Anticipation Is Keeping Me Waiting

Thanks, Carly Simon, for that reminder.  Anticipation is exciting, but it is keeping me waiting for that little bundle due in December.  One way that waiting plays out, of course, is in my knitting.
I recently finished a Baby Sophisticate in the 12 month size.  (The link will direct you to my Ravelry project page.  You can see the project details and pictures taken while the knitting was in progress.  I will try to use this feature more often to share updates.  Now that I know how to do it.)
This sweater is all done but the buttons and weaving in of the loose ends.  I took a good look at it and as I mentioned before, I immediately cast on the six month size.  It is coming along nicely.
I have only one more sleeve and then the front bands and collar on the 6 inch size.  But because I was nearing the end of the first sleeve just before Knit Nite Tuesday, I decided on taking other things with me.

 One of those things was an old project that is suddenly new again.
I refer to my Pi Shawl that I started in 2010 for Elizabeth Zimmermann's birthday.  The lace patterns meant that it was a project requiring more concentration than I wanted to give it at the time, and it fell woefully behind.  The reason I turned to it now was that I had tripped and fallen into that vast time suck called the Ravelry Patterns database.  It shows whatever pattern you want to search for.  And not only that, but versions of the pattern knit by others.  If people post a picture they have knit of the pattern, as I did for the two links above.  So between looking at all the patterns, and the Pi Shawl pattern in general, I had to dig out my Pi.
It was either that, or cast on something new.
And I really didn't want that to happen.  Since at the beginning of the year, one of my knitting resolutions was to "rethink" about some of my forgotten projects, I decided to pull out the started Pi shawl.
Non-knitters may not realize the significance of either Elizabeth Zimmermann or the Pi shawl.  She is a British born knitter, who married a German beer-maker who came to America, settled in Wisconsin and became a knitting genius and guru to legions of knitters.  She has written several books that are well loved by her fans.  I proudly call myself one of them.  She had a no-nonsense approach to knitting that appealed to me: There are no knitting police, or if you make a mistake and can't or don't want to go back to re-knit it, call it a design element and go forth boldly.  I date my beginning as a real Knitter as opposed to casual knitter from the time I discovered her.  The Pi Shawl is one of her classic patterns, and a very adaptable one.  It can be knit plain.  It can be knit with oodles of lace.  If any of you remember my shawl/blanket that I made in 2012 with a strand of black sock yarn, knit together with a strand of various left over sock yarn scraps.  ( I am really liking this linking to projects.  Here is the Leftover Pi.)
In the case of Boysenberry Pi, it is going to be knit in the classic simpler lace pattern that EZ first envisioned.  It is very intuitive, as long as it is set up correctly.  Of course I may make some changes.  I was considering adding a row of hearts around the final edge, before adding the lace edging.  That heart pattern is part of the lace of the pattern I just ripped back, but maybe I can face one repeat.  We will see what happens when I get that far.  That will be many, many rows from now.   Because I did rip back a couple inches, salvaging the inside rows, I was able to avoid casting on again.  And I was able to salvage some of the original knitting.
And of course, there is still much knitting for babies going on.  I need a Wallaby (hoodie) for the new great-nephew, and one for Whose It.  As well as the rainbow sweater kit I bought last year for my grandchild, and oh, so much more.  I gotta keep my grandbaby warm after all.  Probably a blankie too.  I think I have some wool to use for that.
Babies sure do change knitting plans. But I love the anticipation.

In the Nick of TIme

Last week's medical episode interferred with Hubby's plan for the hayfield.  The day after we got home, after making sure he was feeling okay, Hubby checked with our neighbor who bales our hay.  They said go ahead and cut it all.
So he did.

And over the next couple days, it was raked.....

and baled.

113 bales of fresh, sweet smelling hay.

Our hay is mostly grassy hay, with a bit of clover and alfalfa in one area of one field.  But we also have quite a bit of trefoil.  Here is a picture of trefoil. 

It has finer leaves and stalks than clover, but makes great hay.  The funny thing is, that most is self seeded.  Our farthest field was seeded with it quite some time ago.  The process of bouncing the bales along on the spear, on the trip back to the barn apparently shakes off some of the seed.  Because now all of our fields have quite a bit of trefoil.  And they get more and more each cutting. 

Kind of nice when you don't have to buy seed to get a great field of hay.  

The best part of the haying process this year so far, is that just a few hours after the last was baled,  the rain came.  Nothing was rained on before baling. 

Yea!

Back to Knitting,

First off, Hubby is doing fine.  His blood pressure meds need adjusting, as it is a bit higher than it had been.  Probably because of no diuretics, and not drinking as much coffee.  I told him he could cut back a bit on water, at least until we see the doctor tomorrow.
As I said before, his stint in the hospital did cut into my knitting some.  I had hoped to finish the Baby Sophisticate sweater last Monday.  Instead, it didn't come off the needles until July 3.  I took my car sock project into ER with me and finished the gussett and about half of the instep on Monday.  Tuesday I took a scarf project, but was too busy to get much done with that.
However, by Thursday, in between keeping an eye on Hubby while he played in the hayfield, I managed to finish the Baby Sophisticate, 12 month size.

After looking it over, I decided that since my little Whose It is due in December, that perhaps this sweater should be designated for my nephew's baby due in September.  So, for Little Laban it is.  (That is just my name for him.  It is a family name and they have two L's already.  I have a hunch that name won't past muster though.)
So I immediately cast on another in the 6 month size for Whose It.  I probably won't bore you with pictures.  The first sweater took almost all of one skein.  Since I bought two skeins, (Lions Brand Heartland, Isle Royale colorway), the second will be just like the first, just smaller.
I did find buttons in the button bin for this.  I had purchased some gray ones for possible use on the black cotton cardigan finished this past January. Since they weren't used on that, I think with the yarn's blue undertones, they will work well for these sweaters.

The second sweater is steaming right along.  I'm past the yoke and chugging through the body.  Maybe I can start sleeves tonight.  Once this sweater is done, I will go back and weave ends on both and sew on buttons.

Even though they are on the same project page on my Ravelery list, I can still call them 14 and 15 finished for the year, once they are both finished off.

One More Thing

I forgot to mention the most traumatic thing about doing chores. After I got home Monday, Younger Son was already at work, having gotten a ride with a friend. The hay bins looked low, and since I wasn't sure they had been filled, t decided to take a fork full of hay to each pen.

I couldn't reach all the feed bins without going through squishy "animal by-products" I forked some onto the cleanest floor I could reach from adjoining empty pens. Just as I filled up my first forkful, I spied a hole in the side of the standing big bale. I also then remembered that Hubby had told me there was a snake in the bale. He had thought it was dead, but the next day it was gone.

Gulp! I hate snakes.

And I fear them with a fear so great that when I ran over one in the car, I picked up my feet. And here I was with a load of possibly snake filled hay. No way was I going to carry that over my shoulder! So I made three trips awkwardly holding the fork of hay in front of me. No snakes spotted.

But there was a snake skin on top of the bale. (Shudder!)

Posted with Blogsy

Life on the Farm--Solo Edition.

What a week!  Not much knitting, but a good portion of this week was spent at the hospital, with Hubby.
I posted updates on FaceBook about the excitement Hubby gave me Monday.  He ended up spending the night in the hospital after being dehydrated.  Not drinking anything, even coffee will do that.  Especially when the doctor has prescribed diuretics for blood pressure.  After testing and making sure the heart was okay, he came home Tuesday with no restrictions, other than to slow down if he feels the need.  And drink lots of water.  Often.
Meanwhile, I was left to run Younger Son to and from work. (And "from" is at 6am!)  And I had to make sure chores got done.  Younger Son handled most of them, haying and watering the cattle in the barn.  But the main job I had left was to take a bucket of milk replacer to the rambunctious calf we have housed in the old chicken coop.
Hubby gave me the recipe to mix it up.  The hard part was to get in the coop with the calf without wearing the milk replacer or dropping the bucket.  The calf had a refreshing habit of drinking quietly for a bit, and then giving the bucket a head-butt.  Luckily, I managed to hold on the first time.  After that, I braced the bucket against the side of the building.
I survived the feeding the first evening.  I came home in the early afternoon, after good news at the hospital to try another feeding and check the other chores.  While going past the garden, I noticed the potato plants looked a bit shabby.  Oh oh.  Hubby gone 24 hours and his blue potatoes were covered in bugs.  I looked in the garage and found the sprayer.  Giving it a good shake, I could tell there was spray in it.  I pumped it up and started to spray the buggy plants.  Only when the garden was half covered did I wonder if it was really Sevin spray, or if it was water, or (horrors!) weed killer.
Too late by then to do anything about it.
Luckily, once Hubby came home that evening, he said it was bug killer, not plant killer.  I followed him around as he checked out everything.  Cattle had been fed, so he added a bit more water to the tank, checked the calf, and sprayed the rest of the potatoes.

I didn't kill or lose anything while running the farm. And Hubby has a clean bill of health, as long as he drinks lots of water.
Next time...my knitting.