Silk has arrived in the North Country!

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.

Friday at the Farmer's Market

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.

It Was a Busy Fibery Day

In case you were wondering, if you sent positive thoughts for no rain on Tuesday, it didn't work. It was another rainy day which kept us from going to the Farmer's Market. I am quite excited that the forecast for Friday is 81 degrees and sunny.

Wednesday's are for spinning and knitting. It is the day when my spinning group meets, and also the day when we have our knitting group at the library. It's a very fibery day. Today I felt the need to spin some fiber that I didn't have to think about. I tend to like to spin fiber that has a lot of different color blocks, and I like to manipulate the colors to make a yarn that looks tweedy by stripping the roving and tearing it into pieces and piling those pieces together. I think it makes interesting yarn. This is yarn with one ply made from a navy blue BFL roving I dyed and the other ply is some of Lynn Vogel's BFL fiber I purchased from her at Harrisville Designs. I am planning to make some fingerless gloves from this yarn.

This yarn I spun from fiber samples from the Phat Fiber Sample box which I have collected since January.

However, today I didn't feel like thinking that much, so I chose to spin some fiber I bought at Rhinebeck last year. It is three colored, but the roving was dyed and then lightly carded together, and I chose to just spin it , which was just what I needed today.

Next week spinning will be at my house, which means I need to do quite a bit of cleaning this week, including cleaning off the kitchen table, something I probably haven't done since last time I had spinning. It is where I do my drum carding. It's fortunate that I don't have to put everything away every time I card, since we don't use the table much for eating. Having an 18 year old who is seldom home for meals makes that possible. I don't understand why he would rather spend time with his friends than his fun mother, but it seems to be the case.

I am very excited about a new yarn base I am getting. It is merino, silk and cashmere, and I am anticipating just how soft it is going to be. It will make some extremely soft socks, but also would be fabulous for shawls and scarves also. I am thinking it should be arriving soon, and since I'm planning a dyeing day for Saturday, I hope it will be here by then.

The pool water is no longer green, which is a good thing, and the water is clear enough to see the bottom of the pool at the deep end. Conor dove in today for the first time after his run, but quickly got out. He said it was the coldest water he has ever been in, including mountain lakes and the Atlantic Ocean early in the summer. He is campaigning for a new solar cover. I have suggested that when he gets a job, he can put some of his money toward the solar cover he would like.

Work tomorrow, so I'd best go to bed.

I Think It's Summer!!!

Today (Sunday) was the first day that it's been warm enough to open more than one or two windows, so I think summer is here. The garden is also looking all filled in, and the pool is starting to look not gross and we can almost see the bottom in the deep end. Life is good!

My black eyed susans are the most immense they have ever been. This particular flower is about three times the size they usually are, and they must be at least three feet tall. I am assuming this is because of the amount of rain we have had this spring and summer.

I have spent the day making little braids of fiber for my samples for the July Phat Fiber box. The theme for this month is Non-Wool, so I dyed milk fiber, bamboo fiber and some mulberry silk. There are six different colorways, so it was a fun group of samples to put together. I didn't do any yarn because I don't have any yarn bases that are no wool. Here are the six colors, all braided.

Here is Gerard helping me. I went upstairs to print some labels and when I came down I found him holding onto this bag of fiber. He chose the mulberry silk to hold onto. He has very good taste in fiber.

And here are the braids in their little star spangled bags, all ready to be shipped to Phat Fiber Headquarters.

I am participating in the Tour de Fleece this year, and I think I must be crazy for even trying to do this. I am supposed to spin every day that the Tour de France is taking place. I still haven't spun tonight, but will spin for at least ten minutes before I go to bed. Yesterday I two-plied 492 yards of yarn that I had spun while Andrea and I were at the Farmer's Market. This is my "Fire on the Mountain" colorway. I'm pretty pleased with it. I'm hoping that spinning every day will get me back to being able to spin a little more evenly.

Send positive thoughts that Tuesday will be a non-rainy day so we will be able to go to the Farmer's Market. It is a pitiful thing that we have only gone two days since the beginning of June.

I'd better get spinning so that I can get to bed. Tomorrow promises to be a busy day.

Phat Fiber Samples On Their Way

I finished my Phat Fiber samples and they are on their way to Phat Fiber headquarters. There were two types of batts, one wool and one alpaca, and a sample of a new sock yarn base. It is merino wool, alpaca and nylon and is very, very soft.

Here are all three samples.

This is the sock yarn. I apologize for the fuzziness of the picture. Maybe some of the softness and fuzziness of the fiber translated to the photo.

The brown batt on the left is alpaca, superwash merino, and angelina and the batt on the right is several different types of wool and angelina.

It was fun creating the batts. I think making batts is one of my favorite things to do. I find that it is a great stress reliever, almost as good as spinning. And a much better upper body workout.

Tomorrow was supposed to be our first day at the farmer's market, but because it is supposed to be a very rainy day we have decided to wait until Friday to start. Rain and fiber don't go well together. I am excited about doing the farmer's market, not only because I hope to sell a lot of fiber, but because I am looking forward to access to wonderful produce this summer. Canton is about 30 miles away, and I would not go there on a regular basis just to go to the market, but will enjoy taking advantage of the bounty of St. Lawrence County farms once I am there. It is a perfect location too-set in a park surrounded by an ice cream stand, a cafe with wonderful food and coffee and a yarn store in case we should ever have an yarn or needle emergency. Can't wait to start.

I'll leave you with a picture of Gerard sleeping next to May's Phat Fiber box, and on top of the tissue paper that was in the box. He is always interested in the box when it comes. That cat knows quality yarn and fiber when he sees it.

Miscellaneous May Musings

How can it be Thursday already?  I know this is a recurring theme for me, but the weeks just fly past.  We had a fun knitting group at the Massena library last night.  We had more people than we've had before and it was fun.  Comfortable chairs make it even more of pleasure to knit.  

We are planning a KAL of the Susie Hoodie from More Big Girl Knits.  We're doing it using Peace Fleece worsted weight yarn.  I love Peace Fleece yarn.  It's soft and fuzzy because it has 30% mohair in it, and the way they combine colors is phenomenal. The Ancient Fern colorway contains green and brown, and really reminds me of a glade of ferns.  I am knitting my sweater using the Glastnot Gold colorway, which is more rust colored than the color appears on the web site.  I can't wait to get started.  I think our goal should be to have them done to wear at Rhinebeck this year.  it seems to me that we should be able to accomplish that goal.  

I am writing this as dark is approaching, with my window open and a gentle breeze coming in.  This is a lovely thing, since it is almost the end of May and it's the first evening I have been able to have the window open.  I imagine I will still wear flannel pj's to bed, but it will be a most wonderful feeling to have some fresh air wafting in the window.  The cats are enjoying the open windows also.   

Here's Gerard, doing one of  his favorite things, sitting in a box.  This is a particularly nice box he has chosen to perch in-It's an antique nutmeg box I found in the basement.  I brought it upstairs, and although Gerard barely fits inside,  he has spent quite some time in there.

 

Speaking of boxes, my Phat Fiber Sampler box came today.  I think this was my favorite box so far.  It contained many beautiful fiber samples, a knitting needle roll, and some pretty colorways of hand dyed yarn, along with various stitch markers and some dog biscuits, which I am sure my neighbor's dog will appreciate.  I am looking forward to spinning some of the sample.  Next month's theme is Oceanic, and I am having fun thinking of colorways to dye.  I had better get started, especially given the way the weeks speed by.  I am thinking of only contributing fiber this month.  The fiber seems to get much more of a response than the yarn does.  It doesn't mean I will stop dyeing yarn, but will not send yarn samples next month.

Here's one of my latest rovings, which sold as soon as I listed it.  It was a serendipitous pairing of dyes, that came out looking totally different from what I had envisioned, but I absolutely love this color combination.  And I was using up dyes at the end of the day, so the trick will be to see if I can come close to repeating it.  

Here are two more new colorways.  The blue one is called "Blue Mountain River."I am in a fiber swap on Ravelry, and this colorway was created with my swap partner in mind.  She is in Singapore, so some of this roving is on it's way there right now.  I felt so grown up sending my roving overseas-had to fill out special forms and everything.  Very exciting!

This roving was another end of the day dye experiments that I really like. It is called "Red, Red Wine".  I would not have put red with the burgundy and brown that are in this roving, but my dye bottle was mislabeled.  I thought I was using pink, but it was red instead, and I love the combination.  I should spend more time pretending it's the end of the day, and let go a little more with my color combinations.

Time to put those flannel pj's on and snuggle under the covers with a cat and a good book.  A great way to end a birthday.  I was especially pleased with the birthday wishes from the internets-both Etsy and Facebook wished me a Happy Birthday, and my avatar on Ravelry has a birthday cake on it.  Isn't technology wonderful?  

I'm Back!

Sorry for the week long absence. It's hard to believe that it's been as long as it has since I last posted. How time flies when you are not really having much fun at all. There has been quite a bit of drama going on in my family which required my attention and energy. My laptop is also broken, which means I have to venture up to the third floor to use the computer. This is Conor's domain and is such a mess that I find it hard to focus on writing a post when I am distracted by the squalor that he and his friends have created. I realize that I could make him clean it, but I choose to save my fights with him for more important battles that one can have with an almost 18 year old. I do have to remember though, that now he has his license I do hold the car keys, and he is quite interested in borrowing the car on a regular basis. Perhaps the third floor will be cleaned this weekend.

The Phat Fiber Sampler Box sale was once again a giant success. I think the boxes sold out at each selling in under one minute. Truly amazing. Here are the samples I sent in this month. The theme was Green, either the color, or eco-friendly. I chose to send in fawn colored, undyed corriedale fiber, hand painted mostly merino wool dyed in the colorway Trillium and worsted weight wool yarn dyed in the colorway Leaves of Grass. Larger sizes of the samples are for sale in my etsy shop.

I am enjoying the challenge of producing samples to go along with the theme of the month. For May the theme is Showers and Flowers. I already know what yarn sample I am going to produce, which goes along with the showers part of the theme, but I am still working on the flowers part, which will be dyed fiber of some sort. I need to start feeling better so I can venture down into my dye studio. Dye studio is fancy talk for a portion of my basement where I do my dyeing. I would love some day to have a place where I can dye that is not in my basement and has great light and lots of space. Heat would be a nice thing too. Dyeing in the basement when it's 20 below outside is not a fun activity.

I took these pictures last week. This is my cement garden dragon and my cement Buddha. I love them both. I found them at a church bazaar when we lived in New Jersey, and they moved to Massena with us. It makes me happy and makes me think spring is coming when I can get them out and place them in the garden.


Look at those day lilies behind the Buddha. I think they have grown another 4 inches since I took these photos. Don't look at the pool liner on the edge of the picture. It is not very attractive, and we have a lot of cleaning up to do in the yard. The problem has been that it has rained, or snowed, so much that the leaves don't have time to dry up enough to get out there and clean them up. We are supposed to have a sunny Saturday, so backyard cleanup will be on the agenda, especially if the boy wants to use the car. I hold such power now. It is a wonderful thing.


We also have a lot of day lily dividing to do. I love day lilies. They don't require any work (well, they do have to be planted, and divided occasionally, but other than that they don't require any work), they spread prolifically and there are so many different varieties, blooming throughout the summer into fall. My sister Jane lives near a nursery called Olallie Daylily Gardens. It is located in the foothills of the Green Mountains in Vermont and is an organic day lily wonderland. I want to try to visit the farm this year as I spend hours looking at their beautiful catalog when it arrives, and it would be fantastic to see fields of them blooming. Jane goes every year and had some absolutely gorgeous flower gardens before she and her family moved. They now rent a house, so I don't think much effort is going into perennial gardens.

I promise to be better about posting. I do miss it when I don't blog, and hopefully life has calmed down a bit for now. I say for now, because I know it won't last, but I will enjoy it while calmness is here.

Results of Dyeing Days

The promised photos of the results of my dyeing days are here.  This is the fiber drying in the basement.  Would you like to guess the age of my house from looking at the beautiful stone walls?

Despite the predicted rain, we ended up with a sunny day, so the fiber was able to go outside to dry.  I took pictures from both sides of the drying racks.  I wish that I had taken the time to crop the pictures, because I am realizing how awful my backyard looks. Since there is still ice and snow in the yard I shouldn't feel too guilty about it's sad state.  Conor and a friend tried to rake yesterday, but discovered the leaves were still frozen.

I am really excited about a couple of the colors that I created this time.  The green that is on the right in the photo  below is one of my favorites.  I love the colors found in nature and this green is very reminiscent of lichen that was photographed on my walk to Moose Pond this winter. 

 

When dyeing, I try to keep very precise records of what I am doing because when a lot of dyeing is taking place it is sometimes difficult to remember exactly what I did.  This time I created an awesome roving and I did not write down what I did.  I tend to do a bit of dumping at the end of the day, and this must have been one of those rovings.  What I like best about it is the colors that emerged when side by side colors blended together.  I only have 8 ounces of it, and Trina has purchased one and I have to keep the other one to see if I can recreate the colorway.  We are calling it the awesome sexy roving.

I did an etsy shop update today.  Three new listings of my fiber and yarn from the Phat Fiber box this month.  I can't wait to get my box.  There are already several postings on Ravelry and people's blogs showing the contents of boxes received today with descriptions of the contents. It's a lot of fun to see what the individual boxes contain, and it is especially thrilling when I see one of the samples I sent in a picture, even more thrilling when someone takes the time to write a nice review of my sample.

Photographing the batt and yarns was interesting today.  I took the photos on the front porch because I missed the light in the foyer this morning.  I wonder how crazy my neighbors think I am if they notice me carrying a linen covered table outside and then proceed to photograph yarn and fiber.  And not only am I taking photos, but trying to keep the fiber from blowing off the porch. The theme for the box this month was celtic so I dyed green and gold and made batts that reminded me of Irish fields with the sun shining on them.  This is the batt sitting nicely on the table.

This is the same batt lying on the porch floor where the wind blew it while my attention was focused on photgraphing the yarn.  Naughty fiber.

This is the colorway Kilkelly on a base yarn of 100% Merino fingering weight superwash sock yarn.

This is the same colorway on a base of 75% Merino, 25% Nylon fingering weight superwash sock yarn.

 The day ended nicely with knitting at Suzanne's instead of the library this week. We'll have to go there more often since she serves homemade raspberry wine.  Yummy! 

Time for bed.  Work tomorrow, so I will need to rise and shine at an earlier hour than usual.

Another Dyeing Day

My house smells like vinegar and wool, so it must have been a day for dyeing.  I had a lot of fun and had  Andrea came to see me dyeing.  It was nice to have company.  No pictures yet because things are still drying and waiting to be rinsed.  I think I may dye one more day.  I need to figure out what I am going to do for the April Phat Fiber box.  The theme is green, either color or ecologically. I am debating as to which I should do, or maybe a combination since we are now doing 50 samples each month. 

I'm thinking this is good advice for me and Moonlight and Laughter.  Sometimes making a success of this business seems overwhelming, and I need to remember not to be afraid, but to get up every day and keep moving forward.  And to keep on dreaming-I much prefer dreaming to reality anyway.

"Don't be afraid of the space between 

your dreams and reality. If you can 

dream it, you can make it so." 

- Belva Davis