Souvenir Yarn 2021, and Accompanying Destinations

I was judicious in my vacation yarn purchasing this summer - only one skein. But I visited quite a few places over the course of several weeks. We headed to Ohio to see my mom, motored to NH to vacation with my in-laws, side trip to Acadia to see a friend, tour of Vermont (Montpelier, Burlington, and Stowe), and finally headed to my brother's farm and B&B in the Adirondacks. A second trip took us to OH and PA to help our parents with a variety of chores. Enjoy the tour!

Notion Fabric and Craft, Montpelier, VT. No project for this yet.

Acadia National Park - one of many carriage road bridges

Summit on Sargent Mountain

Carriage road

Formal gardens near Asticou Inn

Local fare: popovers with blueberry jam 

More good eats: FRESH lobster roll!

On the deck of the pod near Asticou Inn looking at the ocean

Hunter's Beach, rocky and iconic Maine coastline

Fun tree

Lost River Gorge, NH

Waterfall in the Lost River Gorge, NH

Lady Slippers in Lost River Gorge

Founder of Littleton, NH farmed down the road from our VRBO

Cog train on Mount Washington

Seats on the cog train on the way up. The angle helps you stay in your seat on the steep grade. (They flipped the other way on way down.)

Cog rail

On top of Mt. Washington. A neighboring mountain still has SNOW in mid June!

Cairns on the Crawford Trail, Mt. Washington

Mt. Washington has recorded the fastest wind on earth. Buildings are chained down here to keep them from blowing down/away...

Maple syrup farm near Montpelier. No one has to carry buckets here: sap flows downhill in the tubes!

Capitol building of Vermont - not open to visitors yet

Nearing summit of Mount Hunger, VT

Summit of Mount Hunger. You either step up or step down the ENTIRE time you are on this trail.

Geological formation in Lake Champlain

Carlton's Prize Island

Motoring in to Burlington

Burlington harbor

Sunset over Lake Champlain

Covered bridge in Stowe, VT

Did you remember that the Van Trapp family settled in Stowe, VT? The youngest son brews Austrian ales. This tavern - still owned by the family - serves Austrian food and beer. Just up the road is the Van Trapp Lodge.

Sacher torte!

Sunset at my brother's farm

Sunrise and a peek at Lake Champlain at my brother's B&B

Fast forward to end of July - kayaking on Lake Naomi, Pocono Pines, PA

Handsome fellow in the Poconos

Good eating while helping the in-laws: eggplant steak 

And so I don't forget, HERE is the recipe for the most delicious rhubarb tart I made for the trip. (Rhubarb is one of my least favorite foods, but this recipe is YUMMY!) It has been a delightful summer of seeing family and visiting new places. Many shops and restaurants still have limited hours due to the worker shortage, but we're used to cooking most of our meals at this point! Hope all of you are safe, healthy, and vaccinated.

 

The Alpaca Yearbook Photo Nightmare

Sometimes you have to take care of business on your own... even if it does not go so well. Our shearing team didn't make the rounds this year, and so took it upon ourselves to shear our own animals. After shearing Ramble On Rose post mortem, we also had the equipment and a tiny bit of experience. We got 16 pounds of fiber, but the quality in each bag is not as high as if professionals had taken care of the job. 

We did learn a few valuable lessons:

1. Always use a sharp shearing tool. As soon as the blade was dull, it cuts zero hairs and annoys the animal.

2. Shearing the alpacas in the chute was less stressful than having them on the ground. There were no vocal protests, and they stood patiently for nearly an hour. Dark Star wanted to buck a few times and was mollified by some grain.

2a. Two people are needed to shear alpacas in the chute - one to shear, one to calm and hold the alpaca using the halter and leash. 

3. Shearing in the chute made it difficult to get to all the places. We had so secure the animals with belts under their bellies and two preferred to have their head between the stabilizers. We kept their halters on which prevented the heads from being sheared. Hence you see long swaths of fiber in awkward spots.

4. It's really difficult to shear an animal to make it look smooth. Hopefully next year my experience will help me do a better job.

5. We need to lay a tarp under the alpacas to assist with fiber collection. Picking up fiber off the dirt barn floor is not ideal.

Our number one priority this year was to make sure the animals were cooler in the heat. Next year, I'll do a little more reading before I get busy with the shears. Hopefully the fiber mill will still be able to use the fiber for something nice.

 

Dark Star half-shorn on Day 1. (More fiber off after getting sharper clippers Day 2.)

And let's take a moment to giggle about these hilarious hair cuts! I'm so glad they don't have to be published in their school yearbook And most fortunately, we didn't have to do any bison pulling...

Slipstravaganza

I think this might be my last COVID-19 post, since I made most of this shawl before being fully vaccinated. I knit surprisingly little during the pandemic, but this project helped me pick up steam again. Introducing the Shady Grove Yarn starring in Slipstravaganza by Stephen West, which was launched as a Mystery Knit A Long in October, 2020. It was my first experience with a Stephen West pattern, and I was not disappointed. It just took me quite a few more months than most other participants!

I once again used fingering weight yarn from our foundation herd animals: Greta (black), Bella (brown), and Moonstar (white). The gray is yak yarn from a local yarn store. The next time I have yarn made, I will get fewer yarn weights and ask for a mix of black and white for a shade of gray. I really wanted to use only farm colors but only had three choices; other yarn weights have less options, in case I want to make something in multiple colors.

My favorite thing about the pattern is the i-cord edges that go around the entire shawl. I-cord is the most appropriate edge for the Shady Grove yarn. The most tricky thing about the pattern is planning the slipped stitches in the row before they need to be slipped. Make sure to make the loops extra long with this yarn, otherwise the rows underneath will pucker.

Upon finishing a very quick blocking of the knit (I laid it out and pinned it in under 7 minutes), we headed out East for a vacation. I managed to not pack enough warm clothes for a trip to the top of Mt. Washington (26*), so it got a little field trip up and down the mountain on the cog train. 

Stay safe out there, and PLEEEEEEASE get your vaccine if you haven't yet. And don't forget to remain kind. Much love to you, friends!

HOOT!

The COVID school year that felt like it would never end suddenly registered May 21 on the calendar - and POOF - that was that. As per usual, there were a few people I wanted to say thank you to at school, so I knit them some owl washcloths. The owl is our school mascot and the weekly newsletter is called "The Hoot." The title makes me laugh every time I open the newsletter!

Pattern is FREE: Owl Dishcloth by Janelle Schlossman. I used Lilly Sugar-n-Cream cotton and size 7 needles to knit. It was a super quick and satisfying project!

I found some locally-made soaps this year for a nice addition to the gift package.

Here's wishing everyone a restful, healthy summer. Fingers crossed for a normal Fall. 

 

HOOT! HOOT!

Rambling Onward

All farm losses are rough, but this one was especially painful and complicated. We lost our sweet newest herd member, Ramble On Rose, on April 30 after a brief illness, which was probably caused by a parasite carried by local deer. We did not get a necropsy as it would have meant driving two hours one way to drop him off at the Purdue Vet School. 

The poor fellow was unable to stand on April 28. It was damp from massive rain, so I had to blow him dry with a hair dryer in the evening. The vet came on Friday morning, and he seemed to be strong and fighting. She gave him medicine and helped arrange the straw in the barn so he could be even more comfortable. Right before we left the barn, Dark Star was biting and yanking on Ramble's tail. The vet said that was encouragement to get up. After she prepared a weekend's worth of medicine, we returned to the barn for a final vitamin shot, and he was gone. Upon reflection, the vet thought Dark Star had said good-bye with that tail nip. 

We hadn't shorn any of the animals yet, so the next step was to rush off to Farmer's Supply to purchase shears. They weren't cheap... In addition to these activities, my mom was coming to see us for the first time in over 14 months. I was so frustrated that what was supposed to be a long happy hug was tainted by feelings of extreme sadness. But of course having her there was the best thing. Both of us we super calm and matter-of-fact while shearing this amazing animal. The fluff will turn into yarn that will be cherished in a lovely project. I'm not sure I have the confidence to try shearing a live alpaca yet, but we might not need a shear team in a few years.

Finally, we had to clear out an overgrown portion of the garden to make room for a grave. That took about two mornings of hard labor. Mama helped like a champ. We finally got our neighbor to bring his backhoe on Sunday around noon. It was such a relief to put a period on that chapter.

Ramble On Rose loved to hum loudly and inharmoniously, neck wrestle with Dark Star, poop in all sorts of spots that weren't the poop pile, and was inquisitive and friendly to a fault. We enjoyed his energy and spunkiness so much!

Ramble and Dark Star on the pasture, eating instead of fighting, for once!

The Farmer walking Ramble to the barn.

Who doesn't love a good selfie session?!

Rest well, Ramble. You were loved and continue to be missed.

Shady Grove Alpacas: Ramble on Rose - August 9, 2020 to April 30, 2021, age 7