Don't ask me why I am suddenly motivated to post more often when my discretionary time is being compressed to a fraction of what it was. Perhaps the main reason is that writing here feels like one of the few outlets I have to vent (although trust me, even here my venting is very constrained due to early training). The more frequent posting may not last, but I'm following the inspiration for now.
Never fear; I did honor my one New Year's Day tradition!
My one New Year's tradition
(not the awkward selfie part)
Here is my Ariya sweater after blocking. Lo and behold, it now has long sleeves! And it is longer in the body, too, for which I am thankful. It bordered on too short before blocking; I'm too old for cropped tops.😝 I might just wear it to church with a skirt on Sabbath.
I started my stripey Advent scarf on New Year's Day. This is definitely a "potato chip knit" – just one more stripe....
When I'm not working on it, it is resting in my Christmas gift from Brian. I told him I needed a row counter and more locking stitch markers; he got those and this adorable project bag, which has a TON of nifty features. I love it!
Speaking of Christmas gifts, I realize I forgot to share my IG/FB photos in the last couple posts. There aren't very many outstanding because I released myself from the pressure of daily posts with everything else that was going on. December 29's IG/FB featured one of my presents from Rick:
My improved sheep stand, additions crafted by my handy husband for Christmas.
The other thing I asked for and received were front floor mats for my car, as the 2009 originals were falling apart. I now have dandy WeatherTech ones.
January 1's IG/FB photos are at the top of this post. Today's follow:
"The only constant is change," 'they' say. Every year brings change, of course, much of it a surprise. But sometimes change looms. large and menacing, in full view. That is 2025, and not just on a national level. On top of losing the clinic's lease at the end of February (no plan for after yet) and the possibility of my getting bilateral knee replacements (I'll know a lot more after my two appointments with surgeons in January), I learned Monday night (after my last blog post) that I am going to be working at Rick's clinic three days a week starting this Friday, as his secretary is only going to work two days a week after today and he doesn't want to post a job opening (don't even ask). That means that for the first time in decades, I'll be working 'off the farm' five days a week. Since there can be a lot of downtime at the clinic, I'll probably be able to continue posting here as well as getting in some spinning and knitting, but things 'on the farm' will surely suffer. There has been no division of labor here; I shoulder all the household and the vast majority of daily animal chores and gardening because Rick is the financial supporter (the third adult living here doesn't contribute . . . much). That will have to change, or some things just won't get done. Taking care of the animals is a given; they depend on me for all their needs and as a good steward, I will not let them down. Everything else is up in the air; let it fall where it will. Know that I do not intend to air much more about that.
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At midnight one of our nearest neighbors set off some big fireworks as well as gunshots. Poppy got a little stressed; she's never before reacted to noise, but I don't think big fireworks have ever been that close. I had gone to bed shortly before, but when she came to the bedroom door and whined, I got up and let her in. She loves to share our bed but hasn't gotten that privilege in a long time because none of us sleep well when she joins us. Last night, however, she didn't disturb either of us; amazing! (Not that we're going to make a habit of co-sleeping with her.)
"Say what? But we spent such a perfect night together!"
My sweater is still drying on the guest bed, so no new photos. I might wear it to church Sabbath. In the meantime, I've been pondering my next knit, the stripey scarf. I think the mini-skeins are in the order I like best now and I've chosen my neutral, so tonight I plan to cast on.
Before the rains starts again I'm going on my traditional New Year's Day horseback ride, then I'll do some cleaning since I won't have time to do that Friday. Doing some baking and cooking up a big kettle of stew would probably be a good idea, too, even though Rick is not a soup fan.
The current state of the shop. Water and power lines run; almost ready for a concrete floor.
This is a post about spinning, knitting – and the kind of yarns made up of words. 😁
As a child I read voraciously, but mostly gave up reading for pleasure when it conflicted too much with adult responsibilities. In the autumn of 2021, a friend suggested the free library app Libby for listening to audiobooks during a long drive. I never took that trip, but did download the app – and discovered a wonderful new way to lose myself in books while still mostly staying productive! Since then, I've listened to 491 books of all kinds, with no end of interesting material in sight.
Leigh recently listed the books in various formats she has 'consumed' this year and I thought, "What a good idea for a post!" Then I looked at my timeline on Libby and quailed; I've listened to at least 10 to as many as 27 books a month in 2024. That's a LOT of titles and authors to type for you, unless you are really interested in wading through my long list. Let me know if you are, and I'll do it.
I spent much of Sunday with the other kinds of yarns. First, I took photos of my Advent spin mini-skeins and the three main contenders for a neutral to alternate with colorful stripes. I posted a poll in the Advent spin thread on Ravelry; please feel free weigh in in the comments.
The pattern I plan to use is Playful and the photos below show the beautiful results of one in our Ravelry group who knit as she spun to finish this two days after she opened the last fiber snack.
As you can see, she knit each snack in order. Since she didn't want to run out of a color mid-stripe, she has small amounts left over. I want to use up ALL of each color, so I've arranged my mini-skeins into as much of a gradient as possible.
After that I got to work on Ariya, which I was determined to finish before New Year's Day. I knit to the end of my yarn on sleeve #2. Then I picked out my woven-in end on sleeve #1, laboriously undid the tubular BO, and tinked back five rounds on sleeve #1 so I could add three rounds to sleeve #2, evening out the length of the sleeves. I bound off one sleeve last night, and the next this morning. Woot!
I tried it on after my shower:
Now to give it a bath and hand-block it. Excited to see the transformation of the yoke and cuffs!
Excuse the lack of posting; as forecast, it has been a busy couple of weeks. I did manage to keep up with my Advent spin but for the very last one on Christmas day; did not get my sweater finished for Christmas; had a lapse in my daily IG/FB posts when life got overwhelming for a few days; and did my best to just be present with my mom when she was here. Did I mention my mom was here??? (I was going to format the following as a numbered list, but it messed up the photo placement.)
Friday, Dec. 13's finished spin:
Sabbath, Dec. 14's snack:
Sunday, Dec. 15's snack:
Monday, Dec. 16. Found out today when my mom is flying in for Christmas – in two days. She told me last Friday that she was coming for sure, but only had a return flight booked at that time. (This is the ways things go with her now.) After taking my car to the dealership because of persistent dashboard warning lights, I attended the memorial service of one of our church members. She was a member of The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde; as I was leaving the parking lot I snapped a photo of a woman in a beautiful ribbon dress. Brian came home early from work after getting fired....
Happy 5th Birthday, darling doggy! Here's to many more years together!
Tuesday, Dec. 17. Took my car to a bodyshop to have some damage of unknown origin repaired; made the appointment two months ago, not knowing if/when my mom was coming for Christmas. I have our old truck for transportation, which is less than ideal for an 85-year-old woman.
Three little trees live year round on the ledge above our front door; only one still has working lights. Better than nothing!
Wednesday, Dec. 18. My farrier came and trimmed the horses' hooves, I drove into town for a haircut, came back home to clean up the house some, and then picked my mom up at the Portland airport. Heavy traffic to, at, and from the airport; by the time I got home, my left knee was shot from all the clutching. Meanwhile, a friend and vet client asked via text if we were going to get a Christmas tree from them again this year. The price was so reasonable that I relented and called Rick to see if he could pick one up. Guess we'll do a little decking of the halls after all!
What IS that bright light in the sky, those rays of glory???
Thursday, Dec. 19. Mom went with me to work and then we ran errands (we figured out the best way to boost her into the truck). That evening we got the tree set up, strung it with twinkling lights – and called it good! I wanted to take down the longhorns, but Rick thought they were fine, so it looks like we have a 'Viking' tree – ha.
Such a pretty start to the day!
Friday, Dec. 20. I cleaned house and Mom and I both tackled cooking – me making Friday supper and Sabbath dinner and her making a huge batch of fruitcake cookies.
So, a little 'decking' was done after all!
Saturday, Dec. 21. We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas program at church, then came home for lunch. That night Rick and I went to a previously-committed-to Christmas party at a client's house estate. I didn't know anyone in the large, deafening crowd and Rick only knew a few, but we did get to see how the other half one-half of one percent lives.
My neighbor sent me this sweet video of one of her dogs snoggling one of my ewes through the fence. Made me think of the promised future when the lion will lie down with the lamb.💕
Sunday, Dec. 22. A more laid-back day; whew! I've been plying Advent fiber snacks as I have time so I can keep reusing my smaller spindles; I got several more done today, as well as getting today's color snack spun.
Still keeping up with the Advent spin; this rainbow Corriedale is a cheerful counterpoint to our grey, grey weather.
Monday, Dec. 23. Another "take your mom to work" day. But first, as it was one of the very few dry-ish days we've had lately, I turned the horses out to play and then rode Stella, who was very good for being pent up for too long.
It's been so wet outside and so busy inside, that there has been no riding and very little turnout lately. Happy ponies, happy rider today!
Tuesday, Dec. 24. Thanks to my first-generation American mother and her immigrant parents (one from Sweden and one from Germany), Christmas Eve is Christmas to me. We prepared for a special evening by making Russian Tea Cakes, my maternal grandma's cinnamon rolls, and vegetarian 'salmon cakes.' I had asked Mom if she grew up with any specific foods on the Christmas Eve menu and she said her mom always had lutefisk which her dad wouldn't eat, so she often made fishcakes for him, hence my experiment. They were a hit with everyone, along with the cookies, rolls, and a big tossed salad. Then we opened our gifts.
The ewes got an early Christmas gift; I opened up the lower pasture for them.
Wednesday, Dec. 25. We had a leisurely morning before I got busy preparing the dishes we were to take to my MIL's for an early Christmas dinner. While I did that, Rick worked on my Christmas present, a 'side wall' for my shearing stand that can be moved to either side – which will be most helpful!
Christmas morning goodies with Grandma, with her personal ornament hanging behind. Merry Christmas from all of us to all of you!
The last Advent fiber snack
This wasn't finished until the next day
Thursday, Dec. 26. Hallelujah! Before we left for another "take your mom to work" day, the bodyshop called to say that my car was ready. Brian gave Mom and me a ride to the shop, and we got around much more comfortably from there. I was SO thankful to have the car back in tine to take Mom to the airport!
One of my Christmas gifts is being finished–a removable side for my shearing stand,
Friday, Dec. 27. We had to be up by 2 a.m. to leave in time for Mom to make her 5:15 flight. I came back home and crawled back in bed for a few more hours' sleep, then started some much needed cleaning. The wet and mud have been steady the second half of this month, made worse by Rick's shop construction project. No, there is still no decision on where and how the practice will operate after the clinic lease runs out, but he's doing his best to finish the shop in case.
I'm a homeschooling, horse training, animal loving, garden growing, part-time business running, spinning and knitting shepherd who loves the Great Shepherd.
