April Showers

The chickens love Del Boca Vista, especially when it's raining.  Jester is a good sport about it.  Just realized I never shared that we put Ford down a few weeks ago.  Sigh...  Jester was pretty upset about it for awhile, but he's doing okay now.  He's had to watch a lot of old friends go over the years.  There are a lot of old friends...and some sad decisions coming up :-(.

Front row:  Chocula, Burrnie, Levi  Back row:  Murphy and Spud

Chocula

Liddy and Murphy.  I don't really think of Liddy as being super small, but I guess she is.  Or maybe Murphy is just super big, which is also true.

In case child services comes after me, I had to pick up a new sheep arthritis prescription for Woolliam at the "people pharmacy" today.  I had to sign off on my "relationship to the patient". Since there wasn't a check box for sheep/pet/animal...I checked off that he was my "child". They'd put it under Murphy's name I guess because he was the most recent animal on the ugly vet bill this month.  He's fine now, but gave us all quite a scare.

  Maisie: "I stay inside when it's raining."

Not sure why Hershey, of all sheep, felt like he needed hair extensions.  Kids...

The Grass Is Always Greener...

That's B. Willard on the other side of the fence.  This is a picture from today, not last year in, say, April.  It shouldn't be "greener".  This winter is just crazy :-(.

If you can't beat 'em, I guess join 'em...or turn 'em into a puzzle...
 

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 because a. the type of wool he grows and b. he's her best friend.

No sooner than I thought about that I looked up and saw this.   

Hickory and T-Bone and Liddy and Andy

Field friends grazing side by side.

He's Got This

As the sun begins to set...

...Hank catches a last few winks of sleep.

Uh oh!  Trouble out back.

"Where's he headed?"

"He sure is fast."

"We're not worried.  He's got this."

Enjoy!

Checking In With The Ts

Tavia, everyone's little favorite.  Even though you shouldn't have favorites ;-).  What a sassy, inquisitive little lamb.  She'll come up and sniff a cookie...but no takers yet.

Interestingly, the two multi horn girls (Tavia and Tabitha) tend to hang out together...

...and these two two horns (Thelma and Tara) pair up as well.

Poor Tessa isn't really as left out as she looks here.  The whole group is a tight knit family.

They do mingle with the older Jacobs some, but the older Jacobs are, well, old...and boring.  Much of the day the girls are off on adventures of their own.  Today is the first cold rainy night since they moved into the side field.  After moving Heidi the Grouch back to the main flock, they feel much safer coming into the barn.  I'm getting ready to go check on them, just to make sure.

weather.eli

The ground hog has emerged from his heated condo on the porch, so winter must be over.  

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... 

Hey!

"Anyone wanna be my Valentine?"

[crickets]

"Will you be my Valentine?"

Happy Valentine's Day :-)

Flat Stanley

That is one comfy dog, sleeping on a warm winter afternoon.

Bedded deep in some leftover hay.

"We were saving that for later."

Yarn Along - Two [Hats] Are Better Than [None]

There hasn't been a whole lot of knitting and much of what has been done has been some serious Stella Knitting (also known as Un-knitting because I kept *cypherin' my maths wrong on a Very Simple Project :-o).  

After being Stella Re-Knitted six or seven times (because if it's not right...), the Liddy hat is finished. Well, of course not entirely.  When I first blocked it I thought it was borderline too long.  As it dried it started creeping up my ears to where it's now borderline too short.  

I usually block my hats on my head.  I'm going to try re-blocking to keep it stretched out as it dries and see if that fixes things.  If it doesn't, it will probably fit Stella perfectly and she can laugh every time she puts in on knowing how many times I ripped it back haha ;-).  

I've actually been wearing it quite a bit until these last couple of hot days (this winter is wearing me out!), but it would be perfect if it just had two or maybe three more rows.  

I have plenty of the too thin, wonky Liddy yarn left.  Knitting it doubled made for a perfectly warm, smooshy hat (much like the Lidd-ster herself :-) and camouflaged all the inconsistencies. Now that I've got the cypherin' straight, a second hat should practically knit itself (insert picture of Hank from yesterday... ;-)

The Gone to the Mountains hat is coming along.  I finished the tops of the big trees this afternoon while providing company for a guest staying in the Wool House.  More on that tomorrow.  Don't be disappointed when you find out it's not a lamb ;-).

I need to do a whole long story 'splainin' post about what I've been reading lately.  Don't be surprised when you find out it's cookbooks ;-).  I'm also still enjoying Brave and Loyal, which I coincidentally started when I started the Mountains hat in the middle of January.  

How am I still working on savoring both?!?  Sigh...

Joining in with Ginny...

*Huh???  Granny Clampett was actually Jed's mother-in-law?!?  I. did. not. know. that.

Okay, let's all date ourselves.  Show of hands - who knows what a cement pond is?

Paws Crossed

What a crazy few days!  

Paws crossed things settle down for awhile!

"Hahahahahahahahahaha...."

Ten For Ten

Today is my 10 year blog anniversary. Well, for another few minutes at least.  I'd like to write something profound and memorable, but it's late and I'm beat.  It's been a long day - some good, some bad.  Like most days. 

Here are ten pictures of some of my friends, to share with my friends.  Happy Blogiversary :-).

Cheers!