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.

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.

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.