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.