Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you out there who qualify!  

I took Mom some lilacs earlier today.  Lilacs are really big around here and the Lilac Festival is in full swing in the city.

I also made her up another tea cozy.  According to Tea Cozies, "A naked teapot will never do!"  This book is just full of patterns that will make you laugh out loud.  There's probably going to be more of them coming off the needles, they're just that fun to do up.

There has been some time spent with the spinning wheel(s), too.  I finished the latest batch of samples, washed and labeled them. Old dogs can be taught new tricks...labeling your skeins with what they are and when you spun them really does make life much easier when it comes time to actually use them in a project.  

Our spinning guild, Genesee Valley Handspinner's Guild, had a 2-part program the last few months:  making our own chair pads from The Shepherd's Rug.  I finally finished mine up tonight.  I was unable to be there for the how to braid workshop, so my braids were a bit on the small side after felting.  The plus side of that is that I had lots and lots of braid, so I made two chair pads, then sewed them together around the edge.  When I got done, it occurred to me that I had just made a high-end sit-upon.  Those of you who were girl scouts will remember making those.

Last night, I couldn't resist taking this picture.  As you can see, it was excitement plus around here; from the left are Bubba, Gypsy and Smokey.  Not pictured are the napping elsewhere Trouble and Sadie.

New Beginnings

Spring has finally sprung around here.  I sincerely hope that I will not see another snowflake until at least October!  It's supposed to be quite warm this weekend, up around 80F.  The day the leaves all come out on the trees is always amazing to me.  One day, trees are all bare branches and the next they're covered in fresh green leaves.  Maybe that will happen this weekend.

Yesterday, I visited a friend of mine.  Her guard llama kept an eye on me while I fed this little guy.  His name is Homer.  I'd never fed a lamb before.  He went right to it and very efficiently emptied his bottle.  Every time I think of his little tail wiggling at the speed of light, I have to smile.

Here are some of his pasture mates.  Linda's sheep are all Shetlands and she is a very good shepherd.  The wool from them is just a delight to spin!

The pillows that were started the other day are finished.   Cutting my first real project off my own loom was pretty cool.  They are a bit smaller than I thought they would be; I still need to work on my planning skills for weaving projects.  

There is an antique show this weekend, so I'm hoping that at least some of them will go home with someone else and some green will come home in my pocket!

Note:  Very slow at the antique show, but all of these attractive pillows are available on my brand new Etsy shop...link is on the left.

Finished Stuff

Hopefully, I'm getting past the deadly combination of "I have lots of time to do ______", "There's always tomorrow to get _____ done.", "I should probably do _____ instead."  Pick your phrase/excuse; they're all about the same.

Finishing items on the to-do list is rather rewarding, especially if there are few fun items on it.  DH, DD and I have gotten quite a few tasks done at my Mom's new (and old) home.  I've been helping DH with some of his jobs and getting a bit of a start on outside clean up on nice days.  

It's supposed to be rainy/chilly tomorrow, so I'll do the normal job hunt thing first, then I'll see about getting some seeds started.  It's a little late, but only by about a week.  

The weaving class ended last week (sigh).  The teacher, Joyce, was just wonderful.  The perfect combination of knowledge, encouragement and teaching skills.  My first project were some mug rugs.

Another project that had been hanging around for awhile was to do something with a friend's horse's mane. Yikes!  The stuff is not a pleasure to spin.  Even combed, it is coarse and it doesn't really want to be spun.   Bits stick out and are quite prickly.  I stuck with it long enough for a small skein of singles that I steamed to set the twist.  Then I used a Weavette loom to come up with a small square.  That and some stash fabric adds up to a small purse.  

There is a small antique show next weekend, so I thought I would see if some handwoven pillows would go over well.  I've got the loom all warped and part of one done.  All of the yarn is Kitchen Cotton out of stash.  Might as well use that to test the waters.  

A Belated Easter

I don't know what it is lately (and can't even blame it on the job upheaval).  I just can't seem to get around to posting regularly anymore.  There is a routine, of sorts, around here.  I spend the morning job hunting, applying and following up on any leads. 

 The rest of the day is spent at various activities that often include helping my DH out with his jobs, some sort of fibery stuff (carding, spinning, knitting, weaving, even a bit of sewing), outside stuff (if nice enough to be out...spring is dawdling, at least as far as warmer temperatures are concerned) and even, occasionally, a bit of housekeeping.  

My DD suggested that I should consider some self-employment of some kind and I find the idea really quite interesting.  I've been giving quite a few ideas some thought and there are some that are coming to the top.  I'm thinking that 2 or 3 of these would work out...simultaneously, too.  None of them would be a big enough "bang" to cover household expenses by itself, but added up, they might just work out.  Still mulling over the possibilities.

At any rate, Happy Belated Easter to all of you from the Easter Beaster!

One guppy got a lot bigger!

In many areas, things are working out pretty good.  Some are fun, some not so much. 

A bit ago, we had quite the thaw, followed by some pretty chilly nights.  This gave me the opportunity to take some pictures of ice stuck to the landscape at a level much higher than the current level of the water.  I don't know why, but I always think that's kind of neat.  The geese?  I suspect that they are local birds, or at least ones that don't go far from the area.  Earlier this week, I saw some really, really big flocks of geese heading north, so that's a pretty good sign of spring to come.

Not so much includes paying the bills, getting those medical appointments that you need done (and don't want to do) scheduled and gone to, filing income taxes, cleaning, etc.  

The really big guppy?  Well, I got let go from my job a few weeks ago.  Quite suddenly and unexpectedly.  Not sure which is worse, knowing beforehand that you're on the block or no warning at all.  I spend the mornings job hunting:  searching postings and following up on previous applications.  No responses as yet.  I may need to rethink the kinds of jobs that I am applying for and also get signed up with a few temp. agencies. 

Fun stuff includes learning to weave, stash diving for spinning fiber, and knitting.  My hubby found the loom last year and it came home with us.  I had a friend go over it and she let me know what I needed to start weaving and strongly suggested that I take a class.  I listened up and started the class a few weeks ago.  Hubby made me a few weaving tools and some shuttles, so I can practice at home, too.  

I've found that spending a fair amount of time with 

fiber is helping me cope.  I think that it has something to do with knowing that I can do something well and actually doing it, rather than beating myself up over things that I have no control over.   I figure it's way cheaper than therapy!

Nibbled by Guppies

My Mom has a saying that includes "getting nibbled to death by guppies".  That pretty much covers the last few months.  For some reason, I was absolutely exhausted for November & December.  I'm chalking it up to the "change" and am doing much better.  So much so that I've signed up for an aerobics class (free).  

Winter is always kind of a drag, and this one is an old-fashioned endurance event so far.  The weather folk tell us that it has snowed 28 of 31 days in January.  December was not any better.  Gypsy is sure that there is life under the snow and she is determined to find it!

As a reminder, do back up your computers regularly.  I was slapped upside the head with the main reason why we should do that a week ago...the hard drive died and nothing could be recovered.  The good news out of all that?  It was under warranty (extended) and I have a one-button back-up system now.  I was also happy to find that, since I am prone to not erasing cards until I have to, I have many of the pictures taken over the last few years.

Getting back to that totally tired thing the end of last  year...I totally forgot about getting my car inspected.  Let's just say that the very nice State Trooper let me know that he would give me a ticket for that.  Could've been worse as he really could have handed me a ticket for not being as close to the speed limit as I should have been.  I have an appointment on Thursday to get that oversight taken care of.  The ticket I can do online as soon as it's been uploaded.

Throughout it all, I have gotten back to spinning and knitting.  One project was to finish up a blanket for a friend in exchange for some fiber.  The cats, of course, just loved that project.  Thank goodness it was big enough to accommodate both Bubba and knitting on it at the same time.  The pattern was such that it was perfect for retraining my left hand to carry the yarn while purling.  I could knit continental style, but always had trouble purling.  I think I've got it now.  Since that was a big project, I'm concentrating on some smaller ones for now.

There have, of course, been many other little guppies, but no need to bore y'all with them.  They have been dealt with as they swam by and I'm pretty sure that I see the end of that school of fishies!

Christmas Greetings

Still here, just really, really time-challenged lately. I just can't seem to get both enough time and enough amibition to actually do something with it. I've actually gotten a few things knitted and some spinning done (there are, at least, pictures somewhere), but this is much more fun for the day.

Gypsy said this was what she wanted to share with her blog friends, so here you go:

Big Foot at the Beach

This last weekend was pretty darn good. My local spinning/knitting group had a potluck up at Hamlin Beach State Park. It's late enough in the year, that they no longer charge an entrance fee. The lodges are really nice, too; they are made almost completely of cut stone. The one we had had two fireplaces at each end, so we were quite comfortable as the day got colder.

Gypsy loves this park. I'm really not sure what she likes most...sand, water, waves, seagulls, geese, leaves and just plain wandering about.



Just in time for colder weather to set in, I finished the mittens for the kids next door. I'm thinking that the snowmen may be a bit too large, but then I took the tracing of his hands back in July, so they may not be as big as I think.

Meg surprised me by creating this fabulous centerpiece for the table. I think she did a terrific job and I sure hope that I can get her to do it again for other holidays/seasons!

It's Howl-ween!

Gypsy here. Mommy sed I could blog 'cause it be Howl-ween and I wore hat fur long 'nuff fur her to get picture. My peoples calls me devil-dog and not just at Howl-ween.

My fur-friends got dressed, too. I don't think any of dem like it much.

Bubba be resigned.

Trouble be mad.

Sadie thinks she tough dog, so don't like frilly. Peoples called her Stinkerbelle. Hee, hee, that funny!


I big girl & know there be cookie if I good. Not the people cuppy-cakes, but still a cookie.

These aren't our punkins, but they sure are pretty neat. Mommy sez they really big and I could fit right inside them.

Mommy gets her punkin out & plugs it in and gets candy for little peoples (at least that's what she sez). I sure wish little peoples would come tricks n treats, cuz it would be fun to kissy-face them!

Pssst! Mommy sez I can enter contest at Baa Baa Blacksheep, Bear's Mommy told us 'bout it. Me thinks I have 2 new friends!

Treasures from the Hudson Valley

OK, so I could have just said that Rhinebeck was terrific (it was), the bus trip long (it was), but let's just go with the wonderful highlights of the day.

--No responsibilities to "run" anything. Very nice...as I'm part of a guild that puts on a pretty darn good Fiber Fest, I can really appreciate someone else's efforts.

--Meeting Jane of Quiddity. She is one of those people that I immediately like. I'm thinking that might of been kind of inevitable considering the amount of like interests we have. The only problem is that she lives in Georgia there won't be that many opportunities to visit. No picture, sorry, bad blogger.

--Meeting Franklin. He is absolutely as charming as can be. Again, someone that I immediately felt could be a very good friend. Sigh, at least Chicago is closer than Georgia. Dolores was no where in sight, so he seemed pretty relaxed.

--Snagging a copy of It Itches and having it signed by Franklin. It's good, very good. Get yourself a copy!

--Shopping. I really hadn't planned on buying much of anything. The only item that I was kind of (but could wait for a nice one) looking for was a white fleece. In my continuing effort to visit my stash, often, I discovered that there was a distinct shortage of nice white wool.

On top of the black sheep, which is a felted pouch, suitable for notions and such like, is a lock of Border Leicester 6mo. lamb clip. It's long, shiny, and very white...nice find. It's already washed and might even be dry enough to card.

Other treasures included some green wool yarn (on sale, probably destined to be a vest), Trekking sock yarn, Araucania sock yarn and another ball of lace weight from Galena's booth. I still haven't knit up anything with the first ball, as I'm still searching for the right pattern for it. This one should be a bit easier as there are fewer colors in it.

Since the weather has turned to typical, ugly fall cold/windy/rainy/slushy/dank, I figured I would use my new mug, also purchased at Rhinebeck. You know what, ladies? If you use one of those fancy hot cocoa mixes, with milk and add some Screech, it tastes like you're drinking one of those rum balls that appear around the holidays. Takes the chill right off!

Lene, you have a lot to answer for...

One of my favorite blogging friends is Lene. No, let's just correct that. She has moved out of the "I sure wish I could meet this person group" to "Must get together with Lene while in Toronto". We've met a few times over lunch/coffee and I enjoy every minute of our visits.

What has she got to answer for? Well, not for making me think of life/living from a very different viewpoint than mine...that's definitely a highlight.

Not for living a bit too far away to visit regularly...I could easily just suck it up and drive to TO for a day-trip.

She tagged me on a book challenge. I know, it was way back in June. To be fair, I really didn't forget about it, but as time went by, a bit of guilt set in. Eventually, I went back and scanned through all of Lene's posts until I found it:
Pick up the nearest book.
Open on page 123.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the next three sentences.
Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

Since, at the time, George Carlin had recently passed away, I thought that using his book would be a great choice. Still is. Braindroppings, by George Carlin.

Page 123: For instance, imagine the crap we'll have to endure on TV when Bob Hope dies. First of all, they'll show clips from all his old road movies with Bing Crosby, and you can bet that some news anchor asshole will turn to the pile of clothing next to him and say, "Well, Tami, I imagine Bob's on the Road to Heaven now."

Kind of spooky, isn't it?

As far as tagging, I'll tag Mom (who doesn't really have to tag anyone, just have fun with it), Deb, Jane, Linda G. and Denise.

OK, guilt-trip over...yippee!

Oh, and another thing that I'm blaming on you...the compulsion to check LOLcats and dogs every. single. day.

Busy, Very Busy

The Finger Lakes Fiber Festival has come and gone for another year. There were many fine vendors with many equally fine temptations. I succumbed to only a few items: some hand-dyed roving from Cloverleaf Farm, some cotton/linen/rayon yarn, a ball of sock yarn, a new belt for my spinning wheel, some alpaca yarn and, of course, kettle corn.

I have one of the best jobs of the festival: coordinator of the Skein & Garment Competition. This allows me the opportunity to check out everyone's entries and thoroughly enjoy them during judging and setup. This year, our entrants outdid themselves...92 skeins, 62 finished garments and 15 basket entries.

A few weeks ago, Deb (of Not Pretty to Watch) chose me to receive one of these:

Now I get to send along the ribbon to 4 of my favorites. It was definitely not an easy task to just pick four. In no particular order: Quiddity, Yarn Harlot, The Seated View and The Panopticon. All the these fine writers/bloggers are people I would adore to live closer to, just so we could sit and visit whenever possible. Since that's not feasible, at least we can drop in on each other's blogs.

October brings many things around here. We've had a pretty hard frost, Indian summer is upon us for the next few days, Farmer's Markets are full of fresh produce and Rhinebeck is fast approaching. Our spinning guild is renting a bus. It leaves our area at 4:30 in the morning for the trek to Rhinebeck. Gak...I can only hope that someone will wake me when we get there!

Unusual?

It's starting to get a bit breezy outside as what's left of Ike is passing through tonight and early tomorrow. We don't get much in the way of hurricanes as we're too far inland, usually just wind and rain. It did, however, get up to 97 F this afternoon. Definitely unusual for mid-September. Gypsy and Bubba were ready to melt, as were we. Neither one of us has had the chance to get a new winter cover for the pool, so we did have what is likely the last dip of the year. Very refreshing, as the the water has dipped down to 68 F.

Earlier this evening, I wandered out to my veggie garden. We were quite late getting plants in the ground this year, but we do have some truly frightening tomato plants that are taller than I am...they were pushing 6 feet, but kind of slumped over as they ran out of support. There really haven't been huge amounts of fruit, but I found this mighty speciman this evening. Pretty much as frightening as the plants!

In the spinning department, I finally finished spinning a pound of recycled denim cotton. Believe you me, a pound is a lot of cotton for someone who is very used to wool and other animal fibers (and is very much looking forward to getting back to them). I'm now plying it up into a fairly nice, 3-ply. You'll notice that I have a furry little helper.

Unusual stuff all around: weather, veggies and cotton.

Gypsy Blogs (Again)

Gypsy here again. I guess Mommy thinks I big girl now and can blog more. I got to go for a ride in the car-car today. First place we stopped was the barn where Big-People-Sister goes (and she takes Sadie with her). Fun place. Lots of very good smells. All the kitties puff up really, really big when I say hello. There were even lots of those really big puppies with the long tails.

Then we all got in Mommy's car and went for another ride...to the beach!

My peoples even let me off leash in a public (kind of) place today. We were the only ones on the beach. Maybe that had something to do with the rain.

Daddy threw sticks for us and I got most of them. Sadie too chicken to go in wavy water. I big girl and went after them if not too far out. Is OK, if you wait, they come to you.

Hey Bear...do your peoples take you to beach, too?

Diane here...yes, our family went to the beach, wandered about and had a picnic lunch...all in the rain. Even though it was more than a bit damp, involved two very wet, very happy dogs, it was definitely a pretty pleasant way to spend an afternoon!

Summer's Winding Down

Gypsy here...Mommy be busy with fluffy stuff so I do blog.

This summer my big-people-sister brought homes a little blonde brat-dog. She kind of OK, but be really pushy. Now the kitties like me better. Really now, do you have to that just for belly-rubs?



It fun to play ball with big-people-sister, Daddy & Sadie. We be tough on balls, this is #6 so far. We makes them pop or I chews them up (them handles on jolly ball not last long at all).



Another good thing is that shortie can't get up on my new couch. My peoples got me new one that matches me really good!

The Wheels on the Bus Go 'Round & 'Round...

Mom and I went on a bus trip to Maine last week. I'm here to tell you that if you have 2 seats next to each other, you can, indeed, spin all the way to Maine (and back again).

It is somewhere in the neighborhood of a 9-10 hour trip from the Rochester, NY area, not to mention the couple of hours from Portland to Bar Harbor area. I probably should have been drinking something stronger than blueberry soda; it was very, very good even so.

By the time we pulled back into town, plying had commenced and two more bobbins had been filled.

Lest you think that I never, ever looked up from my wheel, we saw many Maine sights:


Portland Head Lighthouse (in the fog, with foghorns going off):
It was not lit as it had been struck by lightening the night before (a bit ironic?)

Lobsters, lots of them. I had 3 meals strongly featuring the beasties.


I wonder if any of them were caught by these folk?







We also took a cruise and saw, besides many lobstermen, seals, eider ducks and eagles.










Maine is definitely a place I would go to again. Even though I was unable to find any open yarn shops, there were signs that wool-centric people live there: