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Just a reminder that the next Nutmeg Spinners Guild meeting is this Saturday, December 6 from 9 AM to 3 PM at Asnuntuck Community College in Enfield. This meeting’s mentor is Florence Feldman-Wood, who will give a talk about New England spinning wheels. Of course, The Painted Sheep will be there with a booth full of handpainted yarn and fiber, as well as patterns from Knitspot. The new colorways will make their debut at the Guild meeting as well.
All of the details on the Guild meeting can be found on the Guild’s website. Hope to see you there!
Squeee! We have snow. Big, fat, fluffy snowflakes. The deck is coated now. I put Christmas music on, lit my favorite holiday candle (Yankee Candle’s Cranberry Peppermint – yum!) and I’m warming up the dye studio for a morning of playtime. Heaven.
Yesterday’s yarn/wine hunting excursion was really fun. Thanks to our inability to follow directions, we got lost a lot and only made it to 3 wineries instead of the 6-8 that we planned and to 2 yarn shops. I was reminded that Ev is a walking cliche, as he refused to stop for directions, at any point. Even the getting lost was fun – we saw lots of little CT towns that we’ve never been to before. Some we even got to see twice 
The yarn and the wine were great. I didn’t buy any yarn, just poked. A couple of great bottles of wine came home with us. We were quite happy to find Hopkins Vineyard. Hopkins has a microclimate because its situated on a hillside above a lake – very much like the vineyards in the Finger Lakes area of New York. Our first forays into wine were in the Finger Lakes, as it was very close to our former home in Baldwinsville. Hopkins reminded us very much of the Finger Lakes wineries, both the wines and the scenery. Their Cabernet Franc was especially nice. They have an inn and restaurant too – we’ll definitely make a return trip this summer, for dinner and more wine tasting. We’re hoping to get to the wineries we missed yesterday on another trip. And Hopkins reminded us so much of the Finger Lakes that we started to talk more seriously about taking a trip up there this summer. We used to go wine tasting on my birthday every year, so we may do just that – make a long weekend of it.
While there was no yarn buying but there was certainly knitting. Not on either Christmas present, mind you. I started something new. Heh, ooops. I really don’t know what I was thinking. Actually, I know exactly what was thinking – I freaked out when I found a hole in my Morehouse Mittens. They’re my favorite for this time of year (too cold for fingerless mitts, too warm for the alpaca lined fair isle Magnificent Mittens). I found said hole on Friday, realized I have no yarn to darn them (I knitted them years ago) and promptly decided to knit myself a pair of replacements – immediately. Conveniently, I happen to have enough Morehouse 3 ply to make myself another pair, along with a matching hat, in the stash. And so I started. I got to exactly the thumb gusset on one mitten. My bet? They’ll stay at exactly that point until I’ve finished my Christmas gifts. And I’ll live with the damn hole for a few more weeks…
I’m off to play in the dye studio – there’s 3+ pounds of alpaca blend roving calling my name…
We have winners! Let me tell you, this was not an easy choice. There were more than 60 suggested names, all incredibly creative. You made my task both difficult and a lot of fun. That said, I now have three colorways with new names:
Colorway 1: Fool’s Gold, suggested by Melissa.
Colorway 2: Mermaid’s Tail, suggested by Carole.
Colorway 3: Pomegranate Tea, suggested by Sarah.
There was one more winner, as I promised to choose a random entry to win an additional Gift Certificate. That winner is Liz!
Melissa, Carole, Sarah and Liz will each receive a $25 Gift Certificate to The Painted Sheep’s Etsy shop. Check your email – I’ve sent a note to each of you this morning with details.
Congratulations to all of the winners! Thank you again to everyone who entered!
Now that I’ve done some “work” this morning, I’m off to taste wine and buy yarn. Everyday should be this hard
Just a reminder that there’s only a few more hours to enter the Name that Colorway Contest. Entries have to be in by 11 pm EST tonight. I’ll announce the winners early tomorrow morning.
Those new names are coming just in time – I spent part of my day dyeing up sock yarn in the new colors. Not a whole lot – just 8 skeins, part of a cone of sock yarn that was leftover from my last big order.
Other than a little dyeing, its been a very low key black Friday. Having no desire to be anywhere near a store on this crazy shopping day, I stuck close to home. A little dyeing, a little Christmas decorating (the outside lights and our reindeer are up!) and a little online shopping made for a perfectly relaxed day. We’re saving our big plans for the weekend for tomorrow – we’re heading out to the CT Wine Trail. We’re doing the “western trail”, which runs North to South, parallel with the New York border. It promises to be a great day, with great wine tasting, a scenic drive and even a yarn shop or two… I’l be picking names and announcing contest winners before we head out in the morning…
Enjoy your evening!
There are many, many things that I am thankful for this year, My life has been touched by many people and in many incredible ways this year. I thankful for my family, my friends and all of you – my customers, blog readers, the people I meet at festivals, etc, etc, etc. Too many too count. I am thankful for all of you, as you enrich my life immeasurably.
To all those in the U.S., Happy Thanksgiving! To all those elsewhere, Happy Thursday!
We’re off to spend the day with our family. Enjoy!
Just a note – the contest post will stay at the top of the blog until Friday, so that its easy to find. Thank you to all who have entered so far. I love the suggestions! You’re not going to make the job of choosing easy…
On to my WIP Wednesday. Its brief – I met my goal. I just finished the back of Danny’s sweater over my morning coffee. On to the front – more exciting than boring brown stockinette but not so much fun. Its intarsia, 3 blocks of teal stripes in the middle of the front – admittedly not my favorite technique. The goal for the week – finish the front, at least. Christmas is now less than a month away – I have to finish this and knit one more gift yet.
I’m off to a blissfully short work day. Admittedly, I put in an 11.5 hour day yesterday (so much for slowing down) – it was long but so incredibly gratifying. I got big stuff done last night. I accomplished so much between yesterday and Sunday that I only have one thing to finish up this morning, do a couple of interviews and I’m more than on track to leave by 1 like I planned. There’s bread to bake before SnB tonight.
Enjoy your day!
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