Now Where Did I Put That Red Lantern

The Iknitarod is finally over!  Well, technically the Iknitarod was over months ago, but my team, hindered by me, finally crossed under The Burled Arch last week...just as the weather here turned into full on hot and humid Kentucky summer-time.  Oh, to be in Alaska.

This cute vest is the Petite Knits Lulu Slipover and this is the second of her patterns I've completed and I can recommend it as a fun and interesting knit.  It starts at the top of the back and is knit down to the bottom edge.  You then pick up stitches at the shoulders and knit down the front.

You pick up stitches to add the mock turtle neck and pick up stitches to knit around the arms and then pick up stitches on each bottom corner and double knit up the sides to the bottom of the sleeves and add button holes on the two front corners and buttons on the back two.  

Every bind off was an Italian bind off, which is basically Kitchener stitch, and I can say after doing it so. many. times.  I now have it down pat.  It's a pretty bind off and I'm glad to have that in my arsenal.  I also liked how the four plackets were added on and I'd use that technique again as well.

The yarn is Lamb Camp Bottle Lamb and it took a beating with as many mistakes as I made and had to rip out and start back and rip out and start back and rip out (you know, the usual...) and it held up perfectly.  You just can't beat some good medium wools with a bit of long wool blended in :-).

I enjoyed knitting this and really can't say why it took so long, but I am glad to finally have it finished so I can start my next project.  There's always a next project :-).

And as far as the Red Lantern, not to fear, my Iknitariders had everything under control :-).

And May...

Much of May was second verse, same as the first.  Pinot was still digging his hole and filling it back in.  Bullseye kept getting friendlier and friendlier - just a charming young cat.  More rain.  More green grass and also a special mix of grass planted out front for Pinot.

The cake baking continued.  

Short Round made it all the way out into the yard to graze a few evenings.  Maisie grazed in the driveway.  Baaxter had been kicked out into Summer Breezy because he was being a bully.  Boys...

The cicadas arrived and that's been...interesting.  I can stand the mess and the noise, but fer cryin' out loud, get off me while I'm trying to weed eat!  

There's a funny story about poison ivy and Short Round getting some props for helping support the removal at a friends house...by goats.  Since Short Round will eat anything, I figured she should be there in spirit :-).

Betsy enjoyed another party.  Bea enjoyed a trip to Dairy Queen.  Everyone enjoyed the beautiful full moon.  

The gardens are coming along, both vegetable and B Garden.

The horse shenanigans continued.  Boys...

Knitting as fast as I could to get. this. project. finished.  My Iknitariders had fun riding along and didn't mind too much when Bullseye fell asleep with them.  

Maisie is a Good Sheep.

Losing Burrnie and Kaala was not unexpected, but still sad.  I love the barn camera shot of her sleeping tucked up with Liddy near the end.  Kaala enjoyed her friends here.  So did Burrnie.

Speaking of the barn camera, I love being able to check in with everyone whenever I want, but also, if I see something odd I can go back and see what happened.  One evening I saw the sheep all jump up startled.  I switched to the barn lot camera to try to see what they were looking at.  Something small and light colored, but I never could decided exactly who it was.  

The month ended with a fun steam train ride at the Heavenly Hilltop Railroad with 20 and Pip and Skipper (Rebecca's lamb), who is now far too big to pick up.

I love these scrapbook compilations :-).

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And April...

The big story in April was shearing.  We traditionally have shorn around the middle to end of March, but after two years of horrible cold snaps afterwards, I decided to hold off until the first week of April and then it poured rain for days and we postponed until the second week of April.  The time lapse video of the afternoon was very fun.

The best part of April were that everyone was still here.  Frail old Burrnie had moved into Eazy Breezy and loved being able to get some extra treats and still be able to go out to graze with some of his friends.  We knew Kaala wasn't feeling well, but she was doing okay and still happy to hang out with her friends, eat treats and enjoy the tall grass in the side field.

Pinot dug a big hole under one of the huge sidewalk rocks.  A big hole.  I think it measured to something like 32 or 34 inches deep.  I'd go out and re-measure it...but he turned right around and filled it back in.  His fur is still stained brown on his back.  He was a hard working bunny, day and night, and the hole was impressive.

Frankie and I did quite a bit of riding and I was pretty encouraged by our progress, especially working over ground poles.  Tim made me a set of short cavaletti blocks.

The late winter/early spring sun was enjoyed by everyone.  When it was not warm and sunny, the wool sweaters and winter coats kept everyone comfortable.

Betsy enjoyed the shearing party and a couple spinning parties.  Betsy loves a party :-).

Lots of wool pictures.  The fleeces were in better shape than I was afraid they might be with the long winter and delay in shearing.  Maisie had picked up a chicken feather somewhere along the line and it made it through shearing so I tucked it in her wool bag.

Bullseye helped with skirting and became quite a lap sitter.  He loves the barn and has several favorite spots in and around and sits out front at night. 

The cake baking started.  More about that to come.

Rebecca brought her bottle lamb over one afternoon and managed to get him back in the car to go home.  

Gato arrived/returned and the other two horses lost their ever loving minds.  I'm probably not going to add anything to that story (!).

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Meanwhile...Back In March

As the days passed at the beginning of March and I didn't get the Month End done and didn't get it done and didn't get it done...I could feel the spiral...and could. not. make. myself. fix. it.  I even gave up to the point that I turned all my calendars to April, which I don't let myself do until the compilation is finished.

I'm glad I finally got these caught up because A. there was a lot of March I'd forgotten about and B. there were a lot of Maisie and Short Round pictures in there.  Maisie and Short Round still getting up and into trouble.  Things are deteriorating with them and it was nice to know that not that long ago, everything was still fine.

Everything is still fine and whatever happens, when it happens, will be fine, but I am pretty sure if I didn't have these caught up, it would have been very, very hard to sit down and go through everything if everything wasn't still mostly fine.

A lot of these pictures made it to IG, but not all, and if they did they may not have been explained.  There's at least one picture that even I can't explain*.  I wish they'd all have been posted to the blog, but that obviously didn't happen, so here are some notes.

The month started with trying to trap a feral cat with a huge belly that I was sure, knowing my luck, was going to be a teenage mom.  That was Bullseye and he thankfully ended up just being a really wormy boy cat and your can watch his transformation from feral to friendly after he got trapped and vetted.  He's just as sweet as he looks.

The Iknitarod happened.  Yeah, remember that?  Noticed that I still haven't posted any finished pictures?  Yeah, I'm still working on it, but it's close to being finished even though all the snow in Alaska has probably melted.  I enjoyed "making time" to go sit and knit with a couple of the sheep in the yarn.

I hate how the pictures get cropped sometimes.  I have no control over that and the barn camera picture of Murphy standing all by himself in the barn lot with no one wanting to follow him out to the cold field is disappointing.  It's a funny shot in full.

*The fried chicken bone.  I have no idea.  It just appeared in the yard one day.  (!)

I love the light in the winter.

I remodeled Pinot's Patio with a new fence and built some big wooden planters to put my flowers in this year.  Big so they don't dry out so quickly and tall so Pinot doesn't eat them all.  Don't worry, I planted some stuff for Pinot.  I think that shows up next month.

I got a drum carder.  More to come on that...I promise.

The purple martin scouts showed up and then the rest moved in.  The video clip cut the sound off.  That unmistakable sound is the sound of spring.

It rained a lot.  

Frankie and Lancelot enjoyed doing all the stuff they've always done together - grazing, playing, taking turns watching while the other slept...best friends stuff.  I miss those days.  I don't regret taking Gato back.  He has earned a nice retirement and lots of old lesson horses don't get those, but I wish the herd dynamic hadn't gotten so skewed.  

I got a little stuffed sheep named Merino.  He came from Loved Before and he needs his own intro post.  Yes, I did knit him a warm wool sweater.  That needs a post too.  Since he came from across the pond, I thought he might enjoy watching The Great British Baking show so I added him to the Iknitarod team bag and brought him in for house knitting.  More about the baking to come.

I kept all of Dug's kids from the previous year.  I just couldn't bring myself to eat them so they lived on the counter in the kitchen all fall and winter and just as they started to look like they might not make it until spring, they did, and out they went to the garden and are doing Dug proud.

The picture of Maisie standing at the feed room door is a great story.  As crazy as she's always been, Maisie is extremely polite while waiting for breakfast and dinner.  She stands there waiting patiently...and because of that usually gets a little something extra :-).  

Like the purple martins, the redbuds are another great mark of spring.  Always beautiful.

Enjoy!

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