Fun on Loon Lake. August 2020.

I love the Adirondacks.  I could live there all year long.  

This is Nate helping Owen put a worm on his hook.  

This is on the Schroon River.  Very nice until the hornets woke up.  Then we all left.  Mandy, Owen & Jack with poles in the water.  I actually caught a fish with a lure.

Add caption

All the kids caught fish and they were thrilled.

We even went to a spot on the Hudson and fished there for a while.  

All in all a great, fun week.

New Year, New TdFleece ... again

6/20/17
Looked at my last post and it was 4 years ago that I was working on starting the Tour de Fleece with Susan Sarabasha of Susan's Spinning Bunny.  

This is a wonderful place to post photos and talk about what we are doing.  I have also decided to do more spinning this year.  

It was just about 4 years ago that I got sidetracked into the not inexpensive medium of hooking rugs.  I have yet to hook a rug, but I have done a chair pad and a table runner. I finished a few mats, but not a real rug.  They take a long time and honestly, there are not many patterns I like that I would put on my floor.  The key words there are "I like".  I have seen many beautiful rugs completed in the last four years.  I admire them, but not any I would put on my floor.  Too flowery, too dull, too patriotic, etc.  

Rug hooking appealed to my design and color  senses.  I am still working on a picture of a wolf that I started in a class at my rug hooking group.  

This is "Wolfie" :

I am still working on him, and do plan to finish and hang him.  I might have to pull out some wool in order to make him look more dangerous.  I think that will happen around the eyes. But I like this project and when he is finished, I would like to do some dogs.  Probably my buddy Andy and maybe cousin Carol's love, Waffles. 

Animal portraits are very rewarding.

While many of my friends buy and dye lots of colorful wool fabrics to cut up and use in their work, I like hooking with yarn.  So if I keep spinning, I can use the yarn in rug works. This is a picture I did of a fish that is mostly handspun, hand dyed yarn. I did add in some colorful ribbon. 

 













and a steampunkish red chicken

I found a few other finished projects while I was looking for these.  I may post them later.

But, they are not rugs, but do appeal to my love of design and color.

Spinning for the Tour de Fleece starts on July 1st to coordinate with the Tour de France.  See you then. Hopefully I will find time and will remember to post.

June 2013

Seems like the month flew by .. now tomorrow is July.  Yesterday was the beginning of this year's Tour de Fleece, which for spinners coincides with the Tour de France.  Last year there was a big hullabaloo about using  the "Tour de ..." tag and they had to change the name.   They must have worked it out because it is back to what it was originally.  So, I've been spinning and it is during the tour that I start spinning out side on my porch and watch the world go by.  Quite fun.  Andy likes to go out with me.  I just tell him "let's go spinny" and he knows what to do. So that is where I am going.  

Here are a few recent pics.

Yesterdays spinning for TdF

            Flowers from my garden   

This is the fiber I am spinning.  It is a Merino/Silk

Bluebells and Jack, too.

Yesterday a group of my lady friends toured the Bluebells in the woods on Dawn Rogers' uncle's land.  There are millions of them in the piece of woods near Bloomfield.  We took a little path, crossed a little bridge over a creek, and there they were in full bloom.  Beautiful.

Just as we were leaving the woods it started to pour.  We were very fortunate, though it was a bit muddy in there.

Then off to the Rogers Farm Market for a delicious ice cream party  – what a treat.    Thanks, Dawn.

Blue bell close-up and little Jack in the Pulpit

It's been too long since I've been here.

I have been away too long.  I've forgotten how much fun it is to blog.  I have changed the name of my blog to CheshireWools.  This matches my Etsy name and my labeling.

My knitting projects have grown. I joined the Rochester Knitters Guild last year and with that have come new adventures and new friends.  I joined a group that meets at Wegmans in Canandaigua on Wednesday nite for a few hours.  We have a lite supper and then knit.  People often comment about how much fun knitters seem to have and they seem to enjoy our laughter.  

On Tuesdays we go to The Legacy Senior Living Facility in Victor NY to encourage all of the residents who are interested in knitting through their projects.  We just finished doing a lap quilt afghan with them.  We will present it to them next week to do with as they wish.  I think they will probably raffle it off among the residents with the proceeds going to pay for the yarn and the remainder to a charity.

This is the lap quilt being blocked.  Margaret did all the joining and the edging. They are going to love it.

In April I had fun with my friends  at the RKG Knitter's retreat at Camp Stella Maris on Conesus Lake in the Fingerlakes Region of NYS.  

This is Dawn working on a knitted beaded bracelet.

This is Margaret.  A VERY accomplished kitter.

Marti is in front, Nina, our retreat organizer is in back being watchful. 

Judy is always energetic

The classes we took were great.  I am still working on knitted socks that have the most complicated instructions I have ever used ... The pattern is Fiesta socks designed by Lucy Neatby.  This is keeping me interested because of the complexity.  I get too bored when all I do is stockinette or ribbing stitches.  As you can see there are a lot of different stitches here. Fun.  I handspun and handdyed the wool. The yellow is a really springy 100% wool of Portugese Merino.  Very nice to work with and is a joy to knit.  It seems to be in short supply, so I am trying to get as much as I can.

Fiesta Socks from Lucy Neatby

New Project

Here is a picture of the finished chair pad ....

And here is my next project - it will be a bag to carry my wool and stuff in. I took this from a book of knitting patterns by Vicki Square and I am hooking it all with my handspun wool. Fun!

A new interest .....

I've just started rug hooking and have almost completed my first project.

Here is a picture taken before I finished the inside. I'll take a new one when it's been bound and trimmed. This was fun. This was a pattern I bought on Etsy. It is old and the burlap actually started to split on the side just as I was finishing - so I have to fix that before I bind it off. This was fun - oh, I said that.

I am excited about designing my next one. I think I would like to make a bag.

Summer is sooooo Over ;>(

Andy and I are now spinning indoors and I already miss being outside on the porch.  Seems I spend more time on the computer, too, which is not a good thing.

And, it is getting colder and darker earlier at night.  Yuck!  Hello winter.

I am looking forward to the Quilt Road Trip I signed up for that is next weekend.  Not sure whereall we are going, though it is on a bus thank goodness.  No driving required - my favorite type of trip.  I know we are going to the Watkins Glen quilt shop ... I may have to sneak over to the yarn store.  And then there are two other shops we are going to visit before coming home to Ivy Thimble in Victor for dinner.  This will be fun and I will be sure to take my camera.

A busy summer Sunday

(L to R) Ron, Andy, Madeline, Ben, Jessie, Mandy, Lila, Nate.  (Below) Mandy & Lila













Ron's kids and their kids were in town this weekend.  We had a really delicious picnic  (thank you for a beautiful day) and some nice outdoor time.  Ben, Jessie and Madeline flew in from Texas; and Mandy, Lila and Nate drove in from Glens Falls.  Andy behaved himself and was in his glory with all the attention from the babies.

Summer Monday Afternoons at Cyn-d's

It is so nice to work outside with friends.  Here are Ginny, Cyn-d, Vi and me outside on Cyn-d's porch on a recent Monday afternoon.

We have fun and dessert, and actually get some things done.

Tour de Fleece

Picture of stuff done during the Tour de Fleece.  Collage was done with Picasa/Flickr.  Andy is right there at my feet every day, so he gets to model some of the wool.  I've been working so hard spinning, my wrist is sore.  So, I may have to take it easy for a while.  I skeined up almost 500 yards today.
    

de Fleece, de fleece, de Wool, de Heat!

Here is a bit of what I have been spinning for the Tour de Fleece.  It was so hot yesterday afternoon I had to come inside.  My hands were so sweaty I couldn't handle the wool.

Experimenting with using Picasa.

Tour de Fleece 2010

Coinciding with the Tour de France, the spinning world's version – the Tour de Fleece – is the hot topic on Ravelry.  There are hundreds of Teams and thousands of participants.  The group has 2,796 members registered.  I am on Team  Spinning Bunny.

Daily prizes are given away to those who have posted pictures of their daily spinning.  Winners are chosen by a random number generator.  Yesterday there were 451 entries.

I've been spinning outside on the porch where it is still somewhat cool in the morning. I keep going as long as there is a breeze and until my hands get too sweaty to work the wool.  Then Andy and I come inside.  I am getting a lot done and finished.

I am also trying to get fiber ready for the show at The Company Store this Saturday.  I don't know how much wool yarn I will sell in 90 degree heat, but who knows.  I like to knit in the summer.  Maybe there are others out there, too.  And, I will have product to put into my Etsy shop.  That will be coming soon

Vision Hyundai is AWESOME!

Now I can really take some Road Trips to farther knitting and fiber venues.  Here is my new (well almost new) Hyundai Tuscon.  I love it.  And the guys at Vision Hyundai in Canandaigua are the greatest.  Polite, honest, helpful ... what more can I say.  My sales person was Andy Weagley and one of the first things he said to me was that he was not a salesperson he was a "people person."   If you are looking for a new car and live near Canandaigua or in the Finger Lakes, I highly recommend this dealership.

Ron and I are taking our first trip in it with Andy this weekend to the Adirondacks.  It's his granddaughter Lila's first birthday party and we will be there.  Yea!  

Today is the first day of summer and my garden is looking really good.  I can't remember having such great roses so early.  Usually as soon as there is a blossom, the Japanese beetles move in.  So far this year no beetles - thank you.  We even have lots of vegetables on their way to good growth ... tomatoes, peas, beets, onions & beans are all up and hearty.  The weather has been beautiful this spring.  Hopefully it will continue through summer.

Ron created this garden "eagle" several years ago from old plow parts and a rake.  He is still standing strong.

Knitting Projects aplenty!

I love to knit in the summer and when I find a new project I have to get started.  I now have three lace shawls underway.  And, because I finally got the pattern, I started a Baby Surprise Jacket for Lila.  I am working it in a wool/alpaca blend in pink.  This one isn't handspun.   As soon as I finish this post, I am heading to my outdoor knitting space to make some headway.  My goal is to finish it by her birthday – maybe.  It will be close.

One of the shawls I am working is from handspun Finn/Silk that I made last summer.  It is pure white. I love this wool and so I love working the shawl.  The Finn/Silk came from Firefly Fields ( in Wisconsin) and I will be ordering more roving from them soon that I will dye.

This afternoon

On Monday afternoons the Cheshire Monday Afternoon Ladies' Group meets.  A few of us who love handwork get together to knit, quilt, sew or do whatever we want to work on.  We have tea and treats, laugh and work on projects. 

Support your local yarn shop? Maybe not!

I love going to yarn shops. I love yarn. I love spinning yarn. I love good yarn. I love store owners who treat me with respect. I have quite a few knitting friends and I teach classes occasionally.

This is a tale of poor customer service by a local yarn store. This may be one reason why customers are buying off the Internet. Anyway …

When one of my good friends asked for my help in selecting yarn to make a sweater for a new grandchild I was honored to help. She wanted something nice for a gift but as she had only ever bought less expensive stuff from the discount stores, she really didn’t know what to buy.

Road Trip.
We drove about 20 miles on a Friday afternoon to visit one of the stores where I have bought yarn in the past –not just once, but often when I needed something new and wasn’t spinning it.

When we arrived my friend was really impressed with all the different choices and colors. And was eager to get started looking for “the” yarn.

We are both over 50. And, because we had just driven a half an hour she wanted to visit the ladies’ room.  So, we asked to use the restroom and were told by the owner “WE DO NOT HAVE PUBLIC RESTROOMS”.

I was in shock. I have never been denied use of a restroom at a place that was supposedly a good quality store.  I never thought this store would be so unaccommodating,  or I never would have brought my friend there.  Clearly we didn’t look like street people or just those hanging out on the sidewalk. We were there to buy. Well, we didn’t buy anything there.

We went to a Friendly’s - bought ice cream  and Coffee and used their restroom. Then we drove 30 miles the other way and went to another of my favorite LYS (whose restroom was clearly visible).

She looked in awe. Bought $60 worth of stash and a pattern.

Note to store owners: The Internet has just about every color, manufacturer and very good sale prices. If you are not going to treat us well - we will buy elsewhere.
I will not recommend this store to anyone else.  And, I will not go back.

And, since I have told friends of this incident, they have mentioned other places where they have been treated poorly, snootily, or ignored, and where the shopkeeper was more interested in working on the computer than helping, etc. 

Anyway I am happy to say that 99% of the shops in and near Rochester, NY are excellent and visitors and newbies and experienced alike are treated very well. Thank you. You will get my business.

Quilting, etc.

The new issue of Piecework Magazine has two tatting articles in it. One of them looks pretty simple (picture left), so I am going to start  it this afternoon at our Monday Afternoon Get-together with my creative friends (We are trying to decide on a name for our group).

Doesn't this look cool.
The shuttles came from Handy Hands.  I scanned the picture from the Piecework  May/June magazine.


Piecework has had some really interesting articles in it lately, so I've renewed my subscription so I don't have to drive all the way to Fairport (about 20 minutes from here) to get a copy at Borders.  I'll miss getting to Borders, though.

As promised here are pictures of two of the quilt blocks I've been working on.  In these, I was auditioning the turquoise color for the joining strips.   I now have all six of the blocks joined and they look pretty cool.  As soon as I can find a place to lay it out to take a picture of the whole thing, I'll post it.

  

My daughter, Jen,  is now a Certified All Breed Dog Groomer and she is working at  A Dog's Dream doggy day spa in Pittsford, NY.  I surprised her at work on Friday.  The dog's name is Rosie and she was Jen's first client.  It seems Rosie is used to having her picture taken because every time I pointed the camera at her, she looked right into it.  

  
Anyway,  Jen has always loved dogs and animals and I am sure she will do well.

Time flies .... I can't believe it's April

   

I have been practicing tatting and have two finished projects to show.  So far, I can only do rings and chains, so I have to look for easy patterns.  I don't think I've made too much of a mess of these.

The first is a heart from the Handy Hands site that I started at our meeting on Saturday ... we gab so much I didn't get far, but I chipped away at it and finished yesterday. I used Lizbeth "Tutti Fruiti" and really like the colors.

The other is Betsy Evans' Shamrock that she posted to the HBT site on 3/14 with no pictures.  So I followed the instructions and made it for my teacher, Sherry Townsend.  I gave to her on Saturday at our meeting.   The variegated thread is DMC and the solid is a Lizbeth sample Sherry started us out with for class.

We are now going to meet the first Saturday of every month at the Liberty Cottage store in Canandaigua. The store will soon be carrying tatting threads and accessories.  What fun!

... and it only took me all afternoon!

My granddaughter is now seven.  When she was born, her mom asked me if I would tat the lace for the trim on her christening gown -  I took a deep breath and wondered (being new to tatting then) how long it would take me and could I do it in time.  I said yes and decided to do a foot a night until it was done.  Below is a sample of the lace.

Because they live about 600 miles from here & I live in upstate NY I wanted to be sure she liked what I did - so here is the sample I sent down. It is definitely beginner's lace, but it worked.  

I finished on time, and here is the picture of my beautiful granddaughter in her christening gown with the lace border on the hem.  

Now seven years or so later, I am starting all over again -  and here is a picture of the flower it took me all afternoon to do.  (After several emails to my instructor, Sherry Townsend - Celtic DreamWeaver, for help).  

What fun.  Hopefully, I will get better.  

    

The days March on.....

My friend Cyn-d and I have been quilting on Mondays.  We took a trip down to Material Rewards last week for some background fabric for her work in progress.  We are both putting together our own versions of a Cottage Beauty quilt.  Hers is the nine block version (large wall hanging for her LR), mine will be only six and only a small wall hanging size..

These are some of her unfinished blocks pinned onto a design wall for placement.  They will be quite stunning when done.   I'll take some pictures of mine soon.  My colors are a little different.

I've also been taking a class on tatting on Saturday mornings.  I first learned to tat about 8 years ago but haven't been practising and I forgot a few things.  So, I signed up for the class and lo and behold when I walked in, the teacher, Sherry Townsend, is the same woman who taught the class I previously took.

Sherry is very talented and has a blog at http://celticdreamweave.blogspot.com where you can see her work.

Here is a picture of our class in progress  from Sherry's blogspot.  I'm the one in pink with my mouth open in awe ....

The Olympic Socks are Finished ....

Just finished tonite at about 6:30 ..... These are cool and I can't wait to wear them.  The color is really, really gold.  I even have some yarn left over.

And now I have to get back to other unfinished projects.