Where has the time gone??

Although I have lost track of time I have been getting a few things completed. The socks are knit and mailed away. I had knit a little hat with the sheep on it and had it at the guild sale and someone wanted one just a bit smaller for a baby. So I knit one hat with sheep and made one with llamas on it, I think the llama one would have worked out better if I had used a different colored background....I don't know...will have to think about that one. So that is finished. I still had some dye solution mixed up so dyed up some of the mohair/merino roving I had processed up at the mill, I think it felted a bit in the dye pot so will have to see how it works out for spinning, I think if I split the roving it will work...or I will felt some hats with it. Want to dye some mohair locks and then will put all the dye pots away until the new year.
Finally had to get the sewing machine working this morning, RH had broken the zipper on his favorite jacket and it is getting too cold to walk around outside with his coat open so finally got all the stitching picked out (black on black) and then replaced the zipper, thinking to myself how did I do this for a living at one time, I haven't replaced one for years, then his down vest was leaving a trail of feathers as he walked by so mended the vest too and then washed jacket and vest, I am always so nervous about washing and drying down things in the machine...always have to keep checking as I am sure I am going to find the machine full of feathers. Then while I was on a roll I mended a couple pair of his jeans and a shirt so he is good for a while.
Then our llama herd grew again last week by nineteen, friends of ours that bought their first llamas from us years ago had to disperse as she has had cancer the last few years and it is not getting better and he just can not manage to take care of her and the llamas, his health has not been great the last few years either, they did not know what to do so we went and got the llamas and have been trying to fit them in our herd. I had said we would take a gelding llama for another lady as she has to move....and then there is going to be a sign on our gate...."no room in the Inn" we have been trying to cut the herd down for years but it keeps growing.
Our weather has been nice for November which is great, hope it lasts until after Christmas although it looks so brown and dull outside but we are getting outside things done up. Am off to knit a little doll for my youngest niece for Christmas, she was born the 26th. of December last year, she will have Christmas one day and then birthday party the next day!!

I am still here...in body if nothing else.

Well fall markets are finished and I am trying to get the special orders finished and delivered...almost done...almost done. The two pair of child's wool socks are knit and ready to pop in the mail, I am just finishing putting the suede on the heels of three pair of men's slipper socks and then they are in the mail, so now just have a pair of thrum slippers and a little sheep or llama hat ordered for a baby. Then I can think about Christmas but before that I better think about some house cleaning, I am seriously thinking about giving two cats and one dog a crew cut.Want to dye some mohair roving before I put all the dye stuff away until the new year, did two pots of wool skeins just before the last market so have enough of that left until the new year. My poor carder is being neglected lately, is just sitting there with bags of fibre around it.
While it has been cold out we have only gotten a skiff of snow thank-goodness so outside work continues when we can, sun was shining today but when I went out it was not warm but supposed to be warmer tomorrow. Charlotte has not returned...do I resort to going around to the neighboring ranches and ask if I can check out their pigeons??? They already think I am the crazy lady on the hill so I do not think they would be surprised. My sister Jeannie says there is something to be said for arranged marriages, we should have found a guy pigeon for her before she had to go looking for one herself. Well am off to finish sewing suede onto bottoms of slipper socks, not my favorite thing to do, I think I have run out of gas lately. Should also put a pot of soup on the stove, made a pot of chicken with rice soup a few days ago and we inhaled it....it was so good. Nothing like a bowl of homemade soup!!

Attention to all blog friends!!

Valwho lives in southern Australia with her pug friends Abraham and Happy has given me "Blogging Friends Forever Award" What a nice thing to do!! Thank-you Val!!

Now to keep the ball rolling I now pass the award to five other bloggers.

Maple I love the pictures of her Alpacas and what she creates with their fibre. I also admire her strength at this time in her life.

Val Love the pictures of her sheep....they are very photogenic and what she creates with their fibre. Val just had an accident which has slowed her down at the moment so we should see a lot of knitting etc. going on. Speedy recovery Val!!

M.J. my creative daughter, check out her beautiful needle felting creations, they are fantastic!!

Shelley enjoy reading about her adventures in sewing for herself and her daughter (the worlds cutest little girl) because I was a sewing maniac before I was a fibre maniac.

Eileen I recently came across Eileens blog and loved the pictures of her dyed yarn....thinking it looked just like some of my yarn I had just dyed and spun up!

Now pass the award on!!

(1) Only five people are allowed
(2) Four have to be followers of your blog
(3) One has to be someone new to your blog or live in another part of the world
(4) You must link back to whoever gave you the award.

Getting There Slowly

Week is going too fast!! Have been trying to get some things made up for the Christmas Market this coming weekend. Got five wool hats knit up and felted, I always have to hold my breath when I put the knit hats into the mesh bags and toss them in the washer, I stand there trying not to panic and take them back out...are going to felt...are they going to turn into a ball of yuk...but they came out great, it always amazes me how much they do felt as they are so big before I felt them, actually I should have made a few of them larger. But they turned out great!! They are much warmer when they are felted....and I think they are cute. Then I had a pattern for a headband I have wanted to knit, the face of it was knit in cable and although I thought it was going to be too large I thought I would follow the pattern to the letter and was glad I did. After the face of it was finished and sewn together you picked up a stitch every other row with a round needle and knitting a lining as wide as the face then knitting a stitch from the other side as you cast off finished it off. Made a nice warm headband. Will have to make some more of them for Christmas presents. Yesterday and today I managed to have the dyepots on the go so have sixteen skeins dyed and hanging to dry. Tonight I just finished a knit boucle scarf in bright Christmas red and put a fringe on it and the biggest job.....putting a knot in the end of every piece of fringe so it will not fray when washed . Should really cast on for a pair of socks before I go to bed, still have some slipper socks but am sold out of regular socks...have two more days....have two more days..
Now about Charlotte....she has not been around the last couple of days....I knew that Sirus was up to no good!! He has taken Charlotte away to who knows where, he was so sneaky coming around at dusk every night, he has probably taken her to a terrible old dirty cow barn somewhere...then he will cast her off and send her home with fertilized eggs to hatch and raise all by herself in the cold winter weather. We are missing her, specially Maxx (the Jack Russel) I say to him in the morning...do you think Charlotte came back...he runs to the window and looks out then goes to the door and when I let him out he runs to the garage to check...and no Charlotte. And it has snowed tonight...hope she is warm....I know...I know...I should get a life...worrying about a pigeon. But you have to admit...she was a special pigeon. Well am off to cast on a sock and then am off to bed.

What Should I do First???

Lately it seems all I have been doing is running in circles, at this time of year there is so much to do. If the weather is warm enough there is so much outside work, getting the flower beds ready for winter, we finished siding the garage and just have the big door to put in, have decided to leave putting the floor in until spring as we are running out of time and of course the big problem is.....we did not put a pigeon door in the garage....how is Charlotte going to come and go...now we did put a window in that opens...maybe we can take the screen off and she can come and go that way...plus Charlotte has found herself a guy friend all by herself. He is very sneaky...comes to visit just at dusk...have not caught him having a sleepover...he does not stick around long enough for me to ask his intentions toward Charlotte. We are calling him Sirus.
We had our guild sale last Sat. I had dyed up some skeins of wool which all sold and the hats I knit then felted all sold too and now we have the Christmas market sale and I have to get some more stock made up, have been trying to knit one hat a night, so far have four finished and am working on the fifth. Want to get some dye pots going too, maybe next week. Finished knitting the three pair of slipper socks on order, just have to sew the suede on the heels of two pair and the sole on the other pair and get them mailed off. Have also been spinning some alpaca/merino/silk I carded together the other day, it is a off white color so would like to rainbo dye it and right now am leaning to making fingerless mitts with it, have to see when I ply it what the yardage is. I loved the yarn I just dyed and had the same problem I always have of wanting to keep it for myself, will post a picture. Better get the dyepots brewing again.

Doing a Bit of Everything

It seems at this time of year there is so much to do and all you hope is the weather stays nice enough it will get done. The garage is going up slowly, so many interruptions, it was the llama convention so RH was off to that for four days and I held the fort at home, chores morning and night and RH had brought home a large case of plums and a large bag of apples from the market so when I wasn't doing chores I was making plum jam and making and freezing apple pies thinking when am I going to get things made up for the two sales coming up pretty soon. Charlotte is still here...taking over the place, has gotten so tame but stays an arms length away from us, she is getting too brave marching around on the ground and for some reason she is not afraid of power tools, she just sits there supervising. I think we have ourselves a pigeon friend. We started putting the siding on the garage today, side door and windows are in, I keep thinking we should put a pigeon door in somewhere too.....but do I dare mention it to RH??? Now he has a conference call tomorrow morning for a couple of hours, please let the weather stay nice. While he is doing that I will make some pickled carrots, I picked and sorted some carrots last night and there are some nice long thin one's that are going to be great to fit in the jars, they are washed and ready to go so will not take me long. Meanwhile every spare minute I am carding fibre on the new carder. I did well on the entry's I had in the llama conventions fibre show. The two oz. of llama fibre I cleaned for the handspinners choice of which they spun one oz and displayed it with an oz of the unspun fibre I placed first, I placed first and second in the fleece show and I placed first for the 100% llama spun skein and first for the llama blend skein and placed third with my knitted item. I donated a pair of slipper socks knit from alpaca for their silent auction and the man that bought them phoned me on Monday and ordered three more pair, so that is what I am trying to do right now all the while thinking I should be at the dye pots. Have started on the second pair and hope to have them finished by the weekend and then one pair to go. It never ends, never enough time. Have to sit down and make a list and get organized....right?....right!! Will get right at it....in my spare time...

Her name is Charlotte

It is already the first of October, where did the time go? thank-goodness we have had some summery warm weather this week to try to finish up outside things. Got the onions out of the garden because the ground was so wet some them were turning mushy, have them drying in the furnace room. Still have to dig the potatoes (what the gophers have left me)and the carrots. Wanted to get at the flowerbeds too and split up some of the Iris's, will see if the weather holds. We are building a garage beside the house, I need some where to sort my fibre, moved my sorting table in there as soon as the sheeting went on the roof. So have been in there working while RH is pounding on the roof nailing the shingles on it, it is so great I have claimed it as my work room, I do not think a vehicle is ever going to be parked in there. So far it only has a dirt floor but will eventually have a cement floor with underfloor heating, I am so excited am already planning to put a stove in it to dye my yarn...great plans going around in my head. But someone else arrived at our house that thinks she should move in too....a lost homing pigeon...but I said no diapers...no pigeon. We have been trying to get her tame enough we can read her leg band and then we can find out who she belongs to, meanwhile she is checking the place out. Found her sitting beside Maxx the Jack Russel yesterday morning and in the afternoon she was walking around with both dogs, gave her a good talking to and told her to get off the ground and get safe!! The problem now is....we are bonding to each other....her name is Charlotte...how can we give her back if we find who she belongs to....it is running through my mind.....that I should clean the chicken house that the chickens do not live in and make a winter home for her....and then what do you do for a lonely girl pigeon.....you have to get her a boy pigeon...and then you know what happens....when you put a boy and girl pigeon together.....I am just saying...will keep you posted.....