A 2010 knitting wrap-up and a look forward to this wonderful, new year

Here are my finished projects this year. I am very, very happy with how much I accomplished this year and look forward to completing even more next year:

Bye Hopper

If you have livestock, you have to be prepared for deadstock

I don't know who came up with that quote, but it's so true. I don't really consider my hens livestock, though, I consider them pets. Hopper, a buff Orpington, was the leader of my little flock. She got egg bound on December 8th. We brought her inside and put her in a box with a heat lamp and some food and water. I was hoping I'd find her running around the house because she flew out of the box, but it wasn't meant to be. She was very lethargic when I brought her in, so I just held her on my lap for a while. I left her overnight in the box. She didn't seem to be in distress when I left her. In the morning, however, it was pretty obvious she was in pain. She was panting and bearing down (trying to get that egg out, I assume). I called a friend who's daughter is in vet school as well as our own vet, and the consensus was to slaughter her. I wish I could say I was brave and just slaughtered her myself, but I'm not, and as I said before: she was a pet. I took her to a local Amish butcher and asked him to do the deed. He said he didn't really have time (they were very busy dressing deer). I said I didn't want the meat, I just wanted her put out of her misery. He agreed to do it (which was very, very nice of him.) I left her with him. She was a really good layer and a very friendly hen. I'll miss her.

We're down to a flock of 4 now: Grace (another Buff Orpington), Ada (an Ameraucana who lays big, blue-green eggs), Annie and Dora (both Australorps). I'm already starting to think of what I want to get to add to the flock in the spring. I'm thinking maybe a couple more Ameraucanas and a couple of Welsummers or Marans. I want hens that will be as friendly as the girls we have now.

Baby Hopper

Grown-up Hopper

Christmas card...done!

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Happy Thanksgiving

I have so much to be thankful for this year: 

• My daughter and my older son both graduated from college this year and they both, very recently, got jobs.  
• My younger son has been accepted into the Art Institute in Vancouver...now we just need to find the money to pay for it.  
• My husband and I are still crazy in love with each other.
• I got 6 chicks in the spring and now am getting 2-4 eggs every day
• Went on a lovely vacation with my older son, his fiancee, my younger son, and my DH this summer.  It was a 9-day cruise from Norfolk to the Caribbean and back.
• DH and I are both in good health
• DH and I are both working full-time (such a blessing in this economy)
• We have a warm, welcoming home
• We have many dear friends and a very supportive extended family
• We remain firm in our faith and involved in our wonderful parish 

Chicken news:
As mentioned above, the girls are laying pretty regularly now.  We are getting eggs every day.  We have 4 girls that lay brown eggs and 1 that lays blue eggs.  The eggs are absolutely delicious and the yolks are dark, dark yellowish-orange.  I make egg casserole for Thanksgiving morning every year...and this year was no different EXCEPT that I made it with our very own eggs this year.  I made some corn pudding tonight with our eggs, too.  The "pudding" part of the corn pudding was as dark as the corn after it was cooked due to our healthful, organic eggs. 

Knitting news:
I have several projects I'd like to finish before Christmas.  I have finished a simple cabled cowl for my BFF in a wonderful feeling 100% cashmere.  I am making a hat for my godson.  The ribbing is done and the rest of the hat will be done as soon as my size 6-16" circular needle arrives in the mail.  I am also working on a pair of flip-top mitts for my BFF's daughter who is teaching English as a second language in South Korea.  I am making a button-up vest for my DH, and a central park hoodie for my DD.  I am hoping to make felted slippers for my DH, DD, and DSIL (those are lower priority than the other items.) 

I am also trying to finish up the wedding present I started for my DD: a nice, warm cabled afghan.  They've been married almost 18 months, so it really does need to get done soon!!! 

Peace.

Goodbye to Gravy

Gravy was a beautiful, 17 year old, black cat with a kink in her tail.  DH and I got her when she was just a kitten.  She has always been my cat.  She would sit on my lap and give me love bites when I pet her tummy.  She would use her paws to put my hands in the right place - and keep them there.  Unfortunately, she'd been sick for the last few years with a thyroid problem.  We had her on medication, but she still lost lots of weight (over 1/2 of her body weight).  In the last few weeks she was having trouble walking straight and her back legs often failed when she jumped off of the couch.

Christmas - 2008

I will miss her very loud purr the most.  I will also miss her eccentricities.  She loved laying on any kind of paper and she liked to chew on plastic bags.

Happy (almost) Labor Day!

I finished my corset-t last weekend.  Not totally loving it, but at least it's done!  The shoulders are a bit too big and I'm not sure where I can wear it.  I decided to sew the front together and then sew the buttons on so it LOOKS like it buttons up the front, but I don't have to worry about gap-o-sis.  I made it out of Encore worsted, a wool / acrylic blend, (in my defense I didn't know any better when I start it!) and it's really pretty hot for what should be a summer top. 

I finished my cabled fingerless mitts last night.  A little story about those:  I whipped out the first mitt, the right mitt, in just a day (thanks to an all-day faculty meeting).  These are worsted weight, easy mitts...I'm not really all that fast.  I'm starting to feel a little cocky, so I start the next mitt right away at another (much shorter) meeting.  I'm cruising along on that mitt.  I remember to reverse the cable.  When I made the first mitt, I noticed the ribbing at the fingers is a little loose, so I decided to go down a needle size for the top ribbing.  All that's left is the thumb, so I quickly try it on (really, just to admire it and my work)...and that's when it becomes, as the Yarn Harlot says, wine o'clock.  I remember to reverse the cable, but I did NOT remember to reverse the thumb placement...so I now have TWO right mitts.  ::sigh:: (the good news: the smaller needle size has helped to tighten up the top ribbing just enough.)  I cast on the left mitt (really, this time), and manage to knit 2 together in my cable by accident.  This causes me to tink almost 2 rows.  At this point, the mitts go to a brief time out.  It's not a hard to fix mistake, but it's extra frustrating because I've just made these same mitts TWICE.  :: harumph ::  After a brief time out, I finish up the mitt (in just a couple of hours).  At this point, I just wanted the darn things done.  So, did I use smaller needles to make the top ribbing smaller?  No, because I was in a hurry and just forgot!  grrrr.  Oh well, they fit ok.  They're nice and soft and I may try to shrink them just a teeny bit in the wash. 

The chickens are 18 and 16 weeks old now and they are really getting big!  The older girls, Gracie, Hopper, and Ada, should start laying in the next month or so (if we're lucky).  Hopper's comb and waddles are really developing and she's starting to look "grown-up".  She the one in the foreground in the picture to the right.

The little girls, Annie and Dora, (ok, I guess I'll have to start calling them the younger girls) are getting big, too! 

Annie and Dora

Ada and Gracie

My DH finished the trim work on the coop a month ago (or more).  Here, finally, are some pictures of both the coop and the run (which can now be moved separately and then attached to each other).  We find we're moving them about once a week.  The girls manage to dig at least one chicken-sized hole in the grass during that week. 

Finally, a pic of my grand-puppy (older son's puppy who lives with us while DS figures out his permanent living arrangements for his new job) - she's almost 5 months old.

I have yarn for 4 new projects: some pretty red tonal yarn for another Ishbel shawl, some charcoal gray superwash for a vest for my DH for Christmas, some teal green Cascade Sierra (cotton  and wool) for a Miette sweater, and some purple Ultra Alpaca for a Vivian sweater.  Now that the weather is starting to cool off, I feel a MAJOR bout of start-itis coming on!

A new beginning

It's just about time for school to start again...yaay!  I can't wait to meet all of my new students.

On the knitting front:

• I'm almost finished my corset-t (ok, so it took several years to finish).  I just need to tuck in the ends and sew on the buttons.  One reason I've procrastinated on this is that I don't really think I like it that much now that it's done.  Time will tell if I wear it a lot or not.
• I have finished my Soleil tank (yaay!)  I love how it turned out.  I did frog about 1/3 of it, then re-did it.  I read the directions incorrectly and thought it would be fine...but it wasn't.  Now that I've made it correctly...it looks great!
• I have started some new socks - Cookie A's BFF socks.  I'm using Mini-Mochi yarn in a rainbow colorway.  Mini-Mochi is a single-ply yarn.  It's a bit like knitting with roving to me.  I am using size 0 needles and it feels like I'm knitting with long toothpicks.  I am going to carry socks and / or mitts to knit everywhere I go from now on.  They're easy to keep in my purse and you never know when you'll catch a few minutes to work on them.
• I have started some new mitts to match the cowl I made in February.  I was in an 8 hour meeting (blech!) this past Thursday.  I cast on for one of the mitts at the beginning of the meeting.  By meeting's end, I was done all but the thumb of that mitt!  I finished it up the very next day and cast on the second mitt (which I've had to frog twice so far)
• My biggest knitting accomplishment this summer:  I am now a continental knitter.  I have been wanting to learn the continental method for a long time and this summer I watched youtube videos and practiced until I got it.  It took 3 dishcloths to get anywhere near comfortable with it.  My knitting is still not quite as even as it used to be, but I know that will come with more practice.  I was considering going back to throwing so my knitting would be nice and even again.  I started knitting something the "old" way and decided it's WAAAYYY too slow.  I occasionally throw now, but I really think continental is much faster and has the potential (for me) to get even faster.
• Oh, I almost forgot:  I finished my Monkey socks this summer, too!  I should have gone down 2 needle sizes, so they're a bit too big, but they're fine for keeping my tooties warm at home.

Soleil tank

On the parenting front:

• DD (the oldest) is waiting to take her PTA boards
• DS (middle) just got a job offer (FINALLY!)...it's not the ideal job, but it's a job!  Ideally, he want to be a Java programmer, but he's taking a help desk job for now.  Hope this economy improves soon!  A BA in Computer Science should be worth more than $12 an hour.
• DS (the youngest) had a TERRIBLE accident last month.  He came around a blind curve, there was a deer in the road, he swerved to miss it, went up an embankment and rolled the car.  Car is totaled.  DS was wearing his seat belt.  He came away with a couple of scratches.  Next time: hit the darn deer!  If you look at the car, you wonder how many people died in the accident...it was that bad.  I am SOOOO thankful he wasn't hurt. 

Before the accident

After the accident

On the chicken front:

• The girls are getting big!  Gracie, Hopper, and Ada are 17 weeks old and Annie and Dora are 15 weeks old.  We should be getting eggs in the next month or so.  Hopper's comb and waddle are getting much bigger and redder...that's a good sign that she'll be laying soon, I think.

Hopper

Ada

Dora