On the Road Again

Several members of our Tuesday morning knitting group have been raving about Vulcan's Rest, a fiber arts store in Chesapeake City, MD, so the rest of us decided it was time to check it out.

We were all a bit speechless when we walked in--it was amazing. There are at least four rooms that are filled with yarn. Another room has more knitting notions than I've ever seen in one place and there's a whole walk-in closet for different kinds of roving and top. Scattered throughout there are materials for weaving, basketmaking, felting, beading, and spinning.

In the back there's a beautiful kitchen where customers can help themselves to tea and coffee. One of our members exclaimed, "Tea, coffee, and yarn all in one place! Does it get any better than this?"



Here's a shot of two of our ladies enjoying the book corner--it looks more like a real library and it had more significant titles than even the larger booksellers.

I'd gone looking for a few small things to get the new spinning wheel going and I got more than I bargained for. The owner let me try out a Schacht Ladybug wheel. Not only was it adorable, but it was heaven to spin, especially since it had double treadles.





Afterwards, we moved next door to the little cafe for lunch and then, took a short walk around the town to see the sights. I thought that this color-coordinated house was too cute to pass without taking a photo.

A New Family Member

On my return from Woodstock, I stopped at my mother-in-law's house to see the newest member of our family. The little girl, to be named Cora, is the first child born to my nephew and his wife. She was born at home on April 23rd and is perfectly beautiful. Here's a shot of Paul's mom, Jean, admiring her first great granddaughter and another of Granddad, Chris, a few days later.

My Birthday Week!

It was a great week. My earliest surprise was a beautiful Keurig coffee maker from my very good friend who probably loves coffee more than I do. She is an enabler of the best sort. Last year she gifted me with a collection of goodies from King Arthur Flour for making donuts. Yumm! Now we have the coffee to go with them.

Then, after a week of bailing out the laundry room because the furnace was acting up, I decided to buy myself a new furnace. Just what every girl dreams of. Our old one was simply a nightmare, noisy, nasty and very cantankerous. Every morning, I'd wake up and wonder if we'd have hot water for a shower. I think I had heart palpitations when I wrote the check, but I promised myself that we'd be happy we did it next winter.

At the end of the week, it was time for my trip to Fibersmyth, in Woodstock, VA, for a Beginning Spinning class. I'd been eagerly looking forward to the trip and it was even better than I had anticipated. The weather was more like July than April, so the class was held on the porch of the old farm house that now houses the yarn store and tea room. Priscilla, our teacher, is a lifelong fiber artist who, at one time, also ran a working sheep farm and spinning business. What this lady doesn't know about spinning and spinning materials isn't worth knowing and the best part of it is that she's a gifted teacher.




Here are some other photos from our class:




Erin, on the left, has an imaginative method for securing unspun fleece and Kristin, on the right, is hard at work, using her Louet wheel.





Here's shot of Gillian wearing a skein of her newly spun yarn and another of Linda using the drum carder, which I later broke! (I'm sorry, Elizabeth!)

I had a lovely weekend and learned a great deal--everyone was so friendly and open--the kind of folks you want to gather up and take home to be your neighbors!

My Springtime February Lady

Here's what became of the yarn I bought at A Good Yarn. My first February Lady Sweater was by the book. The only modification that I made to the pattern was to go down one needle size on the sleeves to cut down on the width. On this one, I decided to make the sleeves short and to add a shawl collar. The sleeve modification was easy because I simply continued the garter stitch on DP's until I thought they were the right length.

The collar was an entirely different story and I couldn't have done it without the detailed directions left on the Ravelry by "Darkandstormyday." This ingenius young knitter posted a picture of her own FLS in the project files and also explained exactly how she had added a short-row collar. I've read much about short row shaping but, with the exception of sock heels, I really had no idea how to go about it. In fact, I wouldn't even have considered using this method to construct a collar!

Jack Falls From Grace

I came home from yoga this morning to find a small pile of partially digested dog food on the carpet but there was no indication as to who had left it. A little while later, as I sat down to do some knitting, I heard wretching sounds in the other room and then I knew. It was Jack. Poor baby, he looked terrible. I coddled him and started to worry. Is he uncomfortable? It's the weekend--what if he needs to see the doctor? Is he dying?

I was going through the whole list of Dogmomma Whatif's when I wandered into the kitchen and saw it. There in the corner sat the 40 lb. bag of dry dog food. It was right where we always leave it, but now a corner of the top was missing and the jagged edge of the front was pulled down to just about 10 inches from the floor--oddly enough, the same distance from the floor to Jack's nose. That little thug! While I'm busy making myself a nervous wreck, he's in the other room, quietly sleeping off his morning bender!

Then I got to thinking. In the past few months, I've had holes chewed through to the pocket of my wool pea coat, a flannel blazer totally destroyed and a hole eaten in my favorite jean jacket. I've blamed Molly but now I'm thinking I had it all wrong. Call Grissom, call Jethro Gibbs! Get a cheek swab from the black dog and Mirandize the mutt.