Willow Sangria

I had an opportunity to test knit another (well,....actually two) sweaters for Thea Coleman of Baby Cocktails. This is the first one (I'm flying my way through the second one).




This one was a comedy. Absolutely 100% errors on my part. But that only meant I got to knit the entire tank top twice. Yes, you read that correctly.....twice.




And I'm blaming that entirely on my new eliptical machine. Which caused me to loose about 7 inches total (2 of said inches were in the chest) in the last 2 weeks. So I knit my standard 38" size for the top and the 40" size for the skirt.....and it was HUGE. I'm talking exposing everything you don't want to expose huge because it is sagging.




My inital thought when I realized it was way to big, rip it back to just about the flower band and do some mad decreases to get to a smaller stitch count. But as Todd so kindly pointed out (thankyouverymuch), if I manage to loose any more inches, the skirt will be really big. Sigh. So I ripped it out (much quicker than it was knit I might add) and re-knit it in about 5 days.



And actually, this is the 36" size. And while it is still a little snug in the waist and hips, I am cool with that. Because it's too darn cold to wear my cute little tank top sweater right now, and I'm figuring about the time it gets warm enough to wear it (probably end of June the way Ohio weather is going), I'll have lost another couple of inches....and hopefully they won't all be in the chest!



What you don't see in these pictures is me telling Jessie to hurry up and take these pictures please!!! It is freezing out here.....

Details:

size 36/38 (I did knit the 38 for the "skirt" portion, and then spaced out my decreases til I got to the 36" stitch counts just below the flower band

Yarn: Classic Elite Yarns cotton bam boo

Needles: size 5

Mods: none except for the sizing. Oh...and I knit the skirt almost 1" longer.

This yarn is gorgeous. I wasn't 100% sold on the yarn until I blocked it good. Now it's incredibly soft and silky feeling. I have the feeling I'm going to be buying this yarn more often......

Have a great Monday!
Kris

Playing hookey with fabric

They are paving the state route at the end of our little road. And the grindings were available for a extremely reasonable price...like about 1/3 of the cost of limestone per ton. So a few weeks ago we had 9 dump truck loads of grindings delivered for our driveway. Which meant that I got to stay home from work and play hookey...

I did do some work, but....I did lots of playing too!

One of the projects I got that much closer to completion was this quilt top:

I started it.....who knows when. 2 or 3 years ago at least.

The blocks were all made I just had to put it together. And of course, I used some of the white fabric to make who knows what since then. So I had to improvise but you know what?

I'm fine with that....and it's that much closer to being DONE

Of course, I took these photos before deciding how to use that wild stripe print. Originally I had thought to use that for one of the borders and the binding. But now, it's all used up in a couple of borders on this quilt.

And yes, it does look pretty good in Jessie's room doesn't it? But she's not getting it.....way too much white in it for her:)

If you are looking for a cost-effective way to do your driveway, check with a company that is repaving roads near you....this stuff packs down HARD (we had them tailgate it on 5-7" deep and it's almost like asphalt. Todd did borrow a roller and roll the driveway, but after the last couple days of 80 degree weather, it's all starting to melt together and look like we spent the money to asphalt the driveway, which we didn't:)

Wait until you see my new laundry room.......

I need an intervention......

Yesterday I had to go and get pig feed. We are going to a couple sales this weekend and will hopefully have 4 pigs for the county fair by Sunday night.

Of course, I drove past my favorite junk store and had to stop!

This chair was sitting outside for $3....

And this wooden rocking chair was $5.....

This rocker was a very pretty green, but I found some black spray paint in the basement and painted it right up.

And this ladder was $13.....

Yes....it's laying on it's side in our living room as it's too tall to stand upright in the corner like I had wanted. I should have known that might be a problem when it had to fit in my Durango from front windsield clear to the back window:) Todd says he can cut it down so it will fit.....

The metal chair is already in place on the deck. I do have this metal chair which is similar to it, and am going to paint both chairs the same color. Any suggestions? I was thinking black or red....

Of course, after I got done at the Junk Store, I had to take my finds home before I could actually go get pig feed. sigh. But it was a gorgeous day for a drive seeing as how it was in the low 80's!

Once I finally made it home, I put the wooden rocker on our walk-out patio. And then decided that I really should paint the table and chairs that are down there now. So the table and chairs now have 1 coat of black paint.... I've had the new umbrella for the table for a while now, so that came out as well:

Ignore the flowerbed behind the table which I haven't cleaned out yet.... and the siding hanging down off of the house.... It was all ripped off of the house in a big windstorm that we had in March - the contractor is supposed to be coming this week or next to put new siding on that end of the house...

Slowly but surely I am getting my flowerbeds in order. Last fall I killed a bunch of my flowerbeds...they were getting too overgrown and too messy. On Sunday we worked outside all. day. long. I cleaned out flowerbeds and mowed the yard while Todd helped me with the heavier stuff (like edging the flowerbeds) and hauling manure...And I'm about half done:

The chicken coop:

One of my beds along the driveway going back to the hay barn:

The first flowerbed I ever put in: This shed was the only thing on the property when we moved in (except for the house) and one of the first things I did was this flowerbed:

We had 5 yards of mulch delivered on Tuesday night....I'm sad to say it's all gone and I'm probably going to have to order about 5 more yards.....the skidloader is EXCELLENT for hauling mulch though....not very much shoveling by hand at all.....you can see in the one picture of the chicken coop the ruts that I put in the ground with the skidloader spreading mulch....I'm just so very thankful I didn't TIP the skidder.....guess when the ground is wet you can't turn very sharp....lol

And my deck.....with the hanging basket the kids brought me for Mother's Day!

So the rest of the week? We'll spend it finishing up the flowerbeds and getting ready for more 4-h pigs.....and I am determined not to go back to the junk store for the bench I saw there....but had no room in my Durango for:)

Calf #5

Last Sunday evening we had another calf born. A heifer:


The cow was a good momma - she only needed a little assistance. And we have another healthy heifer calf to add to the mix.

I'm loving the wild color patterns this bull has thrown. Too bad we got rid of him last fall - every couple of years we try to "upgrade."

This heifer and momma got to spend 1 day inside - and then Monday night we kicked them both outside to bring in the last 2 cows to calve. We've had some bigger-than-average calves this year, and are keeping everyone contained until they calve. We are tired of trying to do this in the open pasture.

Plus....with all the rain we've been having? The calves at least have that initial 24 hour period to stay dry.....