So, what have I got to show for the summer?
Here's the sum total of the knitting I got done:
Wingspan. (This is the best of a bunch of really bad pictures. I can't get the colors right and the focus defeats me.) I love this project. Though if you count over to the fourth and fifth wedges, starting from the right, you'll see that the color sequence went south. Minutes after I posted about how the colors were transitioning perfectly for the pattern, I hit a knot in the yarn. *sigh*
The garden pretty well went south this summer too. What with the sheep getting out and eating most of it, there's not much left but swiss chard and green beans. And the tomatoes are being eaten nearly to the ground by a sudden infestation of hornworms, which we've never had before in all our years of gardening up here. Growing up in Kansas and upstate NY, I was familiar with them, but Madman was all "WTF?!?" because he'd never seen one before. Picture a caterpillar the size of your middle finger, chomping on your tomato plants and pooping the equivalent of elephant droppings. The only good thing about them is that they explode rather spectacularly when you stomp on them. (Just be careful not to point them at anyone, as they go off like a cannon.)
One of the few bright spots is that my lovely Black Austrolorps have started laying eggs. (*sniff* They grow up so fast...) They've now been moved in with the main laying flock, though they spend most of their time next to the fence between poultry pens, gazing at their beloved turkeys. The turkeys are also now spending all their time pressed up against the other side of the fence, gazing right back at their little chicken friends. And this morning, Madman found the hen turkey in with the layer flock - she must have climbed the fence since she's now too fat to fly. We foresee trouble, but the turkeys' days are numbered (because Thanksgiving. And possibly Christmas. You know. Don't tell them.) so it will all work out in the end. Because it would be just great if something on this little farmlet would just stay where it's supposed to.
But I'm not holding my breath...
Re: focus. My camera has trouble focusing on objets d'knit, probably because they are fuzzy. I focus on something hard-edged that is roughly the same distance away, usually whatever the knitting is lying on, hold the button to keep the focus, then shoot the photo. Works pretty well, although I delete my own fair share of fuzzy fotos.
ReplyDeleteHottest summer on record = hornworms in the Northeast Kingdom. What's next, kudzu?
Poop-shooting, exploding caterpillars! Fence-climbing turkeys! So much excitement!
I think I have even less knitting. But I have a puppy, and he stays mostly where I put him.
ReplyDeleteAnd I, for one, am thrilled to see the end of humidity for a while. (Oof. I hate summer down here!)
Wingspan looks lovely! I really have to make one!
ReplyDeleteEven your colors didn't stay where they were supposed to. I suspect this is life.
ReplyDeleteHate those 'pillars. Hate them.
At least, you're knitting!
ReplyDeleteI love hunting tomato worms. Remind me next spring and I'll give you some pointers. Getting them is the only thing I really miss about gardening. Yeah, I know that's sad. So?
Like your Wingspan. Yours looks lovely with the hole where you did the short rows. I didn't like the looks of the holes in my Wingspan so I did the traditional wrap-n-turn short rows.
ReplyDeletekmkat I will have to try your trick on getting photos of knits because mine are less than desirable sometimes.
I forgot about those worms from my childhood, so huge I could never figure out how they magically appeared. You'd think you'd hear them coming!
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