Yellow Chig

Earlier this week I had to say goodbye to my good friend Yellow Chig. It seems silly to be broken up over the loss of an old, mostly blind chicken, but I had grown quite attached to her over the years. She was kind of a special case. A sweet, feathery ray of sunshine bopping around the garden.

It’s been so cold that the ground is still frozen and I haven’t had a chance to bury her yet. Hoping I can maybe do that later today.

Ideas are also coming together about a Yellow Chig memorial project. Thinking along the lines of felt, with embroidery embellishment. More on that later.

That leaves Speck on her own in the hoophouse for now. Not sure how she’s feeling about being a solitary chicken. I expect it will be easier in better weather when she can range around the yard.

Despite the chicken drama, I did manage to finish the unspun sweater this week-

I’m really pleased with how it turned out! As I was knitting the body and sleeves with the carded Alice wool (which was still kind of greasy) I was a little worried about the texture. But it washed up beautifully, and feels lighter and fluffier now. I also was a unsure of how I was going to fix a ugly smudge of oil or grease or some thing that somehow got on the sleeve I was working.

Gah! Crubbed even before it’s gotten worn!

I decided to just knit on and address it afterwards, when I was washing and blocking.

It turns out that my handy Tide To Go pen was effective on whatever crud had gotten on there. I wonder if there also being natural sheep grease left in the might have helped with the stain not penetrating the fibers (?) Anyway, it all came out in the wash. Thank goodness. A fresh start for the Unspun Sweater (neckline finishing question tabled for now).

Have a good week folks-