Apr

Look What I Made!

So there are things you learn when you have farm animals. Things that should be intuitive and obvious and really not.

1. You will get over any fear you ever had of poop.

This means you will not even think about poop in your daily life, you will just assume that you have some form of it on you and it’s not a big deal. It’s in your boots, it’s on your jeans, it’s probably under your nails (yeah a few of you just were grossed out) and it’s most definitely on your shirt. That mud your stepping in? Probably mostly poop. Maybe some pee for good measure. It’s just not a big thing after a while and you wash your jeans on Hot in the washer. You also don’t touch your face with your hands, you learn to use your sleeve or shoulder to scratch that itch.

2. Hay gets everywhere.

It’s ridiculous, this stuff is better than velcro. I started wearing overalls the other day (I know, totally not sexy at all) after my pants had fallen down around my knees for the umpteenth time (no belts don’t work for me because I have no actual hips to speak of) and you know what? I gave in. I decided I just didn’t want to deal with pulling up my jeans when I was feeding or running after the animals. I’ve had these overalls ready for almost 6 months and I figured, it’s almost gardening season, what better time to not worry about your pants falling down when your bent over your veggies? So I wore them and they are super handy. They are men’s overalls which meant some tailoring and I have a huge superfluous zipper in front, and I might not be able to wait till the last-minute when I have to pee, but other than that I dig em for around the barn. What I don’t dig? The moment I found that I had a bit of hay in my underwear. Yeah, that was probably too much information but it just goes to show hay gets EVERYWHERE.

3. You will have things that you can’t throw away but can’t recycle either.

Such as bailing twine (which is not twine but plastic) and feed bags. I think they have a recycle program for the feed bags at the farm store but I’m not sure how much of those bags are actually recycled. They are pretty heavy-duty poly plastic so maybe it works out perfect but I’m somehow a little doubtful of the process. It’s like when you find out that all that glass your recycling isn’t good enough to be recycled so it’s crushed and sent to the dump. Yeah, that makes me upset more than just about anything.

SO! I went on a soul-searching journey (for like 2 seconds) and wondered what I could do with my copious empty feed sacks. Then it hit me….I could repurpose them!

I bring to you the Feed Sack Grocery Bag! My bags are thoughtfully constructed so that they are sturdy, easy to carry, just the right size (have you ever seen those stupid too small grocery bags that won’t carry a gallon of milk?! DUMB!) and they are recycled from my very own feed bags. I have sewn them up in a way that they fold completely flat for easy storage and also? They can hold 40LBS of groceries without even a whimper.

Here my lovely assistant demonstrates how the bag isn’t even phased in the lease when it’s holding 20lbs of milk jugs filled with water. I tested it for a greater weight but seriously, who’s shoving 40lbs of groceries into one bag? I know I could easily lift it but I know a lot of other women who can’t. So I think 20lbs is a good weight for the average grocery goer.

Seeming was really important to me. I wanted to make sure that they would hold up and look nice. The feed sacks already have natural box seems so I emphasized those on the sides after I’d cut out and sewn up the bottom. They stand nicely on their own whether filled or empty.

Here it is on my composter which wasn’t the best stage I thought at first, but then, it is a recycled bag on a composter. It kinda goes right?

We are not limited to only chicken feed either! I have goat bags, turkey bags, and general livestock bags. There is something different about the texture of the goat bags. Maybe they are more highly recycled than the other two? They are a little more cloth like than the chicken crumbles.

If you would like your very own bag I have put some up for sale on my etsy shop. They are $3.50 a piece and all proceeds will be dumped back into the animals themselves

416 days ago Short URL 5 Comments

Chicken/Craft/farm/Goats/photography/Picture/Pictures/Sheep/Turkey

Mar

Strigose Cowl

I remember back in the day when all I’d post up here would be knitting. Now I post more about the farm than anything else don’t I? Well, what can I say? People love goats (and who can blame them?!) I LOVE GOATS. So yeah, there is a lot of goating going on here. But I do still knit. I think the reason I don’t post as many “I MADE THIS” posts is because I’ve been designing a lot more. It’s a lot more work and slower going when you design something, scribble down a line of pattern, knit a little more, realize that your pattern repeat doesn’t work for the second pass, sigh heavily (and you do) then scribble down some more lines. Oddly as good as I am a knitting math (and I’m really damn good at knitting math) final stitch counts kick my butt so hard. I can work the same numbers 4 different times and come up with 4 different final stitch counts. Yeah, it’s dumb and frustrating. But this project was not. It came together in a breeze (probably because the pattern translated from another already tested pattern quite easily) and frankly, I love it. I have been wearing it non-stop since the Mr and I turned off the heat in the house.

The Strigose Cowl is a nod to my Strigose Shawl! It uses the same slipped/ twisted stitch pattern in two different colors then translates into smooth stockinette for the center in a vibrant pop of color!

I used three skeins of MadelineTosh Sport from the Stash. 1 each of charcoal, mare (which might actually be marine if it wasn’t written wrong because I don’t understand how mare is blue) and citrus. The smooth yarn was beautiful to work with, it’s so tightly spun and bouncy that the cowl is cozy, stretchy, and beautiful.

That Strigose pattern is so mesmerizing!

And that pop of color! I think it just makes it. I’m working on a small cowl version right now that would only use 2 skeins since I think people like the option of using less yarn. This pattern is open for testers right now and I think one of them is actually going to make this in fingering weight because she is a petite thing and infinity scarves are too long for her so I’m excited about that. Think of this pattern in a variegated yarn for the strigose pattern! I can’t wait to see this knit up by other knitters!

I have also started working on a wrap version of the Rough Sea’s Shawl. I don’t have any pictures right now because it is just a blob on the needles but it’s turning out quite wonderfully. It’s knit in a way I haven’t done before and something that makes this a totally new pattern with out just turning my existing stitches into a rectangle. I think it’s really quite special and I can’t wait to get to that pretty lace border with all those nice edges. I’m just about there but, *sigh*, I am charting it out and making adjustments to make sure it fits nicely in pattern. This is my most un-favorite part of the whole process but hopefully I’ll be on track today and this project will be off the needles (and ready to be blocked, photographed and blogged) by the end of next week.

418 days ago Short URL 5 Comments

Craft/knit/Knitting/Pattern/photography/Picture/Pictures

Mar

Goaty Goats! (with some sheep)

The other day it was so beautiful I decided to take some pictures of all the goats. The babies were out in the sun and I thought it was time to introduce everyone.

We have lambs! Oreo and 1tag decided to have their babies on the same night. It was fortuitous! The Mr and I had cleaned out the old turkey stall just that day and gotten it ready for their arrival. We ushered the sheep inside (which was a huge pain in the butt because that’s what sheep are) but we got them all in and settled. That night it snowed 5″ and the sheep dropped off 2 lambs for our trouble. I can’t tell you how glad I was that we had them inside. Now we are only waiting on 1 more ewe.

The girls gave us two ram lambs so they won’t be staying long term on the homestead. When you have boys on the farm they aren’t good for much. You only need one breeder and from there, every male is superfluous.

We also have baby goats!

Brutus (in back) and little Twinkie take a nap.

Need a goat of your very own? Jet is now for sale.

Rocket is staying with us because she has the privellage of being a girl.

Tank ADORES the baby goats. Well, he adores all goats no matter what. He’s a super goat enthusist. He will sit at the gate and just gaze at them adoringly as they play. It’s really pretty sweet.

422 days ago Short URL 4 Comments

fiber/Goats/Icelandic Sheep/La Mancha/Memories/photography/Picture/Pictures/Pygora/Sheep

Mar

I want to thank you all for your awesome comments. Things have been a little crazy around here and I apologize for not writing back like I normally would. I plan to! I promise! Things are ok. Sometimes you just have to accept what the universe offers you and move on. That’s what we are doing. The universe basically told us (in not so subtle terms) that we were not living the life we were meant to and did something about it. Frankly, if the universe didn’t completely shake us up we probably would have been on that path for a very long (and miserable) ride. It’s something I think that you never realize about yourself while you are in the moment. You might ask yourself “Am I happy?” and if you are not clearly UNHAPPY then yes, you MUST be happy. That’s not always the case though. The lack of unhappiness does not denote happiness. We were just there. So now we are not and you know what? It’s ok.

So much has been happening. It’s like it was all planned out (if sheep and goats had the ability to plan anything that is). DD gave birth to amazing triplets that I adore so much. They are healthy and happy and bouncing around like puppies. They are the epitome of SWEETNESS. Then the other day (because we’ve been meaning to do it for 2 weeks) the Mr and I cleaned out the old turkey stall and threw down fresh straw. The sheep were getting close to their due date we knew so on a whim we put them in the barn to get them used to it.

Overnight it snowed 5 inches and in the morning the Mr went out to the barn to discover 2 little lambs. Pictures are terrible because it’s the BARN and has terrible barn lighting but yeah. 2 little healthy boys. Since they are boys they will both end up…well…as dinner. I know that probably made a few of you sad, but on a farm, boys get eaten, it’s a fact of life. Girls, girls are gold. The goats produce milk and the ewes produce wool (which is finer this year than any I’ve seen it from my sheep!). Boys? Boys get floods of testosterone and become idiots. So boys aren’t our thing.

And now there are some of you who are all “But Preita!!! You had baby boy goats! Surely you aren’t going to eat them!!!” No, rest asured we are not. They are going to be sold off to other people. Maybe as a future breeder, maybe as brush control, maybe as something else. But they won’t be staying here either in the barn or anywhere else.

So you know how much I love my goats? I love that I can go in to the stall and pick them up for a sweet cuddle and they lay their heads on my shoulder or kiss my nose. I love that they are content just to be snuggled and chill out. Lambs? Lambs are not like this. Lambs are quite the opposite. Lambs KNOW they are not supposed to be off the ground, they KNOW they are not supposed to be cuddled or snuggled or pet. It makes me a little sad because they are sweet little babies with curly little fleeces that make them look like poodles but yeah, I guess it helps with attachment issues. Maybe my goats KNOW they could never be dinner so they don’t mind? I don’t know. Lambs, while cute, are not goats.

We have been handling the goats a lot which is something we probably won’t do too much with the sheep. The kids on the other hand benefit from a lot of handling because two of them will be future milkers. A wild goat is a pain in the butt. Goats that are used to handling are easier to milk, lead, and groom. Above I’m holding our little girl out of DD. Since the Mr was the midwife and pulled 2 out of 3 goats from DD’s womb I gave him full honors of naming them all (something that was hard for me because I’m a control freak sometimes). Above is Twinkie which makes me giggle ridiculously. Especially since DD is short for Dumbledor (we did not name her) so when we register her it will be Dumbledor’s Twinkie. It’s silly but I love it.

So yeah. We are waiting on 1 more ewe and then we are done with babies for the year. Kind of makes me a little sad because I loved the process.

In other news I’ve decided to start work on an E-book on Ravelry turning some of my most popular shawls into rectangular wraps/scarves. It will be a lot of knitting but I hope to have the release by the end of summer. I don’t just want them to be plain rectangles where anyone with half a brain could have pulled them off so it will take a little more planning. Where the wrong side is just not as nice I plan on dealing with that so no one has to see it. So yeah. Off I go to the races!

My list includes;

Cherry Surprise

Rough Sea

High Desert

Pix

Weave It!

Coastal Waters

and Strigose

426 days ago Short URL 2 Comments

farm/fiber/Goats/handspun/Icelandic Sheep/knit/Knitting/La Mancha/Memories/Pattern/photography/Picture/Pictures/Sheep/Spin/spinning

Mar

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I’m not ready to blog about what happened the other day. Thank you all for your kind wishes and I know things will turn around soon. What I am ready to blog about is GOATS!

And then after the Ides of March kicked us in the teeth we had a miracle.

DD had her babies. Triplets! And if the Mr wasn’t home we might have lost at least 2 because 1 goat was breach and he had to help mama out.

Two twin girls and a big fat boy!

432 days ago Short URL 9 Comments

farm/Goats/La Mancha/love/Memories/photography/Picture/Pictures

Mar

Strigose Shawl Now Available!

I love love love this shawl. I don’t even know how it really came about. I started knitting this in the car while my parents were here for Christmas just as something to do. The end result is just stunning!

Using just slipped stitches and a simple right twist stitch you get such a neat effect. Also? I added loops!

Here are the specs

Techniques used: Knit, purl, slipped stitches, right twist stitches, & applied i-cord.

Finished Measurements: 60” wide & 25” deep

Materials: 2 skeins of 400 yds each (in two different colors), 1 US #6 24” (or longer) circular needle, 2 US #4 DPNs, tapestry needle, stitch markers, row counter.

Queue It here.

The loops are super handy becuase you can secure the shawl around your neck and never worry about it slipping off!

Also the loops are just neat.

442 days ago Short URL 7 Comments

Craft/fiber/handspun/knit/Knitting/Pattern/photography/Picture/Pictures

Mar

Coastal Waters Shawl Now Available

It was a long time coming but I can now say with great certainty that the pattern for the Coastal Waters Shawl is pretty damn perfect. I had it tested twice because it gave me (and my amazing testers) such fits! Written and charted this shawl uses a variety of slipped stitches to highlight two different colored yarns.

Specs:
2 different fingering weight yarns (about 300 yards each)
US # 6 circular needle
Measurements 66″ wide & 25″ deep though it could be bigger or smaller depending on blocking
Ravelry Link

443 days ago Short URL 4 Comments

knit/Knitting/Pattern/photography/Picture/Pictures

Feb

I’ve been knitting even if I haven’t been talking about it. Weird I know but that’s just how things have been. I’ve either been on a deadline, exhausted by technical number crunching questions from my testers, or focused on farm stuff. I still knit though and here is some proof.

I knit a second Strigose Shawl to test my pattern before it went to testers. This is actually out of sport weight yarn and came out quite large. I like the contrast though.

I like how it came out but I’m not sure how often I’ll wear a shawll this big.

And of course I love love love the loops! Look, you can wear it as a scarf and make it secure with out a shawl pin. Neat right?

Then there is this shawl I started in the ER when I was sure I’d broken my ankle. It was a fast easy knit and blocked out HUGE.

I’m going to offer this as a free pattern since it’s so easy.

I also knit this hat for my friend Corey who’s a pretty funny guy. That’s his logo.

And because I’m a little bit insane sometimes I made it in double knit so that it’s reversable. This was actually my first double knitting experience and it was kinda fun.

I also knit my cousin this cardigan. It’s the Chloe Cardigan (you can find it on my ravelry page) and frankly, I’ll be honest…I wasn’t convinced by this knit up until the point it was finished. It’s knit in two rectangles, then seamed together in the back and folded over for the arms. At everyh single point in knitting this sweater I would try it on and frown while thinking “I just don’t know.” It wasn’t until I had knit both cuffs that I finally GOT it. See, I’m not a slouchy sweater person. I don’t have time to mess with making sure my sweater says closed or on my shoulders. I’m not stylish enough to DO that. So when I was knitting this and the pictures were all slouchy I was unconvinced of the sweater.

The cuffs lock it into place. They are just tight enough that this sweater stays put. I don’t know how and I don’t know why but it works. I almost didn’t put them on because the sleeves seemed long enough but at the last minute I was like “ah screw it” and did. Thank god I did!

And because I can’t resist adding something crazy in…here are my leaping sheep.

454 days ago Short URL 7 Comments

Craft/knit/Knitting/Pattern/photography/Picture/Pictures

Feb

Let’s Celebrate!

A few things have been going on in the last week which is why I’ve remained silent. Last Thursday I stepped down into the goat stall as I was getting ready to put everyone away for the night, and I rolled my ankle. Seriously, I heard that gross popping sound and I face planted into the straw. Thing was is that though I am usually awesome and paranoid about bringing my phone with me at all times I decided not to take off my muck boots and go back into the house to retrieve my phone not 5 minutes before. So there I was, laying on my face in agony with the almost certainty that I’d broken my ankle. My husband wasn’t due home for another 2 hours and it is a long way back from the barn to the house when you are a cripple.

So I sat there for a moment and took a deep breath of the musky straw of the goat stall and remembered that I am not the ‘wait to be saved’ type. I go onto my knees – my poor unreliable angry knees – and crawled out of the stall trying not to hit my foot to hard on the floor below because every tap was agony. I used bits of straw and fallen hay as knee pads as I crawled on my hands and knees down the cement hallway toward the door. The whole time – and this is probably stupid – I was physically saying to myself “I can do this.” over and over again. Every shuffle of the knee and hand was “I can do this.” Oddly though I still wasn’t crying.

Pretty pathetic right? Yeah, well, I knew once I got to the door of the barn I had 20 feet of mud to the fence and a bunch of goats who wanted their grain more than anything so I decided I’d test it. I pulled myself to my feet and with the aid of one of the Mr’s many 2×4′s I took my first tentative step. It hurt like hell but I could move. So I did. I used that 2×4 as a bastardized cane and moved as quickly as I could through the barnyard and through the yard and into the house where I had enough thought to grab and icepack before falling onto the couch and reclining as far as I could to elevate the offending joint. I went fast because I knew that I was working on adrenaline and that it would probably wear off at any moment. And it did. Just about the moment I heard my husband’s voice on the other end of the phone.

So yeah. We had a lovely little ER trip to our local hospital where I was checked in by a woman too bored with me to stop looking at houses and who got snippy with me about my -completely abnormal for me - high blood pressure. HA! You know, the only people who make a big deal out of that are people who’ve never been hurt so bad they needed to go to the ER before. Unless you’ve felt that fear and pain you can shut your sweet ass up. My blood pressure was high because I was in pain, because I was terrified I wasn’t going to make it out of the barn by myself, because I had already broken this ankle when I was 13 and have two screws in it, and I was terrified that I would be out of commission for 8 weeks.

People, I have stuff to do. I’m too busy to be a cripple for that long.

So 4 hours later I was greeted with the news that it was NOT broken. People, I felt like I had just won the lottery at that point. Everything else didn’t matter, I was as good as gold.

So yeah. My wonderful husband took amazing care of me for the next 3 solid days. I hobbled on crutches and scooted around the house on a rolly chair and did my best to keep completely off it for that time. The swelling went down and the bruising came - omg it is SO bruised! – and I’m able to walk around pretty confidently now with aid of a brace.

To celebrate let’s have a contest! Comment here with your worst injury and I’ll pick 5 random people (with help of the random number generator) to win 3 patterns of mine of their choice. You have until Monday the 27th before I’ll pick my winners.

And though this has nothing to do with the post here are some goats.

457 days ago Short URL 18 Comments

Craft/farm/Goats/knit/Knitting/La Mancha/Pattern/photography/Picture/Pictures/Pygora/Spin/spinning

contest

Feb

Hugs & Kisses

The Mr and I don’t celebrate Valentines day, it’s not that we are against it it’s just that we never really have. Valentines day seems to be a day for people who date. Romance to me isn’t a box of chocolates and a stuffed bear, it’s cleaning the cat box with out me pointing out it needs to be done, it’s taking out the trash or doing something I need done with out a second thought. It’s every day love. If you don’t have that I don’t feel there is a diamond big enough to close the gap for the rest of the other 364 days in the year.

That said, just because we don’t celebrate like a couple of competing teenagers doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy it in other ways…

Do you know how hard it was to find a Valentines Day headband? Impossible I say

So we inprovised.

Can I tell you how much I love the dollar store? Yeah, I do.

This picture cracks me up. The turkey looks SO cranky compared to happy go lucky Dude.

Charlie is usually my diva and best posing goat but he was more interested in chewing on everyone else.

I’ll tell you, no one is a better goat wrangler than the Mr. he’s good about keeping them from chewing on headbands, moving them in to the light just the right way and keeping them entertained. These photos would be so much harder to take without his help.

Even Tank got into it for 5 seconds…

464 days ago Short URL 12 Comments

farm/Goats/Memories/photography/Picture/Pictures

Mr Poopers Day Out

Category Archives: photography