Monthly Archives: March 2013

Lady In Red …

Posted on March 9, 2013 by | Comments Off on Lady In Red …

copyright 2013

Vintage ’40′s or ’50′s.

- by Joan -


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Daffodils?

Posted on March 9, 2013 by | Comments Off on Daffodils?

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Yesterday I could see my daffodils poking their heads up investigating the world but today mother nature put them firmly in their place. It’s tough for snow to stick around for long at this time of year but it did manage to pile up respectably despite temperatures near 40. Don’t worry, those daffodils will have their way before too long!

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Today In Pictures

Posted on March 9, 2013 by | Comments Off on Today In Pictures

There’s still far more snow on the ground than I thought there would be, given the high-ish temps.  There’s even a tree with little blooming leaf buds, and the daffodils are starting to poke out from the white drifts.

Mostly, though it’s just a mushy, muddy mess.

03.08.13a

03.08.13b

03.08.13c

03.08.13d

03.08.13e

All 4 of my ewes appear to be bred.  There’s going to be a lot of lamb sproinging here soon.

Spring is coming…..can you feel it?


Tagged: Farm, Pets, Seasons

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Soft Afternoon

Posted on March 8, 2013 by | Comments Off on Soft Afternoon

It feels like spring outside, a proper rainy spring. It’s humid, it’s just about sixty degrees, and it’s threatening to rain. It’s the perfect weather to nap to with the window open. I was attempting to capture the mood in my progress / yarn shots for my current sweater, but I think it came across a little more Dutch Realism than I was going for. Perhaps it’s the colors?

lofty

softness

loftiness
Don’t you just love how fuzzy the yarn is?

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Blizzard Month!

Posted on March 8, 2013 by | Comments Off on Blizzard Month!
February started with a blizzard! While it has been technically deemed not a blizzard it did have:

Sideways snow,
Thunder and lightening,
Huge snow drifts because of the incredible wind,
Several feet of accumulation in a night

The snow started Thursday night and kept going all Friday. The crazy sideways snow and blue-green lightening was over night and I spent a good deal of the time standing on the window seat in our front hall so I could see (the snow stuck to the screens on the lower half of the windows) the whole thing. Photos here.

We spent most of the weekend inside eating cookies and pancakes, knitting, reading, watching movies and watching our neighbors dig out. Then Sunday we spent the day freaking out about the fact that I had to go to work on Monday and the dudes hired to clear the driveway hadn't come yet. So that was the less fun part, but I did make it to work and back in one piece. Most of New England was still shut down for several days and our road was one lane until late on Tuesday/early Wednesday.

~~~

The next weekend Vasya and I went to New York. I had some vacation days to take and had always wanted to see the High Line, so we made a long weekend of it.

We arrived on Valentine's day:


and stayed at a friend's apartment, from which the view is this:

That's the "Freedom Tower"
or this, if it's night:

then, we wandered around, ate at the Waverly Restaurant and checked this Buckyball art out.

Friday, after being woken up by this (the narrow one) building getting gutted:


we got some sub-par bagels, which is a real disappointment when you're in New York and then walked over to the High Line. It's clearly mostly pretty as a garden or park which really isn't happening February, but from it there all sorts of neat street views and the design of the park itself was cool too.

My favorite parts:
These two, the one Vasya is on and the one in front, benches roll a little on the tracks.
The others like it just sit on the tracks.
and


Which needs tiny dinosaurs hanging out in it. My dad had a co-worker who had lots of tiny dinos hidden around at work, and I used to love finding them when I'd visit. When I saw this spot I immediately thought it was asking for some tiny plastic dinos in a tableau.

Seriously though, the rest of it was very cool, there were also just a zillion people taking photos of every part, so if you want to find more of what it looks like you'll find a ton of photos online.

Then we went to the New York Public Library! We wandered through the whole thing, pet the big stone lions and waited for ghosts in the main reading room (they never showed).

On our walk back we heard/witnessed a bike pizza delivery guy get hit by a taxi and then overheard law students talking about their drug habits while we waited for sushi. Just a day in New York...

That night we hung out with a friend and he tried to explain all this stuff to us, but couldn't exactly remember how it worked and indulged me in going to a place that claimed to have a "world of cheese," which of course it did not (but it did have cheese samples so fine by me!).

Saturday, we went to brunch in the village, wherein it was made even more obvious that we are not New Yorkers, and I had the smallest poached eggs known to man kind.

But then we then went off to something far more comfortable: the Half Moon Sword Ale for one stop, which was both near us and most likely to have people I knew. Two for one!

After that we went out to Brighton Beach to explore the Russianness. We got there ahead of the friend who was meeting us and got some disapproving looks from grandmas and asked for a light from a guy trying very hard to look suave. When our friend got there we got some amaaazing Georgian bread that has tons of cheese in it. We knew to go there, but they were out of the cheesy bread and told us to come back in 15 minutes. So we did, fairly promptly. And then we stood outside in the raw cold and devoured the amazingness of incredibly fresh bread. It was to die for.

We explored the Brighton Beach boardwalk and the Coney Island boardwalk, then circled the amusment park, which was all shut down and weird angles against the weather. There were some postcards taped around on the fences and signs that I wanted to investigate, but the boys thought I was crazy. They were still crisp and new on a damp day, so they had just been posted. Were they leading us somewhere? We'll never know!

We went back to the main street of stores, which had a surprising number of drug stores, but we also found a Russian stuff store. Some kitch, some useful stuff, some 50 Shades of Gray in Russian (true facts!) several grocery stores and restaurants. We found a place to eat a mostly potato-filled meal that was quite delicious. We ate our Russian candy for dessert on the train ride back to Manhattan.

We took the train back up to Mystic so that Sunday I could go to dance practice and then we had dinner with my parents. My mom makes valentine's cookies every year and really wanted to share them with us.

~~~

President's day my friend Lauria came to visit! She has a swift and I have a yarn ball winder, so we combined forces to wind some of our finer yarns, visited the yarn store and crafted together. I even helped mer make a how-to by basically spooning her to take the photos of what her hands were doing on a project (if it gets posted I'll link to it here).

During the blizzard I made a hat for our friend Fred, but it is way too big, even for Fred. See, his head is pretty big, so for his birthday I told him I'd make a a nice warm winter hat, and I measured his head. I thought I'd done the math right and made the pattern I wanted to use his size, but it's too big! I haven't had a chance to go to the laundromat to felt it down a bit yet (note: laundry has been done, it's just that Vasya's gone or I've gone just for laundry reasons) and if that doesn't work I'm going to add a bit of a band on the inside of the brim as well. So it currently sits here, so sad! I haven't forgotten you Fred, it's just still in progress (too bad as it's snowing as I type this).

However, I made this hat, for Evie, the person who originally taught me to knit when we were kids. The yarn is so squishy and soft. I just want to cuddle it all the time.

The color is kind of off.
Maybe I can get her to take some in-use photos that have better color.

~~~
Other than that I've been busy with the conference committee, dancing and general-life-but-not-project type things, but hopefully with spring coming soon I'll have more to share next month.

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Blizzard Month!

Posted on March 8, 2013 by | Comments Off on Blizzard Month!
February started with a blizzard! While it has been technically deemed not a blizzard it did have:

Sideways snow,
Thunder and lightening,
Huge snow drifts because of the incredible wind,
Several feet of accumulation in a night

The snow started Thursday night and kept going all Friday. The crazy sideways snow and blue-green lightening was over night and I spent a good deal of the time standing on the window seat in our front hall so I could see (the snow stuck to the screens on the lower half of the windows) the whole thing. Photos here.

We spent most of the weekend inside eating cookies and pancakes, knitting, reading, watching movies and watching our neighbors dig out. Then Sunday we spent the day freaking out about the fact that I had to go to work on Monday and the dudes hired to clear the driveway hadn't come yet. So that was the less fun part, but I did make it to work and back in one piece. Most of New England was still shut down for several days and our road was one lane until late on Tuesday/early Wednesday.

~~~

The next weekend Vasya and I went to New York. I had some vacation days to take and had always wanted to see the High Line, so we made a long weekend of it.

We arrived on Valentine's day:


and stayed at a friend's apartment, from which the view is this:

That's the "Freedom Tower"
or this, if it's night:

then, we wandered around, ate at the Waverly Restaurant and checked this Buckyball art out.

Friday, after being woken up by this (the narrow one) building getting gutted:


we got some sub-par bagels, which is a real disappointment when you're in New York and then walked over to the High Line. It's clearly mostly pretty as a garden or park which really isn't happening February, but from it there all sorts of neat street views and the design of the park itself was cool too.

My favorite parts:
These two, the one Vasya is on and the one in front, benches roll a little on the tracks.
The others like it just sit on the tracks.
and


Which needs tiny dinosaurs hanging out in it. My dad had a co-worker who had lots of tiny dinos hidden around at work, and I used to love finding them when I'd visit. When I saw this spot I immediately thought it was asking for some tiny plastic dinos in a tableau.

Seriously though, the rest of it was very cool, there were also just a zillion people taking photos of every part, so if you want to find more of what it looks like you'll find a ton of photos online.

Then we went to the New York Public Library! We wandered through the whole thing, pet the big stone lions and waited for ghosts in the main reading room (they never showed).

On our walk back we heard/witnessed a bike pizza delivery guy get hit by a taxi and then overheard law students talking about their drug habits while we waited for sushi. Just a day in New York...

That night we hung out with a friend and he tried to explain all this stuff to us, but couldn't exactly remember how it worked and indulged me in going to a place that claimed to have a "world of cheese," which of course it did not (but it did have cheese samples so fine by me!).

Saturday, we went to brunch in the village, wherein it was made even more obvious that we are not New Yorkers, and I had the smallest poached eggs known to man kind.

But then we then went off to something far more comfortable: the Half Moon Sword Ale for one stop, which was both near us and most likely to have people I knew. Two for one!

After that we went out to Brighton Beach to explore the Russianness. We got there ahead of the friend who was meeting us and got some disapproving looks from grandmas and asked for a light from a guy trying very hard to look suave. When our friend got there we got some amaaazing Georgian bread that has tons of cheese in it. We knew to go there, but they were out of the cheesy bread and told us to come back in 15 minutes. So we did, fairly promptly. And then we stood outside in the raw cold and devoured the amazingness of incredibly fresh bread. It was to die for.

We explored the Brighton Beach boardwalk and the Coney Island boardwalk, then circled the amusment park, which was all shut down and weird angles against the weather. There were some postcards taped around on the fences and signs that I wanted to investigate, but the boys thought I was crazy. They were still crisp and new on a damp day, so they had just been posted. Were they leading us somewhere? We'll never know!

We went back to the main street of stores, which had a surprising number of drug stores, but we also found a Russian stuff store. Some kitch, some useful stuff, some 50 Shades of Gray in Russian (true facts!) several grocery stores and restaurants. We found a place to eat a mostly potato-filled meal that was quite delicious. We ate our Russian candy for dessert on the train ride back to Manhattan.

We took the train back up to Mystic so that Sunday I could go to dance practice and then we had dinner with my parents. My mom makes valentine's cookies every year and really wanted to share them with us.

~~~

President's day my friend Lauria came to visit! She has a swift and I have a yarn ball winder, so we combined forces to wind some of our finer yarns, visited the yarn store and crafted together. I even helped mer make a how-to by basically spooning her to take the photos of what her hands were doing on a project (if it gets posted I'll link to it here).

During the blizzard I made a hat for our friend Fred, but it is way too big, even for Fred. See, his head is pretty big, so for his birthday I told him I'd make a a nice warm winter hat, and I measured his head. I thought I'd done the math right and made the pattern I wanted to use his size, but it's too big! I haven't had a chance to go to the laundromat to felt it down a bit yet (note: laundry has been done, it's just that Vasya's gone or I've gone just for laundry reasons) and if that doesn't work I'm going to add a bit of a band on the inside of the brim as well. So it currently sits here, so sad! I haven't forgotten you Fred, it's just still in progress (too bad as it's snowing as I type this).

However, I made this hat, for Evie, the person who originally taught me to knit when we were kids. The yarn is so squishy and soft. I just want to cuddle it all the time.

The color is kind of off.
Maybe I can get her to take some in-use photos that have better color.

~~~
Other than that I've been busy with the conference committee, dancing and general-life-but-not-project type things, but hopefully with spring coming soon I'll have more to share next month.

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Sabine Winners!

Posted on March 8, 2013 by | Comments Off on Sabine Winners!

I know what you want to know, so I won’t keep you waiting. Here are the three Sabine pattern booklet winners!

Sabine Winners

 

Please email lauria AT fiberfarm DOT com to claim your pattern booklets within the next 72 hours!Sabine2013 Tilt2

I hope you’ll share what you’ve knit with us!

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Snow Days in Pictures

Posted on March 8, 2013 by | Comments Off on Snow Days in Pictures

Snow

More snow

Raoring fire

A lot of snow

DSC_0031Cini and Luna graciously shared the run-in with some chickens.

Snow JackJack, even in his recently- sheared state, was thrilled by the snow.

Sabine in the SnowSabine

HannahHannah

CosmoCosmo

RoqRoquefort

GnocchiGnocchi

Still no electricity here. The rumor is it may be back by Sunday. As soon as I’m finished with evening chores, Jack and I are going to a hotel for the night so I can get a shower and a good night’s sleep.

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Timely …

Posted on March 8, 2013 by | Comments Off on Timely …

101_2360

According to the dictionary the definitions of standard are: normal, accepted, definitive, and official to name a few. I bring this up because this Saturday, March 10th is the beginning of Daylight Savings Time… or in my own definition…fake time :) Hang in here with me as I try to explain.

I’m one of those rare people who like it when it gets dark early. I like long evenings when you can be cozy and comfy… not that you can’t do that when it’s light out but it seems somehow more cozy when it’s dark. I know there are some others out there that agree with me but somehow when we mention this preference we get looks of disbelief. I’m not saying that I don’t enjoy an evening stroll, I’m not totally a hermit… I have been known to actually be outside after supper and enjoyed it.

But… and here is where I usually lose people with my explanation of ‘real’ time versus ‘fake’ time.

OK… in my head it goes this way… when you were born determines what YOUR real time is.

I was born in February so my ‘real’ time is Standard Time.

My daughter Patty was born in June so her ‘real’ time is Daylight Savings Time.

Daughter Deb was born in November, her ‘real’ time, Standard Time.

WAIT, not so fast, they changed the time change from the end of Oct to early November and so her ‘real’ time should, or could be, Daylight Savings Time – but it isn’t BECAUSE  she was born before  the change so she’ll always be time-wise, a Standard Time person. Talk about messing up body clocks.

Totally confused! Me too but I needed to get this whole silly thing off my brain. So, don’t forget to turn your clocks ahead this coming Sunday at 2 a.m. — and why is it 2 a.m. why not midnight ! Anyone know? I’ve got a headache now and I’m sure you do too.

As for me, I’m always…

(I know there are very good reasons for the time changes, I’m just indulging my sense of silliness with this timely post  :)

- by Joan -


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Stroopwaffels!

Posted on March 8, 2013 by | Comments Off on Stroopwaffels!
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Sock Madness 7 is newly underway and some of our intrepid Dutch knitters sent me this delightful treat. Our SM6 winner was Dutch and we joked that it was stroopwaffels that made her knit so fast. The Dutch ladies have taken it upon themselves to spread the joy this year. Thanks ladies, they were delicious!

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