A Few Sheep Shy of a Farm

that is what weekends used to be for around here . . . apparently its going to be like 20 years before that happens again!  We were up and having cereal at 7:30 am this morning:

 

Isn’t he cute? He didn’t really want the sweater but it was chilly this morning so I managed to wrestle it onto him.  Actually, that is the sweater I’m going to pack away as soon as I have a chance to wash and depill it.  Its getting a little snug and the sleeves are short . . . but its served well and seen some hard use . . . and could be worn later by a certain baby sister . . . so into storage it will go.  Not to worry, he still has like another 7 handknit sweaters in his drawer – not that he’s spoiled or anything, but certainly can keep warm!

Yesterday was an interesting day . . . I took the little guy with me to take care of the chickens in the morning.  I usually do it on my own, its faster and easier, but the weather was nice and I thought he’d enjoy being the one to find the eggs in the nest.  He had a blast! We let the birds out into the run and then went inside the coop to scope things out.  one hen was still in the nest box so we left her alone and took the scratch grains out to the rest . . . when we stepped foot inside the run the big rooster decided he needed to challenge the little intruder.  He’s never given me or Dom a bit of trouble – guess we are just too big or him to mess with . . . . well, a 2.5 year old is apparently a different story. 

 

I have a certain amount of experience with reading “bird behavior” – my Dad now has a parrot that I had gotten as a teen, a yellow nape Amazon named Cujo, and he earned his name! Spending years around him has taught me a few things about knowing when a bird is about to do something he shouldn’t . . . and roosters behave remarkably like angry parrots . . . 

As soon as he started to charge I drop kicked him clear across the pen.  Not hard enough to actually hurt him . . . sort of scooped him off the ground and “tossed” him about 8 feet away . . . he came back over but stayed a few feet away and watched.  I puffed myself up enough and kept between him and the little guy – who was comepletly unaware he was in any danger – while he scattered grain on the ground.

After that we went back inside to check for eggs – hen still in the nest – so we fed some of the hens through the fence for a bit.  When the hen had finished and I had shooed the roosters all back outside (they came in to posture and crow at him!) then I too him in to collect the eggs.  Lets just say its a good thing our eggs have very thick shells! He doesn’t quite get that eggs are something that needs to be handled gently and was throwing them into the basket!  None broke but it was close . . . . there were 5 eggs, 4 brown and 1 blue and he was very excited to get to find them.

And now I know that the flock can not be at liberty when the toddler will be out in the back yard! Lesson learned!

Later in the day Dom took him outside so he could ride his bike.  It was a warm day, warmer than we are likely to have again in January . . . and he loved getting to be outside and riding his bike:

 

He doesn’t yet understand about peddling but he sure has fun anyway.  In fact, he’s busy nagging us as I type this about going back out to ride it again . . . which might happen today though its colder but by tomorrow he’ll be going sledding if anything since they are predicting 10-12 inches of snow!

As for the baby sister – I think she is going to be every bit as active as her big brother! When I finally had him in bed last night and tried to sit and relax to knit she started squirming and kicking . . . and didn’t stop the entire time I was sitting.  It got so uncomfortable that I actually got up and started moving around myself so that she would stop for a bit.  And lets not even get into what happened when I tried to go to bed last night! 

I did manage to get a small amount of knitting done on the sweater – I’ve got about 4 inches of the fronts done so far and I hope to get more done toay . . .  but first I have to get the boys out the door for church if I want my knitting time . . . and on that note, I’ve gotta run!

And back a while later:

The boys are gone to church and I went out for my morning visit with the flock.  Vi has been asking about chicken/egg photos so I brought the camera down to the coop and took a few pics while I waited for one last hen to lay her egg . . .

 

While she was laying an egg the others were outside – this is the Buttercup rooster – the smallest in the bunch:

 

And here are 2 of my blue egg layers:

 

And this one keeps getting out, goes right over the fence but at least she’s been good about letting me catch her to go back:

 

And some of them like to hang out on the fence, this is one of the smaller roosters and a barred rock hen:

 

And this is one of my 2 buff rock hens – they don’t like to be handled much but they also don’t generally cause any trouble so I call it even

 

When the white rock hen finally layed her egg and came out I went in to find that the nest she was in had 3 eggs (one pink, 2 blue), her egg was actually on the floor closer to the door and there was a blue in the box next to where she had been and 2 more browns in the other end.  7 eggs total this morning and 3 of the blue!

 

I posed them all in the prefered nest for this pic . . .

ok, off to knit before the boys get home!

Why is it that toddlers want to be up – like wide awake and hungry – at 7 am? Don’t they realize that parents aren’t necessarily morning people?

And I made the “mistake” of staying up till about 12:30 last night to finish the back of the sweater.  I was soooo close to finished with it that I really just couldn’t help myself, I really did have to finish it.

And have I mentioned that I haven’t been sleeping well the past few night? I’ve had a hard time going back to sleep when anything wakes me up . . . and between the toddler, and getting up to pee, and then the baby squirming . . .  lets just say I’m not exactly well rested right now.

Usually, when the muchkin has me up this early, I give him a bowl of cereal and then try to “nap” on the couch while he watches cartoons until its time for Dom to get up and we all have breakfast together . . . since Dom works mostly nights we’re on a “different” schedule around here than most folks . . . but this morning I decided to go ahead and actually get up – I made coffee, I wound off the 2 skiens of yarn that I need for the front of the sweater and now I’m getting in my computer time . . . In a few minutes it will be time to go fix breakfast . . . I think we’re having eggs today

Baby update

I haven’t been talking about the baby much . . . but things are going well. We’re 23 weeks into the pregnancy now and she must be getting big.  I believe she’s nearly a foot long and weighs just over a pound now according to the email from one of those calendar thingys I signed up for. 

What I can tell you is that she is every bit as active as her big brother.  I used to only be able to feel her moving if I was resting – holding pretty still and paying attention.  Yeah, not any more.  This kid is having a virtual dance party in there! I can feel her moving all the time now – even when I’m standing up or doing things and moving around myself.  And she’s moving enough to both wake me at night or keep me awake.  Don’t get me wrong – I love getting to feel her moving, especially knowing this is the last time I’ll be pregnant and get to experience this – but it is weird having another person in there – someone who decides to change positions every time I roll over at night etc.

Minimalist Knit-a-long

As I mentioned above, I’ve finished the back of the sweater last night.  based on the widths, I figure that puts me at about 1/3 of the way finished.  A few minutes ago I wound off 2 more skeins of yarn for the two front panels.  I’m planning to knit them at the same time so that they will actually be the same length.  I did the math last night to recalculate the pattern for the gauge I’m knitting at and should be able to do the fronts pretty easily.  I haven’t really looked at the sleeves yet but I’ll figure them out sometime before I finish the fronts. 

Perhaps, if I really work at it I can finish this sweater in 2 weeks time? Maybe?

I’ve been working on the sweater as much as I could today . . . I’ve done the armhole decreases and I’m still working on the remainder of the back . . . I’d say I’ve got about another 7 inches to go but at least its narrower than it was.

A good chunk of my day has been spent on the laundry pile.  It never ceases to amaze me just how fast the laundry can pile up! And to think, in a few more months there will be a 4th person’s laundry to do.  Between the baby clothes and the cloth diapers I expect another 5 loads a week to be added to the rotation.  Since yesterday I’ve done 6 loads; okay so abot 1/2 of that is waiting to be folded but clean is wearable so that counts, right?  There are still a couple more loads waiting to be done but they may have to wait a few days . . . What I’m really hoping is that the bathroom gets finished enough for the washer to be installed before my belly gets to big to be carrying laundry baskets up and down the back stairs!  It really will be nice to have it where I can reach it easily as I expect I’ll have to do 2 loads a day, 6 days a week to keep up by spring.  Sounds like fun, huh?

I”ve also been doing a bit of cooking today.  I’ve made a Creme Caramel.  It was the first time I’ve made something like this and the first thing I learned is that its a dish best made the day before you plan to serve it . . . it took a long time to cook and I’m currently waiting for it to cool the rest of the way.  Tune in tomorrow to hear how it turned out

Part of the reason I made custard was that thing seemed to have picked up in the egg production department.  Yesterday we had 7 eggs (one blue!) and this morning there were 3 in the nest (again, one blue) but this afternoon there were 6 eggs (2 blue) waiting for me in the nest! That’s 16 eggs in 2 days!!! Got any good egg recipes to share?

A bunch of us from the Monday night knitting group are doing the Minimalist Cardigan together.  There is also a group for it on Ravelry where we are tracking our progress.

 We cast on as a group this past Monday night and for the most part got several inches done during the meeting.  I ran into a slight snag.  I really wanted to knit this from stash, but if you can believe it (Dom couldn’t) I really didn’t have much in the stash, in solid colors in the right size and amount to knit a sweater for myself! Imagine that?

I decided to knit it from some Steadfast Fibers Wonderful Wool in Denim that I’ve had in the stash for ages.  I managed to get my swatch finished and wet just before I left for knitting that night but didn’t get to check the gauge until I was at knitting.  Turns out the blocked gauge for the yarn was 4 st/inch, not teh 5 st/inch that the pattern calls for.  I could have dropped a couple of needle sizes and gotten gauge but I think if I did I loose the nice texture the fabric had; it would have been tight and stiff insteatd of drapey.  So instead I’m attempting to work the pattern by refiguring my stitches to fit the new gauge while still making the 39.5 inch version of the sweater.  As long as my finished pieces actually behave the way my swatch did when washed and blocked I should be just fine . . . though that is a decent size IF to have floating over a sweater project.

I’ve got about 7.5 inches of the back knit so far:

 

Chickens & Eggs

We’re getting about 5 eggs per day on average now (yesterday was 7!) and for the past 3 days there has been 1 blue egg each day.  Dom took a 1/2 dozen to work for the manager yesterday (including the day’s blue egg) and got to show them around to everyone.  Afterall, they’ve been listening to him talk about chickens for nearly 7 months and without the benefit of the photos like you get here