A Daily Dose of Fiber

I skirted and prepared over 30# of alpaca fleeces this weekend. They will be sent off to the mill for processing into a worsted weight yarn which I will dye. While preparing these fibers it was fun to imagine the personality of the individual animal they came off of. From the dirty juvenile to the pristine queen.

Ready to start

Onto the skirting table where as much trash (sticks, hay, stuff) is removed as well as any fiber that is not good quality (second cuts, guard hair).

Then into the tumbler. Here the sand, more debris and short cuts fall out.

 

Beautiful “clean” fleece. It will be washed and further separated at the mill.

 

All bagged and ready to go

 

And now I am off to a three day Spinning Colorwork for Knitting workshop with Lynne Vogel at Harrisville Designs. Very cool.

Peace

Cynthia

Nature: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

I enjoy the nature around me. I have often written and shared photos of what is growing in my garden and what is visiting my garden. Sometimes what happens in nature saddens me. I know there is a natural order of things. 

This evening I was sitting in  my office and noticed a lot of noice in the back yard. I finally got up to look out the window to see what was going on. I noticed robins flying around the back, squawking and carrying on. Then I saw the hawk. The robins have nested in my trumpet vine and this weekend I saw the baby birds being fed. When I went out to get a closer look I saw three wide open mouths waiting for food. I tried to get photos but the nest is a little high for me to get a good look but I did get this picture:

After the hawk flew off I went out and saw the nest is now empty. I am sad. I wonder if birds grieve. This hawk (or a hawk) has visited before. There was a nest in the Weeping Cherry near my walk way. One night we were sitting in the gazebo and heard a racket out front. We saw the hawk sitting on top of the tree with two robins dive bombing him. We went out and the hawk flew off with one robin in close pursuit. Two days later there were downy feathers on the walkway and the nest abandoned. I was sad. 

Turkeys were roaming the lawn when I left for work this morning. Did you know Turkeys have day care? One or two adult females will stay with all the babies while the other adult females and the one adult male go out to eat.

There are lots of deer around this year. Tonight after dinner David and I were cleaning up the kitchen and heard a “sneeze” in the back yard. We went out with a flashlight and saw a deer jumping over the wall back into the woods. They love hostas. Ask me how I know.

On to knitting: I am finishing the first sleeve of my February Ladies Sweater. If all goes well, I will finish the second sleeve this weekend. I am very excited to be done because it is a great sweater but also I vowed not to start another project until this sweater was done………………. I have lots of projects in mind to start next. The new Interweave Knits arrived and I picked up Vogue Knitting at the store on Sunday. I don’t think I will knit a project from either of these next, but there are several that have possibility for future projects. I love the hat on the cover of Vogue and the hat on page 74 – definitely possibilities. There is a great poncho shaped shawl on page 70 (they call it a rounded triangular blanket shawl) that is interesting, I am not really a poncho wearer, technically it is not a poncho but it reminds me of one. In IK there is a sweater on page 44 I like, but I would lengthen the sleeves.  The Berry and Bramble Cardigan on page 46 I would make the button version and not the one with the sash. And the Every Way Wrap on page 48 is a definate addition to my project list. If only I could knit 40 hours a week instead of work!!!!!!

I was a vendor at an annual fair in town this past weekend. A little girl was wandering in my booth and told me she was going to school soon. I asked her if she was going to kindergarten or first grade and she could not answer. Then I asked her how old she was, she said “My birthday is dangerously close.” She will be five on her birthday in October (her mom came by and filled me in). This little girl was so cute. The other thing she said was when she picked up a skein of hand dyed yarn, she said “This is some pretty colors.”

Please visit my shops: www.nightingalefibers.com and www.nightingalefibers.etsy.com. New items added.

 

“There is no sin punished more implacably by nature than the sin of risistance to change.: Ann Morrow Lindbergh

Peace

Cynthia

Dying Yarn

I have been doing a lot of dying this week. I am trying to get the rest of my lace weight dyed up and added to the store. It is such an interesting process and each time I work at it I learn more. Sometimes the color just does not come out the way I intended – that could be good or bad. I just hope the colors appeal to customers. Here is a sample of Lillian – which is 80% Alpaca/ 20% Silk Lace:

I also finally put up Hildegard on the site. This is a 50% Suri Alpaca 50% Merino sport weight yarn that is just beautiful. It is soft and springy. Here are a couple of pictures:

And here is a Baby Kimono from Mason Dixon Knitting made from Hildegard:

I am hoping to finish the body on my February Ladies Sweater tonight and start the sleeves. David and I are going to the coast of Maine for a few days so I should have a lot of knitting time. I’ll post pictures when it is done.

There is a new baby on Peeka Ranch. He is very cute:

“Paradise is where I am.” Voltaire

Peace

Cynthia

Garden Color

Summer has finally arrived in New Hampshire. It is still a little cool, especially at night, but the past few days have been beautiful. My vegetable garden is finally showing signs I might have something to harvest. There is lots of color in my yard. Here are a few pictures I took yesterday:

The fish are happy and healthy.

Stunning color.

I love coriopsis.

Hummingbirds love beebalm.

And everyone loves roses.

I would love to be able to work and play in my garden all day. Unfortunately that is not going to happen. I love my job but work is stressful and I am not sure my job is very secure. Midwives have been marginalized all over the country, and my small corner of the world is no exception. Women do not have a choice who attends their birth because physicians and administrators do not see the value of our presence. I hope the Obama administration is seriously looking at nurses – specifically advanced practice nurses like midwives and nurse practitioners – as a big part of the solution to the failing health care system in this country. I know he talks about nurses and nurse practitioners, but will we be big players in the reform? The AMA has a big financially back voice and they see us as competition and a threat to their salaries. CNMs and NPs keep people healthy and out of the hospital with preventative health care, we are more cost effective because we do less invasive and unnecessary labs/tests/procedures, and we consistently receive good “scores” in patient satisfaction. I am just baffled as to why administrators of health care systems choose not to see this.

Enough with the rant, but I will come back to it.

Here is a cute story. I was seeing a woman for her six week postpartum visit and she was there with her baby and her three year old, who came to most of her prenatal visits and was very involved in the visits (I like to have the siblings help me listen to the baby). When I was finished with the exam and his mother sat up, he asked if I was all done. I said yes. He then said “You didn’t listen to the heart beat.” 

“It is worth noting that the primary cause of workplace burnout is not the amount of time working, but whether the work you did can make a difference.” Penelope Trunk

Peace

Cynthia

PS Please visit my store www.nightingalefibers.com or my etsy site www.nightingalefibers.etsy.com      Thank you

Beauty

Well, it has been a long time…………..

Life certainly has a way of getting in the way. I will not bore you with what has been going on with me the past few months, but I have done a lot of knitting and spinning and dying.

My main knitting project right now is my February Ladies Sweater. I actually started this in February but have since frogged it and started over because the first one was going to be too small. I am almost finished with the body so I feel good about it. Here is a pic:

 

I am very happy with the way it is coming out.

As those of you who live in New England know, we have had a very wet and rainy summer so far (this weekend is predicted to be sunny). Last week I was in my kitchen on the phone and saw this out the window:

Since it was raining hard, I was not sure what it was. I stood in my kitchen door to take these pictures.

A Luna Moth. Beautiful.

And while I was at it, I snapped this picture

“Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It’s not a day when you lounge around doing nothing: it’s when you had everything to do, and you did it.” Margaret Thatcher

Peace

Cynthia

I am a little frustrated. I was knitting my February Ladies Sweater on my KnitPicks Options needles when a cord come apart at the join, not where it screws in but where the plastic attaches to the metal. I changed the cord and after a while it happened again. This is so disconcerting because then I have to pick up the stitches that fell off the cord. In lace, for me, that is not easy. I then switched to the only other size 8 circular I had which was wooden. Not a good idea – dull tip. Soooooo. I stopped and bought a size 8 AddiTurbo 40 inch. I am much happier now.

Here is something that happened to me while I was attending a woman in labor. This woman came in in active labor, 8 cm, with her first baby. She was from Sudan, although has lived in this country for a number of years and had a good command of the English language. Her labor progress fast and she was soon pushing. She only pushed a total of 1 hour, but when she was just about crowning, she said “I can’t push anymore, I want the surgery.” THE SURGERY!!!!!!!!!

That says a lot for our culture. And the fact that the C/S rate in this country is pushing 40%. Shameful.

By the way. A few minutes later she push out her howling son.

“Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” Mother Teresa

Peace

Cynthia

UFO to Finished projects

I decided to make a few changes in how this blog looks. Just one column. The side column with finished projects, links and such seemed like a waste of time to keep it up, I will keep my projects current on my Ravelry page (if I can get my Flicker to work). I am also going to try to post a little more often. Instead of waiting until I have a lot to say, I will post smaller bits.

I finished the Swallowtail Shawl , Nupps and all.  It is beautiful. It really bloomed when I blocked it. It did not soften up as much as I had hoped, but I do like it. Here is a picture:

 

I have actually been quite productive the past few weeks. I also finished the Laguna Blouse (it even fits) and started a February Ladies Sweater. I am using  Elsebeth Lavold’s Classic AL,  an Alpaca Merino blend, colorway is Beechwood.

David and I just returned from Texas again. We were there only a week this time, and specifically went to attend Texolan, an alpaca show in Fort Worth. It was Peeka Ranch’s first show. We took two alpacas, David showed them both. Aries got a third place and Aquarius got a Sixth. Interestingly, Aquarius got a blue ribbon for her fleece.

One of the vendors at the show was Helen Hamann. She is the author of Andean Inspired Knits , a beautiful book with “a collection of patterns inspired by pre-Columbian textiles from the culturally-rich Andes in South America”.  Several of the patterns are knit with Classic Alpaca by The Alpaca Yarn Company. They are colorful, some look challenging but others look like they would be a fun knit. She uses embroidery in some of her designs to add the color and texture. She is a delightful woman, very animated when discussing her designs. She had beautiful garments for sale, her designs knit by knitters in Peru.  I bought a couple of balls of her alpaca yarn to see if it is something I want to carry in my store.

Here are a couple of pictures from Peeka Ranch:

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience..” Eleanor Roosevelt.

Peace

Cynthia

Reflection

I am working on the Swallowtail Shawl (which really isn’t a shawl – more like a scarf). I was going along nicely when I hit the nupps…………….. It took me awhile to get over the purl 5 issue and now I think I am going along fine. I can no longer carry it with me because I need to pay attention to each row.

I finally blocked and added the fringe to my Montego Bay scarf. Here is a picture (it is hard to take a picture of a long scarf):

 

 I also made another Fidget. My friend, Debbie, liked the one I made but wanted it in black. She also loved the alpaca buttons, which I harvested from mine to put on hers.

 

I thought I would look at my “resolutions” for 2008 and see where I stand. As I said in that post, I usually do not make resolutions but I did anyway.

1. David and I will probably buy a couple of Alpacas this year. We own a 1/3 share of a male but want to get 1 or 2 females. Our ultimate goal is to have a farm of our own, but that probably will not happen this year with the housing market what it is (we could buy something but then not sell out current house). So we will board (agist) on my friends farm. We actually sold our share of Midas. It was purely a business decision. We still hope to buy a piece of property so we can raise our own. We will have to see what happens to the economy.
2. Learn to knit a moebius. Did not do.
3. Try my hand at dying. This I did do. And love it. I dyed alpaca yarns. I want to continue this. I also took the class with Lynne Vogel last sumemr and learned a lot.
4. Spin more. This did not really happen. I have spun more since January 1st though, so maybe 2009 will be the year I actually spin more.
5. I would love to get two Angora Rabbits. This kind of goes along with number one.
6. Knit a cabled project bigger than a hat. Nope. If you look at my previous post, I remembered saying I would knit a bigger lace project, which I am doing. Cables – no.
7. Open an Etsy shop to sell alpaca roving and yarn. I did this AND opened an online store (I guess you call it a dot com). Jury is still out on success of both of these.
8. Submit one design to a publishing source. Nope
9. Have a more successful vegetable garden this summer Nope – there was so much to do last summer, and I ended up working extra to cover maternity leaves and vacations – excuses, excuses, excuses.
10. Accept and live with the major changes in my current job (I will post about this in the near future). I guess yes. I am not happy with the changes in my current job but I am going to work every day. I still do want to post about this, the bitterness is less so now is probably the time.

So what did I learn? I think having goals is important, but maybe more attainable ones. I am not going to make any “resolutions’ this year except for one: I want to find happiness and joy in every day. It may be a small thing but I will find it.

Today the joy I found was hugging a 6 week old baby.

“Mind is everything; muscles are mere pieces of rubber. All that I am, I am because of my mind.” Paavo Nurmi.

Cynthia

Lace

I have not knit much lace. Except small sections of larger projects. One of my goals in 2008 was to knit a lace project.

My sister and I saw a Swallowtail Lace Shawl by Evelyn Clark at the Knit and Crochet show in Manchester, NH last summer and we both thought it was beautiful and we wanted to knit it. I finally started mine in November. It was the project I decided to take on my recent trip to Texas.

When I left, I had just started the Budding Lace Repeat. I spent the whole travel day knitting and tinking! My SIL could not understand why I would do something that was so frustrating. I could not understand why I could not get it right.

Throughout the 2 weeks in Texas, I knit mostly on other projects I had brought with me, but a few times I took out the shawl. There were two things I realized. I could not knit lace and talk to anyone and I was not “reading” my knitting. Once I realized the second point, and really looked at the knitting, I was able to knit without error (most of the time). And now I am one repeat away from finishing the center section of the shawl, and I can talk and knit at the same time. I am not sure what will happen when I move to the next pattern, but I feel ready. I think I will knit from the charts to get a better idea of the pattern as it unfolds.

The shawl is pretty. I am using Kauni - a wool with long color repeats. The shawl is going to be fairly small (27″ X 54″), but I am afraid to deviate from the pattern by adding more repeats of the main section because I am afraid I will not have enough yarn. The yarn is a little rough feeling, I hope it softens up when I wash it. And I could not find the center end so I am unwinding from the outside, which makes it awkward.

Here are a few pictures:

I am pleased with my progress so far. I’ll keep posting about how it is coming along.

“Good instincts usually tell you what to do long before your head has figured it out.” Michael Burke

Cynthia

A Christmas Story

Christmas morning at our house when I was growing up went like this:

We could not wake Mom and Dad up too early, so my oldest brother went down to the living room to get the stockings. He would come back with reports of what he saw. We opened the stockings and ate the nuts and fruit, complained about the coal in the toe of the stocking and opened the small gifts.

At about 7 or 8 ( I can’t remember what the appropriate time was), Mom and Dad got up and we were allowed to go downstairs. We opened gifts and then ate a big breakfast.

This particular Christmas morning, we opened gifts as usual and when Mom opened her gift from Dad it was a box of Fanny Farmer Chocolates (do any of you remember Fanny Farmer?). When she announced it was time to eat breakfast, we all protested. We told he we wanted chocolates. She said no, but we insisted (just one chocolate then we’ll eat breakfast, we promise), so finally she took off the Fanny Farmer Chocolate wrapper and opened the box. In the center of the chocolates, a few chocolates had been removed and a small box was in their place. My Dad had bought her a new ring and brought it to the candy store to have it placed in the box of chocolates, then the clerk wrapped the box as usual.

My Mom still has that ring.