The moments you don't expect

This is completely un-farm related but I just felt l like writing.

So, sorry if it's boring...just needed a break from working and

my muscles hurt from knitting too much (lame, I know)

I've written about my late grandmother, "MomMom" to us, "Other MomMom" to the great-grandkids, on this blog many times. She's been gone 3 years now. She was a part of the beginning of the alpaca farm, but she never saw it come to fruition. I think about her a lot. Maybe more than is normal...but she was a nice lady and sometimes I just like thinking about her.

I just received an email from our church.

It's an electronic version of "the Visitor" (the church newsletter)

And then WHAM...I think of her. When I'm not expecting it.

And then I get sad. And then I tell myself not to be sad. She's around.

That she is. I know she is. She sees everything that's going on.

She's in my thoughts every time I buy my Viva paper towels just like she did.

She was in my thoughts when I made egg salad for lunch last week. Buttered toast, egg salad and in her later years was filled with egg shells! My teeth hurt thinking about it! But it was always so good.

I find myself thinking about what a kick she would have gotten out of the emails that the church sends as prayer requests for members or friends of members.

She went to prayer group every week with the other old ladies. They all started to pass away and that little group was getting smaller every year. But they were a powerful group!

She would really love to see these emails going to so many people asking for a quick prayer.

I can see her now, chuckling and saying...by golly, look at that. They have the whole church praying.

Recently my youngest sister, Liz, two friends and I went to see The Long Island Medium

perform in Red Bank. I know some people think she's crazy, but I love it. I love her and I think she helps so many people. Anyway, before I went to the show, I stuffed my bag with everything I could think of to get her or my grandfather to come through. A small Phillie Phanatic doll, a letter from MomMom, a bracelet and some small handkerchiefs that I found at her house. 

I have left the handkerchiefs in there for a month now. It's nice to see them in there when I go to get my keys out or pay for something. It's a nice reminder of my grandmother. (by the way, we didn't get a reading)

Her memory makes me thankful for all the family that I do have and the grandparents I still have.

MomMom would have loved all of this. I'm sure of it.

And I'll take those moments when I don't expect to think of her.
They're the nice ones. The unexpected. Her way of saying hello.

:)

An oldie but goodie. I think Garrett was 2 here and Dalton 4.

It's so MomMom with her matching outfit and pins on her collar :)

Yarn Along on Wednesday

It's knitting season. 

Well, it's always knitting season for me, but what I mean is

it's knit for the farm knitting season.

My sisters and I knit and crochet lots of fun things to sell at the farm.

We have a big weekend coming up. 

National Alpaca Farm Days!!!

September 28th and 29th. 

The farm is open to the public and everyone is

welcome to stop by, see some alpacas, learn about them, see us spin, knit, etc and enjoy

a nice weekend on the farm. We have a showroom where we sell handknits, yarn and other alpaca merchandise. It's a great little spot. If you're local, come on by!!!

So, I have put my personal knitting to the side and knitting up some hats to sell.

Here are a few slouch I made this past week.

The two on the left are the yarnster pattern. The tan alpaca hat is for adult small or kid large and it's a combo of the yarnster hat and a regular slouch. The one to the right is made with chunky alpaca handpainted yarn and is a nice big comfy hat that can be worn as a ski hat or slouch style.

I picked up this book at a local book sale and it's sooooo good!!! Fascinating true story.

And some unrelated photos, but thought I would share anyway...

Morning sunrise on the farm.

 

And my impish little boy that is keeping us sooooo busy.

I think big brothers are looking forward to school next week to get

a break from his two year old antics. I can't blame them!

 

Once again, I am still unable to relink all my old photos on this blog.

If anyone has encountered this, please let me know. 

I really need help!!!! For info on what I'm talking about, click here.

Joining in with Ginny for the weekly yarn along.

Happy Knitting!

Snapshots

In a feeble attempt to recreate this blog and the hundreds of unlinked photos...

I will add some new photos to entertain you for today.

Photos taken over the past week. 

Capturing every day moments, alpaca kisses, alpaca photo bombers, 

swinging daredevil, blue eyed shaggy hair boys, pumpkins growing

and wanting to climb the birdhouse pole.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

A Quick Hat

Just whipped up this fun slouch hat.

Free pattern name on Ravelry is Yarnster

I finished it up at the beach today and since it reminds me of

one of those sea urchin shell thingies, I took a photo

of it in the sand.

As I knitted away happily on the beach, my friend's son asked me,

"Mrs. Coppola, is that ALL you do???" (referring to my knitting)

I wish my answer was yes. I wish I could knit on the beach all day long

every day. Wouldn't that be nice?

Happy weekend folks.

Cameo

I finished up my Cameo Shawl and thought I would share some photos.

For my Ravelry Notes click here: Cameo

Knitted with beautiful fingering yarn that I bought at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival

last spring. It's from The Verdant Gryphon, colorways Queen Hatshepsut's beard (the varigated purply blue) and Experimental Love Child (teal).

This is a great on the go project. Easy to follow/memorize pattern and small enough to fit in a bag.

(photos of me taken by Garrett)

Have a great weekend and wishing all alpaca people a great time at the Double O Auction

this weekend! Let's see if we get a call....quoting my mother...

 "I'm just going for fun. We're not coming home with an alpaca." hmmmm. I've heard that before.

Moving Forward

After many hours, I have yet to figure out how to relink all of my photos from past posts.

I am praying that someone will figure it out for me and it's an easy answer.

Fingers crossed!!!

But in the meantime, I miss being here and posting about farm life, knitting,

family and daily adventures.

So, here goes. Moving forward...starting from scratch.....

I finished up the triangle scarf/shawl this week.

I took the picture before I blocked it because I was just too anxious. 

It's in a fun color combo and I'm looking forward to wearing it this fall.

Yesterday was a hot summer day and for some reason my boys didn't feeling

like going to the beach. (I could spend every day all day there, but what ever...)

So Lizzie and Wade joined us for a quick trip up to Holmdel Park.

 

 Where the corn was VERY tall

 And the baby cow was born...Chase stealing a chance to pet the Mommy cow

 The cutest little kittens were there. One was named Lizzie! 

Notice the woman through the barn door, shoveling manure in her dress.

Glad we don't have to wear the traditional garb anymore!

 A woman that was working at the farm had just made a fresh pail of ice cream. 

We got to give the kitten some licks off of our fingers.

 We put some on Wade's toes!

 A peacock on a tractor

 

 A day camp was there with their yellow shirts on. Garrett fit right in!

 No luck in the fishing pond

 Staying hydrated

 And Wade enjoying Dalton's iPod

Fun outing on a nice summer day.

Here's to moving forward with the blog. I HOPE to figure out how to get the rest of the photos asap.