STITCHES OR BUST!

OMG! the excitement is more than i can stand. tomorrow-on my birthday rhodie and i are heading off the hill to santa clara-stitches west is happening-a very fun knitting event!!!! we are meeting up with soxchik for a few days of fiber bliss. between my b-day $ and my change jar-(i've been saving my change for this very event since last years Stitches and have been rolling coins all morning!!!!) i hope to find some goodies.

no i'm not having beer for breakfast- i began counting last nite and couldn't find my coin rollers. had to borrow a bunch from rhodie this morning as she is doing the same. i took this picture last nite. can you believe there was 98$ in this jar-wow!!!!! guess we'll have to stop off at the bank and trade in it. don't think the vendors at the fiber market want rolled coins. plus it weighs a ton!!!

i hope Kama feels better soon! she's been in the hen spa(aka laundry room) since yesterday.


i have to admit i'm a bit excited to get away from the beast-i mean" blue" for a bit. his adolescence has me worn to the bone. can you believe he weighs 50 lbs. he's almost 9 months old. i wonder how much bigger he will get.
blue enjoyed watching the oscars- especially the commercials! the bunny ears worked!!! and we got the station in-not that i've seen any of the films but i've always enjoyed the oscars since i was a kid. loved the crystal curtains!!!
i took another with the flash on but that showed too much of my unvacuumed carpet!! welll-i have tons to do before the trip-will report when i return!!!!

ewe are so gorgeous!!!

we are on a week long break from school-liam and i had great plans for this week-getting ready for the upcoming chick arrival. fencing, banty coop building and yet another extension of the existing coop. i love the current moisture we are receiving-but it makes for bad construction time. instead-we've been catching up on schoolwork-due to all the days missed. the call of the sled was just too strong!!!

i have also decided to focus on spinning. seemed like months since i last spun-it was before my back went out. i had been spinning this wonderful Falkland roving i had dyed quite awhile back. bright and breezy!!!the colors are deeper than this. still doing the camera struggle. bright green, aqua and chartreuse! i want to make socks! here it is on the wheel-when i didn't use the flash it was too dark -this with the flash-too washed out and reflective or something. i plied it but haven't set the twist yet!the other night i started some masham wool dyed by pippi. her website isn't up right now so i won't link. gorgeous! i've never spun masham before-very long locks-strong stuff! hopefully enough to make another pair of socks. i struggled at first but-it's coming along fine now. will post pics soon. but check these sheep out-they are from northern england-telly savalis-eat your heart out!!!
oops! sorry telly! i forgot telly passed away in 1994-i'm sure he's got a mane where ever he is. hhmmm- let's see who else can eat their heart out? okay-paul shaffer- eat your heart out!!!!

don't get me wrong-i find bald heads sexy- especially bald women! check out this website! lot's of eye candy there- well-it's not ALL eye candy! but you might like some of it. gotta get back to spinning my masham!!!

every knitters nightmare-

-we had a beautiful little snow storm

which knocked out our power and phone-still waiting. good thing for satellite and battery in the lap top. we also have a small generator so roy can continue to work during these times.-it's nice to be able to flush a toilet!

before the storm we headed to sacramento on saturday for free museum day-we go every year. on the way we decided to drop off some recycling--now-most of you won't get the visual here-hey birdsong are you out there?-yes-only you will totally get the full mental picture as i was too distraught to get it on camera.

we dropped off our recycle at the north san juan transfer station-before we left i took my knitting from the back of the car so i could knit some once we got on straight roads-yes-hubby was driving. i was organizing my knitting knitting project(a sweater for liam) as we turned the corner-right when we were in front of the" brass rail"- i start freaking- my yarn my yarn!!!photo courtesy of the web- hubby screeches to a halt right outside of the brass rail- birdsong-it was about 9:00a.m. the booze for breakfast crowd was already hanging outside-i jump out of our subaru shrieking" my yarn my sweater!" the locals stare at me like i'm a freak! as i realize my full ball of yarn dropped on the ground back at the dump- when i took it out of the back of the car-i got in and shut the door. as i was getting situated i realized my yarn was shut in the door and my ball was nowhere to be found.

what can i say? the folks on the porch of the 'RAIL" got a kick out of me jumping out of the car and winding my sweater project all the way back to the dump! you could see the yarn trailing up the road!- i can laugh now but i was freaking at the time. not to mention the yarn is from my stash and is now discontinued as it is very very old-i would not have been able to finish the sweater if i'd lost all that yarn. the yarn is a bit grimy but i'm sure it will wash out-ugh-hopefully!

our first stop was hoppy brewing company as one of our favorite not so local blue grass bands plays there the first saturday of each month. (11am-1pm) great food, good beer and toe tappin tunes!

we then ventured to some of the museums- wow! can you say "recession?" the lines were blocks long-we've never seen it this way-remember -it was "free" museum day. we really wanted to tour the governors mansion-the one nancy reagan poo-pooed! the line was phenomenal- hey nancy- i would have lived there in a heart beat!!!

we were met with line after line..blue needed a walk we took him to the river..he had a ball chasing geese, swimming and attacking waves with a vengeance. he went ballistic on a rock sticking out of the river..as if it were an alien.

we ended up at the towe auto museum. one of my favs- i'm a classic car drooler. here's a few of my favs. this 58 edsel station wagon is for sale-love the plaid seats!
next we move on to an awesome beach surfer mobile!!! the wood work was phenomenal!

check out this beauty-note the nice wench on the front! a real working vehicle!

the museum has great dioramas all thru out the place-taxidermy chickens, bears and wonderful mannequins!
there is also a nice collection of old bicycles as well-this one is for you milissa!

wow! i could post like 20 more pics but that would be over doing it a bit. we had a great day even though we only went in one museum.

praise for billie!!!

my new favorite hat pattern is the billie hat!!! i so love it and it's quick and easy. remember my new year's resolution to do at least 5 items on my ravelry queue-well, i got one down-yee ha!!!!

after blue played "disembowel" with the yarn-with the help of luca brassi(see previous post) i actually had the patience to untangle it-hey it was manos-and one of my favs. i wasn't about to trash it. i began the billie hat...i had it done in two days. it's definitely a one day hat but i can't just sit around and knit all day...i know "in a perfect world!" the hat is even cute without the brim.

i was debating whether to add it or not. but i really wanted to try the short row shaping brim-and wow-what a blast! how do people think these things up-amazing!!the only thing i would have done was to knit it a bit longer before the top decrease. i was doing the small size-fits great around my head but a bit short in length-i would do the 5 1/2 inches of the larger size and then decrease. it's a hip hat for teens. great gift idea as it is so quick and fun to knit!here's an art shot: where is that hand coming from? if only it was dripping -it would be so dali-okay steph's cold is getting to her head...she needs a nap!
you can get the free pattern from patti gonsalves aka dandelions2-on ravalry. just look up the pattern for the billie hat. any of you fiber freaks out there that are not hooked on ravelry yet-i suggest you go do so now-best damn drug- i mean virtual addiction out there. but ya gotta get on the waiting list. which isn't long these days.

i wanted to clarify the guilty parties in the yarn fiasco-it's definitely kitsie knocking the yarn from the high shelf down to Blue. now- what i'm wondering is-are they in cahoots together in this act of yarn violation or is kitsie mearly doing this to get blue in trouble--hmm-i wonder.

madness

i can't believe it's been so long since i've posted. it's not because of lack of interest or being too busy. it's because of my own pathetic lack of computer knowledge. i've been blogging for awhile now and i'm so embarrassed of my egitness as to why i couldn't get it to work right- i can't even tell you what happened. and to think of all my time wasted trying to figure it out. duh! double duh!

anyway...in the meantime we got some much needed rain and even some snow.

i love seeing reflections on the deck..ahhh! but it's back to sunshine now and can only hope more is on the way.

while i was M.I.A. from the blogosphere i had a moment of complete insanity...maddness you might say. now, those of you who know me; know i struggle with finishing knitting projects-even small ones. hearing that my l.y.s. was having a sale i search my ravelry queue for something that i wanted to make but did not have the yarn in my stash to do so. here's where the madness kicks in. did i chose a simple hat or a pair of socks? oh no-i had to pick a pattern that out of the 273,063 registered ravelry users.....only 22 freakin people have chosen to knit it. here it is-a "rowan" pattern mind you. i always have lots of trouble with their patterns too!

a knitted dress. at least i have chosen to omit the faire isle sleeves and just make it a jumper. i found some equivalent yarn(not rowan) that was 50% off at the sale. needing many skeins i couldn't get my first choice of colors with was a mossy olive green. so i got my second:

i wonder if i can finish it by Halloween....so i can rise out of Linus's pumpkin patch and fly through the air and bring toys to all the children of the world. okay -seriously-maybe i should just take bets on whether i ever finish it at all.

i've been really wanting a new knitted cap lately. as i was looking thru mt stash i found an old skein of manos that would be perfect for the billie hat i've been wanting to knit. also from my ravelry queue. i put it well out of reach of "blue." this morning when i was looking for it i could not find it. then i realized that kitsie the kat(aka luca brassi from the godfather-remember her) was capable of reaching it. her love of fine expensive wool still lingers. while looking for her i see 'blue" out of the corner of my eye run thru the house shaking wildly...something that resembles a rag doll. horror of horrors i realize it is my skein of manos yarn!!!!! i yelled "drop it" louder than i have ever yelled at him and let me tell you...it worked. he cowered. he usually runs away when he knows he has something he shouldn't-wanting a game of catch me if you can! here's my skein now:

ugh! death to thee oh cute one!!! but there's other things to do with yarn besides knit. a friend sent this to me :you can read about it here.

hey soxy-does this answer your question?

yes we can!!!!!

Yesterday…we started our day schooling as usual. When liam said to me “I wish it were a 3 day weekend.” then I remembered it was MLK day. I looked at the school calendar and sure enough-we had the day off.

I chose to read to him from a civil rights leaders book before we took the rest of the day off. No matter how many times I read aloud about Martin Luther King JR., I lose my composure and weep at the end and one of the kids has to finish reading it while patting my back and saying it’s okay to cry. This year it was liam’s turn to finish reading it.

Today we took another day off school to watch the inauguration of our 44th president-the first African American to become the leader of our country. what a wonderful day it was! i'm so glad the bunny ears worked on the t.v.!!!!!! and what a gorgeous dress Michelle wore today! one of my favorite colors!

hey girls-don't forget to slide down that banister in your new home!

liam and i went to the inauguration party here in our tiny town-at the only bar/restaurant there is. thanks cathy for organizing it!!!! she had a message board there for people to sign with their hopes and wishes. cathy is going to send it to obama.

this is the board when we arrived....when we left it was full!!! yeah!!! i'm so proud of out little town. for being in a rural republican part of california election results surprised me. of the 329 that voted we had a total of 178 for obama! mcCain only got 136. the rest of the votes were split up for independent candidates. wow! our town voted for OBAMA!

cathy made the night special with her usual wonderful guitar and singing...her own inauguration songs!! you rock cathy! i wish i had gotten more photos from the event....damn!

completion..aahh! it's a good thang!

there is nothing like the day when the murray mcmurray hatchery catalog comes in the mail. all responsibilities go sailing out the door. time to cuddle in and dream about all the different kinds of chicks we want to get this spring. last year we didn't get chicks-we had enough chickens. now, with "insulator" the rooster and "ruth" gone we want to expand the coop a bit and get more. we are thinking of building a new separate little banty coop down by the garden. liam really wants to have some banties.

we usually buy our chicks at the feed store. but they are limited in types. we won't order from murray as they have 25 minimum chick order-we don't need that many-i can't imagine 25 chicks in my bathroom-no thanks. we are going to order from ideal hatchery. they have many rare breeds too and only have a minimum 25$ order. i like that better. the post master is sure going to be surprised when they arrive...get ready BO! if anyone wants a real good reference site for checking out different chicken breeds -check this site!

on the fiber side i'm thrilled to announce that yes-the woolydaisy has actually finished a project!!! it's true, no lie! and i've even gotten the suckers dirty.....yeehaa! i'm turning a new leaf! my mantra... "finish finish finish finish finish it...damn it, will you just finish it!" ahhhh!-or is om! that should do it.


and they even fit!
i'm not one for new years resolutions-but i do have a few..i won't bore or titillate you with my deep dark secretive ones..... no-i'll just share my fiberish ones-as i did with the knitting nite gals last nite.
1. DESTASH!!! notice the use of capitols there. i only use them when truly needed. i want to cut my yarn stash in half!

2. finish lingering projects or have a ball frogging them-i'm gonna have a frogging party. everyone can come and rip stuff out that they know they will never finish...might as well reuse the yarn,eh?

3. my ravelry queue..it's insane! madness has taken over.....me the non finisher thinks she can actually finish these projects in a life time-ha! so i'm gonna be gentle with myself....i will complete..drumroll please......5 only, 5 of my queued items. but that's okay-i gotta start somewhere. i don't want to set myself up for failure. i think i can do this...and if i do more...well, i'll have another party okay?!!

4. finish my god damn crocheted quilt. enough said!

meanwhile on the home front......couch wars! my grand friend jeanette just gave me her effin awesome down stuffed antique couch! in a gorgeous shade of sage! carey(tall son) who is 6'2" can stretch out and lounge-even sleep on this thing. liam (short son)-the antique collector..has dreamt of owning this couch since the first time he saw it! needless to say...it's heaven! thanks J! the picture does not do it justice! and she gave me the coffee table too!!!!well, once again duty calls...geez! you'd think i was in the military or something!

still standing!

okay okay- i'm trying to post....i'm in the midst of going back to teaching the kids after 2 weeks off for winter break. 2 weeks of hell because of my back. so i'm a bit bitter to have to get right back into schooling without a real vacation. unless you call two weeks of nonstop back labor a vacation-ugh! i'm bummed as i can't go to spinning saturday this week as sitting is still very painful.

i did get some dyeing done-i'm most comfortable standing:
just a sampling. trying to get my etsy shop updated. i have a pathetic amount of stuff and no rovings. i need to update!!!

i feel like i'm drawing a blank....had so much to tell you all and now that i have a few minutes to fill you in..... i feel like i've been "stupefied."

one milestone our family passed was...carey turned 17! OMG! we had a party here for him with his desired dish of enchiladas! blue had a great time pre-washing the dishes!YES! i had a memory revival!!!!!!! i wanted to fill you in on the yarn club i joined today. hazel knits ....i love her stuff! i've never joined a yarn club...so much for my yarn restriction and "stitches o9" soon approaching!

family is calling gotta go!

happy new year!

happy new year everyone from "wooly" at the "rebel hen ranch". did i ever mention that's what i named our little homestead? being that we live on rebel ridge, i thought it appropriate. it was named rebel ridge back in the civil war days as the town of camptonville was yankee-rebel ridge harbored the rebels on the outskirts of town. this does not make me a civil war rebel supporter-i am of the union strain. but i'm a rebel in other ways...so i thought i'd reclaim the use of the word "rebel."
the gurls are finishing up their molting and are looking so much better. and the eggs are slowly returning.

we celebrated last nite with a mellow time of pizza and a harry potter movie. which kept hubby and i from falling asleep before the big hour-well-actually it didn't work so well for hubby! blue loved his first new years and got really excited and barked in the new year!

my favorite knitted gift item i made this past year were the hemp dishcloths. i'm excited that each small skein of the hemp can make 2 cloths-i will have extra to make our family some. being that hemp is mildew resistant it makes a great dishcloth an doesn't fall apart as quickly as the cotton ones!!
i know many of my readers are book lovers! i urge you to check out Kelly*girl*knits blog as she has some great 2009 reading challenges! may 2009 be all you want it to be!

trying hard not whine

i've been avoiding my blog lately. mainly because it would have been pretty pathetic. you would have found posts titled "kill me! kill me now!" or" just take me to vet and put me down!" i've been dealing with extreme back pain for over a week now. no position comfortable-unable to endour the car trip to town to get help as i have been unable to sit or lay down. standing has been semi tolerable and sleeping has been minimal.

the hardest thing for me to deal with is the fact that even though i have 2 weeks off from schooling i will not get any of my many planned projects done. i really wanted to put posts in for extending the hen yard and if weather and money permitted even buying the a few rolls of fencing and actually attemping to do it. varies aspects of house cleaning can't be done as lifting and bending is required. some of you may think -oh i bet you are knitting and reading and watching groovy old movies. i wish! but doing these things standing up is not very fun and gets old quik. i'm sick of standing and hate sleeping flat on my stomach.

oh gee-i sense this post is beginning to get whiney and pathetic. i better stop. one more thing...did i mention that i'm absolutely miserable? on to better things. i wanted to post a picture of the solstice cave our family builds every year to honor the return or rebirth of the sun. we light the candles at sunset on solstice eve.
we had a small gathering for the kids-cookie decorating and a solstice play were enjoyed. my favorite cookie..the black one-obviously done by an early teen!


here is blue wanting to the wear the sun costume.

sorry no good pics of the play.....but you get the idea. i took jeanne's advice after my felting mishap as spirits were low and decided to chill and knit myself something. being that my feet are always cold i opted for some coziness--wool socks! thick wool socks done on a size 3 needle. i haven't made the anguishing leap into doing socks on a size 1-anything on a size 1 is just wrong in my book. BUT(notice the caps!) i am willing to change. i'm willing to take the plunge and it is my new years resolution to not fear or disdain skinny needles-something i now use to clean my teeth with or check to see if baked goodies are done. i will go forth. but for now -here's my socks on size 3 needles. been into purples and green this season-purple is usually not a color choice i usually imbibe in.the green is more chartruesy in real life. gotta love it eh? okay-there's something i wanted to mention to you all-i know it's too late for this holiday season but..... for those of you non-fiber folks out there that have fiber fanatics in your family or circle of friends; i don't care how big you think their yarn stash is-gifts of yarn and fiber is all we fiber creatures want!!! check out my holiday haul...i'm a lucky gurl, eh? please, give the gift of fiber! oops! i forgot one! here's one from hubby...

happy new years everyone!!!

happy winter!

i woke early this solstice day after having a small family solstice gathering last night. today is my dear friend Jeanette's wedding day. it will take place at the miner's foundry. the wedding is having a celtic flare and i'm in charge of making vegetarian Irish stew for those who don't imbibe in flesh. i found a wonderful recipe at www.beerfordinner.com yes, it includes guinness! very appropriate for nettie. it is simmering on the stove now and smells great. the marmite is a must! i may have a new solstice tradition. i omitted the red lentils(they didn't sound very irish to me) and added more root vegetables like parsnips and turnips- and way more potatoes! the rain is falling and it feels like an irish wedding day. i wanted to share the recipe with you. give it try! happy winter!

Vegetarian Irish Stew

2 medium onions, chopped
1/4 c. unbleached flour
4 c. water
1 c. Guinness stout (or other dark beer)
2 c. mushrooms, thickly sliced
1 c. carrot, sliced into rounds
1 c. celery, diced
1/2 c. split red lentils
1/2 c. fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 c. soy sauce
3 vegetarian bouillon cubes or 3 T. vegetable-stock base
1 bay leaf
2 tsp. Marmite
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. each dried thyme, marjoram and rosemary
2 cloves garlic, minced
Black pepper to taste
1 package of frozen or refrigerated vegetarian "steak" strips

In a large, lightly oiled, heavy pot, steam-fry the onion until it begins to soften. Add the flour and stir thoroughly. Add the remaining ingredients, mix well, and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer on low heat for about 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are done.

Serves 6. Serve with Colcannon (an Irish dish of mashed potatoes and greens -- generally kale, although some recipes use leeks or green onion) and Irish soda bread.

may your solstice be full of magic, merry and mistletoe