I know why you're here

It's not for the knitting or the spinning. It's this:

I wish I had better pictures of these fast-growing little piggies but I haven't done very well with the camera. The above picture is a couple days old and these are even older (see how fat they're getting already?):

The thing is, these guys move like lightning and I have to use a slow shutter speed because there's not enough light in the barn. In lieu of adorable baby pig pictures, however, I did get some good ones of the older three. It was barn-cleaning day on Sunday and pigs absolutely love to burrow in fresh hay. Here, my brother in law is tossing forkfuls onto two of them. They run around and roll in it and snort and come for more when he stops.

There. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, there's more to report. Such as this on Sunday evening:

No, I don't mean the tractor, which saw a lot of use this weekend. And I don't mean the acre or so my husband tilled for my 30' x 40' garden (the man is a maniac on a John Deere). I mean that black dot way out beyond the pond. Here's a closer shot:

Yeah, that's a black bear. On our property. This was my first bear sighting, since last year I only heard the one that overturned furniture on our porch and bent our bird feeder pole. Maybe it's the same one.

I've got a bit of a shop update. There are four imperfect skeins of Crazy Love in Colonial Superwash:

That violet blotch appears once or twice in each skein. Still, at 20 percent off, maybe it's worth it to you. Four skeins could make a good-sized shawl...

I also put up some Blue-Faced Leicester in what I think are very cool colorways.

Suite: Judy Blue Eyes:

Peace Train (my favorite):

   

Scarborough Fair:

Long Ago and Far Away:

I spun up a tiny bit of this last one and got this. I Andean plied it and apparently the midpoint was in the middle of the black, so it knit up with a sort of gradient look, which was not actually what I was trying for. But it's neat. (And sooooo soft.)

Now, a couple of weeks ago, I spun up some merino/bamboo top. I finally figured out what to use it for: Katja from Knitty, for my nephew's new baby daughter. I'm not sure it's going to fit, as a lot of people on Ravelry said it was kind of wide and mine came out the same. But I'm hoping the colors are going to distract everyone:

I will be putting up more merino/bamboo top next week, and I am most certainly going to re-post these pictures, for advertising. This stuff is incredibly soft and silky.

I haven't blogged in a while because suddenly it's spring in Vermont and we've been doing a lot of outside work. It's been so refreshing (and exhausting) to be able to get outside and hang out with the animals.

The sheep and goats got a new electric fence and lots more pasture:

I have started brushing the goats with the horse slicker I use on the dog. They are becoming frighteningly addicted to getting a good grooming.

My friend Jenn, the newish knitter, just finished a Classy Slip-Up from the Knit Socks! book. I believe she used Plymouth Happy Feet yarn in a clever colorway such as 8. Or maybe 9. I forget.

I believe this is only her second pair of socks and she has quickly mastered the Kitchener stitch, although she has to have a paper bag to breathe into the whole time she's doing it. I was working in the shop (playing with my new toy, below) while she was grafting, and I think Sassy did less heavy breathing when she was giving birth to the piglets.

Look what I got:

It's not actually a Milo warning, although it could be:

It's actually my Pat Green Triple Picker, which makes short work of raw fleece to prep it for carding. That, or it's a medieval torture device.

I had some plans to offer some custom dyed Romney and other local fiber this week, but the Romney turned out to have too much VM for me to sell. On the bright side, I'm in the middle of blending up pure silk with Vermont alpaca, which is going to make batts so delicious I can't stand it. I'm carding the alpaca right now and it's so soft I feel like going to sleep while I'm carding. Just wait. More Panda Superwash is coming, too.

Well, I think I've gone on long enough here today. I've covered everything but the gratuitous cat photos. Here:

Comments

[Jenn]

A bear bent my parent's bird pole feeder a few times when I still lived there. One night when it came down, my dad went downstairs and out on the porch, only to see the bear hanging out right under my bedroom window. He called me down and we stood there and watched the bear (we held the door open for easy hiding if need be). It was 15 feet away from us and just stood there, hanging out. It wandered away and we went back inside. When I went back to my room, the fan in the window had sucked in the smell of wet fur.

Oh, that Milo.....

[Katy]

When my daughters were little, they had a special word for nursing: "snickling". So now when we go to the Big E and see the baby pigs all nursing, they yell out, "Look, Mama! SnicklePigs!" ;)

[Kelli]

Ha. I love Milo in the chair on the chair. :)

[trek]

I love wildlife shots!

[Michelle]

I've lived in Vt for 35 years and I've yet to see a bear! Lots of tracks and stuff but no bear. COOL! Pigs are so fun to raise, they're so social.

[Agnes]

All those little piggies are so cute! Are you worried about your animals seeing the bear? Though I'm sure you and your family know how to deal with bear situation ... right?
Sometimes I really forget Milo's last name ... the evil cat! LOL!

[sappmama]

I mean, wow. It's a big old bear. Beautiful, and scary as all hell.

I'm loving your friend's socks. Already she's gone where I have feared to tread (but, one of these days...).

[Sylvia]

Bears! Ugh! I am *so* glad not to have to deal with bears anymore. Hope yours stays far away and doesn't wreak havoc.

The piglet shots are splendid.

[Sara]

Oh, Those little piglets sure do grow fast!!! Just too cute.

That bear is big! WOW!

Love Milo - he is so cute!!!

Am really enjoying reading your blog...

[lisa]

Glad the piggies are getting fat! (that first pic where you can see the wrinkles that look like ribs reminded me of the last time I held little piggies... and it was because I was a lab instructor, so you know, formalin and all that... much nicer to think of them alive and running around). A bear! Whoa! Wicked looking naily machine there.

[Carole]

Awww, man, those pigs are so cute!

[vanessa]

the bear looks cool, but i hope it doesn't get much closer!

[Sonya]

I'm just astonished about your bear! Wow. The piggies are so cute. I love their little ears. And their little butts. Milo is such a photogenic little guy.

[Jenni]

awww they are adorable! Some day I'm moving onto a farm so I can get a pig, I've always wanted one!

[CindyCindy]

Ya got me. As for the babies. Who doesn't love a baby? Oh, and thank you for the obligatory (but enjoyable) Milo pix. I love Milo!

[Amanda]

What sweet piggies! How amazing to see that bear! Wow.

[donna lee]

Every once in a while we hear tell of black bears here in new jersey. I haven't seen one but I know there are reports that they are on a population increase. They're cute but I find them a little scary, too.

[Susan]

I've never seen a bear except in a zoo. I can't decide if I would have been major excited or scared to death! Love watching the piggies grow and of course Milo is always such a photo treat! I hope you'll take some process pics as you use the picker. I'm not sure I understand what it does. Dang...I wish I could spin! I wonder if some people just by fiber for decoration or something?

[Carol]

Those little piggies are just adorable! I've been doing so much spring cleaning, I actually wasn't blogging! I always love your shop updates, funny how Milo knows where to lay~

[JessaLu]

Cute piglets!! Beautiful roving. :o)

Ohyeah and I'm not a big fan of the bear - we get too many of them around here. In fact, one was hit in front of the house a couple of weeks ago. I don't mind seeing them from a safe distance (like 1/2 a mile away) but in my yard? I don't think so.

[Beate]

How did you know I was in for a glimse of your busy life in Vermont and the piglets?
They are just cute- the bear also stunning, but I dont want it on my porch.

[Ruth]

The bear reminds me of the last camping Mike and I did in Virginia...he went to sleep and I was out knitting....I kept hearing all kinds of noises coming from the woods, then suddenly the noises started to become MOVING BLACK FUR BALLS! I have never seen bear in the wild until then. She was a mama bear with 3 cubs. Totally left me alone, can't imagine why with all the yelling I did (tyring to wake Mike up!) I was afraid to go hiking later.
Piglets are soooo cute!

And I like the peace colorway on the fleece....

[Sharilyn]

Megan, my 9 year old, was reading blogs with me last night and totally had a "Oooooo, they're so cute!" at the piglets. Then wanted to know if we could have pigs. (We live in a village -- no, livestock sorry sweetie.) Although all the houses around have either the original chicken coops or their foundations in the backyards left from a time in the early 1900s when even in a village, you kept chickens.

[jackie]

Oh my! You have been busy. I hope that the bear keeps his/her distance. That picker looks pretty nasty, but I find myself green with envy!

And as to the goats, who doesn't like a good brushing at someone else's hand?