A Time of Rest

Winter is about the only time here that I get to sit down and knit and rest and plan. It seems like the other nine months are spent running around trying to get caught up. But here we are ... the end of the year and I am finally knitting frantically and trying to get the newest member of the family situated ... and housebroken. I finally have a puppy!!! I am so excited it seems a bit pathetic but there you are. Her name is Jennie and she is a Border Collie. Sable coloured and very very cheerful. Here you go ... cute no? I of course think she is completely adorable.

Other farm news ... the cows have gone to a friends for winter feeding and the ram has gone to the same friends house to get him out of my pens so I could open them up to all of the ewes and the remailing lambs. Not too much else going on ... it has been unseasonably cold after being unseasonably warm well into December. So it has been the usual debacle of frozen water and late baby chicks who are having a bit of a time of it. And on the knitting front ... well they are gifts and can't be covered here till they have been given. New yarn colours are going to be coming out soon ... and even some new yarn as I will start to dye some superwash DK weight yarns too.

Clouds fly across the sky,
The plum tree in the garden
holds blossoms of snow.

How I Spent my Summer Vacation (part deux)

This is my garden ... and so I am busy weeding and canning and freezing. You would think I was feeding an army and not just the DH and I.

I had some cute little chicks that showed up with their proud MaMA one morning :

(this is what blogger refuses to load ... so imagine a big gold chicken with 2 little gold chicks and one little white one ... very cute ... eating ... by the barn)

And I went to .... ALASKA!!! It was so incredibly beautiful. And I met some fab people and I was able to spend a week with my dear friend Brenda of Cast-on fame. The glaciers were amazing .. there were real icebergs and sea otters. I cannot begin to describe the fun that I had. And there was yarn buying ... and lots of it. We were like a plague of locusts everywhere we went.

I have apples to pick and yarn to dye and now summer is almost over. I have two new socks on several sets of needles and a sweater to work on. Plus a trip to Germany and to Wales to plan .... so it's off we go ..... till later!

Hearing the grass sigh

I think, perhaps, the moonlight

Is too beautiful.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation ...

So ... no I did not fall off the face of the earth but spring and summer are very busy times here. Just to catch up ... here are a few new faces around the farm. This is Bob and Billy Bob:








They are my new calves and when they first came here to live they truly looked like little deer. They are a Jersey cross and I will keep them for about 18 months or so.

Blogger refuses to upload any photos again today so I will wait till tomorrow to try to catch everyone up on the farm.

On my needles I have the River Forest Gansey from Handknit Holidays. I am knitting it using Knit Picks Andean Silk ... a blend of 55% superfine alpaca. 23% silk, 22% merino in a beautiful colour called Hyacinth. halfway up the first sleeve and it looks wonderful. Also I am trying to knit up enough socks to get through the winter ... which looks like it could start as early as next week. Geesh!

My good friend Dawn has opened an Etsy shop for me ... check the side bar for link ... and I am SO excited. I love to spin and knit and am hoping to enable as many people to do that with me as I can. Come and check us out.

Every blade of grass

Under it's burden of dew

In time - each springs free.

Hail! Hail! The gang's all here!

So, let's go back to October ... the friend of mine who had my sheep sells them back to me and offers to put them in with his ram as soon as they have been sheared. Ok ... sounds great! They are supposed to go in with the ram the 1st of November ... don't make it till the 7th ... OK, no problem ... no lambs then till after the 7th of April. I can do that. Fast forward to today ... the day my last ewe has her lambs and I can announce that my 2008 lambing is at an end. Yep! Divine intervention you say? Naw .... seems he had left a ram lamb in with all of the ewes on the assumption that he was too young to do anything of any consequence. And we all know what happens we "ass-u-me" something. So here they are ... my newest pack of wild woolies:

This is Jasper with his mother Gabrielle (Gabby).

She thinks he is pretty cool ... and he is very bored being the only baby and so drove everyone crazy wanting them to keep him amused until ...

Lilly and James arrived. They are a week old here and their mom, Mattie, already lets them run with their friends. Lilly was very small when she arrived but is doing great now. James thinks that he should be in charge of everyone. Then just when I thought it might be going to slow down ...

Buelah decided to have twins also. However one of them was lost to us.This little beauty is Rory. One of the things that makes Rory so special is that he is white. All of my sheep are coloured and have been for generations so he is a bit of a throwback.

Agnes, not to be outdone, had twins also. This is Sean and Seamus. They are very tiny but very active and driving their mother crazy by refusing to anything she wants them to do. Today was their first day out in the pasture and they started out a bit surprised by how big the world was outside their pen but they are busy exploring all of it now.

And this morning Isabelle decided she was tired of doing all of the waddling ... and so she had Curly. The name may not stick ... we shall have to see.

So, I am all finished. As are "the Girls". And I shall be even happier in a few days when I know that they are all going to be ok. Life is full of surprises ...

By the lilly pond

The flash of goldfish - lost

In the falling rain.

No Rest For the Wicked

The last month has been full of stress and tragedy ... and a little quirkiness ... and some creativity. I am glad, quite frankly, that it has passed. My birthday is this month and usually I milk it for all it's worth ... like every other 4 year old that you know. This year though ... there is no joy in my life to celebrate. It will be a day like any other. Compounded by the fact that my work has asked me to attend 2 days of corporate meetings that just happen to span my birthday ... so I will spend it in a hotel room knitting ... which I think will be fine ... a bit of peace and quiet and time to reflect on the next 50 years.

As for the quirkiness ... Rupert wandered off a few weeks ago only to be replaced by my newest erstwhile suitor ... Quintus ... the quail.

He sits outside the dining room window and calls and calls all day. He is very devoted although somewhat confused I dare say. The kestrel has been gone for several weeks but I hope he will be back soon. And I hear Rupert in the evenings but he has given up his vigil by the barn completely.

On the creativity front I finished a pair of socks using some yarn from Ceyeberfiber's MamaE in the Brenda's Fire colourway:

In a twisted rib ... I think they turned out nice and several other people have requested a pair so I suppose I had better get started for next Christmas.

Then there was the other side of the creativity front. I started dyeing again and am having huge fun with that.

I found a colourway that I really love and could not think of what to call it. I had meant for it to resemble the sweet cherries that they grow in Japan but every time I look at it I think of salsa and fresh tomatoes. My husband suggested I call it "Socko de Mayo" ... and so I will ... and here it is:

The second colourway I have been calling "Miami" as it is a very pretty shade of coral. We shall see, though, if that name sticks. I will be dyeing more next week ... and will post that as soon as I can. In the meantime ... I am off to work ....

Cold rain -

From the pond in my head the

Sound of Basho's frog.

The Uninvited Guest

The Holidays here were hellish and are best left unaccounted for. But I can assure you that they do serve eggnog in Hell ... albeit alchohol free. Next time I will be bringing my own brandy let me assure you.

We have had several new arrivals here in the last few weeks. The first was a kestral who turned up in the chicken coop and whom I was able to catch and then release ... and then catch and release two days later for the same reason. I assume he is chasing the little sparrows and not watching where they are leading him. I was able to have the Husband snap a few pictures and then I let him go. He, amazingly enough, did not try to kill me or peck or otherwise break free. And it was SO exciting to see him up close. So here is another picture.

I was very surprised at how truly small he was. Very fast though as I see him swooping and diving amongst the little birds every afternoon looking for his dinner.

We live on the edge of a raptor preservation area and so have quite a selection of hawks, eagles, and owls. The owls occasionally catch a chicken or rabbit but they are amazing creatures to watch.

The other guest is a pheasant who showed up last week and spent several days pacing up and down in front of the chicken coop. So, I decided to open it up and see what he would do. He promptly ran in and set up house. The chickens ignored him and he left them alone. Then after a few days he wanted out so I let him out.

Now he has taken to following me everywhere I go ... to the point where the neighbors are starting to talk. I almost fall over him if I turn around too fast. I think he must have been raised by someone but no one I know out here raises them so I am not sure. There is a guy north of town who has some, so I may go and buy him some wives and let them loose around him and see if maybe that will distract him from me.

Oh, and he has two legs but he is just warming one of them up ... no PETA letters please!

The little sparrows

Are my only guests today.

Hiding from the storm.