Life Looms Large

Knit-In: Feb. 7 at Main St Art in Newfields, NH

2012-01-29T14:31:00.006-05:00

If you're in the Seacoast of New Hampshire (USA) during the first week of February, there are two yarn-y events you might enjoy!

First, from Main Street Art in Newfields, NH:

Knit for a cause! Please join us at Main Street Art as we knit warm hats and mittens for the residents of New Horizons, a homeless shelter, soup kitchen and food pantry located in Manchester, New Hampshire.

When: Tuesday, February 7TH from 8AM -8PM

Where: Main Street Art

75 Main Street, Newfields, New Hampshire, USA

What: Patterns and yarn will be provided. (Optional-Bring your own yarn stash to share or trade.)

Bring: Your own knitting needles and nimble fingers! (Size 7 needles or whatever you like with worsted weight yarn)

On any given day in New Hampshire, there are 2,248 people who are homeless. -NH Coalition to End Homelessness

I plan to be there for part of the afternoon and hopefully evening. I have no idea if I can knit a hat in a day, but I'll try!!!! Let me know if you plan to be there too!!

Another local event of interest to knitters and weavers:
Fuzz Fest on Feb. 4 in Exeter, NH

I'll try to pop in there too!!! Last year there was some local angora yarn that was so gorgeous. It's still tempting me!!

Sunday Shot of Color

2012-01-15T16:31:00.001-05:00

On a cold day like today, I'll take warmth wherever I find it!

Stay warm!

Diagonal Scarf

2012-01-13T19:45:00.001-05:00

My backup knitting project for the last few years (gasp!) has been this multi-directional diagonal scarf.

What I liked about this project:

Easy, but still interesting
Fun to see how the two variegated yarns I used interact
The scarf is noticeably different from other things I've knit

What I learned from this project:

When my intuition says "you don't have enough yarn", it's usually right!

What I'd do differently next time:

Have enough yarn to begin with!!

Yarn: Classic Elite Desert and Regia 4 ply
Pattern: Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf
Needles: Size 7
Amount of yarn: 2 skeins Desert and less than 1 of Regia

Finishing: Wash for 3 minutes in warm water with Woolite. Dry flat.

Finished size: 6.25 x 63 inches

Pattern modifications: Cast on 63 stitches

I haven't decided yet whether to keep this scarf, or give it as a gift. Maybe it will head to my gift bin for a while.

Or maybe, since we finally have snow on the ground, and sleet still falling, I'll bundle up in this scarf next time I go out!

Related posts:
On Ravelry
Getting started (in March 2009)
Out of yarn!
Yarn Shopping
Unraveling this scarf
Starting over

Finished Cowl

2012-01-03T12:50:00.004-05:00

Very soft, very cushy, very warm.

Notice how the wrong side of the cowl looks like large sections of knit woven together.

I finally finished my first cowl. I do have a fleece cowl that I use a lot in the woods when it's really cold. This knitted cowl will be prettier and could be worn around town.

Quick to knit, but I couldn't knit this while chatting. I don't know if other people count lace in a different way than I do, but I was counting in my head....and definitely got confused if I stopped mid-row.

Needles: US 8 wooden double-pointed needles
Yarn: 1.5 oz (.85 of a skein) of Princess by Classic Elite
40% merino, 28% viscose, 10% cashmere, 15% nylon, 7% angora
Color 3432
Pattern: Lush-ious Swirl Cowl by Linda Frydl

We're having an unusually warm winter so far, so I've barely had the chance to use my new cowl. I'll bet I'll get a chance to use it soon though!

Related posts:
Starting this cowl
On ravelry

Yule Log Cake

2012-01-02T11:21:00.002-05:00

I know on the day after New Year's, when everyone is trying to be healthy, the last thing you all want to see is a giant chocolate cake! I'm sorry!!!

At Christmas, for the first time ever, I made a chocolate Yule log cake. I had to save a picture of it here so I can find it again another year.

Meringue mushrooms are surprisingly tasty!! (The cake is delicious too....although I'm in more of a salad mood today!)

The recipe (a giant tutorial from King Arthur Flour) is here.

I hope your holidays were wonderful and that 2012 brings so much light, laughter and love into our lives!

Happy New Year!!!

2012-01-01T08:49:00.003-05:00

Meg at Unravelling has a New Year's tradition of posting photos of her looms to get the year off to a good start.....plus inviting weavers around the world to join her.

So here's my Toika, poised for me to get these towels woven!!

My baby wolf (temporarily naked) has been pushed aside so that we can try to snap a quick photo of a fox that has been frequenting our yard.

Don't worry....the loom will win out in 2012!!!

Wishing you all the 2012 of your dreams!! Happy New Year!

Striped Hat

2011-12-12T19:00:00.002-05:00

You know how projects spawn other projects, right?

With leftover yarn from the animal tracks sweater, I plan to make an animal tracks hat or two.

But first, I want to make sure I have a hat pattern that fits.

In consultation with Mr. LifeLoomsLarge, the recipient of this future hat, I picked a plain hat pattern, and then made a striped version for a wee bit of interest.

The good news is that this hat fits perfectly. It's so nice to knit a project and have it come out as hoped for on the first try!!!!

The details:
Pattern: Ellen's Knit Hat (SHIPS Project)
Yarn: Harrisville Highland in Midnight Blue & Cypress (Less than half a skein of each)
Needles: Size 7 double pointed needles

Here it is on ravelry!

Note: My computer died last week, while this blog entry was almost done, so please don't feel neglected that I haven't caught up with comments!!! Hopefully I'll be back to full steam ahead computer-wise very soon!

Related posts:
A hint of the animal tracks sweater (which is finished, but barely blogged)

Holiday Ornament Making

2011-12-03T20:20:00.003-05:00

Swag

In late November, the Col. Paul Wentworth House hosts a holiday decoration workshop.

Victorian Garland on Cardboard Deer

I made all of these Christmas decorations in 2 hours at the workshop, using materials and instructions set up at the house.

Clementine Clove Pomander

It was a great way to kick off the holiday season!

Front of Col. Wentworth House (Photographed in July)

Wentworth House has a great story. My super short version is that it was built in 1710, then moved to Massachusetts where it stayed for years, falling into disrepair. In 2002, it was numbered, disassembled and moved back to NH on a flatbed truck. It remained in the trailer of the truck on this property for years, while a team of motivated people raised money to put the house back together. Finally they were able to reconstruct it. Very cool!

Back corner of Wentworth House (also in July)

This saltbox shape is traditional in New England.

Foil Ruching

This foil ruching would have been made during Victorian times, when candlelight reflecting off silvery surfaces was all the rage.

Cranberry wreath

Cranberries strung on a wire make a small wreath.

Popcorn Cranberry Garland

Wentworth House (Rollinsford, NH, USA) is having a free holiday open house with music and snacks Saturday, Dec. 10 from 4-6 pm. If you haven't had a chance to visit the house yet, you could stop by to see it decorated for the holidays!

Related posts:
Making the cardboard deer head

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T12:57:00.003-05:00

From my household to yours, whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or not, I wish you all of the best that this season has to offer.

I'm grateful for all of you bloggers, readers, weavers and friends!!!

Enjoy!

Going Stag

2011-11-16T11:48:00.000-05:00

Mr. LifeLoomsLarge might be a bit hard to shop for.

This year, I made the perfect gift.....completely out of recycled materials!!

Behold the cardboard deerhead, perfect for any man cave!

I printed and cut out templates (modifying the end of the antlers to make it easier for me to cut). Since I had lots of cardboard boxes around, I traced the templates on box pieces, then cut them out using scissors and an Exacto knife.

Putting the deer together was a snap. (I did cut thinner slots to fit the whole thing together, since the templates were created for foam core.)

For hanging, I just threaded a needle and put a piece of cottolin yarn (or string would be fine) through the two vertical pieces of cardboard on the back of the deer neck.

I can't help but think of other animals I could make!!

I'm so bad at keeping gifts secret, that as soon as I finished it, I gave it to Mr. LLL in a box so he could open it and laugh.

For more inspiration, templates, and how-to tips:

By the book

Plain cardboard version

Photo Challenge

2011-05-19T21:05:00.003-04:00

Our local photography group had "Brown Bag Bingo" challenge for the winter.

We each put an item into a bag, and items were randomly exchanged at each meeting. Our challenge was to take a creative photo of the item in our bag each month.

This month, we had the big reveal!

Flamingo pen, surrounded by memorabilia from our Florida trip

I meant to take the pen with us and photograph myself writing a "Wish you were here" postcard to the photo group....but I forgot the pen in my packing frenzy!!

My brown bag item (a LeClerc stick shuttle)

The stick shuttle in action

Zebra heart on upholstery fabric

Grapevine wreath nestled in bowl of hand-dyed yarn

The challenge was fun for me, but I'm glad to have more photographic freedom again!!

Florida in 12 Pictures

2011-04-07T20:02:00.001-04:00

Mansion at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota

Who knew that 5 sons of German immigrants could build their fortune by creating a circus empire from the 1870 - 1929?

Myakka Canopy Walkway at Myakka River State Park

I was a little scared of this walkway. Once I saw it was so sturdy, I gave it a try. It was great!

We climbed a solidly constructed stairway to the suspension bridge through the tree canopy. Walking along the bridge there was a bit of swaying, but it felt very secure and safe. It was really interesting to see plants growing on the trees, plus to see the tree tops up close.

At the end of the bridge, you can descend a stairway, or climb up more stairs to a tower above the canopy where you can see for miles.

Good practice for canopy tours in the rain forest....one of my dream trips!!

Alligator in Myakka River State Park

The water level was low in March, since it's the end of the dry season in Florida. We didn't canoe with the alligators. But we saw plenty of alligators!!

Manatee at Manatee Park in Fort Myers

Manatees congregate in warm water during the cooler winter months in Florida. The park in Fort Myers is near the outflow from a power plant, where the water is warm.

We met people who saw 20 or more manatees at one visit to this park. We visited twice and saw this single manatee.

The manatee would stay under water for about 4 minutes, then surface and breathe twice, then head back under water. I liked seeing it in the wild because it was more sluggish and docile than I imagined.....I don't think there's a good way to get that across without actually seeing one in person.

My favorite beach on Sanibel Island

I fell in love with Sanibel on this trip!!

I like how low key the development is there, how the island has 25 miles of bike paths, that various conservation agencies have preserved large parcels of land on the island.

For me, the beaches are great because they're spacious, not very crowded, dog friendly, great for walking, shelling and wildlife watching. Plus, there are tons of amazing birds on the island.

Osprey clutching a flounder over my favorite beach

Osprey were everywhere on Sanibel. At one point, I was finding great shells, spotting dolphins in the waves, and watching 4 osprey overhead. So much fun stuff to see!

One osprey caught a large mackerel. Two other osprey gave chase, dive-bombing the bird with the fish.

When they were about 10 feet over my head, the osprey dropped the fish. We moved away from the fish thinking the birds would be back to pick it up. But they continued their skirmish and vanished into the woods.

Jim went over to check out the fish, which was flopping around in the dry sand. He picked up the fish by the tail and released it in the ocean. The fish swam away. Imagine the "fish story" that mackerel has for his school!!

Mixed flock of wading birds in Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge

Another great things about Sanibel is all the bird life in the wildlife refuge. We spent hours a day there watching and photographing birds. This is my kind of birding!!!

Roseate Spoonbill Landing in Ding Darling NWR

Naples City Pier

TripAdvisor ranks the municipal pier in Naples as one of the city's top attractions. That seemed weird to me, but one afternoon we were in Naples with a bit of time to spare, so we checked it out.

Within 45 minutes we'd been buzzed by a bald eagle, had several close osprey encounters, all while watching dolphins, pelicans and fishermen.

We returned after dinner for more sea life, plus a beautiful sunset.

The next morning, as we left town, we stopped by again. Mid-morning wasn't such a good time for wildlife sightings.

Dolphins

Hard to photograph, but always fun to watch!

Pelican Swallowing a Large Fish

Pelicans at Sunset

Sometimes, after a long winter, a trip to a warm, sunny place is a balm for the soul!!!

I totally apologize for not being caught up on your blogs or your comments before posting about Florida. Please know that I appreciate the huge swirl of creativity that all of our blogs foster, and I read and think about every comment that you leave for me!!! I hereby promise to catch up!

Pottering Around

2011-04-04T19:08:00.003-04:00

Thanks for the warm welcome back to blogging!

Over the weekend, I blogged about an outstanding 4 hour pottery class.

I was surprised that a few of you thought I should explore pottery further. Even though I loved the class, pottery doesn't call to me the way weaving does.

Maybe it's because I really, really dislike getting my hands wet or messy.....I'd rather bake than cook. I hate cleaning. Pottery is full of messy hands.....so it's fun, but I'm sticking with weaving and maybe exploring other visual arts for now.

My vase

I did like Deanna's idea to use the pottery to inspire things to weave to go with it!!! Maybe by the time the pots are glazed and returned to me, I'll have one of my looms freed up for a new project and I'll be inspired by something from pottery class!!

Or maybe I'll just enjoy the four hour experience and let it enrich my life without having to do anything further with it at all....well, except for eating ice cream out of each of the three bowls at some point. How's that for a goal?!

Inspiring Work from Fire Pond Pottery

In answer to Deanna's question, we did get to choose from 3 glaze colors: brown, blue and emerald green. I think I chose 2 blues, 1 green and 1 half blue/half green glaze for my 4 pieces. At the top of the picture above, you can see our glaze possibilities on plain blue, plain emerald and plain brown samples.

Now we have to be patient, since the Fire Pond Potters said it might take up to 3 months to get the pots back!!

I promise to post pictures, and if you come by the house, I'll even serve you ice cream in one of the bowls!!

Potter for a Day

2011-04-02T19:41:00.000-04:00

I had so much fun today!!

Jim, our friend D, and I took a "Learn to Throw in One Day" pottery class at Exeter Fine Crafts in Exeter, NH, USA, with Larry and Jessica of Fire Pond Pottery.

Even though Jim, D and I all learn in different ways, all of us loved the class and were really pleased with the whole day.

Our class had 6 students, 3 of whom had taken the class once before. I was so amazed at how much we were able to make and at HOW FUN the whole day was.

You can see my progression of 3 bowls in the center of this picture, and then my vase. The work right near mine is Jim's.

I also had a bowl attempt that collapsed, and at the end I tried to make two tiny bowls....both of which also didn't work. (One did that spectacular failure where all of a sudden it flies off the potter's wheel. Kind of fun really!)

The Fire Pond Potters will take our pieces and finish them up, including glazing and firing them. I'll show you pictures as soon as I get the pieces back. (It might not be until summer....but for once it won't be due to my blog laziness.....it will be waiting for their kiln to fill up.)

I cannot say enough good things about this class.

I loved how the teachers explained and demonstrated things just enough, and then turned us loose. They were right there to help if we were having trouble, or if we asked for help, but they also weren't jumping in telling people what they were doing wrong or anything like that.

They were totally great about asking if you wanted help and never touching your work or giving you advice unless you asked for it. (I love that.....I've been known to get quite annoyed in classes where a teacher is on top of my work too much!)

Also, they were very generous with information, and with setting up the day so that we all got to work on the wheels for hours.

If you're in the area and you've ever thought about trying pottery, this is a great way to give it a whirl. Low commitment, low cost, fun.

They've got another class scheduled for next Saturday, April 9. There may still be spaces left, so look for info at Exeter Fine Crafts. (I'd phone them ASAP about next Saturday.) I you want to be on Larry and Jessica's email list so they can notify you when they set up a class, you can contact them through their website.

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T14:45:00.004-05:00

Doubleweave Pick Up
Finished, but not blogged yet!

Wishing you and yours a happy Valentine's Day!

Knitting a Cowl

2011-02-08T20:38:00.004-05:00

Inspiration
During a moment of panic while I was weaving my First Time at WEBS Scarves, I believed more yarn was the answer. I stopped at Hub Mills Store in Lowell to pick up a few balls of yarn that went with that warp.
Later, I realized I didn't need that extra yarn for that project after all.
So I wanted to find something beautiful on ravelry to make with this ball of yarn.

Motivation
I put my started knitting projects in one place recently when I was cleaning up for houseguests. I realized I should finish something! This cowl project seemed like it would be quick and easy, plus the yarn is soft and gorgeous.

Goals for this project:

Use this extra ball of yarn
Make a cowl that's pretty and warm

Pattern: Lush-ious Swirl Cowl by Linda Frydl
Yarn: Princess by Classic Elite, Color 3432 (Majesty's Magenta)

Merrimack River Eagle Festival, Feb. 12, 2011 in Newburyport, MA

2011-01-28T13:08:00.007-05:00

Each winter, bald eagles congregate in areas of New England where there's reliably open water on rivers.

The Merrimack River in Amesbury and Newburyport, Massachusetts, USA is a great place to watch bald eagles in February.

To make it even simpler, the Mass Audubon’s Joppa Flats Education Center and the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge sponsor a free eagle festival. (If you google, you may find an eagle festival near you as well.)

Last year, we printed their eagle viewing map, and headed down for the day. We saw eagles perched in trees, doing aerial acrobatics together, and successfully fishing then eating the fish on an ice flow.

It's so helpful to have a group of people to help you spot the eagles, even though many eagles can be seen with the naked eye. Plus, you can ask other eagle watchers where they've seen eagles to know which viewing spots are best that day.

Definitely take binoculars and a spotting scope if you have them. Many people stop by without even binoculars, and people let them borrow a pair. Plus, the sponsoring groups usually have a few spotting scopes at each viewing stop.

There's plenty of space for photographers (although with this year's deep snow it might be a little tougher.)

The photos in this post were taken by Jim (Mr. LifeLoomsLarge) in February 2010 at the Merrimack River Eagle Festival.

For more info, visit the Audubon Society's webpage about the event.

Cool Upholstery

2011-01-25T10:41:00.000-05:00

Perhaps I was a little too interested in the upholstery at Blue Moon Evolution in Exeter, NH when I had lunch there on Monday.

The Blue Moon Cafe has evolved into a restaurant open for lunch and dinner. The market is no more.

You can check it out yourself if you go to the Winter Fuzz Fest in Exeter on Saturday, January 29. (Unfortunately, I can't make it to the Fuzz Fest this time.)

Concord, Massachusetts

2011-01-22T21:33:00.000-05:00

We visited Concord, MA on a cold but sunny day this week.

Snowbanks and icicles were among the wintry delights of Concord.

The excuse for our visit was the Quilts from the Concord Museum exhibit at the Concord Museum. The exhibit consisted of two rooms with quilts hanging on the walls. The quilts all tied into Concord history in one way or another.

For me, the two most memorable things were:

The first crazy quilt I've ever seen that looked beautiful instead of like a mishmash.
How modern some of the fabrics looked, even though they were part of quilts that were over 100 years old.

Unfortunately, photos were not permitted inside the museum, so I can't show you any of the quilts, or the fearsome icicles along the courtyard roof.

We had a great lunch afterward at the Colonial Inn.

A gazebo!!!

I definitely want to return to Concord in the summer. There are lots of historic houses, including Louisa May Alcott's, Nathaniel Hawthorne's, Ralph Waldo Emerson's....plus the Minute Man National Historic Park.

Squirrel Appreciation Day

2011-01-21T21:16:00.002-05:00

Really? There's a special day for squirrels?

How did you celebrate it?

Bailey appreciates squirrels every day. He loves to chase them or just watch them out the window!

Lights

2011-01-20T21:49:00.008-05:00

This month's photo mission: Lights

On Christmas Eve, we photographed Christmas lights. It does take a tripod to make night photos come out unblurry....which is sad because I feel weird out in the dark photographing other people's lights. It would be more fun for me to just point and shoot without a tripod.

The Edgewood Centre, in Portsmouth, had beautiful displays, ample parking....so I captured this photograph of a gazebo that's one of my favorites. (I have a long-standing love affair with gazebos...and would love to have one, or even regular access to one. I think they are so cool!)

I'm happy that I walked around some during this photo shoot. When I use a tripod, I often just plunk myself and my camera in one spot and fire away. Since I'm not really good at imagining what the photos will look like, I benefit from moving around and trying different angles. I need to remember that next time I use my tripod!

Masonic Temple, Portsmouth, NH

Jim's photo of the Masonic Temple came out much nicer than mine because he went across the street for this photo. I was too close to the building, so my shot came out weirdly diagonal and obscured by tree branches. Even if I can't see things as well at night, it seems like my camera can.

Cornucopia Wine & Cheese Shop

Monday night was the last clear evening for this week, so we went out for an early evening photo shoot even though it was 12 F (-11.11 C). I had spotted a few interesting lights in Exeter, NH that I wanted to photograph.

These cool stars were in the window of Trends Gift Gallery. I photographed them from across the street, with my tripod stuck in a snowbank. I didn't even notice until I got home that there was writing on the window in front of the stars. Plus I didn't zoom in from enough angles to photograph my favorites....Lessons learned!

Finally I took a few photos of the stained glass window at First Baptist Church of Exeter built in 1876. How did I get the artistic slant of this photo? The front leg of my tripod was stuck in a snowbank.

If it weren't for the monthly photo assignment, I wouldn't have taken any of these light photos. I'm glad I did because it helped me appreciate beautiful things around me more, and I used the gazebo photo for a Christmas e-card. (Plus, for my Christmas greeting on this blog.)

I wonder what the assignment will be next month!

DPS:Brand New

2011-01-19T19:10:00.003-05:00

This week's theme at Digital Photography School is "Brand New".

DPS: Best of 2010

2011-01-12T21:44:00.000-05:00

That was so last year!

This week at Digital Photography School, we're challenged to choose our favorite photos of 2010. At first I thought I might have to look through trip photos and other unblogged photos.

But, being efficient (or lazy), I chose photos from my blog entries for 2010. To my surprise, I found some favorites, often chosen from the Colors of the Month posts.

Tree in Winter at Odiorne State Park

Red Velvet Curtain Gauntlets

Island reflection

I'm surprised this was shot in the winter, although I guess the snow should give me a clue. It would be a better photo if I could have avoided that chain link fence. Or used photoshop to clean it up.

Iris

Even though I shot this photo in too much sunlight, it still reminds me of summer. Maybe next year I'll time it better so I have softer light. (I'm still learning to pay attention to light when I take photos. Other photographers are way ahead of me on that!)

Hydrangea

Every year, one of my favorite photos is of the hydrangea in our back yard.

Clements Mountain, Glacier National Park, Montana

Clements Mountain is a "horn" formed by 3 or more glaciers eroding different sides of the mountain. The Grand Teton, the Matterhorn and Mt. Blanc are other famous horns.

Milkweed pod

In 2011, I hope to include more favorite photos so that my year end wrap-up gives me even tougher choices!

I'm also mulling over the idea of a Glimpses of the Month feature, similar to the Colors of the Month from last year so that I'll be sure to take and share photos of beautiful or interesting things each month. I've already taken some January shots for it, so it will probably pop up within a week or so.

Snow Note: Yesterday I speculated that we'd get big snow today, and sure enough, we're at 16 inches and counting. Fortunately, yesterday I got to feel the crunch of pine needles and frozen dirt trails under my boots on our daily walk. I may have to wait a few months to feel that again. Meanwhile, it's great snowshoe weather!

Calm Before the Storm

2011-01-11T21:40:00.006-05:00

Whenever I see the leaves of our rhododendron curled up tight, I think it must be very cold outside. (I'm not the first person to notice this change!)

Bailey considers my photography session an opportunity to snack (bad news since rhododendrons are poisonous for dogs.)

We're waiting for what might finally be big snow tomorrow. (We still have tons of bare ground and just a light dusting of snow...very unusual for January in these parts.)

Almost Like a New Year's Resolution

2011-01-10T21:24:00.000-05:00

Am I posting about food again???

Somehow, the spirit of the New Year and the idea of making a fresh start has me committed to improving my bread-baking prowess.

We don't eat tons of bread, but most of what we do eat comes out of our bread machine.

I'm following King Arthur Flour's online Bread Machine Basics & Beyond class to branch out and understand what I'm doing a little better.

That sounds more complicated than it really is, because the class only involves making 3 different breads.

Today was my second time making the Harvest Cracked Wheat Bread. We loved it so much the first time, I had to try it again.

The first time, the loaf was kind of gnarly (which is apparently the word for the weirdness that comes out of your bread machine when you don't add enough water.) The flavor was great, but the shape was very weird and the crust was super crunchy.

This time, I monitored the bread while it was kneading, added 1/4 cup of water a tablespoon-ful at a time, and the bread came out much better. (The first time I made the loaf, the instructions told me to pay attention, but I was doing something else....hopefully weaving-related... and the time to intervene passed me by.)

The recipe is for a smaller size bread machine than mine, so I'm still going to experiment with making the recipe bigger so it can be part of our regular bread rotation.

Jim (AKA Mr. LifeLoomsLarge) likes to use power tools (an electric knife) to slice the bread. We freeze it in two-slice pairs, perfect for sandwiches. I guess we like gadgets whether they're used for weaving or for bread-making!!

DPS: Holiday Food

2011-01-05T18:06:00.004-05:00

This week's assignment at Digital Photography School.

Food photography is always a challenge for me!

On a non-photographic, but foodie note:

Today I'm cooking Spicy Beef Roast in my crockpot. (Love the crockpot website for recipes.) The whole house smells like Worcestershire sauce....which makes me crave Chex party mix, a holiday staple when I was growing up!

Day in the Life of Looms 2011

2011-01-01T09:03:00.002-05:00

Love Meg's tradition of candid loom shots on the first of the year!!

You can join in too if you have a loom.

On the Toika, cut-off grey cottolin warp that will become towels...after I unravel the mystery of the vertical lines that appeared when I wet-finished the sample.

On the baby wolf, a cut off white tencel warp. I'm changing from a summer and winter threading from a Susan Wilson workshop to an overshot threading for the remainder of my samples.

Hopefully "dully-colored cut-off warps" is just a snapshot in time, not a theme for 2011 for me!

Here's to a great year for all of us!

My Hopes for 2011

2010-12-31T15:30:00.000-05:00

More Love, Creativity, Adventure, Quality

Less struggle please.

All the best to all of you in 2011!!!

Things that Make You Go Hmmmm: Part I

2010-12-30T17:10:00.001-05:00

It might be a bad sign when I wake up thinking, "What do I want to blog about today?".

Nothing immediately sprung to mind (although I have unblogged-about projects and trips and adventures that I still want to share).

Then, I did the tiniest of babysteps toward getting my weaving inertia to be weaving in motion (rather than the weaving at a standstill that has been the story of November and December at my house.)

Thanks Theresa for the great idea of cutting samples in half!

I cut off a sample to wet finish it. (I know this sample looks a little crazy. I'm trying out different wefts and different treadlings to decide which four are my favorite for a run of towels.)

The results of the wet finishing were so surprising to me, that I have to share them with you!! I'm just not sure what to make of it, although my ever-supportive DH says he thinks the changes to the fabric enhance rather than detract.

I'm still saying Hmmmmmm.......

Unwashed version

Washed version
Look at all those vertical lines!

I really wasn't expecting vertical lines to appear like that. They are at consistent points across the entire sample.

I'm not sure that I like them. Mr. LifeLoomsLarge says he thinks they make the fabric make more sense....containing it and making it seem less "all over the place".

The only vertical lines I know about are reed marks....and I thought those are something that can disappear with washing, rather than something that appears.

So what do you think? Are these lines an intended part of the fabric? Are they a feature (or a bug)? Is there something I can do to prevent them?

They are even more noticeable and textural in person.

Related posts:
Folding the warp in half
Ordering more yarn for warp
Getting started

Organized Mittens

2010-12-27T18:38:00.004-05:00

Sometimes in winter it doesn't take much to make me smile.

I love walking past our newly organized mittens and gloves.

Last year, our gloves were stored in two bins. I had to rummage around forever when I wanted a particular pair.

After some googling around, I found the Chain Gang Toy Organizer ($13 or so on Amazon). We got the primary colored hooks, but they sell all white or pastel too.

Immediately after hanging ours up, we started wondering what else we could organize this way.

Do you have any ideas?? The chain can hang vertically too. I keep thinking there's some genius way to use this in my studio.....

At Our Bird Feeder

2010-12-26T20:28:00.001-05:00

A sharp-shinned hawk chasing the flock of nuthatches, chickadees and titmice.

Today he didn't catch any of our little seed eaters....at least not while we were watching.

Tomorrow, who knows?

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T11:09:00.000-05:00

Wishing all of our friends and family a very Merry Christmas!!! (Yes, that definitely includes all of you blog friends!!!)

XXOO,
Sue, Jim & Bailey

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T07:58:00.001-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

Weaving Events in New England

2010-11-03T09:40:00.000-04:00

November offers plenty of exhibits, shows and sales throughout New England related to weaving.

Weavers' Guild of Boston Annual Exhibit and Sale, Weston, MA, Nov 4 - 7 2010

Fiber Festival of New England, Springfield, MA, Nov. 6-7, 2010

Focus on Fiber, Northfield, MA Nov 4 - 28, 2010
Exhibit features work of 7 weavers who recently studied at the Hill Institute

Hudson-Mohawk Weavers' Guild 32nd Annual Show & Sale, Newtonville, NY, Nov 18 - 21, 2010

Thread by Thread, Exhibit by Sarah Haskell, Topsham, Maine, Through Nov. 30, 2010

Winter Fuzz Fest, Jan. 29, 2011, Exeter Congregational Church, Exeter, NH

What else have you heard about?

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T13:45:00.004-04:00

From your favorite chick and chick magnet!!!

Plus, a recipe! (They call them cheesy fingers, but I like mummy fingers better!)

Don't get too scared!

Colors of October

2010-10-27T08:26:00.000-04:00

Right down to the wire here.....that's how my life has been these last few months. No surprise really that my blog reflects that too.

Every month for the last year, I've taken photos outdoors of the natural colors surrounding me. Every month other bloggers join in and we share each others worlds that way.

This month is no different, except that it is the last month of the monthly colors challenge.

To join in, please post some of the colors that surround you on your blog, and then link to it here. If you can also link back to this post on your blog, even better!

Since it's the last month and I'm posting only days before month's end, the deadline this time is November 15.

I've really enjoyed this colorful challenge all year!!!! Thank you for participating!

These photos were taken on a hike at Blue Job Mountain, Strafford/Farmington, NH, on October 16.

Welcome October!!

2010-10-04T21:34:00.003-04:00

Each month bloggers from around the world join in the Colors of the Month challenge.

September is a very busy time around here, but still, eleven people got their colors posted by the deadline. Thanks so much for joining in! I love seeing the world through your eyes each month!

1. Colors of September from the High Desert
2. September colors of Southeast Michigan
3. September colors in the southern Appalachia
4. Colors of Sept in NE Florida
5. Colors Below Sea Level at Coco Cay, Bahamas
6. Colours of Southern Ontario
7. Colours of Southern British Columbia
8. Colors of September in Northern Georgia
9. September Colours
10. Contrary Mary's colours of September from Derbyshire
11. Flying in on a wing and a prayer from the Pacific NW

I'm in a yarn buying mood this month (maybe that's always true), and some of the colors are definitely inspiring me as I look at color cards and select yarn.

See you later this month for what I hope are spectacular October colors!!

Related posts:
Colors of September
Colors of August
Colors of July
Colors of June
Colors of May
Colors of April
Colors of March
Colors of February
Colors of January
Colors of December
Colors of November
Colors of late October

DPS: Bridges

2010-09-29T19:54:00.004-04:00

This week's Digital Photography School assignment is "Bridges".

While I was in Portsmouth, NH, USA, I took photos of two bridges from Prescott Park.

Funny how my enthusiasm (or lack thereof) for a subject somehow gets reflected in my photography.

Colors of September

2010-09-22T17:56:00.005-04:00

Time for the colors of the month!!

Every month, I invite bloggers to post inspiring natural colors in their part of the world.

We link them together with a blog post here, and hopefully inspire one another to see things differently and create beauty of our own.

To join in, please post photos of the colors of September wherever you live or travel. In your post, link back to this blog post, and add a link to your blog post here!

Thanks for joining in! We'll be wrapping up in October, so if you've wanted to play and haven't yet, September and October are your last two chances!!!!

Sunrise Lace Scarf, While Hawk Watching

2010-09-20T19:02:00.007-04:00

When I started this lace scarf, Theresa asked me what the yarn was like to work with.

Since I've been true to my promise to only knit this project in public when I need mindless knitting, I hadn't worked on it until this weekend.

We went hawk-watching. (Definitely an autumn birding addiction in these parts.) We were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time...we saw a record number of Broadwing hawks soaring over Pack Monadnock on their way to South America.

For more on this phenomenon, including an excellent video shot the day after we were there, check out the William Kramer Studio blog.

Between exciting parts where I was watching thousands of hawks, Bailey and I had plenty of time to hang out. And I had plenty of time to knit.

The yarn has been great to work with. Even though it's a single (not plied), I haven't had any problems with it splitting.

Last time I knit this project in alpaca. It was softer and more drapey, but I like the crunchiness and springiness of the wool. The stitch pattern shows up much more....which I haven't mentally adjusted to yet.

The color of this yarn is gorgeous. It got lots of compliments at the hawk watch! I think of it as "Sunrise", even though the Riverstone Yarn name for this color is "Tangerine."

So Theresa, my answer is "Buy this yarn." Are you surprised by that? "More yarn" is practically a philosophy at my house!

Related posts:
Casting on
The alpaca version of this scarf

Designing Double Weave Pickup

2010-09-16T21:29:00.003-04:00

As part of my double weave sampler, I really wanted to try double weave pickup.

One of my local weaving friends has a reversible piece that her mother wove using this technique. I find it fascinating.

My first step was to design the chart that I'll use to create the reversible, decorative section of my sampler.

Since my yarn is red and white, the two ideas that pop into my head are the Japanese flag, or some hearts.

Since I have heart-shaped cookie cutters, the hearts win! (Plus, then I don't have to try to achieve a perfect circle!)

When it's time to turn the heart shapes into a grid, the book I'm following (Double Weave by Palmy Weigle) suggests graph paper.

At first I like that idea, but then I think about erasing, mistakes, wanting extra copies and my laptop beckons, as usual.

I remember that Deanna and I had a conversation in her blog about different ways to design grids on the computer. She had lots of great suggestions including:

Using Fiberworks PCW (Levels above bronze)
Drawing a grid with Adobe Photoshop
Creating a design grid in Microsoft Excel

After I poke around and these ideas, I make a mental note to look into upgrading to the Silver version of Fiberworks PCW after my deadline madness is over.

I'll give graph paper a shot.

Surprisingly, it isn't that bad. I just trace the cookie cutters onto the paper with yellow pencil. Then make my outlines more grid-like using a regular pencil.

I had imagined tons of erasing and messiness. But after the first heart was worked out, the others were smooth sailing.

In the end, I scanned my design into the computer. That way I can print it out and change it, or mark it up without losing my original.

Sometimes, graph paper isn't so bad!!

When you design double weave pickup, what method do you like the best?

Related posts:
Double Weave Question
Start of this sampler

HUGE thanks to all of the folks who responded so quickly to my plea for help!! Thanks to you I did complete the sampler in time for my deadline this week. Now I want to get my blog caught up too!

Glacier and Yellowstone in Ten Pictures

2010-09-07T23:49:00.010-04:00

Jim and I just hiked, photographed, and watched wildlife in Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks for two wonderful weeks.

For my local friends, I distilled the trip to 10 photos, which I printed and show to anyone who is willing to look (or who doesn't scurry away fast enough).

For my blog friends, here's the same set of photos:

Glacier

Yellowstone

I hope to say more, much more, about our wonderful trip in future blog posts.

Meanwhile, enjoy my uncharacteristic brevity!!

Double Weave Question (Please Help!!)

2010-09-03T16:04:00.002-04:00

I know Friday afternoon, especially in the US before a holiday weekend, is not a great time to ask a question.

But, I'm hoping to finish my double weave sample tomorrow, since I'm in deadline mode.

So I'm going to ask and hope that one of you can help!!!

The Question

I want to use double weave to make a purse with a flap.

I'd like the purse to be a tube that's closed at the bottom and both sides. (I know how to do that with double weave).

At the top of the purse, I'd like to smoothly transition into weaving a flap.

The only thing I've been able to figure out is to start weaving two separate layers at the top of the purse. One layer can be the flap, and the other layer could be cut off and hemmed or made into a pocket for the bag or something.

Does anyone have other ideas? I keep wanting there to be a way for the flap to include both layers of fabric, but doing that seems like it will close the top of the purse. (And a purse with a closed top isn't very useful!)

Thank you in advance!!!!

Sorry for the lack of photos in this post. My mind is boggled because I've spent most of the day weaving double weave pickup. It's like magic, slow magic....but my brain is tired!!

(I will definitely have blog entries about pickup, if only to help myself remember how I did it!! I think I'll have questions for you about that too.....but those questions aren't stopping my progress luckily!)

Thank you for reading, and have a great weekend!

Related posts:
Starting my double weave sampler

Double Weave Sampler

2010-09-02T23:24:00.017-04:00

Now that I'm back from vacation in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, I need to get serious in my studio. I have several fall weaving deadlines. (And both of my looms are dressed with warps that aren't even working toward those deadlines.)

I need to be very consistent and productive over the next two months!

I need my Baby Wolf for a project that's due in mid-September. Definitely time to free up that loom!

The project on my Baby Wolf is double weave that I started last winter, but never got around to blogging (or actually weaving for that matter).

Baby Wolf with Alternating Red and White Warp

At the beginning of a project, I like to record my inspiration and motivation for the project.

Weaving a top layer of white fabric

Motivation

Who isn't inspired by some of the fabulous double weave projects that other weavers show us?
Double weave is one of my weaving resolutions for 2010
There's something fascinating about the way double weave can produce tubes, wide fabrics, double-sided designs, pouches, pillows and somehow still allow people to play with color and structure

Section with white weft is a double width fabric
Useful for making cloth wider than your loom

Inspiration

Theresa's triple weave blanket
Cally's samples
Dawn's color windows
Evelyn Oldroyd's Stitched Double Weave Kimono
Tons of cool and interesting double weave projects that I've seen online or in person

Goals for this Project

Complete the exercise on double weave in Learning to Weave by Deborah Chandler
Experiment with double weave pickup
Try to figure out a way to weave a pouch (like for a purse) that smoothly transitions into a flap for the purse

I made a tube closed on both sides, stuffed it, and will weave the end shut.
Great for pillows or anything padded.

You can see that I've chosen a thick yarn for this sampler. It's what I had on hand (leftover from the much-loved Larry the Lobster knitted toy). Plus it's super thick, so I could sett at 20 epi, making threading and pickup easier.

The red and white stripes are tubes, open at each end.
These are skinny (knitting needle size), but you could make them any size.

I need to make steady progress on this sampler because by September 15 (less than 2 weeks away), I must share lace samples with a class at the NH Weavers Guild. I need the loom for those samples!

Good thing the yarn is fat and is weaving up quickly!!

Welcome September!

2010-09-01T21:42:00.010-04:00

I can't believe it's already September!!

Jim and I are in transit home from two weeks in two famous national parks in the US. Hopefully from these pictures, you can guess which parks we visited!! (Yes, I hope to be blogging more about our trip very soon!)

Thanks so much for sharing your colors of August while I was away!! I look forward to enjoying all of your contributions, stretching out the beauty of summer just a little bit longer.

To see the Colors of August around the world, please visit:

North East Florida

Renee Weaves!

Colours of Southwestern Ontario

Colors of August from the High Desert

Colors of the Southeast USA

Colours of August from the Southern Interior of BC

Colors from the sea arrival to St. Thomas, USVI

De kleuren van augustus

A soggy month at the bottom of Australia (with a few more)

Quitecontrarys speedy post

Colours of August, British Columbia

southeast Michigan, colors of August

Wow! I almost missed it (from the Pacific NW!)

Colors of August in North Georgia

Thanks for sharing your colors! I love seeing the world through your blogs!

Related posts:
Colors of August
Colors of July
Colors of June
Colors of May
Colors of April
Colors of March
Colors of February
Colors of January
Colors of December
Colors of November
Colors of late October

Colors of August

2010-08-17T23:31:00.000-04:00

It's time for the colors of August!!!!

Every month, since October last year, bloggers around the world share the colors in nature that inspire them.

This month, I took photos in the trial gardens in Prescott Park, Portsmouth, NH where a wide variety of flowers are tested each year.

We've got 3 months left to round out the year of colors (October 2009 - October 2010). You're welcome to join in this month, even if you've never played before!

Even though this toad might not be beautiful, the colors would work great together in a woven item!

To show your colors, just make a blog entry with your photos, and add a link to it here:

Please make sure your blog entry points back to this blog entry, so people can find the other colors of the month too!!

Happy August!!

If you're in the northern hemisphere, I hope that the last solidly summery month is a good one for you!

Good wishes to folks in the southern hemisphere too!!

A VERY Belated Thanks

2010-08-12T16:01:00.003-04:00

Posting on Tuesday about my prize from LAM's Blog made me wonder if I had posted my thanks for another giveaway from the spring. I'm mortified to discover that the post was partially written, but that I hadn't posted it yet.

I hope Theresa will forgive me for my very belated thanks!

An embarrassingly long time ago, Theresa had a give-away to celebrate her first blogoversary.

I was one of the lucky winners! Look at this gorgeous box of yarn she sent me!!

These colors are great for me, so I'm probably going to knit something for myself. Theresa generously included the pattern for this cardigan (On Ravelry: Peony by Marie Wallin). I've also love this leaf kimono in this yarn on Ravelry.

I'm not quite ready to start knitting something fabulous from this yarn. But it does seem like it will make a beautiful garment, perhaps to wear next summer.

Brittie, our first Brittany

To thank Theresa, she requested that the winners donate to the animal shelter of their choice. I chose our local shelter, the NH SPCA. They're a fabulous shelter.

Our first Brittany came from the SPCA. Plus, Bailey has attended two classes there, "Oh Behave!" when he was about a year old, and the stop barking class he attended last summer.

I even used to volunteer at the SPCA. Very fun and rewarding! (I usually did fund-raising or events because of the fear that I'd fall in love with too many dogs!!)

A huge belated thank you to Theresa!! Here's hoping for many more blogoversaries!!

Good Influence

2010-08-11T22:52:00.004-04:00

They say that people are influenced by whomever they surround themselves with.

These tomato plants are just a bit of evidence of how my blog buddies have influenced me.

After a 20 year hiatus from gardening, this year we planted 3 tomato plants (regular sized, cherry and Roma). And we're harvesting tomatoes daily.

We might be cheating a little by using the Topsy Turvy for two of the plants. So far, no signs of the heinous tomato hornworm...our nemesis last time we grew tomatoes!

Thanks to all of you gardeners out there who post about your gardening adventures, especially Colleen, Kelly, Leigh and Lynnette. (I know that as soon as I post this list, I'll think of 10 other bloggers with amazing and influential gardens!)

Thanks LAM!!!

2010-08-10T23:27:00.003-04:00

Recently, I was the lucky winner of a giveaway on LAM's Blog.

Lynn is a fabulous quilter (and weaver and basket maker among other talents). I love her work, so of course I was thrilled to see what this book that she sent had in store for me.

These projects seem perfect for me. It contains a wide variety of looks and techniques in projects that are small enough that I'm not totally intimidated.

Thanks Lynn for the book! You all know that I will definitely blog about it when I make something from this book....but you also know that sometimes my project incubation phase is long!

Visit Amazon for more about the book.

Mindless Knitting

2010-08-09T23:55:00.006-04:00

I'm in the mood for mindless knitting, a project I can easily work on while hanging out, chatting.

I visited the Yarn Basket in Portsmouth, NH and found two beautiful yarns.

The purple is 220 Superwash Paints by Cascade Yarns in color 9871 (Grape).

My plan is to make two more Misty Garden scarves, for gift-giving opportunities that pop up.

The orange yarn is worsted weight by Riverstone Yarns Hand-dyed natural fibers in color Tangerine. It was made in the US, but dyed in Creston, British Columbia. (I can't find a link to it to show you....but you can see my pictures!)

I just noticed that last August I started my first Misty Garden scarf. Must be something about this time of year....

So Speedy!

2010-08-05T21:38:00.000-04:00

Wow! That was quick!!

Less than 24 hours after I placed my order, UPS brought a box of yarn to my door!

Here are my Homestead Cotton colors for lace samples and dishtowels. A green that I'm considering for the warp is back-ordered.

The colors in this project remind me of SweeTarts (one of my favorite candies growing up).

The purple cottolin and pearl cotton from my towels and Theo Moorman homework also arrived.

Plus, new color cards for yarns like bamboo, tencel and updated colors for Harrisville and Halcyon's new cotolin.

Exciting!!!

Related posts:
Fall yarn order

Time for More Yarn!

2010-08-04T21:45:00.000-04:00

It's August.

I have weaving homework due in September and October.

Time to get to work!

Here's my dining room when I'm deep in thought about a yarn purchase.

I'm buying yarn right now to make 24 lace samples by mid-September. I've chosen a draft. Now I need yarn.

My plan is to do the samples at the start of the warp (4 samples wide by 6 samples long), then weave 7 dish towels from the end of the warp. I can never have enough towels for my kitchen, and the kitchens of friends. I love giving towels as gifts!

While I'm at it, I've got a towel warp on my Toika that has veered off course from my original concept for the project. I'm still very happy with the project, but I need a different weft color.

I have a bit of a purple cottolin from Halcyon that will be perfect for this project. Their website makes cottolin seem a little confusing.

A quick phone call straightens me out. Halcyon will still carry the Swedish cottolin that I love, but as a special order.

They will also be sourcing a new cotolin from Canada that they can get more quickly.

Fortunately, the color I want is still in stock so there won't be a long wait for it.

For my lace samples and towels, I've played around a bit with the Homestead Cotton color card. I'm planning a warp with 3 colors, then will experiment with different colors in the weft.

I used crayons to design my general color scheme. I won't really know what I think until the yarn arrives.

Fortunately, it's $3.50 for a 600-yard mini-cone, so I can afford to buy some extra colors.

In October, I have homework in the Theo Moorman technique. We just have to make a finished project, rather than samples to share with the rest of the class.

I've decided to try to make a bag using yarn left from my First-Time-at-WEBS Scarves.

I'll use the bulky knitting yarns from that project as the inlay threads. I have a blended yarn for the thick yarn in the ground cloth. But I need to find a coordinating thin yarn for the ground cloth. That thin yarn will also tie down the inlay threads. (If I'm using this terminology incorrectly, please let me know! I don't want to lead people astray!)

Luckily, Halcyon has Pearl Cotton that should do nicely.

Now, I'll just add some soda ash for a future dyeing project, and some new color cards since my Yarn Store in a Box is a little out of date.

Hopefully the yarn will arrive in plenty of time for my fall deadlines! (Of course, both of my looms are occupied too.....so I need to get weaving!)

I know these projects probably don't make a lot of sense to you from this blog post. I will be blogging about each one as I work on it....so no worries! Soon you'll be tired of me giving details about lace or Theo Moorman technique I promise!!

Seacoast Fiber Fest

2010-08-03T20:11:00.000-04:00

Hosted at Riverslea Farm in Epping, NH Sunday, Aug 15, from 10am to 2pm

Join us for a day that celebrates natural fibers … an event for teachers, students, artists, or anyone interested in the many uses of natural fibers.

• See the process that takes raw fiber to a finished garment

• Learn about the many forms of fiber arts including weaving, knitting, felting, dyeing and more

• Watch angora spun straight from the rabbit’s back

• Try your hand at weaving on one of our portable looms

Demonstrations!
Weaving, knitting, spinning, felting & more

Products!
Yarn, spinning fibers, domestics, accessories

Activities!
Learn new crafts, knitting circle, fiber fun for children

Sorry — no farm tours, and no pet animals are allowed.

More info on Riverslea's website.

I had a great time at the winter indoor version of this event.

I'll be at the summer version also, possibly demoing on a small loom that a friend is bringing. If you want to shop, try weaving or spinning, or just visit a beautiful farm, come by!! If you let me know you're coming, I'll keep an eye out for you!!

I won't be selling anything....I'm not nearly prolific enough as a weaver or knitter to have anything available to sell!

Welcome August!

2010-08-01T16:07:00.006-04:00

Our gorgeous, hot, sunny, dry summer continued right through July. It's been a wonderful month to play outside!

I so appreciate all of the bloggers who shared the Colors of July on their blogs! I love to see July through your eyes!!

Here's the July round-up, from around the world:

Photos of the gardens in Prescott Park, Portsmouth, NH.

Related posts:
Colors of July
Colors of June
Colors of May
Colors of April
Colors of March
Colors of February
Colors of January
Colors of December
Colors of November
Colors of late October

Colors of July

2010-07-24T15:36:00.000-04:00

We've had a hot, sunny, beautiful month of July.

Every month, I invite all of you to participate in the colors of the month.

To join in, please create a blog post highlighting colors wherever you are in the month of July.

Your pictures will provide inspiration for creative people all over the world, and will give us all a glimpse into your life.

You can almost see the humidity! Ugh!

Just add a link to your blog post below. And please link back to this post from your blog so people can find all of the colors from around the world!

Doesn't this shrub have beautiful bark? No idea what type of tree or shrub it is.

Enjoy the rest of July!!!

Phoebes Launched!

2010-07-09T20:45:00.005-04:00

Early in the morning, 3 baby birds sat in the phoebe nest, one perched right on the edge.

We walked Bailey and his canine best friend.

When we returned,

two phoebes in the nest.

For the rest of the day, only one adult bird was near the nest. It spent less time feeding the birds in the nest than usual.

At dinner time, the two remaining phoebes flew from the nest all the way across the patio to the safety of the trees.

Yay! They're launched!!!

That phoebe pair worked super hard this summer raising two clutches of chicks. Hopefully they're regaining strength for their upcoming migration.

Related posts:
Crowded nest on Tuesday
Incubating the first clutch

It's Crowded in Here!

2010-07-06T17:32:00.005-04:00

The second clutch of chicks in the phoebe nest on our patio must be about to fly the coop.

Look at this crowded nest!!

Notice the open beaks.

The two adult phoebes have been hard at work catching flying insects to feed these guys.

I predict they'll leave the nest soon. This time I will be sure Bailey is not outside chasing phoebes during their first flights!!

The little phoebe Bailey pursued back in May made it to safety, but not without some tense moments for the phoebe parents and me! (Bailey, a bird-dog through and through, thought it was the best thing ever!)

Walking Tour of Hampton

2010-07-05T14:24:00.000-04:00

Gazebo

In May, we took a walking tour of Hampton, NH with the Hampton Historical Society.

Town Seal

Europeans first called the area Winnacunnet Plantation in 1638, but it was renamed Hampton in 1639.

Lane Memorial Library
Built in 1910

The area supported a small village of farmers and fishermen thanks to extensive salt marshes which were great for grazing or making hay, and plentiful cod.

First Congregational Church
Founded in 1638 Built this church in 1844

The town did not have a deep water port, or much river power, so it did not develop an economy based on shipping or mills like so many other towns in the Seacoast.

Hampton Academy
Incorporated in 1818
Built this school in 1940

Many of the buildings in Hampton were moved as the downtown area shifted with the arrival of trolleys and railroads. Before electric wires, it was fairly common to move buildings.

What's that above the doorway?

A Gargoyle!

Faith Community Advent Christian Church
Built in 1871

Hampton is known today for its beaches. Tourism in Hampton began in 1840 when the railroad arrived.

It was interesting to visit a local town that has developed differently from many of the towns that had mills and developed along a more industrial path. Even small differences in geography can make big differences in how an area develops.

Happy Fourth of July!

2010-07-04T21:08:00.005-04:00

In the US, we often celebrate Independence Day with cookouts and gatherings of family and friends.

Many towns or cities have fireworks.

Fortunately, for my blog, Portsmouth, NH has fireworks on July 3.

Moffatt-Ladd House (Built in 1763)
Home of William Whipple
One of three signers of the Declaration of Independence from New Hampshire

I hope you've had a safe and happy Fourth of July, wherever you live!!

Welcome July!

2010-07-03T14:39:00.001-04:00

Thanks for sharing your colors for the month of June! I love to see how your part of the world looks each month!

Here's a glimpse of June around the world through the lenses of some of my favorite bloggers:

These gardens are at The House of the Seven Gables in Salem, MA.

I attended a lecture about a new line of quilting fabrics from Blue Hill Fabrics that celebrates 100 years of preservation at the House of the Seven Gables. The fabrics were inspired by wall-coverings and other textiles in the house's collection.

The fabrics will available worldwide later this year, including at Marketplace Quilts in Salem, MA. They had the first test pieces of fabric at the lecture, and they were beautiful. The photos on their website don't do them justice!

Time to start taking photos for the colors of July!!

Related posts:
Colors of May
Colors of April
Colors of March
Colors of February
Colors of January
Colors of December
Colors of November
Colors of late October

Advice Please: Moths or Paranoia?

2010-06-30T16:58:00.003-04:00

Last fall, a retiring weaver gave me a bit of yarn.

I bagged each of the 4 cones of yarn in individual bags and let it sit over the winter in an upstairs closet.

If there were moths, would I see signs of them?

Do the little flecks in this picture indicate moths?? I can't remember if the flecks were there when I stored the yarn. I think they were, which is what concerned me to begin with.

The yarn is rayon, if that makes a difference. I see no other signs of insects. No evidence of damage to the yarn.

Do you think this yarn is OK?

Thanks in advance for your advice!!!

Horizontal Sleying

2010-06-29T19:30:00.008-04:00

If you're not a weaver, this post definitely won't be interesting to you. (No promises that it will be interesting if you are a weaver though!)

Since I sometimes take months off between projects, I'm creating a checklist to remind me about my preferred warping techniques.

For the past few days, I've been sneaking up to my studio to pick up where I left off dressing my Baby Wolf for a doubleweave sampler.

On my checklist, I had a note to try sleying the reed horizontally. Usually I put the reed in the beater in weaving position, and sley the reed that way when warping the loom back to front.

Last spring at Ruby Leslie's workshop, she mentioned that she prefers to sley the reed horizontally. One of my local weaving friends also endorsed that method. Deanna from A Winding Thread is also a fan.

I tried it out, and now I'm a fan too!!!

Deanna attaches her reed to the beater using ribbons from champagne bottles. I am a bit duller than that....I use shoelaces. (We runners tend to have lots of shoe laces that last longer than our running shoes!)

This method is more comfortable than putting the reed in the beater for me mostly because I'm never in a position where I'm looking through the reed at the heddles. Plus it seems easier for my hands and arms to be in comfortable positions with the reed horizontal. Also, I can tell from looking at the photos that I rest my forearms on the loom, which makes it more comfortable too.

I'm trying to develop a typical way of warping so that it becomes automatic for me. But I'm still willing to try different techniques to see if it gets easier, faster, more comfortable, more fun or better in some other way.

Sleying horizontally is definitely worth a try sometime if you haven't tried it yet. I was pleasantly surprised!

Let me know if you've tried it and what you think! Any other tips and pointers to make me a happier warper are also welcome!

Strawberry Shortcake

2010-06-28T20:51:00.005-04:00

Strawberry season is one of the pleasures of summer. We still have local berries in season, so this is a great time for berry shortcake.

My favorite recipe is good with strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries or a mixture of berries.

To me, the best thing about this recipe is the hint of ginger and citrus in the shortcake.

From Gourmet's Parties

Ginger Shortcakes

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks (6 US ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
2 tablespoons finely grated peeled fresh gingerroot
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated fresh orange zest
1 cup sour cream
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 425 F and lightly butter 2 baking sheets (or cover with parchment).

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. With your fingertips or a pastry blender (or in my case, your kitchenaid mixer) blend in butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

In a small bowl, whisk together gingerroot, zest, sour cream and milk.

Add wet ingredients to flour mixture, stirring until a soft sticky dough just forms.

Drop dough in 10 - 12 mounds about 1 inch apart on baking sheets. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar.

Bake shortcake 12 - 15 minutes or until pale golden. Transfer to rack to cool.

I've made this recipe with regular milk and sour cream, or with skim milk and fat free sour cream (depending on what's in the fridge.)

These shortcakes freeze well if you can't eat 10-12 large shortcakes all at once!!!

Enjoy!

Taylor Mill Historic Site

2010-06-27T21:47:00.009-04:00

Saturday we visited the Taylor Sawmill in Derry, NH.

The sawmill does demos the second and fourth Saturday of the month during the warmer months of the year (water levels permitting).

Small sawmills like these dotted the NH landscape in the mid-1800's. Situated along a river or stream that could be dammed, a sawmill would serve the need for timbers and planks for a local market.

The miller would also be farming, so the sawmill was a part time venture.

Looking down at the overshot waterwheel from the mill

By raising the gate controlling the water in the 10 acre pond above the mill, water flows over the wheel making it turn and providing power to the sawmill.

These workings, on the lower level of the mill, convert the power of the turning waterwheel into power to raise and lower the saw blade.

Logs were floated or moved by oxen to the sawmill. The bark would have been removed by hand.

Once a log was fastened to the frame, the miller uses controls to start or stop the saw blade.

The blade can cut at a rate of 50 - 60 up and down motions per minute. Sawdust was flying and the log moved fairly quickly.

The next date for cutting will be July 10, 2010. Stop by to check it out!

We noticed a few picnic tables, lots of people fishing, some dog walkers.

Beyond the 10 acre pond that's visible from the road, there is a 100 acre pond where I think there are walking trails. We didn't have time to explore that area. Perhaps next time!

For more information about the sawmill:
NH Division of Forests and Lands

Surprise: New Loom!

2010-06-26T06:09:00.001-04:00

Maybe the universe is encouraging me to return to my studio?

Thursday, I finished threading a project on my Baby Wolf. Plus I spent hours searching for the perfect lace pattern for my lace sample due in September. (More on those projects another time!)

That night, I got an email about looms and weaving equipment for sale in New Hampshire.

I jumped right on it. Friday morning we drove over to check things out.

My first purchase is this beautiful walnut raddle from Treeditions. I've been using a borrowed raddle for over a year now. It's high time I got one of my own!

I had been planning to make a homemade version, but this gorgeous raddle will help make warping more of a pleasure!

Inspired by lots of cool inkle projects I've seen other bloggers create, I decided to bring this inkle loom home too. I love the portability of an inkle.

Finally, this table loom is the reason I went to check out the equipment in the first place. So far I've passed up a few workshops, or borrowed looms to take workshops. Having a workable table loom for times when I really need one seems like a good idea.

This one doesn't have a reed, but I'm sure the good folks at Gowdey Reed will remedy that situation pronto.

Even though I got this loom mostly for workshops, I can imagine using it for sampling, for on location weaving (at the beach?), and I could probably even get away with taking it to my knitting group sometimes.

I would never have imagined Thursday afternoon that I'd bring two new looms into the fold Friday!

Now I have pretty much a full complement of looms: table, inkle, tapestry, rigid heddle, small floor loom, large countermarche loom. The only thing that might be missing, and way off in the future, is a computerized loom. (Way, way, way off in the future!)

Chickening Out

2010-06-24T21:36:00.007-04:00

I haven't been to my knitting group in months. I miss my knitting buddies!!

I need to have a knitting project I can work on while chatting.

These slippers are excellent to work on at a knitting group. Only thing is I ran out of yarn and started making the toe with doubled purple yarn from my stash.

While the project incubated, I decided to heed the warnings of my fellow bloggers. I'd rather spend a few more dollars to get an extra ball of yarn than risk having a bad felting experience when it's time to felt these slippers. I probably could have made it work, but since it's my first time felting I decided to be more cautious. (Or did I just want an excuse to shop?)

Luckily, the yarn shop still had the same colors and dye lot, so with my newly added ball of yarn and a little frogging, I'm good to go.

Photographic note: Despite my best attempts at color correction or fixing the white balance, I can't get the colors in these two photos to be the same. The second photo is more true to color than the first.

Related posts:
Starting the project, includes pattern and yarn info
Trying to use stash yarn for the toes

DPS: Low Angle

2010-06-23T19:14:00.001-04:00

At Digital Photography School, this week's assignment is "Low Angle".

A low angle definitely helps highlight the height of this oak tree next to our driveway.

I'm not sure it does anything too interesting in this picture of my Baby Wolf with a partially threaded doubleweave sampler.

My Toika does look sufficiently imposing with its samples at the start of my towel warp showing a bit.

I like this picture of relaxation in our sunroom.

For future photo shoots, I want to remember to get down low sometimes!!

I Made Something!

2010-06-22T20:22:00.004-04:00

Don't faint from the shock!

My mojo disappeared sometime back in March. It seems like the combination of my crazy weekend of warp painting during a power failure, followed by an unexpectedly warm spring that just stayed nice, totally crushed my creative energy.

That's OK though. I've definitely been enjoying this fabulous spring and summer while getting enough accomplished to keep my head above water.

It's sort of surprising what kicked me back into gear.

We had guests over for dinner, so I wanted to unearth the dining room table. It was my sewing room for the winter, but I wanted to clear off the sewing to make room for entertaining.

I decided to make the blue curtain that I so excitedly found fabric for after the Fuzz Fest in January.

This fabric is a curtain fabric that's pretty stiff. It has blue and black threads making up the fabric, and then gold thread machine embroidered in that swirl pattern. I used it unbacked, even though it technically has a right side and a wrong side. It's nice enough on the back that I'm OK with that.

My sewing machine had a little trouble with this fabric. I tried a bunch of different needles but if I was sewing through more than 2 layers my machine had trouble and sometimes couldn't pierce the fabric. If you have any tips and pointers for me regarding that, definitely let me know!

In bits and pieces throughout the week, I finished the curtain!!

Here are the steps I followed (for my reference as much as yours!)

Get measurements of finished curtain
Sew side seams
Sew pocket for curtain rod at top
Hang to check length
Sew bottom hem
Hang to check
Store until winter!

We won't hang it until the fall, because it is used to separate our kitchen and sunroom, which we heat well in the winter, from the rest of the house that we let get pretty chilly during the daytime. It's surprising how well a thin curtain can keep heat where we want it.

Bailey immediately figured out how to get through the new curtain. (The old one was short, purchased inexpensively as a test, so Bailey could walk right under it.)

That's one project down.....too many to count to go!!

I even tackled the pile of mending next to the sewing machine before moving all of that gear upstairs. I repaired a pair of jeans, pajama bottoms and a turtleneck.

Hopefully I'll have a bit more creative energy over the summer, if only to hide from the heat and humidity. I have some weaving deadlines in the fall, so I'd better get cracking!

Sunshine Award

2010-06-21T19:32:00.011-04:00

Since today is the summer solstice, with a maximum of daylight and sunshine in the northern hemisphere, it's a great day for the Sunshine Award.

Thanks Lois for giving me the Sunshine Award!

I always need more sunshine in my life and blogs are a great source of that inspiration and light!

Here are just a few of my favorite blogs:

Thrums
Finding the Real Me
Camp Runamuck
A Winding Thread
Penny-Wise People
5 Acres & a Dream
In Stitches
Delighted Hands
Strikke- Og Vevvebloggen
Make of This What You Will.

I especially appreciate how you guys have hung in there with me during my blogging lull this spring!!!

Plus, all of the blogs in my sidebar, and all of the blogs I subscribe to in Google Reader deserve this award.

If you are secretly wishing for this award, shoot me an email about it!!! Or just pick up the award here and run with it!

Think sun!

Fish Ladder Tour

2010-06-20T19:48:00.008-04:00

To wrap up my short series on spring wildlife, let me tell you about a tour of the Exeter, NH, USA fish ladder on a Saturday in early June.

NH Fish & Game operates fish ladders in area rivers so that anadromous fish can return from the ocean to fresh water to spawn. (For more fish pictures and maps, see this Fish & Game PDF.)

Netting herring in the Squamscott River

The area where the Squamscott River becomes the Exeter River has been dammed for hundreds of years. There were sawmills here almost as soon as Europeans arrived.

Below the dams, there's a gradual rise with small waterfalls. This area is where the majority of the herring harvested in the Great Bay Region are collected.

Only about 5% of the migrating herring use the fish ladder, but 80% of harvest is here because it's an easy place to capture fish with a net.

Herring are used for bait, primarily for catching striped bass or lobster.

Fish swim upstream to get to fresh water

Fish that migrate from the ocean to spawn in the fresh water of the Exeter River:

River herring (bluebacked herring)
Alewives
American Shad (only 10 - 30 per year)
Sea Lamprey

Fish & Game people on the fish ladder
The gulls are hunting for fish too!

Fish look for swift current, so the ladder produces swift current like a water fall. The flat portions are resting pools for the fish ascending the ladder. This ladder was built in 1970's

On the Exeter River, Fish & Game counts the fish by hand daily since the numbers of fish are so low.

At the fish ladder in Newmarket, 32,000 herring and alewives ascended the ladder by June 4. In the Cocheco River in Dover, 30,000 fish had ascended the ladder by June 4. In Exeter, only approximately 40 herring will use the ladder all year.

As part of the annual fish ladder tour, you can volunteer to visit all of the fish ladders in the Seacoast region and net and release fish with Fish & Game personnel.

Fish ladder and bridge

Many of the towns surrounding Great Bay were founded at a waterfall, so the water power could be used to build mills (sawmills and grist mills at first). The dams constructed at these town sites are obstacles to fish that must migrate upstream past the waterfall to reach fresh water. Below the waterfall, the rivers are still subject to tides and are salt or brackish water.

Herring

This particular herring was about 4-5 years old. Herring live up to 9 years. They do not die after they spawn.

To determine the precise age of a fish, you can check the growth rings on scales. Under a microscope, constricted growth rings indicate winter. (Fish grow more slowly in the winter, just like trees.)

Juvenile herring stay in fresh water for the summer, then head out to sea until it's time for them to spawn when they return to a freshwater river.

Lamprey

Lamprey are an old species. They have no bones in their jaws. This lamprey was very strong and wriggled away from the Fish & Game handler. It immediately suctioned onto the side of the bucket at his feet, a common reaction for a lamprey.

Young lamprey live in river substrate for 7-10 years as filter feeders. Then they go to the ocean for about 10 years. When they return to freshwater to spawn, they die during that spawning run. Females actually re-absorb internal organs during their spawning run for maximum egg production.

The Great Lakes are overpopulated with sea lampreys

Two lampreys attached to a rock at the Pickpocket Dam

Despite flooding in New Hampshire in March, by now the water flow is fairly low. Several miles upstream from the fish ladder is a second dam. Because the water flow is so low, the lampreys cannot get above this dam.

To round out my wildlife update, I'm happy to say that the phoebes are nesting again, incubating their second clutch on the back of our house.

The barred owl family seems to have moved on. We had a few sightings of two owls near each other, and heard some calls at night last week. For this whole week we haven't seen or heard the owls. It was a magical spring watching owls every day!

In the Garden Today

2010-06-19T18:09:00.003-04:00

Hydrangea

Clematis

Sure signs of summer!

Colors of June

2010-06-17T14:17:00.005-04:00

Mountain Laurel

June is a beautiful month in New Hampshire. Sunny days, green grass, flowers, trees....so many colors, activities and sensations that I dream of through the long cold winter.

Hay Field

I invite all of you to show us the colors of June wherever you are this month!! Not only are your pictures providing inspiration for creative projects, they're also providing a glimpse into your world.

Foxgloves

Shade Garden

Please add a link to your colorful post in the list below before July 1 to participate!

Roses

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy the fabulousness of June!

Flag Day

2010-06-14T16:02:00.005-04:00

Today is Flag Day in the United States. Many other countries celebrate a Flag Day of their own as well.

I'm celebrating Flag Day with this post because as part of a local photography challenge, I received the topic "Flags" for the month of June.

I need to edit these flag photos down to 3 or fewer of my favorites. I shot most of these pictures on a day trip to Salem, MA. I was surprised by the number of flags I noticed. (A few cemetery flag photos are left over from my "Cemeteries" assignment photographed in NH.)

I expected flags on historic buildings, but was surprised by the variety and number of flags around town.

Just like my "Cemeteries" assignment, I stopped shooting flag photos after one day because I didn't want to get carried away with the topic!!

This assignment was a little tricky for me....it was on location, plus I had to dodge cars, pedestrians, telephone wires....Plus, the flags would move around so it was hard to get a good combo of a flag in a good position in good light with an interesting background without elements I didn't want in the photo.

While lunching at FINZ, we couldn't help but notice goings-on aboard "Sugarpants". Since it had a flag flying, I figured it was fair game for the challenge. Unfortunately the boat name doesn't stand out as much as I'd like!

This picture made me laugh because I took about 10 shots of this scene trying to get the flags lined up with the building in the background.

Despite all that work, my favorite shot from the series was when the nose of a bus, complete with a flag decal, nudged its way into the shot unexpectedly.

Hawthorne Hotel

Piscassic Cemetery

India Marine Hall

In the US, Flag Day was established in 1916 to commemorate the adoption of the American Flag on June 14, 1777.

Hamilton Hall

We had Canadian house guests several years ago. They remarked on the number of American flags on display. They viewed it as a bit of nationalism.

View out the window of Hamilton Hall

I do think American flags were more prevalent immediately after September 11, 2001, as a way of expressing grief over events of that day.

House in the Federal Architectural Style

Chestnut Street

I've heard that some towns have Flag Day parades, but could not find any parades in New Hampshire.

There is a a local program to dispose properly of damaged flags. In addition, a local group provides stars from retired flags to service members arriving at Pease Air National Guard Base.

Custom House

You'd be doing me a huge favor if you comment on which photos are your favorites, or if there are any you have a strong reaction to (positive or negative).

Hopefully your thoughts will help me narrow down the photos to the 1-3 that I need for my photography challenge! Thanks!

Horseshoe Crabs: Round 2

2010-06-10T20:48:00.006-04:00

Friday, as the sun set, we visited Sandy Point in search of horseshoe crabs.

Horseshoe crabs visit estuaries up and down the east coast of North America to spawn.

Peak spawning activity is during the evening high tide during either a full moon or new moon.

Last year we joined a kayak trip in search of horseshoe crabs.

This year, we decided it would be much simpler to just drive to Sandy Point to look for them on foot.

We saw one crab swimming at the boat ramp.

Two crabs making their way toward a large group of crabs.

And finally, a rather large group of crabs.

Fun facts about horseshoe crabs:

Their blood is blue
They're a very primitive creature
They do not bite or sting
Their blood is used to test the purity of medicines
Horseshoe crabs are not edible
The American horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) lives on the west coast of the Atlantic Ocean from Maine to the Yucatan
Horseshoe crabs are not actually crabs. They are related to scorpions, ticks and spiders.

DPS: Cemeteries

2010-06-09T13:52:00.002-04:00

For my assignment "Cemeteries" from Digital Photography School, I borrowed an idea from Tina.

My plan was to photograph any cemeteries I saw when I was out and about with my camera.

Winter Street Cemetery, Exeter, NH

I realized there are many cemeteries dotting the New Hampshire landscape.

Family cemetery along the road

I ended up taking pictures for only a few days because I didn't want to be overwhelmed by cemetery photos.

Broad Street Cemetery, Salem, MA
Founded in 1655

I was hoping to stumble across an old, abandoned cemetery in the forest. I know of two of them, but both were too difficult for me to visit during the assignment period.

Piscassic Cemetery, Newfields, NH

And finally, because I was thrilled to capture the tractor gathering hay in the distance behind this cemetery, I'll close with this poem. I promise to return to more lighthearted posts in short order!

Archibald MacLeish (1892-1982).
“New England Weather”
from Collected Poems: 1917-1982 (1985).

Hay-time when the Boston forecast
calls for haying weather, hot and fair,
Conway people stick to garden chores
and nod toward nightfall at the cemetery:

that's where Sumner Boyden's lying now
and Sumner always told the town, if Boston
promised shine you'd better count on showers
'long toward evening with your hay crop lost.

He meant, no man can tell the weather
anywhere but where he's from:
you have to have the whole of it together,
bred in your bones---the way the wind-shifts come,

how dust feels on a hayfork handle
days when there'll be thunder up for sure,
and how the swallows skim, the cattle stand,
when blue stays blue and even clover cures.

He knew the Conway signs and when the Boston
forecast didn't, team went back to stalls
and chances were, by half-past four at most
we'd hear the thunder up toward Shelburne Falls.

It wasn't luck. New England weather
breeds New Englanders: that changing sky
is part of being born and drawing breath
and dying, maybe, where you're meant to die.

Welcome June!

2010-06-07T18:55:00.003-04:00

May almost slipped by without time for the Colors of May challenge, but even though I posted it on the last weekend of the month, lots of you found time to post pictures of the beauty of May in your part of the world.

Thanks for participating!! I'm already shooting pictures for the Colors of June, so expect a call to post your colors soon!

Small pink roses

Here are the colors of May, through the eyes (and cameras) of the bloggers who joined in the May challenge:

Lois From Lois' Hands takes a walk in Key West, Florida

Valerie from Fiberewetopia celebrates flowers and graduation in Michigan

Nina from Odette's Obsessions with a great variety of natural colors in Ontario

Sharon from In Stitches with a surprising variety of natural colors in Nevada

Annie from Weaverannie Knits and Spins in the Netherlands with beautiful colors in her garden

Tina from A Blip on the Radar in Washington with beautiful colors from her garden and other adventures

Leisurely Lesley reminds us that in Australia May is the beginning of autumn

Leigh of 5 Acres & A Dream shows the colorful fruits of her labor in her new home in South Carolina

Cally from t'katch in Scotland with a garden mosaic and slideshow

Basically Benita in Indiana with pottery, architecture and flowers

Jenny from Daisy Hill Weaving Studio in Michigan with wildflowers, butterflies and other garden goings-on

Evelyn Oldroyd with photos from her travels throughout British Columbia

Janet from Janet's Thread visited Hong Kong this month

Quite Contrary in England with a beautiful garden

Peony

I hope you're enjoying a beautiful June!!! Thanks for joining in the colors of May challenge!

Related posts:
Colors of April
Colors of March
Colors of February
Colors of January
Colors of December
Colors of November
Colors of late October

DPS: Spices

2010-06-02T18:25:00.010-04:00

I haven't taken photos for a Digital Photography School weekly assignment since March, but it's high time I got back in the habit!

This week's assignment is "Spices".

Counted cross-stitch on our kitchen wall

For textile enthusiasts, here is a cross-stitch that I completed 20 years ago. I still love it, plus it was fun to stitch.

Spice rack lowered

While my spice rack isn't especially photogenic, it is very useful. It holds lots of spices and keeps them in position. When it's lowered I can find the spices I need.

Spice rack back in position in cabinet

When the spice rack is raised, it's out of the way and the cabinet door can close.

Spice bins in the West India Goods Store in Salem, MA

At Salem Maritime National Historic Site, several buildings from early Salem are preserved. Salem was a center of trade in the 1600's and 1700's.

The West India Goods Store is representative of early stores that sold valuable and exotic goods including tea, coffee and spices that sea captains brought into Salem.

Spices and sundries in the West India Goods Store

Choosing my favorite photo for this assignment is easy....I saved the best for last!

Baby Raccoons

2010-05-31T19:53:00.007-04:00

While we were searching the woods near us for the owls' nest, we checked out many of the trees with cavities.

This tree is in our front yard, about 30 feet from the road, so we didn't think anything would live in it.

When we got close to the tree and scratched the outside with a stick, we could hear clawing and noises inside.

We returned in the evening with a light, camera and ladder to see what was in there.

Remember the raccoon we saw after the big storm in February? Perhaps she spends more time than we thought in our yard!

It was hard to see exactly how many baby raccoons were in the tree, but it looks like a mother with two babies.

I know raccoons sometimes cause lots of trouble for people, but so far we haven't had any issues with these raccoons. It's kind of cool that they're living in our front yard!!

Phoebe Update

Our phoebes have taken Theresa's suggestion. After 2 days away, there's a pair of phoebes back at the nest. I was so happy to see them at breakfast this morning. I'll try to photograph some of their antics!

I also spotted the baby phoebe in the rhododendron outside our kitchen window. I could tell by his size and feathers that he's a juvenile. Glad to see that he's still doing OK!

Barred Owl

2010-05-30T20:54:00.000-04:00

Almost every day this month, we've seen a Barred Owl (Strix varia) in our yard.

He has several favorite perches where our lawn dissolves into rocks. He usually perches about 8-12 feet (2.4 - 3 meters) off the ground.

We've seen him successfully hunt for chipmunks several times during daylight hours. (Warning: 1 somewhat gross chipmunk picture ahead.)

Sighting his prey

Swooping down

Chipmunk in his talons

Preparing to take off

We suspect that there is a nest nearby, and have spent hours with binoculars trying to find a tree with a hole that might be hosting an owl family, or a nest in a tree. We know that other barred owls in a neighboring town recently left their nest box, so the timing is right.

The reason we're so interested in the nest is that for a part of their life cycle, the young owls, also known as "branchers," supposedly perch together near the nest. To say we'd love to get photos of that would be an understatement!

We've found plenty of holes in trees, at least one of them with some surprising inhabitants....but we haven't figured out where the owl family lives.

That's OK. You know that I love owls, and having one visit our yard so frequently has been incredibly fun for me. Whenever I'm outside, I'm pretty sure there's an owl watching me.

Often blue jays alert us to the owl's presence. They'll dive bomb him, squawking to try to drive him away. Whenever we hear a crowd of jays, we grab binoculars and get another glimpse of "our owl".

Related posts:

Snowy Owl in December 2008
Great Gray Owl in April 2009
Eastern Screen Owl in January 2010

Phoebe

2010-05-29T20:02:00.000-04:00

Some years, when we're lucky, a pair of phoebes builds a nest on our porch.

It usually takes about 10 days for the eggs to incubate, and another 10 days for the young phoebes to fledge. These photos are from the incubation phase.

We use foil to dissuade the phoebes from building a nest where we don't want them.

I love to hear a phoebe singing first thing in the morning. It doesn't hurt that each phoebe eats as many as 1000 flying insects a day. We definitely have a lot of flying insects in New Hampshire!

The phoebe nest is right outside the window where we eat....so at meal times especially, we got to watch all kinds of phoebe antics as they captured tons of bugs to feed their baby phoebes.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get pictures of the babies, but I know for a fact that they left the nest yesterday. I saw one of the little ones taking its first wobbly flight to a nearby bush.

The yard seems so empty without the phoebes, although one of the adults came back to visit for a while this morning.

Happy lives little phoebes!! Come back and visit any time!

Colors of May

2010-05-28T10:32:00.000-04:00

Iris

There's still time for us to share the colors of our world this month!! (In fact, because it's so close to the end of the month, I'll leave the list open until June 6. Even if you don't already have photos of May, by June 6 maybe you can take some!)

Bleeding Heart

Each month, I love to see pictures of local colors around the world, because they're beautiful, colorful, interesting and inspiring.

Geranium (perennial)

Lupine

To join us, just add a link to your colorful blog post in the list below. It's more fun if your title tells us where you shot your photos.

Please add a link back to this post in your blog so your visitors can come here to see the other entries!

Azalea

Looking forward to seeing your colors!

I love this color combo!!

Textiles at Mystic Seaport: Making Rope

2010-05-14T17:18:00.012-04:00

Before our trip to Mystic, I wouldn't have expected to be so interested in rope-making.

But this group of rope-makers is doing something very similar to what weavers do when we twist the fringe on a scarf.

Rope-making was mechanized, so that handmade rope is a rarity today.

Inside the very long ropewalk, moved from the now defunct Plymouth Cordage Company, raw materials for rope are processed using hackles, similar to the hackles used to process flax when spinning linen yarn.

Rope was made from hemp or jute.

Individual strands are spun.

Then the spools are loaded onto a spool rack, fed through a round disk with holes, and plied into rope.

Unfortunately, none of my pictures of the very long rope walk where machines plied these cords into rope worked out.

Love this rope storage device!!!

Just want to clarify that this equipment is set up, but wasn't being operated while we visited. There were signs in the rope walk building that explained the process.

Related Posts:
Mystic Seaport
Susan's Tutorial on Fringe-Twisting

Mystic Seaport

2010-05-13T21:04:00.007-04:00

I haven't visited Mystic Seaport since childhood. I loved it even more as an adult!!

I like that Jim captured an action photo of me touring!

We were able to spend lots of times with staff and volunteers who knew so much history. I loved finding people who could answer my questions about history.

Row of Merchants

Visiting Mystic helped us visualize what life might have been like in Portsmouth, and other New Hampshire towns during the 1800's.

View from the north end of the property

Yacht spending the winter

According to dictionary.com, the name Mystic is derived from the Algonquian "missituk" which means great tidal river. ("Missi" = large and "tuk" is tidal river.) The Mystic River in Connecticut is actually an estuary.

I'd bet that many New England towns had areas like this in the 1850's

We definitely picked a good time to visit. They seem geared up for the summer season ahead, with enthusiastic people working there. Plus, it wasn't very crowded. There were some groups of students on field trips, and just enough other visitors that we didn't feel alone.

Sail Loft

Sails were hand sewn specifically for each ship out of commercially woven canvas.

Oyster Shack

Judging by restaurant menus, oysters are still plentiful in the area. In New Hampshire, the oyster fishery has been decimated.

Mystic Seaport has three sections: a restoration shipyard, an interpretation of a whaling village in the 1850's or so, and exhibit space and archives devoted to various sea-faring subjects.

Charles W. Morgan, Last wooden whaling ship being restored

A high school teacher who was very influential in my life recommended that I read Moby Dick again when I turned 35. I did. I still didn't get it.

This trip, coupled with having added another decade of life since then, makes me feel like maybe now I really would get it. Maybe I'll add it to my reading list again!

There's always something happening at Mystic Seaport. As we were leaving, a tug boat was being parked on the front lawn!

Mystic tips:

Your ticket gives you admission for 2 days. You'll probably want to spend the 2 days there, so go ahead and get your re-entry pass when you buy your ticket. (The days don't have to be consecutive I don't think. They just need to be within 6 or 7 days of each other.)

Mashantucket Pequot Museum

2010-05-12T20:16:00.002-04:00

Tower at Pequot Museum

On our way to a little get-away in Mystic, Connecticut, we visited the Pequot Museum near Foxwoods (a big casino).

View of Foxwoods from Tower

Museum Roof from Tower

We weren't quite sure what to expect, but it is a wonderful museum. I highly recommend visiting!!

Atrium

Dugout Canoe

No photos are permitted in the exhibit space. There is a floor that shows artifacts and explains about the natural surroundings in New England from the last ice age to the present.

Back View of Museum

The lowest floor in the museum is a 4 acre indoor re-creation of a Pequot village, including homes, gardens, hunting and fishing. That was my favorite part of the museum.

Brass numbers on the floor correspond to numbers you press on a hand-held audio device. You can walk around and learn more about the areas that interest you. I learned more about gardening, food storage, and the only domesticated animal the Pequots had (dogs!)

Pequot Museum Tips:

Allow enough time. We spent just over 2 1/2 hours, and could have used a little more time.
GPS Coordinates: N 41.46482 W 71.96181 (When we tried to use the street address on our GPS, we ended up somewhere else entirely.)
Food: For lunch we went to Noah's in Stonington, which was good....but the museum's cafe looked good also. Prices seemed reasonable and the architecture of the cafe space was airy, open and interesting.
Have fun!!!

Welcome May!

2010-05-02T11:16:00.000-04:00

Red Trillium

April colors have been inspiring to many of us!! Thanks to everyone who participated in the Colors of April challenge!

Fiddleheads

And of course, May is also beautiful and colorful. I'll be back mid-month to post the May challenge. Feel free to start taking photos now!!!

Beech leaves - is there a more beautiful green anywhere?

I'm blogging from my porch. Gotta love that!!! It's warm out and by some miracle the bugs haven't found their way here yet, so we don't even need screens!!! That will change very soon I am sure. Meanwhile, I totally love this early spring that we've been treated to this year!

Beech Grove

Here are the colors of April, through the eyes (and cameras) of the bloggers who joined in the April challenge:

Nina from Odette's Obsessions in Ontario

Flowers From Lois' Hands in the Midwest

Theresa from Camp Runamuck in Oregon

Fun with Fiber in Pennsylvania

Tina from A Blip on the Radar in Bellingham, Washington

Charlotte from Strikke- Og Vevebloggen in Norway

Basically Benita in Indiana

Deep End of the Loom in Florida

Caroline from Like Square Polka Dots in the US (somewhere vaguely on the East coast)

Leigh from 5 Acres & a Dream in South Carolina

Janet from Janet's Thread on a visit to Dublin

Valerie from Valerie's Fiberewetopia in Michigan

Jennifer from Finding the Real Me in South Carolina

Sandra from Foxwood Lane in British Columbia

Lynn from LAM's Blog in Washington

Paloma Chaffinch in England

Weaverannie Knits and Spins with pictures of Dutch tulip fields & a few from Provence

Sharon from In Stitches in Nevada

Quite Contrary in England

Evelyn Oldroyd in British Columbia

Enjoy the beautiful blue skies of May!!! Thanks for joining in the colors of April challenge!

Related posts:
Colors of March
Colors of February
Colors of January
Colors of December
Colors of November
Colors of late October

Colors of April

2010-04-23T19:39:00.003-04:00

There's still time for us to share the colors of our world this month!!

Each month, I love to see pictures of your local colors around the world.

To join in, just add a link to your colorful blog post in the list below. The list is from LinkyTools, the new name for the MckLinky lists I've used in the past. (Bonus points if you tell us where the pictures were taken!!)

Also, please add a link back to this post in your blog so your visitors can come here to see the other entries!

Sorry about my unexpected and unannounced blog hiatus. The suddenly warm and early spring somehow hijacked all of my blogging mojo. We've been gardening up a storm, and just generally playing outside.

I am sure I'll spend more time at my computer and with all of you as I get used to nice weather again! I miss you and thanks for checking on me!!

Welcome April!

2010-04-01T21:19:00.018-04:00

Each month, I take photos to show color combinations outdoors where I live, to get inspiration for weaving, knitting, quilting, or whatever you'd like to be inspired to do!

Big thanks to everyone who shared some colors of their own.

The Colors of March

From North to South (near as I can figure):

Charlotte of Strikke - Og Vevebloggen in Norway

Sandra of Foxwood Lane in Thompson Valley, British Columbia

Evelyn Oldroyd in British Columbia

Nina from Odette's Obsessions in Ontario, Canada

Tina from A Blip of the Radar in Bellingham, Washington

Janet's Thread in Seattle, Washington

Paloma Chaffinch in Suffolk, England

Annie from Weaverannie Knits and Spins in the Netherlands

Holly from Honeysuckle Loom in Washington state

Jenny at Daisy Hill Weaving Studio in Charlevoix, Michigan

Jenny's pictures on the shore of Lake Michigan

Mike in NH's Colors of the Connecticut River Valley, in western New Hampshire

Sara, the Fabric n Fiber Fanatic in New Hampshire

My Colors of March in New Hampshire

Theresa at Camp Runamuck in Oregon

Basically Benita in Indiana

Sharon In Stitches in Nevada

Maggie of A Sweet Thread in Knoxville, Tennessee

Leigh at 5 Acres & a Dream in the Carolinas

Rascal in Rascal's World which looks oddly similar to Leigh's world

Jennifer from Finding the Real Me in South Carolina

Delighted Hands in Florida

Leisurely Lesley in Victoria, Australia

After what seems like a month of rain and high water in New Hampshire, we're having an unusually sunny and warm weekend.

I'll be posting a call for the colors of April in the middle of the month, so keep your cameras ready to capture colors where you live (or travel)!!

Happy April!

Related posts:
Colors of February
Colors of January
Colors of December
Colors of November
Colors of late October

Summer Fuzz Fest

2010-03-31T20:03:00.004-04:00

I heard today that the Summer Fuzz Fest will be held August 15, from 10 - 2 at Riverslea Farm in Epping, NH, USA.

Mark your calendars!!!

What's a Fuzz Fest you ask?? A gathering of people who love fiber. The summer version will be outdoors under large tents.

Check out the Winter Fuzz Fest to get an idea what goes on.

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Sorry for my inadvertent blog hiatus. I'll be back soon I hope! I miss you guys!