Sweet Babies

Hickory's mom, Paige, just had a sweet little baby and I wanted to knit her something special from the farm.  I have no clue what size to knit a baby sweater and I figured it would be outgrown in just a few weeks anyway, so I made a sweater for a sweet little stuffed lamb :-).

Since Paige was one of Liddy's aunties, I thought a Liddy sweater would be the most appropriate, so I spun a small skein of worsted weight yarn and pulled out a trusty Elizabeth Zimmermann book.  Most of it was knit on a couple of beautiful fall afternoons.

Of course it wouldn't be a sweater project if I didn't have to rip it all back at least once.

The lamb waited and waited...

And finally it was finished :-).

Before he left for New York, he took his sweater up to show Clay's Kentucky Great Aunt, Stella. He loved hearing stories about the trip he was going to take and what fun he was going to have with his new family.  He arrived safe and sound earlier this week...and I bet he's glad he has a warm wool sweater :-).  

Frankie's Flock

While most of our friends were getting copious amounts of snow yesterday, we were getting a demoralizing amount of rain...yet again. This is the worst mud I've ever dealt with.  Everyone living in town is complaining about the cold.  Anyone on a farm is happy that at least the mud is frozen this morning.

Normally I don't blanket horses unless the forecast calls for something like freezing rain and brutally low temps.  If they have a good hair coat and enough body fat, they are just fine as long as they have plenty of hay, some shelter and a way to get out of the wind.  

Frankie had been living in a closed up barn all winter and came "down south" with very little winter hair.  Even on days I think he should be fine, he's been cold.  Saint Tim put some plywood up on the north side of his run in stall and that has helped a bunch, but he needs and wants his winter blanket, now blankets.  

I picked up a second blanket yesterday because I knew his green blanket, even though water proof, was going to be miserable after all that rain.  His back was still warm and dry, but all around his neck and shoulders he was soaked.  The new blanket fits a little bit better I think.  

I've had several questions about if Frankie is going to get a horse buddy.  He will, but it won't be until late spring.  I will definitely go back up to New Vocations, but it will have to be after winter when everyone is safely back out grazing up there and the mud has dried up here.  

In the meantime, Frankie likes hanging out with the sheep and as long as there's a fence between them, the sheep are happy to hang out with Frankie.  Actually, many of them were fine eating with Hickory and T-Bone, but now that Hank's getting old, I'm not going to ask him to deal with that. 

Hank actually seems a bit more relaxed, well, not relaxed, but maybe accepting of Frankie.  The original plan was to let Frankie out during the day and put him up at night so Hank could have free access to  work the front field at night without stress, but horses are warmer out moving around rather than standing still in a stall.

As we head down into the single digits over the next few days, I think I'm going to let Frankie come and go as he pleases, even at night.  He'll be warmer, can hang out over the fence with his sheep friends and I think Hank will be okay with all that.  

Stay warm out there!  Hey, and go out there.  It's really not that bad once you get moving around ;-).  But if you want to stay in, there's a new puzzle for you :-).

A Few More

Early in the summer I started taking pictures from the porch swing as I ate breakfast each morning.  They became the #porchpicturedujour on Instagram.  I worried the pictures were too repetitive, but they were hugely popular and I even had several folks ask if they could go sit on the porch when they were here for the Hug A Sheep Day farm party.  I love that :-).  

It's too dark to sit outside and eat breakfast now, unless I sleep in, so now I'm trying a #barnshotoftheday.  Again, really repetitive, but if you watch for the subtle differences, it's kind of fun :-).  

The bright green is where the underground spring(s) lives.  I'm contemplating the size of the area.  I thought I knew where the spring ran...but this is a big area, seemingly far enough away that it should be snow covered.  Wouldn't still warm(ish) ground be a better insulated than water logged ground?  What does this mean?  Those sorts of thoughts...which are not nearly as interesting as the sunrise on Hank's face. 

Liddy is as wide as she is long...am I'm not sure that's all wool :-o.

This would seem to be just a picture of a sheep and his guardian dog, but here is "the rest of the story."  Rocky and Jared had been breeding rams for 10 years.  They'd lived together, but separated from their main flocks except for six weeks or so during breeding season.  

They had their own routine that didn't always mesh with the rest of our flock.  In the heat of summer, our main flock would go out in the early morning and again in the cool of the evening.  Rocky and Jared thought that was silly and they'd come and go all day long.  They didn't mind leaving the flock.  They'd spent their whole lives away from the flock.

I'm not sure if Hank hated that they didn't stay with everyone else or maybe they reminded him or Hickory and T-Bone (who he really hated) grazing out front together and then coming back to the barn, too close to his sheep, or maybe he just flat out hated Rocky and Jared on general purposes (they did try to steal his food sometimes).  

Regardless, there were two or three months of high discord around here.  Rocky and Jared would go out to eat, they'd try to come back to the barn, I would try to watch for them and escort them past Hank, but if I wasn't around to do that, Hank would see them coming and lose his ever loving mind, then I'd lose my ever loving mind...all the while thinking "I am starting to hate a dog I thought the world of" and that was one more loss this summer that I just couldn't bear.

I'm not sure why things finally settled down, but they finally did.  I do know Hank stopped to stand there next to Jared yesterday.  Jared looked up for a second, but wasn't concerned and went back to eating.  Were they just greeting each other?  Reminding each other of their places?  Or just randomly stopped.  I don't know, but I thought enough about it all summer that I'm just going to go back to thinking about the green grass over the spring...

...while "old" Hank continues on his rounds, taking good care of all of his sheep.

Here's a new puzzle for you.  

Enjoy :-)

Gold Morning!

Yep, it's a puzzle, too :-).  Enjoy!

Meanwhile Out In The Field

An update on our favorite robin family!  Last night, just before dusk, I walked out and peeked into the nest to see how many babies were actually in there.  I found two babies, but they looked dull and lethargic and my heart sank.  I know how heat can affect animals, especially tiny babies :-(.

This morning I took my breakfast out to the end of the walkway and watched the "tree" while I ate.  I saw no activity.  I waited and watched for any sign of life.  No mom or dad coming or going.  I wasn't super surprised, but I'd been so hopeful yesterday.

I finally decided I had to know for sure, so I walked on out.  As I climbed up the ditch, one baby heard me and jumped up, active as could be!  I quickly backed away and was happy at least one baby had survived.  And sure enough, mom and dad were still on the job.

I checked on them from a distance several times during the day and found both babies were alive and well.  Baby birds grow fast.  Hang in there babies!  

*     *     *     *     *

Meanwhile, as I was on my stakeouts yesterday I caught a couple nice horse shots.  Hickory and T-Bone are much like Biscuit and Muffin.  They are almost always together and frequently side by side.

More puzzles :-).

Enjoy!

Good Morning!

These pictures were all taken at the same time.  Well, not at the exact same time, but within a minute or two ;-).  I love how the light changes color.  The horses were shot with the sun just off to the left of center/in front of me.  I turned to the right about one quarter turn to take the pictures of Hank.

And then back again.  The horses had also moved a little further to the left, towards the sun.

Two new puzzles :-).

Enjoy!

Ten More

Random horse shot as they randomly decided to gallop back to the barn.  Hank loves when they do this ;-).

Early this spring I caught a tiny flash of brown dart out of one of the bigger lavender plants.  I quietly walked over to see and sure enough, a tiny baby bird in a teeny tiny nest.  I quietly told the little bird to always be very quiet, especially when there might be a stupid cat around.  

I'd stroll through every day, never doing anything that might attract a cat's attention and watched.  And worried.  And one day I saw a tiny fledgling in the nearby dye garden and the nest was empty.  A tiny success story!

Well, part of a tiny success story.  There remained an unhatched egg.  It's still there, tiny blue in a tiny horse hair lined nest.  So pretty.

There are actually three new puzzles - two with lavender and one with the horses.  I worked the horse puzzle last night and it was a fun one with lots going on.  Click the puzzle to get to my folder of puzzles.  There may be others you haven't worked yet.

Enjoy!

Friends

I've been spending a lot of time with "Liddy" this weekend. Not Liddy herself, but her lamb fleece from last year's shearing.  Ever since I sat out in the yard with her while she was a baby and we knit two shawls together, I have planned to knit a Liddy shawl with her first fleece.  

Planning ahead for the Iknitarod, I started spinning for it on Roc Day.  The first yarn ended up too thin.  This is what I used doubled to knit her hat a few weeks ago.  Every subsequent sample ended up wrong as well for a variety of reasons.  Now I'm running out of time.  The race starts next Saturday.

I played around with several possible solutions this weekend and that's all for another day's post.  One of the options was to blend in something "long wool-ish".  I was just thinking it was a shame I didn't have any of Andy's lamb shear because that would be perfect blend because a. the type of wool he grows and b. he's her best friend.

No sooner than I thought about that I saw this.   

Hickory and T-Bone and Liddy and Andy

Field friends grazing side by side.

Yarn Along - More Hats...Really?

It's not midnight yet! Close though :-/. Got my iPad updated (finally) and sat on the couch for probably two hours working puzzles this evening. Who's big idea was it to make sheep puzzles??? Sigh...

Meanwhile, back at the Yarn Along, I finished (well, mostly) the Gone to the Mountains hat.  It, of course, doesn't fit quite the way I want and I toyed with frogging the whole thing and trying to knit it tighter, but decided a re-knit probably wouldn't make it significantly different so have decided to try fulling it a bit to see if I can shrink it just a hair...or a bit...shrinking a hat a hair sounds kind of funny ;-D.  

I'm in a huge quandary about what to knit next.  I've yet to complete a project that really felt like I'd done a good job and was back on my game.  This is troubling on several levels, but the most timely reason is because we are about 16 DAYS UNTIL THE START OF THE IKNITAROD! 

Yeah...  

I have another hat in my queue, the Owl in the Thicket hat.  I have the perfect yarn for it (Hershey's lamb fleece).  I think the pattern is neat.  And it reminds me of a fun afternoon spent with good friends.  We'd gone to a raptor presentation and been able to see a Great Horned Owl up close.  I love owls.

Here is some crazy strategy for you.  The last several projects I've attempted have been pretty straightforward and "easy".  And I've "failed".  This seems so improbable after some of the complicate projects of the past.  I'm thinking I need to go harder rather than easier.  Maybe I just need more focus.  See that chart above?  That ought to give me something to focus on!  There's even a cable in the brim. 

I could have cast on this afternoon, but I ended up getting distracted while trying to take pictures of the hats.  Winter sunshine is the best...if you can stay out of the wind.  Come sit on the bench in front of the Wool House with me.

And Hickory and some sheeps.

And Kate.

Even Betsy.

Something set Hank off and he called everyone in.  I could tell that bark was different, but I'm still trying to figure out exactly how.  I'm impressed I knew they'd all come running though, just by the tone of his voice.  I might turn into a sheep yet.  Fingers crossed!

I don't think I've read anything new this week.  I need to be reading the inside of my eyelids.  Off to make a barn check and then it's lights out!

Joining in with Ginny... 

Yarn Along - Three For Three!

Joining the Yarn Along group is not only fun, but it's also a great way for me to account for my goal of Make Yarn/Use Yarn.  I'm three for three (weeks) so far!  Can I keep it up?

The Jester hat...going slowly, but not going as poorly as I've been worrying about the last few days.  I thought my floats were too loose and I was going to have to rip it all out and start over.  Most (normal) people get their floats too tight.  Me?  Abby-normal....shut up!  I slipped half the stitches to a second needle to check and everything looks fine.  

Liddy.  Spun on the CPW and plied on the miniSpinner.  I really like the yarn (very soft and smooshy)...except it's thinner than I like to knit.  I also had some plying inconsistencies...that may have been due to plying it during the Packers/Cowboys game :-o.  This picture doesn't look too bad, but boy, it's inconsistent (some good, some over plied, some underplied). 

I can't think of any way to easily fix that without going through it yard by yard and adjusting according, which I've done before...but it's yarn that I'm probably going to just look at and never use, so I'm not sure I want to invest that kind of time.  Probably more useful as a reminder of how NOT to ply yarn...

And this is what I get if I try to take pictures on the steps of the Wool House.  No, Hickory, it's not dinner time yet.  Levi and Bullwinkle are hopeful as well.  It's just 3:30.  On a Wednesday!  I'm not a day late :-).

My book this week is Brave and Loyal: An Illustrated Celebration of Livestock Guardian Dogs, by Cat Urbigkit.  Perfect timing with the pictures and video yesterday, eh?  I love sharing stories about Hank and love reading about other amazing guardian dogs.  I'm parceling it out a couple chapters at a time. 

I've recommended her Shepherds of Coyote Rocks book before.  It's one of my all time favorites. I looked back to see if I'd recommended that with a Yarn Along post and found this.  Sweet little Liddy, now all grown up (and out - no, that's not all wool :-o) and making yarn :-).

Joining in with Ginny...

Almost Like The Christmas Card

Everyone gathered around the feed trough!  Well, at least the "young whippersnappers" ;-). 

Big change from yesterday!

Here's a puzzle made especially for Patti :-)

Enjoy!