Signed, Seamed and Delivered.

Shadow is officially done.

And its a good fit! I am so pleased.

First sweater knit entirely of wool from my very own guys. Way to go Edgar and Griff!

In other news, I finally did something with all those neat little quinces that our tree produced this year!

After doing a little research online, I decided to go with processing them into quince paste, aka Membrillo.

It seems that Manchego cheese is the perfect match for the quince paste, and I thought that was mighty cool, since it is a sheep milk cheese. So I set about finding some!

Oh yeah. Just the right thing.
Big yum.

Some Assembly (still) Required

But the hardest part is done.

Only straight seams left- one sleeve and the two sides.

I feel pretty good about having tried something new. Something that was a little outside my comfort zone.
And I also feel pretty good about how it’s turning out.

Here’s a side shot-

It’s nice to know that I can actually follow a pattern if I have a mind to

Might not make my self-imposed Thanksgiving deadline, but it will be close.

It’s really seeming like winter here recently. Got down to 20F last night (which is pretty dang cold for us)
So right now everything is frosty and crunchy.
And while it’s kind of a pain that the chicken and sheeps’ water is icing over, it’s kind of nice that the yard isn’t squishy.

I guess freezing weather does hold some advantages.

And it makes for nice crisp, wintery photos-

Three Sisters, on the way up Hwy 9

Lyman Ridge (behind our little orchard)

Frosty sheeps munch munch munching

Sadie going long for a frozen apple

And Walla inexplicibly zoomin’ round and round the garden beds

Guess the chill and the crunchiness really gets the pups charged up!

I think I can. I think I can.

It’s knitted.

And blocked.

And ready to rock

So this morning I started in on sewing it up.

First I did a little research online on preferred techniques.

Then I worked up some courage and set out to sew the first shoulder seam.

I think it turned out pretty well. But it wasn’t as straightforward as expected.
I mean, I get the grafting idea.
But somehow the purls really threw me.
The shoulder edge stitches were purls.

Yeah, tricky.

Once I finally got it figured out, I probably should have gone on and done the other shoulder seam, but I was anxious to give the sleeve a try.

Here’s the setup-

Now the sleeve is an interesting challenge.
It’s part graft, part mattress stitch, sometimes at the same time.
Each stitch is a judgement call, because you’re working on a curve.

Whew.

Then I found that taking a picture of a should seam is almost as hard as sewing it.

But I guess if you can’t really see it, then it’s good, right?

Shadow is now half-sleeved!

That’s where I left it today.

So far so good.

Frosted Mini Sheeps

(they’re not so “mini” anymore, but I couldn’t resist)

Yep, it’s that time of year again.
Sheeps’ water freezing overnight and all.

But the boys don’t seem to be feeling the chill.

They were out and about this morning in the crisp sunshine, nice and toasty underneath their frosty fleeces.

I just love Felix’s freckles.

Does anyone else think that Edgar kind of looks like he’s going for a Bret Boone surfer-guy thing with the sun-bleached tips?

Just sayin’.

Shadow is coming along nicely

So far so good. Hoping to have the knitting done by next post!

And I’ve got about 350 yards of Chone/Spike yarn worked up, so I can get a start on the next sweater project without delay-

Feels good to have a plan

Sweaters and Sheeps and Such

Little short on words tonight, so I’ll just make this a quick progress report on current projects-

Edgar and Griff’s Shadow-

Chone and Spike’s yarn for Cobblestone-

I did observe National Hug A Sheep day on Saturday, but sadly do not have any documentation, as it is hard to hug a sheep and take a photo at the same time.

Managed to get some quality time with most of the boys as they were enjoying their dinner-

Felix too, though he didn’t stay for a snapshot-

There is something so nice about just sitting with the sheeps as they dig into their hay.

munch munch munch
munch munch munch

Hey, you’re not a sheep!

I think Chone is on to her.

Was really funny. At first he was all testy, stomping his hoof and staring her down.

Then he cooled out a little and came over to sniff her (at least he looked like he was sniffing).

But then sniffing turned to nibbling (I swear he nibbles on everything!), and I had to come to her aid.

Poor girl.

Anyway- look closely at Chone. Can you see it? He’s getting kind of “frosty” looking-

Neat, eh? He isn’t gray-ing out from the roots, but rather his fleece is getting shot through with white fibers. I first noticed when I sheared him last month, but the effect is much more pronounced now. Can’t wait to see what it looks like in the spring.

And speaking of fleece, I made a couple of neat acquisitions this week-
This is Wilma, a beautiful double-coated mioget girl

who I brought home from the Schoonover Farm fall shearing. Mmmmmmm.

And this is an anonymous CVM/Suffolk cross that followed me home from Hidden Meadows Ranch.

I don’t usually go in for the fine-wools, but I thought that the cross was interesting, and might make a really good sock yarn. Will probably take me forever to process it, but I guess I’ll just take it in small bits.

And while I’m not quite done with the back of the Shadow sweater (maybe three more inches?), I think I’m still on pace for finishing it up by Thanksgiving-

and I’m pretty sure that the pieces will fit together when I’m done (fingers crossed).

Rockin’ in the Pasture

Literally.

Yeah, this week we had a bunch more rock delivered.

I think it’s pea gravel.

So, today we had the tractor out and were truckin’ gravel around to the edges of the pasture where my sweet sheeps tend to wear down paths and expose the bottom edge of the fence. Gotta keep that fenceline tight!

Re-rocked right around the boys’ shed and playground (rockpile), too. Hopefully that will prevent it from getting muddy once the rains start.

Also picked the last of the apples off our big King apple tree today-

It wasn’t a great year for apples here, but we managed to pull in about 7 boxes-
Any that hit the ground got pitched into the pasture, to see if the boys would give them a try.

They are a little slow to try new things, but it appears there has been some nibbling…

We were scheduled to give the guys a pedicure this weekend, but I couldn’t manage to get any more than three of them in the shed at one time, so we eventually gave up and decided to reschedule.

Frank was being a big scared-y sheep. He had everybody all worked up and suspicious.
This is about as close as I got to the crazy bugger all day long

I’m so excited about my quinces! They’re not quite ready yet, but maybe in a couple of weeks-

Did you know grow straight out of the ends of the tree branches?

Neat, eh?

Sweater progress continues apace,

And I even managed to get some spinning done this week!

That’s Frank/Felix on the left, and Spike to the right.

Whew, I’m beat.

Why Knit?

Today I was browsing around in the Ravelry forums (as I am wont to do), and I happened upon a discussion topic about a survey on Gender and Knitting.

A sociology student at Occidental College is doing it as part of her senior thesis on Knitting as  gendered activity.

So, I said, what the heck, I’ll go and see what it’s all about.

And it was all pretty straightforward…….. but question number 4 still has me thinking:

“Why do you knit?”

Seems like a very simple question, doesn’t it?

You’d think that, with as much as I knit, that I would have a fairly clear idea of why I do it.

But, after I read the question, I just kind of sat there for a minute, while a flood of possible responses sprang to mind.

I think I answered “To use up all the yarn  that I spin.”

But there’s more to it than that, isn’t there?

Reasons I Knit:

• Because I can.
• Because I love making beautiful, warm, soft objects from scratch.
• Because I enjoy the challenge of learning new techniques and
• appreciate the beauty of creative garment constructions.
• Because wool is the most excellent raw material ever, and
• knitting is a great way to show off it’s special qualities.
• Because sheep are at least as cool as the wool that they grow, and
• making things out of my own sheeps’ fleeces is very grounding.

It is really beautiful and simple and true.

And because it is going to be lovely.

Why do you knit?

Moving Right Along

Shadow is shaping up nicely!

Sleeve #1 is blocked

and Sleeve #2 is underway-

Really enjoying this knit. Nice cable pattern that is easy to memorize.
Little nervous about the sewing up part, but I guess I’ll figure that our when I get there.

I’m also doing some planning for the next project- a Chone and Spike Cobblestone

I’ve liked this pattern for a long time, and just had someone express interest in having me make one, so here we go!

Chone

plus Spike

Equals

I just love doing swatches.

Shadow Stages

I got a start on the new sweater in earnest this week.

I’m well into sleeve one

and I think it’s going well. Won’t know for certain if my gauge calculations are on until I get this piece done and have a change to block and measure it.

I like the pattern. It’s got a nice rhythm to it. Somehow the cabling makes it seem to move at a good clip, too.

Dug through the stash, and it looks like I’ve got five more skeins of Edgar and Edgar/Griff to work with, so that should hold me for a bit-

And I just carded up a few more batts.

I’ve got Edgar/Griff fiber in ever stage of production right now.

Neat, eh?