In which there is knitting

It's true. While my blogging has come to a near-halt, I haven't put down the needles. Finished Juliet, which you may recall was made from a frogged thrift-store sweater.

It could have been a bit longer, and hey, look who hasn't been doing her crunches. Ack. But I like it.

I also finally finished the eternal handspun socks for my husband. It wasn't easy to get pics because of some feline interference.

I had to go with a modeled shot:

These are a 3-ply I blended out of whatever fiber I had on hand, mostly BFL with some nylon, but also alpaca, Romney, I don't know what else. The original batts looked like this back in December:

And this sometime around January:

This was my first 3-ply yarn and I am amazed at how full-bodied it is compared to 2-ply. I did it for strength, but it was great fun to knit with as well. Time consuming to spin, but totally worth it.

And I've already started my next project. Monkey socks. I may be the last sock knitter on the planet to make these (according to Ravelry, 9,237 other knitters have knit or are currently knitting them), but a co-worked just did some and I liked them. (What are the odds that in a workplace of about 20 employees, there are two sock knitters? Does 10 percent of the population knit socks?)

This is in my own Long Trail yarn, in Still Waters, which is a nice inky blue-gray, unless you used a flash to take the pictures.

It's a fun pattern.

We have been very busy with the animals and the gardens. And this.

We had a party last weekend and we decided to cook up some brown trout for the occasion.

They were delicious.

Please take a moment of silence for our recent pig disaster. One of our sows (whose babies we had to bottle feed this winter) delivered 13 piglets, 11 of them stillborn. She then rolled or stepped on the other two and killed them. 0-13 is not a good record for a sow...

I snuck into the turkey house the other night to snap this flash picture of mama Maude and her adopted chick. Maude keeps the chick under her wing, but this baby is going to be a full-size chicken and Maude is only a bantam. That wing isn't going to do the trick much longer. :-)

And we now have four baby turkeys (down from six), but they  seem to be going strong.

If I have much else to report I can't think of it right now. Trying to wring every second out of these long days has me a bit exhausted. Thank goodness we had a miserable week of rain to slow things down a bit.

Today, we plant the tomatoes...

Have a great week.

Comments

[Pom Pom]

Wow! I love the Juliet sweater! The socks are wonderful, too. The pig story is sad, but the brown trout look delicious! Your photos are SO inviting! I love the title of your blog! Keep posting. I'll follow!

[Abby]

I'm planting tomatoes today too! But you are in Vermont and I am in Indiana, and that makes me late. LOVE your farm, despite the facts-of-life animal casualties.

[Jnsie]

Love the vest. I remember when you made the sweater purchase and frogged it. (Yes, I've been lurking...sorry.) The vest is beautiful!

[Robin]

Juliet looks great! Daughter looks like she's grown much taller. Great trout catch, too! So sorry to hear about the piggy disaster. Do they usually have such large litters?

[Mim]

I love that sweater. I keep seeing sweaters I like, is this the curse of the knitter? I have yet to try and knit a garment besides socks. I'm scared!

[donna lee]

I have never done a 3 ply yarn. I like the way it looks and now I feel the urge to try it. When I spun yarn for my husband's socks, I did a 2 ply and spun and plied it tightly. So far, it's working it out well.

The Juliet looks great on you and if you didn't mention the lack of crunches, no one would have noticed!

[Marcia]

Well, no, you aren't the last person on the planet to make the Monkey socks...I am! As for 3-ply, not only will it wear better for socks, but it should be more comfortable, too, as it is rounder. They are some great-looking socks!

[Kristen]

Juliet looks fantastic on you.
The adoptive mama and her chick are so cute- reminds me of short moms (5'2") with hulking 6'2" sons. (That would be me and mine.)

[trek]

So, I have to wonder: will you be changing the sow's name to Bacon in the near future?

[Amy]

The sweater & socks look great! I too am one of the few knitters who hasn't yet knit my Monkeys...I do have yarn in mind for them - one of these days... :)

[Panhandle Jane]

I have some no-purl monkeys on the needles right now. I haven't done the "real" kind yet.

[janna]

11 of 13 stillborn? That's got to mean something not good... But it looks like Maude is a great mom!

I was just thinking I need another pair of monkeys - my first pair are just about worn through. And Juliet has been in my queue for ages - yours is cute!

[Carrie]

I love the monkeys too. If I could find my needle, I'd do sock #2. Sigh.
Poor piggies. Maybe that sow isn't meant to be a mama. We had a cat like that (before we got smart and had her fixed).
Love the knitting!

[gayle]

That sow is not on your team. Pork chops are very good on the barbecue grill. Just sayin'...
At least the fishing and knitting appear to be going well!
My in-laws have a bantam that once hatched some duck eggs. The first time the babies went into the water, "mama" stood on the bank having hysterics! ("Get out of that water, you stupid kids, you'll drown!!")

[Andrea (noricum)]

My, that's a lot of fish to eat! Are you going to freeze some?

Perhaps Ms Piggy will do better the second time around?

I love Maude. What do you think she'd do if you had snuck a turkey egg in with the mix? ;)

[JessaLu]

Lovely Juliet, very cool socks and sorry about the piglets. :o(

[Kathy Walker]

I've had the worst time with my Monkey socks. Mostly because of all my other ufo's. I do enjoy them when I have to time to really work on them. Sorry to hear about your piggies. As for Maud, well at least she doesn't have a duckling. My grandparents slipped a hen a duck egg and Grandma said she nearly went insane when her baby discovered water. Love Juliet! It is so darned cute.

[lynne s of oz]

You look great in your Juliet! Hubster's socks are lovely too.
I have not made Monkeys. You are not the last :-)
Hmm, that sow doesn't sound like she is a very good breeder. I think I agree with Gayle.
Finally, what a lot of yummy fish! Mmmm, fish.

[Caroline]

I agree, you do look great in the Juliet. It's such a cute pattern.

Sad, sad story about the sow...stupid pig. I was always so careful not to step on my babies...I'd share your story with my ex-farmboy husband, but then I'd have to listen to all of his pig and piglet stories (LOL)