What the hell? It’s been a few months, might as well post.

It’s been so long my own blog didn’t recognize me when I logged in.  The past couple months of my life will henceforth be referred to as the spring cleaning months despite the fact that I didn’t actually clean all that much.  I got rid of some baggage, though and I don’t even feel sorry for the people who picked it up.

So to clean up the FOs from LAST FREAKING YEAR HI IT’S THE MIDDLE OF THIS YEAR, we have:

Pattern: Bea from Rowan’s Little Treasures (the pattern from the cover) Ravelry link here.

Needles: US 6 and 7

Yarn: Ella Rae Classic in bubble gum freaking pink, which I tea dyed to make it a tiny bit less barbie.

Mods: Didn’t really make any but I wish I’d ignored the instructions and knit the bands on as I knit the fronts because it’s so unknitterly to sew those on afterwards.

Comments: There’s a super cute little kick pleat on the back that is very poorly explained in the instructions.  You slip some stitches with yarn in front and basically that’s making fold lines for later.  Then when you get to the top it has you knit across the row and bind some stitches off in the middle.  Here is where I got confused.  You’re supposed to then continue knitting across the rest of the row after binding off.  And by the way, you need to get some decent tension on that first stitch after the last bind off stitch to make it flow nicely from the last knit stitch you left on the right needle.  You now continue back and forth as normal and you have a loop flopping about which is the top of the pleat.  Later you fold and press along the slip stitch lines and you sew that bound off section flat and attach it to the bodice.  It all makes sense when you do it, but they leave their tiny, murky clue about it to the last sentence of the pattern.

I made this for my three year old niece, Charlotte, who will only wear pink and I understand she found it acceptable in every way.  She has a new baby sister on the way and I think I want to make this for her when she’s old enough to pick a color.  Very similar in shape but it will be different enough to be hers.

Our tally of lambs for 2009 was 14.  We lost Bergamot when she was a week old and Briar to unknown neurological problems only recently but everyone else seems to be doing great.  All sheep and goats have been shorn and the fleeces skirted, so I really need to photograph them for sale.  The covered fleeces in particular are shockingly nice-I will find it next to impossible to sell the shaela and one of the whites because apparently I think I have time to do everything (like process fleece) even though I can barely finish the simplest of knits these days.  I’m so busy that I’m almost always tired.  It’s all good busy, though, like the garden and the sheep and the shop and the mill.  Oh, and work, but since it pays the mortgage it sits in the good column, too.

The dog and I had a walk this afternoon in the drizzle.  We went down to the ravine where the springheads are and the bank was covered in hundreds of ferns and the sound of trickling water and birds was quite relaxing.  We’ve had a lot of rain this spring and everything is so green it hurts your eyes.  I used the walk as an escape from some frustration and it helped quite a bit.  Poor Wyatt is getting old-though he doesn’t act like it-and he’s started losing teeth so I’ve realized that our time together is waning and that we should go on walks together while we can.  We both came home with a bunch of ticks and I’m trying to view the grooming as more quality time instead of OMFG TICKS!!!! time.  Still, the tick removal was a bit less frustrating than the lace bind off and family related angst I was trying to escape so I guess that’s a win!  And lace wrap?  You will not win.  I will kick your mohair butt, so just give up now.

It’s Raining Lambs

I’m not a natural farmer.  I grew up in a suburb and then lived in cities until three and a half years ago, when we decided in Oliver Wendell style that farm living was the life for us.  I’m not that far removed from the rural life, both my parents grew up on farms, but they had removed themselves as far as possible from it by the time I came around.  Sometimes I think I’ve really got the hang of it and it’s no big deal.  Then we have lambs a full month before we’re prepared for them and I realize nothing could be further from the truth.

One morning a few weeks ago we went up to feed and found two little ram lambs born to two ewes; Camille and Jemima.  This was a whoops moment since we had thought that Absinth (our yearling ram) had been too young and had shown no interest in the procreative process and had therefore not separated him until we bought our other ram, Rhett.  However, this was a full 20 some odd days too soon for these lambs to have been fathered by Rhett, the ram selected for both ewes, meaning Absinth had been up to some mischief as a 9 month old lamb.  To complicate matters, Jemima is Absinth’s mother, making her new lamb the child of his own brother.  The real surprises came the next morning when two more lambs turned up in the barn having been licked dry but otherwise unclaimed by any ewe.  An investigation of all lady parts ensued (we even checked the chicken for good measure) and the only viable explanation at the time seemed to be that Jemima had given birth to an additional two lambs.  Research turned up no examples of this happening ever, so it remained a bit of a mystery to us.  There wasn’t much time to dwell on it as we busied ourselves building jugs to try and graft the babies to the mother, who wanted nothing to do with them.  Camille was set free with her strapping young son (Barley) and while Jemima was happy to nurse her first lamb (Basil), poor little Bamboo and Burdock were the targets of all the abuse she could muster. I tried every remedy in every book and website I could find to trick her into loving them.  I tried vicks vaporub to confuse her sense of smell, I tried pouring power punch on them.  I tried covering them in cracked corn.  I tried wetting them.  I tried rubbing them with the afterbirth.  Oh wait, I didn’t try every method because I refused to try the one where you put a fist inside the mother to simulate birth.  That one crossed a line for me.

Burdock (solid black), Bamboo (white on face) and Basil (brown and black) in the jug with Jemima

So we tried the routine of locking her up, sitting in the jug with them and allowing the other two lambs to nurse numerous times a day for about five days, at which point the ewe is supposed to be able to detect her milk in their poop and give it up.  She didn’t.   Instead, she shoved Burdock into the water bucket and he was discovered dying of hypothermia.  I took him to the house, soaked him in a hot tub of water, held a hot blow dryer on him and then wrapped him up and held him against me inside my warm winter coat for several hours.  He survived and enjoyed a brief stint as a house lamb, but we came to the decision to give up and allow Burdock and Bamboo to become bummer lambs.  We bottle fed them until Premier Supply could get the milk bar to us.  They happily drink from a bucket with nipples mounted to it now and have gained weight and are thriving, no thanks to their mother.

Just as this was ironing itself out, we went up to the barn one night to do the final feeding before bed to discover that Pie had given birth to a pair of premature little lambs.  All of our shetlands have their lambs at dawn, this was unacceptable.  The female (Blueberry) seemed to be doing quite well despite being small.  The little male was extremely tiny and she wasn’t as concerned about him.  We jugged her with them and hoped the lack of our presence would inspire her to get him up and about.  By morning she had rejected him so Jared brought him down to the house for colostrum, warmth and love.  We discovered then why she had thought he wasn’t worth the time; he was quite premature.  His hooves hadn’t finished growing out yet and he was very weak and small. In fact, he was about the same size as the coke bottle we were using to feed him.  Poor little Bean is progressing, though, with lots of help from us.

It’s been an around the clock deal, trying to get all the lambs fed and taken care of while trying to get the barn in better shape for lambing.  Just proves that if you think you still have a month to do something on a farm you should have done it last month.  Jared has been mucking out the stall-there’s a giant mountain of poopy hay (awesome stuff if you have a garden-looks like pure gold to me!) out in the pasture, lime on the floor, new hay in the clean and dry areas, a creep feeding area for the orphans and more jugs.  Bean still lives in the house with us, but hopefully soon he can join Bamboo and Burdock, whose favorite pastime is to race the bigger boys and claim ownership atop Mt. Muck.

While doing some research about premature lambs I ran across a piece of information that made everything fall into place and the mystery of Burdock & Bamboo is now solved.  It seems that Camille gave birth to both Barley and Basil.  They look so similar and are the same size and Camille was positively enormous, I was expecting triplets from her, so this makes sense to me.  Jemima was so close to giving birth that she got confused and stole Basil away from Camille.  When her own lambs, Burdock and Bamboo (who also are similar in looks and size to each other and so different from the other two) were born the next morning, she rejected them based on her belief that she already had her baby.  If we’d caught it in time we might have been able to correct all of it, who knows.  Meanwhile we’re up to three bottle lambs and 7 more ewes yet to lamb.  This is so atypical of shetlands, all this trouble.  I’m sad because we’ve had 5 males out of 6 lambs, which means my beloved Absinth probably needs to retire as a ram.  We’ve already castrated the two oldest and the other two are on the schedule for today or tomorrow.  Bean can wait until he’s a little bigger.

I passed a miletone as a farmer during day two of the Lamb Grafting Wars, though.  I found myself sitting on the floor of the barn.  Sitting in the old dirty hay full of poop, no gloves on my hands to protect me from the ick, bits of barn floor stuff going down the back of my jeans and smelling of afterbirth, sheep shit and lanolin.  I was exhausted and cold and filthy; I hadn’t eaten and was a bit shaky.  When I took stock of the amount of effluvia and filth on me, I thought to myself, “Oh well.  It’ll wash off.” It doesn’t sound like an epiphany to you, I’m sure, but for me this was something of a rite of passage to becoming a real farmer.  Life changing, I tell you.

Meanwhile I have been sort of neglecting every thing else.  Before lambs rained down upon us I set up a second shop on 1000 Markets and I just love it there, but I haven’t had time to get it into the sort of shape I wanted to.  The setup is very user friendly and the shops are juried by picture quality, merchandise and other factors.  They don’t permit the sale of supplies, only finished products, so you won’t find yarn or roving there, but if you want to sell there it’s free to list and there’s a set fee of 5.5% + $0.50 per sale.  It uses Amazon cart, so the main disadvantage is not being able to sell outside the US with it.  My shop passed all the qualifiers and was approved within an hour; I was pleased as several people have told me they generally ask people to tweak things to fit within the aesthetic and take around 48 hours to approve you.  My shop was featured in the first 24 hours and got 50 views in the first day and a half.  Pretty good for a site that’s not actually live yet.  (Everything is functional, they’re just still in beta.)

I also joined a brand new social networking site called byhand, which is exclusively for people who hand make things.  It’s like Facebook for crafters and artisans.  You can list all your shops, all your social networks, create spotlights, etc.  I keep telling people on Twitter and Ravelry about it, but so far nobody has replied.  I wanted to form a Rubberneckers clubhouse there, but none of those hoars can be bothered to join.  If you join, find me (jenifleur) and make contact.  I think this will be a neat site when people start to use it.

Artfire has rolled out some new features that I love.  For every thing I wish they’d change (the colors and layout especially), I find at least one that excites me.  You no longer have to create an account to purchase from the vendors, which I think is a great idea.  They also have a new thing called rapid cart where items can be purchased directly from the blog that I’m going to try out right here.  I’ve made what I believe is my final prototype of my magnetic chart minder so let’s see if it works.  It should show up in the sidebar if so.

Finished Object: Petals Scarf

I stayed with my in-laws while attending Rhinebeck this year and as my MIL is a knitter, too, we always share some interests.  She described for me a scarf that her grandmother used to make frequently.  One end was shaped like a petal, the other end tapered to a point, it was about 6″ wide, garter stitch and there was a band you could slip the tapered end through and when you wore it, it looked like two petals.  She drew me a sketch with approximate measurements from her memory and I came home and knit it up in alpaca for her.  I finished it in a day.  Not because I’m fast, but because it’s dead easy.

My mother in law proclaimed it perfect.  I liked it so much, I made another one for my pink-obsessed neice.  I had to, she has fabulous taste in colors, like me.  Yes, I have the same preferences as a three year old, so what?

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Every three year old pink loving girl should have a merino/silk/cashmere scarf with a cute little flower on it, don’t you think?  I knew you did.

Pattern: Petals Scarf  (I made it up.  If you’d like to make it, please download it here on Ravelry or directly get my pdf file here.)

Yarn: The green was America’s Alpaca Classic Alpaca and I used about a ball (they were leftovers, I don’t know yardage for absolute sure.)  The pink one was GGH Tajmahal.  You can use any yarn for this.  I’m not kidding.  Just stop increasing when it’s wide enough and mirror with the same number of decreases when you do the other end.

Needles: Again, I failed to note them in my Ravelry notebook.  Shut up.  I believe the green was done on something wicked big like a US8 and the pink was done on like size 4 or something.

Mods: You can look at this two ways.  Either there were no mods because you can’t modify something you’re making up as you go along, or the entire thing was one big modification of a sketch on a piece of paper modified to be a scarf knitted up in yarn.  For the purposes of having something to write in this section, let’s say the pink one was a modification of the green one because I knitted it in different gauge and I added a flower.  A fabulous flower.  It’s especially fabulous when you knit in a colorway called “Chocolate Roses” by Miss Babs.  You’ll find the pattern for that flower in Nicky Epstein’s book Knitted Embellishments.  If you make this, please feel free to make any mods you want.

A note for users of this pattern: If you want to make this pattern, please do.  If you want to sell it, give it away, make a bunch of them for your booth at the craft fair, burn it in effigy, whatever you want, it’s yours.  I reserve no rights on this pattern; it’s been around longer than I have.  Please enjoy.

There’s another cool thing that came from my in-laws and that same visit.

I know, the picture is crooked.  I lean.  That chest came from my SIL’s house, it was sitting in their garage in fairly damaged condition.  We didn’t do much renovating, just cleaned it up and let the battered charm shine through.  I know you’re already thinking how cool it is, but wait, there’s more.  Look what I did to it:

EVERYTHING is better with yarn in it, don’t you agree?  Those shelves even pull out.

The laceweight shelf pulled out for demonstration purposes.  Cool, huh?

We still don’t have video of Ram Tetherball.  Livestock never do what you want them to do when you want them to do it.  For instance, some of the ewes are pregnant and I want them to have lambs later next month.  Camille looks like she might decide to have hers at breakfast tomorrow.  She’s bagged up and everything.  The reason I want them to come next month is not just because it’ll be warmer for me to be outside-though that wouldn’t suck-but because then I know that nobody was bred before I scheduled and selected their boyfriends and I definitely know who the fathers are.  Early lambs might mean Absinth was sneaking out after curfew before Rhett got here.  Still, she might wait a month because last year Pie looked about to explode for three out of her four months of gestation, yet she gave birth weeks after everyone else was sending their children off to daycare.  (And an unsocialized pair of little prissy ewes they are, too.)

I’m still on the lookout for the ballgame, though, so hopefully you’ll be seeing footage of the world’s first all ovine sports team soon.

Finished Object: Woodland Shawl

Oops.  Fell off the planet there for awhile, didn’t I?  Things have been shockingly busy for me with work, the holidays, the farm, the mill plans and opening an online shop.  I’m either too tired to write or too busy to remember that I even have a blog these days.  I have a bunch of stuff to catch up on, naturally.  First up is my new online shop, Lingering Spring.  I’ve just begun to get product into it, but there’s enough there now to announce its opening, I think.  A preview:

As for the knitting, well I finished this back in October, but it’s the next in the line of finished objects, so my shawl, let me show you it:

Pattern: Woodland Shawl by Nikol Lohr

Yarn: Jojoland Melody Superwash, 4 balls color ms14.

Needles: US 6/4.0 mm

Mods: None.

Comments: Remember how I was saying that within the same dyelot this yarn can have dramatic changes?

Holy vibrant second ball, batman.  I was a bit disturbed at first, but luckily I had two balls with the muted feeling like on the left and two with the more vibrant so I put the other muted ball on the opposite end and it looks more or less like I meant to do this.  In the finished picture up top you can see that it’s fairly symmetrical.  I will definitely be checking my jojoland more thoroughly before purchase in the future.

I’ve gotten loads of compliments on this shawl and it was very easy to knit and memorize as it was quite intuitive.  I would make this again and I rarely ever say that.

We bought some jolly balls (it’s a horse toy, a big rubber ball with a handle) and hung them from the trees to amuse our sheep and it worked!  Rhett in particular likes to play tetherball and backs up several feet to ram it.  We saw Absinth playing with it as well, but every time we try to go out and get video they abandon the ball and come running to see us.  I have a plan, though, I’m going to try and get video from my upstairs window.  Anyone who doesn’t think sheep have brains or interests apart from food hasn’t met Shetlands.

Finished Object: Swiss Cheese Scarf

Pattern: Swiss Cheese Scarf by Winnie Shih

Yarn: Jojoland Melody color ms12 (50g, 220 yards per ball), 2 balls

Needles: US 4 Knitpicks fixed circs

Mods: I made it narrower than the original pattern by reducing the stitch count to 82.

Comments: I love Jojoland, and have been wanting some for ages. If you buy it, be sure and check each ball inside and out. I have some in another colorway where of the four skeins I bought, two of them appeared to be of a radically different dyelot, despite the fact that they were all labeled as the same. I’ll show you in the next finished object post about my woodland shawl just how dramatic a difference it was. This colorway, however, did not have that issue. This is a really nice superwash yarn and I think it would make some lovely socks, too, but ever since seeing the Swiss Cheese Scarf Jane made for Claudia, I’ve been intrigued. I’d seen it around Ravelry here and there but seeing it in the real world is completely different. It’s basically garter stitch with a bunch of button holes and is quite easy, but it looks so interesting and is a great project for variegated yarns. It’s also a real conversation starter when non-knitters see you making it, so beware.

When last we met I told you about the goodbyes we’ve had to say. Now I’ll introduce you to some new faces. Blogsville, meet Rhett Butler:

I bought him at SAFF from Hideaway Farm. He’s a young Shetland ram who’s come to share the burden of breeding season with Absinth. Not that Absinth is all that eager to share, mind you. It’s early in the season and we’ve already got fence damage and bloody fleece-but that’s for a future post. Have another look at this lovely boy:

Behind him to the left is Apricot and to the right is Anemone. The sheep in the deep background is RoundEars, our oldest Corriedale ewe. Apricot is the first to accept his affections and is reaping a harvest of grief and shunning from the other ewes in their pasture. Apparently she’s been labeled as a traitor by them, but has gained some status by being the current favorite of the ram. I hope she can keep some of that status because she’s a timid little sheep and I’d like to see her gain some confidence. She has what is turning into a massive fleece, I think she’ll be quite a little producer despite her tiny size.

Rhett looks fairly blonde in this picture-all the lambs are uncoated and have UV fading-but he’s actually a perfect shade of brown that is generally what you think of when you picture natural shetland. Apricot and Anemone appear white on the outside but Apricot is fawn and Anemone is starting to turn into a grey we think. She’s a total hopping basket case like her mother and is nearly impossible to catch, so that’s why it’s a guess at this point. Rhett is an affectionate and people-friendly little ram with tremendously soft and crimpy fleece and a tiny little nubbin of a tail. Shetland tails aren’t docked, they’re supposed to be naturally short. Nearly all of our ewes have tails that are too long for breed standard so we’re relying on Rhett to help correct that in future generations. He also has spotted fleece in his genetics and we’re hoping for some interesting surprises at lambing this year. He’ll be the father of the lambs born to Jemima, Anise, Anemone, Apricot and Camille this year. If he can find a step stool, perhaps he’ll have some Shetland-Corriedale children by RoundEars and Blossom, but we doubt it. That would be some amazing fleece, though. What would you call it? Sheltiedale?

We also welcome some new barn cats. Poor Tangle was lonely and howling all the time after Bobble and Loop left us and a co-worker had some cats he needed to place. As it turns out, Tangle is rather annoyed by this and has reconsidered. She now believes she could mouse the farm all by herself. Too late, though. We already got these:

She’s gradually and grudgingly beginning to tolerate them. Traditionally we name the barn cats something to do with knitting, but when I took them out of the car Jared immediately informed me that the one with white ears would be named Rufus and I could name the other one a knitting name. So on the left you have Rufus-who is very busy and squirmy and outgoing and bossy-and on the right, Rowan, who is the purring, affectionate, calm one who wants to be held and snuggled all. the. time. They are some of the happiest and least needy kittens I’ve ever known apart from Rowan wanting to spend all his time in your arms. They are secured away at night because we’ve had a run in with a big, black, stray tom (who’s not going to be a problem as soon as he stands still somewhere away from the livestock or neighboring houses.) and there’s a possum who’s been seen in the potting shed where the barn cats live (would love to give him the same treatment the black cat’s going to get.)

When we go out in the morning to open the door, they’re both clinging to the inside of it halfway to the ceiling. They rush out and spend the rest of their day following the guineas, practicing going all the way to the barn and back by themselves and occasionally falling into the trench and requiring rescue. I actually think they’re going to miss that trench when the plumbing and electrical work is complete. (I won’t!) They’ve already figured out that sitting on the back porch at 5 pm and squeaking usually results in supper, which is a habit I was hoping they wouldn’t develop. The next big project on the list is re-siding the barn and after it’s warm and secure they’re moving Cat HQ up there whether they like it or not. My potting shed is going to be an actual potting shed as dog is my witness. All cats and possums will have to get over it.

Finished Object: Clapotis

If you’re coming here via the link at JenLa, welcome to the new digs. I’m still borking this new place from time to time so if it seems to go all wonky, try not to panic. It’s likely that I’m doing enough panicking for both of us anyway. Hope you like the new blog-I can’t decide if I’m happy with the paint yet or if I want to change it again (This is about the 17th effort already.)

You can think of JenLa as a college dorm room; eventually it’s time to move on and get your own place but you’ll always be close to your old roomie. My old roomie has had her own blog for quite some time. After months of deliberation over whether I wanted to continue blogging at all, I’ve finally gotten back around to the stage of missing it.

Jared and I are in the process of starting up a micro mill for processing animal fibers. He’s currently working on the business plan when he’s not busy re-siding the barn or digging four hundred feet of trench to install water and electricity to the barn and pastures. It’s terrifying to start a real business with a business plan and an enormous loan, but it’s exciting, too. We’ve toured several mills around the country and talked to many millers and are still convinced we want to do this. I have plans to show in depth just how yarn is made. I’m also looking forward to having him home from now on rather than being gone for work several months out of every year.

In the interval since my last blog entry I’ve done quite a bit of knitting. For now I’ll show you Clapotis since that’s where we left off and will do more posts about the others until I’m caught up.

After all these years of mouthing off about being one of the last few remaining knitters to have escaped the Clap, I’ve transferred my membership dues to the Clapotis Club. It was the article about Kate Gilbert in the Fall 2008 Interweave Knits that changed my mind. She’s one of my favorite designers; I love her clean lines and simple silhouettes. Whether it was years of exposure to it or all the beautiful Claps on Ravelry I can’t decide, but it was time to make my own. Once I began the knitting, I found the same thing thousands of other knitters before me had found: it was hard to put down. It’s not exactly challenging, but the repeats are so small that you just keep wanting to get to that next dropped stitch.

Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert

Yarn: Exclusive Fairy Fart in the colorway “Teal Deer” (This is from a Ravelry Rubbernecker swap. Teal Deer is a play on tl;dr which is short hand for too long; didn’t read) I don’t know how many yards I used, but there were approximately 1000 yards of it in the package and I still have enough left that I could make a scarf if I used a lacy pattern.

Needles: I didn’t enter this in my Ravelry project page, so I’m going to give a guess and say about a size 5.

Modifications: Apart from the fact that my yarn was laceweight and not worsted my only mod was to do around 22 repeats instead of the patterned 12. Smaller yarn=smaller scarf=knit more repeats.

I love this Clapotis. I gave it to my mother-in-law, though, to give her the love. I can make more!

In other farm news, we’ve experienced a few losses. While I was at Rhinebeck our cat Bobble became very ill and had to be euthanized. We used to joke that he was the Farm Manager and we never did a single chore on the farm without him right beside us following every step. We miss our Bobble. My brother called him his Farm Pal.

He’s chasing the big turkeys in the sky, now. I bet he’s finally caught a few. The day after he died, his sister Loop ran off and hasn’t returned since. It’s been a month and we’re surprised we haven’t at least seen her around. I hope she’s okay. Unfortunately the losses don’t end there. Showbiz began to lose weight and deteriorate despite all efforts to figure out why and all treatments to try and halt the unknown problem. The day we returned from Rhinebeck and SAFF he was in good spirits, but remained kushing when we patted him hello. The next morning he laid down his head and went to sleep for good.

His passing has been quite difficult for us. We miss him, as well.

All cannot, however, be grief on a farm. There are ewes to breed and mice to catch. Next entry I’ll show you the new ram and a pair of the cutest pest control aids you’ve ever seen.

Yesterday

This should have been posted yesterday, but eh. Inertia. What are you gonna do, you know? All in all, the second anniversary of Mom’s death could have been a lot worse. I got up at 2:45 to be at work at a ridiculous 4 am only to sit in the parking lot until my regularly scheduled time of 5 am because wires had been crossed and doors weren’t unlocked, etc. It wasn’t a total waste because I did get some knitting done. A couple of repeats on the Clapotis. A few more and I’ll begin decreasing. I’ll have this done in time to give it to my MIL when I go up for Rhinebeck. I started off making this for myself, but somehow the yarn just keep sending me pictures of her and sometimes you have to do what the yarn tells you to do. I like the idea of giving her something that’s knitted up with memories of my own mom.

I was pretty tired because of the early wake up and the killer day once I was able to get in there and actually do the work. So after I visited with some of her stuff yesterday afternoon, I took a nap. When my brother and I finally broached the subject of what day it was, it was late and we didn’t feel like reminiscing anyway. Today, though, I wanted to post some pictures of her knitting stuff. I have mom’s cedar chest in my bedroom and I hadn’t opened it up in a long time, but since I wanted to remember her, it was a good place to go. It still smells like her. I have a couple of her FOs, but I only took one out to photograph. This is what I call “The Football Sweater”. She made it to wear to my brother’s and my games. (He played for several years and I was a cheerleader for a couple.)
It reminds me of cold autumn nights and pompoms and my mom buying me hot chocolate and cheering us on under the stadium lights. And it reminds me of the enormous piles of sweaters and coats that ended up on the back of the couch after games, when we were all too tired and cold to put them away before bed. Once my brother sleepwalked downstairs and laid on the couch, pulling the entire pile-including this one-on top of him for warmth. It’s nice to have a physical object of those memories.

I have no idea where this hook came from, but I can see that it’s ivory and probably fairly old. It’s sort of polished by wear in a few places and for some reason, I always find comfort in things like that. Like worn wooden stair railings and kitchen utensils with the paint rubbed away. I keep associating the few pieces of ivory that were in my mom’s possession with the fact that we came from whaling people on one side, but that doesn’t make any sense at all. Unless elephants used to roam the oceans, right? I hate this muddy state of mental confusion. I wish I’d asked more questions when she was still here. I wish she was still here to answer them. I wish I had more than her smell and a few of her things. And I wish she hadn’t died just at the beginning of Autumn. The rhythm of the seasons aligns with the end of her life for maximum effect with me. I wonder how much longer I’ll be counting off the anniversaries.

It’s not all sadness, there’s new good stuff going on, too. Like Jojoland melody which I had to finally put out of sight in order to finish Clapotis. Mom wouldn’t approve. She would have looked askance at my choice of earth tones in the bottom picture, but she wouldn’t be at all surprised when I smiled and used it anyway. (I’ll make it up to you, Mom. I promise to knit something red or yellow very soon.) I abandoned all hope of spinning and knitting a Rhinebeck sweater, which I think is a return to my former good sense. If you see me at Rhinebeck, I’ll be wearing my CPH or my Norma sweater, neither of which got enough good exposure last winter anyway. I’m looking forward to meeting some of my friends. That’s a very odd sentence, but some of my closest friends these days are only known to me via the internet. It will be so nice to have faces and voices to put with the pictures!

Finished Object: Zetor Scarf

Pattern: Zetor Scarf by Jatta Soheltaa.

Yarn: handpaintedyarn.com merino lace in black, a gift from Hockeymom.

Needles: Addi Lace size US 2

Other: Knit for the Team Rubberneckers and Team Mission:Possible Ravelympics

Notes/Mods: This project started off as the Veil of Isis, but I couldn’t for the life of me follow the complexities of the chart morphs for the corner section and halfway through the Olympics decided that a change in pattern was required if I was to finish. My bind off (the K2 Tog type) was too tight to get the scallops in the edge, but I’m okay with it. This “scarf” is shawl-sized, though I will probably wear it as a scarf, actually. I did finish this project in time to cross the finish for a gold medal.

In other and far more exciting news, I have been given a 99% verbal approval for my leave request scheduled for the third weekend in October. You know what happens on that weekend, right? Yes, I’m going to Rhinebeck! I will be staying with my husband’s family and some of them may attend the festival with us, but husband and I plan to go both days. It’s putting a cramp on SAFF, but I might still make a day trip there on Sunday.

The festival of fibers type news doesn’t stop there, either. Next April 23-25 will be Stitches South. Stitches is FINALLY getting us an event down here and the best news for me is that it’s in Atlanta. If you’re in the south and you’ve never been to a fiber convention, you won’t want to miss this one. Stitches has loads of classes. No animals, though. It differs greatly from say SAFF or Rhinebeck in that it’s a much more commercially themed event, but it’s HUGE. I’m planning to take time off for this as well.

All the rest of the news in a nutshell? Jared has been up to Stonehedge Fibers in Michigan to begin the fiber mill building process and has also started working on the actual business of setting it up. We hope to have an operational mill by next spring. My brother is moving back in with us for awhile to save up money and help with the setup. We got between 10 and 12 inches of rain this week from the remains of tropical storm Fay, and boy did we need it. We made 9 round bales of hay the first cut and only got 4 a few weeks ago because the drought has been so bad. Up the road from us, a bridge was washed out, a huge low-lying pasture looks like a rice paddy and a road has been closed. Perhaps this next hurricane will be easy on New Orleans but still bring us another few inches. I’d love to get the barn filled to bursting with good quality hay before winter. As for me, I’ve been working non-stop and since the Ravelympics have been trying to spin up some romney/mohair with which to knit Cassidy in time for Rhinebeck. Romney is, after all, the sheep of the year for 2008. I don’t know if I can actually pull this off in time. I’ll keep you posted!

Finished Object: Monkey

Pattern: Toe-Up Monkey Sock by Zhenya Lavy (pattern is on Ravelry, aren’t you?)

Yarn: Miss Bab’s fingering weight, in the Watermelon colorway. I purchased this at SAFF for someone else, but I couldn’t bear to part with it. I should feel more shame than I do. I LOVE THIS YARN!

Needles: US 1 Knitpicks fixed options; magic loop

Mods/comments: I used a magic cast on toe, sewn bind off and a modified encroachment heel. I’d love to tell you about the modification on the heel, but I didn’t take any pictures so I’ll show you on the Nutkins socks, okay?

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I’ve been very busy with house redecorating, working and hanging out with Jared, so not much knitting is getting done around here. I am working on some Nutkins here and there using some Tofutsies I picked up back in January. I hurt my finger at work (like it might actually be a little fractured) so I’ve been taking it easy. I’m gearing up to make the Veil of Isis for Team Rubberneckers in the Ravelympics, though. Also, I’ve been doing some tablet weaving:

Neat, huh? You can make or improvise everything you need to do this without spending a dime. There’s even a website with a free tutorial and you can use up your stash yarns and remnants from old projects.

I’m dashing this off before work, but I plan to duck in again shortly. I know I owe several people emails and I will get back to you soon!

Finished Object: Tuscany

Pattern: Tuscany, by Amy Singer from the book, “No Sheep For You” (ravel it)

Yarn: Brook’s Farm ACero 60% Super Wash Wool/20% Silk/20% Viscose, approximately 420 yd/skein. Two skeins used. The company calls this ‘fingering weight’, but I’d call it just under worsted myself. The light outside today refuses to give me pictures that don’t look lavender, but this yarn is pink.

Needles: Addi Turbo size US 6 (4 mm)

Mods/Thoughts: No modifications. LOVE this yarn soooooo much! It was a gift from Evilsciencechick and Grace at SAFF last year and this was one of my Mission: Possible 2008 projects (knit gift yarn into projects worthy of the love.) The yarn has a terrific drape and a bit of luster and it’s a total pleasure to knit with because it’s soft and springy and comfortable. There was a time-long, long ago-when I used to see Brooks Farm and wonder what the big deal was, but then I tried some. And then some more. And now this yarn and this company is still batting a thousand with me. I don’t know if I would have bought the Acero of my own accord, but you can bet I’ll be snapping it up next time.

The pattern is rhythmic and simple and I’m always a little leery of saying this, but I think it would be a good first lace project. The shawl itself is a little bit wider than it is long, which is exactly what I like in a triangular shawl. I’d like to see more patterned that way. It blocked out bigger than I was expecting, which is good because now it’s the perfect size. This took almost exactly two skeins of Acero. I decided to knit this yarn into this shawl because that seemed to be what everyone was doing with their two skeins of Acero. Turns out that sometimes the crowd knows what they’re talking about because this is a case of yarn and project that were meant for each other.

Happy Fourth to the American readers. I’ll be spending mine shopping with a couple of friends who also lack the typical girly shopping chromosomes. Guess where we’re not going? Yarn stores. Take that, stash!!