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The outdoor cats have begun reproducing. Here is litter #1 and #3. Bumpkin and Scamp (Scamp is the calico with all the white).
Bumpkin had her 3 kittens in the old water trough by our front door (we usually put flower pots on/in it for summer display. She had her kittens on Monday.
Today, Scamp decided to share her space, and had 4 kittens there, too. So, they're sharing the space and appear to be nursing each others kittens.
Paul, who grew up on this property, said he had never seen cats share kittens like this. We have seen cats who shared one litter. They were sister cats, and one cat lost her litter. They took turns spending time with the kittens and both nursed them. But this is the first we've seen have kittens in the same space. It'll be interesting to see how long this lasts...
The dog is fascinated. Everytime he goes out, he trots over to have a look at the kittens here, and the other litter that is over by a shed. The outdoor cats have been loved by Paris since they were born, so they have no fear that he will harm them.
Finished the thrum yarn coasters this week. I really like them, they'll be handy. I still need to give them a rinse and a good press.
Still working on the Wonderful Wallaby. Finished up the pouch last evening, so I can fuse the pouch to the sweater tonight. Lots of around and around and around and around...
Plain stockinette, feh. But the Girl of the House is looking forward to the sweater, so on I trudge.
In 2006, we went on spring break to see my folks in Texas, where they spend their winters. After a visit with them, we went to Big Bend National Park, Guadeloupe National Park, and Carlsbad Caverns National Park. We camped and had a marvelous time.
I brought my spindle and worked on some superwash Merino that I had sundyed. I spun enough yarn for a pair of socks, and made these to commemorate the trip.
Last time I wore these socks, I noticed a small hole near the heel, apparently a dropped stitch that hadn't shown its face immediately. Foolishly, I tried to repair it by needle felting. Well, of course, they're superwash, and all I succeeded in doing was to make the hole larger! They lay on the side table, waiting for repair, for several months. Yesterday, I screwed up my ambition, and went about repairing them.
Luckily, I hadn't used all of my yarn when I made these, so I had extra for repairs. I pulled the yarn from the hole, and raveled the ankle from the foot. Set about picking the stitches back up and reknit the short row heel. I then kitchener grafted the two parts together. Took me roughly three hours of work - the grafting was the slowest, putziest bit.
But here they are, back together, and ready for more wear!
A Wonderful Wallaby for the Girl of the House. We've been watching the past seasons of "Lost" on DVD in the evening after she goes to bed. I find I'm unable to do anything that requires any concentration on stitch patterns or colorwork during the show, so I just go round and round in stockinette. The Wallaby is wonderful for this.
This will be her third Wallaby. I was hoping to make it out of a washable wool, but she couldn't find a color that she liked as much as this teal (her most recent favorite color) that was acrylic. She's going to wear it, so I guess she should like the color!
The cuffs are a bright green. I'm using Reynold's Utopia. Purchased at Three Kittens Yarn Shoppe during their Leprechaun sale in March.
I finished one coaster from the handspun thrum yarn on Friday night. I'll bet I can talk the girl of the house into doing a few more for me. It's a bit rough around the edges yet, but with a rinse and some pressing, it should be good! I really like the way the yarn looks in this coaster. A bit of color, but not TOO much.
I started a new pair of socks today. Toe up, generic pattern. I'm going to do a K3, P1 rib. It's Lornas Laces shepherd sock in Purple Club. I LOVE Lornas Laces sock yarn. Wash and dry in the machine, they stay gorgeous. I'm still wearing a pair from LL yarn that I knitted in 2000. I'll probably carry them around awhile, working on them during lunches and such... (Of course, soccer time is quickly arising, so I'll probably have more waiting around to do in the near future!)
Paul's new toy. He bought a fancy weather station, delivered Friday. After assembling it on Saturday, he set it up on the hill. It does everything except mow the grass around it. It sends all the info to a receiving station in the house. Really cool. Now he's working on getting it uplinked with our computer - then on to the internet on Weather Underground!! (We can be such gadget geeks!)
Restless last evening - couldn't sit still to knit. Ended up spinning up this batt I carded Monday evening. I'm working on spinning a Coopworth lamb fleece. I split it into three shades of grey. I've been working on the lightest shade first. I carded it all up, and had a ziplock bag full of the waste from the carder - I couldn't quite bring myself to throw it away. After I finished the light color, I grabbed my bag of small bits of leftover yarn and carded the waste with the yarn. I got this cool looking batt. Last evening, I spun it up. I had 40 grams, and it ended up a 52 yard 2 ply yarn, roughly dk weight. I'm thinking I'll use my 4x4 weavette and make a few coasters.
It's family movie night. We make pizza from scratch (including the crust) and watch a DVD every Friday night. Tonight it's Barnyard. Making coasters would be a light work during the movie.
Finished my carry along project last evening! I was so close to the end, I had to do the last toe! I've been working on them sporadically for several months - mostly during lunch at work.
These are Rib and Cable Socks by Nancy Bush from IK Fall '05. I did them in Mountain Colors Bearfoot sock yarn in the color Wildflower. I've made a pair from Bearfoot for Ben, but this is the first pair for me. They feel very cushy. I'm looking forward to seeing how this yarn performs over time. I plan to machine wash, but lay flat to dry.
Finished Peekaboo mittens for the girl. Perfect for this in between weather. Brown Sheep Naturespun yarn chosen in her favorite color. 
Finished Paul's Pakucho organic cotton sweater ( or rather, finally seamed it up!) The pattern is from an old Interweave knits. Joan McGowan-Michael's pattern for 'Mike's Easy-Fit Pullover'. I needed to make a few adaptations to adjust for the shrinking that I knew was going to occur with the Pakucho. It turned out to be a comfy-cozy everyday sweater.
I
've been working on slippers for my family. I'm using the Fiber Trends pattern for felted clogs. I finished these for my son, his girlfriend, and the girl of the house roughly two weeks ago. Paul's are done, he's been wearing them. Mine are made of the leftovers from the kids slippers and some other scraps. I've been using Cascade 220 and Brown Sheep Naturespun. I hope to finish mine this evening and get them in the washer. Then I'll take pictures of ours to put up.
Maybe I'll get better at posting more often. Our 5 year old computer crashed in February, and we decided to go with a Mac. We're really happy, but there is a bit of a learning curve. It's nice when college boy comes home and can give us some tips!
That is, if spring ever comes to Minnesota! Lots of cold weather. This was the coldest April Easter I can remember. Yesterdays high was 38. And nothing is very green yet.
We rearranged the family room - the Lendrum saxony wheel lived there already and has a silk on it. We brought the loom in, and I'm picking out a refresher project. Haven't woven in more than a year. Having the loom in the basement wasn't very conducive to weaving. Soon we'll be able to open the windows and enjoy nice weather, I'm hoping to weave and be happy in the sunshine! Probably do some dishtowels to get back in the swing of things.
Then there's my knitting basket in the living room. Felted clogs in progress. Also a lace-weight shawl. Pictures to come!
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