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!!