Knitting Project: Decreasing Rib Capelet

My lovely and talented friend, Kris, over at Quilted Simple made this lovely capelet and sang the pattern's praises, most importantly to me, that it was a quick and fun to knit. And it was! Here is my finished capelet (which is actually more like a poncho-let), modeled by the talented, beautiful and not yet fully awake, Olivia.



You can find the original pattern here. Like Kris, I made a few modifications, which in my world is usually code for errors, but most of these were actually intentional.

My changes-
I cast on 195 stitches, which is 30 more than the largest size given in the pattern, because I fell in love with a yarn that was smaller (DK weight) than the bulky weight yarn called for in this project, and naturally also used smaller needles, size 8 rather than 10.5. I also made a cowl neck (6 inches long) instead of a turtleneck, and switched all the way up to size 13 needles to make the cowl, because I tend to knit a little tight.

I am so happy with how it came out! Now I can only hope like crazy that this will fit the intended recipient, or in lieu of that maybe her daughter. This paranoia about garments not fitting well has been the chief reason for my long-standing aversion to knitting clothes. If this one goes over well, I may have to rethink my position on that, because this was a really fun project.

Thanks again, Kris, for the inspiration. I hope to someday be half the knitter/mom/superwoman that you are! :)

By the way - I used 2.5 skeins of Cascade Yarns "Eco Duo" undyed baby alpaca/merino yarn in a light brown/natural twist, on a size 8, 40" circular needle, and switched up to a size 13, 24" circular needle for the cowl. This project took me just over 3 days of fairly intense knitting.

P.S. - I finally got my booty in gear and got going on ravelry. This capelet is posted here.

A Random Act of Kindness

My local organic grocery delivery service, SPUD! asked its customers, via Facebook, if they had any critters that enjoyed eating fruits and veggies. I have several, of course, but when forced to choose, I had to go with my man, Archie the smiling goat.



Arch is almost always the first one to jump up and say hello when I wander down to visit my goaties. He doesn't liked to be petted all that much, but he is a very curious little bugger, and he truly enjoys having visitors.


Here he is, nibbling on my sweatshirt.

Well, apparently the folks at SPUD were as charmed with my Archie-boy as I am, because along with my regular grocery order, they sent me an entire case of less-than-perfect produce for my critters.



How cool is that?!?

I want to keep the goodness going! I am hereby declaring a giveaway. Something knitted and something chocolate, most likely, but the details aren't yet full formed. I really just want to make someone feel as lucky and grateful as I felt as the recipient of someone's thoughtfulness. You don't need to follow my blog or answer a trivia question to win, just leave a comment on this post and you're in the running. ;)

Thanks again to the good folks at SPUD for the critter treats - they will be very much enjoyed. :)

The Knervous Knitter goes under the Knife

I don't think that anyone would describe me as high-strung. Neurotic, certainly, but hyperactive, no. In fact, I may well be the embodiment of hypoactivity. Yet for the past few days I've been too wound up to sleep worth a darn, grinding my teeth and fidgeting non-stop because I'm nervous over a surgery that I'm having this week. I like to make it sound all Beverly Hills-y by saying that I'm having my sinuses "re-done", but really, I'm just having the inside of my face cleaned. Again.

The again part is where I think that the nervousness comes in. I'm no stranger to surgeries, but this is the first surgery (besides my c-sections) that I will have had twice. Forewarned may be forearmed, but it also means that you know exactly how awful things are going to be.

And so, I've found myself up at all hours, knitting like a fiend to both occupy my jittery hands and get myself as far ahead of the Christmas rush as I may before I'm out cold on a Vicodin cloud for a few days. I've been shockingly productive, whipping out 2 scarves and 3 dishcloths this past week. I'm keen to start up another scarf tonight, though I don't know if I'll finish it before the surgery, and know myself well enough to know that knitting and inebriation of any sort do not mix. I've had to frog more projects on account of one too many glasses of wine than I have because of my poor mathematical skills, and that is saying something.

At any rate, the original intent of this post was to extol the calming virtues of knitting, even upon someone as rattled as I. I fear though that I have strayed from my point a bit and instead have painted myself as a fruitcake with bad sinuses and a one-sided relationship with boxed wine. So, back to my point - knitting gives nervous hands something to do. Knitting satisfies my OCD-ish need for symmetry and order with it's patterns and incessant counting; it satisfies my weird need to be productive on some level at all times and, this week in particular, it has kept me from biting my fingernails down to nubs.

If you are a knitter and know of any tipsy-proof patterns that I can fumble through while recovering, send them on over or leave a comment with a link, purty please. I (and whomever eventually receives said knitted good) thank you in advance.

Smell ya later - I hope.

Michelle

Snowbirds

We've had our first "big" snow here in western Washington. The kids are loving it, the grown-ups are hating it, and my baby bantams are mystified.


Must.Not.Touch.WeirdWhiteStuff! says Charlotte

Poor half-blind Gracie couldn't distinguish the chunks of white bread that I was throwing her from the snow.



Mostly, the chickens stayed close to the coop.



We've been feeding all of our critters extra calories since the weather turned cold, with the most popular dish being what I have dubbed "Goatmeal". The goatmeal is enjoyed by chickies and goats alike, with the only difference being that I do not add molasses to the chickens' ration.

Chelle's Goatmeal
Cooked Brown Rice (or any cooked whole grain)
Fresh frozen corn kernels
Flax Seed meal
Hearty drizzle of molasses

Mix rice & corn together and microwave until warm but not hot. Sprinkle with flax meal and drizzle with molasses. Viola - warm and happy critters!


Thanks, Maaaaa!

A Series of Unfortunate Events

This is my Spikey-boy-



This is Spike saying Hello!



This is Spike discovering my camera strap-



This is my camera being hurled to the ground, landing in wet straw and goat turds.



Archie - Wasn't me.

The Bright Side of Bad Weather

Last night we got wailed on over here in Western Washington. The winds were as high as 60 mph, and let me tell you, being inside a little old house in a little hollow on a peninsula doesn't help to lessen the feeling of living in a wind tunnel in any way. After a night of howling and banging, I was scared to go outside this morning and see what might be missing, and/or freshly impaled by a tree limb.

But the goats wait for no wimp, so I had just decided to suck it up and go outside for morning critter patrol when I felt my couch gently, rather soothingly, rock back and forth under me. Yes indeed, we had ourselves an earthquake.

It was a small one, especially by West Coast standards, just a lil' 4.2, but fresh on top of a clobbering windstorm it was a little unsettling.

I sat back down for a few more minutes to wig-out on facebook. Am I nuts or did we just have a little earthquake? Almost immediately, my cousin Jen seconded my quake theory, and a quick trip to the USGS website confirmed it. Yikes what a morning! When do the other plagues arrive? I'm hoping that the four horsemen of the apocalypse get food poisoning or take a wrong turn at Albuquerque or something on the way to my house. I've had plenty of excitement for one day, thanks.

Anyway, beyond the inconvenience of navigating my house by head-lamp and this morning's initial world-coming-apart-at-the-seams paranoia, all inhabitants of Boggy Hollow escaped mother nature's wrath unharmed, which I will call blessing number one.

Blessing number two came from the skies in the form of limbs and branches. The wind knocked down a lot of tender branch tips as well as quite a few heftier limbs. The goats LOVE a good fresh evergreen tree and there were literally tons of them laying in the streets throughout the city. I only needed to go about 20 feet from my front yard to collect a yard cart full of them from the street in front of my neighbor's house. I'd say that we jammed a good 30 pounds of Douglas Fir needles & branch bits into my cart, which will supplement the goats' hay & sweet feed rations quite nicely, for free.

I may go get another cart load from a little further down the lane, but for now I'm going to chalk up my free goat chow score and my safe little house as my wins for the day, and sit back with a hot cup of coffee and a blazing fire and just enjoy my many blessings, in whatever strange forms they choose to present themselves.

For my fellow Cheese Fiends

My homegirl, Suzanne over at Chickens in the Road is giving away a boatload of home cheesemaking supplies to one lucky winner.

Check it out here- Do you know Jack?

I'm not only hoping to win these, but to use them soon too, as we *think* our little goat princess is going into heat, and have found a sweet boy to breed her to which should equal goat cheese for us as early as late spring. Viva el queso de cabra!