the March Hare

Touring

2011-05-14T08:25:00.000+02:00

I cannot believe I have not posted since February! Yikes! But in my defense I have had company and the chance to do a bit of travel. That's my story and I am sticking to it!
My daughter came with her boyfriend and then a friend of mine from when I lived in Japan came down from Germany to visit. Also, Jennie the dog was swamped with work due to the current "War Effort" on NATO's part. She loves working with the troops ... better than the kids I think as there in much less tail grabbing. And they will throw her frisbee for her which is about all it takes for her to be your friend for life. So on to my travels.

This is the Castle Miramare where the Archduke Ferdinand and wife lived for 4 years before he left to take the Imperial Crown of Mexico where he was executed by revolutionaries. It is a small but stunning castle surrounded by an amazing park. A true jewel by the sea located just outside of the city of Trieste.

This is the view from the Salon windows. Every view is amazing. Also, you can see here the eagle and snake motif which are the symbol of Mexico. Trieste also had the southern most concentration camp that the Nazi regime established along with the Facists here in Italy. When it was overthrown it was discovered that they had tried to hide their crimes by burning the bodies of prisoners in the ovens en mass. They were exposed and killed. It was a grim reminder.

Trieste is an old city and has some amazing architecture. They are currently excavating some from Roman times that were discovered in the heart of town. The port is busy and so on a food note ... the seafood is great!
Next up will be Rome. But give me a day or two...LOL.
On knitting .... not too much. I did do a big dyeing project of some silk hankies that I am going to try to draft out and knit into a pair of mittens. I am taking tons of pictures and will try to post most of it together. The colours are wonderful and rich so it is a project that I can hardly wait to start. Also, one of a pair of knee socks is finished. It is a project for the next What Would Madame Defarge Knit book. Why I am knitting knee socks all of a sudden I do not know ... but there you have it.
So, I am off to the market ... but I am back to writing. So there will be more to follow. Later ....

Have you ever seen

All the world in a raindrop

But falling ... falling

geesh... still spell checking in Italian only. I am a bad speller in Italian, apparently, since the whole thing lights right up. LOL

A Book! A Book!

2011-02-09T03:55:00.000+01:00

Monday would have been Charles Dickens' 199th birthday, and on that day Cooperative Press announced that preorders for What Would Madame Defarge Knit? opened in honor of the author whose formidable character Therese Defarge inspired Heather Ordover's book. If it's been a while since your last literature class, remember that in A Tale of Two Cities Defarge knits and knits, secretly encoding the names of people she will have killed. Vive la revolution?

And why do I care?
Because I have three designs in the book!

Don't worry, there isn't a murder prerequisite to love this book! Ordover, the creator of popular podcast CraftLit, has assembled an inspiring and thought-provoking collection of 20+ patterns, as well as essays and other tidbits inspired by literature, illustrated by the talented Jen Minnis in a black-and-white woodcut style that pays tribute to Dickensian-era publishing.

And if you're reading this, chances are good you are a strong supporter of small independent publishers. You may be interested to know that this book will be the first Cooperative Press release where all designers receive a direct royalty share of each sale. Our Fresh Designs series, which will be out later this year, is set up similarly. Instead of a small, one-time payment for their work at the beginning (and not a penny afterwards, no matter how many copies the book sells), designers have an opportunity to earn an unlimited payment for their work.

Visit the WWMDfK? website for more about the book's contributors and other behind-the-scenes information. As of today's pre-release, the book is 200+ pages, illustrated.

LIMITED EDITION HARDCOVER — ($45)

Signed, with extras. This is a special creation and will be limited to less than 100 copies, numbered. Shipping is included, as is a PDF copy of the book.

DIGITAL EDITION — PDF ($16.95)

PRINT EDITION ($26.95)

DIGITAL (PDF) + PRINT ($26.95)

E-READER EDITION ($16.95) (For Kindle, Nook, Sony e-Reader, iPad, etc)

Pursued by the Headless Horseman ...

2011-02-07T00:01:00.019+01:00

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow has been a fireside classic for centuries. The tale of a gangly schoolmaster and the ghost of a Hessian soldier has set spines tingling the world over and spawned many dreaded fears of the dark forests. I myself loved the story and spent many childhood hours out in the forest with my father imagining all sorts of wild things happening around me.
Now it is JennietheDog who roams the forests of the Italian Dolomites with me. Wild boar crash through the undergrowth and the small deer that live here occasionally spring up and scare the daylights right out of me. But it is beautiful ... spring, summer, and fall. This soup recipe is seasonal here in Italy and served all throughout the Fall and winter. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do.

Zuppa di Zucca
(Pumkin Soup)

You will need:
olive oil
1-2 T. butter
1 small kubocha or a nice size butternut squash
1 sweet potato
1 small onion (diced)
2-3 cups of a good vegetable or chicken broth
salt
1-2 t. of maple syrup or honey (optional)
Garnish with creme fraiche, sour creme, or roasted hulled pumpkin seeds and a sprig of chives.

Preheat oven to 350 F. or 175 C.
Cut the sweet potato in half. Cut the pumpkin or the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Lightly coat with olive oil on the inside and the outside and roast, cut side up, for about 1 hour or until very tender. Allow to cool.
While that is cooking sweat the onions in the butter over very low heat till clear but not browned.
Once the squash and sweet potato are cool enough to handle scoop out the flesh and add tothe pot along with enough the onions and enough of the broth to cover. Simmer for 10 minutes to allow the flavors to combine. Purre in small bahes in a blender or use a hand blender and ouree in the pot. Add salt and taste. If you would prefer it to have a bit more sweetness add the syup or honey. Serve hot with a dollop of creme fraiche, sour creme, or roasted hulled pumpkin seeds.

Roasted Pumkin Seeds

Lay a piece of parchment paper in the bottom of a cooki sheet and lightly coat with butter.
1/2 c. hulled pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
1 T. butter
1 t. sea salt ( I like the bits of salt but you could easily use kosher salt)
roast till they bigib to turn golden.
In a sauce pan boil 1/2 c. maple syrup for 3 or 4 minutes. Add the seeds and a pinch of smokey paprika or cayenne pepper. Boil for another 3 minutes and pour out onto the buttered piece of parchment paper. Allow to cool and break into bits.

We eat these as a snack quite often which is why there are none in the photo above. Sorry, just imagine little golden brown toasty bits perched on top. There you go!

Brewing the Love Potion ...

2011-02-07T00:01:00.018+01:00

The story of Tristan and Isolde was very popular here in Italy and many cantari or oral poems were presented in the public squares all over the country. Love potions hidden in wine have been around for ever. Here, in Italy, the famed Medici were experts at all sorts of potions and poisons. This spiced wine is served in the winters at all of the Christmas Markets here and is a trade mark of a celebration called "the Bufana" which is a fire celebration held the night before Epiphany.

Spiced Wine (for the Bufana)
1 bottle of good red wine
3/4 - 1 cup of sugar
2 or 3 cinnamon sticks
the zest of a lemon and an orange
3 cloves (for the three wise men)
and a few cardamon pods (optional but I love them)

Combine all of the ingredients in a pan and gently heat. DO NOT BOIL. After 30 minutes strain out the zest and spices and it is ready to serve in some good sturdy mugs ... or your favorite magical chalice.
This can be made ahead and reheated when you are ready. I keep a bottle of it in the refrigerator all winter ... just for medicinal purposes.

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Tasty Goodness

2011-01-27T11:14:00.001+01:00

The last week or two have been cold. And foggy. And did I mention it was damp? How damp you ask? Well we did have some very pretty frost:

The spider has been missing in action for months but her web is still hanging out on the gate.
In spite of the cold I have been trying to get some yarn dyed and up in the shop. Drying takes forever here and I have been forced to employ the de-humidifiers. Here are some pictures of last weeks work: "Squash Blossom" for Brenda Dayne's Driving Miss Daisy gloves, "Walnut" ( a beautiful rich colour with hints of gold) and "Silver Sage" which is a delicate silver green ... just the colour of the sage brush at home in Idaho.

To combat the chill I decided to make barley soup. I love soups but for some reason barley has never been my favorite ... that is until I had it while I was up in Bolzano in December. They made a soup that was amazing. I had tried to make it in January and came up quite short in both the tasty goodness category and in the filling/satisfying category. And then I read a cookbook that mentioned cheese broth. That was when I realized that the amazing flavor in the Bolzano soup was, in fact, a cheesy flavor. So I dragged all of the cheese rinds that I had stored in the freezer and set them to simmer for 3 or so hours in a pot of water (to cover the cheese) on the stove.

That is the cheese broth in the picture above. The whole house smelled great. Then I strained out the cheese rinds and refrigerated the broth overnight. The next day I used some of the fat from the top to saute the veg for the soup, threw the rest of the fat out and made a very tasty soup. Here is te recipe I came up with:

Bolzano Barley Soup

1 onion diced
2 carrots diced
3 ribs of celery diced
Sweat these in a bit of fat from the cheese broth or (for the unbearably health conscious) in a bit of olive oil
Then add 1 c. pearled barley
the cheeese broth
and 3 or 4 cups of good chicken stock (start with the lesser amount and add as needed)
add a pinch or two of oregano and basil, and salt and pepper to taste.
Simmer for an hour or so stirring frequently and adding broth as needed. The soup should be thick and creamy. Here, they add a smoked ham called speck, diced fine, but if you want to add meat to it any ham would work. I'd show a picture of the finished soup but to be honest we ate it all. LOL
I am sorry for typos in this or any other post but I have given up trying to convince blogger to run the spell check n English. It is absolutly convinced that I want everything spell checked in Italian. It wins.

Caught in a tree branch

The moon's cloud veil is pulled free

By the morning breeze.

What's For Dinner ...

2011-01-09T19:42:00.000+01:00

I opend a bottle of CastelVecchio this evening and set down to have a glass. No sooner done than the DH wandered in and ask "what's for dinner?". A deep and abiding silence followed this question and then I blurted out "soup!". So here is a good "emergency" soup to make up when all you really want for dinner is that second glass of wine.

Two Potato Soup

knob of butter
1 yellow onion
1 rib celery
1 t or so of salt
26 oz. chicken stock
1 sweet potato (peeled and diced)
2 or 3 white or gold potatoes (peeled and diced)
1 bay leaf
pinch or so of:
ground thyme
smoked paprika (you can use regular if that is all you have)
black pepper
ground chipotle pepper(you can use cayenne)
1 cup milk or cream

Chop up the onion and celery and put in a heavy pot with the salt and butter and sweat over very low heat for about 30 minutes. Add the chicken stock, the potaoes and the spices and simmer till tender. Remove the bay leaf.
Using a hand blender (or a counter top food processor - being really careful and working in small batches) blend till smooth and thin to desired consistency with the milk. Serve with sour cream and crumble bacon or pancetta.

I totally made this up on the fly. Feel free to tweek it to your hearts content. And here is the culprit that started it all. Not sure where it is available but if you see it give it a try!

The Last of the Christmas Holidays

2011-01-08T12:24:00.000+01:00

Here in the part of Italy where I live there is a big celebration the night before Epiphany called the Bufana. This is based around a legend of the Three Wise Men ... who, like most men, were able to become so lost on their way to adore the Christ child that they ended up here in northern Italy instead of Bethlehem. Finally a miracle occured and they stopped to ask directions at a small cottage ( I know I know ... go figure). When the old woman answered the door they offered to take her with them to Bethlehem. She showed them her broom and told them she had too much housework to do to go wondering off (with three King who were obviously directionally challeged) but she gave them directions and sent them on their way. A few days later she realized that she had missed an amazing opportunity and so she left her home in search of the Christ child herself. Not knowing how she would be able recognize him she gave gifts and candy to every child she met in the hopes that they would turn out to be the Child she was searching for.

Here she is still giving candy and gifts to the children in the village. But wait! There's more! Here in the Friuli region where I live every village and farm builds the biggest bonfire they can (it's a bit of a competition) with either a cross or ... get this ... a witch on top. Why they want to burn the person bringing the gifts is beyond me but anyway about half of them do. The bonfire comes from the old pagan ritual meant to remind the sun to return but this being a Catholic country they have a priest come out and say a prayer and bless the pile of debris with holy water and voila! it is all ok. Then, while what looks like half the village is burning, the spectators set off firecrackers and drink vin brulee (hot spiced wine) and eat roast pork and a special cake that is a combination pumpkin bread/fruit cake.

It was an amazing amount of fun going out and seeing all of this with my friends. And on the drive home we all kept pointing out the fires along the way. Next year I will have to go and do this again!

Midwinter whiteout

Only the sound of the birds

Hidden in the trees.

Happy New Year Everyone!

2010-12-31T13:07:00.001+01:00

It's that time of year again. Usually New Year's Day comes without my seeing it "in" but this year we have been invited to some friends for dinner and I know from past experience that this means that I will be out past midnight. The Italians love to sit and eat and talk and drink and eat and talk and talk ... well I am sure that you can see where this is headed. So tonight for the first time since the year 2000 rolled in I will be up to see it. Then, in a week or so, the village where I live will burn a witch to determine how the weather will play out over the next few months. Yep ... that's right ... they burn a witch. Not a weatherman which I could almost see because they are as bad here as anywhere else that I have ever lived. Nope, they burn a witch.
Christmas here was dismal and rainy. The Son came home for a week and that was the bright spot for me. He made a host of friends downtown and we are already planning his next trip back this summer. He was a huge hit with our friends here and they cannot wait for him to come back.
Prior to Christmas we had snow which is a fairly rare occurrence here:

Not much as you can see but as they do not plow and there is not much sanding either so it was a risky thing to go out driving. This was followed by fog and then a few days of sun melted it off. Pretty while it lasted and JennietheDog had a great time sliding down the drive on the ice ... her favorite part of winter.
An interesting, and tasty, thing about living here is that I can go to a local farm and by raw milk (latte crudo) from a vending machine. It is the best milk I have ever had and it is all we drink now. I wish we had this kind of freedom in our food choices in the US. I just take my own bottles and fill them up:

This year I am going to ramp up the cooking that goes on here and really explore Italian food. Any and all success will be posted here so everyone else can try them too. Sort of a Julie/Julia type thing only with a variety of food styles. I figure cooking and knitting should keep me busy and off the streets and out of jail.
And speaking of knitting, I have several patterns coming out in the new book being released by CraftLit called "What Would Madame Defarge Knit?" It comes out in the first week in February and has some wonderful patterns and essay along with brilliant illustrations. I am having to phase out of my yarn business as I am not allowed to run a business from here and so am hoping to do more pattern design to keep my morale up and my mind busy. Here's hoping ... LOL
This year JennietheDog turned 2 years old and so I will leave you with pictures of her ... mostly 'cause she is just so darned cute! Have a great New Year!

See ... isn't she a beauty?

Hailstones on the roof

The sound of horses running

In far away fields.

It Always Seems Like A Good Idea

2010-12-09T12:17:00.002+01:00

Stay in bed and rest. Two weeks for sure.
I always think that this will work out ok. I will get some books read, some DVD's watched and a lot of knitting done. And about 24 hours later housework is sounding like it might be fun.
As mentioned, I finished my Faroe Shawl that I started with Myrna Stahman at a workshop she gave here in Italy at the end of August. I love it and it is perfect for the weather here.

Not the best picture but it looked even worse on JennietheDog. And besides, there was sun!
There is a shortage of Christmas knitting this year as I have been working on patterns for the new book from CraftLit "What Would Madame Defarge Knit?" that will be released on 7 February 2011. Yep, just a few short months to go. It has been an amazing amount of fun to be involved in this project for the last year and I hope that everyone enjoys the patterns as Heather has assembled a varied and wonderful bunch of designers. I am hoping this will help me to move into doing more design work. And so along those lines:

I did spend a day on the couch. And I have been working at my kitchen table ever since with yarn and books and graph paper piled up all around me scribbling away. At least it keeps me off the streets...

Tonight's light rainfall

Wraps me in soft silence

On my short walk home

On a Clear Day ...

2010-11-28T14:08:00.001+01:00

Which the day after Thanksgiving was not. How is it that there always seems to be such foul weather at the Holidays? But some friends and I headed east towards Slovenia to tour two wineries that were in the Udine/Trieste region. Braving the snow and rain we stopped first at the Bressan winery. Owned by the Bressan Family for 10 generations and currently overseen by Fulvio Bressan it has been in active production since 1726 and creates some of the finest wines in Europe. He is leaving Tuesday for Vienna to recieve an award from the European Union that says this ... so it is not just me. Although I would drink his wine for the rest of my life quite willingly.

The majority of the grapes that he grows are specific to the Friuli region: Tocai Friulano, Malvasia, Ribolla Gialla,Schiopettino and the legendary Pignol which is on it's way to extinction. He uses no chemicals and no synthetic fertilisers and no industrial yeasts. There is much more information at: http://bressanwines.com/.

Stop two was to Castelvecchio (the "Old Castle") in Gorizia on the Slovinean border. There we toured the cellars. Entering though here:

A bit tough for the claustrophobic. And so down this shaft for a bit and then you come upon:

Lovely isn't it? When these cellars were dug out there was quite a cache of old Roman coins discovered. The wines here were also quite tasty although I am afraid that we should have come here first as the Bressan wines are impossible to follow. The homemade prosciutto crudo was wonderful as was the Sagrado Rosso, a wine they are quite well known for. The Viila has is being renovated and is beautiful ... and careful attention has been paid to the mosaics on the floors.

In other news. I have finished my designs for the "What Would Madame DeFarge Knit?" book that is coming from CraftLit in February. I am trying to finish the test knit on one last item and then it will be time to start on some new designs that have been floating round in my head and on bits of paper in my office for the last month or so. While I was knitting I was listening to a new audio book: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. I listened to the Audible.com one but am going to order the book to have. It was wonderful and I was very sorry to see it end. I think it should be a movie.

A foggy landscape
Fond memories of my home
Hanging on the wall.

Gainful Employment

2010-11-02T08:02:00.000+01:00

I am a bit jealous. It's a hard thing to admit ... but I am jealous of JennietheDog. You see, while I am not allowed to seek gainful employment here, she has already found a job and settled right in. She is in training to be a Therapy Dog and so she is working at the local library helping the kids who come in to improve their reading skills.

Here she is on a Saturday being read to by a young girl. Today she goes to help the preschoolers. She loves her job since it means that sometimes she gets to be petted and sometimes they read her to sleep. It's a hard job ... but some puppy has to do it. Here she is hanging with her new friends just before she heads in to work.

We are off to work ... she still can't drive ... it's that "no opposable thumbs" thing. But if I get some good pictures I will update this when I get home.

Road Trip

2010-10-31T12:17:00.000+01:00

Back at last from a longish break but with pictures and some news. We went to Florence(Firenza as it is called here) and had a splendid time. We rode the EuroStar train there as driving in the old city is right up there with having a tooth pulled without the benefits of anesthesia ... just plain no fun! But after an initial bit of rain the weather turned out glorious!

We saw "David" and spent a morning at the Uffizzi zmuseum and ate wonderful food and drank even better wines. We saw the old castle:

And we saw the Duomo and clocktower which are made from an amazing number of coloured maarbles.

On the knitting front I was able to finish my patterns for the new book from CraftLit that is coming out this Spring and I am still knitting away on my Faroe shawl. The shawl should be finished within the next week or so and I have a great idea for a shawl design that I will start on then. I am updating the Etsy shop this week and I have tried my hand at dying with walnut husks. This is what I got:

It is hanging to dry now and I am anxious to see how it ends up.

And we are at the end of the gardening season here. I still have spinach in the garden as it likes the cold but even the kiwi have been picked and brought in. Late October brings the roasted chestnuts to the forfront (castagna) and of course those must be eaten hot and only, ever, with a glass of red wine, never water, or they will give you a bad stomach.

And of course we have the cider we pressed in September ... tasty stuff that. LOL

The whisper of leaves

And me ... I keep listening for more.

But the wind moves on.

Summer Camp: the Remix

2010-09-16T16:30:00.000+02:00

I am sure that most of us have suffered through Summer Camp. I went to several ... finally managing (I think) to be sent home from one in disgrace. And so a few weeks ago it was with some trepidation that I headed off to Camp again. And this camp was both different in some ways and in others the same.
I had signed up for a knitting camp with The Alpine Adventure Agency. I headed up into the Dolomites to a small "camp"called San Martino di Castrozza and a wonderful "tent" called The Grande Hotel des Alpes. It was tough there. The chefs were skilled and the sommeliers were amazing. We had the usual "camp fare" of venison soaked in wine with wild mushrooms, struedel with creme Anglais, lots of things with wild woodland berries ... I think I may have gained weight. And the wines there were to die for.
Then we were forced to hike through the usual campish scenery (if you were an extra in The Sound of Music that is):

We learned the science of cheese making at a local latteria where they have just a bit of cheese on the shelves being wiped down and aged:

We prowled the forests looking for various types of edible mushroom. We ate the good ones but these were the bad ones:

And for our "Crafttime" we had knitting since it was actually a knitting camp. Myrna Stahman (who will be sainted later this year for her unending patience) taught us how to knit Faroese Shawls and Seaman's Scaves. She was amazing ... even when she ripped back 10 rows on the middle stitches of my shawl and then knit them back up correctly while carrying on a lively conversation with the class. It was the best class I have ever taken. And we were able to take our knitting everywhere we went and that was fun too.

That is Myrna ... carrying on a conversation with me and knitting at the same time. I can only dream of being that coordinated someday. So, this time Camp was fun. And maybe next year I can go again ... if I can finish my shawl.

Only the wind sneaks

Into my room on this night

Guttering the flame

Change is in the Air

2010-08-14T15:21:00.000+02:00

Sitting here this afternoon I suddenly felt a shift in the wind and it seemed that Autumn might just be lurking around the corner. It is one of the things about living overseas in climates and areas that you are completely unfamiliar with. When do the seasons change and what exactly are they bringing? Still, it is August here after all and my flowers are blooming like mad. These are the Moon Flowers which my friend Eiko says that she knows as Dutchman's Pipe:

Pre-bloom

Bloomed! They smell a bit like the plumeria in Hawaii. I am hoping to have one whole side of the house covered in them next summer.
While my neice was here, one of the places we traveled to was Aquileia to see the mosaics and some of the Roman ruins. They were amazing and the details were incredible. So much so that we were unable to get down to the old Roman docks as we spent so much time in the Basilica. The entire floor of the church is covered in mosaics.

They are still in the process of restoring some of them.

Hmmm ... that's awkward ... it's up-side down.

There are scary fishes (check out the teeth on the guy at the top), the Tale of Jonah (complete with regurgitating whale), Biblical stories and portaits of various citizens mixed in with a variety of seasonal scenes. The city is in the process of excavating the Market:

It is definetely something that I will go back and see again. There is a museum which we did not make it to and several other sets of ruins including the old Roman cemetary. All in all a fabulous day!
On the knitting front I am working on a Secret Project ... but on the not so secret side of my office I am working on what to take with me when I head up for 10 days in the Alps at a knitting workshop courtesy of The Alpine Adventure Agency ... check them out ... they are very cool! So I am going to learn to knit a Faroe Shawl ... here in Italy ... from a woman I apparently lived about 45 minutes from in Idaho ... go figure. LOL! I have decided to take a cone of my beige yarn from the last of my sheep. I sent out a pile of fleeces to Stonehedge Mill to have it spun into yarn. They did a beautiful job!

I am going to use the lightest one for the shawl. And later, I think I will use the darkest one to knit the new pattern from Schoolhouse Press that is EZ's Green Sweater ... and I may even try to overdye the dark yarn to give it a greenish sheen.
Well the mosquitos are eating me alive as I sit here ... I am like a buffet to them here in Italy ... after all those years in Asia where they would have nothing to do with me I have apparently built up quite the karmic debt.

How heavy both seem

The heat over the fields and

The cicada's song

In the Summer Sun

2010-08-02T21:08:00.000+02:00

Last month I was lucky enough to have my neice come to visit. It was huge fun and I had the pleasure of dragging her out and about in the hottest weeks that anyone can remember here abouts. Yea, that is just how my luck rolls. It was actually so bad that for 2 or 3 days we lay about in the house watching DVD's while I coached her at knitting. However, before the heat was too bad we did head up into the Alps thinking, mistakenly as it turned out, that it would be cooler there.

Lake Bargis

We headed up to Chemolais. Past Lake Bargis (pr. barjiss) and on up further to a lovely, albeit hot, little valley in the mountains.

W had a great time and the scenery was stunning! We took JennietheDog and she had the best time running wildly with her buddies. We went to Venice several times and to Aquileia to see the mosaics. I think she had fun and I am hoping to lure her back to visit. After all ... there is still a gondola ride in her future.

And the JennietheDog says ... come and visit anytime!!!

In the mud puddle

I stir up my reflection

With my walking stick.

The Good Life

2010-07-03T09:13:00.000+02:00

I woke up to the sounds of an accordian being played this morning by my quite elderly (late 80's) neighbor who was also singing along. A French love song he told me ... it had been his wife's favorite and now he sings it to his great-grand daughter. A large portion of the family lives in the 4 story house across the canal from me. He lives downstairs with his daughter, the daughter's daughters live on the next two floors with their husbands and one of their daughters and husband and children live on the top floor.
Family is everything here. And every morning they are all out, as soon as the sun comes up, raking leaves and working in the garden. There are no better gardeners than Italian men ... although I suspect the women are, actually, just as good but in a really stealthy way. There is never a leaf out of place ... a weed left un-plucked ... or a blade of grass that is just a tad too long. And the flowers are amazing. The scent of jasmine wars with the fragrance of the magnolias and the roses. It is heaven.
And they laugh ... all day. It is hot here in a way that I had forgotten summer could be. With humidity you could cut with a knife. So, the Italians live outside all day in the summer in the shade. They laugh and the children play and then they squabble and the adults help them figure it out and life goes on ... loudly and publicly in a way that most of the world has forgotton.
At lunch time it was too hot to cook so I went to the restaurant across the street from our house where I was, by far, the youngest person there. The owner, our friend Stefano, came over to talk and asked how I was enjoying the weather. I said it was just too hot for me ... that at night it was too sweaty and sticky to sleep. His solution, which he yelled across the room to me and which had all of the other patrons nodding and laughing was " You must remember then to make love under the shower and not in the bed!"
Yep, life lived fully and without reservation ... that is the beauty of living here.

Digging Out

2010-06-24T12:14:00.001+02:00

I have finally cleared enough of the boxes out of the house to be able to get some things done. One of those things was dyeing yarn and so there are yarns slowly trickling into the shop. I also took some time out to go and visit a winery and to buy some wines. I traveled down to the Moletto winery which sits in both the Friuli region (where I live) and the Veneto region. The wines were wonderful and I came home with several cases half of which we have already drunk. Next on the list of things to do is to take the umpteen litre size demijohns to the local winery to fill up so we can bottle our own.

The buildings where the winery is housed were built is the 1500's and are little changed. The room above is where the field workers wives spun wool and wove when they were not working in the fields at the harvest.

We then headed into the nearby town for lunch where we met up with some officers in the local Cabbinieri who were happy to show us around their building.

Then the following week we headed over to Vittorio Veneto to tour the old city (Serravalle) and to have lunch. The cathedral in this city has a beautiful alterpiece by Titian and has made me consider doing another blog on Italian country churches. What passes for a poor country church here frequently contains 15th and 16th century frescoes and/or paintings by artists that we all know and love. I cannot imagine growing up and thinking that the old church where your family has attended forever is actually a splendid repository for some of the most unappreciated art in Italy. We shall see what I come up with.

We went to lunch where the antipasti for 2 looked like this:

And the lunch was a mixed grill of meats with grilled vegetables and lots of prosecco and red wine. I forgot to take any other pictures of the food because my hands were messy from eating such a great meal. The cooking in this region is amazing. A great book about it is called : Venezia: Food and Dreams. I love this cookbook.

Not too much else going on really. I did finish the Driftwood socks and I love them. Now I am on to a pair for someone else. I wish I could knit for me ... but I have a hard time rationalizing it. So today it is a movie and knitting. And I am off.

Rain puddles at night

Full of broken yellow moons

And the sound of frogs.

Camping Out

2010-05-23T11:12:00.000+02:00

I am still waiting for my household goods to arrive. Rumor has it they have been in Venice for about a week and are tied up in Customs. In the meantime we are still in the camping out phase. Last night I cooked and this is what the table looked like:

Baking sheet with ribs, saucepan with Baked Beans, and Folgers container with Broccolli salad. Plates borrowed from the restaurant across the street. Yep, we live like kings ... what can I say. LOL.

All of this was prepared in or on my new 1,000 euro range. That would be the one in the basement summer kitchen because that was the only place it would fit.

I am going to have to find a way to take this stove back with me ... I love it!

Still no way to dye yarn ... but there is no shortage of yarn for me to knit so I am plugging away on several pairs of socks. I decided that I should start knitting up some of the colourways that I dye that I haven't taken the time to knit with and so far I am really pleased with the results. These are knit in the "Driftwood" colourway:

I have started reading books about life in Italy and found a really good one that is actually set in the Veneto region where I live. It is about an American couple who buy a Palladian villa and what they discovered on moving here.

Two of my favorite parts relate to driving here. One of them is where they come to the realization that just because there is a sign that says your destination is off to the right doesn't actually mean that the next road is the one you want. It just means that somewhere in the next 5 kl. or so will be a road that will take you roughly in the direction that you want in the general area of the town that you are looking for. The other compares the driving here to an Olympic sport where style points can make or break your score. Very funny ... and also very true. An interesting rule of the road here is that if someone is passing and there is oncoming traffic that he runs the risk of hitting head-on ... the passing driver has the right of way ... yep that's right. The dumbest driver wins.

Above the nests edge

Tiny yellow trumpets

open wide, crying.

The Night Visitor

2010-05-17T07:00:00.001+02:00

We have finally decided to move into the new house and "camp out" till our household goods arrive. Yes, those would be the ones that were due here a month ago and still have not shown up. In the mean time, we have had fun wandering our new neighborhood and being stared at by our new neighbors. The other night, however, JennietheDog went out and stopped suddenly at the bottom of the stairs and began stalking the garden wall. Finally curiosity got the best of me and I went down to see what had occasioned all of the stalking and jumping back and here is what I found:

A Euopean Hedgehog (riccio in Italian). He was much bigger than I had thought they would be and very very cute. My landlord says he is very old and they seemed happy that I had seen him. They rely on them for bug and snake control in their gardens.

We have had an amazing amount of torrential rain in the last month but yesterday and today started out sunny so I took some pictures of the new house. The locals say that the last time the volcano erupted they went without a summer and instead had a long rainy cold Spring followed by a cold rainy early Autumn. Imagine my joy.This is the front of the house (as seen from the back).

And this is part of the back of the property to incude my outdoor pizza oven. I cannot wait to try it out. We did set up a summer kitchen in the downstairs for when it gets hot (here's hoping ... LOL) and now all we need is furniture, and dishes, and stuff. If it stays nice today I will take more pictures and try to get them up tonight or tomrrow.

On the knitting front I have not gotten past the 9th repeat of the shawl I was working on but that is because I have been desperately trying to finish one of the three sets of socks that I have on the needles. Knitting is still slow work and my shoulder will only tolerate so much of it but I am getting more comfortable with Continental style knitting although my old way is still the fastest for me. The dates are out for the next Sock Summit and I am trying to figure out if I will be able to go or not. It was a ton of fun last year.

A south wind carries

Rain and the song of the wren

Down the arrows path.

Dust ... Yes It Is Everywhere

2010-04-20T16:25:00.000+02:00

No new volcano news today ... thank goodness, but tons of stranded travellers are here waiting to get out. Marco Polo Airport is supposed to re-open today but the haze here is terrible. We shall see. I thought of going down to Venice today for lunch but stayed home as I expect the crowds are pretty thick ... and unhappy.
We went to Venice a week or so ago and it was amazing. I was in the middle of reading a book called "The City of Falling Angels" by John Berendt (of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil fame) which is about the burning of the famous opera house in Venice called "The Fenice". So, as we were wandering around Venice looking at things like:

while trying to decide if we should ride in the orange crushed velvet with pompoms and fringe pimped out gondola

or the more taditional but also more subdued type:

My husband, who never thinks of these things, says "Hey! Let's go look at that building you are reading about." And so we did. I wish now that I had finished the book first and so I will have to go back because they have rebuilt it and when you stand in the street, 6 feet from the building next to it, you see why, at the beginning of the book, the fear was that all of Venice would burn. It was incredible there!
In other news, I recieved a shipment of wool yarn from Stone Hedge Mills. It is gorgeous and I will try to take pictures and get them up. They did a fabulous job and I have already started a shawl in the black/silver. What will I do now that I have no fleeces of my own to send them ... yikes!

I can see the trees

Through the window ... blossoms fly

Following the wind.

Geek Needed ...

2010-04-17T17:53:00.000+02:00

I know I have an Italian IP address now ... and that I live here and all ... but I really need to find a way to make Google and Yahoo and every other thing on my computer stay in English. Really. My Italian is bad at best and while I am trying to improve it this is not helping ... it's like that version of Word that used to guess what you wanted to write while you were typing and then didn't want to admit it was wrong. I need less help that way.
But Italy is every bit as amazing as I thought it would be. A few weeks ago I toured the castle town of Valvasone. They have been renovating the castle for twelve years and today they were able to allow people in to see the "Gaming Room". Here is what it looked like in the town while I was there:

And then we toured the two Churches there which are famous for their frescos:

And then we had an amazing lunch ... for about 2 1/2 hours. LOL

The internet here is hellish ... but if I can, I will write again tomorrow about my trip to Venice. I will say that I am finding some amazing inspiration for new yarn colours and can hardly wait for my things to get here. In about 2 weeks I should be able to get back up and running ... I'll keep you posted.

I hear the door lock ...

Then the rattling of paper

The scratching of lead.

My Life is Like …

2010-03-26T16:01:00.002+01:00

a bad Country and Western song of late. My dog was bit on the foot, I have a cold, the dog was left in Amsterdam for 4 days, and until the day before yesterday our house hunting was going no where. But, we now have a house to rent and JennietheDog’s foot is getting better (thanks to some high powered antibiotics and two drainage holes), my cold is in it’s final stages and I had a decent nights sleep at last.
Enough whining. Italy is beautiful and the people here are amazingly welcoming. They love dog’s so JennietheDog is spoiled rotten by the maids here and we even found some sheep for her to stare longingly at the other day. It has rained/fog/misted everyday but one since we arrived. The other day however was beautiful and I was able to get a picture of the mountains at last.

Our house in the middle of the village of Aviano so I will be able to walk to the open market, the pastry shop, the library(for Italian lessons), the butcher, the poulterer, and the cheese and milk shop. It should make my life very easy I think.
I will try to take more pictures when the weather improves.

Resting on the clouds

This morning’s moon slips away

I head off to work.

Moving On

2010-03-02T00:35:00.002+01:00

Well I am almost a month post surgery and so far none of my household goods are Italy bound (that will occur the week of March 11) and I have managed 36 stitches in the Continental style of knitting. My surgeon says with luck I may be able to drink a glass of water with my right arm by the end of March … it’s the little things you miss …LOL! I seem to be spending most of my time dreaming up new colourways for the shop and new stranded knitting projects to work on once I am legal to knit again. So far I have a lace scarf in mind in a thistle pattern, a pair of Nordic mittens, and the ubiquitous socks that all have to come along with me in my luggage. We fly out on the 16th of March which means if all goes well my first full day in Italy will also be my birthday!!

JennietheDog has been busily defending the homestead from a vicious onslaught of tumbleweeds … wonder what she will try to herd when we get to our new home?

The wrens all bathe here

In the dust around my gate

So many footprints.

2010-01-30T02:43:00.000+01:00

Well Italy is looming on the horizon as is my arm surgery. One I am looking forward to and the other ... not so much. We will probably start the shipping our household out in mid February so now comes the time of deciding which knittting projects are "Have to Have's" and which can be mailed and which I can wait upon. I suspect the return to knitting to be slow but I think it will actually help in my recovery.
We have started the Italian House Hunting Project ... and they seem pretty good. Some even have kitchens in them already. What you say? Yes , it is not uncommon to rent a house that has nothing but the walls in it. No sinks, no counters, no nothing. So, we will look for something wioth some land for JennietheDog to run on and maybe I will get a few chickens. I few people we know have actually bought homes there ... and I cannot rule that out. I just hope we have a "view".

This is my view now. So I think the bar is a bit high. LOL

JennietheDog is missing her sheep ... and when most of the chickens go I imagine that will be traumatic as well. She did a brilliant job defending them today from a large and hungry hawk.

If anyone needs any of the yarn in my etsy shop please let me know ASAP as it will be Italy bound in another week. I have a few colours of the wool/silk blend not listed ... if you want to know what they are please ask. More to come I am sure.

On cat's paws ... the fog

Gray and floating, softly creeps

Curling 'round my feet

And Then There Were None …

2010-01-24T23:52:00.002+01:00

Ahhh … moving. The sheep left today and the chickens are going next week and we will be without livestock for the first time since we moved here. It seems quite barren and very quiet. JennietheDog seems lost without her sheep … she didn’t even perk up when I took her on a walk.
The move to Italy is still in limbo, date wise, and so in the interim I am having shoulder surgery. Major rebuilding they think although they will not know till they get in there and look around … not exactly what I wanted to hear. Nor that I will be unable to knit for several weeks.

Odd thing ... blog writer in Windows7 seems to publish my posts now ... maybe because there were no pictures yet ... not sure. This is a gratuitous lamb photo ... I miss the little guys.

The sound of the wind

In the forest behind me

A raven flies off.

How to Panic Effectively ...or

2010-01-01T18:49:00.000+01:00

How I live my life from day to day.
I dislike change … and not just a little. And yet, I have managed to live a life that is constantly full of change, most of which is totally out of my control. I think I might have issues. A few days ago I found out that we were probably moving … again … overseas …. again. This is no small task although I could do it in my sleep … what makes this daunting is that I have to accomplish this in 8 weeks. I have to liquidate my livestock now that I have a flock of award winning sheep and sell my vehicles and separate out my household goods into storage, to be packed, and to be sent off to the kids. I have to figure out what JennietheDog needs to do to get there ok and introduce her to “the kennel”. I have a business that I need to figure out how to make work from there and a new venture that I will be learning from long distance.
The up-side you may ask? Well that is the part where I will be living at the foot of the Italian Alps. So I guess you can expect lots of pictures of Italy and lots of recipes for northern Italian food. Not so shabby huh? LOL

Traveling along

Down this road … even here I

Cannot see the moon

A Very Merry Christmas

2009-12-22T05:15:00.000+01:00

As the end of the year approaches I have much to be thankful for … great friends, a wonderful family, and time well spent with all of you. Life is definitely good I would say. I wish the very best for everyone of you. And JennietheDog says Merry Christmas too!

The little sparrows
Are my only guests today
Hiding from the storm.

Let the Fun Begin

2009-12-13T04:16:00.000+01:00

Well the Daughter has arrived home for Christmas after a horrible two day process of blizzards and flight delays … coast to coast travel and an overnight in Phoenix. So … now I am making Christmas Dinner and tomorrow we will decorate the tree and on Sunday we will open some of the Christmas presents. In October, when I was preparing to head off to Rhinebeck, I decided that I needed a hat. I make myself a fair isle hat using natural coloured wool from my sheep. So, when I decided that I would make a pair of Nordic mittens for the Daughter for Christmas I thought that this would be quick and easy. Neither turned out to be true … but I loved knitting them and am already planning a pair using my wool/silk blend with an angora lining. Here they are:

I can hardly wait to start another pair. The very small bit of blue yarn is all that was left … a cause of much concern while I was finishing up.
All the cows are gone now … Jack the Pirate King comes home tonight in his new paper and vacuum wrap. Thank goodness, because we have had an extremely cold week and I hated going out to feed and bucket water to the sheep … the cows would have been a mess. As it is, the eggs all froze in the hen house within a hour of being laid so I was able to pick up only two good ones in the last two days.
I think I’ll stay home
This snow fall is too perfect
For me to walk on.

Are We There Yet?

2009-11-15T17:48:00.009+01:00

Winter and I have a love/hate relationship. I detest the cold and love the fact that I can finally spin and knit to my hearts content because it's too cold to do much else outside. I still try to knock out a few miles a day with JennietheDog but there are days when the wind chill makes that risky so we just stay home. And we have wolves down here by us currently and a dog is a wolf magnet ... so I have to be careful when it is just the two of us out.

So, in the last month, I went to Rhinebeck, New York for their Sheep and Wool festival. I met tons of people who knit with my yarn and that was fun and exciting! I saw some Wensleydales that were cute and I met my daughter's boyfriend ... he was cute too ... and very nice. I did not take the camera as I packed the night before in a total frenzy and forgot it. I will email the Daughter and see if she has any ... I do have a gratuitous photo of some wonderful socks knit in my Rainy Day Colourway that Marty sent me. Marty also writes that : "The Ravelry group is “2-at-a-time socks”, and we work with Melissa Morgan-Oakes’ book of that title" Amazing! And maybe I would not have such a problem with knitting the second sock ... LOL. I finished my Rainy Day socks finally and will try to get some pictures taken as soon as I write up the pattern. Also in October I had the shearer come and shear the sheep so they have gone from large and fluffy to slim and slick. Check out the Feb 27,2007 entry for before and after photos. The ram is in with most of them now but the shearer thinks that at least one of them might already be pregnant (he escaped twice this summer ... the ram not the shearer LOL) so I may be having January lambs ... yuck! This is Gabriella and Walker in their new shorter coats. Now, the mountains are covered with snow but it was still decent weather back in October. I have started my Christmas knitting but most of it is still a secret so for now ... I guess that is all the news that is fit to print! No haiku today as I cannot get Blogger to make paragraphs now ... geesh!

This years maple leaves

Fall, still green, no reds to warm

The snow laden wind.

Hah! I, SO tricked it!

It Was Short But Sweet ...

2009-10-04T01:47:00.007+02:00

Autumn that is. It lasted about a day and a half and now we are expecting snow. So, we scoured the garden today for everything that needed to be picked before a hard freeze. Carrots, squash, and the last of the eggplant. That leaves the parsnips on their own for another few weeks.

Things that have happened since the last post are:

The Western Idaho State Fair ... where Ruby took Grand Champion in her class and Walker took 3rd in his and they both took third in a combined class.

This pictures is of Walker being "set to show" by some friends of mine. It was fun and they have amazing and funny "Fair Food" like deep fried Twinkies and Snickers bars. And Tornatoes (a crispy potato swirly thing) and great Basque lamb sandwiches. There were tractor pulls and some amazing quilt exhibits (I thought of you there, Anne!)

We had several more batches of baby chicks show up and one fatality in that bunch. And I have a hen that has started crowing ... not sure what that is all about.

I am getting ready to head out in a week or so for Rhinebeck, NY for their Sheep and Wool festival. Taking some new yarn colours and a new sock pattern called "Harvest on the Palouse". And I will get to see the Daughter and meet her beau for the first time ... big excitement there.

On a lighter note ... Jennie the Dog has been having a great time keeping the leaves rounded up and keeping track of her chicken friends. I just wish they liked that part as much as she does.

Slowing our passage

Chestnuts, that the wind knocked down,

Litter the pathway.

As Summer Draws Down

2009-08-19T17:48:00.005+02:00

First the camera has been found and so without further ado here are Jennie and Blanche:

They have been pretty good buddies till yesterday. Jennie likes to pull on Blanche's ears as a way to get her to go where she wants her to go ... but a lamb has delicate ears. Last night while tugging on Blanche's ears Jennie managed to nick a vein ... and there was blood everywhere. On the lamb ... on the dog ... on one of the other sheep. Everyone survived but now when Blanche sees Jennie coming she runs in the shed and shoves her head in the straw. Not all friendships are made to last I guess.

Resting on the porch

A morning glory has bloomed

Brilliant in the shade.

The Kindness of Strangers

2009-08-14T18:56:00.004+02:00

We have a new addition to the sheep flock. A tiny late born lamb from a friend of mine. She is white and smaller than JennietheDog and her name is Blanche. Blanche DuBois. She was alone for about 3 weeks before she came here to live and is a bit neurotic because of that. But I think she will be fine in the long run. No pictures however as I cannot find the camera since my return from Sock Summit.

And WOW! was that fun. I don't get off of the ranch much. And Portland was overwhelming and the Summit was exhausting. I met quite a few people who buy my yarn which was nice One of them even knit me a little tiny sock to wear on my neck thingy that they give you to keep your name tag etc. in. A very sweet gesture I thought. No picture ... camera still missing.

I did however receive an e-mail just before my frenzy of preparations began from a lovely woman who must knit like the wind because she sent me pictures of two sets of socks that she knit from my yarn.

Aren't they gorgeous? I feel a bit like a slacker since I am a slow (but steady) knitter. I will have to try this pattern out for myself.

Well I have to find the camera as I do have some pictures to share ... catch up with you later!

Blue-eyed prairie grass

Waving in the wind ... rippling

I can see the wind.

A Pet of Her Very Own

2009-06-29T22:47:00.004+02:00

I know, I know, I am SO bad about writing. I think about it every day and then think of something that is coming up that I will want to add and then nothing ever gets done. And I know better. Every morning I check my favorite blogs to see what folks are up too. One friend, Anne, (http://frayedattheedge.typepad.co.uk/) writes daily ... and when she does not I truly fear that she is ill. She sent me a lovely package with several British magazines, one of which I am considering subscribing to since there were four items in it that I am prepared to knit right away. The name of the magazine is Yarn Forward and I highly recommend it. I have been knitting socks ... working on a design for Sock Summit and am now dyeing a yarn for the Sock Summit dying contest "Dye For Glory". Catchy name eh? No pics since things are not settled upon.

Big news here is that the Daughter graduated from University with 2 Bachelor degrees and a minor and her Global Certification in Mandarin Chinese. All in four years and I am SO proud of her. The above photo shows her in her regalia along with her brother who attends a different university 10 miles away.

And on the home front JennietheDog has a new pet of her very very own. A baby chick. It hatched in the hen house which is a very dangerous place for a baby and so had to be removed immediately. I believe it is a Japanese bantam due to it's amazingly small stature and very short legs but only time will tell. JennietheDog loves her will all of her heart and the baby follows her everywhere. I will have to keep you posted on this. I have lots more to tell but will have to write again tomorrow. My son had his wisdom teeth out as an emergency this morning and I need to care for him. Later ...

The bee emerges

Drunk with nectar. Then stumbles

Off to drink again

Busy Times ...

2009-05-16T16:41:00.006+02:00

We have been so busy here of late that I have been slow to get back with photos of the new lambs. They are growing at a rapid rate but are all still cute as buttons. This is Alice. She had a slight accident yesterday when someone stepped on her tail and it came off. But she has already moved on and is her happy-go-lucky self again.

She and her brothers run amok and have discovered the new baby chicks whom they love to try to sniff. The new mother hens are not so pleased and spend most of their time running around the babies with their wings held out trying to look as big and scary as possible. Hard to do when you are only about 6 inches tall.

The new calves are settling in nicely and the two older cows are eating me out of house and home. Bob stepped in a badger hole and wrenched a knee and now has developed quite the peg-legged walk so we have started call him Jack the Pirate. I think the name will stick.

I spent all of yesterday dyeing wool and getting technical help from my own personal tech goddess Dawn over at crochetcompulsive so by this afternoon all of the yarns will be up on the etsy site. Here is a group photo of the sock yarns.

Sometimes it seems like I dye the same 3 or 4 colours all the time but apparently I dye the same 26 colours all the time. LOL.

I love it though ... this is almost too much fun most days. And I keep having more and more ideas of colours to try.

Today we are going to try to get some of the garden in even though this morning it was only 36 degrees. So I am off to pitch in on that project now so I can dye the wooly silk later ...

Every blade of grass

Under it's burden of dew

In time - springs free.

And Then There Were Four

2009-04-26T16:02:00.006+02:00

No sooner did I blog about poor Isabella than the next morning she went into labor. Which continued on for a while. I place a frantic call to the vet about the apparent size of the first lamb. He explained how I would have to check to make sure the lamb wasn't stuck due to a bad presentation and I went out to explain this to Izzy who looked at me with that "you plan to put your hand where?!" look and then proceeded to produce her giant sized lamb just to show me that the hand thing was never going to happen. He is aptly named "Andre" after the giant. A few minutes later he was followed by his very little sister who I named "Alice" after the Alice in the Twilight series. She is beautiful and very tiny and dances everywhere she goes. Andre is every bit as big as the lambs who were born a week earlier and they both are true daredevils when it comes to straw bale jumping and head butting ... no fear for any of them. The weather has been terrible but when I can I will try to get some good lamb pics up.

Other Big News! here is that a yarn store in Kenosha Wisconsin has begun carrying my yarn. Huge news for me!! The store is named Fiddlehead Yarns and if you should ever be in the neighborhood please drop in and see them. I may try to do that myself in my migration to Rhinebeck in October.

On my needles this week is a pair of socks in the Fields of Barley colourway in a wheat ear pattern. I am hoping I will get the first one done soon but I keep having to go out and pet the new lambs. Go figure.

Cold rain -

From the pond in my head

The sound of Basho's frog.

What do you think ...

2009-04-21T04:31:00.024+02:00

do these babies make my butt look big?

Poor Isabella still has not had her lambs. And she is miserable. Every night I go to bed thinking that in the morning they will have been born ... but not yet. Still, I can hardly imagine it will be much longer. In the mean time, though, these twin rams arrived just a few days ago.
Meet Gizmo and Widget. Too cute huh?

Hopefully more to come tomorrow ...

Tossed among the pines
The little sparrows
Overtaken by the wind.

In Which the Fates Are Not Amused

2009-04-09T18:55:00.007+02:00

It didn't work. No lambs yet. And so I admit defeat. Instead I will post on my current knitting which has been a bit challenging of late. First up is my second Sock Madness sock. It was my first foray into stranded colour work and I turned it inside out to show how nice that part turned out. I have to say that I am rather pleased with it myself. I knit it in a wool silk blend. The purple is the Victoria's Ballgown colourway and the salmon was a one time dye job. I actually love the purple and will be knittin gmuch more in that colour in the future. But competetive sock knitting wears me out and when I came to the toe this is what happened. I am so discouraged that I will not be knitting the second one ... but will send the first "on the road" with my yarn. Here is the picture. Laugh softly please as I am still a bit sensitive. And yes I kitchnered the toe crosswise from the decreases. Why? Because I SO wanted to be done and I was SO tired and I chose not to pay attention. There you have it. No one to blame but myself.

I did finish a cute tiny baby hat and then tried 6 times to do the same lace pattern in a small throw for the baby's carseat. I have now ripped it back to the point where I would prefere to burn it but instead will start it this afternoon in a Feather and Fan pattern which I could normally do in my sleep. But here is the hat in the Cherry Blossom festival colour. Blogger is being weird so I think I will go. More to follow I am sure.

Texas Has Nothing On Us...

2009-04-07T23:33:00.004+02:00

Here in Idaho sturgeon fishing is a big sport. You cannot kill or keep them but that doesn't stop anyone for going out to see how big a one they can bring in. My neighbor caught this one on Monday ... 8'1" long. Biggest one I have seen. They completely creep me out and these (and the leaches) are the reason I never swim in the Snake River.

Another pastime here in the Spring is the burning of tumbleweeds. I am always sure that we will start a range fire that will consume millions of acres and we never do. Everyone goes out to roll them into the middle of the road and then someone else comes behind and rolls the burning tumbleweeds along into the dry ones ... and great fun is had by all.

I kept thinking that I would wait to blog till I had lambs ... but since they still have not arrived I thought that perhaps I could tempt fate by blogging like I just don't care. If I am back in a few days we will know that it worked. Till then ....

The sound of the wind

In the forest behind me

A raven flies off.

The Iceman Cometh ...

2009-02-12T19:03:00.007+01:00

and apparently intends to stay. Ahh, the winter months here ... snow, ice, rain, snow, rain (to create a slicker ice) snow. And did I mention cold? The news would have you think that the world has ended but in reality this is how winter is supposed to be. I remember winters from when I was a kid involved lots of sledding, a concussion or two (the ice) and freezing cold which caused much hot cocoa to be consumed. And there is a beauty to it ...

This is the result of ice fog ... which is a big part of the winter landscape here abouts. Pretty no?

One of the big projects at this time of year is the planning of the garden. And this is sparked by the happy arrival of the garden seed catalogs. After hours of pouring over them my selections have been made, the seeds ordered, and their arrival is eminent.

I have been dyeing sock wool non-stop in preparation for my dear friends, Jennie and Dawn, taking it to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this year. I am nervous .... but hopeful that it will be well received. As a bribe, I am sending them with several boxes of Idaho Spud Bars ... so if you see them stop by and try one.

On the knitting front ... I am. I have finished several pairs of socks and am currently knitting two different scarves that I am working in a nice 70/30 wool/silk blend. Pictures to follow at a later date.

I am preparing for the arrival of this years lambs in approximately 6 weeks ... assuming that the new ram, Walker, did his part. I only bred three ewes this year as feed is so high but that still means that I could end up with at least 5 or 6 lambs ... maybe more.

Jennie (the puppy) is growing up and is at that gangly teenager stage. but cute as always and sharp as a tack. She has started trying to get the sheep to move about on her own.

And last, but not least, my friend Franklin has bemoaned his lack of orderliness and organization in his creative space. I hold that creativity occurs only where there is fuel to fire it ... and I know my desk/table looks like it could catch fire at any moment ... LOL!

So poor, my poems

But good company tonight

Reading them over.

A Time of Rest

2008-12-19T19:43:00.008+01:00

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)

2008-08-27T02:09:00.007+02:00

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 ...

2008-08-25T17:52:00.007+02:00

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!

2008-03-25T19:05:00.011+01:00

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

2008-03-04T17:23:00.007+01:00

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

2008-02-05T00:00:00.000+01:00

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.

I'll Bet You've Been Wondering ...

2007-11-15T16:08:00.000+01:00

"Now why don't she write?"
The flight back home from Japan at the peak of summer with two cats and the teenage Son was hellish. Flying is not what it used to be. I feel safer flying overseas than I do here in the U.S. in spite of all of the yelling, partial disrobing and general chaos. None of this goes on in Japan. But I am home! And so thrilled to be here.
There has been so much to do that I haven't had time to do much writing.
One of the first things that had to be done was I had to have my friend Danny come and "take care of" the 13 roosters that we had running about the place. My hens were hating life and as the "boys" started up at 0'dark thirty every morning I'm sure my neighbors were hating me.
Oddly enough I had this one poor little naked chicken ... and she had been naked for a while mind you. Suddenly she has feathers again! I suspect that one of the boys" was plucking her bald ... poor thing.
The sheep are off on their yearly "conjugal visit" with my friend Ray's rams. They should be home in a week or so. I am a fair weather shepherd for sure! None of this lambing in February stuff for me ... oh no ... I lamb at the end of March.
In knitting ... I am spinning up a black fleece from 2 years ago (oh yea ... I am that far behind) to knit the Cobblestone sweater from the Fall IK for the Son. I have no idea if he will actually wear it ... but I am hopeful. I am also working on a pair of socks for the Husband and a pair of House Socks for the Daughter. Pics soon.
Hmm tried to put a picture here ... blogger not so cooperative. Maybe next time.

Down from the mountain

The nightingales last visit

Brings with it the snow.

The Far and Boundless Sea

2007-08-11T01:43:00.000+02:00

That is what I will be crossing in a week as I begin my completely unexpected move from Japan and back to Idaho. Well, not unexpected so much as a year early. Still, I am running around like mad trying to wrap up my affairs here. Last night I had dinner with my last classes of students. It was fun, but my head tells me this morning that the water glass of shoju combined with the two beers I drank was a bit over the top. I actually thought it was water ... until the third gulp ... my friends loved it.

I know that I have been remiss in posting about my trip to China with the Daughter. It was wonderful,sad, and scary. If you would like to see why real Communism (vs. the theoretical type) cannot work ... go there and see for yourself. I have truly never seen a people so beaten down and so hopeless. I also saw some of the most amazing architectural wonders on earth.

OK ... I was looking for my pictures from the Great Wall and cannot find them. This is the oldest tea house in Shanghai. It was wonderful and right by the Yu Gardens which were amazing.

I will try to find the rest of the pictures and post those in a week or so.

Peking was the most depressing for me. I truly feel that China may become a world economic power only because it is so willing to let anyone with two cents to rub together exploit their people for them. And the U.S. is right at the front of the line. Followed by Russia, France and everyone else seeking the way to cheap and unaccountable labor.
Enough on that front ... more on China soon.

In knitting I am still where I was last time on the sock. It's embarrassing, I know. I am checking daily to see if the new IK is in at the book store. I am hoping that they may have changed the format (again) back to where the pattern is all right there with the pictures. We shall see.
But the object of my desire is the pattern for the men's sweater by Jared Flood of the blog Brooklyntweed fame. It is called Cobblestone Pullover and I think this may be the sweater that my son gets for Christmas. I have some beautiful black-shot-with-silver roving from one of the lambs last year that I think I will spin up. I think it will work out nicely. Plus I have like fifty giant balls of roving that I have to get to spinning or I will be sleeping in the barn. I did send some to a friend (read poor unsuspecting cyber friend who has never met me and therefor cannot hunt me down to return them) and he seems quite pleased with his spinning results. I do love lambs wool which is so light and springy.

The moon peeking in

Having such dreams ... I cry out

The crickets answer.

The Doldrums

2007-07-29T06:08:00.000+02:00

It's true ... like the sailors of old, I have been seriously languishing here. The Daughter headed back to her job and school and as usual that was a real show stopper for me. But the weather has turned, mostly, and so my mood is a bit better. That and I am going to get to go home to Idaho for about 6 weeks. The reason is not the best ... but I am looking past that to the idea of spending some serious time with my friends and my spinning wheel and my knitting.

Here in Japan it has been cool and rainy (60-ish most days) the perfect weather for the hydrangea that are blooming everywhere. They are in the most incredible colours here ... just amazing. And then, this week, out came the sun ... and *poof!* it is in the 80's with a gazzillion percent humidity ... not too good for the hydrangea but a welcome sight for me.

On the needles I have the second of a pair of socks by Sundara called grape hyacinth after the yarn colour. These are beautiful yarns ... absolutely lovely. But as with all socks ... I am not so keen on knitting the second one. But I am plugging on. I did have to change the pattern a bit when it occurred to me that the cabling might not fit into my clogs so well. So I stopped cabling a bit early. But otherwise they are knit as written.

I ordered some other yarn this week as well. From www.mamaespot.com/eshop/ and I can hardly wait to see it. I ordered both of the Brother Amos colourways although it is the Brimstone one that I am after. Both inspired by Brenda Dayne at Cast- On and sure to be great! Not that I need more yarn, mind you, but I could not say no.

Well enough rambling for now ... a slight breeze has come up and I think I'll be sailing off for a bit. But I will post China pictures soon ... that was quite the adventure.

The bee emerges

Drunk with nectar ... stumbles off

To drink again.

Country Roads ...

2007-06-03T01:50:00.000+02:00

So the Daughter and I are driving around Lake Towada and she sees a sign ... "Christ's Tomb" that-a-way. And off we go into the Japanese countryside. And when we came to Shingo Village (google it for more info) this is what we found. The grave of Christ where he was buried after dying at the age of 109 and fathering seven daughters. He still has family in the local area and every year there is a festival with dances and songs in what linguists think is ancient Hebrew. How you may ask ... I don't know ... but I bet the Jesuit's were really surprised when they arrived several hundred years ago and found all of this legend already in place. It is a beautiful spot ... quite tranquil.

The way to Lake Towada winds up Oriase Gorge ... An extremely beautiful spot with wonderful trails and amazing scenery at every turn.

I had to hurry to get this post up as I am leaving with the Daughter tomorrow for Beijing. So, pictures to follow on that when we return. Bye .....

And We'll Have Fun, Fun, Fun ...

2007-06-02T01:49:00.000+02:00

We are back from Tokyo ... for days and days I know. The Daughter did not remember riding on the Shinkansen (the Bullet Train) when she was younger and so had a great time on the train. It is quite the cultural experience with the trolly girls and the amazing scenery whipping by. I highly recommend it and wish that the U.S. would develop something similar. It is the preferred form of travel here that's for sure. While we were in Tokyo ... but before the Daughters arrival ... we happened on a Temple festival that no one could tell us what it was about. But an amazing number of adult men were dressed in very, very short kimonos and not much else. So we dubbed it "The Naked Butt Festival". And we had huge fun!

There were parades of these men carrying huge golden shrines and dancing all around the Asakusa Temple complex.

And then later we went to the Meiji Shrine which is my favorite place in Tokyo. It is a huge park in the center of the city. But once you are in the heart of the park you would never know that you were anywhere other than in a beautiful forest. And there we saw several weddings and met some enterprising young students who were offering free guided tours in English so that they could practice the language. It was a brilliant day!

This picture shows the largest Tori Gate in Japan. And the Daughter ... of course!

The brides all looked scared to death. But I would be too with several dozen "foreign devils" snapping my picture ... not too mention the other 30 or 40 of their fellow countrymen doing the same picture snapping.

More tomorrow ... a visit to Christ's tomb and some more pictures of northern Japan.

Things Are Not Always Equal

2007-05-17T08:27:00.000+02:00

We are well into summer here in northern Japan. You can tell by the 50 degree temps and the pouring rain. But, no complaining here as some places still have snow. As you can see, the snow walls are still about 12-15 feet high in the mountains between here and Aomori City. So a little rain I can deal with. Although at one point today I was sure that it was snowing .... but it turns out that the petals were just blowing off of the mountain cherries in the forest across from my house. Still, for a moment I was prepared for the worst.

I leave tomorrow for Tokyo. Four blissful days to myself with my friend Anna and being joined by the Daughter who is coming home for a bit of the summer. Anna went to the sumo tournament yesterday and had the time of her life she says. We watched it on the television at the Club bar ... but we never saw her ... just a bunch of very large very sweaty men. In strange skirts. With amazing hair. What more could I say?

I will try to take some pictures of the Meiji Shrine (my favorite place in Tokyo) and the kids at Harajuku which is always exciting ... but especially so at the weekend. I will try to get my Chinese visa going at the Chinese Embassy with the help of the Daughter who is studying Chinese. And I will be knitting. On a sweater that I decided at the last minute I will need on my trip to China where I believe they may actually have summer so this may not be the best idea. But it is cotton. So maybe that will help. And I will put pictures up when I get a chance ... no no really, I promise.

Golden Week

2007-05-07T02:15:00.000+02:00

And what a Golden Week it was! These are the carp flags that fly over most if the houses here this time of year to celebrate Boy's Day (now called Children's Day). Some houses have 7 or 8 flying out front and in a stiff wind they wriggle just like live carp do ... very pretty. Also, celebrated this week was the former Emperor's birthday which is now called Green Day and several other holidays which I cannot remember off the top of my head right now.

This was one of three week long holiday celebrations that we have here. The others being Oban (celebration of the dead) and New Years. I think the Japanese do it right ... no onesies and twosies ... no, they go for the whole week. And to make it even better the cherry blossoms chose this week to bloom. No small deal after the freak blizzard we had one night last week which set them back a day or two I am sure.

So this post is a bit picture heavy but that is what this time of year is all about ... the beauty.

And then we had a huge rain storm and the petals piled up like snow ... but still amazing.

As she walks past me

A veil of cherry blossoms

Covers her dark hair.

'Tis the Season

2007-04-12T03:36:00.000+02:00

Here in Japan the flower viewing season is already in full swing despite the fact that there is still snow on the ground in some areas and the average daily high hovers near 50F. This little plant is the first of the season so far and is called "zazen-so" for it's resemblance to a monk sitting in meditation. The little "hut" is a beautiful red plum colour and the little golden monk sits inside shedding pollen like a mad man. The viewing of various flowers is a long standing tradition in Japan with the most famous and the most attended being the arrival of the cherry blossoms ... second only to the turning of the maple leaves in the fall. In a few weeks the cherry blossoms will arrive and the transformation is nothing short of astounding. I will head out to Hirosaki Castle for a Cherry Blossom Viewing Party with my friends ... pictures to follow. It is such a huge deal here that the head of the Japanese Meteorological Society made a public appearance this year to very publicly bow and apologize for his inaccuracy in predicting the cherry blossoms arrival this spring. Sounds silly I know but every corporation/company/office/social group/family will have a party and prime areas are booked in advance for optimum viewing. This is big business here so his mistake was not looked upon lightly.

Next on the viewing agenda is the skunk cabbages. They reach their peak on the first day of cherry blossom viewing. We will head up into the Hakkoda mountains and spend the day among them. Then down into the valley for a small cherry blossom party that evening to start things off for the 3 days of prime viewing.

On the needles I am just about to finish up a shawl that I am knitting for myself out of Berroco Ultra Alpaca in a beautiful mossy green. My only complaint with this very soft yarn is that it seems a bit hairy. I have hope that it will wash up nicely and I will put a picture of it up next week. I am also still knitting red wool socks for the Daughter for her rowing adventure. An endless task that is really starting to put me off of socks ... and so I am starting a pretty pair of socks for a friend of mine for her birthday ... no pictures till the birthday girl gets them as she is one of the few who reads this post. But I am hoping this will re-inspire me to do more socks. Maybe if I could just get away from reds .... hmmm.

And as winter has yet to leave us completely:

Making tea for you

The plum tree in the garden

Holds blossoms of snow.

Someone's Over-achieving

2007-03-18T18:36:00.000+01:00

Found this beauty in the hen house last week. Unbelievable! Someone in the henhouse is setting new records for egg size that's for sure. Not too much other news on the farm front. Sheared the last of my lambs. I need to decide if I want to stay in the wool business or maybe just raise enough meat sheep to eat every year. Oddly enough I can buy wool cheaper than I can raise it but there is no guarantee that that will last. Ahh, decisions decisions.

On the needles are socks for Katie who is now on the men's rowing team at school and spends much of her spare time on the water and wet. So washable wool socks ... and more wool socks ... and ... well you get the picture. And I am starting a pair of Norwegian mittens ... my first foray into stranded knitting. What could possible go wrong.

On the wool front ... I was given some white Lincoln lamb's wool ... there are few things that are more beautiful. So I will wash it today and get it out to dry. No time to get much else done with it but it should still be here I get back. I have several other Lincoln lamb fleeces that are done so I am hoping to make a sweater out of them eventually. It should wear forever!

I head back to Japan on Saturday. I think it will be ok this time. Cold though after what has been the warmest March ever here. I think it might still be flurrying there. But soon it will be cherry blossom season which is amazing ... there is no other way to describe it really. And now that I have broken the code on the digital camera I will be able to post pictures. Later ....

And when I saw

That you would not come again

I barred the door

So none could enter.

Home on the Range

2007-03-11T20:16:00.000+01:00

So, I finally have the pics of the sweater .... which did look better after blocking but which will never be an office sweater. I was a bit disappointed by that ... but it will make a great around the house sweater. In the meantime I am busy looking through all of my knitting books and patterns in the hope that I will find my next sweater project. And since I am now in Idaho I have even more patterns to choose from. Ahhhh ... it is so good to be home.

Today, I will head out to check on my lambs and see about shearing them and tomorrow I go out to help another friend of mine shear his sheep. I have cleaned out the chicken coop and done some repair work in the barn. This is definitely my kind of vacation. Next week I will get the garden cleaned up some and then wander around aimlessly looking for some more to do. If only I could order from my seed catalogs ....

The weather here has been amazing! Mostly 50's and 60's. In Japan it has decided to snow a bit. Not enough to matter, really, but I am sure it is appreciated. But here, we will have perfect shearing weather ... dry and just warm enough that you can work in a T-shirt without catching pneumonia. Now if none of the rams try to kill me all will be well. And I should have the chance to buy some beautiful fleeces ... 'cause you can never have enough wool.

Being home has been fun and a little weird. It is sad how everything has moved on without you. Your niche is filled with other people and other things. And everyone has a life that really doesn't have room for you. There is some shifting about of schedules and things to accommodate but it still seems odd. I know that when I get to move back home that things will shift to normal over time ... but for now I am a sort of guest. And yet, it is still heaven being home.

Rising before dawn,

In the dying moon's fair light

I journeyed home.

Not dead yet ...

2007-02-26T23:54:00.000+01:00

Ok ... so the sweater is finished! (pics to follow in a day or so) I love how it turned out. The cables look great and the colour is perfect. Had the husband try it on and it hangs like a dishrag ... what happened there? So ... it has now been blocked and is drying in front of the living room heater ... oh ye gods!!! ... I hope this fixes the problem. Of course when he commented on it I acted like "Duh! It still needs to be blocked and then it will be fine!" I really really hope I don't end up eating those words.

I am leaving for a trip to the States on Saturday. Things that need to be done there are that the lambs that remain need to be sheared and the boys sent off. Shearing is a back breaking process that my friend Slick very kindly does for me. A year or so ago he helped me with a ram I had named Buck ... a creature that I can freely admit I hated with every fiber of my being and who has since caused me to come up with the idea of a new ram every year for one purpose and one purpose only ... ok, well that and food for the table. He felt the same about me and all humans near as I can tell. He would have gladly killed me and any other person stupid enough to get in the pen with him ... his own starvation not withstanding. I cannot say I miss him much. But he had an amazing fleece. Here is a before and after:

As you can see it took a while ... but I am sure he felt much better when all was said and done. And Slick and Delores have my undying friendship for being brave enough to do this for me.

I will post some shearing pics when I get home ... with the lambs it is not nearly so dramatic. But I do have to add that they really don't think much of the process overall.

On the needles now is the second sock of a pair that I started in December and then lost complete interest in. It won't take long and then I am planning on starting a pair of Norwegian mittens and possibly finishing a shawl that I started in October that was set aside in my Christmas knitting frenzy.

We are prepping for Spring here after one of the strangest winters ever ... for the first time in recorded history ( and here in Japan that is nothing to sneeze at) they have had a snowless winter in Tokyo. Here, we didn't even break the 24 inch measure ... and that in a place where we routinely get 15-18 feet. But, in another month we should see the glorious cherry blossoms and bright blue skies ... it will be beautiful! But today it is windy, which is normal, with a screaming north wind ... perhaps tomorrow will be better.

I can see the trees

Through my window ... yearning

To follow the wind.

Time flies ...

2007-02-10T05:56:00.000+01:00

Snow! Yes we finally have a bit of snow to shovel. Just for reference, here in northern Japan, I should have had about 10 feet of snow by now with 3 feet of it still on the ground. This little bit is as good as it is going to get this year I am afraid. Instead it has been in the 40's and 50's and we have a had a good bit of rain. Not so good for snow shoeing.

The sweater is coming along famously in spite of my having had to start it over several times. I am done with the back and about halfway up the front. The cables have proven to be a piece of cake ... I am not sure why I was convinced they were so complicated. I am now planning to do some more cables since they have proven to be so much fun. And I love cables. All because of a certain sweater adventure.

My favorite sweater is a beautiful green cabled pullover that I bought next to the Hill of Tara while on vacation with my good friend Kathy. We had SO much fun. And I do have to say that Ireland is one of the most beautiful and hospitable counties I have ever been to. And the Hill of Tara is stunning. And my sweater is gorgeous. It is a dark tweedy green that has tiny little flecks of bright yellow and pink and blue mixed into the yarn. They were completely unnoticeable in the little shop where we were trying sweaters on. All I could really tell was that it was a deep green. Kathy was looking at black and at a beautiful charcoal colour. She works in the fashion industry where they can only wear black ... which I suppose is why they can so shamelessly condemn the rest of us to 70's appliance colours ... after all, it's not like THEY will have to wear them. Anyway, we had a great time and I came home (to Hawaii) with the most beautiful wool sweater I had ever seen.

I will try to post pictures of the sweater I am working on next week when I will hopefully have it finished.

My friend Brenda made a statement the other day that I thought was very true. "We could all use a little peotry every day". So in this light, and since I am here in Japan, I thought that I would end with a haiku ...

Darkness all around

But still, I think I'll sit here

Listening to the snow.

Yelling down a well .....

2007-01-20T09:09:00.000+01:00

This blog thing is a bit like yelling down a well ... no idea if the sprites at the bottom are listening or not. But I hope it might help me organize my thoughts a bit. And provide a bit of a laugh for the poors dears swimming about below.
I have decided to start a sweater for my husband. This was not done lightly as this will be only my second one and the first one, once finished, didn't have the slightest resemblance to the picture on the pattern that I used. The front turned out longer than the back ... and the handspun yarn didn't spin up the same shade in every skein. And it was supposed to be a cowl neck ... tunic style sweater. But my daughter asked if I could make it shorter ... and since it was my first one I said "sure ... how hard can THAT be". Oh, and she didn't really like turtle neck things so could I change that too? And I thought "Sure, what could possibly go wrong"? This is how it turned out. A bit different ... but she kindly wears it. She even says she likes it. I love my children.

What prompted my thinking that I would knit another sweater is the fact that, here in Japan, buildings are not heated during non-business hours. This means that the pub we go to, Paddy's Irish Pub, is frigid for the first hour or two after opening. Believe me ... a person needs a sweater on to get through that first pint. Or the second for that matter.

I'm getting ready to cast on for the third time this evening. Somehow in the first 20 times I read the pattern I overlooked the fact that you need to cast on and work the first few inches of ribbing on smaller needles. The pattern is from KnitPicks ... called the "One For The Whole Clan" sweater by Sue Minks. Makes a great first sweater for the beginner knitter ... so I am off to a great start. Third times a charm .... wish me luck!

... no footprints in the dust behind us ...

2007-01-14T02:58:00.000+01:00

At the urging of several friends I have been dragged into the new century and started a blog of my own. I suppose they became somewhat tired of my living vicariously through theirs ... ah well, what are friends for if not to make us better than we would otherwise be on our own.
I am hoping to share my knitting ... and my farm experiences ... and my travel. I currently live in Japan while missing my small ranch in Idaho something fierce.
On the needles I have a shawl that I was sure I could not live without ... about 3/4 done and about to be frogged ... turns out I can do without it ... but I also think the yarn will make a beautiful sweater that I could wear more often. It is/will be knit in Lamb's Pride superwash bulky in a wonderful colour called "Northern Lights" with a border and collar in white.
Just finished is a hat for my husband that I knitted using a pattern idea from Franklin at http://the-panopticon.blogspot.com/ where in spite of the fact that I read it a dozen times I was still able to leave out the spacing stitches so that instead of cables I ended up with a sort of ribbony/twining effect ... pretty but not exactly what I was going for. And although he states that 100 stitches should be plenty unless you have a "freakishly large head" the darn thing barely fits. Guess I know where that puts us ...