Happy Socks

My sister requested a pair of socks that would make her happy when she wore them. She chose two colours and I dyed some sock wool for them. A wide stripe pattern is what she wanted. Between each colour change, I worked two rows of alternating colours to soften the transition.
And now the knitting is finished. All that remains to be done, is weaving in the ends. A lot of ends! :)
Happy Knitting!

Gardening....

We're starting to get a garden! It's been a challenge this year. The very late & wet spring. Flooding of the river that runs alongside , and for awhile, over our garden. As well as the reed canary grass that still threatens to take back what it had claimed as it's own these many long years. 

We've tilled and mulched & weeded. And things are finally growing in a nicely laid out garden! Woohoo!

These beautiful plants (one is a zucchini) are volunteers from last year.

Onions and tiny Tim tomato plants.

Potatoes.

Corn.

The melon and cucumber and squash patch.

Last years carrots are blooming while this years are growing.

The next bed waiting under a thick layer of mulch. 

I'm planting every week more beets, carrots & greens for use into the fall. 

Enjoy!

Solar dyeing....

....no time for spinning or knitting today. But I did take time to set up some jars for solar dyeing. 

3 of the half gallon size held a 100g skein of fingering merino/silk yarn.

The gallon jar held 100g of Romney cross roving. 

I let them sit in the hot sun all day and by this evening they have fully exhausted. I'll drain & rinse them and hang them out to dry.

Enjoy!

Sunday, Sunday...

....a beautiful day to be outside doing yard work & gardening :)

Papa Bear cut & swept the yard for the precious clippings. We use them as mulch around the apple tree and in the gardens. This year we started right off by mulching all the beds. Usually we end up overwhelmed by weeds and spend many long hours weeding and then mulching. Hopefully any weeds that do come up through will be easy to pull. Plus it just looks a lot tidier with the mulch :)

Finally, we have our own asparagus bed! In a few years, we'll be eating our own fresh asparagus for dinner. Can't wait!

Tomatoes & lettuce.

More tomatoes & romaine lettuce. We love fresh, sun-ripened tomatoes straight from the garden :)

Sweet peppers. 

Our garlic crop - we didn't get it harvested last year and will enjoy lots this year!

Volunteer onions from last year.

And a few carrots coming up.

We've also moved the meat chickens into the big barn. More room and the coolness of the cement floors is much more practical. In a day or two, they will spend their days outside in a big open run. Much healthier for them and a lot easier for us as it keeps most of the manure outside. We lock them up only at night for their protection .

Enjoy!

Catching up...

....on the spinning front - 50/50 wool mohair roving on the spindle. This fibre is from Wellington Fibres in Elora, Ontario.

And on the knitting front, a pair of socks using the new line of sock wool from KnitPicks. Hawthorne - 80% superwash highland wool/20% polyamide.

And on the farm front - we've filled up the incubator with quail & pheasant eggs.

Hopefully in 21-25 days, we'll have a successful hatch!

Enjoy!

Getting ready....

It will soon be the start of another season at the local Farmer's Market. 

I've been knitting socks to have available in my booth. Handknit socks are always popular items - not often have any left by the end of the season. 

Right now I am working on fingering weight socks - have quite a few pairs worth of wool in this weight. Then I will move on to worsted weight wools. These will work up quite quickly compared to the finer yarns.

Once the weather warms up, I'm wanting to get some dyeing started. Both yarns and fiber. But for now will have to be content and dream about warmer days while knitting in front of the picture window. :)

Keep on knitting!

Sunshine....

....feels like spring this morning. And while we still have a few weeks of winter left, we can certainly enjoy these brief respites. 

Managed to persuade the flock to leave the shelter of the coop and to eat breakfast outside. I'm hoping the increase in sunlight will give me more than the one egg a day that I an presently getting.

Enjoy!