than wonder. I do appreciate it's beauty still, but wish it wouldn't hang around so long.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving at Tim and Lisa's house. The turkey was nice and juicy, cooked to perfection by Lisa and carved to perfection by Travis. Lots of good food and good company, and I really appreciated celebrating the holiday away from home this year.

Here is a photo of the festive table before dinner.

And this is some of the delicious food waiting to be eaten.

Cousinly love-that's Blake, my nephew on the left, and Conor on the right. Silly boys.

We were able to video chat with Tim Thanksgiving night, which was Friday afternoon for Tim. He had picked up a camper and was setting off on a journey south for a few days with two German tourists he had met-one a doctor and one an engineer. I believe after he returns to Sydney from the trip, he is headed south to Melbourne. He really is having a great adventure, and says Australia is one of the happiest places he has ever been. I guess it would be quite a change from New York City.

Travis and Alyssa were able to stay for a few days, along with Begonia. She is a very funny dog, and we enjoy having her here.

I don't think the cats like having her here quite as much as Conor and I do. This is where Seamus spent most of his time while Begonia was here. He also hung out on the tall bookcase in Conor's room.

We had some very devastating news two days before Thanksgiving. My sister Jane, who has been battling breast cancer for 11 years now, was told that she has no more treatment options. Her liver has basically stopped working and she has anywhere from two weeks to a few months to live. She has fought this disease with such grace and strength, that I think I believed that she would be victorious over it, but that is not to be. Jane lives in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, which is about 4 hours from here. I had plans to call her on Wednesday, but instead my brother called and asked if I wanted to go and see her for a couple of hours. I said sure, packed enough knitting for at least a week, and we went to see her. I think she was very surprised and pleased. We told her we came to have lunch with her. I felt better having seen her and am going to try to go over every couple of weeks if I can. That's another reason I hate snow. I drive a car that is horrible in the snow, so it limits what I can do. The plan is to get snow tires though, and that will help. Now I just have to sell a lot of yarn and fiber so I can buy the snow tires. So if you are reading this, and you believe in prayer, I would ask you to keep my sister Jane and her husband Marty and children Ethan and Emma in your prayers.

I will leave you with a foot photo. Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while may remember that I like to take photos of my feet. It actually came in handy recently when I was trying to remember what I had worn on my feet last fall when going to a particular activity. I just looked at old photos and found the answer. This is Lisa and me on Thanksgiving. Look at those nice cozy shearling lined slippers we are wearing.

A Lazy, Movie Watching, Knitting Sunday

2009-11-22T21:37:00.002-05:00

Today has been a quiet, relaxed day. I have spent the day watching movies-Juno, X-Men and The Golden Compass, as well as 3 episodes of Dr. Who. While watching this eclectic mix I have been knitting on my scarf to be donated to the Red Scarf Project for the Orphan Foundation. The deadline is December 15th, so I figured it was time to start my scarf. These red scarves are sent in care packages by The Orphan Foundation of America to college bound students who have aged out of the foster system. I think it is a wonderful cause-to be supporting young people who have no family to support them. Donations are also gladly accepted, as well as gift cards for national chain stores, and notes of encouragement for these courageous young people. If you donate and let Norma, of the blog Now Norma Knits, know about your donation, for every $5.00 donated, your name will be entered in drawings for some fabulous prizes.

I am also working on some Christmas knitting. I got a bit nervous when I looked at the calendar and realized how quickly December 25th is approaching. How can it be that Thanksgiving is this Thursday? We are still trying to figure out our Thanksgiving plans. Caitlin is working from 7-7 and thinks she won't be too interested in turkey after having spent the day looking at it at work. Conor is having oral surgery on Tuesday, so I'm thinking he might not be in too much of an eating mood, so we may wait until the weekend to have dinner together. No sense in rushing into making plans-Thanksgiving is four days away after all.

On the Australian front, Tim is getting ready to leave Sydney and begin his bike ride. He's planning to stop at a surf school on the way. He is a little worried that he might have waited a bit to long to start his ride, as the temperature is supposed to be around 100 in the next few days. Tim's computer was broken, and so, once again, I didn't hear from him for several days. I didn't assume he was dead though, as I did the last time I hadn't heard from him in several days. I am very proud of me for that.

I'd better get back to my scarf knitting. I'll say Happy Thanksgiving, just in case I don't make it back here before Thursday!

Hello, Remember Me?

2009-11-15T14:00:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the prolonged absence. Since my Mom's death and Tim's departure for Australia, I seem to have been in a prolonged funk, and writing blog posts has seemed impossible. It's hard to write a post when all one feels like talking about is how much they feel their life stinks at this particular point in time, so I figured I would save you from hearing my maudlin thoughts and not post.

I have been feeling better recently. I think I am adjusting to Tim's being a million miles away, and am very grateful for the Internet as a way of keeping in touch. I did have a few anxious days when I didn't hear from him. Turns out he went on a trip to the Blue Mountains in an old VW bus with four Germans who are in Australia on the same type of visa that Tim is. Silly boy thought that if he was only gone for four days that I wouldn't want to know. This anxious part of my make up is something that I have really worked on quelling over the years, but with Tim's departure to a place so far away, the anxiety monster seems to have reared it's ugly head. I think I am getting it back under control, something I am sure that Tim is happy about.

My knitting mojo seems also to have disappeared at this time. I'm working on a couple of things for Christmas gifts, and have a sweater from Clara Parkes' The Knitters Book of Wool that I want to start, but I can't seem to get started. I have been crocheting some granny squares from some of my hand spun that is autumn colors and I am having fun with that, so maybe I need to go the way of crocheting for a while. I did take some time to design a hat using some of the patterns from Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting. I was quite impressed with myself for the design, although it was quite simple. Once it is finished, I will post some photos.

Over at Spindies, the Hyenacart group I share with some other very talented fiber artists, we are offering a giveaway that ends at midnight tonight. These are some of the fibers that are part of this month's box. If you don't win the giveaway, there are more boxes for sale in the Spindies store. It is 5 ounces of fiber from different Spindies dyers for $25.00. It's a great way to try out different fibers and I think it would be perfect not only for spinners, but felters as well.

To enter the giveaway, please visit each individual Artist’s Spindies Store and tell us in this thread what your favorite item is in each one and why. If you help us spread the news, just write in the same post where you’ve been talking, twitting, blogging etc. Guild meetings and spinning clubs count and you can continue to revise and add these to your post until the contest ends at midnight CST Sunday 11/15/09.

I lifted that right from the Spindies Blog. The wonders of modern technology.

I'll leave you with a fall photo, since no blog post is complete without at least one photo. And I do promise to be a more regular blogger. Not only is it a fall photo, but a rainy fall photo as well, which pretty much sums up this fall.

Sorry, I'm a Bad Blogger

2009-10-26T17:19:00.004-04:00

Hello. I am writing this in my living room, looking at two rooms full of stuff that has engulfed my house, thanks to the arrival of a U-Haul truck bearing Tim and all his worldly possessions. It is a good thing that I have a very large house, as this is the second household I have acquired since moving here six years ago. When my parents moved in with me I also received all their stuff. Much of it is still in boxes in my basement, waiting for my siblings to gather here and go through the boxes. I'm seriously considering selling the things on e-bay, since it's been five years and we haven't managed to sort through things yet. But that's another story.

Not only did Tim arrive, but Travis and Alyssa, along with their dog Begonia, and Caitlin with her cat Sterling. Again, it's a good thing this is a really big house so we can keep Begonia and the cats apart. We've already had one casualty, some antique plates, and Seamus was hanging from a curtain rod earlier, but fortunately it's a sturdy rod and it did not break. Gerard has taken up residence on top of the refrigerator. He is grey and the refrigerator is black, so he blends in and looks amazingly like a cat statue sitting among the rooster statues that are up there. Sterling just pulled Tim's mattress over on top of herself. Fortunately it didn't break anything on it's way to the floor, and she escaped unscathed.

It is sort of like Christmas here, with Tim handing out tea kettles and blenders. Conor is getting a double bed, to replace the twin bed he has been complaining is too small for quite some time. I think by the time Tim is back, Conor will be in college, so Tim can reclaim his bed. And Tim brought the most comfortable chair I have sat in for a long time, which is going in my wool room, I believe. It's from Ikea, and doesn't really fit the decor, but comfort trumps decorating any time in my opinion.

In between getting ready for the arrival of everyone I have been dyeing yarn and fiber. I have a couple of custom orders, and I am also dyeing fiber for the October Spindies Paintbox-the color this month is deep plum/ burgundy. I had a good time creating a deep plum color and have dyed some Superwash Bluefaced Leicester in tonal variations of the color. I may make some batts from them, or perhaps leave it in roving form. I am still on the fence about that.

Travis is making roast pork with apples for dinner, along with roasted potatoes and squash. Yummmm! A great fall dinner.

On the Road Again

2009-10-16T07:37:00.002-04:00

I'm going to Rhinebeck. I'm on my way upstairs to pack and will be leaving to meet Judy in a half hour or so. I'm very excited!!! I can't wait to start inhaling the yarn fumes. I am packing lots of extra woolens, because the forecast is for quite cold, but it will be invigorating, I'm sure.

I am bringing my computer, so perhaps there will be a post from there, but I'm not promising anything, especially since I don't know if there is Internet access at the motel. I'm thinking probably not.

TTFN.

It's Almost Time for Rhinebeck!!!

2009-10-12T19:51:00.005-04:00

It's almost time to go to Rhinebeck and the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival. I am really excited to be going, although it looks like it may be a bit rainy, or even snowy on Friday. That's OK though. I have learned that when packing, layers are a good thing to remember. I am going to work really hard at not letting the wool fumes overtake me, and I am actually going to write myself a list of what I am looking for, rather than wandering aimlessly with no plan as to what I need to buy. That's my plan, we will see how it goes.

I thought I would share a few pictures from last year.

Beautiful fall foliage.

Sheep that look like cows.

Judy, my friend, checking out her loot on a little rest break.

This is what I plan to eat for lunch both days, chicken pot pie and a baked potato. Maybe a few too many carbs, but it's only once a year.

We definitely have to have a meal at the Eveready Diner. Last year our motel was right across the street, which was quite convenient.

I decided today that I needed a new scarf to wear at Rhinebeck, as well as a pair of fingerless mittens. I chose some merino/mohair worsted weight yarn that I had dyed in the colorway "Lichen".

I am knitting a Knitspot pattern, la Novia and am enjoying the knit, it's going quickly and I think that I may actually finish in time.

Time for Dancing With the Stars. I hope to see some of you on the fair grounds.

2009-10-09T20:57:00.002-04:00

How can a week have passed since I last wrote? Time sure flies whether or not you are having fun.

Last weekend Conor and I went to visit Travis and Caitlin in Saranac Lake, hoping to take lots of fall foliage photos. Unfortunately, it rained and no foliage photos were taken. It is really beautiful this year. Brilliant reds, fluorescent oranges, pale yellows, all offset by the different shades of green still present in the forest. We had a lovely visit, went out to eat with friends and arrived safely home, not having hit any deer or moose driving through the mountains.

I'm working on my Phat Fiber samples for October. The theme is Masquerade Ball and I am sending in Merino Superwash yarn samples and two hand carded batts, one black with angelina, and one pinky, purple with lots of sparkles, bfl, alpaca, romney and jacob sheep. The black fiber is all from local farms, which I think is a fun thing.

Next weekend is Rhinebeck. I can't wait! There is a bus going from here, with many of my friends taking the bus, but I am driving with Judy. This is our third year of going together and we have a good routine in place for enjoying the festivities and avoiding a lot of the crowds. I am going to try to be good this year and not spend too much, but I'm not guaranteeing anything. I am also looking forward to a visit to the Eveready Diner-great, relatively inexpensive food. I think it would be fun to check out the Culinary Institute as well.

I'd better get back to my Phat Fiber samples. I need to mail them tomorrow morning. Just wanted to say hello, and let y'all know that I really am trying to get back into a routine of regular blog posting. Obviously, I'm not doing so well right now, but I am going to keep working at it.

Changes

2009-10-02T17:00:00.004-04:00

Autumn has arrived on my doorstep. Conor wimped out and turned the heat on yesterday. He doesn't seem to understand the concept of putting a sweatshirt on when he is cold. It was 58 degrees inside, but I wouldn't have turned the heat on. That's why we have a pile of afghans and fleece blankets on the couch.

In other news, I was at knitting on Wednesday and my cell phone rang. It was my oldest son, sounding excited, wondering if I had a moment to talk. I said sure I had time, and he told me that instead of just going to Australia for a vacation in November, he plans to quit his job, give up his apartment in New York City, and stay in Australia for at least 6 months. I have known that he wasn't very happy with his job, and that he was tired of living in New York, but the thought that he might move halfway around the world, if only for a short time, had never crossed my mind.

Tim is a planner and does not do things that are illogical, so I knew that he had given the move serious thought, and I think it is an awesome opportunity for him. When I had more time to talk to him later, his plan made a lot of sense to me, and I think he is going to have a great adventure and I am proud of him for being so brave and adventurous. I did make him promise not to fall in love with an Australian, and that he wouldn't stay longer than 6 months. I know these are not binding promises, but I felt better having said them.

Now I would like to say that being a parent stinks. My full time job for the last 27 years has been being a mother and raising my children. I tried to teach them to be independent and think for themselves, and tried really hard not to put my many fears on them (my mother was a great worrier, and she taught me how to worry about everything) and wanting them to have the opportunity to explore the world that I had never allowed myself to explore. Look what a great job I have done! And I want him to go and have a wonderful time, to do this while he has the opportunity, but at the same time I want to tell him not to go, not to be so far from me. I would never, ever do that, and if you're reading this Tim, know that I am serious when I say that I want you to explore and have all the adventures that you can. So I guess what I am trying to say is that doing a good job as a parent is to make yourself obsolete and out of a job, and that stinks. In what other profession would you work toward a goal of not being needed anymore?

I do get a consolation prize though. Tim is going to bring his belongings here, and I get to use his HDTV while he is gone. He is also hoping to spend a week or so before he leaves, which, for me, is a much better consolation prize. And there are a lot of sheep in Australia, which means there must be a lot of wool in Australia, so maybe this whole adventure can work for me too. Maybe he can get a job on a sheep ranch or something. I'll have to suggest that to him.

When I have not been processing this whole Australian undertaking, I have been locked in my wool room putting things in my Etsy shop and the Spindies shop. I still have lots more to add, and much to label, but I'm slowly working through it all.

"Twilight Pumpkin Patch" in Merino Worsted Weight Yarn.

"Gothic", named after one of the Adirondack High Peaks in Merino/Tencel roving.

"Golden Days of Autumn" in Mulberry Silk.

Tomorrow I am going to be a participant in a Meet the Artist day at a local gift shop, Seasons. I will be spinning and will bring a bit of yarn and fiber to sell. I am hoping it will be a warmer day than it was today, as I believe that I am going to be outside on the porch. Let's also hope that it is not raining. I'd better go and get more yarn labeled.

Wednesday's Are For Spinning

2009-09-30T09:20:00.005-04:00

Today is the day my spinning group meets. I am looking forward to seeing everyone after not being able to attend meetings for a few weeks. Trina is having it at her house, which is nice because she lives in Massena too. Our little group is spread around the area, and most weeks involve a little bit of time spent in the car.

I was very busy yesterday taking photos and listing items on Etsy. I just realized that I am close to 100 orders and think I must do something extra special for the 100th sale in my shop. My drum carder has been put away for a while. Maybe it needs to come out and make a special batt for the 100th customer, if the person spins, of course. Otherwise, I'll have to come up with an extra special skein of yarn.

Here are two of my new colorways that are yet to be added to the shop.

Before I put my drum carder away I made some really pretty batts for the Spindies' Artist's Paintbox for October. The color for this month is warm orange/rust. Of course, I forgot to take pictures before I sent the samples off. Duh! I'll chalk it up to grief brain. If you've not experienced it, I can assure you that it can be quite annoying. And time consuming because I tend to spend a lot of time retracing steps and trying to figure out what I am supposed to be doing.

It is quite chilly here and there is a forecast of snow for this evening. I know it is the last day of September, but I am not ready for this yet. Fortunately, my wool room, which is exploding right now with all the fiber and yarn I am labeling and getting onto Etsy, is warmer than the rest of this very large house.

Jodi, who is now living in Florida, asked for a photo of some fall leaves. This is Crazy Neighbor's tree. The leaves this fall are really stunning, although just beginning to change here in the St. Lawrence Valley. The Adirondacks are another story. I haven't seen such bright reds since we moved back, and some of the oranges are almost fluorescent. It's beautiful, but I haven't had the opportunity to take photos yet.

I couldn't find Seamus yesterday, and then discovered his secret, warm sleeping place. This is the reason I put the fiber I am selling in totes. Can you find Seamus?

And here is Gerard, doing one of his favorite things, sitting in a box. He barely fit in this one, but spent quite some time in there. If a box comes in our house, he has to check it out. Right now he is on top of my arms as I am typing, purring away. It makes blog writing a little difficult, but he is very warm. And for me there is something extremely comforting about a warm, purring cat keeping me company while I do things.

Time to get ready for spinning, and then back to more photo taking and Etsy listing.

A Return To What Passes As Normal

2009-09-28T10:01:00.006-04:00

I'm settling back into my life after the passing of my Mom on September 20th. It was a very peaceful death, and my brothers, sister and I were with her. I am just beginning to process it all, and am not looking forward to this grief journey again, but know it is necessary. I keep thinking I need to go to the nursing home, after 4 1/2 years of going to visit Mom there, I guess that makes sense.

I was unable to participate in the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival this past weekend, as I had planned to do. There is no way I could have done it I was so wiped out and exhausted from the previous two weeks, even though I would have been sharing the booth with my friend Judy from Liberty Fibers. I did a lot of dyeing in between nursing home visits even though I wasn't sure I could go to the show, so I have lots to add to my Etsy shop. Here's a small sampling of what I will be adding.

Fields of Lavender

Ghost and Goblins

Wallflowers

Mists of Autumn

This weekend was National Alpaca Weekend, and I have a friend who was having lots of fun festivities at her farm, Angel Knoll Alpacas, so I took some of my fiber, yarn and my spinning wheel and went to the farm. What a perfect sunny fall day it was, and just what I needed-20 minutes from home, a 5 hour day, and friends to spin and chat with. I also sold a bit of yarn and several thrum mitten kits, which was an added bonus to the lovely day.

Angel Knoll Alpacas

Buddy, the dog guarding Farrah, the angora rabbit

A friendly alpaca out for a stroll

Two beautiful horses and their owner John taking visitors for a ride on the farm. They were all very tired at the end of the day.

My yarn and fiber

Now that things are returning to what passes for normal in my life (actually I have no idea what normal is, but for the first time in 6 years I am only responsible for myself, and not for my parents) I hope to be more consistent in posting. I must go now and get together some Spinidie offerings to mail.

Update

2009-09-18T22:03:00.004-04:00

Things here are still pretty awful. I have spent many hours at the nursing home this past week, being with my Mom. It has been a very painful, heart breaking process to experience. The good thing is that we are able to keep her comfortable and without pain. Yesterday she was quite perky, and was much more alert than she has been. A Great Dane came to visit her, which put a big grin on her face, a wonderful thing to see. Mom also has Pumpkin, a nursing home cat, who spends many hours sleeping next to her on her bed. I know that brings her a great deal of comfort.

Today, though, she has taken a turn for the worse, and is having great trouble breathing, and she has had a fever at times, and at other times seems really cold. It was very difficult leaving her tonight, but I had to go and pick up Tim, who has been able to come home and work from here. Poor Tim had a 9 hour bus ride to get here, but I am very happy he was able to come.

In between nursing home visits I have been running home to try and get a little dyeing done for the Southern Adirondack Fiber Fest that is next weekend. This is some of the yarn I had dyed earlier, on a chair on the porch at camp. I spent a peaceful afternoon on the porch re-skeining the yarn while chatting with friends who came to visit for the afternoon.

I had better get to bed. I'm thinking that tomorrow is going to be another stressful, busy day.

What A Difference A Week Makes

2009-09-13T09:15:00.006-04:00

Warning: Not a bit of knitting, spinning or dyeing content, and sad besides.

Last Sunday I was enjoying a beautiful day at Cranberry Lake surrounded by family and friends. This Sunday I am writing this as I prepare to go to the nursing home where my mother is a resident to continue our vigil at her bedside as she lies dying. My mom, whose name is Carol Lee, has been a resident there since she fell and broke her hip 4 1/2 years ago. (Keep exercising, and build strong bones.) Last Tuesday I received a call from her nurse saying Mom had pretty much stopped eating and drinking and did we want to put her in the hospital. No, was my answer. Mom will be 90 on September 24 and if it is time for her life to end, then we do not want to prolong it with artificial measures. Hospice was called and is helping us help Mom through her final days on earth. Her leaving us is tremendously sad, but what is sadder is watching her lie in a bed, essentially reduced to being an infant again, although she can speak enough to say I love you when we tell her we love her.

Here Mom is 3 years ago on her birthday. I just searched through my digital photos and this is the only one I have of her, since when she was living with me I did not have a digital camera, and I lost a ton of digital pictures when my lovely son erased them. But that's an other story. Anyway, this is Mom on her 86th birthday.

Mom has a deep religious faith which has helped her through a not always easy life. Last night our friend Noel, a Presbyterian minister, came and read the 23rd Psalm to her and prayed with us. Even though we sometimes wonder where she is because it is obvious she is moving between living and dying, I could see a sense of peace descend on her and her body totally relaxed as Noel was reading the Psalm. And she fell truly asleep for the first time all day. It was quite a powerful thing to witness, and makes me wish I had that much faith in an unseen power. But that is probably not a topic for this blog.

So that is the reason I have not been posting. By the time I get home I am exhausted and can only sit and vegetate, or try to sleep. If you believe in such things, please keep my Mom and our family in your prayers. And I will be back when I am able.

Off to the Mountains!!!

2009-09-04T16:36:00.003-04:00

I am waiting for Conor to finish packing and then we will be on our way to Camp Fi-Be-Gar. Or I thought we would be on our way. He just informed me that he needs to do laundry because I put his wet clothes in a laundry basket and didn't tell him and now they are smelly and he has no clothes. Argh!!Tim and his friends were already on the Garden State Parkway above the city at 2:15, so they'll be here earlier than I had thought they would. They may get there before we do.

Here's the boy who is on his way home. I can't wait to see him. We are going to have a good time.

It was a good day at the farmer's market. What a gorgeous day to sit outside and watch the world go by, and spin and talk with friends. I am plying some of the yarn I dyed in Harrisville with a natural colored BFL, and I am loving the way it is coming out. I need to get huge quantities of the BFL, because it is not only great to ply with, but fun to dye too. There is a real depth to the colors because of the color of the BFL.

Bye for now. I will be back on Monday. No Internet access in Cranberry Lake, which is a nice thing sometimes. Here's where I will be in the evening, with just a little fire, because there will a slight chill in the air, I'm sure.

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

The First Day of the Last School Year

2009-09-03T22:32:00.009-04:00

Today was the boy's first day of his Senior year of high school. I am already planning a graduation party, not for him, but for me. His oldest brother's first day of school was in September of 1988, so I've been doing this school thing for a while, and there will be a huge celebration when June 26, 2010 arrives. I'm thinking the party will have to last at least a weekend, if not a week, in order to properly celebrate this momentous event. My ecstasy will not come because my last child will be leaving the nest, but because I will never have to deal with a school again.

But before you can see the boy, you must see his new shoes. Usually I share photos of my feet, but these shoes are too beautiful not to share. Purple and brown and very large. I think I may be inspired for a new colorway of yarn to match his shiny shoes.

Here he is, all handsome and ready to begin his Senior year, in all his sartorial splendor. I was going to try to find a kindergarten picture to show you how darn cute he was then, and how he has changed, but that would have necessitated an extensive search through the archives of photos, and I might have been lost for days.

He was very kind in posing for me. I'm not sure why, but most of the pictures came out blurry. Maybe I need a new camera. Yeah, that's it. I need a new camera so I don't take blurry photos anymore.

Tomorrow is the farmer's market and then we will be headed for Cranberry Lake. Tim and 8 of his friends are coming from New York City, Pennsylvania, and Rochester, NY. It will be quite a gathering and I am really looking forward to it. And the most amazing thing is that the weather is supposed to be sunny and warm. Tim has not had much luck in the weather department when visiting Cranberry Lake in recent years, so it's nice that this will be a good weekend. One of his friends said that she is looking forward to drinking wine and knitting with me. That is a girl who has her priorities straight.

Here is where we will be knitting when we are not on the front porch, gazing at the tranquility that is the lake. Notice the magazine on the bottom of the coffee table. If there is a historical event you would like to read about in either Time or Life magazine which took place from the early 60's to the early 90's, come and visit me and take a look through history.

This is one of the things I will be knitting-my Susie Hoodie. I am going to continue and finish. Not like one, who will remain nameless, who chose this sweater to knit, got us all to join along, and now has abandoned the sweater.

This is the fiber I will be spinning. It is what I dyed at Harrisville. I plan to spin it all and then perhaps make some Twisted Sister socks.

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend. When I return from the lake I will be madly dyeing because my friend Judy and I will be selling our wares at the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake next weekend. I'm feeling a bit stressed, because I need to get a lot of dyeing done. I'm sure things will be fine. que sera, sera. Whatever will be, will be.

Bedtime now. Must rest so I can party with those young people this weekend.

Hello Again

2009-09-02T09:00:00.006-04:00

I'm still here, and missing all my blogging friends. Don't give up on me. I will be back soon with a real post, I promise. August has just been a crazy month, with lots of unexpected problems and situations, but I have been feeling very sad that I have not written here. Keep on checking back, please. See you soon.

Here's a sunset from the porch at camp. Pretty isn't it? Inspiration for a new colorway for fall.

Cranberry Lake or Bust!

2009-08-10T15:01:00.003-04:00

I'm on my way to camp for a few days. I'm bringing my computer, so perhaps I will get some posts done and then I can go sit in the library parking lot and send them to the blog. No Internet, no cell phones, one Canadian television channel. It's like returning to the dark ages. And I love it!

My spinning wheel is coming with me, so I am hoping to get some of the fiber spun that I dyed in Harrisville. I have invited our spinning group to come on Wednesday. I have a feeling that there will only be a couple of people coming, but it will be fun. I have to remember to pack some wine too.

Right now I have a very wicked headache, so I'm hoping the fresh mountain air will help make that go away. We're off now. Be back soon with my promised Harrisville report as well as tales of Camp Fi-Be-Gar.