Wow!! It has been an eon since I updated here. So long ago that all the stuff that I had out of the bedrooms when the new rugs were laid was still on the long dining room counter and all over the floor (hence the title, which I'm keeping even though the stuff is all sorted, downsized and filed away)--I figure the title is attention-getting.
I thought that if I start a draft for a post and just add key words, it would help me to remember what things might need updating, and since it's started, might help me post more frequently. Not so on the latter assumption. So now the updates, following the list:
Addilyn: The baby is now 9 months old, a beauty, and advanced even if I say so myself. Since 7 months she has been walking around furniture. This week she discovered toilet paper and the water cooler. The first photo is of her in a dress I crocheted 32 years ago for my baby (her mom).
This sweater (how perfect is a leaf-yoke sweater for playing in the leaves?) was also made by me many years ago.
Her big brother Goofy, her sidekick, will be her chauffeur when she is finished with the educational toy.
The
greenhouses are covered with new plastic. When we used to do this ourselves, we pulled the 48x100' sheets of heavy plastic along the roof ridge, with a rope. This year we decided to hire the job out. These boys walked along 3/4" pipes, one on each side and had it from one end to the other in no time.
The greenhouses are all cleaned, the trays are all washed, the plant orders are in, some seeds are ordered, the soil has been delivered, only pots and remaining seeds to order. February will be here soon enough.
The
new flooring was installed and except for one room of crown moulding and one room of baseboards, the renos are finished. We do plan to re-do the bathroom (new tub, high toilet and new sinks) after Christmas or next summer, but will hire it out--helps to have a son-in-law who is a plumber.
My experience with having sweaters published and my work on the Master Knitter Program have led me in a new direction. I've been
tech-editing patterns for other designers. I prefer that over test knitting, because I get a preview of their patterns, and don't have to knit all these projects. I appreciate all projects for their creativity and how stitch patterns are used/chosen, but not all the designs are to my liking for personal use, so tech-editing gives me the benefit without the work.
I had some custom orders for
baby blankets. The customer provided RH Super Saver in the Black Lights colorway, and wanted a black border. My first attempt was this: smaller rectangles with black strips between. She didn't like it, so I made a new one in the Grandma's Dishcloth Pattern (no photo) and she liked that one.
She also provided me with the concept of the photo with baby, and sent me colors of the nursery, and the lower chevron blanket is the result. (Baby photo from a Ravelry Pattern page)
Oops, the photo of the nursery came out sideways.
For the Master Knitter Program (they are not compulsory, but helpful), and just for the fun of it, I bought five of the
Barbara G. Walker books. They are mostly awesome, but the 4th one (green) is not so useful for my purposes
For the theatre's spring show of
Arcadia, I made this Spencer jacket and added the trim to a shawl for which knitted yard goods had been provided, and to that I added the trim in Kid mohair.
The jacket was made of one strand of fingering yarn from
Ancient Arts Fibre and one strand of kid mohair, the sleeve trim, collar and lace inserts in sleeves being only the mohair.
Also from Ancient Arts Fibre, I made a cowl using Planned Pooling, in the
Flame Point Siamese colorway. This involved planning carefully so the color sequence made a planned color pattern instead of random as space-dyed yarn can do.
Our
well, which was at the west edge of the garden, failed this spring. So we had a new one drilled--turns out that galvanized cribbing has a life of about 20 years (it can rust out), and we were nearly at 30 years. We had a great water supply, so the driller tried to drill fairly close to the old well, but at 30 feet down, it caved in, in spite of using hydraulic pressure to prevent that--we have a deep layer of very fine sand. So that well was closed up, and the new spot chosen was at the south-east corner of the garden--which meant the rig had to park on the garden, severely compacting the soil. The rototiller couldn't break through. It will take time and a lot of busy earthworms to fix that situation. So because of that compaction and a summer with no rain, and my not getting the sprinkler out soon enough, the garden wasn't very good this year.
We had good tomatoes, and a good crop of small onions besides what we ate during the summer, and the garden was cleaned, and next year's garlic planted under straw (see black arrow to find garlic patch). I planted lovely red/purple garlic.
From purchased cabbage, I made
sauerkraut for the first time: 28 lbs cabbage bought, 22 lbs (after cleaning and shredding) salted, and yielding 13 quarts of sauerkraut. It's very good.
I also picked five 5-gal pails of apples so have been putting lots of
apple goodies in the freezer and dehydrating lots of apples for winter snacks.
And lots of baking (muffins above) from the last
big zucchini.
During the spring and summer I altered
dresses for weddings: for a June wedding, 5 bridesmaids and the bride's dress, then for a Sept. wedding, one bridesmaid and the bride. Now I have a teenager from a neighboring farm coming for sewing lessons. She is a horsewoman and is sewing herself a long black cape to wear in parades. She is so keen and a quick study.
We have had our first snowfall, but it quickly melted, and now we are enjoying a lovely, warm, long fall.
Our 15-year old Dazey passed away this summer (she is the black dog). We were worried that Sparky, her "twin" sister (from same litter) would pine for her, but Sparky is very bonded with several of our 15+ farm cats, so she has been fine. But she is also old, so we have to prepare ourselves for the inevitable.
Addilyn's daddy ordered a Yoda hat before she was born, and I had planned a
Baby Yeti hoodie, which was a perfect little Yoda robe. Here she is, all decked out for Halloween.
Now on the agenda is her Tinkerbell blanket, which I am creating starting with this coloring book page:
And her Eeyore (crocheted from a Leisure Arts pattern) is in progress. Also more baby blankets for clients, and one more lap afghan (I made one along with the neon baby blanket, but have no photo--it was a grey/black chevron crochet pattern).
Notice my Knit-Meter in the column on the right--my knitting/crochet yarn use is over 20 000 m so far this year ☺
Well, my typing fingers are getting tired, so I'll leave you with this thought, but instead of "Wise Men", please read "Wise Men and Women"
