Ariadne's Legacy

Just Keeping This Blog Alive

2009-01-17T07:50:00.000-05:00

Just posting so I can keep this link: If you want the rest of the blog, go to www.ariadneslegacy.wordpress.com.

Moving Notice

2008-10-19T07:51:00.001-04:00

Click here to go to my new blog site.

Out of My Mind, Back in 5 Minutes . . . Or 2 Months

2008-10-13T18:25:00.034-04:00

I've definitely got some catching up to do. The start of the school year has been crazy. Too many students, new building, too many students, merging three faculties, too many students. I love the age group I am working with, just think the schedule is a killer. Today my assistant took a day off and I had to deal with 180 students on my own. Enough to make me want to skip blogging again, but fortunately my sister made me promise to update it . . .

At least the books are on the shelves.

Photo taken in a rare but mercifully student-free moment.

I was off to see the Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting exhibit at the Indiana State Museum when last we spoke. I really did go:

It was pretty cool. I think my 3 muggle friends even enjoyed it. As always, click for bigger images.

Muggle friend Lacy just had her baby Saturday. A healthy girl -- already showered in handknits.

I've been working on my handspun sweater.

I think it's going to be one of those hovering in the background projects for a while.

A big storm went through a few weeks ago.

Neighbor's tree, my yard.

I scored some books at the local library's discard sale for 10 cents each.

A Barbara Walker stitch dictionary, a Kaffe Fassett, Vogue knits, and a traditional Fair Isle book, among others.

Tis the season for stealth knitting. The holidays are fast approaching and I'm busy. I have finished my grandmother's Christmas socks (perfectly safe shown here, as my 88 year old grandparents hate computers and to my knowledge have never even been on the Internet).

The ball band from the yarn fits perfectly, a great way of keeping the washing info together with the socks.

Coming Soon . . .

2008-10-12T20:30:00.001-04:00

An actual, fer sure blog post. Yup. Just as soon as I can retrieve the replacement battery for the camera from my desk at work and download some pix. I promise.

What I Have and Haven't Done

2008-07-31T10:00:00.013-04:00

I did work most of the summer trying to get the new library up and running at school (kids start Aug. 13).

I didn't blog for most of the month (I think there's a correlation there).

I did get a chunk of the "Cotton Candy" yarn spun.

I didn't meet my Tour de Fleece goal.

I did annoy Lady Jane by being so busy (which means less play time for her).

I didn't find the mini-clothespins to complete this baby room decoration for a friend of mine.

I did (almost -- do buttons count?) finish this sweater for her upcoming baby, since baby's mommy and daddy are big football fans.

I didn't take a picture at the baby shower I went to in Chicago this past weekend.

I did visit a yarn store while there and scored some neat alpaca/silk laceweight, which I have plans for already.

Now I must be off -- her royal highness needs more cat food, and I have to go to the library before joining some friends for the Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting exhibit.

Mostly Books (a.ka. the Attack of the Parenthesis)

2008-07-07T17:38:00.013-04:00

Last year on this date I arrived in beautiful Cape Breton. Sigh. I'd love to take another road trip, but it doesn't look like it's on the agenda this summer.

However, for those of you who like to browse here for book suggestions [Laura :-) ] here's a "few" I've read lately.

Several in the Daisy Dalrymple 1920s mystery series by Carola Dunn: Damsel in Distress, Dead in the Water, the Winter Garden Mystery
Halsey's Typhoon: The True Story of a Fighting Admiral, an Epic Storm, and an Untold Rescue by Bob Drury & Tom Clavin -- the story of a 1944 typhoon that struck the Pacific Fleet during WWII. Not my usual type of read (as much as I like history, World War II is not one of my favorites and the book had some harrowing passages) but it was on audio at the public library so I gave it a try. Coincindentally, John McCain's grandfather featured prominently.
The Tomb of Zeus by Barbara Cleverly -- another 1920s mystery, set at an archaeological dig on Crete
Pushing Up Daisies by Rosemary Harris -- landscaper Paula Holliday stumbles upon body in the course of her work. I really liked her interaction with the cops, especially "MOM," Sgt. Mike O'Malley. Unfortunately this seems the first in the series and I don't think any others are out yet.
Barometer Rising by Hugh MacLennan -- a novel set at the time of the Halifax explosion in 1917. I picked it up last year on my trip (in Halifax, of course).
Several children's books: The Court of the Stone Children by Eleanor Cameron, Magyk and Flyte by Angie Sage (my oldest niece is two books ahead of me on this series), Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little by Peggy Gifford (my younger niece would like this; it's a hoot), and The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander. That last one I'd read when I was young and thought I'd reread it since I bought a copy for the new library.
I also got on a fantasy kick and read or listened to several Tamora Pierce books: Wild Magic, Wolf Speaker, The Circle of Magic Quartet, Trickster's Choice.
I listened to A Distant Mirror: the Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara Tuchman while I did a lot of my quilt work -- kind of a downer, what with the plague, wars, exploitation of peasants, etc. And not being able to see all that French written out (I'm such a visual person) drove me crazy. But it was very informative.
A Very Dangerous Woman: Martha Wright and Women's Rights by Sherry H. Penny and James D. Livingston -- an interesting biography picked up at Women's Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, NY, last summer.

I've started exercising again. I figure if Dara Torres can make the Olympics at 41, I can get into shape (although, round is already a shape). Note to self: taking the iPod to the gym does no good if you leave the earbuds in the car.

Tour de Niece, Tour de Fleece

2008-07-06T14:37:00.034-04:00

So my nieces were staying with Grandma and Grandpa this past week, prompting a visit to the Indianapolis Children's Museum, one of the coolest places in town (whether you're a kid or not).

There's the 1917 carousel that I rode as a kid.

Science Works, where you can get wet.

A race car where you can pretend to be the next Danica Patrick (or Sarah Fisher).

A really cool climbing wall which Niece the Younger termed "Mt. Everest."

And my favorite, Dale Chihuly's Fireworks of Glass.

You can go to the lower level beneath the sculpture and look up at a "kaleidescope."

So now the nieces are back in Iowa and Aunt Ariadne is on to the Tour de Fleece.

My goal is to finish spinning this bag of wool I bought back in April. It is a wonderful color (close in the second picture, although it's almost impossible to get an accurate color with my camera). But it is very course and so doesn't draft extremely easily and "wants" to be spun thinly, so it's taking a while. If I spin about an hour a day surely I'll have it done by July 27?

Boxes of Books

2008-06-29T18:32:00.012-04:00

Well, I'm into the new library and during the last week I've unpacked and checked in 80 boxes of new books.

I've still got the processing to do on these, plus the boxes of books being transferred from other schools. By the time I unpacked the 80th box, I was actually tired of handling books, something that is very rare for me.

Return to work has brought my quilting to a screeching halt. However, before the books came in, I had a sort of assembly line thing going.

I set up the squares, aligned and ready to go.

Yes, my machine is a ca. 1970 Singer Touch and Sew Model 648. It was my mum's when I was a kid and therefore the one I learned to sew on. I like its simplicity and durability.

Anyway, I next sew two squares together, over and over, without stopping to cut the threads, which would slow me way down.

After I have a string of these, I cut and trim the threads.

Pressing the double squares open, I get these . . .

Which I then join to get these four-square blocks.

I did get all the four-square blocks finished, now I "just" have to sew them together to make the quilt top, baste the sandwich of top, batting, and backing, and finally quilt and bind it.

This will probably wait a while, though. The quilting seems like a "big project" which requires chunks of time and dragging out the sewing machine. On the other hand, my knitting is a pick-up-and-go-anytime type of thing, so I will probably be doing more of that until I get another chunk of time. (The first quilt I made took 10 years of pulling out and putting away before I finished it.)

What I've Been Up to Since May 10

2008-06-09T15:40:00.022-04:00

No, the mess in the office didn't bury me, it just felt like it. May is always a crazy busy time in a school. This year was added the fact that I am moving books and opening a new library in another building. So we had to be packed and ready to leave a day or two after school was out. Boxes of books -- one reason I had not planned to move for quite a while after buying a house. Well, I'm not moving house and I'm still packing books!

I finished spinning the Blue Faced Leicester and with it added to the alpaca I'd spun I think I have enough for a sweater. I've started on it; pictures when I've made some headway.

I finished a lace table topper for my assistant who retired at the end of May. Here it is blocking.

I dyed some wool -- the picture's fuzzy but the color's pretty true.

And in an unusal (for me) departure into other realms of textile arts, I've been working towards quilting. More on that soon.

We've also been dodging tornadoes, storms, and floods for the last two weeks. There's another one rolling in now, wouldn't you know.

Why I Haven't Posted Much Lately

2008-05-10T08:50:00.002-04:00

Ode to the Yarn Harlot*

2008-04-30T06:32:00.002-04:00

*Complete doggerel produced by theta brain waves upon waking this morning.

On yesterday's date
The Harlot came to our wonderful state (Indy's in the middle)
But at Bazbeaux we stopped and ate (yum)
So my line ticket did not rate
And today there's too much on my plate
So I couldn't stay too late
I didn't meet her -- that I hate
But Steph was absolutely great
The true tale of Calgary she did relate
Her visit was worth the wait!

We totally freaked out the muggles. Scott, the bookstore guy, took photos to prove to his friends that his job was scarier than theirs. Stephanie spoke for about an hour and a half on muggles, knitting, brain research, and life. And that sentence in no way conveys the hilarious and complete and utter fun of the evening.

Fibery Goodness

2008-04-28T20:52:00.013-04:00

Just a quick posting before I collapse on the couch after a 13 hour work day.

A couple of weeks ago I went to the local "Fiber Event." One of my male co-workers calls it the "Lint Event" which at least has the felicity of rhyming.

There were lots of sheeps.

My muggle friend Lacy really wants an alpaca.

Lacy had never been to a fiber show before and found it amusing that things were sold by the ounce and there were lots of needles.

I bought a bag of this yummy looking wool.

It spins up into singles that look like this.

Felting Alert!

Before:

After:

Finally, Lacy, who's an art teacher, found this in the art room and wants me to set it up. Think I need another fiber addiction?

The Answers

2008-04-15T18:43:00.005-04:00

The answers to my movie quote quiz:

Of couse he had a gun. This is Texas! Everybody has a gun. My florist has a gun! -- Miss Congeniality
This is my corn. You people are guests in my corn. – Field of Dreams
As for his mum, she appeared to be clinically insane, and wearing some kind of yeti costume. Stumped you! – About a Boy, the only movie in which I actually liked Hugh Grant, which is funny since his character is not very likeable.
It's not right for a woman to read. Soon she starts getting ideas, and thinking . . . Another stumper. This is Gaston speaking in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.
Mental that one, I'm telling you. – Jen was right, this is Ron in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (referring to Hermione).
Do you not get it, lads? The Irish are the blacks of Europe. And Dubliners are the blacks of Ireland. And the Northside Dubliners are the blacks of Dublin. So say it once, say it loud: I'm black and I'm proud! – The Commitments
I will live in Montana. And I will marry a round American woman and raise rabbits, and she will cook them for me. And I will have a pickup truck . . . maybe even a recreational vehicle. -- The Hunt for Red October
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. – The Princess Bride. The trouble with this one is picking one quote out of the many memorable ones.
Come and see the violence inherent in the system. Help! Help! I'm being repressed! -- Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Wendy says she has this movie memorized; check out her career plans regarding it in today’s blog entry.
It's like gum in your hair. It comes out eventually. – The Matchmaker, a little gem set in Ireland. The character is referring to love; the tagline for this movie is "a romantic comedy for the unromantic."

And, since I haven't any other pics to post today, here's a gratuitous kitty photo.

Movie Quotes

2008-03-31T17:20:00.004-04:00

Wendy recently did a movie quote meme on her site. I liked it, even though I didn't guess any of her movies. Like her, I'm not a big fan of memes, since usually it's all about me, me, me, but this one is not so much like that. So . . . here's my version of the rules:

1. Pick 10 of your favorite movies quotes.
2. Post them on your blog for everyone to guess.
3. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie.
4. Looking them up is cheating, please don’t.

If you want to guess, leave a comment by clicking on the comments link at the bottom of the day's entry. If you are hesitant to comment because you don't belong to Blogger, don't be. Just comment as "anonymous" and you can add your name at the end of your comment (or not if you prefer).

My quotes are not quite as obscure as Wendy's (I hope). Anyway, they're not from as highbrow/old movies. Composing my list gave me a good chuckle. I hope you enjoy it too.

Of couse he had a gun. This is Texas! Everybody has a gun. My florist has a gun!
This is my corn. You people are guests in my corn.
As for his mum, she appeared to be clinically insane, and wearing some kind of yeti costume.
It's not right for a woman to read. Soon she starts getting ideas, and thinking . . .
Mental that one, I'm telling you.
Do you not get it, lads? The Irish are the blacks of Europe. And Dubliners are the blacks of Ireland. And the Northside Dubliners are the blacks of Dublin. So say it once, say it loud: I'm black and I'm proud.
I will live in Montana. And I will marry a round American woman and raise rabbits, and she will cook them for me. And I will have a pickup truck . . . maybe even a recreational vehicle.
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Come and see the violence inherent in the system. Help! Help! I'm being repressed!
It's like gum in your hair. It comes out eventually.

There are other quotes I like, but I chose not to use. Some are too well known ("Here's looking at you, kid"). Some reveal the movie in the quote (Ben Stein's "Bueller? Bueller?"). And some date my prime movie watching days a little too much ("Wax on, wax off.")

If you are interested, AFI has a list of top 100 Movie Quotes. You have to register, but not join, to access the full list.

Finished Object, Finished Books, Finished 2nd Graders

2008-03-29T21:58:00.018-04:00

A Big Finished Object

The Lacy Prairie Shawl from Cheryl Oberle's Folk Shawls. I'd been working on it for over a year, maybe two. I'd work on it a bit, then put it away for other projects.

Unblocked.

Close-up.

Modeled.

Leftover yarn. Nothing like cutting it a bit close. It's done in Cascade 220 in the "Tahiti" colorway.

Books I've finished in March

The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough -- a history, rather gruesome at times, but fascinating
The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers -- a turn of the (last) century thriller that is considered the first spy novel in English. Set in the Frisian Islands in the time leading up to WWI. A few old fashioned passages, but really a rip roaring read. Interesting factoid: the author was later killed in the Irish Civil War.
The Bloody Tower by Carola Dunn -- Former aristocrat and policeman's wife Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher solves a murder at the Tower of London in the 1920s. Not rip-roaring, more comfortable, but I love the setting.
Shark Island by Joan Druett -- More in the Wiki Coffin nautical mystery series
The Bounty by Caroline Alexander -- a detailed history of the mutiny and its aftermath
Dark Tort by Diane Mott Davidson -- another Goldy Bear catering mystery
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick -- this one is hard to categorize. It is the most recent Caldecott medal book, but it is 500+ pages. However, it's a quick read as some of the action takes place in the illustrations and in movie stills. It's not a comic book, but might appeal to young comic book readers.
The Unfinished Clue by Georgette Heyer -- another 1930s classic British mystery. I like Heyer because she sometimes sneaks in a bit of dry humor.
Murder on the Flying Scotsman by Carola Dunn -- another Daisy Dalrymple mystery

Finished Second Graders

While I was out on medical leave, the second grade heard several versions of Rumpelstiltskin. I brought in my spinning wheel and demonstrated for them. One of our state standards is that they learn concept of a production process for finished goods and I thought this would qualify.

I've never had as rapt an audience in this age level right before spring break! They were fascinated.

They were even interested in the knitting that follows spinning.

Finally, as an aside, does this look like a comfortable way to sleep?

Things It's Good To Know

2008-03-21T16:44:00.032-04:00

First of all, when your doctor is going to do surgery on your eye, he comes into the prep room and writes above the correct eye on your forehead.

Look closely, it says "yes."

This eye surgery doesn't really hurt all that much, but when they say not to touch your eye it sure starts to itch.

When kids send you get well cards, they are often cute, sometimes funny, and always entertaining.

Get well, or we'll send you into space?

The sign on the right says

"Reading Park." The one on the left says

"biogerfee." Creative spelling!

Again with the spelling, but they are only second graders.

When you go back to work after two months off, it's good to be prepared for anything. Including:

Sending a fifth grader back to the teacher for misbehaving during the very first class you see.
Taking a first grader to the counselor because she's crying about family problems.
A second grader left late after school and telling you cheerfully that it's not the first time her mom's been late.
Finding three, count 'em, three library books have been chewed by dogs while you were gone and two were lost in a fire. [I don't think we've lost that many to dogs in the last three years].
Walking into the cafeteria and having a group of kids repeat "It's her!" like you're a movie star, just because they've missed you.
Having a second grader accost you and say "You know that book I checked out two days ago?"
Wanting to reply to the second grader, "No, my ESP is apparently not working."
Many, many hugs from students and staff.
A great welcome-back banner signed by many, many students and staff.

And finally, be prepared for unexpected gifts.

This card is supposed to be an Easter egg.

Inside it says, with exact spelling and punctuation:

"Dear [my name] I am so eggsited your back your freind [student's name]

P.S. happy Ester

P.S.S We all mised you

P.S.S.S. I like Applesauce"

Up next, a big finished object and also finished books.

The best laid schemes o' mice an' men . . .

2008-03-05T15:08:00.004-05:00

. . . Gang aft agley, to quote Robbie Burns. He's basically saying the same thing as Proverbs 16:9, but thousands of years later in that way cool if sometimes unintelligible Scots dialect.

Anyway.

The surgery center and insurance company are arguing about me, so my surgery has been postponed a week.

So, other than frustration, all I have today is this:

Bacteria, for a friend who thought they were cool.

She Likes It! Hey Mikey!

2008-03-04T10:43:00.020-05:00

If you recognize the title (slightly amended) of this post, you so grew up in the 70s.

My sister does like her new hat. It is either "awesome" or "so cool." I forget which she said, but there was definite approval there. Now she is bummed because Salt Lake City is undergoing a warming trend and she can't wear it.

Finished Objects:

Baby Sweater from April 2008 Knit 'N Style, page 70.

Scrambled Eggs Blanket (the color and texture remind me of scrambled eggs).

Finished Books:

Double Shot by Diane Mott Davidson -- a Goldy Bear catering mystery
How Come They Always Had the Battles in the National Parks? by Peter Bales -- a laugh-out-loud history of the US up through the Civil War. The humor is a little crude in places and the author has some definite political opinions, but overall just the thing for history nerds like myself.

Lady Jane has found a new place to perch:

I'll probably be absent from blogland for a few days, since I am having this surgery on Thursday morning. Looks like I'll have a cool scar and a black eye for a while.

Books, Books, Books

2008-02-28T19:40:00.002-05:00

Along with knitting I've been getting a lot of reading done lately (sometimes at the same time):

Finished Reluctant Genius and The Proud Tower.
The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers -- Classic thirties British mystery featuring Lord Peter Wimsey.
Winston Churchill by John Keegan (audio) -- Really only touched the surface, maybe I'll read more on him later. I don't think he was necessarily a nice guy, but definitely an interesting one.
James Herriot's Cat Stories (audio) -- Delightful stories by . . . James Herriot, about . . . wait for it . . . cats.
The Far Traveler by Nancy Marie Brown -- A "biography" of a legendary Viking woman, more or less a retelling of some sagas and an analysis of Viking life. Interesting section on spinning. Apparently wool cloth was the standard of trade for a time in the Viking world.
In the Shadow of the Glacier by Vicki Delany -- A Canadian mystery set in B.C. The protagonist is a policewoman with aging hippie parents.
A Watery Grave by Joan Druett -- A half Maori, half American sailor with the United States Exploring Expedition in 1838 solves a murder while on the ocean. Who says all mysteries are the same?
I'm currently listening to Double Shot by Diane Mott Davidson

Went to the immunologist/allergist today. Blood drawn, tests in the works. The best news is that I'm not allergic to my beloved kitty, although mold and dust mites have it in for me.

Added note: I just discovered my "beloved kitty" on the top of my dresser. After four years of life with me she's suddenly become attracted to high places. Either that or she was extremely stealthy about it before. She was on top of the entertainment stand interfering with the rabbit ears antenna earlier. Obviously she doesn't know what a narrow escape she's had with my visit to the allergist.

We Now Return You to Your Regularly Scheduled Blog

2008-02-22T14:59:00.036-05:00

Sorry for the long absence -- I wound up in the hospital again a couple of weeks ago. I refuse to let this turn into a long boring list of the gory details of my health, so I will just say that I'm to see an immunologist, be on medical leave through March 12, and have upcoming surgery to fix a blocked tear duct.

The up side of long illness is lots of knitting and reading time when you don't feel energetic enough to do anything else.

Mystery Object Revealed

Step One

Step Two

Step Three

Finished! Yep, it's a pom-pom maker.

I've finally caught up (mostly) on photographing knitting projects I've finished in the last couple of months.

A whole lot of cotton dishcloths. When you're too tired to think, these are great projects. Ann and Kay would be so proud.

Charity knitting. The hats were for my sister, but gauge went horribly wrong. I call the left one "Darth Vader" (imagine it in black)though it's here.

More charity knitting. Staying at my parents' after getting out of the hospital I ran out of yarn!! My mom produced some green 70's acrylic originally intended for an afghan. The square is for Warm Up America. It may be an unnatural green, but it's still warm.

Wool bed socks (for moi).

We have hat day every year at school and the only hat I had was a baseball cap that gave me hat head and made me hot. I wanted something looser but dramatic, so I used up a bunch of old acrylic on this.

My sister has about 3 hats I've made for her, but says they all don't cover her ears adequately. So, I have finally come up with this. It's a cross between the Blue Hills cap and a traditional Peruvian chullo. Note the pom pom on top, specifically per her request.

Somebody was really clingy and attention seeking after I got home from the hospital! That doesn't stop her from snatching my seat for a nap in the sun.

Conference, Day 2

2008-01-26T09:44:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was the second day of the ICE Conference.

But first, my dad made this for me. Anyone want to guess what this is?

Mystery object.

The conference was pretty interesting this year. I went to two sessions with David Pogue, the NY Times technology critic. He was entertaining and informative.

And I got some artsy photos of downtown Indy:

I liked the lines in this shot.

Reflections.

Old and new: the statehouse and the Simon building.

State capitol building.

Finally, two days of meetings and workshops allowed me to finish the eyelash scarf in record time. This despite the fellow educator who sat down beside me and said (trying to be funny) "Hey, you can't sew in here." My reply: "I'm not."

Sorry for the crummy lighting; the sun is hiding today.

Loud, Cold, and Not My Favorite Yarn

2008-01-24T16:11:00.000-05:00

Loud
So, for Christmas I got a dock/stereo system for my iPod. Thank you, Uncle Alan! I love it; it's great for listening to tunes and audiobooks without the ear buds. However . . .

I was away in dreamland the other night when I was awakened about 11:30 by a loud female British voice from the living room. Somehow the thing had turned itself on and picked up in the middle of my audiobook.

The cat was on the bed with me, so I know she didn't touch it.

Spooky.

Cold
Today and tomorrow, I'm attending the I.C.E. conference at the Convention Center in Indy. I went to a really interesting workshop on using iPods (for the classroom, not just for fun).

ICE, ICE, baby.

This conference is appropriately named. I go to I.C.E. almost every year and almost every year it is freezing. Today was no exception: 2F (-16.6 C) for a low.
Fortunately there are "gerbil tubes" (skyways) connecting things.

Not my favorite yarn

A friend is paying me to knit a scarf for her aunt. I'm happy to do it, since I like her -- the friend; I don't know the aunt. Even though you can never charge enough for the time you put in to make knitting for pay worthwhile, I consider this more of a favor than a money-making enterprise. Anyway, she already had the yarn for the scarf she wanted and now I know why everyone gripes about using novelty yarns. It's a slick eyelash and boy, is it hard to see the stitches. Fortunately, it's a garter stitch and I'm halfway finished, so it's no big deal, but I don't see myself knitting a lot more of these.
Love the color and the finished effect, though.

At least the sun is out and it's warm inside! And two episodes of Chuck are on tonight (embrace your inner nerd). Couch potato time.

Brrrr

2008-01-22T16:56:00.000-05:00

When I got up Sunday it was 0 degrees F (-17.7 C) with a wind chill of -18 F (-27.7 C). Now I know my Canadian readers won't be too impressed, but that's cold!

So, the perfect day to come home from church and watch the Bruins come within 45 seconds of a shutout. And knit, of course.

Final score: Boston 3, NY 1.

Other fiber fun from the past couple of weeks:

Setting the twist on some spun and plied BFL.

Felt-o-rama!

Sock in progress.

Winter is the time for books. Curl up on the couch with a good one. (Of course, I think summer's great for reading too, and spring and fall . . .)

Current reading: picked it up in Nova Scotia.

Blah Day

2008-01-05T12:31:00.000-05:00

It's one of those gloomy, blah, winter days. And I'm fighting off another round of sniffles and congestion.

No sunshine.

Lady Jane sure knows how to deal with days like this.

On the up side I've some FOs.

Baby hats for upcoming shower (for a girl).

And yesterday I finished spinning one of the Blue Face Leicester singles. One more huge bobbin of single to go, then I can ply.

Brown Blue-Faced goodness.

I'm going to go be a couch potato and knit some more.

"I'm still not sure about this thing!"

Stealth Knitting Revealed

2008-01-04T12:24:00.000-05:00

Well, I started gift knitting over the summer, which was a good thing, given what my autumn turned out to be like. If you are interested in that stuff, you can go to my flickr photoset here and check out what was involved. The photos are completely lacking in creative arrangement, but most are clear and fairly accurate in color representation.

Gift knit bowl (felted).

My co-conspirator in spinning this past summer, Paula, has a son living in Beijing. She recently posted a link to his blog, which includes a very scary video of a Beijing bike ride, and also this post about his cute new humidifier. In the same vein, since my house has been so dry I've been generating sparks each time I touch metal or the cat, behold the penguin:

The vapor comes out his beak.

Lady Jane: "I'm not going near that!"

Well, there's this spinning wheel in my living room I haven't touched in months; I hope to make use of it today, and so have more fiber photos soon.

New Start

2008-01-03T15:13:00.000-05:00

The least said about the last two months, the better.

They involved several ER visits, two hospital stays, dehydration, infection, blood clot, and general ickyness.

But, I'm better now and on the road to regaining my stamina (and motivation to blog). I go back to work on Monday after two weeks of providentially timed winter break.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Wish I were there . . . the high here yesterday was 14F and overnight the wind chill was below zero.

Well . . .

2007-11-17T08:03:00.000-05:00

Not much to say. I've been persistently ill lately and the doc and I are trying to get to the bottom of it. Tests, ER visits, yuck, blah, blah, blah.

Got some knitting done whilst lying on the couch but it's mostly holiday gifts, so no pix.

Still here, still slogging, back with a more peppy, cheery blog as soon as possible.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOCTOR JENNY!
You're my favorite sister, even if Mom does like you best!

Too Long

2007-10-20T13:25:00.000-04:00

Okay, I can tell it's been too long since I blogged when I go to download pictures from the camera and see that there are still things on there from three weeks ago.

I have been busy!

I went to a Natalie McMaster concert -- fifth row! Brilliant!

I finished spinning my gray mohair. I have stealth plans for this yarn.

I survived Open House at school.

I went to the Feast of the Hunter's Moon in Lafayette.

I am recovering from the sudden attack of a two-day cold (no pictures).

I'm trying not to envy everyone at Rhinebeck.

Today I ventured into the kitchen for more dyeing.

"Before" picture of the gray mohair. I don't really like the gray color.

"Before" picture of the too-bright yellow. I bought it for a project with primary colors that got frogged to turn into something else.

Enter the Kool-Aid.

"After" pictures -- cooling. The red and green look so Christmas-y.

We'll see how they do rinsed, dried and skeined. Stay posted.

What I Learned on Summer Vacation

2007-09-27T08:07:00.000-04:00

Okay, here are the musings on my experience that I promised. Since I'm limited on time, it is in the form of my interim report to the Lilly Endowment. The report is due Sept. 30; nothing like procrastination. The report requires introspection, so if you're not that into discovering aspects of my personal growth feel free to skip it! :-)

The stated purpose of my proposal was to purchase a spinning wheel and fibers necessary to create handspun yarn, as well as participate in spinning workshops in Nova Scotia. I planned to create handspun yarn for a one-of a kind knitted sweater. Upon return to Indiana, I hoped to use my spinning skills to demonstrate for students the process of turning natural resources into finished goods.

Using funds from the grant I purchased a Majacraft Rose spinning wheel. This is a high-quality wheel made in New Zealand and one that is versatile enough to meet a spinner’s needs for a lifetime. I planned and carried out my visit to Nova Scotia. This trip included two weeks of workshops at the Spinner’s Loft. While in Nova Scotia I also explored the province’s fiber community with visits to historical sites, sheep farms, and an alpaca farm and fiber mill.

I have yet to set up a demonstration for students. The beginning of the school year is so hectic for all concerned and teachers have not yet reached the point in the social studies curriculum which my demonstration would address. I plan to work with the teachers over the course of the school year to showcase this production process when appropriate. In addition, although I have begun spinning for my planned sweater, producing enough yarn for the project is quite time-consuming. I expect this to be an on-going task which will take most of the school year.

Although I have done most of what I planned with the project, so much of it has been unexpected. Above all, this experience offered me more than I expected. I learned so much more than just how to spin, I was offered more opportunities than I anticipated, and I was changed more than I foresaw.

Learning to spin was a challenge, in no small part because I had to step outside of my usual learning styles. I am very much a visual learner. I process things best by reading (no surprise in a librarian). I even learned to knit by teaching myself from a book. I prepared extensively for my trip by researching the area I was to visit. It became a joke among Leslie (the teacher) and Paula (my fellow student) during the workshops that any place they mentioned I had read about.

During the spinning workshops, however, I was immersed in tactile experiences. Both Leslie and Paula assimilated knowledge by doing, rather than reading or seeing. I was forced to do the same. Although Leslie demonstrated and explained all the steps involved, I could not simply follow directions in order to spin. There was too much information I could not understand until I experienced the work. It required lots of practice, literally feeling my way through the fiber. It was only as I practiced later the next week that I began to see clearly the various parts of the process that had been explained earlier. I began to have a better understanding of students who learn by this method.

The grant also opened doors and created opportunities otherwise unavailable to me. Although the financial support made this experience possible, the credibility factor was important as well. Instead of showing up off the street and asking to see behind the scenes at a historic site or to visit valuable farm animals, explaining that I was on a grant to study the fiber community gave my requests a certain legitimacy. If the Lilly Endowment gave me their money, surely I was trustworthy. In addition, people went out of their way to suggest other contacts I should pursue while in the area. I will add, however, that there was a certain amount of incredulity outside of the fiber community when I explained what I was doing. Generally people found it hard to believe that teachers would be given money “just” to explore areas of interest to themselves. It was yet another example of why this fellowship program is so rare and valued.

Finally, I was surprised at the amount of personal growth I experienced as part of this program. I fully expected to learn the skill of spinning. I did not foresee the amazing jump in self confidence that traveling on my own coupled with learning a new skill would produce. The logistics of being away from home for five weeks required a lot of planning. In addition to fitting all expenses into my budget, travel produced unexpected situations to be met. Whether dealing with the discovery that I had planned a drive of too many hours for one day or that there was no air conditioning in the dormitory during a week of 90 degree temperatures, I was left to my own devices to find solutions. Doing so more or less successfully showed me I can face everyday challenges at work with aplomb as well.

Simply leaving behind the day to day experience of my life, which had fallen into a rut, gave me new perspective on things as well. Every day did not have to fall into a routine. Change was exciting. On the other hand, the return home was comforting too. Although I settled back into my work routine within days, the memory of my experience reminds me that the four walls of my library truly are not the limits of my world.

Based on my new skills, my new confidence, and my new perspective, I hope to share my skills with students, complete the spinning of yarn for a sweater, and perhaps even begin a small Internet-based yarn business in the future. I would also highly recommend the Lilly Endowment Teacher Creativity program to fellow educators.

Stealth Knitting

2007-09-23T06:07:00.001-04:00

Lots of stealth knitting going on now as we come into the pre-holiday knitting season. I'm still spinning but for some reason I'm really motivated to knit right now so I'm taking advantage of that feeling to get a jump on Christmas gifts.

I absolutely love the colors in this mystery object:

A unstealthy (is that a word?) finished object:

Scarf from my handspun Ashford wool top. Modeled by Bear. Bear normally lives in my memories cedar chest, but I thought she would be the perfect model. She's been around since I was in the single digits age-wise (my mom - a very talented seamstress - made her).

I believe the official name for this colorway is "Thunderstorm," but I'm going to call this the "Nova Scotia Summer" scarf. The colors remind me of my trip -- green for the foliage, orange for the sunrise, red for the dirt roads, and of course blue. Blue for the sky and the sea. Since it's all wool and very bulky yarn, it should keep me toasty warm during outdoor duties at school in the Indiana winter.

I have three other finished objects, but they are stealth projects, so no pix.

Lady Jane is not impressed.

Two Weeks?!?!

2007-09-17T20:03:00.000-04:00

It's hard to believe it's been two weeks since I posted.

How to spend two weeks and hardly realize it:

1. Grocery/laundry/post office/clean/vacuum/bank/oil change/bills/work [life].

2. Put together two bookshelves.

3. Grade papers.

4. Spin some more alpaca single.

5. Knit (while reading if possible). Most of my knitting recently has been stealth projects for the upcoming holidays.

6. Begin spinning some merino.

7. Remember to blog!

I'm Still Here

2007-09-03T10:41:00.000-04:00

Yes, I'm still here, in spite of a long silence due to my mom being in the hospital with complications from surgery and a couple of crazy weeks at work.

But the spinning and knitting go on (keeping me sane).

The first thing I've knitted from yarn I spun -- a small scarf from kid mohair. I love the colors blended with the brown.

More of the alpaca, although the bag of fiber left to spin still looks full. I've got about 330 yards of yarn now, so I'm hoping by the time I'm finished to have enough for a sweater. We'll see . . .

A sort of head scarf / wrap thingie a friend of mine found in a Spin-Off magazine and wasn't sure she could knit herself.

I think I look vaguely like a Russian grandmother in it, but Meghan is so elegantly stylish in a Victorian sort of way that I'm sure she can pull it off.

I've also snuck in some reading and audio books. I finished listening to The Island at the Center of the World by Russell Shorto, a rather lengthy but fascinating account of New York City's days as the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam. Recently read in print were Murder in Chinatown by Victoria Thompson (turn of the century NYC mystery), The Squire's Tale by Margaret Frazer (medieval mystery), and Three Bags Full by Leoni Swann, which defies categorization but is sort of mystery solved by sheep.

Labor Day weekend and labor is calling -- house to clean, errands to run, spinning to do! :-)

Quick Stuff

2007-08-20T16:19:00.000-04:00

Not much time today, but a few things I wanted to post.

Shortly after returning from my trip, I completed my socks. Technically this is not my first pair of socks, as I had previously completed a set of toddler's socks in worsted weight. However, this is my first pair made to fit a specific set of feet (mine) and made with sock yarn. They're finished, fit, and look like socks, so wahoo!

I have been somewhat buried in piles of stuff to put away, laundry to do, house to clean, and starting school, but I have managed to get in some spinning and knitting. I have worked on the alpaca and have finished two skeins plus one bobbin of a single. The bag seems never ending, but since it was free and I hope to make a sweater, I am not complaining.

Spent time at the hospital today as my mother was having surgery, and made some progress on the shawl I have been working on for over a year. I'm down to about 30 rows left (it's one of those triangles where each repeat has two more stitches than the last), so I hope to post a FO picture soon.

Must return to the laundry. I should finish seating charts as well, but doing ten today was enough.

First Day of School

2007-08-14T16:59:00.001-04:00

Whew, I made it through the first day.

We only lost two kids getting them home, although I had to walk one down the street to the babysitter.

A second grader showed me his new shoes with fancy air input so his feet don't get stinky.

Another second grader told me he was acting grown up now because he takes pills.

I face the first graders tomorrow.

Back Home Again in Indiana

2007-08-08T08:41:00.001-04:00

I made it back!

5418 miles later

Sunday afternoon (July 29) after church I drove along the Marine Drive to Jeddore. It was foggy, but still beautiful and interesting.

Did I say interesting? Looming through the fog . . . the moose statue in Cow Bay.

Sunday night through Thursday (August 2), I stayed at the Jonah By the Sea B&B and spent the day with Leslie spinning. The B&B is run by Dora and Bill Jonah and I had a quiet, welcoming, and pretty room at the front of the house, with a view of Jeddore Rock. Dora’s breakfasts were amazing, and Dora and Bill were very friendly. Bill even knew of the Indiana Hoosiers basketball team!

One day I walked the mile or so to Leslie’s from the B&B so I could take some pictures of my “commute” along West Jeddore Road.

There's not much you can add about scenery this gorgeous.

This is from the walk back. Past the boat you can see Jeddore Rock at the mouth of Jeddore Harbor.

I’ve gotten everything hauled in from the car, and mostly in piles if not put away. The car needs another oil change and inside-and-out car wash! It’s got Cape Breton mud inside, and miles and miles of interstate bugs and dust on the outside.

The cat followed me around meowing the first afternoon. I guess she missed me! I met friends for lunch yesterday and I'm back to work today (now, that was poor planning on my part, since all I want to do is sleep and spin for a while).

I need to type up a narrative report for the grant foundation, and as I mentioned earlier, I want to muse a little on the whole experience. That will have to wait until at least the weekend though!

Many, many thanks to all who left comments – even if I didn’t get back to you I really appreciated them. I plan to keep the blog going, even if I won’t be having quite as exciting adventures in the days ahead. I also hope to post more of my pictures soon in albums on flickr for those who are gluttons for vacation photos.

Better Late Than Never

2007-08-08T08:29:00.000-04:00

The following was what I intended to post to the blog on Sunday, July 29. Obviously, it didn’t get posted then, so here it is now.

This will probably be one of my last blog entries for a while – maybe until I get home? Tonight I’m headed out to East Jeddore again for four more days of spinning workshops. Then, the plan is to head home starting Friday morning. I have a bunch of thoughts and impressions of what I’ve gained from this trip, but I will post those when I have the chance to sit down and write with some coherence.

Yesterday (Saturday), as I left the dorm parking lot I saw this . . .

. . . followed immediately by this. I had to laugh.

I spent much of the morning at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic on the Halifax waterfront.

There’s a Titanic exhibit (Halifax was where the survivors and dead were brought) and a temporary pirates exhibit, but the most impressive was the exhibit on the Halifax Explosion of 1917.

There was also this incredibly annoying parrot that you could hear screeching all over the museum.

As much as I love FRED, I hate these. They are full of mindless tourists being herded (baaa, baaa) around town and into the harbor (literally). And they’re loud.

Another Promise

2007-08-07T09:52:00.000-04:00

I'm home! I have some retro blogging I promise to do soon, but my computer's still on the fritz. I go back to work tomorrow, so hopefully I can update there and get Jim or Tim the techie men to fix my laptop.

Lots of pictures next update!

Home Soon

2007-07-31T10:00:00.001-04:00

Leslie is letting me use her computer, so I just wanted to let everyone know I'm doing well and will probably not post again until I'm home. I will be spinning today, Wednesday, and Thursday, then leaving Friday with the aim to be home August 6.

Looking forward to seeing my friends and family!

Did I Say Cooler? I Did Say Alpacas!

2007-07-28T14:03:00.001-04:00

Well, yesterday (Friday) was supposed to be cooler. Instead, it was the hottest day yet. 32 C. 90F. Of course I’m relying on the posted forecast here at Howe Hall.

Took my usual stroll downtown.

Down Sackville Street to the harbor. Yes, it really is that steep.

Posted the blog, then took the ferry across the harbor to Dartmouth for the view and the breeze. Dartmouth is Halifax’s working class neighbor and the hometown of Sydney Crosby. If you don’t know who that is, you’re a) not Canadian b) so not into hockey.

Whacking big ship coming into the harbor. Everyone here keeps saying that Halifax harbor is the second best / deepest harbor in the world. They don’t tell you what the first is. New York? Hong Kong? My inner geography nerd must find out.

Halifax skyline from Dartmouth.

World Peace Pavilion on the Dartmouth waterfront.

The World Peace Pavilion is closed. Insert ironic comment here.

McDonald Bridge with ferry from Dartmouth. Wouldn't that be a cool commute -- a ten minute boat ride to work?

Atlantic Seaside Farms

After going to and fro on the ferry, I got in the car for a drive out to Rose Bay, near Lunenburg. I was going to Atlantic Seaside Farms, where they raise Suri Alpacas.

The most direct route to the south shore or anywhere around the Northwest Arm from Dalhousie goes through the hateful Armdale Rotary, which is under major construction.

Oona and Christopher at the farm were extremely generous with their time and fiber. They took time out of a very busy day to show me around and explain alpacas. Although I knew I liked alpaca yarn, that was about it. Christopher gave me so much information that my head was spinning by the time I left. Therefore any mistakes here are mine. There are two kinds of alpaca: Huacaya and Suri.

The brown alpaca here is Huacaya. This is the “wooly” looking, curly-haired type of alpaca most people are used to seeing. Note: Alpacas do not produce wool. Their fiber is actually hair.

These two are Suri. Their hair falls in much straighter locks and is known for its luster. The guy in front has been sheared, but the other one still has his full coat.

Suri alpaca are relatively rare – they make up a very small percentage of the alpaca population. Oona and Christopher have up to 90 alpaca at a time, mostly Suri. They shear the animals, then process the wool at their own facility, The Rumour Mill. When I arrived they were in the process of moving the mill as the old building had too much static electricity. Christopher showed me some fiber at the old mill and explained how he blends Suri and Huacaya hair, along with other fibers. Alpaca also dyes extremely well, although the natural colors are beautiful, ranging from pure white through cream, tan, brown, to jet black. A high quality animal can have its fleece reserved for years; one of the alpaca at the farm has its fleece spoken for through the next eight shearings.

As you can imagine, with all that hair alpacas don’t do well in such extreme heat. I about had heat stroke just looking at them. Oona said they had managed to shear about half of the herd by now, but she was hosing down a group of the others to help them cool off.

It is shearing and breeding season (did I mention they were busy?). Here is a cria (baby) that was born the day before I arrived. Aaaaw. His mama was doing the keep-away-from-my-baby thing. Oona says that alpaca don’t spit as much as llamas, but I wasn’t getting any closer to check.

Christopher showed me some finished alpaca garments. There were sweaters, baby sweaters, and incredible blankets. Alpaca is warm, but it breathes more than wool. It is incredibly soft, which is one reason I want to knit with it. Christopher told me that Marrie Berkelaar at Double Whale Designs in Lunenburg weaves for them and suggested that I stop in and talk to her. So it was off to Lunenburg.

Marrie was very nice and showed me around her shop. She has two looms and she explained how they work. She also showed me her book of patterns; all the varied patterns can be done with combinations of just four harnesses on the loom (the parts that raise and lower the heddles, which hold the warp threads). Marrie has some beautiful work. Even on such a hot day I was tempted by her shawls and coats.

Lighthouse Route

Since my dorm was hot and I wasn’t in a hurry to go anywhere, I took the Lighthouse Route back to Halifax. This is a series of smaller roads that hug the coastline. I had been avoiding it because it is supposed to be packed with tourists at this time of year. I don’t know if it was the heat or what, but it was not that busy. It certainly was breathtaking. I had been avoiding the village of Peggy’s Cove as a tourist trap, but I was really hungry so I stopped there for supper. It really is beautiful, with rocky outcroppings going down to the sea, which shone in that evening light that is so hard to capture.

I ate at the Sou’Wester, which was a standard tourist restaurant, but really wasn’t that crowded. The food was so so, but the atmosphere, view, and service was great. My waiter was this guy with a surfer dude voice who I think found it amusing that I was not the usual stressed tourist family but was happy alone with my book. He said at one point “You look really relaxed!” I said “I really am!” It wasn’t busy, as I said, so he told me to stay and finish my book if I wanted, no one was going to need my table. That guy knows how to get a big tip.

Must spin and head out for the day.

Not Much?

2007-07-27T07:51:00.001-04:00

Warning: Lots of Photos!

Also, it's really hot in this Internet cafe, so I might not mess with fixing Blogger's messed up formating.

After typing up the blog entry to post later, I moved on to spinning.

Howe Hall has the perfect spinning chairs. Think they’d mind if I took one home? Don’t worry Dalhousie people. I will not really take your chair. I’m not about to lug a chair out to my car when I got enough strange looks lugging the spinning wheel in. Did I mention I have to walk through the dining hall each time to get to my part of the dorm?

About ¼ of the wool top prior to spinning.

I love the colors in this. And there's 225 grams of it, so I think I might use it for my "final project" if the yarn turns out okay. I'll be spinning on it for a while since there's so much of it.

I took my daily stroll down (literally) Coburg Road with all the other commuters and Dal students wearing iPods. Passed a bunch of Victorian houses and shady trees.

If you cut through the shady (therefore cool) Public Gardens and take Sackville Street past the CBC building, then it’s mostly downhill and shady all the way to Argyle Street where I post the blog and where I ate lunch (lots of restaurants frequented by locals, so not quite so pricy as the tourist places). Remember to hang onto a toonie for the bus ride back to Dal.

After lunch I took FRED up to the Citadel.

Parade ground of the Citadel from the walls.

Citadel signal mast.

Yes, I even found knitting at the Citadel. I think for early Canadian women that knitting was like breathing. Either that or the interpreters really want something to do to keep busy.

Looking toward the mouth of Halifax Harbor from the walls of the Citadel.

George's Island from the walls.

Next, FRED took me to Pier 21, which has been called “Canada’s Ellis Island.” Between 1928 and 1971 more than one million immigrants moved through here. I know that seems less than went through Ellis Island, but remember that Canada has about one tenth the population of the US.

Many English and Eastern European immigrants came through Pier 21. It also saw heavy use during World War II when almost all of the troop ships leaving for Europe left from here. After the war many war brides and then refugees from communist countries arrived.

Pier 21 is basically a big shed or warehouse.

View from Pier 21 (George's Island).

Leaving their ship, immigrants would pass through these doors.

Mock up of the Immigration Department processing area. It was really much larger.

Many immigrants boarded the train for other parts of Canada right from Pier 21.

I was going to take FRED back to Barrington Street to catch the bus back up to Howe Hall (hiking down is one thing, climbing back up is another). But it was around the time of FRED’s last run, so I decided to stroll via the Harbourwalk instead.

Beep beep. I’ve seen a few Smart Cars around. But the most popular car seems to be the new Mustang convertible. I think young Nova Scotians could keep Ford going on their purchases alone.

Figureheads #3-5.

Figureheads #6-8. They’re everywhere. I guess it’s like the cows in Chicago. (It was cows in Chicago, wasn’t it?)

Time for a Break

All this walking and touring gave me very sore feet and was tired. I realized at the Citadel I was starting to think it looked the same as any other historical site. (It doesn’t – the views are spectacular and there are guys in kilts everywhere.) So yesterday (Thursday) I declared a moratorium on sightseeing. No pictures since it was just devoted to relaxing and recovering. I went to a bookstore (a la Barnes and Noble), hung out at the mall, and watched the newest Harry Potter movie. After supper I sat outside in a purple (they’re not afraid of violent purple here in Nova Scotia) Adirondack chair and knitted for a while before returning to the dorm and reading in bed. Today (Friday) is supposed to be cooler and it might even rain tomorrow. Whoo-hoo!

The Guidebooks Lied

2007-07-25T11:16:00.000-04:00

According to my guidebook, the average high temperature for July in Halifax is 23 C, or 73 F. So I’m expecting rain, some sun, mostly comfortable temps. Wrong. It’s hot. Yesterday the waitress at lunch told me it was supposed to get up to 30 degrees. I had to tell her I didn’t know what that meant, but that it was hot. Looking at my little cheater card that I now see that 30 C is about 86 F.

Before you send me protests, I am aware of two things:

1. 86 F does not sound that bad to those of you who have been suffering temperatures in the 90s or even 100s. This is true. However, did I mention my dorm room is not very well air-conditioned? And I have no control over the thermostat?
2. Yes, I am aware that the guidebook listed the average temperature, and as a teacher I am aware of the definition of average. However, the title got your attention, didn’t it?

Before I finish whining, the Canadian dollar is now up to 96 cents US. This might be good news for you Canadians (economics is not my strong suit, so if it’s not, I apologize), but for American tourists it’s a bummer.

Moving On
Okay, “waaaaaah” session over. I really do like Halifax. It’s a city, with all the conveniences that entails, but not too big of one. Size-wise the downtown reminds me of Indy a bit, although older and perhaps not as clean (not filthy, but we really do have a clean city). The hills and older buildings remind me a little of Edinburgh, but just a little. Halifax has its own unique charms.

I’m starting to get my days a little mixed up. Is it Monday? Tuesday? Wednesday? I already blogged about Monday’s daytrips, so I’m on to Monday’s spinning and Tuesday’s doings.

Monday night I finished spinning the Dorset, plied it, and skeined it.

Getting better, but as I plied I could see that I was not all that consistent in thickness. Of course, by Monday night I was hot and tired, so I wasn’t in the best state for spinning.

I used my Lazy Kate for plying. This is a box with rods for the bobbins, which allows you to ply directly from the bobbins, instead of winding the yarn into a ball and pulling yarn from both ends.

I had no niddy-noddy or skein winder, so the keyboard tray worked just fine to wind the yarn into a skein.

Tah-dah.

I Love FRED

Did I mention yesterday (Tuesday) was hot? I did laundry in the morning at the dorm, then shopped at the Dalhousie bookstore (clothing, not books!) and walked down to Spring Garden Road, where I caught FRED. FRED is a bus (Free Rides Everywhere Downtown). I love FRED. He’s free and takes you up all the hills you don’t want to hike.

He took me a two blocks from the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, where I had lunch at the Cheapside Café, then wandered the museum for most of the afternoon. No pictures allowed, so you can check out their website if you want. The most interesting part was the Maud Lewis gallery, but the Treasures of Ancient Egypt exhibit wasn’t bad either. My one complaint (I seem to have a lot this post, don’t I?) was that the gift shop didn’t have much in the way of museum catalogues or postcards from the collection. If you don’t allow pictures, shouldn’t there be more of that kind of thing available?

After supper I returned to the dorm to spin. I got started on it earlier in the evening, so I seemed to do better. I spun the Blue Faced Leicester from Gaspereaux Valley Fibres. There was less of it, so it didn’t take very long.

This looks pretty good. I can still see the inconsistencies when I look at it, but I’m a perfectionist and control freak. (I can hear you all thinking, “really?” I can hear the sarcasm. I know you’re out there.)

I finished spinning around seven and decided to go outside to cool off. It was nice outside, so I went over to hang out at the Student Union (knitting) and then wandered around the campus a while.

The designer of Dalhousie’s library obviously subscribes to the same school of design as IU’s. That would be the Let’s Make the Library the Ugliest Building on Campus School of Design.

Most of the other buildings look like this.

Or this.

I have decided to get things done in the dorm room in the mornings, when it’s cool, and spend the evenings elsewhere. Then I can come in around dark and lie under the air conditioning vent, which is conveniently over my bed. So this Wednesday morning I’ve typed up the blog and I’m off to spin before I begin the day. I’ll post later today at the Internet café.

I'm Running Out of Cute Titles

2007-07-23T16:16:00.001-04:00

Yesterday afternoon started out cloudy, but turned very sunny and warm. I went to Gaspereau Valley Fibres just outside of Wolfville (about an hour northwest of Halifax) to stock up on spinning supplies for this week of practice. I met the owner, Brenda, coming from the barn with a basket of fleece to prepare. Inside the wool shop, I was helped by a very nice lady named Jali.

The haul (left to right): Blue Faced Leicester, a bag of dyed wool top, dyed merino (mostly brown but with green, purple and pink bits), and a baby camel/tussah silk blend that scares me just to look at. I’m saving the camel/tussah for the actual workshop next week.

On the way back to Halifax I thought I’d stop at Grand Pre at the National Historic Site, since it was just down the road from Wolfville. This is a site commemorating the Acadian culture and exile. The Acadians (for my American readers) were French settlers living in Nova Scotia after the British took over the area. After decades of living as neutrals, they were rounded up and deported in 1755. Those that survived wound up all over the world, including Louisiana, where the word "‘Cadian" evolved into "Cajun". A few managed to escape the roundup, and some eventually made it back to Nova Scotia from afar. Longfellow wrote a famous poem about it called Evangeline. Although Evangeline is a fictional character, she has come to represent the exile.
I happened to stumble across Acadian Day, with free admission and cultural activities.

Model of the dikes the Acadians used to reclaim coastal swampland.

Acadian dancers.

Memorial chapel and gardens.

Evangeline statue.

Back in Halifax, I checked into the dorm at Dalhousie University. Does this take me back about two decades! Hauling my suitcase and spinning wheel up to the second floor reminded me of my age, however. Also, I had forgotten how empty a dorm room is! I have a double, though, so I’ve already spread out my stuff and settled in for the week, with room to practice my spinning in the evenings.

Lunenburg and Mahone Bay
This morning I drove down the coast to Lunenburg, a town settled by mostly German immigrants. It was a fun place to walk around.

Figurehead #1.

Fishermen's Memorial, Lunenburg.

Psalm 107:23

There are some pillars with blank spaces left for future names.

Figurehead #2.

This one's for the Queen Bee and Princess Sage.

This one's for Lacy.

Then it was on to Mahone Bay for lunch. This is a pretty town with lots of artisans and craftspeople. Not too packed with tourists – at least on a mostly-cloudy Monday. I was surprised to find (gasp) that it had a yarn store. No more Fleece Artist purchases, though.

My favorite Canadian road sign. Although it makes me smile (is it calling all puzzled people?), it means that a visitor information centre is near, which means helpful people, maps, and clean washrooms.

Spinning practice tonight.

Yesterday

2007-07-22T17:12:00.001-04:00

Saturday morning after a breakfast of yummy whole grain pancakes with fresh wild strawberries, it was time for some final pictures.

My production for the week, starting with top left and finishing with bottom right. The white and light green on the bottom are the mohair I had trouble with. The pink and gray combo is the dog hair.My production for the week, starting with top left and finishing with bottom right. The white and light green on the bottom are the mohair I had trouble with. The pink and gray combo is the dog hair.

Paula and I with our week’s worth of spun yarn.

I took Paula to the train station in Halifax, since it is only about 3 blocks from my hotel. We stopped at LK Yarns in the Hydrostone Market first; there were some souvenir yarn purchases, but it was all Fleece Artist and on sale.

Dropped Paula at the train in a downpour, then wandered around Halifax doing some shopping before checking into my hotel. This afternoon (Sunday)I plan to drive to Wolfville to a sheep farm and get some more fiber to practice with this week before returning to Leslie’s for the advanced workship next week. I also hope to post more frequently now that I’m in Halifax for the week.

Thursday and Friday

2007-07-22T17:05:00.000-04:00

Thursday and Friday were cloudy and rainy, so we did a lot of spinning.

Paula at the wheel.

Tuesday morning I had moved to my own wheel from Leslie’s. Here I am plying yarn.

We spun mostly New Zealand wool mixed with some merino or synthetic fibers.

The results of Thursday. Far from perfect, but a definite improvement over Monday. The far right is wool mixed with tiny portions of synthetic, then plied with yellow cotton).

Thursday was Paula’s birthday. A neighbor of Leslie’s brought us fresh scallops for supper right out of Jeddore Harbor that afternoon.

Leslie made Paula a birthday pie – strawberry!

Leslie’s wood burning stove. During the summer she mostly uses the electric one to the right.

Friday it was more spinning practice. And it was mostly harder to spin stuff! Leslie is good about pushing you just as much as you need. For instance, I don’t think I will ever be friends with hand carders, but I’ve been taught to use them in spite of myself, which is a good thing. Although I’ll probably spin mostly from roving (fiber purchased ready to spin), it is always good to know more about how the fiber gets that way and to be able to prepare it if need be.

We spun mohair (some major regression in quality of spinning there), merino wool, and dog hair! Finally, I spun a single of Dorset roving I had purchased at Lismore Farm. I only had time to spin half of it before my back and supper told me it was time to quit for the day. I plan to spin the other half as practice this coming week.

I love the color of the Dorset. It’s brown/black, depending on the light, with bits of gray. I also love the crimp (springy-ness) of it.

More Spinning (Wednesday, July 18)

2007-07-22T16:55:00.001-04:00

Well, some spinning, anyway. This was kind of a play day.

Depending on the type of sheep, wool can have what is called a short staple or long staple. Staple is the length of the individual fibers in the wool (or other types of fibers). Basically, really long or really short staple fiber is harder to spin -- at least for a beginner.

Today I picked (teased out) the wool and Paula turned it into batting on the drum carder. Batting looks like quilt batting and is used instead of rolwags (see Monday) to spin from. We used a longer staple brown wool and a shorter staple white wool.

The drum carder processes more wool more quickly than the hand carders.

The brown wool came out quite nicely I thought, hardly any slubs. The white was a little slubbier, since it had a shorter staple.

After spinning, we took a picnic to the Clam Harbour Beach.

A 30 to 40 minute hike brought us to “the Devil’s Oven,” this rock formation. The waves coming in make a sound like a door slamming (the oven door?).

Feet in the water again. This time no need for a jacket after that rather warm hike.

Relaxing after lunch.

Just about the time we left, the sun went into the clouds and haze began to form over the ocean.

Inukshuk Cove. Okay, that’s probably not its real name, but it’s a cove with an inukshuk.

Back to the house for a nap, dinner, and some plying of the wool spun earlier that day.

Looking a little better each time.

Mist and fog have arrived.

Spinning, Part II (Tuesday, July 17)

2007-07-22T16:48:00.001-04:00

We started with more spinning practice in the morning. When you spin, you wind up with a single ply piece of yarn. This yarn usually is twisted too much to use on its own; if you do, it continues to twist upon itself and you wind up with strangely shaped knitting. Over-twisting is especially a problem for beginner spinners. So you ply two or more single strands together to get yarn. When you spin singles you usually spin in a clockwise direction. When you ply, you usually spin the two strands together in a counter-clockwise direction.

My yarn was still slubby, but I thought I was getting the idea of what I was supposed to do, even if my hands and feet didn’t always translate the idea from my brain. There really is no substitute for practice when it comes to spinning.

Tuesday was the nicest, warmest, sunniest day of my trip so far. Since rain was predicted from Wednesday night through the weekend (plenty of spinning practice time then), we decided to take a break and enjoy the weather. We went to East Chezzetcook to the beach. We took a walk along the shore – mostly rocks, rather than sand.

Spit at Lower East Chezzetcook. (That's a caption, not an imperative sentence).

At the top of a windblown hill, we found an inukshuk.

We sat at the top of the hill for a while.

Paula is quite the rockhound and found a rock shaped like a black sheep.

After East Chezzetcook, we went to Martinique Beach. Although the sun was out, it was chilly enough in the ocean breeze to need a jacket.

Warm jacket, but bare feet in the water.

We got back to the house quite late and had a yummy supper. So far we’ve been served pita bread pizza, multigrain pancakes with strawberries, fresh mussels, salmon salad, and a whole bunch of other good stuff. Leslie is quite a cook! After supper we plied the yarn we had spun in the morning – I felt like there was an itty bitty improvement in my work. Again, spinning takes practice, practice, practice.

A mix of wools, including green dyed wool.

Spinning, Part I (Monday, July 16)

2007-07-22T16:29:00.000-04:00

Spinning is harder than it looks! This week consists of a five day workshop on beginning spinning at The Spinner’s Loft. Leslie Hauck is the instructor and I am sharing the class with a Paula from Ottawa.

Leslie's studio

The view from the studio.

The first morning we started about 9:30 with “oily” wool (not washed) and hand carding. First you pick, or tease, the wool apart using your fingers. Then you use the hand carders to tease out the wool some more and shape it into rolwags (rolls of wool ready to spin). After we had about four rolwags, we started using the drop spindle. You put a “leader” of yarn on the spindle, then you feed the wool from the rolwag into the twist created by the spin and weight of the spindle to make yarn. The hardest part is coordinating your hands so that your left hand controls the rate of twist while your right hand “drafts” (pulls apart) the rolwag in preparation for spinning. Then we started all over by carding washed wool and spinning it on the hand spindle.

Using the drop spindle. One of the hardest things for me is that because of my lack of height I have to stop spinning frequently to wind the yarn.

While we worked with the drop spindles, Leslie gave us some background info about the history of spinning. Spinning wheels evolved from the drop spindle.

The walking wheel turned the spindle on its side and used a wheel to make it rotate, but required the spinner to stand to turn the large wheel and spin the wool.

This type of wheel allows the spinner to sit and turn the wheel with a foot treadle.

Finally we started using the spinning wheels. I discovered my Majacraft Rose was a bit too much of a wheel to begin on. It spun so fast that I was getting too much twist and wound up with a huge mess on the bobbin.

Mess.

So Leslie let me use her wheel to begin.

Trying to get the hang of it on Leslie’s wheel.

After much frustration and practice, I began to get a glimmer of what I was supposed to do. My first bobbin of yarn was very “slubby” or unevenly spun, with big clumps of loose wool and some really skinny yarn. But I was making progress!

Left to right: drop spindled oily wool, drop spindled clean wool, nicely spun yarn (not mine), big mess from my wheel.

My first wheel-spun skein.

Finally, we stopped for the day around 4:30.

Not only am I taking Leslie’s workshop, but I am staying in her B&B. This is not an American style B&B with whirlpool tub, private bathroom, and inn-like setting. This is more like an English or European bed and breakfast, where you get a bed and breakfast in the host’s home. Think quirky knick-knacks, bright colors, real seashell soap dishes, and mostly-organic cooking.

View from my room

My room.

Louie (left) and Gargamel. Gargamel is polydactyl – he has an extra toe on each of his front paws.

Halifax and Beyond

2007-07-15T14:38:00.000-04:00

Saturday I drove from Louisbourg to Halifax. Not much happened on the way. I did get one of those fountain Cokes I’d been missing. However, Canadians seem to have the same relationship with ice in soft drinks that the British do. As in avoid it. I asked for extra ice and still got less than we normally get at home. I find this interesting, since there’s not exactly a shortage of ice in Canada.

I stopped in Stewiacke for a break and gas, and a couple of signs caught my eye.

My favorite.

Then on to Halifax. Barrington Street, one of the main drags is narrow. And crammed with cars and people. Apparently I have a knack for this. The national hurling championship in Dublin, the Tall Ships Challenge in Halifax . . . Fortunately I had a reservation already this time.

Settled into the Halliburton House Hotel, then walked down to the harbor, It was wall to wall people. The sun was out and it was the warmest it’s been since I got here.

One for Jenny (note the flag).

Another boat.

The harbor.

Went to church this morning and now I’m in an Internet café downtown. I’m getting mouse shoulder and the sun has come out, so when I’m done here I’m off to get a cold Coke and wander around downtown a while. I’m leaving for Jeddore this evening for my week-long spinning workshop.

---breaking blogging news: – very cute guy from the Dutch Royal Navy tall ship Urania was just in here; one of the girls at the counter dropped part of her blender as she was chatting to him --- heeheehee----

I may or may not have Internet access at my workshop, so I may be off the radar for a bit. Besides, there are only so many pictures of my oh-so-coordinated self struggling to get the hang of spinning that you’d want to see. On the 21st I hope to be back online, however, so look for me then.

The Fortress

2007-07-15T14:09:00.000-04:00

Warning: Picture-heavy posting.

When I woke up Friday morning I noticed there was no TV in my room. Note that I’d been here since three o’clock yesterday afternoon. It was only when I went to turn on the (non-existent) weather forecast that I realized there wasn’t any TV. I had noticed a shelf of mysteries right away, though, and was halfway through one last night. Okay, so I’m a book nerd. This should shock no one.

Went to the Fortress of Louisbourg today. Spent from 9:30 or so to about 2:30 there. Wore myself out. It’s the 18th century there, you pretty much hoof it everywhere. There’s so much there, and they’ve only restored about 25% of the place. I took a gazillion and a half pictures, so I’ll only share a “few” here. The French may have built the place, but the Irish would have been right at home: it was cloudy, it was sunny, it was windy, it was foggy, it was sunny, it was foggy . . . You get the idea. Indiana weather really is not this changeable, no matter what we say.

It's a fortress; of course there are cannons.

The sundial in the engineer's garden. Not that it would be much use, judging from the weather.

All you non-crafters didn’t think you’d escape without textile pictures, did you? The French didn’t have the necessity the other settlers had of creating their own cloth since Louisbourg was a major shipping center and they just bought it. This lady is making lace, which the women of the middle or upper class did mainly as a hobby and to trim their clothes.

As you can see in the picture above, there can be as many as 35 bobbins used to create the lace; this project has a little less than that. It would take about an hour to create an inch of lace.

Fancy dress

The nuns had a school for girls from the middle classes. Lower class kids usually learned their parents’ trades. Girls were trained in religion, a small bit of math, reading, and in genteel arts such as embroidery . . .

and lace making.

Sheep alert! There were actually quite a bit of farm animals and I suspect this guy would have been used for breeding or meat, rather than his wool, given the easy availability of finished cloth.

House in the village.

This gun was longer than I am tall! Actually, the average height of women then was 5’, so I would have fit in perfectly (men were about 5’10”).

Dancing along the harborfront.

What's a fortress without soldiers lazing about?

The famous Frederic Gate.

The King's Bastion.

Eventually the sun came out more or less for good. After a Jacuzzi bath at the inn to revive my poor feet and back, I drove up to the lighthouse.

This is the road to and from the lighthouse. Note that it is not 30 miles per hour, but kilometers per hour (about 18 mph). Even this is ridiculous, given the nature of the road.

Hooray for four wheel drive!

It does exist!

A view from Lighthouse Point.

Finally, a nice relaxing dinner at the Grubstake and back to my room to type this up.

Lost in a Fog

2007-07-15T14:05:00.000-04:00

Thursday morning I set out for Sydney, the largest town on Cape Breton Island. I was pretty excited – there are a couple of malls there. Now, those who know me know that I’m not exactly a shopaholic. However, I have discovered I am a suburban girl at heart. Although I’ve loved all the places I’ve visited, I am discovering a few things I miss:

Local weather radar
Instant Internet access
Bookstores
Fahrenheit measurement
Drive-thru Cokes
Of course I miss my family and friends. You didn’t think I’d forget you. And mycat.

All minor, of course. Well, except for the bookstores. :-)

Anyway, after driving over Kelly’s Mountain (in the fog) and over the Seal Island bridge (don’t get me started on my bridge phobia), I made it to Sydney. The biggest thing in Sydney, perhaps literally, is the Ceilidh Fiddle. It stands outside the cruise ship pavilion on one of the waterfront areas. This is where the tourist centre is located, and where I got to post my last entries in peace and quiet.

The Big Fiddle.

After posting and wandering a while, I went to the Mayflower Mall. Here, when they say mayflower, they mean the literal flower, not the ship. I ate lunch at the food court (whoa, all the choices!) and browsed a real bookstore with fiction books (not a tourist gift shop with some books). However, I didn’t actually buy any books there. Have you ever noticed the difference between Canadian prices and American ones on a book? Plus, see above for a discussion of taxes. I decided to wait until I got to Halifax and some used bookstores or bigger selections before purchasing.

In more fog, I drove to Louisbourg. There was supposed to be a great view from my room, as I’m right on the harbor. Also, there was supposed to be the second oldest lighthouse in North America in the harbor. However, there was just more fog. Turns out Louisbourg is famous for it. A local lady in a gift shop also gave me a very detailed description of a hurricane they once had. By evening the wind had picked up and between that and walking inside a rain cloud, I have never been so cold in July (yes, even in England).

Thursday night I went to a show at the Louisbourg Playhouse. This was built by Disney over at the Fortress (more on the Fortress Friday) for a movie and donated and moved to town when finished. I can practically spit on it from my room. Not that I would, as I had a very nice experience there. There was a wonderful show called Lyrics and Laughter. Loved it. Six people in a group playing a bunch of different instruments (fiddle featured prominently) and doing comedy skits. Have I mention Cape Bretoners have some incredible musical abilities?

A Bright, Bright, Sunshiny Day

2007-07-15T13:50:00.000-04:00

Wednesday was a brilliant, sunny day, just perfect weather-wise. I grabbed a couple of muffins from Tim Horton’s and ate breakfast at a picnic table on the boardwalk in Baddeck. Not a bad view for breakfast!

Out my washroom window in the morning.

Breakfast on the boardwalk.

Since it was my last day in Baddeck, I decided to take it easy. I hit the tourist shops again and found a t-shirt on sale for $9.99. Although the exchange rate gives Americans about 20% off, the Canadian tax rate is 14%, so there’s really only about a 6% advantage after all. I dropped in at the hardware store to get a basket/bin thing to keep some stuff in and was amused to find the ones I wanted came with NHL logos. Unfortunately, they only had Vancouver and Toronto. I got a Maple Leafs one and told the sales guy too bad they didn’t have Ottawa. This led to a discussion about the inherent wrongness of a California team winning the Stanley Cup this year. Everyone here knows hockey, unlike at home.

I had lunch at the Highwheeler Deli, sitting at an outside table in the sun and taking my time. Then I went up to the Alexander Graham Bell museum. Bell was so much more than just the inventor of the telephone. He always saw himself first and foremost as a teacher of the deaf. He worked with Helen Keller and his mother and wife were both deaf. In addition, he was a prolific inventor, working on tetrahedrons (kites people could ride on), airplanes, and the hydrofoil, among other things.

Tetrahedron kite.

Hydrofoil.

After the museum I wandered down to the pier and took a sail on the Amoeba, a sailboat that is about 64 ft. in length. No, I did not get sea-sick; there was too much wind and open air for that, fortunately. I did get a little sunburned, though. I left my carefully-pack sunscreen at the hotel.

Look Mom, one hand. This was taken by the guy in the Montreal Canadiens hat who kept saying “eh?”

I have to say most of the Canadians I’ve met have been very kind and friendly. Some of the interesting people I’ve met so far:

All the people at Sherbrooke Village, including Evelyn, Heather, Althea, and Meg
Fred Schupbach, from Switzerland, now running a B&B
A couple from Salt Lake City (well, Park City, a suburb) biking the Cabot TrailA couple from Arizona: the wife was into yarn and weaving and the husband into history. He was not all that excited that I kept giving his wife local yarn shop info, but did like the Acadian history book I passed on to him
A trio of older women from Manitoba touring together
A man retired from Eli Lilly and his wife who has an MLS (at the cailidh in Baddeck, of all places)!
Parker, the owner of the Louisbourg Harbour Inn, whose relatives helped rescue the crew of an American sub-chaser when they wrecked in 1943 in the harbor.

Back Roads

2007-07-12T10:13:00.001-04:00

Tuesday morning I drove around a lot. I went up to Lake Ainslie to the weaver's guild and craft school. It's pretty quiet up there. I may have been the only visitor that day. Then I drove to Judique to the Celtic music centre. They had a neat exhibit and I picked up a couple of CDs in the gift shop. The music here is based on Scottish highland tradition, rather than the Irish I am more familiar with, but it is incredible. Then I wandered around a bit, drove up to Inverness and had "lunch" (Mom and Dad's favorite vacation lunch), and eventually wound up back at Baddeck. Driving around is a good way to see things and it's hard to get too lost if you stay on paved roads, since there aren't that many of them except the highways. Tuesday afternoon I did laundry.

I've only been in Canada a week and I think the sound of my vowels is starting to change. Some Canadians really do say "aboat" for "about" and "eh?" [To my Canadian readers, this is not meant negatively-- I'm from Indiana where far too many of us say "warsh" for "wash" and "ruff" for "roof."] In addition, Cape Breton is a real mix of cultures and accents, with the Acadian and Gaelic influences.

Yesterday the weather was wonderful and I had a great, relaxing, fun day, but I haven't uploaded the pictures from the camera yet, so that will have to wait until my next Internet stop.

Monday, Monday

2007-07-12T09:53:00.001-04:00

Monday I went to Iona, a town on an island in the Bras D’Or Lake. To get there you take a three minute ferry ride on a cable ferry. Going over I was the only vehicle, coming back there were five of us, including the Canadian mail vehicle.

At Iona is the Highland Village Museum, chronicling the life of the Scottish settlers that came to Nova Scotia. It is on the Barra Strait and is in an absolutely gorgeous location. It is so beautiful that taking bad photographs is almost impossible. There is a trail you follow that leads you through different houses showing the stages the settlers went through up until the early 20th century. They have an extensive collection of spinning and weaving artifacts, including a carding mill and explanatory video. It was so quiet up on the hills there. Although you see a lot of signs in French and English on the Cheticamp side of Cape Breton, here they have them in Gaelic and English.

The "Black House," a reproduction of what the Scottish settlers would have lived in on the islands of their home country. It has a dirt floor and room for the animals in the winter.

Sheep! These are Soay sheep from Scotland. They are raggedy looking and the wool falls off or you can pull it off with your hands. They were perfect for the highlands and islands, though.

Lupines everywhere; this is one photogenic area!

Loom in the log house that settlers would have built when they first arrived.

Dyed yarn in the log house.

The oldest, most primitive spinning wheel I've seen.

A church building that was floated across the lake to Iona!

Wood frame house (moving up in the world).

Barn (obviously).

The carding mill. This machine would have picked the seeds and stems out of washed wool.

The mill was run originally by water power, then by gasoline engines. Fire hazard, anyone?

A carding machine. Much faster and easier than by hand (see my entry for Sherbrooke Village).

Came back to Baddeck for lunch, wandered around and sat on the boardwalk (on a bench, not the actual boardwalk) for a while, then went back to the hotel and took a well deserved nap. Went to a ceilidh last night. It was amazing. The fiddle player was 19 and could do jigs, reels, and strathspeys like nobody’s business. He brought down the house with his final number. They also had a piano player, step dancers, and a 16-year old Acadian girl who played the fiddle for a bit. Wow. Again, I'm out of superlatives.

Cape Breton, Here I Come!

2007-07-12T09:27:00.000-04:00

Saturday I drove from Sherbrooke to Cape Breton Island. I am staying in a town called Baddeck. Cape Breton is almost divided by an inland sea called Bras D’Or Lake. Baddeck is in the middle of the island on the shore of this Lake, and reminds me a lot of a town I stayed in on Mull in Scotland, called Tobermory. They bays have the same feel, although Tobermory is on a sound, not a lake.

Saturday I wondered around town, checking out the shopping, until I could check into my room. Again, there may have been a slight yarn purchase at Baaadeck Yarns. I also struggled with the laptop at the public library. The public library is above the fire station here.

On the side of the Baddeck library's bookmobile.

The view from the Baddeck library window.

Inside the library.

Baddeck lighthouse.

Baddeck harbour.

I am staying at the Broadwater Inn, in the Library Room. This building originated as a home almost 200 years ago, and it was owned by friends of Alexander Graham Bell, who would summer here in Baddeck. What a room! I love it. (I’ve had the gas fire on two mornings already – it’s been 11 degrees C, or about 53 degrees F.) I ate supper at a neat place called the Yellow Cello Café (great veggie pizza).

My room.

More of my room. The red chair is perfect for reading or knitting.

The front lawn.

Next day I drove the Cabot Trail, a famous drive that runs around one peninsula of the island that contains the Cape Breton Highlands. I stopped at Cheticamp to see the rug hooking museum. The Acadians (French Canadians) in Cheticamp hook rugs differently than the settlers from Sherbrooke. They use wool yarn, instead of wool strips to make the rugs. Elizabeth LeFort was a famous rug hooker from Cheticamp. She made some huge, incredible rugs.

Stephanie, a kind and helpful guide at the museum.

Rug hooking -- the Acadian flag.

Hooked rug (duh).

Hooked rug -- the dashes and dots on the side are Morse code, but no one knew what they say. Dad?

Elizabeth LeFort's version of Indiana's own Gus Grissom.

Elizabeth LeFort's Canadian centennial rug.

After Cheticamp, you drive up and down three or four different mountains, and it took me almost all day to do the whole trail. It took me the rest of the evening to get my equilibrium back. Words can in no way do it justice. I’ve run out of superlatives, even in my own mind. What an incredible creation God has made! Psalm 139.

Yeah for Sydney!

2007-07-12T09:16:00.000-04:00

Okay, I'm in the Sydney tour information centre's Internet access room. It is a rainy Thursday morning and I'm the only one here. I may actually (hold your breath) have time to catch up on the blog. The photos are uploading a lot faster here too. Please be patient with photo quality and typos, though, as I am concentrating more on speed than editing.

On Friday, I was scheduled to experience Hands on History at the Sherbrooke Village living history museum. The museum is just steps from the St. Mary’s River Lodge, as are the Main Street Café and the post office. After all that driving it was kind of nice not to even start the car Friday.

My experience at the village was incredible. Evelyn Jack is in charge of the Hands on History program, where people (usually school students) dress in 19th century clothing and see what life was like Victorian Era Nova Scotia. Because I had contacted her and explained my grant project, Evelyn had a special day in store for me. She whisked me off to the morning staff meeting and introduced me to everyone. Then she turned me over to Meg, the costume supervisor, who decked me out in petticoat, dress, wrap, snood, and bonnet.

In costume.

After that it was off to the weaving cottage, where Heather spent about an hour and a half showing me how wool was prepared, spun, and woven. The village has two Cotswold sheep, which is plenty for their demonstration needs. After shearing, Heather waits for a nice day, and washes the fleece by hand. She has to wash it, rinse it, and repeat the process several times. Then it air dries. Next, the wool has to be "picked," or teased apart by hand repeatedly to get the leftover seeds and grass out of it. Then, it is ready to be carded. Carding is a lot harder than it looks! After carding and creating a rolwag (a roll of carded wool) it is finally ready for spinning. Heather also showed me the two looms used in the cottage, but I forgot to take pictures!

Heather carding.

After visiting Heather, we made a quick visit to the pottery, followed by lunch. I then spent a wonderful hour with Althea. Althea is a whiz at quilting and had me try it. A good quilter gets 8 – 10 stitches per inch. I was able to manage maybe five or six. I liked the rug hooking a lot better, though. Strips of wool are cut (old clothing is the best) and pulled through a burlap backing to make designs. Althea also showed me how flax was turned into linen. First the flax is run through this ripple machine, then it is soaked for a couple of weeks to break down the woody core and leave the fiber on the outside. It is pounded, and then heddled. Finally, the fiber is spun.

Althea quilting.

Rug hooking They let me work on the practice piece that kids use.

First step in flax processing.

Flax pounder (it probably has a more technical name, but I don't remember).

Flax heddle.

After Althea, I met with Meg again to discuss costuming a living history museum and the clothing of the 19th century. She gave me some knitting patterns from Godey’s Ladies Book! Finally, I got a mini-millinery lesson.

But, we weren’t finished yet! Evelyn was determined to wear me out. We made a visit to the general store, Greenwood Cottage (home of the wealthy store-owner) and the doctor’s house. I have to say that everyone was extremely welcoming and friendly at the village, and very accommodating to my project. I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to fiber arts and history in Nova Scotia.

Uh-Oh

2007-07-10T17:39:00.000-04:00

I'm being thrown off the computer here in the library because it's a busy time and the locals need the Net. I've got the rest of my catch-up posts to do, saved to CDROM, so stay tuned for Sherbrooke Village, and Cape Breton Island.

Culture Shock

2007-07-10T17:21:00.000-04:00

Thursday, July 5, was spent mostly on the road, as I drove from Fredericton, New Brunswick, to Sherbrooke, Nova Scotia, via River John and the Sunrise Trail.

I also stopped in Pictou to see the Hector, a ship that brought the first Scottish settlers to Nova Scotia.

It started out pouring rain and rained most of the day. Although most Americans don’t realize it, there are differences between the US and Canada (besides the currency and national sports).

Things you may not realize about Canada:

The speed limit and distance signs are all in kilometers.
They have all kinds of picturegrams on road signs that I didn’t instantly recognize. The one for national parks is a beaver, but at first glance I thought it was a fortune cookie.
The temperature is in Celsius. The thermostats too (this makes sense, but caused me to giggle since it had never occurred to me).
They spell things the British way (centre, fibre).
One and two dollars are coins (loonies and toonies), not bills.
There are no postcard stamps. You ask for domestic or international stamps; if the postperson is nice, she explains this to you. Or, the first one you ask may just look at you funny and give you international stamps.
Restrooms are called washrooms here.

Lismore Sheep Farm
I had e-mailed Gillian Crawford and asked if I could visit the Lismore Sheep Farm, which she and her husband run, near River John, NS. When I arrived, Gillian explained their operation to me. The wool shop and the the barn are open to visitors. They have about 100 sheep of the Dorset variety. This is a good all-around sheep: they sell the lambs for meat and use the sheep for wool. Usually sheep are sheared in the late spring (May or June), but this year they are saving the shearing for the end of July.

Some of the sheep are in the barn, along with a display on the sheep and turning the wool into yarn. One of the sheep let me pet it, but most ignored me. There also was a cute baby Highland bull (he won’t be so cute and cuddly when he grows up).

Lismore Sheep Farm Wool Shop

Display on processing wool (l to r: unwashed wool, washed wool, carded wool). Carding combs in front.

A sheep!

Woolly Bully, the Highland bull baby.

Outside sheep.

Some of the sheep were out in the field. The wool shop has yarn from the sheep’s wool, roving (unspun but prepared wool), and knitted items. The Crawfords send their wool to a mill on Prince Edward Island to be carded and spun, as they deal with far too much quantity to do it themselves. In addition, they employ local knitters and dyers to create hats, mittens, socks, etc., as well as hand-dyed yarn. Some of which may have wound up on my credit card, ahem.

It was late (sevenish) when I got to Sherbrooke, down highway 7 by the St. Marys River. I stayed at the St. Mary’s River Lodge run by Fred Shupbach and family, who are from Switzerland originally. This is more like a B&B than a hotel. It was very clean and homey, and the breakfast was delicious. Fred even did some impromptu Internet family history research – apparently there are a lot of Wrights in Nova Scotia.

Catch Up Time

2007-07-10T17:10:00.000-04:00

Well, I’m close to a week behind now and still having problems with my laptop. However, I will try to catch up. By saving my blog stuff onto a CDROM on my laptop and then using the public library’s Internet terminal, I can post to Blogger. So I don’t have one enormous posting, I’ll try to break it down into parts.

On Wednesday, July 4, I drove through Maine.

I saw trees. And a dead moose. You don't want to see the dead moose, anyway.

More trees.

One mountain.

And even more trees. There's a reason Maine has a pine branch and pine cone on the license plate.

Then I crossed into Canada. The border people ask if you are carrying anything besides your personal clothing. I bet they don’t get “a spinning wheel” as an answer too often.Stayed in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Wednesday night.

GRRRR - Technical Difficulties

2007-07-07T12:55:00.000-04:00

Ugh, I seem to be having some technical difficulties. I must have done something to my laptop that won't let it connect to any networks at the moment, wi-fi or LANs.

So, I am using the public access computer at the Baddeck Public Library (bless those libraries). This means at the moment I can't upload any photos and I am a bit rushed. I plan to work on my laptop tonight and see if I can fix it; if so (or even if not) I am determined to catch up with the blog by Monday evening.

I am well and having a great time. I've been to the Lismore Sheep Farm where the kind Gillian Crawford filled me in on their business and let me pet a sheep. Yesterday I was at the historic Sherbrooke Village where I participated in the Hands On History program and everyone was incredibly welcoming, informative, and friendly. Today I am on beautiful Cape Breton Island and plan to actually stay in one place for 4 1/2 days!

Pictures and details to follow (hopefully soon).

Day 2: Tuesday

2007-07-04T07:07:00.000-04:00

Excuse any weird formatting. Blogger's acting wierd and I don't have time to mess around with it a lot. I'll try to fix it later.

Forget “I love NY”. I love the NY Thruway. No local traffic, no extended construction zones. Just 250 miles or so of smooth sailing. Ditto the Mass Turnpike. Worth every penny of tolls.

Between Rochester and Syracuse just off the thruway is the village of Seneca Falls. Since it came up around my 2 hour pit stop and since I’d read Miriam Grace Monfredo’s Seneca Falls series, I decided to stop. In 1848 Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott spearheaded the first women’s right’s convention here and issued a Declaration of Sentiments. There is a nice, albeit small, national park on the site now.

Remains of the Wesleyan Chappel where the convention was held.

Wesleyan Chappel.

Neat memorial/water feature.

And of course, wouldn’t you know, I found something connected to knitting. (Click to enlarge.)

East of Utica, the highway winds alongside the Mohawk River through some very beautiful semi-mountainous (think Appalachians, not Rockies) scenery. Skirting Albany, you cross the Hudson River and head to Massachusetts. I wish I'd gotten some pictures, but I was too busy driving.

Now, for some reason I’ve always envisioned Massachusetts as fairly level. Not Northern Indiana flat, but fairly level. But it is definitely hillitudinous (it’s my blog, I can make up words). Before I left Indiana I had just listened to Nathan Philbrick’s Mayflower on audio, so it was cool to go through areas he referenced. Yes, the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. No, I was not near Plymouth. But Philbrick takes his book up through King Philip’s War and some of that takes place along the Connecticut River and the Mohawk Valley.

Today I’m off to the wide open spaces of Maine and New Brunswick. Okay, I don’t know what New Brunswick is like, but Maine looks pretty empty on the map.

Day 1: Monday

2007-07-03T06:05:00.000-04:00

Monday morning, packed and ready to head out.

The trusty Honda is ready to go.

First new state: Ohio. The sign should say "Welcome to Ohio, One Big Construction Zone."
Alternative state mottos:

"If it's paved, we're working on it."
"We love orange."
"Road Work Ahead."

Early indicators of Canada:

Tim Horton's signs around Dayton and Columbus (!?)
Lots of Ontario cars between Erie, PA and Buffalo.

The farthest-away license plates I've seen: Oregon and Alaska.

After a seemingly endless drive, I reached Pennsylvania. Just west of New York and East of
Erie, PA, I saw what I at first thought was a slightly darker layer of sky or clouds up ahead. Upon closer look, it was Lake Erie! It's only visible from the Interstate for a short while.

Arrived at my hotel in Buffalo around 5:30. It was such a nice night and I'd been in the car all day so I took a quick trip up to Niagara Falls to stretch my legs. I was so close it would seem a shame to miss it.

Found a tourist to take my picture.

Huge hot air balloon.

It's hard to gauge how big it is from this picture -- it looked like something out of a science fiction book.

Off to Massachuesetts this (Tuesday) morning!

Yarn: Grape Goodness

2007-06-25T10:48:00.001-04:00

People who know me know how dangerous I can be in the kitchen, so I should tell you up front that no humans, equipment, or animals were harmed in my first foray into dyeing yarn.

There was, however, a cat who was quite possibly annoyed since I was ignoring her during the process.

Friday afternoon, relying on Kristi Porter's "Dyed in the Wool" article on Knitty, I decided to jump into creating my own colors. I used one 3.5 oz. skein of Patons Classic Wool since it was easily available at my local craft store. (Sharp eyed readers will note the strawberry drink packets; I am entitled to change my mind on the colors.)

The dyeing itself proved remarkably easy.

The hard part was waiting for the yarn to dry. It started out in the shower, but finished here, which I thought was a much prettier picture than the inside of my shower. Can you tell I'm fond of purple?

By this morning it was dried and skeined. This shot is pretty accurate color-wise, although a Kodak EasyShare is not the best for close up pix. All in all, I'm very happy with the results.

A Rose By Any Other Name

2007-06-18T12:14:00.000-04:00

One of the "problems" the Lilly Fellowship has helped me solve is the fact that I had no spinning wheel. Now, I have several drop spindles made by my father, but compared to a wheel, those are like bicycles compared to cars. You can go a lot further and faster with a wheel.

I ordered my Majacraft Rose spinning wheel from Sue Baughman at White Creek Wool in Deford, Michigan and anxiously awaited its arrival. One fine day at the end of May it arrived. I lugged the big box home from work and tore it open . . .

I thought the handle looked remarkably like the stock of a rifle . . .

But when unpacked it was apparent I had the parts of a spinning wheel.

Alas, when I started to put it together, it seemed that one of the parts was not all it could be. As you can see below, the drive shaft of the wheel was bent (bottom). Andy at Majacraft kindly sent a replacement (top) winging my way from New Zealand.

It arrived last week and after much muttering I got the wheel put together today. Normally I am pretty good at following directions, but these stumped me a few times. The problem might have been Kiwi-speak or Spinning-speak. I don't know enough about spinning (or Kiwi English)to know. (A pozi screw? A plastic bush?) Anyway, with perseverance and much consultation of diagrams, I got it put together.

It's a beautiful wheel and all reviews I've read say it's very versatile and high quality.

And of course, it has a rose.

Now I just need to learn to use it! I leave two weeks from today.

So, What's With the Name Ariadne?

2007-06-09T20:15:00.000-04:00

Ariadne is the name of a princess in Greek mythology. She gave Theseus red thread from the fleece she was spinning and he used it to escape from the labyrinth after killing the minotaur.

Basically, a spinner. I didn't want to use the name Arachne (also from Greek mythology) because she got turned into a spider. Ick.

What's It All About? (Not the Hokey Pokey)

2007-06-08T16:51:00.001-04:00

In Indiana, the Lilly Endowment offers an annual grant to teachers to support "creative projects that are personally renewing and intellectually revitalizing." I have applied for this grant four (count 'em) times and have been awarded one for this summer.

My grant proposal was titled "Ariadne's Legacy: Spinning a Golden Thread." Hence the blog title. The official purpose of my project is to "allow me to fulfill my dream of purchasing a spinning wheel and fibers necessary to create handspun yarn. Also, it will provide funds for participating in spinning workshops in Nova Scotia and allow me to create handspun yarn for a one-of-a-kind sweater."

This blog is part of my effort to document my project in a fun and timely way.

A big shout out to Lilly Endowment for providing this opportunity. They do some great work around our state, and this particular program provides many living on a teacher's salary with opportunities they could not otherwise afford.

James 1:17