Not to jinx anything

Posted in Uncategorized by 4theloveoffiber

Everything has been going smoothly since I last wrote. We had a small harvest this year, despite the large garden. The drought complicated things. We had a third of the amount of potatoes, some zucchini, turnips, and well radishes that no one in the house cares for.

I’m trying not to stress about it, I’m working really hard to just relax and chill out. I ended up with a stress induced ulcer, which means no coffee, bacon, chocolate, among other things 😭 so I need to be zen all the time so I can heal up and coffee can come back into my life 😂

We have a new family member who arrived yesterday

Welcome to the farm Soot! Everyone is still trying to adjust, Ailey just doesn’t care.

Soot enjoys my mini Christmas tree. He usually can be found near it.

I’ve made some headway on my knitting and crochet while I’ve been relaxing

Foxy-Fox Mittens from Winter Knits from Scandinavia

A surprise that I am working on, I’ll tell you the pattern name when it is finished 😉 sadly this is going to be too small for me *ahem* up there. However I’ve enjoyed working on it so much I will definitely make another and go up a size or two in hook and yarn size.

Also look what finally made its way into my craft room from the barn

Now I can really start to play with it. Yes, that is bags of raw wool in the greenhouse. Alpaca, Finn, there is some Shetland in there.

More in here (expect the bottom, that tub is full of my kids baby clothes), plus I have four more tubs on shelves. I figured if I publicly shamed myself, I’d have to spend more time spinning it up.

Well folks, I hope you are having a wonderful week. Stay safe and healthy!

24Aug2020

Breathing

Posted in Uncategorized by 4theloveoffiber

I’m not sure if it was a night spent under the sky watching hundreds of shooting stars, evenings just watching sunsets

lazy afternoons lounging the hammock that Toph surprised us all with, spending time with my animals

but I am feeling immensely better….it could also just be that my therapist is no longer on vacation and I have been bumped back up to therapy every week which I believe was much needed.

These last two weeks I haven’t pushed myself, I haven’t gotten angry with myself when something doesn’t go as planned. I’m a worried about things…the serious lack of rain yes, but it’s out of my control. So now I just take it one day at a time.

I’ve been occupying myself looking through boxes my oldest paternal sister sent my way, old letters, a journal my great grandmother kept when she was 12 lived in Paris for a year. Odds and ends, beautiful jewelry boxes filled with beautiful treasures

I pulled myself from my house for a trip that had nothing to do with grocery shopping or swimming in the river. Not five minutes from here is a thrift store, filled with odds and ends and lots of books. They were having a sale on old books and I knew if I went first thing in the morning there would be very few, if any people there, so off I went…in search of books you know 😉 and came back with more

Just different things here and there, I like old books and lamps. I love old blue china though until my kids are grown or I have a china cabinet, I don’t dare buy any for fear they will be accidentally broken. There for instead of spending $15 old the cup I really wanted, I settled for a $2 cup that is still equally beautiful…just not newer and less like to hurt if it is somehow broken.

We have had a house some guests recently, no matter how many times I send them out the door, they continue to turn around and come back in.

I don’t mind, I do love dragonflies.

I’ve added new knitting books to my collection recently, as well as some new knitting needles

Working on mittens with my brand new ChiaoGoo needles

And then this one, that just had my name written all over it.

I’m hoping, though with normal expectations, that life continues to carry on this way before anymore big changes happen. I just need to continue to breath.

Have a great week folks!

24Jun2020

New Friends and Birthdays

Posted in Uncategorized by 4theloveoffiber

Recently Ragnar the Rooster made his way into our flock of chickens, not in the usual way of hatching, arriving as a chick, or being purchased. No, one day he arrived via box left at the end of our property. I have been wanting a new Roo for awhile, a protector for our girls and as it was hard to get new birds this past spring, I wanted to be able to hatch chicks of our own.

Ragnar is incredibly sweet, appears to be a young Easter egger. To whomever dropped him off, thank you. We can hold him without fuss and he is very friendly. This could have gone a different way.

We may have other new friends soon, as we found wild turkey eggs in the middle of our front yard one afternoon, no sign of a wild turkey anywhere. We hunted all around to return these eggs to the nest but had no luck.

Having no idea how to return them to their mother, we have stuck them under our broody Beauty, who yes once again has a desire to become a mother hen. Maybe she will get her wish. Before doing this we checked the laws, I had no desire to get into trouble of wild turkey eggs. However, thankfully no law has been broken and I really did not want to toss the eggs.

We have two birthdays this month, not human form but furbabies.

Ailey is reaching her 9th year. Her birthday is in two days.

This goofy girl will be two on the 29th. Runa has started to hit the “teen years” for sure. Chewing the (electric) chicken fence, digging holes, and ignoring commands. Sigh we will get there, she was far too perfect in behavior and temperament up until now, I should have known 😂

Everyday the garden grows a little more. The rows of potatoes, corn, popcorn, squashes, and root vegetables are looking amazing. Tomatoes this year…well not so much. We are in a drought and have to be careful with watering. Rain appears often in the forecast, but we have seen very little of it this year.

Today however, today looks gloomy. There are dark clouds overhead an the weather app is still showing a storm 🤞 Perfect day to stay inside and work on a project.

Or two, providing my new knitting needles arrive today. While I generally have no issue with these wooden circular knitting needles that came cheap in a bundle, they don’t do so well when more than one strand of yarn is involved 🤷🏻‍♀️

Have a great day folks!

Prejudice is an emotional commitment to ignorance. – Nathan Rutstein

29Mar2020

What day is it?

Posted in Fun with fiber, Gardening, Uncategorized by 4theloveoffiber

I’m certain I am not the only one wondering this, my children aren’t doing school work which means it must be the weekend, but what day? All the days seem to be melding together and like most people we have not been leaving the farm.

With two jobs lost this month (Myself first and then Toph) and both kids homeschooling, we are trying to live as normally as possible for their sake. Trying to keep in touch with family and friends via phone, email, and a tiny bit of Instagram here and there.

Coffee dates now happen over facetime and we try to keep up with the news without letting it overwhelm us.

We lounge around on cold rainy days

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and watch seeds pop up

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I’ve been playing with my new cricut

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and tackling wool from last years sheep and wool festival

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I have two tubs of romney among the several other tubs of shetland, alpaca, coopworth, finn, angora, corriedale, cotswold, and well whatever else I have. All needing to be combed, carded, maybe dyed, and spun up.

Projects have been finished (Half an hour ago)

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and we are all just trying to keep ourselves cherry and look forward to the future. We continue to keep the world in our thoughts during this crazy time and hope that this will soon be over.

Stay Safe Folks!

9Mar2020

Shades of Summer

Posted in Uncategorized by 4theloveoffiber

Sometimes I wonder how it is I can find the focus and concentration to continue on with one project and yet not another. I have things I have been working on for years as you all very well know, things that I am so excited about and yet cannot for the life of me finish them.

While other things I start are so addicting to work on that I simply cannot stop

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For instance this Shades of Summer dress. I started less than a month ago, last week I was unsure about the colors matching but continued to go with it. The dress pattern is for sizes 3 months to 6T, hardly big enough for the young one it was intended for. I continued on even when the top seemed like it was going to be too big, fighting the urge to frog the whole thing and start over on smaller needles.

I continued even when I ran on out of the lovely yarn for the skirt color (The yarn is older than the person this dress was intended for and I really am on a yarn ban you know), I simply found a color that would suit.

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Here we are, finished yesterday while the excited 7 year old stood at my shoulder “How many more minutes Auntie?” she would ask. The top was indeed too big but nothing a quick crochet belt couldn’t fix.

Everyone was happy with the outcome and now it is time to move on to a vest for her little brother, orange per his request.

I can’t believe I am saying this but I am glad for melting snow and springs arrival, don’t get me wrong I do love the snow but I am looking forward to the transformation on my craft room. The woodpile for some reason has taken over my place of relaxation this winter and it has really made it a pain to be in there. Lots of things had to be moved and there is clutter everywhere.

When the snow melts and the ground is dry we will be moving the remaining wood outside and moving the makeshift wood holder back into the unused portion of the basement. With that gone I will regain 30 sqft, that is a LOT of room. Pictures can go back up, tables back in their rightful places, the dresser will go now that I have made a huge dent in my yarn stash ( I can see the wall on the yarn shelf you guys!!!). The bookshelf will be moved so I can finally plug in my sewing machine.

Though it wont just be my sewing machine I will be plugging in, I made a purchase this weekend, one that will help with my sewing. I truly hate cutting patterns, I would sew more if I didn’t have to do this, I had the circut air explore 2 but it did not cut non bonded fabric and really was growing dust. So I made the decision to put it up for sale and it was gone quickly. Less than 24 hours later I had upgraded

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Say hello to my new friend. The Maker is what I needed and I have already used it to cut several pieces of fabric. Yes friends, this will help me, as long as the patterns don’t exceed 12″ x 24″ after that well I’ll just pull up my big girl pants and cut away I guess. I don’t mind cutting the big fabric pieces anyway but a million little ones are draining and hmmm I wonder if that is why I lose interest quickly.

Have a great week folks!

21Feb2020

Switching over

Posted in Adventure's in homeschooling, Fun with fiber, kids, Uncategorized by 4theloveoffiber

A majority of my posts are written on an ipad, which would be all fine and dandy if I had a good bluetooth keyboard. Alas, the one we have is old and gross and the keys stick. So it between using the screen keyboard and the battery life, the idea of sitting down and writing a post is sometimes something I dread.

However I have managed to remember my password and now here I am writing to you from Toph’s old work laptop. It’s fast and sleek and I love to hear the clicking of the keys on the keyboard.

I have recently discovered that I am a fan of making things for little ones. While my little ones are now 10 & 13 and no longer fans of moms homemade items, both of my best friends have little ones that still enjoy the knit and crocheted gifts from their auntie.

Recently I made a pair of baby booties and a sweater for the little one my best friend welcomed at the beginning of the year.

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It made me realize quickly that I needed to buy an assortment of wooden buttons, because I will absolutely be making this sweater again. It worked up fast and I’m sure had my husband not introduced me to Stardew Valley well…it would have been finished faster.

The girls have started their own business making soaps, scrubs, and bath bombs. Once a name is settled up I will post an etsy link. Here are a few of the lovely soaps they have recently made

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Last year for home schooling I had them start their own business, with their profit of $85 and a little funding from myself, they put it all into supplies and have already made some money back!

I am still working on the socks Griffin Socks, slowly but surely I am on repeat round 2 of 3 of the chart and I started making a dress for my other best friends 7 year old.

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Here’s hoping the rest of the dress goes smoothly, the patterns had some weird bumps along the way so I switched things up a bit.

Have a great weekend folks!

3Feb2020

Just some things

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9Jan2020

And another

Posted in Uncategorized by 4theloveoffiber

Well it is the New Year, not sure what to make of 2020 right now. Things that are happening all over the world, are incredibly scary. If any of you crafters out there are interested there are some groups out there that are in need of items for the animals that have been rescued in Australia

The Animal Rescue Guild has information regarding items that are needed, drop off locations people can send items together so it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, and in their files section there are some patterns for items needed.

Heist Jewellery AU also has information regarding patterns and drop off locations as well.

I hope people will consider helping out.

Normally when I mention things like the above I end my post with that, however I’m trying to kick myself in the butt and keep writing and if I don’t write a normal post well, you won’t see anything else for who knows how long.

I wasn’t sure if I intended to post about therapy but I want you to all know what is going on with me right now, as I am struggling with getting better.

Today I started with my new therapist and was given a diagnoses of chronic ptsd. I don’t know what to make of that and I don’t know how much of that I will be sharing to be honest. I’ve sadly witnessed people tear other people down over ptsd before, because when most people think of ptsd they think of a solider in the war. So they assume that if you fighting in a war then you couldn’t have it.

Mine does not come from a war, but rather an abusive childhood. There was a lot of physical, mental, and emotional abuse at the hands of my mother. I had done so well to just “keep calm and carry on” for most of my life, I kept my children away from toxic situations, and helped shield them from things.

However, as previously stated in past blogs, I have not been able to move on from finding out that my dad was not my biological father. Due to this it caused issues with my maternal family, support systems were damaged and everything just fell apart. Now I’m just trying move forward.

I saw this meme and along with release, this is five things I hope will change in 2020.

So exhale now that, THAT is out of the way. Here are a few crafty things I’ve finished, started, and put aside 🙄😒

I finished a blanket

I started Griffin socks or Dragon’s egg socks as they are listed on Ravelry, though in the book Knitting Wizardry they are referred to as Griffin socks

They have been recently set aside so that I might work on a few items for the group I mentioned above.

I had an idea last month, of how I could pick what pattern to work on. I never know which to choose and I am trying to use up my stash so that all I have left are my own hand spun yarns. I have a variety of tv shows/movies I like to watch and knitting books and magazines to go along with said shows.

So I used the app Spin The Wheel to help me decide what theme I would be going with, from there I spin for a pattern of them theme it lands on above. That way I can work my way through my patterns while watching the shows and movies. I was hoping to add Downton Abbey to the list but I’m having a hard time finding a copy of The Best of Downton Abbey Pattern Collection, it appears to be out of stock everywhere.

I am hoping this will help me use up my stash and help me branch out when it comes to knitting.

Thank you all for your patience while I’m trying to figure out how to fix my current situation in life.

Have a great evening folks!

21Dec2019

It’s finished

Posted in Uncategorized by 4theloveoffiber

I’ve spent the last few months focusing on kids, mental health, and Christmas presents. I’ve taken a few more steps to feeling better, taking time….more time than I meant but it helped. I’ve made several big changes and I feel lighter, less anxious, I’m not crying nearly as much.

Last week we had a big scare at our house when Leif’s appendix burst. He gets sick often due to his sunken chest, but this time it was different, He had stomach pains, he didn’t complain about them. A trip to the Dr confirmed my suspicions, yet unfortunately in the ten minute drive from the Dr to the hospital his appendix ruptured.

They quickly got him in and out of surgery and we spent six days at the hospital. After the first few days he was in good spirits, but his fever kept spiking. We were able to leave when he was 24 hours fever free.

He has been hanging out at home this week and will be able to return to school in the New Year.

So what did I finish you ask?

The Min Ulla scarf that I started two houses ago. Can you believe it? I am still in shock… though I only just finished it thirty minutes ago. It is now folded in a box, waiting to be wrapped for Christmas.

Here are a few other items I have completed since the last time I posted

Have a great weekend folks!