we're back

from vacation with about 750 photos to upload and label (not to mention laundry, grocery shopping etc)

Just to give you a glimpse or two of where we were

the view from our hotel room window


yup, you guessed it Niagara Falls. So powerful, beautiful, inspiring.

While there we visited the Butterfly conservatory.





It's incredible. It was a rainy day and we had a ton of stuff on the schedule, so we, unfortunately for me, didn't spend any time at the botanical gardens. A must for my next trip to Niagara



other fun time spent:
Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum. This picture was made from dryer lint. It's about 8 feet wide and 4 feet high!








Bette Midler, among many others, at the movieland wax museum of the stars. A NY show french horn player once told me I reminded him of her. I don't know if that's good or bad!







The skywheel which had breathtaking views of both the Canadian and American Falls. We really couldn't get enough of this powerhouse!











The Maid of the mist (twice, once from the US side and once from the Canadian side)

look for more highlights of the trip in days to come!







Opening day for the dishcloth exchange from the Love2Knit Dishcloth yahoo group was yesterday. I haven't gotten the mail from this week yet but this is what I sent my partner Tina (who is the moderator)

privacy

is the word for emergence. We were out getting passport pictures taken and the 4th butterfly emerged. Of 5 chrysalis that we've had (and butterflies) I've not seen one emerge.






Pattern: Love to Knit by Alice Imholte Monthly Dishcloth July 08 KAL
Yarn: Sugar 'n Cream
Color: Light Green
Needle: US6

I've a secret for this cloth but I can't reveal it for a bit.

Regarding the Tour, I have a bit over 500 yards of 3 ply BFL spun and waiting a wash.
I've started singles again. Tuesday is a rest day so I think I'll spend some time carding tomorrow so I can get ready for the next mountain. (I'll be spinning late tonight to make up for the minimal spinning that was done

I didn't spin much yet today. We all got passport pictures taken and we went to the pool this afternoon. It was practically empty and the water was beautiful. The breeze was chilly but we all had a great time!

go figure

my kids finally get to take swimming lessons tmrw and it's been raining all night long to beat the band. I hope it stops by morning so they can go. Boy that water will be a bit nippy though.

We have a third butterfly (well actually only one again, we let the other 2 go) We tried to coax this one out earlier on Sunday but (s)he didn't seem to want to leave, so I put in a wedge of watermelon to keep it satisfied. That painted lady sucked down on that watermelon for quite some time! One chrysalis to go. (they always emerge when I'm not looking)

I spent my spinning time today plying about 600 yards I think (only measure 365 yards, the rest is still on the bobbin) Tmrw I'll start spinning again. My spinning has certainly evened out since I started this fleece. I hope DH likes the yarn I'm making as it will be a vest for him. I ordered Simply Beautiful Sweaters for Men: Tricoter from amazon because the have LOTS of men's vests patterns in the book that I like and think DH will like as well. He doesn't like wool sweaters because he's so hot (yes, dear read the double entendre) but he loves vests.SO a vest it is. For me this yarn represents a pile of work. There's a lot of love in there. I'll wash it and whack it tmrw.

Once again I got to see the last couple of km of the tour today. Until the kids are asleep at night and I get down to the family room, it's always near the end of the race. Yesterday was the exception. I had to negotiate TV usage with my daughter. We watched the birthday cake bake off (which I must admit was amazing and then I got to watch the tour. It was the final 5 km... which was crazy exciting on Saturday!

I have one other FO but it needs blocking and frankly, I need some sleep. So I'll save that for another post.

happy Crafting

butterflying

2 emerged from their pupas. We decided to release those 2 today... I think one has a problem though. It's chrysalis had fallen to the bottom of the tent. Until I saw it emerged one of the back wings was folded over.. I think it dried that way... so we coaxed it out with a sugar stick and put it on the neighbors butterfly bush (it's still there). I hope it makes it. The first to emerge went to the bush, sucked up some nectar, flew around a bit and then took off.....now the waiting game for the other 2 to come out.

of course I was spinning yesterday... I spin and spin and it seems that I make no progress.

The sleeve of that cashmere sweater yielded 526 yards of 40 wpi yarn. I'm hoping to rescue the other yarn in decent shape... don't ask me to do what with... maybe socks, maybe ply with something else... hmmmmmmm.

After sorting all that Polly Pocket stuff, DD decided she wants to keep it...I was afraid of that.

oh well, I need some coffee......happy crafting!

emergence

as in butterflies not emergency! It seemed earlier today that the cocoon would winter over. I was wrong!

DH and I were in the family room tonight catching up on our Netflix rentals with The Queen and DS2 woke up crying. I went up to get him as he was coming down the steps from the second floor. After the movie we came up to the living room/dining area where the butterfly garden hangs. I sat in my corner with DS2 nursing a migraine and DH checked the garden as he usually does (he still can't wrap his head around the cocoon stage) and said "OMG! There's a butterfly." And sure enough there is!

DS2 I'm sure doesn't get the enormity or excitement of this event, but woke enough to witness it. As I was snapping photos and googling what we could put in for this creature to eat, DD appeared awake enough to take a look see as well.

I promise better pictures tomorrow of the release. It's hard to get a great shot through the netting of the garden. I wound up putting in a chunk of watermelon as I seem to remember the hole in hadn butterfly man who was once at our school saying that they will suck the sugar from that as if it were nectar from flowers. I hope it's enough to sustain it until the morning.

I only wish we had all seen it come out of it's cocoon... that's truly a sight to behold!