Tuesday, October 27, 2009

(knock, knock, knock) Helloooooooooo

Now I don't want you thinking I've been goofing off doing nothing since I last thrilled all of you with my larger than life, er, life.
Took a staycation.
Knitted and frogged the same project. Twice (so far).



Hiked up Mt. Sugarloaf instead of driving up. (How green of me.) I think it's a whopping mile up. I actually broke a sweat.
Sunderland, MA

The usual shot of Sunderland. Very New Englandy, no?Ye Olde Connecticut River. See the walkway on the leftish side that seems to step to the front edge? When I was a kid that was the viewing area. A few people insisted on jumping off due to their recreational drugs making them to think they could fly. Ah, the sixties.
Top of Sugarloaf was loaded with ladybugs. There were some folks that were a wee bit squeamish about that.
The foliage along the path was neon.

Sealed up the foundation--snow in October prompts stuff like that. I could go on and on but it doesn't get any more exciting. Trust me, I was there.
Once I figure out the technical difficulties with the current w.i.p. I'll share. It involves darts for shaping. If I paid more attention to Barbara Walker I wouldn't have to keep frogging it.
And for those paying attention: no, I haven't touched the drop spindle. Nor do I want to.
"Thank goodness she's gone back to work. What a pest!"

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

The One Where I Walked Around With The Camera

The first stop is the dining room table.



So as I mentioned earlier, I signed up for a drop spindle class. 6 hours of fiber fun. Did it make me want to abandon all other things and people when I got done? No. It was a good group with a good instructor but this is going to take ALOT of practice. Like years worth. I came home with fiber in my eyes, in my...well, all over. We started out with a domestic wool and were able to sample bits of alpaca (ooooooh) and milk fiber which I found next to impossible to control. I wore more of it than I spun. While plying the whole mess we (instructor Amanda and I) came to the conclusion that I spun it in two different directions resulting in, well basically it was a mess. Let's say I won't be investing in a spinning wheel in the near future. But then, I may have better luck with a wheel. Who knows.

Moving from the Dining room to the kitchen we have a sweater in soak mode. Yes, it's been finished for over a week but I've been busy--know what I'm sayin?
It's on the blocking stand. It's probably dry by now. I'll check that later.
Turning around brings me to the stove and a batch of "baked" beans which are not technically baked because I make them in my pressure cooker. It's okay, grandma approved of my method before she left us. One hour vs. four works in my world. Transfer that to the bean pot and no one knows the difference.
Two steps to the back door brings us to Andrew resting on the back porch sunning himself. He had a tough weekend. All those naps to fit in. Poor thing.

Hard to believe but there were SCADS of other mundane things going on around the house that I just didn't want to waste digital space on. I know, you're thanking me.

So until the next post, keep your fiber going in the same direction.

Thursday, October 08, 2009

Peepers

Ah. October in New England. Tourists are touring the fall foliage. The weekends are hopping with festivals in every town large and small.
Conway Festival of the Hills is held the first Sunday of October. The weather was predicted to be iffy at best but as always, "Festival Weather" kicked in and it was a beautiful day.

There is a parade. Go Frontier! An iron skillet toss (don't laugh, this takes SKILL), wood chopping competition, plenty of fun stuff for the kids, craftwares for sale and FOOD. But my favorite part ....

is the Rubber Duck Race. Hundreds of rubber ducks, (numbered and purchased prior to the race), let loose in the river and ride the current to the finish line. Prizes are awarded for first, second, third and last. No winners in our group this year. *sigh* There's always next year.