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

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!

July's Penultimate Post

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.

How Can It Be Memorial Day Already?

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.

If It's Wednesday There Must Have Been Spinning

Our spinning group met today.  

I am spinning some alpaca and merino roving I bought from Angel, a member of our spinning group, who owns Angel Knoll Alpacas.I bought about 8 ounces the last time we had spinning at her house, and have discovered in subsequent forays into my spinning fiber that I am consistent in the fiber I am attracted to because I have at least another 8 ounces of the same fiber in my stash.  Because I had such forethought in purchasing the same fiber on at least two occasions, I am thinking that I may have enough yarn to make a vest when I am done spinning it.

The brown in the yarn is the alpaca fiber and the golden/rust color is the wool.  It is very soft when spun, and I think a vest will be a good project because the alpaca is so warm that a sweater might be too warm.  Although on the days when the temperature was 30 below, I would have appreciated an alpaca sweater.  I know I appreciated the socks all our spinning group members received as Christmas gifts from Angel.

Vernice shared her completed moebius shawl with us.  She made it from yarn she had spun from superwash roving purchased from me.  It is beautiful, and has made me think I want to make a moebius shawl, something that has never interested me in the past.  This is why I think it's so important to get together with other knitters and spinners, there is such inspiration to be found amongst other fiber lovers.

I should have taken a picture of this when Vernice was modeling it, but didn't think fast enough.  It looks much more attractive on someone than  sitting on top of a pile of Elizabeth Zimmerman books.  We spent a lot of time discussing these books today.  We have a couple of new spinners and knitters and we were sharing with them the awesomeness that is EZ.  Vernice has the whole collection of Wool Gatherings, something one could spend hours poring over. There was also discussion of each group member making a baby surprise jacket.  It would be fascinating to see how different they all would be.

That discussion reminded me that I have a baby surprise jacket all knit, but not seamed.  I think I need to finish that.  It would remove a UFO from the pile and it would be fun to see the sweater completed.

Wednesdays are very fiber filled days for me.  I have spinning during the day, and our knitting group meets on Wednesday nights at the library, so that is where I went this evening.  It was very foggy  on the way to the library.  And being the good blogger that I am becoming, I made sure to take a picture so you all could see how foggy it was. 

I imagine the fog has something to do with the fact that it was 45 degrees today and that means a lot of snow melted so there is an overabundance of moisture in the air which resulted in the fog.  It also means there is a lot of very unattractive sand covered snow along the side of the roads.  But at least the piles of snow at the end of my driveway are melting, so I can almost see when I back out.

The knitting group members are progressing quite nicely with our monthly projects, although I thought Suzanne was a bit of a show off with her February socks already knitted and on sock blockers.  (That sentence was typed with a smile on my face and love in my heart.)  I am almost done with my February socks, actually I'm sure I could finish them if I stopped writing this post and went and knit instead, so off I go.

Happy spinning and knitting to all, and to all a good  night.

Spinning and Snow

Today was a very snowy day. I debated whether or not to go to spinning, but felt the need to get out of the house after three days of sickness. All the way to Barb's house I kept wondering if I should turn back because the roads were very slippery and snowy. I persevered though, and prayed that it wouldn't snow so much in the few hours we were there that I wouldn't be able to get out of the driveway. When I win the lottery (of course, I would have to buy a lottery ticket first) I am going to buy a car that works well in the snow. That cannot be said of the Mercury Grand Marquis which I drive. It is a lovely car, huge, comfortable, great sound system, and was free, but would be much more at home in sunny California than snowy northern New York.

Getting out of the car and carrying my things into the house, I managed to spill a 20 ounce cup of Dunkin' Donuts coffee all over my pants. I was ready to turn around and go home, but Barb convinced me to stay by offering to wash my jeans for me. That's the first time in a very long time anyone has washed clothes for me. Barb also made a fantastic peach cheese cake, the consumption of which made me glad I had decided to stay. So I sat wrapped in an afghan and did my spinning. I am spinning some Angel Knoll Alpacas' fiber. It's awesome, brown and rust, and very soft. I am planning to use it in the Fair Isle sweater I want to knit using mostly natural colored fibers. Here are some of the alpacas from Angel's.


When I arrived home I discovered two boxes on my front porch. One from Amazon and one containing fiber I had ordered. Upon opening the box of fiber, I immediately had to put some through the drum carder and blend it with some of my hand dyed fiber. This is so much fun, this drum carding. It is another awesome way to play with color and make colors of fiber which would be impossible to create any other way. I would show you a picture, but my camera was upstairs, and the fiber was downstairs, and once I came upstairs, I wasn't going back down. Perhaps tomorrow we can arrange a photo shoot for the batt.

The Amazon box contained a book I have been eyeing for a while called In Sheep's Clothing-A Handspinner's Guide to Wool. I want to increase my knowledge of different breeds of sheep and their wool's characteristics, and this book seemed like a good starting place. I also had ordered Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day. When Tim was home at Christmas he made us some delicious bread to have with our Christmas stew using a recipe from this book. He bought lots of bread flour and yeast because he thought I should be making bread as well. So I have the flour, the yeast and the recipes. I guess there's no excuse not to make bread now. If it really only takes five minutes a day, then I don't really have any excuses not to do it. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

And in conclusion, here is a picture of my feet and snow. My children mock me for the pictures I take of feet, both my own and others. I think some day I will have a gallery showing photographs of feet, and it will make me rich and famous. And my children will be sorry that they mocked me.

Phat Fiber Sampler Box

I was asked to participate in a new venture called a Phat Farm Sampler Box. It is a way to advertise products on-line and I have known that I was participating since October. I have to send in samples of my yarn, fiber and stitch markers and anyone interested can order a sample box from www.phatfiber.com. In my usual procrastinating manner I have waited until today to get my samples together and they need to be in another state by Saturday. I believe this is one of the reasons Priority Mail was invented. Trina came over to help me decide what fiber and yarns to put in my samples, and to start getting the samples together. Conor helped by resizing my labels. He had to use Microsoft Paint which made him very crabby because it was difficult to do what he needed to do using the program. But he persevered and was able to accomplish what I needed done.

I bought a new cable so that I could download pictures from my camera, and then guess what I found when I was looking for stitch markers for the Sampler Box? That's right, the cable for the camera. I had tucked it away in a very safe spot (the box I keep stitch markers in) and it was such a safe spot that I totally forgot where I had put it. I'm sure it seemed like a logical place at the time I put it away, but now I can't quite figure out the connection between stitch markers and camera cables.



I promised a picture of the thrummed mittens I finished knitting a couple of nights ago, so here it is. They are made from my hand dyed roving and yarn. I am not a big fan of pink, but I had a request that I knit some pink legwarmers, which led me to dye this yarn. I am pleased with the pink that I created. I hope Becca likes the mittens. I am now making a much more subdued pair of navy blue mittens for her brother.

Tomorrow our spinning group is meeting, but I just checked the weather, and there is a winter storm warning in effect until Thursday afternoon. If the forecast holds true, I don't think I will be driving to spinning, since it is being held at a house about a half hour from here. I guess I will have to spin here by myself. How sad.

I'd better stop procrastinating and finish the packages to send to Phat Fiber.

Happiness is Harrisville in August, 2009

Two years ago I took Lynne Vogel's Dyeing, Spinning, and Knitting class in Harrisville, NH and it was a truly wonderful experience, so I did it again last year. I decided to start 2009 in the right way so today I signed up to go again this year. It makes me very happy to have done that. Harrisville is the little town that time forgot, and is one of the most relaxing places I've ever been. I stay in the boarding house, and there is no TV and no internet access. It is quite wonderful to get away from those things for a few days. By staying at the boarding house (it was one of the original boarding houses for women mill hands many years ago) I was able to really get to know the people I was taking the class with.


Lynne is an awesome teacher. She has so much knowledge of color, spinning, knitting and crocheting, and teaches the way I need to learn, which is very student driven and not rigid. Both summers I have met some wonderful people and am looking forward to seeing some of them again this year.



It's snowing here today, and very cold, so it is nice to have the class to look forward to when looking out the window and seeing the snow falling. Not that I don't like the snow, but I know we have a lot more in the future and by March I will be quite sick of it. A few days ago we had 50 degree weather for about half a day and much of the snow melted. That was a good thing because it made some room for the snow that is to come.