Ok, I'll Try Again

Susan at eieiomg has convinced me that I should resume blogging. I've had a long haul with a thumb injury since last November, and hadn't posted for the prior year. Perhaps this will get my mojo for this year going:

As part of the Hand Made Pay It Forward 2012, I hereby pledge to send something hand made (by moi) to the first five people who leave comments. But wait! Before you hit that publish button, there's a catch! YOU first five commenters have to pledge to do the same! It doesn't matter what you make, how complicated, or simple, it is. And you have to pledge to send them out by the end of 2012. So, there is no deadline looming over your shoulder, breathing guilt fumes down your collar. You have the whole year.

This should get a bunch of us going!

As a side note, there was an article on the various knitting groups at Dottie's Coffee Lounge in Pittsfield, MA. Here's a link where http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifyou can see a video of all my chins in motion:

This should take you there.

We have a good time. There are three different groups hosted there. Come join us if you're local.

With luck, I'll be updating soon with picture of Nigora kids that are due imminently. When I threw the three Nigerian Dwarf bucks into the pasture upon their arrival in August, I forgot all about the older Angora doe already in residence. Apparently, at least one of the boys has functional equipment!

I have lost most of my technical blogging skills, which were weak to begin with. I'll do better, promise!

Done Languishing and Yarn Alert

First, the yarn alert:
If you or anyone you know purchased worsted yarn at our booth, Sliver Moon Farm, at Rhinebeck or Southern Adirondack, marked ‘Worsted 100% superwash BFL wool, 250 gram’, it is NOT superwash.
I spoke with the manufacturer on Tuesday to order more, and they told me they had learned it may not have had adequate superwash treatment. I knit a 5”x 4 3/8” swatch upon learning this(9 3/4 sts/2”, 12 1/2 rows/2” on size 7). After washing on regular cycle with jeans, it measured 4 1/2”x4’(10 1/4 sts/2”, 13 1/2 rows/2”). After going through a regular cycle in the dryer, it measures 4 1/2”x3 1/2”(10 1/2 sts/2”,15 1/2 rows/2”). If a you or anyone you know wishes to return or exchange this yarn, please contact me through Ravelry or at kayatslivermoonfarmdotcom. The skeins sold for $34.
I am TERRIBLY sorry . I still love the yarn and am knitting something for myself out of it. It hand washes beautifully, and the stitch definition remained even after its washer/dryer escapade, but it DOES shrink!!!
I trust the people who sold me the yarn. It is just an unfortunate situation.

Rhinebeck was lovely. After setting up in the rain, the weekend was stunning. Beautiful weather both days and crowds of friendly, smiling people wearing gorgeous hand knits. The following item was brought to show us the lovely shawl she had knit with last year's purchase at our booth. Unfortunately, I neglected to get the knitter's name. I'm still pretty new at this blogging stuff. *She has been identified as Evelyn, eknitter on Ravelry. The shawl is the Vernal Equinox Shawl. It is knit in our Fingering superwash 8oz. in the Denim colorway. I would also like to thank all of you who stopped by to visit, fondle, pick our brains, and buy.

A new touch in our booth this year was these aprons, which were embroidered for us at by my friend Marjorie Corrow, whose business is Life's a Stitch, LLC. Her company does terrific work at a reasonable price.

These aprons also did well for us this year. They are sewn for me by a friend who is a long time seamstress.


Yet another friend Susan has been encouraging me not to let my blog languish. I herewith pledge to post at least three times a week.

I'm Back

Last week I had a terrible cold with a fever. I spent most of the week lamenting that I, as usual, had procrastinated in preparing for my upcoming show, the MA Sheep and Wool. Dyeing was, for the most part, out of the question, but I did manage to complete a prototype from Phoebe's Sweater, a delightful picture book for toddlers about a young mouse and her family. Here it is:

I dyed some yarn for her body and dress the week before last, so all I had to do was knit while sitting in my glider, moaning and drinking copious amounts of Emergen-C, which is my go-to potion for avoiding and/or surviving almost anything.

By Wednesday afternoon I thought I felt well enough to take these photos, but then succumbed to more sleep. I did, however, regain consciousness and finish her coat, too.

Having her in the booth resulted in a few sales I might not have had otherwise. I'm working on completing the child's sweater that is also included in the book. This may be my 'Summer of Samples.'

If I Were Organized, It Would Help

This is what the sidewalk in front of my porch looks like as of this morning. It should have looked like this as of a few weeks ago. This is always the way it is when I am getting ready for a show. The MA Sheep and Wool is next Saturday and Sunday, with set up for us on Friday. I will be gone tomorrow afternoon and Sunday to attend a memorial service back where I grew up. Nick will man the trenches here. That leaves me with four to five days of dyeing after today.


Today I dyed ten pounds of alpaca/silk DK yarn, ten pounds of Bluefaced Leicester superwash worsted weight, a kilo of merino lace, and a kilo of merino/bamboo fingering.


Here's some superwash perking away.


Here is alpaca/silk and lace weight drying in the dining room. I dyed four batches in two colorways today, some of each yarn in each color.


These yarns were both dyed with the same dye in approximately the same concentration. It always amazes me how different fibers absorb color in entirely different ways despite starting out approximately the same shade naturally. This is another area in which I wish I was more organized. I keep a dye book, but not as religiously as I ought.

Yet, I did dye about twenty-five pounds of stuff today, and managed to spend two and a half hours a Fred's spinning. I also did the chores- twice. I just finished cooking and eating dinner.
Maybe I should give myself a break.

I Love My Rodents

Chipmunks enchant me. I've loved them since I was a child, when they would eat out of my hands. We have quite a few here, of which this is the most immune to fear of people. He appears from under the porch to survey the territory from the safety of the concrete Boston's head.

Then he moves to the shield of the dachshund foot scraper,

until he's certain there are no foes about,

at which point he emerges to forage in the forest of bird feeders provided for his attention. Those photos will arrive here in time.

Right now, I have to get going to continue preparations for the MA Sheep and Wool, which is over Memorial Day weekend in Cummington, MA, before I begin singing yet another refrain of, "Too much, too little, too late..."

Udderly Amazing

This is Luna. She is the granddaughter of the first goat we got when we arrived here. We lost both her mother and grandmother to meningeal worm within a year. That is a story for another day. Luna was born early in 2007. She stays with our Angoras, and we'd hoped that she'd provide us with milk for at least part of the year She has been in with a buck each winter for the whole winter and has never kidded. We assumed she was barren, as she'd never gotten pregnant. The other day I went to do chores. She always greets us by planting her front feet on the gate to the pen. Lo and behold! I noticed this on Monday when I went down:

Is that an udder I spy? Amazing! She's looked fat for the past few months, but she's tricked us for the two prior years. Her udder was the size of a peach on Monday, but is the size of a grapefruit today. With luck you'll be seeing photos of a kid or two sometime in the next few weeks.

Till then, have another viewing. You have no idea how long it took to get this shot. Milking her should be a real challenge, as she's three and a half and never freshened before. Also, she was bred to an Angora buck. What might the result of that be? I haven't a clue.
I also want to thank Karin for telling me how to spread my photos throughout my post in a more seemly fashion. I love friends.

Traditions

Thirty some odd years ago during a visit to my parents, I mentioned the profusion of violets that were in our yard at home. My father, who was a character I'm sure you'll hear more of, leapt up, rummaged through a cupboard, and with a flourish presented me the boat you see pictured. When asked what it was, he responded that it was a European violet boat.
I took it home and went into the yard with my then toddler son. We picked many violets. If you look closely, you'll see that the boat has 34 holes. From the beginning, the goal was to put 20 violet stems into each hole, which entails picking 680 violets, plus leaves to go around the edges. Some years the violet stems are too thick, so you only need 500 or so. This rite takes from two to three hours each year, dependent on the the number of children involved, their ability to focus, and my own stamina in relation to said children.
First with my son, then adding my daughter, eventually passing the torch to my granddaughters, this year I found myself with no one to join me. I thought to forgo the experience. This left me feeling sad, so Saturday I decided to fill the boat on my own, about a week later than usual.
As I picked... and picked... and picked, I let my mind wander through the many years of violets. Laughing children. Annoyed children. Dogs and kittens following us around the yard, tumbling through the greenery. Kids rolling their eyes at each other when they thought I wasn't looking, yet picking to humour their mother's whim. The wondrous year when an often recalcitrant fifteen-year-old daughter came home for the weekend and suddenly appeared before her distracted, overworked mother, holding out an already-filled boat, a smile in her eyes. Last year, with my four-year-old granddaughter, who didn't quite get the point, but- what the heck!
Maybe next year Kaia or Yzzi will be around to learn the method of leaving long stems, of not pulling the plants out.
In any case, I think I'll be out picking violets. My father would approve.