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).

So Far Behind...

I'm so far behind, I think I'm back in 1st place!
Actually, with this, our first storm of the season still hanging around...the focus is starting to shift indoors. I'm thinking it's the shift that's making me feel behind and somewhat out of sorts.
OK, to begin the "catching up": note the Progress Bars have been adjusted. The Baby Blanket That Won't End will be gift-wrapped today - so it's gone from the list.
The Moebius Cowl is now in hibernation - maybe permanently. I've just lost my "go get em" on that project. Perhaps it's the consistent frogging of that lovely yarn I'm quietly bemoaning. The Socks suffered a direct hit from Cat Mischeif a few days ago. Puddha didn't mean it, I think he thought he was helping. But...the sock is no more. Had to frog it out completely and have just cast it back on...no real work on it yet.
Newly cast-on and loving it is this shawl-collar pullover from the mag Knit N Style. I'm doing it in an indestructible machine-wash blend as it's destined to become a chore sweater. I simply love - and always have - shawl collars on pullover sweaters. And since my injuries a few years ago, it seems I can never keep my neck and shoulders warm enough. This pattern fits the bill perfectly.I had finished all my UFO's and had sorted and carried up to the fiber room all my "stuff" in anticipation of the first clue for The Secret of the Stole KAL. Alas, I couldn't stand the wait and cast on this sweater. I'm hoping I'll be able to make time to work on it in-between keeping up with the release of clues for the SotS as I'll hate to see it languish until New Year's Eve.
In other fiber news, I got my invite to Ravelry! OMG...this is an OCD person's dreamland! I have spent many hours already just cruising around - absorbing, exploring and filling out information. Now that I'm "in", I've had to get serious about organization of the fiber room and all my tools, supplies and stash. For those of you still on the waiting list, now is the time to get those pics taken and uploaded to flickr.com. Now is the time to hunt down those rogue needles lazying about in UFO's and jot down their vitals. Gather your patterns into one place...like, a binder or something. Organize, list and document! Oh, and go get the web browser FireFox. Ravelry was and is designed for it and besides, the "other guys" not only leave you vulnerable to hacksters, they act a bit odd with it. It's so worth it to use the FireFox.
Since the stater went out on the Jetta last week, the "outside project" focus shifted from the wood pile to auto mechanics. This became one of those tasks that soon rocketed out of my skill kit. The Old Man busted his fanny - night after night - re-building fuel and ignition parts to work with the new starter and just last night, we got her running again. For an 18 year old car with over 500,000 miles on her, she still runs pretty good. (I'll snap a pic of her when it stops raining - I think you'll be surprised by how good she looks for her age).
As far as the wood pile goes...it's going too quickly! With the sudden drop of temps during this storm and trying to work on Betty the Jetty in the cold and rain...we've had the wood stove going most nights. Sure am gonna have to get better at slower burning for more efficient heating.
OK...cat on lap (Freaky Kitty), rain on the slider but have stuff to do. More - and pics - soon as something's done!

Catching Up

Catching up here as there's been a whole lot happening but not a lot to show for it. Doncha just hate that? You work your fanny off but when you step back and look at the source of your sweat, the only thing you feel is frustration. Grrr.
Anyhoo, you might have noticed my progress bars to the right are all wonky. Well, it's not the bars - it's the projects. Let's see...the Baby Blanket is done but I haven't gifted it to the new Mama and Baby yet so it's still on the list. The Hemp/Cashmere Beret for my DD is truely the Project from Hell. Cast on 4 times, frogged 4 times. Made it up to 5 rows and it sucks. I hate the yarn. The pattern is blech. At times I've got all 5 DPN's fumbling in my fingers. Grrr all over. And then there's the Moebius Cowl. It's 99.9 percent done - but - it's wrong. Too long, too narrow and not quite enough yarn to finish casting off. More Grrr. I'm going to frog the whole mess (that poor yarn - this makes the 5th time it's been knitted then frogged out), then I'll cast on with a co-ordinating yarn, do a few rows with that, do the bulk of the cowl in that yummy and durable stuff then do the I-cord cast off in the previously used starting yarn. I'll make it about a third smaller and it should be about right for me. Whew.
As far as news in other areas, this shows the giant brush pile I faced to dig up my latest treasure and to tidy that portion of the driveway. I've made huge progress - can even hitch up "the treasure" and tow it out in the open now if I want. I've got several rows of seasoned wood I found under the brush and have had a few nicely warming fires in the wood stove this past week. There's a neat stack of twigs drying that will be broken into stove-sized lengths for kindling and a bunch of bigger stuff that I'll need to use the saw on. I even found a few dozen fence posts! The Old Man is right this moment bringing home some wood to add to the project but I'll try to get a pic here soon. It's so nice to actually see a before and after of things.
Knitting news is not good, I'm afraid. My Ravelry invite is coming closer - maybe even this week. So up the stairs I went - camera in hand - to start the fun but daunting process of photographing all of my yarn and fiber stash. Problem? I'm baby-sitting my daughter's cat, who came here with fleas and decided to force her way into the fiber room. I now have a full-fledged infestation! I'm massively bummed as all - ALL - of my yarn is up there (plus a hundred pounds or more of fiber) and with the other projects on hold or done, I can't get to any of it to start anything! I've got the room sealed up, a fogger went off earlier today and I'm still using the powdered Borax everywhere upstairs. Sigh. I guess I've got it easy since tomorrow the perpetrator of this horrible crime gets a bath. Gasp. (Have you ever bathed a Siamese? The thought makes me shudder).
So, how was your week?

A Treasure Hunt for You and Me

I've written previously about working on my "wood pile". That's because - when you heat with wood, you need to have wood and you need to store it properly. Well, it's been rather chilly here the past couple of days and it got me to thinking about finally digging out/clearing/building/stacking my wood pile. This is what I was starting out with...a week or two's wood but in the "tall-as-me" grass and blackberries. I'll need space to stack more as I obtain it.
I did some of my famous "tromping" technique and cleared out a good sized space to stack wood. There's pallets underneath the few grass clumps I've not pulled or cut yet. The fence posts are mostly deep into the ground to act as an open-air support wall. I'm gonna go out on a limb (hehe, I made a funny) and say that I think I can stack about 5 cords of split wood in this space. Maybe More?
I spy with my little eye some treasure hiding under this brush pile! How-about I have a fun little contest here and offer the following: I'll send a set of "made for you" row and stitch markers to one lucky Reader who can 1)guess what the treasure is and 2) offer an idea for better blog reading here at Vykky With "Y"s.
Here's a hint! Let's see...there's a can covering an exhaust pipe of sorts and that's a spark plug...so we can assume it's a gas-powered engine of some kind. (That, and the 3 old, cracked and in pieces gas cans I found in the brush!) And, you can't see it but it's sitting on an axle with road tires on it. Hmmm...
Another hint! This is the "business end" of the contraption. Looks like pretty heavy steel to me. And hoses of some kind going which-a-way. What in the world? Post a comment to this entry (or my blog in general) and share your guess as to what this treasure might be. After a week or so, I'll see if anyone has guessed right and then will randomly pick amongst those who figured out the treasure!

Progress on the Home Front

In recognition of my new Progress Bars (to the right in the sidebar), for which I thank Yarn Tomato...here is the infamous Moebius Cowl. Yes, I'm way late in jumping onboard the moebius boat but hey, better late than never, right? Besides, I just love Love LOVE this yarn and it's taken a few frogging adventures to find out what it wanted to become. At first, the whole cast-on and progress fought with my left-handed high IQ brain...but then the light bulb went on and my brain exhalted gleefully "This is Cool!"
And here we have the "Baby Blanket That Won't End". It's nearly done which is why I indicated it at 95%. That means I have to get off my lazy butt, weave in all those loose ends (can you say 8 skeins of yarn in this bad boy?!?) and then do the wash/freshen/block dance. THEN I'll happily wrap it up and give it to Mama-to-be. I folded it in half and then again and it measures a full 3 inches thick - lots of cushy for da baby tushy. And of course, machine washable. I hope he likes it.
No, the angle of this pic isn't off and no, I'm not messing with your head. The door is cut on an angle and is only about 4 feet tall at it's highest/inside corner point. This will eventually become my Fiber Room. Oh, I'll also stash my bead stuff and soapmaking supplies and probably the candle-making gear in here too but the point is, (and I do have one), is that it's going to be MY Space! Besides, this little Hobbitt-type room is way too small for the Old Man to ever want to muck around in. (Evil laughter echoes off the eaves...) Note also the clear shoe-boxes for future yarn storage, the shelves hauled up the steep stairway and the motivational bag of buffalo fluff.
Last but not least and way off the fiber topic is progress in other areas of the house. (Geesh, how long will I live here until I feel like I've got everything unpacked and in it's proper place?) This space is actually the foyer to the front door - which is never used. However, the Old Man had decided that it was the ideal spot to stash boxes after making a run to storage. Vykky says "NOT". So, 5 boxes and 1 large tote later, we've got a mini-library. Yes, there's still a couple of boxes hiding in there and - OH - look...it's my vacuum too! Guess I've no more excuses, huh.

Stash Confessions

OK, I am going to admit here and now that my "stash" is a bit out of hand. It's not that it's "so big" or anything...far from it. But this first pic shows just how un-organized it all is. This is all yarn...in the large grey tote, the bags spilling open on top of the tote, the big red tote next to the large grey tote, the cardboard box on top of the big red tote, the box next to it...well, you get the idea. And this isn't all of it. There's another 3 canvas tote bags on the dining room table with not-quite WIP's in them. (I tend to find a pattern or make up one then "discover" (ie; buy, dig up, hock a kidney for...) yarn, collect the proper needles for said project then stuff it all into a canvas tote bag so it's all ready to go when I am.
And here (to the right) you see part of my fleece stash. This is all washed and mostly carded fleece just waiting for assignment to inspiration. Let's see...there's Sophie and Madeline; the Anniversary Gift fleeces, there's Ashley, a young Mohair donor. The white bags hold buffalo fluff that needs picking and cleaning (and there's 3 more of them - 5 pounds of buff fluff in each) and last but certainly not least, Bruno. Bruno was my very first raw fleece. A box of cria splendor in cinnamon brown. His fleece was so soft and easy to spin - he sort of ruined me for using my wheel since he was so very easy to spin. (Sort of like hitting the jackpot the first time you sit down at a slot machine...ruins you for life as you think "it's always this easy"). Fortunately, spinning gets easier and better the more I do it. (But who has time here lately?) Spinning and processing more of this glory is gonna have to wait until the "outside duties" season slows down it's march into Fall and then Winter.
This third pic shows the absolute mountain of raw fleeces awaiting their turn. Yes, those boxes are stacked 3 high and are layed out 3 deep. There's Paco and Gus; the rescued llama fleeces, Sunshine and Blossom; a Romney ewe and her lamb who donated their fluffy wonders. Then there's an un-named ewe of white lanolin-drenched goodness - I think she's BFL/Romney and will probably become an outdoor-sy working sweater for myself someday. (Someday?) And there's also a feed bag crammed full of 5 - count em! 5! Black-faced Scottish fleeces. (I traded those for a plate of home-made cookies and a bag of hand-made soaps...not bad, huh!) Out of all this raw fleece, I want to shout to the world that I only bought (you know...purchased, traded cash money for) 1 of these. Yup. Barter is alive and well in my world and I like it that way.
I'm probably the only person in the world who is grateful that my Ravelry invite is still several weeks down the road. This room is destined to become my "Fiber Den" but right now, it still is mostly full of the previous occupants' antique car parts and Harley pieces (he is a friend of ours so no pressure to move his stuff the hell out of my way. No, no pressure at all...none. Grrr.). Sigh. I'm thinking that the next rainy day (ie; a work indoor kind of day) that I don't feel like washing walls or painting or drywalling, etc. is going to become a "pile his stuff" out of my way sort of day and then....THEN...I will take over the "Fiber Den". I see shelves and bins and organization in my future.
Now, back to my theories on cloning myself...

Treasure Hunting or Property Clearing?

The latest area to be cleared on our 4 1/2 acres. This patch was only about 20 foot by 40 foot max but the grass, weeds and blackberry brambles were as tall as me - about 5 feet. I used just my leather gloves, a pair of hand pruners and lastly, my trusty steed; Timothy Lawrence the Lawn Tractor. (T.L. the L.T. - get it? Yeah, I'm OCD and name my vehicles and more important tools - deal with it).
And what did I find on my latest "treasure hunt" of the property" Look...I found a 35 foot intact TV antenna with 50 feet of attached co-ax cable, a 50 foot garden hose, 3 sprinklers total, a cooler and a whole wheelbarrow full of wood. Oh, and a big ole plastic pipe...irrigation type maybe?
Why was I so determined to clear out this patch of pasture? Well, I've always been one to work out my heavy heart with busy hands. So while I was grieving Matt, I was digging and pulling and crying and tugging and sobbing and cutting my way through it all. And (see pic below), this is what I eventually found...life under the crap. (There's a heavy-duty message there). And while I know next to nothing about growing grapes, these seem to be doing alright without any interference from me. Next Spring, however, I've been learning that I get to chop em way back and re-train em. Guess between now and pruning time next March, I've got loads of time to learn how to take care of em the best way possible, huh. The cats are happy, though, with the new mousing space. I've found most of them out there - perched up on the tomatoe tires...surveying their kingdom perhaps? And watching the mice scurry across the new "wide open spaces". And since I've gotten this much of that area cleared, I'm thinking that next "attack" will be to join this cleared space with the path I made out to the well. Sure would be nice to get the pump hooked up to real water (our water association is nice folks who know nothing about water) and tap into that liquid gold. Yup, to me, well water is a true gift of the Gods. Plus, the well is right next to one of the apple trees (that desperately wants pruning next Spring too) and is currently surrounded by all those yummy Himalayan-variety blackberries.
So much to do...wish I could clone myself like 4 times. Maybe 5.

OCD Everybody!

Well, maybe not EVerybody but the folks over at LibraryThing sure do have a freaking awesome idea! Seems like this guy Tim came up with the idea of cataloging one's library online. Since lots of folks are creating catalogs and lists and databases online these days, this was a simple step up. The tiny little idea that makes it so cool is that Tim was smart enough to couple with Amazon and gets a trickle of cash-ola for showing book covers, etc.. Pure genius.
I've already started and be warned: it's addictive. I've been running back and forth from the bookshelves to the desk with armloads of books (gads, I need to dust) and entering either by title or ISBN. It's that easy. You get to add your own tags and/or notes, it shows you immediately how many other folks have a listing for that same book and you can even hook up with other folks with similar interests. All this for free for up to 200 books. I think I'm gonna go for it and buy the lifetime membership...it's only 25$ and man, I've got a lot of books. Looks like I better make another trip to storage and lug some boxes home, huh.

Half a Bath or a Bath Halfway

Half a Bath or a Bath Halfway
Originally uploaded by vykky3630

The plumbing is done and the leak check is negative. Next I'll learn how to install linoleum flooring and create a countertop too. Then I'll install the sink and new faucet and caulk/seal it all up. Almost done...simply can NOT wait to finish this project!

The Flooring Begins!

The Flooring Begins!
Originally uploaded by vykky3630

Laminate flooring is in! How lucky I was that there was several hundred dollars worth of ash wood laminate flooring left in their original packages in here. I've got it matched, cut and laid...next will be the carpet. Yup, wall-to-wall throughout the trailer! The sample up against the loveseat platform will be secured as a bumper of sorts for where folks will kick their heels.

There's No Such Thing as a Free Puppy

There's No Such Thing as a Free Puppy
Originally uploaded by vykky3630

Or as in this case...a free travel trailer. On Mother's Day, we towed home this free gift. It's a 29.5 foot Fleetwood Wilderness Travel Trailer. That's my lovely daughter helping to scrub away the green meanies. It's cleaned up quite well and looks like new...until you see all the water damage inside. No worries, all the water lines are new, a new bath faucet and counter top will soon be installed along with a comfy loveseat and hand-built end table/stash cupboard by yours truly.
This is the main project that has been making me crazy. You see, when you're mildly OCD, having unfinished projects tends to work on your nerves. And an almost 30 foot long project that you park next to in the driveway, see every time you look out your kitchen window and walk by every time you leave the house is nerve-wracking to someone like myself. Thank goodness I'm on the down-hill side of renovating this beast. I'm saving the hot water heater replacement for when we bring it back home from the race track. I've got to finish the frame/pedastal that the love seat will sit on, fabricate an end table/storage cupboard, install a counter-top and the new faucet in the bathroom as well as test and install the recently re-built water pump. Then a day spent doing the laminate flooring and carpet and I'll be ready to pack the cupboards and make the bed.
Whew.
I'm ready to be done with this.