Category: Crafting

And the skies opened

Yesterday it sprinkled, today it poured. The weather forecast says we will get a month’s worth of rain in 2 days. When I got up this morning, the hunter was down the low field, it had rained hard off and on as I lay there too lazy to get up, knowing I was going to have to take the dogs out on leashes this morning. It rained all morning, though at times only lightly. As we were eating lunch, we saw him plod up the fields dejectedly and when he got to his car, he texted that he was soaked through and going to his brother’s house to dry off and would be back. I haven’t heard a single shot on the mountain this morning, nor have I seen a single deer. He did come back and was still here at dusk when I went over to lock up the hens. I did eventually see the doe with her spring twins and the orphaned spring fawn, but not down in the “hunting field” fortunately.

Today marks about year with a hearing aid and today marks a revisit to the Hearing Clinic to have it checked, cleaned, and adjusted. The gal that first tested me and fitted the aid is not there anymore, the new gal is an AuD and was very open about discussing my concerns and likes and dislikes. I will be retested in late spring to see if there has been any change in my hearing and whether the marginal need for the left ear aid has shifted to the need. I feel better knowing why certain aspects of wearing the aid cause various issues.

We are seeing a significant spike in COVID cases in our county. The population of the county is just over 16,000 and there have been 35 new cases and 2 new hospitalization in the past 10 days. This is a county that is very mask resistant. In our village, we saw more masks for a while, but fewer in the past couple weeks. The next town over, no one wears a mask except the staff of two of the restaurants that we occasionally get curbside pick-up from. The local outfitter and cafe is totally maskless, not even a pretense. Our village store, is less than 50% with some of the employees putting one on if you enter with one on and a couple that wear it under their chin or not at all. When we saw Son 1 last weekend for our socially distanced picnic, he ask what the cases per 100,000 and hospitalization percentage were. I didn’t know but have since looked it up. Cases per 100,000 is 1062.7 and the hospitalization percentage is 35.6. We were told that the area coroners weren’t counting deaths that had an underlying cause even if the patient had COVID at the time of death. I don’t know when people are going to quit making this a political statement and realize that things will open up much more quickly if everyone would comply with this simple solution. Our Governor is still just encouraging it and has not made it mandatory.

Before the rains began, I did get the asparagus bed and the corn and sunflower stalk piles burned. And the chickens have had 3 days of free range in the garden. I am still only getting a green egg or two a day, but it looks like all have finished molting except two or three hens, so I am hoping that I will start seeing more eggs soon.

While filling bird feeders and hanging a Niger Thistle sock, this little one landed on the feeder, inches from my face, ate several seed, then flitted down by my feet, apparently unaware I was standing there.

I did an update of the month’s spinning this morning. The “Apple Picking” braid of reds, pinks, yellows, is not my favorite spin. I love the colors, but not so much the slippery fiber. It is Merino, baby camel, and silk and feels slick and lifeless. I much prefer spinning fibers with some body and spring. The grays are Jacob and the burgundy and white blend is Alpaca and Coopworth. It may take me forever to end up with laceweight from the reds, but it is going to be lots of yardage. I decided to dedicate only one spindle to it and shifted the second one to Moorit Shetland.

After taking the photo, I listed the Olivewood Finch with the Jacob on it for trade on the Jenkins group, wishing for a heavier Finch and within a couple of hours a trade was made. I love that the Jenkins spindles are so desired that a sale or trade can be made quickly. After several purchases, sales, and trades, I have determined my favorite sizes and weights for their spindles. The Olivewood one will head to a new home tomorrow and a Pink Ivorywood one that weighs about 5 grams more will head my way.

Today is a day where I feel like I have done household chores all day. Bathroom cleaning, laundry, dishes, cooking and cleaning it up. Now I need to go unload the dishwasher and fold a load of laundry.

Stay safe out there and please WEAR A MASK, it is a health statement, not a political one.

The Stockings

This started a long, long time ago. I grew up with a felt stocking with glued on decorations that exactly matched my siblings stockings except for the name on it. By the time I had my firstborn, it was faded, tattered, and discolored. I wanted my son to have a special stocking, and I hadn’t taken up knitting again (not for another 24 years). I found a crewel work stocking kit and made it for his first Christmas, but I also needed stockings for us, so hubby got a crocheted one from a kit I found and I then used that pattern and modified it to make one for me too.

When daughter was born, a second crewel work kit was found and another stocking made for her first Christmas. Son two is a February baby and you would think I had plenty of time to plan and make his, but it didn’t get done for his first Christmas, but a third crewel work kit was made into his stocking for his second Christmas, each one of them different from each other.

You can see part of daughter’s behind her son’s left shoulder. I thought I was done. When grandson 1 was born, it never occurred to me to make him one, his parents weren’t really into celebrating holidays at that point, then daughter had a January baby and close to Christmas, she asked me if I was going to make his stocking. I still hadn’t begun making the intarsia knitted stockings yet and his is the quilted on far left in the photo.

Son 2 adopted his wife’s firstborn and they had a little girl the same year daughter had a little girl and I started knitting the intarsia stockings. That year I made 4, one each for the two little girls, 1 for Son 2’s son, and one for grandson 1.

Each one is different, each one has a cross stitched tag inside as seen above with the message and the year. Each one is lined to preserve the stitching and the shape. Every grandchild has a stocking.

Last year for Christmas, we learned that Son2 and his wife were expecting a baby boy in January, just days after Christmas, so the most recent stocking is in the works.

I have made 3 crewel work ones, 2 crocheted ones, 1 quilted one, and this is my 9th intarsia one. I have run out of vintage patterns. If Son 2 and his wife have another, I may have to duplicate a stocking that went to a grand not in his brood. In addition to these, three years ago at the New Year’s Eve party at Mountain Lake, I was knitting a shawl in the lounge before dinner and a woman asked me if I would knit up a Christmas stocking kit she bought for her grandson. I agreed and gave her a price which was way too low. She mailed it to me and asked if I would use the same pattern to make a second one for her other grandson which meant going out to purchase the yarn for it. I made those two also and mailed them back to her. I will make them for family, but never again for a contract. So those two were two of the 9. I hope they are all treasured.

Pre Freeze Salvage

Yesterday was in the 70’s and pouring rain from Zeta going just south of us. In the afternoon it partially cleared with some sun peeking out, a gorgeous nearly full moon last night until just after 9 p.m., then the wind kicked up and it poured again as the front moved through to drop the temperature into the mid 40’s where it is staying under thick cloudy skies today. Tonight it is going down to around 30 f. The peas have pods and they can take that cold if it isn’t too windy. The peppers and ground cherries won’t, even covered. After a run out to grab drive thru lunch and go to pick up my sewing machine that was kindly repaired by a friend’s Mother-in-law, a former “Home Ec” teacher, I pulled up my hood on my wool, grabbed a basket, clippers, and sheets of plastic and headed to the garden.

The fig was covered again, the figs still aren’t ripe and may not ever ripen, but I’m going to keep hoping. The peas were covered to protect them from the wind tonight. The pepper plants stripped of all the ripe Thai’s, all of the Serranos and the Jalapenos. The still green Thai’s were cut in branches and all brought in. I am a popsicle, though I need to go do a better cover job on the peas.

The basket was sorted, the ripe Thai peppers will be strung, the ripe Serranos were strung, the Jalapenos and still small green Serranos will be pickled, maybe a few chopped and frozen for winter use.

The green Thai peppers still on the branches were strung across a rod and hung over two hooks in the windows on the north side of the utility room to ripen or dry green. As they ripen, I will pull them and string them. The red Thai peppers become the crushed red peppers and used whole in stir fry, ground to make chili powder as a substitute for cayenne. As there will be 8 or 9 strings of them, Son 1’s family will get a couple for their use. They had a new garden this year, but somehow ended up with mild Jalapenos, mild Habeneros, and very hot Ghost Peppers, so some hot peppers will be welcome in their household.

This morning, I emptied my 4th spindle onto the bobbin of singles and chain plied the yarn on the bobbin. I haven’t measured it out yet, but it is 7 WPI so Aran or Bulky weight, a good weight for a Monmouth style hat. And while my spindles were idle, I decided on November’s spinning challenge fiber.

The two Aegeans, the larger two will be used to spin the “Apple Picking” braid of Merino/Baby Camel/Mulberry Silk. The Honduran Rosewood Finch will work on the Alpaca/Coopworth fiber that is white and burgundy and I want to learn to ply on the fly with it. The Olive wood Finch will continue on the rare breed mixed Jacob. I want to end up with enough of it to make a Monmouth hat and a pair of fingerless gloves. I had decided that those 4 spindles were enough to keep me busy when the Jenkins group posted a pop-up lottery of 11 Masur Birch spindles and two of them are Aegeans in the weight I like, so needless to say, I put my name in for the two I would like a chance to purchase. The drawing will be Monday. If I get lucky, I will have to decide if I want to keep all three or let one go, that is going to be a difficult decision because I love the two I have.

In the meantime, I will knit on grand daughter’s sweater. The sleeves need another inch plus then knitted on to the body and continue on up to the neck and the hood. When it is done, the Christmas stocking for Son 2’s youngest born January 5 needs to be made. Each grand gets a Grandmom made stocking for their first Christmas.