Maybe these can count as Saturday sky pictures, since there is a little bit of sky showing. I went out at sunrise yesterday morning and we'd had a light frost out in the fields. A little photostitching and voila:
This post will contain no poultry photos. The chickens are doing the same, and the turkeys, well there's good news and bad news. The good news is that we did go to Pomfret (going through South Pomfret, Pomfret Village, and North Pomfret, which is just a church and a grange hall, with a detour to Barnard, then possibly Greater Pomfret, Pomfret Junction, and Lower Pomfret, but who knows since there were no signs) to pick up four more heritage turkeys. They are here now. I won't go into the details of how, if you put 4 grown turkeys in a large cage with a metal bottom in the back of your Toyota Matrix, they will slip and slide every time you go around a curve or over a hill, which is pretty much all there is to a Vermont road, and how they will be having digestive problems due to the stress of traveling, and they will be trying to get their balance and kicking up a lot of stuff from the bottom of the cage. Let's just say I spent Thursday wiping and shampooing all six interior planes of the Matrix.
The views were beautiful throughout the trip. Sunny day, foliage nearly at peak, pumpkin patches and blue skies and orange and red leaves. I took no pictures (I was driving) and my husband, being a Vermonter, did not want to look like a dork doing it himself, so he enjoyed himself making fun of all the flatlanders on the side of the road setting up their tripods. The color in our town is not quite there yet. Maybe by next weekend.
The bad news is that Buster and Ginnie did not come back that last time. We have a sneaking suspicion that one of our neighbors may have had a big dinner the other night, but that is just a wild guess. What's sad is that they were two purebred Narragansetts. These new four turned out to be two "mostly" Bourbon Reds, and two "pretty much" Blue Slates. The toms are HUGE. I will take pictures once they come down off the roosts. Like Buster and Ginnie before them, they are quite nervous at the moment, although yesterday I got one of the hens to eat tomatoes out of my hand. Unlike Buster and Ginnie, they won't be free-ranging. My husband is building a larger run for them today and we hope that at some point we can let them out, but only for short periods and only when we are home. Turkey lesson learned the hard way.
There has been knitting. I finished the fingerless mitts made with my daughter's dyed llama yarn. I just loved the colors in this yarn:
For once, she was camera shy:
This was a combination of an adult's fingerless mitten pattern I had (for sport yarn) combined with a bulky child's mitten pattern. It came out way too big, big enough so I can practically wear them. As soon as I finished them, I cast on with the same yarn, undyed, for an emergency pair of bulky mittens for myself. I hoped to finish them in 24 hours so I could wear them to my stepson's football game. I was doing both at the same time, on two sets of dpns and I was cruising. Until Friday morning, when I realize they were at least 2 sizes too big:
So I frogged them and let my daughter dye the yarn. I will have a quick pair of mittens, but they'll be done in color.
In other news, the Vermont wool/mohair sock yarn is FINALLY on its way home from the spinning mill! Due to an error by a new employee, one of the wool fleeces got left out of the batch, raising the mohair/wool ratio to about 70/30. Whatever. The owner has offered to make that orphaned fleece into some two-ply worsted, which will be coming along later. I cannot wait to see the sock yarn. It's going to take color beautifully with all that mohair in it.
I am sick with a bad chest cold, but since my family refuses to acknowledge it and leave me alone for a few hours to rest, I'm resigned to ignoring it. You can do the same. All it means is that I didn't have the energy to start carding my wool with my alpaca for the dye-spin-knitalong. I've been wondering how best to blend these fibers without caving into using the drum carder, and apparently you can use hand cards and then roll the fibers across the cards vertically to make a somewhat worsted kind of rolag. I've already pulled out most of the short fibers with the dog comb, so I think I'm going to try this.
That's sad news about Buster and Ginnie :-( And I just don't want to think what cleaning your Matrix was like!
Hope the cold gets better (see, you do get sympathy from the UK, even if not from anyone at home) - and pretty pretty mitts!
Posted by: Anne | October 08, 2006 at 09:12 AM
Poor Buster and Ginnie, they will miss the fame of performing in a knitting blog.
At least we still have Helen.
I'm not even going to think that they might have been dinner!
Love the mittens, the colour is great,
as usual, the daughter is cute.
Posted by: Lindy | October 08, 2006 at 09:21 AM
I'm sorry about Buster and Ginnie. That's pretty crappy, actually. I hope you have more success with the new additions to the family.
Posted by: Carole | October 08, 2006 at 10:00 AM
Awww, I'd like to think that Buster & Ginnie are just truly "wild" and have claimed a piece of land for their own. Living and learning the hard way is sometimes the best way. By why doesn't it FEEL that way? Your daughter's yarn really is nice! She seems to be a natural at fiberarts. Perhaps she's a "snip off the ol flock"? ;)
Posted by: Carol | October 08, 2006 at 10:21 AM
K, so I'm a city girl and a southwesterner beside, so tell me. In Vermont, are you allowed to just kill whatever wanders on your property (pet or wild) and eat it? I thought there were seasons and property laws and such. Do you think they ate your turkeys because they could get away with it?
Sorry you are sick. If you have some eucalyptus oil, put a few drops in a pot full of hot water, lean over the pot (with a towel over your head for best effect) and breathe as deeply as you can. It will make you cough like crazy and may make your eyes sting, but it works really well to clear up the lungs. I hope you feel better soon.
(Your daughter has a way with color, just like you!)
Posted by: Carrie | October 08, 2006 at 10:24 AM
This seriously just sent a chill down my spine! Frost! I'd actually welcome it at this point just to kill the things I'm allergic to.
Posted by: Scoutj | October 08, 2006 at 10:33 AM
Your daughter's yarn is beautiful! I want some! (seriously - if she does more and wants to sell some, I'd be interested)
Posted by: Dianna | October 08, 2006 at 10:38 AM
So sorry about Buster and Ginnie!
Your frost pictures are lovely! I always enjoy your landscape shots.
Your daughter's glove are gorgeous! She clearly has an eye for color!
Feel better soon!
Posted by: jillian | October 08, 2006 at 11:05 AM
I am sorry to hear about Buster and Ginny.
Your daugther is very talented with color. What are the child labor laws in Vermont?
The sock yarn sounds yummy 70/30 is a great blend.
Posted by: Maia | October 08, 2006 at 11:08 AM
Poor turkeys--and purebreds, too!
Those gloves are beautiful. Such colors--really fab!
Posted by: Amanda | October 08, 2006 at 03:27 PM
Hope your cold goes away quickly. I love the frost pictures. It shot all the way down into the lower 60's last night here. Poor Buster and Ginnie. Such pretty birds. We saw a lot of wild turkeys on our drive yesterday, which prompted me to tell my husband about your birds. I'm looking forward to seeing the new ones.
Posted by: Jane | October 08, 2006 at 06:32 PM
sorry bout the two traveling birds :((
but yay for new ones (abiet a big mess!)
and BEAUTIFUL MITTS!!!
Posted by: pippi | October 08, 2006 at 07:17 PM
That frost picture makes me miss Vermont! I grew up in VT and just moved from there to CA this past winter. Love it here, but I miss fall foliage, good apples and real maple syrup like crazy. Fortunately we're flying back for a visit next week - hoping to catch the end of fall color!
Posted by: no-blog-rachel | October 08, 2006 at 08:18 PM
So sorry about Buster and Ginnie. They may still be wandering somewhere.
I hope you feel better soon.
Posted by: Dorothy B | October 08, 2006 at 11:25 PM
Those Turkeys! Get it - turkeys? It's a joke get it.
Moving on. I had tyhe same problem with size last year when I made mittens for the 5 year old and they fit the 19 year old. I was getting guage. i don't know what happened. Pattern was from the Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns.
Love the frost pictures by the way.
Posted by: Beth | October 09, 2006 at 06:58 AM
Bummer about the Narragansetts. That would REALLY peeve me if the neighbors had them for Sunday dinner.
I have advice about a chest cold: Get thee to a health food store or vitamin store and get some elderberry syrup and myrrh (or myrrh gum) tincture or capsules. The myrrh will clean up that crud in your chest in no time, and the elderberry syrup will stop the virus from replicating so you'll get over it sooner.
Posted by: Norma | October 09, 2006 at 09:19 AM
FROST?????? It's 75 degrees out here at the moment (2:30 PM) - amazing what a little southward movement down the East Coast will get you, huh?
Don't forget that if it were your daughter or stepson or husband who was pushing themselves too far w/ a nasty chest cold you'd read them the riot act & make them rest rest rest! No reason not to give yourself a good stern lecture & put your feet up for a bit & let them fend for themselves. Just label yourself wildly contageous & they'll keep away readily enough... ;>
Posted by: Susan B | October 09, 2006 at 02:33 PM
Awww, Jessie. My condolences on Buster and Ginnie - they were gorgeous.
Post pix of your newbies. I live vicariously through you.
Posted by: Libby | October 09, 2006 at 02:50 PM
Damn turkeys. I'm sorry about the cold. I hate them with a passion. Follow Norma's advice and do try to rest (if even only for a few moments). Thanks for the roving weight advice. I will follow it. 8 ounces (at least). I'm planning on dyeing mine with KoolAid. I will most definitely make a mess.
Posted by: CindyCindy | October 09, 2006 at 03:19 PM
Stupid colds. You are in good company - the harlot has had one too. Get well soon and take a break! Put the poodle on your lap and ignore everyone else.
Nice mitts! Stupid turkeys (plus expensive I bet!) just wandering off. Maybe someone has them and has no idea what to do with them - I certainly couldn't kill them and eat them...
Posted by: lynne s of oz | October 10, 2006 at 02:51 AM
Vermont looks gorgeous! Gee - I'm in Canada and haven't hardly had frost yet. I think we did once in August, it was freaky though.
I'd be tempted to carry turkeys around in large dog carriers, LOL.
Posted by: Serenity Now! | October 10, 2006 at 10:23 AM
I can't reveal the secret, but when you find out: You're going to scream! No, no more pregnancies - please. Its business, but not in the sense of starting something new.
You'll see, it'll be worth the wait.
I love those fingerless mittens. Thanks for sharing such greenery - beautiful.
Knit on!
Posted by: Latoya | October 10, 2006 at 06:19 PM
I am SO BUMMED about your turkeys. That really sucks.
Your frost pictures are so pretty! Here I was whining about the frost, and you're doing the smart thing and making it beautiful. :)
Your daughter's mitts are fantastic! See, you really need to force her into that barn and make her churn out the dyed stuffs. ;)
Posted by: heather | October 11, 2006 at 09:01 AM
I'm sorry Buster and Ginnie didn't come back home :o(
I'm also sad to see frost... :o\
Posted by: JessaLu | October 11, 2006 at 09:31 AM