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My Library Thing

May 2008
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Because My Tagline Tells Me So*

Does anyone want to guess how many photos of tree tops I have taken in the last month for my new blog header? Probably about 124. It is not easy getting the right one and then I had some uploading issues after I had the headers all made. They would appear like they were ftping but not really actually transferring any data. IHA showed me how to upload in my control panel so now I’m good to go. Here are a couple others that I made before I found the best trees tops you now see in my header. I actually had this first one up for a few days, but it didn’t have any treetops at all, its only redeeming quality was that it ftp’d correctly.

Early in the season we noticed (we being me and Sarah and LFG) that the foliage was very red. Sometimes the overall coloration was more “fall” than “spring.” I remember taking photos last year to dye springtime colored yarn and I don’t remember that much red - maybe orange, but not so much red. Well, I wanted that color for my blog as it was time to move from the winter header to the summer header and the red matches my blog color theme more so than just blues and greens. Trying to get the right amount of tree tops with the right amount of sky is not as easy at it looks!

I bet you are wondering where and when I took my new blog header photo. I took the photo this morning at Boyd Woods (an Audubon sanctuary in a nearby town) during Agent B’s Junior Audubon session. The birds were really out today and we saw quite a few cool ones including an American redstart building a nest, a Baltimore Oriole, a common yellowthroat warbler, and even some baby bluebirds in their nest.

And I have a few photos from our nature walk to share with you…

These are the baby bluebirds. As you can see, they are real baby babies. Don’t worry, our leader has been trained to show them to us and knows how to do it responsibly.

Agent B and I just thought these were really cute fungi.

This is Agent B leading the group over to where she spotted 2 large black water snakes. Please note, I took this photo on mega-zoom.

I hope to have some time to put together a knitting and spinning post soon. I have been working on spinning the roving from the Etsy fiber swap that I received from Foxy at The Fox Hop. So far is has been great fun! It is going to turn out to be “rainbow” in that it will cycle through each color just once in ROYGBIV order (except that there is no R or Y). I’m also knitting the baby kimono from Mason-Dixon knitting, but I’m trying to make a larger size and I’m just wondering if it would have killed them to have published the pattern in multiple sizes??? I’m just saying…

Oh yes, and we also had an exciting event at softball today. I hope that IHA will write about that one and I can direct you to his blog for that. Let’s just say that Agent J was given the game ball to take home! (Ok, I’ll admit, I didn’t know that such a thing ever happened, but it is still exciting!)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

* I decided to go with reverse psychology in choosing my new tagline to get in the summer spirit this year. I can do it! I may need your help, but I’m going to make it.

Posted by Tamara on May 17th, 2008 under Blogging, nature | please comment »

Today’s Flying By!

Hi! Me again. I know! Today is a double poster! That is to make up for my blogless Wednesday. I’ve had a busy day so far today, but once again, time is flying and it is the start of my 3 to 6. So much to do! I started my day by going to the Grand Opening of the new Big Y. I did something unusual and left my house before 8 a.m. I also learned a very important lesson — no matter how early you leave your house, you should always brush your teeth because you never know how many people that you know will also be at Big Y Grand Openings.

After I returned from the grocery store, I put away my perishables (And yes, I did have some reusable bags –I bought a few light-weight ones with Big Y printed boldly over both sides.). I then quick brushed my teeth, and my mom and I were off on our annual trek to White Flower Farm for Mother’s Day. I bought a few things and she bought a few things. It was a nice little trip. Of course, I have some photos…

This is just some fields and trees at White Flower Farm. Do you recognize the clouds in this picture?

Tulips are currently the main flower in blossom there.

Here is my mom choosing her plants.

I ended up buying her that new coconut lime echinacea that she has been coveting for a while. For myself, I bought some coleus, a really cute variegated geranium - light green with red flowers, and an all white day lily called Lady Elizabeth. I didn’t even know I wanted a white day lily, but after I admired it for a while, my mom talked me into it. She is a good enabler like that. She said I would regret not buying it and I think she was right because I sure don’t regret owning it now. A co-worker was telling me about a day lily called Going Bananas and I saw the spot for it, but it was not in stock. It is a nice, pure yellow and lightly scented. I’m adding it to my wish list.

So, I bet you are wondering what is going on in my yard right now. Well, my Kerria japonica is in full bloom.

As are my bleeding hearts:

I have both the pink and the white bleeding hearts. I put the photo of the white at the top of the blog entry to entice you to keep reading, of course.

Well, I better get going. The laundry has been singing to me and Agent J will be home in a few seconds and ready for snack. I also have some rovings that I solor dyed yesterday which are waiting for a rinse and oh, yeah, I have to finish putting those groceries away…

Have a great day and thanks for reading!

Posted by Tamara on May 15th, 2008 under Gardening | 3 Comments »

Time Passes Strangely

My days are getting shorter. I don’t know why. I don’t think the days are actually getting shorter, because as far as I know, they are still 24 hours. Why then, do they seem so short? Is it because I’m getting older? Will the years between 40 and 60 fly by in a way that they didn’t from 0 to 20 or even from 20 to 40? I remember the days of my childhood seeming endless and now I can’t seem to get a grasp on my days.

I just had a brief phone conversation with my husband about this. He doesn’t remember the days seeming so long when he was young. I wonder if it has to do with my particular childhood. I remember endless hours spent picking strawberries* or even more endless, picking rocks on the fields of my uncles farm. My sister and I used to sit in the strawberry stand selling either strawberries or raspberries after hours and we would entertain ourselves by counting cars. We would each choose our colors and whoever had the most cars drive by in our colors would win. I also had very long bus rides from kindergarten through high school with first grade being the most memorable as a very mean 6th grader had choosen me as her prey for the year. My mother and aunt loved to have tag sales and we would have to sit and watch those for hours and hours and hours on end. I could go on with all the things I remember as being endless and my husband? Well, he doesn’t remember things being endless. So maybe it is not that my time is getting shorter now, but I just had a very long childhood…

*Just to be clear, I loved picking strawberries. I loved being out in the fields with the other kids or even some days alone with my walkman, but they really were long days. I remember the first day I picked as a real worker and not just a tag-along little girl with my daddy. I think I was 10 and I was going to keep up with all the high school kids. It was so hard and I think I only picked 81 quarts that day, and I was so proud but I remember it as being the world’s longest day - that every time I thought it was over and we were done, we were just moving to another field.

Posted by Tamara on May 15th, 2008 under misc | 2 Comments »

The One I Almost Forgot a Title For

So, it seems that Nicole wants to know more about me. Which helps in my goal of writing just a little post each day this week.

The rules: Posted at the beginning. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer. Play nice, children.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? I was beginning my life as a Stay-at-Home-Mom. I had a 19 month old, an almost 4 year old, and I was expecting a new baby. I have to say that was probably one of the most difficult times in my life.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today - in no particular order? Work, drive track carpool, vacuum, gather and start laundry, water outdoor plants.

3. Snacks I enjoy - Fresh yogurt with granola, chips and cheese, frozen grapes (though my teeth don’t like them so much).

4. Places I’ve lived, in no particular order - Sandy Hook, Plainville, West Hartford, Stratford, Millbrook, NY.

5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire - Oh my! That is just too much to even imagine! There would probably be a little (or rather a lot) of everything. First off would be sending the girls to whatever high school or college they could to go to then helping my family and town and the charities we choose to support and finally lots of home improvement for sure!

6. Peeps I want to know more about - Umm… who hasn’t been tagged for this yet? Let’s see… Sarah, Knitcole, Jenny, and Ragan if you haven’t already done this one and only if you want to and you have time:)

Have a great day everyone!

ETA: Post title, duh.

Posted by Tamara on May 13th, 2008 under misc | 4 Comments »

You Better Sit Down for this One…

Okay, are you sitting? I have to tell you something and it is not going to be pretty. Remember last week and everyone blogged and posted on Rav about all the things they bought at Maryland Sheep and Wool??? Well, LFG and I went to New Hampshire Sheep and Wool and we didn’t buy sheep nor wool nor anything fibery. I know, aghast! We should have our fiber addict licenses revoked! We did have fun looking at and touching everything, and we sure were tired by the end of the day.

This particular festival has a huge Alpaca component and these guys just cracked me up. They looked like they were thinking something like “Hey, what the heck are we doing in the middle of freakin’ cold NH, you told us we were going to the beach.”

(Apparently, my lol language needs a little work, it is my first try, okay???)

Anyway, just because we didn’t buy any new fiber does not mean that our weekend was unfibery though. Here is a little sneak preview of what is to come…

Yum!

After spending Friday night and Saturday with LFG, I drove home on Sunday morning for Mother’s Day (listening to Dairy Queen which is really addictively good!). IHA and the girls gave me the most excellent of all days. There were little surprises everywhere and apparently there are more due throughout the week. I got to do some gardening, and then we had a delicious surf and turf dinner. My family rocks!

Posted by Tamara on May 12th, 2008 under Children, Spinning, Home life | 6 Comments »

Foiled by the Blankie

I had big plans for casting on. I was going to cast on for a crazy-large amount of projects just so I would always have something to knit to fit any situation that should arise, but once I cats on for Sock Yarn Blankie, that was it. I’m infatuated to say the least… Here’s my baby:

This is the Sock Yarn Blanket from The Heathen Housewife just in case you didn’t know. I highly recommend it. It is fun, fun, fun! And just as a head’s up - I may be looking to do some sock yarn exchanging. Once my little Vector Scale comes back from getting repaired, I have one single square that I knit to just to weigh to see about how much yarn is needed to make each one.

Guess what? I’m going to the NH Sheep and Wool Festival tomorrow with LFG!!! I’m so excited! I’m leaving after lunch today. I have Dairy Queen on CD to listen to in the car and I’m going to try to stop at WEB’s new bead store. I think it is called something like “America’s Largest Bead Store.” So in order to cram things into this blog post in a timely manner, I think I’m going to try a list format.

1.) Things I learned this week

a.) I can knit 2 complete blankie squares and give a knitting lesson during one softball game

b.) I made my first 2 batches of homemade yogurt. So far I learned that it is thicker if you do add the 3 tablespoons of dried milk than if you don’t.

c.) Sometimes websites that you order from have errors and it can be very disappointing.

d.) Some things never change.

e.) I’m getting very efficient with mixing dye stock

f.) This is more of a reaffirmation, but my girls are not getting vaccinaed for HPV with Gardasil.

2.) Things I saw this week

a.) A white headed warbler-like bird was in my parent’s yard. We have no clue what it is!

b.) Hummingbirds! They are back for the summer.

c.) The Big Band Bash! It was Agent B’s first ever band concert (she plays the trombone) and I have to say that the 4th grade band rocked! They were so good! And this is a band with close to 200 members!

3.) Things I acquired this week

a.) Fiber, of course!

1. superwash merino from The Fox Hop, 2. superwash corriedale from Funky Carolina, 3. BFL from The Fox Hop, 4. Carded fibers from The Fox Hop

b.) New office furniture from Staples. It is not put together yet and one piece is actually lost in transit, but Staples said they would reship it if it is not found. (That is quite a few very short words in a row…)

c.) They haven’t arrived yet, but I bought all new non-cancer-causing water bottles for everyone in my family to replace all the Nalgene #7’s.

3.) Things I remembered to do this week

a.) Bring my reusable tote bags to the grocery store 1 out of 3 trips

b.) Clean and hang my hummingbird feeder

c.) Listen to Jumping Monkeys

d.) Work on paperwork for my Etsy shop

4.) Things I forgot to do or just blatantly ignored

a.) Too numerous to mention…

… but there is always next week. Have a great weekend everyone!

Posted by Tamara on May 9th, 2008 under Knitting, Home life | 5 Comments »

Mad Knitters Take on Northhampton!

Alternate name for this post: Mad Knitters do the Harlot! ***(see below)

Poor Stephanie, by the time this photo was taken she had probably signed at least 8 million books and she just wanted to “go to the loo.” We were very happy that she didn’t actually burst or anything and she made it through this photo with us Mad Knitters. And mad we were yesterday. During her show, we laughed like mad, then back at WEBS, we shopped like mad Even on our way home, stopping at Ruby Tuesdays, we ate like mad. (And we always wonder why the next morning we have Mad Knitter yarnovers. Crazy, huh???)

It worked out very well for us — by the time we made it through the WEBS checkout line, the book signing line had dissipated. This was Knitty’s and Cherylz first ever Yarn Harlot event and they were excited! Both Sarah and I have been before though we were still excited as always. I first met her at Rhinebeck 2 years ago (when she touched my sweater!) and then at Granby when Marji’s Yarn Shop hosted a Breast Cancer fundraiser. She is always funny and always a presence. I can’t wait for the next time. (LFG also came for the book talk, she just had to go back to VT so she could not come to WEBS afterward. I should have thought to take some photos with her when we were outside as the ones that I took in the theater did not come out as it was too dark in there…)

My number one “take home” lesson from listening to the Yarn Harlot yesterday is that I need to knit more. It is good for my brain and it is good for my patience and it is good for my family (because it is just good for me). Really, IHA, out there reading this - it is true. Knitting makes people happy and focused. So when you see me unhappy or unfocused, lock me in a room with my knitting, asap.

My “take home” action item is going to be to cast-on like crazy-mad this week. I am going to cast on for a bunch of projects so that I always have the appropriate type of knitting for the appropriate brain activity that I need. If I need to be smarter, I’ll knit something complicated and lacy and if I need to have more patience, I’ll knit something repetitive and soothing. I also need to start a completely take along project so I can always have something with me everywhere I go…

What? Do you I hear you asking for additional photos? Well, I aim to please. I wish I had taken a picture of all the *millions* of knitters flooding the streets of Northampton. I think crossing the street was one of Cherylz’s favorite parts. She was like “You mean, you can do this? Cross on a diagonal? I’ve never heard of such a thing!” I will never look at the streets of Northampton without thinking of her. They are apparently very pedestrian friendly there. Ok, the photos… here we go…

The line at WEBS

More of the line at WEBS

Cheryl having her booked signed. Do you see that she is wearing her gorgeous Tangled Yoke Cardigan? This is a sign of a true knitter — wearing a Rowan Felted Tweed wool sweater in a crowded store that must have been at least 80 degrees…

Our loot getting ready to ride back to Connecticut! (More on that to come in future posts…)

*** This is a clip from an e-mail from one Mad Knitter last week. Names have been changed to protect the innocent:

lol Spincerely, I saw your Mom yesterday. Chatty and nice as always, she says to me “And LFG, my other daughter is coming down for a wedding shower and then she and Spincerely are going to see the *stagewhisper* Yarn Harlot”

I said, “I know, I’m actually going too! I’m wicked excited!”

And she says “Well, I guess most people are excited when they see a harlot. Just not usually women.”

Posted by Tamara on April 28th, 2008 under Knitting, friends | 8 Comments »

Tagged…

Wow, it has been a long time since I have been tagged (thanks Ragan)!! Here goes!!!

MEME RULES:
1. Pick up the nearest book of 125 pages or more (no cheating!)
—Ok. I’m sitting at my “desk” and it is the book I finished a couple of days ago, patiently waiting to be added to my Library Thing
2. State the title and author of the Book
—It is Unravelling by Elizabeth Graver
3. Find Page 25
Got it
4. Type in the first five sentences.

…edge, his shoulders, and all the rest of him, for he was there with his back hunched, his eyes fierce. He did not want to move, or talk, or do anything but stare at me as if he had never seen me before, had never felt my hand thumping his back, or heard my sharp tongue, or run with me in the woods.

“Go back down!” I whispered, but then I realized he would tell what he had seen, and I would be dragged from the barn and placed with my burning fingers in the church.

“Stay,” I whispered, and he inched toward me on his knees and held his hands up in the air in front of himself, trembling, as if he were considering touching something dreadful — a rotten piece of meat or a severed snake with its insides hanging out like string.

I showed him everything.

5. Find page 100 and type in the first, second and fifth word on the page.
—do, for, walked
6. Post the meme to your blog.
7. Tag 5 people. Have fun!
I’m not going to tag anyone specifically — mostly because I’m just too tired, but if you want to play go ahead and if you want to play but don’t have your own blog, you can post to my comments if you’d like:)

I just have to say that, coincidentally, my quote from above is from the pivotal scene in this book. This girl’s whole life is changed by what happens next. It is the beginning of her “unravelling” one could say.

And now, back to Earth Day… As promised, my Conservation District purchases:

1 Red Twig Dogwood

2 Sarah Mountain Laurel

2 Spice Bush

1 Pussy Willow

3 Blueberry bushes

1 Coast Leucothoe (which is supposed to be deer resistant)

And 4 random perennials.

It did look like more in the car, in my checkbook, and I’m sure it will again when we go to plant them (esp. since we are planting “in the woods” where the digging is not easy). It is sort of a test run to see what grows the best and then we will get more of the “winners” next year.

Working toward Goal #2, I watered my compost bin twice this week. I think things are really starting to heat up in there.

And the daffodils are blooming!

I took many more photos today, but I’ll save them for later. I went back to look at some of my posts from last April and it is fun to see the differences in when things started blooming and what the weather was like. Last year at this time, we had a river running across the driveway and now we are super crispy out there. Of course, this is New England, so who knows what tomorrow will bring…

Posted by Tamara on April 25th, 2008 under Reading, nature | 1 Comment »

Just Chatty…

Good morning! It is another awesome sunny day today. This has to be a Connecticut record to have 2 weeks of good weather in a row, but I think this may be the last of them for a long while so the pressure is on to use it wisely. This morning I’m going to Goshen to pick up my bushes and things from the Earth Day Plant sale. I’m bringing my checkbook as they supposedly have other things like perennials for our shopping pleasure.

I have to tell you that I’m already behind on one of my Earth Day goals. I went to Price Chopper without my canvas bags! I really have to work on my memory. How hard can this be???

I’m working on a new set of goals of new things I want to try in the fibery world. I have 2 things so far: learn how to use Earthhue Dyes and learn how to make pretty batts on a drum carder. I’m very excited for both!

Do you believe in that saying that things happen in threes? Well, here at the Spincerely/IHA home, we had 3 minor breakages yesterday.

First, I opened a window, the wind blew, the screen fell off (It is a casement window so the screen is on the inside.), and it knocked over my collection of glass bottles. Which one broke? The only one that I really cared about, of course. This bottle, that I love, that was a gift from a very beloved great uncle.

The second thing, was something that started out to be a good thing. I started to solar dye yesterday. I found and cleaned out my Terry’s Tub and set some rovings out to dye. Then later in the day, I forgot that I was solar dying and drove over my poor Terry’s Tub. I know what you are thinking, but don’t worry. The fiber is unharmed, and unlike the bottle, the tub is replaceable.

I was telling a friend about these things, and she was warning me to watch out for that dreaded THIRD THING. I feel very lucky, and I have to thank IHA for coming up with another relatively minor third thing. He was sad, but really, I’m glad it is over. He broke his blog this morning when he was trying to upgrade to the next version of Wordpress. He is pretty sure it is fixable so we will cross our fingers and hope he can get it working again. I had wanted to direct you to his last post where he chronicled the girl’s events from last weekend, but I guess that will have to wait until he is up and running again. If anyone has ever had a blog crash, you know how much it hurts…

Well, I better rock and roll as Agent J just called and forgot to bring her math binder to school. I really am a mom who will refuse to bring things if I think the girls have forgotten them for silly reasons like not paying attention, but Agent J is very serious about her school work; both getting it done and taking care of her things, so I think I will bring it in for her.

Have a great day! I may be back again before the weekend with photos of my Earth Day plants. We have a pretty busy weekend planned so I’ll see what I can do. Which reminds me, that I have completely not mentioned that I’m going to see the THE YARN HARLOT with my Mad Knitters and my Mad Sister on Sunday at the WEBS Event. I feel a need to acquire some new yarn too! Perhaps some hemp for knitting grocery bags? Maybe if I make the bags and they are not ugly old tote bags, I’ll remember to bring them to the store?

Posted by Tamara on April 25th, 2008 under Gardening, Home life | 5 Comments »

Happy Earth Day…

Guilt. I woke up with tons. It is Earth Day 2008 and what have I done? What am I doing? What should I be doing that I am not doing and why am I not researching it? During my shower, I decided to write this post and list some of the good-for-the-Earth things that we do here and then set some goals.

We recycle. Our town has a great recycling program and pretty much the only things that they don’t collect are #5 and #7 plastics. We even recycle brown chipboard here (like cereal boxes). As for paper, yes some ends up in the trash when we clean, but we probably recycle about 85% of our paper waste. Goal #1: capture more of our paper before it hits the garbage to either reuse or recycle. Also start using canvas bags at the grocery store. I put together a few to take next time I go. I also want to knit or crochet a couple mesh bags this summer.

We compost. But we need a better system for household food waste. We are tired at night and tend to not want to walk out to the compost bin. Goal #2: find a better way to collect our food wastes and get them to the compost including coffee grinds. Try not to be so lazy about it!

We educate our children about nature. Agent B participates in Junior Audubon and we occasionally go on family nature walks. Last spring we participated in the No Child Left Inside program. IHA takes the girls fishing where they mostly play with water bugs, benthic invertebrates, and amphibians. We send them to nature camps and encourage them to participate in as many environmental programs at school and Girl Scouts as we can. Agent B did a river walk clean-up with her G.S. troop yesterday and there is a big G.S. Earth Day event this coming Saturday. Goal #3: find summer programs that the girls will love and get them outdoors.

We try to consolidate errands and carpool to save gas. This one we talk about more than we actually do. I think we still do far too much driving around. Goal #4: find ways to cut down on driving.

We save energy at home. We have started replacing our old light bulbs with the new ones and we try to turn off lights when we leave rooms. We have quite a bit of room for growth in this respect so this should be a major focus for us. Goal #5: find ways to save energy around the house and turn things off when we are not using them.

We plant native species in our yard. Last fall we cut down quite a few very tall Hemlock trees. Now we have some land that we need to replant. I bought a few native species shrubs from the Northwest Conservation District Earth Day Sale which I have to pick up on Friday and start planting. I bought some blueberry bushes, some laurel, a pussy willow, a spice bush, and a couple other native shrubs. The people who cut the trees thought that our intent was to increase our lawn, but we really wanted some more open space for light to come through without the maintenance of grass. Goal #6: continue to research native species and plant as many as we can.

We garden organic. We only use organic fertilizers and do not use pesticides or herbicides. Ok, I’ll admit that we do have exceptions. We do use a service to treat our house for carpenter ants and we do use a bit of Miloranite as a deer deterrent especially around my day lilies and the periphery of our yard. I remove dandelions by hand and we have tried some grub products such as beneficial nematodes and milky spore. Our lawn is not the prettiest and our current problems is moles/voles that seem to have all moved into our yard since we lost our cats. Goal #7: continue to garden organic and do more research on organic lawn care and organic deer deterrent.

Seven goals, that is a start, right? I could probably spend the entire day writing this post, but I’m starting to run late for work and better get moving. Oh, dear Earth, there is so much more we can do for you! As with everything else, we will start with baby steps. Each little bit helps… What shall I do today?

Posted by Tamara on April 22nd, 2008 under Gardening, nature | 3 Comments »

Celebrate!

National Vinegar Month

Protect!

Lyme Disease Awareness Month
e-mail me

Things I Write About

Attempted humor Blogging Caught Being Good Cherish Children Crafts Crochet Dark Victory Dyeing Etsy Felting friends Gardening General Life Home life Hoops and Yoyo Knitting misc Mitts/Mittens nature Political Opinion Project Spectrum Reading Scrapbooking Simple Knitted Bodice Socks Spinning