Foliage break

We're heading into a classic Vermont autumn weekend, and I'm taking a small getaway. Unfortunately, I'm not actually going anywhere. I'm just taking a weekend off from the February Lady Sweater (on Ravelry here):

I'm making steady progress and all that, but the weather is about to turn sharply colder, and a lacy sweater is not really at the top of my list right now. I promised my daughter some fingerless gloves (not fingerless mittens; she wants the individual finger holes) and I decided I would devote this weekend, starting tonight, to making her a pair. We'll see how I do...

The February Lady sweater is interesting. Assuming you have been under a rock, knittingwise, the deal is that the pattern was originally a lovely baby sweater designed by Elizabeth Zimmerman. In June, Flint Knits reworked it "to fit a grown ass woman" and posted it on Ravelry, where it took off. When I cast on for it a couple of weeks ago, 2,013 people had it listed as a project. Three days ago, that number was 2,254. Today it's 2,282. I'm a sheep, but a very trendy one.

Anyway, I was at the local farmer's market last weekend, and damned if I didn't see a woman wearing one. I practically tackled her. Yes, lots of people are knitting them, but in Middlebury, Vermont? Her husband rolled his eyes as soon as we started gabbing about lace repeats in the arms and such and said, "Here we go." He and my daughter chatted while we gushed.

It was a lovely week, weatherwise. Yesterday, I accompanied my daughter's class west across Lake Champlain (via ferry) to Mt. Defiance, a Revolutionary War site that looks down on Fort Ticonderoga and also Mt. Independence, which her class hiked last fall.

The view doesn't suck.

This is the view looking east at Lake Champlain and Vermont and the Green Mountains in the background.

Although you may not be able to tell from the picture, Fort Ti is that gray thing just to the left of the cannon tip. (Try clicking on the picture.) Mt. Independence is on the point of land off to the right.

Fort Ti was built by the French and was a pivotal place in the 1700s, because at the time the lake was surrounded by virgin forest and the lake was about the only way to travel. It's sited at the point where the LaChute River (which starts at Lake George) flows into the Champlain; the mouth of the LaChute is there in the left foreground. The fort changed hands a lot during the Revolution, but it may be best known for one early morning in 1775, when Benedict Arnold, Ethan Allen, and the Green Mountain Boys surprised the French garrison there, and scored the first American victory of the Revolutionary War.

Here is a view of Lake Champlain looking south from Mt. Defiance.

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The very steep (now paved) road that we hiked up yesterday was originally cleared in 1777 by 700 of British General Burgoyne's men, in 36 hours. They wanted a place from which to rain cannon fire down on Fort Ti, and the oxen that hauled the cannon couldn't get through the dense forest. The move was a good one, apparently, as it allowed the British to retake the fort until the end of the war.

Thirty-six hours is pretty quick to clear a road using hand tools, considering how long it takes today's road crews to get paving done. But then, the British army probably didn't have to follow union rules...

It's not quite peak foliage here yet, but the views were still beautiful, both at long range and close up.

This also marked the second day in two weeks that I have spent with my daughter's class. Last week, we hiked through the woods behind the school--to our house! Farm field trip, don't you know.

Anyway, despite all the chaperone time I've been putting in, I did update the shop a couple of days ago. If you are on the mailing list, you've seen all this. For the rest of you, here goes. I posted my favorite decadent-luxury spinning fiber: bombyx silk and merino top. Delicous.

Sea Glass:

Crime of Passion:

Monet's Bridge:

Monet's Bridge is actually 7.5 ounces (or a little more), whereas the others are just over 4 ounces. I may end up keeping 3.5 ounces of it for myself, but first I'll offer it up to the spinner who wants a somewhat larger project. It's the same stuff I photographed in process in my last post.

I also have yet another non-yarn, non-fiber offering: silver-wire jewelry. You remember way back when I bragged about the bracelet my friend Amy surprised me with? I asked her to make more jewelry for me to sell, and she did. Like this:

And this necklace:

And this necklace:

Amy bends almost all the wire herself, so even the beads that go through the wires are her own, not factory-made. Each piece is unique, all are lovely, and you can get more details by clicking on the links.

Life continues on the farm. Here's a shot of the trout having breakfast. I should have brought my camera out last night. They must have been hungry because the water looked like there was a piranha attack going on; sometimes the fish flip right up, almost completely out of the water. When a dozen of them are doing it at once, it's pretty fun to watch.

Milo injured a baby rabbit that my husband and brother-in-law tried to nurse back to health.

It didn't work, or I'd have pictures.

Rotten cat.

That's all for now. I've got merino/silk yarn and BFL top to dye today. And bamboo-blend sock yarn. Have a wonderful weekend.

Comments

[Carole]

Good luck with those gloves!

[AnnaMarie]

I actually thought about starting a sweater yesterday but it went away... the thought that is! I'm always impressed by sweater knitters, it seems like more of a commitment than chickens or a garden!

I wonder if your cat is channeling mine? At least my cat like he used to be. He has not presented us with even one dead thing since we moved and in Idaho it was daily. Hmmmm.... very wierd.

[Carrie]

Beautiful! Wow, clearing a road in 36 hours? I guess you'd want to move that fast, lest the people you wanted to cannon found out you were there and came after you.

[margene]

Fall is beautiful in your neck of the woods. Thanks for the history lesson! The views are spectacular, too!

[CindyCindy]

Lovely pics and jewelry. As for Milo? He's doing what he does. Those same bunnies eat your greens and all kinds of stuff. I sound mean, don't I? Just in case you think I'm farm material. I whimper when your turkeys die or a pig gets slaughtered. I've just been battling bunnies for a long time now. Damn things.

[Dorothy]

Mt. Defiance is one of my favourite hiding spots - that and a pull off on Lincoln road along the river, or Arnold Bay in Panton. An hour there with a large mug of coffee and a good book recharges my batteries for weeks.

10 years ago we were looking at land on Foote Street Ext. We could have been neighbours.

[Knitnana]

Oh my. Middlebury? My aunt lived in Ripton. I have many fond memories. Fort Ticonderoga. OH MY. Lake Champlain? Another aunt had a summer camp in Burlington. You and Norma are going to make me want to move north! 'Tis my favorite season in Vermont... thank you for reminding me of it's beauty!!!

(And that's gorgeous jewelry..if only I wore silver!)
(((hugs)))

[donna lee]

My cat left a dead bird on the front step for us this morning. What a way to say Good morning. I like the Feb lady sweater and even have yarn set aside for it but the sheer number of people who have made it kinda defeats the purpose of a handknit for me (to have an original sweater). I offered my husband fingerless mitts but he wants fingerless gloves. I'm not sure I want to mess around with gloves, fingerless or otherwise.

[--Deb]

Everything is so PRETTY! All of it. The fiber, the scenery, the jewelry....

[Heide]

What historically wonderful and interesting field trips your daughter's school has! The only claim to fame where I live is that it's home to U-Haul. The leaves are beginning to really show their beauty. This is my favorite time of year (I even named one of my daughters Autumn). The bombyx silk is gorgeous, especially the Monet.

[Susan]

The scenery is very beautiful, but oh...that Monet's Bridge is almost to pretty for words. Oh..why can't I learn to spin???

[gayle]

This post was just pretty-overload. Seriously. I had to shut down and go do something else for a while before I could come back...
The views, the jewelry, the fiber! (Especially the fiber... Views I've got, jewelry I don't wear, but that fiber....)
Wow.

[Elizabeth]

I accosted a woman in the grocery store parking lot yesterday who had on a gorgeous layered knitted dress. She had bought it from a high-end boutique . When I got home I sketched it out so I'd remember.
Beautiful photos. It has already got cold here and now it's warm again but that won't last. I have already put on gloves for holding the cold steering wheel in the mornings.
Monet's bridge? My favourite name.
Sea glass? My fav colour.

[Robin]

That roving is gorgeous!! So is the jewelry. As much as I LOVE my cats..... I found a tail on the sidewalk the other day - just a tail - maybe from a baby squirrel - I'm not sure.

[Helen Suzanne]

Hi I've just found your blog and have spent a lovely half hour reading your woolly exploits. I've just started spinning so am encouraged that you're still just doing what works and now getting to explore a different style. There is no one that I know of on the island here that spins so I'll be keeping an eye on your adventures (love the piggies too)

[Helen]

I've stood on that same spot on Mount Defiance, behind the cannon. An eagle obligingly came out and flew around for us. I spent a weekend in Ticonderoga and went to Vermont on the Ti Ferry - I was with someone I shouldn't have been with and it was all intensely romantic :) Spring, not fall, but very lovely. You don't get much wider open views than that. Thanks for posting it.

[Kristen]

It's amazing to us 21st century softies what feats people performed without modern tools.
And speaking of soft, I want to dive into that fiber!