and busy...
We've got 24 new little Rhode Island Red chicks - which I'll post pictures of as soon as I find the camera. (*sigh*)
And I've got two (that's TWO!!) full alpaca fleeces - one reddish brown and one cream. My dad & stepmom recently got two alpacas, and passed the fleeces to me. Can't wait to start spinning!
(Must finish Cotswold first. Must finish Cotswold first. Must finish Cotswold first...)
Off to look for the camera...
Friday, June 27, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Last one on the Monkeywagon...
So after seeing umpty-bazillion monkey socks out there, I finally got around to knitting them myself. I had looked at the pattern when it first came out, but saw ...
1) lace - not a big fan of lace socks - if you're trying to make a nice warm pair of wooly socks, what's the point of knitting holes in them?
2) double YO's - which I have never liked - they make a big sloppy gloopy hole
so I had just skipped the pattern. But, resistance is futile, as they say.
Mods: I used a tubular cast on, because I'm a big fan.
Instead of the double YO, I used a single YO, then on the following row I knit into the YO and increased a stitch with a backwards loop. This gave the same effect, without the big gloopy hole.
And I used size 0 needles, since I'm a very loose knitter...
The toe on the second sock is ready to kitchener. And I like them so much that I'm already planning a second pair...
1) lace - not a big fan of lace socks - if you're trying to make a nice warm pair of wooly socks, what's the point of knitting holes in them?
2) double YO's - which I have never liked - they make a big sloppy gloopy hole
so I had just skipped the pattern. But, resistance is futile, as they say.
Mods: I used a tubular cast on, because I'm a big fan.
Instead of the double YO, I used a single YO, then on the following row I knit into the YO and increased a stitch with a backwards loop. This gave the same effect, without the big gloopy hole.
And I used size 0 needles, since I'm a very loose knitter...
The toe on the second sock is ready to kitchener. And I like them so much that I'm already planning a second pair...
Monday, May 26, 2008
Still playing catch-up
Ketchup? Catsup? (sorry)
So, anyway, New Hampshire Sheep and Wool!
I loaded up my mother-in-law and my youngest daughter and we hit the road for NHS&W on the Saturday before Mother's Day. The drive was uneventful, except for the crazy-lady who started to pull into my lane without looking and came within inches of hitting us. (I was too busy screaming to even look for the horn...)
So, other that that....
We had a great time. We saw lots and lots of alpacas, with their sweet faces...
Take a close look at this noble fellow:
Now look a little closer...
and a little closer...
and now look really close...
We were amused with the upside-down buck teeth... Poor guy.
And we saw lots of gorgeous little lambs...
any of which I would have been more than happy to take home with me. Sadly, Madman's last words to me as I was leaving were: "Don't bring home any sheep. " Which is what he always says when I'm off to a festival. But this year he added "Or bunnies."
Damn. I was really hoping he wouldn't mention the bunnies. I was so sure I could get away it. "You just said no sheep - you didn't say anything about no bunnies..."
The guy sees right through me, sometimes...
So, no bunnies either. Though I was sorely tempted.
What I did end up with was some Shetland roving - we're going to raise Shetlands, someday. When we get a little more acreage, that is... So it's really important that I check out Shetland fleece, right? Solely in the interests of research, right? Yeah, I thought so, too.
And I found a nice niddy noddy, which I really really needed, and some Hiya Hiya dpns in a size 00 which I really really really needed. And some more roving in a nice teal color that grabbed my arm as I walked by and begged me to buy it. So, all in all, I found treasures without spending much money (see previous references to "cheap")
The three of us had a nice picnic at lunchtime, and in between drooling on all the vendor's pretties, we watched sheepdog demos, and just strolled enjoying the day.
Good times, good company.
So, anyway, New Hampshire Sheep and Wool!
I loaded up my mother-in-law and my youngest daughter and we hit the road for NHS&W on the Saturday before Mother's Day. The drive was uneventful, except for the crazy-lady who started to pull into my lane without looking and came within inches of hitting us. (I was too busy screaming to even look for the horn...)
So, other that that....
We had a great time. We saw lots and lots of alpacas, with their sweet faces...
Take a close look at this noble fellow:
Now look a little closer...
and a little closer...
and now look really close...
We were amused with the upside-down buck teeth... Poor guy.
And we saw lots of gorgeous little lambs...
any of which I would have been more than happy to take home with me. Sadly, Madman's last words to me as I was leaving were: "Don't bring home any sheep. " Which is what he always says when I'm off to a festival. But this year he added "Or bunnies."
Damn. I was really hoping he wouldn't mention the bunnies. I was so sure I could get away it. "You just said no sheep - you didn't say anything about no bunnies..."
The guy sees right through me, sometimes...
So, no bunnies either. Though I was sorely tempted.
What I did end up with was some Shetland roving - we're going to raise Shetlands, someday. When we get a little more acreage, that is... So it's really important that I check out Shetland fleece, right? Solely in the interests of research, right? Yeah, I thought so, too.
And I found a nice niddy noddy, which I really really needed, and some Hiya Hiya dpns in a size 00 which I really really really needed. And some more roving in a nice teal color that grabbed my arm as I walked by and begged me to buy it. So, all in all, I found treasures without spending much money (see previous references to "cheap")
The three of us had a nice picnic at lunchtime, and in between drooling on all the vendor's pretties, we watched sheepdog demos, and just strolled enjoying the day.
Good times, good company.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Trying to catch up a little...
I keep writing blogposts in my head, but not carrying through to the computer. So, in my head, my blog is full of rich and wonderful posts, oozing with pictures...
In real life, not so much.
So, I'm going to start with Mother's Day and work backwards until I get caught up.
First, of course, I had to load up the pictures that had accumulated. I don't know if Flickr was having problems, or if it was just me (and I suspect it was just me. It always seems to be just me...), but it took hours to get my pics up. The process kept freezing up - and some pictures were being uploaded multiple times, while others disappeared entirely. The last pic took over 3 hours - I finally gave up and went to bed, and it finished up sometime during the night.
So, Mother's Day....
My youngest daughter (the college student) surprised me with a stuffed animal - completely hand-sewn. I love him to distraction (and her, too!)
He makes me smile every time I look at him.
My oldest daughter (the college professor) sent me a huge care package of foodstuffs that aren't available up here in the Back of Beyond...
She actually had them individually wrapped in beautiful papers with lots and lots of ribbons, but that's one of the pictures that kept going astray. I gave up after 4 attempts (and at an hour per attempt, that was a serious time-suck...) I love her to distraction, too!
Madman is also excited about the food - he's very fond of curries, for example. Though not so much with the couscous. The only time I've tried to feed him couscous, he claimed it tasted like spider's eggs.
"And just when did you ever eat spider's eggs, in order to have a basis for comparison?", I asked.
"Well, never," he admitted, "but this is what I would imagine spider's eggs taste like."
There's a hole in that logic, somewhere.
In real life, not so much.
So, I'm going to start with Mother's Day and work backwards until I get caught up.
First, of course, I had to load up the pictures that had accumulated. I don't know if Flickr was having problems, or if it was just me (and I suspect it was just me. It always seems to be just me...), but it took hours to get my pics up. The process kept freezing up - and some pictures were being uploaded multiple times, while others disappeared entirely. The last pic took over 3 hours - I finally gave up and went to bed, and it finished up sometime during the night.
So, Mother's Day....
My youngest daughter (the college student) surprised me with a stuffed animal - completely hand-sewn. I love him to distraction (and her, too!)
He makes me smile every time I look at him.
My oldest daughter (the college professor) sent me a huge care package of foodstuffs that aren't available up here in the Back of Beyond...
She actually had them individually wrapped in beautiful papers with lots and lots of ribbons, but that's one of the pictures that kept going astray. I gave up after 4 attempts (and at an hour per attempt, that was a serious time-suck...) I love her to distraction, too!
Madman is also excited about the food - he's very fond of curries, for example. Though not so much with the couscous. The only time I've tried to feed him couscous, he claimed it tasted like spider's eggs.
"And just when did you ever eat spider's eggs, in order to have a basis for comparison?", I asked.
"Well, never," he admitted, "but this is what I would imagine spider's eggs taste like."
There's a hole in that logic, somewhere.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
I used to be good at math....
When my father gave me his old spinning wheel, he included the lazy kate and 3 bobbins. This worked great as long as I was spinning 2-ply yarns, but left me unable to spin 3-ply - I needed at least one more bobbin. At the last Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival, I picked up two more bobbins and happily spun my first 3-ply yarn - some alpaca that I spun and hand dyed in shades of blue as a Christmas gift for my mother-in-law. (It turned out beautifully, but I didn't think to get a picture. Argh!)
I don't know about other spinners, but I've never had my bobbins of singles come out even when I'm plying. In the case of the alpaca, I had singles left on two bobbins at the end of the project. (What with the pressure of Christmas fast-approaching, I skeined what I had, dyed it, and called it good. About 250 yards, as I recall.)
As I mentioned in a previous post, I washed a good-sized handful of cotswold fleece, carded it, and started spinning singles. I was trying to get something a little thicker than sock yarn for a change, so I worked hard at making my singles thicker, and planned a nice fat 3-ply yarn. I filled one bobbin, then another, then started the third, all the time eyeing the 2 bobbins of alpaca singles and thinking "Oh, no problem. When the time comes, I'll just ply those off real quick, and be ready to make my 3-ply cotswold. Good thing I bought those extra bobbins!"
So, there I was, 3 bobbins full of cotswold, 2 bobbins each 1/4 to 1/3 full of alpaca. I sat myself down at my wheel, ready to roll.
Anyone spotted the problem yet?
I own 5 bobbins. I have 5 bobbins loaded with singles.
What on earth did I think I was going to ply those singles onto?
Doh!
After I finished pounding my head on the wall, I realized there was nothing for it but to ply the alpaca off onto a handspindle. After a brief search (anything less than 3 hours is a brief search, in my book...) I finally located one of my spindles. (For the record, it was in a plastic bag, tucked inside another plastic bag full of handspun laceweight being knit into a shawl, tucked inside another plastic bag full of alpaca roving, tucked into a box full of UFOs, under a box of odd balls of worsted weight yarn. Easy peasy. Once I eliminated the other 42 bags and boxes, of course.)
There, dammit! Plied at last!(Note: this is one of my homemade spindles - I used a little wooden wheelie-dealie from Michael's, an old paintbrush handle with the business end pried off, and a miniature cuphook. I figured there was no sense investing a fortune in spindles until I decided whether or not I even liked spinning. And then, of course, I was used to spinning with my homemade gizmos, so there was no sense in buying anything fancier. I prefer to think of myself as frugal, though I have heard people mumbling "cheap" when they thought I wasn't listening...)
And now, I can get on with the cotswold!
Friday, April 18, 2008
Spring is sprung. Finally.
The snow is melting! The snow is melting!
Of course, it left some devastation behind...
We'll be rebuilding this poor smashed hoophouse over the next couple of weeks. A lot of the framework is bent & twisted, and all the plastic needs to be replaced. Sigh...
On a happier note, the chickens are enjoying the warmer weather. After a winter all cooped up (sorry, couldn't resist) they're sunning themselves and taking dust (mud) baths.
Big Red (well, honestly, what would you have named him?) saw me and came over to check me out.
He called the girls over, too.
I'd like to say they like me for my sweet charming self...
but, the fact is, I cheated....
Grass is to chickens like chocolate is to knitters...
Of course, it left some devastation behind...
We'll be rebuilding this poor smashed hoophouse over the next couple of weeks. A lot of the framework is bent & twisted, and all the plastic needs to be replaced. Sigh...
On a happier note, the chickens are enjoying the warmer weather. After a winter all cooped up (sorry, couldn't resist) they're sunning themselves and taking dust (mud) baths.
Big Red (well, honestly, what would you have named him?) saw me and came over to check me out.
He called the girls over, too.
I'd like to say they like me for my sweet charming self...
but, the fact is, I cheated....
Grass is to chickens like chocolate is to knitters...
swampflower
Norma has her lovely crocuses. I have these...
I have no clue what they are. They look a lot like dandelions, only a little smaller, and grow in wet marshy soil.
Anybody know?
(ETA: We found an answer! It's coltsfoot - turns out to be a medicinal perennial, but it's also an invasive species. Just my luck that my first flower of spring is a noxious weed....)
I have no clue what they are. They look a lot like dandelions, only a little smaller, and grow in wet marshy soil.
Anybody know?
(ETA: We found an answer! It's coltsfoot - turns out to be a medicinal perennial, but it's also an invasive species. Just my luck that my first flower of spring is a noxious weed....)
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