The Thrifty Knitter

Doing a search on when lambs reach mature size and I ended up here.

We got our first blizzard Christmas eve (we=me & Ron, but also all of the animals). Christmas morning, we got about an hour of sunshine and blue skies before the snow clouds brought in a new round of the white stuff, but I had time to go out and survey the results of the squall.

Our little barn was built for our original four sheep (not the extra 3 stowaways), and while it’s got plenty of space for seven with the wide door open (leaving ample room for a hasty retreat), it’s a little too cramped for me to feel comfortable shutting them in, which means that during the blizzard, there was snow blowing in pretty much continually. They’re well shielded from the north and west, so they’re safely out of the really punishing winds, but that couldn’t save them from being pretty well frosted the next morning. By the time I started snapping, they’d shaken off most of the snow (they shake like dogs), but there was still a little icing on all of them.

I knew it was cold when Jayne crowded me. He’s normally a bit ninny  who wants nothing to do with the people.

Fudgy was the last one out. The barn’s pretty snowy inside, but there’s still plenty of dry straw (probably where they were laying). I shoveled out the big drifts and then just put a bunch of fresh straw over the lighter snow.

The heated water tub performed well, much to my delight. Normally on a morning like this, I’d have 3-4 trips with 40-pound buckets of water. With the heated tub, all I had to do was shovel out a path.

The Merinos were the first to head for the hay bunk, which was all but snowed under. I threw a couple of flakes on top so they could munch while I shoveled away the snow drifts.

Pretty soon, everyone joined in. The storm started fairly early Christmas eve. I grained them early because I was afraid it would get too bitter if I waited. I’m sure they hunkered down inside soon after, and they didn’t come out of the barn until I checked on them that morning around 9.30–I could tell because the snow was unmolested. Normally they’re up and eating at first light, so the were all pretty ravenous. All in all, I think they did just fine.

The chickens weren’t quite so lucky. The covering blew off their little window (on the west side–with a northwest wind) sometime in the night, and the coop was full of snow. When I opened the door, they made a huge fuss, apparently scolding me for my neglect.

The were mostly jammed in the one semi-snowless corner, with the luckiest ones right under the heatlamp. The feed bags along the north wall kept out the worst of the wind.

Kaylee and Cathy investigated a little, but all the other girls just squatted in the corner.

Cathy seemed flummoxed by the snow-filled nest box. Happily, the new heated water fountain was working well. Of course, with all that snow, they were hardly wanting for a drink. I shoveled them out, dumped out the nest box (a box-shaped frozen hunk of straw), dusted the snow out of their feeder, and put down a thick layer of fresh straw, then fixed their window and locked them back in. Once they had fresh straw, a usable nest box, and some nice throw scratch, they forgave me and set right to work cranking out the eggs. After the long hiatus, we’re back up to 5+ eggs/day, with everyone accounted for. Even Zoe and Faith are really churning them out!

Some more snow:

View from the back door. About waist high at the deepest drifts.

Back of the high school building.

Behind the grade school. Door and dumpster are at ground level for reference. The drifts are so crazy. We had 4-5′ drifts, and other places with maybe half an inch.

Approaching the barn. The green square at center right is the top of a small picnic table.

Breezeway, mid-thigh at the deepest.

The courtyard, ranging from bare ground to chest-high. We had just enough time to shovel out and square away the animals before heading off to the Wichita airport in some fresh blowing snow. I really wish I’d had my camera. The snow blowing all over the road looks like dry ice swirling in whirling everywhere. On the turnpike, it looked like jets of water spraying over the divider.

(Found a youtube video of snow swirling on the road. This is nothing new to people in snowy places, but it’s weirdly and dangerously hypnotic when you’re driving:)

I just realized I omitted the size change info from the strap. I’m forwarding my error to Craft, but in the meantime (bolded parentheticals were omitted):

[Under Strap#1]

Row 11 (13, 15): S1 1, K3 (4, 5), BO 3 st, K4 (5, 6) (so you’ll have a gap with 4 (5, 6) st on either side of it).
Row 12 (14, 16): Sl 1, K3 (4, 5), CO 3 st, K4 (5, 6).

I’ve had some inquiries for kiddie sizing. If you want to make the pattern for a kid, just use a thinner yarn (and scale down your thrums) at a tighter gauge. I’ve only tested one, but it came out as I expected, so you should be able to scale down from there.

Both of these are the size small. The pink one is per the pattern, and the blue one is in Valley Yarns Berkshire on US8 at 17 st = 4″ in plain stockinette. The slipper is about 8″ long (vs 10″ on the small regular). The sizing works for a foot about an inch and a half smaller and larger than the actual bottom measurement.

You can probably go down another inch or so by using dk/light worsted and US5 needles with skinny thrums, or smaller still by skipping the thrums. The slipper is knit sole first, and in the small, that’s only around 500 stitches (= 20 sts x 25 rows), so knitting up a quick sole won’t take longer than your average swatch, and you’ll know immediately whether it will fit.

In other news, look what I got! Cupcake mittens!

These were knit by my friend Ellen, a Londoner and former Harveyville Project resident, and they’re so freaking cute I want to howl. She gave them to Ron to bring me home (he just got back from a month-long tour of Europe with Kid Congo Powers & the Pink Monkeybirds).

Earlier tonight, I was feeling blue and discontented and lonesome and self-pitying. And then I decided to cut it out. Not because of my congenital Pollyannaism, but because for some reason, I thought of Buffy. Specifically, Once More, With Feeling. I cracked a beer and I’m watching it and singing along with a giant, shit-eating grin. All’s right with the world.

My shoulder and arm are all wonky, so tomorrow, no knitting, no spinning, nothing on the computer, because I’m about to go balls out of my Drusilla corset, which has been kind of progressing in unsatisfying dribs and drabs, and it’s unforgiving linen, so I want to be in prime knitting shape.

Spike’s solo is coming up. I gotta go!

Yay! They’re up! I’m really proud of this pattern & couldn’t be happier with the results. They knit up FAST, so you can still whip out a pair for Christmas.

Free how-to/pattern at CRAFT! They made a pretty little pdf, too!

(Just to be clear, this pattern is for adult sizes. A simple gauge change–worsted should do the trick–should convert to kiddie sizes, but they’re not written for wee feet. I figure there are plenty of cutesy baby booties out there already.)

If you want to make them exactly as shown, get Berkshire Bulky from Webs and  Cotton Candy top from Art Club (with free merino roving for the tail by request).

I totally spaced this morning, but I just did the drawing. Jaclyn Bailey, Congratulations on your new Jewelry Knit Kit! Hooray! I’ve contacted you for the info & your kit should be in your hot little hands in no time!

I’m having one of those days where there are just a million shitty little things going wrong. I’m a natural crybaby, but I staved off the tears almost all day. Then I started bawling and now I can’t stop, so I’m trying to distract myself.

I think everyone who’s self-employed starts to feel this way near the holidays, anxious and overwhelmed a little frantic about money.  You really want to enjoy the holiday and have a vacation, but you feel like if you pause at all, you’ll be screwed. I promised myself I was going to leave November & December completely open, but instead we started a new nonprofit, which is so much work, even before you really get started in earnest, just setting crap up and defining yourself and putting together informational materials and filing all the paperwork. So instead of getting caught up with everything, I’ve fallen farther behind. I’m a disgrace. I’m just a girl who can’t say no. That should be my freaking theme song. That is my theme song.

Anyway, the chickens must have heard I was having a shitty day, because after months of lackluster performance, today they gave me this:

That’s Bridgette, Inara, Faith, and Cathy, hard at work! Plus Buffy layed another one outside of the nest and it froze (we had single-digit temps this morning), so that means only Zoe and Kaylee are slacking off. Zoe’s never been much of a worker (unlike her namesake; she’s really nothing at all like her namesake), so that’s no surprise, but I do miss Kaylee’s pointy little eggs. Inara’s was a shocker, because just a few days ago, I noticed she was regrowing molted head feathers (which looked really weird, because they’re so short). Well, done, ladies! Thanks for the little pick-me-up!