Bad Blogger!

Helpful Danville Knitters

I don't know what has gotten into me lately, except that maybe the cold has made me lazy! I just haven't been in the mood to blog!

And a lot of lovely things have been going on. Several meetings, which were important to me here in Patrick County but that I won't bore you with; wonderful morning walks under crisp starry skies with a good friend and dogs, chilly days tending rabbits with cat parading around my feet and romping through the barn, and wonderful golden evenings watching the shadows slide across the fields. I just haven't been writing!


Stitching and talking away, with wonderful Starbucks treats!

I ventured out of Patrick County yesterday, though, to trek to Danville for a knitter's gathering I heard about through Ravelry. It was pouring rain but a quick trip down, and I was greeted by lovely Robin, who helped organize the gathering, when I arrived at the Starbucks. Soon her mother joined us, and it wasn't long before a nice group of cheerful knitters came out of the wet weather to gather in a quiet corner of the shop. Sadly, our other hostess had a family illness and was unable to join us; many good thoughts were sent her way.

Robin got right to work helping other knitters with their projects while the rest of us talked and compared notes. I got to pass out business cards and it was fun to see how interested everyone was in the shop. Almost everyone had been to Meadows of Dan at some point! Robin explained about Ravelry and I think the group was intrigued. I learned about several Southside Virginia LYSs that I didn't know about that it would be fun to visit soon.


Lovely group of friendly knitters!

There were other bloggers there, another spinner (who was knitting last night) and some very talented knitters! I saw beautiful cable work and elegant colors and some inspiring and challenging projects. I tried working on my poor simple sock but with so much going on I finally pulled out my trusty crochet hook; I can crochet and talk but knitting and doing anything else is still sometimes a challenge!


Stella enjoying a beautiful morning

The rain is gone, the sun is out and I have big plans to do some major cleaning of the rabbit house today! It's a perfect time to let some rabbits out to play in their pen while I'm working in the sunshine.

Such a week....

Ducks on the icy mill pond

We're having typical November weather here in the mountains; of course it's December so it seems a little strange. One day icy, the next sunny and warm, then fog moves in and wreaths the trees and grass with ice, while the pavement gets slick in the shady spots.


Tidying Up

I'm in full nesting mode. This happens to me every year in the fall, when I get discontent with the way the house looks and have to change everything. Lily doesn't appreciate the activity at all. She likes things to stay the same, drifting dog hair and all!


Re-decorated

Lily soon settles down, though, with the new situation. She's not supposed to be up on the new futon, of course. Sorry about the ghost drifting across the picture; either I haven't learned to work this camera properly or I've captured the family spook!


My Sitting/Reading/Spinning/Knitting/Working Room

A long time ago I had a lovely sitting room in here, and I've really missed it. When I started working at home I turned it into a computer room. Now that I have the shop I can have my sitting room back. It's a nice little space, with lots of sun pouring into the southern facing windows (usually) and a beautiful view across the farm. And of course no house is complete without a cat snuggling in a comfortable chair!

It's icy this morning and I expect a quiet day. A nice bunny just went home with his new family; I'm really pleased with the lovely young people that have him. Last night was stitching group, and we feasted and talked and knitted with some delightful fiber friends!

Wendell is home from the hospital; thanks for all your good thoughts. I haven't been able to get a report this morning but yesterday he seemed to be doing well!

Boteh is beautiful!

Boteh Scarf

I finished the Boteh scarf last night, just after the stitching group meeting. Almost finished it while the girls were here, but got interested in some of their wonderful projects. Merike was working on an absolutely gorgeous cape-style jacket, while Rhonda is making great progress on her multicolored sweater that has perfect colors for her. Mary is enlarging her soft blue baby blanket for the grand-boy and Peggy was asking for ideas to make a quilt for her sister-in-law. Susan is working away on her needlepoint project and adding a lot to our discussions!

The boteh scarf was great fun to make. It looks very classy and difficult but really wasn't. I didn't like some of the samples I saw in variegated yarn but the subtle colors in this yarn seem to work with the design. This will be fun to wear, if it ever gets cold again!

I've been battling something all week that I thought might be allergies but I suspect now was a cold. I'm less drippy and sneezy today but still feel like something the cat dragged through the screen door backward. Fiber on the Mountain Jane is coming up to cheer me today!


New Camels

Cousin JAG came down yesterday, and we exchanged pleasantries and...things. These guys have now been added to the camel herd. Despite something of a hard life and a few nicks, they retain pure camel audacity and I adore them! Jane blogged Meadows of Dan with some absolutely gorgeous photos of yarn and the local produce market.

"Stitch and Chat"

Aren't they lovely?

It was a lovely day yesterday; folks coming in from all sorts of places and I kept myself very busy with computer work and all that other stuff I should be doing. I hope to get the Fiber Femmes newsletter out today. I totally forgot to do it; no excuses because it has been busy!

Yesterday evening was stitching group night, and three of my favorite ladies came to share goodies and swap knitting and spinning stories. Barbara and I are making the same felting hand bag; she's doing the knitted version and I'm doing the crochet. Since the power was out last week I got a lot done on mine but wasn't satisfied with how it turned out. With some advice from Barbara, I worked on it again last night and am much happier with the way it looks. Pictures when it dries!

Mary is relearning how to crochet and made great progress last night, while Linda and I set up our spinning wheels. It was fun answering questions about spinning. I finished spinning some commercial top I've had around here forever. Linda is working on a major project; she's spinning a gorgeous Thistle Cove Farm fleece that she's carding on her new drum carder. She did a beautiful job with the carding and the batts are spinning up like a dream! Linda tells me she's putting her etsy store back up; check out her beautiful and fun yarns whens he gets them there!

And we had cake, and some wonderful dips that Mary and Barbara made and brought to us. We stayed until nearly dark. Linda asked me about Buford; it was good to be able to talk about him, a little, and share how much he was a part of my life.

This morning when I went by the store one of the girls was coming out with a bottle of tea that caught my eye. She said it was great and so did the clerk inside. So I tried a bottle. It's really not bad. It's called Gold Peak Iced Tea and was in the Coke machine, so I guess they distribute it. It still has that bottled tea after-taste but not nearly as bad as most of them. I think maybe I still like Arizona's Green Tea with Ginseng and honey a little better, but this Gold Peak stuff is pretty good. But of course the best summertime tea is the homemade sweet tea in every Southern fridge!

Fun in the Fog

Back to crochet!

We're having a stretch of foggy days; the kind where the stuff just settles down on top of the mountain and obscures everything. It's a strange world out there, not quite real.

Several people ventured out last night for a "Stitch and Chat" sort of meeting, though, and we had a world of fun! Lots of goodies to eat and some beautiful work being done as well as a couple of folks that just wanted some inspiration to get back into stitching. There were two sweaters on the needles and one young lady had several interesting projects in both knit and crochet. Her mother made the fastest granny square I've seen in a long time. I worked on my little slip-stitch purse for the first time in awhile. I think we boosted the creativity of a former crocheter and got her started back with the hook and met a charming woman from the North of Virginia who we tried to convince to move! I think the gathering was quite a success and we hope to get together on the first and third Thursday of every month. Y'all come!