Sunday, April 29, 2012

Color Affecting Me

I thought I was happy with my version of the Fleidermaus shawl I was knitting with yarn from the Periwinkle Sheep.  However, a friend showed me this pattern recently:


This shawl, called "Color Affection" was designed by Veera Välimäki and is currently the most popular pattern on Ravelry.  Knitters have designed some lovely shawls.  I was inspired by the shawl below to attempt my own using 4 colors.

It is a very large and long shawl.  It can be worn wrapped like a traditional Danish shawl which appeals to me.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Occupie of Roaster's Whim




Occupie has been a resident of Roaster’s Whim in West Stephentown, New York   She was dropped off nearby in the fall of 2011 during the birth of the Occupy Movement. Fred found her on the windowsill one morning.


She quickly became a favorite and I heard a rumor that sales have gone up since she’s been there.  It says something for the business and its clientele that she quickly became very comfortable there, trusting and laid-back.  After the first few exposures to dogs, I haven’t witnessed her growl or hiss, even when visiting children paid a lot of attention to her.  Visitors happily share a chair or the sofa with her in front of the large stone fireplace.


One Friday afternoon when the Heritage Spinning group met, the half-grown cat was without a child to play with her or a dog to tease.  She decided to amuse herself.  Accidentally on purpose she walked into my yarn.  It didn’t seem to be fun enough. 


She walked further into the circle of crafters. Up on her hind legs she started to explore the contents of a basket, much to the dismay of the owner who gently removed her.  She then decided my friend’s red multi-color roving looked like fun.  She grabbed ahold of it and fell over on her back.  My friend wasn’t very upset since she started to tickle the cat’s tummy.  As she amused the cat I removed the roving from her grasp and gave it back to her.  She set the spitty fragment aside. 
 

Then Occupie decided to see if my yarn was interesting yet.  After pulling it away from her again I put the balls on my lap.  However, the cat thought the bright red and green yarn another friend was knitting with was just great.  She grabbed it with both paws and fell on the floor wrestling with it.  It took both of us to untangle the yarn and rescue it.

At one point in time Occupie wanted some petting.  As my friend started petting her, the young cat started doing the funny skating on the tile floor thing with her hind legs.  You can see on the left the young sheltie Gideon that Occupie likes to tease, staying just out of reach.


The Roaster’s Whim is the home of Liquid Assets Coffee, Tea & Spice Company  and is a combination of coffeehouse and community center.  It’s a delightful, comfortable, funky place with plenty of mismatched furniture, books and a pool table to help you enjoy your carefully selected and brewed coffee or tea.  There are delicious homemade desserts available as well. 


Emily in the Closet

One day when I opened the door to this closet, Emily just had to get in it.