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