It’s been awhile

After Jonesy… after Puff… I just needed some time.

So now. What first? Still have a test knit that I was generously given more time on. Nothing to see here.

The Steve Report. He’s great! He’s healed well from the surgery and is ready to start radiation next week, then chemo sometime after that. He will be better. There is no way he can’t be better. Pat sent him to an acupuncturist- she’s hedging all bets. He was told no more caffeine. As if he weren’t grumpy enough! I told her she could come stay here for the next week if need be. His response to that was that he would always have a cup of decaf sweetened with Splenda waiting for me whenever I came down. Boy does he fight dirty…

Proof of my insanity.

meet Jasper

But isn’t he cute????

Tell the truth, if you saw him at the animal shelter, you’d bring him home too.  The kids, my daughter especially, has been wanting a puppy forever. I figured I’d get one some day, but really was not planning on this. Something just told me to go to the shelter that day (last Tues.) and there he was. A 3 mo old beagle/Jack Russell mix. I took one look, said, “Your name is Jasper and you’re coming home.” Even on the way home from the busstop that day C was saying, “We’re never going to get a puppy are we??” Ha! Was she surprised…

OMG!!

It’s going well. He’s picking up house training, he naps in his crate, and the cats are coming around. They were mad for almost a week. CJ still hisses at him, but Chance is curious. The bunnies are fine, and he is never loose around them. He starts puppy obedience class on the 30th. He’s already very spoiled. Some friends came by the other day to meet him and brought him toys. One day last week he spent a few hours in my Dad’s lap while Mom and I ran a few errands. In the afternoon when I get the kids off the bus, if there are no cars behind, he gets to go on the bus and visit. The driver is one of the worst spoilers!

Some stash enhancement.

happy colors

That’s “Mermaid’s Wool” by Frabjous Fibers in Chromatophobia Pink. It’s 70/30 bluefacedleicester/ seacell. Got that at SAFF.

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum

My latest fiber club shipment from Black Bunny Fibers. Merino/silk. Gorgeous, huh? Especially the silver/lavender.

forget whats on the wheel now, i want to spin this

Speaking of BBF and Carol- did you know that she is having an open house for Black Bunny Fibers at her home in Philadelphia this weekend? Annnnnd, I’m taking the train up there Saturday!!!!!!! (can ya tell I’m thrilled?) So I’ll be there to help at the open house Sunday, and will be back here Monday evening.

So, in preparation for my train ride, the kids (and puppy) and I headed down to Kid Hollow Sunday to show off Jasper to Pat & Steve get some train knitting yarn.

yarn!

Some of Pat’s beautiful brushed and boucle to make more of these shawls:

boucle/brushed shawl

An art gallery/exchange has opened here in Madison, she has all my finished goods there, and in one weekend 3 of those shawls sold- yay! I love making them- so that will be my train knitting (along with a sock I’m supposed to be designing from one of her flats- but its lacey, so if anyone tries to talk to me on the train I may have to stab them with my needles! (that’s just a joke)).

What else. Oh- remember this?

That’s Frances Revisited. I started that back in Jan. For some reason it got put aside, so I pulled it out yesterday. You know, cuz I don’t have enough to knit… Anyway, here it is sofar.

There is no excuse for this sweater not being done. None. Look at it-

Sooo close

Just an arm and a half, and the cowl. The only thing I’m not liking sofar is that it clearly shows the “I’ve had 3 kids and I’m proud of it” belly bit. On the other hand- I’m 43 and people can just lump it. (or like the lump- however you want to put it) So- I want to finish this before (or at least during) Carol’s.

I reckon that’s enough for one day. Oh!! I knew I was forgetting something- goatie pictures! (as if I could ever forget those…) Ok- as always, the fallback pictures are Rosie’s superbly cute twins, Evan and Renesmee. Here ya go- Have a great weekend!

Sweet Renesmee

Adorable Evan

Sweet baby Jonesy

I’ve lost another sweet pet. Genevieve’s little buck, Jonesy, broke his neck by getting his head caught in the hay feeder. This happened last Friday while I was at the festival in NC- my kids found him when they got home from school- ugh. Their father was with them, so he very nicely stepped in and buried him for me, and my poor daughter called to tell me. This happens more often than it should- just about every larger farm that I know of can tell one or 2 tales of this. Still. I’ve gotten rid of that particular hay feeder, and am using the smaller one that they can’t get their horns through, and also just plain putting some hay on the ground. Messy, but I don’t care.

The kids said that Genevieve and Jonesy’s twin, Justine, did mope around for a few days. They seem ok now. Genevieve is keeping to herself a little more, and Justine has become very sweet- she loves having her neck scratched. Twin goats form a very tight bond- Rosie and Stuff are still very close and they are 4, and have been seperated twice when she’s gone down for breeding. But I think they will be okay.

Here are a few shots of Jonesy- it was bittersweet going through the pictures. Safe journey my sweet baby Jonesy.

Baby Jonesy

Justine and Jonesy taking over my chair- 4 days old

with Dr. Melinda

being cute

cute again

helping me pick through fleeces

Just a quick hi

I’m just passing through. Last weekend was Rhinebeck- which was beyond wonderful! More on that later, cuz tomorrow early we leave for SAFF. (again, I’ll be with Kid Hollow- if you’re there, come see me). So I’ll have lots to tell later. I just wanted to stop in and tell you all thank you so much for all of your kind words over Puff. He was a very sweet little bun, and we all miss him here. And thank you to Charcoal for saying what I just wasn’t able to that day. In the near future I’ll put up some pictures so you can see just how wonderful he was.

In the meantime, Fluff wants you to know just how yummy peanut butter is.

Yummy peanut butter!!

A sad message from Charcoal

Hello, friends of Mindy.

It is Charcoal here, spokesmodel, handdyeing muse, and Facebook page star.  I am here for a very sad purpose today.

Mindy asked me to tell you all that her dear bunny companion of nearly a decade, Puff the Magic Rabbit, has passed away to the great organic vegetable garden in the sky.  If I sound a little goofy writing this, it is because it is never easy to lose a dear friend, whether that dear friend is an animal or a person.  One of the things that stinks the most about being a bunny is that one’s life expectancy isn’t nearly long enough.  (I guess it’s the trade-off for being so cute.)  But Puff had a good long life so far as rabbits can expect.  You could say that Puff won the Rabbit Lotto when Mindy adopted him.  He was loved, really adored, and given affection, attention, delicious food and treats, anything and everything a bun could ever want.  (He even got to make an appearance on Disapproving Rabbits, which, let me tell you, isn’t easy.)

I think it’s safe to say Mindy’s heartbroken, and I’m pretty sad, too.  So if you have your own bun, make sure you pick him or her up and give them an extra cuddle and maybe a raisin or a slice of banana today in honor of one of the best bunnies this world has ever seen:  Puff the Magic Rabbit.

Puff, you were deeply loved and you will be missed.

Am I coming or going?

If you know, please tell me- I’d really like to know. Actually- come Thursday, I’m going. To Rhinebeck, that is! I will be working at Kid Hollow Farm’s booth- and in general having a great time. So, if you’re there, please stop by and say hello. Hopefully I’ll be back up to regular posting afterwards- I’m sure I’ll have much to tell. For now- the Steve update. He’s doing great. He was at the Mount Pelier festival with us more than Pat wanted to let him be (we don’t want to expose him to germies right before he is to start radiation). He heckled watched us set the booth up. If I even thought of getting a coffee, he ordered me back to work. And he heckled and harassed us as we broke down the booth. He’s sooooo lucky I adore him.

While I was at the festival, I picked up my new rovings from Zeilingers. It’s always like opening Christmas presents when I pick up my rovings- I send colors off- then I have to wait to see if they end up looking fantastic when they’re blended- or if they’re a train wreck.

All Sirius' Eve

Enigma's Moonstone

Rosie's Shadows

I’m pretty happy with them. These, and few others, are now listed in my etsy shop. Now I know its kind of wrong to list rovings right before Rhinebeck, but, to make up for that, if you order any and are going to the festival, just let me know in the notes to seller, and I will refund your shipping and bring it to the show.

Things have been crazy- busy around here. First, there is the elephant in the room. It’s been there for quite awhile, and some of you knew it was coming, others may have guessed, and for some it won’t matter at all, but its part of whats going on, and will slip out eventually. My husband and I just separated last week. It was a move that needed to be made, and I think it will bring all 5 of us some peace. I’m not planning on talking about it tons, or turning this into an ex-bashing place. (unless he sends them home with latex balloons again- then all bets are off!). The kids are fine, and this will give us all a chance to breathe and grow. I’m looking forward to finding out just who I am again. So please don’t worry. (logistics- kids, goaties, and I are keeping the farm)

One test knit still simmering here. Also, trying like crazy to get a new pattern done for Kid Hollow- its a lace sock from one of her new sock flats.

Soon to be socks

I was hoping to have it done and ready for Rhinebeck, but its not looking too good. When it is done, it will be available as a paper pattern from Kid Hollow, and I am planning on having it as a PDF through Ravelry. Stay tuned…

Bet you want to see some goaties. How about my little fosterlings? Cookies and Cream are fantastic- recovered from their parasite problems and fattening up nicely.

Cookies

Isn’t she sweet? Now, I bet Marri would like to see Stuff.

"Yum, I found a "potato chip"

I love to listen to them crunch the leaves- they really do sound like they are munching on potato chips.

The kittehs are either tearing through the house a million miles an hour, or being… cats.

Its a rough life

I made a pumpkin pie (yum) and  let the kids start Halloween decorating last night. I’d forgotten I had this.

I love Halloween decorations

Oh- Miss Mad for Knit did a fantastic job in her run today in the Boston Half Marathon for the Dana Farber Foundation. They are probably still accepting donations, so if you are so inclined, here is the link.  It’s a very worthy cause- and with Steve, its very dear to my heart this year.

Ok. I need to get back to spinning. I think I’ve gotten you somewhat caught up. (that’s ok, I don’t think I’m caught up)

One last goatie picture- I give them their hay in the morning, hoping that it will keep the coffee mooching to a minimum.

Breakfast!

It doesn’t work.

Greta won again

Pat and Steve are home!!!!

That is the best news! They went home yesterday- I talked to him today and he said it feels good to be home. Now, if his incision keeps healing like it should, he gets to stay put for a few weeks, then he goes back up to Johns Hopkins to do another round of the experimental vaccine that is showing promising results for pancreatic cancer patients. I’m just thrilled to pieces that they are home and can’t wait to go down and see them. (though I had a talk with Cookies and Cream and they said they didn’t want to go back home, they want to stay here. that could be a problem…)

For those of you in the area, next weekend Sept 26 and 27, there is an open house at an alpaca farm in Unionville. Details on this flyer. I will be the knitter demonstrating, and my friend Heidi will be the spinner. So currently, I am starting a triangular shawl in one of their yarns- pictures as it grows.

In spinning- I’ve got some of that beautiful bamboo on my bobbin.

beautiful bamboo

I’m spinning this fairly fine, and it will be plied with some dark chocolately dyed wool top that Chimera dyed for me. On the other wheel, I have some roving from Kid Hollow.

Iced Cotton Candy

Its a mohair/merino/border leicester blend. I can’t remember what Pat called it, so I’ve renamed it Iced Cotton Candy. Here is the first bobbin:

I decided to try and spin it light and lofty, so the 2-ply I come up with should be somewhat bulky. Hopefully, I’ll get there soon.

As usual, the goats are being sweet and cute. Let’s see what we’ve got here…Oh! I finished a baby hat the other day, and sent my chief photographer outside with it:

everybody say awwwwww

You can’t see it in this shot, but the hat has little squiggles at the top. I’ll get some proper pictures of it, and start listing stuff on etsy and the website.

I got a message from Zeilingers today. They said my rovings would be ready to bring to the Fall Fiber Festival at Mount Pelier. On the message she said, “I can’t wait for you to see your rovings, they are so gorgeous!” Now I’m really excited. You never really know when you send them in how they’ll look…

Fall seems to be starting a tad early, and some leaves are already falling. The goats love that- the leaves are like goatie potato chips:

Yummy

Elphaba and her little baby Enigma are so close:

Elphie and Baby Enigma

And lets see, Greta is as good as new, and so very sweet:

Sweet Greta

Now I’ve got you all caught up. You guys have a great weekend!

Foster kids

Meet Cookies and Cream.

Cookies and Cream

What? You didn’t think I meant human kids, did you? I think the 3 I already have are quite enough for now. No, these are 2 of Pat & Steve’s kids. They weren’t doing so well (parasites. Again. Sigh.) so Pat asked me if they could come here for some tlc. So here they are. My daughter and I went and picked them up Sat. evening. The farm sitter dewormed them, and I’m giving them the coccidia meds and some Geritol to help their anemia. Sunday evening I took a look at some of Cookies’ diarrhea (if you have goats, you look at their poop alot) and in there was what amounted to 2 1-foot tape worm lengths and some segments. Now, my daughter and I being ourselves- we took pictures, but I won’t make you look at them. It’s actually a relief – she is painfully thin, and now that the tapeworm is gone, I can work on making her fat & sassy. We’ll have these 2 nice and spoiled by the time Pat takes them back.

Speaking of, here is the Steve report. He’s been doing great, and they thought he was going to get to come home today, but he now has a slight infection (probably not too unexpected given how intense and invasive the surgery was) so it will be a few more days now. Everyone is disappointed, but better that this was caught now than when they got home.

Thank you all for all your kind words about Pikachu- and all of your kind words always. You guys are so sweet and supportive- I really appreciate it.

I told you all about bringing Greta home. She is Sirius Black’s mother, and is a bit of an old girl. She settled in well and figured out coffee and wine quickly. Something was telling me not to open my 3rd field up, but there was some nice wild grass down at the bottom, so I did. Forgetting that there may be some Mountain Laurel in it (its extremely poisonous to goaties) and forgetting that Greta had never been exposed. (mine will eat a little, be sick for a few hours, then that is that). Poor girl was sick for almost 72 hours. Dr. Melinda was out here twice, we tube fed her both times, but it took the 2nd time- complete with both IV and subQ fluids, to get her back to herself.

Making Greta better

Melinda brought our friend’s daughter, M., with her. She was a huge help. She’s planning on being a farm vet too. She’s got such a sweet, gentle nature- she’ll be perfect. Here’s our poor patient:

Poor, sweet Greta

A couple of hours after the fluids, she was up and eating- acting almost like her old self. That was such a relief- I felt so bad for her. And it was totally my fault. Now the front field is closed again, and this winter I will ruthlessly eliminate any of that foul (but beautiful) plant I find on my property.

Here she is in full Greta form the next morning- not even waiting for my coffee to cool off or for me to have any…

Give me coffe- NOW

(she was back to mooching wine that evening, too. Whew.)

Finished one of my test knits (oh! I have a free set of needles now. What to do??). Can’t really show it to you, but you can kinda sorta see the color in this picture of Chance- the once pitiful bottle baby kitten.

Chancey-Poo as he is called

Now for some stash enhancement. My Black Bunny Fibers yarn club and sock club installments came:

Pinky Dinky Doo

The yarn club offering was Pinky Dinky Doo, a super soft merino single. The sock club is Midnight-

Midnight

an absolutely gorgeous blue faced leicester/nylon sock yarn with a nice, tight twist. I sent my daughter outside to take the pictures, and she is so well trained from taking pictures of my handspun, that she took a few of these:

she's an excellent yarn photographer

Ok, its early evening, and Greta and Fluff will be demanding their wine…

Fluff & Greta

My sweet Pikachu

I was going to do a real post tonight, with pretty pictures, lots of goaties (and goatie news) and everything. But a little earlier, as I walked past the hamster cages, I noticed that Pikachu wasn’t sleeping in her nest, and was breathing funny. So I took her out- she was ice cold. I’ve seen the end of too many sweet hammies’ lives, and I knew what was happening. So we wrapped her in a towel to warm her up, and my daughter and I took her outside, and I held her while she passed away. It only took about 1/2 an hour. I got her 2 years ago when she was just old enough to be sold- she was so tiny. She got sick w/ a hamster disease called Wet Tail. She was 40 grams when I got her, and she got down to 22 grams before she finally started gaining. I had to dropper feed her and give her medicine. But she made it and she was such a sweetheart. I used to take her cage upstairs at bedtime when she was beginning to get better- just liked having her by the bed. In the mornings, her cage door would be open, but she would be curled up in her nest sleeping- I think she would get out, wander around a bit, then go to bed when she was tired. She was very tame, and just a very, very sweet hammie.

Baby Pikachu

She was kinda messy there from all of her dropper feedings.

Sweet Pika

This was just last month

Safe journey my Pikachu- I will really miss you.

Progress- on all fronts

Most important progress is about Steve. His surgery went well, they got all of the tumor. That doesn’t mean he is home free, there will still be chemo and crap, but this surgery was a big deal. Pat has been posting daily updates, and they all sound wonderfully positive. The surgeon is pleased with his progress, he is doing all the things he’s supposed to at this point and then some. So its all good news- thank you all for all the good energy you sent his way. Keep it coming- he has a long road ahead of him.

On Sunday when I went down to Pat and Steve’s, I picked up a long awaited old doe. Her name is Greta. 2 years ago Pat promised her to me when she was done breeding- and I promised her a nice retirement. So home she came Sunday night. It was just about dark when we got here, but I got her down in the field, fed them, and she made herself right at home. By Wed. morning she had discovered coffee, and by Wed. evening she figured out the wine. I’ll get you pictures of her later- she’s a pretty black doe, but she is older. She’s Sirius Black’s mom. The best part of bringing her home, is that she and Fluff (my big alpha male) have bonded. They adore each other- its like they are goatie soul mates, and they both just seem so happy. I’ll tell you more about her later, with pictures.

Still battling the parasite problem, and Baby Evan is still bearing the brunt of that battle. On Monday Dr. Melinda came out and took some blood and a fecal sample to try to determine what we can do.

Dr. Melinda and Evan "She's not gonna hurt me, is she??"

She got the bloodwork back the next day and said, “If it weren’t for all the cookies this baby eats, he’d be a goner.” We tried a different dewormer (that in itself is scary- we’re running out of wormers that the parasites aren’t resistant to) and gave him lots of pedialyte and yogurt mixed together. He’s doing pretty good now. He’s still anemic, he could be bigger- but he’s got a great will to live and is the first goat to greet me looking for his cookies (little Miss Renesmee is not far behind)

I’ve got one of those funky end-of-summer colds where your head feels like its full of fuzz (mohair, maybe?) so for the rest of this, its just pictures. (the cold started Wed.- the day of Steve’s surgery, so I’ve decided I worried myself sick. teehee)

Stash enhancement. First is this beauty from Carol of Black Bunny Fiber fame. It is the most recent installment in the fiber club.

Tunis

Super soft and squishy rosey/mauve tunis. Gotta get that on the wheel soon. Then today’s mail brought a package from Chimera. I sent my daughter outside with the package and the camera, so here is her photo shoot:

Oceanic

Milk Fiber top dyed “Oceanic”- gorgeous, huh? Next we have, and this one was my daughter’s favorite:

Aqua

Bamboo top dyed Aqua. Just look at that sheen. Happy sigh.

Very nice

And just for contrast…

Aqua bamboo with black mohair

There it is on Sirius Black. I got another braid of bamboo- The Princess and the Pea:

Princess and the Pea

and here it is shown on Rosie:

Princess Rosie and the Pea

So now the dilemma- what to spin next. I just skeined off a Black Bunny Fibers superwash blue faced leicester (I’ll show you after I wash it- the colors are fantastic), so if I’m taking turns it should be a Chimera. And based purely on mood, its gotta be the Princess and the Pea. Now, do I do 2-ply, or Navajo? Any thoughts from you guys?

Still test knitting, blah blah blah nothing to see here. Oh, but wait- I can show you what happens when the weather is really nice and you try to take your test knitting outside:

Renesmee "tests" the pattern

The pattern, while still readable, is slightly shredded. Sigh. So test knitting stays inside.

But, simple scarves can go outside! And I finished my daughter’s. I did take pictures of it on her, but she scowled in every single one. Would it kill her to smile?? So she decided it would be better modeled on sweet Sirius.

He's a good sport

Finishing that left me without busstop and stoplight knitting (and apparently, safe outside knitting) so, I dug into the stash and started a new one.

happy colors, huh

Ok, I’m going to bed, and I’m determined that when I wake up, this cold will have vanished. I mean it.

I will leave you with Rosie’s sweet little twins tag-teaming me for cookies. And yes, they got some.

Evan, "Does she have cookies?"

Renesmee, "Oh, she has cookies. We just gotta find the right pocket."

Surgery over

Steve’s surgery is over. He is in recovery right now. The surgeon was able to get all of the tumor and is feeling very optimistic. He’ll be moved to ICU soon, where Pat will get to see him. Keep sending them all your good thoughts- I imagine recovery will be a long road. Thanks tons!!

Evan looking for cookies