Freshisle Fibers

Infusions

We're having beautiful weather and I was excited to see that we had some dandelions popping up in our yard this morning.  Yes, excited.  Strange, but true.

That means I can start my first dandelion infusion for soap and salves.  A very small batch of dandelions is soaking in sunflower oil.

 

Dandelions are super in soaps and salves and make a nice bright yellow.  It's supposed to be helpful for skin rashes and things like eczema.  It does feel great on my skin and smells wonderful.

I've also used dandelions for dyeing wool in the past and got a nice yellow result.

Since I've started early, perhaps a batch of dandelion wine should happen this spring, too!

Live Streaming

Another one of my 'things to do when I retire' has been accomplished.  A live streaming feed of a small bit of our backyard where I feed the birds - and squirrels!  is now up and running and ready for viewing. 

Freshisle Fibers' Backyard - http://www.ustream.tv/channel/freshisle-fibers

There are some ads, especially at the first, but it's a free service so that's to be expected.  I'll wait and see how it goes before I decide if I need the bigger, better, paid service.

I can change the view and zoom in on each feeder so it may not always be the same view.  It will be offline at night because mostly all you would see is black!  And, sometimes there may be a glimpse of the Dusty puppy roaming around his backyard, too.

This is also the area where I do most of my natural dyeing in the summer and so I plan to post when I'll be dyeing so viewers can see some of the actual live process.  The indigo dyeing especially will be super to watch live.

Enjoy!  and please let me know if you see any interesting birds that I may miss.

Signs of Spring

I keep hoping for spring and warmer weather.  The forecast is for mixed precipitation this afternoon!  There are a few signs.  Muddy puppy paws, a few robins on our yard, and I've been planning my gardens.

I started some herbs and flowers last week in preparations for warmer weather.

They are starting to sprout and with any luck I'll have lots of things like basil, sage, thyme, lavender, and calendula for my salves and soaps.

I've also been working on finishing a summer top. This has been in the making for a few years and the knitting part is close to done.  

Sewing the pieces together is my least favourite part, but once that's done, I can pick up and finish knitting the neck. 

Our routines are starting to return.  I'm learning that after almost five years of care giving, that extreme exhaustion and fatigue is normal.  I'm learning this week that I have more time.  More time for me, for my sweetest husband, for friends.  More time for reading.  This book, The Orphaned Adult: Understanding and Coping with Grief and Change After the Death of Our Parents, is highly recommended.  Change.  That's the hard part because there are both good and bad parts to this change.

Goodbye, Mom

Elva Hester

Elva Doris Hester (Strain)

Elva, a resident of Gore Bay, died on March 22, 2015, at the age of 87 .

Elva was born on July 15, 1927 at her parents’ home in Gordon Township. She was the daughter of Edward Strain (predeceased 1983) and Irene Strain (Wilson) (predeceased 1990).

Elva attended No. 4 Gordon School, Gore Bay High School, and North Bay Teachers’ College. She taught school in Espanola, No. 4 Gordon, Sudbury, Ice Lake, Mindemoya, and Gore Bay. She retired in 1985 after thirty-three years of teaching.

She married Jack Hester (predeceased 2012) on June 12, 1954 and they had fifty-eight happy years together. Elva is survived by her daughter, Marian Hester, and her husband, Todd Bailey, her son, Robert Hester, and his husband, Yves Brunet. Elva was predeceased by her brother, Grant Strain, in 2004.

Elva enjoyed cooking wonderful meals for her family and friends and was especially adept at baking delicious pies. She enjoyed sewing, reading, card games, and visiting with her many cousins and former students.

At Elva’s request there will be no visitation. Private family memorial with interment at Gordon Cemetery at a later date.
Donations may be made to the Manitoulin Lodge Auxilliary or the Mindemoya Hospital Auxilliary or the charity of one’s choice.

Keeping Warm

Playing and learning on my new Brother 970 knitting machine means that we have many, many new items to keep us warm this winter.

I've been learning how to use the ribber and have made enough hats, headbands, and scarves for a small army.  4 hats, 3 headbands, 2 scarves, 5 soap cozy scrubbies.  Crazy.  Fun, but crazy.

Next up, learning how to actually use the electronic part of the machine and colour work.  Another steep learning curve, I'm sure.

New Projects

I used to think when I was working that it would be so nice to have the time to write proper blog posts.  The plan upon retirement was to post more regularly, more detail, better writing, more interesting.

Ha!

Little did I know that I would be so busy with the actual doing of life that slowing down and stopping to write about it would be the problem.

I've been curling.  And curling, and curling, and curling.  We have another bonspiel under our belt and came home with prizes from the third event.  We also came home with sides aching from laughter, eyes drooping from lack of sleep, muscles sore from sweeping so much, and livers a little worse for wear!

I've been enjoying my afternoon walks with our furry friends.  We've just recently had super cold weather, but for the most part, the afternoons have been perfect.

I've made my first homemade soap.  I made salves last summer and fall and they were a hit at the markets and I've sold some online.  I think the soaps will sell well, too.  The most interesting part for me is that I'm using so many of the same things that I use for dyeing yarn.  The same plants and herbs, the same colorants, a similar patient process.

And, lastly, the thing that's been gobbling up hours and hours is a new-to-me knitting machine.  It's a Brother 970 and it's a steep learning curve.  I have an LK-150 and it's child's play compared to this electronic machine!

A local lady purchased this years ago and was in contact with me when she purchased it.  She passed away from cancer about two years ago and her family had an auction sale.  Very similar to our own tale when my father passed away.  I was lucky enough to win the bidding on the machine and all its accessories.  I knew I wouldn't have time to work with it while I was still teaching, so it has sat in a closet waiting for this winter.  

I've mastered plain knitting and am currently struggling through working with the ribber.  There's a garter carriage, an intarsia carriage, a color changer, and more.  So much yet to learn!

Sharing

Ravelry is an online site for knitters, crocheters, spinners, weavers, dyers.  It is an online community with discussion forums and a database to keep track of yarn, patterns, and projects.  I love Ravelry and am there every day.  It's the best place to see other's completed knitting projects.  With over 4 millions registered users, there is a tendency to think that every knitter is on Ravelry.  Not so!  The majority of my local customers are not on Ravelry and are not sharing their beautiful projects.  But, I can!

My first project to share is socks.  Actually many socks!  Socks of varying sizes all knit with our Double Down yarn and based on my Classic Work Socks pattern.  That's a lot of socks for my talented cousin to knit for her family!

My second project to share is a pair of gorgeous mittens.  These are also knit with our Double Down yarn and my Curling Rocks Mittens pattern.

I am especially impressed with these because this knitter doesn't really knit.  Much.  She knows how to knit, but hasn't knit anything in years.  But, she just had to have these for her daughter.  They both curl and these were a very special gift.  Amazing.  I can't imagine undertaking these as a new project for a return to knitting, but it just proves that once you know the basic stitches of knitting, anything is possible.

 The curling bonspiel season has begun with a list of local bonspiels ahead to attend.  We won the third event at our first outing last weekend.  Not too bad for a new team!  The best part was how much fun we had.  Our club is lined with signs that local businesses buy to advertise.  The Dental Queen is my cousin (on the far left) so we just had to have our picture taken with her sign.  More curling and fun planned for next weekend, too!

Quick Knits

I'm finally getting my feet under me again after all the holiday festivities.  There were many quick, small knits finished for gifts before Christmas and during the holiday season.  Time to share.

Cowls.  Easy and quick.  Round and round and round.  The pink is Bernat Ruffelina, the red and white is an old stash yarn - no label but some sort of chenille, and the brown is Paula Lishman's beaver yarn.

The beaver cowl is special.  Very special yarn.  It was originally knit into a hat for my father, but I frogged it - sadly and with tears, but it was time.  It's now a very special cowl for me.  So soft and so warm.

I am a fan of the Outlander books and television series and there has been much discussion online among knitters about the costumes.  Claire's fur cowl was my inspiration and impetus for finally changing the hat into a cowl.

Wine glass cozies.  Many, many wine glass cozies.

A quick and fun knit and a great conversation piece.  The surprise is that they are actually very practical and usable.  We had lots of practice using them over the holidays!!  They are knit with Rowan Pure Wool DK and finished with a variety of vintage buttons from my enormous button collection.

 Cheers!

Lobo Loco Alpacas

There's new fibre available now on Manitoulin Island.  I am not alone!

Lobo Loco is a fairly new enterprise located in Sheguindah on Manitoulin Island that has alpacas.  Such luxury!  

One of our local newspapers wrote about the alpaca farm in an article this past spring - featured here.

Lobo Loco attended many of the same markets as I did recently and it was reassuring to have them there.  I try to price my yarn to be competitive with other online shops, but the self-striping yarn prices shocked some of our local buyers.  Explaining how labour intensive a process it is sometimes helped!  But, to also have alpaca available right down the aisle to compare was wonderful.  We both benefited.

Another bonus of Lobo Loco is the the owner, Richard Lathwell, is assisted by one of my very favourite former students of all times, Mariana.  It was so nice to see her again and have a visit.  Mariana and her siblings suffered through having a non-bilingual anglophone teacher trying to teach completely bilingual francophones in a Core French program.  They and their parents were simply the best!

Loco Lobo not only offer yarn and rovings, but they also have finished socks and insoles.  I think the socks and insoles were a hit from the comments I heard from shoppers at the markets!

The Loco Lobo website is a work in progress, but they can be contacted by e-mailing richard at lobolocoalpacas.com to order their products.  

Marketed Out

I am Christmas marketed out.  Done with markets for this year.  They were lots of fun and successful in many ways, but they are also a lot of work and exhausting in many ways.

The markets are a terrific opportunity to network with other vendors.  I've met many vendors who have been doing markets for years and I've learned so much from talking to them and watching them at work.  Getting to know the other vendors is one of the best parts of participating in these markets for me.

It's a totally different experience to sell my yarn and salves face to face than it is selling online.  It's very exciting and satisfying to share my passion with others and have that immediate positive feedback in person.  There are always a few who can't help sharing things like their allergy to wool or that socks are so much cheaper in a store, but for the most part, customers are delightful.

Each market was different with different items being very popular at some and then not selling at all at others.  Again, very different from online sales where I'm better able to predict what will generate interest.  I think that's probably because I've been selling online for awhile now and the markets are new for me.  Hopefully this will improve with time.  I think that some of it is the atmosphere of the market, the products offered by other vendors, and the crowd that shows up that day.

The flip side of all this happiness over being a market vendor is that I've been doing Christmas things for months now!  All fall!!!  Everyone else is just starting to get in the Christmas spirit, and I need a rest from Christmas things!  Ready for Christmas?  I am.  I've been ready for months!

I do know that next year's Christmas markets will be better because this time I have the whole year to prepare.  Much better.

And, the last drawback.  Exhaustion.  This last market was held over three days.  Twelve hours of actual market time plus setting up, arriving early, leaving late, packing up.  It's hard work to be up and pleasant and happy and selling and remembering the customer is always right!  I'm tired.  A good tired, but tired.  Good thing I'm retired and can rest today!  And tomorrow, and tomorrow, and ....