A Few Sheep Shy of a Farm

Where has the summer gone? I can hardly believe it’s August already!  Things have been buzzing right along . . . lots of play dates, beach trips and pool parties for the kids; and as much knitting as possible with their summer schedule for me.

One of the things I’ve been working on, as you may have noticed, is actually finishing off and publishing the back log of designs that I have worked on over the past, uh hem, couple of years.   This week I’m introducing another such design, Delicate Beginnings, a sweet little baby sweater that I designed a few years back as a shower gift for a preemie.

The little one was just fine, and in fact just turned 4 this past spring!  The original sweater is the blue one and my knitting group friend, Lisa L., (Thank you Lisa!) knit the pink & green one from some of my hand painted sock yarn a while back.

Here is the description from the pattern: Originally designed as a special baby shower gift for a family member expecting a preemie, this deceptively simple sweater is as delicate as the new arrival it is intended for. The raglan shaping makes it an easy fit for dressing squirmy little bundles of joy. This sweater can be knit from either a solid colored, fingering weight baby yarn or it can be worked in your choice of hand-painted or self-striping sock yarns. It is worked flat, from the top down and in one piece for minimal finishing.

Currently in the works

I have several other designs that I am working on now and hope to bring you over the next few weeks.  One that I am knitting on at the moment is a scarf/shawl project which has been a bit of a problem child actually.  A few weeks back I stumbled across a stitch pattern that I fell in love with and has haunted me since.  I’ve tried several different projects for it and swatched it in a number of different yarns, none of which seemed to be the right fit.  Somehow though I just couldn’t get this particular pattern out of my head and so I recently gave it another try.

This is just the beginning of a scarf and isn’t blocked yet but I think the pattern shows up fairly well.  The yarn is some of my own hand-painted Wool, Bamboo, Nylon blend sock yarn.  Though I’m no longer dyeing it I know there are many other small dyers using this same yarn base so substitutes are readily available.   I expect it will take me a few weeks to finish knitting the sample and finalize a few details before the pattern will be available but I’ll keep you posted.

Around the Farm

The past few weeks have been fairly dry here and that seems to be good for the tomato plants.  I’ve been watering nearly every day and the garden has been growing like crazy.  I have cherry tomato plants (Sweet 100s) that are actually about 7 feet tall this year!

For reference, that is a 6 ft fence behind that plant!  The tomatoes are just starting to ripen but the plants are loaded so I think we are going to be eating them for weeks to come!

And the basil is thriving this year.  We’ve had pesto several times and I keep making extra to freeze for this fall and winter.   Its just about ready for me to cut it back again.

I’ll be back later in the week with a progress report on the scarf and perhaps sneak peaks at another project or two.  See you soon!

This week I’ve added another pattern to my Ravelry shop – Royal Pair – Here is the description from the pattern: Originally designed with my very particular husband in mind, these Twisted Stitch patterned socks feel cushy on the feet and have a subtle
stitch pattern without the bulk of actual cables.  These socks are knit from the cuff down to the toe with a traditional heel flap; a short-row heel may easily be substituted if preferred. Pattern includes directions for 3 sizes with two charted interchangeable twisted stitch motifs for both Men’s (Chart B) & Women’s (Chart C) versions.

Here is the Women’s version:

The pattern for these and the sample sock will be headed over to visit Kim at Butterfly Yarns in Wakefield soon so if you’d like to see it in real life, head on over there!

There are more patterns in the works so stay tuned!

Grow with Me

Things seem to be growing all over the place here! The kids are both having growth spurts, the garden is growing like crazy (6ft Tomato plants!) and I have a new Sock pattern.  I’ve recently started going through my projects and finishing up all the patterns that I’ve worked on over the past couple of years!  These adorable little socks are the “Grow with Me” socks, here is the description from the pattern: These socks are designed to fit the ever growing feet of toddlers. The ribbed leg and instep create a sock that expands as the child grows, allowing you to simply rip back the toe portion of the sock, extend it by half an inch and knit a new toe as their feet grow. Choose the size below closest to the foot circumference of the child and knit the foot length to fit. It is possible to get 2-3 shoe sizes from a pair by simply lengthening the foot as needed. My own son wore the pair pictured for 3 winters, with two toe increases.

The pattern for these socks is now available as a Free Pattern through Ravlery, just click on the photo above to go to the pattern page.   TallGal and I have actually knit up quite a few pairs of these over the past couple of years, photos of some of them are listed in the projects and in the pattern itself.  We’re both planning another pair or two for each kid (I may even make 3 this year!) for the late fall and winter . . . I’m just waiting to see just where the boy-child’s feet land size wise before I start knitting; he’s currently having a growth spurt!

Around the Farm

After 13.5 yrs of loyal friendship our dog Arrow has passed away.  We miss him terribly; I still go to the door to let him in for the night some evenings after the chickens are locked up.

We also have a broody hen.  She’s on her second attempt to hatch eggs this summer . . . the first batch didn’t work out. I wasn’t hear on time one day to remove the new eggs from another nest box and she switched boxes for too many hours.  The first batch got tossed but 2 days later she was still insisting on hatching something so I gave her another batch.  She currently has 7 eggs under her and its been 1 week so far. . . . 2 more to go and perhaps we’ll have baby chicks!  If something goes wrong she will not get a 3rd try this year; its getting late in the summer for hatching new chicks with enough time to feather out before the weather gets cold!  (Frightening to have to consider Winter in the Middle of July, isn’t it?)

And the Garden is showing signs of being productive this year.  So far we’ve had Romaine Lettuce and various herbs from my little garden patch but the Cherry Tomatoes are starting to change color and some of the plants are about 6 feet tall and still growing!  Its a good thing we like Tomatoes because this year looks to be a bumper crop!

The kids are enjoying their summer.  Lots of play-dates with friends and Mimmo has been going to Karate Camp.  This week he earned his 2nd Orange stripe and was given permission to start attending Sparring again.  That means he’ll be going to Karate for 4 hrs a week again!  We’ve also been to the beach, Revere Beach mostly so far but we hope to venture out further soon.

Well, that’s all for now.  I’ll have more in a few days . . . There’s a baby sweater pattern to add to Ravelry next week and I’ll have more garden updates if nothing else . . . Have a great Weekend everyone!

Knitting has been a little slow lately, other things have had to be the priority . . . but I’m continuing to knit the sock design project and now have a yarn picked out for the Women’s version: It will be in Cascade Heritage in a blue/green shade.

My fingers are also getting itchy to be working on something in lace, I’ve got a couple of new Lace yarns that are calling (photos soon)

And we just got a new (working!) printer/scanner. I, of course, had to spend an entire evening loading some of the old photos into the computer to put on facebook – all sorts of Highschool madness.

Here is one of me, from Halloween in the 8th grade. Its relevant here because I made the costume myself

Design projects

As I mentioned in the previous post, I’ve been working on a few design projects . . . and I’ve added one since that post!

The “Mini-Must-Have” is finished except the buttons . . . and the pattern is currently in the test-knitting stage of things thanks to [Tallgal], Kim and Jen.  Once I’m sure we’ve worked out the kinks (writing is rewriting, right?) then I’ll make it available through Ravelry.  And once I have the buttons selected and on it we’ll take some photos with it modeled.  In the mean time:

I’ve also been working on “Simplicity”

I’ve also started a new design project that I’m very excited about . . . its a twisted stitch sock pattern in two versions, his and hers.  Here is a little bit of his . . .

This one hasn’t been named yet, but if all goes well it will be available as a free pattern in the Butterfly Yarns Newsletter later this month so if you haven’t signed up for it, check it out!  This pattern will available on Ravelry as well . . .

Farmyard

I’ve almost finished planting our garden for this year . . . I wait until Memorial Day weekend every year to be sure we really are past any danger of frost; after all this is New England!

It isn’t much really but I don’t dare plant too many things since the garden bed is inside the play area.  I’m cautiously optimistic that the boy-child will leave the garden alone this year but have a feeling the girl-child is going to find flowers and tomatoes hard to resist.   That said, I’ve got tomatoes, basil, rosemary, peppers for Dom, Eggplant and a few other herbs and flowers.  We’ll have to wait and see how they do.

And a few chicken pics for you:

and these are the new Eggie chicks, learning to forage:

I’ve also taken up coffee roasting, using the wood-fired oven which works out wonderfully since all the smoke and smell is outdoors.  We were given several pounds of coffee beans but I have not idea what type they are . . . here is them being roasted:

and on that note . . . see you next post!