A Few Sheep Shy of a Farm

I’ve just added my newest design to Inspirations Yarn!

Here is the description:

The inspiration for this sweater happened when I had to pull the sleeve of my favorite sweater out of the dishwater, again, when doing the dinner dishes one night. I decided I wanted something where the sleeves couldn’t fall in; something that I would be comfortable wearing to make a quick run to the store for milk or run the Saturday morning errands in. After seeing an episode of Oprah about “The Secret” I decided to incorporate the St John’s Cross, an ancient Celtic symbol for happiness, which I had seen in “Viking Knits” by Elsbeth Lavold, into the design of the sweater. Like many knitters, I’d rather be knitting than doing chores, and since this was to be my chore sweater, I wanted to bring a bit of happiness into that process. The sweater features simple cables on the three-quarther lenght sleeves that continue across the saddle shoulder and into the neckline; cables on the front that cross the optional steeked-in pockets and the cabled St. John’s cross Celtic knot panel in the center of the back. I hope this sweater will bring you some “Happiness” too.

The directions are written for sizes XS - 3X (7 sizes in all) and comes in your choice of PDF or Printed versions. 

I’m pretty excited about this sweater and actually can’t wait until its finally cool enough to wear it!  I’d love to hear what you think of it!

Grow with Me Socks 2, started August 17th, 2007, finished September 27th, 2007
Pattern: Grow with Me
Yarn: Knit Picks
Needles: sizes 0, 1 & 2
Dimensions: For Toddler size 8 foot
Pattern Notes: I’ll be writing up this pattern soon to post as a Free pattern on my site.
Would I knit it again? Definately! This was the 2nd pair so far and I think the little guy probably needs about 4 more pairs for this winter.

I’ll add a photo tomorrow if I get a chance to take one outdoors . . . they are predicting rain . . .

Yup! That’s right, I finally got into Ravelry!

I’m working on adding my info . . . . I loaded books into Library Thing and of the 150 I loaded only 68 are in Ravelry so far . . . guess I’ll keep trying.  I’ve also loaded most of my needles, the ones that are in the main storage areas, there are more hiding in a bunch of other places.

I’m also working on loading PDF versions of my patterns to the website and adding the info to Ravelry as well.  I’m hoping to get the other patterns that are basically done tidied up and into both in the next few days as well. 

So if you don’t here from me much for the next few days, you’ll know where I am!

Bathroom update

Dom decided to take down the 3rd wall of the bathroom (the fourth is concrete and not going anywhere) and has moved it into part of the hall space about 18 inches or so.  This means there will be enough room in the “closet” of the bathroom for a stackable washer and dryer! I’m so very psyched about this as it means I won’t have to climb stairs to do all the laundry anymore!  The one I want is a front-loader so for the once in a while I need a top-loader I’ll have to go upstairs but this is going to be huge for me and for MIL as I often tie up the one we share for days and this way she won’t have to share as much . . . and someday if she does move down here (long story) at least there will be a washer on the same floor.

I guess I just try to do too many things . . .  or need to be more organized . . . ’cause I just can’t keep up with everything I’m trying to do!

I haven’t knit much at all lately.  I still haven’t finished the toddler socks, though I’ve only got about 1/2 of a foot to go . . . I did start the mitts my Mom wants (for her Birthday, last Friday) but I’m only about an inch into the cuff . . . and the Prairie Blanket has stalled out.  I made a mistake and then made a bigger mess trying to fix it and am considering trying to belatedly install a lifeline so I can rip back before the mistake and redo it . . . but just haven’t had the energy for it.

I did finish fixing up my pattern collection and converting to PDF but haven’t had a chance to upload them yet so they will be available.  I’ve also got at least 3  4 more patterns that I need to finish writing up and take pictures for . . . the knitting is done but the text isn’t quite finished.   And I’ve still got more yarn to load to the site and tons more work to do there. 

Around the house . . . things look like a bomb went off around here and the boys have not been a whole lot of help in that department . . . . I’m not sure which makes a bigger mess, the little one or the big one!

Bathroom update

Things are finally moving along  a little bit with the bathroom.  After deciding that the outside wall of the house needed to be replaced due to water damage and rot and that to prevent it from happening again the foundation would need to be added to . . . Dom and a helper are working on building 2 new outside walls for the back of the house.  From there I’m told things will move along more quickly . . . . I’m taking a wait and see approach for now.

Chicken update

The birds are getting big.  They are up to about 2.5 lbs each for the most part and we’ve been letting them range freely in the backyard.  However, yesterday, we had our first loss.  In the late afternoon, right in front of Dom and the helper, a giant hawk (likely a Redtail since we’ve seen them around before) swept in and took one of the chickens right out of the yard!  It carried off the one we’ve been calling “The Roo” as when we finally got them in for the night he was the only one missing.  That would be the Buttercup Rooster we special ordered.  I had been looking forward to seeing what he would really look like when he grew up . . .  guess it wasn’t meant to be. 

We also found evidence that something else tried to catch one of the White Rocks from outside the fence but as they are all accounted for we believe all it got were a mouthful of feathers, what ever it was . . . could have been a neighboring cat or perhaps even a fox.

Looks like they really are going to need that run sooner than later. We were going to hold off till spring to worry about it but if things are really going to start picking them off we might want to reconsider that plan, while we still have  few birds left!

Sorry its been so long, I haven’t been online much lately.  I’ve got lots of updates, though I’ve only done a tiny bit of knitting . . . . but I’ve also got Swap, bathroom and chicken updates . . . I’m planning on writing “real” post tomorrow with pictures, provided the day goes as planned . . . stay tuned!