Week 11 - Qualified!

I finished my Sock Madness Round 1 socks on Thursday afternoon.  While I am not fond of knitting socks from the toe up, these were not bad to knit.  I really dislike knitting the required heel pattern...it's quite fiddly and doesn't fit as well as I'd like.  If I ever have to knit that heel again, I will stop on the foot about 5 rows less than I did on this pair.  That might tighten up the heel a bit.  All-in-all, it was an easy pair to knit and it took me just about 10 days to knit the pair.  Not bad for a speed competition.  Of course, this is only Round 1...the patterns get much harder as the competition goes further.  Round 1 ends at 11:00 p.m. my time tomorrow.  Then we wait a few days to find out what team we've been placed on, and then to receive the specs for Round 2...once we get those specs, we have between 0 and 48 hours before we get the 2nd pattern emailed to us and then it's knitting like the wind to qualify for Round 3.  Additionally, only some of the members of each team will go on to the next round.  I aim to make it to Round 3 at least...one year I made it into Round 6 but never even cast on for those socks cause they scared me spitless.  I still have the pattern and may one day cast on, just to prove to myself that I can do it.  But not today!

I have to include this cute picture...this is Garnet.  She is currently living on our property with her offspring, Aggie.  Garnet is the first born of our Ruby - remember Ruby?  We sold her to a wonderful older man about 3 years ago when we found out she had a fractured hip and could no longer carry calves to full term.  Well, Ruby gave birth to Garnet about 10 years ago....and we gave Garnet to our neighbor as thanks for letting us keep our cows on his property for the 4 years it took John to get our own fences built.  We move all our cows between the two properties periodically to let the grass grow and recover.  Garnet and Aggie are currently living here at Pieceful Harbor along with our newest calf, Rosie.  John was out this morning, trying to get a picture of Rosie, and Garnet came up to see what John was doing...she probably was looking for a range cube -John always has range cubes in his pockets for the cows! 

             

Finally got all 3 of the girls up to the feed trough.  That's Aggie on the left, Garnet on the right, and Rosie in the middle.  Compared to the older ones, Rosie is quite petite - only about 200 pounds...not bad for a 9 month calf.

             

Today is a good day for some red beans a rice!  The past few days have been drizzly and overcast.  John started this pot early today and the house is smelling so yummy....I can hardly wait.

Thanks so much for stopping by.