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.

Delicate Beginnings

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.

Delicate Beginnings

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!

7ft Tomato plant

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!

Garden

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.

Basil

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!

Royal Pair

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:

Chart C

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.

Arrow

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?)

Eggs

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!

Yellow Cherry Tomatoes

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.

Mimmo

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

Halloween 1987?

Even though I haven’t posted for a while it hasn’t been because things were slow . . .

Around the “Farm”

We’ve had plenty of things happening lately.  Just after Easter we got our spring chick order. I got a small assortment of new layer hen chicks (11 in all) and we ordered some Cornish Roasters for the first time.  I’ve been truly amazed at how much faster the Roasters grow.  Here are the new chicks:

The chicks are now 7 weeks and while the laying hen chicks weigh about 3 lbs and will be going in with the rest of the hens shortly, the Roasters weigh about 6 lbs and in another 4-5 weeks will be ending their stay with us.  So far we have only lost one of them to the raccoon, though not for lack of trying on her part.

Cornish Roasters

Family Stuff

Mimmo has been taking Karate for almost a year now and in March he earned his Yellow Belt.

Mimmo's Yellow Belt

Caterina went in for her first ever haircut just before Easter.   We wound up having bangs cut into her hair since it was constantly in her eyes and she refuses to leave barrettes in . . . we’ll grow them out again when she is a little older.

Caterina's First Haircut

And our niece, Marianna, had her first Communion and turned 8 yrs old.

Marianna & Paul

And Caterina had her 2nd Birthday.

Caterina's 2nd Birthday

Renovations

In the on-going home improvement department we have managed to perform a mini-makeover in the kitchen.  We’ve added a dishwasher (other than me) and in the process replaced the sink base, sink, faucet & counter top.  The work in nearly complete with some finish work (perhaps it will get done?) and a little bit of plumbing left to go.

Knitting & Spinning

All of this has left less time for projects than I’d like . . .but such is life with small children, right?  I have not worked on any more of the spinning for St. Brigid since my last post.  I hope to resume spinning, perhaps out in the yard, in the next couple weeks as we start spending more time outside.

I have all but finished the Must Have Cardigan.  I need to sew in the sleeves and sew the seams and add buttons but other than that the actual knitting is complete.  Once I have it sewn I’ll post a few pics.

However, while I was finishing up the Must Have I ran into a little, pint sized, snag.  Caterina decided she wanted it as her own.  The fact that it is far too big for her didn’t seem to matter, she laid claim to it!  Her insistence has inspired me to create a mini version which I’m calling the “Mini-Must-Have” in tribute to the original.   Her’s is nearly finished, I bound off the button band today and now need to sew in the sleeves, sew the sleeve and side seams and add buttons.  (sound familiar?).  I’ve also been working on writing this up to post as a free pattern on Ravelry.  I have it designed for sizes 2 through 12 and have 3 people who have agreed to test knit it once the instructions are finalized.  I’ll post a few pics of Caterina in hers as soon as its actually wearable.

And I’m working on another design project, a sweater I’m calling Simplicity.  Its a basic stockinette Cardi knit from sock yarn; perfect for those skeins of sock yarn that are just a little too colorful to show off the lace patterns of the other fingering weight Cardis out there.  The key with this sweater is the attention to detail . . . details I’ll share with you in a later post when the sweater is a bit more presentable.  Once this sweater and pattern are finished they will be available for sale on Ravelry as well.

I have a few more design ideas I’m working on but they are still in the early stages and not ready to be shared quite yet, but stay tuned for more!