Better to be bit by a bug than a coyote

March 2, 2014 / one2travelfar / 1 Comment

Last week didn’t exist for me – or I didn’t really exist last week. Imagine, no knitting for a day due to either a virus or parasite that knocked me for a loop and caused me to sleep 18 hours a day for four days. But, I’m back, feeling mended and ready to charge back into the work week.

Better a bug than the coyotes. They howled across the road the other night. This is what they sounded like from our porch.

I managed to get some work done on a few projects. I spun and plied some luscious blue faced Leicester on its own and with some local alpaca. Since Tim lost his f***ing deer hat, Some of this may be used in the replacement.

I was ready to dabble in some pretty fiber colors in preparation for this Fair Isle Vest I want to knit for myself by Eunny Jang. I plan to use the organic merino I spun on my drop spindle on Deal Island and then dyed with all the onion skins we used during our three month stay. I may use some navy and this rose yarn as well.

I’ll be visiting my darling daughter and need some handmade items for her. I’m working on a knit market bag and may need a few for myself. Maybe I’ll actually remember to bring my own bag into the store if I made it myself!

This rug may be finished by next winter but chicken little is running around saying, ” the cabin is falling, the cabin is falling!” I hope not.

In case my coyote sound track doesn’t work above, here’s another way to hear it.
Coyote songs

Perspectives

February 17, 2014 / one2travelfar / 3 Comments

When I think of a movie or TV show, I often think of its one quotable line, even if it’s wrong. An old time favorite movie is The Red Balloon, which was shown at least each grade while I was in elementary school. The other was Nanook of the North, another classic. Anyway, for years I thought the Red Balloon’s quote was, “It is balloon!”. However, the movie was French and there was no dialogue. I later learned it came from the not so classic TV show, F Troop! Oh well.

Today someone posted a photo from the Honeymooners with Ralph and Norton in chef’s hats. Immediately I thought, “But can it core a apple”? Which brings me to today’s post. I have and will be visiting family and, like Goldie Hawn in ~~Saving Private Ryan~~Private Benjamin, “I never go to someone’s house empty handed.” However, when I looked up Saving Private Ryan, the more memorable quote was reportedly, “I did join the Army, but I joined a different Army. I joined the one with the condos and the private rooms.” Ah well, so much for my perspective.

So here’s what I’ve been working on.

Placemats to grace a new home.

Mohair merino ballet slippers from a pattern from Bev Galeska, queen of felted knits. These slippers await felting to shrink to fit one pair of feet in the new home. Felted clogs are still in progress for the second pair of feet. And,

This cute little berry hat to warm the head of a new little one.

You know you have cabin fever when

February 13, 2014 / one2travelfar / 3 Comments

The thermometer says 16 below 0 F when you wake up and you discard any plans of playing outside. What to do? I know. It’s time to clean the grout between the tiles.

It started off with a sort of spousal challenge. In any relationship, one party has a lower tolerance for mess. In our house, that someone is Tim. I pride myself on cleanliness but may have piles of stuff – clothes for future donation, things to sell on ebay, wool for future projects – lying around.

It drives Tim crazy, especially because I request they remain in place. So we made a deal. He vacuums and tidies and I scrub. And scrub I did today.

It began innocently enough in the bathroom; first the shower, then the toilet and then…the grout between the tiles. I was off.

Once I tackled the bathroom, I headed towards the kitchen. Apparently, I’m not so clean. The grout was black! Yuch!

I made short work of it with Oxy Clean, a little scrub brush and lots of elbow grease.

Now even though it’s below zero, I wear my sunglasses at night ! I’m compulsive enough that the little dark spot is history.

How to get spring fresh laundry in winter

February 10, 2014 / one2travelfar / 1 Comment

I found the perfect solution to fresh smelling laundry. Remove any and all dead rodents from the dryer vent! Voila! Spring fresh again. It was a nasty task but I meant to see what was rattling in the vent for a while. And I found it. Along the way, I found the perfect use for duct tape: repair the duct. My dryer vent hose was unraveling at the dryer, hopefully not because a mouse was trying to claw its way out. Oh the horror! Like a flash, the idea of duct tape, which I use for everything else, came to mind. Worked like a dream.

On a lighter note, I’m weaving a set of overshot placemats in linen and cotton. I had some linen on the shelves and boldly moved forward, despite reading the difficulty of working with linen in low humidity. My loom is near the wood stove. I’m learning to love the warping process and do it mindfully. Less snarls and hassles and misthreading. Previously, I tried to rush through so I could get to weaving, which forced me to become adept at repairing errors. Now I take my time, understanding that the loom prep will take several days. Then it’s off to weaving.

I’m a big fan of hats. My whole body stays warmer when I wear a hat. But some hats are just wrong. This is one of them.

How to avoid cabin fever in the North Country

February 9, 2014 / one2travelfar / 2 Comments

Carnivale!

Many dark, cold, towns and cities in the North hold winter carnival to ward off the cabin fever. Saranac Lake has one of the best in the country and we went yesterday to see the Ice Palace. I think last year’s ice was a melt (or wash) but this year we’ve had a month of frigid temperatures. The theme was Celtic, which seems to be interpreted as Viking, pre-St. Patrick. There were lots of horned caps and leprechauns with a little Mickey and Minny thrown in. Saranac Lake is often one of the coldest places in the country. Yesterday was a balmy 10 degrees and yet there were kids in t-shirts without gloves. I was bundled from head to toe in —wool of course. And stayed toasty throughout the day.

My favorite events are the Paul Smith’s School of Forestry Woodsmen competitions. Not for the feint of heart as axes are swung between the legs in a race to split a large log. Then off to boil a pot of water. In previous years, fire was started with stick and twine but this year they resorted to matches? Still, they had to split the kindling, make the stove, get the fire started and boil a can of water.

These highlights and a bit of the parade are in this Youtube video. It includes the woodsmen competitions, a great drumming corps, the Canoedolers, Paul Smith’s bucket percussion group and the dragon.

When the lakes freeze over and are solid ice, what to do? Make an Ice palace of course. This is the best I have seen, with carved dragons, seats, castle turrets and even a maze. Fun for all.

The best part of the parade is the Lawn Chair Ladies who beat out a beat with the clack of lawn chairs. They are at the end of this video.

We capped off the day with a short cross country ski to Moose pond and then a skate around Mirror Lake. A fun time was had by all. Only a few brass players were found stuck to their horns at the end of the day.

Which way did they go?

February 8, 2014 / one2travelfar / Leave a comment

Apparently the deer like our cedar and juniper the best. They have a big take out party and invite all their friends while we sleep.

I started and completed the fastest project today. I’m getting ready to recover the boat cushions and spend a lot of time on the Sailrite website. They carry a wide selection of marine fabric and have great how to videos. I watched one and learned how to spiff up a lampshade. So I did.

S’no work

February 6, 2014 / one2travelfar / 1 Comment

Tim started to make noises about needing new mittens because both his pairs of double knit mittens (essentially two layers of fabric knit at the same time) had shrunk, felted and developed holes from grabbing trees on the way up and down mountains. They were a lot of work to make because it is as if you knit four mittens per pair. I had a better idea.

I added cuffs and darned the holes. This was much quicker with two finished projects in no time. Now I have more time to play in the snow.

We finally had a decent snowfall yesterday and I put on my cross country skis and skied the woods next door. Every year, I make a loop track, shaking the snow off low branches and skiing initially through snow almost to me knees. Then once cut, I ski it for about an hour. No thinking about where to go, just keep skiing and the track is laid out in front of me. I think of it as my meditation labyrinth with a little exercise thrown in. I enjoy this much better than the indoor nordic track. And my new mittens held up and started to felt a bit, just the way they should.

I’m coordinated

February 5, 2014 / one2travelfar / Leave a comment

While on or off the slopes. I finished my Malabrigo mittens to match my upside down, tumbling block hat.

Tres chic. Very warm and soft. Now I’m thinking of using up all my soft scraps in stranded hats and gloves. Worsted weight knits up so quickly. Only 42 stitches around for the mittens!

The winter weather is finally turning in my favor. By that I mean, we have a decent snow cover and I have a chance to use my season ski pass. I admit it. I’m a princess. I enjoy skiing midweek, early (snowboarders are either still asleep or in school and I won’t fear them scraping behind me at breakneck speed on the hill); when there’s enough snow covering crust or ice so I don’t hear myself scraping down the slope, and when the temperature is at least a balmy twenty degrees. It’s a lot easier keeping warm these days and not because I’ve switched to anything high tech. As a teen, I skied in cotton(!) thermal underwear, probably polyester or cotton socks, leather mittens and often went hatless so my hair could flow in the breeze. May have looked cute, but I froze my tuchas off!

Now I wear wool from head to toe and am warm as a sheep.

On a final note, my stunning red bathing suit was a smashing success. Looked stylish and felt great, while I continue to be the worst, but most improved, swimmer in the pool. And you can bet I am the only one in a homemade bathing suit.

No idle hands here

February 2, 2014 / one2travelfar / 1 Comment

I seem to have a lot more time now that I am no longer running a cat hospice. Sad but true. I wallowed for a day, maybe it was just a cold coming on, then got back to work.

Who wouldn’t be cheered up by three little fair isle hats knit for my friend’s daughters?

I played around with twined braids, stranded colorwork and thoroughly enjoyed the design process. I was surprised to find how well small fair isle motifs work up in worsted weight – and fast too.

Then I decided to finally knit something for me again. It’s a hat made with combination of tumbling blocks stranded and twined knitting made in super soft, smooshy Malabrigo worsted yarn.

The optical illusion didn’t really work though. The shadows seem off, I think I have to swap out my lights and darks. I tried flipping it upside down and they still don’t really look like blocks. But the stranded color work keeps it warm and even pretty on the inside as well.

The yarn was so soft, I had some leftover and I’m tired of my old mittens so I designed a non-delusional mitten to match, with the palm lined in alpaca. Luscious.

Conditions have been good for skiing, skating and playing indoors. I finally tried a no-knead bread recipe. It couldn’t have been easier and made a country style, hard crust bread, sturdy enough for sandwiches. I had to stir it once and fold it once! Hoo boy. I highly recommend it for a day when you are hanging around the house.

My digital VHS movie conversion was a huge success. I laughed, I cried, while watching them all. Plus I found inspiration. Tim’s been looking for comfortable skates, since the ice is so good this year, to no avail. Then I saw a movie with my brother at 4 or 5, at Christmas, wearing an army helmet and strap on skates, skating around the basement. So I looked up strap on skates for adults and they exist! There are two types, shown here. One can be latched onto any hiking boot and the other uses cross country ski bindings. Just like Hans Brinker. He ordered a set of the cross country ski type. I just have to find him an army helmet.

A tribute to my feline friend, Shirley

January 26, 2014 / one2travelfar / 7 Comments

Or as Tim likes to say, you can call me Shirley, just don’t call me chubsy-ubsy. She was a member of the family for 18 years, really a lifetime, as evidenced by how my kids have grown since she arrived.

Chelsea and Shirley, 1996

She outlived many companions. Her sister, Oreo, was lost in the woods years ago.

Shirley and Oreo

She survived an encounter with a moving car,in the 1990’s, with perhaps a little loss of mental capacity but as the vet said, “It’s not like she has to go to work. She just has to find her food and litter box”. And she did.

She (and her adopted brother, Loki) lived aboard our catamaran and held up in all weather conditions. When the weather was bad, they crawled into their bunk and slept. At night, we would hear them scurrying along the deck and waited for the dreaded splash. It never happened.

Shirley on watch on Water Lily

Both cats traveled with us to several lighthouse caretaking gigs, until Loki resisted travel.

Shirley and Loki on Seguin

Shirley, Seguin

Shirley, Baker’s Island

Shirley, whiffle ball outfielder

She loved all sorts of knitwear and projects and was a frequent model.

She enjoyed a drink now and then, bird watching and squirrel hunting.

And relaxing in front of the fireplace.

She purred until the end, lying on one of her favorite scarves. She’s been my companion, child surrogate, travel buddy, knitwear tester and will be sorely missed.

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Island and North Country Life

With fiber, felines and fotos

Better to be bit by a bug than a coyote

Perspectives

You know you have cabin fever when

How to get spring fresh laundry in winter

How to avoid cabin fever in the North Country

Which way did they go?

S’no work

I’m coordinated

No idle hands here

A tribute to my feline friend, Shirley

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