Stuff . . .

Pretty Yarn Photo From Somewhere Online

 Lots of "life stuff" going on 'round me.  I just have to remember this:  without the imperfections and pain of life, we could not appreciate the bits of beauty and good.  

Too bad life isn't like a good yarn:  if it doesn't turn out right, unravel it and start again with different needles or a different pattern. Life has no do-overs.  You can't just unravel the bits of life that didn't turn out right; there is no ripping back.  Just keep going . . . **sigh**

Thank heavens for knitting!  And young adult fiction.  But mostly knitting.

More Crafty Goodness . . .

Now that my course is finished (it really is a relief to go into an exam knowing that you can still pass even if you fail it), I can focus on some languishing projects. I've got about 2-3 weeks before my next course starts up, so I want to use my time wisely.

First off, I finally finished my wee minion.

Minion

Isn't he cute?  You may recall his inauspicious start back in June.  Then I started a sock and before I knew it, I was knee-deep in child psychology.  My minion languished until yesterday. Surprisingly I only had a few pieces left to make.   And the assembly was relatively easy.  My only change to the pattern was to add a little side smile to my minion's face.

Perusing my Ravlery project page, I found more WIPs.  Remember that red sock? It's mate has been started; it'll be my "take-along" project 'cuz my Garter Surprise is too big to carry (and happily I'm on block 8).  There are a few more WIPs to get through: another Toadette, a tank top and maybe even my long languishing Bohus Redux.  It'll feel good to cross off some of these projects off my list.

For due diligence I rewarded myself with some yummy yarn.  Over the summer we'd visited a couple of yarn shops and I finally succumbed.  I picked up some lovely bamboo stuff.  

Wendy's Happy Bamboo Yarn

Isn't the colour pretty (it's a more deeper blue).  My plan is to make a pretty shawl . . . some day ;)

I'm back at work next week, so here's hoping we both have a great week!

The Wild Wilderness

Wildlife proliferates in abundance in and around our little abode on the hill.

Demanding Pig

First off, let me catch you up on pig progress: she's getting bigger.  And our little porker is quite the digger.  She's got her little yard dug up in no time--which is what ya want a pig to do.  No tractors needed.  And she's become rather spoiled.  Every time someone comes over for a visit she expects a treat--some lettuce, fresh corn on the cob or an apple. 

Happy as a pig in . . . 

We've got more baby chicks too.  While our freezer is full of lovely plump chickens, we thought we'd share with the rest of the community.  My BIL had requests galore; lots of friends, and friends of friends wanted to buy some.  So most of the new batch of 80 chicks are spoken for.

More Baby Chicks

The seven laying hens are doing well too.  Did I mention they're vicious killers?  There used to be eight of them, but one of them showed weakness and got pecked to death--no word of a lie!  And let's not talk about the two or three meat chickens that suffered a similar fate.  However, I have no qualms tellin' you 'bout the poor frog that innocently--and quite accidentally--hopped into the chicken yard.  One lucky hen snatched it up lickety-split and ran off to a corner.  The others noticed and promptly gave chase.  Talk about battle royale!  One hen finally swiped it out of the beak of the first hen.  She ran off the other way.  The rest were in hot pursuit.  Another chicken got hold of the frog and there was a short tug of war until the frog got split in two!  Well, suffice to say that two hens had a feast while the rest picked at the leftovers.

The Egg Layers Hanging Out Under their Shelter

And did I introduce the latest member of the family?  Meet Sindal.  Isn't she cute?  She's got the funniest "meow"--reminds me of a monkey.

Cat in Motion

She had a good home, but started urinating all over it.  So BIL kindly offered to take her in on the condition she become an outside cat.  Thus far, she has relished in the role of guard cat.  The squirrels and chipmunks have stayed away.  And many a mole and frog have been offered as gifts to the various family members residing in the farmhouse.  But I think the most shocking sight was to find an injured chipmunk hauling himself to the treeline.  I felt bad for the little critter, but if he ever got into the house, he'd mess up the wiring and insulation worse than any mouse ever could . . . 

Sindal Hears a Squirrel

And even the in-house cat is still earning her keep.  Good ol' Patches was found running in circles upon my bed one night.  My kids thought that perhaps she was chasing a bird in the room.  When we turned on the light, we found it was not a bird.  It was a bat!  Thankfully the bat had decided to "rest" on the curtains giving the cat a chance to finally pounce upon her prey.  Go Patches go!  It was a challenge to grab the bat from the cat's mouth--which incidentally was still alive!

Patches, Mistress of the House

Yup, lots of wildlife.  Never a dull moment on the farm.  

The Thing About Garter . . .

Despite its stretchiness, garter stitch goes on and on and on . . . It seemingly takes forever to grow.  I should know as my "garter surprise" is nothing but garter stitch--miles and miles of garter stitch.  

Miles and miles of Garter

The surprise is that I've progressed so far (thank heavens for vacations and long car trips!).  My project requires 10 blocks and I'm already on block 7!  I suppose that is a little misleading 'cuz each block gets progressively larger and thus requires more time to finish.  My first block started off with 42 stitches.  Block 7 uses 114 stitches . . . well, you get the picture.

Five Colours

Colour has been my big motivator.  I desperately plow on through just to watch the colour changes.  The original pattern called for four colours, but I've deviated from it by using five colours instead.  My inspiration came from a beloved toy I made for my boys a few years back.  Have you ever met Eggy?  He's shares a blog with his two Toad friends (yeah, that's Toad from SuperMario fame).

Meet Eggy

Since I'm back to work tomorrow, I imagine my knitting progress will slow down.  And in my summer course, there's an upcoming unit test and an exam after that (I'll be so pleased to finish this summer course in the next few weeks).  


Meanwhile here's hoping we both have a good week!