Sheep Tales

Girlfriends

2012-01-18T18:15:00.002-05:00

I am so lucky to have girlfriends around here (Barnesville) AND in Western Maryland. Because we have another home in Cumberland, I've met heaps of women up there. There's a huge artsy community and a well organized biking community so meeting folks was easy. But to have these women welcome you into their fold, is really special.

Last week we celebrated Macee's birthday by whisking her away to Garrett County for a fun day of visiting AnnaBellePetuniaHead's studio, going out for lunch, antiquing and gathering artisan cheeses from a new cottage industry in Accident, Maryland. We spent hours on this rainy day at the foothills of the ski area Wisp. The folks there wish the rain would have been snow. Canoe on the Run is a great little coffee/cafe house serving up frothy java and panini.

I love, love, love coffee. A day without coffee would be a day in the ER. I am soooo addicted!

It would be nice to sit here and watch the snow fall, sipping a grande espresso, half caf, soy, non-fat, latte, whip, extra hot! Oh, and with a crescent with organic strawberry/rhubarb jam with a bit of hand churned butter and pear tree honey. (But this isn't Portlandia!)

The birthday girl, Macee, enjoyed the yarn bowl (even though she wore it as a hat here) and her hand knit handwarmers. The bowl was actually made from leftover yarn from the handwarmers. Macee was formerly known as Mary, but that was much too plain for this lively girl, so Seal and I decided to change it to Macee and it stuck.

And this is Celeste, formerly another Mary. Too much personality for 'Mary' so now we call her Celeste. She's also modeling her new handwarmers and the same hat/bowl.

One of the guy artists in Cumberland got Seal, Celeste and me mixed up. We said that all us Curly Haired White Bitches look alike. I see a few differences but we all have that curly hair going on. What a great day with the girls. And more to come this weekend as my Barnesville girlfriends are coming to partay with the Cumberland girls. Crack open the wine!

Winter White

2012-01-17T20:24:00.001-05:00

Since it hasn't snowed outside, I decided I needed some white stuff inside. Usually I'm all about the color, but white has its place. It's soothing, gives the eye a place of rest and is quite popular right now, according to some designers.

So I did a 'Re-purpose Redesign' and went for a look-see around the farm, in the closets, in the basement and even outdoors. Our loft in the barn is stacked with doors, shutters and windows, collected from our local 'beauty spot' (dump), saved from our own renovations and some found.

I found plenty of white stuff, actually way too much and had a good time arranging and rearranging.
I brought these windows, formerly in the sunroom, down from the loft and cleaned them up.

This angel is made out of old corrugated metal, by a rural artist north of Frederick.

I spend way too much time on Pinterest, an amazing online pinboard, where you can see pretty things, get ideas and 'file' them onto boards. I searched 'white' and these were just a few of the images that came up.

Love that mirror...

See, a window on the mantle....that's cool!

Next I'm putting together this centerpiece. It's an old chicken feeder (which I have and I don't even have to steal it from my hens) with pine cones and candles.
Enjoy your winter by doing some re-design. Ciao!

Resolution: More Fiber

2012-01-09T08:34:00.000-05:00

More fiber, more better. I made this nuno shawl for a friend who had given me back a spinning wheel that she had bought from me nearly 15 years ago. She said she didn't use it, dropped it off and said "Merry Christmas!"

To attempt to pay her back a little bit, I made this nuno felt shawl for her.

She's a wee bit of a thing, very pretty and I picture her in these soft pastels.

Here it is laid out before the felting process. Wisps of mohair, wool, tencel, silk and sheep locks.

I included a felt brooch with it in. I'm taking it over today so I hope she likes it!

A few months back I tried to arrange 'Craft Days' with my girlfriends. We'd take turns coming up with a project, getting the supplies and teaching it. Well, life got too busy and we didn't get around to it. Until last Friday.

Just three of us got together to have a 'Pinterest Challenge'. If you don't know what Pinterest is, go check it out. It's fabulous! My treat to myself every day is to spend some time on this site (usually before I go to bed so I can dream of new projects). I get so many ideas from all the clever people out there. And this was one of them.

Yarn bowls. Pick out a bowl, turn it upside down, wrap in plastic wrap, make a paper mache paste, dip yarn into paste and wrap the bowl. Easy peasy. I have quite a stash of yarn (duh!) but we didn't really use very much.

We let them dry overnight (it took a long time, even on the radiator) and I have to say, they turned out great! This would be a fun project with kids too. So now I want to do many more. They'd look cute with a bunch of felt balls in them. So get crafting!

First Rise

2012-01-01T16:12:00.001-05:00

First sunrise of 2012. A brand new day, a brand new year. Time to reflect on 2011 and envision what's ahead for 2012.

I had a great year, this last one.
* I went on my first bike tour, biking nearly 500 miles over 12 days
* backpacking in Virginia and Montana
* my busiest yarn-selling year ever
*welcoming #3 son and #1 dog back into the fold
*experiencing very good health (except for my ongoing stupid knee problem)
*my loving, giving family
*the engagement of #1 son and his lovely fiance, Deidre
*all my friends who rock my world

I am so thankful to have so much, to be rich in friends and to be the happiest person I know. I am one lucky girl. I wish all the best in this fresh new year. Let's make the most of it.

I'm Almost Done Shopping....

2011-12-23T13:26:00.002-05:00

....for me! While Christmas shopping I found this delightful, aromatic soap that will make me happy whilst taking a shower.

And this smell-good candle, scented for the holiday. It smells like Christmas in our house!

And this adorable little bottle brush tree that I added to my collection.

I couldn't resist this cute, cute, cute barrette that perfectly keeps my curls out of my face.

But whoa! How bout these killer kicks?! Cowgirl paisley patterned rain boots! Sweet!

Tarjay is always a fave shopping place and it didn't let me down. A smockey type top that doesn't show my rolls. Perfect for holiday gorging!

I put this pink underwear shirt in my cart and it made it through check out. It's a bit utilitarian...

but it's good for layering.

Another look at that fabulous boot. Love!

I had asked Santa for this (along with an LED hula hoop), but since Santa is spelled Amazon.com, I just went ahead and ordered it. It's already here and hopefully Houston will put it together for me cuz I just can't. It's too confusing.
So, I guess I better get out there and get my shopping done. Yikes! I only have a few hours. Enough time to get that cute purse I saw! Happy holidays to one and all!!!

Christmas Tradition

2011-12-15T09:21:00.000-05:00

For four years now Ann and I have been traveling over the mountain to see the holiday window displays in Shepherdstown. We pick up Judy at her sweet little cabin near Sharpsburg and whisk her off for a holiday treat.

One year Judy had fallen the day before our little get together and sprained her ankle quite badly. We insisted taking her to a critical care place and they gave her a brace and sent her on her way. We settled her into a cozy little tea place with a pot of hot tea while Ann and I walked the streets and got some shopping done.

But this year, Judy was good to go.

Shepherdstown offers free parking during the holiday season. Thanks!

All the businesses tastefully decorate their establishments.

Indoors the shops are lit up with fun lights.

...and stars.

Back at Judy's quaint cabin, we nestled in for the evening, a slumber party for the three of us.

Judy brought out her whackiest purchase of the day, bird legs. I just love these little talon sculptures.

Judy is a web designer but also an artist.

Another year, another great time sharing time with girl friends. Happy Holidays!

Rock On!

2011-12-14T22:20:00.000-05:00

Waaaaaaaay back in June I had a big truck deliver a few tons of stone for a rock retaining wall to go up our newly paved driveway.

A large crane picked up that ton of rock and gently....

put it on the ground. Boy, could I use one of those things around my yard!

So all this rock had to be laid out really, really nice to curve up the drive and keep the grass where it should be and the cars off the grass.

While digging the dirt away, I discovered that we were oh so dumb and hadn't considered the electric fence wire that had been barely under the gravel driveway and now it was paved over with 3" of asphalt. Doh! We worked for over an hour feeding the wire underneath and having it finally emerge on the other side. yay!

I hired a friend of a friend of mine and they worked diligently building the wall....
until they didn't. It remained unfinished for over 5 months. I looked out of my kitchen window at piles of rock, cement, sand, buckets, tools and debris for those long 5 months. I hate messes and this was messin' with my tidiness streak. (Trapper was telling them to hurry it along!) They left all their tools behind, including a stone cutting saw (not cheap). I called repeatedly to please come finish, to no avail. I even owed them bunches of money.

So I called in another contractor. They fixed everything, made it all pretty and completed the wall in two days. Yay for guys that show up and do the job! Now we just have to fill in with good dirt and plant grass seed (next spring). I've since gotten solar lights to cast a nice light up the drive. I smile every time I pull in.

I'm NOT a Chicken!

2011-12-12T22:36:00.002-05:00

For the last two weeks I've had a date with a needle. Right in the ol' knee. And I'm just a little bit chicken beforehand. Needles make me nervous. What's going into the joint is rooster comb. The comb is just a big flap of skin and it swells with a substance called hyaluronan due to heavy testosterone in the rooster. Cocky guys! Hens also have hyaluronan but not as much.

In the 70's it was injected into the arthritic knees of racehorses to reduce inflammation. And now it's used in our knees. When scientists found out they could use this stuff for arthritis, they started raising roosters to have super huge combs, so big that the chickens couldn't hold their heads up. But now with all the chickens we eat, the combs are saved for this purpose.

It turns out that 3 injections of Synvisc (the commercial name) a week apart, seem to work the best. I have one left and haven't felt like crowing yet. I even sleep past 4:00 a.m.!

I am spending more time in the coop though. And my chickens seem to like me better.

Studio Tour

2011-12-11T19:38:00.001-05:00

I am just now finished with my own studio tour (did you hear a big whooooppppeeeee!) on this Sunday night. I can't tell you how happy that this tour season is over. As much as I love what I do, crating, hauling, setting up shop in many different venues (including my own, 3 times), dyeing, skeining, creating, fusing, wrestling sheep, bookkeeping (ugh!) and everything else, it's nice to be on the other end for once.

I visited a studio in Garrett County a couple weeks ago with my friend, Macee.

Annie has a separate studio near her farmhouse in a rural area.

She seems to love poppies as she had these large metal sculptures made and much of her work depicts thise fun flowers.

The ceilings are covered in pinched tin metal, so awesome.

Annie makes her own paper then tears it apart and uses it in her original designs. She also stitches the designs with this old Singer sewing machine.

Macee was one of the guest artists, displaying her metal jewelry.

And delicious smelling soaps made it home in my bag.

A pillow even made it home with me and fits right in with my other pillows on my bed.

We left as the sun was setting on another fine day, a day that I was able to shop instead of sell. Fun!

Window Shopping

2011-12-04T19:32:00.001-05:00

After a couple of days of selling yarn, fiber and jewelry in my studio, I got out at night to see some art and do some window viewing. I love window displays and the merchants in downtown Frederick have done an impressive job of creating a festive mood.

A few of my girlfriends and I walked the streets at First Saturday, listening to holiday music, played by various musicians on each block, flitting in a few of the shops, taking advantage of free nibbles and wine, and enjoying the holiday spirit in the air.

For about 10 blocks, the trees on both sides of the street are wrapped in lights. A light falling of snow would have put a nice touch on the night.

We tucked into a nice little restaurant to end our evening with a delicious meal. Now just one more weekend of studio tour and I can officially kick back for the year and get my Christmas on!

Come On In!

2011-12-01T22:19:00.001-05:00

People can now make their way into the door and there's even floor space to walk! That was NOT the case this morning. But yarn got put on the shelves, the decorations went up, cookie plates put out, so I only have about 10 hours worth of stuff to do. Too bad it's 10:30 the night before!

Sneak peek at the new felt brooches

They'd look cute on a scarf, shawl, coat or cardigan. Even a hat.

I used my felting embellisher for these. It's just like a sewing machine except instead of one sewing machine needle, it has 7 special felting needles. Works like a dream!

I learned how to make these felted pins a few weeks back and now just want to make them all the time.

A few skeins of 'Frilly' yarn are ready to go. This yarn sells out so fast and it's really hard to find, so get it while you can!

I made a 'tree' out of my old, rusty milk can, 2 corbels and some holly.

These little gossamer bags filled with vintage notions are great for doing art cards or collages, scrapbooking.

Hope to see some of you this weekend or next. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 10-5 this weekend and next. Happy Holidays!

Photo Shoot Indoors

2011-11-19T14:45:00.001-05:00

The barn that I photographed Seal in front of is on Jeri's farm. I love visiting her at her beautiful home. The last time we were there was at her birthday party back in July (where I couldn't find my keys!) and now there's a light dusting of snow on the ground. We were greeted warmly by Jeri and she welcomed us in to her cozy abode. To our surprise, she had tea, coffee, crumble, fruit and yogurt prepared like an English breakfast. Charming!

We talked for over two hours, catching up with the months that have whisked by.

One of the reasons that we came out was to deliver our artwork to Jeri. She is participating in an art show in a couple weeks and has offered to take about 6 artists' work. Above are three copper vases by a local metal smith, Kenny Braitman.

A stone mason worked his magic on the fireplace wall, the posts on the porch and a long retaining wall in the front, using local stone.

Another artist friend, Meg Romero, creates incredible whimsical wooden objects and furniture, hand painted in amusing colors.

This particular box holds their dog brush. It looks like it should hold something very precious, like an important document or special piece of jewelry. Jeri has such a lovely home, filled with artists' work. It's always a pleasure to visit, like going to a gallery. Thanks Jeri and can't wait to come back!

Photo Shoot

2011-11-19T08:33:00.001-05:00

I finally finished knitting two more shawls out of my 'Biggie' yarn and a scarf out of my 'Happiness'. A perfect opportunity presented itself...a beautiful model to sport my items and a weathered, rustic backdrop to photograph against.

I've noticed in my years of shooting models (that doesn't sound right!) that some are naturals where every photo is great, just click, click, click, my job is easy.

Biggie yarn for the poncho in Grey Mist colorway.

One has to be comfortable in front of the camera ...

and my friend, Seal, is one of those.

She's playful, silly, gorgeous...

and shows off my things so well.

Don't you just want to knit everything she's modeling?!

Happiness yarn

I've known Seal for nearly 30 years and she's one of my closest and dearest friends.

It's scary how much alike we are. We show up wearing nearly the same clothes time and time again, we pick out the same paint colors (out of the hundreds we have to choose from), buy similar home decor accessories and usually know what the other is going to say.

We have the same curly hair and we've been mistaken for sisters. Although now I've been asked if she's my daughter! Yeah, if I had her at six!!! Gotta contact that plastic surgeon!

Biggie rectangular shawl in Forest colorway.

Thanks to the next top model.

Clearly a Smart Move

2011-11-13T21:00:00.001-05:00

Oh my! Can you believe how clean those windows are?! For the first time ever, I hired a couple people to wash all 36 of my windows. I could have kissed them! They did such a great job.

I can now see all the colors outside. Hey, it's autumn!

And they did such a nice job, I had them clean my entire house. I really do like cleaning, it's therapeutic and calming to me. But after being gone for so many weekends and spending days getting my life back in order, I just couldn't catch up to where I feel my house is clean and organized. Call in the big guns...two petite women, a dymano duo. It feels so good to know those dust bunnies are gone from under the bed before they became dust cows. Hmmmm, maybe I'll have them visit me again in the spring.

Falling into Bedford

2011-11-06T21:10:00.000-05:00

I'm done, I'm done, I'm done!!! Did you hear my "Whoopeee"?!!! This was the last away show for 2011 for me. So many miles, so many hotel rooms, so much carrying crates of yarn. How do crafters do it weekend after weekend? But this was a great way to wrap up the shows. I spent the last four days at the Bedford Springs Resort, relaxing with 60 other knitters. I taught a silk dying workshop, so it wasn't all just laid back fun.

Bedford Springs is a high end resort, originally built in the early 1800's. It was restored a few years ago to its original splendor.

I got out a bit, taking a short walk across the bridge to a few of the springs that make this area so popular. My stupid knee went out again the day before I was to attend the retreat, so I was hobbling around on my peg leg. I had brought my bike along, hoping to get a ride in, but no way, Jose.

The view back from the bridge.

The weather was chilly, but nice, especially compared to the early snowstorm we got a few days earlier.

The food... The entire retreat is an eat-a-thon. When finished with the massive breakfast (cheesy eggs, French toast, biscuits, bacon, ham, 5 kinds of bread, 6 types of jam, home fries, a dozen types of cereals, 7 kinds of fruit, etc,) we make our way up to the classrooms. In case we worked up an appetite climbing up the dozen steps, a smorgasbord of food awaited us. Crescents, cheeses, hard boiled eggs, pastries, fruit, coffee, sodas and sparkly water.

At night, we had a fashion show, Chinese auction, and plenty of knitting time. A cosmopolitan gave a nice boost to the evening.

I hit the lottery on a roommate. Barbara is a fashion designer in New York City. Formerly from Lithuania, she has a wonderful accent and a beautiful personality. We bonded immediately, having a lot in common (our husbands are both professors in the chemistry department, we are both coffee snobs and of course, we both have a love of fiber.

In her spare time, she creates these awesome coats, repurposing old sweaters and working her magic into these artsy wearables. I fell in love with this one.

It was a bit big in the shoulders, or I might have come home with this one.

Barbara was one of the teachers, helping students create scarves, embellishments or cutting up a cardigan to make a vest. Here's one participant with her fringed neck wrap.

I taught Shibori techniques on silk scarves. We filled up the dye pots, wrapped the silk scarves in wood, clips, clamps, string, marbles and rubber bands, placed them in the dye and waited for the surprise when they were unwrapped. Everyone loved their final neck wrap.

I had suggested to the participants to bring an apron but this student forgot hers so made one out of three of the resort's plastic bags. She even modeled it for the fashion show.

Barb (on the left) is the organizer extraordinaire. She pulls it all together, never getting frazzled and makes it all seem so easy. Her sister-in-law and mother came along to help out.

Josette entertained us with putting any number of things in her hair.

After 6 shows in 7 weeks, it was nice to kick back a bit at the resort. All my expenses were paid and I even got to set up tables to sell my yarn. The women were so fun and we all had a great time. I even had time to sneak away with some of my Cumberland friends, who picked me up to go antiquing in Bedford. It's been a great fall season but I'm happy to put my crates away (until Sheep & Wool Fest), spend more time on the farm and in Cumberland, and to get all those orders out from all the shows!

Another Season Upon Us

2011-11-01T07:45:00.002-04:00

Autumn....who doesn't like autumn?! The smells, the colors, the tucking in of summer (bye!), coming indoors earlier, and of course, the pumpkins, gourds and apples.

My kids (pictured: Aramin, Deidre and Garrett) were out on Sunday to celebrate Garrett's birthday. It was a beautiful day to stop in at David's pumpkin stand in Comus. He grows the most amazing gourds, heirloom, old fashioned, quirky, colorful and all edible. He's happy to give out a recipe for delicata or fairy tale squash.

My fave this year is the peanut or Galeux d'Eysines, a squash from France. It's warty and wonderful.

They're beautiful and ugly at the same time.

Garrett scored a 22 pounder that he took on Metro with him that night. Yep, just me and my pumpkin!

The turban squash always amazes me. How it do dat?

Crates and crates of deliciousness. We've had squash soup a few times already, and even made squash pudding. I'm cutting some into wedges and grilling them with a bit of olive oil and salt. Yum!

Depth of Autumn
a few leaves on the tree
dancing

(haiku from the interwebs)

Autumn at Dancing Leaf Farm, ahhhh!

Biking near the Bay

2011-10-31T23:49:00.001-04:00

I treated myself to a weekend away with some of my girlfriends from Cumberland. We met on the eastern shore of Cambridge, Maryland for an annual event, 'The Wild Goose Chase'. Organized by the womens' biking company, Terry, it's a fun-filled weekend of ....

....drinking,

kayaking,

and of course, biking. I was like a little kid, riding her bike for the first time. I hadn't been on my bike for nearly 2 months (!) because of my stupid knee stuff and wasn't sure if I'd even be able to go far, but I made it 45 miles, hubba bubba, no trubba! It is exceptionally flat out there though, so that helped a lot. Thanks Kate, Denise and Sue for taking a leisurely pace and riding with me the whole way.

The route takes us through the Blackwater Wildlife Refuge, a 25,000 acre haven of wetlands, marsh and a habitat for the bald eagle.

This event is actually a fundraiser for the refuge, helping to maintain the trails, roadways and wetlands of this beautiful area.

Back at the Goosechase headquarters, one could browse or buy Terry gear, including jerseys, shorts, bike seats, jackets, gloves, and bikes, all encompassed under a huge tent.

Many pit stops were along the way, including the Bucktown Village Store, where Harriet Tubman made news and the home base of Blackwater Pedal and Paddle, our guides for the kayaking tour.

I met some new women, reconnected with some others and had a fabulous time with these 17 women from Cumberland. I really needed this restorative weekend.

(thanks to Amy and Donna for some of the photos)

The Magic of Rhinebeck

2011-10-20T20:52:00.001-04:00

Wow! What a trip I've been on! This was my first ever Rhinebeck (New York Sheep & Wool Fest) experience. I had cobbled together visions of what I thought it would look, how it would feel and how Dancing Leaf Farm would do. I thought it would be more rustic, but it was actually very classy (as classy as a fair grounds can be). The ground were very well landscaped and tended. The organization of the volunteers who run this show was amazing. The feeling I got as I was able to escape from my booth on Sunday for a bit was 'happy-smiley-warm &fuzzy'. The Guatemalan band with the pan flute helped with that calm, glad-to-be-here feeling.I'm a sucker for pan flute.

I got this very candid shot of a woman in front of my booth. I had gone out there just to take shots of the booth and didn't know I had captured her expression until I downloaded the pics. How funny! I have these blowup legs that I handknit legwarmers for and they were quite the attention grabber. Most folks really liked them but one woman seemed offended and thought I should knit her a skirt. One young guy offered to buy her panties!

This is how the booth looked early on. It was a huge space, 30' x 10' and I filled every inch. Natalie came along to help out. She unloaded, unpacked, set up and when the folks bombarded the booth, she calmly worked my new ipad with the square up credit card taking thingie. She wouldn't even let me do one transaction, she was having such a good time.

The finished space before it was filled with yarnies.

Bins all filled with yarny goodness.

Then the crowds came and that was that. My knee had done so great all week while I was slamming getting ready for this show. Unloading the trailer, it was great, hauling, hauling, hauling, it was a winner. I thought I was good to go, but Saturday morning, a literal 'twist of fate', my knee decided to give out and there was that ice pick in the knee feeling again. I was so bummed as I had to really be on my game that day. But I sucked it up and was on my feet for 12 hours, without a break to pee, take a drink, eat or say 'Holy bejeebers there's a lot of knitters here!" It was so crazy all day. All was good though. Had a great time, met so many nice people, made new friends, hired a few designers, hired a helper for Sunday and had a fun, fun time.

Sanguine Gryphon is one of the 'darlings' of the festival and their line was out the door, up the hill and about a two-hour wait to seize their yarn. They were just down the aisle from me, so I got some of the fall out business.

I got out a bit on Sunday to see what Rhinebeck S&W was all about. There is plenty of room for sitting and people watching, which is fun when it's 60 degrees and folks are wearing their hand knit sweaters and shawls. In enjoyed a cappacino hile watching the parade of woolies walk by.

I was enthralled by this art piece, which is 'shirrit' (a type of cutting felt and crocheting). This happens to be on a construction cone. It's copyrighted by Lady McCrady.

Some of the knitted pieces were truly amazing. Love this coat.

Saturday & Sunday were lovely autumn days. Except for a bit of rain on Friday during setup and a wee bit of rain on Saturday, it was clear skies. It was a little windy though and I had one mishap during a particular rough patch of wind. About 8 of my crates full of yarn came crashing down close to me (don't know how I didn't get hurt) and the yarn went helter skelter into the dirt. Natalie claims she got hit by a flying foot, but no bruises to prove it. Luckily this happened when there were just a few customers in the booth and they all rallied to help.

Not only was there wool, sheep, and fiber, there was locally grown produce. All types of apples were in abundance.

People knitting everywhere.

Even Miss New York stopped by, doing some yarny shopping.

Sheep themed pottery was abundant.

This display of sheep locks lightly spun into necklaces caught my eye.

Of course there were sheep, and plenty of the wooly creatures. This is a Cotswold breed. Looks much better than Picadilly, my Cotswold. She's all muddy while this one is pristine white. I did notice a dingleberry hanging from her dreads on her face though.

A close up of her gorgeous locks. How I'd love to dye those!

See no evil!

All sheep do NOT look alike. Border Leicesters are known for their 'Roman' noses.

Sheep vying for 'Best in Show'.

Plenty of stock gear too. I've lusted after these gates and feeding things for years.

After the show, there was a steady stream of animals being led to their stock trailers.

I had a great first time at this festival but am glad that my string of away shows is over for awhile. I still have a few shows left this year, but my long travels are over for the time being. I'm taking a little break this weekend and going on a women's bike trip. Have an awesome fall weekend!

Autumn Madness

2011-10-13T07:48:00.003-04:00

I've been just a bit busy lately, dyeing, skeining, packing, unpacking, setting up, taking down, with five back to back shows and tours. I've seen my faithful customers/friends at Knitter's Day Out, Shendandoah Valley Fiber Fest, Fall Fiber Fest, my own studio tour, and now I'm packing it all up again to go to the New York Sheep & Wool Fest in Rhinebeck.

My darling mom came for a visit during all of this and I put her butt to work. She was such a trooper, hauling crates of yarn, mannequins, tables, fiber and she kept me company in my booth.

So she wouldn't have idle hands, I had her make my felt flower pins. She set up a little assembly line, cutting felt, picking out buttons, layering and sewing. As I was hobbling around, she sat diligently crafting away.

The reason for my hobbling was two-fold. Back at my first show in Pennsylvania my knee swelled up for no apparent reason and put a mean hurtin' on me so I could hardly walk. I sat there trying to sell yarn with a big bag of ice on my knee and a grimace/smile on my face. I had driven our manual transmission car to the show and had a helluva time getting home. It's hard to drive when you have to pick up your leg with your hands to move it to the clutch. I only ground the gears a little bit! As you can see from the photo above, this is not my bad knee. This is my bad toe. I was bringing a new bottle of wine to a friend because she let me use her car with automatic transmission. Because my reflexes are not quick, I couldn't move my foot away in time for the bottle to smash my toe. I did say the f-word. A lot of times. So bad knee, bad toe and a show to do. I am not used to moving this slow, usually I'm zipping around in a flurry. But I had to go up and down and up and down the steps one step at a time. Eek, that takes a long time! And I have a lot of steps (cuz our downstairs bathroom still isn't done, whine), my dye kitchen is in the basement and my workshop is on the second floor of the studio. I do have to applaud my right knee for pulling double duty and doing a splendid job of getting me around. So, after x-rays, an MRI, a cortisone shot and 3 doctor visits, I found out..... I'm old. No sexy torn miniscus or feel-sorry-for-me ACL tear, just stupid Arthur-itis. No cartilage left around my kneecap. Too much Ultimate frisbee and mountain biking. It's good I've taken up knitting, a non-contact sport!

I do have such a good time at the festivals. The fiber, the sheep, the kettle corn, and everyone is just so happy to be there. The Fall Fiber Fest had lots of alpacas this year. They are just too cute, like cartoon critters.

Loved this woman's hair embelishment. Gotta do that.

At one of the fests, a woman was doing a demo of natural dyeing with onions, marigolds, indigo and other plant materials. Gorgeous colors.

We just had our autumn studio tour and it was a fan-tabulous weekend. We ordered up perrrrrrfect weather and the crowds came out. It was so nice to see so many of you. I had a great time.

I finished this fun little shawl, the Chudnovsky Pi shawl, available on Ravelry. Knit with my Salsa, colorway, Brandywine.

But now it's back to dying and trying to dry. I swear, this rain has about done me in. Can you believe this fall?! I've never seen so much rain. I just get the yarn out and it starts to sprinkle. I run out, pull it all off the fence, then the sun comes out. Out the yarn goes again, only to have it pour rain. I'm even using the chicken coop for drying. The hens are all curious and have to run over to see my new colorways.

Speaking of chickens, I had a little contest over on Facebook. If folks 'Liked' Dancing Leaf Farm, they were eligible to win a large skein on my hand dyed Salsa yarn. Rhoda (my Rhode Island Red hen) picked (pecked) the winner.

The lucky winner was Eve, one of my faithful customers. She came to one of the festivals to claim her prize. She wore her Slubby Nubby cardigan that she had knit last year. She said, "I'm really exited about being picked by your chicken!"

When I get everything unloaded, back on the shelves, get my office office organized, my dye kitchen cleaned up, all the bookwork done, I'm going out with my sheep, to sit in the field and knit. If it ever stops raining!

At Home in Cumberland

2011-09-26T18:28:00.004-04:00

I've been playing around with my 'new' camera (Garrett upgraded and I bought his old one). I dropped my point and shoot camera and sorta broke it so I have to learn how to use the more complicated camera. Garrett shows me how to do some simple adjustments and I can do them for 5 minutes, but then I forget. So I just fiddle and fudge and hopefully the camera will do its thing and I'll get a passable photo.

Our mantle in Cumberland has a weird combination of an antique level, a soda bottle that sports the words "Garrett's Club", the mechanism for a parking meter, an antique Oxo tin, a wire gazelle from the Natural History museum gift shop and a striped vase.

I found this vintage 'New World Atlas' at a yard sale. It's huge, about 30" x 16" and has countries that no longer exist. A wooden machine part (that looks like a top) and an old tin airplane in a frame sit on top of the book.

I like old metal stuff and whooped it up when I found this trash bin that was used in an mechanic's shop for greasy rags. I use it for a side table.

And I love the 1950's toy tractor. Sometimes I put almonds in the scoop.

I've done a few mosaic mirrors. I especially like this one with the black grout.

The scrabble letters spell out "You don't even know me."

I bought this metal piece in Frederick at the Muse (LOVE!). The artists repurpose old tractors and farm machinery into frames, boards and tables.

I have a thing for old typewriters too. I found this one at our local dump.

I can't imagine someone throwing this away. I do love the old type keys (shift, tabular).

More red stuff.

Welcoming Autumn

2011-09-17T09:53:00.003-04:00

Whoa! I've been bad about blogging lately. I hurt my knee and it set me back a bit and now my mom is here so we're out having some fun. But it's time to get to work dyeing, skeining, knitting, ordering, creating. I had a show last weekend and I have four shows the next four weekends so better get my butt into high gear!
There's a chill in the air and the smell of autumn all around. Good bye to the hot summer, the earthquake, Hurricane Irene and Lee and the 15" of rain we had in the last couple weeks. I think that 98% of people claim fall as their favorite season. Spring is by far my favorite (new blossoms, reawakening, being outdoors, gardening) but fall is my second fave. I'm so glad I live in an area that has four distinct seasons.

The sheep like fall too. Cooler weather makes their wool grow faster and don't lay around so much in the shade. I find them out in the back field more grazing.

The studio gets a fresh fall look.

I make more scarves and shawls in autumn colors.

Some with leaves 'falling' from the ends.

My 'Biggie' yarn.

Salsa yarn in fall colors.

Even my jewelry turns to oranges.

Roving...

...and more roving

Buttons ready for a fall cardigan

Travel Here, Travel There

2011-09-02T21:55:00.004-04:00

Upon returning from our out west trip and after traveling over 1500 miles, and being home two days, then going to Cumberland for a few days, we thought we should hop in the car again and drive to Connecticut to visit friends, go to a family reunion and get stuck in horrific traffic. Our UK friend, Clemens, was staying at our other friends, (Marshall and Leslie) at their home in CT and we wanted to see all of them.

We always enjoy visiting Marshall and Leslie. They live in an extraordinary home in the woods, all angles, sharp corners and very mod.

It's like a big tree house, with rooms jutting out hither and tither.

This is the view when exiting the downstairs powder room. Don't walk straight through the window!

Leslie and Marshall have welcomed a little granddaughter, Harper, into their lives in the last year. She is so adorable and will just go to anyone and will sit quietly and play with toys with no fussing. My kinda girl!

I love, love, love their living room as it feels as if you are outdoors, when you are really inside. The two large windows which are wall sized, bring the outdoors in.

The swimming pool has a new railing around it. Before it just dropped about 10' down to the backyard below!

The sitting room brings in lots of light from the skylight overhead. A nice place to curl up and read.

I've always liked this child's vintage saddle. L & M have a small (4000 acres!) ranch in Montana and their house is decorated in Western gear with a Southwest flavor.

We took a stroll downtown, where a typical New England village square sits in the center of the small town. Surrounded by perfectly kept houses, galleries, boutiques and stores, it offers a tranquil time window shopping or even buying a piece of jewelry or skirt.

Merchants make their entries cute and inviting.

Guillford is located right on the ocean, with boats bringing in catches of the day for our eating enjoyment.

I was enthralled by 5 jets poofing out puffs of smoke to form letters spelling out "I heart Summer Fun at Mohegan Sun", except I was less enchanted when I found out it was a local casino.

We drove an hour to meet with Houston's cousins and their extended family for an afternoon of chatting, meeting new babies, catching up and enjoying a perfect summer afternoon.

We were invited to a party hosted by friends of Marshall's so we went right from the afternoon party to the evening party, where we didn't know anyone with the exception of Marshall and Clemens. Our hosts, Shaleen and Bob were very welcoming and we got to meet some interesting folks. Bob and Marshall met years ago while filling up their vintage motorcycles at a gas station and got to talking about biking. Last year Marshall, Bob and Lucas spent a few weeks Down Under traveling through the outback on their bikes.

Both Bob and Marshall have an extensive collection of motorcycles, vintage, new, race, dirt, all high powered boy toys.

Lucas brought out his Bultaco, a Spanish bike that he has cherished for many years.

He started it up (after a number of tries, because I think it was just happy resting in the garage) and took off into the dark night for a little joy ride. Luckily he and Bultaco made it back safely.

Bultaco looks like a superheros' bike, ready to avenge evildoers and make the planet safe for mankind.

Moto Guzzi, an Italian bike.

Along with a collection of motocycles, Bob collects guitars and amplifiers. I've never seen so many in one place.

Above the dining room table hung this architectural aluminum chandelier.

After much drinking, dancing, meeting new people, and basically burning the candle at both ends, we called it a night.

But on the way home the next day.... because we are creatures of habit and because who can turn down a good ol' Pennsylvania Dutch meal, we stopped at Haags House for lunch. Family style = yummy style!

Baked chicken with 3 sides, pie and coffee included. A good end to a great weekends.

Dog is My Copilot

2011-08-28T09:01:00.001-04:00

Casey has been away from the farm for 15 months. He rode out west with Forrest to become a Missoula dog, a city dog. He made lots of friends of the furry persuasion and many more of the non-furry persuasion. Everyone loves Casey.

Especially Forrest. Forrest got Casey when he was a sophomore in high school, when he was going through a difficult time. Casey became his best friend and constant companion.

While out west, Casey lost a bit of weight (his nickname was Tubbo here) by running with Forrest, backpacking and keeping up with all the dogs in the park.

But Forrest has moved back to Dancing Leaf Farm to go to grad school at GW. Yay! We finally get to use those tuition benefits so he basically goes to grad school for nearly free. Who could pass that up? So that means that our boy, Casey, has also moved back into his old room.

Boy and his dog drove 2200 miles in 3 days in the Honda, packed to the bejeebers.

Casey rode shotgun, on a comfy little nest, with his bone, tennis ball, bowl, food and treats nearby.

Casey hopped out of the car, peed, pooped, raced around and appeared to very happy to be back on the farm. Except for one minor annoyance. He didn't know that he now had a very rambunctious younger brother. Trapper could not believe his good fortune! Trapper is not around any dogs, not getting off the farm very much. So when one bounded out of the car, he raced over, greeted Casey and proceeded to totally annoy him. He was ready to rumble! Trap yipped and yelped and tried to engage Casey in labrador play.

Casey put up with the shenanigans for awhile, but then growled a bit and told Trapper to lay off the old man. Traps finally calmed down and Casey figured he was going to have to teach this young whipper snapper a thing or two.

but Casey looked at us....."Really?! Seriously!"

But imagine our good fortune! Not only do we get one young adult back in the fold, but we get a twofer! Forrest's girlfriend, Emily, is moving to the East Coast to attend grad school in Columbia, Maryland. They will both be living at the farm until they figure out where would be the best place to live for commuting. We welcome both with open arms and I'm looking forward to all the chores (fencing, painting, building) these two will be doing to work off the 'rent'. I hear that Emily loves to cook too. Score!

The Funnest Part

2011-08-22T08:28:00.009-04:00

Now for the really fun part of the vacation. Houston, Forrest, Emily (new girlfriend), dogs (Casey and Beau) and I, went a-tromping in the Mission Mountains just an hour from Missoula. We had to get permits as this is a tribal wilderness area. In 1979 the Salish and Kootenai tribes designated 89,500 acres of privately owned tribal lands along the western slopes as Wilderness. This is the only Tribal Wilderness in the nation to be established by the actual tribe. 'These mountains belong to our children, and when our children grow old they will belong to their children. In this way and for this reason these mountains are sacred.'

We hiked into this cut, mostly along a raging creek, until we began the climb.

At times the trail looked like this, as we picked our way carefully over the sharp rocks.

There were a few stream crossings, this one being the most manageable as there were two logs side by side. Easy peasy.

Some folks choose to ride, although I don't know how those horses got around the downed trees.

Forrest gives two thumbs up for the hike. Forrest and Emily were ahead of us most of the time, having 23 year old knees. Emily has screws in her knees to hold them steady as she has degenerative something happening but did just fine going up and even down. Maybe I need screws!

We hiked for over 3 hours and came to this beautiful forest of cedars, a fairy forest.

I really wanted to stop and camp here. It was so peaceful and pretty and I was ready to call it a day. We had started at 1:00 so it was late afternoon by now. Forrest said that this was the last place to camp until we got to the lakes. Luckily it started to rain so we quickly set up camp and enjoyed our time beneath the canopy of cedars.

Bonus. The camp was set up right near this rushing stream so it was nice to just hang out and rest the old legs.

But the next day of hiking brought a few more stream crossings, one a bit harder than the day before. We had 4 options. 1. scooching 2. walking across the log 3. walking through the stream 4. f-that!

I chose scooching. I was going to walk across but when Emily (who used to be a gymnast and spent plenty of time on a balance beam) chose to scooch across,

scooching it was.

Forrest scampered across the log the first time, just for fun, then walked through with Emily's backpack.

Houston tried scooching, but decided that walking through was easier (?!)

I think if I tried walking through, I would have been swept away like a pin ball, bouncing from rock to log, to rock. The current was S-T-rong!

Emily's dog, Beau, scurried across like it was nothing. Casey, on the other had, could not, would not. So Forrest heaved him up, wrapped him around his neck like a fur collar (a stinky, wet one!) and carefully and slowly made his way across the slippery rocks. Luckily it was a short distance.

Casey weighs about 70 pounds, so he's no lightweight.

Nearly there

Forrest and Emily said that Casey had his 'floating face' on. They take him floating on the Blackfoot River and he gets this look of 'peaceful scared'.

Here's a little video of the Casey Crossing Creek. Don't mind the mom scream when I thought they were heading downstream. Love the high five at the end though.

Forrest and his friend, Erik, had hiked this trail 2 years previously in September. This past winter and spring brought record snowfalls and with that, lots of snowmelt (raging streams). What made this trail even more difficult was that there was no trail maintenance done this year and perhaps last year. Many large trees covered the trail which meant going under (hard with a pack), over (sometimes way too high), or up and around. Any of the above took more time and energy. Forrest and Eric had hiked this entire trail in one day so Forrest encouraged us to do the same. Whoo boy! No way, Jose. I am soooo glad I encouraged us to stay in the cedar forest. We started from fairy forest at 9:00 and didn't arrive to the lakes until 6 hours later. We would have been hiking up thousands of feet, over streams, up rock, all in the dark.

Forrest had his heart set on taking us to Summit Lake but after hiking most of the day, we ran into snow. We hiked over snow bank after snow bank but then the trail disappeared into snow and streams and wetlands, making it impossible to continue. Forrest decided he would try to make it to the upper lake and we just waited on a snowbank. He was gone about 20 minuted and we heard him yelling and thought it was for us to continue on. I had made up my mind that I wasn't going to go on and was going to go back about 1/2 mile to the pretty lake we had passed and camp there. So, nope, go ahead and yell, but I'm not coming. But his yelling became more and more desperate and we realized he was calling for help. Something I forgot to mention was that the area just 100 yards away was designated "Grizzly Bear Conservation Area", miles and miles of wilderness where humans are not even allowed so as not to disturb their habitat. No problem here. One thing I do not want to see in the wilderness is a griz. We all carried bear spray on our belts, ready to grab the container, take off the protective cover, then spray in short spurts in a semi circle around you, but only when the bear is 30' or closer and is charging! I was really hoping it wouldn't come to that. We had seen scat and evidence of bears digging for bugs along the trail.

Anyhootie, back to the story. Forrest was yelling what sounded like "Help, help!" So Houston took off with his bear spray, hiking pole and tromped right through the snow and water in his boots. He found Forrest in about 5 minutes, a bit lost and confused to where we were. When he got back to us, he said that maybe he should have chosen a different word to yell. Yea, "Hello" sounds too much like "Help!"

We decided that there was no way we were making it to Summit Lake (duh!) and went back to set up camp at Frog Lake. Totally pretty.

This is where I sat and read. I was happy to get my boots off, my pack off my back, and just hang out.

Casey was pretty happy too.

Even though I whined a bit, (I kept thinking of Sun Valley and coffee shops, galleries and mountain biking) I thoroughly enjoyed the hike. Ten miles in and 10 miles out was just enough for me. We got to know Emily (love!), saw gorgeous wilderness and best of all, didn't get attacked by grizzlies.

The Fun Part, Part 2

2011-08-17T09:59:00.000-04:00

Backing up a week or so, we left Missoula to drive to Portland, through eastern Washington.

I was happy to see that wind turbines dot the hillsides because it sure is windy there.

We stopped for a yarn 'trunk' show and had lunch with friends in Walla Walla. Sharon had arranged for her group of knitting friends to stop on by and get the goods fresh out of the trunk.

I was happy to oblige.

As we toured Sharon's delightful garden, she told us the story of her cute flower box hanging on the fence.

Her father lived to the ripe old age of 86, still biking everywhere. This was the handlebars and basket from his bike. Every day she sees this, she is reminded of her father. Charming!

The 50' tall cowboy beckoned us in to the small grocery store just before our campsite. We didn't get fryers cut up, cabbage or romas, but we did get fried chicken, potatoes and cole slaw for or camp dinner. Oh, and wine.

Coming down the Columbia River Gorge, we took the side diversion on Historic Highway 30.

We chanced upon the Horseless Carriages' Grand Day Out.

I loved the finery

But I especially loved the cars. Coming from a car family (my father, grandfather, and 5 great uncles all had car dealerships), I've always been smitten with vintage vehicles.

The cars in this Horseless Carriage rally were all 1915 or older.

The details were amazing. A custom made pic-a-nicka basket

Incredible hood ornaments

I was surprised at how many different models there were. Even back then, folks had so many choices.

And these two 'guard' dogs were enjoying (?) a ride in the open automobile.

We made it to the top and visited this beautiful building.

all marble, stone and stained glass. I highly recommend driving this bit of roadway, seeing waterfalls, woods and amazing river views along the way.

The Fun Part, Part 1

2011-08-15T09:12:00.000-04:00

With Sock Summit behind us, Houston and I got on the road again, but not too far. Before Sock Summit we had driven from Missoula, Montana, through Walla Walla, Washington (where I had a 'trunk show', literally showing the yarn out of the trunk of the car). This time we just drove 45 minutes from Portland, to our friends, Robin and Patty's farm. They raise goats, horses and have fantastic veggie and flower gardens. We all played Ultimate Frisbee together back in the day and we actually got to see many of our old Frisbee friends on this vacation. For a totally relaxing day, R&P drove us to the Oregon coast where we sat on the beach and ate a divine lunch.

We had great weather, even a bit cool and I was happy to NOT be sitting in a convention center.

The waves crashed about and I did put my feet in for just a short time because if you don't know this about the water on the Oregon coast, well I'm here to tell you it is COLD!

The colors were amazing, the azure of the sky, the grey and white of the water, the coppery color of the rocks and this brilliant chartreuse of the moss. New colorway perhaps?

Back at Ninebark Farm, i strolled around the gardens. I had been wondering what the delightful scent was and soon found out it was sweet peas. Whooooboy! Bottle that scent up and send it to all war torn countries. It'll put a happy face on everyone and we will all get along. War heads, stealth bombers, missile launchers....wrong. Sweet peas...right.

Can't you just smell them?!

I picked a bouquet and brought them all the way through Idaho to Montana. They looked pretty sorry by Montana though.

And the crocosmia...brilliant! It grows into massive clumps of crimson, so bright and cheerful.

After traveling through Sisters, Oregon and up over the next pass, our little Honda (filled with too much yarn) overheated and we had to pull over. Luckily it was in a National Forest campground but unluckily the campground didn't have water. But the nice camp hosts offered us a couple gallons so we could fill the radiator and make ourselves coffee.

We made our way to our friends over in Idaho, Karen and Bill, more Ultimate Frisbee buddies. We hadn't been to their ranch and I was looking forward to seeing it.

Bill has his own construction company and has built everything on the property.

A beautiful, passive solar home...

...a barn with attached greenhouse and an apartment for guests above the barn.

Rustic antiques and split wood for the fireplace greeted us at the entryway.

Cowboy decor.

Karen is a landscape architect and has designed and built (with the help of Bill) a fantastic garden.

They built a fence around what will be the orchard, to keep deer out.

The fruit trees, waiting to be planted.

We partied into the wee hours and Bill coaxed us out into the night to take a 3-mile walk with only the Milky Way to guide us. One forgets how dark it is in the west and how clear the skies are. We could see every constellation and the Milky Way was creamy white, spilling across the sky.

But Bill and Karen don't live on the ranch full time. The next valley over, Sun Valley, you may have heard of it!, offers more in the way of making a living than the quiet valley in Camas County. They live and work in Ketchum and make it out to the ranch a number of times a month.

Karen's architect firm, Native Landscapes and has recently moved into new digs. The entryway is stunning, with real (recently cut) aspens.

Housed on the third floor of an art gallery, the halls are enhanced with huge paintings by western artist.

Clients can sit here and view their projects on...

the flat screen tv built into the bamboo wall that Karen constructed.

I was a bit pouty leaving Ketchum. I didn't get to see enough of our friends and Ketchum is a lovely town with galleries, boutiques and great restaurants. Plus it offers awesome mountain biking, a bike path to a rustic lodge, rafting and hiking. We could have stayed days and we begged to come back for a week next year. They said, "You bet!" so we'll be back for sure.

This sculpture was built last year right downtown out of willow branches. It's about 12' tall and quite spectacular.

And then we were off over the pass, through the woods, and back to Missoula for a backpacking adventure. Ahhh! The wild, wild West!

Sock Summiting

2011-08-13T23:48:00.000-04:00

I've been away for a few weeks now, attending Sock Summit in Portland, Oregon and vacationing in Oregon, Montana, and Idaho. We arrived in Portland on the Wednesday before the big yarn show, after a pleasant couple days of driving through the mountains of Montana, stopping for lunch with friends in Walla Walla, camping along the Deucheutes River, having breakfast in Hood River (and some power shopping there), and taking Historic 30 down the Columbia River Gorge.

My four boxes of yarn were waiting in my booth. Like magic (and $225!)

Houston was my helper and official photographer during set up. Whenever I needed a 'tall guy' thing done, he was jonnyonthespot.

I was disappointed that the backdrop wasn't black. All other shows I've been to have had black drapes so I got all black boxes and black table coverings. I had this vision that the yarn would 'pop' out of the black. Oh well.

We had picked up shelving and supplies at Target and Ikea (love!) the day before, so were ready to put it all together.

, Houston immediately took to the task of blowing up my party legs. I did have a pump but he broke it before she was fully inflated, so had to give her a little 'lip service'.

The party legs were quite the hit. I had knit these thigh high leg warmers for Sock Summit out of Bee Bop and I really liked the way the turned out. I had to find some undies for her as she couldn't be nekked. I got these kinda slutty ones at TJMaxx and thought they were just the right amount of trailer trash for her. And they matched the 'Carnival' colorway perfectly!

I was totally smitten with these hangers from Ikea. Don't they look like question marks? What to knit, what to knit???

It slowly came together, I got all the samples out, the yarn hung and placed in boxes or retro suitcases, turned on the lights, and was ready for business.

Thursday afternoon the doors to the market opened at 4:30, with the line stretching at least a block long.

The doors opened and the onslaught of knitters ran...

and I mean, ran to the

~~Anonymous~~ Popular Booths

and it wasn't mine.

I have to be honest, Sock Summit was not all puppies and kittens and unicorns and rainbows for me. I dyed and skeined and dyed and fussed and dyed and packed and fretted on what to send/bring for months ahead of time. I told someone that this show was harder to get ready for than when we packed the family up to spend 6 months in Australia!

I'm not the yarn dyer de jour at the moment and those booths were a mob scene. I read on ravlery (knitting site) that some booths had folks grabbing armloads of yarn, scratching and elbowing their way in with skeins flying overhead. WOW! One booth was left with no yarn in it. But I just sat there and knitted away (for 3 1/2 days), put on my smiley face and greeted the knitters with my can-do attitude. I didn't lose money, so that's a good thing.

Folks were really caught up in the magic of SS. There was an organized 'Flash Mob' with over 1000 knitters swinging their yarn in the air.

And lots of knitters got to knit on the World's Largest Sock.

There was even a 'Fleece to Foot' challenge where they sheared 4 sheep an 6 teams spun, then knit a pair of socks. There were over 60 teachers, 130 classes and a bunch of vendors.

After packing it all up Sunday evening, I was happy to retreat to our friend's farm nearby to relax and begin our vacation. Phew!

Sock Summit, Here I Come!

2011-07-20T21:19:00.003-04:00

I've been frantically preparing for my first ever away show. Sock Summit is a big yarn convention taking place at the Portland Convention Center in Oregon. Yikes-e-wa-wa, this has been a heap of work! I've never shipped my goods across country, to show up at my booth (hopefully!) and set up my space with minimal stuff (nothing but an 8' table and a chair).

I sent out an S.O.S. for knitting help on making socks. I got a few takers and they've done a superb job of creating some nice socks and patterns for me to showcase.

They are way more complicated than what I would knit, so I'm very grateful. I've named them after famous dancers to go with 'Dancing' Leaf Farm. The first one pictured is 'Ginger Rogers', number 2 is 'Mikhail' and number 3 is 'Martha Dances in the Leaves'. I have a yarn named 'Sock Hop' that makes great socks.

I knit simple socks, like this 'Shirley Temple' toddler's sock. It has a crocheted flower to add a little girl whimsey.

Baby socks are so easy to whip up. In an hour of 'Friday Night Lights', you can have one completed.

But hopefully not all the customers and class takers will be solely interested in sock yarn. I'm bringing heaps of other types of yarn. One of the women who knit the women who knit the 'Martha' socks, also expanded on the dancing leaves theme and knit an entire sweater using my Salsa yarn in Sorta Solid Teal and the trim in Sedona.

Garrett came out last Sunday with two beautiful women (the third beautiful woman, Deidre, would not model, making the excuse that she had no makeup!) so Hannah and Kelly were coerced into wearing hot mohair and wool on this 95 degree day so I could do a photo shoot.

They were naturals and I think they had a good time. Kelly was such a good sport, she even changed into my skirt for the shoot.

They certainly did the pieces justice.

Here's the collar knit out of Sedona. I just love how the leaves 'dance' across the sweater.

Hannah was so demure and reserved....

Not! She has a natural flair and was quite at ease in front of the camera.

She acted like there was a chill in the air, although it was sweltering.

In this shot, she said she was portraying a very sad model. I told her to act like she had eaten an extra cracker and had gained 4 oz.

I'm hoping to sell, sell, sell lots of my 'Biggie' yarn. I'm taking plenty of skeins (at least 50) so hopefully I won't be sending it back home.

'Biggie' makes this 'Wrap Me Up, Buttercup' shawl.

Another of my unique yarns is 'Happiness', four novelty yarns stranded together, included with a fused glass brooch in a complementary color.

But it's not all just pretty yarn and girls. This is what my dining room looked like all last week. It's been way too hot to work up in my studio with temps getting to over 100 degrees.

It's a literal sweat shop!

So I moved all my equipment and heaps of yarn near the air conditioner and fan. Trapper was more than happy to keep me company.

My 'piece de resistance' is going to be my blow up legs. I have mannequin legs, but they are way too heavy to ship so thought about getting a blow up doll. Well, they have holes in delicate places and they are really quite ugly. You be the judge.

But then I found a website that is chock full of inflatable mannequins. Score! I mistakenly ordered a male one, sent him back and got the legs of my dreams.

I knit Thigh High Leg Warmers for her and I have to say, they fit like a glove!

I just need to get rid of her cellulite with a little more air.

She has a bit of a wrinkly butt.

But with her legs in the air and showing off her new thigh high leg warmers, I'm hoping she'll bring in the customers.

I could send 150 pounds at a small package weight by UPS freight so packed up 4 boxes with 'oh-I-hope-it's-the-right-stuff'. We had to weigh it on a regular scale which meant that we had to weigh ourselves, the pick up the box and total the weight. Garrett whined the whole time so we girls had to take over. Yep, they're heavy!

But I still have WAY more to take. Luckily we can take 200 pounds of baggage with us on the plane and I'm coming dangerously close to that. Unfortunately, we're taking it all on a long ride. We couldn't get frequent flyer tickets to Portland, so we're flying in to Missoula (where Forrest lives), taking his car and driving to Portland over a couple days, camping on the way. I won't have to worry about having no yarn for projects! So after Sock Summit, we're visiting lots of Portland friends, going camping with a couple of them, driving to Ketchum, Idaho and staying with friends, then back to Missoula where we'll help Forrest pack up for his big move back east. Phew! Who ever said vacations were easy! Wish me luck!

Did I party too hard?

2011-07-14T20:06:00.000-04:00

My friend, Jeri, threw a party on her and her hubbies' awesome farm. It's a former Amish farm near Pocahantas, Pa., north of Frostburg in western Maryland. I love this place and could move there in a minute. Jeri and Terry used to live in downtown Cumberland, in a 100-year old building that they renovated in the Arts and Crafts style. They bought this farm as a weekend retreat but found they were retreating there 24/7 so fixed up the old place and moved on in.

It is so nice to see good taste put to use. They basically built the house from the ground up, preserving a log structure. They hired a stone mason who did impeccable work on the columns and the stone retaining wall.

The porch is deep and wide and wraps around two sides of the house. Don't you hate it when builders put on a faux porch on that's only 3 feet deep so when you sit on a chair, your knees hit the railing? That's not what a porch is about.

The porch is a place to greet friends, to relax, to shell peas, play guitar, and to thoroughly enjoy life.

It's even a place to put your hat till you need it again.

The lane leads down to the pasture where the horses graze to their contentment.

They own around 165 acres of heaven. The climate here is cooler than even in Cumberland, and the pastures sure seemed greener and taller than mine here in Barnesville.

When they bought the farm from the Amish, the neighboring Amish were afraid that Jeri and Terry were not going to let them get the hay off the acreage. Far from it. The Amish come to hay in June or July (I still want to watch that with the work horses and wooden hay wagons) and in exchange for all the hay and being able to store it in the barn, the men fix up the old buildings on the property. This year it's this barn.

Jeri and Terry supply all the materials, the Amish supply the labor. And they do work hard. I always told my boys when they complained about doing a chore..."OK, off to an Amish farm you go for the summer!"

Not only are the perennial gardens amazing, but their veggie garden is abundant with food. ("Eat organic food. Or as your grandparents called it, 'Food'!) I was surprised at how the peas were still coming in and mine have been done for 2 weeks now. Yep, it's cooler here.

This was actually Jeri's birthday party so she gave a little speech.

Welcoming everyone, some who came from far away.

She thanked her hubbie, Terry, for being so wonderful and gave him a big hug. They re-met at a class reunion 5 years ago and it's been stars in their eyes ever since.

Music, great food, beautiful scenery... a perfect evening.

...'cept for one little thing. See that silver car in the background? That's my car. The car that needs keys to start it and make it go. Well, when we were done partying at 11:00, we got in the car and I could no way, no how, no way Jose, find my keys. I looked everywhere, in my bags, in the front seats, in the back seats, we even borrowed a flashlight and looked all around the car. No keys, bummer. And we were 30 miles from home. Luckily for Seal and me, some friends from Cumberland were still there and offered to give us a ride home in their convertible Mini Cooper, (sweet!) They were so nice and let us borrow their car the next morning to go back and look for our keys in daylight. Well, in the middle of the night, I awoke with a thought that maybe, just maybe, I left the keys on my back tire. I had done a bike ride that day and didn't want to take my keys with me so left them on the tire. I had no recollection of doing that at the party though, none whatsoever. The reason, I figured was because when Seal, Annie and I were getting out of the car, Seal said to Annie,' I love those earrings'. I heard 'earrings' and had to run around the car to see how wonderful they were. I'm like the dog in 'Up', when he hears the word, "squirrel", becomes hyper-focused on the squirrel. So I called Jeri at a decent hour (not 3:30 in the morning, she was grateful) and she went out and checked my tire and Ta Da! they were there. Yay! I didn't have to spend $100 - $200 getting a new key made and probably impossible on a Sunday anyway.

So out we went in the little Coop, retrieved my keys ( I kissed them!) and they invited us up to their wonderful porch. I felt like I was in the French countryside. The table was laid with fresh cheese, bread, fruit, juice and coffee. We sat down to partake and music drifted to our ears from around the corner. Folks had grabbed their guitars and Jeri's niece, who has a voice like an angel, sang while we munched on hard cheese and drank coffee. When someone mentioned, "Too bad we don't have percussion," a friend went to his car and brought out a beautiful bongo and a backpack of percussion instruments. My smile grew bigger. There was a cool breeze, the scenery was beautiful, the people relaxed, and everyone was singing along to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. I'm going to forget my keys at parties more often!

Happy Birthday, Jeri. And thank you for such a superb evening and morning. Next time, I'll have Seal drive!

Room Redeaux

2011-07-06T19:03:00.002-04:00

Oops. Forgot to do a before pic. This is the during, when everything is in shambles. I did a makeover on Garrett's old room earlier this year and was itching to get to Forrest's old bedroom. That room hadn't been painted in maybe 8 years. Yikes!

Forrest has been gone for 5 years now, 4 years of college at the University of Montana and a year working in Missoula. But in 6 weeks he's moving back to the area to go to grad school at George Washington U (where Houston happens to be a professor so we can finally use those tuition exchange credits, yay!). He'll move into his old room until he figures out if he'll move closer in to the shitty. So now all three of my boys will be close. That doesn't happen much any more so you can imagine the smile on my face.

When I told Forrest I was painting his old room, he said,"I hope you're not girling it up." Oops! Can't help myself. This is my new fave color, pale aqua, seafoam, 'makes me happy bluey-greeney'. It is not a manly color, fer sure. But this really is not his room any longer so he'll just have live with it.

All the furniture got a redo too. I find these night stands really cheap at Goodwill or yard sales. I always have a gallon of black paint, a thin foam roller and paint pan at the ready for slathering everything in black. With a cute little glass knob, it's good to go.

Same with this retro 60's type side table. Cheapo at the thrift store.

The twin lights were sent by my dear madre from Arizona who got them at a thrift store. Unfortunately she paid twice as much to have them shipped, but I really like them and may bling up the shades someday.

This was Houston's childhood dresser. Still in pretty good shape. It's nice to have furniture for so long.
It'll probably get passed on to the grandkids that may someday come along.
(wish!)

This old dresser was bought at an antique store 31 years ago for Aramin's bedroom. It had huge brass handles and the wood was stained. Black paint to the rescue and some mod brushed nickle handles.

Ta da! (30 years from now I'll be stripping it back to wood. Yikes! I'll be 87. Maybe not.)

Since Houston is back in merry old England, I've been sleeping up here.
It's like staying at a B&B. I wake up, look around and smile. The windows face east so it gets the morning light streaming in.

Even Trapper likes it! He's partial to turquoise shag rugs.

Hay You!

2011-07-01T17:11:00.001-04:00

I just never tire of this scene. Right across the road from us are acres and acres of pasture. This spring was so wet (wish we could dole it out now!) that the hay was nice and thick in rows.

Which made for plenty of hay bales.My morning ritual is to get up with the sun (works for me most days), make the coffee, walk to fetch the paper, grab a cuppa java and read the paper either on the back porch or in the front room looking out at this view. Every day I thank my lucky stars or the cosmos or my dog, (and especially my hubby) for letting me see this view every day.

What's not to like about cheery, round bales of hay? They're all wound up, just resting and doing their job of drying out. Soon, they'll be placed in another pasture where they'll slowly disappear, being munched by ruminants (sheep and cows) and nonruminants (horses). Sheep need to eat for 4-5 hours every day to eat enough hay to survive. I guess that's why they always have their heads down, looking bucolic out in the fields.

The window to the right of the door is my newspaper reading window.

Down the lane a bit, Harris Road boasts some nice bales also. They have a better view though, with Sugarloaf in the background.

After their 4-5 hours of grazing, the sheep come on up to the upper field, to lay down and ruminate about the past day. Another sunrise and sunset and a great summer day in between.

June Wrap-up

2011-06-28T13:10:00.000-04:00

June is my favorite month of the year. The longest day is in June, my flower gardens are at their peak, the weather tends to be not too hot and it's all around delightful.

I went to the Frederick Art Fair along the canal earlier in the month. My friend, Macee, had a booth, selling her jewelry.

The canal is a perfect place for a festival. The city of Frederick has done a great job of sprucing it up, with cool water features, sculpture and paintings.

We went to the Beer, Bourbon and Bar-b-que along National Harbor. I really don't care for any of those three things but we got to ride in this cool limo.

The crowds were wee 20-30 year olds and their main objective was to drink as much bourbon and beer as they could. I hadn't seen these pretzels-on-a-necklace before and thought it was a clever idea. Folks would just grab a pretzel from their friend's necklace.

Seal had a garden party on the most glorious day.

Her garden is like an arboretum, with over 200 trees and gazillions of perennials and shrubs. It started out 17 years ago as a corn field and is now a wonderful retreat.

To celebrate the June birthdays, a friend had a Breakfast/Birding party at 7:30 in the morning.

Folks came with their professional binoculars and we sited quite a few types of the

little feathered creatures.

Got some kayaking in...

Spent some time in Cumberland with my 'western' girlfriends...

I got to hoop with my girlies on my birthday.

My long time girlfriend, (from WAY back in high school days) Nancy and Joel came for a visit from Albuquerque for a few days.

June is peak time for the day lilies on Harris Road or what I call, Lily Lane.

And our own little lane went from this....

....to this! Ta da! I know we live in the country, but it's still nice to have a paved driveway. We had pot holes at the bottom of the drive that, when it rained, the newspaper would invariably land in the puddle. Trapper is inspecting the drive from his place at the top. So...good-bye to June. You went waaaaaaayyyy too fast.

Score!

2011-06-21T23:20:00.001-04:00

Every now and then I go to our local dump. It's actually called the 'Beauty Spot' but it's not so beauty-ful. No yucky household trash is allowed though, just debris from building projects, old fence stuff, and things that are too big for street trash removal. But boyohboy, people throw away so much good shit mon. Over the years, I've gotten to know most of the guys who work there and they know me. There were two new guys (identical twins!) there last week and they told me that I seem to be hauling away more stuff than I brought to the dump. I said, "That's why I don't bring my husband!"

This time I got:

two cute kid chairs, perfect condition

two pot liners (I was just going to go to Lowe's to buy one)

a case of never used Perrier bottles (I passed up 2 more cases)

a brand new professional telescoping window ice scraper

and 7 new gallon jars, perfect for mixing my dyes

a never used large pad of water color paper and a ream of card stock

and the big ticket item which the new boys loaded for me, a five-drawer filing cabinet. I really need this as I want to totally reorganize my filing system.

But first, it needs a re-do. I could do this....

or this... (love this one!)

or any of these. There's removable fun sticky type graphics you can get, lots of design, lots of ideas. Oy, how to decide?!

I got these jars because I saw this great idea of painting them...

....like this! Cute, huh?

In years past I scored this concrete birdbath base,

This iron cart/stand that I use on my patio for putting plates, wine glasses, food, etc.

I've had my boys load so many shutters into my truck that they told me I could build my own house out of shutters. I've gotten concrete urns, old wooden ladders, a large kitchen table and chairs, plates, cups, saucers, cake pans, rakes, pitch forks, even a bumper pool table with balls. One time I was bragging to a girlfriend about all the stuff I found at the dump and she said that if I ever found a wing back chair to take it. I told her I'd never seen one at the dump so don't hold your breath. Well, the next day, one was there! She took it to an upholsterer and he said it was in great shape, very well made.

Got this retro coffee table on one of my forays.With a little imagination, lots of elbow grease, plenty of storage and a pick-em-up truck, one can keep quite busy on 'shopping' at the Beauty Spot!

Clean Sweep

2011-06-18T10:03:00.000-04:00

It was really past time to do something about re-organizing my dye kitchen. I was just waiting for a super hot day so I could enjoy the coolness of the basement.

Lordy! This is how it looked before I did the re-do. After all the dyeing for my shows this spring, my workspace was a total, what-the-hell-happened-here mess! I can't believe I'm actually posting these pics. I never let anyone into the basement for fear they'll nominate me for one of those makeover shows. This is the same dye kitchen that the vulcher found so appealing.

Everything was helter skelter.

Yarn was spilling from bins. I usually pride myself for being so organized but this was so bad that I hated going down there to try to make pretty yarn.

But with new shelving,

new dye shelves and painting the cabinets black and the walls white again, it's a total new space.

Now I won't be able to dye because I'll mess it up!

Strawberry Pickin' Time

2011-06-16T07:46:00.000-04:00

Last week Ann and I picked strawberries at a local 'pick your own' farm. It really was the end of the season but we were able to pick pounds and pounds in just under an hour.

Homestead Farms has a darling little cottage right on the grounds. I just wanted to go right on up the path and have tea, scones and strawberry jam.

They also have a goat bridge. A sort of Billy Goat Gruff bridge.Those crazy goats must be part mountain goat because they tiptoe on those wood walkways to get to their 'perch'.

And there's old Silly Billy up there now.

Couldn't get him to look at me though. Probably sleeping.

Water, Agua, Voda, Vatten, Vasser

2011-06-11T08:18:00.003-04:00

Along with riding on rails to trails, we rode on back country roads, staying off the main highways as much as possible. We had to get used to big trucks hauling coal whizzing past us at 60 mph though. For what good it did, I'd pull in my elbows when one approached. Not that I ride with my elbows straight out, but it was just a reflex. We had some nice stops along the way, including this old abandoned country store.

I like downhills much more than the uphills. We could really get up some speed on the downhills and I'd yell "Whoopppppeeeeee!" But I was damn quiet on the uphills except for my huffing and puffing. I do little counting games on the uphills...1 ... 2... 3 ... 4, 2 ... 2... 3... 4..., 3 ... 2 ... 3 ... 4, etc., anything to keep my mind off the pain in my knees. We only walked up one hill the entire trip, but had some breaks half way up some of the hills. Coming out of the Ohio valley, the only way out is up and that day was a bloody hard day too. By the end of the day my knees were a'hurtin' and I swear there was a nest of bees on my bike seat! (say no more!)

After our night of hobo camping and being robbed of a hotel room, we checked on in to a Hampton Inn the next night. This was our 'camp'. We spread out our wet gear, cranked up the fan, hopped in the shower (ahhhh!) and went out for margaritas! Bike touring is fun!

We chose a great night to be holed up in a motel room. This scene from our room is before mayhem broke loose with violent storms, including tornadoes, hail and inches of rain. The tornadoes were a bit north, near Akron, but the news on the tv said beware of flooding along all the rivers. And that's exactly where we were biking the following day. Oh well, that's tomorrow and tonight we are not in our little tent with rain and hail beating down on us. We are dry and clean and I burrowed in my down duvet.

I didn't realize there were so many canals in Ohio.

So back on the E & O Canal. Lovely day.

Yellow flag iris are abundant along the canal. Sometimes used in sewage treatment plants for removing metals, it has escaped into other water areas and is a noxious weed in some places.

Bikes share the trail with horses. The sign directs horses to the right, bikes to the left.

The river was really high, but it seemed just fine so we biked on.

The canal was on our right, river on the left. The canal water started escaping over to the river side and still we biked on, pedaling through and soaking our shoes. Soon we were biking through snake infested water, well only one snake but it sounds really dramatic.

Then the trail turned into this....a lake with ducks and geese. No-sir-eeeee-bob, not going into that!

How appropriate, a little arc in the playground. Climb aboard children!

Picnic anyone?

Time to turn back...

We consulted Miss GPS for an alternative route.

...and were on our way on country back roads once again.

On our last day, Houston and Garrett were just a half day behind us. We waited in a little town for them to catch up so we could ride the last 7 miles to Oberlin with them. I spotted a Subway a lit right on over there for a sandwich. Food is a huge factor while biking and I don't think I was ever so thrilled to see a Subway.

Big smiles.

Soon Garrett rode in...

...then Houston

Tami's daughter, Hannah, rode out a few miles to meet us. I've known Hannah her whole life and was so happy to see her. We were in Oberlin for her graduation, and it was Garrett's 5th year reunion. We really earned party time in Oberlin. Good times!

Since I've been home a week or so, I've had time to reflect on my first bike tour. I had a great time biking/camping with Tami. Thanks Tami for making me do this! I do really like it (have to work on those hills though) and am ready for more. Houston is planning our next adventure, biking the Blue Ridge Parkway in September. I'm on board! We're even looking at another bike for me. Yippeee!

Hobo Camping

2011-06-07T16:36:00.003-04:00

The views we saw from the trails we rode on were 'bellissimo'. This is the Tuscarawas River near Massillion, Ohio. Leaving early in the morning, we saw geese taking care of their young along the riverbank while our tires were making the constant white noise of crunching gravel. You really do get in a zen type mode while viewing the scenery at 10 miles an hour.

Riding rails to trails is in one word A-W-E-S-O-M-E! The trail usually follows a river, is laid with crushed stone, has no cars on it, sometimes travels through people's back yards so you can critique their tidiness, but best of all there is not much of a grade. The rail lines were built...well, for trains, so the grade can't be much more than 4% or the engines wouldn't be able to pull the train or be able to brake with a steeper pitch. Yay for nearly flat biking!

Tami tried to piece together as many rail trails as she could. One such section was the Panhandle Trail spanning 29 miles in West Virginia and Ohio. This one was different than any of the other trails that we rode because it was wide open meadows, rolling hills and we had quite a headwind. I felt like I was back in South Dakota! Beautiful though.

My hardest day was our 5th day out. My legs were in better shape, we hadn't done much climbing (except for some hellish brick streets in McKeesport) and we had a long day ahead. But at the end of the long day, a promise of a hotel awaited us. Ahhhh! a hot shower, recharge of my phone and music, laying on a real bed, hot shower, restaurant food and did I mention hot shower?! After 5 days of pumping pedals, I was ready for hot water to cascade over my body and clean all the grit off. We rode long and hard all day (with an awesome stop for a gyro in a shaded courtyard). After 50 miles I was ready to call it a day. We parked in front of the Pitt Hotel in 'downtown' McDonald and I was sort of hoping that this wasn't the right place. Tami went in to check it out and it was the 'pits' for sure. It was a down-and-outer hotel, renting rooms for the week, month or hour. A couple of no hopers came out and said there might be a room available if Randy moved out. They pounded on the window to see if Randy was indeed gone. We said 'No thanks!', hopped on our bikes and skedaddled out of there faster than you can say "smells like urine!"

We had seen a guy hanging out in front of the fire department, (like a retired fireman who still wanted to see the action but had a bad back and gout so just hung out on a bench waiting for the sirens) so biked over there to tell him we didn't like the Pitt Hotel and to direct us to another, better hotel that didn't smell like pee. He slowly said "Girls, there's no hotel or motel within 10 miles of here." I, for one, was not going to pedal 10 miles out of our way, then 10 miles back the next day. I was spent! So, we had to come up with Plan B really fast. Tami suggested we bike back up to the trail (a mile out of town then UPHILL to the trail!) Woe is me. A tear was trying to make it's way out of my eyeball, but I held it back and quietly said, "OK".

We had to go to the grocery store first to get some fixins for dinner. While Tami went in, I guarded the bikes and scoped out likely people that might invite us in for the night. Finally I spotted one (after dismissing the redneck family and a single guy wearing a wife beater). She was really fit and she drove a big black pickup (in case we needed to haul our bikes). As she walked by I asked her if she knew of any hotels in the area (in a pitiful and weary way). She thought about it and said, no, there's no hotels nearby. But after talking a bit to me, she did offer to take us to the nearest hotel 10 miles away. I almost took her up on it but she didn't offer to come get us the next morning, so, no way Jose. But I did go into the store to use their bathroom (with real plumbing!) to take what we call an Appalachian shower...splash water on your body, rub a bit, wipe off with paper towels. I felt sooo much better.
Another little story: back on day 2 I stupidly left my helmut under the picnic table and a varmint chewed my front foamy thing off, the nice soft piece that makes your helmut rest better on your forehead. It was a mushy mess and I wasn't about to put that icky thing back in my helmut. But there are velcro strips in front and they left little red marks on my forehead which sorta hurt too. So I made a nice little band out of something I had on hand...toilet paper. It worked fine too. But Tami told me later back at Hobo Camp that I had little pieces of toilet paper stuck to my forehead when I walked into the grocery store. I was wondering why people were looking at me oddly. I just thought it was because I had really tight shorts on and my shoes clicked. Thanks Tami! (The next day I upgraded to those blue paper towels you get at gas stations.)

Back up the trail we went where camping wasn't allowed. We cooked our noodle glop, hung out for a bit and waited until dusk to set up the tent in case anyone who walked by would later go tell on us. Hobo Camping 'R Us. I blew up Big Aggie, crawled into my sleeping bag, dreaming about hot showers and fluffy duvets.

In the middle of the night, we were awakened by a thundering noise, a bright light and I was skeered to death! No ATV's were allowed on the trail and Yikes, he's (of course it's a he) going to stop in front of our tent, drag us out and kill us! My heart was racing while Tami reached for her pants. I said, "What are you doing?" She said, "Putting on my pants!" Yep, it's better to meet your enemy with your pants on, for sure! Well, the ATV sped by (phew!) but then stopped (eeeeee!), turned around, (eeeeeeeeeeeee!) and I knew for sure we were gonners, Tami with her pants on and me with just my undies on. But ohthankyoujesusjosephandmary, he kept on a goin'. Tami found her headlamp, unzipped the tent and went out to defend the camp. She sat there for 15 minutes (maybe longer cuz I think I fell back to sleep knowing the camp was protected), waiting and waiting. But Jethro Wayne didn't come back.

But a few hours later we heard a car door (the parking lot was just down the hill), heard a female and male voice coming up the trail, getting closer to our site. Who the hell goes walking at 3:30 in the morning on a dark night with rogue ATV's out?!!!! But they passed us by and we fell back to a restless sleep. I was glad when the sun peeked up for the day and that night was over. We packed everything up and were on our sweet way again, not murdered or run over by an ATV.
Tomorrow: Water, water, everywhere.

Bike Touring (Gettin' Better) Part 2

2011-06-04T09:30:00.006-04:00

I'm getting the hang of this ride now. I'm liking the trail...

the bridges....

and especially the tunnels on a hot day. This one was dripping cold water and I positioned myself to get wet as I rode through. The day was hotter and this chilly tunnel was just the ticket for cooling down.

I even figured out how to get all my stuff in two panniers and my 'trunk'. This was my 'bedroom' one night as we had multiple picnic tables at our campsite.

I did get a bit of knitting time in. We took most of the day to ride, would pull into camp, set up the tent and prepare our meal for the night, which didn't leave much time for knitting. I'm sitting on my inflatable sleep mattress, which saved my tired old bones at night. It's made by a company called 'Big Agnes' so every night, I'd say, "Come on, Big Aggie, I gotta blow ya!"

One long biking day we had an oh-so-lucky stop at Cathy's Kitchen. It was only open a few days a week and we chanced upon it. We were really hungry and needed some downtime.

The food was what you'd expect, sandwiches on white bread and chips, but it was just what the bike doctor ordered. I have to say that we had the crabbiest, drabbiest waiter ever though. He was late 60's and wouldn't crack a smile even though we were charming and cute. There were local folks dining and we got to talking to them. I felt like we were on a movie set really. One older guy at a neighboring table asked us all about where we were going, where we had been, what we'd seen and I could tell, he was wistful with a longing in his eyes wishing he could be riding. He would choose a canal mule though. He used to be the head of the Canal Mule club until cancer took his larnyx. He spoke to us by pressing on the hole in his throat. Every once in awhile he stopped to have a coughing fit but was soon asking us more questions. I failed to get his name, but he looked like a Vince to me, so Vince it is. He told us all about the Erie Canal, how they maintained the trail so they could ride the mules on it. But state agencies came in, bought sections of the canal and forbid mules on the trail.

I came across these song lyrics and I think of Vince on his mule, Sal, slowly ambling along the Erie Canal.

Low Bridge
By Thomas S. Allen
I've got a mule, her name is Sal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
She's a good old worker and a good old pal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
We've hauled some barges in our day
Filled with lumber, coal, and hay
And we know every inch of the way
From Albany to Buffalo
Chorus:
Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge cause we're coming to a town
And you'll always know your neighbor
And you'll always know your pal
If you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal
Get up here Sal, We've past that lock,
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
And we'll make home before six a-clock
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
One more trip and back we'll go
Through the rain and sleet and snow
And we know every inch of the way
From Albany to Buffalo
Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge for we're coming to a town
And you'll always know your neighbor
And you'll always know your pal
If you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal.....

Coming around a bend in a small backroads town, we saw two grizzled guys working hard over a log splitter. We slowly rode by and I thought how much I would like to get a photo of this scene. Tami turned around and said she'd like to talk to them about the wood and how much a cord of wood costs. Yes! They were wary at first, but as soon as Tami asked about the kind of wood they were splitting, a twinkle sparked in the older guys eyes, they turned off the machine and had a chat.

I commented on their clever cages for wood hauling. We endeared ourselves to them, especially Tami who knows a thing or two about wood splitting. She fills two huge wood sheds at her home in the woods of Alaska, but it's mostly birch and we have oak and maple. I guessed a cord cost around $120 and they quoted $125. Tami said it would be around $200 in Alaska.

Taking the 'slow-mo' route, one meets wonderful folks along the way. Two women riding loaded bikes brings attention. The response we got mostly, from old and young alike, was that they wished they could be doing this. A 17-year old girl cashier at a Dollar Store told us how lucky we were to have everything we needed on our bikes, to just ride from campsite to campsite. I found it refreshing to hear their enthusiasm.

I had told Tami that this bike touring reminded me of biking in England and that we would come upon cute little villages with thatched roofs and beautiful gardens. Until this point, we hadn't.

Zoar, Ohio is an historic town established in 1817 by German separatists who were leaving the religious oppression of the Lutheran church. Ten buildings have been restored and the town remains intact, with residences and businesses.

The tinsmith made his way across the stret to chat me up a bit and tell me about the tin business and ask about our trip.

The garden in the center of the villages was laid out based on the Book of Revelation with the center tree representing Christ.

We made instant friends with Pam, our waitress and Vicki, the owner of the historic restaurant where we had breakfast in the adorable town of Zoar, Ohio. An Amish man was also having breakfast and we got lots of advice on the Erie and Ohio Canal Trail, the level of the river, the towns along the way, along with the history of the valley. After touring the town, Tami and I biked to the next town, 6 miles up the trail and ran into Pam and Vicki again. We hugged like we'd known each other for longer than an hour and stood and chatted a bit more. I found out that Pam's granddaughter's name is Dallis too (spelled with two l's). Funny, that. Vicki also runs a B&B and I told her that my husband and son would be coming by in a couple days and she promised to give them a fine stay. As it turned out, Houston and Garrett whizzed right by Zoar to make up some time. Too bad, as Pam and Vicki would have taken very good care of them.

Tomorrow: life in the slow lane and hobo camping...

Bike Touring (Torture) Part 1

2011-06-02T08:02:00.003-04:00

Well, we did it! We biked nearly 400 miles from Cumberland, Maryland to Oberlin, Ohio. For professional bike touring folks (like my husband and son), 400 miles is their warm up, but whoo heee! 400 miles is a long ways on a bike. I wasn't sure if my knees could handle the million or more rotations on the pedals but I had a backup plan, an out, an escape, plan B, if I wanted to bail. Also, Delfest was on for the Memorial Day weekend in Cumberland and I could always rent a car and drive back to the bluegrass festival and enjoy the music with a cold wine relaxing in a lawn chair and eating funnel cakes.

But I had bought this cool new riding jacket, had my panniers packed with sleeping bag, sleeping pad, tent poles, clothes, stuff, food, more stuff and two knitting projects (I left my jewelry behind except for a pair of lightweight earrings....I know, I can hardly believe it either!) I was ready to roll!

Tami was way more macho with four panniers and carried more stuff than me. She's tougher though, and 6 years younger and lives in Alaska.

Starting out on the Great Allegany Passage (GAP) trail, we traveled through a few tunnels...

sometimes a bit dark, but the longer ones have lights.

The Eastern Continental Divide is about 23 miles uphill from Cumberland. It was a good test to see if we could actually haul our butts, bike and gear up hills. We were lucky that it was really cool during most of the trip. This recent 95 degree weather would have left me panting, whining and possibly crying under the table at the campsites.

But our campsites were mostly great. The first night we stayed at 'Husky Haven', near Rockwood, Maryland, about 45 miles in. Camped next to us were 2 dads, 2 boys and their dog, Cooper, a weinheimer. That dog had gone 30 miles that day, another 30 to go the next day, then back 60 miles. I thought this was way to far for a dog to run, so hopefully they would put him on their little trailer for some of the time. He did seem to be in great shape though.

One of the camps was right next to Dravo Cemetery. Isn't that just the greatest name for a cemetery? Sounds all spooky and zombie-like. We set up camp, the mist rose but as far as I could tell, no zombies came out to grab us.

I do have a thing for cemeteries though. I love the headstones, the quiet, the stories and memories that the people buried there had in their lifetime. Most of the stones were so old (or so washed away with acid rain) that I couldn't read who was laid to rest there. 'Laid to rest', that's quite the saying as we were 'laid to rest' in our little dome tent.

After the first two days, I was beginning to think that yep, I could do this. My legs barely hurt (except for that stupid twinge in my knee), the trail had leveled out and the weather was beautiful. A female turkey (hen) ran in front of us for a ways. She ran very funny, with her legs going out sideways a bit and wandering all over the trail. We encouraged her to use her wings, but she just loped on ahead of us until she ran into some brush, stopped and watched us pass, panting.

I was 'tuned' in most of the time. Houston had set me up with his I-pod touch and yippee-i-yo-ki-ya, I do love that thing! I never ran out of music or 'This American Life' or 'The Bugle'. When I was feeling a bit draggy, I would put on my 'Go Speed Racer!' set (like this one excuse the lyrics) or (this one). I could ride like the wind, well, if the wind went like 19 miles an hour. I do love the music.

The trail passes through a few small villages, with houses right on the pathway. Jason Weir had a lemonade stand set up right on the way.

What made this lemonade stand special was that
1. it had a circle of brightly colored chairs in case there were a number of folks who just wanted to sit around, drink lemonade and chat
2. Jason had made a sign out front advertising his stand: Stop on by the Jason Weir Lemonade Stand, Lemonade - 25 cents.
3. Jason had ICE!

4. but the real humdinger was the boom box playing happy music to drink lemonade by. It was plugged into a long extension cord coming from his house across the street.
5. Jason's math wasn't too good because he charged us $2.00 for two lemonades which we happily paid so he could reinvest in his business.

He had a sometimes partner too, his sister Mia. Rotsa ruck kids!

Because of all the rain, there was way more water near the trail. The last time I rode this, there were fewer waterfalls and the streams weren't so rushing. So beautiful. I love riding the GAP because it feels like backpacking through the woods except it's much faster and my back doesn't hurt.

Loved this old bike. The for sale sign had a little hand scrawled message, "Needs paint job."

Along with the enclosed canopy of trees and the flower-lined path, the trail opens up to some amazing views. It was nice to stop occasionally to have a nibble and rest the legs.

Because we needed those legs to get up to the camp at Ohiopyle. I wrote about this camp before and the hike-a-bike up hasn't gotten any easier in those few months. Phew! We decided they should have an escalator or a tow rope.

We finally made it to the top, set up camp, then had to ride another f'in' mile uphill to the office to pay!

It looks like I ordered take out (and don't think we hadn't thought about it!) but obviously no one delivers takeout at the camp. But we did ride down the gravelly hill with no panniers (yay!) and had us a fine meal in town. You'd think I could finish a huge plate of rich pasta after biking all day, but I wanted to save some for breakfast, and forego the oatmeal for one morning.

The Youghigheny River was raging. When I was there last October, we sat on rocks and watched the water cascade gently over the falls. la, la, la. But this time it was forceful, loud and powerful. This wedding party posed in front of the falls.

How cute!

And I loved her dress!

Dude here was getting a shot of them too.

The first five days of biking were cool and crisp. Can't believe how lucky we were, especially since these last few days have been over 95 and humid.

When I was all layered up, Alaska Girl chose to bike sleeveless.

Our favorite part of the trail was from Ohiopyle to Connellsville. The trail follows the Yough River, where it's wild and beautiful, the mountains are covered in mountain laurel, rhododendron, waterfalls and wildflowers. We had smiles from ear to ear. Part 2 to follow.

Diet Plan

2011-05-19T07:54:00.002-04:00

I'm off on my big bike adventure from this Thursday to the end of May...10 days of biking, from Cumberland to Oberlin, Ohio. I'm riding with Tami, my friend from Alaska so all I have to do is carry about 50 pounds of my gear and keep up with her! I need to take off some of this winter fat so what better way to do it than ride for 350 miles?! We're camping along the way and she has it all mapped out. I've been crazy busy getting orders out from Sheep & Wool Fest so I've left the route planning up to her. I would occasionally think "oh yeah, I need a sleeping bag" and run to get it, then the therma rest and maybe my bike shoes so I wasn't sure if I even had everything I needed. I've been so scattered that it was hard to focus on getting all the gear together for a 10-day ride. And let's not talk about my legs and lungs, whooee!, I forgot to train for this ride. I told my legs that it'll be on the job training, so they'd better get to work and do their job! Houston (husband) and Garrett (son) are leaving Monday and doing the ride in just 5 days. They're manly and they have huge thighs to push those pedals. This is just a tiny little ride for them as they rode day after day after day from here to Oregon 5 years ago. But for me it's the longest I've ridden so I've gotta get my game on. We'll be riding 140 miles on the Allegany Trail, a rail to trail path that I've ridden/camped twice in sections. I know how lovely this trail is so I'm looking forward to the natural beauty of it.

The hardest thing was deciding what knitting project/s I wanted to take. Small needles and a pattern that isn't too hard so I can sit around the camp and knit without furrowing my brow trying to figure out the stitches. I've decided on thigh high leg warmers. Not your typical camp knitting! Maybe I'll have them done by the time I get to Oberlin! Oops, forgot about all that biking time.

Garden Delights

2011-05-18T20:36:00.001-04:00

I just love this time of year when the garden is young and weedless. Next week may be a different story. The many plants I've bought at various places are now in the ground.

I bought way too many plants though. I'd get some at Lowe's then Southern States when I'd get feed and see some heritage tomato plants at the Sheep and Wool Fest that looked awesome. The problem was that I was too busy to plant them right away so when I finally tallied up my flats, I had 16 tomato plants and over 20 pepper plants. We do like our peppers, especially the Thai hot peppers but I was a bit out of control this year. We even had to till another row to be able plant all the extras I got.

Somewhere I read about vertical planting of potatoes. I happened to have these wire cages that I filled with sheep poo and old hay. Raising sheep has its rewards, in the form of worm enriched black soil that was once poo. I just take my huge garden cart out there and shovel up huge quantities of the rich stuff and move it to the bins. I stuffed the side with old hay from last year and put an 'eye' of the potato in each square. I was hopeful that they peek through eventually but doubtful too.

But to my surprise, the little eyes sprouted and are trailing down the tower. Yeah!

My greens are taking off finally. I eat at least one salad a day, so to go out and pick the arugula and lettuce is a dream.

I have many little gardens around but I discovered that most of them have purple flowers in them. I'm not sure if it's the time of year or if I just pick purple producing flowers.

But you can't go wrong with purple and green!

A Walk in the Woods

2011-05-14T19:42:00.000-04:00

Since I worked so hard getting ready for, then selling at Sheep & Wool Fest, I rewarded myself with a little backpacking trip with Tami and Bev.

We left Wednesday and had gorgeous weather, 60's in the day, low 50's at night. Three days of hiking fun! We did the Mau-har trail, just off the Blue Ridge Parkway south of Waynesboro, Virginia and some of the Appalachian Trail (AT for those of you in-the-know).

We set up camp and Tami gave Bev some knot tying lessons. Our favorite knot is the 'trucker's hitch' or 'canoe knot' or 'tent knot'. Basically, it's a self-tightening knot, a very good knot to know. If you don't know this knot, you should. If you don't know how to tie a good knot, tie lots of them!

Bev is really concentrating and was a very good student.

Our kitchen was set up under our little tarp with my hiking poles. They come in very handy, especially as hiking poles as this was a very arduous, rocky trail that was up and down and down and up.

Thursday we hiked to the Harper's Creek Shelter on the AT. Bev and I had done this hike about 5 years ago and stayed at this lovely spot. We just did a day hike and had lunch here. The AT is is a 2181-mile long trail that thru hikers travel from Georgia to Maine (NoBo) or Maine to Georgia (SoBo), northbound or southbound. About 3000 hikers attempt the trail a year but only 25% finish the entire length. We met 'Deleware Dave' at the shelter. He'd been on the trail for 3 months and had 3-4 months left to go. Hikers take on trail names. Bev was 'Bayou' and I was 'Dakota' when we did part of the trail (section hiker) 6 years ago.

Log books are kept at each shelter, which the hikers write in daily as they're passing through or camping at the site. A 'family' is formed along the trail as the hikers bond to certain other hikers and news spreads fast among them. I've read about people falling in love along the trail and getting married at the finish.

The journal is an interesting read, telling about the animals one has seen, the weather, how to locate someone but most of all, the state of mind of the person. By reading some of the entries, I saw that some of these folks really needed this break in their life.

But we are happy to just hike for a few days in the woods, walking through the mist, listening to the twitter of the birds and the cascading falls of the creek.