The Letter P

When my two older boys were little, we used to go on adventures

during the day. Easy trips that were fun but close to home.

Having the big age gap between my kids, I find that Chase doesn't always get

to go on those day trips like I did with the other kids. We're usually

busy around the house, doing everything  between bus stop times, sports

and my work.

But when Liz had Wade, all changed. These two little boys are 14 months apart and are such good buddies. They'll grow up like brothers I think. And now that Mr. Wade is 1 and very busy and funny, these two are really having fun together.

On Tuesday, Liz had a doctor appointment to check on her little baby

that she's busy cooking. So she asked me to go along to keep an eye on Wade.

The office is next to the best grocery/orchard/farmers market around and it's also close by to one of our favorite farms, so we made a day out of it!

We were also very lucky to get to go in to see the baby on the ultrasound!!!!

A very unexpected surprise! The baby looks perfect and very active (haha).

(Wade is the calmest, sweetest baby boy and mine is crazy.)

Ok...so onto the rest of the day. 

Liz and I noticed a "P" theme throughout the day.

If Chase was old enough to understand letters we could have made

this very educational with learning the letter P!

Trip to Delicous Orchards...

 Pumpkins!

 Produce

 Pile of green beans

 Plump Jersey Tomatoes

Onto Longstreet Farm (I LOVE this place)

We saw the man Plowing the potato field.

Using two big work horses, he guided the plow through the dirt to 

get the potatoes ready for harvest.

To our surprise, the farmer came over to Chase and asked him if he wanted

to clear the field and pick some potatoes! YES! We would like some potatoes!

 Plowing the field

 Picking Potatoes!

 Seriously, how cool is this??? We have good timing with this place.

Or...they do cool stuff every day.

 Pretty barns...Kitty cat in the tree!

 Ponies on a stick

 Peacocks and pumpkins! (I think this is when we realized how many "P" things we have seen so far!)

 Peep hole

Chase knew those kitty cats had gone in that barn and would not leave that crack.

 Look who was inside! He was right. And they were in the perfect light for a picture.

Picnic in the park...enjoying a VERY yummy apple caramel cupcake. SOOOOO good.

Back home....cleaning up the potatoes that we picked.

Mashed potatoes were clearly in order for dinner.

My happy proud little guy with his mashed potatoes.

And to top off the day, a beautiful sunset over the alpaca field.

 A very fun day.

Oh...and we did sneek a yarn store trip in there. Had to.

Slouchy Hat Yarn Along

After wearing my slouch hat on Farm Day, I have taken orders for some custom ones.

Seems like a good project to share on yarn along day!

Sorry for the lame "selfie" cell phone pictures. So awkward taking pictures of yourself isn't it?

Ravelry Link: Spicy Hat for the Farm

This is a modified version of the Jared Flood, Rosebud pattern.

Knitted in baby alpaca yarn. So soft and comfy.

Just casted on the Guernsey Wrap by Jared Flood as part of the

Chelsea Yarn KAL. Not enough done to take a picture....next week :)

Hope you are all enjoying this amazing fall weather.

Happy Knitting

Joining in this week's yarn along with Ginny.

Sunday Stroll

Chase is in full on terrible two year old mode. 

To relieve the rest of my family from his whining we headed out during the Giants game halftime
for a Sunday stroll around the farm.

There were moments of smiles, and moments of a typical terrible two year old.

Check out the baby alpacas. They're pretty much the cutest things on earth.

My older boys having their Sunday football catch

Some of the girls grazing in the alley

Annaschea and Mr. Bates

Jatoba

She's the sweetest girl

This is the new guy! We're calling him Stone. Here with his mom, Spicy.

Hi Stone. Isn't he handsome? A modern gray boy.

Bocote and Arrow checking out where Chase is off to.

Here's Stone again.

The face you receive when your two year old doesn't want to walk with you.

And we're back.

Have a good week!

Neighbor Ella's New Sweater

My neighbors welcomed their fourth baby about a month ago.
A sweet little girl named Ella.

That makes a girl, boy, boy, girl.

Which also means, we can't blame it on the water for the reason we

only know how to produce boys around here.

In celebration of this new little girl, I knitted a sweater for her.

Ravelry link: Neighbor Ella's New Sweater

Knitted with Cascade Sport Superwash Yarn

Welcome to the world little girl.

NY Sheep & Wool Festival Finalist!

For those that know me, I am a graphic designer by trade.

It's been my profession for 13 years now.

I have been lucky enough to work from my home for 11 of those years.

When a design contest comes around, I like to compete.

I especially enjoy the fiber festival art contests.

A few years ago I was runner-up for the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival.

My Ravelry project bag design was also chosen to be in the top 10.

I've come close to winning these fiber art contest, but not yet.

So you can imagine my excitement when I received an email from

the NY Sheep & Wool Festival art committee letting me know that 

my artwork was chosen as a finalist for the 2015 festival.

They narrowed it down to the top 10 and the artwork will be on display

at this year's festival. 

(I didn't think I could make it up there this year but now
I might just have to take a ride...even if it's for the day!)

Here is my entry. It's all very exciting. (for me at least)

I created the art with fabric, elmers glue, acrylic paint and embroidery.

It's fun way to do a batik print.

There will be online voting but I am told that the final decision is up to the committee.

Friday Moment

Not farm related....but how lucky are we to get to grow up and raise our kids only minutes from the beach? Dropped the big kids off at school and took a walk on the beach with the littlest guy.

And in other news, Spicy and her new cria are back on the farm.

She delivered him a week ago today and decided not to nurse again.

Ugh.

So they have been in good hands at the vet clinic. He is a beauty.

I'll get some new pictures today :)

And I also want to wish my very favorite 6 year old and very happy birthday!!!!!

Happy Birthday, Brady!!!!!!!!!!!! We love you soooooo much :)

Can't wait to celebrate with you later!

A Spicy Hat Yarn Along

Happy Yarn Along Day!

I recently knitted up this fun slouch hat (Rosebud by Jared Flood)
using his Brooklyn Tweed Shelter Yarn.

It was the first time I used the yarn....hmmm. I have very mixed feelings about it.

I LOVE the look. I like the squishy wool, rustic feel. But what I am not thrilled about is how easily it tears. Just a gently tug, and yikes. It rips. So I was nervous knitting with it. But I am happy with the hat. It ended up being gigantic, which is ok for me, but I would prefer a smaller hat.

 

So....I tried it again.

This time with our farm yarn from Spicy the Alpaca.

I made some modifications to the pattern.

I decided to do stockinette stitch for the hat instead of garter.

Much happier. I also did 2 repeats of cable instead of the 3 that the pattern

suggested for the slouch. This slouches just fine :)

I wore it all day on Sunday for our Farm Day. 

LOVE IT. And so did our customers!

I had a request to make 2 more.

 Not a great picture of the hat...but it's on my head in this pic just to give you an idea.

Spicy (on the right)

I casted on for a new custom hat. This time in our eco baby alpaca in the fawn colorway.

I really love this hat.

I'm reading, The Girl You Left Behind by JoJo Moyes.

I loved Me Before You so hopefully this will be just as good.

 I also had an order for a newborn hat for a baby boy.

Simple, grey with a touch of white fair isle. So little :)

Happy October. My favorite time of year.

Joining in with Ginny at Small Things for this week's yarn along.
Stop over there to be inspired.