[vermont] Perfect Weather

The weather has been stunning the last several days.

From first thing in the morning:

To the evening:

I can't believe we got 3 inches of snow 12 days ago.

Flowers are blooming:

I have to bring a few jugs of water to the vegetable garden every day to water what I've planted so far. There isn't any rain forecast for the next week but I will NOT complain about having to lug water around if it means sun and warm temps. I will complain about the black flies, though- I'm already covered in bites.

[vermont] May 9 - snow

Saturday morning we woke up to:

It was not an insignificant amount of snow:

About three inches and it was wet, heavy. I had to chip icy snow off the hummingbird feeders:

The snow stayed most of the cold day- even the next morning there was snow in the shade behind the house and icicles hanging from trees.

This is the latest snow I can remember. Frosts aren't uncommon in May but this was Winter 5.0. I remember picked ramps the first weekend in May one year and thinking that it was too early for it to be 80 degrees out. So, it's just depends on the year, I guess. Some years it's too hot, some it's too cold. 

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Had a productive weekend (mostly because I was trapped inside). Baked a quiche and bread. Cured and cooked some pork belly. Washed/ironed/cut new fabric for masks. Sewed a bit. Finished some fingerless mitts. Knit more on my socks. Finally blocked the Fantastitch shawl. Picked up my meat/veg/eggs CSA share. Potted some flowers and brought them to my mom for Mother's Day.

[vermont] Trillium

Red trillium here and there in the woods around the house:

Every year I see more and more, the green clumps are easy to spot in all the brown leaves.

I've never seen any white ones but I always look. 

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While I was out, I picked some ramp leaves for pizza:

There are a few wild leeks that grow near the house, I just picked some leaves and left the bulbs. I should haul my lazy butt up the hill this week to do a lot of picking at the big patch.

I chopped up the leaves and topped a pepperoni pizza:

I think it's time for fiddleheads, as well, I might walk along the road and see what's available to pick.

[vermont] Wonderful Weekend

It was an amazing weekend outside. Most of the flowerbeds are cleaned up.

Can't wait until the height of summer and do a before/after picture.

I did a few little divisions. Dollar weed-whacked the over grown garden; we're going to try growing a few veggies this year.

The hummingbird feeders are up:

I haven't seen any yet but they should arrive any day now.

[vermont] Bloodroot

Walked down to the brook and saw some bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) blooming:

These are my favorite spring woodland flower- they are mesmerizing to me. It looks like there's a little light bulb glowing in the middle of each one. 

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Looks like tomorrow is going to be an amazing day- 60's and sunny. I'm going to try to bum a ride in my Uncle's side-by-side up to where the ramps are on the hilltop for some foraging. I'd also like to dig some stuff up in the flowerbeds and do divisions. It's going to be an outdoor day, for sure.

Tonight I'll be sewing some masks- I have lots of smalls and mediums, pinned and ready for the final round of sewing. Then I'll drop some off here and there around the Upper Valley.

[vermont] April 27

Well, well, well...

Look what I woke up to. I'm at my desk in a wool shawl, wool cowl, wool socks and slippers. W the F is this S. I should be picking ramps this coming weekend but will prob wait another week.

I thought we were getting rain this week, not snow. I finished cleaning up all but one flowerbed. The young shoots should be okay- they've endured snow already. The only sensitive plants I seem to have are my hydrangea bushes. Those have definitely had their early foliage killed by a late frost. 

Good weekend, not much cooking. Sewed a lot- I should service my sewing machine again. And look for a manual online to make sure I'n oiling it correctly... and I should probably find some sewing machine oil. Started cutting up some fun fabrics. Will be sending out some more masks today.

I cast off the Fanastitch shawl and started sewing in ends. There are lots of ends.

Started knitting a hat. And will make some new fingerless mitts for Dollar. Since he's still wearing wool fingerless mitts. Because it's still winter.

[vermont] Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival

My finished stitch markers for the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival a couple weeks ago:

They are so cute and I used one right away to make another little knit pumpkin. I have so many leftover, I only swapped a few and gave several away. 

The festival was a whirlwind this year. I took a class on weaving a cornucopia with willow branches, met my sister at Worthy Burger for lunch, went back to the fest together to do shopping, got a stack of handmade soaps (my fave) and then volunteered at the Green Mountain Knitting Guild booth for the last two hours of the day. I only bought one skein of yarn, no spinning fiber, some wooden VT tags and stitch markers...

The greatest stitch markers ever...

Pussy cats wearing pussy hats. I can't even. They were so expensive but I had to have them and I have no regrets buying them. I'm using one for a new pair of socks I'm knitting:

Omfggggggg. It's so cuuuuute!! It's by WeeOnes Creations and all her stitch markers are freaking adorable and detailed.

[vermont] Fall Colors

Picture from a week ago:

Things are grey and rainy today. And cold. Penny has gone into full I-wanna-suck-your-body-heat mode. She's either in my lap on the couch and under the covers next to me in bed.

I'm nearly done embroidering my autumn leaves bundt bag. I'll try to finish it tonight and then make all my stitch markers.

I can't decide what to knit/crochet next. I'm going to be traveling a lot for work over the next month or so- I think I'll start some socks. I'd like to use one of the skeins I dyed at the knitting retreat last month.

Really, though, I should finish the sweater I started earlier this summer... I think the body and sleeves are done- I just have to join and do the yoke. I feel like once it's complete and I can wear it, I'll be inspired to make myself more sweaters.

[vermont] Last days of summer

It's officially autumn and I'm okay with it. I went for a long (longer than I expected) (way too long) walk on Saturday. From my house, up to the Joseph Smith Memorial, around back to their old Turnpike Road trails and even up the Patriarch Hill trail. 

Trees are rapidly changing color now.

I also went around my house and took some pictures of the remaining flowers. The last of the last of the daylilies:

Miracle of miracles, the Hollyhock is still blooming:

Japanese anemone took many (five?) years to establish in my garden but it's a reliable perennial now and this year will have the most blooms yet:

Bumblebees are still working hard. This is a relatively new addition to my garden- turtlehead flower.

So much for that frost warning last week. The last two days of summer were hot and humid. I enjoyed having the windows open again, as did Penny:

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After taking a week off, the two day weekend went by way too fast. We went to see IT: Chapter Two on Saturday. It was pretty good- not as good as Chapter One, though. The jump-scares started to grow tiresome. The cast was great.

Sunday I watched the Pats game and made an apple crisp. Lots of knitting- I should be able to finish up my Latvian fingerless mitts this week.

[knitting] Green Mountain Knitting Guild Retreat

Last weekend I attended the first annual Green Mountain Knitting Guild retreat in Greensboro, VT. It was a beautiful drive there, everyone was very nice, lots of great meals provided, wonderful two-part class on Latvian Mitts, a fun afternoon of dyeing yarn. 

Everyone's mitts by Sunday afternoon:

Mine is the blue/brown one at the top right.

All the different yarns we dyed:

The weekend was very fun and totally worth it. It makes a difference just getting away from home and having dedicated time to focus on knitting or spinning. I got so much done. At home, it's too easy to be distracted: I need to start some laundry, gotta think of something for supper and cook it, I should probably take the recycling out, I hear one of the cats barfing- I better go find it and clean it up.

Now I understand why my aunt attends quilting retreats. All your time (class time and free time) is dedicated to the craft and you get so much more done. And there is camaraderie in working with/around other people doing the same thing.

I'm looking forward to the next one!

[vermont] Tunbridge Fair

Vacation last week was awesome. Found a local hike (Kent's Ledge) and did it every day- except a couple when it was raining or I was prepping stuff for the fair. Here's everything I entered:

11 items: a quilt, child's sweater, fox mittens, papillon shawl, rose bundt cake, doily, handspun scarf, rose teapot cosy, green hat, lemon lavender cookies, lace socks. I had also preregistered for a wreath and wall hanging but I wasn't able to finish those in time.

So the cake:

I used my rose bundt pan and finally achieved a crisp/clean design (runny batter, banging the pan on the butcher block many times to loosen air bubbles). I mixed up some dragonfruit powder, powdered sugar, milk to make a runny icing to paint on with a pastry brush:

I'm really happy with how it turned out. It received good comments from the judges.

The other baked items I entered were the lemon lavender cookies:

I ordered some Nordic Ware cookie presses and there was a definite learning curve to using them but once I got the molds consistently greased/floured, the cookie impressions were clear. I also used a round biscuit cutter to make them all the same size. After baking/cooling the cookies, I brushed some lemon juice/powdered sugar icing over the top.

I went to the fair on Thursday to do a spinning demonstration at the Fiber Nook for a couple hours in the afternoon.

Came back later in the evening with Dollar to go fair-y things. Like getting Maple Creemees:

I also bought a pound of maple sugar while I was at the Sugar House. (I remember it being $9 in the past but it was $12 this year!)

Sleepy, perfect little piglets:

Then we went to Floral Hall and found all my items. And saw a Best In Show ribbon on my Papillon Shawl! 

I picked everything up Sunday night. Here's how I did:

Best in Show!!! Now I can start knitting whatever I want...

[gardening] Harvesting Lavender

Harvested the lavender this weekend:

I started these lavender plants when we first moved to this house, 8 years ago. That first winter I winter-sowed a crazy amount of seeds. The English lavender did well and I planted it in a few spots along the rock wall.

Over the last couple years, I've dug up a few small divisions and tried putting them around in some new places. Those plants are still small but growing. Progress is slow but the new plants did produce flowers this year.

I grab a handful at a time and snip without much deference. It only take about 10 minutes to do all the plants.

Back inside, without a fan, I sweat at the table while I stripped the lower leaves from the stems and bundled them together for drying. I was fussy at first, trying to group the stems together by height, but after an hour, grumbling and drenched in sweat, I reached the "Oh F- it! I don't care!" moment and started bundling them faster. 

And then I hang them upside down in the basement stairwell to dry:

I'll be making simple sachets and picking over some of the buds for culinary use. I made lemon lavender cookies last year that were the bomb. I'll try the recipe again and try to perfect it- I would like to enter them into the fair this year.

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I finished the mittens last night! Knit the thumbs, closed the gaps, sewed in ends, blocked... now I just have to wait for them to dry and then do the duplicate stitching.

I have a pile of yarn that I want to wind for misc projects but I'm traveling for work tomorrow. My plane knitting will be socks... but what pattern? I think a solid color with pretty cabling would be nice.