Still Knitting and Baby Llama and Alpaca pictures!!

Still knitting!! Weather report tonight says big snow storm arriving tomorrow, RH birthday Sat. and Older Son and daughter-in-law had planned on meeting up for lunch but will put it on hold for another day, do not want to be out and about in bad weather unless you really have to. if computer and blogger will let me will post the pictures of the rest of our babies.

Our little Sassyfrazz, she is so cute, she loves her Mom Posy and Posy loves Sassy so much, they are always together neck hugging and Sassy is always snuggling into her mothers fibre.

This is our miracle boy Parker, he was so twisted in his mother Spice Girl we worked for two hours steady to get him out and never thought we would save him but out he came after all that and stood up and said Hi and went to drink off Mom. We had an angel looking over us that day!! He is the image of his father and grandfather. Raindancer whose picture is at the top of my blog page is the father of Silver Dust, Thistle and Parker.

This is our little Alpaca boy Rusty, the surprise baby as we thought his mother had not bred last fall so had her in with the male this spring. He is such a sweetie but was not co-operating to get his picture taken. So great to have so many little ones playing together. Can not wait until the shearing in the spring!!

Knitting and Growing Baby Llamas!!

What is new?? Just the knitting marathon to get stock ready for the Christmas market in a week then can relax and get ready for Christmas plus have been under the weather lately and on antibiotics for the last week but am starting to feel better...good thing...I can always knit between rests. Should also get some fibre carded and pulled into rovings for sale, sold out everything the last sale, would really like to get some yarn dyed also but will have to see how time goes. As I do not have pictures of fibrey things will post some pictures the the animals growing fibre for me.They are growing so fast. Will post a couple of them today and try to find time to post the rest tomorrow. Blogger is only letting me download one picture at a time and it takes ages.

Above pictures are of Silver Dust, he is so cute but so bad, is always pestering the other llamas...has also been caught sneaking milk from other mothers and their spitting at him does not bother him at all.

And here is our beautiful girl Thistle. She is so sweet! Can not wait to see how her fibre turns out.

Llama and Alpaca Kids are Growing!!

I have to get out and get some new pictures of the kids before winter arrives. We have been so busy getting the yard and barnyard ready for winter. Have all my Gladiolas bulbs dug up and the Dahlia root, have to trim back the foliage and get them tucked away, could not believe how large the Glad bulbs were after the way they bloomed all summer, hoping they survive storage over the winter. Have the garden pool drained, using the water to soak some of the shrubs and have drained the water storage containers before it really freezes so are getting there. RH has been busy the last two days getting the metal siding up on the Llama and Alpaca girls barn, can not believe the weather has been so nice and we could get everything cleaned up around the yard. Also have the back yard landscaped and planted with grass seed, hoping it comes up nice and green in the spring. This time last year we had a lot of snow on the ground. Am also knitting like crazy for the two Christmas markets we have coming up shortly, had totally sold out of everything at the end of the summer markets so is going to be a race to get enough knit up and Alpaca fibre carded up for the market. could not stand the dirty windows in the house so spent a day washing windows....they look great but my wrist was not feeling too great...had a panic attack for a bit...how can I knit with a sore wrist!! Better think before I do these things!! The decks are looking so bare without all my flowers, am thinking of getting a few little evergreen bushes to put in them for the winter....I think they should live over the winter if I water them good and let them freeze in?? I did see a picture that someone had put some dried foliage in their planters....hmmm...better get my ideas in place before it gets too cold...so many ideas and so little time!! Trying to keep my focus on knitting....focus on knitting....

Our Baby Llamas and Alpaca for 2013

Can not believe it!! computer and internet both working at the same time....is really getting annoying,just hope it keeps going until I get a post written!! We have not bred any llama or alpaca girls for a few years because of moving and getting things set up again, but last fall we bred four of our llama females and I bought a young male alpaca for our girls, we put them together and the girls just laughed at him as he was smaller than they were and decided we would put them back together this spring....well Black Mommy had a surprise for us!! I went out to check the llama girls and look what I found!!

I got a dark fawn colored male to breed to the black girls hoping for this color as their mother was brown, here we have a beautiful little boy!!

Will have to go out and get new pictures of him as he is a going concern now. He was so small when he was born. Now am hoping the other two alpaca girls are bred for next spring, can not wait to see what color their babies are!! Then here came our first llama baby from our beautiful Posy. A beautiful little girl, when I found her she was up drinking from her mother and busy to get going, she is such a nice little girl and so sassy so her name is Sassyfrazz.

The second baby llama, a little boy was a silver grey when he was born, his mother is Calley, have named him Silver Dust although I should have named him trouble as he spends all his time annoying the other mothers so is always being spit at...and it does not bother him at all...if he finds other babies sleeping...he gets them up...and I have caught him snitching milk from other mothers!! Bad! Bad! Boy! But so cute.

Third baby was from Emerson Rose who is a dark brown.....she had a white baby girl with dark spots...so cute....for some reason I want to call her Thistle...will have to wait and see if the name sticks.

Spice Girl looked like she would have been the first llama to have her baby as she was so large and uncomfortable, she had a baby a few years ago so was not that worried about her until it got later and later, and she was so restless, I walked miles I am sure going out to check her. We had a cold rainstorm come in so had all the llamas and their babies in the barn overnight and the next morning we could see she was in distress and was not even trying to have the baby so had to make the call to go in and see what the problem was and found the baby twisted and upside down but was still alive.....we worked for two hours and finally got baby delivered...alive...it was a miracle...we must have had an angel watching over us. Out he came and got up and looked at us and shortly after he was up drinking off his mother. He is our miracle baby for sure, looks exactly like his Dad and his Grandad. Still have not decided on a name for him.

So that is what kept us busy this fall, now we have these beautiful babies bouncing around growing some beautiful fibre for me to use.

Washing and Reskeining skeins of Alpaca and Wool yarn!!

Went up to the local fibre mill and picked up some skeins of Alpaca and some of wool last Tuesday so have been busy washing the skeins....all 120 of them....and of course had to dry them in the house as the weather was so cold. Just love those shower rods that do not have to screw into the wall...you just put them up by pressure. I got four of them and use two chairs to support them and hang the yarn to dry on them....is so great if I can do it out on the deck in the sunshine but in the house it takes forever and I wanted some of them for the market today. They were dry yesterday so that is what I did all day yesterday. I like to wash them to get the spinning oil off them and then re-skein them as it makes them look so nice, it took me all day but I got half of them done and got the info tags on them.....I was up until 2:00AM getting them ready to go. Could sure feel it in my elbow and shoulder today.

Hopefully I can get the rest of them done up this week but tomorrow we better get the root veggies out of the garden as the snow word was used on the weather station for Tuesday.....thinking...if we get the garden cleaned up...maybe it will not snow, it is so dry out we really could use some moisture as they are putting fire bans out...lot of grass fires lately, none near us thank-goodness. We also are getting the back yard ready to plant grass and would be great to get it planted. Will see what mother nature brings us!! Well am off to bed!

Quick Post as it is 1:00 AM and I should be in bed!!

Just a fast post as it is late and I better get to bed, have company stopping in early tomorrow....excuse me....I guess it will be this morning....it is already tomorrow. I think it is going to freeze....is only 2.4 out there, ran out and covered the few things that are still out, moved all the plants I want to save into the shed already. Today has been knitting more fingerless mitts plus everything else that eats up a person's day. so I am just going to post a couple of pictures of my flowers from this summer and then am off to bed!!

Caught one of the humming birds at the Gladiolus. My Glads were so fantastic this year we had Humming Birds flitting around all the time.

I just happened to have my camera in my hand when this little guy came along!!

Dyeing skeins in the microwave.......I did have good intentions!!

I have never dyed any yarn in the Microwave...I always rainbo dye in large pots on the stove but now we have the extra MW oven as in this place the MW had to be over the stove and had a special exhaust system, I had an oven I could use. It is in a cabinet downstairs in the work room and although I have no water down there as yet I could just carry some down as I was going to experiment on just a couple of skeins. So O.K. I soaked the skeins in some vinegar water and set about getting a work area set up, I thought I better plug the MW in and make sure it worked....well the light came on....but....I had forgotten how everything worked so off to find the instructions...got the clock going and after reading instructions I remembered how things work so off to color the skein of wool. I had blue and red dye already mixed up, so got it ready to go and noticed a small amount of some purple mixed up so took that with me...was just going to wing it as it was just an experiment. Got the first skein laid out on the plastic wrap and applied the red and blue dye and got it rolled up and in the dish I was using and put it in the MW and got it turned on and going...but...nothing was heating up....I would set the time to cook and away it would go...but it was not cooking!!&^&*(&^% O.K.!! I got a pot out and ran it upstairs and put it on the stove and got the steamer rack in it and turned the burner on and went back downstairs to put dye on the other skein and get it wrapped up in the plastic wrap, I had seen somewhere that you could put your jelly rolled skein into a large freezer bag before putting it in the MW....but how would that work in a steamer...sitting on a metal rack...I thought what do I have to lose...nothing is going to plan anyway!! So got the skeins in the large ziplock freezer bags leaving the top open a bit so steam could get out...put the lid on and set the timer. When time was up I took the lid off the kettle and let the yarn cool in the bags then filled the sink with warm water about the same temp of the skeins adding some salt to set the color.....I had left too much water in the skeins before I put the dye on them so they were a bit sloppy....I mean what else could I do wrong!! So gave the skeins a couple of washes until the color was not coming out and really....they looked pretty good. so hung them to dry overnight and reskeined them this morning. This is how they came out..

So here they are, after all the juggling around they did not turn out too bad, I added a bit of the purple to the second skein and really like it. RH went down and had a look at the MW this morning...and found out what the problem was....it was set on demo....so would go through the motions but would not heat up...he remembered the problem that we had with a demo TV monitor we got a few years ago...so now it is ready to go. Will have to get some more dye solution mixed up and try this MW dyeing another day. It is so fall out here right now..wind and more wind during the night last night, I lay in bed trying to think if everything was tucked away that could blow around. It has calmed down right now but the forecast is for the wind to blow again tonight. The farmer behind us was out at dusk combining his crop that he had cut down a few days ago and the dust blowing into our yard was terrible, made sure all the windows were closed tight but it still sifts in, hopefully he got it all finished. well it is after midnight here so better get off to bed...a new week starting tomorrow!!

Thought I was Lost Last Post......Am Hoping I Have Found Myself!!

Well here I am again...hoping I have found myself and will be posting again. I had moved my laptop down to my work room for the summer as I thought it would be cooler and also would not have any interruptions when I wanted to use the laptop...as you see it did not work out, just never seemed to get to the computer when it was out of sight. So have just moved it back upstairs and have spent a couple of hours trying to get it working properly. We have the big computer upstairs but for some reason the photo thingy is just not behaving...will not downsize the pictures so I can send them on. So here goes...the summer was so busy...tornado warnings....bad hail storms...getting flowers beds up and going.....on going knitting for farmers markets..shearing llamas and alpacas...processing the fibre.....baby alpacas and llamas being born...and landscaping...landscaping...and more landscaping. So will just have to start at the beginning where I left off and skim through the summer as it is fall already. First came the threat of the tornado, I had been working down in the workroom with no radio going and RH came home from town and said have you not been listening to the radio....so off we went around the yard putting everything that could blow around away thinking we could get some strong winds and I gathered up all my potted plants on the front deck and put them in reach of the front door....just incase and then stood at the window and watched the big black cloud coming over us.....

It looked like it was going to touch down a couple of time but then it would move back up......it had just moved over the house and I could see blue sky and white clouds behind it...and the hail hit!! We ran to the front door and pulled all the potted plants into the house...then all we could so was watch the hail come down and think about the gardens and our animals in the barnyard hoping they had gone to the barns and shelters.

This is what was left when the hail quit and the sun started to come out, RH went out to the barnyard and came back saying everyone looked o.k. most of them had gone to the barns and the others were fine. We were so thankful that we did not have any windows facing that direction, animals were o.k. and it was hail instead of the tornado that hit us...but I just could not bring myself to go out and look at the garden and flowerbeds yet, all the plants that were in moveable pots were safe in the house. The next day I went out and checked, there were leaves, pine cones and branches all over the yard, eves-troughs were full of of debris so had to be cleaned out, the damage was not as bad as I thought it would be, plants were damaged...not totally gone like I thought they would be, the flowerbeds had mainly perennials in them so they would always come back, I thought the veg. garden would be done for but the surprising thing was the garden mesh we had over the raised beds had deflected alot of the hail as it came so hard. Then later that day...we had another hail storm which came from the other direction hitting whatever was not touched the day before but was not as bad as the day before. Now after all the destruction we had those two days most of my veg garden did come back so we had our fresh veggies and pretty well all the perennials slowly came back and put on quite a show over the summer, only thing I lost were the blooms off all the reg. lilies but the later blooming plants all bloomed. Will post some of my flower pic's in the next post.....yes there will be regular posts....

When I look at the last time I posted....I think I am lost!!

Why is there so much time between posts...it is because time gets away from me...trying to do too much at once?? I do not know...but the good thing is...I think that summer is actually here. I have been sorting and washing alpaca fleece..trying to catch up as it is time to shear again!! I sorted and washed a grey fleece, a white fleece and a beautiful tan colored fleece...the tan (I know tan is not the color to describe it but it is after midnight and I have very little brain function at the moment!) was a baby fleece and had so much debris in it but now it is clean it is so beautiful! Now to find some time to spin a bit of it. For my birthday I bought myself two yearling geldings...one is white and one is the tan color, they are so cute, hopefully will get them sheared this week, can not wait to start processing their fleece, it is so clean as compared to what I have been working with. Have not thought of names for them yet. Meanwhile we have been trying to get some landscaping around the house finished and I planted some of the garden today, hopefully I can get some more planted tomorrow as we are supposed to get some rain, it has been so dry lately. can not wait to see things growing...besides weeds that is...why is it...even when it is so dry...weeds just keep growing.....

I am Crazy!! and I have run out of Chocolate!!!

I have spent weeks trying to get my sewing...spinning...weaving...whatever room organized...cabinets put together and almost full...and I decided I better get out another unfinished article to work on...have lost track of the rule I made not starting anything new until I had finished some of the started but not finished articles but thought it was time to get at it. So....you would think...that what I was looking for would be in the cabinets...right??? I was sure it was....I looked at least three times...was thinking of having a good old lay down on the floor head banging tantrum.....but knew at my age....it would be a job getting back up and I really do not need to lose anymore brain cells. Plus I was interrupted by RH who was also looking for something he could not find, got him sorted out and on his way... thinking this is stupid...why do I need just this one unfinished item as I could just stick my hand blindly into one of the cabinets and come out with another one...but could not stop thinking about it.....and I did not have any chocolate in the house....then I thought...maybe I should look in my closet....maybe I did not get all the fibre stuff moved that I had stored there...and yes here it was... I had started this cute scarf just before Christmas but had to put it aside to knit some sock orders, so now am going to get at it and see if I can find where I left off, it should be cute when finished. Here is a picture of my working area almost sorted out I finally got my cutting table assembled and got the padded top put back on, it is so great for cutting out items... ironing large items and blocking my items etc...am so happy to have her back. so finally got the crochet scarf washed and blocked out on the table, I love it and want to start another one with the same alpaca silk yarn that I have in purple shades...might change the center stitch but will do the same ruffle around it as it came out so great. That is really what I would have liked to start today...but....have to finish something first! I am slowly getting everything organized and it will be so great to be able to just go work at something instead of searching through boxes and working in the mess. We are still getting the winter weather with snow one day then the sun and warmer temps the next day...and sometimes a bit of everything in one day...I so need spring...it is coming slowly but not fast enough for me...sun was out this morning but now everything is cloudy but I did snap a picture of this beautiful Robin sitting in the tree sunning himself this morning...hope he is not busy having a good old lay down head banging tantrum now the sun has disappeared.....Off to get working on my fancy little scarf.....but before I do....will search the pantry....in case...I have some misplaced chocolate.

Am slowly getting there...am so the Crazy Lady.......

I really think I am a crazy person some days...well to tell the truth...most days....have not got the alpaca scarf blocked as yet, trying to find somewhere large enough to lay it out where the resident cats won't take up residence on it. Have been trying to get my area downstairs organized, have all the cabinets moved in and have been unpacking boxes and getting things put away, some days are like Christmas...finding things I forgot I had...a book I had just got before starting to pack things up to move...then there are the OMG items that makes you wonder why on earth you did not rehome them or toss them and why take up space packing them, sorting things out for maybe garage sale or gifting them elsewhere. Have made a rule that I can only keep what I can fit into the storage cabinets and the storage room...have told the kids that they better hope we live long enough to get this stuff sorted out they will have to do it. I have all my fibre stuff plus...have I mentioned....I used to own a fabric store.....also was a seamstress for a few years....do not want to say how many sewing machines I own....We moved the big cutting table in and got it all reassembled and unpacked a lot of my sewing supply's and got them stored in the area under the table and yesterday we got the padded top put on it. Have the big sewing desk put together for the sewing machine and serger but when! when! can I find some time to do anything. But it is great to see things getting organized and being able to just open a door and get something off a shelf instead of trying to figure out what bin or box they are in. And the best thing is getting all my books unpacked and on a book shelf. I also have to remind myself that the farmers markets are going to be starting in a couple of months so have to make time for getting items knit for the markets. I have been knitting some fingerless gloves and some lightweight ladies socks out of some alpaca/wool yarn. And someday the weather will be warm enough to get out in the yard, keep looking for signs of little green shoots on the perennials but so far nothing, we had a few nice days but now cold weather for a few more days. Am so looking forward for the green...green....

Alpaca scarf is finished!

Just finished the scarf tonight! Will get it washed and blocked tomorrow! The yarn was better suited to be crochet rather than knitted. The pattern I used was Emerald Scarf by Tracy St. John, I should have taken a picture of the pattern but will do it tomorrow. I did not follow the pattern for the center of the scarf but did follow the pattern for the lace trim around the outside and I like the way it turned out...guess I should not say that until I get it blocked. I have a couple more skeins in this color and think I will crochet it into another scarf, I think I will make one similar to the blue one, will have to decide on that when I start it. But the thing I know I am not going to do.......is crochet it with two large lazy cats on my lap !!! I have had to crochet the blue scarf while holding it in a plastic bag so cat claws do not get hooked in it! I might have to lock myself in the bathroom or another thought is...I could lock the cats in the bathroom. It had been nice and warm for a few days but now temps have dropped and it it cold outside so the birds are enjoying the seed bells and have emptied the feeder....looks like most of it is on the ground so am sharing the pictures I took today...love my birds!!

Decided to Crochet a scarf from the frogged shawl!

I have decided to crochet a scarf out of the frogged shawl, I am going to work in this shell stitch for how long I want the scarf to be then am going to crochet a lace border all around the outside...have not decided the border yet...will wing it as I go. This yarn is crocheting up much better then knitting with it...unless I have to rip back then it is sticky which might be because it has been ripped back and reknit so many times it is well worn. Remember I had decided I had to finish ...I think it was three unfinished items before I could start something new....now what is this scarf....is it something new...or is it a unfinished item?? I decided as I made the rule...I can decide it is an unfinished item.....I did take a vote of everyone in the house at the moment and they all agreed...it is an unfinished item!!

I finally got the Message...and frogged the Shawl !!

I have been knitting on the little blue shawl for I am sure three years!! The lace on it had been ripped back many times after I had to tuck it away to knit items someone ordered and then when brought back out I had forgotten where I was in the pattern so then rip back and start the lace again. Was not the right yarn for the pattern as the stitches would stick together and if I was not being very careful I would find I had knit two together...then it was take the row out again, when I took it out this time I was going to finish it no matter what and finally was putting a lifeline in occasionally so I did not have to rip it all out, it was going great and I was so careful,only had eight rows left to knit but had to sit it aside for a couple of days as RH had started moving my storage cabinets that had been in storage into my work area downstairs so I was helping it that sorted out. I had my knitting sitting on the dining room table so when I had a bit of time I could knit a row...well the other day I picked it up to knit.....could not believe my eyes.....there were stitches pulled in a few places on it...only thing I could think of was one of the cats had been on the table and got their claws caught up in the stitches...and although when asked no one is owning up to it! Well I have decided it was the last straw for the shawl. It was not meant to be! So here she is having a time out until I can decide what she is going to become. Am off to bed and will decide what to do tomorrow!!

Still Knitting and so Wanting Spring to be here!

Have the scarf blocked and ready to be worn, it is handspun and is so funny that it looks like it was knit on the bias but it wasn't. I had said I would finish three UFO's before I started a new knitting project, scarf is one down and two to go, I finished the bulky sweater I had started a couple of years ago but have to get it blocked and sew a zipper in it, so it is not quite done and then......I pulled out the shawl I was knitting....I am sure it has been a couple years since it was started, had just started on the lace pattern but with packing and moving etc. etc.i know this is not going to be a fast knit but decided to just get at it. Well although I thought I had marked where I was in the pattern I had too many stitches on the needle, tried to rip back a few rows to figure out where I was but just was not working...why oh why did I not put a life line in??....well had to rip it back to the solid knitting and this time I did put a life line in!! And will after every full pattern...I can see that is the only way I am going to get this shawl finished. I am knitting it out of a yarn from Knit Picks that is a lace weight alpaca/silk and I have to be so careful not to knit two stitches together at times as they stick together And here it is...in a blue colorway...always blue...I think I had got a skein in a mauve/purple colorway too, will have to check. The pattern is Holden Shawlette by Mindy Wilkes and I am going to stick with it and try to get it finished before I have to tuck it away again...but if I have to tuck it away it will have a life line so I will not have to rip all the lace back again...I have so learned a lesson!!

Yay! Finished the Scarf and on to The next UFO!

After thinking about the scarf I was knitting and had taken the tips off to knit something else I finally got it out and put the needle tip on that I thought I might have used and I tried not to think about the pattern and just started knitting and it all came back to me, plus after knitting a few rows it looked like I had the right needle.

I received some roving as a gift and spun it up for this scarf. I finished knitting it tonight and will get it washed and blocked tomorrow. Got one UFO finished!! I have many more to get out and work on, it seems I am working on something then I get an order from a customer and put it aside and there it sits, then I come across another pattern I love and want to start something else....so I had a little talk with myself....decided I would finish three UFO's totally and get them blocked and I would allow myself to start something else I have been waiting to knit. This is such a blah time of year a person needs something new to knit...at least I do..really sad when you have to give yourself a bribe to get a few things finished up...but what ever works. Still working downstairs...ran out of flooring so had to order some more and wait for it to come in, came in Friday so will get it finished in the next couple of days, meanwhile RH picked up some baseboards and has painted them so they are ready when the flooring is finished, he also picked up some paint for the walls so things are coming together. i am just so stressed with all the mess and not being able to get the alpaca fleece sorted and away to the mill. We had a snow storm blow in this morning but it ended as fast as it started, it is not that cold out right now, just watching the news tonight seeing the snow other parts of the country are having...nasty!! Now the decision....what UFO should I bring out tomorrow to finish?? Will sleep on it......

February has crept in.....Where did January go??

Well the month of January is gone and February has crept in and with it some warmer weather, they are saying the Groundhog did not see his shadow....and we are supposed to get an early spring.We have been getting beautiful sunsets this winter so thought I would share the picture I had taken a couple days ago. I have been busy but at what?? Have not got much accomplished, did get another pair of socks knit and like the color of them, the color is lighter than in the picture, was not happy with the sock wool I used for the other pair but I have been wearing them and they are great, nice and warm.

We have been busy putting the flooring on the floor downstairs all week and almost finished, what a job with all the stuff we have down there, boxes that have been packed since we moved and all my fibre stuff in plastic bins, I have cabinets that are in storage that we can move in and I can get everything sorted out and know where things are, did not want to move them in before we got the floor finished. We had to move everything all to one side, do that portion of flooring then move it over and finish the rest of the floor but it is going to be sooo nice when it is all finished. Have been trying to take a bit of a break from knitting but is so hard to sit without knitting so have been knitting a few fingerless gloves. Should really get at all the UFO's that are lurking around here and there, came across a scarf I had started with some of my handspun....now what can I do....I was knitting it on a round needle, it was a needle with exchangeable tips...and I must have needed that size for another item, usually I pin a note to the item when I do that...but can not find any note...plus I remembered I did not like the way the pattern I was using was turning out...so I made up a pattern...and can not remember what it was..also can not find any info about that...note to self..smarten up..do not ever do that again, am hoping if I rip back a few rows I will remember. I have quite a bit knit on it. So on it goes....

Knitting and Feeding the Birds

Sister Jeannie gave me the red bird feeder for Christmas, I had mentioned one day that the trees were so pretty with all the snow and I took a picture through the kitchen window and it would have made a great Christmas card, all it needed was a red bird feeder...and here it is just as I imagined, picture is not that clear as I am taking it through a window with a screen on it. What little piggies the birds are, the males are up on the feeder fighting over their own space and tossing the seeds they do not want onto the ground below where the females eat (or that is what it seems), they go through a feeder of seed a day, we only fill it every other day and make them clean up the seed on the ground. Then there are days the birds are not here...hmmmm....wonder if the neighbors have feeders out and they do the rounds.

My Aunt made this little dress ornament and sent it to me for Christmas, it is made from some wool she had spun, I love it!! Could not put it away with all the Christmas things, have put it in the china cabinet so I can see it every day, I made her a couple of knit mice ornaments, I bought the book of Alice Starmore's Fair Isle knitting a while ago and this was the first chance I had to knit some of the patterns, the great thing about the patterns are they are all different rows....it has a pattern that says for six rows...or seven rows etc. so you can pick a pattern for what space you will have for pattern, I knit the pattern on the back of the mice and of course did not take a picture before I mailed them off to her, want to make myself a couple so will remember to take pictures. Finally got all the knitting orders finished and on their way to the customers and now have been knitting some socks for myself, finished a pair last night and am wearing them. Not really excited about the yarn but it was on sale and it will do, have started on another pair as I really need socks, have bad feet and the seam on socks you buy hurt my toes, I see they have socks for sale for Diabetics.....and they have seams on the toe too, most of my sock sales are for people who are diabetic.

We had such cold temperatures with lots of snow over the holidays and now our famous Chinook has blown in with temperatures in the plus numbers and everything is so icy, went up to the shed where I have my gardening things stored for the winter and what a time walking...thought I should have taken my cell phone with me just in case I went down on the ice. The wind blowing so hard and everything covered with ice!! not good!! RH is off to a meeting tonight so I am off to my knitting chair, if I am quiet hopefully the cats will not hear me.