Open House

The weekend before Thanksgiving, I drove out into the rolling hills of southwestern Wisconsin. My destination?



Blackberry Ridge had an open house. Even though I've lived in the area for 5 years I've never been to the mill. I arrived late in the afternoon and had a personal tour.







For a non-spinner who lives vicariously through those who blog about their spinning, it was a very informative look at the process that produces this...




Of course I got the skeins in this part of the mill...





These also happened to fall in the bag. Oops.







The photos could use better light.

And a better photo assistant.

Potpourri

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. George Eliot.

I love autumn. The air is chilled, the landscape is a potpourri of muted and brilliant shades of reds, golds, greens, and browns, the leaves crunch under your feet, and it's cold enough to wear knitted woolen items. Everything about this season calls to the knitter in me. The season does have its disadvantages - I really dislike going to work and coming home in the darkness.

A few pictures of autumn in the midwest - taken while out and about on work-related travel.





A few weeks ago I attended a baby shower for a dear friend. This was dessert.



Work has been worse than usual lately - thus the lack of recent posts. In my spare time I'm scouting possible destinations for the knitting safari which my guild has each spring. Yes, it is quite a burden to have to visit yarn shop after yarn shop after yarn shop - but one does what one must for one's craft and guild. (She says as she drops gracefully onto the nearest fainting couch, blotting non-existent moisture from her forehead.)

On my first foray, I visited Knitch,









Just 4 Ewe,



Calico, Canvas and Colors,



and Fiddlehead Yarns.



I had never been to these places before - and each was interesting. Knitch is in an interesting town. I'd like to go back and explore. Just 4 Ewe is VERY small - but has interesting fiber and roving - I bought some handpainted fingering weight there. There is also an interesting bead shop 2 doors down. Calico, Canvas and Color is more quilt shop than yarn shop, but they have a large selection of sock yarn in addition other yarns. Fiddlehead Yarns is a bright, airy shop. I completed this tour of yarn shops on a Sunday - a day Fiddlehead isn't normally open. True to the information on her website, I called to see if the owner was in the shop - she was - and let me stop and shop while she decorated the shop for Christmas.

I was mightily tempted at each of these places, but unusually restrained (due to budget concerns, not stash concerns).

In the meantime, knitting continues at the Stash Haus - an hour an evening is about the average lately. I'm so close to finishing the Landscape Shawl, but have RUN OUT OF YARN. I may have finished it this weekend if not for that sad circumstance. A scan of my list of contents of the stash show plenty of skeins of Mountain Colors, but not what I need.

Next time - tour of a wool mill.

How 'Bout Some Cheese To Go With That Whine?

Yes, I'm whining.

For the first time in my life, I've missed Thanksgiving.

I don't know about you - but the typical menu in our family at Thanksgiving is one of my all-time favorites. The turkey, the mashed potatoes with gravy, the green bean casserole (with A LOT of french fried onions on the top), the pumpkin pie, the custard pie.

Then there is all the family togetherness - playing games, going for walks (depending on the weather, naturally), telling or retelling of family stories.

Instead, I was stuck at home, alone, nursing 7-Up and saltine crackers.

I don't know what hit me - but some kind of stomach bug which included a fever as high as 101. And made my stomach revolt at the smell of anything cooking.

It was the kind of sick where I didn't even feel up to knitting. Blech.

So the cats had a good time napping with me all day - for which they were thankful.

I'm thankful that this seems to be a quick 48-hour kind of flu.

Hope those who were celebrating had a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

Just Say No

So, I'm catching up on some blog reading (I'm a whole week behind) and while catching up on happenings across the pond over at Beelzebub Knits I come across NOvember. I don't know if you all have heard about this - but apparently some masochistic knitter thought up the idea that the month of November be committed to finishing up WIPs and not casting on any new projects.

I don't know about you, but I'd have to be committed before imposing a ban like that on myself (and I'm assuming they don't let you have knitting needles in those places). I agree with Beelzebub - Lent, indeed. Now, I'm not claiming that there aren't many, many WIPs in the Stash Haus that could benefit from something like this. Oh no, there's plenty 'round here that needs doing.

Maybe the procrastinator in me needs a certain level of WIPs...perhaps the more WIPs at home, the less I have at work. Maybe taking the Myers Briggs test would help assess why.

But right now, it's nearly 1 a.m. and I need to be up in 5 hours - and one thing I DO know about my character/personality...I need more sleep than just 5 hours.