Blogging on my phone...

The world is a truly astonishing place. Who would have ever guessed that one could write and take pictures on a lazy Saturday morning and have it broadcast all over the WORLD... using a TELEPHONE!!! That very thing is what I am attempting right this minute.

Let's go look at the garden.

Some of the yummy veggies and pretty flowers that I have around here.

And here are some alpacas for good measure.

Stay cool. Hopefully this heat wave will break soon!

Yarn Along - 2

Hooray for Wednesday! Why? Because I am joining the Yarn Along at Small Things again this week. So much fun!

Yes, I am feeling a little ADD about my knitting this summer, as this is the third unfinished project on parade. I am hopeful for a fast turn around on this one though... This week's knitting is the Wayfarer Scarf by Jared Flood. I am using some of the hand spun yarn that was gifted to me last weekend (see yesterday's post for details). I love the variability of undyed hand spun yarn as some different colors stripe themselves into the knitting. So far I am loving both the wool and the pattern. This is only the third brooklyntweed pattern I have tried, but I am always amazed by how much I am learning about construction, or in this case, stitch patterns.


Today's book is The Solar Food Dryer by Eben Fodor. Constructing a food dryer still seems awfully daunting to me. I think I will wait until a friend who knows his/her way around a toolbox and construction is on site to help me with this one. But the whole concept of harnessing solar energy is fascinating to me.

Hope summer is treating everyone well!

Wooly Wealth

Last weekend was not only filled with family, but I also received some unexpected fiber-related treats.

These hand cards belonged to the great great great grandmother of my step father-in-law. His mother wanted the cards to go to a home in which they would be appreciated, which they certainly will be here! The woman who originally owned the cards is Cynthia Catlin Miller and she lived from 1813-1883 in Warren County, PA. She was an abolitionist who established the Female Assisting Society and the Ladies Fugitive Aid Society in Sugar Grove, PA. Her son Franklin Richard Miller founded the Miller Foundation Tree farm, the first tree farm in Pennsylvania.


The cards have "Sargent & Co, New York" printed on them with a galloping horse in the middle. It is unclear which era of the Sargent Company produced these cards. One article reads that J. B. Sargent's father's company made wool cards for the mills in the New England area. When J. B. Sargent took over around the 1860's, it sounds like the company he headed made more hardware and locksmith items. At any rate, the cards can be solidly attributed to the early to mid 1800's.

While the cards are in excellent shape still, I will DEFINITELY NOT be using them for carding fiber. The leather holding the metal teeth is in good condition, but the teeth are just a little rusty. They will serve as a nice decoration in my study!

A friend of my mother's friend is a very active spinner in Maryland. She must have run out of space to store all of her yarn goods, and so she is passing some of them along to me. I am very grateful, as I was about to order another batch of Jared Flood's lovely American-made SHELTER yarn for a hat and scarf project. I am sure, however, that he would approve of me using handspun, American made yarn for his Fortnight hat and Wayfarer scarf patterns in place of the SHELTER yarn.


She prepared some of the yarn for sale at the Maryland Wool Show in 1990. The little tag on the gray yarn states that it comes from a Copworth Gray sheep named Norman. The brown skeins come from a Romney Brown sheep named Helga. It's fun to have a "personal connection" to the yarn one is working with.


So now, if you will excuse me, I think I will cast on a project!

1,000 Shells

This past weekend, a second cousin of mine came to visit my parents. I had not seen him since 1993! We showed him several attractions in the area, beginning with the birthplace of Thomas Edison in Milan, OH. This 1,000 shell knit afghan was made by Edison's mother for his sister's wedding on what appeared to be size 000 needles... I can only imagine the amount of time this must have taken. I am assuming that she probably spun the yarn for this project as well. So. much. work.


Here is a close up. It takes one's breath away... (Clicking on picture will make it larger. A second click on the photo, even bigger and more magnificent.)


In the afternoon we checked out the Marblehead Lighthouse and had a lovely dinner at Mon Ami. And then played some music to round off the day.


The weekend was great! Happy Summer!

Yarn Along

I recently stumbled upon the "small things" blog and have been enjoying everyone's knitting, crocheting, and book suggestions on the Wednesday Yarn Along days. So instead of continuing to lurk, I decided to join with my own post today.

I put my project from my last post on another hiatus, because I think I FINALLY found a pattern for some yarn that I inherited a few years ago. The yarn is made by Sachmayer Nomota and has been discontinued years ago, and thus finding an appropriate pattern is a big challenge. It's texture is both thick and thin, creating a lumpy and interesting fabric. Luckily this lovely pattern called Amiga recently showed up on Knitty.com. It is made with yarn that has a similar texture. So today I am playing with needle sizes and trying to find gauge so that I can cast on the project for a special someone!


My constant book companions this summer are Eliot Coleman's Four Season Harvest and Patricia Lanza's Lasagna Gardening. Eventually I would like to grow all of my own vegetables. Last year my garden drowned in a combination of too much rain and non-draining soil. So I built six 4'x8' raised beds that I am filling with yard waste, grass clippings, straw, old leaves, alpaca poop, and compost via the lasagna layering method. Two beds are already planted, with just some finishing touches planned for the last two. I will probably cover the unplanted beds for a few weeks and let them "cook" a little before planting one or two of them with winter crops that will be covered when the weather gets cold.

Want to see? Here are the fledgling gardens!


Happy Summer!

Summer is HERE!

Summer is here and moving quickly...

There has been lots of travel to:
-Washington, DC for a conference and some time with two nieces and nephew and to reconnect with some family friends.
-St. Louis for an alpaca birthing clinic at the Dos Doñas Alpaca Farm. Serendipitously my brother and his family was also in St. Louis and we met up for dinner.


-Ithaca, NY, for an old college roommate's wedding. Reconnecting with old friends and making new ones is such a great experience. I also got to go hiking quite a bit. And I got bitten by two deer ticks that I miraculously managed to spot. My doctor prescribed the early Lyme disease antibiotic right away.

Ithaca Falls


Buttermilk Falls Gorge hike


Buttermilk Falls Gorge


Buttermilk Falls Gorge


Waterfall at the top of the gorge in Treman Park


Salamander on the trail


There is a lot of productivity in the gardening department. New raised beds are hopefully going to yield more crops than last year. I filled the beds with the "lasagna" method beginning with newspaper, alpaca poop, peat moss, grass clippings, more peat moss, leaves from last fall, and more peat moss to top it off.


Swiss Chard Harvest


Dumb luck - the two lettuce plants that I let go to seed last summer filled the entire round flower garden with yummy salad this spring. And I did exactly nothing except harvest!


Roses!


My viola d'amore has a new bridge and strings and sounds amazing! It is on loan for a few weeks to a friend of mine.

Finally, GASP, there is some knitting. This is the third try for this project due to sizing issues. I'll just leave you with a picture for now. I really don't want to rip and restart again in case I jinx my luck by writing all about it!


Happy Summer!

Oh BROTHER!!!

One of my brothers finally put in a knitting request:



Yes, you see correctly. That is a KNITTED SKELETON!

I think knitting a sweater for my brother's 6'6" frame would be less of a hassle than this project. And also take less time. What are you, a pediatrician or something? Those must be some soft bones... They might need a procedure! Or prescription for Fosamax... Oh wait, that is for older patients...

This image was borrowed from failblog.org.

ETA: No I did NOT knit this crazy piece... yet! HAHA!