Fiber Fool

I’m having a strong case of startitis. I have more than enough on my plate right now and I think because of that I’m lusting after other people’s knitting patterns. Thankfully I do have some new-ish yarns in the queue to be knitting with. Above is the lovely Chickadee from Quince & Co, a Maine-based company that launched this summer with some great names and experience behind them - Pam Allen, Carrie Bostick Hoge and Bob Rice. This yarn has a wonderful feel to it and I can’t wait to get it on the needles and start swatching. I’m super excited about the design it is for too. I think that siren song is strong enough to keep me from casting on a non-design project (I’m all for knitting other designer’s work and I plan to do a good bit of it as soon as my current project is wrapped, but I have to avoid temptation just now).

This may be the next design on the needles as soon as I wrap the three (or at least one of the three) that are currently on needles. Three designs at a time is enough. Especially when you consider there is still writing, editing, photographing and test knitting to be done on other projects. With three projects on the needles there is a good chance I’m at a KIP-friendly point on any one of the three at a given time should I shake my recent hermit tendencies and start socializing again.

This yarn is quite new to the line up at Frog Tree (a fair trade company). It is their new sock yarn, Pediboo, an 80/20 blend of superwash merino and bamboo. I discovered it at the My Sister Knit’s 6th Anniversary sale and scooped it up. I also know the general plan for this yarn and am excited for it. Though this one still has a lot of the details to work out yet so it will be a bit before I’m ready to cast it on. Though swatching will be in order before the details are decided on. I love the hand of it and I’m thinking the manner in which it is spun and plied will really compliment the general design.

Now this yarn is one of the three currently on the needles. This is Nordique Sport from St. Denis, a Veronik Avery yarn and is not quite as new as the above yarns. It is very squishy, sproingy and a nice solid yarn. It needs to come off the needles though. I’m having a bit of gauge trouble at the moment and I overshot my target size by a lot. It is not, however, the fault of the yarn. It is the stitch pattern’s fault. It is one of those kind of stretchy patterns, not quite as troublesome as a rib, but nearly so. I suspected the problem for a while, but kept denying it. On Monday I came to the conclusion that it had to be frogged. It is Friday and I haven’t yet done so. I thought I would at SnB on Monday night. I packed my nostpinne, but ended up casting on another design project instead (the third project on the needles) that I had packed in case I had successfully frogged the St. Denis project before our evening was up. Ah, sometimes you just have to go with what it feels good to work on.

I think the plan for today is to frog the St. Denis, but with the ball winder rather than the nostpinne. And perhaps put my disc of The Medium from NetFlix in the player (this is disc 2 of season 1 and the jury is still out whether I’ll stick with it) and finally wrap up the third project that is on the needles. That may be a tad tall of an order, but if I could get half way to finishing it today it will have been a productive day!

I have some fun with Alpacamundo (who had her first cria birth recently) lined up for the weekend that should provide some good blog fodder and hopefully some great photo ops. That is if I don’t get shy about snapping shots in a crowd… It’ll be good for me though to get out of the house (and not distract DH from his grad school homework) and to be amongst people. Monday nights have been about all the socializing I’ve been doing most of the summer.

I hope you all have a great weekend and get to enjoy these last summer-kissed days!

Back in early August I entered a contest at Lillyella. I had only recently begun following the blog, but I like her taste in things from Etsy and she has some interesting interviews and occasional recipes and such. This contest was part of an interview with Zoe of Sleepy Moon Designs in Vancouver.

Well, it seemed that I won. Actually, the week the winner was announced I discovered I won two other contests. That seemed really weird since I don’t often bother to enter contest most of the time. I was half tempted to go buy a lottery ticket!

For this contest I got a $40 credit for the Sleepy Moon Etsy store. I had a hard time choosing. I even enlisted help from Amanda to see if anything jumped out at her as really being “me.” She didn’t find anything that was particularly me, but the favorites she noted were the top ones in the running for me too, LOL!

It took me a few days, but I finally settled on this petite cluster necklace made of blue chalcedony and red rubies. I’m not usually much of a red person, but there was just something about this necklace that really struck me. The inspirational picture for the design certainly helped too :-) It was just a tad over the $40 so I added in a 2″ necklace extender to my order as well in case I’d decide to wear it with another necklace (of which you now know I own many - I blame Amber, she has been a bad influence on me the past couple years).

I think many of the earrings shown in her shop were what caught my attention, but my ears are super sensitive and my neck short, so while I *love* her earrings I don’t think I’d wear them often. I find bracelets often get in the way of many of daily tasks, though I do wear them when going out sometimes. A necklace seemed like the right choice. The choice that would get the most use and enjoyment.

Not too bad! I have one other cluster necklace which I love, but it is much chunkier. I’m liking this daintier version a lot. It might just get me to wear a bit more sky blue and red :-)

Crazy week around these parts and the weekend is to be even crazier! When did weekends become time for more work and effort than the weekdays?

We have multiple obligations on Saturday, though not nearly as many as next Saturday. Then I’ll be photographing a wedding on Sunday starting at 9am (and it is over an hour away). I will say now that it is very likely I’ll need Monday to recover. So, I’ll see you all again for Ten on Tuesday!

I wish you a wonderful weekend!

Despite our semi-arid climate, I feel very fortunate to live in an area where agriculture and all natural and organic food production is valued. At the height of the growing season there are FOUR farmer’s markets and THREE days each week that one can purchase locally grown produce and other prepared products. I definitely prefer the Saturday morning market in Old Town Fort Collins. It is held in the civic center parking lot at the corner of Oak Street and Howes on the west edge of Old Town.

This is a large market with the widest variety of products to choose from in my experience. In addition to the obvious seasonal produce there are often a booth or three offering locally raised and processed meats. Frequently a local coffee roaster or two can be found. There are also the orchards with their jams, butters and dried fruit in addition to whatever fruit is currently juicy and ripe for savoring.

A handful of gardeners have herb and vegetable starts as well as gorgeously put together container gardens of herbs, flowering plants or succulents. There is even a Bonsai vendor. Gorgeous cut flower can be found at a number of booths too.

Even with all the variety I think my favorite booths are those filled with produce.

The one booth we stop at religiously is the Hazel Dell Mushroom booth. We almost always pick up a half pound mixed bag. It makes for a relatively quick mid-week dinner when I saute them up in a little butter and olive oil with some herbs from the garden and have them on pasta. We often will throw some in with scrambled eggs for weekend brunch too.

This last week, in addition to the mushrooms, I picked up some garlic scapes to round out the couple we got in the CSA and I made a pesto with those plus a little bit of parsley and basil that was delish! We also got apricots to make liqueur and probably the last of the Rainier cherries. I’m looking forward to ripe tomatoes, sweetcorn, eggplant and peaches to make their appearances soon! If you go to a farmer’s market what are your favorite things to pick up?

If you are in the area, you’ll find another market on Saturdays that runs an hour or two later into the day on Drake Road between Shields and College at Drake Center. On Sunday there is one from 11am-2pm on Harmony Road near Ace Hardware, Lee’s Cyclery and Reader’s Cove Bookstore. In that same location on Wednesday around mid-day you can find a market run by the same group. In my experience that one is much smaller than on Sunday. The Harmony markets are kind of nice in that you can go to a central booth and use a debit or credit card to purchase $5 tokens so you don’t have to stop at the ATM to get cash before going. This year I also noticed that several booths can accept food stamps.

I love my town. Pretty much the only thing that would make it better were if my family were here. A huge part of what I love about Fort Collins is the sense of community and city pride. I also love our local businesses and feel they play a major role in those things I like about Fort Collins. I also try to shop and dine local as much as possible to support these businesses.

Since I am sure we are not alone in a lack of resources (time being a big one for me right now) for a summer vacation I thought it would fun over the course of the summer to show you some of the gems of Fort Collins. I’m hoping other local businesses will be willing to participate and let me come take some pictures to share with you guys. My goal is to do so each week this summer.

So, won’t you take a stroll with me through a bit of Historic Old Town Fort Collins with me?

If you wander north along the east side of College Ave (Hwy 287 N), hang a right when you get to Walnut Street.

Go ahead and cross Walnut. Head in the southerly direction (many of the streets down here are oriented to the Cache la Poudre river, not the cardinal directions).

About half way down the block you should see the historic firehouse building.

When you arrive, don’t forget to look up and admire the architectural details!

Upon entering, glance forward and to the right wall and you’ll find four sections of bestsellers - a sure bet if you are looking for something to read but don’t have a specific title in mind. There is a section each for paperback and hardcovers of both fiction and non-fiction.

The shop is long and has almost three distinct sections. The middle section is probably the area I frequent the most - the mysteries! But they have all manner of fiction and non-fiction for all ages. I never cease to be amazed at the selection. They have what I’d like on the shelves much more often than another unnamed big box bookstore in town. Their staff is friendly and helpful as well, but without being pushy.

Don’t mind the glimpses of bare shelves. The day I took photos they were sorting through their books and preparing for a huge sidewalk sale that started yesterday and runs through the weekend in Old Town. It coincides with A Jazz Experience, where several local venues are hosting various jazz groups of all types all weekend long. There are even two outdoor stages with free shows! So if you are in the area you may like to take advantage of free entertainment and great deals!

This is another section I like to check when I come in and I’m sure you are not surprised by this one either. See, Old Firehouse Books sells both new and used books so you never know what treasures you might find. I like to pop in and check the shelves fairly regularly and I keep a list on my phone of titles I’m interested in.

I love that Old Firehouse Books offers new and used books. I can trade in books and can then use my credit to discount future purchases (their web site has the trade details) which helps me buy local but still save some money. They also have customer accounts and for every $100 you spend (which they track with the computer so you don’t have to carry yet another loyalty card in your wallet) you get a $5 coupon.

I also love that Old Firehouse is an active part of the community. Many of their events make use of other local businesses. For example, next week there is a Barbecue and Beer Tasting with a new local brewery, Equinox. And Saturday, July 31st Cricket McRae will be having a book signing and they are having a cheese tasting to go along with it from the local Windsor Dairy! They also host many different types of book clubs and their e-mail newsletters are informative about upcoming releases and titles their staff are enjoying (which reminds me that each staff member has a recommendation shelf you can peruse too).

You can find Old Firehouse Books online at http://oldfirehousebooks.com/ where you can order books, download e-books, and sign up for their newsletter. You can also connect with them on Facebook and Twitter. They post some really interesting links and send reminders about upcoming evens. They also blog at http://oldfirehousebooks.blogspot.com/.

Here ends the first look at one of my frequented places in Fort Collins. I would love if some of you out there would join me on Fridays and share some of your favorite local businesses with your readers as well so I can add them to my every growing list of places I’d like to visit when time is not so scarce.