Here is the machine that cards and makes roving. Unfortunately the yarn mill was closed the week we were there.
I was so excited when I walked into this room and I saw these ladies tying the mattress pad. Mom and I have frames that were my great grandmothers. I have never seen anyone else use these old frames to tie quilts. I also found it interesting that they had the fabric strips stuffed a bit, to make pinning into them easier. Ours just have folded fabric to pin into. They also still use the wooden pegs - we have clamps to hold them together.
Here is the sock knitting machine. We discovered the seconds bin of socks for sale...$5 for wool socks...SWEET!
My next load of fleece going to Zeilingers is going to be for bedding and for quilt batts. I want a wool mattress pad, wool filled pillows and wool batts for some quilts.
If you ever want to see a wonderful Christmas shop...here it is! I got two beautiful new nativity sets (ooops, I got one, another one might be my Christmas present). I could have easily spent a years budget on Christmas ornaments, nativities and the like. I really want a big creche to go outside...maybe on the roof of my porch.
Ok...when you see this sign, it might cause you some concern? What kind of place is this? Well, in the UP of Michigan, rest assured, that the word pasty is not pronounced pace - tee, but pass - tee and is a yummy meat filled pastry. Traditional ones are filled with beef, potatoes, onions and rutabaga. All cut into 1/4 cubes. Wondering why such good food is so regionally popular. I have been googling recipes and see some on the menu here really soon, along with Buttermilk Pie.
Entering Canada...but not in a big hurry. It took 1/2 hour to get in and 1 hour to get out of the country. The lines were long, but no hassles when it was our turn.
On our honeymoon, 25 years ago, we ate at this little diner, so we had to go there again. Remind me, when I see a 1/2 lb hotdog on a menu that it is enough food to feed a family of 4!
Niagara Falls was fun, with live music, fireworks and a 4D show called Niagara's Fury.
The motel we stayed at 25 years ago no longer exists, but we did get one with a heart shaped jacuzzi tub in the room.
The room a few doors down didn't look so good at this motel, though.
When we got back to the United States side, we met up with my friend Candi. It was so much fun, as we had previously only met on Ravelry. Had a nice brunch with she, her husband and her son. You can learn alot about people on-line, but the one thing that often isn't mentioned is how tall you are. My on-line friends are often surprised at how tall I am. Lol - ok, the short ones are always surprised!
In New York we went in search of a winery. The one the GPS led us to was a private home and the mail-lady who was outside said that he made wine for his personal use, but wasn't a winery. Instead, she knew of a place just 10 minutes away called Casa Larga. Despite the motor vehicle accident that had recently happened in front of the building, we got in and took a tour and tasted some very nice wines. I discovered that it isn't necessarily the dry-ness of wine that I don't like, but the oak barrels that some are aged in. I prefer stainless steel aged wines for their fresher, fruitier flavors. I still do like my wines sweeter, though.
Here are a couple good Scrabble words for you. These jugs are called carboys and the sludge that develops and settles to the bottom (see that tan stuff) is called lees.
Turns out this winery has award winning ice wines...my favorite, sweet, dessert wines. We learned that ICE wines are made with grapes that are left on the wine through several freezes and harvested around January. They have only a few drops of super sweet nectar left in them. It takes about 32 lbs of grapes to make ice wine, compared to about 4 to make a classic bottle of wine (as you can imagine, this does drive up the price). If you get ICED wine, it is similarly sweet, but is made from grapes or juice that is frozen. Just not the same, but a decent substitute for areas of the country that don't see the freezing temps we do.
This was our last stop, besides a quick supper and gas at a rest area in NY. I will be going back and posting more pics from earlier in the trip on this blog, so keep watching for a little bit longer. I hope you all enjoyed following along on our trip as much as we enjoyed taking it!
