before the month ends....

i decided that i really, really needed to do a blog post. my cheeks are blushing with embarrassment that i missed an entire month. 'it's been so busy', is just is a poor excuse. i'll try to pick up where i left off in august.
august... was such a perfect summer month that we spent it swimming, skiing, hanging at the lake. i was decidedly spun out after the tour de fleece, so there was way more knitting than spinning. i finished the blasted reindeer hat and put it on display in my living room. the more i looked at the two hats i realized that i needed to make a third. this would get him through the winter. i also decided that  i needed to keep up the seasonal theme. so i pondered.

it always helps to ponder in a two-seater convertible. my cousin was up for a visit and we went for a spin about town. yes, that is a finger lakes fiber festival t-shirt that i have on.
i finally made a valentines cap for the little dude. with the three completed, i called them 'logan's trio' and gifted the mom. she was delighted and gracious enough to let me enter them in the competition at the festival.
i bought this....

a rigid heddle loom, gently used, that will soon be leading me deeper on the path of insanity.

september began with the traditional ring-of-fire celebration on canandaigua lake. the weekend was beautiful as we said goodbye to summer.

september brings birthday's to recognize. and nothing makes turning older easier than inspire moore wine!
and the biggest event of september is the finger lakes fiber festival.

located in hemlock, new york, this event has grown into a two day feast of fiber! saturday the weather was ify. we had moisture, more than a mist, but not quite a drizzle. this year we began using their newest building and it was fabulous to have the vendor indoors. sunday was delightful. warm, gentle breezes and lots of fiber fun.

logan's trio was chosen for a special award. and they are just tooo darn cute. i've got to get them to him before he gets here!

the guild display was fabulous! the knitted knockers, premie hats and warm extremities were on display along with the pillows and anniversary skeins...

always the third weekend in september, it is definitely a 'must-see' event.
now that the month is ending, i've got another baby gift on the needles and i'm searching for a bigger project to start.

baby shower gift

my cousin is expecting her second child. her daughter is about 18 months, and for her i knit the tulip sweater. this time i wanted to do something different. i was undecided what route to take until i talked to her mom. it seems she was reluctant to have another shower so soon after having baby #1. i'm pretty firm on the notion that every baby needs their own celebration. a chance to be talked about, wished well, cooed and ahhhhed over.... all in the comfort of the womb. i was looking for something unique, and came apon the notion of themed baby hats.
his birthday is october, so what better to start with than the pumpkin...

this should get him through thanksgiving. so for the christmas holiday i needed something unique. i found a pattern for a reindeer antler hat. it looked charming! the perfect compliment to the season. the basic hat was a snap. then i started the antlers. i can't even begin to describe how much this $%^@*(# challenged me. the pattern was fine. the knitter? she stunk had issues. i decided to attach the antlers directly to the hat. first one? no problem. second one i completed two times.... and in a fit a temper snipped it off!

my family stood there dumbfounded! they've seen me execute some pretty creative fiber tricks.... but loping off an innocent antler was a first. i took several deep breaths..... walked away from the hat..... then started. again.

this time i fared better. they matched in size and placement. i was at peace. then i did the ears. four times.
these i did not hack off  need to remove so aggressively. there were only a few stitches, so it became a game of 'how many times am i going to do this wrong'

there was a huge sigh of relief when i  was done. as i basked in a job well done, my perseverance paying off..... i realized that those antler will be the first thing he chews on. and that's okay. they do look devine :)

tour wrap up

they had to turn the lights on as i spun my way into Paris, but i made it. meeting my tour goals was a gentle challenge. spinning every day is not hard to do, being mindful as i do it is. i appreciated the bumps in the road..... fiber that wasn't what i expected, added knitting projects that needed to be finished and flirting with new techniques. here's the outcome....

two very different skeins. on the left is the ITW faux-romney in 'the bird girl'. i love the colors and the skein is lovely. the hiccough is the fiber content. it was coarse to the touch, definitely not a next-to-skin garment. i kept rolling project ideas around in my brain as i toured along. slippers? boot toppers? felted bag? hmmmmm, going with the felted bag. i often admire joan's booga bag, should that be the pattern? i dug out my copy and just wasn't feeling it. i wanted to do something unique, that would really showcase this yarn. i tossed the stash and found my answer....

 colors that compliment the skien and will increase my yardage. i've got a pattern in my brain using mitered squares.....
the other skein is also ITW fiber. it's my last bag of 'odds & ends' i just had the best time with these little bits of fiber. they push my out of my comfort zone... not completely matching, different fibers....really fun. i spun the single super thin to keep my option open to navajo ply. after mulling other options in my head, i kept with the original plan. i had a LOT of single, hence the lights on to finish the tour! when i had this done, i searched for the skein i had done last year. i had entered it in the FLFF skein competition so it took some hunting to find it.
how cool is this.....

i adore how the colorways compliment each other. last year's skein is  two ply, weight. this year i have a three ply (navajo) dk weight. there is an upcoming KAL that i may just use this yarn to do.

stage 20 and the ride to paris!

i finished the odds and ends. i was vacillating on what to do to finish them. have a super-yardage single? two ply in random color matches? or go with my original plan to navajo ply. i know that it's not the biggest problem in the world, but i just had to let it roll around in my brain a bit. i did spin yesterday, just finishing up some random stuff that had been hanging about. i wanted to wrap this tour up with completing those dang bits!

we did this..... an excursion tour on the Canandaigua Lady. we've lived here forever and had never taken the kids on this cruize. we are not doing any real travel/vacation this summer, so decided that this would be fun. it totally surpassed our expectations. captain holgar was delightful, sharing lots of interesting tidbits about the area. we learned about the early settlers (seneca's) the original swim school ( my dad remembers learning to swim there in 1929) squaw island, the original steam boats.... it was delightful.

my current knitting project has had quite the adventure. i'm finally making a set of 'knitted knockers' for the guild. it is perfectly mindless knitting that has been traveling everywhere with me. whoever gets these ta-ta's will have a well traveled set!
the canandaigua arts festival was happening, so we strolled about after the boat trip. i found several things that i needed, and even got a start on the holiday gifting.
at the end of the day i realized that i needed to stick with my original plan and navajo ply that yarn. i got going first thing this morning and had a brief distraction to do this....

yoga in the park. it's held at kershaw park on the last sunday of the month in the summer. last month is got rained out, so we were determined to make it today. since the festival was ongoing, we were treated to live music and the sounds of merchants as we worked through an hour of down-dogs and warrior poses! i even got a few more rows done on my knocker :)
but the real test of my stamina came on the ride to paris, i worked all afternoon doing this...

there is way more yarn than i imagined having to ply. but i made it! too dark for pics, so i'll get some tomorrow and wrap up this tour.

stages 17-19

not a lot different on the spinning front. i'm still slogging along on the 'odds & ends'. the part that keeps me engaged and amused is the constant changes. the colors shift, the fiber is often different from bit to bit so i have to adjust my spinning. i've been on the road this week, and the first comment to the spinning is " wow, look at the color change".

today i'll be at the last bit, so i'll need to decide what to do next. i do have my anniversary fiber spun, so i may ply that instead.
i love checking out the official tour de france website to keep track of the real event. today i've been chuckling at the idea of being able to devote all that time to really being able to spin, play with fiber, etc. the reality is that life still goes on..... meals to prepare, lawns to mow, house to vacuum, dog to walk...... you know what i mean.
yesterday i did this......

re-certified for another year. it was a nice group this year. there was a wide variety of folks, and everyone was engaged. i enjoy this and truly hope that i never need to use the skills!
then there was this....

the last day of whitewater kayak camp. these are the locks on the canal. the water level is determined by boats in the locks, rain fall that leads to flooding, and course activity. the lock is quiet in this picture, and then active here....

the difference is crazy in person. the sound is what i always notice first... a gentle rush to a thundering roar! the course is long, curving over and around rocks and trees.

the idea is to make it between the markers as you race against another paddler. my paddlers skill set isn't at that point, but i think that the next level is in our immediate future!

it's a blast to watch them!

stage 16 and a rest day

the dog booties were the cat's pajama's (how's that for mixing metaphors :) they fit perfectly and she spent the day swimming like a fish dog! so here's how this works. etta, our five year old yellow lab, adores the water. when we had the pool put in three summers ago, the installers told us that they let their dogs swim in the pool. the dog hair isn't the problem, you just have to watch out for nails penetrating the liner. so etta got a set of latex dog boots. it's like trying to put balloons on your squirming dogs feet. she does well for three paws, then squirms like crazy while two adults struggle to put on the last bootie. this year her dad found a set of neoprene dog booties online. the first swim they floated off because of those skinny dog legs. the repairs i did worked perfectly....

she can paddle away and we don't have to worry about an accidental liner tear.

she is stylin in her new foot-wear. are we nuts about our dogs or what?
onto the fiber.

still spinning on those odds & ends. i''m going to have to soon decide how (or if) to ply this.
i finished sarah's slippers....

i'll spend an afternoon at dad's felting these in the top loading, agitating washer!
today was dye day with amythefibergoddess. we're on the count down to the fiber fest. with all the major events behind us, she can focus on getting her products ready. we were in the groove...

and had major dyeing mojo! every color worked, the skeins were amazing......

and i came home looking like i dumped it in my lap! i was wet to the skin and have no idea how it happened. we were rocking the dye pots!

tour stages 11-15

yes, there is spinning being done. but first let's look at the interruptions. summer is here, and you have to seize the fun when you can. we spent the night at the lake with grandpa. he's 93 and misses his girls.... all the noise, chaos and fun that five gals can generate. we did this:

with skiing, swimming, nail painting, game playing fun. i did manage to spin each day, but the progress was minimal.
yesterday was guild day with the annual farm visit. we all stayed in the shade, most folks were spinning. the company was fabulous, making the day wonderful.

amythefibergoddess had her garage all ready for us to take over. it was hot. so hot that i came home and immersed myself in the pool. once my core cooled down, i got even more spinning done. i love these little bits. i keep wanting to see what will be coming next. here's what i mean....

see the progression? i still haven't decided how i'm going to ply this, or even if i will. my goal today is to get several more on the bobbin. but i keep getting sidetracked. the latest was to fix these...

any guesses? those are neoprene dog booties. it seems that little red's legs are tooooo skinny to keep them on. why does she need booties? why to go in the pool of course. i had to take the velcro off and sew it back on which allows them to fit snugly. i just carried them out to her father, so we'll see how that works!