beer sweaters

now, i may not knit for my chickens but i will knit sweaters for beer bottles. i have a beer lovin, fellow piscean friend with a birthday coming up this week-what a better gift than a beer cozy!!! free pattern found here. this is a fun and fast gift idea-easy to knit too-if you can handle cables and double pointed needles.yea! it's done! while i'm on the subject of beer-i have just found a new store bought favorite(hubby's are the best!)-from weed, california.gotta love the bottle cap-liam and i have spent the last few days sprinkling the property with native wild california poppy seeds-in hopes of a colorful spring-let's hope the chickens don't find these delectable tidbits!!today we've had a true wild and crazy spring day-sun, rain, hail and bits of snow flurries-spring is definitely close. the other evening we had the most spectacular sunset. the picture doesn't do it justice-the pinks were more shocking and the lavenders below the pinks were so much more intense!!!!! but this gives you an idea:

it's the little things.........

.........that help you thru life.

i missed spinning saturday as i was "moonie cramping monster" and didn't want to go in public. i had good intentions-birdsong and i had plans to drive together as she never has a saturday off. i had to cancel.

on her way into town she dropped this by my house-totally made my day.and then later my little neighbor morgan(turning 12 this april) bought this for me at an estate sale.too cute eh?

i finally finished the commissioned vest for finn. yea!i don't think i will finish my st. paddy's day shawl in time-oh well. here it is so far.my afghan dilemma has taken a turn-i made a total of 6 4X4 squares-not gonna happen. too many ends to sew in. what was i thinking??? so i thought i would try to make a bigger square that is the size of 4 small squares. this just might work.i have been spinning some of the new fiber i got at stitches-lovin this colorway. what to make with it-or shall i sell it? dilemma.
i'll leave you with another stitches score- nature's palette-a naturally dyed merino yarn-i bought for a beautiful lace shawl. the color name is "odd duck" fits me perfect. i bought the last of it. the fiber artist is dying no more of it. it's a beautiful blue with green spots in it. thank you all for the little things in life-a letter, an email, a thought, a small gift or just being there for me. thank you thank you thank you-you are so special to me.

hookie

liam and i played hookie today. we headed to chico this morning for the 42nd bidwell bottle and insulator show. we went the first day as to not miss out on the good stuff. liam was a bit bummed at first as he said the was "overpriced or crap." he had been counting the days for this show-so it was a bit of a let down for him. so we took a break ate our sandwiches and kumquats that we packed early this morning and had a new outlook on life.this little break perked liam up immensely and we went back in and had a ball. he's learning that things that are more collectible-cost more.(that's tough when you are 10) he took his time thinking about his purchases. here's some examples of the choice dilemmas.he was probably just overwhelmed as i was at "stitches west." you want it all but you can't have it. i found myself loving all the beautiful colors-and trying to sway liam's choices due to my selfish color preferences.(i.e. chartreuse or citron) he wasn't going for it. that's when i got the grand idea to start my own collection-not to compete mind you-but to be able buy the colors i like to put in my window and enjoy the colors. so i bought my first insulator-a pony insulator that was marked 15$ but i talked the guy down to 10$ because of chips. i may be hooked-shit! see the diamond? that means it's canadian.

i was on the look out for swanky swigs-i collect these small drinking glasses from the 30-50's. they used to come with processed cheese in them. they are a cheap thing for me to collect-i like them. liam gave me one for solstice that has a spinning wheel on it!!! here's my new one with the spinning wheel. 3$.

i love the drive to chico-lower elevation allows us to drive back country roads thru olive groves-yes!!!!! lots of green rolling hills and funky things to see. i love this fence:they have more to hang.as we ventured back home -i needed an unsweetened lipton ice tea in a glass bottle. we have to stop at what liam calls the steven king grocery- no one ever comes out!!!! this photo makes this place look good!
we made it out alive-but no luck on the tea(sold out)-guess steven king likes the unsweetened stuff too.

liam wanted everyone to see his prize insulator-he's pretty excited about this one-it's a deeper purple in real life.

knits for chicks

if i EVER start knitting for my chickens......... please shoot me!

more stitches!

after a beautiful morning rain the sun is shining and the chickens are happy to be scratching about. the boys are on a hike-i'm recovering from another broken toe-so i'm hanging at home for a bit of peace and quiet. i hope to finish the commissioned vest and get some banjo practice in.

i thought i'd show you a few more "STITCHES" scores. i loved the sweet grass wool booth! i asked them to bring some undyed targhee fiber for dying ands spinning. and they did!! they traveled from montana-the wool is raised in montana. i can hardly wait to get my dyes out! so i bought some fiber and i treated myself to this delightful sock yarn in my favorite color!!!!!
isn't that gorgeous!!! and the gals were so nice at the booth-i really focused on supporting the little folks at this show. i wanted to support small companies and get things i couldn't get just anywhere.

another booth i enjoyed was judy's novelty wool. she doesn't have a website. she's from centerville, utah. her logo is "fun fibers for hand spinners." fun indeed!!!!! she was so personable and will to share knowledge-i could have hung out with her all day-i've started to spin the bottom roving and it is turning out beautifully!!! it is corriedale and so easy to spin-and soft too.

one booth i'm soooooooo regretting not buying at was the tactile and a verb for keeping warm booth. these gals had awesome naturally dyed spinning fibers and yarns to dye for. in fact-i was so overwhelmed i couldn't decide what to buy-i meant to go back and time didn't allow it-damn!!!! very inspiring stuff for me indeed. i want to explore natural dyes more-i've dabbled in the past but ready to do more.

can you say heaven?

oh my gawd! fiber heaven that is. i think i'm still recovering from the "stitches west" knitting expo!!!! it's a fabulous 4 day knitting extravaganza. my friend rhodie and i only went for one day-last fri.- holy crap!!!!! i was sooooooooo overwhelmed when i walked thru the doors of the santa clara convention center. i was so overwelmed i did not take one picture. sorry! aisle after aisle of yarn, spinning fibers, patterns, needles,books and everything knitting!!!!!! there was too much-can there be such a thing? yes there can- when you are trying to decide what to buy.

the best part was meeting soxchik-my cyber friend. rhodie and i had a blast hanging out with her-i hope we didn't embarrass her too much-as we we don't get off the hill much and our squeals and shouts of delight and amazement could be heard thru out the convention center-we could barely contain ourselves.

i was going to post all my fibery scores but i think i'll tease you a bit and post one pic per post as now that time has lapsed i have other things to blog about too.

here's some lace weight "solar" dyed merino from Ceallach dyes that i almost didn't buy-i dragged rhodie and soxy sue back to this booth and tried to decide-suddenly the lights were flashing-last call-before they turn off the power-i quickly decided-yes, yes, yes. i'm so glad.
the skein is 1750 yards and it even came with a free pattern!-god! i can hardly stand it!!! but I MUST, I MUST, I MUST(please note the use of capital letters here) finish other projects before starting anything new. damn!

one of the funniest thing to witness at this event was all the women with large suitcases on wheels to hold all their purchases-why didn't i photogragh this!!!! what a phenomenon! i could show the pics to hubby and say-"see- it could be worse!"

on another note-today is my birthday. date change-as i'm finally finishing this entry on feb. 26. a big womping 45-whoa!!! what can i say? "jesus mary and joseph!" at least i can say i share my b-day with johhny cash. love him! which made me realize i 've been blogging for over a year-as i remember last year i posted this pic of johnny on my b-day:
maybe i will make it a b-day tradition to post this photo!

i spent the day in chico-we had a homeschool field trip to hear the north state symphony-it was a bit intense as the hall was filled with too many children-liam is not a crowd person and hates lot's of noise-it was a bit torturous for him to wait for the concert to begin as the decibels grew and grew-as the kids were waiting for the show to begin. after the show- we skipped the museum part of the field trip(we don't do museums in group form!-plus we've been there before) intstead-we snuck off with rhodie and her family for a treat at the "madison bear gardens"- beer and burgers-ours were veggie and very tasty!! thanks for the b-day treat you guys!

then liam and i embarked on our own- to explore antique shops-chico has great ones!!! liam got a few insulators and an old coffee tin. and i scored an old enamel tea pot for 6$ and some clothes-at thrift store prices. sorry no pics except for this awesome bike-if i lived in flatlander ville-i would get me a cruiser for sure-they are obsolete where we live:
cheers to you: look at the latest homebrew from dear hubby-yum yum!
i leave you with a photo of one of our swimming holes- we hiked to in the rain last sunday:okay-i lied. i now leave you with a pic of an old walking stick hubby left at the trail head to the swimming hole last fall-look at it now.

sick ward

this has been the scene at my house this past week:
last tuesday when i went to pick up carey along with his sister eden(we are watching her while her folks went away) i got a big surprise as that night-sickness had consumed them.-day 7 still coughing up a storm. so needless to say we've had sleepless nights and i'm trying so hard not to get sick cause rhodie(friend and neighbor) are driving off the hill all the way to santa clara(about 3 1/2 hour drive) to "stitches west" a knitting convention-we are just hitting the market-yeha!!!! fiber galore-i hope i have a handle on my addiction. and i get to meet a cyber friend and fellow blogger soxchik!!! i am very excited indeed-i hope i can pull myself out of my hermitess-ness-to deal with the crowds. crowds overwelm me.

at one point this week when carey was feeling better-he and liam were able to construct a small casino and play spades out in the fresh air-being that we've had lot's of sunshine-i've been airing out the house! evertime i turned around there was a hen in the house:
hi lucy!!! well- i gotta get dinner for the kids and write my next chicken cronicles article for the local paper-nothing like writing about fingering a chicken!!!!

hooray!

happy valentine's day!!!! i made my loved ones little purple handknit hearts-i love you guys!!!!

in honor of this holiday i will show you a recent skein of merino i hand dyed and spun-totally not my colors. i'm putting it on etsy-but my neighbor/friend rhodie gets first dibs-she saw me spinning it at spinning sat. and NEEDED it !i've been super busy with commissions lately-here's a vest i'm working on:HOORAY FOR ME!!!!-now i'm not usually the bragging type-but i am patting myself on the back for this one. i have always been crochetedly challenged and have never been able to do it-didn't mix with my brain. but thanks to my friend lynn-she taught me the single and double crochet stitch and i'm embarking on an aphgan.i only have 97 squares to go!!!

i have a little tradition that i always knit myself something for st. patty's day-one of my favorite holidays-not for traditional reasons mind you but-for honoring the irish in me and a great excuse for drinking lots of beer!!!! last year i dyed some Falkland wool and spun it and knit myself a pair of socks.
this year i'm doin lace-yes-my first try besides "feather and fan." i'm doing the "forest canopy shawl" in some old stash of mine-classic elite-"evergreen"-which was spun from recycled materials.. another new exciting project for me.- i hope i get it done in time.
i almost forgot to post a picture of the cool egg collecting basket i got for free from "the" awesome yard sale- here it is :hug your loved ones!

chicken butt adventures!

wow!-11 days of being snow bound-unable to drive up our driveway. we relied heavily on neighbors and sleds to bring things in-thank you rhodie for groceries and the use of your dryer and birdsong and glenn for chicken feed! we live on top of a hill-the boys and neighbor kids had a blast sledding all the time. my dryer broke and we couldn't use the clothesline-i would haul wet clothes up hill to rhodie's-and then ride it down in the sled dried-yee ha! what a fun ride! only took a few seconds to ride down it was so fast!!!we've been getting caught up on our schooling but i've been so worried about ruth-our sick hen. she has lived in the laundry room for 2 weeks i put vitamins and echinacea in her water, fed her lot's of healthy food but no egg in 2 weeks-that's bad. egg binding can kill a hen. and trying to help her get that egg out can give her a heart attack and kill. so-i figured either way she could die. never, never, never in my whole life did i ever think i could do what i was about to do- lube up my fingers(gloved) and stick them up my chicken's butt!!! wow- i felt for stuck eggs and lubed her all up inside and then massaged her stomach toward the vent.(butt) i was trying hard not to remember old john waters films that dealt with x-rated chicken scenes-i'll spare you the details!!!
afterwards i put ruth to bed and expected her to be dead by morning- low and behold-maybe it was the fingering or maybe it was the canned salmon i fed her that day- but she looked great the next day-and she layed an egg!!!!oh happy day!!! i plan on reintroducing her back into the flock tomorrow night. i will stick her in the coop after the others are asleep-hens can be nasty.

during the big storm my boy liam turned double digits-the big 10(shit!) we weren't able to do much but today-he was in heaven we went to town!!!!! and hit some yard sales-he got ootles and ootles of his kinda things-old stuff-bottles,tins and insulators-he was in heaven here's a box of old bottles he got for one dollar:i won't bore you with all his scores-but i will bore you with some of mine!!!! one place we went to was a sale from a deceased mountain man- i scored handmade leather shoes: for 3$
hand sewn fur pants for 5$a jesus, mary and joseph pendant for my catholic mother-i wore it to spinning saturday later in the day-wonder if anyone noticed-most folks know i don't follow the faith of my upbringing- though i still love the icons and myths.now here's a real score:a good day was had-and now it's late and need to get off le machine-but it was great to get off the hill and shop and go to spinning saturday-haven't been there in ages. saw lot's of old friends and met new ones!!! too bad i forgot my camera!!! there was so much beautiful color happenings going on!!!