what's done is done and i can't do any more...

2 days ago i hit the wall and felt i couldn't produce one more item for the toronto one of a kind show. (it wasn't true because yesterday i realized that i needed baby hats knit with my softest handspun (they were a big seller last year) so i spent the whole day making small skeins to knit up while i'm in toronto (with 11 11 hour days i still manage to get alot of work done while i'm in my booth!)).i leave early tomorrow morning (the 6:30 am flight) so today is packing day. abigail knows what the suitcase means and won't let me out of her sight now.
if you're in southern ontario, and planning on coming to the show, i'm booth A-51. please drop by and say hello. i won't be blogging while i'm away, but will be back online (both with my blog and my etsy shop) on december 8th.

late afternoon

stove top

on the line

our morning walk

tiny fallen leaves

hearth

interior light

mountain ash berries

morning sunlight

plum jam

fresh flowering

clementines

the wall

quiet

sedum in the snow

noticing project

yesterday i rediscovered a wonderful blog that i had been following last year and then "misplaced". noticing project is about carefully taking note and recording the small things each day.
as a challenge to myself - for the next 2 weeks before i head up to toronto, i'll photograph something that catches my eye and then make a skein of yarn inspired by it.
yesterday - when the sky was still blue- i photographed the rose hips in our yard. now i have to take the time to pick them...

boxing day

today i need to pack up all my product and booth display (lights, curtains baskets etc.) for the toronto one of a kind show to mail off to toronto tomorrow. i'll send it to my niece, who lives there, so it will be waiting for me when i arrive in a couple of weeks. it doesn't mean that i can slow down production. everything i make between now and nov.23rd will be travelling with me. but it does feel that i am getting closer...

a good read

some of my happiest childhood memories involve books. being read to before i could read. riding bike to the new north york public library in the early 60's and coming home with a basket of new books. going to bed early just so i could be alone to read. my world is large because of books. books filled our home when my children were growing up and they are avid readers. it's hard to make time to read in the life i live now. when i sit down i pick up my work - my knitting or spinning. keith doesn't read and when he is home the tv is on.
this is why my little (4 members) book club has become so important. it's very loose (we set our gathering times only after everyone has finished the book). we take turns choosing books and they aren't the "easy" reads you might choose for the 10 minute read before falling asleep at night. our most recent book was "the book of negroes" by lawrence hill. an absolutely wonderful story of slavery and the black loyalists who came to nova scotia in the mid 1700's. and the appalling treatment they received in canada upon their arrival.
our group takes turns hosting a meal inspired by the book we will discuss. catherine made this delicious african peanut soup. and for desert a nova scotian blueberry grunt.
our next book is charles dicken's "little dorritt" (the only dickens we could get enough copies of locally). and we knew we wanted to read a dickens for christmas. all 800 pages...

dyeing and drying

yesterday was gorgeous -warm and sunny - so i took advantage of the weather and got alot of dyeing done (i had been running out of some colours). having a good range of colours of fleece makes the whole process of yarn making so much more exciting. another perfect day today - we'll see what colours it will bring!

going, going...

on friday the sun shone. i'd look up from my spinning. the livingroom window frames the maple tree on the front lawn and all i could see was gold. the golden light spilled in through the window on top of me. on the weekend we got rain and strong winds. most of the leaves have fallen. like a paint bucket tipped over and emptied...

meow

finn's first hallowe'en. and he loved it.