Spring Is Definitely, Probably, Maybe Here

We have had some lovely spells of weather this spring. And just about the time we feel like it is finally going to stay that way, we drop down to right at 32 degrees and things get nipped back a bit. But I really do think all that is behind us and now we can move on and things can really start growing.

First thing that is growing around here is our menagarie!! We have finally added our first chickens to the family. 6 little darling Red Wyandottes. Right now they are in a brooder box in the house but quickly outgrowing the need for that. I figure about 2 more weeks and if the weather indeed stays warm then we will put them out into the new coop, built mostly by me. Ken did help in the beginning because it simply needed more than one person to hold things while the other drove in the screws. But after the skeleton was in place, I did the rest by myself, thank you very much!! This is really considered a chicken tractor because it will be constantly moved around the perimeter of the garden. But this baby is heavy so we won't be ever moving it far at any one time.






The chickens are actually 2 different ages, but from the same breed. I am not sure if the parents were the same as the girl I bought them from had a decent sized flock. But the 2 bigger chicks are a week older than the other 4. The one I think is a rooster is the darker red and his name is Hamlet. Just came to me that it had to be Hamlet. So the one I think is a girl, the blond chickie, is now named Ophelia. She seems to be the one that will be the mother hen, or ruler of the coop. The other 4, younger chicks do have names. They just haven't been permanantly assigned which one quite yet. They are so identical in appearance and I am waiting for some sign of differences before I hand on their monikers. The 4 names are all girl because that is what I am so hoping for. Dorcus, Mopsa, Portia and Rosiland. All from Shakespere of course. All rowdy minor characters, which seemed fitting for my flock!!









Another thing in full growth mode is the guest garden. I am really enjoying seeing things I planted last year finally come into flower for the first time. And the bare spots filling in with either plants or garden bric a brac. I have really haunted some antique and thrift stores lately and have gotten some great things. I found the 2 really great metal chairs for $20.00 each and then painted them. The baby bathtub is the cutest thing and will probably get filled with potted plants once I decide where I want to actually put it. The crosses on the wall I had in Oklahoma and am just getting around to hanging out. The little bunnies are concrete and were on sale for next to nothing at TJ Maxx of all places.










The bleeding heart was my biggest suprize this year. It came up very early and within days was the size of a bushel basket. It is even bigger now and just keeps blooming its little heart out!! Some of my pansies are gorgeous, the ones that the bunnies and deer decided didn't taste as good. But at least half were eaten to the ground numerous times over the winter. Many other things are very close to starting to bloom and I will try to take pics and post as they do.

Cute as a Button

The snow is still here, after an entire week. But it is starting to recede in all but the most shady spots. I have to say, if you are going to have a good snowstorm, this one was the one to have. It was lovely to look at, lovely to play in and lovely to be able to not have to get out into it. But now, no more real snow this winter, OK?




This pic was one I got the other night as the clouds finally decided to part and let the last rays of sun peek thru for the day. What a beautiful sunset it was. I did nothing to this picture after I got it off the camera. So the colors are pretty true to what my own eyes did see.

Next, on to more important things. Cute, cute, cute baby knitting. I learned thru Facebook a few months ago that a good friend and former coworker was going to become a daddy for the first time. So I just had to make the family something. Trouble is, he told me the baby was set to arrive in February. And he is a doctor so he should have been trustworthy on the facts. But to prove everybody wrong, Ibrahaim was born in very early January. Before I even had yarn!! I had my heart set on a Baby Suprize Jacket project but found that the selection of yarn in sport weight was pretty slim pickin's. But this pattern, Baby Garter Stitch Kimono was free thru Ravelry and I was able to find some really nice yarn to make it work. The jacket was knit exactly according to the pattern. When done, I found I had very little of the grey yarn left to do anything with. So the hat was something I kinda designed myself to make the most of the yarn left. Off the head, the stripes kind of bunch up. But once the baby has it on its head, the stripes are alot more noticable. The booties are the combination of several patterns. When done I had only about 5 grams of grey yarn left over. If I ever decided to make this in a 6 month or up size, I would need to buy a second skein of the main color yarn.















So now I am finishing up with sock #2 of a set I put down to work on Christmas knitting. I am at the heel turn and I am trying out a new version of a short row heel. As I seem to be on the eternal search for the perfect short row heel. I think I am getting pretty close...........

Big Snow

Well, Christmas has come and past. Went by in a blur. But the peace and quiet of the post holiday has set in. And now winter has come a knockin at our door. So I hope you enjoy these pics as much as I have enjoyed the snow. And as much as Holly enjoyed the snow!! Daisy not so much. She took one step out the door and pee'd on the porch!! Such a woos dog..

Finished snowman

View across garden to neighbors house

Holly running with the frizbee

Not nearly as big as he looks!

Snow sculpture

No coffee here for awhile

Snow Globe snow gnome

View from our front porch

It is indeed rare for us to get this much snow. And such a nice snow it is. There must not have been any wind, because there are no real high drifts. It is great snowman snow but I have to admit it took me a little while to remember how to make a decent snowman. And then the sciatica kicked in and limited how big I could get this guy. But I may go back out after lunch and try for a bigger snow person!

I never did get a great pic of all my knitting projects that I finished up this Christmas. The tally ended up at 6 pairs of socks, 2 hats and 3 monkeys!! And everybody seemed to really appreciate and enjoy their gifts. I also gave away jars of black walnuts I had gathered, husked and shelled and those went over extremely well. And of course..biscotti. I made my usual cranberry pistachio, a decent brownie/black walnut and then I invented a double orange. I dried several cans of mandarin oranges in my food dehydrator and then snipped them up small and added them, along with orange peel to a basic vanilla biscotti. They were simply amazing. Drying oranges is a slow tedious process but was well worth the effort.

Spring is right around the corner, despite this posting being all about snow. So much going on around here at the homestead to get ready. We have our chicken coop plans all ready as well as some of the lumber on hand. We have picked Buff Orpingtons as our first breed and will buy them after the coop is in place. The seed and plant catalogs have all arrived and we are starting to place orders. So I am sure I will have plenty to post about in the next few months. Everybody take care, enjoy what ever weather God has given you. And stay warm!!

Man Loves Fire

And so does woman. And most of all, so does dog..dogs to be exact.

When we first moved into our house, we weren't sure if we loved or despised our propane fireplace. It was easy to light and got the house plenty warm. But soon we realized it also did not have thermostatic control so we had to turn it off and on constantly. It made our eyes burn and it took up alot of room in the house. The efficiency rating on it was dismal and we just knew there had to be something better.

We had always longed for a good woodstove. It was not possible in the last house we owned cause it had a traditional built in fireplace. So it just seemed natural that we would swap out the propane fireplace for a brand spanking new woodstove at some point.

But as usual, with my DH, making decisions on things that cost bit bucks end up being a chore. Ken does not part with money easily!! So the last 2 winters came and went without us doing the switch. But the man does suprise me sometimes. About 6 weeks ago he came home with a sales slip from our local fireplace shop for a woodstove and a propane wall heater. Now we just had to wait for a very busy installer to get here and get it all put in for us.

Strangely enough, Ken did not bring home a picture of what he bought, nor could he describe it very well. So I ended up looking the model number up on line in order to be able to see what we were getting. I was hoping for a more traditional cast iron type stove but it was not to be. He bought a more modern looking cold rolled steel design from Vermont Castings. It is said to be a very sturdy model that will outlast us. Cast iron can crack with age, and cold rolled steel should never be able to do that. Yeah, whatever. I know it came down to dollars!! But once it was in, it looks pretty good with our living space and style and I am fine with it. It is one that has a large enough top surface to be able to cook on it if the power ever went out during a snow storm so that is a plus. And it sure does heat nicely without taking up too much floor space.

Now in case you thought we were smart people, shake it off. Cause we didn't think to maybe buy wood to have on hand ahead of time. So when cold weather hit the day after the stove got installed we were in a panic to have something to burn. Luckily, enough people sell wood in the area that we were able to get a load delivered that very next afternoon, just in time for our first very cold night. The stove heats up fairly fast and soon we found that not only were we going to love it, the dogs were in total heaven. Usually in the evenings they get pretty rowdy in the house and drive me a bit loco. But now they are more than happy to veg in the space between the back of the sofa and the stove itself. Sometimes they get so close that I worry they might burn their nose if they stretch wrong in their sleep. But they snuggle up, stay warm and sleep the evening away, leaving me in total peace to knit or watch TV. Who knew? All we needed was a good toasty spot for them to sleep in and we could have saved all that money we spent on toys!!

So here are pics. Starting with how it used to look and ending with a "few" of the doggie sleeping poses that I have managed to catch so far. Every time I think I have gotten all the cute shots, they come up with a new one. Please try to ignore the places where the paint needs touched up. Ken has to take a rather large paint chip somewhere to be mixed to match so we can fix the rest of the wall. At least all we had was a very small hole in the floor where the propane line had come up to the old unit. We simply placed the new stove right over that. Job done.











And now one last photo. This is of some of the wine I have made so far this year. The light colored bottle is dandelion and is now finished and into smaller bottles. The other 2 are elderberry. They just got reracked to get more of the sediment out of the liquid. I hope to be able to finish off the oldest bottle of that next time I do any racking. I also got a batch of wild persimmon into the secondary fermenter this same day and it is going to be some wonderful stuff. Sorry the pics are not as pretty as they should be. I am afraid the flash bounces off the liquid instead of going thru. I guess I could have slupped all this outside onto the porch to make nicer photos for all of you. Nope. I would rather wait and just let you taste it instead!!



There are a few more knitting projects done and I do need to come back and post about those separately. So expect me to do another post soon.

Stitches of Love

Secrets. Used to suck at keeping them. Still am sometimes. But not recently. At least about these 2 projects. But the time has come I can finally reveal them to most of the world. There are still 2 young granddaughters who need to not find out about the monkeys. So please, don't discuss the monkeys if you run into Maddie and Kate!

Several blog posts ago I told you all about my dear friend who is battling the little "c". The Lizzies have decided to not ever call it the big "C" again. Being the big "C" gave it to much credit and we are not going to let it take center stage in our lives. But darned it, if Jan, at least temporarily, isn't having to let it dominate her life. She is smack in the middle of some pretty tough chemo and heading into another round of testing to see how things are progressing. There is also a matter of another big firm place in the surgical breast. Hopefully the PET scan will reveal that it is a scar, seroma or infection and not more of the little "c".

But I knew I wanted to do something for her that would be from my heart. Something to warm her. And to be soft and comforting. And knitting is usually my avenue for that. Yes, I know she lives in South Florida. But when you are not feeling your best, have lost all your hair and are in over air conditioned doctor's offices, I knew a prayer shawl would be just the thing to keep her warm and to keep her spirits up.

This shawl is a generic Pi shawl, first discussed in length by my knitting goddess, guru, Elizabeth Zimmerman. I wish I could say I chose the yarn with the exact intent of making this shawl, at this time, for this exact person. But that is not the case. The day I decided to start, I went in my knitting/sewing room and saw 2 skeins of this wool/cashmere blend that I had bought at a fiber show back in April. I thought that it was pretty then and even prettier now cause it was just sitting there waiting to be knit into just the right thing. Trouble is, it ended up not being enough yarn and I had to order another skein. Twice. And the dye lots ended up not being the same any for either of the subsequent orders. But this shawl ended up being so organic and earthy that it worked. No overdyeing had to be done, which was something I did consider at one point.

I chose to do a simple garter stitch Pi which turned out lovely but I would probably not do again. First of all it ate up the yarn faster and didn't stretch out as far once finished. But the edging I found later on in another book worked out perfectly with it to give it just a touch of romance after all the garter stitch. I loved doing this edging using a "knitted on" technique which meant I never really had to cast off those 567 stitches that were live around the outer edge. I just used them up by doing a knit 2 together each time I got to the inside edge of a row of the lace. I am not sure I ever want to know what it is like to have to cast off that many stitches!!

The gift was very well received by Jan!! Never doubted that it wouldn't be, cause she is such a sweet heart. And I think they both are probably munching away on Cranberry Pistachio biscotti right now. Wish I had saved some of that for me!!!!

Stop the presses....I kinda forgot to take pictures of the monkey. Off to do a quick photo shoot....












This monkey was a fun knit but one pattern that you needed to read line by line and page by page. There are tons of short rows, plenty of increases and decreases and a few new techniques to learn, such as intarsia in the round. But the pattern is written spot on perfect, and is achievable by anybody who is a step above a rank beginning knitter. There are only 2 seams to worry about when the knitting is done. One short on at the crotch which is left open for stuffing and a partial whip stitch seam to fasten the bottom half of the muzzle to the lower part of the face. You do have to sew on the eyes but I found that very easy to do. The pattern does call for any weight of yarn and the appropriate size of needles to have a tight gauge when worked. I chose worsted weight, Cascade 220 Tweed to be exact. The total length is 15" not including his tail or 9" when sitting to the top of his head. The pattern pics show him knit in self striping sock yarn. I am not sure I would personally enjoy knitting him in yarn that small. Doing all that work and having a 5" tall monkey when done just doesn't grab me much. But hey, the striping effect is really cute. Here is the link to the pattern. But if you aren't on Ravelry you will have to join to be able to purchase this pattern. But hey, Ravelry is free, and oh so much fun. So go ahead and join like the entire rest of the knitting world.

I am half way done with the purple twin to Jacobus. It will be for the 2nd granddaughter. And I already have a request to do one for my walking partner's daughter for Christmas so I ordered another skein of Cascade, this time in a pretty aqua blue. I have a number of other knitting projects on the invisible list for the holidays and really need to pump up the production if I want to get most of them done. So expect some more project posts soon. None as picture heavy as this one, I am sure...