The Woolen Rabbit

Perfect!......Nov 13, 2006

Those nupps were so worth it!

On the Blocks.....Nov. 12, 2006

Wow....I was astonished at how little this shawl is when it came off the needles this morning.  Having never worked with Zephyr before, I am not sure what to expect when it is blocked.  Right now it is soaking, so I will have to wait until this afternoon to see if it will possibly block out anywhere close to where it needs to be.  Zephyr is a bit lighter in weight than Misti Alpaca, so I knew it would be a bit smaller, but not this small.......I am very nervous............

Another Rainy Day Afternoon

My husband and my youngest daughter took a road trip this weekend to visit his family.  I stayed behind with another one of our daughters and the dogs.  There is something to be said for not having to stick to a schedule. (My DH, God bless him, is a schedule kind of guy).  As it is a gloomy day, andI am in a mindless state of mind... some Carrot soup will go on the stove and I will sit in my easy chair and work on some nice mindless knitting.  This sock is the Simple Rib Sock from Nancy Bush's book, Knitting Vintage Socks, and I am using some of my sock yarn to see how it knits up.  I want to see how well it wears.

Moving on with my Winter of Lace theme, I think I will welcome the larger sized needles for this little scarf.  I first saw this scarf on Di in Rhinebeck and really loved how nice it went with everything she had on.  Very understated and elegant all at the same time.  It is lovely cashmere from Rabbit Tree Farm.

A number of years ago, I purchased some cashmere roving and a baby bonnet pattern from this farm and just loved it.  This time, I thought I would buy the yarn already spun.  Spinning Cashmere is a labor of love, but oh so slow and I want this little scarf for this winter :-).

Hopefully tomorrow I will have pictures of my blocked Swallowtail Shawl.........keep your fingers crossed for me that it grows a little!

Walk With Me Wednesdays....Nov. 8, 2006

Rain.........doesn't look very promising, does it?

This morning as I was laying in bed, I knew it was raining.  Most mornings, the dogs let me know in their not so unsubtle way that the sun is up and it is time to start the day.  When it rains however, it is a very different story.....you see........Cavaliers HATE the rain!  So, this morning, as I listened to the soothing sounds of rain hitting the metal roof over my bedroom and enjoying the unusual morning quiet, I had serious doubts about Walk With Me Wednesday.

Cleo was going to be my walking companion today as I want to get her leash trained and ready to show.........that wasn't looking promising either.  This little Texas miss, in addition to not really liking the rain, has not gotten used to the colder temps yet either.  She goes to great lengths to keep her little toes from getting cold.  This big rock in the dog yard is where you will usually find her.....and usually standing on 3 legs, alternating which foot she will put down.....haha!  Yep, a little princess for sure...LOL.  Wait until she meets snow....

So, resigned to the fact that a walk was not going to happen, I figured I would cross the street and take one picture of the rain hitting the pond.  It would only take a minute or two.....so I thought, but once I headed down the little path, with the eyes of a photographer, those seconds turned into mintues and then almost an hour!  You see, the rain has never bothered me, in fact, I actually enjoy rainy days.  Some of my favorite rainy days were spent walking on the beach, near where I grew up (but that's for another day).

The rain just seemed to intensify the beauty of the drabness that is typical of November here.........

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So even though, I hadn't anticipated a walk today, I was pleasantly surprised.  It is amazing to me that by offering to join Judy on her weekly walks, how much I have enjoyed the solitude in the middle of my normally busy days and a new found appreciation for my surroundings.  Thanks Judy!

I've Been Nupped!......Nov. 7, 2006

Hmmm.......last week as I was knitting this Swallowtail shawl, I was really pleased with how fast it was moving along.  Such an easy, pleasant little lace project, that I had fully planned on having finished this weekend..........until............I hit the NUPPS.  Now I had read the grumbles and complaints about these nupps on various blogs, but having knit sample aran sweaters and their bobbles for many years in my earlier days, I didn't think that they would be that much of a problem.  Boy, was I wrong!  I am sticking with them because I really think that they do add so much to the shawl, but they certainly slow one down.  I have found it a bit easier to slide the 5 stitches that need to be purled together onto a much smaller inox sock needle.  Thankfully I only have one more small chart with nupps and then the final chart should move along quickly again.  All in all though, even with the nupps, this is such a nicely designed pattern and one I think I would knit again.

Calendar Days

Deb mentioned last week that the month of November on many calenders usually is a bit dreary without a lot of color and asked to see if anyone in blogland had more colorful calendars.  While I can't top Cheryl's fantastic November, I thought I would share what I look at on my little office calender in November.  The color is actually much softer and more pastel in real life, but try as hard as I could, I could not capture the colors correctly with my camera

A good friend of mine, who shares my love of color gave me this Wolf Kahn calender for color inspiration :-)

It is hard to believe how fast this week has flown by, in fact it is almost Walk With Me Wednesday again....yikes!  It is supposed to be rainy here tomorrow, so we will see if a walk happens.....or if it becomes a Weaving by the Woodstove Wednesday....LOL!

As I end, I will leave you some pictures of Cleo's first week here.  She has fit in with the rest of the canine crew, very easily and is such a sweet little baby.

Walk With Me Wednesdays....Nov. 1, 2006

I wasn't sure if I was going to get a walk in today as the work phone was non~stop.  The weather here the last few days has been glorious, but tomorrow we return to winter, so I made an extra effort to pull myself away from work.

Even though I live in the mountains, my house is in the Village area, so I don't have easy access for a walk in the woods. It really does force me to get out of my seat, hop in my car and enjoy the beauty of the area that I live in, which is a good thing

Today's walk was to be at Diana's Bath, which is about a mile walk into the woods which leads you to these fabulous pools surrounded by rocks.  With my little traveling companion, my camera and my ipod we headed off into the woods.  I was strolling along listening to one of my favorite walking, skiing, etc..albums, The Soul of The Machine, when Kali stopped dead in her tracks with a very concerned look.  As I urged her on, she didn't want to budge.  Hmmmm........I pulled out my earphones and heard what she was hearing...........BOOM....Boom.......boom!!!

Holy Crap!  I completely forgot that it was hunting season!  Given that I didn't have any orange on either myself or Kali, I had to rethink our walk.

We hopped back in the car and drove down the road about 1/2 mile to where the Saco river bends around the road.  In the summer, this is a popular swimming, tubing and canoing spot, but at this time of the year it is very peaceful and quiet. 

Kali was feeling a lot better about being here and led the way........actually it was quiet enough for me to drop her leash and let her do a little exploring on her own.

One of the things we used to love to do when we first moved up here was to go out in our canoe, with the Sunday paper, a bottle of wine and some cheese and crackers...drop an anchor and just enjoy the day.  This picture is a part of the river where the water swirls around due to the rocks and trees underneath.  I have been dumped more than once in my canoe in this spot, supplies and all.....LOL  Amazing how a walk can bring back old memories quickly :-)

 

As the afternoon sun was starting to fade, we made our way back to the car, looking back at the trail we will attempt next week, when we have our Hunter Orange vests on......... 

I hope you enjoyed our walk!

I have a name!

Cleo

Thanks for all your help!!