Leap Day Yarn Along!

Happy Leap Day. This is a funny day isn't it? It must be fun to have a birthday today. Always a kid huh? Not a bad thing to be. 

Joining in with Ginny again for this week's yarn along.

I'm still working on my Springtime Hat

It's slow going because I have to pay attention to the pattern. It's hard to do these days.

I put Defending Jacob down for now. Bookclub pick is The Hunger Games. So I started reading that a few days ago and flying through it.

I want to thank the nice quilt group that invited us to their meeting last night.

We had a great time showing them what we do and sharing information about our alpacas. 

Check out Andee and her super fancynew hairdo! Pretty!

 It was a great evening. Only problem.....I left wanting to quilt again. Oh, the fabric that takes over my house. It's insane. But I got the itch and I think it needs to happen.

 Here's Liz and my mom talking and showing our goodies.

And just as a reminder, our "Coop" will be open Today, Wednesday Feb.29th from 10-4.

Happy Knitting!

-Leanne

Camp with Grandpop

 

My older boys had a blast last week with my dad. They drank approximately 30 cans of rootbeer each, squeeze cheese out of the can, lots of walks to the pond, hitting the ice with some giant sticks, learned gun safety (thanks Dad), did some target shooting (great aim!), had fun in the snow, and made some memories that will stay with them forever. Love seeing my boys having fun like I did as a kid.

A Post for Nan and GPop

This post is not related to the farm. Well, I guess it is in a way, because I live on the farm. But it doesn't really have much to do with knitting, alpacas or farm life. It is a quick little post for my grandparents, "Nan and GPop".

They fly south for the winter so they don't get to see my guys for a few months. They do have a computer and  read the blog, but they don't have an email address. So instead of emailing them pictures of my boys and what they're up to these days, I'm going to put some on here for them to view. 

So, I apologize to those completely not interested in my little men, but I'll be back with alpacas and knitting soon!

 First walk in the backpack

 Family Dance at Old Mill School

 Dalton and his bike.

 The crew

 Super Bowl

 Garrett painting his pinewood derby car. Grandpop helped the boys cut them at the mill.

 Chase meeting Rick's grandmother for the first time. She's 97!

 Warm weather causing our spring flowers to arrive early!

 Playing at Grandmom and Grandpop Outback's House!

 Quinn making us a delicious lunch.

 Sweet potato fries on the floor.

 Quinn's Nutty Girl Granola photo shoot

 New trick! Sticking his tongue out

 Chubber Wubber

  My baby boy

 Garrett and his best buddy

 Dalton wearing the hat that he requested me to knit

 Metal detecting! The boy's newest hobby.

Well, that's what's been going on up here in NJ!!

See you in the Spring!

Love, Lee and the boys

Wednesday Yarn Along & Farm is OPEN

Hello Knitters!

This week I am joining in again with Ginny at Small Things. 

I am still reading, Defending Jacob.

I also picked this book up yesterday with the remainder of my gift card to the yarn store. 

Tara needed some dark eggplant colored yarn so I took a ride with her. I told myself that I could not buy yarn. I have way toooooo much. If that's possible. Well, it is right now. So I bought this book and two pairs of addy turbo needles that are good for hats.

Knitting this hat for myself. Hopefully it will replace my lost one. It's been so mild this winter that it should do just fine. I am using some Quince & Co. yarn from my stash. It's so nice to work with.

Knitting this outfit for Chase's baptism.

See all this wonderful yarn? It's 5 skeins of Berocco Weekend Chunky. I would like to make Chase a new sweater. Any suggestions? Leave me a comment if you have a pattern that you love.

Joining in with Ginny and other fab knitters out there.

Our Farm is OPEN today, Feb.22nd from 10-4.

Please stop by to meet the alpacas, say hello to us and browse (or buy!) some wonderful items from the store. We would love to see you.

-Leanne

Farm is Open Wednesday!

Well, the week off has flown by. Kids are STILL home. They will go back to school eventually right?

To all home school moms that read our blog, I don't know how you do it.

Anywho...my point to this post is that 

Our farm and "The Coop" 

will be open

Wednesday February 22nd from 10-4

Liz has started crochet lessons. So for those of you out there that want to learn, a refresher course, need help on a project, etc....she's your girl. She will be giving lessons on an hourly basis. So if you want her help for an hour or several hours over time, you can choose what's best for you.

You can email her at: designsbylizz@aol.com

 

See you Wednesday!

Mom, Can You Teach Me How To Knit?

Uhhhh Yeah!!!!

Let me back up. I live in a house full of boys. Five of them (if you include a husband and a dog). These boys of mine are obsessed with everything sports. Football, baseball, stats, team trades, etc. It's all they talk about. So as these boys of mine play and talk sports, I entertain myself with books, cooking and most importantly, knitting. I am always wishing my boys would take an interest in what I do, but sadly, I'm on my own.

BUT THEN!!!!!! A MIRACLE!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday, while stopping by a new local yarn store, my oldest boy, asked me the question,

"Mom, can you teach me how to knit?" After a minor heart attack (ok, not that crazy, but seriously....) I JUMPED at this. YES! I would love to!!!! So I helped him pick out a nice light colored skein of wool, his own needles and we were on our way home to cast on. For those of you that know me and my boys, you can only imagine how excited I was about all of this. 

He wanted to make a hat, so I thought that it would be a good idea to cast on 90 stitches in the round. Let him master knitting and possibly end up with something. If all else failed, I could finish it off.

There is probably some fancy way of teaching kids to knit. Some handy little sayings to help them remember the steps. But I thought, he's smart. He can do it. So I taught him just like I teach the adults.

I warned him that it's not easy at first. Awkward to hold the yarn, blah blah blah. Just to keep him from getting upset it he didn't master it right away (he's like that). Well, within 5 stitches, he had it. His face was priceless when he realized that he did it on his own. (I was so happy)

He worked on his hat for two hours straight. The joy I had when he would stop and ask me for help, or to make sure he didn't drop a stitch...oh boy. This was exciting stuff.

Then my husband got home. He looked at us, smiled and laughed.

I think I stole his football catch partner. Well, at least for a few hours.

This is a close up picture of what he has knitted so far. Pretty good for a boy :)

I have to note that he doesn't want anyone at school to know that he learned to knit.  But he did give me full permission to post this online. I hope he keeps it up. It sure felt good to have my boy sitting next to me clicking away on his needles.

-Leanne

Wednesday Yarn Along

Happy Wednesday! I am joining in with the knitters out there for this week's Yarn Along.

I finished up the Rose Grey Loop that I started last week. I loved this project. I used 3 skeins of our baby alpaca yarn that we sell on the farm. It's the prettiest rose grey color. I need to block it and then it's ready for wear. I would love to make another one in a different color too. Maybe white this time.

For reading, I just started Defending Jacob by William Landay. I'm reading it on Dalton's nook and it seems like every time I sit down to read, someone needs me. So, haven't read enough to know if I like it or now. Please note the blur of my littlest guy. That sums up life right now. He's never still and he's managed to crawl/pull/shuffle himself around!

 

 See these Do You Know books? Well, my husband bought them for us for Valentine's Day. So as we drank our coffee together yesterday morning, we went through these little quiz books. It was so much fun! After an hour of laughing and 100 questions, we scored exactly the same score! I guess that's what happens when you've been together for 15 years. (He bought these at Barnes and Noble)

 Can't wait to block this scarf. It needs it!

My model.

Joining in with Ginny this week.

For those of you in the area, our store is closed today. We'll be back next Wednesday!

Happy Knitting!

-Leanne

Crochet

 

Liz is excited to let you all know that she is going to be giving crochet lessons at our farm. 

Please contact her if you would like more information.

email: designsbylizz@aol.com

Have a great day!

Farm Store Open Saturday February 11th

Our farm will be open Saturday February 11th from 10-4. Come see the new girls on the farm!

The farm store will be open all day. We have the perfect Valentine's Gifts for your loved ones.

Hope to see you!