Category: Blog

Denise 1, Crows 0

Egg production is up!

Or, should I say, egg thievery is down.
And the crows are no longer hanging around in the tall trees bordering the pasture.

I’m calling it a victory.
We’ll see if it lasts. But for now I’m pretty pleased with the results of the netting.

And, we moved the SheepCam today- so the view of the boys is no longer obscured by the crowproofing. 🙂

In wool news, I washed the last of my Spring 2015 Chone wool last weekend,

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And have been slowly getting it picked and fluffed. It’s really neat how his wool has been getting softer and crimpier over the last few years. His lamb fleece wasn’t much fun to work with, but he’s come a long way! One more reason to love the crazy little dude

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I haven’t been spinning much recently, but hat production continues apace-

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Next up-

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Adventure Chicken on Walkabout

A while back we noticed that one of the new girls was getting out of the pasture during the day.
She would be out in the yard, and, assuming that she wasn’t able to get back in herself, we would go out and open the gate to let her back in with her friends.

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But over the last week or so it has become clear that she is a chicken apart, who has her own ideas about where she wants to hang out, and can come and go from the pasture as she pleases.

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I spent some time observing our adventure chicken, and it turns out that she is returning to her chick-hood pen over on the other side of the yard to lay her eggs.

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I figure as long as I know where to find her eggs, I guess we’re good. No point in trying to keep her in. She’s a free spirit.

But I have taken steps to try and keep the crows from their egg thievery!

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Net. Lots of net.

Crows are way too smart- I’m sure that if they really want to they can find a workaround.
But I’m hoping that it is just annoying enough to make them go somewhere else to get their goodies!

And, of course, there are more hats-

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Only a month or so until the holiday market I think I can maybe get another 6 done by then.

And after that, I think I might be ready for a sweater project. It’s been a while since I’ve cast on for something big, and I’m starting to get the itch!

New Digs for Chigs

This weekend the chickens (chigs for short) moved in with the sheeps!

We put the wheels back on the coop and parked it next to the sheep shed, since that’s where the chigs hang out must of the time anyway.

Having some technical website difficulties right at the moment, but will have photos of the new set-up soon.

Go Hawks!

Fresh Ideas for Fall

I need to tell you about a great new book I just got!

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It is a great fair isle resource, with motifs organized by stitch count (yea!) and also color variation ideas, and how each element looks repeated out as an overall pattern.

Just finished my first hat inspired by a chart in the book-

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All natural sheepy colors. I love them.

I also got word that I’ve been selected to participate in the Bow Little Market Holiday market on Nov 14, so that’s cool. How many hats do you think I can knit between now and then?

Speaking of hats, here is the thick and felty goodness that came of last weeks pile of fruity odds and ends-

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