The Yarn and Fiber Company

I have been running into Cyndi and Jerry of The Yarn and Fiber Company for years now.  I first met them at the CGOA event in Manchester, NH a couple years ago.  Since then, I’ve seen them at most fiber event in this area.  Very friendly and such a great selection of yarn….I was finally able to visit their brick and mortar shop in Derry, NH.

They took pictures with me when I was doing a scavenger hunt for Nerd Wars.

They were restocking from being at a show that Saturday, so some of the shelves looked a little bare, but there was a box on the floor filled with yarn.

I highly recommend this store, if you are in the area.

I bought this yarn for this pattern.  They did not have the color Autumn Flame (had sold out) so I’m hoping they will be at Stitches and will have that color…I have not attempted the sock yet…

Lys Catchup–New Hampshire

I started working on the second page for LYS’ not in CT and found that I had neglected to blog about a few…so I need to do some catchup..
 
 
 
This is in Henniker, NH.  The Fiber Studio.  What a gorgeous place!  It is kinda set up like a barn loft.  They really did such a nice, nice job. I was the only customer for awhile then someone else came in, but I just wandered around.  They also had some beading supplies and I ended up buying some beads.  I finally settled on this purchase
It’s 564 yards of cotton.
Next stop was The Elegant Ewe, which happily was down the street from my hotel.
 
 
It was a nice store..I bought a couple of patterns, Autumn Coat and Nehalem Hat.  I also bought another skein of Royal Llama Silk for the hat.
On my way out of New Hampshire, I stopped at two stores.  One I’m going to do a separate post and the other I really don’t remember much about.  But that store, Ewe’ll Love It in Nashua is closing.  It doesn’t have any links to it and someone wrote in June that it was closing on a review board.

Dinner with a Cutie…

Yesterday I went to dinner at a friend’s house and got to play with this cutie-patootie!  She says he is always happy and smiling…

Wee Gifts from Ireland

My husband came home with a box on Saturday.  He had ordered some things for my birthday and had then shipped to his parents!  So I opened a box of goodies from Ireland!
See that mug?  That’s a replacement mug…I already have one, I bought it at Stitches East last year.  This one is for when that one breaks! 
A cool Wacky Woolies watch, a fun pencil and a new bag.  I already have the colorful Wacky Woolies bag, so he got me the black sheep with a shamrock bag…I love the Wacky Woolies!

Sorry ETA that the bag is actually from The Black Sheep

Other Crafty Endeavors

Every once in awhile I wander into other crafts.  I’ve done a fair amount of beading, making jewelry and stitch markers.  I recently made some stitch markers for my swap partner (it’s a secret swap, so she won’t be reading this)

I made some jewelry last week, but unfortunately when I pulled it out to take a picture, I’m missing an earring.  So will find that earring before I share…

I also started making project bags.  I’m not very good at this yet and I have a very small sewing machine..one of those small personal machines.  I have an actual sewing machine, but I’ve never used it…I’m going to take it to my MIL, she sews a lot, so she can teach me about it…I tried threading it using a manual I found online, but couldn’t figure it out.  It’s on old White 1717 machine and did not come with a manual….maybe should actually buy a new one…but we’ll see how much I use/want to use the older one…

So anyway I have tried my hand at project bags.  I made two previously that I sent to some friends who needed some cheering…Now I’ve made 4 more…two for the swap and two for me….They are not professionally done and did require some hand sewing to finish (I earned that Girl Scout badge, so am good at that!)

These two are for my swap partner…The bottom one is quite large and roomy for a project..

These two are mine…I’m happy with them…

Following Gandhi's Advice

Gandhi was quoted as saying, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” I actually have this on a plaque in my room. It is on the way out, so the students read it as they are leaving…and this man has embraced this....

what a powerful message to send…

 

That a father who has just lost his son can plead for calm and simply just asking people to "calm down and go home."

I have to credit Russell Brand, because I had no idea who Tariq Jahan was until I read his article....which was highlighted by Karie on her blog Fourth Edition.  I don't know why I read it, as I have always just thought of him as the dirty looking guy who is in stupid movies and married to Katie Perry...

Unpacking the Classroom

Many people don’t realize that at the end of a school year a teacher must pack up their classroom.  Some teachers will be moving to new grade levels and/or schools, but ALL teachers(in our district) have to pack up their rooms.

Why?  So they can strip the floors and re-wax them.  So every start of the new year, we have gleaming shiny new floors…

For 12 years, I was lucky and stayed in the same classroom, even though I moved grade levels (everyone else moved).  Two years ago I was moved upstairs and last year I was moved grade levels and down the hall.  But even so this year I had to do the least unpacking of any year..

What takes up the most of my time?  My books…I believe in a good classroom library…I am still short on non-fiction type books….Now looking at this classroom, remember, we were told to purge last year…I have totes of books and materials in our storage unit….So my day consisted of this:

Unpack the closet…most of that is books..I had to go through and sort them, because of course many are mixed up.

End of the day…those green boxes hold all my posters and then teacher resource stuff is on the shelves..

See all those illustrated classics?  A friend sent them all to me, as her children were done with them….

My fiction chapter books…there are more in the white bookcase above…They are so NOT in order!  But will eventually get there…thinking of doing author alphabetical…

These are poetry books (facing), biographies, Dear America books, Magic Tree House Guides, and classics..on top is NF sport compilation books….a whole bunch of my Dear America books are missing…I hope they turn up, but I really only have one more place to unpack…

Non-fiction shelves.. looking a little empty…seems like I might be missing some more books…

This is the last cabinet to unpack and those reference books will go on the bottom shelves of the red/white bookcase above, on the other side…

Big Books and picture books..

I am missing quite a few books, but hopefully they will show up.  I’ve had a package of books mailed back to me after several years…I’ve had kids come up a year or so later and hand me a book they found at home…If they don’t return, I don’t sweat it…if a kid likes a book so much, let them have it….

So this took about 3 hours, give or take,  a break to eat and doing some other unpacking…

I may wander out to some tag sales this weekend to see if I can find some more books…also on the lookout for board games for winter indoor recess…

And because I’m so tired (it’s also unbearably HOT) I put on my pajamas when I get home and veg out the rest of the day….yesterday I knit…don’t think that’s gonna happen tonight…