Some Days Just Suck!

The Last Few Januarys just have been so hard on me.

January 2, 2021 I lost my Sweet Little Mick-a-Mouse. Mick was the best dog and we were so bonded.

January 4, 2021 I lost my Sweet Little Cocoa Puff. Cocoa was a really sweet dog.

They spent the majority of their lives together so I buried them together.

November 2021 I lost my goat Rose. Rose was the 1st goat baby born on my farm on April 6th, 2006. She had a long goat life.

January 2022 Ivory decided she needed to cross over the Rainbow bridge. Ivory was the sweetest little angora goat.  I would take her to all the elementary schools on farm day because she loved to be loved by the kids.  Shearing day.

January 2022 I lost Sargent my Border Collie. Sargent was a rescue dog I found him running the streets in 2010. I had no idea how old he was at the time, but he was with me for about 11 years.

Today, January 27th, 2022 I Lost my mare.  The lovely Mariah's Wind. She was born March 11, 1993

First picture shows her spirit. My Granddaughter riding Mariah in 4-H.

She was a beautiful Grulla Buckskin by color and an Arabian Quarterhorse mix.

 Finished!  

It took longer than I expected. Crocheting really hurts my wrist. Little Miss Ivey was 6 months old before I finished it. Finished the blanket in March 2021.

Spring and Summer - Late Spring and Early Summer

New Babies Coming!

I have two Granddaughters expecting this year. We should have a beautiful baby girl in September and a ?? in November.  I have started a blanket for the girl, since she is coming first. Using bobbles and I am not sure I like them that much.

I want to use them to put "GG ma's  Precious Baby ❤️, or GG ma's Precious Ivey ❤️.  The parents are still trying to agree on a name, but that is what I know today.

Winter Begins

December Days

I am so excited that I was able to get this shawl done. Remember this is one of the very few knit for someone else projects, that I have ever done. I also like how it turned out. 

Also working on a pair of socks for Tyleigh and Misty for Christmas, that will be late. Now that the shawl is done, I can get those done faster.

Started a new rag rug on the rug loom and I am warping my rigid heddle loom for another rug. I have not warped the rigid heddle in a long time, Kind of excited to do so. Have some new rug ideas that I want to try in the New Year.

Merry Christmas to All, and Happy New Year! 

Peace on Earth and Good Will to All!

October - November  The Colorful Days of Fall

This is my favorite time of the year. The brisk air in the mornings, the cool breezes, oh and I love the crunchy leaves, all make me want to curl up in my chair and knit, with a football game on TV. Happy Fall Everyone! 

Working on:

I continue to work on my Tree of Life afghan. Just about to finish the second section of trees.

Started another pair of socks. Not sure who they are for yet. Taking my time with them, so working on sock one and about to turn the heel.  Oh and yet another pair of socks. The ones on the lower right are for my Great Great Niece.  And her favorite color is rainbow. Of course!

The Dilemma!!!!

As a crafter, or maker, as they are starting to refer to crazy people like myself, there is a fine line between making items for you to gift and being hired to make for someone else. Most of the people that I know are not necessarily excited to do the later because of the expectation of the finished item. Sometimes those expectations are from the maker themself, not just the customer. Therefore we avoid that circumstance, or I do anyway. I would rather teach you to knit, than to knit for you. I'll even buy the yarn and needles to do so.

Well......dang it.......it happened again. I didn't run fast enough I guess. But this person is so nice and kind and deserving of my help. It's a beautiful shawl. I guess I kind of did it to myself, because she loved the colors of the sock yarn above. Of course it's needed as a Christmas gift. The beginnings of my Reyna Shawl.

My shawl and colors

Original Shawl and Pattern on Ravelry.

Cooler Days of September

The days will cool this month and I look forward to the end of our abnormally long hot Summer.

I have been working on a Baby Blanket for one of my closest friend's daughter. I was a 4-H leader for this young lady when she was young. Now she is a Momma of two sons.



I bought two skeins of Bernat Baby Blanket. I wanted to try it, cause it is so fat and fluffy and soft. I hoped it would make a nice baby blanket. The pattern of the first skein was crochet and I prefer knitting, so I made my own pattern. I did not realize the second skein pattern was knit.....oops!
I designed a simple cable pattern, blocked edges with garter stitch, with a few bold lines to border the cable pattern. Started August 8th, I believe, and finished on September 5, 2019. The baby arrived on August 28th.

Going to try and complete some UFO's this month. I have couple in mind. 

* Blanket for Ronnie Jewel started 16 years ago
* Start spinning for my Icelandic Top down sweater

* Ply the peach fiber for Christmas mitts
* Continue on the Tree of Life Afghan

I have finally finished shearing my sheep and goats for the year. I am later than I should be, but my hand still gives me problems when I overuse it. And shearing overuses it alot!  Now I need to get busy cleaning and carding fiber. I will post pictures as I get the fleeces completed.

August - The Dog Days of Summer

Hooray! I finished the twined denim rug. 

What did I learn:

• Twinning takes longer than you think it should.
• Twinning at the last few rows makes my hand really hurt. 
• I have read that the first row can be tricky to keep the rug edges together. I am not sure I understand how to fix that, but I definitely know what they are talking about now. This poor rug has that problem in the upper left corner. I still have to weave in a few ends, but it is basically completed.

What to work on next?

My fall back project is the "Tree of Life Afghan"  I have been working on it since the rug was completed. Just attached my third skein of yarn.








I think it is time that I finish my
Icelandic Top Down Sweater. 
Here is the skinny on it.

Old Post

I joined this class on Craftsy.com about a year ago. I have been spinning the yarn for it since. The yarn is from my animals, Shetland/Mohair blend (Blackie/Rose). I have plied with a Navajo 3 ply. The white is BlueFace and Mohair (Blue/Rose). The Purple is something I received from the Winter 2014 Spinning Guild Retreat. It’s a wool, and I did not blend it. It is not from my animals.

So the knitting journey begins in May 2014. I have never done this kind of color work, so I’m excited to have a new experience and challenge.

May 25, 2014 finished the yoke and doing the ten rows following. I have been watching the videos to see how the short rows are done in the back. So far, it’s been a blast!

June 2, 2014 Moving along on sweater. I have divided out between the front, sleeves, and back. Did the additional cast on for the sleeves. Now it’s time to knit, knit, knit. I only have 1 more skein of my yarn, so I going to start carding,
blending, and spinning more fiber.

August 7, 2014

I have 2 more inches to knit on the body of the sweater, before I start the bottom band of ribbing. I ran out of yarn, yet again, and had to card, spin and ply more. I’m going to continue to spin more yarn for the sleeves.

August 7, 2019

Amazing that it is exactly 5 years ago that I last worked on this sweater. Actually I see that I must have continued to work on it, because I have examined it today, and I have about 7 inches on the first sleeve done. And there is the problem and why I put the project down. When I spun the yarn for the sleeves, it was not at the same guage as the body of the sweater. I am going to have to frog the sleeve and either respin that yarn or spin new yarn with a closer guage to the first yarn used for the body.  Here we go! Wish me Luck!