Monday, April 25, 2016

Chicken Win, Chicken Loss

Win: one of our little Australorp chickens has started laying eggs!!! They are tiny and cute, and the most amazing purplish-flesh color. Shown here with a Heinrich mammoth egg sample for contrast.


Loss: a fox or coyote ate another one of said Australorp chickens - THROUGH THE BARS of the dog run chicken coop. A second chicken has a broken leg. These chickens are being raised for The Farmer's dinner plate. He was not amused. Dog run is now reinforced with what else, but chicken wire.

Fox also trampled the potato beds. Farmer's wife not thrilled either. Beds now surrounded by screens. Bugger off, ye wilde beastie!

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Moonstar Sock

Last weekend I visited my parents and brought a few skeins of yarn for my mother to knit up.

My hope was to get a pair of socks. I didn't realize how fast they would materialize! Well, one at least. We had to make sure it fits. I'm sending it back Monday with some more yarn for another pair of socks for her.

This is yarn made from Moonstar's fiber mixed with 10% nylon and 20% merino.

It is soft and cozy and doesn't itch. Maybe, just maybe, this blend of yarn won't give me my normal allergic reaction to alpaca. 

But in the meantime I'm happy to put up with a little bit of itchy-scratchy to wear home grown, home made clothing!

Sunday, April 10, 2016

It's a Wrap (and Turn)

Spring Break 2016 is almost over. It has been varied in many ways. 

Several iterations of snow (interspersed with some nicer days):

(The farmer and I are posing with his sister's dog!)

A trip to northern Virginia to celebrate my sister-in-law's 40th birthday with a winery tour:
    

The views inside and out were pretty amazing.

(I may have enjoyed too much wine...)

Finally, plenty of mindless knitting in the form of a new shawl (pattern: Color Affection) using yarn from the alpacas in our foundation herd: Bella, Moonstar, and Greta. The section I am working on features a technique called wrap and turn to achieve the rising stripe look; hence the title of this post.
    

Oh yes, and I had the opportunity to play in the Indianapolis Symphony Teacher Side-by-side Concert directed by Vince Lee. Mahler Symphony No. 1 plus a pizza and beer break between rehearsal and concert. Everyone was happy! How could you not be?

Back to work tomorrow, and hopefully spring will resume, too. Wrap and turn.