Some "Me" Time

I have this good friend who recommended I do something just for me. I sort of chuckled and wondered what the heck that might be?! Massage maybe? Weekend at a spa? Oh, that sounds like heaven! Well then along came a lady whom I know from the winter market and her MIL had purchased a yarn CSA from me and shared it with her. She invited me to their once a month knitting gathering. It's a bit of a drive, but a lovely one and you can never be certain about the weather and roads, but this month was my second visit and I am having fun! There are just 3 other women who meet and share projects and discuss gauge and things like that. If you know me, you know gauge and I aren't friends, so that part is funny to me!
I wanted to share a bit here so my good friend can see what I am up to for some "me" time.
This was my view on the trip over. Who can be crabby with a view like that?

This is a cute old mining town. I am unsure of the population, but it still has a little post office....a new one, I might add, and lots of old houses that have so much charm and character. I like to drive the streets and imagine what life was like when it was a bustling community.

Florence told me today that the school hasn't been used since WWII. Sad to see such fabulous old buildings just sitting, but there are barely enough kids to keep the school open in the town down the road.

Florence's home is the one on the left. It's a beautiful old Victorian that has been very well kept. It has a large, wrap-around porch on the front. There are so many details. One could spend the day just observing them all!


Take note of the round window up top! That whole level is her studio. I think I counted 5 looms, a spinning wheel, and this. I had never seen anything like this before. As it turns out, it is for plying yarn and was made by the Hutterites.





She designed and made this stained-glass window and the one on the front door. Someone gave her the panel in the center and she designed the window to fit her door. The round one is the one I mentioned before.



Here's the front door bell! I love it.




She had a large family and I learned today that her mother lived with them for a time. Karen's son always had tea with her in her room promptly at 4:00, if he was visiting!
I had prepared a pop-up tea for us and brought along a tea pot and 4 cups. Lillie had to leave early and didn't join us for tea or lunch, but I set a cup out in honor of Florence's mother. My Tasha Tudor friends were there in spirit. I talked about her and my trip there. I talked about the Valentine tea Linda put on for us and I talked about Clarice's rosemary/lavender tea since that is what I had taken to serve! I also talked about Angie because I had to take my tea cozy along to use and for show and tell! And I talked about Kristen who made the Annabelle dolls and joined us for the Valentine tea all the way from the Boston area!



I got to see many works in progress! These are wingspan shawls made by Karen.



This is a shawl Lillie had on. It's such a pretty pattern and color. It was gorgeous with the deep fuschia top she had on.


This is the sweater Florence had on. She made it of course, but she chose the grays (there are 3 or 4 different shades of gray) to represent stone and then dyed the yellow with lichens and also dyed the burnt orange. Those are her favorite colors and are repeated throughout her home. She wanted her sweater to look like a lichen-cover stone and I think she did a lovely job of it.


I shall finish up tomorrow. I had so much fun today that I just can't get it all down!