A Few Sheep Shy of a Farm

Yeah, that’s right, I’m going to blame it on pregnancy food cravings

I’m sitting here as I type this watching “Biggest Loser” and eating a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream! How’s that for irony?

Baby-wise things are moving along . . . she and I are growing – up 4 lbs in the past 2 weeks (and no, its not from icecream – really) and it turns out I’ve developed Iron deficiency Anemia.  That wasn’t a huge surprise since I’ve been borderline anemic most of my life . . . but it turns out that the anemia likely explains why I’ve been short of breath and tired a lot of the time lately.  I’m now taking iron pills and have been told that after a few days I’ll likely start to feel better.  That will be nice.

The little guy and I also managed to get a cold – I’m pretty sure we (okay, he) picked it up at the Musuem of Science when we went this past Friday.  He loved the museum! We’re thinking of becoming members and taking him often as he had such a good time.

The tide pool was easily his favorite – he just loves playing in water . . . now I just have to convince him not to splash the other kids or to drink the water! Say what you like, but this little guy is all Boy!

Knitting

The Minimalist Cardigan is done! I finished the knitting on Friday, blocked it over the weekend and sewed it together on Monday just before knitting group. 

I actually got blocking wires – steel rods frome a welding shop – on Saturday so that I would be able to block the sides straighter than they turn out with pins.  The blocking made it a lot easier to sew up, I think.  I had worried a little that the texture of the Moss stitch would make sewing it up that much harder but it worked out.

I had changed the gauge from 5 st/inch to 4 st/inch which meant doing a bit of math . . . there were a couple of things I would do differently but overall I’m happy with how it turned out.  Naturally, since I’m the size of the “Goodyear” blimp it doesn’t fit quite the way I’d like it to fit at the moment. 

I’m working the sleeves of the next sweater . . . I’m doing an EPS Yoke sweater in the style of the Icelandic Yoke sweater though, again, my gauge is different . . . but since its and EPS sweater gauge isn’t an issue. 

The plan is to knit this one up quickly as practice for this style of sweater and then to do a KAL with a couple of the ladies from the Monday night knitting group – we’re going to do the Fair Isle Yoke Sweater (or the Icelandic as an alternative) and I plan to steek the front and turn it into a cardigan. 

And since I just have to share the cute photos – this is the little guy on a rocking horse that a friend of mine from knitting gave me last night for him.  He was soooo excited when he saw it this morning and rode it on and off all day.

Minimalist Cardigan, started January 7th, 2008, finished February 11th, 2008
Pattern: Minimalist Cardigan
Yarn: Steadfast Fibers Wonderful Wool
Needles: Addi’s size 7
Dimensions: 39.5 inch finish
Pattern Notes: My gauge was 4 st/inch instead of the 5 st/inch called for in the pattern.  I had to do a bit of math in order to knit it up but I’m overall happy with the results.
Would I knit it again? Not likely, this much Moss stitch makes me a little crazy

This is what was waiting for me when I went to lock up the hens last night! Isn’t it a colorful array of eggs? There had actually been 4 in the morning as well for a total of 13 eggs yesterday . . . we’re averaging about a dozen a day lately!

Knitting

I’ve been doing some knitting lately . . . not as much as I’d like but general house stuff was getting in the way for a few days . . . darned housework!  I had hoped to finish the Minimalist Cardigan by this past Monday and actually wear it to knitting on Monday night but that just didn’t happen.  I’m now 11 inches into the sleeves and have about 1.5 inches to go before the decreases begin . . . from there I think it will move along but its driving me nuts – I just want it done!

I did take about 24 hours out of knitting on the sweater to do a quick Chemo cap for a friend of ours.  I had made her a hat last spring but it turned out that it was a bit too big and she asked if I could fix it . . . I offered to knit another instead and that is what I’ve done.  I just have to sew the hem and weave the ends and it will be ready for delivery.  I’ll try to remember to take a picture of it before I give it to her.

I had finished the KP socks I was doing – originally started in July of ‘06 – but I only just got around to taking a picture . . . There is a post on the finished socks a few posts ago which now includes the photo . . . if you look closely you’ll notice that one of the socks has a different colored toe – that is because I ran out of yarn entirely before I could finish the 2nd sock.  I realize that the pattern I did was a bit of a yarn hog, esp. with the length of the leg – but I’m still dissappointed that there wasn’t enough yarn in the 2 skeins.  I don’t think they even make that particular yarn anymore but if they did, I wouldn’t be buying any more of it!

Baby

Things are moving along nicely with the new little one.  She moves and twitches and kicks  all the time now – and I do mean all the time.  She esp. likes to start dancing after I finally get her big brother to bed and am able to sit down to rest and knit – figures, right?

I realized the other day that we had 14 weeks until our due date – and that since they plan to induce me a week early we really had 13 weeks (and now its closer to 12) and the funny part was that my main “panic” is that I haven’t finished the knitting I want to have done before she arrives!   We’re basically ready for her – we have a ton of clothes from the first one and from my neices – she is sharing a room with her big brother (at least for a few years) so that is done – I have the cloth diapers etc all ready to go with perhaps just a wash to get any dust out – the only things we really need to do are pick up a few small odd and ends, put together the crib and get a bureau for her clothes. 

However – I’m figuring with a new baby in the house my spring, summer and perhaps fall Knitting will be limited to small things – most likely what the kids need and perhaps a few socks for variety.  So before we reach that point I’d really like to finish the Minimalist Cardigan, knit myself a Fair Isle Yoke sweater as a cardigan and pehaps finish one or two of the other larger projects that are already started . . . oh and I haven’t knit any baby stuff yet!

Isn’t he cute?

This is the little guy wearing the Fair Isle Vest that his Godmother knit for him along with some “Harry Potter” glasses – isn’t he cute? He was headed to Church – one of the few places he can safely wear something as nice as this vest . . . though I did make him leave the glasses home

Its a little tough to be sure yet as they are hard to count . . . but we’re pretty sure we lost another chicken to the hawk this morning.  I had just let them out for the day and they were enjoying their morning veggies . . . I had come in and put the eggs away and then looked out the kitchen window just in time to see the biggest Hawk I’ve ever seen flying off from the corner of the chicken yard. 

I ran out, but it was too late – the preditor was long gone and from what I can tell it took one of my Australorp hens with it.  Bummer!

Dom is going to work on putting some chicken wire or something over the top of their run to prevent this from happening again but it may be a few days before he is able to get to it.  Afterall, it is raining and very muddy and slick down there right now.  We’re just hoping the hawk doesn’t come back for seconds before he can get it done.

We’ve been getting 10 – 13 eggs a day lately – though I expect we just lost about a half dozen a week . . . and we’ve begun selling some to friends and co-workers in the hopes of covering the feed costs (grain is getting expensive!) and afterall – 3 people can only eat so many eggs in one week!

Knitting wise I’ve managed to finish the KP socks about 2 weeks ago but still haven’t taken a picture . . .  and I’m now 2/3 of the way done with the Minimalist Cardigan.  I finished the 2 fronts last night – I knit them both at the same time and realized as I was working on them that the back and front are shaped identically, just split in half.  This meant instead of trying to really follow the individual directions for the fronts I was able to just work the decreases as if I were working one piece and follow the directions for the back – which I found much easier than keeping the other straight.

Since I’m working this sweater at a different gauge than the original I had to take a few minutes to refigure the number of stitches I’ll need for the sleeves and I haven’t figured out how the sleeve cap shaping is going to work yet at the new gauge but I figure I’ve got a few inches of knitting to do on the sleeves before I have to figure it out . . .  and perhaps I’ll read Pam Allen’s article in Interweave Knits about shaping sleeve caps again before I try . . .

Now that I’m most of the way through the Minimalist my mind is racing ahead to planning the next project.  I posted a note in Ravelry to the Monday Night Knitting Group to see if anyone is interested in doing another knit-a-long as I’m finding it both fun and educational to be knitting the same sweater, in person, with a group of people.

I’m leaning in the direction of wanting to do a cardigan, knit in the round with steeks and perhaps a small amount of colorwork for interest . . . . which leads me to EZ’s Fair Isle Yoke Sweater from The opininated knitter but done as a cardigan with a steek up the front.  Someone on Ravelry had done one that way and I just loved how it worked out and that seems like a great pattern to do with a group . . . And I think I may even have yarn to do it in! Which is even better since my yarn budget is pretty tight right now though the stash is pretty flush

who said something like “If you don’t like the weather in New England, wait 5 minutes.”

Today is a great example of that.  If you were to scroll down a little to the botttom of yesterday’s entry and examine the photos that I took yesterday of the little guy on his bike and of the chickens, outside on bare ground in the yard you would see that we’d had enough of a warm stretch that all the snow we got in December had, finally, melted.

Apparently, Mother Nature decided that since its January there was something wrong with that picture and this is what we woke to this morning:

So, much to the disappointment of a certain toddler, it is no longer bike riding weather!

However, being 2.5 he managed to make the best of it and got out there to play in the snow for a bit.

He didn’t last too long because after rolling in the snow for a bit he decided to remove his mittens to get a bitter grip on some snow and his little hands froze!  I think he was really only out there something like 20 minutes before I heard “Mommy, Cold!” and it was time for us to head inside.

While he was playing I went to feed and check on the chickens.  Here is what their coop looked like when I headed down there this morning:

I decided, based on past experience with these particular chickens and snow, not to bother trying to let them out today . . . they aren’t going to go anyway so why not keep the coop shut tight and warm.  Actually, it was warm enough inside that the water wasn’t the least bit icy or anything which means they should be just fine inside today.  There were 3 eggs waiting for me, a darkish brown, a pink and a blue.   After getting 9 yesterday it will be interesting to see just how many there are today.

Knitting wise I’ve made a little progress on the Minimalist Cardigan; the fronts are at about 5.5 inches so far . . . I hope to work on it a bit more today as time allows.  I’m also hoping to go to knitting group tonight but we’ll have to wait and see how the roads are later. 

Time to go do a bit of the “dreaded” housework so that I can claim some knitting time . . .