Pickin' n' Grinnin'

Finally...
As in, finally I tried out my new picker. (Check out the link for full shots of the spiffy gizmo - I've only got closeups here.)

I grabbed some of Goldie's fleece that had been languishing forever. Well, at least since last month when I washed it expressly for trying out the new toy.

I loaded it up.


Ran the slider back and forth a few times.

And a big ball of fluff comes out the other end. Amazing!


I ran it back for another pass.

The verdict? It opens the fiber really really nicely, and gets out all the smaller bits of VM. Not so good on the big bits, but those are the easy ones to pick out by hand anyway, so I'm pleased. In a matter of minutes, I had a huge pile of fluff ready for the carder that was practically VM-free. (And if you've heard me whine about how full-of-crap my Goldie's fleece was, you'll know what a boon that is.)

View the crap left behind...

My favorite part is the cleaning instructions that came with the picker:
Turn it over and dump it out.

Home again, home again, jiggety jog

I actually got in around 9 o'clock last night, but was way too tired to talk, let alone post. Back to reality today, with a full plate at work, so I'm still tired.
But I had a great time, visiting relatives, partying with my dad for his birthday, and there was The Great Pig Chase.
A neighbor had dropped by right around dusk to let us know some pigs were out and wandering up by the road. We grabbed flashlights and ran out the door, my dad and I going one way, and my daughter and stepmom the other. Dad checked the barn as we went by, to see who was missing - Chunk and his two lady friends had apparently decided a post-supper stroll was a wonderful idea. I spotted fresh pig tracks in the driveway (not that I'm much of a tracker, but with recent rain and lots of mud, even I could spot the tracks) and had just pointed them out - "Look, there's pig tracks" - when I looked up and spotted pigs. "Look, there's pigs." I blocked one possible exit while Dad looped around behind them to urge them back to the barn. They trotted past me and I stayed to guard the rear in case they changed direction, joined by my daughter who had worked her way around by way of the road. But we figured they were headed back to the pen anyway, since they were happy to get settled back in their comfy quarters for the night. If the neighbor hadn't tattled on them, they probably would have gone back to their pen by themselves, leaving us with a driveway full of tracks and a mystery the next morning.
Herding pigs by flashlight - you just can't buy entertainment like that...

More on the hay sculptures

Apparently this is a much bigger deal than I realized.
Here's a link to some photos. I didn't see all of these, and I don't see a photo of the cows that I did see. (Well, I thought I saw cows. They sure looked like cows. Well, I sure thought they looked like cows. Maybe they weren't cows at all...)

September is kicking my ass

So much to do, between the garden, the animals, getting ready for winter (sigh), even without the spinning and knitting.
I'm not only behind in posting, I'm behind in my blog reading. (Bloglines informs me I have well over 800 posts to read...)
So, naturally, I've gone on vacation.
I'm currently visiting my dad, relaxing, recharging my batteries.
I'll try to post a few notes from the road, but be warned that I forgot the camera.
I really really would have liked to get some photos of the latest fad around Killington - hay bale sculptures. Teddy bears, cows, jack-o-lanterns. And penguins. You haven't lived until you've seen a family of hay bale penguins...

Ok, I admit it.

I'm a geek.
Squared.

Whole lotta not-picking goin' on

I'd wanted to try out my new yarn picker today. I've got wool all washed and ready to go. I had the day off.
But.
The day just got jam-packed.
We butchered a couple of chickens this morning, Madman and I. The original plan was to do the remaining 10, but none of our helpers (i.e. amateur chicken-pluckers) could come and help today. So we tackled what we could handle, given how many other projects we had for the day.
Then we put 24 pounds of elderberries in the freezer. (Woohoo! Free fruit!) I would have taken pictures, but it's the same process as last year. Forks, fruit, bowls. Berries ricocheting all over the kitchen. After the first couple of hours, the fun starts to wear off...
We didn't start any wine, yet, but we will. In the meantime, the freezer is holding the elderberries for us, and, as a by-product, doing the mashing for us as well. (The formation of ice crystals within the berries smashes the heck out of them. Does a much better job than we could ever do with a potato masher.)
I butched the basil, since now that it's almost September, we could get a frost at any time. (Gotta love Zone 3. *sigh*) I made 3 batches of pesto, 2 of which went into the freezer. I filled icecube trays with the glorious green stuff - I'll bag up the individual cubes once they're frozen solid. Perfect little portions to add to pasta or soup, come winter. (So our ice cubes will taste a little funny for awhile. Big deal.)
And somewhere in between all this, I managed to bake a loaf of bread.
Madman picked beans while I was picking basil. We ate some for supper, but the rest went into the fridge, since we'd completely run out of steam by then. Tomorrow is another day.
And the rest of supper? The Second Annual first pestodilla of the season - homegrown tomatoes and homemade pesto. Life is good...

Still kicking. And knitting.

Life goes on. Goldie eventually stops crying and searching for her lost lamb. We stop tearing up every time we look at the sheep pasture. We're counting on better luck next time. (I think we've earned it...)

In the meantime, Goldie's fleece is being spun, slowly but surely.And there's been knitting.
Maplewing has been temporarily supplanted.


I Niebled. I have committed Niebling. I blame Cookie.


In this picture, you can see my cheat. There's no chart, so as I complete each round, I mark it out with highlighter. I'd much prefer a chart, which makes it easier to read the lace, but that's not an option with this particular pattern.
And this is the third iteration of this project - I'm shooting for a shawl rather than a doily, and the first try was on needles that were too small. (I wanted a shawl that was bigger than 24", which is what my best geometric skills told me would be the diameter, extrapolating on the first 20 rounds.)
On the second try, I'd hit 24 rounds when I realized I'd dropped a stitch around row 11. (One of those k2togs that didn't meld properly...)
This is the third try, and I'm sure hoping it's the charm.