Chair as Art

Two years ago we dropped into Gummel Chairworks in Castine, Maine while we were on vacation. We were spending a few days in Castine and I had looked up a few local places that we might want to see while we were there. It's a very small town on the end of a peninsula, in other words, a long way from anywhere. We were there to relax and take life easy so one afternoon we rode out to Gummel's. Mr. and Mrs. Gummel were so nice and spent a great deal of time explaining the whole process of making a chair.

We picked out a Nantucket Fanback and put down a deposit. Mr. Gummel said it would take about a year and our plan was to pick it up ourselves during a little mini-vacation. Plans have a tendency to go astray, don't they? Well, long story short, we picked up the chair at our local FedEx Freight depot last week.

The chair is a very, very dark green with a barn red undercoat. It's all done with milk paint and has a somewhat matte finish that shines with use. As the green overcoat wears the barn red shows through. The under side of the seat is branded with the M & E Gummel Chairworks brand.

We feel so privileged to own this beautiful piece of handmade furniture. It sits comfortably and is very easy on the back. We'll be using it as an occasional chair and possibly as a desk chair. Go visit the site and take a look at the wonderful chairs and tables.

The Desert of Maryland

It's not a fit day out for man nor beast so the beasts and I are hanging around in the air-conditioned house today. Hazy, hot and humid - the three words that best describe Maryland in the summer - weather has been entrenched here for a few days and shows no sign of leaving in the near future. Add dry to that description and you've got a more accurate picture. But dry doesn't really do it justice. Crispy, burnt, crunchy, those words describe our lawn. It's not grass anymore, it's straw. We are in a drought here in western Maryland, a pretty severe drought.

There's a mountain in the background but you can't see it because of the haze. Three years ago our landscaper planted sunset maples along our driveway, ten on each side. We've been in a drought ever since. Rainfall totals have been far below normal each year so we have been force to water the maples during the summer both to protect our investment and to keep the poor things alive. We've only lost one thanks to Doug's dedication and determination. But it's a lot of work to water them as they should be watered and two of them are showing signs of stress. Leaves are falling here at Idle Hour Farm and it's not fall yet. It makes us both very sad. The haze, the white sky seems so oppressive to me. Don't even like to look out the window and I hate to take photos in this white, sickening glare.

This is a tree in distress. It hurts me to look at it but I drive past it each time I leave and return to the house. Doug keeps pouring the water on them but the sun bakes it out of the ground before it can benefit the thirsty roots. Even watering at night doesn't seem to help.

We've begun to refer to this area as the Desert of Maryland although the whole state is hurting for rain. The weather patterns in this small area seem to have changed in the last ten years. We don't get enough snow or rain anymore. It all goes around us or breaks up before is gets to us. A few more years of this and the local vegetation will make a shift to plants that can stand the arid conditions.

I want to move to Maine.

Ribbons, I got Ribbons!

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I was entering some things in the local Ag Expo, Washington County's equivalent of a county fair. Thursday before last I took my Icarus shawl by Miriam Felton, a pair of socks based on Wendy's Toe-Up pattern with a feather and fan leg, and a pysanki (Ukrainian) egg down to the Agricultural Education Center and somewhat reluctantly handed them over to strangers.

Friday evening I went back down to pick them up. I really expected the egg to be broken but to my surprise it appears unharmed and it has a blue ribbon (first prize) taped to the stand! The socks had a red second prize ribbon pinned to them. And Icarus? Another first prize! I'm so thrilled. It was my first lace project and it wasn't perfect by any means but it was good enough for FIRST PRIZE!!!



There wasn't a category for shawls so I entered it under scarves. There wasn't a category for socks either. I entered them under "knitted: other". Most of the other entries were gone when I got there so I don't know what I was competing against but I'm sure there were other great knits there. Next year I'll have to go during the week and see the other entries. This year I just didn't have the time.

Lily of the Valley Smoke Ring

This is my current focus right now. I'm on the fifth chart repeat. It's hard to photograph a tubular lace project that's still on the needles. I stretched it out as best I could with a sheet of paper in between the layers. I think it's absolutely lovely and I want to thank Susan Pierce Lawrence and Wooly Wonka Fibers for making it available. I think I'll get a lot of use out of this come winter to ward of the drafts here in my office. I can almost feel it's soft folds around my neck.

It's a fun and portable project. I have the chart memorized so I can whip the project out where ever I happen to be and just knit away. This is my first experience with nupps (knit five together through the back loop) and I've heard horror stories about them but I find that if I keep it loose my Knitpicks 16" US#5 circs are quite pointy enough to get the job done. They don't make 16" Addi Turbo Lace circs. I even worked on it while standing in line Friday night waiting to get my Harry Potter book. When this is done, more socks.

I'm off to the Ball

The Grand Hallows Ball, that is! My boss let me take some vacation time to go stand in line at Borders this morning to get my wrist band for tonight's party. I waited until 45 minutes after they started handing them out and I still had to stand in line outside the store for about an hour. Fortunately the weather has taken a delightful turn here and except for the a sunburn on the back of my neck I faired very well. Any other day this week would have made this task torture since the heat and humidity were unbearable.

I took a side in the Great Snape Debate as well. I trust Snape. If Dumbledore trusted him who am I to argue?

So tonight, after KnitFlix, Doug and I will be at Borders partying with the Potter fans. I hope you have fun at your Grand Hallows Ball, too!

KnitTrip

Janis and Marge

The social knitting groups from Y2Knit got together and went on a field trip Monday. We piled into cars and vans and headed south to Virginia. Janis and Marge rode with Doug and I in the Outback and we knitted and talked the whole way to Staunton, Virginia.

Our driver: my husband Doug (the only male in the entire group)

First stop: Chester Farms, home of Cestari Yarns. Mr. Chester (below) took half the group on a wagon tour of the farm while the other half toured the mill. Only a part of the operation is at this location. Most of the sheep are on another nearby farm. He talked about his sheep, Merino and Columbia, and it was clear that he really loves raising the sheep and improving the bloodlines and the wool. He was very enthusiastic about the whole process.

We got to meet Reggie, a partially shorn cat (matted hair removed) and some of the rams.

The whole yarn making process was fascinating. The machines used are all from a mill in Maine and were made in the 1940's. I saw a date of 1947 on one of them.



They send the wool to Pennsylvania to be dyed and it comes back in 700lb. bales.

They spread them out and feed them into a machine that mixes and fluffs them. Then they go into a huge machine that cards and combs to wool. It comes out the other end a pencil roving on long rolls.


The rolls are then taken to another machine that spins the roving onto spindles. The spindles are taken to another machine that plies them onto other spindles. Those spindles are taken to another machine that winds them onto really big spindles. The big spindles go to the last machine that winds them into center-pull skeins. I think. I could be wrong about any of those steps.

I took lots of video of the machine running. I hope to upload it to YouTube soon. Stay tuned for more later...

Casting On, Casting Off

I'm in a slight slump. I have cast on and started Monkey and Cornucopia, in two different yarns and just didn't feel right about any of them. I frogged everything.

I just started the Lucy Socks by Wendy. I think that these will be the ones that break the slump. I needed a pattern that will work on a dark colorway and still be a little interesting, not just stockingette.

The yarn is All Things Heather but I'm not sure of the colorway at the moment, it might be Champlain Sunset. I got it from The Loopy Ewe. It's rich and dark; it suits my mood at the present. I guess I'm still a little sore from the recent death of my FIL. It was a mighty blow to all of us and we're still learning how to cope.


And to add to my woes, the finish is coming off my Knitpicks us#0 dpns. In the photo above you can see a tiny spot of silver in the center (click on the photo to enlarge). That's the finish that's flaking off. I love these needles so much - sob. I guess I'll have to order another set soon.

The family gathers to celebrate a life...

My father-in-law died on Tuesday, June 26th. We're all still a little stunned because he died suddenly, unexpectedly. He was literally gone in an instant. There was no time for goodbyes but also no time for pain and suffering.

We're still trying to wrap our minds around how this could happen to someone that we loved so much. He was 74 and we were planning to have a huge surprise party for his 75th birthday in December. My mother-in-law had already booked the hall and the caterers and was busy finalizing the plans. But instead of a party we had a visitation, attended by around 400 family and friends and a memorial service, attended by about 130. He touched many lives in his 74 years.

He was a great father-in-law to me and I'm already missing him terribly. I saw him practically every day since Doug and I married in 1996 even if only to wave as I went up the driveway. Our house is built behind theirs and he mowed our lawn along with his because he loved to mow. He was a dairy farmer by birth and by choice, milking twice a day every day of his life from the time he was old enough until they sold the herd and retired in the mid 1990's. Mowing gave him an opportunity to be outside in the fresh air without putting too much stress on his tired old knees, which he had worn completely out.

I'll post some pictures later. For now, we're just trying to adapt to this new life with him.

Middletown Valley Barn Tour

Saturday was a beautiful day here in Maryland, clear, breezy and almost cool. That's rare in a state that's the capitol of hazy, hot and humid so we took advantage of it and went on the Barn Tour. Eleven barns were featured on the tour which ran from 10am to 5pm. We made it to 10 of them before calling it a day. My husband's family are retired dairy farmers so he's very interest in old barns. We have one across the road from our house that's about 200 years old.

I took advantage of our stops to sit in the shade and knit. I'm almost done with the second Anastasia Sock by Pepperknit. I lost one of my dps at one of the farms where I was sitting on a hill under some tall pines enjoying the breeze and scent of the pines. It was one of my new KA bamboos and I hated to lose it but it wasn't worth going back and looking through pine needles to try to find a bamboo size 0US!

The first farm had about a dozen peacocks roaming around and I took lots of photos. They are such beautiful birds.

I is so handsome! Take picture of me!

You get my good side, ok?

I has nice legs!

Flag the Itchy

The last farm we went to had horses. We parked in the shade beside a fence and I sat in car with the door open and knitted. Eventually the one of the horses , a pinto, came up to the fence to check me out and we ended up having a 15 minute scratch orgy. He was very clean and well groomed but he had lots of itches that needed to be scratched and I was happy to oblige. I got all the critial spots: under the mane, behind the ears, under the halter straps.

He leaned into the scratches with such obvious pleasure that I just kept on scratching thinking he would walk away when he had had enough but he never made the slightest attempt to leave. So I moved on to styling his forelock into a mohawk and was getting ready to take a picture when my husband came back and told me to quit torturing the poor horse, whose name it turned out is Flag. So I bid Flag farewell and we headed off to dinner. It was a wonderful day.

Ravelry!!! Nuff Said!

I got my invitation to Ravelry on Tuesday afternoon and I've been sucked into the vortex along with all the other Ravelers. There is something for everyone and spot for everything. I've been entering projects and stash and needles and looking at other people's stuff and looking at patterns and... the list just goes on and on. Thank you so much for creating this site!

I'm nearly finished with the first Anastasia sock but I didn't get to work on it at all yesterday. Hope to have some pictures soon.

Ok, now I understand...

I purchased my first-ever Socks That Rock (lightweight) last year at Stitches East. I picked up five skeins at the Blue Moon booth and brought them home, put them in a Rubbermaid tub and never really thought too much about them. I knew I'd get to them someday. Saturday morning I got one out (Fairgrounds) and wound it into a cake and decided to make the Anastasia Socks by Pepperknit.

I know about the fascination (obsession) with Socks That Rock here in Blogland and it's very pretty and all but I guess I just didn't get it. That was until Saturday night at the baseball game when I cast on and started knitting with it for the first time.

WOW!! It's so-o-o tight. I don't spin so I don't know how else to describe what it is that's so different from the other yarns I've knit with. Is it tightly plied? Tightly spun? Both? I don't know, but it's smooth. No splittyness (well if it's not a word it should be) whatsoever.

The softness, the stitch definition, the squishiness - indescribable. I've joined the other Socks That Rock devotees (addicts, zombies) and will make that booth my first stop at Stitches East in October and stand in line with my sister sock knitters.

I saw the line at Maryland Sheep & Wool and skirted it to see what all the fuss was about. "Oh," I said to myself, "Socks That Rock. I have five skeins of that at home. I'm certainly not standing in that line for more."

Ha! I just hope I haven't incurred the wrath of the yarn goddess with my dismissive attitude. Please forgive this humble woman for her ignorance, oh great Mistress of the Skeins. I was blind but now I knit.


Edited to add: I'm using the KA High Quality Bamboo Needles in size 0US/2.0mm instead of my usual KnitPicks dpns and I like them. The Brittany size 0's that I used in the past were too weak to pick up and knit the wraps on my shortrow heel. I snapped one on the first sock I knit with them. But these KA's are tough. Almost no bending, even on the k2tog's. They're made in Japan of aged bamboo and I guess that makes all the difference. Mine came from Y2Knit.


Here's a picture of the points for comparison. The KA's are a little blunter but sometimes that's a good thing. The KnitPicks are capable of drawing blood.

The First Ever KnitFlix

Left to right: Susan from Y2knit, Janis, Sonja (intern at Y2Knit) and Audrey.
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Friday evening was the first ever KnitFlix. Some of the social knitters from Y2Knit came over to my house and we ate popcorn, drank iced tea, knitted and watched Pride and Prejudice. I think everyone had a great time, we laughed and talked after the movie until almost 11pm.

It was so much fun to have everyone over to my home that I wish we could do it every week but people are busy with family and friends and I understand that, I'm busy too. Next Friday at Social Knitting we'll decide what to watch next. There was talk of continuing on the Jane Austin theme with Sense and Sensibility, Emma and Mansfield Park. We may even watch the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice.

I sure hope the others had as good a time as I did and that everyone will come back for the second edition of KnitFlix!

Loopy Ewe Sock Club Scoks Are Done

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Wow. It's been a while, hasn't it? I apologize for the long gap in the blog. I've been busy, depressed, distracted, you name it. I do have some knitting to report on though. I finished the Loopy Ewe Sock Club socks last week but just got around to photgraphing them yesterday. Yes, I know I have on two different socks but believe me both Loopy socks are done. I didn't follow the pattern exactly. I made the foot stockingette and only did the pattern on the leg and I did them toe-up using Wendy's Toe-Up pattern with US0/2.0mm Knitpicks dps.

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These were a very fun project! I loved the yarn from All Things Heather (not my first yarn from her, by the way) in the wonderful Skinny Dipping colorway. They fit pretty good and will brighten up my days come fall and winter (I don't often wear socks in the summer).

I also finished one of the Mirabella socks by Mary Jo Gumayagay. I started these socks months ago and worked the first one to the heel and then put them away to work on something else. I picked them up again on Saturday and finished the first one Sunday evening.

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They look a little different than the photo on the pattern because I left off the squiggly section on each side of the lacy. It just didn't look right to me. They are also made of yarn by All Things Heather, her 50/50 merino/tencel in Teal. This yarn is so great to knit with that I will definitely be buying more. I used US1/2.5mm(?) Brittany dps and worked the toe as in Wendy's pattern.

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These could be summer socks, they're so cool and thin and silky. My only problem is that they are tight across my ankle. I'm going to try adding a few increases as I get close to the heel and then decreasing as I start up the leg. I have big ankles because they've both been broken at one time or another.

When I finish the second Mirabella sock I hope to start on the Lily of the Valley smoke ring from Wooly Wonka Fibers. I ordered the needles from Knitpicks and I also ordered a pair of Addi Turbo Lace needles from my lys Y2Knit.

I'm in the mood for lace...simply because it's near me...

MD Sheep and Wool Part Two - Yarn

Here are photos of the yarns that I managed to snag! This is Spirit Trail Fibers alpaca lace-weight. Their silk was so beautiful too. I visited this booth again and again. They were all so nice. I will definitely buy from them again.


The Tess booth was one of my goals. I picked up two skiens of Superwash Lace. Janice got 5 for a project that she has in mind. I want to try one of their variegated projects that use this yarn so bad but I didn't have the funds at this time.

Here is my first ever Brook Farm Acero. I managed to get a discontinued colorway for $17.00 and oh my is it gorgeous!


I can't remember the name of the people I got this from but it's called "Alpaca Lite", 200 yds. each in the Fawn.


Here's a close-up. Soooo soft!


Dyed Dreams by Janel Stollnitz. I can't remember what this yarn is made of but it was love at first site. It's destined to by my first Clapotis.


Koigu from the Mannings'. There was a lady there picking out yarn for a mitered blanket while I was selecting my paltry four skiens. She must have had 20 skiens already picked out. I'm sure it will be a thing of beauty.

I had a great time even though I ran out of money and was forced to live vicariously through Janice. I couldn't have asked for a better companion.

My first time at MD Sheep & Wool

My first ever trip to the Maryland Sheep & Wool is over and now it's time to talk about what (and who) I saw and what I purchased. A group of us from Hagerstown formed a caravan and got there around 8:40am on Saturday morning. Janice, who rode with me, and I spent most of the day together. We got along great together because we both like to spend obscene amounts of money on yarn.

Who I saw: Carry from KnitWit: Rantings of a Rabid Knitter, my favorite podcast! She said that she would have a big sunflower in her basket and when I saw that flower walk by I yelled "Carry!". She came over and talked for a while. It was so great to meet her. I apologize for the blurry photo. I took it in the Mannings booth and we were both being joustled a bit. You can see the stem of the sunflower sticking out of her basket. What a great idea! I might have found some of my blogging buddies if I had carried something distinctive like that.


There were also plenty of sheep:

There were sheep sleeping:


Sheep getting gussied up for the judges:


Sheep standing on the rails of their pens trying to get a better view of the activities:


And pretty sheep just standing in the morning sun:


Tomorrow: photos of my aquisitions!

The New Sock Goes to the Eisenhower Farm

I took the partially finished sock on a bus trip yesterday. We went to the Eisenhower Farm at Gettysburg, PA. My hubby tried to take a photo of the sock on location but I forgot to bring the freshly charged batteries with us and the ones in the camera died as soon as we turned it on. In lieu of a location shot, I'm posing the sock (completed last night) with the really cool pin I got at the book shop. I know you're thinking that Ike was a five star general and the photo only shows three but the stars spin around and there are five of them.

I worked on the sock on the bus, on the grounds of the farm, and at the Gettysburg Visitor's Center. I finished it up last night after we got home. While we were touring the Eisenhower farm I noticed that the Docent had her knitting laying on a table by the door.

The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Serengeti that I got from The Loopy Ewe and I'm using Knit Picks US#0 - 6 inch double points. I've found that I work much faster using double points than 2 circs. I started this sock late Friday night and finished Tuesday night. That's got to be a personal best. I'll be starting the second sock tonight. The leg is made over a pattern called Falling Leaves by Jessica Landers at Knitty.com and the foot is Wendy's Toe Up Sock. Thanks, Ladies!