A most excellent night!!

On Friday my hubby said on Sunday after the KLO not to make plans we were going out. Oh by the way, the KLO is my Sunday knitting group at Panera's. It stands for Knitting Liberation Organization, hubby gave us that name. Anyway so at about 5:00 on Sunday, we head out, where don't know. So we are driving east and just keep on going and going. Where do we end up?? Here ... pics are thumbnails and clickable for a better view.

He took me to see the Montauk light house all decorated for the first time for Xmas!!! It was just stunning!! A sight that I will never forget and always be in awe of. You see we love Montauk and we go there a lot. In fact we spent our honeymoon there, 26+ years ago.

And on the way we saw such lovely decorations and lights. The one house, blurry picture, was all lit up in clear lights and just incredible! And of course the windmills in their Xmas finery. The little towns and villages along the way were quite lovely as well. Also it was a very nice warm night so that helped too.

Then after seeing this wonderful sight we were off to dinner. And were did we eat?? At the same place we ate on our honeymoon!!! I believe its called Shang Wongs?! In the heart of Montauk, its a bar on one side and restaurant on the other. In fact we sat in the same booth!!! The place looks the same and the food is very good.

So thank you babe for a most excellent night!! I have to say that was one of the best nights I can remember. Although there have been many great times along the way this past 27 years, this is in the top 5 for sure!!! So for anyone who can get there before they take down the lights, do go. I am sure you will find it is worth the trip, I know we did.

Oh by the way the pictures were taken with a cell phone because he didn't want me to get suspicious so we didn't take my digital camera. That is why that one picture has the cingular symbol, its a reflection off the window LOL

A time for change

First off, Happy Holidays to all!! No matter what you celebrate I hope it was wonderful and joyous. I for one had a wonderful Christmas and am planning a quiet New Year with some friends. Nothing fancy just some snacks and Yahtzee!!
And for this new year I will try to be a better blogger and even if I have no pictures a paragraph or two at least once a week. I have been very bad at keeping the blog updated this year. I really must get with the program.
Also for this year I am really stepping back from the craziness of everything. I mean really we as a society are just out of control!!! We have become such selfish greedy people that nothing is good enough anymore. I mean really how much bigger, better or more do we need??! When that poor man got trampled at Walmart on black Friday I was just sick. To trample someone to get to what, a TV or a game, what is that important?! So this year my family and I really concentrated on what was important, being together and having family time. I made sure I enjoyed the Christmas decorations and the baking. Usually its hurry up and just get the house done, and start the baking, lets go!! But this year every day the tree was lit and so was my village. I really enjoyed looking at them this year, usually I hardly turn them on at all. So this year is a year of stepping back and taking stock and just being satisfied with what I have. I think we need to go back to what is important and to less is more. I mean really, do our children really need all those video games, what happened to books and board games?? And since when does a 10 year old need a cell phone?!! And no I do not need another pair of shoes, or another purse, and my husband does not need a 52" t.v. After all he doesn't watch the 22" one he has, so why do I have to have a huge t.v. in my house that no one will watch?? And my car is 8 years old but works great and I love it, hubby's car is 13 years old and so far so good, but will need to be replaced soon. And if I know him it will be a good used car, not brand new, he wont take that kind of loss on a car. And thank goodness!! After all if it works and gets me where I need to be, than its great, I don't care that its not new. So rather than go into debt for material things I think this year I will do with what I have. If I don't have the money for something than I will wait until I do or just do without. So for all those that need to keep up with the Jones's go for it, I for one am backing away, I will just go at my own pace and be happy for health and family and good friends.
OK off my soap box now, but I was just really bugged by this stuff this year.
So to all have a very Happy New Year and may it be filled with peace, love and health. And lots of laughter, family, friends and wonder!!

Finally its done!!

I can't believe it took me so long to do this but it did. I started this in May when I got back from MDSW and just now finished it!! I just got caught up in other things and then had very little time to knit. But after seeing this in 2007 at MDSW I new when I went there this past May I had to have it. Its from http://www.tessyarns.com/ It's the windowpane tank in micro ribbon. I am very happy how this turned out I have to say.





The pictures do not do this justice at all. The colors are really very vibrant and just beautiful. So finally I finished it with the help from my Sunday knitting group!! Thanks Lisa, Helen, Melanie, and Rena!!! For the help, the encouragement and just being there!! I don't know what I would do without my Sunday knitting pals. There are a lot more of us but that's who was there today. In fact this is who we are http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/long-island-knitters/50401/1-25 This group is as my friend and co-worker Frank would say... The Bomb-Diggity!!! Besides knitting/spinning/crocheting/or tatting, I have learned a lot!! This is a VERY intelligent group and quite honestly, there are times I am quite confused! Other times we discuss embalming fluid, dry ice and one legged Nazis, go figure!!
So thanks again and I shall be wearing it on Sunday for all to see.

It's BLUETIFUL!!

So I re-dipped my fibers in the indigo vat and I just love the colors!!! The pictures don't do the color justice, they are really darker and richer than they show. But here they are...
So the top is superwash merino and it shaded so perfectly, can't wait to spin that up. Next is Lisa's BFL, she spun that up and when she heard I was going to play in the indigo vat she handed me the skein and said here try this, so I did and I am glad to say she likes it!!! The next one is cormo and it is dark like the BFL and just beautiful, or should I say Bluetiful!! The yarn in the next picture is knitpicks lace weight, oh that is just the perfect shade of blue. I am going to do another skein of that and see if I can match it. So that's what I have been up to. I have some more superwash in the vat now and am planning to throw my yellow dyed samples or at least some of the samples in to the vat and see what happens. This has been a blast!!

To dye or not to dye, natrually that is!

So I am trying my hand at natural dyeing and I have to say I am learning a lot!! Dyeing naturally with flowers and such you don't always get what you think. Also I did an ALL natural indigo vat and what an experience that was. For those of you who are not familiar with it you have to use stale urine for the fermentation of the vat to get the indigo going. So fat I have this to show for it.

I will be re-dipping these at least once more but so far I like what I see. The colors are like a washed denim. Very interesting this sig vat. The last picture on the bottom right is some BFL that my friend Lisa, the Tsocksarina, http://www.tsocktsarina.com/blog/, gave me to throw in there. She spun the yarn herself!!

Anyway as you can see there is quite a bit of shading so to speak and I like it.

Also in my dyeing experiments was marigolds. And this is what I have. A very BRIGHT yellow. The one is coopworth, a bit brighter than the other which is superwash merino.

The dye liquid was really very pale but once I put the roving in it got very bright. In fact when

marigolds where in the sun it looked like there was no color at all in the water, surprise!!! So now I know, yellow, marigolds with Alum mordant=very bright and pretty!!!

So that's my dyeing experiments so far. On the home front, my son moved to Tennessee, but that's a whole blog post in itself and I am not ready for that yet. I am still having some difficulty with my only child leaving the nest and so far to boot!!! But he is happy and his girlfriend is an absolute doll!! So we are lucky to have her as part of the family.

So happy knitting/spinning/crocheting/dyeing or whatever it is you do!!! Till next time.

Some things are not what you expect!!

From this......The lovely lavender geraniums that I have all over to this.....
The color started out a nice hot pink in the beginning and then went to this. I would say its a burn orange in liquid form. So I put some roving in some small jars that I had pre mordant with alum and cream of tarter and what did I get????

I would describe the colors as golden honey, the darker one which was coopworth roving and the lighter one as blonde mink. That roving was merino superwash. Both started out natural. The lighter one is shaded quite a bit, not sure if you can see it really in the pictures but its there. I have to say I LOVE both colors but certainly not what I thought I would get from lavender geraniums. But that's the beauty of natural dyeing you just never know. And the dyeing was done solar!! The mordant was done on the stove though. I have many of these plants so I think I am going to do a very large dye pot of this in the near future. I really have to get much more and much larger dye pots. This dyeing is just way toooooooo much fun!!
On a funny note.. My poor DH the other day says to me ....You know when I came home from work I opened the fridge and freaked out. Why i asked?? I was at work when he came home. Because he said, I saw this big bowl and it was red inside and I had to open it to see what was in there. I looked at him kind of strangely and said why, its just cut up watermelon. Then he says yeah I saw but I thought it was .... YARN!! I thought you had one of your concoctions in the fridge!!! LOL Can you imagine??? That's bad when your family is expecting to see a dye concoction and yarn in the fridge and it wouldn't surprise them!! But they encourage my fiber adventures and never give me a hard time about it.
Right now I have worsted weight in logwood purple with tin mordant on the stove cooling and then in a few days I will add the indigo to the urine vat. My DH was nice enough to contribute every morning to help the cause, though he thinks that's a bit nasty as he says. And I have some small jars of roving the was pre mordanted in alum/cream of tarter in marigold dye liquid. The marigolds gave of a weak yellow so we shall see. The sage yuck threw it out, the primrose really the same as the marigold, the stella di orio lily not so good and the creopsis an orange but then again who knows. I have tiger lily in a jar and its a lovely orange, and my red lily's cant remember the name of them and that is a strange color. Kind of red orange. I am still collecting flowers for the lily dyes and leaving them in the sun, we shall see. So that is my dyeing adventures so far.
Have to go, the dye pots are calling me!!!

Fresh brewed yarn!!

Just some pictures of the coffee yarn and the jars. The coffee yarn I am quite happy with. One skien I forgot to moisten first and its a bit lighter, but I still like it. The jars are almost there, just a few more days I think.

So far so good!

So I still have my jars in the sun and have added a couple more, geraniums and a type of lily. Stella D'Orio Lily to be exact and the colors are coming. But the weather here has not been super so its slow going. The dandelion root did nothing so I dumped that to make room for more lilies soon to bloom. I also put some sage in a jar but so far I am less than thrilled with it, we shall see. The geraniums are great, such a great color, and I mixed my lavendar and hot pink flowers together. I really need to start boiling this stuff too.
The indigo vat...well still collecting so far and then after that sits for a bit I will add the indigo, I think by next week I should be ready. We shall see what happens there.
I am going to order some more natural dyes too, and some mordants. I have been checking the Ravelry boards and seeing what everyone is doing and getting lots of ideas.
In fact I dyed some yarn with my left over coffee and it came out so pretty. I have it drying right now but pics to come. As I said so far so good. It is a learning process and I am learning a lot. The Ravelry board is a great source for information. In fact I have to order 2 books on dyeing. These 2 books seem to be what most are recomending so thats what I will get. I must say I am getting tons of pleasure from doing the natural and solar dyeing. Its just something I am enjoying learning about and playing with.
Well I will let you all know what happens with my experiments.

And so it begins.....

So I have wanting to try my hand at dyeing. And so after checking many blogs and reading as much as I can find on-line about it, I haven't gotten any books yet, I have started!! In my backyard is a VERY sunny spot, it stays that way all day so that is where my solar dye jars are now sitting. And also much to my husbands dismay is my indigo vat, my urine indigo dye vat that is! Yes I am going to try to do a urine dye vat, why??? Why not?? I am all for natural and the old ways and that is a natural as it gets folks! Hubby is doing his bit by donating the morning pee, but other than that says its disgusting. What does he know LOL Any way I have my jars with creopsis, marigold, evening primrose and dandelion root sitting there. Of course today is not very sunny, it figures. But tomorrow the rest of the week looks good so I should have some results soon.
The creopsis started turning right away, not sure about the rest of them. Also on the stove is a pot of yarn and fiber in Alum to get mordanted!! So hopefully soon I will be able to do some great dyeing. I must thank everyone for answering all my many questions and helping me get started. Oh and here are some pictures of my jars and my "vat".

Now I see what all the fuss is about!!

So I bought some BFL, blue faced leicester that was hand dyed from flying fibers at MDSW. I just finally got around to spinning it and yes now I see what all the fuss is about. It spins like a dream and I just love the colors!! Also its as soft as can be. I was thinking socks, but now maybe some fancy scarf or shawlette!! The colors are just to wonderful to hide I think. But who knows, maybe socks. If anyone has any ideas please feel free to let me know. Its 4 oz and I am spinning very thin and will make it 2 ply. So I should get about 500yds I am thinking, maybe a bit more. Here are the colors, pretty neat huh? I am pretty sure these are clickable thumbnails to get a better look at the colors also.

I still have TONS of other fiber to spin up too, but this one just called to me. I have a pound of wool/silk that is going to be a sweater if I ever get to it. And I am doing my windowpane tank with the microfiber ribbon I bought from Tess yarns.

Hopefully I will be finished spinning this soon, then to ply it and see what it looks like!! So off to my wheel.

Oh how I love MDSW!!!!!

Well we made it there and back and in one piece with lots of goodies!!! I went with 2 friends, Lynn and Karen. Karen owns the Village Knitter http://www.villageknitter.com/ . Well we stayed at the Sheraton where the Ravelry party http://www.ravelry.com/, that was lots of fun!!
Great give aways and overall very nice. So I made out like a bandit!! I spent my alloted monies with 28 dollars left over!! But look at the haul!!!!!!!! Most of the pics are thumbnails to get a better view just click on them. The white fluffy fiber can be seen much better close up!! So can the rovings and fibers..

















So after thinking about it for a year I went to Tess Yarns and got the Window pane pattern and ribbon yarn for it. I must say her yarns are great but the girl has a serious attitude problem. She acts like everyone is bothering her!!! I also got some sock yarn from her, the pink/purple/yellow and grey skeins and am waiting for the entrelac pattern. The white angora/sparkle I just couldn't resist, it will be a shawl/wrap and its from Mohair in Motion. She had some great stuff. Also lots of fiber, the purple/teal/blue is wool and silk from http://www.spinnershills.com/page1.html I was going to only get 8oz but had to get a pound. The white/green is Alpaca/merino/mohair from All Strings Considered, great stuff. Plus I got some wenslydale and BFL braids from flying fibers and some Cormo and kid mohair from ??? I know I have the card. The pink/white/green braid is merino/silk from Cloverhill farms. And some silk hankies, some Mountain colors yarn and some jojoland yarn with the dragon shawl pattern. Some Tillie Thomas who we met and is just a great person. and lets see, some hand carders and some baby alpaca and some angora/alpaca roving and some Finn top roving and of course the kettle corn, and eclairs came home with me too!!!
The Ravelry meet up was really crowded but I did get my button with my avatar sticker. The
Ravelry party was really nice and I won some wool wash/rinse!!! The give aways were just incredible 70 in all I believe. The Sheraton was a great hotel and most definitely will be going back there next year. The weather held up and we had 2 beautiful days!!! Sunshine and warmth. We hit no traffic going there, getting to and from the festival both days and really no traffic on the way home. Just a little in Staten Island of course and some on the VNB into the Belt parkway. But really not bad.
However the one glich... Garmin!!! I have a retarded Garmin!!! She took us to Maryland via Baltimore!!! I mean THROUGH Baltimore!!! Don't ask me why but when it said to get off 95 after getting back on from the rest stop we did. Why??? Don't know because we really knew better but we figured it knew what it was doing. WRONG!!!!! But we got to see some really interesting sights!!! Some parts are really nice and others well...... At one point every other building was a BAR!!! It was a bit funny, we were going to stop at.... are you ready for this??? SKEETERS Pub!!!! There really is a Skeeters Pub, but no we weren't going to stop. And then on the way to the resteraunt we wound up on this road that is just insane!!! Very narrow and winding. Then in the middle of the woods on this road is a stream and an abandoned "mill" I think it was a mill and there it was..... the Tallahatchie Bridge!!! Well that's what it looked like to us anyway. I mean really kids fishing in this stream and this bridge in the middle of no where. I was something out of a movie I tell ya!!! But I think that "road" was one of the prettiest I have ever seen and am glad we wound up on it. The restaurant was very nice, quite large too, yes we finally did get there.
Saturday the festival was mobbed!!! And why would people wait on line for an hour for a t-shirt is just beyond me!!! I wont waste my shopping time for a t-shirt. But we did get some wonderful stuff that you just cant find here, like the fiber and some of the yarns. There was a lot of local and small farmers that sold things they spun, dyed, or both. So I am set for quite a while LOL So hope everyone who went had just as good a time as us and if you didn't go I really think every knitter/crocheter/spinner/fiber person should go at least once!! It is not to be believed. Well off to work now YUCK!! But tomorrow I have all my goodness to play with!!!

Wow a month gone by!!

I know its been a while since I last blogged, but I just couldn't get to it. In fact this will be a quick blog and then off to bake for Easter. You see first I had that awful flu that was going around and it just plain kicked my ass!!! I was just to tired to do anything but work for about 2 weeks. Then I had to hurry up and start to get ready for Easter. You see I host Easter so I had to do a lot!!
I make my own chocolate and Jellybean pies and that takes at least 1 whole day if not 2. Then of course the shopping for the candy and Easter stuff for the kiddies! Have to get the little toys like bubbles, chalk and stuff for the Easter baskets or in this case Easter pails!!
Lets see..... what else, oh yeah I now work 5 nights not 4 but its because I am now a hostess/cashier 3 nights a week and only waitress 2 nights. So while its easier and better for me it is a day off I lose.
So its been a bit nuts around here and a month just FLEW by to fast!!! Oh and my son got his drivers license and put his car on the road at the ripe old age of 20. I am now a complete wreck!!! And he is moving in August, to Tennessee!!!! He is going to go to school down there, so him and his girlfriend, Kate, who is a complete doll, got a nice townhouse to rent. I am just not ready for this! I really am glad he is going to school but it will be strange around here without him around. So his birthday is Aug. 11th and they are leaving Aug.12th!!!
So anyway that's about it around here, I am sure there is more but I just cant remember it LOL. So Everyone have a great Easter!!! I will be posting again soon with pics!!

A room with a view!

So hubby and I wanted a sun room and had one added on the house this past fall. Well I must say even though its not quite done I still love that room. Especially on days like this...












































Images are thumbnails and clickable for a close up view of the snow !!!
So Finally some snow this winter!! It looks soooo pretty but I am glad we didn't get a lot this year. But to sit in the sun room and see the snow falling was really wonderful. And the view is really pretty, so clean and white. And I have a large backyard so its really something when it looks like this. But the rain is supposed to come so it will probably be gone by tomorrow but it was nice. Off to have some hot chocolate!!