Just saying…  (32.9 F was a pretty close call)

The past two days have been glorious, crisp and clear.  Perfect weather for dyeing.  If, one had time to do that sort of thing.  I managed to fit in one batch of singles this afternoon in the Aegean color way.  It dried in a couple hours.  Perfect. 

Nearly a bushel of apples is sitting on the kitchen counter.  I’ve dealt with half that much already.  My "cold" cellar isn’t quite cold enough this early in the season.  Maybe it is, but it’s pretty damp, not really a place I want to chance with my organic apples.  The berries and basil are put up.  Two gallons of elderberry liquor in the making, sit on the counter.  Bags of berries wait inthe freezer to be juiced when there is more time.  And, Norma, remember the conversation we had about string beans last weekend. Just when I relaxed, wasn’t paying attention, all of a sudden…. they’ve started to produce.  Go figure.  If I can continue to avoid the frost, AND, if the bees stick around, I may still have beans in the freezer.  I put several quarts in this afternoon and kept another quart or so for eating fresh.  We’ll see.

As for Swallowtail, I have finished the first Lily of the Valley border.  When I checked it, I found a misformed nupp, more than one.  I’m standig still.  Should I frog (I could never frog it, I’d tink it forever) all the way back to the beginning of the border, or continue on and think I will never notice.  Darn it all.   I figure each row takes me nearly 1/2 hour.  I’m slow on those nupps. I’ve finally settled on a three needle method.  I use a #2 sock needle held against my #5 when I make the nupp.  Then, on the purl row, when all the knitted and yo stitiches are purled together, I pick them up and purl them with the same #2 dp.  It works for me.  Everything else I tried looked a bit different.   For now, I’m starting a new pair of socks.  Yarn from Ellen’s 1/2 pint, purchased Saturday.  Soothing.

Important Message
	Frost advisory in effect from 2 AM to 8 AM edt Monday.

Now, if I just weren’t SO tired, I’d be out there trying to figure out what I could save.  It was 38 this morning when I got up.  When my neighbor came by at noon to drop of the NY Times (he drives 30 miles round trip to get his and then drops one off for me on his way home, nice huh?) he mentioned that he’d had his wood stove going this morning to take the chill off.  I hate to see the summer go, it means moving the TV from the top of the centrally located wood stove back to a table in the dining area.  We roll it around when we want to sit on the sofa and watch.  It’s a small place.  Today was the day.  It’s that or light the heater that uses propane and who wants to pay for that.  Woods free, sort of… there’s more than a bit of work involved.  But, back to the food / garden thing, I went out and picked EVERY black, ripe elderberry, all the ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and (not that a frost would do any real damage) all of the dropped apples.  I pared gazillions of apples and packed them up into pie sized packages for the freezer, then cooked up a batch of applesauce and baked a pie.  Not six hours later, it’s long gone and I have the indigestion to show for it.  One batch of elderberry liquor is in the bottle where it will remain for the next few weeks. The rest of the berries are waiting for me to take them off the stems and do whatever I’m going to do.  More juice, freeze and more liquor.  The tomatoes, well they are waiting in the barn.  I probably should head back down in the dark, but for some reason, this year the garden has been so lousy that I just don’t care much anymore.  Oh sh*t!  I’ve forgotten the basil.  That IS worth going out with a flashlight for.  Ermm.. night harvest, accomplished while holding the flashlight in your (um, my) mouth.  Guess I’ll shorten this post in favor of the basil.  As for the rest…. the broccoli won’t care.

Saturday, I went to the Vermont Sheep & Wool.  I will write about it, promise.  I had a good time, bought stuff, met up with friends, ate terrible fair food ( I can’t wait for the chocolate wagon at Rhinebeck) .. and you’ll have to wait for the rest. Or, you can pop over to read Norma’s review of the day.  She’s got it pretty well covered, except about the clothes part.  Remember, on MY side of the state, it WAS cold when I got up.  Dressing in long pants, layers for the top, a change of shoes from sandals to rubber clogs (it rained) was  just plain easy. 

  Isla

That’s the last colorway that I did last weekend.  It reminds me of a watercolor.  Lately, I have been finding it very hard to get the light and color right in the photos.  These have been worked on and are pretty close.  I have finally gotten them up on my Yarn for Sale page if anyone is interested. 

The Swallowtail Shawl….hmmmm… arghhhh!!!!  It was going so well.  Then, I relaxed and knitted one extra 6 row repeat.  SIX. FREEEKING. ROWS!  I tinked back for nearly two hours.  Done.  Then, I got to the nupps.  The NUPPS!  First time around I just wasn’t paying attention.  I admit it.  I was in the truck, not paying attention.  Instead of knitting and yo’ing into the same stitch, I merrily knit and did my yo’s in line.  Tink back.  Done again.  Did my nupps. Next row, purl those stitches and yo’s, all five of them together.  NO WAY!  It took me TEN MINUTES to get the five stitches onto both needles so that I could purl the stitch.  Enter a number 2 sock needle… down to FIVE minutes.  Got that row done.  I’m shaking in my boots.  There are alot more rows, and alot of nupps ahead.  As soon as  can see again, I’m going to pop over to read all of the suggestions made when Cassie knit her shawl.  She warned me to keep them loose.  Guess I wasn’t loose enough.  Right now, I am not enjoying the pattern anymore. 

This weekend: The Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival is very early this year.  It’s a small show.  But, local small shows are often my favorites.  The fall colors are just beginning up here, not the usual high season weekend that the show usually occupies.  Leaf peeper traffic shouldn’t be a problem yet if you are thinking of heading north to the Burlington area.  Hope to see some of you there.