rolling rolling rolling

Most recent in the wood-fired oven playtime was seven-grain bread, including some loaves with dried cranberries -- my favorite bread ever. I'd say Scott's getting pretty good with this thing.

Meanwhile, guess what handknit has become a favorite sweater? Warms a knitter's heart.

Last spring, when we committed to five solid months of farmers' markets (which meant Scott baking like a crazy man every Saturday and all of us at the market every Sunday, in addition to fitting in his usual wholesale accounts, my work, all of our social stuff, and then piling two more farmers' markets a week on top of it all), I actually had a moment of wondering if we'd be far enough out of touch at the other end that our weekend calendar would have ghost town tumbleweeds rolling by.

heh heh...I crack myself up.

The last of the summer markets was last Sunday. Plans for this weekend include:

Friday: uke band gig/halloween party, pizza b'day party, African children's music performance.

Saturday: uke band/community singalong, wedding of an old friend (costumes encouraged! more old friends there too! friend's kick ass band playing zydeco!), neighborhood Halloween silliness, costume party/potluck dinner.

Sunday: concert in MA that we're totally psyched about.

:::insert sarcastic tone and exaggerated eye-rolling here::: I sure do feel sorry for those poor unsocialized homeschooling kids of ours, sequestered away from society and living an isolated life. ;-)

Sunday, Fiber Sunday

Yeah, there's still knitting and other creative stuff going on around here, but there has been a lack of blogging about it over the past couple of weeks, mainly because I'm in the never-ending portion of the Hemlock Ring blanket, where it's over 600 stitches per round, not especially portable, and growing at a snail's pace. Rather than bore you with pics of the brown blob in progress, let's instead look at some shots from an absolutely beautiful sunshiny, friend- and fiber-filled yesterday.

Jesse was on a romp with my mom and Scott was laying the brick portion of the new porch foundation, so Leah and I started the day at the Coventry Farmer's Market's Fiber Twist. Unfortunately, the Goob had what is probably her first ever full-blown migraine by the time we got there, so we found her a cool, shady, grassy slope at the edge of the market, where she crashed hard for a 45-min. nap that, in combination with some Tylenol, seemed to work the magic. While she was sleeping, I met up with some new friends to enjoy a dyeing demo by Kris at The Painted Sheep.

As Anna from Annavations was doing a needle felting demo, we bumped into some old friends and eventually wandered off among the fuzzy criters, yummy treats, droolworthy fibers, and smiling faces everywhere.

We bumped into quite a few other folks we know and met more along the way, so the whole thing felt like a big happy festival. Leah picked out some goodies from The Painted Sheep and, of course, at a farmer's market brimming with fresh, locally grown produce and nutritious gourmet delights, she also chose some fudge. :-)

Home for a salad for lunch, to balance out that fudge, then out again to the Farm Day celebration at a historic home turned living history museum in town, where we again ran into friends and acquaintances everywhere we turned, chatted with the sewing ladies, the spinners, the weaver, the llama people, the blacksmith, the artists, the shoemaker (visiting for the day, but previously known to us from Old Sturbridge Village), some of my mom's neighbors, and participated in a little archaeological dig. We were tickled to be recognized from previous visits there and asked with much enthusiasm to consider becoming volunteers with the historical society in our town, since we obviously have such an interest in the fiber arts and support of living history.

Once Leah recovered from her greenish pukey state in the morning, there were countless exclamations of what a great day we were having. Jesse arrived home soon after we did and told us of his day's fun with Grandma. Scott reached his goal for the brick work for the day and we all settled in for a movie in the evening, during which I chugged away on the big blanket rounds and Leah pulled her spinning wheel in front of the TV and dove into the Plummy (burgundy, rose, navy) bluefaced leicester roving, getting it about half spun before the day's end.

upward

Sunday's farmers' market theme was Blues and Brews. The weather was stellar, the blues band excellent, the free beer samples from local breweries and a homebrew club oh so tasty.

The beer garden field was like a party within a party. I ran into someone I haven't seen since I was about 20 and enjoyed much of the day with knitter friends and other friendly folks. By the end, Scott was nearly sold out of baked goods, so he swapped a bit for some of those homebrews to take home and then sold the remaining items to one of his bakery accounts who didn't order enough for the weekend and left a message on our answering machine saying she'd take anything he could make to help her restock NOW. Sold out day = Yay!

We had Saturday fireworks and Sunday rocket launching, so much looking skyward this weekend. Outdoor cooking, outdoor eating, and plenty of soaking up the sunshine that has been absent for weeks.

My secret project is moving along nicely. I expect a couple more days with a mail delivery like this as part of the process.

I'd show some knitting pics, but nothing is pictureworthy right now. Oh, speaking of pictures, I can haz them! New camera purchased when I braved mall hell zone on Fri. I am so not a shopper. Anyway, back to the knitting, there's been progress on Scott's gansey, the green leafy wrap, a pair of socks (with a big boo-boo that may or may not end in a restart of one), and Leah's swallowtail shawl.

Rec'd word that Glastonbury Glassworks has been accepted as a vendor at Spa Knit and Spin in Maine this Feb. Looking forward to that.

Otherwise, there's another big project in the works, the research and discussion of which is taking up the remainder of our spare time. We're thiiis close to taking the plunge on it and then it'll get fun. Will talk about it here when we make the leap.

We've also been enjoying a house guest for the past few days. He's a spunky little imp whose morning energy results in an entertaining game between him and our big ol' Kodi girl.



Me in flannel jams. Shexay!

the difficulty with scarves

It appears that this summer, my knitting is all about the scarves. This is all fine and well, as they're easy to take along to the bazillion fantastic events and work on while my attention is elsewhere, but they make very poor blog fodder. They're like the Energizer bunny; they just keep going and going. I'm probably 3/4 of the way through the scarf I was working on in Vermont, but a picture now wouldn't look much different that it did then, so instead of sharing a picture of the knitting, I'll share some pictures of places where the scarf was knat upon last weekend.

First, summer Shakespeare. Again! The weather allowed us to see two of three shows we planned for the weekend (chosen from at least five offered at different venues around the state!), Merchant of Venice and Much Ado About Nothing. We've seen the latter group of performers in the past and absolutely adore their riotous shows.

Met up with friends for a visit to a colonial encampment and farmers' market with friends on Sunday morning. Learned some interesting trivia while touring the Nathan Hale Homestead and couldn't help but notice the huge walking wheel and hand cards in a sparsely furnished room.

Leah and I participated in a customers' favorites trunk show at Creative Fibers on Sunday afternoon. A group of us brought our favorite projects for a show and tell about the pattern, the yarn, the challenges, the results. Visitors to the store during the afternoon each voted on their favorite. I entered my Garden Patch cardigan and handpainted gloves. Leah entered her Seven Sisters cabled mitts, wrap cardigan, and Imagine hat. We enjoyed the afternoon of hanging with knitters and one guy who visited the store with his family even commissioned Leah to knit him an Imagine hat, so she was thrilled!

Didn't make it to the third Shakespeare show of the weekend because of rain (upon snagging that link, I just noticed they had an indoor alternative in case of bad weather -- oh well), but the timely offer of a cookout was a yummy substitute. Between the two performances and the ukulele group's singalong(!), I probably added 7" to the Rivolo scarf. It's not possible to knit during the ballroom dance classes Leah and I have been taking, but otherwise, thank heavens for a hobby (obsession!) that's flexible enough to fit into so many settings while we're otherwise engaged.

arts extravaganza

A few years ago, I bought a bunch of enameling supplies at a tag sale. Enamel is powdered glass, so it can be used on glass beads. I love the look of this, so I jumped on it when I saw the listing for the tag sale. Scott has used a little bit here and there, but we still have lots of supplies, so I've gotten some books from the library in an attempt to learn how to do enameling, with no success. As a matter of fact, Jesse and I kind of melted some things we didn't mean to melt the last time we tried. ;-)

All enameling classes I've seen are 8-10 weekly classes 1-2 hrs away from us and I haven't been enthusiastic enough to make that kind of commitment, so the stuff has been stashed, just waiting. Finally, I saw a listing for a 1-day enameling demonstration by Lilyan Bachrach at Worcester Craft Center . Perfect! I figured that's a low budget, low commitment way for me to get an idea of how it's done, so I'd know whether I wanted to pursue it further, on my own or with one of those longer class offerings. What I didn't realize is that Lilyan is an absolutely delightful 91-year-old enamelist who is very respected in the field and has written an excellent reference book on the art of enameling. If you read her bio (linked to her name above), you'll get an idea of the irreverent style and entertaining anecdotes that made time fly for the 3-1/2 hour demo.

I only have the most rudimentary understanding of how enameling works, but I think that's enough to get me started. We'll have to pull out the tag sale stash and give it a try one of these days. Still, even if I never touch the enamels again in my life, I am happy to have had the opportunity to spend an afternoon with Lilyan.

The enameling workshop was actually on the tail end of a big weekend of events for us all. We volunteered with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra on Saturday and then enjoyed their live performance of the music of the Wizard of Oz, shown on the big screen at the Bushnell Theater. We were aiming for a performance of dances from around the world after that, but the time and price were incorrectly listed on the info I had, so that didn't work out.

While I was at the enameling workshop on Sunday, Scott, Jesse, and Leah were back at the Bushnell for The Lord of the Dance performance, our birthday gift to Leah, who has wanted to see one of these shows f-o-r-e-v-e-r and could barely contain her excitement. They had excellent seats for the show and thoroughly enjoyed the intermission conversation with folks around them.

By the time we all met back up on Sunday evening, we had so much to talk about! We caught up over dinner and spent the rest of the evening relaxing at one of our favorite places, the perfect place to wind down after such an exciting weekend.

yo mama

Saturday was the International Yo-Yo Open and New York State Yo-Yo Contest, so kids and I were up bright and early to head into the city. The event was held at the South Street Seaport, which was a perfect place to spend this beautiful summer day, on the waterfront with skyscrapers behind us and tall ships all around.

Yo-yo competitors were there from around the world, doing some of the most amazing tricks. If you haven't seen what yoyoing is lately and still think it's either up-and-down or walking the dog, take a look at this video for an example of the kinds of tricks we saw. Radical!

It was kind of crowded with a few hundred spectators to the front of the stage area, so I parked myself in a good spot off to the side, where I could still see the performances, and took advantage of some knitting time in the sunshine. Between the train rides and the yo-yo time, I'm now 1/3 of the way through my lace ribbon scarf -- yay! I was joined by Cindy, the dyer of Apple Laine yarns and mother of Devon, Canadian yo-yo champion, while waiting for his turn to compete.

We walked along the waterfront, checking out the Brooklyn Bridge and two of the New York City Waterfalls.

Eventually made our way to Playing The Building at the Battery Maritime Building, where David Byrne from the Talking Heads has rigged up an old organ so each key actually plays a part of the big empty building -- tinking a radiator, vibrating a metal beam, blowing air through a plumbing pipe.

Back to Connecticut on the train in time for yet another Shakespeare performance. This time, it was Much Ado About Nothing, with a Flower Power twist. Leonardo daVinci from Kathleen Krull's Giants of Science series, book on CD borrowed from the library, provided entertainment during the car rides. I saw a rainbow while on the way home on Friday afternoon and a shooting star on the way home on Saturday night, perfect bookends to an awesome day.

Met up with some friends at the farmers' market on Sunday morning for a corn roast and contra dancing. By Sunday evening, we were all toast and the threat of rain would likely cancel the performance we were hoping to see that night, so we settled in for a movie and some mitten knitting. I was happy to get back to work on Monday so I could rest. :-) Who knew those first yo-yos from the kids' Grammy last Christmas would lead us to such fun?!

easy being green

Flutter scarf I'm knitting, Alpaca Sox yarn, 1/3 complete, looking forward to the amazing transformation that comes with blocking. More green and less gray than it appears here.

Historic miniature gaming battle with a group Jesse and Scott belong to. All green with no snow on that battlefield? Clearly a fantasy game!

Fun and funky felted green hat created by a fellow knitter and spinner at Second Sunday Fiber Artisans.

Four of at least 10 spinning wheels in motion at Sunday's gathering. Notice that porch door hanging wide open in the background? It was almost 50º outside! Even though blooms are still months away and it got pretty chilly later in the afternoon, you could practically smell the green in the air and nobody wanted to close that door!

And at night, a thoroughly enjoyable planetarium show and jaw-dropping views of the nearly full moon through rooftop telescopes. No little green men or their spaceships visible, though. :-)

weekend meanderings

No, we didn't make the doo-dad above, but it seems to illustrate the past few days quite nicely. We have gone in all directions, together, in pairs, and as individuals, to try a little of this, experience a little of that, visit with this person and those folks, intermittently checking back in at home and focusing on things here too.

It all started Thursday, when a 36" floor loom, much like this, came into our lives as part of a visit to the beautiful northwest corner of Connecticut.

Then there was the sewing. The Goob has used the sewing machine off and on over the past few years, but is lately consumed with making clothes for herself and her dolls. So there have been small skirts and shirts, working up to her plan of making herself a dress very soon.

I have no idea what prompted them all, but Saturday morning there was a string of calls from old friends. Leah and I were on our way to Vermont, so we missed them, but Scott got to chat with everybody and passed along their news later in the day. Meanwhile, Leah and I spent the day at the Jamaica VT Fiber Festival and Webs for their tent sale, running into friends and acquaintances at both destinations. Hoo boy, did we come home with some fun goodies!

Scott and Jesse had an outstanding time at Armed Forces Day, Three Centuries of Soldiers and Their Weapons at the Springfield Armory in Mass. Jesse finds this place fascinating even when there's nothing special going on, so he was absolutely in his element for this big event and told me all about it, with such enthusiasm, when we were together again in the evening. If you know Jesse, read the itinerary at the link above and I'm sure you can imagine his delight. :-)

Leah was away for a sleepover on Saturday night. Scott and I bumbled our way through putting the new loom together on Sunday morning. Anybody with half a clue about weaving would've laughed at us -- the blind leading the blind -- but with the help of the internet and some library books, we think both looms are put together properly and ready to warp with the yarn from Webs.

In between all this was painting of a bathroom, installing some refinished doors, fixing basement stair treads, clearing out the fridge by making many lasagnas, that pesky work thing, getting new tires on the Jeep, and winning a $100 gift card! The second sleeve of my sweater has also been lengthened and I spent some time with an awesome weaver doing a demo on a 300-year-old loom (kids were busy with a geography puzzle/game, so they chose to stay home).

A forecast of thunderstorms and hail caused us to cancel a picnic and fishing jaunt with friends Sunday evening, so we instead fetched a triangle loom and figured out how to use it. Clever, clever, clever! At bedtime, Leah was weaving in her room and Jesse was working on a Lego safe and plans for something that involved plumbing valves and the shop vac as an air compressor, so I can't wait to see what they pop up with this morning.

hey, I made something!

Lookie, I made a happy knitter!

Another Deb, who just happens to be a knitter and a homeschooling mom, stopped by our booth at the farmers' market on Sunday for a quick try-on of my sweaters that were up for grabs. And believe me, it was a hot day, so it was a quick try-on.

They fit, she likes 'em, and they went home with their new owner. Yahoo!

and back in the yarn department

Oh, we've been a'stitchin' and we've been a'turnin' and we've been choosing upholstery fabric and all that good stuff, but behind the scenes there's still that yarn obsession going on. So it's no surprise that when Lori tagged me for a meme, it's all about the knitting. The meme goes like this:

Find the nearest book
Open to page 123
Type lines 6-8 of said book
Tag three others

(I won't tag others, but I will otherwise play along.)

The nearest book is Jackie Fee's Sweater Workshop, which has helped me concoct patterns for the last three or four sweaters I've worked on.

"Work the sequence in two colors, or as many as will fit into a sweater. Work a
purl round, leaving the sequence in between as stockinette. Work the sequence in
reverse for a yoke."

This section of the book is called Inspiration Abounds. It gives some ideas for pleasing patterns and design ideas, and helps open your eyes to more all around us. It also talks about the Golden Mean and the Fibonacci Sequence, both of which were also discussed in the box turning workshop last weekend.

Anyway, this book is front and center because there's a whole lot of knitting going on here. Both sleeves are bound off and I'm working on the neckline shaping of Leah's sweater. Since I'm making it up as I go along and that requires a little concentration, I decided to start a simple cardigan for myself so I'd have something easy to work on during a knitfest with some of my favorite peeps on Sunday. Again I'm using the Sweater Workshop to work up the pattern. The only enhancement to this otherwise plain stockinette cardigan is a picot edge, as shown on Purlwise. I'm using the yarn Scott spun from a merino and tencel blend. He used three different batts and I was hoping it would blend to give sort of a watercolor effect...and it does. :-) As a nice change of pace, this somewhat thick yarn is working up FAST. I cast on Saturday evening and expect to finish the first sleeve today or tomorrow. That's cool because I can't wait to wear this yummy soft sweater.

Attention: spinner friends!

It's been one of those weeks, IYKWIM. There may have even been tears. I'm giving myself this evening off. I already took a nap and that helped a lot. Just had a yummy dinner and now I'm gonna plop down in front of the tube and watch a flick. Rare for this to be my plan for the evening, but honestly, I'm toast. No guilt, no goals.

So, I found myself rummaging through the roving stash and came up with 8 oz. of an oh so (not) surprising colorway for me ;-) -- blue, green, purple. I don't think I want stripes, so I'm trying to spin the colors into each other to tone it down and blend it a bit. Problem for this newbie spinner is that the stripes are going parallel with the fibers, so if I were to tear the batt into strips, I'd get strips of a single color and that's not how I want it. At least I think it's not how I want it. I don't know what this yarn will be and I barely even know how to spin and I'm kind of a basket case tonight anyway, so who knows what I really want?

Anyway, I'm trying to randomly bring in fibers of the different colors as I go, but it's a little bit of a struggle to keep all four colors involved, even intermittently. Maybe it's easier for people with more experience, but for me at this point, it's a challenge. Or maybe it's the nature of the beast when the different dye colors are applied parallel with the fibers.

The kids just pushed Play for the movie, so I'm going to spin and veg, but I'd appreciate any suggestions about how you'd handle this roving. Actually, while I was typing this up, it occurred to me that this could make a fun baby surprise jacket. Maybe some with the barberpole-y blended yarn, some with single color stripey yarn. That's good plan so no matter what, it'll work out well, but I'd still like to learn a little more about my options to have more control over it, so LMK if you have any tricks, please!

BTW, check us out approx. halfway down the Coventry Farmers' Market newsletter for the Fiber Twist this Sunday. Looking forward to a great day!

happy accident

We watched a documentary about Teddy Roosevelt a few days ago. I had heard the Roosevelt home in upstate New York was an interesting place to visit, so early Saturday I plugged it into my phone for directions and off we went for a fun day trip on our very first free weekend after five solid months of farmers' market commitments. Cold and sunny day, Stuff You Should Know podcast for all to enjoy.

It wasn't until we reached our "destination" that I realized we were in the wrong place. We were at the home of FRANKLIN D. Roosevelt, not Theodore! Hm. Well, we were there, so might as well check it out. Good thing we did, too, as it was an interesting tour in a beautiful location. We had watched a documentary about FDR and Eleanor a few months back and the kids remembered a lot of it, so that tied in nicely.


I loaned Eleanor my sock-in-progress on the way out because she was an avid knitter and her hands in this sculpture are totally positioned properly for knitting. I think the artist chose to skip the knitting in this portrayal, but from what I saw elsewhere, if she and FDR were hanging out like this, there would have been sticks and string in her hands.

It ends up that right up the road was a Vanderbilt mansion, where we had an outstanding tour with a funny and engaging guide. This included a stunningly beautiful view along the Hudson River as we walked around some of the expansive property.

Just a few miles in the opposite direction and we were at Eleanor Roosevelt's cottage, Val-Kill, a heavenly, humble cottage in the woods.

So then we looked up where Teddy Roosevelt's house is -- Long Island. Hey, no dog at home to worry about, no major commitments on the calendar for the next day, so let's go, I said, and off we went! Nope, we didn't have luggage or a plan, but it didn't matter. Spent the night in the area and visited Sagamore Hill on Sunday.

Took the ferry as a shortcut to home, during which time I knit, Scott watched football, and the kids had a blast exploring the boat.

A happy accident, for sure!

growing and giving

With very little input from me, the kids put the finishing touches on their Halloween costumes on Friday, then we headed out to help friends move. It was hard work, made so much easier by many helping hands. It was satisfying to see how enthusiastically the kids pitched in and how truly helpful they were able to be, now that they're bigger and stronger and so very capable.

Saturday afternoon and evening were spent volunteering at Old Sturbridge Village's Halloween event, Things That Go Bump In the Night. The forecast was awful, but after the first 20 minutes of heavy rain, the skies cleared and it was a perfect haunted evening. Luckily, it seems that most of the guests were not deterred by that cruddy forecast. Thousands of guests, most in costume (including many adults!), enjoyed a nearly full moon, 1,000 jack-o-lanterns and many torches lighting the village, smiles and shrieks galore. My big kids loved helping to provide a good time for the littler folks and Scott was a big hit as the dancing mummy seen through the fog and the red light in the cider mill.

Leah and I tidied up the yarn stash this weekend and got together a big box to send to the Knitting Ladies group at Interim House in Philadelphia. Lots of leftovers from previous projects, partial to whole skeins, many of which have been gifted to us and others that just aren't likely to be used, for one reason or another. The box is crammed full and ready to go, so we get the double benefit of a cleared out stash and good feelings from being able to help others knit.

While cleaning out, we also came across the Irish Hiking Scarf that Leah knit for charity this spring. Now that the weather is turning cold again, it'll be in the mail to the National World War II Museum's Knit Your Bit program this week.

I cast on this neckwarmer on Thursday afternoon and bound it off Sunday evening. It was my first handspun yarn, from two Grafton Fibers batts. I used the Yarn Harlot's One Row Handspun Scarf stitch pattern. I worked on it during the play Thursday evening and while chatting with Scott's side of the family yesterday afternoon. Because the yarn is bulky, it knit up fast into a super thick fabric. I used almost the whole skein in this neckwarmer scarf, fastened with two of Scott's glass buttons. (They're not a perfect match, but they'll do for now. He hopes to get back to the torch soon, now that the bakery season will be winding down, and I can always replace the buttons later.) It's a little loose on Leah, but it fits me nicely. Because it's so thick, it stays up to keep the full height of my neck warm.

Tonight, in the Halloween spirit, I'll be hanging with the vampires at at apheresis department of the American Red Cross, where they'll take my plasma donation while I enjoy a movie. Scott's a regular donor there too and we joke about it being our spa treatment, our rest and relaxation time.

Whether it's muscle power or Halloween fun or yarn or plasma, we continue to find that the Red Cross is so right on when they say, "Give...all you'll feel is good."

a holiday. or not.

Some of my offices are open on this Columbus Day Monday, so in my head it's a holiday, but the reality is that I might only be able to squeeze out a few hours of being off. That's okay, though, because the kids and I have a beautiful hike planned for later today. Meanwhile, here are a few snaps of things that made me smile in the past few days:

Most adorable yarn label ever, on the yarn I picked up at the Thurs. farmers' market. The writing on the sheep has faded now, but each label tells the name of the sheep the wool came from.

Some of the fabric given to Leah by a very kind customer who has become a friend. She's an elderly woman now, but many years ago, her sister worked at a textile mill somewhere in CT and the sister was able to take home yards and yards of fabric. When the sister passed away, our current customer inherited all her boxes of fabric. Since she hasn't been able to sew it all and loves to chat with a certain young seamstress working at the bakery booth, she's unloading some treasures and Leah is delighted.

Irish step dancing, AWESOME live music, yet another incredible autumn day, a massage for me, and friends galore at the Sunday farmers' market. (BTW, this is about one-sixth of the market. It's a biggie.)

My second Lacy Baktus with Edge in progress, this time in Koigu. I see a few misplaced YOs where I didn't KBL on the return row. They don't show too much with this busy colorway, but I think I'll change the increases to M1s to avoid the oopsies. I'm also going to do a little stitching at the points to pull that last sawtooth all the way across the end. The first Lacy Baktus has been worn by me or Leah every day since cast-off. Love. it.

While writing this post, work came in from two more clients, leaving only one that may or may not be closed today. I'll check that next, but it appears my holiday time is dwindling. Oh well, if I dive back in now (have already been working for a few hours this morning), we should still have enough time for that hike before dark!

---

ETA: Just checked on that last client. Not only are they open today, but the doc who makes the most work for me is on. :::headdesk::: (no, not really. happy to have the work, but would've been equally happy to lounge and hike today, y'know?) That was a quick trip from holiday to a hoppin' workday!