All Rav'd Up

Whoa.


Are you on Ralvelry? If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you need to go to http://www.ravelry.com/ and get on the invite list.

This is an amazing site... such an incredible resource for knitters and crocheters, and highly addictive, too. I love the visual aspect of it, the community of knitters, and I love that just about any knitting information that you need is right there at your fingertips. Amazing. If (or when) you're there, look me up! My ravelry name is abbeyknitche. Somehow, I'm able to get my projects uploaded and updated much more easily there, than I am on my blog.


Ravelry has given me a new excitement for knitting.... and I've finally picked up one of my long languishing projects... Salina.

I was stuck, and put it down (without taking any notes..bad habit), and by the time I picked it up again, I had no idea where I was. Once I sat with it and realized where I was, I realized that it was the funky British wording that got me stuck in the first place. "Decrease every following 2 rows" wha?! following? Does that mean knit for 2 rows, and then decrease on the third row? It's so ambiguous. FYI (I'm sure everyone else already knows this but....) it means...

row 1: knit, row 2: decrease, row 3: knit, row 4: decrease.

It makes sense once it's explained to me, but until then, I keep second guessing the meaning of their ambiguous directions. Would someone who is a major Rowan pattern junkie consider creating an online Rowan translation/tutorial?

Looks Like Fall... Feels Like Christmas

I just love Rhinebeck. I was telling my husband this week, "do you know how exciting it is to go to a festival that's all about your hobby?!" (I suppose he can relate when he goes to a swap meet/car show combination.) Between the fun of it all, and the goodies I came home with, it really felt like Christmas.

I still can't get over the greatness of it all. Truly. The foliage is always amazing.... the fair grounds are lovely, they have the best fair food ever... there is everything a knitter and spinner could ever want to do and see and buy.... and the icing on the cake is when you run into fellow bloggers!

Last year, being my first at Rhinebeck, I was very overwhelmed (happily, though).... and knew that I needed a plan for future visits. This year, the plan was put into action, and I'm happy to report that I GOT TO EAT LAMB TWICE AND I NEVER HAD TO WAIT IN LINE!!!! Yes. Lamb kabobs and lamb ravioli. oh my.. so good. It meant that we ate lunch at 10 am, but who cares! This year I went with a shopping list too.... and shop I did. Mostly, I purchased roving for my new friend...... wanna meet my new friend?....

YAY!!! I just love spinning on this. She doesn't have a name yet..... Any suggestions?.... and here's a picture of my very first plied yarn... Mr. Knitche thinks it's very manly, and wants a hat out of it, despite the pink.

...and here's the rest of my loot. Roving, for a new earflap hat for Special K.....


.... and roving from Fantom Farms. I tell you, this stuff is so nice to spin. I bought some last year and loved it. This year I didn't see them on the vendor list and was bummed (because you can't buy it online), but then I came around the corner and saw all of the bags....hanging like sweet little bags of cotton candy. I started drooling, grabbing bags, and then looked at the woman next to me who had her arms full of bags, and saw that it was Adrian from Hello Yarn. The funniest thing I heard all day, was Adrian saying (as she was trying to check out, and get a handle on all of her bags of loot) "I need a sherpa". I think the festival organizers might want to consider this for next year. Sherpa rental.

..... and my new niddy noddy (what a great name)! I had to look up directions on how to wind the yarn onto it. The best directions I found were here. How exciting to now be able to wind my yarn into measurable hanks. (ok... there's something I never thought I'd be saying) I never realized it before, but niddy noddy's are also useful to knitters. Theresa explains why here.


I also bought another bobbin for my wheel, and an orifice hook (what a terrible name.. could someone come up with something better than that?!) I'm all ready for a winter full of spinning and knitting now.

I can't wait to do it again next year!

Rockin' Out With Yarn

Miss Ellie. Oh boy, is she a wild one. She looks like the face of calm and sweetness here, but don't let that fool you. She's staring down a fly, and deciding how to attack.


Life here in the village has been busy, but we've managed to eek out a little time for some fun lately. Last weekend we went to see a band at the famous Cafe Lena in Saratoga Springs. I first saw this band there last February. My aunt called and asked me if I wanted to go hear a band called YARN. What?! Are you kidding me? How could I not go ?! They are really fantastic, but the only bummer is that no one in the audience is knitting. How can I be the only knitter in attendance? Knitters unite!... if you live in NY, they play in Manhattan and Brooklyn regularly, and occasionally in upstate NY, VT, and CT. we need to organize a YARN knit in!..... and why is this band not playing at the NY Sheep & Wool Festival?!

Speaking of Rhinebeck, I am heading there for the day tomorrow. I finally got my new Louet spinning wheel, so I plan to buy lots of fiber, another bobbin, and a niddy noddy. I will try really hard to remember to take pictures this year (it's hard to put down the yarn, and pick up the camera), and then to post them on the blog.

Until then.... I leave you with another picture of Ellie, sleeping with her Ugly Doll.

We Were Supposed to Get a Puppy

Is this not the picture of cuteness?

We were supposed to be getting a doggie in September. I'm still not sure how I got shnookered into getting a kitten instead. I do know that the next time I go to petsmart for supplies, I go alone. As cute as she is, I probably could have resisted getting her. I could not, however, resist my son who became all teary eyed, and started begging me in the middle of the pet store. It also didn't help that he is a mouse lover, and the SPCA had given her the nickname"Mouse", because she is so tiny. "It was meant to be Mom". She is adorable though.... she runs around the room 100 miles an hour, and then curls up next to you, exhausted and ready to nap.

We have renamed her Ellie, and mostly call her Ellie Belly, since she loves to roll on her back and have her belly rubbed. Our Cozy cat goes back and forth, between ignoring her, and making devil noises at her. We are trying to make Cozy feel secure, and we're spoiling her with canned cat food too, in the hopes that this will speed up the acceptance process, as well as remind her that she is loved. Cozy is surely thinking...."HA!Good luck with that!" Earlier today I gave Cozy the canned food,(a treat she normally gets only a few times a year) and then caught her eating the kitten's canned food while we weren't looking. She is no dummy, and I don't think she's going to come around easily.

So I don't think we're getting a puppy now. I don't think I can handle two cats, a puppy, and a mouse, and a full time job. No one seems to mind though.. the kitty has made them forget all about the puppy.

I am feeling exhausted from this whole process. We are keeping her crated ( we had already borrowed a crate for our "new puppy") in our room at night... since she is so tiny, and I'm afraid that we will squash her if she's in bed with us... and afraid of what she might get into while we are sleeping. She already has a fondness for chewing on electrical cords. Last night she woke me up at 3:15 to eat, drink, and pee.... and then she ran around our bed like a nut for a half hour before I put her back in the crate. I feel like I have a new baby. I am too old for the 3 AM feedings. I told my husband that I can tell that I'm getting older, because I feel hung over in the morning from lack of sleep...and I didn't even have the fun of drinking. Maybe I need to start doing what they tell new mothers to do ... when the baby naps, you take a nap too.

If anyone has any tips for me, on how to help your cat get used to a new kitten... Please comment! I don't think I can deal with the hissing and the devil noises for much longer.

I leave you with some more cute kitty pictures. Enjoy!

A Sunday in June

I never get tired of the views here.

We drove over to our neighboring town this past weekend, to go to the garden store.
We had a beautiful drive over, we took the short cuts, through the country back roads. People have been trying to teach us the short cuts, and they aren't easy back here. You get directions that start out sounding like this.. " You know where the turkey farm used to be?... well turn there, and then go out that road by Bob Jones' old place...... " Okey dokey. We spend a lot of time getting lost, but on days like this, who cares.

...and the garden store.... I love how so many businesses back here are in old barns. We had lots of perennials to choose from, and decided to add some false indigo, and foxglove to the flower garden. I could have filled the car with perennials. Inside the barn holds just as many temptations, too..... local meats, locally made artisinal cheeses, homemade bread and pies, organic produce, berries picked right there at their farm. Heaven.

....and a piano inside. Special K is drawn like a magnet to a piano. They asked him if he could come back and play every Sunday. He would be happy to be paid in pie, too.

On the way home we stopped at my daughter's friend's house, to see her new sheep.







This is Hannah (named after my Hannah), isn't she sweet? .... and there she is with her sisters.
They are funny girls, you should have seen us trying to get them out of the barn, and then trying to get them back into the barn when it started to storm. I can see why you need a herding dog when you have sheep.

I love living in the village, but those pretty country roads are calling my name lately..... and I could have sheep if we lived out there... hmmm.