Little Oak Sweater

One gift I was very excited about was for my niece #7. Her mom gifted me the Coastal Knits pattern book a few years back, indicating that the Gnarled Oak sweater made her think of me. I found a small version of the pattern and thought it might be a fun gift for her daughter.

• Pattern: Little Oak by Alana Dakos
  
• Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease Solids, Heathers, and Twists in colorway forest green 
• Needles: size 5 & 6
• Start date: October 28
• End date: December 25

I did not have long stretches of knitting time, so it took me a little longer than I planned. I also dragged my feet for a few weeks when I had to knit the leaf tips. The directions were not very clear/accurate. I knit the neck of the sweater in a rib pattern instead of as stated to make it a little longer and close the neckline more. Since the yarn was so much thicker than recommended, I knit the smallest size which gave me a 4T size according to the pattern dimensions. This child is two, and it happens to fit just right, so that’s pretty lucky! Finally, I forgot to buy buttons, but luckily my stash still had a few decent choices. Apparently my niece likes the big buttons best - haha! I would definitely knit this sweater again sometime!

Mitts!

Chanukah and Christmas have come and gone, (with exception of the 7 remaining Christmas days), but of course the knitting is just now getting completed. At the very last minute I decided to knit my sister-in-law some mitts. I had one finished for our gift exchange on December 26, and managed to knit the second one by last night.

• Pattern: Wheaten Fingerless Mitts by Anne Hanson
  
• Start date: December 24 at 6:00 am
• End date: December 28 at 6:00 pm
• Yarn: 2016 Shady Grove Alpacas Sport in colorway Dark Star with 10% tencil, 1.7 oz or just under one skein 
• Needles: size 2 and 3
• For: Kate

This was another wonderful pattern, very easy and so pretty and rewarding. The Dark Star sport yarn is 90% alpaca and 10% tencil, a combination that I seem to be less allergic to than regular 100% alpaca. I might try this yarn in a project that is for me, just to test the theory... 🥰 

Winter Accessory Challenge

The other day, I was organizing my winter accessory storage. Seeing every item laid out on my bar made me realize that I put so little effort into truly wearing them regularly. So I decided to challenge myself to wear something, preferably several coordinated knits, daily. I’ve only had a few days of non-compliance so far. But I also see a deficit in mittens and might need a warmer white hat to match all those fun shawls and cowls.

Hey, that sounds like an excuse to knit! See you all in a while...

For Sale: Luxury Alpaca Yarns

Shady Grove Alpacas hit the craft show circuit this weekend! We displayed our yarn and sample knits at the Minnetrista Luminaria Walk last night and tonight. Lots of fun people to talk to, and lots of people who love alpacas walked through. There was one lady who was trying to get her husband to start a farm. (He was in vet school.) Another has stayed at a B & B on a working alpaca farm. All ears on that conversation: my retirement dream plan...

The Farmer in all his glory helped man the booth for several hours while I was busy with a gig. I have a few ideas for display improvement, but we did sell some skeins of yarn, so I’d call that a success!

Happy Knitting to our new customers!

 

Frozen Turkey

Who would have guessed that we would have a day off from school before Thanksgiving? But here we are, enjoying the beauty of an ice storm outside.

Our turkeys are less than a week from becoming a delicious meal, but enjoying their best life eating the icicles off of their cage.

Everything looks so pretty encased in a lovely sheet of clear, glassy ice.

The last time we raised turkeys, we had a snow storm right before the holidays. Read about it here.

The chicken coop also looks festive with icicles. I had to buy eggs for the first time today, so I’m already looking forward to the return of warm weather for renewed laying potential. Although I am not complaining about wearing lots of warm hand knits these days!

Hope everyone is surviving the weather in your part of the world. Stay warm and cozy!

New Hobby: Acorn Adventures

Last summer at Deep Creek Lake, I took my five-year-old niece on a little guided nature walk. The guide paper pointed out several oak trees, white and red varieties. It also mentioned that especially the white oak acorns were an important source of carbohydrates for Native Americans. Whoa! This information needed additional investigation!

Sure enough, the Internet (click on link) expanded my knowledge nicely. First, one has to leach the acorns to get rid of the bitter tannins. I used the cold leaching method, which takes several days. After cracking the shells off the acorns and cutting out any bad spots, I ground the nuts in a food processor with a little bit of water. Make sure not to use too much water, as it makes a mess. Also makes sure to grind the acorns as small as possible. The bigger chunks of acorn still had some bitterness after I dried the flour (picture above). I sorted quite a few of them out before grinding but the flavor was still a tiny bit bitter.

I made this acorn cake. It is delicious and was a great treat at the end of The Farmer’s birthday celebration yesterday evening!
Is anyone else feeling squirrel-y?! I’m ready to forage for more acorns!

Updates Available

My phone recently reminded me that I needed to update it. It seems like a good idea all around my life. This Fall has gotten a little out of hand. (It begs the question of which Fall HASN'T gotten out of hand in recent years, but I digress...) Here are a few moments from around the farm:



China Cat Sunflower has a new favorite perch on the back of the couch. Not seen: drooling over my shoulder into my cereal bowl. Just kidding! But he does like to investigate any cuisine that might be consumed over one's shoulder. Wishful thinking, cat!



Thanks and Giving are cheerfully eating us out of house and home. They look rather large, but I hope they will continue to get bigger as the days to Thanksgiving grow closer.

Below, we have alpacas chewing lots of lush, freshly rained upon grass this October. I love Moonstar's funny face in this picture!







While the sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, tomatoes, squash, and green beans have all died back and been ripped out, (empty bed above yearning for some carrot seeds and winter greens) the peppers think that October is a great time to ripen. I suspect that our alpaca poo fertilizer was a bit rich. They like to make too much foliage and no fruit when fed too well. Glad they are coming to their senses!



A few snapdragons are enjoying the late summer heat. It was mostly too hot along this wall this year. The flowers were truly underwhelming.



A friend came by to visit. The alpacas and Tenny were so happy to have a new person they could pester for food and petting.



That's a snapshot of events around here. Behind the scenes of this blog, there might be a lot of music prep, test grading, concertizing, etc. Till next time, may the weather cool down enough for you to start enjoying your woolly clothes!