Ah Sunflower, weary of time,

Who countest the steps of the sun;
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the traveller's journey is done;
~William Blake

I know I haven't been very good with my Friday flowers, but I could not let this one last week pass without my favorite flower in the garden.

She is a gentle giant, ever steady…ever strong.  Even with all  of the wet conditions in New England this summer, the sunflower sisters have surrounded my garden in all their amazing glory.

Each year I usually plant a row of sunflowers in my garden, but this year I decided to surround the entire garden with their sunny faces.

Up until this past week, I have not enjoyed my visits to the garden at. all.  It's hard to watch one's hard work be destroyed by weather and bugs….but this week has been such a treat.  A reward for patience and perseverance, I guess. 

As the week has progressed, I have found that I have really looked forward to my morning walk in the garden.

The grrls are full of buzzing bees and seeing  all the different sizes and shapes of sunny faces looking back at me is truly amazing.  I  now understand why people plant entire fields of sunflowers.

To honor the lovely ladies of the garden, one of my new fall colorways will be called Sunflower :).

I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend in your corner of the world!

What can I say about Spunky Electic  roving that has not already been said?   Fabulous, fabulous stuff!

Last month I showed you the lovely braid of roving that I picked up at the Fiber Revival where Amy was vending.  The braid didn't sit for long here though, as those colors were just yammering at me to be spun. 

With a bit of free time one night, I sat down and predrafted out the braid in to these soft little balls.

Are these colors not stunning?  Amy truly is a master at putting some of the most scrumptious colorways together!

Once the balls were ready to be spun, I pulled sweet Moriah from her prominent spot in my living room and started to spin.  Sadly I have not had much time for spinning over the summer, and I will admit that I am a bit rusty.

Watching the colors load up onto the bobbin is always so inspiring.  As I spin, I sit and contemplate…..do I chain ply to keep the colors separate, or do I 2 ply and get a nice blend of all of the colors?  Will I knit a scarf or a hat?  Will I keep it or gift it…and the wheel goes round and round 🙂

Remember this strange little toy?  It is the knit and spin that I also purchased at the fiber revival.  It is TOO cool!

Frequently I will forget to weigh out my roving into 2 equal amounts in my excitement to start spinning, so I will end up having to ply off of a center-wound ball.  The only problem with that is the ball will collapse on itself as you get close to the end, which can be a royal PIA. 

This little nifty tool will hold the center of the ball and even better it rotates on the base as you ply.  It works like a charm!

As you can see, I decided to 2 ply the yarn.  Even though I think it would have looked prettier in the skein had I chainplied it, I know I will love the way the 2 ply knits up even more :).

Progress is being made on my "end of summer" projects.  The large bag portion of McKayla's backpack will be finished tonight…..leaving only the straps, assembly and finally felting it.

Can I tell you a secret…..I HATED every minute of working this flower.  Now, had I done some reading on Intarsia, I would have realized that I made this flower MUCH harder than it really needed to be….aggh!

I carried the main colored yarn across the back of the flower as though I were doing fair isle knitting.  What I should have done was work the flower back and forth in the purple and work each side of the flower with 2 separate balls or bobbins in the main color.  It makes complete sense!

Having never done any real intarsia, nor reading anything about it in the past, it wasn't until I read Beth's comments mentioning Intarsia that I did some research on it.  As I said…..I made this flower much harder than it really needed to be….sigh.

I am going to have to try another project soon and use the Intarsia method.  I think I know exactly what I will try :).  I will share soon….

" Hey Teach" is moving along, but slower now that I have been focusing on getting McKayla's bag ready for the end of this week and school.

I have also been absolutely smitten with dyeing up these rovings.  I swear, they are like potato chips…you can't just do one.

When I get my website updated, I will continue to offer my saturated Luxury rovings, but I will be doing all of my superwash rovings in this Splish Splash fashion.   I am working on spinning up some to make sure that they look as nice in the finished yarn as they do in the roving.

So as summer is winding down and school is starting tomorrow, I am looking forward to a few free hours each week to work on some new things…

"They was a-splishing and a-splashing, reelin' with the feelin'
Moving and a-grooving, rocking and a-rolling, yeah...."

This past week has been a week of
frenzied activity. Every year just about
this time, the realization of how close
Fryeburg Fair is slaps me upside the
head.

A few days ago, I asked a very good fiber friend for some tips on dyeing roving as I have scads of it lying around the house and she graciously responded that a splish of this and a splash of that made for a ton of fun….. and she was SO right!

Over the next few weeks, I will be working on new Autumn yarn colorways and getting more roving on my webpage. This particular superwash roving will be called "Splish Splash".

I am also hoping to upgrade my www. website to a real honest to goodness shopping cart that automatically responds to orders received and keeps track of all of the financial stuff that my DH yammers at me about.. 🙂

It is absolutely mind boggling how much time one can waste searching things on the internet. I have looked at enough e-commerce sites in the last week to make a body dizzy!

In preparation for new and good things I will be closing down my website for the last 2 weeks of September to so that work can be done on the website and I can finish up with the new fall colors.

Knitting……….

I have also been working on finishing up my summer projects as well. Hey Teach is almost finished and I am making progress on McKayla's bag.

The bottom of the bag is finished and I am hoping to finish up with the flower design tonight. The rest will go quickly once the flower is finished.

The only snag I have had with this bag is my gauge. I am getting the right gauge width wise, but lengthwise it is off, so going up a needle size would not have corrected the problem.
Given that this is only a bag, I am just knitting more rows than the pattern requires and hoping that it all works out.

Ok….so typepad is working on another upgrade and let me tell you that doing this post has been a challenge……..Why o' why can't typepad just leave it alone?  Every time they upgrade means more work on our end….ggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

It's hard to believe that the girls will be heading back to school next week.  How can that be?  How can summer be over?  Yet it is true….

It's amazing to me how every year when August rolls around all of the things I thought I would finish during the lazy days of summer are still staring me right in the face.  Does that happen to you?

The fabric above is for the Market Tote that I blogged about here . This fabric is washed, pressed and cut and it was going to be my summer bag, but as you can see THAT didn't happen.  I love the fabric enough though that it will hopefully now become my Autumn bag 🙂

The yarn that is wound into balls and ready to go is for this sweet little backpack for my granddaughter, McKayla.  ( I still gulp when I say granddaughter…eek!)

A few weeks ago Mckayla asked "Grammy…when are you going to make my purse?"  This would be the purse I have been promising to make for about a year now…yikes!  Given that Mckayla is now entering the 3rd grade, I thought that this backpack would be more appropriate for her and she agrees, so it is moving right to the top of the "hurry up and finish summer project list"  It's a grandmother's duty, right?

So……I am focusing on finishing up these Summer projects before summer is over. It is my goal to see that the little backpack, "Hey Teach" and the Market Tote finished before the summer wanes.  A grrl can hope anyways…….

On another note……..
Over the weekend I received this fabulous gift from Lynne.  This was a beach theme and very fun!
You can see that Lynne outdid herself with a sweet little conch shell bird house, some very pretty shell shaped dishes, beachy smelling soap and candles, a much needed file organizer along with a market tote pattern and some cotton yarn to knit it with.
There was also lots of candy reminiscent of our childhood, but the girls scooped that right up 🙂

Lynne has been our gracious swap hostess over for a good time now and she has done a fabulous job at coming up with interesting gift themes.  Lynne is taking a break to take care of herself and her family for a spell and we wish her well!! 

Thanks Lynne!

The actual
Is only actual
In one place
And one time.
Deng Ming~Dao

Today was one of the few warm summer days we have had this summer and thankfully it happened on the day that we were celebrating Courtney's birthday.

17 years ago it was one of the hottest summers I can remember.  Perhaps it was because I was feeling like a beached whale, swimming around the pool on a regular basis with my equally large and pregnant best friend, or maybe it was just plain hot.

I can still see the horrified look on my son's face as my friend was going to sit herself in his inner tube.  "Hey….you are going to BUST my tube" were is exact words.  Let me tell you, those were not well received words by an 8 month pregnant woman….haha!

In the midst of all that summer heat one of life's special blessings…..Courtney.

As a baby Courtney was the happiest kid ever..  Each and every morning, she would greet us with a smile that was pure sunshine.

As Courtney is maturing into a lovely young woman, her smile is as radiant today as it was when she was young.
…..HAPPY BIRTHDAY Courtney!!!

Is this baby not adorable?  I fall in love each and every time I see their precious little faces.  I keep threatening Ken that we will have Alpaca someday and he keeps saying…"Thank God for zoning laws"…..

Truly…where do the days go?  Here it is already late Tuesday night and I am finally getting around to blogging about the fabulous albeit short time I had visiting with friends at the Fiber Revival in Newbury, Ma.

I was a good girl and bought very little, but I do love what I bought!

See that little glimpse of silver?  Those are a pair of fabulous hammered silver earrings from Leslie Wind.  Leslie is definitely one of those "givers" that I have mentioned in past blog posts.  She is such a wonderfully supportive and giving lady who loves to teach her trade.  I will be taking a trip down to visit her shop in the very near future :).

I also picked up some yummy bfl roving from Amy.  Very different colors for me, other than that golden orange that just jumped out at me and said…."buy me"…how could I resist?

The last thing in this picture is called a knitandspin.  I have to tell you, when I first caught a glimpse of this little wooden object, knitting tool is not what first ran thru my mind….yikes!  After I spoke with the woman who was selling them, I had a brainstorm on how to use it.  No………not that way…….sheesh!  I will share more with you in a few days :).

It was wonderful to take a day off and spend it with friends.  It is hard to believe that summer is almost coming to an end, isn't it?

Do you remember summer vacations when you were young?  Sometimes July would seemed like it would never end…it would be summer always, but then that second week of August would roll around and all of a sudden you wanted to do all of the things that you had not yet done.

I feel like that little kid…..scurrying around like a chipmunk picking up my acorns.  Summer IS coming to an end and the fall fairs are just around the corner…yikes!  The dyepots will be fired up soon with new colors and my personal knitting will be laid aside for fair knitting.  Will there be enough time?

Tonight the air is chilly and dry, but very very refreshing after the long, humid summer.  As we toss open the windows to enjoy the coolness of the late August night it is not hard to believe that Autumn is just around the corner.

Oops….I almost missed getting Friday's flower up before Saturday. 

I know, Goldenrod is considered a perennial weed, but the color is just so pretty, and as a dyer, I know what a pretty shade it can bring to the dyer's palette….and I think you know just how much I enjoy this color!

Yesterday, Hannah and I took a ride over to Vermont to visit with a good friend and as I was driving along admiring the fields of gold, I thought to myself….."hmmm….what a perfect Friday's flower!

 
We traveled thru the windy Crawford Notch up to the backside of Mt Washington where the Cog railway runs up to the top of the mountain.  If you click on big you can see the path in the middle of the mountain and a little puff of smoke that would be the train.

 A little bit further on our journey as we passed from New Hampshire into Vermont the countryside took on a different look.  New Hampshire's mountains are a bit stark and steep with a lot of rock, but as you move into Vermont, the open fields become a bit more customary with lots of soft rolling hills.  You can see the field of gold (goldenrod) in this picture.

 
Along the way we caught glimpses of Autumn in the air.  Many of the trees were starting to show their fall colors.  I find it almost incredible to think that summer is well on her way out, especially since we have hardly had much of a summer to really enjoy.  I am holding out hope that the Gods will smile down us for surviving the humid, damp, rainy summer and give us a warm, mild (dry) autumn.

 
As we traveled on a bit further, we arrived at our destination just outside of Stowe.  Some of you may remember a lovely black and tan cavalier that I had to part with due to a personality conflict here with the dogs.  It was she and her children, along with her owner that we were going to visit. 🙂

I was contemplating bringing home one of Kali's kids, but in the end, I decided that it was probably a good idea to give Gypsy a chance to be the baby for a spell, especially since she is learning her manners and doing a pretty good job at it . :)  I have also come to the conclusion that maybe I do not have the energy level to raise 2 baby pups the way I once did.  It is good to know what one's limitations are as we age, isn't it?

Gypsy did have a great time though romping around the yard with some dogs closer to her own age.

 
After a nice lunch and visit, it was time for Hannah and I to head on back towards New Hampshire.  I had promised Hannah a side trip to the Von Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, so we took the back roads up and over Smuggler's Notch.  What a beautiful, beautiful trip it was!

 
A little tea in the Austrian Tea room and a stroll thru the beautiful Von Trapp Gardens energized us for our journey back thru the White Mountain Forest. 

All in all it was such a beautiful day and a wonderful reminder of what a beautiful part of the country that we live in. 🙂

After completion
Come new beginnings.
To gain strength,
Renew the root.
Deng Ming~Dao

Pattern:  Honeybee Stole
Yarn:  Woolen Rabbit Whisper Lace Yarn
Needles:  Knitpicks Options size 5

Isn't she lovely?  You have to know how very much I love this stole to allow pictures of …gulp…me.. in it.  I am a wee bit camera shy if you haven't noticed.

I did manage to snap a picture of Ashley romping in the garden with Bee.  I love the way Bee gently wraps around her head….it is going to make a wonderful winter stole, don't  you think?

….and of course….every Bee loves a sunflower and this Bee is no exception!

I loved, loved, loved each and every stitch in this pattern.  There is such a wonderful rhythm that flows…almost meditative.

I am sad to see her come to an end, but the reward will be getting to wear her this fall.

Now that she is complete, I am looking forward to my next lace beginnings….I think I may just have a thing for these insect shawls. :) 

Hannah and I are off for a drive thru the mountains to visit friends in Vermont.  I hope that you all have a wonderful day!

Most years that I have grown a garden they have been reasonably successful ones.  Yes, I have battled with the cucumber beetle and a little tomato blight now and then, but for the most part I have had a nice little harvest at the end of the summer.

This summer though has been a very sad exception…..and I have to believe it is due to the huge volume of rain we have received.

I don't think that we have had a day without some sort of rain since mid-July.  This along with the never ending humidity that we do not usually get this far north has made for a very damp garden.

In addition to the wet soggy soil, I have been battling these damn fornicating Japanese beetles who are eating up my bean leaves.

I have really resisted putting anything on my plants over the last few years, but there are just too many beetles out there to keep hand picking them off, so I will be picking up some Rotenone today in hopes of salvaging at least some of the beans.

The only positives in my garden this year have been my Roma Tomatoes, inspite of their blighty leaves, my basil and of all things, my super hot peppers.

It really is frustrating to spend all of the time getting a garden prepared and the money spent on plants to pretty much lose more than half of it.  I know that I am not the only person up here in Northern NH who has taken such a hard hit on the garden.  Garden Soup for sure!

Over the last few weeks, I have done a bit of researching on better ways to garden.  Of course I can't control the weather, but I am hoping with some new methods such as Lasagna Gardening to increase the amount produce that I can reap from our garden.

Hopefully your gardens out there are faring better than mine this year 🙂