If we were having coffee ...

This type of blog post is for when I have a lot of little things I want to share, or when I feel the need to catch up. 

So, grab your coffee/beverage of your choice. Tonight I'm drinking hot chocolate.  Because I can!

If we were having coffee ... I'd say "Hey, it's been a while." I didn't write at all this past week.  I had no inspiration.  I've had lots of little things I want to share, and I didn't feel each topic could fill a whole blog post.  My life hasn't been very exciting. 

If we were having coffee ... I'd tell you about my garden.  It's growing like gangbusters this year. 

Our tomato plants are the biggest we've ever had.  A couple of the plants are almost as tall as my husband.  I'm keeping an eye on them, so we don't lose any fruits.  

Can you spot the tomatoes?  So many this year!

We have been eating broccoli like popcorn.  So tasty! 

Speaking of fruits, we are going to have grapes this year! 

Our raspberry bramble is doing great, too. We've got a few canes that are at least seven feet tall. Not to mention all the fruit that will be ripening very soon. 

This photo shows at least one of those tall raspberry canes. I tried putting text in the photo.  It didn't show up. If you look to the left of the photo you can see them. 

I wish all the summers could be this good when it comes to the garden stuff. 

This is the new patch we have started up by the house. The chickens have been sneaking up here and eating the fruits. Killer (the roo) leads a group of hens up here. I think he's telling him "Ladies, follow me. I will take you to the land of milk and honey," and they like the sound of that, so they all make a direct beeline to the bushes. 

We've already been enjoying black raspberries fresh off the canes. 

If we were having coffee ... I'd tell you about the ladies and our baby roos. Not to mention, our sweet turkey boy. I do think I mentioned previously that we sold off a lot of the older girls.  I think our Killer appreciates this.  He seems more calm now that he doesn't has so many to keep an eye on. 

The baby roos, and they aren't *all* roos, are doing great.  They are having a wonderful life. There is definitely a lot of testosterone in the yard.  I often see birds facing off, then one will break off and run away to see what the others are doing. 

Our sweet Turkey Baby, he's not gobbling a lot yet. He thinks he's just a big chicken and he flocks with everyone else.  I have *got* to get a video of him running, because it's hysterical to see.  He's so gangly. 

Can you believe that in April he fit in my hand? 

If we were having coffee ... I'd tell you about the baby bunnies. Oh, those sweet little things.  Yes, all the animals are sweet and adorable right now!  Thor and Loki's babies are starting to venture out of the nest and eat and drink with their parents.  They are ready to move into the house and spend some time with us.

They are so curious right now.  They aren't very skitty of us people.  

Shadow had babies ... a few weeks ago, I think.  I've lost track.  She makes adorable babies.  Shadow and the babies live in a safe space in the chicken coop.  It's neat to see chickens and rabbits co-exist. Those little stinkers are starting to leave the nest and run around the coop. Shadow is a good mom.  

This is one of Shadow's babies. 

If we were having coffee ... I'd share that I *finally* completed the Halloween table runner I've been working on. 

I used my walking foot to sew on the binding.  This is my best binding work, to date.  I'm really pleased with it. 

This was also my first time using thread from Connecting Threads. I don't have experience with many threads. Connecting Threads thread seemed just as good as the thread I was getting up at JoAnns.

I have a few quilt kits that I can start working on now.  I probably won't start anything new until fall. 

If we were having coffee ... I'd talk to you about my knitting. 

I've made a little bit of progress on my vanilla sock. I've worked on it, here and there. 

Project: Vanilla socks
Pattern: My own
Started: July 10, 2019, or so.
Needle size: U.S. 1, 2.5 mm, circular needles
Yarn: Knit Picks Felici 
Colorway: Surf's up, Mostly blues with a stripe of purple

I have about five inches knit up.  Another couple inches, or so, and I will start the heel.  I'm going to try a heel method from the Cat Bhordi book I own. 

I spent most of my knitting time on the shawl. 

Project: Easy Half Circle Shawl
Pattern from Lionbrand.com
Started: July 6, 2019
Needle size: U.S. 8, 5.0 mm
Yarn: Lionbrand Shawl in a Ball
Colorway: Wind Chimes - 305, various blues

I've put my shawl in time out.  I didn't have a full skein/cake of this yarn.  I thought I'd work on it as far as I could, then cast off.  I got to row 20 on the last part and decided to cast off.  I played yarn chicken and lost.  I ripped the cast off back.  I was going to rip back another row, then realized if I rip back another row I won't have any garter stitch and the shawl will roll up.  

Look at how close I was to the end. 

So I sighed heavily and decided I need to get another skein/cake of the yarn. When I get the yarn I will add more length to the shawl than what the pattern calls for.  

I do have a finished object.  I made this little one a while back. BUT, I waited to do the hand embroidery on the face. All done!  Just needs a new home. I made this out of dishcloth cotton, which is recommended by the pattern I followed.  A year ago, or so, I made a pair of octopi for a friend out of acrylic, thinking of the wash factor.  The dishcloth crochets up better. I like the fabric a lot. I don't know how well the color will hold up if it needs lots of washings. 

If we were having coffee ... I'd blather that I've been immersing myself into all sorts of things about yarn and fiber dyeing, and fiber preparation for spinning. Spinning for Tour de Fleece has rewakened something in me and I could easily, and happily, spend hours spinning, if I could. I'm still going to do a separate post about the spinning I did for Tour de Fleece.  The spinning has slowed significantly because I spun all of the one fiber I had. What fiber I have left is white fluff and that gets boring after a while.  My spinning is also becoming more refined. The single I have going on the wheel is the thickness of a heavier thread. 

This is the fluff I'm spinning up. 

I ordered a turkish spindle last week and it arrived on Saturday.  It is a dream to spin with. It is a cherry Reekalf spindle from Snyder Spindles.  I asked for recommendations and this company came up a few times.  I went on faith, people. 

I'm still getting the hang of spindling again.  Winding onto this style spindle is new to me.  I haven't figured out how to butterfly the yarn onto my hand before putting it on the cob. Or however it's referred. 

I've been following hashtags on Instagram and I'm seeing so much colorful fibers. I want to spin colorful fibers too!  

I dipped my toes into fiber dyeing.  I winged it.  I haven't dyed anything in years. It's all going to be a learning process. Thankfully, I have some wonderful indie dyer friends who are all encouraging me from the sidelines and giving me tips and offering suggestions. 

This is just a couple yards of some superwash wool carded top my husband ordered for me years ago.  The preparation is excellent.  It fluffed right back up after drying. 

It's so fluffy and squishy.  

I also dyed this up.  I was playing with the red, and trying my hand at making orange. It looked so bright and vibrant as I was dyeing it up.  I do hope it stays when the fiber is fully dried out. 

Can you guess what I was going for? 

I've been practicing with just a few yards of fiber at a time. Until I get more comfortable with the process.  Then I'll start working with braids worth of fiber. 

In the meantime, I'll keep going along with these smaller pieces. Then, maybe use it all to make one thing.

If we were having coffee ... I'd share that I finished the audio book I was listening to.  

It's such a sweet story.  If I had known it would tug at the heartstrings so much, I don't know that I would have picked it. The story revolves around "Winnipeg" the bear that Winnie-the-Pooh is based on. I would whole-heartedly recommend the story to anyone who wants to read with their young children.  I'm sort of a wimp when it comes to some stories and they just make me feel all the feels, and get a little weepy. I probably won't read or listen to any more stories until school starts again. 

I recently learned that a bookish podcast I listen to off and on went through Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. Now, I read through that book on my own.  Took my time, had what was basically cliff notes to help me through, and I did not like this book. 

 I'm debating on going through the book again this fall.  Do I really want to put myself through this?  I don't know.  I feel if I go through the book again, while listening to a few people who make books their business, I will either change my mind about Jane Austen, or say "It's official, I hate the writing." Decisions, decisions. 

Works in Progress Wednesday

I can't think of a witty title for this post, so I'm sticking with a "WIP Wednesday" moniker. 

I have two things on the needles right now. 

Project number one is the Easy Half Circle Shawl. Pattern is put out by Lionbrand.  I'm using Shawl in a Ball yarn. 

The details, let's see ... 

Project: Easy Half Circle Shawl
Pattern from Lionbrand.com
Started: July 6, 2019
Needle size: U.S. 8, 5.0 mm
Yarn: Lionbrand Shawl in a Ball
Colorway: Wind Chimes - 305, various blues

I had a few false starts with this project. I'm currently on part five of the pattern. The progress marker is where I was on July 10.  I shared my progress in a few knitting Facebook groups. 

Things are going more slow now.  I've got more than 200 stitches to a row. I'm almost at the halfway point of this section. 

The other project is ... another vanilla sock. 

Project: Vanilla socks
Pattern: My own
Started: July 10, 2019, or so.
Needle size: U.S. 1, 2.5 mm, circular needles
Yarn: Knit Picks Felici 
Colorway: Surf's up, Mostly blues with a stripe of purple

This is strictly purse knitting. Well, truck knitting, when we head out to one of the lakes or driving to town and I'm passenger.  I don't expect fast progress. 

I'm trying a few different things with this pair.  I was watching a class on knitting two socks on two circulars and reading through Cat Bordhi's "Socks Soar on Two Needles" and I've like to give the tradition method of a sock on two circulars another try. A few of the patterns in Cat's book has you make the heel in a side profile, so the gusset decreases are in the middle of the needle, rather than at the end.  I'm not sure how to better explain that.  

My mind has been churning with projects I'd *love* to cast on right now.  I started following a few different Instagram hashtags and I'm seeing some very pretty stuff. 

In other news, the weather has been pretty steady with the warmer temps and the higher than usual humidity.  I'm not sure which direction this weather pattern is coming from.  The area has been under severe weather watches. Nothing is happening.  My guess is the big lake is drawing all the energy out of the storms. There is a storm to the north of us but it's heading in the opposite direction. 

Getting ready for hunting season

This weekend we went out and set up the deer blinds. 

I'm gonna be so hidden! 

Saturday we spent some time out in the back 20, getting deer blinds set up and I cleared up the path we use. 

What a mess it was back there.  It still sort of is. All the snow we got late spring and the May snow storm did a lot of damage to the smaller trees.  Trees were bent over and pushing the hazelnut bushes into the path. 

Can you see the difference?  After a while I ran out of places to put the cut down limbs and brush.  By the time I was done, I was *done.* I was sweating, the flies were buzzing around my head, and I was wicked thirsty. 

We did spend some time out on the water. Now that summer is finally here, it gets really warm if there's no clouds. The water itself is warm like bathwater. 

It was very calm and peaceful that morning on the water. 

Sunday we decided to set up a new shed. We went to town around 8 a.m. to get pick it up.  It was a family project. This one pulled together SO much faster than the shed we bought for the land we used to own.  I remember us struggling with that set up.  The system has been improved in the last 10 years. The finishing touches were done early evening. 

Looks pretty good!

In crafting news, I'm still doing Tour de Fleece.  I'll post a more thorough update later this week.  Spinning has been my main focus but I have been working a little bit with my knitting. 

Recovery from the long weekend

I had a four-day weekend this past holiday weekend.  It was great. I can't even recall all of it.  Good food, good times with people I love, and the weather was great - for the most part.  We had some rain. 

A lot of time was spent fishing.  We tried a new spot and it was very good to us.

The village next door puts on a really nice fireworks show each year.  I was excited for this year's show because my husband was able to go watch them with us.  Unfortunately smoke from the fireworks hung in the air and obscured most of the show.  We gave up and went home. 

In short, I really enjoyed the long weekend. 

Tour de Fleece also started this weekend.  This year I'm giving it a serious go. I've got the better part of 24 ounces of foxglove carded corriedale dark brown with grey slyver fiber that I bought a while ago.  Longer than I care to admit.  It was purchased with the intent of spinning it up for a sweater.  

Yup, I just heaped this on the floor and took a picture. Some of this fiber has been spun up already. Some plied. I think.  I gave a bunch of the fiber to Loki and Shadow when they were building their nests, too. 

Day one of Tour de Fleece, I finished up a bobbin that was already three-fourths done. 

Day two I started a fresh bobbin and spun for ... at least 30 minutes. I wasn't keeping track. 

Day three, (tonight) I spun for 45 minutes or so. 

I wish I had more time to just sit and spin.

Speaking of not enough time ... last week I started watching the learn to dye classes on bluprint and I thought "I really need to try this again." Eight years ago, or so, I tried yarn dyeing, but there were a few things I didn't have the hang of, and there just weren't the resources there are now.  I've always wanted to dye yarn for myself. So ... this came in the mail Saturday. 

Bluprint was running a fifty percent off sale ... so I put an order in for a 10 pack of dyeable yarn.  I'm just a wee bit excited. I'm going to go through the classes and try each method.  I have some dyes still. Somewhere. 

And speaking of fun mail.  I got some more today. The royal *we* got some eBay bucks and my husband told me to buy myself some yarn.  So I did, along with a book that I've wanted for many years but didn't want to pay the crazy price some sellers were asking for. 

I got into spinning after this book was printed and sold out.  I had contacted the author and asked if there would be any more runs.  She was nice enough to write back to me and say it was all up to the publisher, but as far as she knew there would be no more runs. I've waited a long time for this book. 

The yarn I ordered was some Paton's kroy sock yarn, a skein of cascade 220 and a skein of cascade handpainted. 

I am a happy girl. 

I spotted this little gem on Facebook tonight.  Waving my geek flag.  Just a bit. 

Thursday chatter

I don't have any current WIPs, unless you count the little table topper top that I still need to pull together with batting and and backing fabric. 

I started this a couple months ago, with Halloween-themed fabric I purchased, thinking I'd make a few project bags. It's about 17 inches tall and 30-something inches wide.  I think I did a nice job with piecing. I haven't decided what kind of quilting I want to do, buuuuut I'm leaning towards straight quilting with a walking foot.  I ordered a walking for my machine *months* ago and still haven't tried it. 

Yesterday I was flipping through my Knitter's Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmerman.  In particular, I was looking at the July chapter.  I came across a line that I thought was pretty good. 

If you don't have this book, she has shawl knitting as the project for July. I doubt I'd be able to knit a shawl in one month, now a days ... unless it was worsted weight.  I know of a pattern in an old Interweave Knits magazine I have. But do I have worsted weight yarn?  Maybe.  I'd have to go diving into the stash. 

Tuesday morning we discovered that Loki had a litter.  I thought she had been acting off the last few days.  Thor was being pretty attentive to her, too.  He's a good hus-bun as they say on Instagram. 

I tried taking a photo of them, but it didn't turn out well. You can just barely make out one.  I didn't want to mess around too much because Thor comes running into the hutch and wondering what a person is up too.  

Loki is a good mama, too.  She tends to be a bit high strung, in my opinion, though.  I don't know if this is just her personality or stems from something else. I still remember the first time she had a litter with us.  Poor girl was stressing bad when we just walked near her litter. Thor, being a good boy, would do what he could to pull anyone away from the nest. 

In any case, we have five beautiful little bunny beans.  We've been through a few litters now, and I am still amazed at how quick they grow. 


In other news, I'm listening to an audiobook. I drove in to the office yesterday and I decided to listen to one of the audiobooks I picked up at the library last week. 

Here's an article explaining the story. 

There is four or five discs and I finished up the first disc as I was getting close to home.

The story is about an orphaned bear cub. The story main story starts when bear comes out of her den with her mother and learns more about the world.  She wants to climb higher than any other bear, and go farther than any other bear has gone. Bear learns and grows over the summer and in August, she wanders away from her mother. When she returns she realizes something is wrong, and goes searching for her mother.  

Okay, cue a scene that is sort of familiar to when Bambi's mother died.  Only this time with a trapper. 

I had to fight the tears that wanted to pour. I was driving down the highway, telling myself "Don't cry. Don't cry."

The trapper's grandson rescue's bear, brings her back to his home, and she promptly causes unintentional mischief. 

The trapper brought bear to a nearby town and sells her to a soldier for $20. Where I left off in the story is where Bear is in the horse train car, explaining that she doesn't fight.  She helps people feel better.  

After arriving home and looking up the story, I realized this story is telling the story of the bear that Winnie the Pooh is based on.  

Here's Winnie with her soldier, Henry Colbourn. The image can be found on Wikipedia. 

My first book in months and it's a bit of a tear jerker.  Lovely.  I won't quit it, though. But it might take me a little to get through it. 

And today is Independence Day, here in America. So far my day has been pretty quiet.  I'm enjoying a cup of coffee and hammering out this post. It's also the start of a long weekend for the whole family. All of us will get to watch the fireworks together.  That hasn't happened in years.  The village does a nice fireworks show. We just have to decide where we want to park.  The weather people are forecasting storms for today. 

Happy Independence day everyone!

Chatting with the neighbors

This evening I went out for a walk down to the stop sign and back.  It's not halfway around the circuit, but long enough. 

I was strolling along (yes, you read that correctly) completely lost in thought, when I heard a grunt and I realized I had walked up to where a buck was hanging out. 

He grunted at me and ran off a bit.  Then he stopped, turned to stare at me, stomped the ground and grunted again. 

I thought "Okay, this might be fun." I tried to do my best deer grunt impression.  The buck looked at me, twitched his ears and stamped his feet again.  So I tried grunting again and stamped my foot.  The buck looked a bit confused.  Maybe my grunt call was so good that it was confusing to him, or it was so awful that he was actually laughing at me.  

In any case, he eventually ran off and I continued on. 

A few hundred feet later I came across yet another deer.  I stopped, tried to take a video, but he stayed hidden for the most part.  I heard something behind me and realized I had a doe staring at me. 

Seriously ... my whole walk I was coming across deer. 

In homesteading news, one of our cherry trees is fruiting. 

I was so excited when my husband sent me these photos.  

So pretty!  

Today, when I dropped my son off at his grandma's, I picked up my birthday present from my local SIL and BIL.  Someone decided I needed to pamper myself a bit! I love it all.  I laughed when I saw the nightshirt that was picked out for me. 

Do these people know me, or what? Yarn and Coffee and I'm a happy girl. Bath gel stuff. ... That was the first thing I used to have a HUGE collection of. 

In other news, my socks are done. Yay!

Vanilla socks

Needles: U.S. 1 (2.5 mm)

Date started: Beats me. 

Date finished: June 30, 2019

Yarn: Knitpicks Felici

Colorway: "Dark Prism"

It looks like they production of one of the skeins I used got an oops in one of the stripes. I really do love this yarn for making stripey socks.  I don't know how much I have left, though. And so close to being matchy-matchy. 

I'm not sure what my next project is going to be.  As I was going through patterns today I realized I have LOTS of pretty shawl patterns and sweater patterns.  I've also been thinking of looking in my EZ Knitter's Almanac and see what it suggests for July. 

But I also said I want to spin ... what to do.  What to do. ...