Monthly Archives: January 2016

First Snow(ish)

Posted on January 5, 2016 by | Comments Off on First Snow(ish)

Yesterday we were very pleasantly surprised by several bouts of thick flurry activity. The kids were ecstatic, and we all just wished it would actually snow, rather than just tease us.  Still, we did get a tiny bit of dusting on the deck and the back of the sheep.

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See? You can just tell there’s a bit starting to stick on Darby’s back. Barely. Squint, maybe.

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It’s there, I swear! Let’s just hope that this isn’t the sum total of our winter experience this year, because for several years after we moved to Virginia, this really WAS all we saw.

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When the gate out front is open all the way, the sheep, goats, and dogs have access to the front porch.  It’s not ideal for us humans, because it means poop everywhere, and they’ve broken several porch rails. They like to sit by the door, though, and stare in at us.

Yesterday was also our first day back doing school again. It went well, considering we are all way off our sleep routines and no one wants to do anything other than cuddle kittens and do fun things.  Getting back to reality and regular life and appointments  is hard. Emily is getting braces in a few weeks and our lives are consumed with visits to various dental specialists when we are not working on school or doing farm chores.

I’ve been chugging away on my Chimney Fire.

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I hit a few snags early on (once when I needed a bit more clarification and then realized “continue in pattern” simply meant to “knit the knit stitches and purl the purl stitches”, and once when I had to go back and place extra markers to keep the sleeve pattern and the increases on the sides better delineated.

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Since then I’ve been flying along at it and it has been a very enjoyable knit.

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And yes, since you asked, it IS covered with cat and dog fur.

In this house, it’s a rare item indeed that isn’t blessed with fur.  From school work……

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……to puzzles.

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Tagged: Farm, Knitting, Pets

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31 Things for 31

Posted on January 5, 2016 by | Comments Off on 31 Things for 31

1. Today is my 31st birthday.
2. Normally I write a nice long New Year-sie type post, but my car almost blew up, and one of the things I was going to write about was the need to push toward goals, but also knowing when you need a rest. For me that day is today.
3. OK, so saying my car almost blew up might be a bit of an exaggeration.
4. It was smoking and squealing and being all sorts of scary.
5. Plus, I was parked in the garage beneath the Kansas State Capitol. I was not going to be the woman who exploded the capitol because her ancient-ass Honda decided to throw flames as a birthday present.
6. I might slightly afraid of dying in a spontaneous car fire.
7. Does anyone else realize how scary combustion engines really are?
8. I was hoping to buy a new car this year anyway.
9. But I was also hoping to use my tax return to do it, and that’s at least another month away.
10. Readers, this car is 18 years old. It is time to die, but it also needs to last another month without costing a fortune to fix.
11. There’s another reason we need a new car.
12. The Honda barely fits Felix’s car seat, and sometime in August, it looks like we’ll be adding another. If we try to fit two car seats in the back, Brock and I will be riding with our knee to our throats, and where will we put Athrun? The trunk?
13. Yup, you read that right, I have now made two cavalier jokes about illegal activities that would likely get me arrested were I serious.
14. Oh, and if you’re wondering about that second car seat, we’ll need it because I am pregnant. Again.
15. The reason I haven’t kept to my update schedule is because morning sickness hit me like a ton of bricks in December.
16. It was so bad, and I was so sick that we thought for awhile I might have another miscarriage.
17. After a week of tests and and a couple of ultrasounds, everything is looking normal.
18. That pregnancy limbo did not do good things for my psyche. In addition to being afraid of exploding cars, I’m also pretty attached to not bleeding to death.
19. And…I kind of actually wanted this pregnancy to stick.
20. Even though I hate being pregnant.
21. Even though Felix got so angry about changing out of his pajamas and into clothes this morning that he threw the hamper into the door.
22. It was empty, but still, he’s not even two!
23. He totally gets that temper from me. I throw shit when I’m angry too.
24. The sickness has evened out now and I’m feeling all right now. Not spectacular, but I am no longer angry at the world for my misery.
25. I have a lot of other things I’d like to do while I’m 31 besides have a baby and buy a car.
26. I’d like to find an agent for the novel I wrote last year.
27. I’d like to revise the story I wrote in November.
28. I’d like to KonMari the heck out of my house.
29. I’d like to finally get the soap company I’ve been planning in my head for the last two years off the ground.
30. The list could go on, but those are the major points.
31. Now I’m gonna go eat some of that carrot cake I’ve been enjoying for two days already.

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2016 Designing Plans

Posted on January 4, 2016 by | Comments Off on 2016 Designing Plans

2016-01-01 13.44.11I expect that 2016 will be similar to 2015 (in a good way!).

A lovely gradient shawl, Isn’t It Romantic?, is due to be released any day. It’ll be available exclusively through local yarn stores through Lorna’s Laces through 2016.  If you’re going to TNNA, catch a peek of it in the Lorna’s Laces booth.

One small collection, Brewery Hats, should be out this month. It includes 4 unisex hats, all worked in gorgeous Anzula For Better or Worsted. The patterns will be available individually, with a discount given for purchasing all four.

Two other hats — one in Stitch Sprouts Crater Lake, the other in Yarn on the House Little Brother — are slotted for January or February.

I have a pretty one-skein cabled cowl in Fibre Company Cumbria to release in February, and the sumptuous Fluvial sweater in Fibre Company Knightsbridge to release ASAP.

A camisole for spring and summer (depending on the mildness of your climate!) in Anzula Breeze and Vera is slated for a spring release.

The peek on the left is of the border of a shawl in Anzula Cloud in Seaside and Victoria.  (Their Victoria colorway, the dark blue, is that indigo/twilight blue that is one of my favorite colors.)  I’m hoping to finish it in the next couple weeks and having it up for testing in February, with a goal of a March 2016 release.

I have yarn for several more shawls and accessories (mitts, hats, or cowls) in the design queue. I’ll be doing a hat as part of the Indie Untangled yarn club.  I may be doing a design for a yarn company for summer TNNA.  I have several designs coming out through Knit Picks collections this year as well.

Other than that, I’d like to do at least one additional sweater this year.  I have a black shell I got from Old Navy that I wear all the time, and I’d like to do  a sweater that will fill that gap in my wardrobe when it finally kicks the bucket.  It’s one of those simple basics that can be a wardrobe staple, and adaptable to various styles depending on how you accessorize it.

 

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2015 in Review

Posted on January 2, 2016 by | Comments Off on 2015 in Review

2015 was an odd year for me knitting-design-wise.  I’d finished up the huge undertaking of the Wild West series — a collection I’m still very proud of — and for once didn’t have any major deadlines or projects.

I wanted to do two sweaters for 2015, and they are done but for the photography. As noted below, one is the Anzula cami, which I’ll be publishing as a spring/summer pattern.

I was super excited to have another pattern in Twist Collective (Fretwork).  I was also excited to have several patterns accepted by Knit Picks for collections coming out in 2016, as well as the Chalcedony Mitts, which came out this year.

As I hoped and planned, I used a lot of the yarn I’d been given by various companies for new designs. This was yarn that was given without strings or plans, but I’d had some of it, unused, way longer than I felt comfortable with.  I still have a small stockpile to use for designs in 2016.

I have ten (!) patterns for which photography needs to be done — after that all but one is ready to go (the Anzula Cami — it’s really a spring/summer pattern).  Those will bump up the 2016 numbers :)

Designs

  • Coast Oak

Cowls: Bezant, Wave Break, and Coast Oak Cowl for the December Luxe Yarnbox

  • Breakwater

Shawls: Fretwork (in Twist Collective!), Sandbar, Scrub Jay, Breakwater, Euphilotes, and Revetment

  • Coast Oak Hat

Other Accessories: Coast Oak Hat for the December Luxe Yarnbox, Chalcedony Mitts, Josephine in Diamonds mitts, and Kitty Corner Socks

  • Spa Cloth 5

Home: Spa Cloths 1, 2, and 3 and Spa Cloths 4, 5, and 6

 

Shows

I attended both Winter and Summer TNNA last year.  I had a booth at the winter show, but not the summer show.  I also went up to Stitches West.

I skipped the Ventura and Torrance shows (both small local shows).  The Ventura show is on a Saturday, and frankly I make more from my Saturday vet clinic job than I did last year at the show, and it’s less time and work involved. No excuse on the Torrance show, except that I had a lot of vet work booked, and wanted that day off.

Podcast

It got started then fizzled over the summer…but I really enjoy doing it and want to make it a priority for 2016.  Look for episodes starting in January.

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My 2016 Calendars …

Posted on January 2, 2016 by | Comments Off on My 2016 Calendars …

I enjoy making my own calendars and have for a few years now.  I do a wall calendar which goes on the fridge, and a desk calendar which goes… um hmm, on my desk, smart huh :)

Covers of both calendars …

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Wall calendar with all 12 months displayed on back.. the cover picture is the gang plank of the Mayflower in Plymouth, MA in October.

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The cover of the desk calendar is of a stained glass window in a store on Martha’s Vineyard …extra points to anyone who can guess where – here’s a hint, it’s in Vineyard Haven :)

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The January pictures… harbor in Rowayton, CT and white flower in mercury vase.

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 Stay tuned …  there’s 11 more months :)


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And A Soggy New Year!

Posted on January 1, 2016 by | Comments Off on And A Soggy New Year!

I had plans for some cute holiday-style pictures with the flock, but alas. Too much rain and mud.  I was able to get out very briefly the other day during a rare dry spell and get some halfway decent pictures of a few of them, but otherwise we’ve been stuck inside.

It’s not rained at all today, and the sun came out finally, so hopefully we will be drying out to an acceptable level soon!

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The one bit of good news with all the rain is that the back field is getting pretty green. I’m glad we have been able to rotate everyone out front for awhile and give the pasture a chance to rest and recover and grow.  Then of course there is the issue of shoring up the fencing out there before we can put the flock back out.  For now, it’s nice to see that it’s not a wasteland.

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And now, because the internet was clearly created for cats, I give you gratuitous feline pictures!

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My little Miss Dilly.  She’s been spending quite a bit of time at the vet lately.  A few weeks ago we noticed a lot of bruising on her.  According to her bloodwork, her immune system was attacking and destroying her platelets, so her blood was unable to properly clot. She’s been on steroids and antibiotics, and will go back in a week or so for more bloodwork. She’s doing pretty well, and she’s the easiest cat ever to medicate, which is a blessing!, but I still worry about my little baby cat.

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Sweet and cuddly Widget.  This little guy is the lap-lover we’ve always wanted. Most days he travels from lap to lap, sampling everyone’s cuddle offerings before deciding who he will settle in with for the long haul.

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Baby Poppet. We’ve been calling her “Miss Schnurrbart” (schnurrbart being German for “mustache”).  That tiny little white upper lip just kills me with its cuteness. She can be very sweet and snuggly, but not nearly as much as Widget. She’s got a much more bossy, independent streak to her.

The older two kitties boycotted pictures. They are tolerating all the kittening happening here lately, but it’s clear that they feel we should be very grateful for their graciousness.


Tagged: Farm, Pets

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Weekly Challenge: Circle …

Posted on January 1, 2016 by | Comments Off on Weekly Challenge: Circle …

The prompt for Circle …..With 2016 officially here, we face forward to take on what’s next. It’s a time of endings and beginnings, so I wanted a broad theme that could be simple, fun, and festive, but also complex and introspective. And so, circle it is.

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My choice for the topic Circle… is Stonehenge which is located in southern England, it is comprised of roughly 100 massive upright stones placed in a circular layout.  For centuries, historians and archaeologists have puzzled over the many mysteries of Stonehenge, the prehistoric monument that took Neolithic builders an estimated 1,500 years to erect. CLICK HERE to learn more about Stonehenge which I found to be very interesting.

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https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/circle/


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