It's My Birthday!

Today is my birthday! Wow. And I have a blog! First birthday with a blog. I won't bore you with details, but just wanted to do a quick birthday post about how grateful I am.

I took this picture on Sunday when J and I went on a leaf peeping expedition. There's so much symbolism in this pic!

The last verse/stanza (I'm not a Literary Critic) in Frost's 'The Road Not Taken' sums it up ...

"Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

I just hope that I'm getting wiser as I get older. Oftentimes I wish I could relive portions of my life--those years of making mistakes and hurting people with my words and actions. But, then I wouldn't be the person I am now.

I am grateful for...
...being alive today.
...being sober today. Each day is a gift and a blessing. The days now add up to six years, and almost nine months!
...a loving and wonderful partner who has been very supportive during these tough times for me. My migraines have kept me from working full-time, but things are looking brighter.
...a family that lives close enough to stay in touch.
...a beautiful, gentle, loving kitty who found us and adopted us. Each day is sweet.

...all the friends I have from my various interests: tea drinkers, knitters, spinners, hockey, and all my new friends I've made from Ravelry, Plurk, Brightkite and other social networks! You all enrich my life!

Fall Foliage in Vermont...Enjoy!

The first were taken on a drive on Poker Hill Road in Underhill--the next town north of Jericho. The last three pics J took on a hike on a hike up Hunger Mountain near Montpelier! Nice. Enjoy!

Catching Up on Stash Posting...

Okay, I'm guilty. I've been neglecting my blog lately! About a month ago I went to the Vt. Sheep and Wool Festival. I got some great stash (in the form of roving), and I meant to post the pics here before I forgot the sources of ones without id tags/business cards. But, then I was caught up in a cleaning frenzy for Kenny's visit--my knit friend from Houston, and another week passed by.

Then he was here--and we spent a week leaf peeping, visiting yarn shops (three) and now I have a ton more of yarn and roving stash--thanks to Kenny's generosity. I'll post some of it here and try to get caught up.

Click on pics to enlarge...

From the Sheep and Wool Festival:
The trio in the top picture: top left--Merino/Bamboo, 8 oz. To spin and dye (and sell as handspun). Top right--Corriedale (to spin and sell some); bottom--Merino/Tussah silk. To spin and maybe sell some.

Colorful balls of "Walk in the Woods" by my friends at Mountain Fiber Folk Co-op in Montgomery Center. It's a blend of mohair, alpaca and fine wool. I've spun up a couple samples of lace and sock weight. Yummy. I've also spun up 3 oz of heavier worsted weight. Pics later.

Shetland/Alpaca blend. Can't remember the farm. I'll update later. Very silky, super soft. Spun up a little sample--will make wonderful lace garment.

Fourth picture: top is some mystery thing I can't identify. Bottom of the pic is Llama down from West Mountain Farm in Stamford, Vermont.

Very soft. Silky. Divine. Most llama is sold with the down and rough, longer hair mixed in; in this format it's just okay. But, Gayle from West Mountain told me that this new process is capable of separating the two, and the result is incredible. Like cashmere, but stronger. Ohh Laa Laa!

Fifth picture, 8 oz of BFL (acronym for Blue-faced Leicester, a soft, but strong sheep wool, suitable for sock yarn and wonderful for dyeing). I plan on spinning and dyeing some of this and maybe keeping a bit for myself.

Bottom pic: top two balls are of angora bunny, kid mohair and lambswool--this is from the Mt. Fiber Folk Co-op.

It's really soft. But, when I spun it up, the angora (which is 50% of the total), was too dominant and clumped up--possibly because the three fibers are different and carded differently. I e-mailed Carol (it's her roving) and suggested lowering the percentage of angora to about 24-30%.

Angora rabbit is about 8-10 times warmer than wool. Like alpaca and llama, a good percentage is about 30% in the blend, which lends greater warmth to the yarn, but won't add so much weight to it. (I picked up 4oz of a 33/29/37 blend of angora/kid mohair/lambswool on our leaf peeping trip. This spun up perfectly.)

The two darker balls on the bottom of the pic are Jacob's Wool. This is a natural 3-color fleece, and if you can get it carded with all three colors in parallel stripes in the roving it's really cool! This roving had dark and light grey, which is pretty, and it has great strength but a lot of natural loft/air in-between the fibers, kind of elastic. Will make nice socks.

So, there you go! Fiber stash from the Vt. Sheep and Wool 2008. Next post will update you on the roving and mostly yarn stash I picked up during Kenny's visit to Vermont.

Take care, and happy knitting and spinning!

Chris