Week 10 - Rosie and the Sock

We have another new addition to our 'household".  She is always a bit flushed and her face is always quite pale.  And she is missing her mama something fierce right now.  Folks, I give you Rosie, our white-faced red cow, often mistaken as a Hereford but she has no papers so she can't officially be called that.  She was born on July 3, 2015 so that makes her 8 months old.  And up till yesterday, she had been getting some of her sustenance from her mama....then she was loaded into a trailer and brought over to our property where she will live permanently...she's been bellerin' all night and all day today...but she's eating grass and drinking from the water trough so we know she can do it. It will probably take about a week for her to be totally weaned but we can wait her out!  Behind Rosie is Aggie, a neighbor's cow who is also living at our house for the time being.  

This was Rosie after she ran off the trailer yesterday.  She 'escaped' the trailer and ran around in the field, obviously looking for her mama...Garnet (who also belongs to our neighbor) was checking

her out.

On another note, Sock Madness 10 is upon us.  I have participated for the last 9 years. It always starts no sooner than the first of March each year.  So imagine my surprise, not to mention my anxiety, when I decided to check on Monday nite (Leap Day, February 29) and Shazbot, the pattern is out!  Turns out, the designer lives in Australia and the Powers That Be decided that was good enough reason to release the competition pattern a day early in the U.S, since it was already March 1st Down Under.  So I frantically sought out the two colors of yarn it called for, grabbed my needles, and cast on.  Now the rules of the game are that one MUST use exactly the cast on method in the pattern. And one MUST follow all the other directions and methods in order to continue in the competition.  I had never done the particular cast on called for so I logged on to YouTube to watch a video - I think I might use that cast on again...pretty slick.  Then it was on toward the heel of the sock.  I  am not fond of knitting socks from the toe up.  The heels on those kinds of socks just drive me nuts.  But this sock was a toe-up sock and it used a method of doing the heel that was new to me.  Again I went up to YouTube to watch a video on Japanese Short Row Heels.  Let's just say that I got thru it, (note all the orange stitch markers) and made the heel.

And finished that darned sock yesterday afternoon.  Now all I have to do is do it again for the second sock...and get that done no later than a week from tomorrow at midnight. 

It wouldn't be so hard if not for my knitting assistant who quite frankly has no regard for the hurried-ness of Sock Madness.  His attitude is, if it's not all about him, he just doesn't care.  

Very difficult to knit with both arms full of cat!

 I'm off to cast on the second sock....wish me luck getting that dratted heel done properly.

Thanks for stopping by.

Week 9 - A Bit short

This week went so darned quickly....I can't believe it's time for another blog post.  There was very little activity this week.  On Tuesday night we had a bit of snow but it was mostly gone by the time I went to work on Wednesday morning.  

Yesterday I set myself a goal of finishing a quilt that I'd started when we lived in Rhode Island.  Those of you who wish to count backward will know that we moved from RI in late 2002. I'll wait while you do the math.  Yes, you are correct!  14 years to complete a quilt top.  I give you the designer's picture of American Dreams below.  Mine is mostly the same with the exception of the childrens' outfits.  The 'kit' I got from a friend in RI did not include fabrics for the children block or the church block or the ocean block (all those on the bottom row).  I used my own fabrics for those. I just want to say - there are 50 scrappy stars and 13 red/white log cabin 3" finished blocks in this quilt.  

 I made the commitment to finish this quilt this weekend and I did it!!! It's now ready to be sent to one of my machine quilters for the quilting process.  What a wonderful feeling; to finish this one is a real achievement for me.

Tomorrow is February 29th - Leap Day.  One of my favorite movies is Leap Year...a delightful romp through Ireland. A wonderful chick flick.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Week 8 - Spring Plantings

Our amazing daughter-in-law, Jill, is a whiz at decor and design.  She has a business called Vinyl Girl whereby she cuts shapes and words out of vinyl which can then be adhered to wood, paper, walls, anything.  For Christmas, she made this large plaque for our living room wall.  It holds pictures of our 5 grandchildren and can be changed out each year with new pictures.  Cute, huh?

The weather in southwest Missouri has not been at all winter-like.  Now, I'm not complaining...just observing.  Because it doesn't appear that we will be getting much more winter weather this year, John decided to start the spring planting.  

Here you can see our newest garden additions - bacon seeds!  These are approximately 6-week old piglets, 2 of which are ours and the other 4 are our neighbor's...on their way to their new home. That's the back of John's pickup.

 All 6 of them seemed to settle in quite nicely.  Poor little things hadn't been in the sunshine before (they are from an Amish farm and have lived in an enclosed pen with a roof) so within about 15 minutes, they all turned a slight shade of pink....sunburned piglets! But their new house has a roof and they can get out of the sunshine easily.  In time, they will not 'burn' much at all. Give it 4-5 months, and we should have bacon, and pork chops, and sausage...yum!  

The sun is shining and the temps are lovely.  I think spring is tipping her toes into the Ozarks....yes, we will have some nights of temps lower than freezing (only a couple this week) but I suspect they are not going to be the norm, rather the exception..John is outside working on his raised beds - getting them ready to plant in a few weeks - I hear the cultivator working.  Now to decide what to have him plant this year.  I'll keep you informed as we go along!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  See you next week.

Week 7: A Very WICKED Week

My very favorite play is called Wicked:The untold story of the Witches of Oz.  The music is invigorating and makes me want to dance every time I hear a song from the play.  I was able to see it back in 2008 in Los Angeles with my dear friend, Fran....what a treat!  We took the train up to L.A., saw the play and spent the night, then took the train back to San Diego.  When I heard they were bringing the National Tour to Springfield, I knew I HAD to get tickets.  I haunted the website on the day they were made available and was able to get 3 tickets.  This Tuesday was THE DAY!!!  I had my nails done by the indomitable Becca - She drew little witches hats on a couple of fingers and there is sparkle on all of them!  So cute.

Tuesday night found my 2 friends and I in the 11th row, so excited we would have wiggled our tails off if we'd been puppies.  

Terri, Me, and Destiny.

 Destiny and I couldn't resist having our picture taken in front of the poster.

I'm so glad I was able to share this experience with my friends here. 

Rarely do I get mail at work.  There's just no reason for it. Occasionally, however, a piece comes in and it gets put into my mailbox.  One piece arrived last weekend and it was decided that it was probably meant for me.   

We all got quite a giggle from that.

Today brought rain, drizzle, and ice to the Ozarks.  The windows on the east side of the house are covered in a thin layer of ice - they look like those frosted glass squares one sometimes uses in a bathroom window - lets in light but no one can see through.  The roads are a bit slippery so we are really glad we don't need to leave the homestead today.  Taking the dogs outside periodically, we can hear the drip, drip, drip of melting ice...although the temps aren't higher than freezing yet, and the clouds are covering the sunshine, we are still getting a bit of a melt...the roads won't be treacherous tomorrow when John has to go to work, thank goodness. 

Well, I want to get a couple of projects off the ground today.  Time to 'turn to' as they say in the navy!  Thanks for stopping by.

Week 6 - Another Quiet (Dull) Week

This week marks another quiet one....nothing significant happened - no weather, no accidents, no lottery winnings - nothing!  On the other hand, nothing momentous happened either - no weather, no accidents, no lottery winnings!  We were able to go to work, pay our bills, have dinner together, talk to family on the phone; all the things we are thankful we are able to accomplish.  I see nothing here to complain about and so many things to be thankful for.

I spent yesterday sewing....I finished a quilt top that I started last year (that sounds awful but it was a Block-of-the-Month and we got the last block in November)...it is now ready to go to the quilter. Once she gets that done for me, and the binding is on, I will show it here. It's really pretty - oriental fabrics! One of my favorites.

I also worked on this year's Block-of-the-Month block from my local quilt shop...and a pair of fraternal twin blocks for a quilt I'm doing online with some friends. Everyone is using their own colors and fabric choices and we are told at the the first of the month which block to make...I'm using a kind of a tropical palette for this one...oranges, pinks, reds, yellows, turquoises.  Here are the two for                 

February....the designer calls the block Button.  

See, I told you nothing exciting happened this week...and I can't think of a single further thing to tell you.  Perhaps I will have more vibrant news next week.  In the meantime, 

Thanks for stopping by!

Week 5 - A Rather Dull Week

This past week was one that we all hope for and rarely get - a dull week.  One where nothing exciting - or dramatic - happens.  No hideous weather, no illness, no car breakdowns costing hundreds or thousands of dollars.  Just a passing of 7 days.  While some folks might chastise me for reveling in this, I can't, in all honesty, feel bad about it.  

Here you see some of the deer that live in our woods, coming out into the sunshine to munch on what's left of the grass.  There is a herd of over 15 deer that live in the woods surrounding this area....as long as they stay away from our orchard (our orchard of 4 fruit trees!), I'm fine with sharing the land with them. 

Finally, (I said it was a dull week -  I'm reaching for stuff to put on the post!) have you ever wondered what leprechaun poop looked like?  Me neither.  But I was cruising thru Etsy the other day and saw this and knew I had to have it.  Sparkly Leprechaun Poop sock yarn!  Very subtle sparkles but so pretty....Not sure how it will knit up, whether it will be stripes or will pool into blobs of color - that's the fun of variegated yarns; seeing them pop when knit up.  

John and I are going to our neighbor's house for spatchcocked chicken done on the grill this afternoon.  We are taking colcannon (OMG, you must try this mashed potato recipe - it's divine!), a spinach tortellini salad (thanks to our wonderful daughter-in-law, Jill made this and we love it) and ice cream for dessert.  

Thanks for stopping by.  See you next week!

Week 4 - And a Birthday Occurs

38 years ago today, John and I were gifted a most amazing human to tend and guide and send off into the world.  William John Knotwell III took only 15 hours to make his way into our world and our hearts.  He has grown to be a most amazing man.  A son, a grandson, a husband, a father, a businessman, a patriot, and a friend.  Not necessarily in that order, depending on who is talking about him.  He is a treasure and a gift to all who have the good fortune to enter his world.  Happy, Happy Birthday, John!  We love you and you are always in our hearts and prayers. 

 

Remember last week when I said that winter hadn't made much of an impact on our part of the world so far?  Remember when I said that winter would take that statement as a challenge?  I was right!  Tuesday our weather turned on us and we had snow, sleet, rain, freezing drizzle, and ice.  My work was closed from mid-Tuesday thru Thursday.  John went to work each day - sorry for him!  

While the snow wasn't all that much - probably an inch or so - the underlying slickness made the roads a bit treacherous.  There were many, many vehicles that had slid off the road into ditches and culverts - even school buses weren't immune to that.  Even Mr. Wonderful wasn't immune to it.  Picture a work pickup with a camper shell hitting a patch of ice on the interstate and slipping and sliding along until it flips over and lands upside down in an 8 foot ditch with John hanging by his seat belt.  There were tons of angels working on his case, cause he didn't have a single scratch on him- not a bruise or even a sore muscle.  3 vehicles saw it happen a stopped to help - one guy wrenched open the door and crawled in to cut John out of his seat belt so he could get out.  After calling work to report the accident, he called me to tell me first "I'm okay!" and then proceeded to give me to bare basics of what happened. He got home about 4 hours later and I made sure he wasn't hurt - not one single bruise or broken skin or anything.  He never got any sore muscles or anything from the incident.  He is one lucky man, that's for sure.

On another note, the time off work gave me the opportunity to photograph some of the knitting projects I'd completed in the last few months.  The below is only one of them.  The 2014 Stephen West Mystery Knit-a-long Shawl - Exploration Station.  An amazing knitted shawl.  

I have also just finished the 2015 Mystery shawl but it's not blocked yet so it doesn't look very appealing.  Will show that once it's done....don't hold your breath, though, cause it takes a while to stretch wet knitwear out and pin it to dry.  

Most of the time during my icy lock-in, I sewed.....I worked on the elements of the Block-of-the-Month quilt from my local quilt shop from 2015....I've got all the parts made and a couple of the pieced borders done...will definitely show you the finished product when I get the top finished.  

In the meantime, know that I appreciate every one of you.  Thanks for stopping by.