A tree hemmed in by giants
Requires tenacity to survive.
Deng Ming~Dao

I'm sure you are wondering what the heck that chair is doing in the middle of no~where.  Or maybe you are not…but I will tell you a little story about this little chair that became rest for the weary Sunday afternoon!

Many of you have been to Rhinebeck or similarly large fiber events where the parking lot is very full.  Saturday, I didn't get to the fair until lunch time, so I was ushered to what would be considered the "nosebleed" section of a ballgame.  Very very far away.  The plus of being very very far away, was that I got out of the fairgrounds very quickly.

Sunday I managed to snag a parking place that was pretty close to the entrance…boo~yah!  I remembered taking mental note of what section I was in and remembered that I was first in a line of 2 rows of cars.  Knowing I was leaving earlier than most people, I figured I would be able to hop right in the car and go….

I did a little shopping on Sunday, collected this beautiful chair from my friend Norm Hall and headed on out to my car.  Feeling pretty confident as to where it was, I cheerfully headed in that direction.  The sun was shining, the foliage stunning and I had spent 2 wonderful days with some of my favorite people.  Yep, I was feeling pretty darn cheerful.

Sadly, this is where the good cheer came to abrupt end….

As I strolled down the path, my first thought was…..Hmmm………not here?  Down another row…..not here either?  Hmmph…that's strange.  On and on it continued until I had walked almost every row to the street entrance and then back again.  Stopping every now and then to hit the panic button and lock button on my key ring.  Nope……..no panicky sounding car…..no flashing lights?   CRAP!!  Where the HULL is my car?????

Ok, so 45 minutes later after walking probably what amounted to 2 miles and feeling very sure that I was entertainment for the parking attendants, I finally sat down on my chair ready to cry.  Trying not to panic, I picked up my phone and called Ken.  Of  course there was nothing that he could do for me, but I was hoping that he could help calm the panic I was starting to feel.  Did my new car get stolen?  CRAP, CRAP, crap…………

As I was sitting there, looking towards the entrance and preparing to tell Ken my tale of woe…….there it was, like a beacon of light…….. wouldn't you know my car was sitting 2 rows closer to the entrance than I ever imagined……….SIGH!

(It's ok…..you can laugh, I won't be offended………more about Rhinebeck tomorrow…….)

Those truly linked don't need correspondence.
When they meet again after many years apart,
Their friendship is as true as ever.
Deng Ming~Dao

Some of you may remember that I went out last year to visit Margene with Carole and Terry.  I remember coming home and finding it very difficult to blog about our time together.  There was something so precious about the 5 days of grrls sharing a piece of themselves with each other…….and it was hard to describe.  It still is, but I am sure that many of you know exactly what I am talking about.

While I was at Margene's she bestowed upon me a wonderful birthday present, which contained some Claudia yarn that I was lusting after.  While on a trip this past summer, I started a pair of Claudia/Carole socks, using this pretty yarn…..in that plain stockinette knitting with the beautiful picot edging.

Somehow they were put aside to work on other fibery pursuits, but I made sure that they did not find their way into the bowels of one of my deep baskets.  I put them in the little sock bag, next to my chair so that they could wait for a free moment.  How perfect that the right moment just happens to be just a few mere days before I see Margene and Carole….and hopefully Claudia :).  It's funny how things complete that circle of friendship, even when we do not plan it.

On another note, I finally managed to get my website back online….whoo hoo!  Many years ago when the internet was in it's infant stages, I learned how to write code and do websites. 

Well….all these years later, so much has changed!  I am proud that I managed to customize the templates that I used for the new site, but I will tell you that it has been a HUGE challenge.  I think I did ok, but fingers are crossed that it doesn't blow up or self destruct….LOL.

Take a peek and if you see any bugs, let me know.  I have only scratched the surface at getting inventory back up, so I will be adding things daily until it is complete. 

I forgot how much work it can be………but I quickly remembered how much I LOVE this particular kind of challenge :).

I will leave you with a poignant picture of our fall.  Autumn in all her natural beauty is starting to pull up  her rug and say good bye until next year, but she will not be forgotten soon.

It has been a beauty of an Autumn for sure here in the mountains!

PS……I am looking foward to seeing many of you this weekend in Rhinebeck!

Hello old friend….it's really good to see you once again…
Eric Clapton

Wow…I can hardly believe that it is Oct. 12th and I have not blogged since September 26th!  I have to admit that the fair and my "real" job have kicked my butt hard this year.   I also had a few big fiber commitments that really worked me hard after the fair, but I am finally starting to feel as though I am coming up for air…whew!  I will share some highlights of the fair with you during the week.

Some of you may have noticed that my "www" website is down.  I am in the process of redoing it myself and I was definitely spanked hard when I managed to delete all of the work that I had done over the last week…..for you computer geeks…think "Format C".  Ouch!  I was hoping to get it up by Wednesday and I am still trying for that, but it may be closer to the end of the week.

Now that I have all of the "bad and the ugly" out of the way, I am going to share something very nice with you! (beware…this is a picture heavy post.)

Yesterday Ken and I took his mom for a boat ride around Squam Lake in Holderness, NH, via the Holderness Science Center

Squam Lake is where the movie "On Golden Pond" was filmed.  It is about 1/2 hour away from Ken and I and just down the river from where Ash and Brian live.  Color here in the mountains is just starting to peak and as you can see the day was just about as beautiful and  perfect a fall day as there can bee.

In the above picture, we are leaving Little Squam Lake and moving into Squam Lake.  Notice the bird flying over the water……..you will see more about him a bit later.

Squam Lake is the second largest lake in NH.  When you are boating around the lake, it is a bit deceiving as to how large the lake is because of the many little islands it inhabits.  This is one of the little islands…..I think this one is "Mouse Island", but I could be wrong.

The Squam Lake Association has very strict guidelines which protect the natural shoreline of the lake.  What you do not see when you travel around the lake is any commercialism or shoreline dotted with houses and beaches.  What you do see is pretty much what the lake looked like hundreds of years ago…..lots of natural terrain.  Houses need to be built away from the shoreline and the land can not be cleared out for views.  Whilst there may indeed be a lot of homes…you do not see them.

 
Remember that flying bird?  Squam is a natural habitat for the American Bald Eagle.  What a treat it was for us to see this majestic bird flying about the lake and finally landing in one of the trees.  I had never seen a Bald Eagle, so this was an exciting first for me.

In addition to the Eagle, the lake is home to our beautiful Loons.  Every year the lake association sets up nesting areas for the loons to raise their young. While Squam lake is a very very clean and pristine lake, mercury in the fish is definitely something that is directly affecting loons and their ability to reproduce.

I had to work hard at getting the picture of this loon as he was very busy fishing for dinner.  Good thing I had my camera strap around my neck…..'just sayin'.

See that beautiful red tree?  I was fascinated to find out that it was a Tupelo tree.  I had no idea that the Tupelo was a tree that grew this far north.  I did a little research and found that the variety of Tupelo that grows this far north is the Black Gum Tree (Black Tupelo)…one of the oldest trees in New England.  Brings it full round circle for me and the beloved bees :).

I have many many more pictures, but I think you get a feeling for the incredibly beautiful day we had.  Each year when Autumn rolls around, I truly am amazed at the beauty that surrounds me. I feel so fortunate to live in such a beautiful part of the country.

Just to keep this knitting related…..I did take my knitting along :).  There is some angora goodness in that little knitting basket…. 🙂

It sure is good to be back amongst old friends!

This morning while Ashley and I were watching the morning news with our coffee, a commercial came on that caused GREAT excitement!

Perhaps this quote will give you a hint.

"Honeybees depend not only on physical contact with the colony, but also require its social companionship and support.  Isolate a honey bee from her sisters and she will soon die."
..The Queen Must Die: And Other Affairs of Bees and Men….

Now it's no secret that I have become a huge fan of our little winged friends, so when I saw that "The Secret Life of Bees" is coming to the theater, I gave a big whOOt!!  I love this book so much that I have read it 3 times now and I know it is one of those books that I could read 3 times a year and never tire from it.

I love the personal interactions and how they tie into the quote that starts each new chapter…… and I love how each quote not only relates to the sisterhood of bees, but also mirrors our fiber sisterhood, which I hold so dear to my heart.

With a cast of Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys and Dakota Fanning, and a fabulous story line………..well, I can barely wait!

To celebrate the movie, I am going to break out the best birthday present I received this year, from a very dear friend ….you will love it!  It is just so  perfect.  I'm also thinking that when the fair is over I just may have to have a contest.  Hmmm……..I'm thinking honey yarns, bee pins and whatever else buzzes into my head…heehee.

Oh my …… Anne has done it again….another stunning shawl!

Almost a year ago, Anne started telling me about a design that she had been contemplating for some time, but could not seem to find the right yarn or pattern that would compliment the design.

As we chatted about it and I saw pictures of her first samples, I started seeing colors that I thought would compliment the design.  Colors with rich depth to give life to the design.  Whereas Anne is always seeing the patterns in things, I see the colors, which of course makes for a fun collaboration.

Anne released her pattern today and I have opened up the shop to accept pre~orders for the kits in the 2 different colorways (seen on Anne's blog).  It's always fun to work with Anne and humbling to see what she does with my yarn!

In preparation for re-opening the shop in October with hopefully a new design and a real shopping cart, I have brought in some new yarns and rovings to try.

I am currently test knitting this beautiful blend of fingering weight merino and bamboo and I LOVE it.  The bamboo has the shine of silk and the merino gives it just the right amount of softness and bounce.

Even though it is insanely busy here this week, I feel like a little kid who has been allowed to play in the toy store.  It is such a treat to love what you do for work, isn't it?

Spring was a time of swaggering declarations.
Reaching autumn, one finds few absolutes.
Life is mystery and ambiguity,
Toward winter, that now seems agreeable and comfortable.
Deng Ming~Dao

This upcoming week promises to be the week of insanity that it always is, this week before the Fryeburg Fair.  Thankfully my family realizes the importance of this fair to me as a fiber artist and is willing to pitch in when needed and overlook the dust-bunnies that will undoubtedly grow until the fair comes to a close.

I have a few small knitting projects on the needles that I will share during the week, but mostly my time has been behind the pots, stirring that cauldron. 

I thought you might like to see a few of the new colorways I have been playing with.


Harmony~Mama Mia

Harmony~Mad About Saffron

Harmony~Chiquitita

Harmony~Indian Paintbrush

The best part about doing a big fair and needing a lot of stock to bring with me, is I get to really play in the dyepot.  The colors that I like will get a name and will go on the new season's roster. The colors that either I know I can not consistently reproduce or did not come out as planned with go in my "One Hit Wonder" pile to be sold as a unique yarn.  The fair also gives me an idea on a larger scale which colorways work, and which ones do not.

The weather here continues to be amazingly perfect.  Cool, breezy, sunny autumn days perfect for drying wool.   Fingers are crossed for the same kind of weather during fair week.   I hope to see some of you there 🙂

…but I love this sweater!
Pattern:  Hey Teach
Yarn:  Rowan All Seasons Cotton
Needles:  Knit picks Options, Size 8

There are a lot of things that I love about this pattern, but there were a few things that just about made me crazy.

If you are thinking about making this sweater and have access to Ravelry, go take a look at Susan's notes first.  Pretty much what bugged her bugged me, especially not having a good selvage edge on the lace to mattress stitch the side seams….but it's a free pattern and over all a wonderful one to knit!

Ashley and I had fun with these pictures.  As you can see, my sunflowers are dressed in their Sunday best. 🙂

I love this picture of Ash pretending to take a shower underneath the flower….silly grrl!

Speaking of teachers…….Ash has decided to pursue a career in Education….so where as I'm no "teach", someday soon, Ashley will be!  Yay Ash!

The days this week have just been outstanding!  Warm sunny days, followed by cool, dry evenings.  Perfection!

Garden gossip….
Tonight we are expecting our first hard frost, so we covered up the herbs and veggies I wanted to save, along with my side flower gardens.   The covered beds look like little ghosts and goblins and scared the crap out of Maggie when she just went out…snicker.

I am hoping that some of you more experienced gardeners out there can help me figure something out. 

If you look at this bowl of tomatoes, you can see that on most of the tomatoes, where the stem is, the tomato is quite yellowish orange instead of red.

The tomatoes came off of the vines themselves and I have let them sit on the counter for more than a week, with no change in the color, even though the red part of the tomato seems very ripe.  What's up with this?

Because I literally have scads of them in the kitchen, and not wanting them to be feasting material for the fruit flies that seem to appear from nowhere, I sliced off the seemingly unripe portion, tossed them in olive oil, salt and pepper and gave them a good roasting.  I'm not a real lover of tomatoes, so I have no clue if they are good or bad.  Ash says the ripe part tastes good, so I am guessing that these roasted tomatoes that I froze will be ok….at least I hope that they will.

I still have scads more however and they all look the same on the top.   I have never grown Juliet's before, but the pictures I have seen, don't look like mine 😦

As frustrated as I am with the tomatoes….I am thrilled with the carrots.  Nothing beats a sweet, fresh, garden carrot.

Especially when you are a Woolen Rabbit!

I have to say that I am almost afraid to think that I may just have knit a sweater that is actually going to fit!  So far my track record for sweaters has not been so great.  I tend to think that I am bigger than I am and my sweaters end up ginormous.  This isn't saying that I am not bigger than i would like, but I am doing a lot right now to change that and so far so good 🙂

Ok…back to the sweater.  I am finishing up with the cap on the last sleeve today and then it will be time for blocking, seaming and putting on the neck and front bands.

I can honestly say that I have not worked with cotton for an adult sweater, so I am not quite sure how one goes about blocking cotton.

I am hoping that those of you more experienced knitters in blog land will help me with this.  Is it better to steam block as I know cotton grows when it is wet, or is it better to soak and block?

In addition to the knitting projects that I am finishing up, I have been dyeing like a crazy woman getting ready for the upcoming fair.  Ken likes to tease me with his not so witty words of "eye of newt and stir the cauldron"…aggh.  I keep threatening to put him to work if he doesn't knock it of!

The first batch of Splish Splash rovings I dyed up were done in a SW merino that I picked up a last fall from a well known vendor.  I was told it was merino, but I am not quite sure that is the case.  I decided to use this as my play roving for experimenting, so I guess it's ok.  It's definitely SW something…LOL.

The newest batch of rovings is a SW BFL which I really am excited about.  A little fly away to handle, but that fly away part translates into softness, which is nice.
 

As anyone who works in the fiber business knows, an important part of the business end is making sure that a product is something that you yourself would buy.

This is the fun part…….I can actually justify sitting behind my wheel and spinning. No need to even feel guilty that the dust bunnies are multiplying like bunnies do 🙂

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 :).