Green

This has got to be the earliest I've ever used the "I hate summer" label :'-(  

At least Buddy's happy.  

Sigh...

"When I grow up..."

"...am I going to be a sweater?"

We're counting on it...but it would be nice if you'd try to stay a bit tidier, baby girl :-o.

The 2018 sweater making preparation season is not far off.  The bigger flocks getting ready for lambing are shearing now.  We won't be far behind, especially if this crazy weather holds up.  It won't though and the surest way to get it to cool back down will be to shear the sheep...

Speaking of sweaters, I've decided to take the Carbeth back from 20 and re-knit it for the Iknitarod, which starts this Saturday.  Wait a minute.  This is probably not making any sense to anyone who isn't following on Instagram, now that I think about it.  Let's back track...

I finished Baaxter's Carbeth.  I was between sizes and went up instead of down...and should have gone down.  Not only that, I wasn't happy with my decrease stitches (what shapes the sweater and makes that point in the top center).  

The right side was not as even as it should have been, but I also had some mild puckering on both sides, front and back.  Both of these problems could have been fixed with an aggressive blocking...which would have made the sweater even bigger.

So my first thought was to trade it to 20 (who looks great in it) in exchange for the Ford sweater (that I'd like to have back ;-).  Then I saw that cute video of the afternoon I knit out in the field and got all sentimental about it and now I'm going to re-knit it for myself during the Iknitarod.  Sorry, 20.

Before I do that though I wanted to practice those stupid decreases, so I decided to knit a teddy bear sized sweater...which is oddly how my last winter Olympics challenge ended, now that I think about it...and here's a link to that post.  Oh wow, I'd forgotten about the Burrnie/Daniel incident!  How sweet to go back and remember :-).  

I finished the sweater in time for the closing ceremonies and I think it turned out very cute.  I completely fixed the puckering issue and figured out how I want to do the right hand side decreases.  I'll be ready to restart on Saturday!

Just to keep the bear sweater exciting, I'd pulled out a skein of handspun yarn that I thought would be enough yardage.  Boy, was I wrong.  Luckily I remembered that I'd spun it during the Tour de Fleece a couple years ago and I still had my 'on paper' notes about who I'd spun and yardages.

Okay, I spun that FOUR years ago.  Good grief!  Thank goodness for the blog records :-o.  I'd spun that from a friend's flock in hopes/plans to make her something from it...which I obviously never got done.  Luckily that roving is still here (still in hopes/plans to still make her something from it) and I was able to spin enough more to finish the sweater.  

I believe it's a Perendale fleece and I really enjoyed spinning and knitting with it.  I think fiberpusher may still be buying fleeces from this flock for her breed study offerings.  Here's a link to her shop and they'll also be at the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival in May.  Yikes :-o.  The fiber season has started for sure!

Technology...

So this "memory" just showed up on my phone (?!?).  I don't know how these happen (and probably don't want to know :-o), but this is so cute I couldn't resist sharing.  It's from the afternoon I sat out in the field knitting on the Baaxter sweater.  The clip of Kate in the middle...just keeping it classy here at Equinox ;-D.

This just showed up on my phone. Appears to be images and clips of video I took the afternoon I knit on my #carbeth out in the field (with a short clip of Kate playing with a beer can just to keep it classy 😆). I love this and am sharing here to “keep it” (since I don’t know how it even got made in the first place 🤔). #bangoutacarbeth #knitwithyoursheep #buybettertoysforyourdog🙄 #ilovemysheep #andkate

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady) on Feb 23, 2018 at 10:56am PST

I like that there is a picture of the sweater at the end.  I'm not happy with it and need to frog it and start over, but there's more to that story and I am proud that I made it.  Maybe an Iknitarod re-knit?

Face Smashing

This is a Saint Tim thing and it's not really what it sounds like. Well, it actually is...but in a way that all the animals around here are addicted to.  I work my butt off taking care of them and making sure they have plenty of food, clean water and bedding and cookies...and Tim's the one everyone wants to see come to the barn.  Sigh...

Beggars

All three of them are vying for Tim's cheese sandwich.

How Many Sheep Does It Take To Knit A Sweater?

Baaxter's pretty sure he knows the answer to that question.

You know that old joke...

...where the punch line is "I didn't even know sheep could knit!"

They can't.

Well, we had snow yesterday and today it all melted and warmed up enough that I could knit outside this afternoon.  Baaxter "helped".  I'm ready to start the collar tomorrow, which means the end is in sight.  It's been a fun, easy knit and so many friends are knitting Carbeth sweaters that it's felt like a virtual knitting party :-).

Dusk

It was actually a little darker than this when I took these off the back porch this evening.  There was obviously something to be worried about or they wouldn't have been out there in the first place, but it's comforting to be in the middle of cooking dinner, know something is going on, but not having to stop to even worry about it.

And that's why we all sleep secure at night.

Pine Party

We had a small ice storm last week and some pine branches came down in the yard and side field.  This is also known as a sheep party!

Love Comes In All Shapes And Sizes

Maisie and Betsy - still crazy after all these years :-).

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sheeps...

The sheep have had access to the recently repaired and then replaced water tank all winter. Before it was replaced, I'd frequently find them out there trying to "repair" it themselves, so I assumed once it was back operational it would be their favorite water spot. That would be no.

Yesterday I found B. Willard pawing around on the old plastic water tank we'd used up next to the barn while the automatic water was not operational.  I decided to go ahead and fill it back up since we have a few warm days coming.

As soon as I did that...

Oh you know it.

Not Quite Dead Yet

I made it nearly 50 years without getting the flu.  It'd be nice if I could go another 50 without a repeat.  A huge thanks to Saint Tim for holding down the fort for almost a week now.  I did make it out for a Biscuit fix to feed this morning.  Yeesh.

Baaxter Will Never Let Me Down

It turned into a lovely, sunny afternoon and I decided it would be fun to see if I could set up a "casting on" photo shoot with Baaxter and his soon to be banged out sweater.  You can't do this with just any sheep.  Oh, you could separate out that one sheep and lock them in a pen with the yarn and they might eventually go check it out, but to just set it out in the open...  I was pretty sure Baaxer wouldn't let me down.

"Hey, Baaxter!"

"Baby B-e-e."

Poking his head around the corner of the barn.  "What?"

"Remember the sweater I told you about?"

"Yeah."

"I brought the yarn and pattern out.  Could you come over and check it out so I can take your picture?"

Slowly walking straight over to the Grahaminator.  "Yeah."

He's a sheep of few words, but dependable actions (good and naughty ;-).

The real reason I felt pretty confident that Baaxter would come over and show interest in a knitting project is because Baaxter IS interested in wool projects.  Remember how he reacted to his woven blanket?

Murphy was very interested as well.  "I wish I could be a Carbeth."

"Guess what.  You are!  Your Auntie Elaine is knitting one up north with yarn she spun from you! :-)"

And probably the real reason Baaxter is interested in wool projects is because he's still got a little naughty streak in him ;-).

"Baaxter!!!"

Teefers are cute when you're a baby, but Not Around Yarn :-o.

So, it looks like we're ready to cast on!

Snowy Sunday

We also had a dusting of snow this morning as well, but it's not sticking around any better than the snow yesterday.  Stupid snow...

And a new puzzle!