Moving On!

Well folks, I'm moving on! To a new blog site that is. Come visit me at the all new Homestead Journal! I look forward to seeing you there!

Wildlife Visitor

About 10:15 yesterday morning, my daughter and I were going to head down to the coops to look for eggs and check on the girlies. She was near the window putting on her shoes when she starts yelling "Coyote! Coyote!". I look out the window and see nothing, ask her where, and she tells me behind the coop. I slid my shoes on and headed out the door, and sure enough, there was a rather large, well fed coyote nosing around the back of the coop, eyeballing my girls. My big tom, Mr Burbie was face to face with Mr Coyote until I started yelling at him. Mr Coyote wasn't very afraid of my presence as he started to trot away down the field, then up the driveway.

This is the second time in two weeks that a coyote has been around the house. Mike saw a pair of them at the end of the driveway a short time ago. Both times they went across the street into an empty field, where I'm guessing they have a den and are getting ready for babies at this time. I really don't like seeing them out during the daytime, and I really don't like the fact that they aren't afraid of me. I'm really glad the turk's and goosie weren't out free ranging yesterday morning too!!! Mr Coyote would have had himself a nice meal if that were the case.

Got the merino all plied, skein'd, washed, and in a ball, and started on the border of the FPS! Also found a glaring error I made when I started the stole too. Seems I didn't read the directions closely enough and managed to miss slipping the side stitches on part of the border. Sadly, it doesn't look the same on those two inches as it does on the rest of the border. I had been planning on entering this into the state fair this year, but now I'm not so sure. I'll have to see how it looks after I get it blocked, and maybe try to fudge something on the edge with a crochet hook to see if I can make it look the same. There is NO WAY I'm going to rip that sucker out now!!!! Take heed knitters!! Read the directions and don't be dumb like me!!! LOL!!!

Gotta Run! Bye Bye!!!

Bean Stomping

We finally got our last summer's navy bean's all shelled out. Thanks to Liz at Pocket Farm for the great idea of stomping on the beans to get them all out of their shells. The kids had a great time dancing all over them to get them out. That's my son during his turn. This is definitely a much faster way of doing this than by hand!!!

Here's my daughter sifting out some of the chaff before they put them into the collection pot. The dehydrator screen worked great for the sifting part. Then it was just a matter of picking the little things up.

We ended up with 9.9lbs of dry navy beans all ready to be made up into lovely jars of baked beans! Both kids did a great job of getting that all done!

I got the merino wound into a center pull ball, and hopefully I'll have time today to ply it and wash it. That way I can get started on that border!!!

Gotta Run! Bye Bye!

Spinning Fun!

Yesterday was lots of fun, spinning with my friends! Here's the group of us working away. 12 gals, including me, were there yesterday. Lots of projects for us to ohh and ahh over, like a nubby cotton baby sweater, and a beautiful green/cream hand manipulated woven table runner, and lots of yummy skeins of yarn! I got about half a bobbin of merino spun, which I'll add to today if I can find the time to sit for a while. That will be wound off into a center pull ball then plied back onto itself. This is for the FPS border.

Here's a pic of the antique loom that is at the museum. The guild weaves rag rugs on it for sale and to demo for the public. Its a 2 harness, and I believe it dates to the early 1900's. Its a beautiful loom, and I like to hear the thumping when its in use.

Here's a pic of the current rug in progress, I couldn't get any further behind the loom without knocking the weaver off her stool, which I don't think she would have appreciated. Don't you just love those colors?

Ah, alas, back to the world of reality! Bye Bye!

Public Spinning

Our spinning guild here has different interest groups that meet weekly. They have a basket day, bobbin lace day, UFO day, and, my favorite, spinning day!!

Today is spinning day! And I get to go! My husband is usually working on Monday's so I cant attend, but he has today off. We meet at a local history museum, and spin either outside or in one of the buildings depending on the weather. Its great to be able to hang out with these women, talking about fiber stuff, comparing projects, oohing and aahing over each others work, and showing the public that spinning is not dead. I also need a day off and some stress relief, plus I need to spin some more of the merino for the FPS, since I ran out yesterday.

I got the top tier and top row of triangles done on the FPS yesterday. Its sort of off the needles for now. I just have to work the two long border sides and the top border and then I can get it blocked!!! The borders shouldn't take too long to knit, its just a seed stitch pattern for the whole thing. I do need to spin more yarn for it, and that will take a few days. I'll get a good jump on that today.

On a sad note, I found one of my birdie girls had passed away during the night. I'm not sure why she died, she wasn't showing any signs of being sick, and it looks like she passed in her sleep. She was only 2 years old. I'm keeping my eye closely on the flock to make sure whatever it was isn't contagious. Nobody else looks or acts sick now, so I'll just have to watch and see, and hopefully nothing else will happen.

Time to get ready to leave!! Bye Bye!

Paint Shopping

The kids and I went out paint shopping with Vicky and her kids yesterday. All the colors for the new house are picked out and the kids both love their choices for their rooms. I cant wait to see the new place after its all finished being painted. I can visualize what I think it will look like, so lets hope that it matches what it really turns out to be.

The kitchen will be a cream color, and that will extend into the dining room. The top half of the dining room will be cream and the lower half will be a lovely shade of blue. The blue will extend into the livingroom/entry area. Michaels room will be two shades of red painted over each other. Jessica picked a pink for her bedroom and a light violet for her bathroom. My bedroom will be a seafoam green and the main bathroom will be a light peach.

Eeeewww I'm so excited!!!

Going to be working on more packing today. I think I can tackle the back bedroom and get most of that packed up for now. Doesn't that sound like fun?

Gotta run! Bye Bye!

A Tale Of A Gate

The other day we dropped off some wood and fencing at our new house, and on the way back my friend Vickie asked us to stop by her place. (Hi Vickie, Happy Birthday Girlfriend!!!) Vickie has this huge gate at the end of her driveway that has to be opened and closed behind your car. So, out I hop and open the gate, Mike drives in, and I proceed to close the gate. Cept I closed it a bit to far and off the rollers that thing comes.

Right on top of me!!

So I'm grabbing for the gate as its sliding down my arm, doing the sidestep shuffle so I don't end up under it. It was quite a sight to see. I was able to evade the evil gate, and it hit the ground.

Mike and I wrestled the gate back onto the track and had a lovely visit with Vickie and her kids. She made the most amazing sign for our driveway so that folks know where we are and don't drive around aimlessly looking for us. I'll get a pic of it when its up so you can see how talented Vickie is!

Back to the evil gate.

I had to move it again when we left. I was extra careful watching it so that I didn't drop it again when I closed it. I was so careful watching the track that I didn't see the wheel as it ran over my toes! Dang, that thing is HEAVY!!! My poor toes will never be the same!!!!

Next time I visit, I will be wearing my flak jacket and steel toe boots!!!

One thing is for sure, its a great deterrent to trespassers, you can trap the suckers under the gate and hold them for the cops.

Sorry folks, no spinning or knitting news, just box packing and evil gates. Bye Bye!