It has been a crazy week.......(when is it not??) And my youngest is fighting a stomach bug and I am so hoping and praying that it does not make the rounds!

My February socks flew off the needles this week! I knit these in the  January club colorway from Highland Handmades. The blend is Targhee and nylon and it was a joy to knit with. The pattern is the Blueberry Waffle Socks that everyone seems to be knitting at the moment!



The weather dropped to the coldest it's been all year. We were in the negative temps for a couple of days. I felt bad for my girls so we made them a big pot of oatmeal and they seemed to really enjoy it.


 On the coldest day of the year we ventured to a local Alpaca farm where we had an appt. to meet some adorable faces.



 Meet Apricot the newest member of our fiber family! We are sponsoring her for the year and we will learn all about how to care for her and what it is like to raise alpacas. Which might be something we want to do in the future. She is so cute and personable and the kids loved leading her around and getting to know her.




 And of course we came home with last years fleece! I think the kids made the perfect choice when they picked Apricot as she has one of the best fleeces in the herd! And the color is almost a soft pink cream.....mmmmmm. The kids and I are excited to know the animal whose fleece we are going to process and use!


This week we warped the loom for Hannah Grace. She has been weaving on my project and I knew she was ready for her own. She picked her yarns and I warped it and she has gotten quite a lot done on her scarf. She keeps telling me it is her loom now. I guess I will have to get her an account on Ravelry so we can keep track of her projects!!



I've been reading mostly cookbooks lately, trying to find some new recipes. At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen has been a great read. I picked it up when everyone was talking about it last year and just now am getting a chance to sit with it. I feel like I am in a cooking rut and need to get some new recipes into the rotation.

I'm joining Ginny over at Small Things for the weekly Yarn Along. Happy knitting everyone!

We have had some colder weather this past week and snow showers off and on for a few days now. I am enjoying knitting and spinning by my woodstove and we are settling into our February.


I have been doing some reflecting this week as it marks the one year point since my last chemo treatment. Tomorrow the 11th also marks the 50 years I have lived on this earth. Now I normally do not worry about my Birthdays...they come and go. But for some reason this big "50" one has got me thinking. I'm sure the fact that I just fought a very aggressive cancer and am not that far on the other side of it all has a lot to do with it. But this Birthday has me thinking about how I want the next half of my life to look....but then I have to laugh! Because if cancer taught me one thing it is that I am not in control! No ......I thank God every day that He is the one in control of this crazy wild ride. And that He does have a plan even if I can not see it or even want to agree with it. So I think my focus on this next half will be just trying to allow God's plan to unfold around me and through me and try to keep my control issues out of the way. (I am going to need some prayer on that one.......but I can try!)

I do have some knitting and spinning to share! My socks that I cast on last week are coming along! In fact this photo is from a few days ago and since then I have turned the heels and am working my way up the legs. This colorway has been such fun to knit up! The pattern is the Bluberry Waffle socks.
 

 I also cast on for a new shawl! I was on Ravelry just browsing the patterns ......like you do......and this popped out at me. It's called Waiting For Rain. I went stash diving and came up with these 2 skeins from Jill Draper that I picked up at Maryland Sheep last year. I cast on right away but am not very far. I am doing the garter stitch body in the cinnamon color and the short row lace sections in the golden. This yarn is simply devine to knit with!


 We had our monthly guild meeting this past Friday and a member did a great class on fractal spinning. I have done a few fractal spins and they always make such interesting yarns. I decided to join in with this gorgeous braid of Falkland from Three Waters farm.  I am planning on doing a blog post about it later in the week when I finish it up.



I am looking forward to grabbing a cup of tea later today and sitting and seeing what everyone else is up to this week over at the Yarn Along. Happy knitting!!

 Lot's of knitting got done this past week. I finished my first sweater steek and if you are interested in how that went you can click here. I am knitting the button bands right now and expect to have this done today!! I am so happy with how it turned out! And to those of you thinking of steeking....I say just do it! It really is an easy process!


My January socks came off the needles on the 30th. I've decided to try for a pair a month this year. I know it is doable and I would love to fill my sock drawer and also my kids!

I put some colors on my wheel this week that are not really in my comfort zone. I dug into the stash and came out with these 2 braids from Fat Cat Knits. The blend is black alpaca and polwarth and it was a joy to spin!



The first braid is gorgeous on its own and I love these colors but the other braid is dark greens and pops of neon gold that are not my go to colors!


So far they are really looking nice together! I am about half way done but super happy that those pops of neon gold are really toned down in the plying!


In the mail this week I got my first yarn from the Highland Handmades club!! I decided to go with the sock yarn subscription and I am so happy I did! I caked it up and cast on as soon as I got it! February's socks are on the needles!!!



I've been so busy with my steeking project that no reading really happened this week. So no new book to share this week! I did read lots of articles and tutorials on steeking though!! Hope everyone is having a wonderful fibery week!! Joining Ginny today over at the Yarn Along!

I have posted before about my Putney Mountain Vest. I decided to knit this vest last spring because I really wanted to try steeking. I picked up the most lovely Corriedale wool at Maryland Sheep and Wool just for this sweater. It's from Solitude Wool and it is a rustic yarn with a wonderful feel to it.

Well it sat in my stash until I heard about the ShakletonCAL. This is a craft along in the Fibertrek TV group. You can read more about it there if you are interested but the idea is to embark on an epic journey and create something. My vest came to my mind right away. It was just the thing I needed to push me out into the deep water.



So I cast on and got knitting. This past weekend brought me to the steeking part. I went online and read tutorials and watched some videos and decided to go with a crochet steek. I really followed this one from TinCan Knits.


I must say it was easier then I imagined and in just a short time I had the rows secured and was ready to cut.


And then I did it......just cut through my knitting and you know what.........nothing bad happened. It worked just like everyone that has steeked before said it would. And now I am at the point where I can pick up stitiches for the button bands and get to finishing this "epic" knit.

I have really enjoyed the colorwork and there will be more steeking in my future. And now I can cross that off my list of things to learn!

Hopefully I will have a finished vest to show you by the end of the week!

It's been a crazy week....as usual. We survived the big snow storm and the kids have been enjoying the sledding and playing in all the snow. I have been curled up next to my woodstove knitting away on my sweater vest. The colorwork in this vest was a  lot of fun and now it just needs a blocking and I can get ready to steek. I say that with just a tad bit of fear in my voice as I have never .....ever....taken scissors to my knitting before. I am busy watching videos and reading articles and trying to decide on my plan of attack before I actually do this. Have you steeked before? Do you have any recommendations for me? I'm hoping to begin the process this weekend!



I also finished my Reyna Shawl. This pattern is a free one on Ravelry. A great pattern for a colorful skein of yarn.


No new books this week. I'm hoping to find some good reviews as I hop around the Yarn Along and see what everyone else is reading. Happy knitting!!!

This week we are falling into our winter rhythm.

Once we hit Thanksgiving there is no way to have a rhythm around here. Hunting takes up the majority of the boys time and they are gone for days at a time staying at the cabin and trying to fill the freezer. I love that they get this time with their Dad and also Uncle and cousins and close friends. They come home with stories and secrets and I can only hope it continues as they get older and spread their wings.

Then we hit Christmas and that has a rhythm all it's own! But now here we are in the New Year and this mama is trying to reel everyone in.......collect our thoughts and add a little structure to the chaos!! We slipped in some book learning this week and the colder weather has us all pulled up to the woodstove and settling in to this winter rhythm. We are currently reading Lost on a Mountain in Maine. By Donna Fendler and Joseph Egan. We are only a chapter in but it's a true story of a boy lost on a mountain in Maine.....a great boys book!! The perfect winter read aloud!


I am still trying to organize some stash and a trip to ikea this week should help that process along! On my needles this week was a test knit that I can not show yet. A fast and satisfying knit and perfect for handspun!! I also got a few rows done on some socks! I decided to jump into the Never not knitting mystery KAL going on....is anyone else joining in? I love Alana Dakos patterns and so this big worsted weight shawl should be a great knit! I chose some plymouth yarn homestead in the Burnt Orange colorway. I'm a little behind and need to get these wound into cakes so I can cast on today and get clue one done!


We had our spinning guild meeting this past week and I was able to get started on this months club colorway from Three Waters Farm. It is Birds in the Holly on Rambouliett. It was the first time I have spun this breed and I really enjoyed it. The fiber has a very long staple length. I decided to keep the colors pure so I navajo plyed my single.



I was able to spin and clear off a couple more bobbins of singles that were waiting for plying. It felt good to empty those bobbins so I can prepare for my next spin!!

I have just a little more weaving to do before my first dish towels can come off the loom! I'm very excited to see how these look after washing. I am already trying to decide what the next weaving project will be!

Joining Ginny this week for the Yarn Along. I'm looking forward to seeing what you are all up to this week!!

I've been taking this week to go over last years crafting and start thinking about this years. I don't want to call them goals.......no .......more like ideas and thoughts. No pressure and that means no failing.
I'm making some decisions about WIP's and already frogged a couple. It was actually very freeing and now I only have things I love on the needles......and that means things I want to to finish!

This week I have my first FO of 2016!! It was so fun to knit this and I used handspun that was spun this past July! Hannah Grace has been stealing my cowls so it was time for her to have her own. If you want to find a lot of lovely patterns that work really well with handspun check out Stitchnerd aka Susan Ashcroft patterns on Ravlery. Her patterns are very versatile and have lots of interesting texture. Three Waters Farm is having a SAL/KAL right now and she is our chosen designer.



 Can you tell she loves her new cowl!!

I did get some spinning  on my CPW this week. The cold weather has really finally hit and I found my happy spot right here in front of the woodstove. I decided to spin a braid that I picked up at NE fiber festival. It's Spunky Eclectic and her panda base. I broke this into two equal pieces and navajo plyed each. I was thinking it would be sock yarn but now that it is spun I'm leaning more towards mittens. It was a great spin!





 We are almost ready for another harvest of Angora from our newer bunnies! We have 7 in our rabbitry now. 2 German Angora, 3 Satin Angoras, 2 English Angoras and then a dwarf dutch. This is a photo of Asch. He is about 6 months old now and just about ready for a plucking! You will be seeing lots more angora fiber spinning in the future!




 I will leave you with one more photo from our small homestead........this girl loves her chickens!!


I have a list of books I want to get to and I am hoping I can start this week. We did commit as a family in going through the bible in a year. I have been listening to Daily Audio Bible for 2 years now and really enjoy it. So I challenged everyone else to join me and so far we are all keeping up!

Joining Ginny over at Small Things for the weekly Yarn Along! Happy knitting!!