Yarn Along

I recently stumbled upon the "small things" blog and have been enjoying everyone's knitting, crocheting, and book suggestions on the Wednesday Yarn Along days. So instead of continuing to lurk, I decided to join with my own post today.

I put my project from my last post on another hiatus, because I think I FINALLY found a pattern for some yarn that I inherited a few years ago. The yarn is made by Sachmayer Nomota and has been discontinued years ago, and thus finding an appropriate pattern is a big challenge. It's texture is both thick and thin, creating a lumpy and interesting fabric. Luckily this lovely pattern called Amiga recently showed up on Knitty.com. It is made with yarn that has a similar texture. So today I am playing with needle sizes and trying to find gauge so that I can cast on the project for a special someone!


My constant book companions this summer are Eliot Coleman's Four Season Harvest and Patricia Lanza's Lasagna Gardening. Eventually I would like to grow all of my own vegetables. Last year my garden drowned in a combination of too much rain and non-draining soil. So I built six 4'x8' raised beds that I am filling with yard waste, grass clippings, straw, old leaves, alpaca poop, and compost via the lasagna layering method. Two beds are already planted, with just some finishing touches planned for the last two. I will probably cover the unplanted beds for a few weeks and let them "cook" a little before planting one or two of them with winter crops that will be covered when the weather gets cold.

Want to see? Here are the fledgling gardens!


Happy Summer!

Summer is HERE!

Summer is here and moving quickly...

There has been lots of travel to:
-Washington, DC for a conference and some time with two nieces and nephew and to reconnect with some family friends.
-St. Louis for an alpaca birthing clinic at the Dos Doñas Alpaca Farm. Serendipitously my brother and his family was also in St. Louis and we met up for dinner.


-Ithaca, NY, for an old college roommate's wedding. Reconnecting with old friends and making new ones is such a great experience. I also got to go hiking quite a bit. And I got bitten by two deer ticks that I miraculously managed to spot. My doctor prescribed the early Lyme disease antibiotic right away.

Ithaca Falls


Buttermilk Falls Gorge hike


Buttermilk Falls Gorge


Buttermilk Falls Gorge


Waterfall at the top of the gorge in Treman Park


Salamander on the trail


There is a lot of productivity in the gardening department. New raised beds are hopefully going to yield more crops than last year. I filled the beds with the "lasagna" method beginning with newspaper, alpaca poop, peat moss, grass clippings, more peat moss, leaves from last fall, and more peat moss to top it off.


Swiss Chard Harvest


Dumb luck - the two lettuce plants that I let go to seed last summer filled the entire round flower garden with yummy salad this spring. And I did exactly nothing except harvest!


Roses!


My viola d'amore has a new bridge and strings and sounds amazing! It is on loan for a few weeks to a friend of mine.

Finally, GASP, there is some knitting. This is the third try for this project due to sizing issues. I'll just leave you with a picture for now. I really don't want to rip and restart again in case I jinx my luck by writing all about it!


Happy Summer!

Oh BROTHER!!!

One of my brothers finally put in a knitting request:



Yes, you see correctly. That is a KNITTED SKELETON!

I think knitting a sweater for my brother's 6'6" frame would be less of a hassle than this project. And also take less time. What are you, a pediatrician or something? Those must be some soft bones... They might need a procedure! Or prescription for Fosamax... Oh wait, that is for older patients...

This image was borrowed from failblog.org.

ETA: No I did NOT knit this crazy piece... yet! HAHA!

Precious Pucker

A colleague in A's department was raising money for a school in Kenya. Another colleague promised to match the first $500 of donations. Students and faculty donated money in $10 increments in exchange for a vote... A vote for one person on the faculty to KISS AN ALPACA!!

Yesterday, we hosted a party for the faculty and students at Shady Grove Alpaca Farm so the winner could plant a juicy one on an unsuspecting alpaca..

Fetching the animals.


The professor is preparing his lips for the big kiss. Will the alpaca turn into a princess? Oh wait, his wife is the department chair - she will have none of that, I'm sure!


SMOOCH!!!! Bella loved every second of it!


No animals were harmed in this experiment!


'Greta either felt left out, or sorry for the poor professor. She gave him a giant arm snuggle!


'Greta also enjoyed entertaining the little one at the party.


Alpacas in retreat.


Elsewhere on the farm: first Iris in bloom. These were in a neglected garden in front of the first house we bought. My mother split them and took some to her house. Eight years later, she had to split them in her garden and now they're baaaaack!


Bleeding Hearts: must belong to a vampire as they are quite white...


Chives - so tasty and beautiful.


An amphibious friend hanging out on a window sill.

He might need a kiss... Pucker up!

Three Bags Full

Hum, hum 'Paca
Have you any wool?
Yes ma'am, yes ma'am
Three bags full.

One of the master
And one for the dame
One for the 'Paca-sitter
Living down the lane.

Hum, hum 'Paca
Have you any wool?
Yes ma'am, yes ma'am
Three bags full.



These bags aren't as aesthetically pleasing as Mother Goose's undoubtedly were. However, they held a surprising TWELVE POUNDS of raw fleece!! I don't think our alpaca sitter is that interested in a bag full of fleece, but he might get a scarf out of it some time... All long time from now... Now there are lots of questions about processing and spinning to answer before I can even dream up a knitting project.

The alpacas were shaved within a half inch of their life and look incredibly bald and cold. Have you ever seen such skinny necks?


Here is a comparison photo from a few weeks earlier. So wooly!


Nephews #1, 2 & 5 are here for a visit this week also. Hello, nice to meet you!


Nephew #1 is feeding some grain by hand.


The dog is also a big hit with the nephews. Nephew #1 petting Tenny.


Nephew #2 petting Tenny.


Nephew #5 is still a little small to fully appreciate a large dog and preferred taking it all in on Mom's arm! The other boys took great pride in learning how to take care of the animals and even got their uncle's approval to feed Tenny in the evening all by themselves. We are all having a wonderful time together, and we can't wait to host the boys and their parents again soon!

Alpaca Adventures

I'm sure a few years from now this event will have become commonplace, but today provided a fun new adventure. This afternoon, we loaded up a rental cargo van with four alpacas to take them to their shearing tomorrow morning. According to the Alpaca Farmer, it was one of the best days in recent memory. The trip certainly was a small and hilarious adventure.

Emerging from the barn on leashes.


Yummy! Some grass snacks on the way... tasty after all that dry hay this winter.


Surveying the cargo van.


Let's get in!


A big giant case of "WE DON'T WANNA!!!"


OK, the side entrance has steps. Moonstar jumps in.


'Greta is next.


Milling around inside the cargo van. Bella (facing the back window) was humming non-stop, except it sounded more like a cow in distress.


Hanging out, looking out at the cars behind us out of the back window!


A little relaxing makes the trip go easier. Of course 'Greta was spitting at the other alpacas most of way because they were touching her. And Sassafrass never did manage to lie down.


Visitor at the helm! Sassafrass was co-piloting for a little while with the Alpaca Farmer!


We all made it to our destination with no incidents... Unless you count Sassafrass peeing in the van literally 30 seconds before our arrival. Good thing we have mops and buckets to clean off the rubber floor mats... And Sassafrass will stay with her owners after shearing. We were just borrowing her...

HUM!

Woodruff Mittens

This post is NOT an April Fool's joke. I finished the mittens shortly after lunch, and by the looks of the weather forecast, we can expect temperatures in the 30's during the next two nights. I am scheduling an evening stroll or two, decked out in my new accessories. See, I do need mittens in April...



The Woodruff mittens were a delightful find, though the knitting instructions confused me for the first 20 rows of charting. Then there was a sudden *CLICK* and I noticed the whole pattern, both on the chart and what to expect the knitting to look like. The rest of the mitten took an afternoon to knit up. Likewise, after a small break, the second mitten was born within a day's time. That left me with one last thumb and weaving in ends to finish yesterday.



The yarn, also a creation by Jared Flood, was also a wonderful find. Jared has a very inspiring story about its creation on his blog, listed below. Initially the yarn was an impulse purchase, but a few months later became happily matched with this pattern. There is plenty of yarn left over, and I intend to make my husband some fingerless mitts with the same pattern (minus the bobbles) and yarn. And then I will buy more of this yarn... and another pattern... But I digress... You would like more info:



The Details
Pattern: Woodruff Mittens, by Jared Flood
Source: www.brooklyntweed.net
Yarn: SHELTER by brooklyntweed
Colorway: Soot
Needles: size 5 and size 7 DPNs
Size: pattern size
Started: December 25, 2010
Finished: April 1, 2011



My only hope is that blocking the mittens will not cause them to shrink. They ended up slightly wider and longer than the pattern predicted, and even so, just barely fit. I should have measured my hand first, but for the next mitten project, I will plan ahead for my oversized paws!