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Goin’ to the Island

Whidbey Island, that is.

I’ve got my projects in my chicken bags and I’m (almost) ready to go!

Knitting bag-
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and Spinning bag-
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StashMo is begging to come along, so I might have to pull out another bag just for him.
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Sophie’s all oiled up and ready to hit the road.
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She’s a pretty good traveller, as she can sit upright in the backseat. Just belt her in and go-

Coupeville, here I come! 🙂

Requiem for a Quince

Which of these things is not like the others?

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Yep. It’s that strange orange-brown thing in the foreground.

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My poor little quince tree just shut down and died.

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It all happened so quickly.
No apparent insect damage. No lesions. No fungus.
The only thing I can think of that might have done this is verticillium wilt.
As far as I can tell, there’s nothing I could have done to save him.

It makes me sad, because it took about 4 years or so to get him established and to the point where he was bearing fruits. And they were really neat fruits.

Dag. Guess we’ll have to replant. Something that isn’t susceptible.

But in other news- I did finish the Tour. Early, in fact. (guess I kind of misjudged that one. I’ll set a more challenging goal for myself next time!)
Here is the Griff yarn hanging out and acting all casual at the finish line.

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And it was a good week for the Classic Oak cardigan as well-

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The back is complete, and I’ve moved on to the right front-

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I also managed to get another almost-15 ounces of wool carded and blended. Hopefully enough to get it done (fingers crossed!)

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And, remember the original chicken tote?
I’d been thinking for a while that I wanted to developed another style.
And finally today I went for it.
I’m please to introduce, the Chicken Messenger bag!

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here is the inside- lined with an old pair of khakis 🙂

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The lining gives it a little more weight and buffers the crinkley-ness of the plastic.
What it really needs, though, is a handwoven strap.
Will work on that.

And Then There Were Three

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We lost a chicken Friday.
One of the red girls. (I cannot tell the red ones apart, but we’ll call her “Ruby”)

Seems poor Ruby developed a reproductive system infection, and by the time we knew what was going on, it was too late to help her, other than to end her suffering.

So, in honor of Ruby, I thought I’d post my favorite chicken cartoon.

Chicken poetry reading

Many more where that came from at savagechickens.com

On a brighter note, we’re finally starting to get some raspberries ripening.
This is my little haul from this evening’s picking-

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Sadie was helping, but she’s one of those eat-as-you-go pickers 🙂

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I ought to get a video of her “helping”. She’s so funny.

Dry. Sunny. Warm.

Someone finally flipped the “Summer” switch.

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And we are all so pleased.

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Especially the chickens.

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The grass is green

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The apple branches are succulent

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And life is good.

In Knit News, Classic Oak is branching,

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This week’s Tour progress- 330 yards of sweet and lofty Griff yarn!

It’s got such great bounce now that I’ve washed the last bit of grease out of it.

Think it will be a lot of fun to work with.

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About 6 ounces left.

Barring a flat tire or a crash on the course, I think I’m gonna make it.

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And here’s a funny tidbit I stumbled upon this week-

Found Edgar’s wallet tucked away in the last of his 2011 fleece, and this inside-

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Great grandpa Egger.

Who’da thunk?

🙂