Saturday night - Somewhere Else.

Emailed to me by a blog reader & friend in response to yesterday's blog post 'Friday Night'. She captioned it 'Jennifer's Backyard on Saturday Night':

Talk about yer 'Deer in the Headlight' looks. Geesh.

I would like to say that the animals in my backyard do tend to live a 'pre-hunter' bambi-esque lifestyle though. Today, the doe was joined by (and I kid you not), a pair of squirrels at the top of the tree, 2 rabbits and a groundhog, all hangin' out at the ol' pear tree. I wonder, what kind of quasi-wild/suburb gossip goes on out there? I dunno, but if a skunk starts showing up for the party, I'm calling Animal Planet. Or Disney.

On the yarn side of 'As the Forest Turns' here, Colleen has an excellent idea in the comments for that Bamboo-Ewe yarn... and call me Burger King, but you can have it your way. (and please, do NOT call me Burger King. Or Burgermeister-Meisterburger, or any Burger - I jest.) So, without further sleep-deprived commentary from teh dye potz, you can haz all 7 colors at once in tiny skeins if you want. Clickity: http://www.nysfarm.com/bamboo_ewe.htm

Friday night.

Remember the pear trees I mentioned? Well this gal is eating my pears. 2nd night in a row.

Look! Something Shiney! It's Bamboo-Ewe, in spring pastel colors! (Hey, what can I say? In the spring, we were still a little busy with January Leaves. Someday I might even get around the Valentine's Day Sale I had been planning...)

This is a 40% Bamboo, 40% Wool, 20% Nylon blend 4ply sock yarn, non-superwash (it felts shiney as well). Ain't they purty?

Peach, Lavender, Pale-Blue, Spring Green, Yellow, White and Pink. They were a custom request but oh boy do I like them! I have plans for a tank-top in the Spring Green, a baby sweater in the pink & blue, a striped felted bag with all of them.... so many ideas, so little time.

Goldfish.

I'd show you a picture, but by the time the batteries for the camera were charged.... it was time to pick a burial plot.

We went to the Carnival last night, Nora had a wonderful time. She rode rides, and played games... and won a goldfish. She threw the ball and got it in the bowl and won a decent sized goldfish. She named the wee sushi 'Pink-Rose' and off we went. Miss Rose made it through the night and part of the morning before she began gulping for air.... and started to list to one side. With the end in sight, we gave some tearful goodbyes, discussed burials and dad took her for a bike-ride. I buried Miss Rose. Moving on.

Cathy-Cate is awesome. Just sayin, cuz she came through with Tai-Chi info in abundance for me. While the style I learned was Yang, I'll go see how different it is from the Wu style taught there, thank you Cathy! It also helped me search out and find one other, who does teach Yang, and so I have 2 options now.

I've got better pictures of Plum Shadows now, and it's officially for sale:

And, Nora wanted to dye some yarn. She wanted to dye Red and Pink, but when she was almost finished with the skein, she decided it needed some blue, and so we've got shades of a Fuschia red, blue and purples. She drew a few hearts in Fuschia when she got started, which reminded me of valentines day, so I think we'll call this one 'Teenage Romance' cause it's so bright and shiney. You know? And yes, it's also now available for purchase.

I'm thrilled to say, that for those of you still waiting for 'Mint Mojito' (also a Nora yarn), I expect to have it available in a few days - Nora can't wait to dye more. Pictures when we're done here. And you know what she told me yesterday? That because we're both dyers, that she wants to have a shop right next door to me, so we can visit each other. I love this kid.

So confused.

So thrilled last night to have found a Tai-Chi meet-up... Like you see in the movies, you know? A group of people in the park in the background dong Tai-Chi?

Well I'm here to tell you that it was absolutely, positively.... NOT like that. At all. To be completely fair, the instructor did say at the beginning that it was going to be some Tai-Chi, some Yoga, and a little Pilates. Ok thinks I, I can handle a little of this & that. A few Tai-Chi moves to help me get started again is good, even mixed in with some Yoga stuff - it can't hurt, right? Yes, it can. (Especially when the only Tai-Chi was 'Wave Hands Like Clouds 4 times in a row - good call Astrid). It was mentally difficult to stay focused on keeping my 'Leaning Tree' from tipping over when I was psyched for one thing and given another, and plus let's just say my body was not ready for Yoga. So, almost 70 minutes of Yoga, 2 minutes of Pilates, and a 30-count of Tai-Chi. I am not that limber, and my thighs doth protest. Earnestly.

ETA: Let me be clear: I do not want to do Yoga.

I think I like this though:
(don't tell anyone, but I have found that if you sign your child up for Karate, Kumon, and swimming lessons - you find yourself with time to actually KNIT in 30 minute increments more than once a WEEK.) This is a sock I've actually knit myself, toe-up turkish cast-on (thank you Lisa). The colorway is a very early attempt at a color for Firebird, (or click here for the finished Boid) but obviously has way more pink than any self-respecting flame would show the world. (Pay no attention to the white yarn at the top. I couldn't remember how to do the bind-off I wanted to do, and I was at Kumon with Nora and wanted to start the mate... well, I didn't have a crochet hook to thread a lifeline so I knit in a row of bulky for later.)

I'm also fond of this: Out of the imagination and into the dye-pot last night - it's been on the 'I want to dye' colorway now since Tsock #2.

I think we'll call it 'Plum Shadows'. And yes, it's fer sale... send me a note as I haven't gotten the site updated quite yet.

Lisa, this one is for you. It's in that yarn I didn't like before but now I'm liking, and it's in the color I showed you in the other pictures though this picture doesn't quite do it justice and yes I'm mailing it to you today along with other things but not everything blah blah blah and boy are you in trouble and that's all I'm going to say about that.

Waltraud, this is for you. I'd like you to know, that my nieghbors have more than one of these - and I don't mean 1/2 knit socks (I posted both views since I couldn't decide which was better):

One last thing. You folks remember Casey, right? Our most dedicated, handy, farm-hand-turned-yarn-slave? Well, she graduated from high school this year, and is getting ready to leave (::sob::) for college next month. She will be attending Bennington University in Vermont and studying music. She's planning on putting her next billion years of productive paychecks in hock to pay for college (see college=debt/loans) but is thrilled with the opportunity, as she's been accepted to the Music department in the College and if memory serves, it was her first choice.

Any-hoo, I'm reminded of the Secret Santa thang we had going on this past winter, and was thinking if anyone was interested, we could do something similar for the young budding college-student-soon-to-be-starving-artist. You can donate cold hard through paypal, in any amount, or if you want to purchase gift cards or other small items (not much room for stuff in her packing - small shared dorm room), I'd love to surprise her when I see her off in August. I'm going to miss her, she's become part of our family and while I miss her awesome, yarn-skeining skillz, I will miss her sense of humor and her company more.

You can mail things for her to me here, please email me for the mailing address at (jennifer at nysfarm dot com) replace the wrong stuff with the correct stuff as usual. For cash donations to the pot, I've had to use the limits of blogspot and put the donation option in the sidebar called 'Graduation Gift'. If your going to mail a gift card (target, wal-mart, bed bath & beyond type places etc), I'd like to have it by August 1st so I can get it all together in time for my meet-up with her before she leaves.

Well, it's almost time for swim class (woo hoo!!), and I've got a few things to do before we leave so I guess that's it.

Stuff and some other Stuff.

So, I see I haven't posted often or recently. I do want to post more often, and I have lots of things I think about blogging... oh well, we're all here now so let's get on with it.

It's been a busy summer so far. Nora has started Karate, and is loving it. She's seen Disney's 'Mulan' perhaps a few times and was really looking forward to being 'like Mulan'. So much so, that in class when Sensei asked the students for examples of an appropriate time to use what they learn in class, other students made suggestions like "When someone bad tries to steal you" or "When someone is hitting your sister." Nora announced "When the Hun attack". Well, Sensei had to admit, that was a good time to use your Karate skills.

If I were the Hun, I'd be scared - wouldn't you?

Also, on a martial arts note, I would like to point out to anyone who may be confused, Tai Chi is NOT Yoga. I'm not certain how or why this is being confused, but I've lost count of how many times in the last 2 weeks when I have inquired at various dojo around the region about Tai Chi instruction/classes/etc, I've been pointed in the direction of a local Yoga group. Now, I've got nothing against yoga, and I'm sure it's wonderful, but I'm looking for TAI CHI.

Also, it turns out this small non-farm property has 3 pear trees, 1 apricot, 2 apple, blackberry and raspberry bushes, and in the front yard.... 2 Bing Cherries - my favorite (and I filled this several times):

In other news, Cleopatra is now available... and even better? IN STOCK.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get Nora to Karate and find the directions to what I hope is an actual Tai Chi meet-up tonite, and not a Yoga class.