OK, Catch Up Time Again, or Accountability Time, Which Ever :)

On Sunday we woke up to snow! Was only suppose to be about 1/2 inch to maybe 1 inch, however we got about 2 inches. At least here, in the midwest, the city street crews are on top of clearing the snow on the streets. There was some slush but as you can see it had already been plowed before 7:30 am. Looks so pretty for the first snow, but later as the cars splash dirty street water on the sides and it looks dirty until the next snow. It should all be melted off by later this week as we get into the upper 30’s.

Finished another hat, they go pretty fast as they are only a 2X2 ribbing knit about 9 3/4 inches long and then do the crown. I like them long so the bottom gives double coverage to the ears when folded up.

I did something I don’t do often, set Christmas stuff out before Dec. But I had already started listening to Christmas music, it brings such peace, so why not set up my Christmas decorations. My son’s mother in law and I exchange a gift each year at Thanksgiving (which we all celebrate together) and last year she got me that lovely Christmas scene that lights up and this year she gave me those huge gnomes, so cute. Last year I knit her headband from a purchased pattern that goes over the ears to keep them warm that had a dandelion design, I forgot to put a picture up, sigh. I didn’t get the cowl to match finished because I was having to design it myself (not something I do often, I’m not a mathematician, :P, so planing the placement is not terribly easy.) So I thought I had it planned out, but it was off, so frog part of it back to the top of the first design. Start again, nope, frog one more time to the 1st design again and played it by ear eyeballing it rather than counting stitches, and it’s ok now. I probably won’t write a pattern for it because I didn’t write anything down as I went but I used the same dandelion design from the headband. For the cowl itself without a pattern on it just cast on 104 and knit a 2×2 rib for top and bottom of the cowl for 1 & 1/2 inches. You can use any pattern on the cowl you like, but the 104 cast on, on worsted weight yarn, gave me a loose but not a super loose neck fit and I knit enough patterns and rounds vertically with the ribbing top and bottom to make it about 9 or 10 inches high, I’ll check it when I’m done and give better measurements.

You can see a row counter, on the cowl I’m knitting, I bought from Twice Sheared Sheep . They are pretty cool. She had a Thanksgiving gift of buy one get one for those row counters with both as mysteries so I bought another and got another one. One is a round one and the other another long one with a different needle size and different ending pieces, I really like them, I’ve enjoyed using it on the cowl to keep rows between the vertical patterns without having to go back and recount them, the end piece on it is a cute little dragonfly :). You should check them out.

The Color of Fall and an FO

These are all shots of the beautiful fall colors I was able to take this week. Well the 2nd picture I took last week and a week later I took a picture of the same trees (3rd picture) and you can see their color progress. Amazing how fast the leaf colors change and all the colors they make.

The last picture is the FO. This is the Classic Cables Hat and Mittens by Destiny Meyer pattern, (I only knit the hat) that I was getting ready to start, link to my post on this. It fit Ev, but because the size for this was for a woman’s medium and I was knitting this for a man I used the larger needle size that it mentioned in the needles section for a larger or slouchy hat and added an extra cable vertically to make it a little longer. Also if I make this for him again, I will also add about 1 & 1/2 inches to the cuff so it will sit well below his ears when it’s folded up, men have larger heads than women ;P, he said it was fine the way it was, but I like things to be better than fine :P. A link to her shop can be found here, this pattern is on sale on this page of her patterns, but I don’t know how long the sale lasts :).

Won a Spinning Box Gift!

A few weeks ago I entered in a giveaway from Camaj Fiber Arts for a spinning box. She prepares these and sells them once a month, they are a surprise box of fiber, and always worth it. I entered and she was giving away 3 and I thought well, maybe! I got an email a little over a week ago and I won one of them!!! This one was titled Silk Road from East to West. It’s all about silk, some gorgeous spinning fibers in it! The light colored package of roving is Opulence, 18 micron Merino and Polwarth and Red Eri Peace Silk combed top, and this is soft, soft, soft! The colorful package the same size is Merino and Mulberry silk combed top, and it is oh so soft! The smaller bag of colorful fiber is Soffsilk, a cloud of various colors of dyed mulberry silk. It will be nice for blending on my drum carder with other fibers for color and texture :). Then there is a silk handkerchief with some bleeding tissue paper to make a dyed silk hanky :), should be fun. The last thing is a sack of some Eri Peace Silk cocoons. I’ll have to check out more about degumming them, tho the paper said I could also dye them and string them for my Christmas tree and actually I have a small fiber optic tree so it might actually look very cool :P. This box arrived on Saturday and my birthday was yesterday, what a coincidence was that!!! What a wonderful birthday gift! I like buying fiber from this fiber arts online store, they have a great variety of fiber and fiber tools and some great prices :).

I’m enjoying this nice fall weather, it will be 60’s and 50’s all week, so much better than the 90’s into the 100’s of this past summer! Hope everyone is well and enjoying their day!

Newest Cria is Here :)

Kitchi (Native American name from the Algonquian tribe) it means brave. He was born a couple of days ago but my son and his spouse (who is also Native American) were busy with him, his mom is a first time mom and he had a small problem when he was born, his ankle is unstable and he couldn’t stand, so because he couldn’t stand to drink from mom, they bottle fed him some colostrum and continued bottle feeding him because they had him and mom separated from the herd in a barn in a stall, the rest were all close loose in the barn and could touch noses, but she was distressed because she was kinda sorta separated so they feed him through the night and the next day they put a splint on him while his ankle heals. He is now nursing from his mom.

The first picture is the clearest of him. His coloring is striking with the black head and his legs are also black but the rest of him is the cinnamon color, so pretty. The second picture is Finn (the cria born 2 weeks ago) checking him out now that Kit (his nick name) and his mom are no longer separated from the herd, Kit is laying down. If you click the picture it should enlarge and show the whole picture. I was going to put a video up of him walking around with his splint but I would have to upgrade my Word Press acct to do that and since this is the first and probably the only video I would post, I didn’t see the point :P. One more cria is due, should be here in Sept :).

Getting ready for another heat wave to start on Saturday through next Wed with some 96 degree days, not sure what the heat index will put the feels like temp at, sigh. Is it fall yet?

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the last vestiges of Summer.

New Cria on the Farm!

We had a new cria (baby alpacas are called a cria) born on the farm. Not named yet, but he looks like his dad and not his mom :P, I will get to see him tomorrow. Babies are always exciting, and there are 2 more due this month.

Catching Up!

Before I start, I have deleted the last Monday Funny post. Tho’ those of us who have raised teenagers will understand the humor, I thought maybe because of the criminal climate of our world right now with children being human trafficked this meme might not be appropriate right now, please save the children! A new one will be up next Monday :).

I knit the last sweater I posted for a friend’s daughter who had a son, saw his picture, he’s a cutie. She was pleased with it and surprised me with some stitch markers, so cute, they will definitely be used! Thanks Anna!

The next picture is a bridal bouquet I made for my daughter after her attempt to make it. We bought the silk flowers and all the things needed to make it and she tried to make it. I looked at it and shook my head and took it apart and redid it, she looked relieved hahaha. I made the boutonnieres for the guys too. Crafting is not her thing, but she’s a great daughter :). She gets married later this month.

Now to the last two pictures. My son’s farm helper has gone off to college and my son and his spouse asked if I would be of a mind to step in until Dec when they close their store and visitors for the winter. I thought it over for a day, I rarely just jump in with both feet into anything, there are always things to consider. This involved my Saturdays, so could I move things around to make my Saturdays free and then there was getting up early (I’m a night owl lol)? I decided I could and told them I would be happy to help out. My son puts them in a small pasture up front, next to the barn, where visitors can come see and feed and touch those that allow it. The first Saturday was a short one because of the extreme heat we were having (115 with the heat index), when it gets to hot for the alpacas to be outside instead of in the barn with a fan going, everything shuts down, they come first. This last Saturday was a full day and tho there is plenty of shade, it was humid so my son put out the splash pad he has for the alpaca girls. They love it, it has a place where the water spurts out of the top of the circle and he makes the water go up to belly hight. Some lay in the water, other like to stand around with the water hitting their bellies to keep cool and putting their faces in the water, you can see that in the 4th picture. I got a sunburn, lol, my face and arms and the back of my neck (I have long hair but I braid it and pull it to the side and that causes my neck show). My face was a bright red along with the back of my neck. My arms weren’t so bad. Fortunately I have a large aloe vera plant and when I got home I picked off one of the larger leaves and got the gooey jell stuff out and put it on my face and back of my neck. It felt better and about an hr later I also put lavender on it (lavender in fractionated coconut oil base – if you are allergic to nuts test to see if you can use the coconut oil, in a roller ball bottle). I put the lavender on again before bed and on Sunday morning, afternoon and evening and again on Monday morning. All the burn has turned into tan and no peeling, whew. Aloe Vera and Lavender are amazing for skin, lavender also works to quell itchy bug bites and ouchie scrapes and minor cuts. I call it the itchy/ouchie solution, the kids never mind having it put on because it doesn’t sting on the ouchies either :). I have to say I’m exhausted being out in the sun all day, but I sleep well :P. I did buy a bottle of sun screen so I won’t be burned again.

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the last of the summer before fall :).

Tour de Fleece Day 5 and New Tee!

Fiber Love Diary, a spinner I follow on YouTube, has her new tee shirt out for the Tour de Fleece. I spun with her group last year and am again this year. She spins, dyes, knits, weaves, you name a fiber project she has probably done it. Very cute tee’s this year!

I know this says day 5 and when you see it, but it will be day 6 for the Tour de Fleece, but for the moment that is how it is. If I skip posting a day, it will be right :P. There is progress on my spin even tho I’m sure it doesn’t look like it, I’ll try to pick up the pace. Because it’s quite a bit thicker than I usually spin and I’m only about 1/2 way on the first 2 ozs (each bobbin will be 2 ozs), it makes me wonder if my bobbin will be big enough for the ply of 4 ozs, I’m thinking after plying and washing this might be a heavy worsted or a light bulky yarn. I am loving it tho, it’s a fun fiber to spin, the singles are beautiful, and I’m trying to think of all the things it could become. Depending on how many yards I end up with, maybe a hat or fingerless mitts. I don’t know what the South American wool is, maybe a combination of wools, but it isn’t scratchy, it’s skin soft :).

Flax Baby Sweater Done :)

I’ve been working on this Flax baby sweater for a while, have been a bit unmotivated for a bit with my knitting and spinning, but working on that. The baby is born and my friend sent me a picture, he’s cute as a button. He will enjoy this this fall and winter. 🙂

I’ve started another baby sweater for a baby that has already arrived as well, but it’s too hot for a sweater so I try not to feel too bad that it’s not very far along at the moment, but she will enjoy it this fall and winter as well. I’ll post more about the pattern and yarn and my start on another day.

On the 1st of July starts the Tour de Fleece :). I will try to spin a little bit everyday that the bikers from the Tour de France ride. But I’m not gonna beat myself up if I miss a day or two, but gonna work on it. I’ll post on Saturday with some pictures of fiber I am going to spin :).

Hope everyone is doing well!