Life on a Farm

Hubby seems to enjoy the fact that I am unemployed at the moment.  He is constantly having me come out to the barn to hold the trouble light, push this, pull that, etc.  Today we both went to deliver "The Beef" to our meat processor of choice.  (All animals become named The Beef once they are designated for the freezer.)

With that delivered we then proceeded to the auction sale barn where Hubby had purchased a small (tiny) calf to replace The Beef on the farm.  

Meet little #54.  We get rid of one.  We get a new one.  Life on the farm.  

We also had breakfast out.  Whoo hoo!  Morning date time! For Farm Mom here, sometimes that is as good as it can get.

Meanwhile on the knitting front, the recently completed sweater will be delivered tonight.  I have pretty much decided to start the Shetland shawl before I start the sweater I have envisioned.   I would need to swatch the yarn I have planned on using.  And since I want to also use a lace pattern on the body and possibly lower sleeves, with a stockinette upper body/yoke/sleeves it will take some planning.  I had wanted to use a Custom Fit pattern for it.  But that would only handle one stitch pattern.  The lace part would have me on my own.  I am not sure if I really want to try the pattern fudging with my good yarn.  Or, if I were practical,  I would just use stockinette with a simple lace insert up both sides and center back.  That would be similar to the gray cabled cardigan I made last year.
Since all that is up in the air until I decide exactly what I want to do, I continue work on my SWestie shawl.  I almost have a complete lace repeat done, so will be able to share pictures of the new section soon.  I also pulled out my sock projects to work on.  The car sock project is at the heel and I want to work that past the turn before returning to the car.  My home/travel socks are barely started, but will be good to take to Knit Night.  The lace on the shawl does have some plain rows, but on the two pattern rows mean it not good as the only project for Knit Night.  Hence the socks in the bag for a while.
And one last life note, I did hear of a great sounding job.  I put in an inquiry.  But, alas!  It was for a volunteer position.  While I would love the gig, I cannot afford to drive to a non-paying job.
I shall continue to freelance from home I guess.

A Great Weekend

Lil Farm Gal's sweater is blocking on my bed. So far, Leo our humongous skinny cat is merely laying next to blocking mat.  I hope he stays there.

Some of you who follow me on Facebook may have seen some of my pictures taken Saturday at the Open House at Chickasaw Farm.  Usually they have it when shearing, but the last few years have been a bit chilly and rain.  So they videoed the shearing done early.  They had baby lambs, alpacas, demonstrations, and vendors selling some of their hand crafted items.
There was hand dyed wool, hand dyed and/or spun yarn.  One of my friends, in addition to her wool that she raises as well as dyes, brought her massage table.  It seemed to be a very popular item as well.

I took the loom that I have for sale.  No takers, but one of the vendors was interested.  I left it with the farm owner.  She and others in her co-op go to several fiber shows through the summer and she thinks she may be able to sell it for me.  Anything to avoid Craigslist.  I'm just leery about trying that.

Other than the loom, I had nothing to sell, so I mostly tried to avoid the sun.  And other than a bit of burn on one knee, I did all right.  I finished the garter band at the color change on my SWestie shawl, and was able to start the new pattern when I got home.  Great day all in all.
And I didn't quite melt.

Sweater Accomplished

I sewed on the last button of Lil Farm Gal's Eyelet Yoke Cardigan this morning.

I love the sparkly buttons. I should. I have used the smallest ones on her doll's sweater and a medium size on my black eyelet cardigan. I hope she likes it.

I will be working in my SWestie Shawl next. At least until decide on my next project.....Shetland lace shawl or cardigan. I am about half done with the SWestie. I will be starting the solid blue yarn very soon.

I also loaded my 24 inch rigid heddle loom into the car. It was hardly used. The first project is still on it. I really prefer knitting to weaving, even to spinning. I have decided to try to sell it and am taking it to the Open House at Chickasaw Farm near Reed City (14162 Beech Ave, between 17 and18 Mile Roads, between 10 am to 4 pm) to try to find a buyer.

it is warped and I have the pattern notes, as well as the yarn, and extra shuttles and heddle. I can't find the books I had to sell with it. If I find them they will be included in the price. ($300----value approximately $375, without books.). And notice the stand? The stand is a great option that comes with it as well.

If you are interested, feel free to contact me. Delivery is available if nearby. And don't worry about lack of books. They can be found on line....I think Knit Picks has the ones I have. And YouTube is a great resource. I found videos that will coach you along.

If I find a buyer for it, I may be able to go to a fiber festival this summer.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Never a Dull Moment

This past weekend Hubby drafted my help in cutting down some trees.  Well, it was supposed to be some, but we only got one done.  The trees were in my brother's neighbor so I got a time for a bit of chatting with some of my grand-nephews and favorite sweater recipients.

I am not used to that kind of work.  I was saw-dusty, and several of my muscles were quite upset with me and let me know the next day.

Hubby, tree cutting last fall at my brother's home.

 There were some large pieces that were left that wouldn't fit on the truck.  So the next day, Hubby went back to pick them up, with the horse trailer.  Being lower, he could just roll them on the trailer with a small ramp.  However, for some reason when he got there, it was very hard to backup into their drive. He finally made it however and loaded the wood.  

When he got ready to leave, Hubby noticed one of the tires was flat.  The family was gone, so he left, with the trailer blocking the garage, intending to come Monday to remove the tire and get it fixed.

I convinced him that we better go back and at least move it out a bit so they could get in and out of their garage. 

We went later that evening.  While jacking the trailer up, the tire went no where.  The front of the two tires actually went up before the back, flat one.  Hmmmm.  

The family were home this time, and got another jack.  With some bracing, and after hooking the truck up to the trailer, we found the spring had broken.  That had cut the wall of the tire.   (Suddenly the free wood wasn't looking so cheap.)

So, finally a tire was obtained.  Not a great tire, but the only one available in the whole town that size.  A friend of our son's owns a welding shop and will be coming with his portable welder and hopeful find enough metal to weld the spring back up so we can get the trailer either home or to his shop.  And out of their driveway.

I just thankful that it didn't happen Monday, when Hubby was planning to take it to the cattle auction, and bringing home a feeder sized beef cow.

Back In The Lineup

Lil' Farm Gal's Eyelet Yoke Cardigan is back in the knitting rotation.  But not without torment and fretting.
Finally, I bit the bullet.  This shows the sleeve before taking action.

Then I ruthlessly pulled out the needles.  But before the frogging began, I started picking up stitches from just above the first sleeve row that had been knit.  The little white and orange markers show the last yoke row, that I use to measure length from.

Here you can see the stitches picked up just above the markers.  I go slow the last row or so of pulling out the knitting, because I usually slide up or down a row when picking up the stitches, but this is much easier going than unknitting all that distance.  And quick as that, I'm back where I started.

I picked up an extra 8 stitches for 66 rather than 58 for the sleeve. I feel much more comfortable with the diameter now.  It is closer to the diagram of what it should be.
And I remembered to make notes to make the other sleeve match.  Always a good plan.