Under The Burled Arch

The 2026 Iknitarod is in the books.  The trail was pretty clear the whole way and about halfway to Nome I picked up a couple of Iknitariders who saw all the purple yarns and couldn't resist joining the fun.

"I wonder what this is for?"

"This purple matches my sweater!"

"And this one matches my whole outfit!"

There was a bit of clean up, but nothing the team couldn't handle and from there it was smooth sailing.

The front or "right" side.

The back, which is actually the side you are looking at while you are working.  This is technically the "wrong" side, but I always kind of like the back sides better.

As always, I learned a lot as I punched along.  I also learned a lot after I finished.  There are some colors here that are too close to each other, but I didn't notice how too close until I took these pictures.  I'm not sure if I'll take anything out and change things around or just leave it as is as a reminder to watch for that and a couple other nitpicky things that I wouldn't do again.

All in all it was very fun and I'm looking forward to my next project.  And it was nice to hang out with one of my all time favorite sheep for a bit :-).

Off To A Rainy Start

The Iknitarod started yesterday.  I don't get as excited about the race as I did back in the "good old days", but 20 knew how much I still miss Short Round and he suggested that her punch needle project would be a great way to revisit and enjoy "the good old days" of both sheep and race.  

I already had the yarn dyed and the pattern drawn out.  All that was left to do was the "fun part"...even though I think the yarn and pattern drawing parts are fun, too.  It was a perfect plan.

I gathered everything up, set it out on the bench for an afternoon start once my chores were done and midway through cleaning stalls...

...a pop up deluge.

It had been steamy hot all morning and I was actually enjoyed hanging out in the barn with the horses, cooling off...and completely forgot about my "sled" sitting out...not enjoying hanging out.  

I can't blame my delayed start on equipment failure.  It was completely musher error.  Everything is now dried out and repacked and we are ready to mush on.

"Go Outside!"

Occasionally it's a good thing to check your socials before bed.  I almost missed the Northern Lights last night!  

Apparently the last time we saw them here it never made the blog :'-(.  That makes me think it was two years ago, but I can't go back and verify.

The colors that time were purples and greens.  Last night was all about the red and we got streaks shooting up into the sky as well.  I can't even believe I am saying "that time"....and I'm trying not to overthink why I've now seen the Northern Lights three times in two decidedly not northern states.

The iPhone picks up extra light in "night mode" so the first two pictures were a little brighter than what you could see with just your naked eyes.  I did bump the over exposure down some to get a more realistic picture, but left them a little brighter because the skies were so pretty through the camera lens.  This bottom picture is what I was actually seeing standing out in the yard.

As soon as I saw we were getting good colors last night, I started making my calls.  While all of my friends, except  maybe one, I'd normally not call after 10:00 p.m., I did send out a call last night.  "Northern Lights! Go outside!"  

We shared pictures and exclamations and thank yous and one by one finally drifted off back to bed.  I settled in thinking about my night sky calendar picture choices and knew which one I should pick and the story that would go with it.

By morning light though, the choice between the two pictures I had in mind...the shot I was thinking of that would pair with the night sky stories had Lancelot and Gato as the feature, along with a full moon.  The other shot had Maisie and Short Round.  I already had a nice picture of Lancelot picked out for another month...and the other shot had Maisie and Short Round.

There's a pretty good chance that I am putting together our last farm calendar.  Tim is hoping to retire next year and without his in house printing service, the calendars are not really feasible.  I hate not telling all the good stories.  There may just be a couple of extra pages this year.

July

July...was brutal.  So incredibly hot and humid.  Demoralizing.  I did manage to spend about 36 hours up north for a wedding...and that made it almost worse.  Worse in a  "need to buy a lottery ticket" way.  And yet, watching these photo flash by, there was a little good mixed in...but I can say it was better watching it than living it.  

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June Was A Pretty Good Month

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Short Round

I knew as the Tour de Fleece started that rather than one big spinning challenge I was once again going to do a "tour" of some of my favorite sheep.  I started with Short Round because I also knew that she and I were soon facing a really hard call and I knew I'd have more fun spinning while she was still sitting by my side.

She's buried out next to Jared who I believe was her very best friend in the whole world.  Or maybe her last very best friend.  Maybe she had other special friends earlier in her life before she moved here.  I hope I get to find out some day. 

She was a funny old ewe.  It was an honor.

Short Round

April 2011 - July 11, 2025  

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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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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aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Photo Fail

Sorry for the lack of after shearing shots.  I took a couple, but wasn't able to get everyone in them and thought I'd just go back and do some more later...and then it was too dark.  It ended up being a pretty long day because we didn't start shearing until mid afternoon.   

Not a great picture, but it made a fun puzzle :-).

I loved seeing Maisie and Short Round out chowing down on fresh green grass.  This wasn't the best picture of them, but it includes Murphy and I wanted to show his fancy gray spots that you can only see just after shearing.

"We'll try to do better next time."  Tony Kornheiser

Old Ladies

Short Round has really had a hard time this winter.  Well, she was okay until the real winter weather hit and then, even though things sure felt like they were headed north, they were actually headed south.  I kept hoping if she could make it out to spring grass that maybe she'd get her legs back under her.   

When I saw her totter out the other night I knew I'd made the right call.  Everyone stays here as long as they're happy.  And seeing her happy sure made me happy. Taking care of pensioners is not easy.

"Neither is getting old, but I'm doing okay."

It's had to believe that Betsy is going to be 17 this summer.  She's still tottering about as well and I always like to see her out on the spring grass as well.

"What am I doing in a post about old ladies?"

Maisie still got a few licks in on some folks in for the I-64 Spring Fiber Fling last Saturday.  She's hoping to get a few more opportunities tomorrow.  She will be greeting visitors between 11:00 and 4:00.  I'd bring some cookies...just saying ;-).

I love twilight photos.  Here's a new puzzle.  Enjoy!

February

I almost forgot to do my beloved Month End compilation.  What a brain...

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February was crazy...but not too shabby.

 

The Blog Is 18 Years Old!

I'm glad the blog is still here and it's back doing more than just recording the month end compilations, but just the same, here's January.  Lots of good memories of one of our biggest snow events since we've been here :-).

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Cheers to another month and another year!

PS  As I'm typing the labels (far right column and a good way to search for things if you are looking) I realized that I don't think there are any Possum pictures this month.  That would be because Possum spent most of the month curled up in the house ;-).

Solar Charging

Short Round 

If the sun is shining and there's no wind, all you need to be completely comfy is a good ray of sun.

Solar charging with an extra blanket.  Actually two blankets this morning.  We ended up going down to -1 early this morning and Maisie got pretty cold even with a jacket last night.  I added Cheeto's old super sized blanket this morning and she looks much more comfortable.  

Murphy, if you weren't such a doofus we wouldn't be laughing at your snow "teeth" that make you look like Howdy Doody ;-).

The sleigh ride was a blast!  More to come as I collect pictures and videos.  

Bring Out Your Sleighs!

Depending on who's forecast wins, we could be in for some misery...or some fun.  In the hopes that for once it's going to be fun, and hopefully big fun, we are ready!  

Everyone, especially farmers, have spent the last day or so preparing for a Kentucky Snowmageddon.  We have super low temps predicted, anywhere from 1-3" to 10-13" to 16" of snow, and fingers crossed it doesn't happen, possibly ice.  

Whatever we get, it probably won't be going anywhere until maybe March...or at least up into February.  I'm sure it will get mighty old, mighty quick, but until that happens, if we get a decent amount of snow, we're going to break out the sleigh bells and get to do something that only happens every ten years or so around here.

Short Round.  Such a fun and funny sheep.  Maybe she's already looking towards next year's Christmas card :-).

I hope this sleigh is as excited as we are.  It hasn't been out for a spin in over 20 years.  It's an Albany cutter and was built around 1905 and restored 35 years ago.   These sleighs were the sports cars of sleighs and this one seats two people "If you're married."  Tim says he's not coming out until March, so I guess it will be me and 20 :-).  

This is considered a "city sleigh" so it was not used for deep snow.  If we get deep snow, I'm going to pack down a track in the side field.   Hopefully Auntie Reg can come over and hear her dad's sleigh bells in action.  Big thanks to her for remembering we wanted to do this if it ever snowed again.

Stay tuned and keep your fingers crossed...for all the best outcomes.

A Sweet Little Sweater And A Sad But Sweet Story And Our Solstice Winner

A special friend asked for a tiny memento of Jared so I spun a little yarn and knit a tiny sweater ornament for her.  I enjoyed spending a little time with Big J and wasn't as sad as I thought I might be.  I was happy to be sharing a little of him and enjoyed knowing I wasn't the only one who loved him so much.

Here is the pattern I used.  Tiny sweaters are fun and not really that fiddly and are a great way to use up small amounts of leftover yarn or handspun samples.  This probably works best with a DK or worsted weight yarn.  A heavier or lighter weight yarn would maybe need the stitch counts adjusted.

Tiny Sweater Pattern

Cast on 20 stitches and decide what sort of collar you want.

For a rolled collar, knit all stitches around.  A ribbed collar works best with K1P1 rib and you can make it short for a plain collar or tall for a fold over turtleneck. Knit as many rows as you need. For a fold over collar you should knit one more row than you think.

I knit using Magic Loop so I'm setting my rows up that way. Double points are perfectly fine. You'll just need to adjust your stitches around the needles to make it make sense.

Needle 1. K2 (sleeve), PM (place marker), K6 (front), PM, K2 (10 stitches)

Needle 2. K2, PM (place marker), K6 (back), PM, K2 (10 stitches)

Knit to one stitch before each marker, KFB (knit one front and back), slip marker, KFB, knit to end. Repeat increases until you have 6 sleeve stitches (left), 14 front or back stitches (body), and 6 more sleeve stitches on each needle (26 stitches each side). 

Knit one round plain.

Knit 6 sleeve stitches and 14 body stitches and then cast on 3 stitches (I use the backward loop method). Put next 12 stitches on waste yarn. Knit the next 14 body stitches and cast on 3 more stitches. Put next 12 sleeve stitches on waste yarn. You now have 17 body stitches on each needle and two sleeves on waste yarn.

Knit a few rows for the body and decide how you want to finish the hem. K1P1 ribbing works well, but you could also just continue in stockinette stitch for a rolled bottom. You might want to add an extra row to account for the roll up. Bind off in pattern.

Pick up the 12 sleeve stitches and then pick up and knit the three cast on stitches (15 stitches total). Knit 3 rounds and then do a K2TOG (knit two together) on the bottom side of the sleeve. Knit 2-3 rounds and K2TOG and knit 2-3 more rounds and decrease one more time. Finish sleeve to suit. Repeat for second sleeve.

Weave in your ends and use that yarn to tighten up any holes under the sleeves.

Add a strand of yarn or ribbon at the back of the collar for a hanger loop.

Give it a little steam to "finish" it, especially if you chose a rolled bottom.

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Jared didn't just join me on my needles, but also found me in the driveway one last time.  I wanted to post a reminder on IG about the Christmas Eve flock walk and thought I'd re-use the picture we took of Short Round with the holiday lights last year as my photo.

I was speed scrolling down through my phone archives with the photos flying by.  When I picked my finger up the pictures stopped spinning...at the driveway picture I'd been searching for since Jared died.  

When you miss someone as much as I miss him you can't help but think that was a message and I'm just going to tuck that into my heart and leave it at that.

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Random.org selected Far Side of Fifty for the blog drawing.