Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Did Anyone Else Notice This Weather??

OK.  I just have to mention it---the weather is insane!!  It is 80 degrees outside.  Eighty Degrees!!  The whole countryside is freaking out.   Everyone wants to be out in the air, While It Lasts.  Considering that we usually marshal in Spring with snow and freezing rain,  it is to be expected that most people are grabbing this while they can, fully aware that it could snow three feet next week.  My yard is in total late April mode.  Crocus, yes we can have crocus blooming in March.  That is fine.
A little early but not too

          And if we see the tops of daffodils, that also can happen in March.  Never daffodils with buds!
They just can't wait
        The pièce de résistance is one of my roses.  This really has me worried for when the cold descends upon us again.
Really jumping the gun

However, there is nothing to be done but to wait and see how it all pans out.  The sad news for the day is that my little Daisie Mae, the hen I raised from an egg last year, died quite suddenly on Saturday.  She did not exhibit any sign of illness, in fact, she laid an egg that very morning.  Inexplicably, in the afternoon, she was in great distress.  I could see nothing, nor feel anything amiss, so I just held her for a while.  Then she had a few convulsions and was gone.
Very sad for me.  All part of the chicken farming business.  Hopefully I will have another broody Mama this year and can try for another hen or two.
Meanwhile,  I will be enjoying this weather.


R. I. P. little hen


Friday, March 16, 2012

Working

A grey and rainy day outside,  warm and dry inside.  I am doing my work while wearing my newly finished Uzu socks.  They fit perfectly.  This was a great pattern, once I got the knack of it.  The Sherman method toe I tried instead of the one written, is very comfy.  I think it will be my toe for now on.  The heel was not one I had done before, and I don't think I will again.  It was described as an "upside down Half-handkerchief heel".  Next time I will try the Sherman method heel as well.

Fraternal, not Identical
The fleece from Warwick is all picked and washed.  He has a great fleece--fine and long.  I am going to use some of him to card with some blue that I have to spin for a shawl I want to weave.
Warwick, all picked and washed

Balls of mohair/wool to re-use
The main yarn for this shawl is coming from a sweater that I took apart.  The sweater was probably 20 years old at this point.  I had spun it out of wool and mohair, dying it in shades of blue.  It had been mended so many times in the cuff and elbow department that it was no longer looking very good.  Plus, it was in an Icelandic style that I no longer wear.  So I decided to re purpose the yarn.  It never would have occurred to me to do this had I not heard Brenda Dayne talk about doing this very thing.  It took me most of Saturday to take it apart.  I then re-skeined it, washed and hung it to get the knitting kinks out of it.  Then I wound it into balls, starting a new ball when I got to the end of a piece of yarn.  There are lots of pieces and I didn't ball them if they were not at least 3 yards long, as I can't have a knot in the warp.  The next step will be to figure out how many usable yards there are.  There were at least 500 that were salvageable,  but that includes short bits as well.  The rest of the warp will be the blue/white blended alpaca.  Debating whether to have white in the weft or not.  Decisions, decisions.  And I haven't even gotten to the pattern part!
Off to make Irish Soda bread.  Will be spinning while it bakes as I also have another project to start.  And I actually had someone ask if I was going to be bored when I stopped working at the Library!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Loving it!

Can you spy O'Malley, the cat? He thinks it's spring
Last week it was winter, this week it is spring.  One would almost think I lived in Vermont or something! The weather these last two days has been unseasonably warm at 50 and 60 degrees.  What is great is that we also have sun, although I think that part may be short lived as it looks like clouds are moving in.  I was hoping for some northern lights last night due to the activity on the sun, but was not gratified.  Oh well.  I think my friend in Anchorage gets to see them for me, up close and personal.  She also is having all my snow, but we have always been good about sharing.

Poor Prius


The worst thing since last week was our trip getting canceled due to an accident an hour into the drive.  I was hit very hard in the rear by a large Ford 350 pickup driven by a young man from Quebec.  Fortunately no one was injured as I had my parents with me.  It was very scary and traumatic as I have never been in a car accident before.  The car was still drivable, we were only an hour from my folks, no one was hurt, so all in all it could have been an awful lot worse.   We limped back home and my daughter and husband came down for the night to have supper with me and cheer me up.  It was wonderful.  The car will get fixed;  life moves on.

Happy bees





The best thing is that the bees made it through the winter.  The price of replacing them has gotten so high that we were not sure that we would do it if they had died, but they didn't!!!  Very happy about that.






Here is a peek at my skirt.  It is a ton of fun to knit, mindless once you get going, but always with the colors changing so it is not at all boring.
That's all for now.  Must go sort fleece for washing and maybe actually do a bit of house work.   It is mud season for the moment which means every animal and person that comes into the house brings a bit of the outside with them.  Keeps a body busy!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Snow!!

Snowing
So at long last we get our snow.  Granted, it is not a huge amount, but if it keeps up as promised, I may actually be able to get out on my skis later on.  The ironic thing is that today I had planned to go on a trip. The only trip of the season, so I thought it very fitting that this is the day it would snow a lot.  However,  this is a trip that can be done tomorrow, and so it shall.  Which gives me a whole day at home to work in my "studio".   The studio being more of a state of mind than an actual place.
Cabled cowl




I did get a new piece done for my Etsy shop.  I really like it and want to do another that same size with a different pattern.  Of course.  I tried to take some photos of the yarn I might use,  but the camera is giving me problems.  Once I get it to take a good photo, I will share.






We have an old Siamese kitty who will be 20 this month.  She has a little heated bed on the sofa that she sleeps in all the time.  Today it looks like the right idea.


Sukey Mei Ling

My new project that I succumbed to finally is the Lanesplitter skirt.    This is a pattern I have been longing to make but the suggested yarn is so expensive that I couldn't justify spending that much money, just to knit a cool pattern.  However,  I was looking at the many skirts already done by other knitters and found that they are using all kinds of yarns.  So then I was able to go to my favorite online store, KnitPicks, and find affordable Chroma worsted to use.   I am not going to show you any photos until I get a bit of it done.  And get my camera to work!