Weekending….

As slow as the work week goes, the weekend just flies by doesn't it?
This weekend, I completely took one full day off….well, almost…there were a few vats of dyeing that happened, but no power dyeing. 😉
  Last weekend I spent my days off getting up early and working in the shop, so I spent this Saturday relaxing, watching some cooking shows and working on a project that I will share with you this week.  It was fun to stretch my knitting skills a bit.

Every year this weekend the Maple Syrup folks celebrate with open houses across the Northern States.  It's hard to believe that I have lived up here now for 24 years and have never been to a Sugar House!  After talking with a client at work this week about a Sugar House that he was going to go to that also serves up a scrumptious breakfast, Ken and I decided to head out to a few this morning.
First on the stop was Oak Hill Farm just over the border in Hiram Maine.  Ken marveled at the intricate web of tubing that went from tree to tree and ultimately into the Sugar House to be boiled and made into Maple Syrup.
They also cooked up a nice breakfast!

From there on our way home we stopped at a local Maple Sugar House that we never knew was there…in our own back yard!  The Sap Hound Maple Company is located right over the Conway, NH line in Brownfield Maine and is just a few miles from one of our favorite kayaking spots on Conway Lake.
It was fun to watch the way the Maple Syrup that we love to put on our breakfast foods and ice-cream are made and the samples we indulged in along the way were pretty darn good as well!

…and speaking of those indulgences, we decided to strap on our snowshoes to burn off some of those calories when we got home, so we headed up to nearby Tin Mountain where we met a friend who used to teach there.  It was fun to learn what some of the different animal tracks that saw were!

I love the little trail markers that let you know you are on the right track.  There are beavers, bears, bobcats, birds, etc…they make me smile. 
The sun was high in the sky and warm, which made the snow soft and enjoyable to walk through.

There is a certain peacefulness to walking through the woods in the winter/now spring.  Each step moves you further and further into the woods…so quiet and peaceful, but yet you can see the evidences of the busy life that inhabits these woods from all of the various animal tracks along the way.  The little snow hares, the squirrels, the deer, fox along with the awakening bears..and the bobcat prints that we saw last weekend.

It was a very full weekend indeed!  I hope that you had an enjoyable weekend in your corner as well.

Celebrate Spring
with a Woolen Rabbit Sale!
This weekend to celebrate Spring we are having a 15% off sale!
 March 18 at 8:00 am thru March 19 at 11:00 pm (est)
After the long snowy winter it's time to celebrate the happy colors of Spring.
Join along with us in welcoming the new Season!
Happy Knitting!!

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Goodness the weekends go by fast don't they?  I had a relaxing and productive weekend…and Ken, well he was productive but I'm pretty sure Saturday wasn't very relaxing for him as he continued to work on putting our torn up bedroom back together.  He's making a lot of progress! (pictures soon)

Saturday I spent some time out in the studio dyeing some yarn for customers and myself.  Those 3 skeins up there are going to become this cowl ,Stravaigin. I have been wanting to do some colorwork this winter, so this gives me a chance. I am really looking forward to getting started on this once I finish the Peace Cowl. Hopefully tomorrow.

I also spent some time getting to know my serger…once again.  Every time I sit down to use it I have to re-watch the darn video on how to thread it.  I think I have it down now given how many times I had to thread it over and over.  I guess I should use it more often. 😉

 

Sunday we took a drive down to York, Maine to pick up this beautiful old hutch…just look at that wood, isn't it stunning??  I just happened to stumble upon this on Craig's list while I was l looking at something else and fell in love with it, especially given that it was only 150.00.  It nicely fills up a spot in my dining room that has been bare for a number of years now.

On the way home we decided to drive along the beaches of Southern Maine.  It was some kind of cold out, but the waters were so incredibly beautiful!  Soft shades of sea green and blue that was exceptionally clear.  The water almost looked like the waters of the Caribbean if you didn't mind the blustery 5 degree weather and winds.

Tomorrow we are expecting a major snow storm along with a good portion of the Northeast.  If you are in the path of the storm…stay warm and safe!

It's a very rare that I post pictures of myself, let alone 2 in one week, but I have lost all of my models now that they are all out on their own….sheesh!
  Ashley and Hannah are pretty good about modeling when I can get over to them, but it's not like having them right here.

Anyhoo…..this is another headband.  Yep, one of those, but this one is mine and I love it!  It keeps my ears warm and cozy on those cold winter walks both out on the road and now in the woods.
As many times as I have made this headband for both family and friends, I never tire of making it!

Pattern:  Elisbeth Headband
Yarn:  WW Kashmir
Colorway:  Cape Cod Blues

 

Yesterday it was such a gloomy, rainy day on my day off so I spent my time indoors reading, knitting and working on my soon to be new grand-daughter's quilt.
It's been a few weeks since I have been able to work on it, so it was nice to spend a few hours plugging away on it.

 

I love these happy, cheerful colors and I have to admit that I have been very happy with my points in this quilt.  It doesn't always happen this way but when it does it makes me smile.
It's hard to believe that the new little one will be here in 3 short months.
I will be piecing it together this coming weekend. 🙂

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Introducing my newest yarn base….Downy!
This yarn is a DK weight blend of merino, silk and yak and is incredibly soft, warm and cushiony. 
I am extra sensitive to wearing wool against my skin and I felt almost zero itch factor, while tromping around in the woods behind Tin Mountain today.

The cowl pattern designed by Anne Hanson is such a beautiful pattern and a quick, fun knit!  It's called Peu de Pluie and the colorway is Boysenberry.

Each 4oz skein has approximately 230 yards. I knit this cowl with one skein!
Beautiful definition when knitting textured stitches….I love this yarn base!

I gave Ken my phone to snap off some pictures and he became Mr. Photographer…ey yi yi.  We had a fun day though out in the woods trying out these new snowshoes.  I wish I had given snowshoeing a try years ago to help make the long days of winter a little more enjoyable up here in the North Country. 
If you haven't tried it yet, give it a try, you may love it! 

 

Spring is definitely on it's way and all of the snow we have had this winter will be a blessing, filling up the rivers and wells that were almost dry last summer.
As much as I am enjoying my time out in our winter woods, I am so looking forward to warmer temperatures and my toes in the sand again, but still..how beautiful is this?

 

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One of the things I miss most during Winter is the ability to get out and walk.  It's just too icy to walk on the sidewalks with sneakers, so this year I convinced Ken that we should give snowshoeing a try, and he was game!
Fortunately someone he works with had some spare snowshoes that they were willing to lend us so that we could give it a try.

Wow…what a treat to get out and enjoy the beautiful area that we call home!
We live very close to the Tin Mountain Center in Albany, NH, which has numerous hiking trails that are also good for showshoeing.  It is 10 minutes away and such a quiet woodland oasis with beautiful trails that are well markedl.

Sunday on our first time out we chose what looked to be the shortest trek on the Tin Mountain Map, figuring best not to try something that we might not be ready for…or if we even would enjoy it.  It was the Maple Leaf Trail.
Well..hey!  We loved it!  The trek was pretty easy, even for 2 old farts and so beautiful.  I can't tell you how much it made my heart smile to hear all of my bird friends singing away on this beautiful sunny day as we sloshed along.

Ken and I both had Monday off and we decided to give it another try to see if we really liked this enough to invest in some snowshoes of our own.  This time we tried a bit more challenging trek.  This hike had has going up and down some steeper hills (and yes, these were just hills, not mountains) and it was fun to see how well the snowshoes helped us go up both up and down the inclines. 
I have to tell you, I am not the most graceful person…truly, gravity is not always my friend, but I felt like I was on top of the world with these snowshoes on!  Well..maybe not on top of the world, but on top of that small incline…but I didn't fall off, so it was a win!

Ken has already purchased a pair of snowshoes and I will look for some when I am away next weekend in Freeport at SPA.
Hopefully there will be some snow when I get back home.

Last week we had 30 inches of snow dumped in our back yard, but this week we will have a week of crazy warm temperatures, so maybe I will be buying sneakers instead? 😉

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It's been a while since I have worked with Anne Hanson on a project, so when Lisa of Indie Untangled asked us to work together on her yarn club project I was happy to reconnect with an old friend.
Anne and I came into the fiber world right around the same time and spent many years working together on numerous projects…many of which are still my most favorite patterns.

When we work together, Anne usually sends me a picture inspiration along with a description of what she is looking for.  This time around she send me a beautiful picture of deep red roses climbing up a large garden trellis.  A stunning garden photo!  In her note she asked for a deep chocolate red…and this is what I came up with…..

The base is Dove and the colorway is called..
"Forbidden Fruit"

I love, love, love the pattern that Anne created for Indie Untangled.  It is called
"Shared Rib"

Anne drew inspiration from the Rose bramble with the never ending entwining branches interlocking over and over again…a beautiful garden of Eden.

This colorway will be available on my website this weekend and I'm sure that Anne will have the pattern available very soon as well.  I know that I will be making one of these very soon!

Ken and I celebrated a quiet Valentine's day at home, choosing to save a little money instead of going out for a big dinner.  We are saving for some snow shoes to get us through these long winter months up here in the mountains.
Instead I made a scrumptious dijon mustard pork loin roast and we shared a bottle of wine that my son gifted me for Christmas….and a chocolate each from a local chocolate maker, The Bavarian Chocolate Haus, which Ken gives me ever year.
..and let me tell you…it is amazingly good chocolate!

Happy Valentine's Day from The Woolen Rabbit!!

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Nothing makes my heart smile more as a knitter than to see my children enjoy the hand knits that I have created for them.  Every knitter out there knows just how happy!

There has been quite a bit of knitting happening here even though I haven't had a chance to show you the finished items on the recipients.  This lovely scarf was a gift that I gave Hannah last year for Christmas…….let me rephrase this…..I gave her a ball of yarn and a promise..ha!  She has been a patient soul and I finally finished the scarf just before this Christmas

I did change up the pattern a little bit because I wasn't sure that Hannah would like so many different pattern changes within one scarf, so I knit the first three patterns and then repeating those same three patterns backwards creating a big circle. 
I'm happy to say she loves it!

Pattern:  A March Through Time
Designer: Christina Campbell
Yarn:  Sporty Kashmir
Colorway:  Cornhusk

The headband is one that I made a while back when I made about a gazillion of them because I LOVE this pattern designed by the talented Bonne Marie of Chic Knits.  My girls all wear and love them!
(shhh….Hannah has it on inside out…LOL)

Pattern:  Elisbeth Headband
Designer:  Bonne Marie Burns
Yarn:  WW Kashmir
Colorway:  Chimney Sweep

  Hannah had spent her afternoon hiking in the mountains of Franconia Notch not too far away from where she goes to college, using the presents that we gave her for Christmas.  A backpack with a waist belt to keep the weight off of her shoulders and some trekking poles to help stabilize the ankle that she sprained badly this past summer.

I love that my children who have grown up here in the mountains of New Hampshire love and enjoy the beauty and bounty that these mountains have to offer.

 

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Weekends certainly go by so much faster than the work week don't they?

Even though I stayed home, this weekend was a full one.  There was a lot of cooking and baking happening.  This Cranberry Orange Pecan bread was made with some of the cranberries that I used for Christmas Decorating.  You can find the recipe here.

In my year of Harmony I am trying to be more organized, so this weekend I made all signs of Christmas and Winter go away in this old house and replaced them with some early Spring and Valentines Day decorations.  I know…we still have lots of winter to come, but it gives me something to look forward to.

 

I did spend some time working out in the shop, but not too much time.  I had a big order going out to my friend, Elizabeth Doherty of Bluebee Studio.  While the yarns were dyeing it gave me some time to work on my quilt.
All of the pieces have been cut out, pinned and ready to be sewn tomorrow.
I love these cheerful colors!

What did you do this weekend?

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