Yarn Along

This is the first time I've participated in the Yarn Along, but one of my goals this summer (I've taken the summer off!) was to actually read a book; not just listen to it as an audiobook, as I so often do, but actually read it.  I even went so far as to (finally) get a library card to my local library just so I could borrow this book.

I saw this book recommended by SpiderWomanKnits in one of her Instagram photos.  I've only just begun reading, but from the cover's description, it is about a childless couple who moved from Pennsylvania to the wilds of Alaska.  Longing for a child of their own, they build a girl out of snow only to find that she magically turns into a "real" girl.  Here's the actual synopsis from the inside cover of the book:

I'm really looking forward to this book as there seem to be many parallels with my own life.

As for what I'm knitting: I'm working on a set of knitter's mittens or fingerless gloves.  But I'm knitting two at a time on the same needles and from the same center pull ball.

I've never done this before, but I always find that (since I'm usually making up the pattern as I go along) I forget what I've done on the first one, so the second is slightly different.

I figure that if I knit them at the same time, the pattern will be exactly the same.  I'm using some of my hand dyed, hand spun BFL that I had stashed away for such an occasion.

The summer has been pretty darn rainy so far.  On one hand, all the rain has been really good for my late planted garden (I didn't get it in until almost mid-June!).  My beans, squash, and zucchini are getting ready to bloom already!  On the other hand, everything is so incredibly wet and muddy.  I can say though, that when it's raining, I don't feel guilty about staying inside, reading a book, spinning, or sewing.  Those are things that are difficult for me to do when it's nice outside.  We had a pretty big storm this morning and then again this evening.  They were calling for flash flooding, and as you can see below, we got it.

Fortunately we live on top of the hill!  

Unseasonable Weather

Gorgeous landscape on our way to Hell's Hollow

We live in a place were it can be sunny and 70 with a cool mountain breeze one minute, and the next has turned into a blizzard so windy you feel like, if you close your eyes for even a second, you'll open them up and be in Oz.  The weather sure can change fast around here.

This past weekend was gorgeous!  Beautiful blue skies with wispy white clouds, 65 degrees or better, cool breeze.  It was the perfect weekend to be outside.  We took advantage of this on Sunday, knowing that we're not likely to have too many more of these.  After breakfast we decided to go for a walk.  It was my husband's idea, to my surprise, and me and Kenai were all for it.  His first thought was just to take a walk to the back pasture, which is only about a quarter of a mile from the house.  I suggested we head down the the nearby park.  I had an ulterior motive of course, to gather some more osage oranges that were lying all over the ground down there.  I gave my sister my last few the day before.  It's a nice little walk down there, right next to the stream.  And most of the time it's pretty quiet there with a nice paved trail that I would guess is about a mile around.  We were graced with a special fly by from my favorite bird, the Belted Kingfisher as we meandered along the stream.  But once we had gathered the osages and made it back to the car, it just felt like it would be a shame to head back home.  So we decided to take a little hike up to Hell's Hollow near McConnell's Mill.  It too is actually a short hike, but it ends at a gorgeous waterfall and an old time furnace.  I couldn't help but take some pictures along the way to capture the wonder.

Fungi and Bryophytes are my favorite!  I love their crazy life cycles!

Look!  Sporophytes!!!  And when I touched them, spores went everywhere!  

Isn't nature beautiful?!

The weather has since settled into something, err..., more seasonable.  The temps have dropped, and we even had snow the other night.  Not a lot, but I hear that more is on it's way.  We've really been blessed with 'unseasonable' weather for the last month.  So I'm sure it's about time Old Man Winter to lace his icy fingers around this farm.  Bring it on, I say.  I don't mind.  Winter gives me the excuse to sit at my spinning wheel and spin, knit up a storm, and create to my heart's desire.  But for now, I've some fuzzy bunnies out there that need attending to.  They'll be receiving their last plucking before spring.  I do look forward to spinning some of that angora up!

Anachronism

I've often felt like I am a living anachronism.  Out of place in time.  That I should have lived some time ago, when life was simpler.  You worked hard for what you had, and still had little.  Yet those few things you did have were cherished beyond today's worldly comprehension.  My whole life I have been drawn to skills of the past such as sewing, gardening, and animal husbandry.  I remember as a little girl, tagging along to my mother's garden club meetings, and hours spent with her and my grandmothers teaching me how to sew and knit and crochet.  These used to be skills that every little girl learned as she grew up.  I raised quite a menagerie of critters too, from hamsters and ferrets, to chinchillas and lizards!

Today, most I my time is spent spinning, knitting, and sewing.  We have lived down here near Pittsburgh for two years now and have accomplished quite a lot.  We raise our own chickens for meat and eggs, have two alpacas, 5 angora rabbits and a big enough garden to provide some of our own produce.  This is small in comparison to most farms, but this one has BIG dreams.  We still rent you see.  We have been fortunate though, to be located far enough north of the city as to seriously live in farm country.  The house we rent sits on a working diary farm.  But still it's not our own.  Don't get me wrong, we feel blessed for what we have, but are so desperately hoping that we will find our own property soon enough so that our our farm can grow.  We've reached our capacity where we're at without getting ourselves evicted.  But our alpacas have to be boarded on another farm and there are sheep, pigs, and other livestock calling to us.  More like bellowing.  I have such a desire to become more of a farmer that it aches.  I sit at work dreaming about furry creatures, spinning wool, canning vegetables, and yes, mucking out stalls.  While most other girls are reading magazines about fashion and gossip, this girl scours the pages of her Grit and Mother Earth News trying to devise new schemes for building a cold frame, raising meat rabbits, and composting.  I collect buckets, mason jars, chicken wire, and books on homesteading.  I visit other homesteader's blogs trying to glean from their experiences and long for the experience to hold day old piglets in my arms.  Barn boots are not just the latest fashion statement, they are a necessity.

I realize that for most this may sound unusual.  Especially in this day and age.  But this is who I am.  In a day and age of uncertainty, of rumors of economic collapse and instability, this girl wants to be prepared for anything.  And even if these things weren't a possibility, I would still want to be doing exactly what I'm doing.  Farming.  Gaining skills from a lost generation.  And one day, perhaps helping others to learn these skills as well.  There are joys to be found in these simpler ways, and I intend to find discover them!

Knitting Addictions

I ran across this animated short a couple days ago, and the whole time I watched it, I sat there shaking my head thinking, "I can relate!"  I would knit just about anything to keep on knitting.  Once upon a time I ran out of fiber, so I actually spun up some plastic bags into 'plarn' (plastic yarn).  I never did knit it up into anything as someone felt so bad for me that I had resorted to making plarn, that they gave me one of their sheep fleeces to process.  I will not deny that I have a fiber addiction.  I have more fiber up in my craft room than I could probably process in an entire year.  Then again, who knows.

So to all my other fellow addicted knitters, crocheters, and fiber artists, I hope you enjoyed this clip!  Happy Knitting!

All Spun Up!

It didn't take long to get my festival fiber all spun up.  I was on it that evening when I got home, and finished the next day.  As a matter of fact, most of the fiber that I bought at the festival is spun up.  I love to spin bright colored fiber.  It is so peaceful for me to treadle on my spinning wheel and watch the colors blend together like they do.  I have a ton of spun up yarn.  Most is from and dyed roving that I bought on Etsy, but I've recently started dying my own fiber.  While there will always be something fiber-related to learn, this seems to complete my ability to process my own fiber from start to finish.  Now if I can ever seem to part with any of it or knit it into an actual garment.  Right now all my skeins are in one of my huge handmade baskets.  My husband asks me all the time when I'm going to do some with the yarn and my response is always the same, "But I just like to look at it."  Seriously.  I love to fish through the basket admiring the kaleidoscope of colors and textures.

By the way, this basket really is huge.  It's 12 inches high and 15 inches in diameter.  And as you can see, it's filled to the top.  My goal is to eventually knit it into my own technicolor dream-sweater.  But I haven't mastered the art of sweater-making just yet.  Coming soon...

FO: (More Than) 198 Yards of Heaven

This was a lesson. I had never knitted a lace-like pattern before, let alone an actual shawl. I have to say, I'm pretty proud of myself for completing a project like this. For those of you who don't know me well enough, I have a tendency to start many projects and few ever really get finished. I was a determined knitter this time. This was also the first item that I ever blocked before. I wish I would have taken at least one picture of what the shawl actually looked like before being blocked. You can't really see any of the lacey pattern. Blocking involves wetting the object then stretching it out to create what you see in the pictures and letting it dry. That's what these pictures show. I did modify the pattern just a bit; mainly to make it longer, then followed some other Ravelry knitters mods to finish the border. Many thanks to them for all they helpful instructions. The pattern is not intended for beginners (in many ways I still am), but you can always find help on Ravelry.

The second best thing about this shawl is that it is 100% processed by me (outside of being shorn). I washed, carded, spun, then knit. It took about a month to complete, but boy is it ever warm!

BTW - the buns are doing just fine. We do have a runt and are supplementing his feeding, but he's going strong. So I'm hopeful that he will grow up healthy and happy. More on them later...

An Amigurumi Adventure

This past winter I taught my self how to knit (with a little help from all the wonderful videos on YouTube), for one reason, and one reason only....the book pictured above. I can't even remember how I stumbled upon this artist on Etsy, but being a fellow 'creature' lover, I was absolutely captivated by her designs. At the time I was an avid crocheter, but none of the crocheted amigurumi patterns came close to the uniqueness of these. So I set out on a journey to begin learning some basic techniques and honing in on my skills as a knitter. A few days ago, I decided to purchase Amigurumi Knits by Hansi Singh and give it a go. She has cleverly organized the creatures in to related sections; starting with vegetables, then moving on to under water creatures, backyard critters, and finally mythical creatures. There are 20 patterns in all. I can't wait to start! I had to order my needles online as I couldn't find the right size and length at any of the nearby stores. I've decided that I am going to start at the beginning of the book and knit my way to the end! There are a few that I absolutely can't wait to knit, but I won't give away any details. Stay tuned for 'creature' number 1...

Long Day

Well I didn't expect to wake up to what I did this morning...Snow! I'm not sure why it surprised me. It is after all winter. I guess the couple sunny days we had tricked my brain into thinking that spring was really on its way. Thoughts of where to put my garden, what to plant, and whether or not to use raised beds or just plow the ground have have been hard on the brain lately. It was barely morning when I headed out to feed the critters. Oh how I long for those longer days, when the sun comes up early and hangs out until after nine at night. Good thing about feeding early...the chickens aren't up yet! That may seem trivial, but they've been stampeding out of the coop most mornings as of lately (for as much as chickens stampede). That door opens and there's no stopping them; wings flapping and all. You'd do well to just get out of the way on mornings like those.

The pup could care less about being out in the snow as you can see. I think he's the only one that truly loves the snow, even with his short haircut. With that last thaw we had, it was getting too hard to keep this Old English Sheepdog clean! So out came the clippers and away went the hair. This may sound silly, but I keep his hair in hopes to spin it one day. I can just see it now:

Nice lady at the market: "My that's a lovely sweater you're wearing!"
Me: "Thank you ma'am."
Nice lady: "Did you make it?"
Me: "Yes ma'am. Spun and knitted it myself."
Nice lady: "Such talent! But some poor sheep must be cold right now."
Me: "No ma'am. I'm wearing my dog."

I might be considered......heaven forbid......"weird". I prefer...."unique". =)

In the Icy Grasp of Winter

Well, Old Man Winter has definitely wrapped his icy fingers around the landscape here on the farm. It's barely gotten into the teens these past few days. We ran all our errands on Friday, bought groceries for enough meals to get us well through the weekend then hunkered down at home for the rest of it. I don't mind the snow, really. But what I do miss is the sunshine. We got a little break from all the snow showers yesterday when I snapped this picture looking out across the fields and pasture. Sure was nice to see the sunset and the blue sky. The lack of cloudy insulation made the night especially cold though, but I'll trade it for the view! Talk around here is that it's supposed to warm up over the next few days.....I think that only means upper 20s! It's nights like these I'm certainly glad I'm not a chicken! They seem to be fairing the weather okay though. Well....all but Rose; we lost her last week. I think she was older than I realized.

Tomorrow I start back to work officially. Where did the break go? I've gotten a lot accomplished however. I purchased a second hand spinning wheel and have been spinning up a storm, and I just learned how to knit this past week (compliments of YouTube)! I didn't get to do much sewing, but I'm hoping to finish up a bag for my laptop this evening. And on that note, I will bid you goodnight and wish you warmth and good rest.