The Thrifty Knitter

I’m creeping up on a design deadline, which always gives me ants in my pants. I’m taking a wrist break (yes, I know, but typing muscles are different from knitting muscles), which gives me just enough time to complain about the stuff I’m dying to do that I don’t have time to do until I’m done with my knitting!

Target has some nice tents on sale this week. We couldn’t decide between these two (click if you want the info; I’m not really shilling for Target, but I am using their bandwith on the pictures, so the least I can do is link back):

It’s the Embark 6-person dome tent (sale $50) & the Kelty 4-person getaway (sale $110). The Embark is roomier and cuter, but the Kelty is super light. This is for the highly unlikely scenario that has us hiking in rather than car camping. There was also a huge 8 x 15″ Coleman on sale for $100. It caught my eye at first, but was too stingy with ventilation to be appealing. What it did have was a rigid door with a velcro closure so you could open & close it like a real door instead of unzipping and rezipping. I’m hoping I can rig up a similar situation.

My last tent was a giant 3-room affair that was awesome but kind of bulky (it got stolen out of my car in Austin), so these are both more sleeping tents than hanging-out tents by comparison, but both have lots of mesh for ventilation with the rain fly off, which I’m looking forward to for bug-free stargazing.

Anyway, we bought both. When I’ve turned in my current pattern, I’m going to set each one up with a timer (inside to keep them clean), and compare setup and general comfort/construction/features/quality and keep our favorite and return the other one.

We’re taking a vacation in Jellystone this fall. We’re going to camp a couple days and hopefully stay in Old Faithful Lodge one night. I’d like to start going to one national park every year. Of course, we’re starting with one I’ve already visited. But Yellowstone has more than enough to offer for another visit and it will be a different season, so I think I’ll be seeing it with fresh eyes. Grand Canyon will probably be next, but it’s so fracking expensive!

Other things that are tugging at my skirt? The new mower! I decided to return the one I hated. This one is fancier, and a little scary! It’s a zero-turn, so it’s got the crazy robot arm controls and it’s FAST. I’ll need to spend a good 20 minutes in the middle of the yard getting the hang of it, I expect, to avoid destruction to limb and property.  But that’s going to have to wait a couple days, which is a shame, because I can tell it’s going to be FUN! At those prices, they’d better be as recreational as they are useful. The base price was almost double the other, though returning the expensive and useless accessories put a dent in the difference. This one also offered a 5-year in-home repair/service plan instead of a 3-year, which is fantastic since we’re out in the sticks & don’t have a trailer. Luckily, it also came with a longer financing period, so while we’ll be paying longer, it won’t be a bigger monthly charge. And the delivery/setup guy this time around was so much better than the other guy. He made sure I understood and felt comfortable with it, and didn’t rush me at all. If anything, I rushed because I could tell I’d have a learning curve & needed to get back to work. So while the first mower was balls, the exchange experience was solid, once  I got past the sold date vs. delivery date snafu (they delivered a week after I bought it and the customer service person was trying to use the sold date rather than the delivery date as my grace period for returns). And after I asked, they did waive the “restocking fee.” The cynical side of me wonders how gracious the exchange would be if I were getting a cheaper mower instead of a fancier one, but since I live in the real world and not the alternate universe where I decide to quit mowing altogether, Sears is back on my good side.

Okay! Back to the needles!

So earlier this week, I was making fun of people who document/tweet/post every tiny aspect of their lives. “If I eat a meal and I don’t photograph it, did I really eat it? If I have a passing thought and I don’t tweet it, do I really even exist?”

But man, do I miss my camera. I’m totally having an if-I-knit-something-in-the-forest-and-no-one-sees-it-did-I-really-knit-it? crisis.

And how am I supposed to psyche myself up to work on the barn without the promise of self-congratulatory before and after pictures? Sheesh. No fun. I did spend a couple hours last week putting up a new chicken fence in the blazing sun, then pulling it all back down after deciding to range them instead. I never think things through. I’m more of a “work harder, not smarter” type. But their fence is officially down for good, barring a predator problem, which should be minimized by our perimeter fence.  More fun for them, less work for me, and no Kansas-wind-related concerns over my shoddy workmanship. Plus they just look nicer wandering around wherever they please. And without a fence in my way, there’s no need for me to move the hayrack or make access to the hay shelter on both sides, which will make for a sturdier structure because I’ll be able to frame in the back a little.

After the fence debacle, I spent 10 Grammar Girls and 2 Geek Farm Lifes mucking out the chicken coop. Toward the end, I dug up a mouse nest and watched with horror and fascination as Faith caught and swallowed the mom whole! Then Bridgette and Inara teamed up with her to rapidly dispatch the babies. If only they would only forage for mice as ambitiously as they forage for bugs, the coop would be a Barbie Dream House. Okay, maybe not; but at least there wouldn’t be any mouse poops. (As a side note, I really like Mark Bittman–How to Cook Everything is my favorite cookbook, and for the most part, really liked Food Matters–but when he mentioned in the intro that chickens were natural vegetarians, I almost threw the book out the window. No, chickens in nature wouldn’t eat what chickens in factory farms eat, but they’re no vegetarians. They’re as omnivorous as pigs. Or us.)

Anyway, I got to the bottom of the coop and was ready to start installing my new stable grid, when I had to hesitate. There’s a nice, compacted, mostly-level base, and a frame already there on all four sides. It just seems to be begging for a nice concrete slab. So I called a couple of concrete places listed on the Wabaunsee County Economic Development site, and one of them actually called me back (a minor miracle in the country). He’s coming out today to check it out and give me a price. If I can afford it, I’d much rather pay the nice man than do it myself. And then I’ll be able to use the stablegrid Daddy bought me on the ground just outside the coop and sheep shed, which needs drainage at least as much as the structures themselves. Maybe more.

The upside of concrete: easy to clean, raised surface for better drainage, might be cooler in summer.

The downside: may also be colder in winter (but hopefully not with a good layer of litter), pee won’t be able to soak into the ground, and it will raise up the floor level of the barn, which is already sized to only be comfortable for shorties like me & Ron. But it’s not like we actually do anything in there. Activities like shearing and trimming and FAMACHA scoring and blanketing and cleaning out the feeders and waterers all happen outside the barn, where the light’s much better. Pretty much both spaces are just for the animals, and my only time I spend cleaning a couple times a year, and general maintenance like putting down fresh straw, refilling the feeder and waterer, and collecting eggs. Even with someone taller helping out, those tasks are no big deal.  And I just realized I think I miscalculated the square footage when I ordered the stable grid.

I’m hoping we can address the pee issue by grading it slightly, or maybe even having sand-filled holes here and there in  in the concrete? I’m picturing pvc stuck in here and there before the concrete is poured. That may not be feasible unless I’m doing it myself, which I’m hoping to avoid. I’ve got my fingers crossed that hiring it out is close enough to the DIY price that it’s easy for me to rationalize.

So here’s my revised Cupcake Ranch plan, now without a set chicken yard:

The sections with the stripes are paths, probably just mulched with hay or something. They go out to the barn area, and between the hay shelter and hayrack, and also around the hay shelter to the ramp, which will eventually have a little gate (right now it’s continuous fence, so no access) that will take you via the ramp up to the deck that will on day grace the top of the sheep shed. It will be perfect for alfresco dinners and stargazing.

I think I’m also going to keep a 6th paddock on the playground. I’m pretty sure I can use a couple of fence sections to corral it in and make a little corridor out to it. I’ve realized that they don’t care about grain enough to follow me all Mary’s little lamb-style if there’s any particularly succulent grass to be had between the barnyard gate and their destination.

So that’s the new Master Plan, but like I said, without pictures and the promise of future bragging, I’m not overly motivated.

Knitting is equally unrewarding when you can’t show it off. I’m in the midst of what will be a very cute summer garment for Craft zine. I decided to make a kid-sized model of the pattern I’m working on, so if I had to frog it, there would be less work.

That was a stupid plan. I never change my mind on design elements until way too late, so I always have to frog a lot no matter what. And having an extra half-finished miniature version that needs to be frogged and reknit just makes me depressed. So I’ve scrapped the mini WIP and started the real one. Maybe I’ll try it again next time, only REALLY tiny. Like Blythe-sized.

Hm, that’s an idea. I should get a Blythe doll and make Blythe sized models of everything first. Then I’ll have hardly any stitches, plus a matching dolly garment! But aren’t they really expensive? And then she’s always cutting her eyes at you, so impassive yet still judgmental, always quietly plotting. Nothing’s ever good enough for Blythe.

It’s not the humidity, either. It’s the inertia.

Not only do I avoid any physical or mental activity when it’s hot, but my capacity to make excuses skyrockets. Once we’re well into summer and heat becomes the norm, I’ll be fine again. But for now, it’s hard for me to do anything more than slump in a chair and fan myself.

I know I’m being ridiculous. And as a Texas girl, I’m absolutely embarrassed about getting sidelined in the mid-90s (though the Texas heat argument is kind of specious because fucking EVERYONE has AC, so I was only really in the heat while driving around, and that’s only because my car was too old to make repairing the AC worthwhile).

But today, the scheduled high is just 90, so I’ve decided to bust through the inertia and TCB, even though it’s going to SUCK.

As soon as I finish my coffee, I’m going to go muck out the chicken coop. If I’m feeling really ambitious (which I don’t anticipate) and if the sheep will let me (unlikely, because they won’t have any other shade until the afternoon–see how my excuses flow like water?), maybe I’ll even start on the barn (read: I will not be starting on the barn).

Interestingly, the coop as actually gotten cleaner from my neglect. With the heat and the chickens’ work ethic for bug hunting, they’ve effectively turned the litter (mostly straw & poop) into quite a lovely compost. But it’s gotta go. I’ve got some stable grid to install before they utterly destroy my sand pile.

Here’s my overall plan for Cupcake Ranch. Hopefully, I’ll lay the groundwork this season and be able to start my garden next (too late this year anyway)

1. Stable grid in barn and coop
2. French drain to channel water away from barnyard
3. Repair/rebuild hay shelter, with some kind of opening on the south side as well; better protected all around.
4. Move or discard that stupid pile of lumber
5. Move hayrack to other side of barnyard so there’s not a fence between it & hay
6. Make path from hay shelter to hayrack
7. Compost pile in the chicken yard
8. Kill off grass between driveway and garden with cardboard and spoiled hay. Plant there next season.
9. Build gate to ramp
10. Replace deck over sheep shed and outfit with a picnic table (bolted down) and maybe a pipe frame with a removable coolaroo awning
11. Coolaroo awning between coop & fence (where hayrack is now–under Cupcake Ranch sign)
12. Semi-dwarf fruit trees on the perimeter of each paddock and on the west side of the chicken yard. For shade, fruit for us, and windfall fruit for the critters
13. Herb garden on the east side of the barnyard fence–watered with old water dumped from sheep buckets. Or maybe tomatoes. Something that won’t interest the sheep to much, or that I can shelter.
14. Once I sort out the perfect paddock situation (it’s still as little sketchy), kill off the grass with hay-mulched cardboard along the fence lines.

Okay, I’m done with my coffee. Now I just need to find my ipod and hit the salt mines.

I’ve suddenly found myself with a whole Saturday afternoon, completely open and unscheduled.

I was supposed to be working for Ed & Marta at Dover Heritage Days, but after just a few hours, the edge of a storm blew in suddenly and swept all the displays off the tables and almost blew the tent away. Some nice people helped me move everything inside the community center and lent me a phone to call the Howes to see what I was supposed to do with the alpacas. I didn’t know whether to just leave them and wait to see if it passed and set up again (they seemed completely indifferent to the wind blowing over the bouncy slide and the people scurrying around them), or what. At the time, the wind was really going (I heard there were 80mph winds in Topeka), so Marta sent Ed out to pick them up, but by the time he arrived 40 minutes later, it was all over and blue skies were moving our way. Except for the very edge, the storm completely missed us–just the wind and a little rain and some lightning–but since he’d already dragged the trailer out and a lot of the booths had packed up, he went ahead and took the animals and sent me home.

Now of course, it’s a lovely day, and cooler than it was at 7am. I’m sure if I hadn’t called, the storm would have hammered us. It’s like lighting a cigarette to make the train come. But it felt strange driving off toward blue skies at noon.

Anyway, the long and the short of it means that my afternoon is actually free! This never happens!

I don’t quite know what to do with myself. I think I’m going to work on my project for an upcoming Craft pattern I’m writing, and make some sour cherry jam, and see what what I can’t do about the swarm of minute, annoying fruit flies that has appeared in by kitchen. Maybe I’ll catch up with laundry. Maybe I’ll just lounge outside and eat bonbons. Except that I don’t actually have any bonbons, unfortunately.

A whole Saturday afternoon! How do you like that?

Screwing around with my old point and shoot (since I shit the bed with my fancy camera), I found this video:

This latest deluge of torrential rain has lit a fire under my ass about putting in a French drain for the barnyard. I’m worried about their little hooves and general malaise from the bog. But knowing my own laziness, I decided to commit to just five feet in the morning and five feet at night to digging a trench. If I had to do it all at once, I’d put it off for ever, and this way, a couple weeks from now, I’ll be able to put in the French drain and hopefully mitigate the barnyard swamp situation going forward. Yes, the worst of the rain will probably be over by then, but it’s not like it’s going to stop raining after this summer. I’m going to make it as long as the barnyard, a couple feet back from they hay shelter, and then tapering out at a 45° angle into the pasture.

Here’s my handiwork from last night and this morning. The ground’s so saturated that it filled up with water overnight. Once it’s done, I’ll need to give it another pass to deepen it a bit, then add a little gravel, and we have a bunch of that fabric-covered flexible French drain material. My only expense will be the gravel for the bottom and sides of the trench. Hopefully that won’t set me back too much.

I also want a more permanent chicken fence–I can’t energize my sheep fence and chicken fence, and the chickens just scoot under the fence half the time. It’s not a problem right now, but I don’t want them in my future garden, which I’ll be planting around the barnyard. But I am going to move the compost pile into their pen. Since they loving digging in it anyway–that’s they first place they head when they get out–I figure I’ll let them turn it for me a little. The trick is to keep them from spreading it out too much. Maybe a little barrier of some sort…

Anyway, I don’t really have a budget for any of this, so I think for now I’ll set up a cattle panel fence. I bought several panels when they were $20 apiece at Orshlen last summer, and I’ve got those clever spiral connectors from Premier 1, the place where I get my portable electric. I think it will actually pretty much stay up by itself if I don’t make it too big, but I might have a couple extra T posts laying around. I was going to use the panels & connectors to make big, sturdy cages for my hay bale tomatoes, but I never got around to it and I’ve got enough in the hopper this summer that I’ll probably just get another plant or two for my little hoop house garden and leave it at that. Besides, my bolt cutter is too small for the job, so I really wasn’t looking forward to cutting up all those panels.

Yes, I’m that stupid. It’s depressing. But I let the sheepies run free one evening and got some happy pictures before I did The Bad Thing.

Sometimes I like to creep up on the sheep and spy on them through gaps in the barn.

I still haven’t finished mucking out the barns, and it’s JUNE. Yes, that’s late, but more critically, that means that we’re heading into hot weather territory, so the sheep will spend the better part of the day seeking out shade. Which means the 4″ of compacted litter need to get out! I keep adding clean straw to keep it nice and minimize the flies, but seriously, dude. The floor I haven’t mucked out is significantly higher than the rest.

It’s rainy today, so I’m giving myself a reprieve (although that’s idiotic, because the forecast is rain for the next several days), but I absolutely need to finish mucking out the barn asap, because I’ve got some Stable-Grid on the way!

Here’s a picture of the partially-filled grid from grittycitygirl‘s photostream.

It’s a plastic grid you fill with sand to make a permeable solid surface for your barn or barnyard or driveway or what-have you. Rain/pee flow through it and filter back into the soil, but it doesn’t become a big muddy mess. It will still have litter over the top, but I think the whole thing will be much drier and cleaner, because you won’t have the same accumulation of liquid.

My dad bought the grid for the sheep and chickens for Christmas (Ronnie gave him a Santa list–I transcribed it, of course; her handwriting is appalling). I already have what was once a big sand hill (leftovers from the ball field next door), but is now a wider but much lower dune that I’ll be using to make the base and fill in the grids. But before I can do that, I need to clear out all the old junk from the rest of the barn and the chicken coop. By junk, I mean matted straw and poop.

This is the part of keeping animals that is way less fun. If you have a big barn and a tractor, or if you’re not a fat lazy slob like me, it’s probably less of a drag. Or if you’re a little more laissez-faire about your setup–say, just having a shelter in the middle of a pasture instead of being a big dork with a secure barnyard where you put up the sheep every night–you could eliminate the chore altogether. A poultry coop and a sheep shed on skids would be really ideal–just drag them over a few feet every couple days, et voila! Nothing to clean up. Of course, then I’d need a 4-wheel drive truck or an ATV–ooh! unless they were on big cushy tires!

But instead, I have a permanent barn. Given the Kansas winds, my love of re-purposing (our barn’s the former playground fort) and my own neurosis, it’s probably a good thing. But still. I spent about an hour mucking out 1/3 of the sheep shed last week and excavated 2 big carts of muck. So I guess I’ve got about 3 more hours of hard labor ahead of me, which now that I say it, doesn’t sound that bad and I should quit whining.

I’m back to knitting. On the needles, I have a mystery Knitty submission (never heard back about my First Fall submission, so I’m guessing they’re not using it) and an upcoming Craftzine pattern. Here’s the knitty:

Why, it could be anything!

I’ve also been sewing. I’m trying to come up with my ideal patternless sundress pattern. Here’s my first try, too bulky, but totally wearable (I’m wearing it right now, even!) I’m hoping this current enthusiasm for making dresses continues, because I would really like to start using up some of my hoardy fabric stash. If you want to make one, I doodled up a little pdf with instructions here.

Made from a couple yards of cheap cotton print I got from Joann many years ago. I had no plans for it, but it was on sale and cute.

The front is gathered and sewn to the front edging. In the back, the skirt is sewn flat…

…and then the edging forms an elastic casing in the back.

I decided to put the tie on the outside instead of in an interior casing. I made wee little beltloops out of the extra strap fabric. They’re cute!

I also made a skirt out of 2 pillowcases, using the basic elastic skirt instructions from Sew What! Skirts.

I see a lot of pillowcase skirts in my future. I have a pretty hefty collection of vintage sheets. I’m currently working on a pillowcase sundress as well.

Last week, I cracked out a bunch of my Cupcake Ranch roving stash. Before packing away each of the used wheels I sold, I spun and plied a full skein on each one, to make sure there were no weird issues or weird idiosyncrasies. I still need to wash it all and to finish the last skein of Uncle Honeybunch, but I’ve almost got everything I need for my 2009 Cupcake Ranch project. What will it be? Something colorwork, no doubt, but what? And what pattern? I’m looking at 12 ounces without Agnes–her wool is so different than Fudgy and the boys that I hesitate to use it in the same colorwork project. Maybe a vest and mittens, and I could use Agnes for lining? Or I might be able to crank lightweight sweater with a soft Agnes neckline and 12 ounces–or do the colorwork only in handspun and finish it with the gorgeous Fudgy lambswool sport I just got back?

After seeing the loveliness that was yearling Fudgy Yarn, I decided to send back her lambswool roving and have them spin it up for me. It’s marvelous and bouncy and unusually soft for Romney. $12.50/200-yd skein. Email me–nikol at harveyvilleproject dot com–if you want some or buy it at artclub.etsy.com!

Yesterday, I was so gung ho to spin & TCB that I didn’t finish mucking out the barn & coop–and now the air just REEKS of rain, but won’t rain already! It’s driving me crazy. I should just go grab the manure fork and head out there–that’s probably the only way to actually make it rain.

Speaking of mucking out the barn (yay), that stupid scoop thing on my new lawnmower is utterly useless and is going back to Sears. It’s completely awkward to operate, weak, clunky to remove, and incapable of scooping up anything, even loose scattered hay. I don’t know whether the reviewer who wrote about using it to turn his compost pile was smoking opium, or whether the older scoop was, in fact, a usable tool, or whether the installers fucked something up, but that thing is one, big, expensive turd. And you can’t polish a turd. I’m also unimpressed with the little shade visor thing, which makes such a racket I want to rip it off an smash it to bits. And frankly, I not overly impressed with the mower itself. Sears does have a satisfaction guarantee, so it might be going back in exchange for the next level up.  If I can’t use the scoop thingy, then I would have picked an entirely different mower. On the other hand, the other mowers are more expensive and harder to rationalize. Although, after mowing the ditch with a push mower, I’m about ready to spring for the extra debt of a zero-turn princess. The one accessory I do like (but even that, with reservations) is the little tow cart thingy. It’s extremely lightweight and dumps without detaching it. But the dump thing is kind of weak, too. It doesn’t tump over enough to actually dump everything out, so you still have to help it along with a shovel or fork. It’s annoying.

Also! The guys who delivered it, who were supposed to show me how to use everything, totally sneaked off as soon as I turned my back. I’m not kidding. Even though I said I’d never used anything but a push mower, the guy gave me a 1-minute overview, said “why don’t you give it a try?” and let me ride off. When I turned the thing around, they were already driving away! He didn’t lower the cutter to its proper level, or show me how to remove the scoop or even let me try using it, or find out if I had any questions, or anything! What a dick. Literally waited for me to turn my back and drove off.

And the lights don’t work.

Sometimes I’m amazed at how poorly pretty much everything performs, and how little respect companies have for their customers. It’s depressing.

I’m probably going to install flooring grids in the barn and coop this summer. It’s basically a plastic grid that you lay over a base of gravel or sand, then fill with more gravel or sand, then cover as usual with bedding. So water/pee flows through the bedding and down into the soil. It’s supposed to keep things cleaner and fresher. I’m also considering permeable concrete pavers, regular concrete pavers with a sand underlayment, and sand between, poured concrete with gravel-filled holes for the same effect, and some as-yet-undiscovered (by me) solution that’s cheap and brilliant. I’m assuming much expense and/or backbreaking labor. In my fantasy world, I’d get the grid for the whole barnyard. But that would be around two grand (why it’s fantasy).

I keep trying to figure out some bootleg way to rig up a similar system with, say, soda crates or bread crates or something deliverymen use, but most of my (um, not-so-)brilliant DIY brainwaves typically end in heartbreak, humiliation, and a bunch of wasted money. I’m always rediscovering that I’m far less clever than I imagine.

Like what about something like this, laying on and filled over with sand? Except I don’t think that would actually be any cheaper. Though it would raise everything up a bit more…

A couple poorly-lit images of some Cuckoobatts currently for sale at artclub.etsy.com:

Passion Flower (2 coordinating batts = 3oz+)

A Hangover Waiting to Happen (each 3oz+)

Hoorainbow (set of 12 fat cuckoobatts totally 1# of fiber). This is a future mad scientist sweater or throw, I think.

Oh, and I still have one used wheel up for sale! It’s a great Louet-type handmade wheel from Holland. It’s clearly modeled after a Louet S10 & appears to use some Louet hardware (flyer & brake). It’s a flexible production wheel, simple to use/adjust, great for everything from fine yarns to crazy art yarns. Comes with 3 big 2-speed bobbins (use the small end on the drive band for faster speeds and the large end for slower speeds) and a 2-position on-board lazy kate (up top as shown or by treadle like on an S10). Accepts modern Louet 3-speed bobbins (I sell them–$30 ea + $5 shipping regardless of qty). One of the bobbins is slightly shorter but spins the same as the others. Single treadle that’s very easy to start and stop. Just $225 + $25 shipping! Cheap! I’ll even throw in some fiber to get you started. Hooray! Email me at nikol at harveyvilleproject dot com if you want it & I’ll send you a paypal invoice.