Tag Archives: Knitting

Here and there

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We’ve been everywhere.

Enjoying violin lessons, today will be our third lesson. We’ve spent countless hours practicing at home.

We went to my favorite place on earth (well because my sheep aren’t here yet, someday 👏)

I brought home the Christmas version of monopoly and now we all have our own set.

We spent the day at Pine Point in Scarborough Maine last Friday. The water was perfect and the sand just right for building. Our spot on the beach wasn’t overcrowded and the weather was sublime. What felt like an hour was really four and it wasn’t until tummy’s started rumbling for something other than the snacks brought along, did we finally pack up and go in search of dinner…and then ice cream (Bayley’s chocolate raspberry truffle is amazing and highly recommended.)

We’ve been at our own beach where I’ve been working on this ten stitch baby blanket.

For my little nephew due next winter.

And then we have been home

Making chicken sausage from laying hens that went into the freezer last fall, after many failed attempts they were just too hard to eat, so we tried another approach and I must say, they are delicious. I am thankful for this because we had 20+ hens in the freezer and short of feeding them to the dogs, we had no idea what else to do.

Now they will feed us through the winter and continue to keep us from having to rely on the grocery store.

We’ve been in the back pasture moving the 15 remaining laying hens, the rest have found new homes on other farms. We now move our coop on wheels once a week rather than every other day.

What have you been doing to fill your summer days?

Spinning

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When I went to the New Hampshire Sheep and wool a few weeks ago, I learned something new and it changed my life….

I can now spin “thick” yarn, the entire time I’ve been spinning I’ve struggled to spin anything thicker than the picture on the left and it kind left me in a funk. My yarn was nice, but it wasn’t what I was going for.

So after the lesson at NHSW I took a deep breath, took up the merino/silk I had dyed and went to town

I was happy with the result of the single I had spun up and those colors 😍

I made three of these and started to ply

So dreamy

Folks, when I spin yarn it usually takes months because I’m just not happy with how things are looking and I tend to avoid my wheel. I did this in ONE day! Okay so it was only 120 yards but this is absolutely the best yarn I’ve ever spun, my favorite.

And it is working up nicely too!

Have a great weekend folks!

Here, there, everywhere

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That’s where my mind is tonight, because I dared to have two cups of coffee and one cup of black tea today.

I keep going back and forth to working on this beautiful Bandana Cowl I found on purl soho

To looking up areas to visit when Toph and I make a trip down south later this summer, to looking at houses online, to planning what food we will bring with us because eating out with celiacs is a pain in the padded you know what. Then my mind goes back to knitting, how much yarn will I need on this road trip, and is the tundra big enough for me to spin on my Ashford wheel while we drive? (Probably not)

So while my mind is all over the place and I thought I would pop in and say hi and share with you how I am progressing on

this awesome cowl with the accidental mystical colorway yarn

And the doodle/romney yarn, which has suddenly become easier to spin!

Have a great weekend folks!

Back at it again

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I’m here, splint free and going at full speed! I’ll make this short and sweet I need to tackle the house to prepare for Toph’s birthday tomorrow.

Here are a few things I managed to whip out as soon I was able to use my hands!

This lovely unicorn I was about to work on with my broken finger, pre-wrist issues. Knitting with a broken finger is a breeze, crocheting, not so much.

Toph’s Aunt really loves turtles, she has 10 where she lives in Arizona and has had them for many years.

My friends I must tell you, I have recently added a new craft into my life (because of all the free time I have 😂), for Christmas I received a beautiful Cricut air explore 2 and I use it every day.

First I jumped in and made some lovely lettering for a mug (Lorelai is totally okay with what I wrote, she laughed)

Then I made a card (I must remember to use the correct setting and make sure then pen is in)

After that I decorated my car…it’s almost finished.

Yesterday I decided we needed labels on some of my mason jars

And today because I am restarting a pattern I started many years ago, that has several different cable stitches and I needed a little reminder of what stitch went in what section.

So naturally stitch markers were needed.

Before I go, one last picture to show that even with all the electronics out there in the world, you can still have fun with your crocheted tiger.

Happy New Year Folks! See you next year!

Broken

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A few short weeks ago, after Halloween, before a big Christmas craft fair, I had the great misfortune to join the club of my parents, siblings, cousins, nieces, and nephews, by breaking my first bone.

The details are rather silly, I feel up the stairs and landed on my right hand. Having never broken anything before I wasn’t sure how to tell. When I described the pain to family members I was told “you just bruised it, you’ll be fine” (I have a very high pain tolerance, I suppose they had worse pain when they broke bones).

Though after showing my black and blue finger that had now developed a lump, to my friend who had been a nurse for 35 years, I was informed that it was indeed broke and I needed to get it checked out. That is the story of my disappearance, I sit here with my finger in a splint.

As I am sure you can imagine, crafting is difficult for me right now, I’ve been using the loom knitter every now and then but I missed being able to sit for an hour and comfortably crochet or knit.

These are a few items I worked the before the big fall

I had the girls sewing for home economics

I played with Australian Shepard’s, my own girl and of course my brother in law brought two mini’s at Thanksgiving

I’ve been busy learning about my ancestry. I received the DNA kit for my birthday last May and I downloaded my raw dna file and uploaded it other places and I’ve been intrigued by what I have learned since then.

Some of this I knew (Scottish, British, Spanish, French) and some completely surprised me. It makes me want to learn more!

Have any of my readers done the DNA test? What was your biggest surprise?

Have a great day folks!

Oh hey!

Posted in Adventure's in homeschooling, Fun on the farm, Fun with fiber by

So my screen break took a little longer than the rest of my household, they all immediately jumped back in, while I dipped my toes with audiobooks, waded in a little more with kindle unlimited and now here I am with projects and introductions.

School has started and some of us have returned to our old ways of learning and by that I mean we are once again homeschooling. While Leif remains at our local elementary school that I do love, Lorelai skipped ahead to seventh grade and is now currently sitting next to her best friend (who has also joined our homeschool world), reading the free choice book.

During my absence, I have harvested and canned food from the garden, as well has competed a few items.

We have really gotten into playing outside

We observed our critters

Went on a homeschool field trip to Boston

And we have a new family member.

Meet Runa

She is a ten week old Australian Shepard, we are kind of fond of her 😏

Focus

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As the days have shifted once more from 40 degrees down to -1, I find my self spending less time in my basement craft room and more time in the living room, we all seem to congregate here at different times of the day.

Some of us like to enjoy a bowl of beans and a special moments with a good friend while warming ourselves by the fire.

Whether we are enjoying a nightly show together, using our imaginations to turn a simple tub of legos into a jungle adventure, filling the house with music via, or as stated above, some of us come here to work. The living room seems to be the most beloved room in the house.

While I may have been here all weekend working on this order

My mind still goes to my craft room and all the fun things that are awaiting my return. I’m having a hard time focusing now that I’m a week and a half away from when this order is due.

I still have heads, noses, antlers, and arms to finish, I have several moose I need to stuff and sew, I also have very little attention span.

I’m fighting the urge to run to my craft room and spin up a bunch of beautiful Romney wool. I keep thinking of the sewing projects that are overdue and need my attention like yesterday. Let’s not forget the set of sock needles from Christmas, I have yet to cast on a single stitch.

I give praise to my husband however, who is finding other things to do right now, than helping me build a set of wool combs. He knows I need to get this done, he has better restraint that I do, more focus and hates starting something new when there are other things left to finish.

Speaking of focus and distractions, it’s time to go collect the eggs.

Have a great weekend folks!