A Long Winter

The days are finally showing signs of getting longer.  But the bitter cold continues.  At least the arctic blasts are keeping the snow south of us for now, but that will probably change this week.  At least a few paperwhites bring put a little Spring in my fiber spot.

I have been busy with knitting projects.  I’m mostly working on my kimono for the upcoming show in April.  I am almost finished with the back, but lots of knitting left to do.  I have also managed to scour about half of the fleece I got from Rhinebeck this past year.

And carded some up into lovely fluffy batts.

I think I have enough carded for now to take to Spa so I have something yummy to spin.

I am also almost finished with my socks for the sock swap.  Loved the yarn and the pattern – more to come on those later.

Since both projects are still in the ’secret’ category, no photos yet.

This past weekend was open studios and although I was on ‘duty’ alone, I was lucky to have some friends come by and spend the day hanging out with me.  I loved that an old high school friend that I recently reconnected with through facebook and who happens to live near by, came down and spent the day.  Thankfully neither of us has a great memory – LOL!

Sunday I made it over to the Ewe’ll Love It Superbowl Sale.  Only picked up some lovely sock yarns for a couple of pair of socks.  I seem to be wearing them out faster than I can knit them for myself.   After the sale I headed over to The Peddler’s Daughter for the knitting group, a pint of Magners and the usual corned beef sandwich – yum!  Nothing is better than a cold pint of Magners Cider.

Only 17 more days until we head up to Freeport for Spa weekend!  I am really looking forward to it this year again.

Wishing Spring would get here faster.

Another trip around the sun…

Is it me or are these trips around the sun faster than they used to be?

Now that the afterglow aftermath of the holidays is finally cleared away and all the crap that seems to pile up is getting sorted and put away, it’s time to do my annual stash cleaning and to really buckle down to finish the kimono.

New Years Eve was spent with a pizza, Myrna Loy and William Powell watching the Thin Man movies – I think I made through one and a half before falling asleep.   New Years Day I worked the phone queue for a few hours, then headed over to my sister’s to exchange gifts and indulge in Ebelskivers.  My niece loves to cook and bake and got a special Ebelskiver pan for Christmas.  These are very yummy stuffed Danish pancakes.  She stuffed some with scrambled eggs and bacon, jam, peanut butter chips and even mint chocolate chips.  They all were really good.

My brother-in-law was playing with his new camera and managed to get this shot from an old family slide!

This is Cindy (my little sister) and me showing off Dad’s catch of the day.  I think this was taken outside our house on Franklin Ave, in Hillcrest, NY.  I think I was maybe 5 at the time.

In the mean time I have knit a number of tea cozies.

This is a freebie pattern from Ravelry and takes exactly one skein of Noro Kureyon.   I made a few changes to the original pattern,

After I finish the picot hem I purl one row then start the stockinette in the round – I like that it adds a little ‘bead’ look to the bottom of the cozy.

I also slip the first stitches when doing the opening for the handle when going back and forth – this makes the open edge around the handle-hole a little neater.

For the spout opening I added one more row of the double yarn over to make the hole slightly bigger, I also twist the knit and purl edge stitches around the spout hole before and after the YOs to tighten up the edge stitches and make them neater.

These are quick knits and lots of fun.

I also knit a sweater for my hottie (hot water bottle, not cute guy) since it’s been so cold I love having a nice warm hottie to keep my toes warm.

Another freebie from Ravelry - I knit this from one skein of Louet Riverstone Chunky.  I had scored a bunch of this for felting projects from Webs big after Christmas Sale.

Brian and I went to Webs for the sale on the day after Christmas.  I scored 2 bags of the Louet Riverstone Chunky, 9 skeins of  Cascade 220 all for felting projects, along with 2 skeins of Malabrigo Worsted that I couldn’t resist.

Brian and I had a delicious lunch at Paul and Elizabeth’s Natural Foods Restaurant, in Northampton to top a perfect day.

Last Saturday, my knitting buddy, Erica came to the studio and we spent the day dyeing fiber.  It was an open studio day, but being a holiday weekend and it was snowing all day it was pretty dead so we got a lot done and had lots of fun too.

I’ve been thinking about opening the studio on one Thursday evening a month for people to drop in to learn to spin, or just hang out and bring their knitting projects.   We will see how it pans out – I am still putting together ideas now.

Right now I am looking forward to Saint Distaff Day at the Westford Historical Museum on Sunday.  Then my birthday the following weekend  with a party at my friend Laurel’s (girls only and the hot tub).  Pretty soon (February) it will time to head to SPA!!!  I cannot wait!  It already seems like it’s been a long winter and it’s only the first week in January.  Not a good sign.  At least I don’t mind staying indoors with plenty of knitting and spinning projects to keep me busy.

There were no real resolutions this year either, well maybe one.  I am going to try harder to live greener this year.  I have reusable grocery bags – but don’t always remember to grab them on the way out.  I will try harder this year.

I am also cutting back on cleaning products and eventually eliminating them, especially the ones with chemicals that really aren’t good for me, the cat or the environment.  I actually bought myself a steam mop with reusable pads that you just toss into the wash after using.  I cannot believe how clean (and sanitized) my kitchen and bathroom floors are, just using water/steam!  Now I think I want to get one of those hand-held steamers to clean the rest of the kitchen and bathrooms.   I figure that they will pay for themselves within 6 months if I don’t have to buy chemical cleaners anymore.

Well that’s all for now…  I hope you all find this New Year brings you peace, harmony, health and prosperity!

Merry Yule Tidings

Trim up the tree with Christmas stuff
Like bingle balls, and whofoo fluff
Trim up the town with goowho gums and bizilbix and wums
Trim every blessed window and trim every blessed door
Hang up whoboohoo bricks
Then run out and get some more!
Hang pantookas on the ceilings
Pile pankunas on the floor
Trim every blessed needle on the blessed Christmas tree
Christmas comes tomorrow!

Wishing you all a very Happy Holiday and may your heart grow three sizes this day.

It’s coming on Christmas…

… they’re cutting down trees.  River is one of my favorite Joni Mitchell songs.

I wasn’t going to decorate at all this year.  Since I wasn’t having any of the celebrations at my house, and it’s just me and the cat… why bother right?   So I was at the Christmas Tree Shop picking up stocking stuffers and found a pre-lit, pre-decorated, little tree that only needed to be plugged in and for the big $9 price tag – how could I not!

I give you my tree! (sorry for the bad cellphone pic and please don’t notice the messy bookcase in the background)

I even picked up an evergreen scented candle to enhance the effect.   I have finished my shopping.  Last night I finished my wrapping.  Now all that is left is the cooking.  Chicken Wings for the Holiday potluck at work this Friday,  something for another gathering Friday night.

Then its out for dinner on Sunday for Gracie’s Birthday.  I still cannot believe that she is going to be EIGHTEEN!!!  When did that happen?  On one hand it seemed to take forever, on the other it happened in a blink of an eye.  This is going to be an adjustment.

I also want to make candied fruit this weekend – probably just oranges and lemons but if I am feeling really adventurous I just might try my hand at candied ginger.   Once that is done, it’s just cruise on into Christmas.

On the knitting front, I am glad to be done with all the itty-bitty mitten decorations.  I still need to finish a scarf I started on before Thanksgiving that has languished in the backseat of my car.  And of course I really have to get my butt in gear on the kimono.  That deadline will be here faster than I expect.   Then there is the French Press Felted Slippers craze that I am was fighting.   Not that hard apparently, as I did purchase the pattern last night in a moment of weakness, and now I am plotting how to get to the yarn store between picking up groceries and getting to the Java Room for knit nite.   I might be a little late to knitting…

Baby it’s cold outside…

I love living in New England.  I love the changing of the seasons.  I even like winter, at least for awhile.  What I really do not like is the occasional arctic blasts of frigid air we get.  I wouldn’t mind them so much if I could just pull the down puff back over my head and cuddle closer to the kitty, but alas I am forced to get up, shower and go to work.

This picture if from our first day of real snow last week.  At least the driveway is clear but there is still snow everywhere else.

This past weekend was the last Holiday Open Studio weekend.  Although the crowds seemed a little smaller, there seemed to be more buyers this weekend which made it all worthwhile.

There were lots of goodies out that I had picked up at Trader Joes, so most of us spent the day spinning/knitting and grazing.

Thank you to every one who came by to hang out or just popped in to say Hi!

I did manage to finish spinning the lovely alpaca angora blend that I picked up at Rhinebeck – but alas it sold before I could get a photo of it.  I know the knitter who nabbed that so I cannot wait to see what she makes!

I’m now spinning the llama/alpaca/cormo/angora blend.  I think I will keep this one and if there is enough yardage it should make a lovely swirl scarf.

I am also happy to announce I am done, done DONE! with my holiday shopping!  YAY!  Let the wrapping commence.  I wasn’t going to put up any decorations this year, since DD is still living at Bob’s.  But I had run up to the Christmas Tree Shop to pick up so stocking stuffers, and wrapping supplies and found a cute little already decorated tree that just required plugging in.  For $9 it was right up my alley, so the ‘tree’ is up. LOL!

Darling Daughter  is doing well.  She and some friends stopped by the studio this weekend.  Next weekend is her 18th!!!! birthday.  YIKES!!  That sure went by fast, at least it appears fast in retropect.

Itty Bitty Knitting

I have been knitting itty bitty mittens and stockings to hang on the tree

Thanksgiving

This year we were all very thankful to be able to take some extra time off and spend it with my brother and nephew.  They flew in from New Mexico early so we had time to take Jeffrey to his new favorite store to pick out his birthday present.

This is one happy kid and the bag was almost as big as he is.

Of course once the pieces are all put together there is nothing better than playing with the bag they came in.

My ‘other’ nephew, Eric and brother Jim – playing computer games after dinner.

Sister Cindy

Niece, Kristine home from UMass Amherst.

Don’t they look related?! LOL!

A Public Service Announcement

I have never agreed with Elizabeth Hasselback on any topic, at any time – until today.  She called the new mammogram recommendations Gender-cide and she couldn’t be more correct on this.

Other than the fact that I personally have six female friends who I know owe their lives to having mammograms in their 40s, there is statistical evidence as well.

If you look at the death rates for women in places that do not pay for nor require mammograms for women in their 40s the death rate from breast cancer spikes in the 40-50 age range.  (Places to check Utah – the only state that doesn’t cover mammograms for woman in their 40s and the UK which also doesn’t recommend or cover them).

This is a big WTF!? I feel very strongly that you should continue to get mammograms early and through out your 40s whether or not there is a family history of breast cancer.  If you are over 40 and have never had a mammogram – call and get one scheduled NOW!  If you have a mammogram scheduled – KEEP THE APPOINTMENT!  Having a mammogram could just save your life.

 

 

Busy time of the year.

Oh my goodness has it been busy.   Between open studios, and trying to get my holiday knitting done I haven’t had time to do much to keep in touch other than Facebook.

But here is proof that I have been knitting.

 

These are lovely lace cowls (pattern Stephanie’s Pretty Thing).  It’s a quick fun knit and the pattern is easy to memorize.  The green one (top) is knit from Springtide Farms lovely cashmere.  The grey one (middle) is knit with some lovely natural BFL that I spun and the bottom is a skein of sock (Bunny Sox) of merino/angora from Dye Dreams that I picked up at Rhinebeck.    I have a few more to knit up.  I love that you only need about a skein of nice luxury yarn for one of these.

Speaking of luxury yarn I just received two skeins of Great Northern Mink/Cashmere – I am thinking more neck warmers.

I have also been adapting patterns and knitting a bunch of fingerless gloves.

These are quick knits too and it’s fun to make up cables on the fly.  Especially thanks to Lucia who showed me how to do cables without a cable needle.  Easy Peasy now.

On the bad news side – I found some bugs-that-may-not-be-spoken in my bedroom.  So I pulled everything out (sealed what little stash I had in that room into bags with mothballs – fumigated with a bomb – vacuumed and sprayed the room with boric acid – which also meant removing all my clothing and the smaller pieces of furniture.  Everything is in isolation and is being washed with boric acid just in case.   It’s been over a week and I’ve seen nothing else and nothing has found its way to the pheromone trap either so I think I am in the clear.  That was quite a scare.  Fortunately all of my fleece and fibers are kept at the studio so there is no way for cross contamination.  But it was a major pain in the ass job but it had to be done.  I am not even sure they were clothing m*ths but I didn’t want to take a chance. Better safe than sorry.

Darling Daughter and I went so some friends for dinner last Saturday night.  On the way we had to pull over to capture a photo of the sunset.

There have been spectacular sunsets for several days now but I either didn’t have my camera, or couldn’t find a spot to pull over in time.   This time I did and got to share it with Gracie.

The next month is going to be crazy, but if you get a chance here is where I am going to be vending my wares.

Westford Parish Center for the Arts – Holiday Craft Show

Saturday, November 28th from 1pm until 5pm

This is right on the Westford, MA common and it’s easy to find.

Also on the first two weekends in December (5th and 6th and again on the 12th and 13th) from 11am until 5pm at Western Avenue Artist Studios is having their Holiday Open Studios, both days of both weekends.  It’s a great place to shop interesting and unique items for the holidays as well as supporting your local artists.  I will be there all four days and if you have never been or haven’t been to our new studio, we are in Studio #206 on the second floor – near the new cafe called The Space.

Hope to see you at one of these events.

I am also taking the entire week next week off from real work so I can get some things done before all the bru-ha-ha.  AND because my brother Jim, and my nephew Jeffrey are coming to spend the week of Thanksgiving with us too!  I cannot wait to see them!

I will try to be better with the posts.  I am sure I will have lots of photos to share next week.

 

How I SPENT my Rhinebeck Weekend

The first thing I did when I woke up Friday morning was to check the weather.  Nor’easter? Six Inches of SNOW in Binghamton?  Not a good omen.  But that doesn’t stop the Weather Witch

The car and camper were packed and ready to roll.  Rachel got to the house around 10:30am – we loaded in her stuff and we were on the road.  We had expected the worst weather wise, but as we hit the Berkshires the sun peeked out from the cloudy skies and there were even patches of blue ahead.  “Enough to make a Dutchman a pair of pants”, as my Grandmother used to say.

We arrived at the campsite and got it all set up and ready.  We just couldn’t figure out how to turn on the heat.  I had brought along a small electric space heater just in case.  Fortunately some fellow campers stopped by and showed us how it worked.  HEAT!  YAY!   Rachel and I shared a snack then decided to take a little nap after our long drive and hard work setting up camp.

That evening we headed off to Rhinebeck to meet up with our knitting buddies, Amy, Britney, Liz and Liz’s son, Chris (although not officially a knitting bud, still one of the ‘family’).  We had an awesome dinner at Foster’s Tavern.  Then we all headed off to our perspective accommodations and to bed with dreams of fiber fantasies dancing in our heads.

We got back to our camp around 10pm, fired up the heater and crawled into our beds, anxious to get good nights sleep and to be up and at the festival grounds before the gates opened at 9am.

Up early and after a quick coffee and muffin – we were on the road to the festival.  We thanked the Goddess Asphaltia for awesome parking and for running into Amy and Britney as we got out of the car.  We were all in the park by 9:15am.

Let the Fiber Fantasy begin.  Rachel and I started with the Alpaca and a quick trip to the Little Barn Tent.  Last year Brian and I had stumbled upon this vendor at the end of the day and although we acquired lots of goods it was clear it was picked clean and we had missed some good stuff.  This year, Rachel and I SCORED!

We managed to get through the Little Barn tent and at least 4 barns before we had to take a trip to the car to unload.

Alpaca and Angora… YUMMY!

Yes, Jena, I did pet some cute Llama’s and Alpacas for you.  They were so cute.

Is that a face of a Babydoll or what?

The two things that I really wanted to acquire were a lovely spindle (I found two must haves), and I was hoping to find a nice fleece.

The one on the left is a Tom Forrester Spindle with a Spalted Maple whorl with an Oak Shaft – it spins like a dream.  The one on the right is a Lily Spindle.  Its three layers of different woods, Cherry in the center, Walnut on the edge, and on the bottom is Olive wood.   These are made by Gilbert Gonsalves who also makes the gorgeous Robin Spinning Wheels.  Since I will probably never own one of his gorgeous wheels, I was happy to get one of his spindles.   They are both just beautiful.

As you can see I really scored on the spindles, but what about the fleece?

On the ride down Rachel had told me about a black fleece she and Amber had to give up last year, so I got this idea in my head that I wanted to find a fine, dark fleece this year.

Having hit most of the barns and grabbing a yummy Gyro wrap, we headed over to stand in line for the fleece sale so we could get a good shot at a top fleece when the doors opened.  Fines to the right front… I headed directly there.  The first dark fleece I spotted was really nice, but had those white nits on some of the locks that you can never get out… the second one – in the back….  SCORE!  I grabbed it and didn’t let go.  Its 4 lbs. 7 oz. of a Dark Merino Lamb, Coated fleece.  I don’t think I have ever seen anything so lovely.

After the fleece sale, we had been through most if not all of the barns, had spent all of our fiber dollars and the dogs were barking.  What we both really wanted to do was go back to the camper, have some munchies and play with our new fiberlicious acquisitions.  This is exactly what we did.

As we munched our fresh baguette smeared with brie, fresh apple slices and enjoyed our Jack with Cokes, we knit, we were toasty warm, and we listened to the pending weather reports of doom for the next day.  By 10 pm we were done in.

The next morning we were up early, with dark grey skies, and looming bad weather (and the fact we wanted to get home so we could play some more with our fibery purchases) we packed up and headed out.  Stopping for breakfast at a diner in Saugerties, the temperature was cold and the clouds really look ominous.  I was glad to be on the road early.

We hit rain just a little before the exit off the NY Thruway towards Boston.  By the time we hit the Berkshires the snow flakes were so big and wet it was like getting wacked with snowballs.  But the traffic kept moving at a fairly even pace and we were home by 1pm.

It was a perfect weekend and I cannot wait to do it again next year!