Eye Candy Friday

Fall foliage at Jockey Hollow, Morristown, New Jersey

Yes, I'm a bad, bad blogger. But I'm looking to fix that. More posts to come...

By the way--as of October 26th I'm no longer unemployed... :-)

Eye Candy Friday

From yesterday's visit to the Bronx Zoo--specifically, the Butterfly Garden.

10 Favorite Places to Eat‏

Now this is an easy list...

1. Ruth's Chris Steak House (New York, NY; Chicago, IL; Rocky Hill, CT; Garden City, NY...) --Hands down my favorite restaurant(s)
2. Italian Bistro (Philadelphia, PA) --Great food, great service
3. Brandon Inn (Brandon, VT) -- Chef/Owner Louis Pattis serves up consistently wonderful meals
4. The Creemee Stand (Wilmington, VT) -- Best creemee anywhere!
5. Dot's (Wilmington and West Dover, VT) -- Best breakfast (and chili) in Vermont
6. Outback Steakhouse -- Always a great meal, and I love their bread
7. Fogo de Chão (Atlanta, GA) -- I was part of a group taken here by a vendor--amazingly bountiful and delicious food
8. Annapolis Ice Cream Company (Annapolis, MD) Best hard ice cream anywhere!
9. J. Alexander's -- Northbrook, IL) One of my favorites when I'd travel to Chicagoland for business
10. Lillian's (Saratoga Springs, NY) -- Many fond memories of my Saratoga summers

I could easily go on and on, but this will have to serve as an appetizer for ya...

Eye Candy Friday

Sunset after a dinner-time thunderstorm at the Hubbardton Battlefield...

Tour de Fleece update

It took me a few days to actually grab the camera (I'm so bad), but here are some pix of my progress on the wheel side of Tour de Fleece.

I started out with this on Saturday...


And as of today I have this...

Not quite four ounces, but close. Still a bit over spun, but not too bad. And the best part--by spinning every day I'm getting more and more comfortable with the wheel! Better control, more confidence, and definitely sucking a little less every day!

I am getting a little bored with the white though. Once I get done with my bankruptcy class I'm going to dye a couple of batches for practicing--both wheel spinning and fiber dyeing.

Unfortunately I can't take the wheel with me this weekend. I've got a Rev War reenactment, and my lovely wheel is just not period appropriate. However, my Bossies will be right at home, so the spinning will continue!

Tour de Fleece

The timing of this couldn't be more perfect...

I'm taking the opportunity to really work on significantly improving my wheel spinning skills by taking part in this years Tour de Fleece. My goal--to spin every day, primarily on the wheel, and on those days when the wheel is unavailable I'll spin with a spindle. (Ms. Moosie, to be exact.)

And so far, I've spent time on the wheel every freakin' day!!! And not only have I spun every day, I'm actually starting to suck less! Woot!!!

I don't have any pictures yet to show you, but I'll try to get some during the day tomorrow.

Eye Candy Friday

Mount Snow Golf Course, West Dover, Vermont

I'm having a wheely good time...

Sorry, but I just couldn't resist that pun...

Looky what I got today!

That's me, alright, spinning some basic white wool top on my new (to me) Ashford Joy. Yup, mine--not a loaner. Thanks to my spinning agent, Punkin, and Rosie, the previous owner of this wonderful wheel, she's mine all mine!

Isn't she lovely?


Single treadle, which suits me just fine.

And after a little shaky start, my spinning started to even out.

Some of that is Punkin's handiwork. (Of course, she had to try it.) I will definitely be needing more work with it, but I think I got some potential here to not suck too much at it.

Even Punkin's Lendrum welcomed the wheel into my life. My Joy just might be her new BFF--after Punkin, of course.


Being that I only got her late this afternoon, she doesn't have a name yet (nor did she previously have one). We'll see how she feels about it as we spend time together, but for now she will simply be called my Joy!

Eye Candy Friday -- Vermont edition

The southern end of Harriman Reservoir, Whitingham, Vermont.

10 Things You'd Bring on a Deserted Island‏

Hmmm...

1. Yarn
2. My knitting needles and tool bag
3. Fiber
4. My spindles--along with my box bag, of course!
5. A nice red wine
6. Chocolate--goes nice with the wine!
7. A nail file
8. Bagels--for breakfast, of course!
9. My mountain dulcimer
10. Jim!