'Cause There Just Ain't Enough Crazy In My Life...

After the devastating panic upon realizing I'd sold Marcel's fleece last spring, the Always Amazing Aaron talked me off the ledge by reminding me that I'd stashed away a bit of Marcel's lamb fleece two years ago.  That and he had eight ounces left in his stash which he so kindly gave back to me.  A woolly gift - if I'm careful, it's enough to make the Market Jacket. Gratitude.

It's been processed for several weeks, but I've stewed and stewed with how it needed to be spun.  I sampled a couple times and finally decided to just jump in and spin it.  Yeesh, the indecision will kill you.  I was bummed that I'd delayed so long that it was going to end up being a summer project rather than something I'd finish yet this winter, but that was okay.  

Enter an email this afternoon from Alaska Cathy, one of so many fun folks I've met through all this fiber craziness.  "Want to do the Iknitarod?"

The Iknitarod?  A winter knitting challenge following the Iditarod? I like what I'm hearing here!  My favorite musher isn't racing this year, but I don't care.  I'm a sucker for winter sports, anything winter.  I live for the Winter Olympics and something to fill in the years between?  Perfect. 

Here's where it starts to get a little crazy.  We are to cast on at the start.  Which is Saturday.  This Saturday.  As in the day after tomorrow.  My yarn isn't spun yet.  Luckily I've spun the last two Thursdays, and not feeling up to my usual work load, I threw in a Wednesday this week too.  I got two bobbins (about 10 ounces) spun today and have whittled my stack down to 16 ounces.  

That's still a herculean amount for me to spin in, at this point, mere hours.  And that's not counting plying and skeining.  And washing to set the twist.  And drying and winding into balls.  And sampling yet again to make sure I have the right gauge and needle size and know which pattern measurements I'm going to use.  ACK!!!  

However, in the spirit of the Iditarod, it will be a true challenge.  And getting all the yarn finished in time?  I'm looking at it like it's a qualifier race :-D.  I even brought my miniSpinner to the house this evening and am putting in a night run ;-).

And Miss Maisie did a great job taking care of herself for awhile this afternoon. A good lambie to have on my team :-).

The Moon Tried To Set Stella's House On Fire Last Night

I was late finishing up evening chores because I decided I needed to rake up the barn lot before it started raining overnight.  That's one of those jobs that is easy to do as long as you keep up with it...and it doesn't get wet and/or frozen.  An ounce of prevention...

I like being at the barn at night.  The lights on make everything look cozy and the sheep all mill around eating hay and picking their sleeping spot for the night.  Some sheep like to sleep in the same place every night - Woolliam sleeps in the corner, Ewen sleeps by the door, Blizzard liked to sleep in the hay manger.  Keebler sleeps in the back of the outer stall, as far away from everyone as he can get, because he's obviously Not A Sheep. 

As I picked up the last pile of loose hay behind the barn I noticed a bright light shining up at Stella's.  She and I are nosy neighbors keep an eye on each other. At first it looked like someone had pulled their car into the front yard and had their headlights pointed at her front door.  

That's odd.  Especially because I knew she wasn't home.  

And really, really bright.  Ack!  Is her house on fire?  

No flickering.  I guess it's okay. 

Hmmm...

Then I saw the row of trees behind her house start being lit up by moonlight.  

Wow.

If you've never taken the time, mere seconds, to watch the moon rise,...well, surely everyone has.  This one was spectacular.  I've watched the moon rise from behind our barn many times.  While I have enough understanding to say, well, the angle of the earth in relation to the moon this particular time of year...wait, who am I kidding, I don't really understand it.  I'm just glad I witnessed it.

How often at night, when the heavens were bright,

With the light of the twinkling stars

Have I stood here amazed, and asked as I gazed,

If their glory exceed that of ours.

Dr. Brewster Higley (1876)

The Progression Of The Day

Well, the progression of the day...was not really how these pictures account now that I see them uploaded.   But now I can't think of a better title (I like good titles), so I'm going to give you the reader's digest version and let the pictures stand.  Been horribly sick.  Was able to finally get out of bed yesterday and sat out in the sun with Maisie.  Who has officially started spending the nights in the barn (yay Maisie, more later) but still prefers to spend her days with mom.  Even if she's sick.  

"Especially if she's sick because she sits around and lets you get by with stuffs and then when you get tired she's right there to take a nap rather than like all "Maisie, I've gotta get some work done so you gotta go stay in the prison for awhile.""  

Yeah, mostly like that.  I probably need to go back to bed. 

Thursdays Are For Spinning

"So the wool goes in there..."

"And this wheel thing spins around..."

"And these foot thingies make the wheel turn..."

"So that's how that thing works."  

"Hmmm."

"I wonder how you get the wool off the sheeps?"

Those pictures were all from last Thursday.  I'm trying to get more "scheduled" now that Maisie's doing well and about ready to go off to college move to the barn.  The winter got completely away from me, but that's okay.

As I sat in the Wool House yesterday (sunny, but way too cold to spin out on the porch) watching Maisie through the screen door, I thought it a good trade :-).

She stayed busy grazing and out of trouble for at least an hour.  She had good company and was perfectly happy without me, which is how we want all of our kids to grow up, eh?

Except Corgis.  Do they ever grow up?  Just kidding, Weaslie ;-).

So this was yesterday's spinning.  I think the Thursday spinning thing was started by the Yarn Harlot several years ago.  I'm not sure how that worked out for her but she seems much more regimented than me (and also gets way more accomplished) so I'm giving it a go...and mostly because Thursday seems to be the day of the week that is most likely to be "spinnable".

Mondays and Wednesdays - Punkin's Patch work days. 

Tuesdays and Fridays - farm work and Hickory days.

Thursdays are for spinning.

Want to join me?  

If you're local, come on out on Thursday afternoons from 1:00 to 4:00.  We'll either sit in front of the stove or in the sun out on the porch.  Bring your wheel or a current project.  If you don't have a wheel but would like to learn to spin, I'd be glad to help you give it a try :-). 

If you're not local but would still like to come out sometime to spin or just visit with your favorite sheep, drop me a note.  We have a friend with a really nice Bed and Breakfast and can help you plan an enjoyable Bluegrass trip :-).

Not Quite Dead Yet

Cough cough cough... Ugh.

In case you missed this last week - a Maisie video to make you laugh. 

She's such a funny girl.  Most lambs just stand around screaming when they are mad about something.  

"Where's my MOM!" 

"I want more BABA!!!" 

"I don't WANT to play QUIETLY in the LAMB PEN!"  

Not Maisie.  Oh, she'll yell about something occasionally, but she's much more likely to jump up and down and stomp her feet and spin around and jump some more.  And then, when she realizes it's not really doing any good/gets it out of her system, just moves on. 

A good lesson.

So Big

"I had to get my last big girl booster shot this morning.  I really, really hate shots.  When I was sick and had to get a bunch of shots, momma always gave me a bottle right after each one.  That was a long time ago and she thought since I was a big girl I could just take my shot and forget about it."

"I made her give me a baba ;-).  She said she wasn't real surprised that I remembered that because I'm a Smart Lambie."

"I was smart enough to go lay down on one of the dog beds before she could stop me.  She says I pee on the beds and it's not nice to the dogs.  I don't really care.  Me and Betsy sleeps wherever we want to!"

Whispering Sweet Nothings

"Pswisisiwisiwisis" 

"Pswisisiwisiwisis"  

 

"Pswisisiwisiwisis" 

 

"Will YOU be my Valentine?"

Thinking About It

Our big girl is getting ready to move out to the barn. She loves being out there and she's been making supervised visits with the big kids trying to see if anyone might be interested in buddying up with her.

Popcorn PeePee Pants was a bottle lamb years ago.  Maybe she could help?  

"You're not really going to stick this little twerp out here with us, are you?  You do realize she's pawing me, right?" (Note Boudreaux looking on in horror.)

"Forget it!  I'm not taking care of her!"

"I remember when I was the cute baby."

From The Department Of You Can't Make This Stuff Up

I found a small plastic frog buried in the compost pile the other day.  Like finding the baby in the King Cake, funny farm style.

Just Another Maisie Monday

Sitting on the Wool House porch this morning. Beautiful sun, but breezy. The porch provided excellent shelter to sit and drink my coffee watching Maisie tootle around.   Love how she comes over to check in with me and then back to eating :-).

Enjoy the day!

Sunday Stills - Circles

This will be an easy one this week.  You can find circles everywhere. For a real challenge find some circles in odd places…..

Some shots from The Hillside, a friend's woods overlooking the Kentucky river.

A nearly perfectly round hole in a large limestone rock. Not sure how it got there - natural or man-made?  The Hillside is littered with rocks and many were used to build interesting stone walls and foundations for a cluster of old homesteads.

A rather nondescript plastic cap.  Round, but photo worthy?

 It's actually a miniature greenhouse!

So is this old bottle. 

Some tree damage - woodpeckers or bugs?

I loved the mini trash terrariums!

In an upright stone wall, heading down a narrow lane.

I had no idea this was inside some of the rocks. 

A beautiful walk in the woods.

For more Circular Sunday Stills...

Scritchy Saturday

The weather on Thursday was lovely. I sat out on the Wool House porch and spun for awhile. Maisie alternated between grazing, climbing around on the rock steps, hanging with mom, getting into my roving bag, back out to graze, chasing the chickens and then back to mom for some attention and face and back scritches.

And then a nappy.