Does insanity run in the family???

This has to be a fast post, just wanted to let you know I am still here with knitting blisters on my fingers. Remember when I said that I was almost finished knitting??? I had resident husbands sister phone looking for a couple pair of thrum mittens, she had bought a pair at the market, now Gabie is the knitter for things for the hands and I am the knitter for things for the feet but I did not want to phone Gabie as she is knit out and needs a break so o.k. I will knit the mitts as I will have all this time on my hands ...........right?? Now I have a pattern that I give people when they buy my thrum slipper kit and also want a pattern for mitts (now I have never knit off this pattern) and I do not know where the pattern is that I used before..........when I made that one mitt. (It has been laying around waiting for a person with one hand) So I start the first mitt and find out this is not the best pattern..........so I am winging it....after some ripping out I get this great thought....I will just go look for a pattern on the net.......great! I found a dozen different patterns and pick one that looks like what I want and start knitting........who writes these patterns....why do they not put the word puzzle in the title.....so here I am using three patterns to knit a mitt, now what probably would have really helped is if I knew the basics of knitting a mitt.......right?? Or wrote down what I did while making the first mitt!! Well after knitting five mitts I have ended up with two pairs......now there is another mitt looking for a person with one hand. Now this is not as strange as you think as years ago when Gabie and I had a table at the local market a man was looking at the mitts and asked Gabie if she could knit two mitts for the right hand and she said why both mitts for the right hand.....he only had one hand.....we had not noticed. I also have a sock waiting for someone with only one foot.....any takers out there?? Now while I was knitting the mitts I had a call from a lady desperately wanting a couple pair of slippers for her husband for Christmas, the kind that used to be knit out of phentex.but with wool....why did yes I can do it pop out of my mouth. So that is what I am doing now...so here I am trying to get the pattern right because I am using two strands of wool instead of whatever they used in the pattern and I am winging it again. Just finished one slipper and it is not large enough but now I know how many stitches I will need and ......I have a slipper waiting for a person with one foot. So that is what I have been doing!! The inside animals are so needy for attention that they are stuck to me like glue and it is making me crazy!!!!! If I am walking they are under my feet, if I am sitting knitting Sheba is leaning against my arm pretending that the movement of my elbow as I knit is petting and Grey Kitty and Maxx are both trying to lay right up tight beside me...........I am locking myself in my room.....can you hear the whining and scratching at the door!! Yesterday went out to help resident husband load some goats.....found it was really hard to grab a goat with my puffy thrum mitts. But I grabbed a goat and pulled it over to where he was and he got his hands on the horns and I was pushing from behind and he pulled it fast and I went with it and smacked my head into his back.....and felt my neck go crack....moved it carefully and everything seemed to be o.k. but thought I would wake up with a stiff neck this morning....so far o.k. can't have a bad neck with all this knitting to do!! Well so much for the short note............better get whipping the wool around again.....and if anyone phones for something I will be saying nooooo!! The picture is of Maxx and Grey Kitty on the rug in front of the sink, their favorite spot when I am there.

Brrrrrrrrr It is cold outside!!

The sun is trying to shine but it is cold!!Was minus nineteen this morning, windows are all frosted up. Animals must be all tucked in as nothing is out and about. I have not been knitting as yet today............I think I am knit out. Finished another pair of socks that were on order and have one more order on a couple pair but will do something else for a day..........as it is cool today should do some baking?? We will see....could sort some fibre.
Look what is happening at my house!! The Christmas cactus are going to be finished blooming before Christmas day..........wonder if I gave the plants a good shot of blooming fertilizer they would bloom again?? Everyone is thinking of putting up their tree already, which got me to thinking about putting up mine and then I remembered why I do not put the tree up early....how could I forget....I do not need the stress of the cats dismantling it for that many days. A couple years ago we came home late from shopping and I had bought a new dustmop, I had set it up against the wall by the door when I came in, later I noticed the cats Grey Kitty and Sheba sitting looking at it, trying not too get too close, then Grey Kitty stretched in and smacked at it, her claws caught in the mop and she took off with the mop dragging behind her, finally she got untangled and she and Sheba were in hiding for ages before they crept out to see what monster mop was doing. Was so funny!! (for me anyway) So then I got the great idea.........if I put the mop by the tree.....the cats would not go near the tree. Worked like a charm for that year but by the time Christmas came around the next year they still had not made friends with Monster mop but they were not terrified of him either. So what to do about protecting the tree.......all of a sudden I remembered the motion activated frog the boys gave me so I dug it out and put some batteries in it and put it in front of the tree, I had not finished decorating the tree when I put it there and it almost drove me crazy as I would forget and walk in front of it but it did help in keeping the cats away during the day but at night it does not work. So what to do this year!! Grey kitty does not take things off the tree but she will accept things if Sheba gives them to her. Now Sheba is part Siamese......need I say more...even if you put stuff on the bottom they can play with that is not good enough for her, she can jump three or four feet to get the good stuff. Grey Kitty can not wait until the day after Christmas when all the gifts are gone and she can lay on the tree skirt in a sunbeam. I have some great pictures of her. Have to think of what to use to guard the tree this year.
Well am off to find something to do that does not involve knitting needles......

Am I still here?

I think I am still here? I had someone phone and ask for me tonight so I guess I am. I am finally getting caught up with all the back orders, hopefully I will have everything caught up by next week and then I can get at things for Christmas. Market manager decided there was no stall for us for the month of Dec. which is o.k. by me. I am all knit out and friend Gabie said she is all knit out. Had such a cramp in my hand this morning after all the maniac knitting yesterday, I thought if I chewed gum it would take my mind off searching the house for chocolate....not a good idea....the faster I knit the faster I chewed the gum and the faster I chewed the gum the faster I knit. This morning my arms were sore...my neck was sore....my hand was cramped, I felt like a truck had run over me......I think I better stock up on some chocolate.
We got up to the mill to get some more yarn. Resident husband drove so Gabie and I could knit there and back. Did not have the alpaca fibre sorted so have to make another trip. I dyed up a couple pots of wool yarn. Wanted to dye some skeins a mixture of green and a peach color and I think they turned out pretty good, the other pot was some of the same red, yellow and blue mixture.
Winter has really arrived, although I don't think we have as much snow up here on the hill as they do down below us. I was just thinking today.....winter comes every year......it is supposed to come every year......why do we get so upset when the temperatures are in the minus and there is snow on the ground??? We live in a country that has definite seasons! That being said I will be so glad when the new electric blanket I ordered comes!! The old one is dead and I am tired of heating my rice bag in the M.W. and taking it to bed to warm my feet up every night. Poor Maxx the Jack Russell thinks his bed is too cold so wants to sleep on the recliner and I cover him with a blanket. For Christmas I think I will make him a rice bag big enough to cover the bottom of his bed, then I will heat it and put it in his bed and cover it with a light blanket and he should be toasty.
Well am off to heat up my rice bag and go to bed, tomorrow is another day of knitting.........

Windfence finished!!

The windfence is finally finished!! They arrived on Thursday and although it was windy and cool they got it finished. Now we will have to do some creative landscaping to camouflage it. I keep wondering if it is to late to plant some bushes???Can you plant things in November?? It is great to go out the front door and not have this swirling dirt on the front step. In the winter when we open the front door the drift against the door falls into the house. It is really hard to convince resident dog that he should go out and do his business when all this snow falls in when I open the door. The windfence does not stop the wind completely it just makes it manageable. It was really windy last evening and the house was not creaking and groaning so fence is doing it's job. It is a warm day today so should get out and put the landscape fabric and wood chips down in the front flower bed now that they will not blow away. I had planted some bulbs last fall in that flower bed and the wind blew all the dirt from around the bulbs and the only thing holding them their were their roots, some of them lived but did not have the happiest blooms.
Resident husband was off early to the farmers market in the city, we have been waiting for months to see whether we had a space, the manager just can not get his &*%& together, finally the manager said he had a space for us for Nov. but does not know about Dec. He does not seem to realize a person has to know a head of time so you can have the stock?? Husband phoned this morning when he got in and said the spot they gave him has all this junk sitting in it..............no tables.........and the manager was not in yet. The good thing.....husband forgot to charge his cell phone so only has enough power for one more call, I do not have to worry about up dates....he can handle it himself!! So that is what I have been doing all week, getting things finished up and priced and ready to go. Just came in from feeding the barn critters. Usually I pick grass for the Muscovy ducks so they were begging......how do you tell a duck the nice green grass is gone?? Maybe I should be growing pots of grass in the house for them??? Do you think??
Well I am off to get at the day...........should I get at the laundry and house cleaning or should I go do some spinning?? Decisions...decisions. Will post a picture of the completed windfence and our goat herd out grazing earlier this year when things were greener. I'm off.

Snow Day!!

We had a strong wind during the night last night and woke up to snow this morning....remember Mr Windfenceman was supposed to come today and finish the windfence....no show.
Dyed some more mohair locks this morning, so they are sitting around drying, I also finished a sock I started yesterday, was hoping to start on the other one but instead I spun some more alpaca mohair mix yarn. Just finished plying it, it is a light tan color and right now I am debating whether to leave it that color or to dye it, I spun it into a fat fluffy yarn to make some hats. Will decide tomorrow. Am off to bed.

Willow Wreaths

Blogger was having a hissy fit about putting the picture of the wreaths on the blog and as it was past my bedtime I gave up, will try again this morning then I better get moving at the day. Made a list of what I want to accomplish today so better take a whack at it. Husband says he is going to shear the few angora goats we have so that will keep him busy. First thing I have to do is to put the dye pot on and dye some mohair locks, so am off to do that and then will wash and block the socks I just finished knitting so I can deliver them. Keep thinking I better get at the alpaca fleece sorting too, want to get some up to the mill pretty soon to get it processed into sock yarn. Off I go!!

Progressive News

Great news, well maybe not great news.............we will call it progressive news....Mr Windfenceman arrived on Friday and the windfence is half finished, he said he will be back on Tuesday to finish it up............I do not think I will hold my breath!! The great news will be when I can say it is finished. This has been a long haul....he started in August.
Also I got the willow wound into wreaths, found my brown tape to cover the wires.......but then could not find my heavier wire so used some lighter weight wire and it was not fun wrapping the tape on it, took as long to wrap the wires as it did to wind the willow. I got seven larger wreaths and one baby one. Now I have to get organized and see what I have to decorate them with, I have some dried plants I gathered in my walks around the area so need to spray paint them and get them glued on. Another thought....which box is my paper ribbon in??? This turning into one big treasure hunt.
On the knitting front I finished a hat and have two pair of the three pairs of socks I had orders for finished......do you know how long it takes to knit a size twelve pair if socks?? But they are finished. Also got an order for another hat today so better start on that tomorrow. I also got carried away while grocery shopping.........they had bags of ripe bananas on special so I came home with two bags......so had to bake.....three banana bread's and three dozen muffins later, the bananas are under control. Do you know what banana peels are great for....for discouraging ants from living where you do not want them. I had a large ant hill in the front flower bed and no matter what I did I could not get rid of them. I heard somewhere that you should put banana peelings on the ant hill and it would drive them away so o.k. I kept putting the peelings on the ant hill and it did not seem to work, it just looked a little tacky with these black curls of peel laying there, it took a while but all of a sudden I noticed.....no ants!! That has been a couple years ago and still no ants in the flower bed.
Christmas market is coming up soon so better take a look at what stock I have and make a list of what I need to make, I know I need to knit socks as I sold out at the guild sale. Better get whipping the wool and needles around!!

More dying and willow branches

Well I got a pot of mohair curls, some mohair roving and some wool skeins dyed in time for our guild sale, took pictures of the mohair curls...........too yummy, wanted to keep them and just look at them and I got pictures of my wool skeins but forgot to take pictures of the mohair rovings and they were all sold. All the mohair curls also sold and have orders for more so better get another pot on the next day or so and I do have a couple of wool skeins left from the sale so can knit some socks. I have to get to the mill to get some more wool yarn to dye so have some for the Christmas sale. My thrum slippers sold so am knitting on another pair and this time I am being really crazy placing the different colored thrums, it was hard but is getting easier all the time. The sale was great as usual, I sat and knit on my thrum slipper....and unknit on my thrum slipper....have to confess I did not get very far in my knitting, someone would want to see how to knit the thrums in and then somehow the slipper would get turned around, I usually try to have the heel already turned before I try to knit and demo. And then I talked...........and then talked some more..........actually I talked until I was dizzy. and what was the greatest thing I got at the sale you ask me???.........Willow branches.....fresh willow branches!! Free......someone had used them as a display..........I have to confess there was a lot of begging on someones part but that someone brought them home in her car. Now I am on my way out to the car to bring them in and form them into wreaths in time for Christmas. It has been five years since I have had willow to make some wreaths. I had my own willow tree at the last place so I could just run out and snip and then we moved to this rocky tree less hill. The only tree I found while walking the quarter section was this poor little evergreen that had been chewed down by cows for years and the poor little guy was so narled and twisted. I said to resident husband....we either have to move him up by the house or we have to give him some friends and build a fence around them. We moved him up by the house and put a little mesh fence around him so he would not get peeded to death (boy dogs) and he was petted and admired and encouraged and he is so beautiful now, his branches grow at least a foot a year.
Well am out to bring my willow in, can not find my brown tape to cover the wires, it has only been five years so do not know why I can not put my fingers on it...do you? I will replace the wire later. Will try to get pictures of the wreaths.

How did I do at the show?

Remember the items I entered in the show at the llama convention? I had entered three llama fleeces and one came in first in the class, I had entered a hat and a pair of socks and the socks came in third, a lady had knit a pair of gloves and entered in that class, anyone that knits gloves should come in first, good grief.........all those fingers to knit, I have trouble with a thumb on a pair of mitts!! Then I had spent all that time picking guard hair and trash out of a llama fleece to enter the class that you send in two oz. of fibre and they spun one oz. and displayed it with the oz. of unspun fibre. I got first in that class with my entry and it took supreme over the whole show!! My winnings were a fifty dollar certificate to the mill for fibre processing, a couple of T shirts with a picture of a handpainted picture of a llama's head and a little stuffed llama. Forgot to take a picture of the t-shirts, husband had forgot to bring them so just got them in the mail yesterday. Will have to take a picture of the llama picture on them, I love it. Just went and took a picture of the t-shirt picture to post.
What else have I been doing? Sock knitting, had three orders for socks so have been trying to knit on them a bit each day, have a pair and a sock of another pair almost done. Have so much to do keep running in circles so decided that everynight before I go to bed I will write down what I want to accomplish the next day and because I can focus on that instead of trying to figure out what to do next it seems like I am accomplishing something. What is really great is when you look at your list before you head for bed and you have done what was on the list plus a few more things it feels like you are in control and if I don't get something done I had on the list I can add it to the next day and not feel bad about it because I probably had done a few things that weren't on the list for the day. Otherwise it seems if you don't get finished what you thought you should, you go to bed thinking that you did not get anything done that day. Writing down what you did accomplish that day lets you see that you are getting things done! When I tried to plan the whole week in advance and did not get everything done I felt I should have it was depressing. I don't know whether this makes sense to anyone else but me??
On the windsceen front.................still have not seen Mr. Windfenceman!! Mr. Windfenceman..yahoo!! The posts you put up are not stopping much wind!! They need the screen on them!!

Predators!! Predators!! Predators!!

First I had gophers in the garden eating my vegetables, then there were badgers digging up the pastures to get the gophers, then the other day when I went down to the garden my cute little prairie chickens had been scratching the dirt off the potatoes and eating them. Now we have a coyote in the barnyard getting my goats. Is this what they mean when they say to move to the country for peace and quiet. (Oh I forgot about that cute little Ermine that I saved from the dog...........that went out to the barnyard that night and got some of my chickens) We had a problem with a coyote a few years ago, he would get the big dog to chase him down the back of the property then he would sneak around the front and get a goat!! I spent many a day as the goat herder walking hill and dale with the goats to keep them safe. Now my time was not entirely wasted as I decided that I could knit socks as I walked with them. Now if goats see you have something in your hands they think it is something for them to eat so I had to disguise what I was doing so wore my jacket with the big pocket in front and tucked it in and as I was knitting with two colors I put the balls of yarn inside my jacket and ran the strands out the sleeves, then I could knit as I walked and if the goats noticed I could just tuck my knitting in the pocket. I called the socks I knit Wild Flower socks as they hit the ground occasionally. We had put up some field fence and have not had a problem for a few years but all of a sudden we are losing goats and do not know how he is getting in. One day when I ran out to chase him away he jumped right over the high fence..........now what are we going to do?? We nailed pieces of 2x4's on the top of the posts around the pastures and strung barb wire along the top. So that solved that but then we found another goat dead just inside the fence..........the goat had put its head through the wire to eat on the outside and the coyote grabbed it. The grass was so high the goats could not see him coming so then the grass had to be cut down around the pastures. We have not seen the coyote for a bit so hopefully he has moved on. We have a Jack Russel named Maxx, was so afraid the coyote was going to get him because he knows no fear and almost caught the coyote by the tail the other day...........He has been renamed "Dead Dog".
We decided it was time to get the garden cleaned up and veggie's put away for the winter as we have been having some cool nights. I went down and got the carrots and onions all out of the ground. Now I was so worried that we would not have enough potatoes for the winter.........I spent all that time putting out treats for the gophers and prairie chickens to distract them from the potatoes........when the potatoes were dug and brought up to the cold room......we have over five hundred pounds of potatoes in the cold room!! I could have put a sign on the garden gate for anyone that came by to just help them selves!! Everyone knows what they are getting for Christmas this year. Will drop some off at the food bank.
So that has been the move to the country and live the quiet life!! Husband is at the market today so I better go out and feed the critters before they come knocking at the door.

Just trying to regain my sanity

I just can not believe it has been that long since I wrote, where did the time go?? The last couple of days I have been trying to regain my sanity (if I ever had it in the first place) Resident husband is off to the llama convention until Sunday night so I have the place to myself if you can call it that with three animals in the house and at least two hundred in the barnyard. Remember when I entered items in the show at the llama convention? well that is what I have been doing, trying to get the items made up, at the time (remember I was high on sniffing llama fibre and it was after midnight when I made the decision)Now I can usually knit socks in my sleep but the yarn I had spun up was quite a finer yarn than I am used to knitting with so had to look for another pattern, it ended up I had to knit three socks before two were the right size, so o.k. the socks were done, I had entered a hat so had to card and spin the yarn for that and of course it was also finer than I make my hats with so had to look for another pattern, even knit a swatch to make sure I would be knitting on gauge but it was done. ............hat is a little on the big size. Now came the big headache, I had entered a woven scarf and I could not get the loom to work properly, have not used it for at least four years. So decided to do a practice scarf out of other yarn before I put the llama yarn that I had bought from a friend on the loom as I did not want to wreak it. Just could not figure out what was wrong with the loom, changed some things around and was still having problems. Had just decided that I was going to scrap the scarf entry and was leaving the loom when a lightbulb came on in my head...........figured out what the problem could be. Now I only had one day to warp the loom, weave the scarf and finish it off...........could I do it? The next morning I decided to go for it so wound the warp and got it on the loom, was worried a bit about the yarn as it did not have much twist to it and whether it would be strong enough, but it held up and I got it woven and took it off the loom and was going to tie knots in the fringe so when I washed it it would not fray........the knots would not stay tied, finally pulled them as tight as I could and washed it gently........all the knots came out of the fringe and it frayed and the twist in the yarn must not have been set at the mill and the scarf went wonky..........so the scarf did not go to the show after all that!! It is sitting on the counter pouting. I took a picture of the yarn I spun for the hat but forgot to get a picture of the hat. Will post the yarn picture.
That is what I have been up to in the knitting and weaving area but there has been a lot more besides that going on around here, this post is long enough so will post the rest tomorrow. Also the wind has been blowing and we still do not have the windscreen up, have not heard from Mr. Windfenceman.........is he lost out there ?? Yahoo!! Yahoo!! Mr. Windfenceman...........we are right over here.

What have I been doing?

I have been winding some of my colored skeins into balls to make sock and hat kits. Mrs Beasley was insistent than she be the one to hold them for the picture, see how happy she is, otherwise this is her regular job.............a cat lap, although she looked pretty happy doing that too. So that is done and I am onto the next project (the alpaca fibre sorting is an on going thing of course)I decided to do something wild and crazy with the thrum slippers I knit so I rainbow dyed up some roving and used that for the thrums. Now this was going to be super easy I was just going to randomly knit the thrums in but the blue and purple looked so great together I thought (this always gets me into trouble) that I would alternate blue and purple which did look great butttttttt now the simple random thrum idea was out the window and I had to pay attention to what color went where and with my lack of attention span I ended up ripping out as I would get two thrums side by side of the same color! Plus I had to pick through the roving to get only blue and purple............I could have just dyed blue and purple in the first place! Now on the finished slipper there is a place that I have three purple thrums together..........and I did not notice it until I had knit down a bit and I did not want to rip out again so I just left it and I am going to remember to do the same thing on the other slipper so they match.......and I am going to say that it is a artistic design......right?..... But I am going to knit a pair with all the colors together, I am going to force myself even if the colors are fighting with each other..........although I have noticed that the lime green and the rusty orange color look great together. Well husband is off to the farmers market today and I can see my little goat friends standing in a row looking at the house waiting for me to go out and take care of them so I better get moving, they have been known to open the gate and come and get me so I am off!!

Guess what came to our house

On the fibre scene guess what came to live with us a couple of weeks ago???If you know me you know it has four legs ( although when I think of it the gift ducks only had two legs each....) Gift Alpacas, the pictures are of the girls and their babies but a week before we had brought home the boys so there are twelve all together. Plus I bought all the fibre that has been stored up from them for the last five years or more.......I can not say the words that would tell you how much fibre that is, let us just say it is a lot!! So now I am busy sorting it to send some to the mill for processing which is taking some time as these animals wore a lot of their food and as their fibre is really soft it is stuck in the fibre.........so........pick..pick..pick. Keep trying to stay focused on the sorting as I keep getting this urge to run to the spinning wheel and spin a sample. So I am set for fibre for a long time............right? But you know maybe I could use some.......I dare not say the word. I have the cold room stacked with bags of fibre............where am I going to put the potatoes?? So I am pulling fibre out of my eyeballs and I am sure I have involuntarily eaten my share at this point. Now we have the llamas and when we shear them they are cute in their poodle cuts but these poor alpacas when they shear them they are naked and it is not attractive.....but it is growing on me. Another thing for me to get used to is the llamas walk around with their noses in the air like they own the world and the alpacas just sort of walk around quietly..........I am so afraid they are depressed, am always worrying about them, went out and had a few words with them.....they seem o.k. will just have to get used to it. Well back to sorting alpaca fibre.

Still running in circles

Well back to the windfence saga, Mr Windfenceman had said that he would be back in a couple days to finish the fence.........Did not show up........did not call, on Tuesday morning I was thinking maybe we should call and see what his plans were. When he left he had the poles in the holes he dug and had braced the poles in place but we had a wind and rain storm during the night a few days later and the braces on a couple poles had snapped and a couple poles were leaning over. Well at noon on Tuesday here he came with the cement truck behind him, so the poles and the pads with hooks in them for the guide wires are set in cement and he said it would take seven days to set up properly and then he will come back and put up the windscreen. When the wind was blowing the other days the poles were swaying.
Now that I figured out how to keep the gophers from eating the potatoes by leaving tastier treats for them I will not have to worry about them............the badgers have moved in and are trying to dig the gophers out!! When I looked out the window the other day I noticed this mound of freshly dug dirt which I had not noticed before?? Then the next morning there were a lot of mounds of dug up dirt, so went down and had a look this morning and sure enough...........badgers digging, what a mess!! Now how to get rid of the badgers?? What are their favorite treats....does anyone know?

More dying of course

This what I have been doing the last few days..............more dying. I want to make sock kits to sell at the markets so I now had to write up my pattern to put in the kits...not as easy as it sounds! I wrote up how I thought I knit socks then typed it into the computer and printed it out and then the big test.........knit a sock following my directions to see if I missed anything. Well typing the pattern in with all that knit two purl whatever, good grief, what a job! I was cross eyed and crazy by the time I had finished. Then I started on the test sock to find my mistakes, well it would go pretty good for a bit and then with my short attention span I would forget to follow the pattern and just be knitting away..........now did I follow what I had written down?? Who knows............I will really pay attention to the second sock, I did and I think I have the pattern down right so just have to go back and do changes on the pattern in the computer and I am away!!
We live on a hill and the wind almost blows us away, after having to replace the siding and roofing on the back of the house this spring plus the headache of water coming through the non-sided walls before Mr. Fix-it could get here we decided that we had to invest in a wind fence. Mr. Windfence man was so busy when we got in touch with him this spring that he said it would be Aug. before he could get here, we said put us on the list. He phoned and said he would be here last Friday but then phoned and said he could not make it and was coming Monday. Now all the rainfree days we have had this summer why would it decide to rain on Monday, he dug the holes and got the poles up but then had to give up as we could not have gotten the cement truck in without wreaking the yard. I really held out on the windfence thing because we have such a great view, o.k. I would rather not have to deal with the wind so I will just have to sacrifice interference with the view but the posts are just posts.....the color of them is just post color!! I think I thought they would be painted!! Now my work is cut out for me in doing something to disguise or camouflage these post colored posts, maybe I should have planned ahead and had him deliver the posts ahead of time and I could have sponged some color on them.........will have to think on this. He will be here tomorrow hopefully and get the wind netting put up, then we can put stuff on the deck and not have it blow away, what would be great is if I could put wet fibre out to dry and not have to go gather it up in the barnyard.
Well I am off to the garden and see what is going on down there. We battled with the gophers all spring to figure out ways to keep them out of the raised beds we had to resorted to if we wanted to grow anything and now I find them digging up the potatoes to eat so decided to change tactics...........maybe if I could find things that they thought were tastier and put them out and they could eat that and get their mind off the potatoes..........o.k. I had a few cobs of corn that I could sacrifice, so I took them down to the garden and so far it looks like it will work, took down a couple over ripe pears last night........so far so good. I had a friend phone the other day and he asked how the garden was coming so was telling him about the problem with the gophers and how I thought I had maybe solved it. He said that it was the first time he heard of someone negotiating with rodents..........I said what ever works.

Time is Flying by again!!

I can not believe that it is Friday already!! Where did the week go! This time last week we were trying to get things ready for the llama show at the fair and of course bake the thousand dollar saskatoon pie! Here is the pie.................does that not look like a prize winner? Somebody did not think so...........never even placed!! But the great news was out of eighty some pies the winner was a thirteen year old girl. But I did come away from the fair with these.I got first, second and third in the fleece class for my llama fleeces. I entered the fleeces in the fleece show at the up coming Llama Conference so had the person who is taking care of it take them with her and I was to send the info to her, there was a class for two oz. of llama fibre picked free of guard hair and trash that someone was going to spin one oz. and it would be judged with the one oz of unspun fibre and I was talked into entering it, as the deadline for getting it in was already over she said if I got it in fast I would make it so............I picked fibre all day Sunday, Sunday was such a overcast day it was hard to see so when I looked at the picked fibre Monday morning.......good grief.......it still had all this guard hair in it!! So I picked at it all day Monday. (do you ever question your sanity? I am sure I had brain damage from sniffing all that llama fibre) I also needed a picture of the animal the fibre belonged to, also needed pictures for the animals whose fleeces I was entering, I thought well that is no problem as I took good pictures of them when they were sheared. When I went to the computer to print the pictures out.............I COULD NOT FIND THE PICTURES!! After banging my head on the desk for a while I remembered (I guess banging one's head on the desk does produce results)that when I saved the pictures they came up on the computer screen as icons and I had put them in the trashcan and I had not emptied the trash!! So I dug them out!! Now to print them........what a mess, they would not print out properly...........so I accused the printer of having a hissy fit and I might have said a few bad words, so I decided to put the pictures on a disk and as the resident husband was going into town he would get them printed at a one hour thing. o.k. he came back home with the pictures...........do these people not look at the pictures they print!! One one picture they cut the ears right off the llama!! Well I just had to walk away for a while. After supper when resident husband and resident dog went to bed I had a look at the pictures again trying to decide what to do because this stuff should have been mailed yesterday. I decided maybe I was too harsh on the printer, I would give her another chance at redeeming herself, so I would give one last try on getting her to print a picture..........she did it, the picture printed...........I used the regular color cartridge and not the photo color one........photo color color cartridge must be toast. So after I apologized profusely to the printer I got everything packed up to mail the next morning but not (I hate to admit this) before I had entered three more things....completed garments made out of llama fibre that are not made yet. I have to blame it on the brain damage I suffered from all the fibre sniffing and it being after midnight. Somedays I wish they would lock me up and throw away the key!! Wish me luck. I better get on with my day.

Where have the days gone?

Time seems to be going so fast, do not know where the days have gone. As we are the directors of the llama show at the Millarville fair we are trying to get everything organized, just finished getting the program for the show all typed into the computer and printed out a copy to take to the printers. Did you hear the big yahoo. Also got all the pictures from last year into the photo album, I like to organize them by winners in class and was hard this year as I was not at the show last year, I with Grandson Brendan looked after the market table, this year we won't do the table on that day so I can be at the show. We are having our first fleece show so that should be interesting. The only entrys I put in this year were three fleeces in the fleece show and of course the saskatoon pie, I got second last year so I have to enter this year...right? First prize was five hundred dollars last year and this year because it is the fairs hundredth year first prize is a thousand dollars.When I was filling out my entry form I was tempted to entry more things, thought about it and then gave myself a good smack.............been there............done that.
Just ran down to the garden and apologized to the vegetables for neglecting them, gave them a little drink and promised to go down and do a better job tomorrow, look like the peas and beans need picking again and there are a few more ripe strawberries needed to be picked too.
But I did have time to knit up a pair of socks out of one of the skeins I dyed, will try to put a picture in. Also spun up some alpaca/kid mohair/merino wool/ roving, did it quite fine as I want to weave some scarves with it, was a lot of spinning and plying but got it done.........600yds. No wonder it seemed I was spinning forever. Had a bit left on the bobbin so am spinning some more, it is a light tan color so will maybe try dyeing some. Well am off to do a bit of spinning before bed.

Pictures of dyed Yarn

I did it!! I have been trying to move some pictures into the blog, finally sent an S.O.S. to Brendan (grandson#2) and he gave me instructions..........and I even wrote them down.....still could not move the pictures, was just going to send him another S.O.S. to ask for instructions that even the dog could follow when I figured it out.............at least I thought I had figured it out.......still did not work...........then found the problem............I had not checked the little box that said I accepted the terms for posting pictures.............so did that. So the pictures are just plopped in, next thing is to figure out how to move them around. It takes me a long time but I finally get there. Thanks Brendan...........will pay you in home baked cookies.
Was cooler yesterday so decided to bake bread and then I would go down to the garden to pick the peas today...............I should have picked the peas yesterday and baked the bread today. Was only eight above this morning, I almost froze. This morning I got my llama fleeces ready to go for the fibre show at the fair, we had to have them to the drop off by the tenth, then this afternoon I put on my winter coat, woolhat and gloves and went down the garden. So picked the peas and got them shelled. They say rain for tomorrow, we will see. I'm off to do a bit of spinning before bed.

Here I go.....My first Blog

I have been reading and enjoying spinning and knitting blogs for ages always wanting to try my own blog, so here I go not really knowing what I am doing. I own llamas and goats and always seem to be knee deep in bags of fleece but always wanting more...........more..........more. My daughter judged a fleece show a bit ago and I was helping her................not a good thing..........all I could say was do you think they would sell this fleece and wishing I had brought my spinning wheel so I could have spun samples, even if I would have brought my drop spindle.............have to think of that next time.
We finally got all our llamas sheared this year so my time has been spent sorting fleeces, washing fleeces and trying to get some spun up. I bought some alpaca fleeces and had them processed at the local mill so have been also spinning some of that, I had some of the the alpaca mixed with some of the mohair off my goats into sock yarn so have been knitting socks. Then because I can not spin fast enough I bought some wool skeins as I love doing rainbow dying, have got three dye pots done so far...........love it.............love it....you never know what colors you are going to get!! Also tried some yarn painting but find it is very time consuming (probably because I really do not know what I am doing???) but will keep trying, right now I am painting the skeins for a friend who is knitting mittens. She says the colors are turning out great so have to get in and see them. Next on my list is painting some roving!! I love spinning roving dyed in rainbow colors.I have to get busy creating as the falls sales are coming up fast!! Where did the summer go?? I almost had a panic attack the day I went to town and noticed people were putting hay up.............that means fall is just around the corner.
Well am off to get at my day..........hmmm....would I have time to sneek another dyepot of wool in today?? We will see.