Was this not a gorgeous weekend?  For us up here in New England, Sunday was spectacular.  The weather of course was perfect for dyeing……….nice, dry and warm.  After the heat from last week, it surely was a welcome relief!

This weekend was a full one for me.  It’s hard to believe that I am really starting to think ahead for Fryeburg Fair already, but I am.  In between dyeing like a mad woman, soapmaking like a fool, I finished the first Lady Blue Sock and will quickly cast on for the second one and that will probably be the end of my personal knitting for a spell.  There’s a loom to be warped, more fiber to be dyed…..and……..and……..  Some days I feel like I am going around in circles, but it is a good kind of busy 🙂

I promised my middle daughter Ashley that I would finish her vest for her to take back to Plymouth in the fall……and then it will be fair knitting.  Well, maybe I will plan a simple stockinette pattern (hmmm….a new favorite handspun vest for me perhaps), just for those evenings when I don’t want to have to think about knitting, but rather just sit and knit 🙂

I see I am not alone in thinking ahead to autumn fairs.  Look what came in the mail Saturday…….a booklet for the Great Basin Fiber Arts Fair.  Now you may think it is strange that I would be getting a catalog for a show that happens in Utah, right?  Nope…..Carole, Terry and I are taking a trip out to visit those Utah Grrls!  It will be so fun to see Margene and Anne again and meet the great group of fiber grrls that we frequently read about on Margene’s blog :-).

I am so looking forward to this trip.  I skipped most of the spring fiber events as I was saving up for a little something (more later this week), so this will be a fun trip!

Marigolds
This is a post I did a few years ago…Marigolds truly are my favorite flower of all.

Now, I know that there are a few out there that balk at orange….and I can’t for the life of me understand why.

Orange is such a happy color…..so rich and sometimes complicated.  

Today’s Friday Flower is my
all~time favorite flower in the garden.  As fall approaches, these
babies just get better and better.

How can you not love these happy colors?

Some interesting Marigold tidbits of olde,

—Medicinal Action and Uses—
Marigold is chiefly
used as a local remedy. Its action is stimulant and diaphoretic. Given
internally, it assists local action and prevents suppuration. The infusion of 1
ounce to a pint of boiling water is given internally, in doses of a
tablespoonful, and externally as a local application. It is useful in chronic
ulcer, varicose veins, etc. Was considered formerly to have much value as an
aperient and detergent in visceral obstructions and jaundice.

It has been asserted that a Marigold flower, rubbed on the affected part, is
an admirable remedy for the pain and swelling caused by the sting of a wasp or
bee. A lotion made from the flowers is most useful for sprains and wounds, and a
water distilled from them is good for inflamed and sore eyes. 

An infusion of the freshly-gathered flowers is employed in fevers, as it
gently promotes perspiration and throws out any eruption – a decoction of the
flowers is much in use in country districts to bring out smallpox and measles,
in the same manner as Saffron. Marigold flowers are in demand for children’s
ailments.

The leaves when chewed at first communicate a viscid sweetness, followed by a
strong penetrating taste, of a saline nature. The expressed juice, which
contains the greater part of this pungent matter, has been given in cases of
costiveness and proved very efficacious. Snuffed up the nose it excites sneezing
and a discharge of mucous from the head. 

The leaves, eaten as a salad, have been considered useful in the scrofula of
children, and the acrid qualities of the plant have caused it to be recommended
as an extirpator of warts. 

A yellow dye has also been extracted from the flower, by boiling.

—Preparations and Dosage—
Fluid extract, 1/4 to 1
drachm.

From Eleanour Sinclair Rohde’s Old English Herbals:
undefined marygold we learn that Summe use to make theyr here yelow with the
floure of this herbe, not beyng contet with the naturall colour which God hath
geven the.‘ 

 Dodoens-Lyte (A Niewe Herball, 1578) says:

undefined hath pleasant, bright and shining yellow flowers, the which do close at
the setting downe of the sunne, and do spread and open againe at the sunne
rising.’

All quotes are from: http://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/m/marigo16.html

Thinking ahead to Autumn

With the summer marigolds in full autumn like color, my mind has turned to the fall fairs that although seem far away, are not really.  It’s hard to believe that autumn is just around the corner, isn’t it?


Last year I made little pumpkin hats with yarn I purchased, but this year, I have decided that I will dye my own yarn for those little hats……it will be fun to see how many different shades of pumpkin,rust, orange and green I can come up with 🙂
Have a great weekend!!!

True to my word, this weekend was spent relaxing at home and not doing too much of anything other than hanging out in the yard, doing a little knitting, a little gardening, a little soaping and serious dog grooming.

I don’t know if it is the time of year or if there is just not that much going on in my life right now.  Do you ever feel that way when you are blogging?  Trying to find words that just aren’t there?  Today is one of those days for me, so I will leave you with a few pictures of my weekend.  Pictures are worth a thousand words…..right?:-)

A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives flowers.
~Chinese Proverb

What do you think about this heat?  Ewwow!  We here in the Northeast have been spoiled by very moderate temps this summer, until this week.  Me….I am so not a hot weather person.  Great for the garden and the kids playing in the pool, but give me a cup of iced tea, that my good friend Terry got me hooked on and a sock to work on in the shade….I am a happy camper.

Speaking of socks, I have started another pair for my SOS…..but as you can see from the pile of unraveled yarn, my first attempt didn’t go so well.  I was going to knit these Artichocke Socks, but I was having a hard time memorizing the pattern.  It’s not a hard pattern at all, and I will most definitely knit a pair later, but I want another easy pattern for mindless summer knitting…….keeping the summer simple :-).  I am saving my more complicated knitting projects for the fall, so for this pair of socks, I settled on another Nancy Bush pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks.  This weekend you will probably find me sitting in the shade, with that class of ice tea and these socks in my lap 🙂

I hope you have an enjoyable weekend in your corner of the world……stay cool~

The days of summer are marching by peacefully.  Now that the girls and I have found that summer rhythm, the days are flying by……..but in a good way.  Don’t you just love those lazy, hazy days of summer?  I know I do…..but then I love when fall rolls around too.

The garden is really starting to take off and my Neapolitan socks, well, they just flew off my needles.  I love, love, love these socks!  Nancy Bush’s pattern is a perfect blend of lace and mindless knitting.  Easy to remember without a pattern, but working in groups of 12 rows, makes it a very quick knit.  As I mentioned before, the only modification I made was to not carry the lace down the foot.  I opted for a simple ribbed knit, which for me is the most comfortable type of sock foot.

In addition to the knitting and dyeing that has been happening here, I have to admit that the soap bug bit me bad again….(thanks Robin~).

In the past, I never worked with colors in my soap, but not being quite the purist that I was in my younger days, I am trying new things……….and thoroughly enjoying it!

This weekend, I set out to finally make a completely local meal.  Earlier in the season, all excited about my garden, I joined Liz’s second One Local Summer challenge.  You know…….the challenge of preparing meals from food purchased (and grown) locally.

It’s not nearly as easy as I thought it would be.  So much of what we eat, is trucked in from hither and yonder….especially up here in the North Country. 

My meal is a simple one, but oh so yummy!  Strawberry Oat Pancakes.

Strawberry’s:  Sherman Farm – 10 miles
Milk:  Sherman Farm – 10 miles
Eggs:  Moat Mountain Farm – 4 miles
Oat Pancake Flour:  Littleton, NH Grist Mill – 59 miles
NH Maple syrup:  Littleton, NH Grist Mill – 59 miles

I have always said that I am not good with any kind of "alongs" and this is no exception, however, what this challenge has done is make me much more aware of how and what my family eats.  The nice thing is……….it is also forcing me to look outside of the normal things that we always eat.  Oat Pancakes?  Who knew that the kids would actually eat them…………and LIKE them? 

Other than a little knitting, my weekend was spent weeding the flower garden and bathing the dogs.  Here are a few pictures of the youngest member after her bath, saying…………Nope, you can’t take a picture of me……I won’t look at you……..I can’t possibly stay still that long……heehee!

Not really a flower…..but then again, those tomatoes came from a flower…right?

Yesterday’s little harvest gave us our first pesto of the season…yum!  It’s been a few years since I have grown basil, but I quickly remembered why homemade pesto has been a big favorite in my house…..so much better than store bought…and so easy to make!

Pesto
1c fresh basil leaves
1/4 c olive oil
1-2 cloves of garlic (minced)
1T pine nuts
5T Parmesan cheese
1-2T melted butter

Toss all of the ingredients into the food processor starting with the basil and pine nuts, heat in the microwave for a minute to warm up…….then eat.  Yum!

Look ma……..soap!  One of the other things that I managed to squeeze in this weekend was making a batch of soap.  I used to make a lot of soap, but somehow it has been one of the things that has fallen to the way side a bit.  Remember when I told you that Robin was a giver….well, she was kind enough to point me in a new direction with soaping.  The ingredients are the same, but the process is a bit different and of course, I am always eager to try new things, so out came all the old pots and utensils.

My first batch came out……..well………not so great, and sadly I had to toss it, but I am very happy with the second batch of Rosewood Geranium…wheee…  With fall fairs around the corner, it will be fun to get in touch with the soaper deep inside of me again 🙂

On another topic…………did you see that knit picks is offering 40% off of most of their books?  It’s a great time to pick up those titles you have been wanting!

This weekend was a weekend of rest after a crazy, busy week.  My work week last week became much busier due to an unforeseen event……so much so that I even had to shut down my aim, just so I could concentrate on getting work that needed to be done, finished….eek!

So….after the craziness of the week, I was ready for some rest and relaxation… and for me, that means a cold glass of wine and a date with some knitting needles, working on some SOS socks 🙂

As I mentioned before, I am using Nancy Bush’s Child’s Silk Sock pattern from Vintage Knitting, for this Neapolitan sock, but I made a few slight changes to the pattern, which will make it more comfortable for my foot inside of a shoe.  Instead of carrying the lace down to the toe, I opted to do a ribbed pattern that lined up with the lace and I added my regular kitchner stitch toe.

The yarn is a different one for me. I have had trouble getting my usual base yarn, so I ordered a different superwash/nylon blend.  When I first got it, I wasn’t sure that I was going to like it because it is not merino, but rather a lambswool.  Having finished the first sock however, I am very happy with it.  The texture reminds me of my favorite socks that I live in.  They have truly been used and abused and still look like new when they come out of the wash.  I will still work with the merino blend when I can get it again, but this new yarn will be a new regular staple for me as well.  I think it is a yarn that will hold up well over the long run.

Other than working on my sock and a little on Hypotenuse, I spent my free time giving the garden a much needed weeding.  Man……it never ceases to amaze me how fast those weeds grow!

The weather was perfect though, for just spreading out a towel, turning on some tunes and just plugging away at it.

The weather here in the Northeast has been pleasantly warm, but the nights have been pretty cool, so the garden isn’t growing quite as fast as it probably would otherwise, but it is starting to show signs of promise.

We’ve had a few meals with some of the romain lettuce and this week, I will have a few ripe sungold tomatoes and green peppers.  :). 

As much as I really hate the bugs……it makes me smile when I walk down the garden paths and see the little veggies happily growing.

Do you remember those little candies?  You know, the ones with the pink,brown and white stripes….those coconutty ones?  Those little wrapped Neapolitans?…mmm.  That is exactly what this yarn colorway reminds me of.

Now normally any one will tell you, I am not really a pink person, but somehow this combination of pinks and browns has captured my attention.  I first saw it on the Sundara Yarn page, but alas it is no longer being sold.  I saw it again in Margene’s stash and was smitten all over again.

Well, if you can’t buy it…….I say, dye it.  The colors are almost victorian in appearance and begged for something lacey, so once again, I am knitting Nancy Bush’s Child’s Silk stocking from Vintage knits.  After the last sock, I needed something a bit more mindless, but with enough pattern to keep my interest and this fits the bill :-).

In keeping with the pink theme, I bring you a pink snapdragon as my Friday Flower.  Snapdragons have been a long time favorite of mine in the garden and the best part…….if you neglect them a bit in the fall, they happily reseed themselves and surprise you in the spring!

With all the rain this week, my gardens have been happily growing a lot of weeds too…uggh!  A weeding we must go this weekend for sure.

You may remember in a previous post, I spoke about my feelings on life’s givers and takers.  Well, this past week, I have met one of the givers and am happy to count her amongst the new friends I have met in blogland.

A few weeks ago, Robin had a comment contest and I won a prize :-).  I rarely win anything, so I was pretty
excited, and even more so when Robin’s gift arrived.

Enclosed along with N.Epstein’s Knitted embellishments were some lovely things that Robin made herself. Some VERY yummy soap and beautiful stitchmarkers.  Over the week, Robin and I chatted about the many things we have in common….it is always so nice to meet a kindred spirit.  Go over to her site and say hello………you won’t be disappointed.