My Gma's the cutest!

We went into the city (New York that is) and saw Mama Mia on Broadway. Gma hasn't been in the city or on a train in years. She even got a fancy corsage:
We went in to celebrate Gma's 80th birthday. It was Gma, my Mom, my Aunt, my two female cousins, my two sisters and myself. Girl's night out :-) Aunt San has pictures of us at dinner, so I'm trying to get a copy of them.

More on Rhinebeck; and Gma

A little more on Rhinebeck...

So, we went on Saturday only. Mom, Juli & Gloria picked me up at like 8ish, maybe a bit after, so we knew we would be getting up there later than we wanted, but so be it. We got there at around 11 and hit a few barns before going to the Blogger Bingo/Ravelry meet-up at 12. We were actually a bit late for that, but lots of people were still there. I found a few squares on my card & a few people we ran into had Juli or me on their cards. It was fun to talk to everyone, even if we didn't get Bingo out of it! After the meet-up it was serious shopping time! They had told me the night before that I was getting a wheel for my B-day, so I was off to test drive a few! I wanted an Ashford, so I tried a few & decided I liked the Joy for several reasons. One of which being that it's totally portable, so if I ever make it to the LI Spinner Guild I can take my wheel!! Yeah!!! So, while I'm at this booth testing out the Joy who walks up behind me to chat with the shop owner but the Yarn Harlot herself!!! It was pretty funny b/c my sisters and I had just been talking about her & how my daughter really likes the book I have (Meditations for Women who Knit too Much) and how she asked me if I can pass it on to her, then she can pass it on to her daughter when she has one. She wants this silly little paperback book to be a family heirloom! LOL! We didn't say anything to her (It was just Gloria & I) but we did go find Juli to let her know we saw someone famous! So, Mom comes back to the booth with us & she buys me the wheel and a pound of BFL to spin on it!!!!! Yeah!!!!!! We leave it at the booth to pick up later. Other purchases made were a pattern for a really cute hat for Devin, I'll post a link when I find one, a Spin-Off magazine, a pound of supersoft Merino to spin, two ginormous hanks of undyed superwash sock yarn and several colors of Jacquard dyes. It was a GOOD day :-)

Later in the day when we were all together we were waiting on line to get a drink & I'm snapping pix of Juli, Gloria & my Mom. I turn around to put my camera away & Stephanie the Yarn Harlot is standing there behind me! I swear at this point it was clear she was stalking me! LOL! We said hi. She asked how our Blogger Bingo was going. We told her how Devin wants her book to be a family heirloom. We asked her how her shopping was going. And that was it. I didn't want to shove my camera in her face & snap a pic b/c she was shopping & not doing a book signing today. I thought it would be a bit rude to make her pose for pix while she was trying to shop!

Here are a few more pix:

Juli, Gloria and Mom. Have I mentioned yet that i dyed Juli's shirt? Well, I did :-)

My new wheel :-))))) Yeah!!!!! Those bags have the fiber that I will eventually spin on it.
Gloria, all shopped out:
Juli at the end of the day:
Crochet Mama driving home:
Mom saw someone making a crochet bag that she liked, so was on the hunt for the book the pattern was it, but wasn't able to find it. Juli got some great stuff, check out her blog for details. Gloria only got a kit from Morehouse.

Rhinebeck Pix

Here are a few pictures. Actual text will follow eventually :-)

Self portrait: Gloria, Mom, Valerie & Juli (aka: Knit Sibs and Crochet Mama! LOL!)

Gloria waiting for a drink. Three seconds later we saw Stephanie the Yarn Harlot. No pic of her b/c she was shopping, not signing, so I didn't want to invade her private time. We did chat with her for a few seconds. More on that next time. Juli, Gloria & Mom at the end of the day. We were tired & ready to go home!
Juli, me & Gloria
Mom & Juli checking out Border Collie Rescue stuff
And finally... me spinning on my new wheel at Mom's house!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!! I tested out a few wheels, and wound up with the Ashford Joy. I wanted an Ashford, they're small, I like the look of them, they're the most reasonable priced wheels I've seen.... I tested out the Joy, Kiwi, Traveler and Traditional. I decided the Joy would be best b/c it's fold-up and portable & I liked the way it felt when I was spinning on it. When I have a craft room I can get a bigger wheel, but this is PERFECT for now!!!!! Squee!!!!!!

More info, and maybe even a few more pix, to follow later in the day. We should be doing a Rhinebeck podcast in the next few days too.

Episode 2 & Rhinebeck

I'm off to Rhinebeck this morning!!! WooHoo :-)))))))

Episode 2 of the Knit Sibs podcast is up. Gloria joins us for this one, and they tell me what I'm getting for my birthday. We're up on iTunes now, so go subscribe!!

She-Knits Rocks!

I got a package from Sharon of She-Knits:

It's a copy of Crazy Aunt Purl's book: Drunk Divorced and Covered in Cat Hair, two skeins of beautiful sock yarn, a set of stich markers, and a knitters ring. WooHoo!!!! I love getting mail :-)

Now go check out her Etsy shop & buy something from her!!

In other news, Juli is coming into town tonight, so that means RHINEBECK on Saturday!!! Yeah!!!! We'll be recording on Friday, so look out for a new podcast this weekend. Also, but something from her Etsy shop too!!

If you have me on your Blogger Bingo card, there are plenty of pics of me on here if you scroll back. I'll be with my sisters all day, so it should be easy to spot us. There's a pic of the three of us together on the podcast site ;-) Also, there's a rumor about a meet-up at noon by the food building, so I plan on being there.

Purple Yarn & Rhinebeck

As promised the results of the Purple Yarn Experiment are in, and I'm happy to say that they are much better than the Fall Colors Yarn :-)

This was a lot of fun to make! I don't think the range of colors come through very well in the pictures. It ranges from very light lavander to dark blue/purple. It did speckle a bit, as I thought it would, but I really don't mind those spots. Yeah for successful dying!! Even if I am the only one who sees this as success I'm still happy!! LOL! I want to get some Jacquard dyes now & some Bare Knit Picks yarn & play around with those :-) The two yarns I've dyed are both sock yarns, and being that I don't knit socks I may have to gift them to Juli :-P I really wanted to make a lacy scarf (thinking Branching Out??) with the Fall Colors yarn, but I'm still undecided about the colors.

Next weekend is Rhinebeck! WooHoo!!!! Juli & I are playing Blogger Bingo :-) We're both squares (Catch us ifyou can!!) and I decided like yesterday that I want to be a player too. I got my card like 6 minutes ago & I have to find some printer paper so I can print it out.... Time to start stalking blogs to see what my targets look like!

Also, I've been pimping our podcast and I'm pretty excited to say that several people have atually downloaded it!! Hopefully they found us interesting enough to come back for Episode two, which we plan on recording on Friday. Juli will be in town for Rhinebeck on Saturday then Mama Mia on Sunday (I *heart* ABBA!!!) to celebrate my Gma's 80th Birthday, so we'll all get together at my house to record. Our first recording was pretty craptacular since we just pressed *record* and blathered on, but next time we'll organize an outline & try to stay on topic for more than 3 seconds at a time!

One final picture: my Lil Man playing Football this weekend. He's #95 (second from the left in the red).... notice his size compared to the other team :-X

They don't have to submit birth certificates in the 5 & 6 year old division, so I'm 99.9% sure the kids on the other team were NOT 5 & 6!!!! They were freaking HUGE!!!! I know my kid is small (he's 42 pounds & will be 6 in 2 weeks) but REALLY!!!!! The kids you see in the picture were the smallest from the other team. Their *A* team was twice the size. We had about 10 kids on our team & they had about 26. We have more kids in this age group, but they got split into two teams so the kids get to play more. Apparently the other team was more concerned with winning than anything else. Lil G sat on the sideline most of the game, which was fine by me.... not only were these guys huge but they were playing dirty too!! The coach said he was afraid to put G in against these kids. I can't wait for wrestling to start back up, at least then I know he's matched up with someone his own size! This game was a few miles from my Grandparents, which I didn't realize until I got off the Expressway at their exit, so I called them & they came to the game then took us out for pizza. We then went back to their place & hung out for a bit. It was nice to spend some time with them.

Copied From Juli's Blog:::

I'm a podcaster!!!
Me and my sisters are starting a podcast. I know, pretty silly, but Val (Make that Juli here since I am Val) and I are pretty knitting obsessed and this was the next logical step. Here's the link to our podcast shownotes and here's a link to download our first episode. Gloria was absent since she hasn't downloaded skype yet. We're working on getting it onto iTunes, apparently you have to go through an approval process. Keep your fingers crossed that someone will actually want to listen to me and my knit sibs!

Here's what I cooked up, and shiny things

I wanted Fall colors. I had limited success. The green speckled pretty bad. I think it's just the way the dye is made, but I'm really not thrilled with the blotches of color. I have some purple yarn in the crock pot right now, and it seems to be doing the same thing. Perhaps I'll get another brand of dye at Rhinebeck and see how it turns out.... This is without the flash and is a bit more accurate on my screen And the flip side. I haven't decided if I'm gunna keep this as is or if I'll be dying it a solid brown. Maybe I'll swatch before I decide.
And a few sets of stich markers. I made sets of six with one slightly different to mark the beginning of the row when knitting in the round. I like them a lot! Here they're on a size nine needle, but I think they'll fit up to an 11. I would really like to try to sell these in a LYS, but I'm not sure if I have the nerve to walk in and ask if they would like to sell them!
Stay tuned for the results of the Purple Dye.....

What's Cooking?

This is on my counter at the moment: Whatever can be inside?
Looks like brains to me.....
So this nice lady at the NH Wool Arts Tour gave me directions on how to dye in a crock pot. And what do you know, I found a yucky old crock pot at Grandpa's house. Although once I got it cleaned up the inside stonewear or whatever it's called pot part is actually quite nice..... I'm pretty posative I didn't use enough dye. I was expecting this to bleed a LOT more than it appears to be doing. It needs to cook for another hour or so though, so we shall see what it looks like at that point. And Juli, if you want to get your hands on some superwash hand dyed sock yarn from your lovely sister you better cough up a pair of socks!!!!! Hahahahaah!!!!!

Also seen at the Wool Arts tour:

Not fiber related, but I thought the bees all over the sunflowers was pretty cool!

Angora goats for sale. I wish I had a big farm to keep animals on. Isn't this one a cutie?I loved the way the shaggy hair covered the Alpaca's eyes: I don't know if it's too hard to see in this picture, but there's a little Alpaca with a blue coat on that was born less than 24 hours prior to the picture. Apparently there were a bunch of people at the Farm at the time that got to see the birth: Devin, Georgie & I all got to try spinning on a wheel. It was pretty freaking cool and I DEFINITELY want to get a wheel now!!! Too bad I didn't get pix of the kids spinning :-( I didn't get much this weekend- just some dyes and some Alpaca/Wool top that I'm not sure if I want to dye or leave white. I have a pound of it, so I can leave 1/2 white & dye the other 1/2. There were some nice things, but I really need to get through some of my stash before I start buying TOO much more.... Unless it's something that just BEGS to come home with me! I plan on getting some fiber to spin at Rhinebeck and maybe the yarn for Hubby's Christmas gift, but that's pretty much it. I also want to seek out some wheels to test drive :-D

Why you should swatch- and a bag

This is a little swatch of the yarn I spun with the soy silk Juli sent me. It took me a bit to get used to the fiber, so that's why there are lumps and bumps, but I really don't mind them. I'm not so sure about how the colors blended when I plied the yarn though. I think I may try to ply it so it kinda self-stripes (although I don't think the color repeats are actually long enough to STRIPE, but at least I can try to ply blue with blue, purple with purple, etc...). I have to admit that this is growing on me, but I'm still kinda unsure. I'm glad I swatched before I spun the entire batch of fiber b/c I would have been upset if this is what I got w/o being prepared for it to look this way. This is a fuzzy pic, but it's w/o the flash & the color is a bit more accuarate- at least on my screen. This is SOOOOOOO soft and squishy & cuddly and is just BEGGING the be knit into a scarf and hat! I carried it around in my purse all day at work yesterday so I could take it out & think about how I want to spin the rest of it!

And progress on the bag I'm knitting:
I have to finish binding off the pocket, knit the inside pocket & knit the I-cord handles. Should be done & felted tonight & ready for use by Mom this weekend :-D This is the XL Bowling Bag & the Pattern is sold by She-Knits (link in the previous post).

Birthday

Ya, so I know it's more than a month before my B-day, but I told my hubby I would put a link to what I want in my blog so he can order it for me. Or direct someone else to it if he chooses.

I want the kit for this bag:

The designer is Sharon of the She Knits Podcast, and her Etsy shop where she sells the kit can be found here. I already own the XL Bowling bag: Cables on Pockets pattern and the Marly bag pattern. This grey bag is my current favorite. I like the little loop in a loop wristlet bags too though :-)

In other Birthday news: Georgie has been planning his party like a mad man lately. He's making lists of who he wants to invite and coming up with ideas. He wants to do a party like had a few years ago. We made a pumpkin patch in the back yard with bales of hay and corn stalks and everything. All the kids *picked* and decorated pumpkins (with puffy paint), we made halloween masks and they had *dirt pie* (chocolate pudding with oreo crumbles on top and gummy worms) for desert. I'm totally happy doing a party like that again :-) It rocks that his Bday is so close to Halloween! I think we also did a pumpkin pinata and played pin the nose on the pumpkin. The kids are older now though, so I don't think they need the party to be quite as structured as it was then. I can't believe my baby will be 6 in a few weeks. I still haven't come to terms with the fact that he's a first grader!!!

SP 11 Contest

Here are my answers to the latest SP 11 Contest that my Hostess is holding. I'm supposed to list my favorites:

Actor - Hmm.... so many I like. I'll see pretty much anything with Brad Pitt in it. Is that Cliche?
Actress - I love Reese Witherspoon lately :-)
Animal - Turtle
Band - Does Indigo Girls count?
Book - The Harry Potter Series
Bubble Bath - Anything vanilla scented
Candy - Peanut Butter cups
Color - Purple
Flower - Sunflowers
Food - Eggplant
Lip Balm - I don't wear lip balm
Lotion - don't use anything
Movie - Ocean's 11
Song - Power of Two by the Indigo Girls
TV Show - Heros
Vacation Spot - New Hampshire

And that's that.