Boo!

Hannah has started dating. In fact, she officially has a boyfriend. They’ve been “going out” for a few weeks but had only been seeing each other at school until this past weekend when he asked her to go to a party with him. Dale and I told her this was fine so long as he came to pick her up and we got to meet him.

So he came to pick her up last Friday night. I shook his hand, Dale shook his hand. He was very polite and respectful. And then they left.

After they left all I could think about was when Hannah was a toddler and moved from a crib into a bed. Suddenly I didn’t know for sure where she was all the time. Up until then I would put her in her crib and she would stay there until I came and let her out. Once she was in a bed all bets were off – she could get out on her own and wander around the house. It was a very unsettling feeling.

And that’s just how I felt on Friday night. Suddenly I didn’t know for sure where she was. And I certainly didn’t know for sure what she was doing. I know this is the part where I let her go and trust that she’ll do the right thing and remember everything I’ve taught her. It’s harder than I thought it would be, though.

I might have to start drinking more.

Last week Dale and I got a hot tip that a pumpkin field near us had been abandoned. By “abandoned” I mean that the farmer who had planted the pumpkins was done picking for the year. And by a “hot tip” I mean we were told to get ourselves over there and pick some pumpkins before they were plowed over.

So on Sunday afternoon we set out for a Sunday drive. Destination: Pumpkin Patch. We were not disappointed.

There were hundreds of pumpkins left behind. Some of the smaller ones were going a bit soft but the big ones were just gorgeous.

Of course I found the biggest pumpkins I could and made sure they were the furthest from the car. I wanted Dale to get some exercise. You understand, I’m sure. We also picked some acorn squash and a few gourds.

It was a gorgeous day with blue sky and great colors. I took lots and lots of pictures. I never realized pumpkins were so photogenic.

There’s only one sad thing to report. I never did see The Great Pumpkin. Oh well. There’s always next year.

I love a good scary movie so when I saw the theme for this week’s Ten on Tuesday I got very excited.  Here’s my list of my 10 Favorite Horror Movies, just in time for Halloween.

1.  Of course the list has to start with Halloween.  Not the umpteen sequels but the first – because it is truly the best.  Michael Myers.  The name alone gives me the chills.

2.  Friday the 13th.  Again, the first one.  Jason-Jason-Jason-Jason.  Arrrrggghhhh.

3.  Amityville Horror.  The book was scarier than the movie but the movie is still good for a creepy experience.

4.  Children of the Corn. Okay, so this one is maybe kind of awful.  But Malachi is so vicious and that scene in the coffee shop right at the beginning?  Yikes.

5.  Dark Night of the Scarecrow.  Made for TV and definitely obscure but I still remember watching it when it aired for the first time.  Bubba didn’t do it . . . Bubba didn’t do it . . .

6.  Psycho.  The one, the only.  Its a classic and I could watch it over and over again.

7.  The Shining.  Heeeeeere’s Johnny.  ‘Nuff said.

8.  The Birds.  Another Hitchcock masterpiece.  I swear it was on every Sunday afternoon when I was a kid.

9.  The Exorcist.  This movie scared the crap out of me the first time I saw it.  I still won’t watch it if I’m home alone.

10. Silence of the Lambs.  I had to include this one for all of us woolly- types.

That’s my list.  What movies scare you?

I think the first Schacht Matchless I ever saw belonged to Laurie.  Or perhaps Cheryl.  It could have been Monica’s but I don’t think so.  I know it wasn’t Kathy’s or Manise’s because they got theirs much later.  In any case, it was at SPA in 2006 and I was immediately taken with the wheel.  I hadn’t seen very many spinning wheels at that point and I seriously fell in love with that wheel.  Of course, I bought my Reeves that weekend but that story is old news.

My point is that I have wanted one of these wheels for nearly 3 years.  Those of you who know me know that I don’t generally wait that long for something I want.  But I have plenty of wheels at home and the idea of bringing in another wheel seemed silly.  It wasn’t about the money, it was about space and time and overload of spinning wheels.  I kept reasoning that if I found a used Schacht then I would sell the Lendrum.  Every time I thought that through, though, I realized that I really didn’t want to part with the Lendrum.  My Lendrum is all set up with a Woolee Winder (a significant investment) and its a truly portable wheel.  I guess what I’m saying is that even though I would occasionally look at eBay for the Matchless and I kept my eye on Craig’s List and Ravelry the opportunity to buy one just never came up.

Last weekend at Rhinebeck I was discussing my yearning for the Matchless with Kathy and Cheryl.  Kathy kept insisting that I should definitely not sell the Lendrum and Cheryl agreed with her.  That’s when it dawned on me that the wheel to sell would be the Kromski Polonaise.  I bought her from Adrian and I honestly never use this wheel.  While she’s great for reeanctments, well, I hardly ever reenact anymore.  And when I do I can certainly use the Canadian Production Wheel.  So, there you have it – multiple wheel problem solved.  The only thing left to do was find a Schacht Matchless.

On Wednesday, just for laughs, I checked eBay.  I was shocked when I found one.  I was even more shocked when I realized the selling location was only 30 minutes from where I live.  And I was completely shocked when I bid $600 and became the high bidder.  Long story short?  I won.

Meet Millie.

As in Thoroughly Modern Millie.

A wheel that was meant to be mine.  A love story that was meant to be.

While the foliage was indeed beautiful at the Rhinebeck fairgrounds, so were the zinnias.  Just another last gasp of summer, it seems.

Happy weekend, my friends.

I promise to stop talking about Rhinebeck after this post. And I really wasn’t going to post about it again but then I remembered a few random things about the weekend and decided I just had to tell you about them before we all moved away from this subject. And so, a Random Rhinebeck list.

~We saw so many February Lady Sweaters that I came up with the February Lady Sweater drinking game. Every time you saw one you had to drink. If you talked to someone wearing one you had to do a shot of tequila. You could get drunk almost as fast as playing the Sarah Palin Debate Drinking game. (You know that one, right? You drink every time she says “maverick.”)

~Go read Kathy’s post about our issues with beer. Honestly, I think I’ll be hearing the sound of clanking beer bottles in my head for a long time.

~Some people asked about what I bought. It really wasn’t that much. Some cormo/silk from Foxfire (white), some cormo from Foxhill (also white), two BFL braids from Cloverleaf (shades of hot pink), two skeins of Botanical shades for Selbuvotter mittens (one gold and one green), and enough yarn to knit Dale a vest (dark blue). I know you’d like to see a picture but, as Sandy pointed out yesterday, the dark days have arrived and its damned hard to get a photo during the week.

~I was really happy to meet Scout. And I hope you don’t think I’m too weird when I tell you that she smells really good.

~I ate artichokes french.  And drank beer.  I truly love that this particular fiber festival sells beer.

~That is all.  Carry on.

Ahhh, Rhinebeck. Those of us who go can’t get enough of the recaps and those of you who don’t go are probably sick of hearing about it. Too bad.

I left on Friday morning and drove out to upstate New York by myself as Blogless Sharon couldn’t go this year. It was strange to be on my own and driving that far (it’s about a 3.5 hour ride) since I don’t even drive myself to work these days. Anyway, I arrived at the hotel just before check in and bumped into Julia and Brandt. I settled into the room and started texting Cheryl and Kathy to see when my roomies would arrive. I also texted Terry to check on the status of her class and I texted Sandy to see if she was there yet. It wasn’t long before I had a roomful of friends and the real fun began.

The highlight of the weekend is spending time with all these wonderful friends but the festival is pretty good, too. The sheep are cute.

And the foliage is gorgeous.

There is oodles of fiber and yarn to shop. Of course, that assumes you can actually get near it! It was quite crowded on Saturday and I didn’t feel that Sunday was that much less crowded. It sure didn’t seem like the economy was tanking given the number of people shopping.

Really, though, it’s all about the friends. I did take a few snaps of people I was with but there were many many more who never got into any of my photos.

Here is Cheryl and Jennifer at the Spirit Trail booth.

And Jackie and Elisa, two blogging friends who now live way too far away, I feel.

Of course this is Scout, Kathy and Margene with me. I was so happy to meet Scout and having Margene there was just the frosting on the cake of the weekend.

I also shopped with Jessalu and Risa and Jean and Kim and bumped into lots of others, too.

All too soon it was time to head for home. Having Margene ride back with me was such a bonus, though, as it felt like the weekend wasn’t really over yet. We had a nice time Sunday night and Monday morning and then it was time to head to the airport so she could fly on back to Utah. Come back, soon, Margene!

It was a fabulous weekend and I’m already planning for next year!

83 of you left a comment on my Finishing Contest Post and many of you guessed that I would finish both the socks and the mitts. As you know from yesterday’s post, that is indeed what happened. Now I know you want to know who the winner is, right?

So my random number generator chose 21 and the 21st commenter to guess that I would finish both projects was: Dinah! Dinah is a local knitter and spinner and she just happens to be a library director, too. I’m happy to be giving her this:

It’s a skein of Bambie, a brand new superwash merino and bamboo sock yarn from Blue Ridge Yarns.

And I’m afraid that’s all for today. I have a lousy sore throat and cough. I am home from work and my plan is to drink lots of tea and nap. I’m sorry but the Rhinebeck recap is just going to have to wait until tomorrow.

As you can see from the photo, I did indeed finish the socks and the mitts before I went to Rhinebeck. The socks were done on Thursday morning and the mitts were done on Friday morning.

Back tomorrow with a contest winner and a Rhinebeck recap.