Friday, October 28, 2011

Suddenly Winter

MacTavish surveys the yard
And, just like that! We have winter. Although I am sure we will get some more warm days to melt away this initial output, it is still rather daunting to have two inches of snow before Halloween. Very hard on children to have to wear their winter coats over their costumes. Which they will have to do if the weather man is correct as he is predicting more snow for the weekend. This sounds like it will be more to the east of us. I hope so!  I certainly had not got around to putting all the outside things away.  On the plus side, my commitment for today was canceled and I am going to spend it in the "studio" working on fiber related things. Sigh of happiness.
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Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Designing Day

Finished scarf
Grey and rainy day here.  It could be depressing except that I have too much going on in my brain to let it be so.  I am working on another woven scarf.  The one I just finished is fine, as you can see, but the whole point of the pattern is lost as the yarn colors are too close in tone.  So I am thinking of the next one with a black warp.  And a variation on the pattern as I rarely do the same thing twice.  This also was an overshot pattern which I loved doing.  Thanks to Thistle Rose Weaving for encouraging me in that area.
The other design flailing around my head is something for a birthday girl, so I won't say much about it, just in case she reads this.  I am sure I can get it done by the weekend.....
Sister and MacTavish
Speaking of the weekend, I spent this last one with my sister and her husband.  I was very happy that they took me to the beach as I had not seen that bit of ocean in a long while.  The area off New Hampshire and Maine is always the part of the Atlantic I consider The Ocean.  I know that I saw the ocean this summer, but that was off of Massachusetts.  So it didn't count.   It wasn't The Ocean. The day was glorious.  Half of the sky had thick clouds in it while the other half was deep blue.  It was low tide, so there was lots of sand to walk on.  MacTavish had never seen a beach before.  He thoroughly approved of it.
p.s.  I still have the rooster, but time is growing short for him.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Busy Morning

Apple pie jam
The jam is on the stove, cooking down to a lovely golden brown, thick mass of yumminess so I thought I would take a minute and let you know that I have actually finished a project. 




 The hat was one I made from Addy's fleece, throwing in a few pre-dyed mohair locks and some metallic sparkle.  The resulting batts I spun as lightly as I could.  The result was very pleasing.  I then decided to knit the hat with asymmetrical cables.  Very difficult!! I normally design things it to be evenly spaced--properly balanced.  It was really very hard to consciously put the cables in various places.   I think it came out just fine.  The scarf is still on the loom.  I am going to get a move on that as I have spun some black for the next one, which I have an exciting idea for. Well, exciting to me!  I will share later, after this one is finished.
Rosco
Meanwhile I am posting on our Neighborhood Forum that I have a Rooster to give away. Yes, the time has come to part the two, before there is any bloodshed or wounded hens.  Which one do you think should go?  I think they are both very handsome, but realistically can only keep one.   We thought we would try a give-away first, if that doesn't happen, then it will be into the oven for him.  Sigh.  The hazards of small flock management!
Brisco


Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Day Trip

Machinery at work in riverbed
Monday we took the dog for a trip around the state to see how well Vermont was doing a month after the flood from Irene.  Jeff wanted to know if he would be able to hunt in his favorite place as he had heard the road was washed out.  When we got there we found it open.  It looked very recent as the machines were still there, working to reshape the river as it was a mess of trees and boulders.
Man and Dog
We drove up the mountain, stopping for a short walk up an old road to stretch our legs while letting the dog have a run.  MacTavish is in his element in the woods.  Continuing up and over we found several places where the road was still one lane, with a pile of gravel dumped, waiting for the road crews to fill in the washed out places.   Then on into Ludlow where we got grinders to eat down the road.  It seemed like Camp Plymouth State Park would be ideal, so we headed there, only to be greeted by an awful sight--- it had been hit hard by flooding.
Sand filled State Park
We sat at a lone picnic table and ate anyway, as we took in the amount of havoc wreaked by raging waters.  It did not prepare us for what we would see later as we continued our trip towards West Bridgewater.  Some of the road is still one lane, but that is because the other side is being worked on.  It is absolutely amazing how much clean up and restoration has been done in just one month.  The saddest of all is to see the houses that have had to be abandoned.  Just heartbreaking.  I only took a few pictures of those as I couldn't bear it.
When we reached Rte 4 we headed west toward home,  traveling the same roads we did when we were driving through the storm.  It is mind boggling to think how these placid little brooks could become such instruments of destruction.

The day was a beautiful fall day.  It was an awesome trip--not only to see the disaster areas, but to see how much has already been done to repair and rebuild.  I'm glad we took the drive.  Makes me proud to be a Vermonter.
So sad
Fall colors

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Here Comes Fall

Our little booth
Cold, rainy and the leaves are coming down with every breath of wind.  I do believe we have segued into Fall.  I'd like to think it was early, but it probably is right on time.  We tend to use Columbus Day weekend as our "peak" weekend when all the "leaf peepers" come to visit Vermont and give us their money.  We need their money.  There is a great fear that people won't come because they know we got hammered by Hurricane Irene, but the tourist board is hard at work letting them know that we are Here and Ready for Peepers!
To that end, Poultney is hosting its annual Town Wide Yard Sale.  Slots are available on Main Street for those who want to be sure of traffic by their booth.  Otherwise a person can just have a sale at their home. Gloria and I will have a spot on Main Street.  We know that people are really looking for bargains so we use this more as an advertisement of what we have and what we can do.  Sometimes people actually buy things.  Which is always nice!  But it means that I have to be knitting up ideas so that I will have stock to lay out as I sold several things lately.  Selling is always a jump start to creativity.
Brisco and Daisie Mae
I got the chickens ready for the cooler weather.  They now have a heated water bowl in the coop.  I also started up the light I use to lengthen their days.  It comes on at 6 a.m. right now, but after a week or two I will set it back yet another hour.  It turns off by 9 a.m.  This gives the chickens closer to the 14 hours of light they need to keep laying eggs.  Hope it works as they have not been exactly prolific lately.
The Roosters are both getting feisty.  I hate to think I will have to choose between them as they both are getting quite handsome.  As long as they behave I won't have to worry!
Roscoe the Rooster