The Yarnarian and Hubbo Go on the Brewster Museum Nature Walk!

This is always the highlight of our Cape vacations. The Brewster nature walk. Brewster is on the northern shore on Rt 6A, which is a just beautiful drive. There's a nice nature museum there, and the have a path down to the beach through a fascinating path. You can not do this at high tide, because the path becomes impassible in certain parts. This time we hit low tide at it's best, and I want to show you some pictures of it.

Click on the pictures to get the full effect.

Yeah, I know. She's going to make us look at boring vacation pictures, but surprise, these are not the same old, same old. We walk over the bogs on wooden planks, see a mini Cape Cod Stonehenge, and wait until you see the beach and sand pics! I was looking at this from a knitter's point of view, and even Hubbo got into the fascinating sand arrangements left by the water.

First the bogs: As you are walking over those planks, you can see the water bubbling up.



Now the long, long path to the beach: There are places on this walk where you have to climb down some narrow rocks. I'm so klutzy that I always need Hubbo to give me a hand!




Cape Henge! A mini stone henge off the path. Cute, no?



Down to the actual beach.





And now, what you've been waiting for: pictures of the sand after the tide has gone out. This is the real thing. The wave patterns are fascinating.







And duck foot prints because they were so cute. There was an entire covention of ducks right on the water's edge.



Emily, Skepweaver, and Sharon: Emily - It was just a lovely vacation. Sharon - feel free to use my pictures. Skepweaver - I just read your blog. Just lovely.

The Yarnarian Walks to the Beach.

This is the walk we take down Belmont Ave.to the Beach on Nantucket Sound.





Dyeing News: Yesterday I dyed up 4 skeins of my new superwash merino lace weight yarn. It's over 960 yards/skein and very soft, which it should be given that it's merino. I did 4 skeins: 2 different ones, and 2 dyed at the same time. I figure that someone may want a lot of yardage for a shawl. I haven't knitted on this yet, but I think it will knit up very nicely. $21/skein, which isn't too bad considering the yardage.

AND, the 30 skeins of Kona came in, so this morning I'm starting to dye up the yarns for Mystery Shawl 9. Renee is taking sign ups now for her regular customers. Then she'll open it up to new folks. And no, the price is not $100; it's more like $5.50 I think.

Take a look at her previous patterns and you'll fall in love with her patterns. If I can, I'll dye up one skein for me and knit along also. Needless to say, I hope all the yarn sells, but I would like one just for me. Well, I can always order more.

Darcie - I never get to sit on the beach and knit. It's way too chilly, and the wind is blowing. And if it were summer, Hubbo still would not have the patience to sit. I timed him once, and we lasted exactly 8 minutes!

Linda - Take a look tomorrow at the wave patterns. Unbelievable!

The Yarnarian Misses the Beach!

I love the beach. I grew up in coastal Connecticut and we could take the bus down to the beach, which was on Long Island Sound. On low tide, you could walk out forever. And high tide was not a crazy surf. The first time I actually went to the Atlantic Ocean was when I moved to New Jersey. What a difference in waves!!!

Where we stay on the Cape is a short walk (.8 mile)to Nantucket Sound, which feels just like LI Sound. So just about every evening after supper, we walk down and get our water fix.

This year I took my digital camera with me, and discovered beauties of sand and water that I never saw before. And being a designing knitter, I discovered patterns that I never noticed! Take a look at the lacy end of the surf. I now see "print of the wave" in it.




See what I mean? And look at the colors and patterns in the surf.





On the knitting front, I've gone back to my Kona shawl. I had to tink 4 rows of pattern because I mucked up the set up pattern for the lace part. I tried to get away with it, but that was a dumb idea, so very carefully I tinked and tinked and tinked! And now it looks correct. No pics at the moment because there's really nothing to see but lots of garter stitch, and 5 rows of pattern. I adore knitting socks, but it is so pleasant to do something else.

Holly - I'm going to bore you to death with pictures. You'll be sorry you asked for them. ;=D

Linda - That walk down to the beach and a nature walk through bogs and dunes are our favorite activies at the Cape. And I love the smell and noise and taste of the salty air.

KV - I did dye up yarn with those water colors only lighter. Pastels are my thing, and I can't get away from them. ;-)

Sharon - I do miss the ocean, so I'll just have to look at my pictures. It is good to be back. My idea of a great vacation is to have a great time and then to love coming home.

The Yarnarian is Home!

It was a great vacation! Hubbo had much thrift shop visiting, I checked out my usual 3 knitting shops and bought a couple of shawl patterns, we ate way too much, played scrabble, walked down to the beach just about every evening.

Here's where we stayed, and here's me looking at Nantucket Sound.





Knitting news: I did the first sock of 3 prs of socks and started a fourth pair. Now I have to do the second ones, and remember what I did. Good thing I took notes. No pics because these are spoilers.

And now I have to catch up on everything! Hubbo is picking up the mail today, so you can imagine what that's going to be like. Arrgh.

And here's the best part of vacation: I get to post pictures forever. I actually took pics of the great outdoors. Digital photography is so neat!

The Yarnarian Gets Sugary!

Hello, my darlings, my dears, my sweetie pies, my little kumquats,

Blech! All that sugary greeting stuff is going to do bad things to my blood sugar. But I'm feeling quite sugary today. And do you know why? Because tomorrow we're off to the Cape! Oh frabjous day, calloo, callay I chortle in my joy!

Today I bank, buy Ensure for the Mommie, deliver Ensure and clean clothing to the Mommie, who will still be in bed when I get there (lazy Mommie), do some more laundry because dummy here forgot to wash her favorite sweat jackets, pack, knit, pack, knit, and generally sigh a lot.

Play nicely while I'm gone. I have eyes in the back of my head, and if any of you throws spit balls, I will know it.

Talk to you when I get back.

Carolyn and Erin - I plan on having lots of fun. I just finished the most important part of the packing: decided which yarns to take.

Linda - We love it because there are 15 little towns on this small piece of land, and each town and its subdivisions is different from the next one. We go off-season because neither of us is a beach sitter, and the crowds don't arrive until later. The downside of this is that it is always rainy or cloudy and chilly.

The Yarnariam Dyes for Herself!

I did. 4 lovely new ones for me, and 2 alpaca/silk for Best Friend.

I seem to be on a seafoam kick; it invades just about everything I dye these days. Good thing that I really love this color. Here are the 3 with that color. One of them has just a touch of a bright seafoam, but it is the same family as the soft ones, only with a lot of vibrancy.





Here's the oddball one:



Ambermoggie - I don't know what i'm going to do with them yet. I'm thinking of some ruching, but it might look really odd. I'll have fun playing with them.

Jen - Seafoam is it! And it's so neat to dye.

KV - I think you're right; Anticipation! Walks down to the beach in the chilly rainy weather that always seems to be on the Cape at this time of year. We don't care; we just love it so.

Darcie - I've just packed them. Decisions, decisions.

The Yarnarian Sighs Again and Again.

Did you have a nice Mother's Day? I had a splendid one! DD#1 spent Saturday night with us, and as usual, we stayed up until 1:30 AM to chat. Sunday morning we went to Whole Foods to buy some tasty little cakes to bring to the Mommie's.

The Mommie was quite pleased to see us, and when she saw 3 darling little cakes, she was even more pleased. She has quite a sweet tooth.

We brought paper plates, napkins, forks. So we shared everything, and the Mommie declared that she would hardly eat any supper.

Hubbo went off for a stroll, and the 3 ladies sat around and talked about arranged marriages and polygamy and such. The Mommie, who never remembers what she eats, participated fully in our discussion. Her brain was at full power. Just an amazing woman!

Business News: I'm taking this week and next week as some time off. I really need it; it seems that I've become a workaholic with the dyeing and designing stuff. A couple of weeks to recharge is just the ticket. So, other than dyeing a couple of lace skeins for Best Friend, the only dyeing I'm doing is for me, me, me!!!

I need (?) some sock yarn to take on vacation, so here's what I'm dyeing: 1 skein each of my Penny yarn and Rose yarn, and 1 skein each of 2 brand new sock yarns - 80% merino/20% nylon, and 70% merino/30% bamboo/10% nylon. I need to test out these yarns. Uh huh, right, good excuse. Well somebody has to test dye these guys; it might as well be me, no? I'm so virtuous sometimes that I scare even me. And modest, too.

The other thing I'm doing this week is laundry. Tons of it. I swear it multiplies while we're sleeping. How 2 people can produce that much dirty clothing is beyond me.

I have to decide what books to take with me. This is the only time of the year that I read trashy romances, but on vacation I love them.

CAPE COD, I'm coming, sweetheart, Hang in there.

Erin - We could leave instantly. We are so excited. And you know that we do the exact same things every single year. Almost in order, too. Sighing yet again!

Carolyn - I don't' do tender on vacation; I do fantasy, and those awful bodice-rippers with the purple prose. I have so many things lined up to do that it will take me a month of vacation to get it all done. Sigh.

Quickie

Just a quick note because the Yarnarian needs to go and knit quietly on her sun porch.

All the Kona sold out! I'm in a daze over it. It took me forever to package the yarns up. There were emails, etsy conversations, more emails, changing shipping locations for those international folks, changing them back for various reasons, more emails, more etsy convo's.

And I got it all mailed out this morning before the package pick=up time, and before the rates change! Whadda Yarnarian! Whadda woman! Whadda a tired person!

And that's why this is a quickie. I need to go and knit very quietly and drink tea and have lunch.

Oh, and I ordered 30 more skeins of Kona.

Bye-bye. I'm creeping downstairs to make a fried egg, and then onto the porch.

The Yarnarian Reveals All! And Trees!

For those of you who have been dying (dyeing?) to know what all this Kona is for, I can now officially tell you because Renee has given me the go-head.

Renee is GoddessKnits, and is the very talented lady behind all those gorgeous Mystery Shawls. She is currently taking sign ups for her Anniversary Shawl. Soon she'll start taking sign-ups for Mystery Shawl 9, and, ta da!!!, I've dyed up the Kona for it. Is this neat or what!

These gorgeous shawls are yahoo KALs, and her instructions are perfect. The price is very affordable. She also has a couple of forums on Ravelry, Goddess Knits, and Mystery Shawl Along. Her older patterns are also for sale on her web site.

So, these pretty babies are reserved for MS9, and what doesn't sell there, I'll put up for sale to the general public after she closes the sign-ups.

One of my amazing customers asked if I would dye up some blue sock yarns. Of course I would. Do any of you have any color desires? There is no obligation if it is only one skein; if you don't like it, someone else will. Message me on Ravelry or on my email (over on the right) if you'd like.

More pics of our trees taken last night about 6 pm.







Here's my exciting personal news: I'm finally getting a color and cut at a new salon! I have about 3 inches of gray showing, my hair is wild and very thin, and I look about 10 years older. I go through these gray moments about once a year. I have to see exactly how gray I am (very, very gray) and should I not dye it. Hah! The Mommie has less white hair than I have, and more body to her hair. If wigs weren't uncomfortable, I say the hell with it, and just buy a couple of pieces. This is a big sore point in my life. Just telling you..

Now that was a good rant!

The Yarnarian Says: "Oh, Piffle!"

Forget about the computer time; I give up. Die Lorelei calls me all the time and I'm helpless. What a siren she is.

Honey, if you're reading this, I've named the 'puter, die Lorelei. Just thought I'd let you know.

I'm just about done dyeing the Kona yarn. I have 18 skeins done, and I want to do 2 more. I don't want to get too crazy here, because if they don't sell for the KAL, then I have a lot of Kona! And it's pretty pricey for me to buy. When it all becomes official, I'll see how it goes. I can always get more yarn and dye it, and the KAL isn't scheduled to start until maybe the end of June. I'll keep you posted when it all comes about.

Here are the latest Kona skeins. Seafoam, Rosebud, Ribbon, and Hush.






Newest sock yarns are already listed on Etsy, over on the right. These are "Rose" yarns, a bit thinner than the Penny yarn. The supplier changed the base; it was a silky yarn, very similar to Knit Picks superwash merino/nylon sock yarn. Not any more. the silkiness is gone, but it's still a lovely yarn and I like it a lot. It comes already skeined up in a small skein, so it doesn't pay for me to reskein it.

Mommie news: I saw the Mommie yesterday and she is in fine fettle. There's a word - fettle! I need a sock design with that word in the title. Anyhow, the momster is doing just fine. She is so quick and so witty, and she never remembers what she ate for lunch not 1/2 hour ago. It's become a joke between us.

The Yarnarian Fails Miserably!

She tried, she really tried to stay off the computer. Hah! Every time I walk by it, it gives out its siren call: Come to me, waste time here. I'm going to call the computer "die Lorelei".

So here are some more Kona yarns that I dyed on Monday. Cantaloupe, Fuschia, Honey, and Waterlily.






I want you to see the view from my bedroom window when I wake up in the morning:




I bunny... - I can see this from my bed. Year around it's so pretty.

Carolyn and Bev - I failed miserably in my non-computing resolve. I can't stay away; I need an intervention.

The Yarnarian Seeks Enlightenment.

I'm in a groove, a routine, and I need to get out of it. I get into these intense obsessive ways of living because I get so really involved in what I'm doing. And then I start to work at it nonstop, and this is ridiculous given that my idea of retirement is to constantly explore new ideas and ways of living. I get bored easily too.So, I'm now in search of enlightenment: what to keep, what to discard, what to explore, etc. I need to get back into fun!

Here's what I am keeping: dyeing, designing, selling. This is a whole new world for me, and it challenges me every time I engage in it. But I need to step back and do this at a non-compulsive pace.

Here's what I am discarding: The endless time wasted in front of the computer. I can sit and click on stuff for a couple of hours at a time. What a total dumb way to spend my time. How many times to I have to check my email, after all?

Here's what I want to do, explore, etc: I want to get back to the joy of reading. Books on tape while I'm reskeining is more of that obsession that has to be kept in check. I need to get out every day. I am, by nature, a very reclusive person, but this has really bad impact on me. Even running errands is good for me. I want to get back to a bit of cooking. I like to cook, not every day, but a couple of times a week it would be nice to have a real dinner.

So, we'll see. Can I do it, will I go back to being the old obsessive/compulsive Yarnarian?

Blogging doesn't count as computer time. This is fun!

Dyeing news: Kona dyed on Sunday has finally dried. Here are the darlings for you to salivate over: Cedar, Spruce, Vermilion and Violet.






And here are a couple of pretties for etsy; Fruit Cup and Carrie (which has to be reskeined).




Margene - Clearly you are a disciplined soul. Wanna adopt me?

KV - Sigh, I have no solutions to the computer thing. Here I am, back on it again. Bad ruth, bad, bad, bad! We might need an intervention!

Christine - I'm just a figment of your imagination. This is not me writing this. I'm being enlightened and am knitting. OK, I'm going to knit.

The Yarnarian is a Bit Feisty.

No new yarns that are in the photography stage, unless you want to look at some sopping wet yarn. For that, however, you'll have to come over to my house because there is no way I'm photographing that mess. Hah! Feisty Yarnarian!

Pattern News: Here's my latest pattern, which was the April pattern for the PennyRose Sock Club. Available on Ravelry and tomorrow also on Etsy. A mere 5 bucks which is cheaper than 2 boxes of Devil Dogs and has no calories! And is pretty, to boot. More feisty Yarnarian.




Lookie here: This is what my very smart Hubbo found at a garage sale for me. We are talking one sweet tote bag! This is a Sonoma bag, and he bought it for $1. Not bad.




Knitting news: It proceeds as before. You really don't want to look at yet another picture of more garter stitch, do you?

Emily - The great advantage to being married to the Schmutz Meister, is that he finds unbelievable stuff at garage sales and thrift shops. The great disadvantage is that he finds weird stuff that we don't need. On the other hand, ask him if he has a flashlight. Sure, how many do you want? It's fun, and interesting.
I'm glad you like the sock pattern.