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Saps running and the mud is rising…spring is in the air!
We are so happy to have our maple sugar groves tapped again after a few years off. The Clace family and friends are local and great to work with. We let them set permanent lines in return for maple syrup and believe me the gift is precious. It runs along the theory of many other things. If you have a sheep, shear it and use the wool, if you have a cow, milk it and drink the milk, if you have land, till and feed the folks. So if you have maple trees, tap them and enjoy the sweetest gift on earth.
The logo tells all. They are doing the tapping, the boiling and the creating. Among other things.
We stopped by the sugar house today to spend a few hours…
They are doing it Yankee style. The sugar content in the sap is so strong right now they’ve been making fancy grade for 2 days. And I tasted it today and, oh man, is it good!
The fires were stoked constantly to keep the sap boiling.
Being at a sugar house is an event…it’s hard work and social. At this house there were people from 9 to 84 years old, sharing stories and friendship.
This shows the syrup coming out of the evaporator into the filter where it then flows into a finishing pan and then is poured off into a container as finished syrup.
The kids went out and scooped snow into cups and then poured syrup over it as a treat known as “sugar on snow”.
Things are pointing toward spring….including the outerwear. Here is our corner at the kitchen door. It is now full to the max with cold weather coats, rain coats and possibly a sweater in case we have a day that reaches 45 degrees.
If you want maple syrup you have the number to call!
Fiber, Natural Dyeing
The beat goes on….focusing on the handpainted yarns.
Katie prepped …
I got a dye lot of Rooster done. It’s been a challenge between snow and rain, watching the weather for clear days…the color was developing here and turned out predictably beautiful!
The handpaints piled up…
Steaming and running the indigo vat…
Colors are looking good after a wash and rinse….
Comparing a pair of skeins for saturation and hue after drying…
The weather may be glum in March but creating color warms the palette of life!
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Theresa at Camp Runamuck nominated me for this stylish award! I enjoy Theresa’s humor, talent at the loom, sewing machine and beyond and perhaps especially her deep affection for animals and the joy they bring to our lives. Thank you Theresa for all you give!
Here’s what comes with the award:
1. Thank and link back to the person who sent you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself
3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award
First, seven things about me!
1. I love natural dyeing. No matter the medium, it is as good as breathing for me.
2. I love snowmobiling.
3. I have been married to the same man for 30 years this May. And that’s a good thing!
4. What I see each day and surround myself with fuels my creativity.
5. Music is vital to me.
6. I am a complete and total animal lover. My life will never be without them.
7. Friendship, laughter and honesty…required needs.
Part two: I don’t spend a great amount of time strolling the blogosphere…I have those I connect with and consider friends. So here are the blogs I have come to enjoy, some newer, some older, but all good and stylish!
Earthues From both the team at the studio and Michele Wipplinger, owner and founder of Earthues, style exudes through and through. I am eternally grateful for the style they have brought to me over the years.
How The West Was Spun Anne is hands down the most avid spinner and knitter I know AND she’s good! Her work is current and stylish!
ConcateKnit Here’s a woman with a style for honesty. She holds nothing back and I find that current and real.
Knit Quest Sam is designing style on a full time basis. You need to watch this woman.
Nutmeg Owl The owl works through the night and ferets out fibers and patterns and owlways recognizes what is in style.
PoMoGoLightly Let me say Beverly just has style…she is always working on a new way of being and her fashion sense and writing are most stylish.
Say This About That Laurel has a great style for writing and can spin a mean yarn.
Sweet Georgia Felicia…a great sense of color and that makes her stylish in my book.
Yarnslinger I got to know the yarnslinger through our mutual love for animals and she has an unabashed love for baseball making it stylish to be a fan.
Plucky Knitter New blog to my list but certainly many know Sarah and she puts together a stylish presentation and product.
Yarn Wench Lynn is new to my list but I find her absolutely creative, hip and free-flowing..that’s stylish.
The Painted Sheep Kris is a great dyer and business woman AND she snowmobiles! That’s stylish!
Congratulations! Here’s to your style and love for all you do and share.
Dusk at Long Ridge Farm.
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We all have things in our life we swore we’d never tumble to…come on, fess up! I half turned my back on the face of the future many a time.
First, mine (well skip the way back ones) was the internet and computers, never going to use them. Phones and letters were just fine for me. And then it was Facebook. Why do I need that when I have email, the phone and letters? But, oh, how the mighty have fallen. I was pulled into the massive FB whoosh last month and have found it reasonable, sensible and absolutely insane all in one fell swoop!
So if you are on Facebook be my friend ! And if you aren’t, I totally support your resolve!
Natural Dyeing, Shearing
My studio is brimming with color despite the backdrop of frigid and snowy weather outside. I frequently struggle with the yin and yang between the desk and dyepot with multiple projects and deadlines in both areas. Welcome to a glimpse of what has been cooking in the studio this week. Some freshly dyed lengths of silk ribbon…
I just finished my part of a collaborative this week which was challenging but rewarding. Although the volume of yarn was nominal the work lay in the matching. I ran tests on each sample first before commiting the beautiful one of a kind skeins to the dyepot. I wanted the finished skeins to mirror the original samples with the one variable that the samples are a white base yarn and the finished skeins are a gray base. The yarn is from my CVM/Romeldales.
I will share more when the project is complete…the small butterflies atop the skeins were the original colors for me to match through natural dyeing. Accomplished!
On a personal note, I had promised a skein of sock yarn naturally dyed by me for a business associate. She wanted pink so she could knit a pair of socks for her and her baby girl. My camera didn’t do this justice but it is a lovely coral pink with subtle variegation. In the mail and on it’s way.
Nothing wasted, for fun, I put a large cotton scarf into the after-bath from the sock dyeing….yummy, warm pale coral…
The indigo vat simmered along so I could alternately dip skeins, scarves and tests I needed to run.
Here’s Luna behind the indigo oxidizing tub…clueless to my efforts but happy!
All three dogs spend time with me, although Kalie eyes the door in hopes it will open and free her for a run!
Sidney loves the studio. He is quiet old now and doesn’t need too much entertaining, he just loves to be amidst the action with nothing asked of him! This is the perfect place!
A customer arrived yesterday with 3 pounds of her hand-spun yarn for me to dye. She has posed a challenge for her color choice and I look forward to it!
I am half way through a large custom dye order…more color to burst forth soon!
