Today is the fourth anniversary of my first blog entry on the first of my three farmblogs. The first entry was:
“February 7, 2005
It’s currently winter although some days feel like spring. The ground is muddy and some of the goats and sheep are bred- due in April. We have three kids born January 15th from when the buck escaped in August and bred a doe too early. They were very chilled when I found them one hour after they were born. They are thriving now and oh so cute! Chores involve feeding and watering everyone which is great exercise! We’re just trying to keep the peace here and the predators at bay. We really want spring to get here and more light- it’s pretty dark and wet right now!”
It is more or less the same this year except since our flooding and snowstorms it has been remarkably dry here- much less mud. Plus I have more time off during the daylight hours so the dark is not as much of an issue as in previous winters. There were no successful accidental breedings this year so lambing and kidding should occur on schedule and in better climate this year. So all in all improvements over time noted in the now old blog.
I have not been taking on farm projects lately since we have taken on renovating our bathroom. It, of course, is taking more time and costing more than anticipated. I have been taking photos on our progress. When we are done I will post them somewhere and provide a link from a post here on the off chance that someone would like to check out our bathroom!
I have also been involved in what little free time I have in a Fair Isle Workshop. It is being run by Liz Lovick of Orkney and is at the EZasPi site (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EZasPi/). I was excited about my progress until I looked at the photos of the other participants works- much more intricate and colorful than mine. Oh well- I am really enjoying Fair Isle knitting and think I will be doing it for a long time. I am proud to be using all of my own Shetland wool except the light grey which is Shetland wool yarn from Whoamule farm on Whidbey. It’s all natural colors too except the dyed brown on the second to bottom pattern. That was a dying experiment for olive green went wrong. I experimented with knitting with a larger black yarn and it caused some puckering so I would not suggest it. I plan on finishing it when I find a chance and making a hat with it. So I am very excited about this workshop and learning directly from a very experienced Orkney knitter!
The Stash
The Pattern and the Progess
What a beautiful hat! I love the natural colors in it. Liz runs terrific workshops. She did the Fair Isle workshop on the Traditional Knitting list last year and I’m still spinning Shetland yarns for my project.– Franna
Gorgeous! Fair Isle knitting is on my to-learn list!
Thank you Franna and Deborah for your compliments. you really should check out what the other women in the group knitted up. There’s are much nicer than mine. I did not know about the traditional knitting group. I will check it out!Donna
The hat is beautiful!!! I don’t know how to knit yet except the basic stitch. But someday I intend to learn, probably when the kids are out on their own and I’m not homeschooling anymore. I love fair Isle sweaters and would love to someday make them from my shetland wool.Jackie
I think any Shetland sheep owner should learn how to knit- but, of course, I am biased. If you know how to do the knit stitch, it is easy to learn the purl stitch and then you are basically done- you can knit anything then! There are a few other things like increases and decreases but they are just variations of the basic two stitches and the internet is a great resource for learning them (you tube, etc.). Knit on!