This past weekend, I mentioned that I had traveled up north to visit with a friend.  Last Wednesday, Hannah and I jumped in the car and traveled North a little ways thru Crawford Notch into Littleton to have lunch with Judy.

The day couldn’t have been more perfect for a road trip.  The temperatures were almost autumn like with a warm breeze and the sun was smiling on us.

We met at this fabulous little cafe that looked out over the Swift River.  Even Hannah who sometimes does not like to travel out of her own back yard had to admit that it was a nice day, especially when it included a trip to Chutter’s, home to the world’s longest candy counter.

Right next door to the cafe is a little grist mill, where you can find locally ground flours, oatmeal, pancake mixes and maple syrup.  Given that I am trying to participate in Liz’s One Local Summer, I snagged some of each.  Whew……..I never realized just how hard it can be to create meals comprised of completely local stuff.  The fruits and veggies….not so hard, but it is the other things, such as flours, butters, etc that are a bit more of a challenge….but that’s for another post.

After a little chatting,
a lot of laughter and a great lunch, it was time for Hannah and I to wind our way back home thru the Mt. Washington National Forest.  As pretty as the mountains are in the winter, they are even more so in the summer.  The lush colors of green against the blue skies………..just beautiful!

There was a purpose for this trip besides just a visit with a good friend.  You see this fabulous toy……..it is an electric winder that Judy’s significant other made for me.  Let me tell you what a life saver this has been for me.  What has made it extra special to me is that some of the maple wood on this was handmilled by C from trees on their land in VT.

Up until now, I have wound and rewound my skeins with a niddy noddy to the point where I thought my arm might go on strike, but with this new little toy, I have been able to quadruple what I can wind in an afternoon and my shoulders are greatful.

With winter not to far in the distant future am trying a few new heavier weight yarns….what a dream it was to use this winder with them :-).  Thank~you Judy and C!!!!!

"Though I do not believe that a plant will spring
up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that
you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders."
— Henry
David Thoreau

Have you ever worked on a pattern that didn’t bring you joy, but when you finished the object it gave you great joy?  This is how it was for me with these socks.  The pattern is the New England Sock from Knitting on the Road and I used the recommended Koigu. 

Now, I do love Koigu….I mean I LOVE koigu, but when I knit with this yarn, the fabric that I like the best is produced with size 0’s (2.0mm) and this is what the pattern called for as well.  To me, it is amazing the difference a 2.25mm makes in terms of ease on your hands.  I find that knitting with the 0’s causes my hands to cramp up from time to time and even more so when doing a lace pattern. 

This particular lace pattern was not one that I could seem to commit to memory, which meant carrying the copy of the pattern around with me when I was knitting, so it was easy to put this second sock down and work on other things……..but having said all of this.  I absolutely LOVE these socks.  I know that they will be my new favorite socks.  I love the pattern, the yarn, the color and the fabric.  Nancy Bush is a master when it comes to sock patterns!

In between work, dyeing and knitting, I have been working in the garden.  Ok……maybe I have more weeds than I would like, but truly I don’t mind weeding, so a day of weeding will happen next week.

What I do hate however are the bugs.  I have quickly remembered one of the reasons I put my last garden to rest a few years ago……….cucumber beetles…..sigh.

How is it that this pretty beetle, who by the way matches my Big Yellow Yaxi socks so nicely can create such havoc in a garden.

Early every morning and again late afternoon, I go into the garden and pick off as many as I find, but of course the next day there is a new batch of pretty black and yellow relatives happily munching on my yellow cucumber flowers.  If any of you gardeners….Liz, Norma...out there have any non toxic suggestions, give me a shout!

I will leave you with a few pictures of my favorite garden things……

Today is July 7, 2007 and is considered to be a very lucky day, however, last week was my lucky week for sure!

Over the year I have been participating in Lynne’s special swap and have had a very nice time getting to know new people.  The best part of this swap is that you know ahead of time who you are swapping with, so you get to make new friends 🙂

This time around the theme was a Garden Party theme and my swap partner was Sue.  My package arrived this week and was full of garden goodies.  Starting off is this garden journal, which will get a lot of use for next years garden.  I love the idea of keeping a garden journal.


Of course there were lots of yummy goodies and some very nice teas, along with a great smelling bar of soap, which pictured here are all tucked in a pretty planting tin.

And the yarn…….some very soft Frog Tree cotton along with some peaches and cream cotton, that my youngest daughter quickly snagged for her very first crochet project.  The blues will be used for some soft cushy wash cloths I think, to go with some new soaps that I am considering trying……and rounding up the package were some nice flower seeds, some great candles and some pretty flower plates.

Thank you Sue!!!

Since Iris is the Greek goddess for
the Messenger of Love, her sacred
flower is considered the symbol of communication and messages.
Greek men would often plant an iris on the graves of their beloved
women as a tribute to the goddess Iris, whose duty it was to
take the souls of women to the Elysian fields.
–   Hana No Monogatari: The
Stories of Flowers

Have you ever seen such a stunning Iris? My middle daughter, Ashley spends her summers working as a gardener and always carries her camera with her.  These little lovelies are from a garden in Maine that she tends to every week.   I never realized that Irises came in such a beautiful array of colors…….who knew?

So how’s your summer going?  Mine has been crazy busy!  Working at home during the summer is always a challenge for me.  The girls are home from school and college, the phone never stops ringing and the interruptions could make a sane person crazy.  The first few weeks of summer are always an adjustment finding a new routine that works for all of us.  Hopefully next week will find us back in a comfortable groove again.

This week also brought a wonderful swap package, a really nice surprise prize winning gift, a trip up north to visit with a friend who sent me home with something special and hopefully I am going to wrap up the week with a finished object and a locally made meal.

I was going to try and cram it all in this post, but as my daughter would say……..that is way too much information (TMI), so instead, I am going to try and be diligent and post just a little bit each day.  🙂

As a footnote, thank you all for your kind words of support for our community here.  Thankfully they caught the man who did this.  His callous comments to the media were just unbelievable.  The only word I can use to describe this man is evil……….just evil.  Hopefully he will stay behind bars for the rest of his life.

I was originally going to write a long post about cashmere early this morning, but the events of this day kind of put fiber and posting on the back burner.  I will write a little about the cashmere and a little more about our day.

Cashmere…….it’s a wonderful experience.  Last week as I took some time to visit with my big lendrum girl, I pulled these 3 different balls of cashmere roving out of the basket.  Each one of these were purchased from different vendors and each one was very different than the next.

The skein to the far right was purchased at NH Sheep and Wool and let me tell you, I so wish I had grabbed one of this vendor’s cards as it was by far the best cashmere I have ever spun.  For any of you out there who have spun cashmere, you know just how short those fibers can be.  I’m talking less than an inch.  If there is another method of spinning it other than inchworming along, it is beyond my capability.  This roving however was so wonderfully prepared that it made the spinning pure joy.  If any of you out there know who the man was that was selling little bags of cashmere for 12.00 an ounce, give me a shout 🙂

The white cashmere was purchased at Rhinebeck from Galina and this too was a pleasant roving to spin.  Not quite as smooth as the one to the right and a bit ramy smelling, but still nice.

The last skein to the left was also in roving form, but not quite as nice to spin, which surprised me given where it came from.  A lot more neps, very ramy smelling and a bit coarser, which of course was still pretty soft considering it is cashmere.  Hopefully a long soak in a bubble bath will cure the ramminess 🙂

I have a bit more of the white so while I am spinning on my big girl, I will be contemplating what to do with these lovely cashmere skeins 🙂

………………….. and now the sad part of the day.  Last week I saw a commercial on tv that kind of stuck with me today.  I don’t remember what the advertisement was for, but each person in this commercial casually makes a comment similar to " In 2 hours I am going to be in a car accident" or "on my way to work, I will be killed by someone who runs a red light, etc."

Earlier today, 3 people were shot in our little town.  2 of them are dead and one is in critical condition.  This all happened about a mile from my house in the store that my daughter’s ex-husband was the assistant manager of until just 2 weeks ago.  The only thing that we do know is that the manager, who was also a friend to Stacey and Dan was one of the men killed.  This happened shortly before the store opened.  This man, has a wife and 2 small children and today was just another day……..but then again it was not. 

In spite of state troopers, police, sheriffs and helicopters searching, the shooter was not apprehended and is still at large.  Everyone in the village was asked to stay in their homes with the doors locked while they searched for this man.  As I sat in my house, on the unusually quiet street, listening to the drone of the helicopter most of the day, I thought about that commercial and just how fragile life is. 
So if you think of it in your quiet time this evening, please say a prayer for the families of these people and an extra prayer that they find this man who caused such havoc in the lives of good people.

Do you suppose, that waiting hands on eyes,
Veronica has gone to hide?
and all the time she laughs at those who shout

her name and steal her clothes.
Veronica, Veronica, Veronica

Veronica sits in her favorite chair
she sits very quiet and still
when they called her a name that they never get right
and that they’l know nobody else will

well she used to have a carefree mind of her own
with a devilish look in her eye
saying you can call me anything you like
but my name is Veronica
Elvis Costello

Although the single stalk of Veronica is not necessarily a breathtaking beauty, it has always held a special place in the garden for me.  You see, Veronica was my grandmother’s name and is the middle name of both my mother and her sister.  As a young child, I was always mesmerized by that name.  Not quite sure if I loved it or loved it not.  It was also the name of the bossy vixen in my favorite childhood comic book, The Archie’s. 

These days though………I love it, the name, the flower and the song!

It’s been pretty quiet here on the knitting front as I have been battling hard, resisting the temptation to jump into something new. 

I have promised myself that I would finish the projects that have been languishing in my project basket.  This is when it is so very hard for me to fight that lovely ADD gene that I seemed to have inherited.  Starting things is never a problem for me as the excitement of something new is always so invigorating, but finishing things that are bigger than one sock……..well, ummm…..that is a different tale.

Having finished the wool peddler shawl, I have moved on to the next project in the basket….Anne’s Hypotenuse, worked in dk brown silky wool.  This wool is fabulous stuff!

Once I finish this shawl, I will give myself to work on my next lace project with my laceweight yarn.  The picture doesn’t capture the color very well….it’s much softer.

I also have a yummy pair of koigu socks that need to be finished before I can move on to this vest that my daughter caught sight of on knitscene.

Thankfully she is a small girl, so there is a very good chance this will be finished before she heads back to Plymouth for the winter (her boyfriend is a grad student)

That’s it for now………….have a GREAT weekend!  The weather here has finally cooled down, so we will be outside enjoying the days 🙂

What an absolutely gorgeous weekend we had here in New England!  The temperatures were almost autumn like with a warm breeze.  If the weather could be like this year round here, I think I could die a happy woman! 

I spent Saturday at Parker River Alpaca Farm with some fiber friends, including my good friend blogless Manise.  Do you think I took a picture?  Of course not…I was waaay too busy chatting away.  (I dont’ get out enough….LOL).  Cheryl was snapping away, so I’m betting she will have some pictures up soon.

As you may remember, I was really sweating the yarn situation with my Wool Peddler shawl.  I had sent out an SOS to Judy, but she had been away, so I kept plugging away on a prayer and a song.

As you can see, the shawl is finished and as you can see……..I just barely made it….eek!

Just as I was finishing up, Judy did email me to let me know that she had some more of this yarn.  Whew…….even though I didn’t end up needing it, it was good to know that had I run out, I could have found another skein.

All and all, this was a fabulous knit and one I would do again :-)!

Pattern:  Interweave Knits, Folk Shawls…Wool Peddler Shawl
Yarn:  Ball & Skein Merino/wool dk weight
Needles:  Knit Picks Options, size 7

 

babtisia……..one of my favorites in the garden.

Accomplish your visions.
Persevere in your ambitions.
Only then can you negate
Visions and ambitions.
Deng Ming~Dao

I finished my hooking project and it came out well, but not perfect.  I will be hooking a bit more over the next week, so I will share the end result next week.

In the meantime, I am sweating bullets with my wool peddler shawl.  Have I shared with you how much I love this pattern?  Or the yarn?  This is one of those patterns that I could just keep knitting and knitting….reminiscent of Birch.

As all good things must come to an end though, so it is with this shawl. I am winding down the home stretch……..but the question is…… am I going to have enough yarn? 

I have one more row and then the cast off, and this is what I have left……..EEK.  There are a lot of stitches on the needles.  If I cast off a row before I should, it may make the bottom edge look unbalanced, so I sent out an SOS email to Judy last week.  Fingers are crossed that she will have one more skein if I need it.  Did I tell you how much I love this yarn?  If I didn’t…..let me tell you it is scrumptiously soft and wonderful to knit with.

Oh….and before I end this post, I have a little treat for you if you have not already seen this.  Go take a listen to this…….you won’t be disappointed…simply amazing!  Keep your eyes on the judges….too funny..heehee!

Have a Great Weekend!

I bet that title caught your eye…heehee!  Ok, I will admit it I am a knitting snob.  I can honestly say that have not touched a crochet hook since the late 70’s.  I know, I know…hard to believe but true.  Shhh…don’t tell anyone.

Come a little closer and I will tell you a little story………………

Once upon a time there was a little muffin, who as a show girl was destined for great things.  Now this little muffin has one fault……..her ear feathers grow very slowly.

With a big show just weeks away, finally, finally, those lovely ears were growing nice and thick…….nosiree, no more puppy ears for this little lady. ….those ears were showing the promise of good things to come in a show career.

I bet you can guess what is coming next…….yep…you guessed it.  AGGHHHHHHHHH…………was it Maggie?  Moths?? 

Nope…………..it was the little Muffin herself.  Now this little muffin is almost always with me, but one day while I was busy dyeing yarn and going in and out of the house hanging skeins, I had put her in her crate for some quiet time.  This way I wouldn’t have to worry about her scooting out the door.  Did she have a toy in there to chew?  Why yes she did……but for some reason on this day, she decided that she needed a little more fiber in her diet…..sigh.

Well, when little girls chew on their ears, they get to wear a thing called a snood.  Silly word for a silly hood.  Normally I put one on the girls when they are eating to keep their ears out of their food, but this little miss is wearing one whenever she chews anything…..toys, treats, etc.

Right about now, I bet you are wondering…"what the heck does this have to do with crocheting?"  Well, I will tell you.

See what looks like a jumbled mess to the right?  Colorful isn’t it?  This is one of my favorite snoods. Cleo’s breeder sent home with her when she was a wee one and another one with little Miss Skyy.  I like the crocheted mesh as it makes it hard for the dogs to get off.

Every now and then though the little muffin will manage to get it off and the last time she did, why that big girl Maggie grabbed it right out of her crate.  It seems that Maggie needs a little fiber in her diet as well.

So……….as the story goes, because I love these snoods so, I broke down, bought a beginners learn to crochet book to refresh this aging memory, some fixation yarn that Julia just happened to be destashing and a hook.  The little bag was a practice project….. Voila! It appears that I am hooking once again…..but sshhhh….don’t tell anyone.

I spent the weekend both working in the yard and working on some loose ends.  One of the goals that I set for myself this weekend was to finish up this roving, that Marisol gifted to me earlier this spring.  It’s the "Takes Two" colorway, spun in a fine sockweight.   My 15 year old keeps begging for some mittens made with this yarn, but I go back and forth between mittens or some ankle socks for her.  Maybe there will be enough to do both 🙂

I am really resisting the temptation to start something new.  I have a number of projects that I have started over the year, that I would really love to finish.   I don’t know why I have such a hard time staying faithful to one project.  The lure of something new is always tempting me…..so many lovely yarns, so little time…..

So…..in addition to spinning the CMF roving this weekend, I also worked on the Wool Peddler shawl from Interweave Knits Folk Shawls.  I should finish up with this tonight and have it blocking tomorrow (I hope  anyways….).  This will be a nice shawl for the fall festivals.  I’m thinking that I would really like a sweater in the gold colors that are in this yarn.  Maybe something in Silky wool…..mmmm…..