Author: denisemor

Last Rooster Standing

I’m not sure if it was the smoke or some other underlying cause, but about two weeks ago our rooster #1, Trey, lost his voice.
This precipitated a ugly bit of fighting between he and Bertrand, who emerged the victor.

Poor Trey was in pretty bad shape, so I gathered him up and put him in the chick nursery so he could rest and recover.
But he didn’t make it.
I buried him with full pasture honors on Friday before work.

Trey

He was a good rooster- attentive to the girls and not aggressive. Pretty sure all this year’s chicks are his progeny.
Lost one of those this week too, though 🙁

And so we are down to one rooster for now. But we can probably count on at least one of the remaining three chickies being a boy.

In other news, I have hit upon my next sweater idea!
I came across a copy of Handknitting with Meg Swansen a couple weeks ago at a used book shop. It’s a great little book, and within it I found just the thing- a Shawl Collared Vest

It’s steeked, which seemed like and interesting choice for a solid colored sweater, and then I thought, as long as I’m steeking, I should do some colorwork instead of cables!
So that’s the plan. Going to apply my go-to stranded colorwork motif from my market hats to this sweater vest, and then do the shawl collar and other trim in a coordinating color.

After much contemplation, I decided to go with naturals so that I can wear it with almost everything.

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The front and back are allover repeats of the circle motif,but they are separated on each side under each arm by a 7 stitch panel of stripes. I did this so I can incorporate some waist shaping without interrupting the flow of the pattern.

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So excited to have a plan and be able to get knitting on it right away.
Many thanks to the stash for making that possible 🙂

The Smoke has (Mostly) Cleared

And there was much rejoicing!
Thanks to everyone who came out to Fiber Day at the Bow Market. It was a beautiful afternoon, as the sky was blue and we all breathed a little more easily.

And since then, we’ve also had rain! Measurable rain! Which we really needed.

While at the market, I was able to finish up some fingerless mitts that I started on the knitting cruise- as a trial run of a new yarn, Edition 3– the newest member of the zauberball family!

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All the awesome color combos of Zauberball Crazy, but in a DK weight. Neato frito, eh? 🙂

Quite a bit left over

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Maybe enough for another pair?

In other news, I got started cleaning the cast iron lamb cake mold. I’ve been scrubbing it out with salt, using q-tips to get into the tight areas. Now that I’ve gotten the muzzle cleaned out, it’s kind of amazing to see how much detail is in the mold.

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Eye sockets, nose and mouth all coming through now-

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though I suspect it will be tricky keeping those lovely details from sticking in the pan.

Bow Market Fiber Day+ Lambie Surprise!

Hey- so the Bow Market Fiber Day is coming up fast! If you’re looking for some woolly goodness, make sure to swing by Thursday afternoon.

I’ll have yarn,

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blended batts

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and hats!

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I’m also working on some natural colored yarns that coordinate beautifully with the flashy dyed skeins.

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So we’ll see how much of that I can get done by Thursday 🙂

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And, I wanted to share something special I got in the mail from my mom this week.
My gram’s cast iron lamb cake mold.

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I’m told that it originally belonged to my great, great grandmother, who probably brought it over with her from Germany. It’s in good shape, but needs to be cleaned up and re-seasoned before I can try to make my first lamb cake.

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I’ve always been more of a cookie baker, but I’m so excited to give this a shot!

Three Posts in One

(In no particular order)

Baby Chickens Venture Forth

Despite my best efforts to keep the baby chickens in a safe and secure nursery environment they are on the loose in the shed and pasture.

We have one mama with one week old chickies

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And another mama with three week old chickies

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Really hope these girls know what they are doing and can keep the young’uns safe.

Nautical Knitting Was Awesome!

Sunrise in the San Juans
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Live-Aboard Kitty
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Knittin’ topside
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View from a porthole
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Knitters furling a big honkin’ sail.
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Our illustrious instructor
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Main mast and lots of rigging
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Magnificent sunset hues
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And a bit of woolly colorwork as well
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Dolores Has a Wrap

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Is she stylin’, or what? 🙂

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