Wicked Witch of the Wool

My adventures in knitting and my daily life on the farm.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Old Man Winter just doesn't want to leave!

Dear Mr. Winter,

I would like to point out that Ms. Spring arrived more than a month ago and your presence is no longer needed. Although I thoroughly enjoy you in all your white fluffiness, I do believe that there is a time and place for everything and your time has come and gone and your place is at the southern hemisphere. The time for snowball fights and the construction of pathetic snowmen belongs in the past, and I should be outside digging in my vegetable garden right now and not be shoveling several feet of heavy snow. I did not particularly enjoy being left without power yesterday either, and let's not get started on my feelings about the the barn being flooded. Don't even try to deny you were here for an unscheduled visit; I've got pictures to prove it.



I would really appreciate it if you could pack up your ice crystals and head south. I'm sure I'll be looking forward to your arrival again in October, but for now I'm planning on re-acquainting myself with the Misses Spring and Summer.

Sincerely,
"Tired of Winter in Colorado"

*************************************************


It's been a while since I've been updating the blog and lots of things have happened.
First and foremost, we wnt to see the Yarn Harlot at the Tattered Cover in downtown Denver. She is friggin' hilarious!!!! I laughed and laughed, and then I laughed some more for good measure. My sides were hurting the next day. We were all the way in the back, and it took us a good 2 hours to get out books signed. To our delight, Miss Harlot was still very pleasant even though she must have been exhausted by the time we got to her.



I even got to pet the infamous and fabulous Bohus sweater....



We got home at 0'dark thirty, but it was well worth the trip. A good time was had by all.

Then we had an excursion to the Lamb Shoppe's Pajama Jam. It is a monthly event where local knitters descend on the store from 5PM to midnight, bringing food, wine, and fabulous projects along with them. A lot of knitting and even more gabbing and socializing goes on. We had a lot of fun. Linda and I decided it would be fun to stay the night in a hotel in Denver instead of driving all the way back home. Her sister works for Marriott, so we got a fabulous deal on a room. We stayed up and yapped until 2:30AM and didn't wake up until 10:30AM the next day. After a quick breakfast at the local Starbucks and a stop at a gas station to inflate some tires on "the Beast" we headed home. Do you know that gas stations charge 75 cents per tire to pump air and charge a dollar and 25 cents to suck it out again (vacuum)? Highway robbery!





Now on to some knitting news. I've been a busy little bee since last posting.
First, I finished the Looking Glass Top from last year's Interweave knits. I made it in Louisa Harding Grace Silk-Wool. ove knitting with stuff, but the seaming and weaving in of the ends was a little difficult. The yarn was very slippery. I had a whopping foot and a half left when all was said and done. Scary.



I also made the "Lizzy" jacket out of one of the Noro pattern books. It is originally made in Silk Garden or Silver Thaw, but I had some Iro I wanted to try. The gauge is much larger, so I had to adapt the pattern to fit me. I love this jacket, and I've gotten a lot of compliments while wearing it.



My dear hubby floored me with a request for a sweater, he has never wanted me to make him something. We picked out an Alice Starmore pattern called Fern. I just started it, and I'm sure it won't be done until the fall. Summer heat and knitting a big woollen sweater just doesn't mix well. I love the involvedness (is that even a word?) of the pattern, but I can't knit much on it when I'm in company. I need to focus really hard on the pattern. I love the way it looks, though.



I'm also knitting away on some simple socks. I started them at the Pajama Jam to have something simple to knit while I was yakking away. The yarn is Henry's Attic and I dyed it myself last year during the yarn dyeing party at Christy's house.



The other thing on the needles right now is the Inside-Out socks from the Socks That Rock sock club. I'm almost done, but since they look like "willie-warmers" when not worn, I won't be taking a picture until they're all done.

Last, but not least I have to share some obligatory goat pictures......
Here Miss Trouble is enjoying a nice back scratch from the hubby.



And here Barney and Pebbles are enjoying a snooze in the sun. Back when we still had sun, that is.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Double Trouble!

Friday evening Leslie didn't want to eat her grain. Hubby did a goat check at 10:30PM and came running back in the house yelling that we had another baby. I went out to the barn and discovered a new little baby boy, still wet, trying to stand up and screaming his little lungs out. We kicked the horses to pasture and made a cozy little bed for mom and child. Since Leslie is fairly skiddish, we decided to leave them alone after we were sure the little boy had a good drink of colostrum. It took a little while for Leslie to let the milk down, though I got it going with a little effort.
Hubby went back to the barn at 6AM and found a little baby girl, still wet. She must have been born within the hour. I started getting a little concerned with the scarcity of her milk and the size of the kids. They were quite a bit smaller than Trouble was when she was born. I decided to call another veterinarian for a second opinion. He came within the hour and gave mom and kids some antibiotics, vitamin B injections and calmed me down. Everything would be ok.



Here they are on Saturday morning. They still didn't have a name yet. We kept them inside the stall all day. Leslie doesn't seem to be quite as adept at being a mom as Annabelle does, but we're hoping she'll figure it out. I had collected a bit of her colostrum and was syringe feeding the kids during the day just to make sure they got enough nourishment.
Later that night while we were resting our tired bones in the hot tub we came up with their names.
Please meet.....



PEBBLES & BARNEY!

Here they are meeting big sis Trouble for the first time....



Trouble was indeed living up to her name and wanted to play a little too rough with her smaller siblings. We have them separated for the time being, until the wee ones are a little more steady on their legs.
Daddy Lancelot was proudly surveying his empire and offspring......



And we can't complete the post without this cute picture of Trouble, laying in her mom's food bowl....



In knitterly news; I am almost done with the Looking Glass Top. Just need to do the seaming and weaving in ends. Pictures to follow soon. Thursday we'll get to see the Yarn Harlot in Denver. That should be a great excursion.