Another Rolled Brim hat finished!

 2nd roll brim hat is finished....pretty soon it will be on it's way to Norway....I think Norway is a good place for a hat this color to live :-)  Spinning right now for a scarf in the same colorway, but the yarn will be very thin - lace weight type....spinning to knit lately....it keeps me out of trouble! Snort!

BlueBerry Muffins - an early saturday morning project ♥

Inspired by a young, married ranch-gal that I know, Callie Hyde Smith, to make Blueberry Muffins on this fine winter day.  This morning it's cold and crisp outside, but I'm in here having a little bite of muffin and some hot black coffee....Life is Good!!!!!   ♥

February 13 through 17...snow

Golden Crowned Sparrow

Robin the Border Collie

Turkeys for Tommy!

Full Winter Moon

Finished the rolled brim fair isle hat!

I finished the Fair Isle stranded knitting hat.  This hat yarn was handspun on my Schacht Lady Bug spinning wheel, then I found a cute pattern to 'learn' from.  I did a pretty good job and liked the pattern so much I'm starting another one...I usually only knit in the winter, so it's almost time to put it away for the season!

Nathan and Eli

Nathan and Dawna Beth weren't expecting a FOOT of snow overnight! They are sort of socked in up on Mount Sexton, but that doesn't mean they aren't having any fun! Look at this great picture Dawna Beth took of Nathan and Eli....He sure looks happy for a baby doesn't he....well heck yeah!!!!! They totally look alike!!!!!!!  Way to go Nate and DB....what a cute little grandson I have now!!!!!!!

Fair Isle

Started a new hat tonight! I am using hand-spun wool from 'roving' that I purchased from Cindie at Eweniquelyewe Fibers in Grants Pass, Oregon.  The white skein is Falkland Wool Top and the Turquoise is Merino Wool

Top Roving is wool that has been combed and then slightly twisted to hold the wool together...it is a smooth type of roving and slicker, at least for me to spin. This wool is from the Falkland Islands. Wool is the leading export from the Falklands.

The turquoise skein was spun from "Ashland Bay" commercially dyed Merino Wool Roving, also purchased  from Cindie from her Etsy Shop site

Here is the started hat.  It is a stranded knit hat (Fair Isle), knit in the round on a size 10 16 inch circular needle.  I am still teaching myself stranded knitting and this pattern taught me how NOT to twist the strands while knitting.  I kept one colored ball on one side of me and the other on the opposite side of me.  One color-in this case Color #1 Turquoise was always kept on top when moving back and forth between the two colors.  That way not only do the yarns not get tangled on each other, but it makes the back side of the article being knit looking neat and tidy!

It's Rachel's Birthday...she is Sweet Sixteen!!!

Rachel is my youngest son Davy's girlfriend - Her birthday is on Valentines Day!!! 

This is a Lavender Sachet that I made for her...I knit a square out of red wool and threw it into the washer and dryer to 'felt' it.  Then I hand embroidered her initial "R" for Rachel and stitched the little hearts and filled them in with purple (her favorite color)...I hand stitched a little pouch and filled it with lavender that we grew here on the farm, then backed it with a piece of purple commercial felt and did a blanket stitch with embroidery thread all around...It's got a really neat Homespun look about it and I hope she likes it!

2011 First Ear Flapper Hat of the Year!

I used a neat knitting book to teach myself some new stranded knitting patterns and this is what I came up with. The entire hat is made with superwash wool. As mentioned in the post before this one, I purchased the wool in roving form-hand dyed by my friend Cindie Kitchin. Then I spun it up on my Schacht 'Lady Bug' spinning wheel and knit it using basic knit stitches. The pattern I use gives me all kinds of room to try out different things. I really enjoyed it, and of course am planning my next one!

Update on Finished Ear Flapper Hat

Here is the finished hat....I made a few mistakes, but learned from them....so it's not all bad~~~started yet another one out of 'superwash' that is handspun wool...I purchased the roving from my friend Cindie at eweniquelyewe

The roving was solid bright colors, and I finally put them into balls of yarn while I was watching the movie "How the West Was Won"...what a great movie!!! It had so many great movie stars in it. John Wayne, Gregory Peck, Debbie Reynolds, James Stewart and so many more...it was surprising to me!!!! Stay tunes to see the new project how it comes along!

Can there ever be too many Ear Flapper Hats?

Started a new ear flapper hat a few days ago....even though Christmas is over, I feel like I should be doing something if I'm watching a movie...no idle hands!!!! I'm having fun with it though....it will be 'interesting' to see what it looks like when I'm done!!!!

Winter Solstice

So on Winter Solstice I wasn't able to see the moon....

so I walked down the icy driveway and shot back at the

lights hanging off of the deck instead....

not quite the same as the Eclipse of the Moon, but still fun....and quiet!

Snow in the Mountains

Mr. Squirrel irritated by me for sure~

An Oregon Junco sitting on a branch of a small cedar

tree in our front forest...he was a poser!

Morning off of our back deck looking south to the mountains...

Snow is everywhere above 2000 feet these days.

Same shot only using my big telephoto lens...

I love Winter's blues, grays and whites!

Beach 11 17 10

We decided we would go to the beach and see if there were any leaks in the roof there at the beach house...David opened the door and turned around and looked at me....I was just getting out of the truck....Someone had broken into the house and stolen tons of things...so sad....basically it ruined the whole day for me. Just when you think things can't get much worse they do. They broke in through the back of garage, then through the inside man door...it was so random the things they took...but talking about it to others it sounded like maybe they were outfitting their own house....I guess times are tough, why go buy things when you can steal them :-(...We called the sheriff...he never did show up, we went and had lunch at our favorite mexican restaurant, but even that didn't cheer me up - it just didn't taste right.

We went for a walk on the beach, but within the first few minutes I had let a sneaker wave come in and soak me up to my knees...I had my favorite woolen clogs on....they were now covered in sand and gook....
I took barely a few pictures, but couldn't even get excited about photography. The weather was pretty good, a little cold, but not too bad...

This seagull was the highlight to my day I guess....I thought he was pretty handsome!

Daddy's Birthday Dinner

Presents for the father on his birthday....notice how he holds the card at arms length...put on your glasses!!!!! William and Lauren getting a kick out of watching Daddy try to read!

Dawna Beth letting Uncle William hold little Eli....William really enjoyed holding him quite a bit...It was sweet to see him being so careful with Eli's fingers and toes! Now look at DB and William....do they look like Sister and Brother to you???? I'm telling you.....they look nothing alike!!!!!

Davy putting the Squeeeeeze on Rachel!!!! Isn't she cute!!!!! Always smiling!!!!

Daddy's birthday dinner...baked chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, black olives, deviled eggs and hawaiian roles....and for dessert a birthday cake...I made chocolate with a butter cream frosting....yum! Daddy, Dawna Beth, Nathan, Davy, Rachel, Lauren and Willy-Bill!!!

ONE MORE EAR FLAPPER HAT FOR ELI

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 13th -

Hah!!!! Dawna Beth texted me a picture of the little booger in his new ear flapper hat...it fits it fits!!!! whoooo hoooooo!!!!!

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 11 -

so.... :-) the last hat I knit for Eli was STILL too big...so I just finished another....going to post it on my blog and go to sleep.....hopefully Dawna Beth and Nathan will have a cute outfit to match this hat! and I hope this one fits.....Granny loves her little Eli!!!!!! ♥

November 7 2010

It's been a whole week since my first grandson was born...so last evening I decided to put on one of my favorite movies (Open Range) and knit another "littler" (i hope) ear flapper hat for him. I crocheted the ties and made an I cord for the little loop on the top! I also crocheted all around the edge to make it look more finished. It's his HOLIDAY hat. I finished it today and though I'd show it to you on my blog.

I also took a short walk today when the sun came out in a short burst. I caught it coming through these vine maple leaves down by the winter creek...the colors were lovely!

Yesterday we finished the harvest on the garden. David did a bunch of digging and found some potatoes that Tara 'saved' for us to harvest!!!!! We also dug some of her carrots and pulled up most of the plants-gathering all sorts of peppers, green tomatoes, squash, onions and pulled up the herbs so Tara could dry them or re-pot them for the winter. Thanks Tara for all your hard work this summer....I got to hop onto the Kubota and till the garden under before the winds and the rains started...I saved the beautiful flower bed that Tara planted for a little longer and a long row of Garlic that had finally come up. Let's see how it winters over!!!!

I caught a picture of a Golden Crowned Sparrow on a

Pine Tree along the driveway.

EAR FLAPPER HAT

so...I got a wild hair to make an ear flapper hat for my grandson, Eli....no, he is not born yet, but it's getting close! Dawna Beth is dilated to 3 cm now!!!! So...it could be any day!!! I found a pattern on the internet for a baby ear flapper hat, but the directions weren't very clear, so I went back to my old standard pattern and changed the directions to the 'baby' pattern size....and I think it turned out really cute...it is made out of a 'mohair' look acrylic yarn.

Birthday Day

Last tuesday my friend Cindie and I went up to Union Creek to celebrate our two birthdays...Mine is in June, hers in November...we have been talking about this since June, and so we finally did it. Our original plan was to just go up and have pie, but since Butte Creek Mill was so close to our turn off to go to the Upper Rogue, we started there. Here is the url to Butte Creek Mill if you want to read more about it! http://www.buttecreekmill.com/

A stone engraved with the year that Butte Creek Mill was built.

The entrance to the mill was all decorated with fall colors,

lots of pumpkins and corn stalks everywhere - it was very festive looking.

This display was to the left when you walked in the front entrance, the thing that interested me was the poster on the wall with the Cowgirl on it for Golden West Coffee.

What a beautiful advertisement!

This stairway was closed to the general public but it goes down to the bottom floor of the mill...

But there was another stairway down and once at the bottom we could walk around to an area where you could see the creek rushing under the mill through the slats on the floor. This open window was pointing out to the river below, that the creek poured in to! It was very beautiful and I was unable to catch the morning light with my camera.

Can you say CHEEEEEESEBURGER and fries please????

Pie mmmm....it's marionberry with loads of whipped cream...Thanks to Barbara up at Beckie's Restaurant in Union Creek for quick service and a smiling face!

We finally got up to the Gorge above Union Creek and walked along the river. All the Vine Maple was starting to turn color and it was a beautiful fall day!

The foot bridge going out over the Rogue River at the Natural Bridge hike.

The river narrows as it gets ready to shoot through the underground lava tubes at the Natural Bridge...
Up river a bit it widens out and is quite slow and not so deep so you can see the bottom of the river in places.

Vine Maple (Acer circinatum) leaves already fallen off and wasting away into the ground, but look at the beautiful colors they are still showing!!!!

When I saw this tree, I said....This is OLD GROWTH FIR!!!! I didn't know we still had trees this size in Oregon. I was so excited, I asked Cindie to shoot this picture of me standing next to it!

This is a picture I took standing next to the tree looking UP!!!!! Isn't that wild?

These are beautiful mushrooms!!!!

Emetic Russula (Dangerous, Toxic, Poisonous)

Standing inside of a hollowed out Fir Tree

This is a big beautiful snag next to the river.

I love seeing these as I know they will provide awesome bird habitat!!!!!