Happy Holidays!

The little ones and I are in Memphis visiting my sister and her brand new baby!

We spent the day at the Memphis Zoo enjoying 50 degree temperatures during December!

We saw lions, and tigers and bears!  Oh my!

And a hippo :)

As we marveled at God’s creation (I mean really, how cool are Mandarin Ducks???) I couldn’t help but think of the season and all that it means.   How amazing that a God so creative, so thoughtful, so full of glory would come as a baby...in a manager…to live and die for us.

May your Christmas and New Year’s celebrations be blessed!

Casting On…

I love this latest yarn.  I have yet to name it but as soon as I do I promise to list it in the store.

I want to make slippers.  In fact I had finally decided on these.  But the checkout got all wonky and wouldn’t let me pay.   And I really, really wanted to make them. 

So I went with these.   You can’t beat free.

A plan for feeding the kids…

I went back to my old stand by:

drumroll please…

The Weekly Menu!

I really, really wish there was an app for this.

I am feeling particularly motivated to occupy the kitchen again.

I have a sponge started for homemade bagels.

I am simmering the cooking the chicken and vegetables part of Chicken Soup.

And I have made up with my sourdough starter.

Sometimes we break….

There a little things and then there are big things…

things that get out of hand, things that are difficult, things that confuse us…things that hurt.

All.these.things.

They come at us daily and we dodge them and deflect them and catch them and do all that the thing of the moment seems to require.

And sometimes, maybe most of the time, we do quite well…

Then other times

We break.

Not because we are not strong enough but because we forget to bend.

Hi-Yah!!!!!

Three of my kids take Karate at the local school.  

Recently Josiah started having some issues at home.  Not huge but it was obvious that he needed some direction.   Josiah has autism and does really well but it takes patience to teach him new things. 

I am happy to say that now Josiah is also taking karate and doing well!  (He is dragging mom and his sister Twila along for the ride.)  Mom, however is worn out. completely.

Oh, Oh an update on the diet: I lost 3lbs!  Yay!

Have you checked the Ravelry contest out yet?   You should!

Scavenger Hunt Contest!!

We are doing a different type of challenge.   The prize is a Farm Fresh Care Package which will include 4 ounces of fiber or yarn, a bar of handmade soup and 4 ounces of raw honey from our hives.

The details are all here.

I have this:

(this is an Ashford Electric Spinner, the jury is out as to whether I spin faster with it or not…)

So I spun this:

(this is 100% Pygora)

And this:

(this is a Heinz 57 yarn…everything is in it)

and that:

(that was my first attempt to n ply on the new e-spinner.   It didn’t go well but we made friends in the end.)

Because My Husband Asked…

for pictures of our chickens, I thought a blogpost was in order. :)

This is Scrapper.  She is some sort of Silkie mix a friend gave me because of my fondness for Silkie Chickens.   She works well in our free range group because her eyes are not covered like a full Silkie’s would be.  Oh and did I mention her name is Scrapper?   There is a reason for that.

This is Rudy.  He is an Icelandic chicken.  I suspect that a bit of Silkie is in there too.   I intended to kept the breed pure but didn’t think it through when I put them with the Silkie crosses.   (You are shocked aren’t you?  Those who know me know I rarely think it through)  You see the Silkies are great for sitting on the eggs BUT the eggs they lay are the same color and I can’t tell which are which.   ::Le Sigh::

Here is the chicken congregation.  I am not sure what the meeting was about, they are got quiet when I showed up.  As you see we have more mutts; lesson learned.  However, they still lay a good amount of eggs and keep the mosquito population down in the summer.

Here you see our Icelandic Rooster Yosemite Sam and the other Silkie that’s been causing all the trouble, Alice.  Perhaps that is what the meetings about….must be serious if they let the roosters in.

Our two Icelandic Hens, Henny Penny and Twig.

I asked the ewe lambs what was going on but they wouldn’t talk…

And the calves were no help either.  I doubt the chickens were discussing the need to bring more bottles of milk, however insistent these two are.

I’m Fat…

Yes.  It’s true.   30 lbs true.  Time to do.something.   Soooo…today I started the Body by Vi challenge.  Yes, I have done it all before.  I feel like a smoker who is trying to quit, you just gotta keep trying.

In the interest of playing along here’s a before picture:

Please don’t snicker, jeer and point…it isn’t nice.  really.

Sorry, I couldn’t resist.  And honestly, I am a little afraid.

I will let you know how it goes.  My goal is to update daily….yikes!

Here’s something a little less depressing though:

A yarny update!   www.countingsheepfarm.etsy.com

What’s with all the updates you ask?

Well, I’ll tell ya!  I’m broke.   There you have it: I’m fat and I’m broke.  Geez you guys are brutal!

 

<very big grin>

Filling up the store!

I would like to thank everyone for being patient while I dealt with the crisis our family was going through.  Now it is time to get back to work though!

Today’s update includes hand carded batts that I have dizzed into roving. 

First I carded the batts, sending them thru the carder several times to evenly blend the fibers together.

Then I ran them thru a diz to make them super spinnable!   I have found that newbie are often hesitant to try batts because they are quite sure how to draft them.   That’s quite a shame because batts make wonderful yarn.

Each batt to roving was then braided to keep the fiber in order, again to make the spinning easier.

I have also added some beautiful Suri Alpaca locks.

As always, you can find it all here. 

I didn’t get up early…

but I still got loot!

We had a lovely Thanksgiving.  It was nice to have the whole family together as we celebrated our first holiday without my uncle.  Today we opted to sleep this afternoon instead of shop but we did manage to wrangle the husband into watching the kids for a bit of shopping. 

I came home for a bit of a nap, a little exhausted still from my early morning quality time with 32lb Mr. Turkey and found my swap package from desertgarden!

So many great things!!  A handspun, handknit heart, a handmade diz, glass beads, silk ribbons, fiber galore!, and a beautiful spindle.

If you get a chance, be sure to check out the lovely things she has in her shop!

Happy Turkey Day

So much to be thankful for…

Lovely, lovely things…

If I do say so myself.

The etsy shop has been updated with the full sized versions of the phatfiber samples for the December box now that the samples themselves are on their way!   It feels great to be back in the groove again…

(Here’s a closer look in case you missed yesterday’s post…)

And I am excited to introduce my new yarn: Sweater Babe!

Sweater Babe is 100% BFL and is a 4 ply worsted weight yarn.  Each skein is 500 yards and is enough to make the short sleeved cardigan pictured above!  If you are in the mood for a new sweater or cardigan or shawl (or whatever) keep an eye out, I have lots of new colors to list!

Childhood Favorites

With the recent death of my uncle I found the Phatfiber theme for December (Childhood Favorites) poignant.

I did three separate colorways: Hardy Dam, Hardy Pond and Sirens.

Each summer, we spent the lazy days at Hardy Dam.   You would find us floating in the pontoon boat on the pond or swimming at the beach right by the dam.   We made a lifetime of memories on that water.

I did the Sirens colorway because as a child I would often stare at the light reflecting on the deep water as we floated in my father’s lastest fix her up speed boat and wonder just what was under there.  I was quite sure there were mermaids.  There are only 2! samples of the Sirens colorway.  If you happen to get one be sure to let me know you found the Siren! and I will send you a 4 ounce braid of the Sirens colorway.  Good luck!

As a side note, Twila and I made it to Irish Dance class after missing the last two weeks and my instructor and I had interesting conversation about life and death and what we really mourn for…

As I drove home I scanned through the stations and came upon the song If I Die Young.  I have heard it before but never really listened.   I love the part where it says…

Save your tears, keep ‘em in your pocket.  Save ‘em for time when you’re really gonna need them.

I think Uncle Dan would have liked that too.  I think he would agree.