Yarn: My own handspun corriedale, purchased from paradise fibers
Colors: Grey
Needle size: U.S. 6 (4 m.m.) and U.S 7 (4.5 mm)
The pattern wasn't as easy to interpret and understand as I would have liked. I knit about 6 inches and then realized I misunderstood the instructions and I ripped out and wound the yarn back up into a ball.
Right now I think I'm *way* more exciting during the weekend.
If you can call cleaning a car exciting.
At least once a year I clean my hubby's vehicle. It's either a birthday gift or Father's Day gift to him.
It usually doesn't last too long, given the line of work he's in. But, for at least a few days, he can ride in a clean, sawdust-free car.
That's what I spent Saturday afternoon doing. By the time I was done, I was tired and was glistening just a wee bit.
Then I was able to come in to the house to a tasty supper: smoked ribs. Yum!
We haven't had ribs in forever so this was a treat!
Bet you can't guess what I did after that.
If you guessed that I settled into my chair and crossed stitched for most of the evening, you'd be correct.
Other "fun" things on Saturday included working on my Princess Passenger sock while we went to town and picked up supplies for the week.
I also went out to the garden and heard all the bees buzzing while I pondered what plants and weeds to rip out. I ended up ripping out very few. The bees seem to really enjoy the violas, so I left most of them, despite them looking a bit ratty.
We also looked for a "new" spot to set up for hunting. We are going back to the beginning, so to speak, and put the game cam out where we used to hunt, to see if any critters were still traveling through.
I was also entertained by the hummingbirds and the young hens. A few of the "babies" of the flock figured out how to get on top of the open air coop and they were hanging out up there.
Sunday the weather switched and it was humid out. We checked the game cam and saw critters moving through so we spent a few hours out in the back 20 setting up a blind.
By the time we were pretty much done with the set up, I was done with the day. Temps were in the upper 80s and so flipping humid. I was going in slow motion, and felt itchy, moist and uncomfortable. We sweat off the bug spray and the mosquitoes found us irresistible.
I may have been a wee bit cranky, too.
After going in the house and cooling off in the air conditioning it was decided to stay in for the rest of the day.
Sunday afternoon I finished off a bobbin I was spinning and had a ply party.
I'm not bothering to count yardage yet.
When I have a decent amount plied up I'll give it all a soak and start counting yardage. Plying took longer than I thought it would.
Then, while watching "Columbo" with my man, I worked on the "One Piece" cross stitch.
Over 300 stitches.
Monday morning started off with a mild bang. My husband was taking the truck to work and the battery was dead ... stupid battery.
It was moist out again. The grass was soaking wet and the air was like you were walking through a mist.
There was a frog hanging out on my window this morning. Fun!
Work was kind of chaotic and made worse by all the alerts and notifications I was getting via emails, texts and such. I ended up putting everything on silent for an hour. Then I was stressing because I couldn't find an article I thought I had laid out on a page last week. ... Turns out I hadn't. Ugh ... It felt like such a Monday.
I was pretty happy to punch out at the end of the day.
My son *begged* for a specific soup to be made. He's feeling poorly and I guess only mom's hamburger soup will heal all that ails.
For "real" supper, though, I smoked pork chops.
Ooo, they turned out good. There are no leftovers.
It has the makings of being a busy week. Tonite there is chance of thunderstorms going through. This doesn't surprise me because it's SO miserable outside. I feel really bad for the hens. They are panting and looking miserable. I made sure they had plenty of water and their favorite spot to be when it's hot out is under the deck. They appear to me moving slow today, too. When I saw the rooster coming out of the woods with one of the hens I realized I haven't had any good chicken stories. Pity. I haven't been outside enough. Cause, you know, the weather this summer.
Next weekend is Labor Day weekend. Where did the summer go? I feel like I say that almost every year now. I'm looking forward to the long weekend. And then, just maybe, the weather will behave until the snow flies. I have accepted the change in the seasons now, even though we are having season-appropriate weather.
I swear, this morning I blinked and it went from 8:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.
Then I blinked again and my work day was almost done.
Why can't all work days go like that? I almost wonder if I forgot to do something.
Re-entry to the work week wasn't near as rough as I thought it would be. Nice!
Since the day went so fast there isn't much to chatter about, right?
Um ... well, I did some spinning this evening.
I finished the bobbin I was working on and started the next one.
I didn't realize how soft and out of focus this photo is. Oops.
This is my fourth bobbin for the year. I am so behind on the goal I had set out for myself. Even so, this is probably the most spinning I've done this year than the last few years combined. I didn't do Tour de Fleece. I'm not sad about it. I wasn't one for sharing too much during Tour de Fleece anyways so I don't think I'm missed.
Fin Wool Top - 32 ounces
Purchased: Paradise Fibers
Started spinning: Jan. 8, 2024
Amount spun so far is unknown.
If you watched my most recent video you will have seen I rambled a bit about wanting to pull a cross stitch project out of hibernation.
I did that yesterday and put in 150 stitches, give or take a few.
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 and join me.
It's been a while since I've written. I have a few of little tidbits to say, so let's have a quick coffee date!
If we were having coffee ... I would give you a bit of a health update. I'm better. I'm not going to say I'm healed. Not yet, anyway. I've seen a handful of health care providers over the last few months, including one specialist. I've done a lot of reading and research and I've started some supplements that I think will help my body in the long run. Having a bit of a medical mystery going on has been incredibly frustrating and I think it's going to be a long time before I can say I'm healed. I have something going on that I think is the result of the long-term infection. So, for now, I'm better than I was.
In the meantime some of my pep has returned and I don't feel a constant feeling of being worn down and exhausted. Just the regular exhausted.
If we were having coffee ...I'd tell you my hubby woke me up one morning a few weeks ago and said "get in loser, let's go buy you a greenhouse."
No, it wasn't really like that. We were on vacation and it was a Friday morning. ... He walked into the bedroom, noticed I was awake, (I was processing being awake) and he said something along the lines of "Hey, let's go get a greenhouse for your birthday, and build it over the summer." Totally unexpected and a heck of a way to start the day. But I loved the idea and got up straight away and downed some coffee. I've been wanting a greenhouse for such a long time.
So we went and got me a greenhouse!
We started working on it that day and thought we'd take our time. It pulled together so much easier than expected. I belong to a few hobby greenhouse groups on the book of Faces, and to hear some people talk ...
My husband got the foundation set up. (You like my sassy stance?)
Then the walls and roof went up lickity-split.
The next day we finished the little things and ran to town to get materials for shelves.
As soon as the shelves were complete I started moving a few things in.
I'm really excited for the next seed starting season and I want to try my hand at starting some perennials this year and plant them in the fall.
Unfortunately, we have had rotten weather the last several weeks. SO much clouds and rain. Which means not a lot of sun or desire to spend time outside. In fact, last night the region had the next round of nasty storms go through. I've been keeping an eye on newsy things online and seen/saw there have been a lot of washouts, flooding and people needing help with flooded basements, etc.
This morning the newsperson said today is the 12th anniversary of the major flooding of 2012. THAT was a crazy time. Maybe you remember hearing about the seal that was out on the highway?
My work building flooded as well.
I'm ready for things to dry out a little bit, for a little while.
If we were having coffee ... I would say all the rain has been good for the garden, but it's also making the garden not grow very quick. It feels like the garden is a bit behind right now.
AAAAnnnnndddd ... I don't have any recent photos of the garden.
These are from a couple weeks ago.
I have a few things that I'm experimenting with. In this photo you can sort of make out the "little greenhouse" as I'm now calling it. I debated on taking it down. However, I have a few garden things that I need to store somewhere and I'm not willing to start filling the new greenhouse up with things that will make it cumbersome to be in there.
I do like seeing all the green in the yard and all the trees.
Way in the back I have cucumbers and squash plants growing in the containers in the back.
Sometime soon I will take proper photos of the garden.
If we were having coffee ... I'd chatter about how my crafting hasn't gone like I planned this year, thanks to the health stuff. For a while I didn't touch anything. Then crafting was sporadic.
I was feeling a little bit of stress an anxiety about this. Then I remember/reminded myself that there are no deadlines on the things I'm working on. Only goals that I wanted to reach by the end of the year.
With reminding myself of this I started feeling better about the whole thing.
A few nights ago I completed the last block on my sandpiper quilt.
Now to assemble the quilt top. I have the sashes and borders ironed and ready to go. I'm debating on the backing. Go with something wild and unexpected, or be sedate with my color choices for both the backing and the border?
I do want to update my goals list. That will be for another day. I need to gradually get back in to the habit of writing.
If we were having coffee ... Speaking of goals ... Social media is reminding me that the Tour de Fleece is just around the corner. Do I bother with it this year? I can't remember if I did anything with it last year. I haven't touched my spinning since ... February ? Back when I first learned to spin (100 years ago), and heard of Tour de Fleece, online teams and whatnot were not nearly as ... "fun" as they are now. Tiaras and T-shirts with fun logos and the year stamped on them. Looks like TONS of teams you can choose to spin on, and a butt-load of prizes and giveaways.
The one spinning group I'm a member of on Fa*ebook has been pretty quiet for months and months. I don't know what's going on there. I suspect there was a change in adminning and the new person may not be as active on social media. That's fine. At this point I'm using social media now mostly to look at pretty things or to be inspired. Sometimes to know what is going on.
If we were having coffee ... Books ... I started listening to an audiobook yesterday, "A Single Thread." I'm about an hour and a half in to it. The voice actor is good. I heard about this book from a flosstuber. It's been tough on the book front. I haven't known what book genre I want to listen to. I've started listening to a few audiobooks but haven't finished them. One, "Speaker for the Dead," I had started listening to a few years back, and never finished it. I started listening to it again and with being more "seasoned" of a reader, or more life experience (whatever you want to call it) I found myself hearing what the author is saying about a few things and it basically left a bad taste in my mouth and I wasn't really enjoying the story anymore.
If we were having coffee ... I'll give you little update on the chickens.
We rehomed our older girls and Roo. Someone called us up and asked us if we have any adult roosters available. We said yes, and then said "Hey, do you want his girls, too?"
"Sure, the person said."
We still have a Barred Rock rooster and 10 hens. The hens are fat and sassy. The rooster is a jerk to me. It's the first time I've had a roo that sees me as a rival, I suppose you'd call it. I have to walk around with a stick in my hand, at the very least. Otherwise he feels like facing off with me. My son named him but I can't remember the name, for sure. James Charles? I guess it's a youtuber, or twitch streamer? ?? I no longer know who or what is it and happening. Or, trending ...
There are also some babies that joined the flock this spring. Totally adorable. They don't care for being held, though. They are free and wild buns, apparently.
Speaking of buns ... Feffer is still with us. I think he's at least 6 years old now. Maybe 7?
He goes through spurts of being friendly and wanting scritches, and being an aloof bun.
Regardless of his mood, he's my good little boy and I tell him that every morning when I go out to see him and the chickens.
I'm trying to think if there's anything else I want to ramble about. I'm sure there's something and I will think of it as soon as I hit publish.
Crafty news I'm going to break up a little bit and put in a few blog posts so I don't overwhelm myself trying to write one massive blog post. My hope is that breaking this up will help me update my goals list, figure out what I'm working on, what other things I want to make, and maybe make a gameplan so I can get my ducks in a row and be bit more organized on the things I have on the mental "I want to make this" list. Like, I want to make some project bags and have the fabric for them. Then there's a few little things I want to make that are crafty and will help me while I'm being crafty. Like a phone pillow and a little fabric ort tray. Oh, that reminds me ... do I want to buy the snaps or should I just sew the corners? I doubt I'll ever travel, so maybe there's no need for snaps. See, what I mean?
Okay, I think that's everything I want to blather about. Yeah ... I'm off to go get my ducks in a row.
When I sat down to start writing this blog post, that was the first thing that came to mind, for some reason. Maybe because that is how January has felt? Stagnating?
Maybe it's appropriate that my friend sent this gem through to me.
Then, suddenly, it will be February in just a few days, and I will be thinking "Wow, that last little bit sure went fast!"
The last time I wrote was just over a week ago. Last week didn't feel that interesting as I was living it. No sun. Temperature's not as forecasted. I was working towards a publishing day. Blerg. ...
Tuesday I went to the dentist for a cleaning. My hygienist is a really sweet gal, and we usually end up talking crafty things. Well, as much as we can while she's rooting around in my mouth, making sure everything is as it should be.
When we were done, I got up and had pulled out my phone to show her something knitting-related and she saw the photo of Furby as my lock screen. She enthused over how pretty Furby was and I had a hard time talking about Furby.
Not in the way you might think. I wanted to tell her SO much about what kind of girl my Furby was that I got a bit stuck and didn't know what to say first. She was my favorite girl and she is missed.
It's been at least six months and I still get a bit teary-eyed and choked up at times when I think about her.
*ahem*
My son has been begging me to make eggrolls. Ever since the mom of one of his friends made eggrolls and he brought some home, he's pleaded with me to make them.
I said I would if I found a good recipe. Everything online calls for 100 ingredients. I asked my mom's group if anyone had a good recipe. My friend E came through and gave me the recipe her mom used.
Eggrolls were a big, fat hit! I even figured out a way to make them low carb, using low carb wraps.
Another day I took advantage of the slowly thawing temperatures and cleaned out the chicken coop before work. Yeah, I was out in the coop at 7 a.m., mucking it out.
These two thought it was WAY too early for those type of shenanigans.
The pine shavings were SO heavy from all the moisture. Then trying to move the wheelbarrow through the soft snow. I thought I was gonna die!
One of my hens was a bit miffed because she wanted to lay an egg and I kept messing about, and then I emptied the shavings out of the nesting boxes.
Oh yeah ... when I first went out there I was looking at the tracks in the snow.
Pretty sure this is a raccoon track. I am not fond of raccoons.
Cleaning out took me about an hour. I know I clean out my chicken coop more frequently than others probably do. I want my birds to be happy.
They are.
I shot a quick video and my one hen had to come check out what I was doing. This is my Stumpy Girl.
Quilting ...
The quilting has slowed down a small bit. Now that a few of the small sewing projects have been wrapped up I've not been quite as quick to run to the craft room in the evenings. I'm still in there, though.
I don't remember which night it was that I decided I was going to start working on squares for the Dancing Stars quilt.
I thought I'd be so clever about it, too, and not look at the instructions.
I have no idea what month this color set is.
I sewed the pieces together in groups of two. Then grouped two groups together.
Like, I said ... I was being so clever.
Three groups of four.
I don't remember it being three groups of four ... Or the pieces needing to be sewn up into a Y seam.
Drat!
It was supposed to be four groups of three colors.
The first quilt square went in to timeout while I mentally kicked myself. Then the next day I ripped seams and re-did the first square.
Sewn back together as best as I could do. There is some weird circular wrinkling going on.
I know if I ripped everything apart and sewed it all back together, those wrinkles would likely not go away. So they will stay. Close enough. Not to mention 12 fabrics meeting in the same spot. I doubt they would have come together again as nice as they currently are.
Last night I ripped the remaining quilt squares apart, ironed and they are all ready to go.
I have a goal of completing this set of squares by the end of the week, along with one square from the other quilt I'm working on. Wish me luck!
And in the midst of the week I was out in the she shed and spotted a bag of DMC floss. I was like "What chart is this for?'
I have no idea what project I picked these up for. *Eeks* It was nice to look at all those colors together. So bright and pretty.
About half of the fiber I weight out for January has been spun up. I have some kind of hang up about spinning. It's all *right there* ready to go.
When I have spun it's been wonderful.
Saturday I finally did it! What did I do? I started some seeds!
I've been waiting for this moment. Then when it finally got here, I was like "What should I start?"
Celery, onions and lettuce, duh! I also started a few herbs.
My first set of mini soilblocks. Aren't they adorable?
All the room in the house to work and plant seeds, and where do I go? The kitchen table.
Sometimes I really amaze myself with what I'm able to do in a tiny space I allow myself to work in.
After I planted the seeds and dropped some vermiculite on it all.
I decided to try something different this year. No plant tags tucked between the soil blocks. I have tape with numbers on them, and I have a notebook where I listed everything I planted. Last year I had trouble with the plant labels sliding out of place.
This weekend I'm going to plant some peppers, and ... I don't know what else yet. A lot of perennial seeds were purchased and I'd like to set some of those started. Just need to settle on how I'm going to start the seeds: Winter sowing, in seed cups, soil blocks ... I have a few ideas. The mild winter is helping, too. Maybe plant a few small cups of seeds and set them out in the greenhouse? Or, I could use the material we got last year and make a low tunnel?
My office chair out in the she shed got a makeover. This chair is at least 12 years old. Maybe 15? It's still in great shape but for the material. The material is pleather and it's starting to split.
It now matches MUCH better, I think.
On Sunday the sun came out.
Seriously ... My hubby and I were outside and when the sun broke through the clouds I went and stood in a sun patch.
Our snow melted a LOT over the weekend.
Yesterday was publishing day. 'Nuff said. It's publishing day!
Today was catch up day.
When I was out in the coop this morning, before work, our barred rock roo decided to act up a bit with me. I'm sure I did something he didn't like, such as sweeping away pine shavings so I can close the door.
I grabbed him and held him for a bit and talked to him. Then he leaned his head over and nipped my hand. Through the glove he managed to bruise me.
The brat. I didn't hand raise him from a chick. He was a rescue. There hasn't been any attitude until late last summer. He would try to sneak attack me and I don't put up with it, so he's had his fair share of being held by me while I tell him he's a naughty boy. I thought we were making headway when he finally would take food I offered him. Nope.
The rest of this week ... I have Thursday and Friday off. The last little bit of my paid time off before my work anniversary. My plan is to record a podcast one of these days.
Soooo ... I guess that's all the news from Lake Woebegone ...
Oh, and if you didn't know where the quote in the title is from, it's a line from the original "All Creatures, Great and Small."
