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Dear Ellen,

My participation in this blog of late seems to be limited only to putting up new episodes of the podcast.  While that in and of itself is a healthy contribution, it seems I’ve not written anything about antics on the farm or within our family for way to long.  As time drags out it is becoming apparent that the massive “catch up” blog post is becoming more and more overwhelming.  So much so that I’ll never do it.  Therefore I am declaring a restart!  I will provide below a photo montage of many things that are happening or have happened in the last three months without much care about chronology or detail.  Once that’s done, then that’s it…the past is behind me.  And maybe my next post will be more manageable!

Love, Jan

I made gorgeous yarn.

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It became Swagger, an almost published design.

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Marie not only modeled for me, but she also got bitten by the knitting bug.  (So proud!)

I designed the perfect gauntlets with which to feed chickens.

I entered designs in the Fiber Factor competition, but will have to try again next year.

Dorito took up tweeting as doritothealpaca.  He seems unable to use capital letters because of his two-toedness.

The other alpaca are unimpressed.  (Fun to peek over your mom!)

We got our farm name established legally…and physically.

I scored an amazing quilt at the Bart Township Mud Sale.  (For cheap!)

Charlie (Allen and Libby’s dog) met the gang…they were alert, but when they figured out that she’d run off if they challenged her, they went back to grazing.

We toured a robotic dairy farm where cows choose when to be milked (and queue up nicely for it) and go to the self-service back scratchers whenever they like.

I finished the second version of my Entrelac Capelet pattern…minus the closure as I can’t seem to lay my hands on that stupid clasp!

Dale built the gang a little mountain so they can play king of the hill.  (Amelia is hoping neither of the boys will put the other’s eye out.)

We had a visitor to the farm from a 5th grade class in Illinois.  She liked the chickens but could not figure out how to lay an egg.

New babies came home to live with us for eight weeks.  Then they’ll live with our frozen food.  Very cute now…good thing they won’t stay cute long and that there are so many I won’t be able to name them. (I did help the the one on his back regain his footing…at a day old he couldn’t handle it himself.)

We made a boomerang trip to help mom celebrate her 90th birthday.

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We are thrilled to see everything on the farm wake up with the arrival of spring.

Except for Ruby that is.

And with that, that’s it!

Dear Jan,

I’m not sure if I’m dreaming or if I’m having a nightmare.  This morning the thermometer read 9 degrees.  Those are Farenheit degrees, just to be clear.  Wind chill tonight is predicted to be double digits below zero.

And yet this little guy insists that spring is virtually here, proclaiming he is too sexy for his winter feathers, and it is time to show off his bright yellow dating wardrobe.

I am not too sexy for my new cowl, Massive, pattern for which is Decibella by Gale Zucker and yarn for which is by Classic Elite and me (Waterlily, cable plyed 4 strands of this Aran weight yarn into one super-bulky yarn).  In this weather, it is good to look hot warm.

Someone else may feel sexy in another recent FO, Impossible Dreams.  Stats: pattern - Seedling Dreams by Amy Beth Mays, yarns are Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted (gray, 100% wool) and Frog Tree Merino Melange (pink, 100% merino wool).  I knit the medium, and while it fits, it just barely does.  I don’t do much pink, either, so I’m thinking this is likely to be a charity hat.

And I have yet one more FO to share.  This is my Fiber Fusion class project, knit out of various handspun yarns and one skein of fat and funky art yarn. Mostly knit on size 13’s, but I accidentally picked up an 11 and did most of one sleeve so I just repeated that on the other.  The yarns include my handspun Nora (a TargheeX sheep whose fleece I bought at the 2011 Shepherd’s Harvest), samples of handspun Shetland, Black Welsh Mountain and Wensleydale, and a Steven Be Exclusive Handspun, created by Ruby Slippers Studio out of wool, alpaca, fabric, metallic thread, polyester, acrylic, nylon, sequins, mohair, silver, glitz, angeline, and rubber butterflies.  Because glitz AND sequins weren’t quite enough.

The process was and the result is exhilarating.  I explained the process in a prior blog post.  The result is going to be in a showing of Steven’s work at Third Place Gallery in Minneapolis which opens this weekend.  (Yes, I do work well to a deadline.)

I could use the sweater at home to wrap up in and keep warm this weekend - we won’t see anything like real spring temperatures for quite sometime.

I won’t be the only one happy for their arrival.

Love,

Ellen

Dear Ellen,

I always love getting mail.  And when it arrives bearing proof that I am a craftsman, it is even more welcome.  Say hello to one of the newest members of the  Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen.  The best part is the free admission to the Guild shows!

Also say hello to Baby Chicka.  She is one of the fledglings from the chickadee nest that is in the birdhouse by the side garden.  Over the course of the afternoon she went from “drunken Sailor” to proficient aeronaut in her flying skills.  Very bold, she landed on the porch to check out my knitting.  (Okay, landing would be stretching it…it was really a controlled crash.)

And say goodbye to this fine spinach and these spring onions.  By the time you read this they will already be in my belly.  So satisfying to eat from one’s own garden!

Love, Jan

Dear Ellen,

Although I did not have a 3 lb. mile chocolate rabbit for Easter, the day was filled with many of my favorite things.

As you’ve likely noted, I’ve been on a birdwatching bent of late, and I was treated to a good deal of entertainment by our feathered friends.  The cardinal was particularly stunning. 

I finished up the fronts to Fooling Around on April Fool’s Day.  I decided to get them and the back to blocking while I work on the sleeves.  I’m hoping to have this sweater ready in time for Yarnover.  If I keep having to tink and rip, that may be a problem.  It’s really not a difficult pattern, but I seem to be knitting with half a brain as of late.

A recent addition to my repertoire is roasted seaweed.  I have really become fond of kale chips and when I tried these I realized they were easily as tasty, just as healthy, and completely free of risk that I might be making kale charcoal.  (Yes, the curse of the burnt rolls seems to extend to kale chips, at least in my case.)  At 60 calories in an entire package, these fit in my diet plans very nicely.  They are a bit high in sodium, but my blood pressure is low, my consumption of water is high, and I don’t eat a whole package in one seating.

And my favoritest thing of all?  Well, you could have guessed it, I’m sure.

Love, Jan

Dear Ellen,

I finished up two projects this weekend.  Pipeliner’s Journey only required weaving in of ends and some final photos.  Dale was my photographer and he usually shoots about 12 shots for every one that meets my peculiar demands that both the project and the model be shown off to their best advantage.  I should have let him keep shooting!  I do suppose it’s fair to say that it is a valid representation of both subjects.

I also finished the i-cord edging and added a two button and loop closure on Ann’s Big Heart.   Alison’s shawl patterns are quite nice as they really do stay put on your shoulders and have a feminine, but not overly frilly look (you know I don’t do well with too girly stuff).  I added the closure as I expect Ann may be wearing this in situations where she may be leaning back against pillows and that could be a challenge for even the most shoulder hugging of shawls.  The other shawls in Wrapped In Comfort are longer– again, I thought this more suitable a length for the purpose.  I wore it for a while while working around the house in just a tee-shirt.  It was the perfect bit of warmth to keep me comfortable.

And I have one more project nearing completion.  All I have to do is sew on one last sleeve, finish the side seam, add the crotch snaps, sew on shoulder buttons, add a short ribbed collar and complete some simple backstitched line embroidery on the front.  I’m very pleased with how this came out, it’s for the son of one of my former assistants.  The baby was born in January, but this is the 6-12 month size, so I am confident it will reach him in plenty of time for a lot of wear.  It’s made out of Debbie Bliss Eco Baby,  a predominantly cotton yarn as they live in Hawaii — and ergo the name, Aloha Onesie.  It’s based on the Ducky Onesie pattern in the Vintage Baby Knits book.

The farm kept us busy this weekend.  Our flowering plants are coming along quite nicely and as usual I enjoyed the birds at our feeders.  However, we are now on the hunt for some way to prevent the squirrels from devastating the sunflower seed supply that doesn’t obliterate the possibility for good photos.  A cage around the feeders would work, but the obscuration of view kind of defeats the purpose.  Dale is evaluating the possibility of inverted pie pans.  I am contacting Navy friends to find a supply of discarded rat guards.

I am pleased to report that my raised beds are now populated with brussels sprouts, early cabbage, romaine lettuce, various leaf lettuces, butter lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli and early tomatoes.  We’ll see how many are around after a week of exposure — I’m mostly concerned about the deer, not the temperatures.  These have all been hardened outside for the last two weeks, so the weather should not be a problem.

If all the deer were willing to leave exchanges, I’d likely be less phased by the prospect of sharing our bounty with them.  We found this little down payment from the buck that lives in our woods.  Dale spent another hour searching for its mate.  (The other antler, not a doe — besides, this guy is polygamist, he’s got three does!)  I had a notion that I’d like to make buttons and toggles from any antlers we might find, but now that we have one, I don’t know if I can bear carving it up.

I’ve got 24 minutes before I’m expected to be ready to pile into the car and head back to Alexandria…at least we are almost down to less than 3 months before I will be here full time.  I can hardly wait!!

Love, Jan