New Addition and Knitting Besides

I wanted to share a few pictures of our church construction. My aunt's church has just finished, or is in the process of finishing their new South Campus. Our plans are not nearly so grand. but I did manage to get a few more pictures of the walls going up. There are even more pictures on the church website: here . Just find the button near the bottom for building program. It will be nice to have the parish hall and bathrooms and everything all on one floor. While not an old church, it was built before there was such a thing as handicapped accessibility to be considered.

I have been busy reading and knitting and trying to watch NASCAR races. This is a bad weekend for me on that front. No truck race, and the Nationwide and Sprint races are/were both night races. I really did try to stay up for more than 1/3 of the Nationwide race last night but when it doesn't start till about 10:00 pm, I just can't do it. I guess I will probably have to catch the rerun that I think plays on Thursday afternoon.

I have been working on the Cinnamon swirl shawl to sell as a contribution to the church new kitchen fund. I decided there was more of a deadline for that one than for my own Lady Eleanor Entrelac. Although that one is big enough to fling around my shoulders while I knit, I want to be able to sell the other in time to help the kitchen fund. I have been working on it off and on for a couple weeks now. Here is a picture taken this morning. I designed it myself : 3 border stitches on each side in garter, cuz I really hate using a slip stitch salvage

salvage edge. And the middle is several repeats of "Crest of the Wave" stitch pattern. I just got my blocking wires so when it is done, I will be able to stretch it out and make it just lovely. Here is another shot. It is a close up of the pattern and trust me, blocking will bring out the lace more. I like the way it scallops and the waves of garter rows between lace rows do help it live up to its name. I am thinking of calling it the Cinnamon Wave Wrap. The yarn does look more like cinnamon and less like peach in real life.

Beef Expo

Last Saturday Hubby and I attended the Michigan Beef Expo at the Pavilion at MSU. While many none farm-types may say "How boring!" I had a great time. Not only did I manage the knit the entire heel flap on the blue-green sock, in "eye-of-partridge" no less, I found it to be one of those great human observation times.
After taking a quick stroll through the rows of cattle, we wandered past the vendor section where Hubby was quickly waylaid by a seed salesman. I found some Michigan Cattleman magazines and inspected a couple trays with fresh cattle reproductive organs. (Really!!) Since our sale was ready to start, I tried to snag Hubby away, while he was finishing up ordering some seed for our voluntary hay field. It was once a corn field that lay fallow for several years until one year, it was covered with red clover. So we baled it. He is going to smooth it out and actually seed it. He put several big round bales up for sale this past year, and even with the ad coming out Easter weekend, it was all sold by Sunday.
One thing I really enjoyed, as we waited for the sale to start while they stabilized the surface of the show ring, was watching the people. I was sitting by a newbie--a woman who had just bought her first 2 cattle and was asking all sorts of silly questions. Ones that even I could answer. All around were farmers and young farm men and women--tanned, ruddy faces peering out under John Deere baseball caps. A sea of tan Carhartt coats, from brand new to those faded to almost white. And ya know? Not a since instance of Maize and Blue to be seen.

Beutiful Day in the Country

What a glorious morning yesterday. I forgot to make mention of it.
When letting my “big tough farm dog”—a 12 lb poodle out for a morning kitty chase yesterday it was gorgeous. Sun shining. And the sounds!! What appeared to be a pair of mourning doves lurking around near the garage. Geese out in the far hay field, honking and fighting. A pair of ducks quacking as they took off from the not yet dry pond in the pasture.
Later,I was watching one of the mama barn cats scale a wall in the barn to drop behind a panel to where she apparently had the first of this years crop of kittens. Meanwhile, Old Mama kitty is waddling around like she swallowed a watermelon crossway. And the calves frolic in the pasture—and the garden. It seems the 120 pounder still is able to walk below the fence line without touching the electric wire, so we frequently find him in the garden or hayfield.
A good evening knitting as I am almost ready for heel flap on the blue/green pair of socks, as well as several rows on the Cinnamon Swirl wrap. I’ll have to get pictures to post of both those.

Cardigans and Calves

I am on a sweater kick. I really want to start a cardigan for me. However I have soooooo many projects I am working on, I am beginning to feel like the Yarn Harlot, abandoning one project to start another, more tempting one. I recently purchased "Sweater Design in Plain English"
by Maggie Righetti and am getting really getting inspired. I have been studying my stash, hoping I can avoid new purchases, but am open to the idea.

I still am working on my Lady Entrelac shawl. It is well over half done. I can drape it across my shoulders while I am knitting if its cool. I need to cut the fringe soon so I can just merrily knit up the rest. It is going to be wonderful. I am at the stage where I am thinking about blocking it up. I am ordering a set of blocking wires and need to get my 8X4 sheet of rigid foam insulation. I want to maybe get some remnant fabric to cover it and block on that. I may need to cut it in half but want to figure some kind of way to hinge it. Fold it for storage, then fling it out for blocking.

We got the black calf and momma outside last weekend. Hubby and Younger Son weighed him at 12o pounds when 3 days old. I had to get a picture for Hubby so he could take the pictures of both calves to show to the guy who sold us Hurricane (our bull). I was able to get the printed instantly at Wal-Mart. Just plugged in my flash drive, selected the pictures I wanted printed and they just spit them right out. Cool. I may start making more prints, since I don't need to burn a CD for just a couple pictures each time.

Socks and Socks

I finally finished the yellow Parakeet color way socks. And even though I don't wear many yellows, I had a blouse that matched perfectly! Now I can turn my attention to the Cherry Tree Hill socks in Blue/Green color way. I love the brilliant jewel tones in these and I am sure they won't take a year to finish like the last pair.

I finally heard on the radio this morning what I have been saying all along, this wasn't that bad of a winter, merely a normal winter. They said this is the first time in 14 years that we finally had a normal winter. I thought it has been a glorious winter.

We had a new calf born last Wednesday evening. The poor old mama was having a rough time, which isn't unusual for her. Know as "Bob's Cow", because Oldest Son originally purchased her when in school she struggles to calf each year. Last year the poor little guy was all hobbly footed, with a hard time keeping his ankles straight for a long time. But it improved throughout the summer and by fall was just fine. This year, Younger son and Hubby had to help pull the calf. (I stayed in the house for that little adventure.) Pure black heifer is what they both reported. Next day, hubby reported--oops, its a bull. Big 'un too. Now safely tagged and banded he and Mom will be turned out side once he gets to feeding better. That is the other problem with this cow. Her teats get so large, young calves can't grab hold of them on their own for a while. They often need help feeding for the first few days. Hubby has also been know to buy a Holstein steer to share the wealth and help the the surplus milk. With 50 degree days in the forecast and as the little one gains strength, we will have him nursing alone and outside before long. Since he is a black calf in a dark barn, with not a speck of white, I will instead share a picture of the first calf and his momma, out in the pasture.

And just so he won't feel left out, I better toss in one of my big old farm dog.