The shower wore off

I stayed home from work on Tuesday because I was sick. It wasn't eye trouble this time. Oh no, this was honest-to-goodness-I-have-a-fever-and-feel-like-death sick. I slept about 26 straight hours and when I woke up on Wednesday I felt great. It was a miracle!

I got up took a shower and headed out the door. I got to the studio and quickly realized I was mistaken. The shower had worn off. I felt pretty much the same as I had the day before. So I made a quick u-turn and back to bed for me. Today, I am better. For real. Maybe not 100%, but good enough. And good enough is all I need.

Enough drama already. On to more important things, like yarn. We just finished dyeing up a custom color for Jimmy Beans Wool. They have a sock of the month club featuring Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn. Here's Pearl guarding October's color, Candy Corn. We only dye a limited quantity, so get it while you can!

Autumnal Rituals

Every fall, the need for apple desserts gets to be more than I can handle and I round up a group of friends for a trip to a U-Pick apple orchard. This year was no exception.

We were spending the weekend at Dave (above) and Tony's farmhouse in Union Pier, Michigan and there are orchards galore in that neck of the woods. Even better, lots of them also have pumpkins and gourds so you can kill two birds with one stone. Or even three birds when you think about the pumpkin's ability to become both pie and a decorative accent for the Thanksgiving table.

We decided on Dinges' Farm in Three Oaks.
There was so much to choose from! There were about a gabillion varieties of pumpkins, gourds, and squash. There was even one variety they called "Red Warty Things". That made me laugh out loud. We saw peacocks, peahens and there was even a litter of bunnies whose picture didn't turn out well enough to post.
After the pumpkin fest, it was time to get apples! For me, it's the main event. Here's a shot of Edward from Ireland up high in one of the trees. He's a brave one!

At the end of the day, we went home loaded up with apples and pumpkins, happy and tired. I'm already planning meals. Of course there will be apple and pumpkin pies but I'm going to experiment a bit more this year.
I saw a recipe for a tart made with apples, honey and goat cheese thatI need to try. And there's one for pumpkin ravioli that seems like a must-do this year too. Now, if the weather would just get a little cooler, we can have a feast!

I'm seeing pink!

With October and Breast Cancer Awareness Month right around the corner, we've been busy dyeing up Flamingo Stripe so plenty will be available in shops. Flamingo Stripe is a pink/pink striping sock yarn.


We donate 20% of our proceeds to breast cancer charities. Every quarter we send a check to a different charity. Since launching the program in January, we've donated to Susan B Komen and Breast Cancer Angels. It's getting close to the end of the quarter and I have to decide where to send the donation this time. Any suggestions?

Travels

It's been a bit crazy since we last talked. I decided at the last minute to go visit my mother. Being in the hospital is never fun and I figured she would appreciate the company. So I spent a few days in southern Virginia with her.

I left in such a rush that I didn't pack my laptop. At first I was upset, but then decided that was OK. After all, I'm not really so important that I need to be plugged in all the time. And I've put together such a fantastic crew at Lorna's Laces that I knew things there would be just fine there.

Plus, I had my phone with me so it wasn't as if I was totally unreachable. As it turns out, I even sent my first text message this weekend. Does that make me sound like a Luddite? Or just tell you how old I am?

Here's a picture of Laura. She's my niece's daughter. She's wearing a sweater and hat knit from our Shepherd Worsted in Flames. Pretty darn cute, isn't she?!

9/11, WIP's

We're a big NPR shop around here. We listen almost non-stop. It's been a pretty sobering day revisiting the events of September 11, 2001. It is certainly our generation's equivalent to the question of "where were you when Kennedy was shot".
It hardly seems possible that it's been six years.

On a happier notes, here are a couple things that were on needles as we sat around the table eating lunch. This is one of Stephanie's self designed socks. It's got a nice diamond pattern in it that this photo doesn't show very well. It also works very nicely with our multi colored yarns.













This next photo is Sam's Wedding Shrug. It is the second one she's knit. The first one had an unpleasant run-in with a washing machine courtesy of her fiance, Ben. He was properly contrite and she's decided to go ahead with the marriage. It's made from Lion and Lamb in a color she designed herself. Pretty, yes?

Oprah and tidbits

My niece is a huge Oprah fan (she's the one on the right) and has been trying to get tickets to a taping for years. Her persistence paid off and she invited me to join her last Thursday. It sure wasn't what I expected. For some reason I thought there would be more interaction with the audience and that I would walk away feeling all warm and fuzzy about the experience. It didn't turn out that way. I had started to write a long post about the day and have decided instead to embrace the old adage "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." My mother would be proud.

Speaking of mothers, mine is in the hospital. The tests just came back and it looks like everything is going to be just fine and she'll go home tomorrow. You could probably hear the sigh of relief from where you are. Hospital+89 year old mother=lots of anxiety and very little sleep. Glad that's over.

I have some fun pics and such from the weekend, but I'm a little drained right now. Tomorrow is another day.

Veggies!!

For the last several years, we've belonged to a CSA or Community Supported Agriculture farm. Each year, we buy a share of the farm's harvest and every week we get a 3/4 bushel box of organic vegetables. The farm we belong to, Angelic Organics, is both organic and biodynamic.

Biodynamic farming is a system developed by Rudolph Steiner. You may recognize his name from the Waldorf educational system. Biodynamics uses nine different preparations that are added to the compost or sprayed on the soil or plants to enhance biological activity in a certain way. I don't know all the specifics, I just know that I love getting my box every week! It feels right to eat food that is good for me and good for the environment.

Getting "the box" has been a learning experience. Because the farmers decide what crops to plant and Mother Nature decides how the weather will treat those crops, I have a little less control over what we eat every week. Instead of going to the grocery store or farmer's market and choosing, the box arrives and I work with what's inside. Ultimately, this has expanded my cooking repertoire because I've had to learn what to do with beets and fennel and lemon balm and lots of other stuff I'd never taken the time to become friends with. Who knew you could make a yummy chocolate cake with beets?!

In other news around here, we have been working on the new colors that we'll be launching at TNNA in January! It's always such a treat to play around and see what we come up with. Mind you, there are lots of mistakes along the way, but it's incredibly gratifying when it all comes together.