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Thursday, September 22, 2016

Yarn Along - Better Late Than Never

I tried really pretty hard to get this posted yesterday for the Wednesday Yarn Along.  I've actually taken pictures all the way through this small project, but have managed to hit 10 p.m. on each Wednesday and just given up getting a post up.  

That seems to have been a theme for the summer.  Here it is, the first day of fall (not that summer in almost any way feels to be over :-o) and I'm working on the 2017 (how on earth did it get to by 2017?!?) calendar.  I feared I wouldn't have enough pictures to choose from.

Not only did I not blog very frequently, but I didn't take pictures the way I usually do.  I really don't know why except maybe the extreme heat of this summer just knocked me down.  I worked from sunrise to past sunset and mostly only got farm and animal work done.  

Or I should say I got the farm and animal work mostly done.  You never get it all done.  I made sure the important stuff was done.  Animal care first.  People care second.  Well, move mowing, weed eating and gardening to second and people third (just being honest ;-).  Then housework. Then Punkin's Patch, followed by knitting.  

Those last two got less than 1% of my energy all summer.  Or maybe 1% for each.  Who the heck prioritizes housework over knitting?  And how do I support my wool family if I don't prioritize my business?  Housework??  Seriously???  A clean house never lasts and all I have to show for it is a half a pair of socks.  Seriously...

But the animals were well cared for during a challenging summer of Way Too Hot for old fat sheep. And the old fat people survived.  And the farm looked good and made us and the animals happy (up until it stopped raining while maintaining the upper 80s).  And surprisingly I have a good stash of calendar quality pictures to choose from.  And a half a pair of socks.  

And that half a pair of socks has actually been pretty fun.  As many know, I am not a sock knitter. And I am not a color person.  So I'm going to knit colorful socks?  I got swept up in the sock fun on Susan B. Anderson's site.  Miss B set me up to knit them two at a time on a long circular needle so there will be no second sock syndrome here and it has been fun to learn something new.


I've listened to a couple really great books and even read two real books that I've dearly loved.  I mentioned the first Yorkshire Shepherdess book a couple months (!) ago.  The second book is every bit as good and I sure hope she's working on a third and a fourth and...

I listened to Laurence Anthony's The Elephant Whisperer last week and thoroughly enjoyed that. I think I got prompted for it because I was searching to see if I'd missed any No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books.  I normally wouldn't have been looking for elephant books.  Now I will.  Absolutely fascinating.

This week I am listening to another of his books, Babylon's Ark, about the effort to rescue the animals at the Baghdad Zoo after the invasion.  Some (well, mostly all) horrible stories so far, but the efforts made are inspiring for sure and the situations our soldiers were in, eye opening.  I'm not turned off though and can't wait to "turn the next page".

And even if it doesn't really feel like it, summer is over and now we all get to turn the next page into fall, re-evaluate our priorities and git to knittin'! :-)

Joining in with Ginny...



16 comments:

Cheryl West said...

I feel that the living beings (animals plants and people) always take precedence over the rest. I try to keep the garden alive in the drought and heat but it may not be perfectly trimmed and weeded. I've managed two baby blankets so far.
You do a phenominal job taking take of all your lovely creatures and I am very happy to hear there are lots of photos for the new calendar.

Lorraine said...

Amanda Owen has probably given birth to her 9th child by now, but that probably won't stop her. She was on Ben Fogle's "Lives in the Wild UK" and the children are charming.

Amen to kicking this summer's butt out the door and firmly slamming it.

Buttons Thoughts said...

Socks on circular needles would be much like making hats....right? I am intrigued. Housework what the heck is that this time of year? There are indeed things to accomplish and yes the heat is hard on us all. Fall bring it on. Snow and knitting or sewing I have not decided which this year. I do know housework will always be there and not really a challenge after what seems like a 100 years. LOL Hug B

Michelle said...

Stop talking about all those interesting books; makes me want to read and I don't have time! And I don't need anyone else yakking at me; Brian does that enough for ten.

MarmePurl said...

I think I could have written the first half of this post myself. The animals are OK. The grounds are looking great, the people are well fed, but blogging and knitting? Hmmm...I shall make lots of time for both this winter.

Anonymous said...

Those are some colorful socks! :) Do you still have the ball band?

I did some reading about knitting 2 socks at one time on a long circular (magic loop) and decided I needed to break it down a little more for me. I sorta get the geometry, but didn't want to deal with all the starts/stops for the first socks.

I have been using 2 sets of short (16-20inch) circulars (2 per sock, 4 total).

So I read up on Cat Bhordi's Socks Soar on 2 circular needles (Youtube demos too) and went for it. Started the first sock on the first pair of circulars, then started the 2nd sock on the 2nd set. I kept notes on each section of the sock and worked them together so when it can to knitting the heel/short row turn / gusset pickup I was able to do them both at the same time and not have that gap of time between sock ONE and sock TWO and wonder "how the heck did I manage that?" ! Same for the Kitchner toe finish also.

Knitting on two pairs of circs keeps the project smaller and a bit more portable if you take the knitting with you.

As always, your mileage may vary :)
One of these days I will pull out the long circ and try a pair of footies or ankle socks , just so I can play with the magic loop and watch 2 socks grow at the same time.

However, this year I'm hoping to figure out how to start two socks with self-patterning yarn and make them somewhat resemble each other. The last skein arrived in the mail yesterday, so No Excuses now (except that its still pretty warm ... mid -high 80's today and tomorrow).

M in NC
who needs to mow , fertilize and yank the rest of the tomato cages out of the garden (not counting the housework)

thecrazysheeplady said...

She has! Yet another crazy story. She's a great Twitter follow if you aren't following already.

thecrazysheeplady said...

Let's encourage each other!

thecrazysheeplady said...

Perfect for driving and it might be nice to escape to a 5000 acre game reserve in SA :-D.

thecrazysheeplady said...

Socks are intriguing. I'll try to do a better job posting when I get to the "hard" part (the heel). Right now they are just like hats :-D.

thecrazysheeplady said...

The yarn is the "Family Reunion" colorway from Must Stash Yarn https://muststashshop.com/

Susan Anderson's pattern is quite clever and she cranks out pair after pair to great success. I'm encouraged so far and not having to think much at all and I'm only using one needle :-D. Casting on the two at one time was a little complicated, but could be done by just slipping things where they needed to be if Miss B wasn't sitting with you giving directions ;-D.

Tomatoes are still going strong here but I haven't mowed in a couple weeks - good and bad...

thecrazysheeplady said...

I should have listed/linked the yarn and also the cute drawstring project bag that Auntie Reg made for me for my birthday. I especially love the expression on the sheep's faces - very cute. She's going to make up a few for the Kentucky Wool Festival next month :-D.

sophy0075 said...

Thanks for the book recommendations. I tried two at a time socks with my last pair (ho ho- I've only knit six socks in my life and two were Christmas stockings), but between the two yarn balls and the wips attempts to ladder, switched back to risk Second Sock Syndrome and unevenness.

I think with all your farm and art chores, you should let housekeeping slide. The dust bunnies just return, no matter what you do. Our cats generate vacuum-cleaner gagging amounts of cat hair (that must be why they sleep all day- the effort of shedding wears them out).

At least it is now comfortable in the mornings. This summer isn't giving up without a fight. But who am I to grouse? Nine children (who all do chores!), 1000 sheep, blowing snow? Amanda- wow!

Michelle said...

But other than CDs, I don't even know HOW to listen to books! Haven't tried the whole download thing....

Michelle said...

The cast-on for Magic Loop is the only twiddly part; I just do the slipping because it needs less brainpower. ;-)

thecrazysheeplady said...

Audible walks you right through it, easy peasy. And there are some free sites, too, like LibriVox that have iPhone and android apps.

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