A Couple of things I've made . . .

 A few projects I have finished in the last couple of months (that I actually took the time to photograph)

Tea Cozy I made for my mom for Christmas.

Ravelry link

Gull Wing socks made for me!

Pretty, pretty, huh?

Ravelry link

Candelabra Socks made for me, too!

Ummm . . . pretty, pretty, too, huh?

Ravelry link

Chevron Scarf

Guess I'm making a lot for me lately, but I promise I'm working on a couple of other projects for other people, too!

This is just not one of them.  Ravelry link

July Photos

Glove

Dewey

Bunny

Singing

Storm clouds over Downtown Dassel

Storm clouds to the North

Best Buddies--Norman and Bernie

Orange Zinnia

Orange Zinnia even closer

Field of clover

Hope your July was filled with blessings!

Pretty things

Breakfast this morning!  Wild blackberries (picked by Dan) with yogurt cream.

A new baby bonnet for my new niece!  (ravelry link)

This was done in doubled Cherry Blossom Sock Yarn

by Sundara Yarn. So pretty!

And today I will start a new thing

or keep on going with what has been started.

Wednesday morning Dan took this picture around 6 am--gorgeous, huh?  He's so good at catching beautiful morning light (I'm better with the evening light--probably because I don't have to be at work at 7 am (and this week it has been even earlier for him)--and these mornings on the farm are the mornings he wishes he could stay home all day rather then head on the 20 minute trip two towns over to work)

That picture reminds me of a song I just heard on Radio Heartland -- don't know the name of it (I could look it up--found it Choose Joy by Buskin & Batteau--and downloaded it, too!), but the lyrics said that every morning when you wake up you have a choice to start the day with joy--what a neat song!

Anyway, I thought I would also show you some updated photos of things/critters on the farm . . .

My pretty blue planter fill with pretty flowers (I just love the combo I put in there this year--I love last year's as well, but this puts a smile on my face)

Little Donald is growing by leaps and bounds!  We figure (or Dan did) that he was at least 100 lbs when he was born and he has gotten SO much bigger!

Kittens are growing, too!  L to R: Dewey, Bunny, & Hughey  The ones on the left and right are brothers and little Bunny in the middle is a few weeks younger.  She is part Manx(?), so she has no tail.  She is really sweet.

Lastly, some knitting:

I started these Endpaper Mitt's (ravelry link) last week--they were all the rage a couple of years ago and now that I was finally able to purchase the yarn I wanted for them I am able to come a little late to the party.  I am always a year or two late on trends (or a few years early--never the right time)

 A little closer look.

So pretty!  Can't wait to finish them, weave in the ends, and block them!

Oh, and last night the Dairy/Berry Day events got canceled due to bad weather, so next Thursday we'll try again!

Aaack! It's Friday, again-(plus, Eye Camel Friday and a new FO!)

Golly, I sure have a tendency to forget that its Friday. The same thing happened to me as last week. I know full well that today is Friday. Golly geewhilikers, I sure know that it is Friday today (for reasons that I will tell in a bit, and let me tell you I am getting NERVOUS).

Alrighty, now for the show (by the way, at this very moment there is a song from Pirates of Penzance playing on the radio. I love that show. I played a policeman (and, yes, I do mean man) in it and had the most fun dancing and goofing off.)

This week Oliver the Camel pretended to be Tiny Tim and went on a little "Tiptoe Through the Tulips"

You wouldn't think that Camels could sing, but I can tell you he was singing in that clear, freakishly high Tiny Tim voice "won't you tiptoe through the tulips with meeeee?"

Now, down to business. I know that you guys probably don't believe that I ever really knit or do much of anything with yarn because I never really finish a whole lot, but I now have something to show you.

This little hat was made for by best friend from college's baby that is due in June. It is made with handspun yarn from this post and lion brand handspun for the lining. (I love the color and the look of the wool, but it is way to scratchy for a little baby head and the lion brand handspun acrylic is really soft) The basic pattern came from a free lion brand pattern for use with velvetspun, but I modified the pattern for the yarn I used (a lot less bulky) and made up the green lining stuff.
Mmmm, I think it is really cute!
Here's the lining. I pretty much made another little hat inside because I wanted to make sure that the little one's head wouldn't get itched anywhere, plus I really like how the green yarn shows through the natural wool. (By the by, I just made that all yesterday and sewed in the two little ends this morning--see, I can get things finished if I have to. (The baby shower is tomorrow))Here are Rebekah (made of plaster, twine, and wax) and the hat having a little fun.

And the thing you have all been waiting to hear since I told you I was NERVOUS as the beginning of the post. I'm going to be playing guitar and singing at our local coffee shop tonight. Eeep! I'm a little nervous. Soooo, tonight I am supposed to play music for about an hour and a half. I don't think I have enough music for all that, so hopefully I can take a break part way through. Now, don't get me wrong, I could play for hours if I had a piano in front of me, but this isn't that kind of coffee shop that has a stage and piano and everything. This is just our little coffee shop in our 1200 person town, so I will be bringing my guitar (that I have played for under 2 years) and my voice (that I've had for 20 something years) and that's it. I am hoping that people won't get scared off by me singin' some acappella because I don't know no 1.5 hours of music on my geeetar. Wish me luck!

My husband is a better person than me

These past couple of days have been filled with random little things. Cutting down a tree, filling holes in the yard with dirt, preparing a party for my mom's 60th birthday, making food and other stuff.

(I still have to finish those mittens and now have another knitting project to start-a vest for my dad. I found a plain and simple free pattern for it. Now, I need to find the yarn. We don't have any specific yarn stores in the area, but I do want to try and see if any craft stores will have the right kind of yarn for it before I have to buy it online)

At home we have also started putting up pictures in places and such, so I thought of this great idea of putting up baby pics of my husband and myself along with other family member pictures in our walk-in closet-(it used to be my room when I was a kid (up to age 14). As a room it was extremely small, but as a walk-in closet it is a nice size). Anyway, I already have a framed picture of myself at about age 18 months that my grandma used to have, but I needed a picture of Dan. Long story to short I 'm looking through his book of pictures and found a great one, but at the exact same time I realized he is a much better person than me and it started at a very young age.

Age 2
Notice how he listened to his mother and he hasn't touched the cupcakes set in front of him. In fact, not only is he not touching them-he's keeping his hands far away from them.

Age 3
Notice how he is holding that teeny-tiny fork with the cake on it in mid-air and he is smiling. He is patiently waiting to eat his cake until the picture is taken.

Thus, my husband is a much better person than me.

Hey! and Shingelles and Eye Camel Friday/Monday

Well, I was so going to post again on Friday because I still have all sorts of cool pictures to show you. (Taken by a Canon Digital Rebel with a Tamron Zoom Lens, Isela) I didn't because I woke up on Friday morning with the left side of my face all swollen and had to go to the doctor. I have Shingelles :( Sad, sad, sad. My face remained swollen through the weekend and I have a rash on my left eyelid. It really looked like Dan had done a number on me. Now, I look much better (although my eye is still a bit swollen). Anyway, since I can only post from work (no internet at home) I had to wait until now to post anything.

So I have an eye camel Monday post for you

Here is Oliver in a bowl made by Zac Spates

Close-ups of kitties

Haystack

Cleopatra

Now for knitting content (because I got to stay home alllllll weekend, for once. Yippee!)-

1. I wound the hanks of cherry blossom sock yarn (I don't have a ball winder or swift or anything, so it takes a lot of time) while watching part of the first season of Bewitched (while we were watching this Dan told me that if I was a witch, he would be perfectly happy for me to use my powers to do things-snap-the house is clean-snap-we're on vacation in the mountains-snap-he doesn't have to go to work anymore---okay that didn't happen and I am not a witch. I guess it is for the best)

2. I also finished the thumb on the blue whale and started the second one. (I was really tempted to start making a pair of knee highs, but was able to restrain myself)

Well, that's the knitting content. I also read two books this weekend. One called Blackbird an autobiography Jennifer Lauck (heartbreaking and warming) and the other The Postcard by Beverly Lewis (about an Amish woman). I'm a sucker for those kind of books. I like to cry and all that with books.

This week in pictures

All right-we're going to start with the ugly

Yep, that's water , and old pipe, our barn floor and manure-The pipe burst somewhere underground and it took us a while to figure out what was going on because it was all under manure in the barn!!!!!!!

Dan broke away part of the cement floor and found where that pipe started in order to tap it off. (Everything was encased in the concrete-at least it was pipe and concrete from the 30's, so it broke away fairly easily) The pipe ended up being a foot and a half underground-it is probably that way outside the barn as well and it is amazing that we haven't had pipes burst down there. Oh well, maybe someday we'll replace everything, but there's too much else to do.

This is the pipe Dan had to cut in order to tap everything off. (We had the water shut off from our cistern, but there isn't a real shut off valve. Water still leaked.)


Now, for the beautiful

Sunday, we had lunch on the deck and it has been wonderful weather for being outside.

The ever so cute Dakota.


And . . . . . . . .

Cherry blossom sock and worsted weight yarn from Sundara! I just got it yesterday in the mail and am very excited to do something with it. I am hoping to make some knee high socks for me and a February baby sweater. I know a bunch of people that are about to have babies and one of them should end up having a girl. Don't worry, I'm still working on the mittens and should finish them, maybe.

P.S. Can you tell that I brought home my dad's fancy camera last night? Mmmmm . . . those some goooood pic's and I'll have more to show you another day.