Busy Couple of Days

I've had a busy couple of days. That's a good thing...boredom sucks. But honestly? I am seldom bored...there's just too much living to do! It's been a fibery few days for me...I got to visit our newest yarn shop: Apple Yarns, right in Bellingham. This shop is a MUST VISIT if you're in the area! Unfortunately, I tend to spend a wee bit of money every time I go but I've not been too awfully naughty! (Just a wee bit, really)( Seriously) (Well...)
And then I got to meet these ladies. Allow me to introduce Dolly, Daisy, her daughter Daffodil, Sumatra and Kahlua...Shetland ewes from a local farm. I also got to meet their Shepherdess; Betty, and I can only hope that when I am her age that I'm half as spunky as she is! I got an absolute score on 7 fleeces total...for a song! (More or less-lol) Now all I need is the time to start skirting, picking, scouring and spinning. Sigh. Cloning time anyone?!?
I spread out a 10 X 20 foot tarp and laid out the fleeces. The cats, whom you can see at the top of the pic, are not the least bit interested. I am really glad for this but it baffles me too. I know if I was a cat, I'd be all over this fluffy smelly stuff! Not mine though. Well, Freaky Kitty does like Alpaca but she has incredibly high standards. Even for a cat.
This is a close-up of young Daffodil's fleece. The sun was just setting so there's a wee bit of reddish tint to the pics but oh my! This is some soft fleece...especially for Shetland. (No hate mails please...I've had both soft and scratchy Shetland and THIS stuff is soft!) It's all fairly full of lanolin and VM so it's gonna take a bit of effort to clean up but hey, it's all good!
In knitting news, this is the start of a toe-up sock for my dear daughter. Green is her favorite color and this is Happy Forest from Dream In Color Yarn. The basic socks I was tussling with earlier are in a time-out, as is the hemp/cashmere beret. Like the pattern but that yarn - Grrr. And yes, this yarn is some of my recently acquired treasure from Apple Yarns. Smooshy...it really IS smooshy! Love it love it love it!
And of course, a blog entry would not be complete without an update on the Secret of the Stole KAL.Although this bears a remarkable resemblence to a bowl of cat yak, it really is my stole so far. It's (We? It and I?) are about 3/4 of the way through Hint 3. A bummer since Hint 5 came out this morning. Can you call me a Turtle? I can - I happened to glance at a clock while working on this earlier and it took me 10 or 11 minutes to knit one pattern row and one rest row. Whoa. That's slow. But I'm steady and so might even be caught up by next week's hint. Maybe. Hopefully. If I can ignore the blackberries and stay away from ditches.
And in bloggy news...Mrs. H (of the Outlaw Knitters and the new I Like Yarn podcast) released a new episode of her podcast today...and she awarded me her "Yarn Ball of Bloggy Excellence"! Woohoo! I've got it up already...over there on the side panel. It links to her podcast and you really should go listen...she's a neat gal and not only do I enjoy hearing about what her fun kids have been up to but she does one of the best book and pattern reviews around. She also started the Outlaw Knitters blog and Ravelry group. I'm an Outlaw Knitter and soon I'll have my snazzy new hoodie to show the world! Are you an Outlaw Knitter? Come to the blog, read and laugh then think about sharing a bit...we love knowing there's lots of us out there!
Now...life is good - it can be short so go tell someone you love them, take care of yourself and then knit something!

Better a Turtle Than a Frog

Sorry about the slightly blurry pic but it's the best Puddha Kitty and I could manage today. Yes, that's my Secret of the Stole he's sprawled on. And yes, he's making it clear to me that I've done enough on it for now. No matter that I'm only on row 201 and the next Hint is released tomorrow. No matter that I really was on a roll and wanted to keep going for a bit. But...he was probably right. I needed the "cat love" session more than I needed to reach a nearly impossible goal set by myself for myself. Aack, it's all good...I'll get there and maybe by next week, I'll even be caught up. (Snort) At least, maybe only if next week is a little better than this week has been.
Let's see...first there were the 5 days of headache/migraine (yes, it dances on that line called pain in my head and all because of that stupid neck and back injury). Then there were the DR appointments which resulted in a case of "we found some boob rocks"...again. Yippee. It was so much fun last time too. (Sigh) And to top things off is the "Cold from Hell" that my Dear Daughter graciously shared with me. The mass doses of echineacia and vitamins didn't even slow it down. (Sniff) Well, things could always get worse. At least the telephone folks came out - after 2 weeks - to look at the pole clipped neatly off at it's base by (I'm assuming) a drunk driver (either that or one lucky son of a bit#h). So I have a land-line telephone again but now I realize how quiet it was without the sales people calling.
In other knitting news...Janet (of the infamous "now she wants a poncho") stopped by last night, exclaimed with awe how lovely my stole is so I caved and told her how I had fought with 9 cast-ons to do one for her. Guess what. Now she wants it anyway. Good news is she'll wait for it. Bad news is she still wants a poncho too. Also, I've made progress on the Colorado Lynne sweater...finished the back and it's now resting comfortably on it's stitch holder in a new tote bag. I cast on the front earlier but only managed 2 rows before letting it rest. Gotta find my cable needles before I get the ribbing done and it should be smooth sailing from there. And that's all the news that's fit to print. For now anyway.

October's New Treasure

I've found new treasure! Well, truthfully? I found this a couple weeks ago but wasn't able to actually farm it out until today. It's a Utility Cart - Timothy Lawrence the Lawn Tractor has a new play buddy. I'm just tickled. Now, all the stuff I was dragging around by hand, smacking myself in the glasses with tree branches and huffing and puffing with the wheelbarrow...I'm cartin' it now!
And look...it dumps too! It's pretty solid steel - needs a serious episode with the wire brush and some "slow down the rust" shaker can paint but check it out: It's got 14 inch sides, a pull-out tailgate and a cantilever dump system. The hitch pin is ridiculously easy to do and un-do and the tongue of the hitch is solid as can be. You can just color me happy.
The Old Man got the new belt on the lawn tractor yesterday and I finally blazed a path from the front of the property to the back. Here's Freaky Kitty waiting for the curious mousies to come out and explore. You can see how high all the brush is - it might take me a while but eventually, I'll have this property tamed. And who knows what else I find out there! (The utilty cart was back in this brush about 100 feet behind where Freaky Kitty is sitting).

Kitty Cafe?

Kitty Cafe?
Originally uploaded by vykky3630

Glancing out the slider the other day, I saw "The Boys" comfortably ensconsed in the patio set. With each of them in their own chairs; Chancey on the left and Puddha on the right, it looked to me like they were seated at their favorite cafe waiting for a waitress. I admit I have an over-active imagination but I can just hear them now...
Puddha: "Man, what is taking her so long? Did the Chef have to grow the catnip from seed or what?"
Chancey: "Chill out Dude...she seems pretty cool for a human and besides, you know how these 2-leggeds are."
And no, this was not staged. If I had staged it, I would have made sure there were "frou-frou" drinks with kitty umbrellas on the table.

Happy Bunny

Happy Bunny
Originally uploaded by vykky3630

A happy bunny face if ever I've seen one! She's also turning into a red-head with her bit of exposure to our mild NW sun.

Now There's a Digging Bunny!

Now There's a Digging Bunny!
Originally uploaded by vykky3630

Believe it or not, this is less than an hour's digging time! Both the bunnies took turns burrowing. I think the cool soil felt good cuz they would just sort of lay there for a minute than back out. I'm letting them dig their hearts out today then will re-trench and re-locate the play yard before their next outing.
Remember how when we were little kids and would dig a hole? We'd get teased about maybe digging all the way through the Earth to China. Well, this could very well be since the bunnies' family is teaching English in China...think they're trying to pay a visit?!?

Bunny Babysitting

Bunny Babysitting
Originally uploaded by vykky3630

These 2 lovely Giant German Angora bunnies are the latest additions to our menagerie. This pair is only temporary as we're babysitting while their family is teaching English in China for 9 months or so. (Just long enough for me to enjoy them and harvest some pretty darn nice angora fiber for hand-spinning!) Their names are Bunnadette (with her back to us) and her Sister; Ebunny. A couple of weeks ago we had the Great Bunny Escape...not a good time. But, I have to admit that if it were on video it would be hugely entertaining!

Knitting yes - Spindling no

IMG_4019
Originally uploaded by vykky3630.

Yes, you really can knit with a cat on your lap. Freaky Kitty loves to be on my lap - no matter what I'm doing. I call it her "Freaky Time". Bless her heart...she's not a normal cat in any sense of the word. My daughter rescued her from the recycling center - in a sodden cardboard box in a heavy rainstorm. The note with her was washed out so we have no ideas on her history. My BF calls her "The Snitch" because she just has to know where the other cats are, what they're doing and more. If one of them is at the door, she lets us know. When he was flat out with his back injury, she perched on the nightstand and was his self-appointed nurse maid. All it took was a groan from him and she was at my feet yowling to let me know he needed me. I tried a couple of nice, normal kitty names but she would only respond when I would tell her "you're such a freaky cat". Sooo..."Freaky" she became!

Who's watching whom?

IMG_4012
Originally uploaded by vykky3630.

Chancey and Mr. Giz like to sit and look at each other I guess. Actually, Chancey is into the warm air blowing off the heater in front of the dragon habitat and the dragon, well, he's just nosey. It seems that Bearded Dragons are very sociable creatures and Mr. Giz is no exception. Since he's moving back home in a few days, I drug his habitat out to the living room where he could see "the happenings". I laid out my sheet and combed the last of the mohair (It's finally all done!) and I swear, he watched every step. He got bonus entertainment as Heather; the Chicken Lady and her 3 kids stopped in for a visit.

Happy Yarn Cat

Happy Yarn Cat
Originally uploaded by vykky3630.

Sweet Girl had way too much fun helping me to frog a really ugly scarf. I had just indulged the Clan with some organic catnip so this was all my fault. But it's all good...I enjoyed it as much as they did!
While winding all of this back up and sitting at the computer desk, I was over at one of my favorite Yahoo Groups; Spindlitis. This is an absolutely great bunch of people, as are the folks at the Spinning Group too. They are all always quick and easy to share with advice, ideas and smiles. I'm glad I found them and hope I don't make them too crazy.

Chancey and the Dragon

Chancey and the Dragon
Originally uploaded by vykky3630.

Chancey gets his name from having a Second Chance in life...with me. He was horribly abused as a kitten - the Vet told me to take him home and let him die. Harrumph. I OD'ed him on love instead. 12 years later and I'm all good with calling him "the Man of the house". He loves everyone, barks instead of meows and can only purr a wee bit. Since he had so much internal damage done to him as a baby, it's like God compensated with a generous heart. When a new "rescue" comes home, Chancey is the first to go sniff and/or touch noses. When someone (human or feline) is feeling under the weather, he wraps himself to share warmth and a squinty-eyed smile. I am truly blessed sharing my life with this special guy.