This and That, Marketing and Lots of Little Flowers

Happy New Year to everybody!

Hope things are going well for everyone. That huge pile of snow we got before Christmas? It melted. It was 60 degrees out if you can believe it! Crazy! It's snowing again today, though - Bella is outside building a little snowman.

And we've gone skiing twice! Bella is tearing up the bunny slope at Pat's Peak, I'm so proud, it won't be long before she's back on the chair lifts again. And Conall is so much easier this year! He spent half the afternoon walking up the far side of bunny slope to watch Bella ski down (Bella was earning her turns, too - walking up, I mean - faster than taking the magic carpet lift) and had a great time. No photos, I keep meaning to bring the little camcorder up to videotape her.

I've been slacking a little bit in terms of keeping up with my Etsy shop and my blog... I have a bunch of finished scarves I just haven't gotten around to photographing them or listing them. (I'm liking the cashmere/bambu7 sett at 20epi, by the way, in case anyone is curious.)

I have been trying to figure out what to do with these, though...

I started making some to attach to Christmas presents for the various women/girls in my family, and I can't seem to stop making them! (They're little crocheted flowers made of cashmere and bamboo yarn, mostly, I've been sewing pinbacks onto them to make brooches.)

I was thinking of a couple of different weaving projects that could incorporate them, but I'm kind of in production mode right now (which I try to take advantage of whenever it happens!).

So, I'm thinking I'm going to contribute them to The Sampler. The way it works is - you contribute 25 or more (up to 100s, if you want to!) of little samples of your work, the Sampler people organize it all, and then subscribers pay a small amount (not sure how much) to purchase sampler packs and get all these little samples and coupons/marketing materials from the crafters/artists that contribute.

I've done it once before and got a sale from it, and since I've already got all these little flowers lying around gathering dust, I figured, well, heck, why not, I'll contribute to the February Sampler. Wish me luck!

Snow!

Well, I do believe we are going to have a White Christmas this year!



We got about 10 - 12" last night (still flurrying a little now), of fluffy white, nice snow. How pretty!



The kids are having fun, though Conall isn't too sure of the deep stuff.

Trying to get the driveway cleared out - we're thinking of doing some cross country skiing this afternoon, probably during Conall's nap (we have a big sled/poulk that Carlos made to pull the kids along behind whoever is skiing, but Conall doesn't want to sit in it, though he did last year).

I was thinking of dragging everybody up to Pat's Peak in New Hampshire tomorrow to get Bella's seasonal rental skis and maybe ski a little, but I've just heard that we're getting another storm tomorrow! And we're right where the weather changes in our region - Boston is supposed to just get maybe a couple inches, but we're just into the zone that is supposed to get anywhere from 5" - 10" *more* tomorrow. Crazy.

Hopefully the weather will hold on Wednesday... We're attempting the Nutcracker again, lol. We got completely stuck in a HUGE traffic jam on Thursday night trying to get in to Boston and Bella completely fell asleep, so we didn't actually see it. Argh! I managed to get more tickets for Christmas Eve, though, and it starts at noon, so no chance she'll fall asleep this time! (Learned my - VERY expensive - lesson!)

I love winter. I know I'm nuts, but I really love winter and snow....

Last Day at Pats Peak

So, yesterday was the official last day of skiing at Pats Peak in New Hampshire. We had to turn in Bella's seasonal rental skis and boots, so that's probably the end of the season for us, as well. (Wah!) (But, hey, we got up to Stowe for the first time in five years, I am so happy about that!)

Above - Bella (in pink) and Carlos (Mr. Skiingweaver - big guy in blue with orange boots) - waiting to get on the magic carpet for the little bunny hill (last week, actually, on a nice sunny Sunday).

The little pink kid in the middle of the frame (turning towards her left) is Ms. B (you can click on the photo to zoom in if you really want to, lol; I know my kids aren't nearly as interesting to you as they are to me!).

That's Carlos to her left, keeping an eye on her. This is the big bunny hill at Pats (have I mentioned what a nice little mountain it is for learning to ski?? pretty boring for Carlos and I, but really nice for her) - but she also conquered one of the green runs, off the Valley triple! The whole darn run, all by her self, a whole bunch of times. I'm so proud. LOL.

We'll worry about getting her to stand up straight, etc., next year. This year was all about learning how to control her speed and how to turn, and she does both gorgeously, connecting turns all the way down and stopping on a dime when somebody cuts in front of her/wipes out near her.



Can't wait until Conall is big enough to learn, too! We'll have him on cross country skis to tromp around in next year, just like we did with Bella. Gets them comfortable with the idea of having skis on their feet...

Skiing! Hooray!

So, we've been skiing on Sundays a bit this winter, just popping up to little Pat's Peak to give Ms. B a bit of an introduction to the sport. It's a friendly little mountain, very nice for kids, and has some nice little steep runs for Carlos and I, too.

But this past weekend, we got up to Stowe, for the first time in FIVE YEARS. I can't believe it's been that long... We used to have season passes there, and rent a house with friends (hi to Doug and Sarah!!), but that was before Ms. B and Mr. C. They've put a bit of a damper on the skiing thing, especially since Stowe is a bit over three hours away.

The Quad, on Saturday morning - the "nose" of Mt. Mansfield is in a bit of clouds.



This is partway down from the quad. It's always hard to get a good perspective of the steepness of a trail with a camera... This is a relatively mild blue (intermediate) run at Stowe. I think I'd forgotten what skiing a real mountain is like. The double black (expert only) race trail at Pats that I was having fun on would rate pretty much with the more difficult blue runs at Stowe. Pats is cute, but its a toy mountain! And one run at Stowe (they're loooong runs) is about equal to four at Pats. My thighs were burning!

Man was it good to be back on difficult terrain - yes, I do ski the black runs at Stowe. And I have skied all the Front Four (including Goat, which is nuts), but not on this trip, I'm still too out of shape. Depressing, but true.


Bella on her first chair lift! That's the new Inspiration Quad over at Spruce Peak (also part of Stowe - nice that beginners have a completely separate place to learn, basically). Spruce is in the midst of a HUGE construction project. New lodge, new housing, shops, an ice rink, new lifts, it's all going to be gorgeous from the looks of it. Main Street (run down the middle of Spruce, used to be completely 'wild' snow - no grooming and no snowmaking) looks completely different. There is a HUGE half pipe, all sorts of big jumps, and a new, much faster, lift.

The changes are interesting. I'm used to Stowe being kind of funky classy, almost eccentric. I'm hoping it won't lose all of that vibe with the improvements... Definitely really like the Over Easy Gondola that connects the two mountains. I actually had time to scoot over to Mansfield and get some snowboarding in while Bella was in her lesson on Sunday morning.



Bella, after her first-ever ski lesson with a real live instructor. Tired, but really happy. And she's learning so much! (I'm all proud, the instructor raved about how coordinated she is - she's still just three, after all, for a couple more weeks...)



Conall says - hey, I have ski pants, why am I stuck in the lodge while you guys get to have all the fun?? Got to learn how to walk on your own, first, little man... (My kids are late walkers.)

Carlos, after tele skiing on Saturday afternoon while Conall, Bella and I hung out at our hotel: "If I could have one day a year of skiing like that, I'd be a happy man..." I think that means he had a good time.

I was a bit worried about his back (he had pretty major back surgery in the summer of '06 - while I was pregnant and about three weeks before we flew to France, insane!), but it held up really well. His days of hucking off jumps and such on his snowboard are probably over (really kind of sad, wah, poor guy, he's so coordinated and graceful on his board and skis) (I hit a couple of little natural kickers for him on Sunday in the powder, just for fun, lol), but he can still telemark like a demon!

We're heading back up this coming weekend, for four days this time! Whhhheeeee!

Stay tuned - I need to post about meeting a fellow EtsyFAST team member!

First Turns!

So, my sweet hubby pried me away from my various looms and projects today and sent me skiing for the afternoon. I just went up to little Pat's Peak:

Isn't it a cute little mountain? It's in Henniker, NH. Which, as any fiber addict from this area knows, is also home of The Fiber Studio. (uh-oh) But I was good, and resisted stopping in on the way home. Oh - good thing I didn't stop by, it's closed until Jan. 2! Man, though, doesn't it look tempting from its website??

The idea was to check out the mountain to see if it would be a good place to teach Bella to ski this year - I think that's a yes! Nice little beginner's area, non-crowded lodge and slopes, and it's only an hour from home, also good for the little ones. Stowe will have to wait for a longer vacation. (WAH) But this is nice for a day trip, and Carlos and I can sneak in a couple quick runs, too, just for fun.

Overall, it was just fantastic to get out on my skis again. Just my little slalom skis (good thing, it was icy and they love ice), and only 9 or so runs (out of shape), but a lot of fun.

But now I'm stressed about my Etsy store being empty. Eeks. I do have three scarves done and ready for their photo sessions, though. And a shawl that I have half the fringe twisted on... So I'll be posting things to my shop soon!