Vacation, Aunt-hood and some Distinctly Fibery Goodness

So, I've been bad (surprise) and haven't blogged in awhile (yet another surprise).  Turns out I just needed some down time to get back into the swing of things!  Today was my first day back at work after a week long vacation and I must say I'm feeling oddly chipper for facing reality.  I guess a week of splendid relaxation will do that to a girl.  

Foxhill Farms - 100 % Cormo - two ply yarn

During my vacation we went to the Cape and did some sailing, which is one of our favorite things to do when we are there. We also had a really nice day with some of hubbie's extended family to celebrate the 4th of July.  I did quite a bit of spinning at the Cape and hubbie really worked hard on the minis he's been painting.  It's funny just how productive you can be when relaxing :)

After a lovely five days we had to come home so he could go back to work, but the next day I floored it up to Maine to spend a bit of time with my family, which was extra nice.  My mom and I wandered around the countryside, visiting local yarn shops, the bookstore and getting yummy seafood for lunch.  

We even got to go to a fiber store that I have been longing to go to for quite some time. It's in Lisbon, ME which is not to far from our haunting grounds and is called Spunky Eclectic.  The owner, Amy, or Boogie on Ravelry is awesome.  If you aren't a local, do not fear!  She has an online store as well, so go play there until you can make it there in person.  Mom and I had a great time talking with Amy as we perused all of the lovely fiber she sells.  I even convinced mom to by a drop spindle and some fiber so I could teach her how to spin.  It's official, the apocalypse is nigh!!!

Mad Color Fiber Arts - Superwash Merino
- single ply yarn

In the long weeks since my last post, quite a few things have happened.  Definitely on the top of my list is that I became an aunt!  About two weeks ago by brother in law and his wife had a beautiful baby boy who I'll call "Moose" at least until I'm given permission to use his real name on the blog.  Hubbie and I were fortunate enough to get to meet Moose the day he was born, which was a first for us and very special.   Then, last night we were able to stop by, have some dinner and spend some quality time together.   

So other than fawning over my new little nephew and in general being a lazy butt on vacation, I have been taking part in the 2011 Tour de Fleece, which is a neat tradition that I hope to take part in for many years to come.  For most of the month of July, the Tour de France is happening and there are many parallels between spinning and biking (ok, they are mostly horrible plays on words, but go with me on this).  The Tour de Fleece is an event similar to the Ravelympics: You set goals, such as spinning every day or spinning and plying enough yarn to make a sweater.  Basically, it's a good healthy way to set goals for your spinning and have lots of support along the way.    

At first I wanted to set a goal to spin up the entirety of the Romney fleece I bought last year at Rhinebeck.  But.... well.... when you are going on vacation and already dragging a spinning wheel in the car with you, a whole trash bag full of fiber seems a bit excessive.  So instead I decided to spin up the random braids I fiber I have been collecting for the past year or so.  They are SOOOOO much more portable! 

All throughout this post are pictures of the spinning I have done since the Tour started back on July 2nd.  I haven't succeeded in spinning every day, but that's ok, because I'm doing more spinning now than I have since last fall and that makes me really happy.  I generally tend to knit and crochet throughout the year, but the heat of summer really makes spinning appealing since I don't have to have my project draped all over me.  For example, a lovely hooded striped scarf I started in mid-June has been languishing for over a week now since I pretty much have to wear it to knit on it.  There's only about a foot left too.... maybe some cool day or under heavy air conditioning I'll get it done.   

What I'm spinning currently:

Nor'east Star 100% Maine Wool -
my portable spinning!

Spunky Eclectic Merino with Bamboo Rayon -
This stuff spins up like a dream!

I certainly have some catching up to do...

So apparently I've been MIA waaay longer than I thought.  Oops!  So, I guess I have to do a montage post of all the things I've been up to lately.  I figure this is the easiest way because I have a ton to share!

"Hurricane" Earl Cape TripLabor Day Weekend 2010

Despite the threat of Earl, we went to the Cape anyway.  The first thing we did was go to the beach and I checked into the hurricane via Facebook  I have to say, Earl was pathetic.  The only things we got was a bit of wind on the coast, a few feet of storm surge and a night full of rain.  We did however, benefit from the storm with some nice wind a waves while we were sailing a couple days afterward.

A church in Hyannis that was still boarded up to protect the stained glass.

It was a tad bit windy at Craigville Beach

A stalwart seagull

Still windy...

Sailing after a pseudo hurricane is always exciting.  We were heeling pretty heavily once we left the bay, so no pics were taken in the Sound.  I didn't want to lose my camera in the drink!

Amy's Bachelorette PartySeptember 12th, 2010

White Sangria - Yum!

Enjoying our dinner or arancini, calamari and sushi!

Amuse Card Class @ Ink About ItSeptember 16th, 2010

I took another of of Jenn S's awesome Amuse classes this past week.  We made wicked cute Halloween cards!  Jenn is so talented and fun.  I'm really lucky to be able to take classes with her!  I can't wait for the one in October and the Advent Calendar one in a couple weeks :)

 

 

Leicester Harvest Fair and World Wide Spin in Public DaySeptember 18th, 2010

This past Saturday my fiber group, Fiber Knot Just for Knitting, demonstrated knitting, crochet, weaving and spinning at the Leicester Harvest Fair.  We had such a blast!  This is the first tome we have ever done demonstration as a group and t was really cool that so many people came over to look at all our projects and what we were working on.  It was really fun.  I'll share just a  few pictures now, since this post is getting pretty long.  I'll post some other neat stuff tomorrow.

Camera addicts, Sheepish1 and I both have a problem.

 CaitCreates weaving on her loom.

DDKA, our intrepid leader at her wheel.

Sheepish1 spins too!

TaraLyn with her papoose!

Tokafur drop spindling

LadySpendcer crocheting away.

Sunrise at Sea

This is some video that Brian took as the sun came up after we spent the night on the boat.  Now you too can share our experience!  He was even nice enough to set the very quiet video to some copyright free classical music.  Bonus points for a job well done!

 

A Taste of Life at Sea

"It isn't that life ashore is distasteful to me. But life at sea is better."
-Sir Francis Drake

I think it might have been a thought similar to the words spoken by Drake that prompted me to seriously consider spending a night on my in-laws sailboat.  The idea had been placed in my head and from that moment on I was actively pondering the option.  I'm just like that sometimes and can't let things go.  My thought process was simple: We were going to be on the boat to see the fireworks that night anyway...  we could just bring some blankets, pillows and other necessities (i.e. knitting, camera, iPhones and food) on the launch ride with us.  

After a bit of discussion with Brian we had made our decision.  We would be lulled to sleep by the gentle lapping of the water against the hull of the Resolution.   I headed to CVS for a quick provision run and we then started to pack.  As you can see, CVS is not the ideal place procure things to pack for an overnight, but I made due and got some things we liked.  I will neither confirm nor deny that the entire sleeve of oreos was eaten at 5am.  Please note that the object in the freezer bag is actually my knitting and not food.  Somehow it found its way into the picture.

So, we got everything together, had dinner and the four of us (Brian's folks came too) headed out to the dock to catch the launch out to the boat.  We were there around 8pm so we had a bit of a wait ahead of us before the fireworks began.  It's really amazing just how many people were out in their boats for the show.  The ride out was packed with people prepared for cool weather and with lots of food.  After about an hour the festivities began and we were treated to a nice fireworks show.  I still have problems taking good fireworks pictures, but this year they seemed a little better.  I have to walk a fine line between having the shutter speed to fast or slow.  If it is too fast and I get very little light entering the camera and end up with a dark image with little movement of the explosions.   If the shutter speed is too slow I get too much light movement and things end up getting blurry due to the boat rocking or me accidentally moving the camera.  I'll get better, it will just take a few more years!  Here's a few of the pictures that I'm vaguely happy with.

This last one is just after the last set of fireworks went off and everything was fading into the dark. It was a really great show: I only wish I could do it justice.  Out of 161 photos these four are what I would consider being "ok." 

After the fireworks finished up, we chatted for a bit and then Brian's folks called the launch to be picked up.  I had been contemplating sleeping out in the cockpit under the stars, but after a bit decided I would give one of  the bunks in the cabin a try since Brian had already commandeered the forward berth as his space so he could stretch out.  That worked well for a bit.  Then I got warm.  Then I started feeling somewhat claustrophobic.  Not good.  So, I got up, quietly took the boards out of the doorway to the cabin, grabbed a hoodie and blanket and climbed back out to the cockpit.

When we had gone to bed there were still sounds of people partying or closing up their boats for the night along with the lights from vessels going back to their moorings.  Not now.  The harbor was perfectly quiet with only the sounds of the lapping water and any fish who jumped to the surface.  The sky was clear and bright with a high moon lighting up my surroundings.  It was incredible.  I almost didn't want to go back to sleep, but soon I found myself dozing as I leaned against the cabin.  Not too much later I woke up to Brian coming out of the cabin and a gorgeous sunrise. 

We watched the sun come up, I peacefully worked on the shawl I had brought with me and it was just perfect.  Brian got some nice footage of sunrise that I will post later since this entry it getting a bit long.  After sunrise we munched a bit on our provisions and I decided to try out taking a nap in the forward berth for awhile since I had spend a good portion of the night either unable to sleep or distracted by my surroundings.  The nap was really really good.  So, for those of you who have the opportunity, I highly recommend sleeping at sea. 

I've been a very bad blogger

Yes, real life has gotten in the way of blogging again, sigh....  That's alright, a bit of down time usually re-energizes me a bit.  And now I have some cool stuff to share and I should have more on the way shortly.

I haven't had much to show for my knitting lately as much of it is for gifts and I'm also toning the projects down a bit after trying to do way too much in May.  My spinning has been going well though.  I finished up my first ever plied yarn and I adore it.  I even have started making a couple projects with it, so once I finish those up, I'll share those as well.  The roving I used was Louet Northern Lights wool in the Cactus Flower colorway.  You can see some photos of the spindle, singles and plying process by checking out my blog posts here and here. 

This past weekend I tried my hand at spinning soy silk mixed with wool.  That's didn't go quite as well.  The length of the fibers is just so long I couldn't figure out how to pull them apart to spin without cutting the roving.  Once I did that, I did pretty well drafting from the fold and got some thinner singles than ever before.   Unfortunately, the fun ended there.  Once I got to the end of some of the strands they didn't just twist themselves neatly into the single, instead they stuck out in all sorts of weird directions.  I'll try to take a picture of this later.  Needless to say I put that down for a few days and have yet to pick it up again. 

Some other good news I can share is that in a little over a week I will be the proud owner of a my very own spinning wheel!  I am totally excited and can't wait to share pictures of her and name her.  Yes... she needs a name and yes... she's a girl.  Those two things I know. Her name I won't figure out until I start spinning.  My goal is to practice spinning on her and be good enough in a couple weeks to start making yarn for a hooded sweater I want to wear this fall.  It only calls for 3200 yard of yarn.  That'll be done in no time right?  **cough cough**  You can see a picture of the sweater here.  I want to make mine out of a dark natural colored wool, so I ordered a small amount of Jacob and Coopworth to try out before committing to probably 4 lbs of any one fiber.

Other than all of that, since the last time I posted we had a cookout, helped put in the sailboat in for the summer, and harvested our first strawberry from our garden.  Not too shabby for one week.  We got some nice pictures and video of putting the boat in and sailing around the harbor that I'll share later on in the week. For now I'll leave you with a shot of Brian playing cameraman with our Flip.

10 on Tuesday - Ten Places That Make Me Happy

1. On the island in Maine
2. On the sailboat at the Cape
3. At knit night
4. Taking a nap with my kitty (anywhere)
5. Kayaking down the Concord river
6. Rocking in our rocking chair on the patio
7. In a hammock
8. Anywhere with live choral music
9. Driving down the highway with the windows open and radio blaring on that "perfect" day
10. Anywhere with my hubbie

Sailing in the fog

Ok, so these pictures are from the weekend of July 4th... anyone else think I'm a little backlogged on my blog entries? Lol! Anyway, B and I were very lucky to be able to get two nice sails out of the weekend over the 4th. This one was really foggy and resulted in me getting burned because I keep forgetting that UVA goes through clouds (sigh). you think I would learn some day...





















I loves me a good jolly roger!















Seagulls, "mine?"





















It was so neat having all the fog becuase these two sailboats just suddenly appeared behind us. So very cool!





















The bell bouy, complete with annoyed looking seagull for your pleasure.
















Self-portraiture via sunglasses, oh, yeah, and B. :P
















Boom rigging... I love taking shots of sailing gear.





















Dave getting the jib ready.