1. My testers are JUST about done with my Coastal Waters Shawl which is turning out BEAUTIFULLY.  They have worked so hard and so completely that this will be such an easy shawl to knit when I publish it.  It is a study in slipped stitches and really fun and interesting!

2. I’ve just finished another shawl design that I’m pretty sure is one of the neatest things I’ve done because it was with out planning and just spur of the moment.  I just really dig it.

3.  I’m fairly certain that at least one of my goats is pregnant and that 3 of my sheep are which rocks my world.

4. I finally was able to string together 150 words for my Ariel synopsis to eventually put into an agent letter.  It took the help of my wonderfully honest cousin, my best friend, and the Mr who spent a half an hour alone re-writing the last line but I think it might actually be what I’m looking for.  If you’ve never tried to compress a book into 150 short words it’s pure torture.  The first few attempts I had sounded as if they were written by grade school kids.

Through the eyes of the casual observer Portland may seem like just another city but just below the eco-friendly surface it’s a hub for forgotten gods, mythical creatures, and things that go bump in the night.  Standing between these two worlds is the arch angel Ariel.  Ariel is divine justice and keeps the peace between pantheons, creatures, and humans for as long as such things have existed.  It is her job – and her job alone – to make sure that everyone who walks among humans follows the laws set down by the most powerful of her kind.  Now someone or something is changing the game and setting its sights directly on the peacekeeper herself.  Now not only is the lion of heaven in grave peril but the world itself.

Right now things are going pretty good and I’m pretty pleased with myself.  I have some knitting to show you but I thought goats might be just the ticket

So I never really make resolutions because I make enough lists it would make a normal person crazy but this year I’m going to because there are a few things I really want to put some effort into.

1. I’m going to knit down the stash.  I’m going to do my best to knit with yarn only from my stash.  The only exception for this rule will be for designing things such as sweaters.

2. Along with this I’m going to knit down my queue on Ravelry.  Currently it stands at 5 pages and a 176 projects.  It grows faster than I actually knit the projects so I think it’s time to whittle it down a little.  Also this will get me some finished knits that I really want.

3. I’m actually going to work on submitting my writing to get published.  I’ve written a lot this year and it’s had a pretty positive responce so I’m going to go for it.

Things that are not resolutions but that I am just going to do are things like learn how to milk a goat, making cheese, and even working with my shepherd Kodiak to learn how to herd sheep.

The year in review…

We got chickens.

Lots of Chickens….Some which we ate and some which lay eggs…

We got some goats and I fell in love…

We got some gooses…

I started getting eggs from my chickens…

We picked 3 metric tons of blackberries…

I also learned how to can…

We adopted Tank a little brother who has really become a sweet addition to our family…

We rented a ram so we can have lambs this spring…

We added some pygoras to the farm…

We are hoping to expect turkey babies sometime this coming year…

We wish you a merry goat-mass,

We wish you a merry goat-mass!

And a happy Baaaah year!

It was the night before Christmas and we were dressing up a goat…

“What is finer than dressing up a goat in headbands so cheery?”

The only thing better is dressing up a wooly ram…clearly.

Here is what I am up to…

1. I designed a new cowl with shaping. It reminds me of the Robin Hood cowls that are all drapy and perfect.

2.  I designed a sweater but am waiting for my model to be free.  Stupid holidays & life getting in the way

3. Herman is still making funny faces and jumping all over ewes.  I hope we’ll have some little red lambs this spring!

4. Milk Goats.  I have em.  Well, almost.  We are picking them up next sunday.  I have two girls and a buck because you need a buck and babies for milk goats to have milk!  They are all pure La Manchas and yes, I am going to make cheese.  And maybe butter.

5. It’s been cold here in the mornings which is colder than it was last year but still..it’s December and NO SNOW.

6. I am trying to finish writing up Frankenfine and then I might be back to the real world.  I’ve been lost in the land of farming and writing and now it’s almost Christmas and I don’t know where the time went.  Soon it will be time for reflection and new years resolutions!

Charlie is a super star.  He can’t help it, he just has that charisma that makes everyone fall in love with him.  Now?  he likes to wear things on his head.  Super star x 10.  My cousin Rebecca thinks I should start a separate blog called “Stuff My Goat Wears” which I think might be funny.  I kind of want to go to a party store and buy out their novelty headbands.

Charlie is not the only super star on the farm though…

Herman is our rent-a-ram that we will be buying at the end of this breeding season.  He’s so damn sweet and gentle and a beautiful red the Mr and I don’t want to let him go.  Also?  He’s festive.  This ram let me put on his crazy head band and then just stood there like a champion.  Then!  He struck a few more poses.  He couldn’t have cared LESS about what I was doing as long as it got him a chin scratch.  Dear Herman, I love you.

Aw My Mr. Dude.  He does abide.  You have to admit that anything along with his sweet bunny face is just adorable as can be!

Oops was not so happy about the adornment but I think that’s because it was a little big on him and kept slipping.  In the end Charlie wanted it back and pulled it off everyone’s head until we put it back on him.

And since this went over so well I found another…

Charlie couldn’t smile anymore if he tried!

He loved it so much he wandered off to eat still wearing his tiara. Gotta love a goat that can accessorize!

Herman was not to be left out though.

In the end though I let them all get back to their dignified naked selves.

And Dude was merry!

Mr Wally knows he’ll probably never be subjected to such indignity because he doesn’t even like an ear scratch.  He’s a sweetie face just the same though.

And the geese are always around, yelling at me and tattling on anyone breaking the rules.

1. Thank you all so much for the wonderful comments on my Ternion Shawl.  I have to say that I was seriously surprised because frankly, I didn’t expect it.  I got a whole bunch of comments on Ravelry and people seem to really like it.  I can only say that I hope this means that Knitty’s winter issue should be badass.  If people actually liked my shawl then the stuff they kept must be amazing.

2. We had one of our very own turkeys for Thanksgiving.  It was amazing beyond words.  This was a bird that I had raised since it was a day old and then it fed my family.  It had the best life a turkey could have.  It got to do pretty much as it wished, eat as much grass and bugs as it could stand, and even mate with the hens should the mood hit.  Remember, just because you buy organic doesn’t mean that bird wasn’t raised with 20,000 other birds in a barn never to see the light of day.  My birds are free range and the more I collect eggs the more birds I might have next year.  So far I’m up to about 26 eggs but none have hatched out yet.

3. The Mr finally bottled his own home made Blackberry wine!  It is amazing.  It actually tastes really wonderful and I have to admit that I had my doubts.  But it is really yummy.  It’s not something that would ever win any snooty awards but it will be all drank to the last drop.  I’m really proud of him.  Now he’s in the middle of making some mead and then there is the quite whispers about a still (for perfume purposes only of course because we are NOT law breakers. HA!)  We totally bought the industrial $70 corker because it is worth every single penny.  Corking is hard otherwise.

He looks so happy doesn’t he?  I know how he feels, I was like that with my jam.  And yes, these are the same blackberries from our property.

4. I knit some socks and they are by far my favorite pair in the longest time.  I have tried to knit these Meida socks by Nancy Bush two pervious times.  It ended in sad too tight socks.  Finally with the right yarn needle combo I came out with these.

Seriously. I absolutely love how these socks feel.  They are Mountain Colors barefoot and I love the yarn SO MUCH! I’m all about having a little mohair in my yarn.  It makes it so much more wooly and wears better I think.

5. Herman the ram.  I can’t remember if I’ve talked about him or not.  If not here we go.  Herman is the ram we are renting to get with some of our ewes.  He’s a beautiful red icelandic mouflon and I love him so much that I’m thinking we will have to buy him.  He’s the most gentle mild mannered fella I’ve ever know.  He’s my husband in sheep form! LOL  And, the ladies are loving him.  Also, he stinks like ass.  Which is a good thing if you are a ram in rut.

I thought he was good natured before but this weekend I bought these festive headbands to embarrass the dogs.  Then I got the crazy idea that these things would fit other animals too…

 Yes, I did put a festive headband on a ram and you know what?  He could have cared LESS.  He snuffled the ladies, asked me for a chin scratch and posed for several pictures.

The goats were not as easy because they want to be RIGHT NEXT TO YOU.

You know what I love?  Goats.  I seriously just love them.  I never would have known.  My friends have sheep and alpacas and llamas.  I never knew a single goat.  But you know what?  Goats totally trump all of those animals x a million.  Not only are they sweet as sugar they enjoy your attention, are silly to be silly, and are so damn affectionate.  Also, they let you humiliate them on the internet.

Some even enjoy it. Charlie is a super star after all.  If you met Charlie in person (or in goat if you will), you’d understand.  This goat has charisma to spare.  After this little experiment I kind of…um…want to dress my goats up more.  I know! It’s sick! I KNOW!  But you guys, it was fun and cute and still makes me smile.  This is better for a foul day than any amount of zoloft.  Bummed?  Dress up your goat.  All better!  So yeah.  This might become a thing.  It’s not like I’m going to knit them little fair isle sweaters and leave them out in the pasture like that but a little headband or scarf for pictures?  Yes.

 6. Lastly I met Monica in Portland the other week for coffee and pictures.  She’s such a good sport for letting me harass her with a camera.

First, we got a new truck. No it’s not a sheep, but it is a Ram!

The Mr is thrilled and I’m thrilled that I don’t have to worry about him breaking down in the suburban anymore.

So, Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival was awesome.  We drove down (in the new truck!) and I promised myself I would not buy a sheep or a goat and I actually made good on that promise, but I’ll tell you, seeing those Angora goats made it hard!

We went to the animals first because that’s always my favorite part.  I love seeing the goats and the sheep the best, and even at the fair this is my favorite part.  It was nice seeing all the adult pygora goats so I know how big my boys will get, and I got some information on local goat dealers, and even might have a line on a boyfriend for my Icelandic gals.

This beautiful boy had blue eyes! He was by far my favorite.

The Jacobs are by far the Mr’s favorite sheep.  He has a serious thing for those 4 horns and maybe this year I’ll find him a 4 horned lamb.  We also bought fleeces.  Romney and Jacobs which I’m pretty excited about.  I was amazed at the deal on these fleeces, maybe because there were so many and they were all in one spot?  This amount of fleece on the web (if I could find it) would usually cost about 80 bucks but the most we paid for anything was 20 and the lowest was 5!

One thing I didn’t know was that Carrie of Apenglow Yarns was going to be vending here.  I met Carrie a few years back through my friends Tom & Mette at Ranch Of The Oaks.  It was a lovely surprise to see her and her yarns are just amazing!

Like I said, we met an Icelandic breeder which was nice (because they aren’t a hugely popular sheep) and I’m arranging to see what boys she might have available for me to rent. We aren’t looking to have a ram on our property yet so we basically are looking to rent a gigilo ram during the breeding season.

I bought some yarn, a few fleeces and no animals.  It was a sucessful trip even though it poured in the middle of the day and we had a blast!

A little bit ago something happened that has both made my life easier and more insane.  The sheep realized that the goats get grain every night to come in.  Then the sheep were all “OMG I want grain too!” and my life went insane.

Now no one will do anything I want them to with out their ration of grain.  I have to hold the bucket above my head when I go into the pasture so that I don’t get mauled.  I have to make sure to keep the bucket away from heads and not put it on the ground as the sheep like to go in and lick the last bits of grain up.  This wouldn’t be a problem…..except the bucket has a handle – naturally – and some how this handle is awesome at looping itself over a sheep’s neck or around their neck and front hoof!  I only had to chase two panicking bucket stealing sheep across the pasture to realize never to put the bucket down again.  One of the yearlings had it around his neck and arm pit and was running at top speed away from me (because ya know, I might EAT them) at one point it had both it’s front legs in the bucket and was doing a modified sack race.  It was ridiculous and when it finally fell over and gave up I had to double triple check to make sure he was ok.  Honestly, he was fine but being a little bit of a drama sheep.  He was all “Fine! FINE! Just kill me now! Do your worst! I’m ready to die!” and I was all like “Get your ass up you damn sheep” and when I took the bucket off he looked at me strangely and ran off.

Now that I am grain bringer I am not so fearsome.  I am a benevolent ruler of all things on four legs.  I kind of dig it, I just wish they’d be a little more patient with letting me feed them.

Now every time I walk into the pasture everyone thinks they are getting grain.  I have a load of addicts on my hands.

This one in particular gets a little wild eyed and starts licking her lips.  It’s enough to make a person thank god sheep are vegetarians – they are right? If I fall down they won’t eat me will they?

I’ve been also working with them really hard since the whole “Great Sheep Escape”.  Along with a little bit of grain every night to bring them in I have been hand feeding it to them.  The two black yearlings from last year don’t trust me but everyone else comes right in.  I’ve got my two twin lambs (the chocolate one in the picture above) and her sister even letting me give deep cheek scratches, ear rubs and chin scratches with out grain.  This is a huge accomplishment fo me because these sheep are not pets.  They don’t want you to touch them they just want you to feed them and be left alone.

The pygoras are also doing really well.  They’ve settled in really nicely with the other goats and I love to see them all run in a herd.  There are two that are small enough to fit through the goat fence *sigh* but thankfully they don’t go anywhere when they can’t figure out how to get back.  I came home from dropping my inlaws off at the airport to hear a goat CRYING it’s heart out.  Afraid that it was hurt I went to investigate.  Well it was in my neighbors pasture by itself crying for help.  So I grabbed a grain bucket and a lead rope (that can be made into a nifty goat noose easily) and headed over.  I always wonder what people think of having you on their property.  I know if someone was chasing something I would help and wouldn’t care less as long as I got a picture afterward, but I don’t know that other people share my thoughts.

(the goat that escaped was Blue Steel – the one in back making the classic Zoolander face).  So I caught the wooly bugger and tried to lead it along.  But people. That goat was just being such a wimp and it was HOT.  So HOT.  So I picked up the goat because it’s maybe 30-40 pounds tops, and I start walking back through the pasture.  Now I’m super hot, my pants are falling down – overalls are ordered! – I’m tripping over long grass and decide this is bullshit.  I walk over to the fence, roll the goat so that he’ll land feet first and drop him over the fence into my own pasture.   He landed on his feet just fine and scampered off crying for the other goats.

Now at this point, I’ll admit I was worried because I had yet to see my other goats.  I was now of the impression that all the goats had somehow escaped and I was doomed to repeat “The Great Sheep Escape”.  I walked around the property line, back into my own pasture with my grain bucket and lead rope – just in case – and set off looking for the goats.  Well the sheep were all about me because I had grain, and the turkeys were chasing because apparently I am Queen Sexy Turkey and they LOOOOOVVVVEEE me, and the geese came because it’s not a party with out the geese and they really just want to make sure everyone’s following the rules.  So with my circus in tow I head out.  It didn’t take me long before I spotted them behind a huge pine tree.

There they were, nibbling on a bush completely ignoring everyone.  Moral of the story?  If you are in a pack you won’t be left behind, if you are in a herd you better not fall behind because they will leave you and ignore your crying sad ass.

In other news Kodiak is now as much friends with the goats as Tank is.  Apparently everyone loves a goat and I can’t really blame them.  They are cute as buttons and sweet as sugar.

Tank and Kodiak are truly brothers.  They rough house and tease each other in a way that only boys who love each other can. 

I’m working constantly with the little man and his recall skills are getting better every day.  Soon I hope he’ll be ready for sheep herding classes.

Also, I’m still dealing with this.

At the time the Mr was all, “Goats, Bah!  Who needs them?!”  and I was all “But they are adorable and their fleece!” and he came back all “grumble growl snarl goats!” So I let the subject drop.  I’ve learned since then that sheep people are not goat people and visa versa.  They rarely intermingle the way that I would have thought.  I mean they are damn similar right?  I would have figured they’d easily cohabitate.   Apparently thought I’m naive on the subject but I did it anyway.  I first got my boer cross goats and the Mr melted into a big buttery pile of goat loving jello.  Then I found a ranch (like the only ranch with in 500 miles!) that breeds and raises pygora goats.  I was all “Look what I found, isn’t it interesting?  They are taking deposits to hold on kids (baby goats for those not in the know).”  And I gave him the computer and let him look.  I could see his mind ticking away so I left it at that.  A little while later I was all “We could get whethers (castrated males).  They cost less and it’s not like we are interested in breeding.”

A few days later he was all “Lets get 5.”

So I put down our deposits and waited for the kids to be born.  It was then that I realized what an opperation Lisa is running at Hawk Mountain Ranch.  She has tons of goats and each goat at least has twins, many had quadruples! Crazy bananas! That’s a lot of goats!  We picked through the whethers and found the five we wanted and waited for them to be old enough to transport here.  They came in the back of a red F250 and as soon as Lisa pulled the first kid out my heart melted.  Seriously, these guys are baby dolls.  They are so stinking cute I can’t even put it into words.  Their little fuzzy faces, their huge ears, their bunny soft fleeces, I kind of want to cuddle them all the time.

They’ve been here a little over a week and have settled into the routine nicely.  They follow my larger goats around for the most part but are content to go off and do their own thing since they have their own mini flock.  The sheep don’t quite know what to make of them and Mama half the time chases them away and then the other half tries to herd them along.  No one seems to know if they are goat or sheep.  It’s kind of adorable.

I really need to take more pictures of the goats.  I’ve just been kind of busy with other stuff lately.

We have four white goats and one chocolate goat.  One of the white goats has a blue undertone and was immediately named “Blue Steel” after the Zoolander movie.  He’s on the right there, he even looks like he’s making the face!  The little black goat was named Count Chocula and he pretty much hangs out with the big goats or the sheep, or off by himself.  He does what he wants.

I would say that everyone is on pretty good terms and I’m really excited to shear these guys and spin their fiber.  Yes I will have pygora for sale next spring though I plan on keeping a fleece for myself. No, I don’t know how I’ll sell it, maybe by the ounce?  Maybe by the fleece?  We’ll see. 

And because it’s my blog and I can post whatever I want, here are some random sheep, goat, and animal pictures.

The sheep have just figured out that that big green bucket I bring to the goats contains GRAIN!  They are now all wild eyed and sort of insane when it’s feeding time.  They have also changed my whole feeding schedule since they now want to be anywhere that huge green bucket is.  I don’t even give that much grain but they’ll do anything for a taste.  This includes letting me pet them.  You honestly can’t pet my sheep.  They don’t want you to touch them and are really wary of anyone coming near.  So when I can hand feed grain to my sheep and give a chin scratch to boot it’s pretty awesome.

Charlie is a pretty happy goat.  He doesn’t even know he has tiny ears and only one horn.  He’s happy happy happy!  (I tease him that he only needs an eye patch now).  One thing Charlie loves (and I love giving him) is zucchini.  See, my zucchini plants went insane this year and it was only after I had started picking zucchini that I realized that the MR and I don’t really LIKE zucchini.  Thankfully the ducks, chickens, and goats do.  Charlie is by far the worst, he’ll do ANYTHING for some zucchini, but for that smile it’s totally worth it.

The turkeys have gone fugly and now the boys walk around in almost constant display.  I really like them (for the most part).  They do as they want and nothing can change their minds.  I didn’t realize until the other day that they seem to think I’m some queen turkey.  I whistle for the dogs a lot and this usually causes the toms to run after me and puff themselves out.  Well, the hens whistle to get the toms all excited, guess I was coming on to the turkeys and didn’t realize it.  Now how do I let them down gently?

The Mr finished putting up goat fence along the second of our three pastures.  We are almost done so we can start rotating the animals through the greeness.  I’m a little worried about the stupidity of the turkeys though.  This pasture is right next to the road and the turkeys are fence hoppers.

And finally the blackberries keep coming.  I am still on the same bush and the other day I picked over ten pounds.