Busy Dyeing Days

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!!!!!!

My little graduate, Conor. Oh, happy day!

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?

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

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.