I thought that I would share a preview peek of our Rhinebeck trip with you as there is just too much to put into one post. Every year a group of us, heads to Rhinebeck, NY for the NY Sheep and Wool festival. It has become a tradition to leave early on Friday, so that we can visit the folks at Morehouse Merino in Red Hook, NY. As you can see, there are scrumptious yarns, everywhere you turn. The colors, the patterns, the scarves, shawls, mittens, sweaters, hats…………what does a girl choose??? 
Here is a picture of the goodies that I came home with. First into the basket went a little camisole lace kit with 4 skeins of soft, tempting black laceweight yarn that will be a Christmas gift for my son’s girlfriend. Next was a pattern for a simple lace weight cardigan for me and a really pretty shawl pattern. This is going to be a handmade Christmas…grin. What you don’t see is another nice kit for my Secret Pal III. What you DO see is my kitchen is still in progress. If anyone ever tells you that a kitchen renovation is painless………RUN…LOL!
Morehouse Merino is great place to visit and great fun!!! More on Rhinebeck tomorrow~
BTW…….I found my foliage pictures and that is a story in itself, but I am going to save them for another day after the Rhinebeck news. :-))
Autumn Leaves Must Fall…….Oct 14, 2004
Oh Dear!!! I had taken some fabulous pictures this week of what life looks like in the Mount Washington Valley of New Hampshire and when I sat down to make this entry, the disk was nowhere to be found….ggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am hoping that I just misplaced it and did not inadvertently copy over it.
My middle daughter, Courtney and I had fun pretending we were tourists this week, jumping out of the car to snap photographs of lovely foliage as we came upon it. The Valley is literally crawling with tour busses and tourists. Great for the economy up here……..but not so great for traffic. The picture above is a picture of the soccer field that my girls play on. This is the view that we have as we watch our children playing sports……just spectacular, even on a cloudy day, such as it was when I snapped these photos. I so hope that I can find the other photos that were taken in brilliant sunshine, so that I can share a little piece of heaven with you all. It is so hard to describe the incredible overload of color that we are fortunate enough to experience every day. To make this knitting related, I really study the colors and how they infuse together, so that I can try to recreate it when I am dyeing wool.
Knitting News
Now that the fair has finished up, I am trying to get caught up on some projects here. I have started the 
Fluted Bannister Socks for the Six Sock KAL. They are being knit up in the lovely Regia Silk that my Secret Pal 3 sent to me. I don’t know if you can purchase this wool in the states as it has come to me from Germany, but let me tell you……..it is a TREAT to work with!!! It literally glides onto the needles. Wonderful stuff!!
Next on the list is the Thrummed Mittens for that KAL as well, hosted by the ever talented Yarn Harlot. I know that there are people out there that think of KAL’s as just a group of followers, however, for me, I view it as a method to get things finished. If I put it into print on my blog, I feel committed to getting the project done, so therefore, this lovely purple yarn and handpainted (by me) roving is coming with me to Rhinebeck. It will be a fun, mindless project for the 5 hour drive.
I am also going to bring another project, in the event that I am bored……I really don’t think that will happen, but a girl can never be too prepared. This lovely Noro is 60% silk and 40% kid mohair. Can you get much better than that??? The photo doesn’t show the lovely shades of blue and olive clearly, so I will take another photo when I am finished with this project. It is going to be a lace/garter stitch mini shawl, from Fiber Trends.
I am looking foward to life slowing down a bit, so that I can start working on some of the longer term projects, such as the vest from Knitters and the Alice Starmore, Innishmore Sweater. Life has just been too busy to work on either of those right now…….but soon!
Here’s to Rhinebeck!!!!!!! Happy Shopping!!!!!
Fryeburg Fair………Oct. 12, 2004
The fair is over, but what a time we had!!! The new Fiber Center was a hub of activitiy each and every day. It was exciting to see the huge interest in all of the fiber arts. You can see from the pictures how jammed the building was with people every day. As a group, we have always demonstrated at the fair, in the “fiber tent”, but the new clean. well lit and fabulously decorated building really drew people in.
The focal point over the entrance was done by a local fiber artist, Susan Mills.
Susan demonstrated the wonderfully creative felted handbags that she makes. 
I love the technique of using a palm sander to speed up the felting…….but beware……wear rubber soled shoes if you try this…LOL
Some of the other demonstrators were Julie Yarborough, demonstrating needle felting 
Her knome is fabulous!
Michelle Day of Lucious Lathers was spinning yarn for her unique hats that she designs herself.
Outside, Linda Whiting, was showing us what she learned at the dyeing seminar that she had attended the weekend before the fair. It looks like a fun way to obtain those great handpainted yarns. I am looking forward to trying some of the things that I observed this week, here at home.
Along with the above mentioned demonstrators, there were women working on rug braiding, primitive rug hooking, locker hooking and natural dyeing. I kept myself busy most of the week working with angora and weaving, both on the triangle loom and a 24 inch table loom. I managed to finish and sell two triangle shawls along with this chenille scarf
It was an exhausting, but fun week! We are all looking forward to our yearly trek to the NY Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY. What an incredible fiber fair it is and in the five years that I have been attending, I have never been disappointed. We will all be enjoying fiber overload next weekend!
As I mentioned in my last post, I joined the group, Random Acts of Kindess and it was fun to receive the various e-cards and small gifts, during this hectic week. Lisa sent me a nice gift certificate to Adiago Teas, which I am really going to enjoy visiting online, now that I have a chance to get caught up and Anne sent me an online gift certificate for 2 audio books at Audible.com It will be fun to surf thru the various blogs and see who I will ROAK this week.
Prelude to the Fair……Oct. 3, 2004
Well, I have no pictures and I do not have knitting news. I have been frantically trying to get ready for Fryeburg Fair. Rovings are packed, Angora Rabbit displays are all set, electric carder packed, along with a table loom, triangle loom and spinning wheel for demonstrations. I promise to have lots of pictures of all of the wonderful fiber going ons in our BRAND NEW FIBER BUILDING in the next few days.
I do have a wee little bit of news. The girls from Random Acts of Kindness have extended their membership to now include 150 members, so I am a happy new member of that group. I was so very touched by my good friend Anne’s generous gift…….that lovely, lovely scarf, that it has really made me think about how important it is to be kind, just for the pure sake of kindness and nothing more. Tonight as I was adding the code for the ring to my website, it caused a picture of the book “More Random Acts of Kindness” to show up on my website. In trying to figure out what was happening, I discovered a few interesting books on Amazon that I will add to my collection. If everyone could take a page out of these books and put it into practice, just think of what a wonderful world this could be. (BTW…….that song, What a Wonderful World, by Louis Armstrong, has ALWAYS been my most favorite song!)
Although, I have no fiber pictures for you, I will leave you with a picture of the 9 week old puppy, Dora, who will be staying with us. I am very very excited at how nice she is turning out. Her first show will be in Williamsburg, VA in March of 2005 :-)).
Apple Pickin’ Time….Sept. 26, 2004
I am so bummed that I forgot to take my digital camera with us, when I took my daughter, Hannah and her friend over to Sweden, Maine, apple picking, so I will share our bounty after the fact with you all. Yesterday was an incredible day up here in the mountains….warm and sunny, with just a hint of fall in the air by late afternoon. The foliage is just starting to turn, here and there. Mostly it is just the Sugar Maples showing their brilliant red leaves, but going just the little bit north that we went for the apples, I can see that it won’t be long before the “Tapestry of Color” begins here too. I remember when I moved here 14 years ago, being so completely overwhelmed by the intensity and amount of color that presents itself in the autumn. I grew up in Massachusetts, so foliage is nothing new to me, but…….oh my…. I will definitly have my digital camera ready to show you all some of the incredible foliage that comes to the Mountains of New Hampshire soon.
Knitting News
I finished the little hat that was on the cover of the latest Spin-off (Fall 2004). I will be sending it up to PSU to my daughter, Ashley, in a little care package. Modeling it for you is my middle daughter, Courtney with Dora. It is a wee bit big on Courtney, so it should fit Ashley just right. A very easy and enjoyable knit!!
Dyeing Disaster
Last week was a dyeing week. I had someone contact me to do up some custom angora/blend dyeing. She was very specific in asking for Crayon Red, Sunny Yellow and Light blue, but not too pale. I was pleased with the results of that dyeing job. 
Since I had the dyeing pots out and the Fair IS next week, I thought that I would dye up some of the angora/blend yarn that I had made up last spring. Well………..it wasn’t looking so good. YUK, is the word that came to mind. I took the yarn out and rinsed it and then looked at the other dye pots on my stove and thought:
“Eanie Meanie Miney Moe, in the Red Pot You Will Go~”…LOL.
Actually, I tossed 2 skeins into the pot of red dye and the other 2 skeins into the pot of blue dye. 
Seeing that I was liking the red pot skeins more, I took the 2 out of the blue and tossed them into the red…….and this is what I got. Not too bad……not too bad at all :-))
Fryeburg Fair
Fryeburg Fair starts next Sunday!! I can’t believe that the summer has come and gone so quickly. Well……….not THAT quickly with the torn up kitchen..LOL. I love Fair time. The days are warm and sunny and the nights have that pre winter chill. Candy Apples, Onion Bursts, Cotton Candy…….Fried Dough……yum! 
In addition to the rovings, here are some of the items I have been working on to sell and for demonstrations. All of the hats I make are made with my angora blended handpun yarns.
I spent a good part of the morning, sipping coffee, listening to classical music and blog surfing. I always get so overwhelmed and awed by the amount of knitting some of you folks get done. However, when I was putting items together for a FO photo album, I realized that I have finished a good amount of knitting, spinning and weaving too this year :-)) You just don’t realize it, until you put it all together.
Next Fair on my Calendar after Fryeburg is my spinning group’s annual trek ………………..RHINEBECK!!! I won’t be working at that one…LOL………I will be “a spending” Woo Hoo!!!
Luxury Rovings and A Very Special Gift…..Sept 20, 2004
My finished Fall Rovings are here!!! I went up to Maine, Sunday, to pick up the wool that I had sent up for processing. Remember all of those different batches of dyed angora………well look at how they ended up :-). I am so pleased with this batch of angora/merino roving, that I may just have to stash some of it away for me. I am thinking that I may send off my next batch to be made into yarn, so there will be a little of everything for my fiber friends! You can find more details and pictures of the rovings in my photo album on the left side bar. Yummy stuff, I tell you :-)))~~
A VERY Special Gift!!!
Friday morning was a chilly, brisk morning here in the mountains of New Hampshire. As I sat bundled up in my winter robe with a mug of java, I sat down to read my daily blogs, before starting the day’s work. As I was reading one of my favorites, Spinning At Walden Farm, I noticed the lovely scarf that Anne had just finished. I loved her choice of colors and 
especially the beaded accent on the fringe. I liked the pattern so much so, that I said to myself, that I would have to ask Anne if she might share that pattern with me. As I continued to read, I saw that Anne had made the scarf for a friend who was trying to meet a personal weight loss goal…hhmmmm……then she mentioned DANCING…..even more curious…hmmmmmm. The most curious part was that a few days earlier, Anne had mentioned that she was sending something on to me, which REALLY got me curious. Let me tell you…………….I was camping at the PO today…….LOL.
Anne………THANK-YOU!!! I can’t tell you how touched I am by your kindness and how much I adore this scarf!! You must have known just how that scarf would look with my red hair and hopefully the small black dress I will be wearing…hehe!!! You are the BEST!!!
Fibery Things
Not too many fibery things got done here this weekend, between the kitchen being worked on, delivering a loom to Center Harbor, NH (home of Patternworks..hehe) and a trip to Maine to pick up the Rovings, there was not alot of spare time..
I did however finish up the the small neckerchief, that I had been working on. It is made with a Llama, Angora Silk Blend and finished off with a celtic clasp. I had made this to sell at some of the fall fairs, but I am contemplating tucking this one away for me…grin. It has such a lovely drape.
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Have you noticed the background for the scarf and the neckerchief??? Yup………that would be the Paprika sofa!! After I polled the readers on the blog and talked to my DH, even though he wasn’t in love with the sofa, he left me a note by the coffe maker the next morning, with his debit card, telling me that he wanted me to have the sofa that I wanted. What a guy!!! Definitly a “Keeper”. The floral throw pillows are missing as those needed to be custom ordered, so they will be here in a few weeks. That should give me a little time, before I need to start renovating the living room to match the sofa….hehe.
Secret Pal III !!…..Sept. 16, 2004
Secret Pal III
Today I found a package waiting for me at the Post Office. It was a package from my Secret Pal III :-). Some lovely treats awaited me when I opened up the package. First were 2 balls of Regia Silk and some matching nylon thread for the heels. YUMMY! Just perfect for the next sock in the six sock KAL. I love the color! Next was the really yummy part…….CHOCOLATE! 3 lovely bars of German Chocolate. We have a dear friend in Bremen, Germany who introduced us to German chocolate a few years ago. Ina was an exchange student here who dated my son for a year. She is still very dear to our hearts and we soooo love that german chocolate!! Thank you so much for your thoughtful gifts Secret Pal 🙂
Puppies
Before I get into the fibery going-ons, I promised pictures of the puppies, so here they are. :-). Luna (Ballymena Moondance) is on the left and Dora (Ballymena Tiny Dancer) is on the right. I decided in memory of Dancer to give these girls, Dancing names. .
I so love puppies! I could literally spend the days away, just watching and playing with them. Every day is a new adventure for them. Luna will be going to her new forever home in just a few weeks and Dora will stay with us
It is so hard to say good bye to these little ones that we pour so much of ourselves into in just a few short months. The only thing that helps, is knowing what true joy they will bring some lucky family. Luna will be going to a lovely family, not too far away. Don’t you just love her “sad eyes”!! ……and Dora with her “pacifier”…….too cute!!
Flowerbasket Shawl
I
t’s finished!!! Here it is all blocked and ready to be worn and I just LOVE it!! It was a fun pattern to work on, although, I ripped out more stitches on this,than any other project I have ever worked on. Two things to remember. No drinking a glass or 2 of wine when knitting this and do it when the kids aren’t home…haha!!! I am looking forward to making another one soon.
More Fibery Going-Ons
Now that I am done with the shawl and in between socks, I have started a few new projects. First will be a hat for my daughter who is in college. She loves pink and she loves the tight fitting hats that are so popular with college kids right now. When I got the new spin-off, there was the perfect hat on the cover!!
I had just enough left over Desert 
Rose Angora/Silk blend, from a large sale that I made and it is perfect for her hat.
On to the next project……….remember those skeins of yarn drying in the breeze last week? Well those are destined to become a celtic vest for me.
The pattern is out of the Fall 2003 Knitters magazine. I am not sure if the yarn will give me the right gauge yet though, as I haven’t knitted up a swatch…..so important, especially with handspun. If not, I have some lovely musk shetland that would work nicely as well.
Question of the Week???
In addition to all of the work that we are doing in the kitchen, we are also searching for a new sofa. Our current sofa is 19 years old and very tired. We are contemplating either getting a new one or recovering the old one. I found this striking sofa in a quality furniture store near us and I LOVE it……..but then I love autumn colors. My husband being a conservative kind of guy, is not quite sure of this paprika color. I keep telling him……..trust me……..I have a vision…LOL. My question is………………how many of you like this color and how many agree with my DH? The flowered fabric on the side is the color of the throw pillows.
Of course, I did find an alternative………..a girl always needs an alternative, right? Well, on my trip to pick up my daughter at college for her orthodontics appointment, I stopped in at my favorite non-fiber store……Thimbleberries. There is a sofa in there to die for, however it is a bit pricey, but still very appealing. Given that I am getting a new kitchen, it is hard for me to dig my heels in for this sofa. However…………I can get the fabric that is on the sofa and put it on my old sofa which is a very solid sofa (made it thru 5 kids, 19 years and is still standing…haha). 
The fabric is a woven lover’s knot pattern in colonial colors. Norm from Thimbleberries is such a nice guy and has an incredible talent for decorating! Any time you are in Moultonboro, NH, it is a “MUST” stop…..and of course, it is right down the street from Patternworks….mwaaahaaa!!!
Ah, the dilema? The first sofa is soooooo rich and warm looking……..and the other one is timeless. What’s a girl to do?
Lobstah’s Anyone?…….Sept. 13, 2004
How’s that for a picture…..LOL!!!!!
I promised pictures of the Lobster bake and what a time we had!! The hostess of the party is married to a huge Jimmy Buffet fan. A few years back, I mentioned how much I missed living on the ocean and eating lobster, so, for my birthday that year, they really did it up with lighted lobsters and lighted clamshells. Dinner consisted of lobster, mussels and lots of Jimmy Buffet music. Although John was not with us this year in person, as he is out at sea as a merchant marine, I am sure that he was with us in spirit, as we celebrated in the traditional Jimmy Buffet way………Cheers John!!!
Wow………..posting 2 days in a row……..whew! Actually, I have decided now that the kids are back in school, that I will try to post a little more regularly, so that I am not writing epithanys.
In the Mail
On Friday, I got 2 packages in the mail :-))). The larger package came to me from Margrett of Running Moon Farm and the bunch of rovings on the floor, came to me from Carole, of TBF fibers on Ebay. I knit hats with Cavaliers on them for our November show, out of handspun and angora, so I am gearing up for spinning time on the spinning wheel!
Friday was such a lovely, crisp day, that I hung some skein to dry. After the yarn is plied on the spinning wheel, I always wet them down to set the twist. The skeins to the left are going to be a vest for me…..(I will post pictures of the pattern from Knitter’s soon) and the skeins to the right will be a neckerchief for the fairs. That is the llama, silk, angora blend that I had been spinning.
The Dancing Competition
Well, I am down 5 pounds since the first of September…….so I am polishing those dancing shoes. Of course, I still have 35 pounds to go, but we are moving in the right direction :-))). I have to figure out a way to make those knitting progress bars work for my weight loss progress. Keeping it online, helps to keep me honest and moving in that forward direction. Motivation, I tell ya, motivation.. 🙂
Tomorrow, I will try to post some pictures of the puppies. They are getting soooooooo cute!!!!! I also hope to post pictures of the Flower Basket Shawl………but we will see what tomorrow brings…Grin.
Septembers Days :-)…………Sept.12, 2004
Getting Ready for the Fairs
September is always a busy month. Getting the children back to school, a little fall cleaning and getting ready for the Fall Fairs. I will be bringing my Angora blends to the processor today for processing and I thought that you might like to see a little of the process of getting angora from the rabbit to your spinning wheel. First I start with the rabbit………have you ever seen a bunny sporting a tutu?? Harvey, (Nordic Harvest Moon)
is sporting a lovely tutu for us to see…LOL. Sometimes I will stop for a few hours at this point, if the rabbit is getting fidgety, but Harvey is a veteran at this and doesn’t mind getting a complete haircut in one session. From there it goes into the sink
to be wetted down, for dyeing. Angora is very water resistant, so it needs to soak for a few hours if possible, to get all of the fibers wetted. A little dishdetergent added to it, helps soak up the water. From there it goes to the dyepot and from the dyepot, it goes out into the yard 
for some drying time in the sun. Then it is on to the processors to be blended with some soft wool……..and the finished product will look something like this….
After dyeing angora, I took a drive to the new LYS. Woolie For Ewe, was having their grand opening event
A few friends of mine, Roberta and Cindy were spinning out in front of the store, while another group of ladies were enjoying the very comfortable rocking chairs that are set up in a circle, knitting away on various projects.
We have gone from an area with no LYS, to having 2 fairly new ones right here in town and of course, Patternworks is only a 30 minute drive now. :-)))))) Knitting has become so popular again, that it is so nice to finally have good yarn stores within reasonable driving distance.
My Birthday
September 11th is my birthday. It is also a day of such great sadness here in this country. It has been very difficult to get excited about my birthday over the last few years as there is always that sense of feeling a bit guilty celebrating on a day when others are remembering their lost loved ones. My family and friends have been very kind in helping me enjoy my day. My parents had a small birthday party for me last night . DH and daughters gave me this lovely picture. 
If you look closely, you will see the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel in the picture. In many of these old pictures, you will find a small toy spaniel in them. For a long time, they only belonged to Royalty in England and were often found in paintings.
Tonight we will gather with some friends for a lobster bake, as they know how much I love and miss living at the ocean. Those will be fun pictures for tomorrow….LOL.
Happy Labor Day…..Sept. 5, 2004
Labor Day Weekend has been a weekend of labor. The kitchen is progressing……slowly, but steadily. The new sheetrock is up, the cabinets are here (stored in the barn) and the ceiling has been patched. Reonovating an 1800 farm house is a challenge. The windows over the sink are not what I would love to have in this old house, but given everything else that we have to replace……they are ok. The rest of the kitchen windows fit more in the time period of the house. 
As you can see from the pictures, I have had the fun job of shopping for paint colors, tiles and floors and my DH……..well, a picture says a thousand words..LOL. Gotta love those legs!!!!! Ken has been a good sport. He is doing the bulk of the hard work and I get to do the fun finish work.
While my DH was laboring in the kitchen, I was out in the barn working. I am on time for my September shearings in the bunny barn. 
First on the list was Mr. Peter Hoppit. 
I have always thought that Peter was a fawn rabbit with rufus. He exhibits the usual agouti patterning, as you can see from the picture. What you don’t see in this picture is the strange coloring. He has rings of 3 colors, which is most unusual. 
In this next picture, you can see a hint of grey as the first band, the second band being a creamy fawn color and the third band is a darker, rufus fawn color. Have any of you angora folks seen this before? I am not sure if he is a incorrectly marked fawn, a very poorly marked chestnut (I don’t think this is the case) or a copper without the correct amount of extension. Very unusual, but that fiber is going to make a yummy heathered yarn. I am saving it to be spun separately instead of blending it with merino.
Next on the list was Peter’s mother, Irina. Irina is from the new German Import lines and I am so pleased with her. 
She was long overdue for a haircut this time as she had had a litter and it threw her off of her shearing schedule. She was somewhat matted from having babies who enjoyed climbing on her back. However, even with the loss of that fiber, she still gave me a good 8 oz of fiber. That with the unusable fiber weighted out to almost 15 oz!!!! These new German Imports are simply amazing in what they are capable of producing. Next week will see me dyeing all of this angora that I will be shearing, getting it ready to be blended for sale at the upcoming fall fairs and festivals 🙂
Waves Are Finished!
Yippee……….my waves socks for the six sock KAL are finished! I really enjoyed these socks. I don’t know if it is because I really loved the yarn or if I just enjoyed the easy mindless knitting of the pattern? Whichever the reason…….they were fun and I am looking forward to the next pair of socks.
I have also been plugging along on my Flowerbasket shawl KAL. This has not been so mindless. I have done many lace patterns in my lifetime, but you would never know it..LOL. I can’t remember the last time I have worked on a project that I had to tink back so many rows on a regular basis. My DH, told me last night that he can’t wait for me to be finished with this shawl, so that he can talk to me again. Every time he starts to talk to me, I tell him “ssshhhhhhh……..I’m counting!…..haha!!
Secret Pal 2 and 3
I am soooooooo bummed out. For my secret pal 2, I spent time, as I mentioned a while ago in one of my blog entries, going down to The Elegant Ewe and Patternworks, for her 1st present, and she tells me that she has not received it :((((. She is a college student and recently moved, so I am hoping that somehow it just got misplaced at the post office………but still, I am bummed. I had so much fun shopping for her and am disappointed that she did not receive her present yet. She has not posted to her blog in a week now, so I do not know if it ever showed up….but I am hoping it has. One thing I did learn is to make sure that you put your correct return address on it. Silly me, I put Secret Pal, Anywere In the USA as a return address, so if I do have to have my post master do a search in the dead letter place, it is going to be a challenge :(.
I have heard from my Secret Pal 3!! I am hoping that I have not bitten off more than I can chew, being a part of both of these….LOL. It really is fun though. Yesterday, I was a wee bit bored, so I hopped into the car, with one of my younger daughters and we headed down to Patternworks. Have I told you all how happy I am that they moved here to New Hampshire, from New York…..:-)))))))))) Anyhoo…..the trip was with my secret pals in mind. I bought 2 new sets of presents that will go out in the mail on Tuesday. No pictures as my darn digital camera was stubborn yesterday and did not want to work, and I don’t want to give too many hints…..but I can say that both are yummy, soft with lots of luster 🙂
It is so nice to be a part of the blogging community……..it is a big world out there, but somehow it seems a bit smaller, kinder and definitly more interesting now 🙂
The Woolen Rabbit 