Summertime Visitors

Remember how I blogged about there being a ridiculous amount of rain a few months ago?  Well, now we haven't had any rain to speak of for the last month and a half or so.  I suppose it's too much to ask for something in-between?  At least it's good pool weather.


While hubby worked on the garage last Sunday, I cut the lawn weeds shrubbery that had managed to grow despite the weather.  The wild life like it either way...2 fawns are already getting used to our yard being a destination and this attractive-looking (and also smelly) varmint has also put us on the "list".  We were very glad Magic was already in the house!

Tonight, I was planning on taking my spinning wheel out on the patio and enjoying a very nice evening. However, the skunk is back.  In a way, it's kind of funny.  You see, my daughter was out front with both her dog and mine when I went out to hang out, too.  At that point, I just quietly called for the dogs to come in (they did) and DD just looked at me in bewilderment.  I suggested she turn around so that she could see the skunk that was about 40 feet behind her.  I'm half thinking that maybe I should call one of those nuisance wildlife trappers to come take it away.

Speaking of the garage, the walls are done (insulated, drywalled and painted).  This weeks hubby-do list includes running gas line for heat and water lines for the washing area.  Equipment is slated to arrive around the end of August.  I have much paperwork and preparation to do!

I'm Still Here!

It's been the usual spring/early summer busy around here.  However, I just haven't quite gotten the routine down yet.  After being out of work for two years, I'm out of practice for squeezing in tasks and chores wherever I can.

Don brought home pounds of pure beeswax.  I thought about selling/giving it away as it, but it had darkened with age, so thought my chances would be better if I made candles.  I have a rather large collection of jello molds that I like to use for molding soap, so just used those, drilled the hole for the wick & threaded it through.  Of course, what seemed to me a small project turned out to be a much longer duration...*melt wax, oil mold, pour wax, cool overnight, unmold, find that about 20% stuck to the mold*, repeat from * to * until sick of process.  I much prefer soap!

Meg continues to work with her baby, Sugar.  Every time I see them together, there is something else that has improved:  This show was all about how much calmer and relaxed Meg was, which translated to a much calmer Sugar (even if she didn't perform as well as she should have).  Considering that this is the second day of a two-day show, being stalled in a strange place and all that waiting around until it's your turn, they did OK.

This is the year of the rescue critters.  Magic is just turning out to be a charming little dog.  She just wants to please me and Don.  Maybe me a little more...gotta say, that's kind of gratifying, if a little small-minded of me.  I mentioned that I would really like to have a cat around.  I just like them.  Don, not so much; he likes other peoples cats.  Despite that, he pointed out a cat that was on the website for the city shelter.  Not only did she seem to fit our desired cat-specs (female, not a kitten, not geriatric, spayed, preferably declawed), and the price was right as cat adoptions were free.  I wasn't going to argue, so off I went right after work one day and picked up Daisy.

Again, we seem to have gotten lucky in rescue land.  Not only does she meet all the above cat-specs, but she is affectionate without being too needy, even tempered, does not crowd the door to get out and she and Magic get along (a non-event).  I'm guessing her reason for being at the shelter is perhaps neglect (rather than abuse), her lovely fur is patchy from matt removal and she's on the thin/undermuscled side.  Daisy is going to be one gorgeous cat in no time at all!

Magic says:  "What is that cat doing?!?!?"

Same old, same old...

Well, it's back to raining so much that the snails have had enough.  The local creeks are high and overflowing.  I'm only thankful that we haven't got the problems of the scale that people up and down the Mississippi and in Manitoba have had this spring.

The weather service says we had an inch of rain, but let me just say that an inch of rain does not look like this.  This is Black Creek in the village and that is a spillway, not a ripple.  I know as a kid, that spillway was way over my head, so I'm guessing it's about 10-12 feet tall.

Our road is still above water and let's just hope it stays that way.  There is yet more rain predicted for the the few days, so that could change.

Earlier this evening, we had a visitation from a laundry demon.

I supposed I should be more concerned, but then I've always been a kind of haphazard housekeeper.  Besides, it's mostly the hubby's stuff anyway.

What a difference a month makes!

Last post I was kind of whining about the weather, it really was a long stretch of beastly.  Really now, when you start getting snails on the windows on the second floor of the house, there has been enough rain!

This week, however, it's definitely spring.  In the last few weeks there have been many, many changes around here.

We've gone from no leaves, to wee baby leaves, to fully leafed out trees.

Best. flower. ever.  Daffodils are great, they grow around here and nothing eats them.  Best of all, they are just so  cheery to see in the spring.

Spring has brought some other hugely good news around here.  First off, I finally got a job.  You have no idea just how much this takes the pressure off.  I am an information technologist for a local non-profit and do a bit of everything from computer maintenance/troubleshooting, translating between the real geeks and the people I work with, to regular admin-type stuff.  I'll also be learning how to be the webmistress of their site, so that will be something new to me.

Other good news, well, the day before this job was offered to me, hubby and I went off to Canada where we not only had a big dish of poutine, but put down a deposit on a carder and a picker.  Yes, that's right, the mill project is a go!  There is much to be done between now and when the equipment is ready...insulate the garage, a bit of wiring, some plumbing and a million other things that will need sorting out.

I'd best take some "zoom" lessons from Magic!

Enough Already!

This last winter was a long one; there were no big storms to entertain and challenge us, just boring, unending precipitation, usually frozen.  Today, it's snowing again.  Not sticking really, but enough to be really discouraging.  Enough already!  

Magic is showing signs of settling in well and even starting to play a little.  We've brushed off our obedience training and have started to train her to the invisible fence.  She seems to pay attention to it pretty well, but we haven't tested her off leash yet.  We need to work on "Come" and that's a hard one to learn.  I'm not above using bribery, so just a matter of finding the bestest-treat-in-the-entire-world.  

We've also learned a couple of things about Magic...she is bird crazy.  Totally nuts for them.  Will attempt to climb trees.  She feels the same way about rabbits.  The training directions for the fence say to create a distraction that will really test your dog.  I'm trying to figure out how to get the birds and bunnies to cooperate.  So far, they are not placing themselves in just the right spot and staying there.  

Since the weather was just so dank the last few days, I decided it was time to put together the loom I bought over a year ago.  It's a much bigger loom than my LeClerc 24-inch Dorothy.  It is a 4-Harness Studio Art loom made by Newcomb Loom with a 42" max weaving width.  The interesting part of this project is that I had no directions; only a couple of pictures from the internet.  Trust me, it was something like crossing tinker toys, lincoln logs and tetris, while at the same time not sure if you really have all the pieces or not.

The good news is that, yes, I had all the pieces (except for one nut, replacement easily found in DH's stash) and I seem to have gotten it all put together properly.  I'm washing the apron, have taken off the old warp and am seriously contemplating getting new heddles.  The ones on there now are the flat style and are just full of lint from the mohair that the previous weaver liked.  Never mind that they're full of fuzz, I'm not sure that I like them at all as they seem to catch on each other and bend very easily.  Any one have an opinion on wire, flat or string?  This loom will be used primarily for rag rugs and saddle pads, although I wouldn't rule out other textiles.

Even More Deer and Magic

I think (and we'll say it very, very quietly) that maybe the worst of winter is over.  Mud season has commenced.  One thing that hasn't changed is that we still seem to be a destination for a small herd of deer.  The other day there were 6 way in the back.  Yesterday, there were 5 in the front yard.  They were so close that I couldn't get a picture of all of them at once.

Even though it has not been long since we had to say goodbye to Gypsy, we just couldn't stand it and commenced looking for a new dog.  This is Magic.  She originally came from a shelter in Kentucky and has been fostered up here for a almost 3 weeks.  She's supposed to be a 2-year-old, 42-lb. cattle dog mix and that seems as good as any other guess, maybe a bit of boxer?  Magic is a bit cautious and timid right now, but then who can blame her with all the changes in her life?  She is warming up quickly to us and is showing signs of wanting to please us.  We'll be spending quite a lot of time obedience training her (she just doesn't know much) and what an invisible fence is.  Magic does seem to be quite smart, so neither will be much of an effort, I'm thinking.

Gypsy

Gypsy made it possible for me to survive some very difficult times.  She was a gentle soul right to the very end.

Rest in peace, dear Gypsy.

Oh Deer!

We live in "outer-suburbia" and have a 5 acre lot.  Every year, we notice that traffic in our little world has increased.  It has become apparent that we are a destination, even a rendezvous (depending on the time of year).  Until the snow gets deep, the critters just run up the bank by the road out front.  As the snow gets deeper, they just use our driveway, like any other visitor.

Now that I'm outside at night to take Gypsy out, I get to hear/see all kinds of critters.  Depending on the time of day, we can see deer, rabbits, skunks, possums, fox, hawks, owls and even coyotes.  Only once have I seen a coyote, but we hear them often...really spooky sounding, too!  Some mornings, after a fresh snow, it looks like there was some sort of party out there with the number of tracks criss-crossing the snow, mostly bunny and deer tracks.

Our larger visitors, white-tailed deer, can often been seen during the day and almost always hear them crunching through the snow at night.  One day there was a group of 6 grazing out back.  A few days later, this single buck was just behind the trailer, near our firewood storage.

Clearly, he still has both his antlers.  Just a few days prior to that, I found this rack, sticking out of the snow, near the turnaround in our driveway.  Deer naturally shed their antlers this time of year.  It's a good-sized one, 4 points and weighs almost 1-1/2 pounds.

I think I'll be figuring out how to make a basket out of it.

Finished Objects!

You wouldn't think that I would be this busy just after the holidays and in the full winter gloom that we get around here.  Usually, like many, I just want to semi-hibernate:  stay inside and warm.  Kind of like Gypsy.  A bit of news on Gypsy, she, very suddenly, has gone blind.  Other than confused, she is in good health and we are learning how to be seeing-eye-people.

Be warned, this is a picture heavy post.

Remember all those felted mittens that I wanted to get done before starting anything else?  Well, I did do them first, so there!  Good thing as this winter has been an old-fashioned one:  cold and persistently snowy.

DD purchased her own home last year, so, after reuniting her with her belongings, I've painted her room and moved some of my toys in there.  I have a small loom to put in there and come spring, will assemble the large loom that is in storage.

The drum carder, swift and ball winder can all stay set up and ready to use and there's still space left on that table to sit and work on projects.  There's room for my finished goods, room for the wardrobe (contains various crafty items in bins), a place to hang the tower of yarn (gotta love Ikea) that contains sock yarn, alpaca, novelties, special stuff and a even a spot for those leftovers.  There's a big closet that has shelves and a dresser in it for even more  storage.  It's actually taking a bit to move into so much space as I want things to go where it makes the most sense.

There is room for the spinning wheels (all 2 of them) for when they're not in active use.  Keeping the living room as clear as possible for Gypsy is a must do and is going to help me stay more organized.

So what do I do after knitting and felting 5 pair of mittens?  Lace, of course!  This is the Diamond Fantasy Scarf (designer Sivia Harding) that I've lusted wanted to knit for ages.  By chance, I won some Claudia Handpaints yarn at knitting guild in December and found the pattern that I had gotten awhile ago.  I must say, this was one of the easiest lace knits I've ever done.  Another nice thing is that you knit the border  on at the same time as the rest, so when you cast off, you're done (other than blocking).

Also instigated by knitting guild are the 2 projects on the right:  Flower Power Elephant (Ravelry) and Pyramid Project Bag (Knitting Daily).  There was an unloved yarn swap in January and I was the recipient of a ball of bright blue mohair.  Bah!  I'm not a big fan of knitting with mohair.  However, February brought a contest of finished items from that unloved yarn and the little elephant won a bag of goodies for me.  There was a journal, a calendar, some yarn, a goofy ball and even a little light to put on your finger so that you can knit in the dark.

OK, the cat mittens were actually done last year, but they just got their picture taken the other day.  I showed them to my neighbor, along with another pattern from the same designer.  She called after Christmas and wanted a pair of the lucky horse mittens.  Glad to oblige.  Another good thing from Ravelry:  Being able to get terrific patterns from terrific designers like Jorid Linvik.  Do check out her other patterns.  Seriously, I think I must get the zebra pattern, maybe more.

The cat mittens are handspun, gray from Crik and blue from Bob G.  The horse mittens are alpaca (white) and wool (brown/red) commercial yarns.

Hmmm, what next, you ask?  Well, I fell in love with the Yarn Harlot's silk mittens.  Lo and behold, stash diving came up with a nice blue & yellow package of silk mawata.  Perfect!  Pictures will be reserved for another post.  Now then, now that we're all caught up, I'm going to go play with some silk!

Happy New Year!

How 'bout that...managed to get through another year.  For the most part, this last year of kind of benign, but, to be honest, there was lots of not-good stuff over the last decade.  Enough of the past, except to show that I actually get some stuff done around here.

Mittens were knitted (and even mailed) in time for Christmas.

These are socks for Mom.  EZ's moccasin socks...look wonky, fit great and are fun to knit.

There are a bunch of mittens still to be finished (none for the holidays).  3 pair of felted mittens (1 grown up, 2 kids), all in some stage of doneness.  My plan is to get these done before starting anything else.

I have lots of plans and ideas for projects for 2011.  I think my resolution ought to be to try and be more productive!

Be-Weave It

 OK, so I stole the title from Handwoven's e-newsletter.  Anyway, I've been weaving and knitting.  Much delayed projects that assorted activities conspired together to eat up time that I should have spent at the loom.

The blue and white runner is almost 60 inches long with plain fringe.  The green and gold runner is 48 inches long with twisted/knotted fringe.  Both are commissioned pieces.  How 'bout that?  Who would have thought that someone would order handmade stuff from me?

 She also bought the green scarf that was done earlier this year.  Love it and am glad that I have more yarn to make more of them.

 I've also been knitting many mittens to be felted:  3 down, 2 to go.  One pair was supposed to be for an adult, but felted a bit on the small side, so I'll just knit them again using the next size up.  Good thing there are children next door!  No pics of them yet as none of them have cuffs, not the best look for a mitten.

I've also got a few more projects to knit for Christmas presents.  Not entirely sure they will all get done, but we'll see.

I have all the decorating to do, but that actually goes pretty quickly.  A fair amount of shopping is done; need to do some online and then a few stocking stuffers.  Not bad for the first week in December...how about you?

Spin This!

I dare you.

It's a Grape Day in the Neighborhood...

 Last post was all about the peaches.  This post is all about the grapes.  DD has mostly green grapes, but has a few Concords, which we used for the pie filling.  Granted, the picture does not show the full extent of our madness:  7 qts. pears (OK not grapes, but I'm including them anyway), 30 qts. grape juice, 10 qts. grape pie filling and 15 pints of grape jelly.  I'm happy to say that there are no more grapes.  However, there are many, many apple trees and the first bushel is already in the garage waiting for me.

September is the month that our guild sponsors the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival.  I was really quite restrained this year:  one Corriedale fleece (already washed), 4 rovings, a couple of patterns, some honey and some beeswax candles.

Just so I don't have to find a home right now for my acquisitions, the indigo dyed wool is spun, the lime mohair/shetland blend and the brown shetland/mohair blend are both partially spun.

I finally decided to get a picker for myself; a box picker that should be coming in the mail this week. I will, of course, blog about it.

The skein & garment competition (which I coordinate) was as stunning as ever.  Our members and area fiber artists are truly talented and it is a pleasure to get to see their entries every year!

I'm still debating on whether or not to go to Rhinebeck this year.  I really don't need a thing, so it  might be fun just to go rummaging about.  The only problem is that the bus leaves very, very early (like 5 am and it's an hour's drive just to get to the bus).

Recently, we tried something new:  giant puffball.  They're OK, lightly mushroomy tasting and quite soft in texture.  This is one of 3 that we found and is about 12 inches across and about 8 inches tall.  Take it as you will, one way it's kind of heart-shaped and the other way is more of a full-moon shape.

I'm Peachless, Just Peachless

The town is doing a bit of maintenance on a nearby road.  While I appreciate the warning about loose gravel, I'm amused by the placement of the signs.  I know that I don't really need to be told not to pass while only about 50 feet from a stop sign, not to mention that you will run out of road shortly after that.

The last few weeks have been all about peaches.  Many, many peaches.  DD has about a dozen peach trees on her new property, so there has been much picking and processing.  We have done frozen peaches, peach jam, peach butter, peach syrup, peach bread and peach crisp.  For something completely different, 4 loaves of zucchini bread were baked today.

I can honestly say that I am very glad that peach season is over.  There are no more peaches on those trees.  Being peachless is a good thing right now.

I'm Melting...

Wow, it has certainly been a very warm, very humid summer this year.  It's about 90F with a humidity around 70%.  It's so hazy that it almost looks foggy.  The dogs have retired to the basement where at least the floor is a little cooler and the cats have melted.

I am not even going to attempt anything more strenuous outside other than dipping in the pool (water temperature is a balmy 87F).  This is a welcome break from the yardwork.  I'm going to try to get enough fans near my loom to weave for awhile today.

There has been minimal spinning as I just don't want to even touch wool when it's this warm.  I have, however, been knitting.  Not knitting anything hugely exciting:  dishcloths and swiffer covers.   I'm stocking up on these as they've been selling well.  I'm also almost out of catnip mice, so will spend an evening making more.

Other news is that I'm going to participate in a arts show for the first time this month.  Last year, it was billed as the Recession Art Show, so my inexpensive bits & pieces should go over well.  DH has a bunch of Victorian end tables that we'll take.  They are so reasonably priced and nice looking.  When I look at what we're taking, it seems that we are actually a bit on the trendy side...used, but fabulous furniture, repurposed materials into pet toys and cotton accessories made from US & Canadian yarns.  Hmph, how did that happen?

WWKiP Day

For the first time ever, I actually remembered that it was Worldwide Knit in Public Day.  Not only is it WWKiP Day, but it appears to have grown to 9 days.  I'm sure there are many stories behind that.  Some of them probably involve knitters having no real sense of how long it really takes to knit something.

I think that sitting in the back of hubby's pickup, keeping daughter's dog company and me out of the way counts.  We had all been drafted to help load up auction purchases.  Luckily enough, I got to spend a fair amount of quality time with this summer's traveling sock...started out close to where I wanted for leg length and wound up well into the gusset.

Also learned something...when you knit on 11" circs and forget to grab a couple of dps to work the heel, it is quite possible to knit the flap and turn the heel with all stitches on the circs.  I thought about setting aside the top stitches on a string, but realized that I was also without a crochet hook.  Slightly awkward, but definitely doable.

Clearly, I need to do some restocking of the necessities!

Freight Trains

Saturday was our regular meeting day for the spinning guild (Genesee Valley Handspinners Guild) and is something I always look forward to.  Of course, I was running a bit behind and got behinder as I was stopped at a RR crossing for a 10-minute long train.  Would have been easier to wait if I had gotten around to starting another travel sock or if Tim Horton's were on this side of the tracks, not the other.  Finally got on my way, stopped at Tim Horton's and there despite many fey maneuvers by other drivers on the expressway.

When I went to leave, a friend said that I might just want to check one of my tires.  I did and it was close to flat.  I drove down the street far enough to get some air in it (which is when I found the rather large screw in it) and made some phone calls.  The air l put in lasted as far as the repair shop where the time estimate went from an over 2 hour wait time, to one hour to now.  Yeah, I wandered off and bought the crew some cookies.  I was real happy with that as I had a hot date with another freight train.

That train was the Freight Train Tour that had 3 really great performers:  Chris Young


Josh Turner (gotta love that low, low voice!)

And last, and definitely tallest,Alan Jackson

The people watching was almost as entertaining as the concert itself.

What a great evening...out with the hubby, daughter, her boyfriend, cold beer and some of the best country music you'll ever hear!

How did that happen?

I don't really know where the time went.  It really doesn't seem that long ago that my girl baby came into this world.

It seems like I've been one step behind her (and often confused) ever since.  Meg has always chosen her own path with great determination and often finds success down that path.  Sometimes not, but she learns from it and moves on.

Most days, I'm still confused.  Where did this smart, funny, gorgeous, competent and responsible young lady come from?  Most of all, how on earth did she get to be 25 years old tomorrow?

The Finish Line!

There have been a number of projects around here, but I'm happy to say that I can cross a whole bunch off my list.

• Finish painting the hallway, laundry area and bathroom:  Done
• Wash & mend Sugar's blankets (DD's horse):  Done
• Reinforce seams on Mom's PJ's:  Done
• Scrape finish off 8 drawer oak file cabinet (1st step to repair/refinish by Hubby):  Done
• Traveling socks from last year:  Done (SSS had set in, but I was really getting tired of the same old carry-around project.)
• 2 scarves planned, woven, off the loom and look like what I intended:  Done

and, last, but not least,

• Skew Socks for Knitting Olympics:  Done (A week late, but still done.)

In my defense, may I offer the following:

• Painting:  Something else always seemed to get a higher priority.  By the way, if you paint inside in the winter, the paint dries so quickly that you can immediately start on the second coat...went much faster.  I can't tell you how pleased I am to be done.
• Mending horse blankets:  Must wash first and it takes days for them to dry this time of year.  They have to dry outside as I really don't want the house smelling like a barn.  It's a good smell; it just has it's place.  There's already another to do...horses sure are tough on their wardrobe!
• Scraping finish:  It's a dirty job and the basement is kind of cold, so it tends to get towards the bottom of the list.  Good thing is that there have been a few nice days so I've moved outside, weather permitting.
• Weaving:  A highly addictive activity
• Second Sock Syndrome:  I have developed a nasty case of it.  The traveling socks have been languishing in my purse since last summer, getting a couple of rows done at a time.  The Skew Socks for the Knitting Olympics fell prey to SSS and over-confidence...I have a week to knit one sock...no problem!
• Wii:   DD wanted me to go along on a couple of excursions that I couldn't really knit during (it was dark).  She was after a Wii console, which turns out to be a bit more difficult to obtain than one would think.  She was also successful...how do you say no to "Play with me, Mommy!" (even if she is 24)?
• Late winter snowstorm consisting of heavy, heavy wet snow.  Broke down and shoveled path up the stairs for our Gypsy.  Even after all the rain over the last few days, there are still remnants of snow.  And now it is mud season.  Gypsy really doesn't like playing "dunk the foot in bucket until clean".  

In addition, I answered an ad on craigslist for some pencil roving.  I love this stuff to knit with as the garments are just as light as a feather.  When I got there, I found that there was 6-1/2 pounds of the stuff in three colors (white, light gray, dark gray).  He also had a set of hand cards, a metal clamp-on Nilus LeClerc Swift and a ball winder.  Yep, all of it went into the truck.  Looks like a pretty good reward to me!