Author: Cabincrafted1

What were you doing 50 years ago today?

Most of us have historic events that stand out strongly in our minds. You can recite what you were doing, where you were, when the event occurred. The first that stands out to me was November 22, 1963. I was a sophomore in high school, sitting in class when the Principal came over the public address system and announced that President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas, Texas. The classroom was stunned to silence, some girls sobbed. This was nothing we had experienced in our lifetimes.

The day was a Friday, the day after my 16th birthday and I was to have one of the few birthday parties of my lifetime, a friend that had moved to Richmond was on a bus coming for the weekend. Needless to say, plans changed. The friend did stay the night before going home to her family the next day.

I wish that was only event of it’s kind in my history, but sadly, I also remember vividly the day his brother was also assassinated, the day the Challenger blew up and the day the World Trade towers were destroyed by terrorists. I hope not to have any more of these memories, just happy ones and wish for my grandchildren that they don’t have to experience them either.

November 22, 2013
The Scarf – Part 2

The scarf is completed, the one to match my favorite hat. I love Unplanned Peacock Yarn, it knits so beautifully. This pattern combo will soon appear on Ravelry.

RUBY HAT and SCARF

HAT

The Ruby Hat is an easy hat, knit in the round and a good way to sample several stitch patterns. It fits a 22” head.

Material required:

1 skein worsted or heavy worsted (this hat was worked with Unplanned Peacock worsted)

Size US 8 circ or DPNs

Tapestry needle

SECTION 1

Cast on 80 stitches using a stretchy case on such as Long tail, place marker and join in the round.

Row 1 Knit

Row 2 Purl

Repeat these 2 rows 4 more times

SECTION 2

Row 11-16: 1 X 1 rib

SECTION 3

Row 17: *K2tog, YO* repeat to end of row

Row 18: Knit

Row 19: *K2tog, YO* repeat to end of row

Row 20: Knit

SECTION 4

Row 21: Purl

Row 22: Knit

Repeat these two rows 3 more times ending on a knit row

SECTION 5

Knit 8 rows

Decrease for crown:

Row 1: *Knit 8, K2Tog* to end of round,

Row 2: Knit round (repeat for all even numbered rows)

Row 3: *Knit 7, K2Tog* to end of round

Row 5: *Knit 6, K2Tog* to end of round

Row 7: *Knit 5, K2Tog* to end of round

Row 9: *Knit 4, K2Tog* to end of round

Row 10: K2Tog to end of round

Row 11: K2Tog to end of round

Cut yarn about 8” long and thread through remaining stitches and draw up tight. Secure and weave in loose ends.

Copywrite 2012 Fran Stafford

SCARF

Worsted weight yarn: This pattern was worked with 2 skeins of Unplanned Peacock Studio Superwash Merino Worsted Weight

Size 8 needle

K=knit

P=purl

K2tog=Knit 2 together

YO= Yarn Over

Garter stitch=knit every row

Section 1

Cast on 36 stitches.

Knit garter stitch for 3 1/2”.

[Knit 8 rows of 2 X 2 rib

Next 4 rows is a simple lace, *K2Tog, YO* to end

Knit next row, increase in first stitch

*K2Tog, YO to end*

Knit next row, increase in last stitch]

Knit in garter stitch for 1 ½”

Repeat [ ] pattern

Knit in garter stitch for 1 ½”

Repeat [ ] pattern

Knit in garter stitch for 1”

Center section of scarf

K2tog, knit across row to last 2 stitches, K2tog

*K2, K in back loop, P* repeat to last 2 stitches, K2

Repeat this row until scarf is 12” less than the total length you desire.

Section 3

K front and back of first stitch, K to last stitch, K front and back of last stitch.

K garter stitch for 1”

[Repeat simple lace from beginning section.

K2Tog, YO to end of row

Knit in front and back of first stitch, knit to end

K2Tog, YO to end of row

Knit to last stitch, knit front and back for last stitch

Knit 8 rows of 2 X 2 rib]

Knit 1 ½” garter stitch

Repeat [ ] pattern

Knit 1 ½” garter stitch

Repeat [ ] pattern

Knit 3 ½” garter stitch.

Bind off loosely.

If you want a narrower scarf, work in multiples of 4 for your cast on.

Copywrite 2013 Fran Stafford: Please feel free to knit items for sale or gifts and print this pattern for your own use. Do not sell or otherwise distribute or publish this pattern without owner’s permission.

November 21, 2013
Power of Suggestion

Yesterday as we drove down Main Street in the nearby town, the Cajun restaurant had a sandwich board on the sidewalk with the day’s specials. The soup of the day was Hungarian Goulash. I know that Goulash means soup or stew and that if you look in a dozen cookbooks, you will find a dozen different recipes, the internet is flush with variations. I had not taken out anything to thaw for dinner and seeing that sign, my mind started pinging with desire, not to go to that restaurant, but to prepare a dish that my grandmother used to prepare for my Dad and his brother; my Dad prepared for my siblings and me; I prepared for my children; my daughter prepares for her family. Our recipe never written down, is a simple stew of ground beef, onions, paprika, tomatoes (or catsup) and kidney beans (sometimes whatever beans are available). Two of my children don’t like it. I love it and so does my hubby. He even created a mantra to remind me how he likes it: “Stew on rice, Goulash with rice, Chili no rice.”

On our way home, hauling our trailer with hubby’s motorcycle from it’s servicing, we stopped at the local grocery, purchased a package of ground beef and dinner was already planned and later enjoyed. The amazing power of suggestion.

November 20, 2013
On Strike

This past spring, we entered the phase of starting to add animals to our homestead. Animals besides the dogs and the plethora of wild critters that share our acreage. Though I am not much of a meat eater, and though as a child I hated eggs, I have developed a liking for a well cooked egg and after seeing too much about how commercial chickens for eggs and meat were kept, decided that this was a good place to start. Enter the chicks. Inexperienced and totally enamored with the cute little fuzzy balls of fluff, my chicken addiction took off. Buying chicks from Tractor Supply proved to not be the best way to go about it. My original purchase ended up very heavy on the testosterone side. Realizing that I had too many cockrells (young roosters) and that was not going to work out, we stumbled on an animal swap day at Tractor Supply while going to buy chick feed. The folks had Buff Orpinton and Olive Egger pullets (young hens) and I left with one of each. Next up, I contacted a local gal who had 6 Silver Laced Wyandotte pullets she wanted to get rid of that were about the same age as the other chicks and I purchased them from her. I was scammed, they were all cockrells. Realizing that most of my flock was going to be culled for meat, I found 2 more Buff Orpington pullets only a couple of weeks younger than the rest of the flock and began to separate the potential eggers from the cockrells who were beginning to strut their stuff and trying to crow. My flock now looked like a meeting of the U.N., one pullet of this breed, 2 of that, 3 of another. Then the first Buff Orpington got huge and started crowing, about the same time that I decided that I only want to raise a heritage breed that winters well, so Cogburn got to stay with the girls.

The rest of the guys, well, my son helped put them in freezer camp and I even grew a second flock of 15 more meat birds for him to put in freezer camp with my help.

As the story goes, one by one, the ladies started providing me with beautiful oval orbs of cream, tan and brown, depending on the breed, then one day, there was a green egg. Yay, the Olive Egger had started to lay. Only two others gals were still figuring it out. By mid October, we were getting 6 to 9 eggs each day. The Olive Egger had some difficulty figuring it out. She would give us an egg one morning, then one the next evening, then skip one to three days before beginning again, but it was fun to find the Easter Egg in the nest. She seems to be able to fly better than the others and soon, we would find her on the outside of their run, hovering near the fence, but separated from her flock. I would lure her back in and sometimes find her out again the same day, sometimes she would stay put for days. About this same time, her egg production seemed to fall off and I assumed that she was escaping to lay her eggs elsewhere. I searched the grass around the run, rummaged through the weeds growing in the compost bins, looked through the mint bed, checked for indentations in the straw mulch on the garden, no eggs. We were preparing to go away for a couple of weeks and a neighbor was going to watch the flock in exchange for eggs, so I secured the pen so that she could not escape. She only produced a couple of eggs while we were gone and has now gone on strike and hasn’t layed an egg in over two weeks.

They are too young to molt, which throws off egg laying, the days are shorter and cooler, but the other pullets are still laying, there is no illness in the flock and she doesn’t seem to be egg bound and is otherwise healthy. She is just on strike. I had hoped to keep this flock through next fall, adding more Buff Orpington pullets in the spring and keeping a couple of Easter Eggers for fun, letting the Buff Orpingtons raise chicks to keep the flock self sustaining and culling the other hens from the flock next fall, but this one girl is free loading and I’m not sure she is going to be allowed to get away with it.

November 19, 2013
A Week on the Farm – November 17, 2013

Clear beautiful sunsets with mild days.

Rainbow before an Arctic storm.

Snow showers.

Frosty morning, sunny morning.

Fog and smoke from wildfires and the start of firearm hunting season for deer.

The gamut of weather this week, trying to keep the house and farm critters safe and warm.

Life is good on our mountain farm.

November 17, 2013
Voyeuristic moments

This time of the year, the woods surrounding our farm allow for voyeuristic peeks. This is especially true if there is a light layer of snow on the ground. The floor of the forest loses the scrub brush that obscures it during the growing seasons. The deer and turkeys can be seen slipping in and out of its edges into the fields. If our local neighbors followed the state guidelines to wear blaze orange, visible 360 degrees, we would be able to see them as they move through the woods beyond our property on their hunt for the deer.

Today is the first day of firearms hunting season for deer. Today is gray, hazy from fog and from smoke from two wildfires a couple hours away. Today is the kind of day when we normally see the deer and the turkey in our lower field, but it almost as if they sense their imminent danger and they stay hidden from our view. Perhaps it is just their superior vision and sense of smell that make them scarce.

Personally, I will be glad when they again make their appearance, as I love to watch them graze and move about the woods and fields.

November 16, 2013
This Moment

This idea is from SouleMama’s blog. A single photo from the past week, no words, one that that I wish to linger on and savor. If you are inspired to do so, leave a link to yours in the comments for others to see.

November 15, 2013
The Scarf

In late September, an independent yarn dyer friend, specially dyed some yarn to match a hat made of yarn I had purchased from her several years ago (https://fstafford165.wordpress.com/2013/09/21/girls-day-out/) . I love the color, it is my favorite winter hat, my own design. Ever since I knit the hat, I have wanted a scarf to match the hat. She had tried several times to duplicate the color, which had been an unintentional, wonderful accident, but had not been able to make the match. When I asked again this year, not for a match, but a yarn that would coordinate, maybe blend with the hat color, she tried again and hit it true on.

Other items had been on my needles, the reknit of daughter’s black lace sweater, a sweater and hat for a baby due in December, the two hats for the grandkids for their Halloween costumes, and the finger puppets for the grand daughters, so I had not begun the design for the scarf. The very cold couple of days this week were incentive to get on this scarf design, to get it knit before the winter weather is consistent. The past couple of days knitting have been dedicated to the scarf design. I have completed three repeats of the hat pattern and am now trying to decide how to proceed. The hat has a simple stockinette upper part, decreasing to the top. My dilemma is whether to continue to repeat the pattern to the center, reverse it for the other half, to work in stockinette like the hat until the length is near what I want then reverse the pattern for the other end, or doing a lighter simple lace that is part of the pattern for the center section. What do you think?

Once it is complete, the pattern will be published to go with the published hat and finished photos of the hat and scarf together will be posted.

November 14, 2013
Like a Cat

Like a cat, I sit in the pool of warm sunlight, enjoying my hot cereal and coffee. Outside the day is bright, The morning is 21f, the cat and chicken waterers frozen solid, diamond dust is sparkling in the sun and the wind from yesterday’s Arctic front that blew through leaving only a dusting of light snow has still not totally dissipated. Our first blast of winter will be short lived, returning to more autumn like weather by the weekend, but it is the beginning and if the old timers are correct, there will be much more of this to come.

Life is good on our mountain farm.

November 13, 2013
Mountain Morning Gifts

A faint rainbow just before the storm. A huge Tom turkey strutting his stuff in the hay field; 2 young orphaned raccoon that that have been in our area this fall, looking for food or shelter before the weather; and snow flurries. All beautiful and welcome sights.

Life is good on our mountain farm.

November 12, 2013