Friday's Picture

Tsunami getting closer to his new mom.

Heaven Has A New Very Loud Barker

On New Years Eve, we had to say goodbye to Maisie.

Maisie was my parent's golden retriever. We lost her brother, Chester, last October.

She was a sweet girl. Crazy Maisie we often called her (not Lazy Maisie as we had hoped for!)

She barked at the sky. She barked at the pine cones. She barked at the wind. She barked at the clouds.

You could hear her for miles.

She loved to go for rides. She loved to play with her ball. She loved to lay at your feet. She loved to swim in the pool with the kids. If you threw the ball into the pool, she would leap in. We used to think she could be an ESPN competition dog. She never stopped. Even in her last months when she was full of arthritis and her old age was getting to her, she still managed to get around. 

She lived for 11 years. She was a good girl and she will be missed. Her hair will linger on forever in my parents house. A golden retriever is good at doing that.

Bark away Maisie Girl. I promise I won't yell at you.

Maisie

First Yarn Along of 2012

Happy New Year!!!

The cold weather is here. Ugh. Well, I don't know how I feel about it. I enjoy the crisp air, but the 20 degrees first thing in the morning with three kids isn't much fun. But it does make me want to knit more. So I guess it's a trade off. Plus, it's fun to wear all the things I knit all year long.

I finally blocked my Bluebell Sweater yesterday. It's still drying. I finished it in September or October but I haven't worn it yet because it's been folded up in a drawer pre-blocked. I don't know why I waited so long! But it's exciting to see it blocking.

 I'm still reading Mrs. Kimble. I haven't really had time lately, but I am enjoying it so far.

On my needles is a new project that I am in love with. First of all, my husband gave me a gift certificate to one of the local yarn stores for Christmas. I splurged on some Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light Limited Edition yarn in this awesome Saffron color. I struggled with the color choice. I always wear boring colors. I don't know why...I just do. So with Tara's help, I picked this out and I LOVE it.

I'm knitting the Ecuador sweater on Ravelry. I'm so excited about this project.

I also wanted to share a picture of the big guy that joined the farm!

This is Tsunami. Liz purchased this beautiful fiber boy and he arrived right before Christmas. He's a big, strong handsome guy! More on him another day...

 

I hope you all had a great New Year celebration. 

I was lucky enough to spend another great time with my wonderful, crazy, funny, loud, fabulous family, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, and lots of kids! In my 33 years of life, I've only missed one year of this two day event. And that was 10 years ago when I was about to deliver my first son.

Happy Knitting! I hope everyone has a great 2012.

-Leanne

Barn Yarn

 Barn Yarn- "Lizzie" Alpaca, Superwash Merino Wool & Nylon

Hand Dyed at the farm

Etsy Link

Barn Yarn- "Joy" 100% Baby Alpaca

Hand Dyed at the farm

Etsy Link

I am trying to get our Etsy shop updated.  I just added a few skeins of yarn. Hopefully I'll have more up tomorrow.

~Andee

A little PopPop Football Helmet

I mention my late grandmother aka "Other MomMom" a lot on this blog. That's because while she was passing away, my parents were in the process of getting the alpacas. She loved to hear everything about them and was so happy and excited for them. I will forever link her with the alpacas.

But today I want to say a little bit about "PopPop". He and my grandmother were married for 50+ years. He passed away before I had any of my kids. Wow. That means it's been almost 11 years! I didn't realize it had been that long.

Anywho...

PopPop loved football. He loved the NY Giants. He loved to talk about sports. He loved to argue about sports. He sat in his chair every weekend and watched football. My boys would have LOVED him.

A long time ago at a thanksgiving gathering at my grandparent's house, an old leather football helmet was found in the back room closet. We had a grand ole time all putting it on and laughing. Andee has a video of this somewhere. I'm sure it wouldn't be amusing to anyone but us so I won't post it here.

I'm not sure who that football helmet belonged to, but it reminds me of my PopPop.

So in his honor and the upcoming New Years celebration that's a whole other story...I made Chase a little alpaca old timer football helmet. This helmet's for you PopPop!

 For the knitters out there, this was a hat out of Susan B. Anderson's, Itty Bitty Hats book.

 And that's PopPop. Although not sitting in his chair watching football....here he is making breakfast in the cabin we stayed a week in every year in Weld, Maine.

Happy New Year...and LET'S GO GIANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday Yarn Along

Happy Holidays. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

 

I'm joining in once again with Ginny at Small Things for the weekly yarn along.

Yesterday, our 7 year old had an operation. It was a fairly straightforward, routine surgery for the doctor. But as a mom, this was the first time I've been through this. So routine?...not for me. But thankfully our little guy came through it fine and is home resting and recovering. 

I mention this because knitting is what got me through yesterday. I knew that if I had something to keep my hands busy, it would keep my head quiet. I picked out the perfect patter for this (Autumn in Garrison Hat). It's my 5th time making one. I wanted to replace the one I lost.

So I casted on the night before and got it started. And it did the job. Made the time he was being operated on go very quickly. Knitting is my hobby. It keeps me sane!

 (G-Man hanging out on the couch and resting up.)

 My newest hat. I accidentally ordered the wrong yarn and started knitting before I realized it. The last hat I made was with Quince & Co. Osprey yarn. I ordered Puffin this time. oops. So, I didn't do the full chart and then forgot to use the remaining yarn to cast off. My brain was a bit occupied. So I picked up some of our farm blend alpaca to finish the edging. I have no clue if this is going to be too big for me. Casting off soon.

For reading, I'm enjoying feeding Chase some solid foods. I enjoy nursing, but I'm VERY happy to not be his only food source. This kid can eat! This cookbook was a gift to myself right before the holidays. Along with his handy dandy new Baby Brezza food processor, I'm having fun making food for him. I also used a recipe out of the toddler section for us last night! It has some really simple and yummy recipes in there. Not just baby food.

Happy Knitting!

-Leanne

Spinning Wheel

 

My mom got a new spinning wheel for Christmas! Liz had bought it years ago but it needed to be refinished and completed. Her husband, Nick, did the work on it and gave it to her as a present.

So exciting! (considering so much of our roving needs to be spun into yarn!!!)

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.