Misty Autumn Morning

The other day I took a break from my cleaning to run outside and take some pictures. It was misty and the sun was just breaking through the clouds, it was just lovely. The boys and ladies were out in the damp, having breakfast. Most ignored my presence but Mounty watched me curiously. He has always been such an inquisitive little guy. I do have some sad news to share about the boys. But I shall save that for some other time.

There was still a gentle misting of rain lingering on the grasses and leaves. Most everything is dead, and trodden down with autumn rains, but these few grass heads were bobbing in the early morning light.

 But the sky was blue, showing promises of a warm, sunny day later on and as I was finishing my walk the sun came out and brightened up the grey morning.

Most of the leaves have fallen, but there was a lovely patch of yellow leaves in the front yard that were just calling my name. They were also a bit misted with rain, and blowing about in the breeze. But there was a few that held still so I could photograph them. Autumn is always so lovely to experience, so many different and unique colors. It is a blessing to be able to enjoy the beauty of the creation God has made.

September Snapshots: Autumn Is Here!

 A batch of warm Fudgy Cappuccino Cookies. They tasted a little bit like molasses cookies, but with a nice coffee twist.

 The boys enjoying their new pasture. 

 Carding some of my Chestnut colorway with grey angora fiber. it is turning out beautifully and such a fun spinning project. I'll share a picture of the yarn soon....

 Collecting guinea eggs. Normally we get five. But one of our guineas had an incident with the neighbor's puppy. She's a little traumatized.

 When the Physostegia begins to bloom you know autumn has arrived.

 Field corn is ready. I hope they cut it all down, SOON.

 Despite the fact that my allergies hate it, goldenrod is so pretty and I like it.

 The rain and wind cut my walk short. I snapped a few photos before it started pouring.

 Poplar leaves on the ground.

 My one lone Sunflower plant. It spread all over and is so gorgeous. It all sprang from one seed scattered last spring. I never even knew there were sunflowers in the perennial mix. It was a lovely surprise.

Autumn Joy Sedum is turning. Let the cool weather begin. Bring on the donuts, hot apple cider, crisp leaves, warm woolly knits, crackling fires and hay rides. Fall has officially arrived!

Spring: Part 1

This year spring arrived early because of our bout of warm weather a month ago. In between we have had some cold days, but overall it has been very spring-like and altogether lovely. It has been nice enjoying such a lengthy, drawn-out spring. 

The pictures in this past were taken over a couple weeks, going from oldest to newest. I was on my way back across the state and everything was beginning to burst into bloom. There were photo opportunities everywhere, but I was on a schedule and could not stop very often. However little unexpected chances arose, such as these gorgeous flowering trees in the walkway by the music store.

About a week ago I started working on the raspberry patch. Because of the early warm weather the weeds have gotten a wonderful jump, thus it was not a pretty sight that met my eyes the first time I went out there. We have clay, and in-between rains the ground gets as hard as rock. So after a rainfall, and as soon as the slippery, clumping clay is remotely workable, it is best to rush out and get things done before the crazy winds on our hill dry the ground back out. Sometimes if we do not have wind the ground will stay soft longer.
I did some weeding, raked away a great deal of dead rubbish from last fall and then called it quits because I was in need of thick gloves before I pruned. I came back a few days later with two helpers and got more weeding and raking done, as well as pruned back dead  and/or wild growth. The patch is not quite ship-shape. But it is looking pruned and respectable. Every time I scoop the boys beans I spread a bucketful or two around the base of the raspberry canes. Alpaca beans are mild enough that you can use them straight in your garden. There is normally some straw interspersed with the beans, but it will help keep down the weeds and eventually decompose and add nutrients to the soil.

Crabapple tree

Apple tree.

Maple tree.

The leaves are coming on ever so slowly, but each week the hazy green in the distance deepens and the woods look fuller. The field behind us has been planted already. Corn. Not at all a happy thing for me, as well as other members of our family. We were never allergic to corn, but something about this new GMO corn is not good for our allergies. Lets just say for about a month and a half some of us can not even go outdoors comfortably, nor have the windows open in the house. Its a relief when we can get away from the corn and are able to breathe without sneezing constantly or having running eyes.

The Applemint has spread and is doing nicely. It is almost impossible to eradicate it, (short of a huge excavation and some sort of poison I suppose!) so everywhere we have been it has done nicely. But here with all this lovely(?) clay, it grows huge and happy. It is nice for tea, however we haven't dried a whole lot of it in recent years. Though I do believe I will try drying a bunch of it this summer. My Mother and my sister-in-law both make soap and it would make a nice add-in to certain scents.

Windfall & Mounty

And now on to the animals on the farm! The alpacas are doing well, there have been some temporary modifications to their living arrangements.....

.......And for a while there they were not sure how they felt about it.  But now everyone is settling in nicely and getting used to the change. Meet our newest members.....

.......Guinea Hens!

The ladies are about 6 months old. We purchased them from my Aunt. Due to her other animals they were not very compatible on her farm. Her poor bulldog pup had to be on a leash and was getting chubby from lack of exercise. Not to mention they can be a little noisy when alarmed.
But so far we've not had any trouble with them. They have to be kept enclosed for awhile, so they get used to their new home and do not try running off. They are all just starting to lay, and we get four or five eggs every day. It is a nice steady amount. Not enough to give eggs away very often, but also not so many as to overwhelm us. Guinea eggs are different from your standard chicken eggs. They are quite small, we've heard two guinea eggs equals one large chicken egg. To me they just look like small chicken eggs. The shells on the eggs are quite thick, they feel like little rocks when I hold them in my hand.
The ladies do not have names as of yet. It is not like we will be able to tell them apart! But we do like to name our creatures. 

The first time let the ladies wander around the boys pen Mounty has tried to chase them. But he and Windfall both are learning to listen. After getting after him, he has since left them alone. Sunday while I was taking care of the guineas water they escaped out the barn door behind me. I had not had that happen before and I was envisioning them flying over the fence and escaping entirely. Mounty instantly went on the alert and let out a little hum, taking a step toward them. But I firmly told him no, and after watching them a moment he went back to eating. Windfall ignores them unless they are let out in the lawn to eat grass and bugs. Mother did that once, last week, and he was quite agitated. I don't know if it was because he thought they were somewhere where they didn't belong (since they are usually kept locked up) or if it was because he wanted to be outside his fence. The grass is always greener you know....

That is all the farm news for now! 

Next up:  a new (for me) spinning technique!

Catching Up

I have a new design in the wings and I am so excited about it! Last September I was visiting my sister-in-law and somehow did not have a project to work on. I can not remember now if I forgot to bring something, or if it was simply a case of finishing up what I did bring along. Either way, my hands were empty and I needed a project. She rummaged in her craft room and came back with yarn, needles and the stitch dictionary and basically  said "design something". So with plenty of quiet and spare time on my hands, a new pattern was born. I only knit the left mitten, then it got put on the back burner as other projects came along. This week I puled it out and sorted through my notes, determined to make a go of it and finish it off. I'm pleased to say,as of this evening, I finished the mitt! Well, all except the top part of the thumb. I need to jot down how to do it, as I failed to make thorough notes on the first time around. 

While visiting a new yarn shop this week I picked up this yarn for a test knit of my new pattern. The yarn is "Rustic" by Cascade Yarns, Fiber content is 79% Wool 21% Linen. I purchased two skeins as I am hoping to have enough yarn left over for a complimenting accessory. I am looking forward to sharing more with you about this project in the near future.

I have several Christmas presents that I never showed you. The first being this adorable hat. I knit this for one of my sisters. 
Yarn: Handspun Blue-Face Leicester
Pattern: Kim's Hats from "Last-minute Knitted Gifts."

Up-close detail of the hat.

Jillian & Bilbo

Christmas 2010 I made Jillian as a gift. She was made out of hand carded, hand spun Alpaca/Angora yarn,
Christmas 2011 I made Bilbo as a gift. He is made out of hand carded, hand spun Merino/Corriedale/Dorset/Angora yarn.
Pattern: Loveable Toys from "Last-minute knitted gifts.
The rabbits are quite different from each other, because of the differences in yarn. Jillian is more soft and floppy, and thanks to lots of angora, she has a nice fuzzy halo. Bilbo is soft but sturdy, with a nice firm hand. He does not have nearly as much halo as Jillian does, seeing as I did not card as much angora in with the the rolags.
I suppose it could also be due to the fact that he is only 4 months old, whereas Jillian is over a year old and has had time to grow fuzzy.

Bilbo

Such a sweet little face!

The boys were exceedingly interested in the goings-on of the photo shoot. I do believe they thought the rabbits were edible. I couldn't get a single photo without the alpacas in the background! Not that I minded though. They are inquisitive fellows, and so sweet.
   

Difference in ears.

I also made a pair of wristlets for another sister. These are from one of the older issues of Spin-Off. Though at this precise moment I do not remember which one. If anyone wishes to particularly know I will gladly look it up. This is the fourth pair that I have made. They only take a small amount of fingering-weight yarn, and work up very quickly. The only modification I made this time was to lengthen the ribbing.


Next up: Spring updates!


For now, farewell my friends!

In Which I Card My Walnut-dyed Alpaca

Remember when I dyed alpaca with walnuts this past autumn? I carded up a couple rolags at the time, but had other projects that I needed to work on. So this projects was set aside, though I was hoping to get to it over the winter. Obviously that did not happen. But thinking back on it, I really wouldn't want to be carding in the house. Even though I washed it and dyed it, there is still veggie matter and a little bit of dirt that falls out. Not to mention stray fiber that blows hither and yon. 

 Two weeks ago during our spell of beautiful weather I carded fiber on two different afternoons and ended up with approximately 30 rolags. Because I was working from fiber that had been dyed at two different times I had different shades of alpaca. My first dye batch is darker, see the above photo on the left. The second batch is lighter. I was taking fiber from both bags and carding it, and also some just from one bag or the other. I figured once its carded, spun, plied, and knit it will look beautiful, despite the differences in the colors of the fiber.

 I'm looking forward to spinning this fiber, but I am trying to wait until I have made more of a dent in my dyed fiber. At the moment two pounds seems like a lot to card! 

I'm also spinning from a sample grab bag of assorted fiber that I picked up at a fiber festival last summer. The only problem with the grab bag is that I have no idea what sort of fiber I am spinning! I can take a guess at it, but its just really a stab in the dark.

This fiber is soft-ish, a nice heathered blue/grey. It spins well, we'll see how it plies.

This yarn is rough feeling. I carded the fiber together with some angora. It helped soften it up some, but it is still quite scratchy for next-to-the-skin wear. Although I only have about 70 yards of a fingering weight, so I can't make anything substantial with this yarn alone! I'm just setting the skein aside and deciding later what to do with it. 
If you have any thoughts or ideas I'd love to hear them!