Friday, November 18, 2011

Fiber Arts Friday: First Knit Socks have gone Walkabout

Hubba loved his hand-knit socks so much that he took them to Guadalajara while he was there for the Para Pan American Games.

It was quite warm during the day, but very cool in the mornings.  The Athlete's Village did not have heat, so he was happy to have some woolies with him.

Then one day last week, he was showing them off and bragging on me.  :-)  He wanted me to knit a pair as a tip for the massage therapist.  :-)  Then sometime later he didn't have them anymore.  :-(  He was heartbroken.  :-(  He traced and re-traced his path, but didn't find them.  :-(

He called me with the sad news and then asked if I could whip up a pair before he got home. lol.

Well, my answer to whipping up a pair of socks in a few days is Not Possible, but I was working on a secret that I'll tell you about next week.  ;-)

I hope that someone picked up the socks, that they fit that person, and that he or she will have warm and toasty toes for a long time to come.


I do wonder where the socks have gone now that the games are over... Argentina?  Canada?  Brazil?  or maybe they've decided they like it in Mexico??

It's Fiber Arts Friday, so please go see what everyone else has been up to.

Fiber Arts Friday: Spinning Paco-Vicuna

I picked up what I thought was a cloud of Paco-Vicuna at the Taos Wool Festival a few years ago.  It was in the silent auction, and I HAD to have it.


It was my first ever festival acquisition.

I was a brand new spinner, so I was really nervous about messing it up.  Which means it has sat quietly in my stash ever since.  But now that I have a lot more spinning experience, I felt like I was ready to try.  Or at least I had reached a point to where my fear of risk was balanced by my sense of confidence.


I have to say I'm not crazy about this preparation which turned out to be shredded chunks of batting and not clouds.


But I do love the how color changes in the yarn and I'm looking forward to see what this will look like woven up.


Since today is Fiber Arts Friday, you know what I'm going to ask... so please go visit everyone else and tell them how awesome they are.  :-)

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

World Wide Moment - 2011

I finally got my World Wide Moment Photo posted... I was at home on Friday, 11/11/11 and the weather was beautiful, so I took a photo in the most peaceful place I know...  our farm.


You can see the photos that others have submitted here.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Fiber Arts Friday: Elevation Profile Scarf Continues

The Elevation Profile Scarf has been neglected while I was working on Hubba's first pair of socks and taming recycled yarn.  And now it's being (mostly) set aside for a couple of secret projects that I won't tell you about... at least for a while, anyway.  ;-)

Isn't that how it goes?  The thing we're doing for ourselves always gets pushed to the bottom of the list.  :-/  Of course this means I currently have three knitting projects "in work" plus one spinning project for a total of four.  This is my self-imposed maximum.

Anyway, I have made some progress since the last time I told you about this Scarf...

I had a few more episodes of ripping out on the second half of the third chart.  It was really bunching up in the valley, so I added a few rows without any increases or decreases to alleviate some of the stress between the two extreme ramps.


The scarf is in the "doesn't require a whole lot of thought" state now... I've been doing the same two rows for about a mile and a half...  Ok, not quite that far, but I still have about 15 inches to go before I start the final chart.


I'm looking forward to seeing what this baby looks like after blocking.  It's recommended in the pattern and after seeing what happened to the Traveling Woman Shawl, I have to think this will look awesome when it's finished.  :-)

Be sure to visit everyone else over at Wisdom Begins in Wonder because it's Fiber Arts Friday.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Feeling Patriotic

I dropped Hubba off at the airport yesterday morning.

He's headed to Guadalajara, Mexico for the the Para Pan American Games later this week.

I couldn't help but feel patriotic as I drove away.

I left Hubba on the curb all decked out in his USA Track and Field garb.

I really wish I had taken a photo.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

The New York City Marathon Experience

Here's a link to a great article about one man's experience with the New York City Marathon  last weekend.

He intended to run, but due to injury could not.  So he volunteered to escort the wheelchair athletes.   This was his first time in the role, so it was quite an experience for him.

Please take a few minutes to read the article.  It's very well done.  :-)

Hubba was there.  He finished 25th.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

The World Wide Moment is Coming!

Friday is 11/11/11. 

The World Wide Moment is at 11:11am EST on 11/11/11.

Please join me and a whole lot of other people in taking a photo for peace during the World Wide Moment.

The website is here.  There is a link so you can figure out what time that means for you.

Peace  :-)

Friday, November 4, 2011

Fiber Arts Friday: I am a Very Lucky Girl

So, I had a whole different post planned for today, but lookie what arrived on Wednesday.  :-D


Yep, that's right.  My new cat!  :-)

I was on a teleconference when the Mail Lady knocked on the door...  The Alpaca Dog jumped up and fiercely announced his presence.  I, of course, neglected to mute my phone.  Ooops.

Anyway, as soon as the call was over, I went to the door because I figured the cat probably wanted to get out of that box... I opened up the package to find a lovely pair of hand-knit slipper socks, a couple of perfect items to go with them and no cat.  :-(

Oh ok I confess... I told Beth that she should let Edgar Allen Poe Cat stay with her because he would miss her.... and frankly Noodle has more than enough cats to keep her occupied with our one Pankcake.  ;-)


I do have to tell you that this timing was absolutely perfect!  We woke up to another 7 inches of snow on Wednesday morning.  So who couldn't use a pair of cosy-hand-knit-socks, hot tea and delicious chocolate on a day like that??


Of course in true Colorado fashion, the blue sky and sun came out and were working hard on turning that snow into water by the time I took this photo.  :-)

Just so you know, the socks fit perfectly.  :-D


AND, just so you know the whole story...  I was working from home on Wednesday, so my fashion was much more about comfort and warmth than actual fashion.  I won't show you the entire ensemble, but you get the idea...


Ambo, it might be time for that intervention you threatened me with so many years ago. ;-)

Anyway, as you know I have recently gotten on the sock-knitting-bandwagon.  I have not made any for myself, yet.  Of course I've only made one pair so far.  So I'm not certain that counts as being "on the wagon," but I can tell you that I have a (secret) second pair in work, a list that includes at least 4 more, a couple of sock pattern books and a growing sock-yarn stash to support a new-found obsession... So I am thrilled to have a pair of hand-knit socks to call my very own.  Especially a pair that was made by someone I adore.  :-D
 
And I almost forgot, these socks are hand-knit from hand-spun yarn.  Yep, I'm a very lucky girl.

If you're a regular reader of Fiber Arts Friday, you already know The Awesome that is Spinster Beth.  But if you're not, go say hello.  I think you'll like her too.  :-)

And while you're at it, please say hello to the other fantastic Fiber Arts Friday Fiberistas!

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

My Clothes

I was thinking earlier this week about how my clothes have changed since we became full-time farmers.  Mostly I was thinking about it because we had our first snow event of the season and I had forgotten how often I change clothes in the winter these days.

First, The Snow Event

It was seriously an event.  Nearly 9 inches of heavy, wet, spring-like snow at our house... which is next to, not in the Rocky Mountains.  They said on the news that the water content of our normal snow is 10 inches of snow = 1 inch of water.  It's why people love to ski Colorado.... Champagne Powder!

The snow we had last week was 10 inches of snow = 6 inches of water.

The trees still had most of their leaves, so there were fallen branches everywhere.  We had many friends without power for more than 24 hours.  It was the coldest night of the season at a low of around 15F.  Fortunately those friends all have fireplaces so they were not cold.

We were very lucky and only lost internet for a couple of hours during the big melt and only have one broken branch that I now need to remove from the tree.  But wow, it was certainly an event.

On to the Clothes

Prior to being a full-time farmer, I lived in a city.  I had my going to the office clothes and my comfy at home clothes.  But for more than 10 years my going to the office clothes and comfy at home clothes were the same because it was normal to wear shorts and t-shirts or jeans and t-shirts to the office.  I do miss those days.

Eventually we purchased a few alpacas that we agisted at a nearby farm so a group of going to the farm clothes were added... or rather, removed from my going to the office clothes.

The going to the farm clothes were often torn or stained and of course the boots had poo on them.

Now that we're full-time farmers, live outside of a city and I commute to a client office where proper office clothes are the norm I have several more groups of clothes.

In the Summer

There's the proper office clothes that look good in the summer heat and the indoors *^%-freezing, air-conditioning.  They are easily removed and replaced for passing thru TSA checkpoints and generally need to be dry-cleaned.

Then there's the comfy at home clothes and farm clothes.  These are often the same unless it's been raining and is therefore muddy outside.

I wear shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops for the majority of the summer.  I often find myself in the corral wearing jammies and flip-flops and toward the end of the summer, I occasionally forego the flip-flops and find myself in the pasture without anything resembling shoes at all.

I have my clean shorts and t-shirts for going out and my dirty shorts and t-shirts for mucking, feeding, weeding and other farm chores.  All of these are sent through the general wash without much care or worry.

I do have a pair of hiking boots that I use for working around the alpacas.  They generally have poo on them too.  Alpacas can have very sharp toe nails and Flip-flops don't go well with them.  Let's just say, I know this from experience. :-/

In the Winter

I have the proper office clothes that look good over layers of long-johns and under layers of woolies.  They are also easily removed and replaced for passing thru TSA checkpoints and yes, also generally need to be dry-cleaned.

Then I have the comfy at home clothes and the farm clothes.  I have old ripped and stained jeans, long-johns, snow boots, big coat, winter gloves and woolies that are dedicated to farm chores.  These things all get donned and removed in the mud room which is really just a shelf in the garage.  These are all machine washable and are cycled through every few days.

The comfy at home clothes are jeans, t-shirts and sweaters.... but often they're jammies.  Yep, I will often be on a teleconference with technical developers and business users in other countries and time zones wearing my jammies.  I do like this part.  :-D

So I guess the big difference between not being a farmer then and being a farmer now is the mud and snow management.  There isn't nearly as much access to mud in the city as there is on a farm.  So anything that gets muddy or snowy stays out of the house.  Which means that when I am home and going in and out of the house quite a lot, I am therefore changing clothes several times each day.