Socks, Spinning, Knitting, Bees, Yurts and Mead!

Tomato Wine Update

2011-07-24T12:07:00.001-06:00

Racked it to another carboy and added glass beads to bring the level up to compensate for the loss when the fiber from the tomatoes settled out. It is a beautiful golden color now and the alcohol content is around 15%

Tomato Wine

2011-07-02T14:32:00.002-06:00

OK, besides the Jalapeno (cooking) wine I made last year, this has to be the strangest wine/mead I have tried to make LOL.

I used 4 lbs of fresh tomatoes from my garden and fermented in a 2 gallon bucket for a week. I just transferred it to a 1-gal glass carboy through a funnel with a filter to finish fermented and settling. It has a beautiful color so far!

Cat Paw Scarf Pattern

2011-01-02T19:09:00.005-06:00

**edited to add: If you are a Ravelry member, you can download the PDF file for this pattern for free:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/walking-paws-scarf

Below is the pattern I used for the cat paw scarf with the alternating paws that look they are walking up the scarf. I hope I did not make any changes while knitting, so please let me know if there are any errors.

Cat Paw Scarf
cast on 29 sts

NOTE: knit all even (WS) rows

SETUP
Row Instructions
1, 3, 7, 11: knit
5: k2, [k2tog, yo] 12 times, k3
7: knit
9: k2, k2tog, yo, k21, yo, k2tog, k2

CAT PAW PATTERN
Row Instructions
1: k2, k2tog, yo, k4, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, k2tog, k12, yo, k2tog, k2
3: k7, k2tog, yo, k3, yo, k2tog, k15
5: k2, k2tog, yo, k5, k2tog, yo, k14, yo, k2tog, k2
7, 11, 15, 23, 27, 31: knit
9, 13, 25, 29: k2, k2tog, yo, k21, yo, k2tog, k2
17: k2, k2tog, yo, k12, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, k2tog, k4, yo, k2tog, k2
19: k15, k2tog, yo, k3, yo, k2tog, k7
21: k2, k2tog, yo, k13, k2tog, yo, k6, yo, k2tog, k2

Repeat rows 1-31 to desired length

Repeat rows 1-28

k2, [k2tog, yo] 12 times, k3

knit 4 rows and BO

I tried to format this better, but the Blog software removed the extra tabs and spaces.

Latest Knitting Project

2011-01-01T12:50:00.005-06:00

This pattern is called Cece and is a nice cover-up over thinner shirts for the mild winters we have here. This is from Shine Sport cotton yarn from KnitPicks.

Kyle's White Socks

2010-10-03T21:07:00.003-06:00

Kyle wanted some plain white socks from the bamboo cotton yarn, so I made him these. Not so "plain" but he likes them. I purled the soles and toes so the smooth stockinette stitch was on the inside for his sensitive feet.

New Lace Shawl

2010-10-03T21:04:00.004-06:00

Just finished another lace shawl in a midnight blue color. These pics were taken while it is being blocked so it still has the pins in it.

Lace Shawl

2010-06-09T19:53:00.001-06:00

Clandestine Sock - One Finished

2010-04-03T22:12:00.003-06:00

These are the most stunning socks I have ever knitted!

Illuminati Wine

2010-03-31T20:59:00.003-06:00

My husband just had to have this one -too funny! It is actually pretty good - nice complex flavor with enough tannins to be interesting.

Clandestine Socks

2010-03-28T16:49:00.004-06:00

This is a stunning pattern and takes a lot of concentration, but it is worth it. I hand-dyed the yarn and it didn't turn out the way I envisioned, but I like the way it did turn out LOL.

Cabled Sweater

2010-03-28T16:47:00.005-06:00

This is my latest creation - a cabled sweater knitted with a cotton blend yarn so I can wear it int he hot months, which is 9 months out of the year here! I love the way the cables flowed together on this pattern.

Extra Special Bitter

2010-03-01T21:42:00.004-06:00

The latest beer creation from my husband - Extra Special Bitter. It was his first attempt at an all-grain beer and he didn't use enough grains so it is a little on the weak side, but so far has a beautiful copper color and wonderful flavor.

Dragon's Blood!

2010-02-20T19:14:00.004-06:00

Recipe:

2-1/2 lbs my Summer 2009 honey

2 oz honey from another beekeeper's hive

32 oz Just Tart Cherry Juice by R.W. Knudsen

32 oz Black Cherry Juice by R.W. Knudsen

1/2 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp yeast energizer

1/4 tsp yeast nutrient

1/8 tsp pectin

EC-1118 Lalvin yeast

This turned out wonderful! It is about 15% alcohol and it has a tart, cherry flavor and hasn't even aged yet. I put in 20 grams of medium toasted oak cubes in a sock filter to the secondary for 2 weeks and it added a bit of depth to the flavor.

The color is absolutely beautiful and the picture doesn't do it justice, but here it is:

Jalapeno Wine

2010-02-14T21:23:00.006-06:00

I named it Hot Momma Wine and so far it is very interesting LOL. I just removed the japapenos and golden raisins today from the fermentation bucket and racked it to a glass carboy. It is about 8% alcohol now after a week and still going gangbusters. I am using a champagne yeast EC-1118 so it should ferment to dry.

Here is my fermentation cupboard as of today:

Left to right are: jalapeno wine, apple cyser, pear/apple mead, orange spiced mead, cherry mead aging with toasted oak chips. The three clear ones are ready to bottle - probably next weekend. May remove the oax chips and bottle the cherry also, depending on how it tastes.

I also have a black currant mead with raisins that is in the primary fermentation stage but is slowing down and may be ready to rack to secondary by next weekend also:

Farmhouse Cheddar

2010-02-11T21:51:00.004-06:00

Made our first batch of regular cheese with the kit I bought my husband for Christmas and it turned out very tasty!

Here is is after we cooked it and poured it into the mold:

This cheese only takes an 8-pound weight to press out the moisture so we used a gallon jug of water:

And here is the finished product:

Firsr Beer Homebrew Batches

2010-01-31T14:54:00.004-06:00

My husband wanted in on the homebrewing hobby, so I got him the equipment to make his own beer for Christmas. We just bottled the first 4 gallons this weekend and he made some clever labels for each batch.

The first one is a blonde beer he named "Kyle's Dumb Blonde". The cat is ours and her name is Princess. She is sweet as can be and has the most gorgeous blue eyes (she's half Siamese), but she is dumb as a stump. LOL

The next one is an oatmeal porter and he put a llama on this one:

The last 2 batches were red ales named "Sarah's Gift Red" and he found a pic of me in my bee suit for the label :-)

Caridgan for Kyle

2010-01-18T21:27:00.001-06:00

I finished a cardigan for my husband Kyle. I used Knit picks Shine Sport cotton yarn and it turned out so soft and it even fits!

Our Brew Cabinet

2010-01-08T17:42:00.003-06:00

Got my husband the equipment to make beer for Christmas so we have some very interesting smells in the cabinet under the oven! We have 7 gallons of brew and mead going right now. I have bottled off 4 gallons of mead already but none are aged enough to enjoy yet (notice I didn't mention "drink" yet LOL).

The brews we have going from left to right in the back row are: dark beer, apple-pear-raisin cyser, apple-date-raisin cyser, orange spiced mead. In the front row from left to right: lighter beer, tart cherry-black cherry-almond melomel, black cherry-concord pyment.

Stovetop Coffee Roaster

2009-12-25T21:54:00.001-06:00

Ok, I know it looks like a popcorn popper, but you use it to roast green coffee beans! We tried it tonight and it made wonderful coffee.

2009-12-06T20:54:00.003-06:00

Made some ricotta cheese tonight. My recipe was 2 quarts whole milk and 1/2 quart buttermilk. Heated it to 180 and cooked it between 185 and 195 for 35 minutes. Poured into colander lined with cheese cloth to drain for 30 minutes.

Butternut Squash

2009-12-05T11:55:00.004-06:00

I used my new pressure canner last night that my Dad sent me as an early Christmas/Birthday present and it works great!

You have to pressure-can any low acid foods like vegetables in order to get the temperature high enough to kill off the botulism. I was originally planning on making butternut squash soup and can that, but found out the only safe way to can winter squash is in cubes.

I ended up with 5 quarts of butternut squash from my Fall garden. So, to make the soup I will just have to saute up some onion and garlic and throw a quart of squash into my food processor along with some hot chicken broth, seasonings and cream cheese - yum!

First Bottling of My Meads

2009-11-29T13:34:00.004-06:00

I don't have labels for my bottles yet. I got 3 bottles of each of my 3 meads with several glasses left over for tonight ;-). In the glasses I have the grape pyment on the left, the Joe's Ancient Orange with commerical honey on the right and the same JAO recipe with my dark Fall hone from last year. The JAO with the dark honey is much more complex than the JAO with the commercial honey. Both are too sweet for my tastes so I will be looking for a dryer recipe next time. I like the dryness of the pyment. All should get better with age and I plan on agin a couple of months before drinking them. I also tried 4 different corks - 2 synthetic ones and 2 cork ones. Will decide on which ones to use after removing them.

The meads were all very clear. By the time I took the picture the glasses and frosted over a bit from condensation.

Mead Progress

2009-11-07T19:32:00.003-06:00

Here is one of my batches of mead that has cleared BEAUTIFULLY after one month of fermenting. The first mead with the darker honey hasn't cleared yet, but it is starting to.

As soon as the fruit falls, I will be racking it to bottles to finish aging.

My Latest Mead - a Pyment

2009-10-16T17:30:00.004-06:00

This is a batch of "Pyment" - mead made from the juice of grapes. I used a juice blend of black cherry and concord grapes, pounds of Clover honey and a Lalvin EC-1118 champagne yeast. The bottom picture shows my 3 batches I have going, percolating in my cupboard. Now I just have to find some patience because it will be 3-5 months before these are ready!

Mead Batches @ 10 Days

2009-10-16T17:28:00.005-06:00

Here are my 2 batches, 10 days apart. The current pic is the lower one and you can see that both batches have already lightened some and there is some sediment forming at the bottom of both jugs, which is the yeast that has expired.

Second Batch of Mead

2009-10-16T17:20:00.004-06:00

This is my second batch of orange spice mead. I used commercial honey to see what the difference in taste will be between it and my own backyard honey.

The color is much lighter that my first batch, but then I did use my darker Fall honey LOL.

Here is a comparison between the 2 batches:

Mead - First Batch

2009-10-16T17:00:00.005-06:00

I decided to get into mead-making since I am producing honey now. I only have enough of my own honey this year for a 1-gallon jug so I decided to try another with the same recipe from Clover honey to see what the difference in taste would be.

This is the equipment I bought - pretty simple setup to get started.

This is my honey I am using - 2 1/2 pounds of my dark, Fall honey and 1 pound of my lighter Spring honey.

Warming my honey up so it pours easier.

Here are the spices for my first mead. This beginner recipes using plain old bread yeast. It has raisins, too.

Voila - here is my first batch!

Mina

2009-07-24T08:55:00.003-06:00

I liked this pic of our smallest cat, Mina. Her eyes are tilted so she always looks like she is slightly ticked but she is the sweetest (and most vocal) of our 3.

2009-05-31T18:54:00.003-06:00

Here is a recent picture of my bee yard. Just put the super on my new blue hive today. Checked the yellow hive super and it has nectar, but no capped honey yet.

Lilac Socks for Paula

2009-05-27T20:38:00.004-06:00

First time I have used this yarn - Serenity Sock Weight yarn by Deborah Norville from Hobby Lobby. Very reasonably priced and it is 50% superwash merino wool, 25% bamboo, 25% nylon.

2009-04-19T20:08:00.004-06:00

I hived my new bees today!

This is after they settled down a bit.

Here are both of my hives. The yellow one is from last year.

Yurt Update

2009-04-11T23:34:00.007-06:00

Our spring trip to Arkansas. This is the small creek that runs behind the yurt with the yurt in the background.

We put another coat of shellac on the floor and it looks new again!

I finished with half the roof insulation sewing this trip - LOTS of sewing!

With the help of a neighbor, 2 ladders and scaffolding to reach the 16' high ring int he middle, we got it up and IT FIT !!!!!

I made it in 2 sections and decided to make the other half in 3 sections to make it easier to handle. The quarter sections were very heavy and bulky and we had trouble pushing it over the beam rafters.

My Father-in-law sent us 4 cow skin rugs, 6 goat skin rugs (next to bed) and 60 rabbit skins which I made a quilt out of (on bed). Looks like Genghis Khan lives here........

Me standing at the back door.

The large creek the is on the property line.

Scarf and Gloves for Idaho Friend

2009-02-15T22:29:00.004-06:00

These are for a friend of mine who lives in Idaho and are for her birthday. The yarn is Knit Picks Gloss in the Cosmos colorway - it is a deep plum color. The yarn is 70% merino wool, 30% silk and the gloves feel very warm. My friend will need that living in Idaho! I used 2.5 mm needles and it took one skein for the scarf and one for the pair of gloves. In fact, I rant short on the scarf and didn't have enough to knit the last 4 rows, but I had enough left over from the gloves to finish the scarf. If I hadn't had enough I would have ripped the scarf back one "paw" repeat.

Cat Paw Scarf and Matching Fingerless Gloves

2009-02-08T21:43:00.006-06:00

This is a cat paw scarf made with Regia Bamboo yarn, colorway 1064 with size 10 needles. I offset the paws so it looks like the cat is walking up the scarf. This was for an animal lover friend of mine and she LOVED it!

I decided to make some matching fingerless gloves out of the other skein I had.

Finished DH's Monkey Socks

2008-12-28T23:52:00.004-06:00

I loved the subtle color changes in this yarn. It is

Lana Grossa Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch in the 721 colorway. The pattern is Cookie A's Monkey socks using one 2.75mm needle and Magic Loop method.

OK Cable & Comb Socks Finished

2008-12-07T17:36:00.006-06:00

I finished the socks for my Oklahoma friend in the Cable & Comb pattern. These were the socks I started in the Gracious pattern and frogged when it didn't show up. These large cables stand out better. The socks are a bit big for me but I wanted to put them on for the pics so you coudl see this beautiful pattern.

Started Insulating Yurt

2008-11-27T11:00:00.003-06:00

I also started sewing the insulation for the roof but did not get finished this trip. I bought some foil-bubble-foil insulation and I am sewing a muslin liner on one side. It will be the side facing down and the insulation will go between the roof beams and the vinyl roof cover. That way my yurt won't look like a jiffy pop! The other side I will leave the foil exposed as it will face upwards and won't be seen.

I am sewing it in 4 pieces, held together with wide velcro. The yurt is 30' in diameter so each section is 15' long and 24' wide - A LOT of sewing! I plan to finish it when we go back int he spring.

New Dome for Yurt

2008-11-27T10:43:00.008-06:00

We finally bought a new dome for the yurt. The original yurt came with a sort of "rain fly" - a vinyl cover that was clear over the hole in the top and was secured with ropes through grommets at the edge. It would not hold up in bad weather and my neighbors had to put it back on several times.

This new dome is much better! It has springs on it and a large screw that you can use an extension pole to crank it open to let the heat out during the day. We got our back screen door installed also so we were able to get a nice breeze during the day with the dome cracked open and the back door open.

OK Socks Progress Pics

2008-11-19T21:58:00.005-06:00

edited to add: I ended upfrogging these. I love the pattern, but it was lost with the busy colorway.

Oklahoma Bound Socks

2008-11-08T14:29:00.004-06:00

These are for an online friend in Oklahoma who always makes me laugh! The pattern is Gracious and I am knitting them on 2.5 mm needles. The yarn is from Pagewood Farms and is so wonderfully soft! It is 70% superwash merino, 20% bamboo and 10% nylon in the Spring Brights colorway.

Sock Hop Socks

2008-11-08T11:14:00.005-06:00

I made 2 pairs of socks for some very good friends of mine in Arkansas who were throwing a Sock Hop party on Halloween. The first pair was for a man and I made them out of the Lanna Grossa Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch in the 721 colorway. I used 2.5 mm needles. I just love the way the color changes are so subtle. I knitted them in a basketweave pattern.

I had to go find this colorway online for my DH because he liked the color so much!

The picture of the unfinished sock shows the color the best. The lighting wasn't good for the finished socks and I had to get them packed for our trip.

The next pair was for a woman and I made them out of Zitron Trekking in the 81 colorway on 2.25 mm needles. I used a simple 3 x 1 ribbing. The hardest part was finding a color repeat to start both socks so they would match. This colorway has LONG repeats and I had to do a lot of winding and re-winding to find a place to start, but I finally did.

One Pomatomus Down

2008-08-24T21:56:00.003-06:00

One Pomatomus sock down. This was knitted from Alpaca Sox in the 1810 Marine colorway. Super soft, fuzzy and warm - definitely winter socks!

Panda Silk Baudelaire's

2008-08-24T21:52:00.003-06:00

These are my baudelaire's made from the Panda Silk yarn. I love the way these turned out! Super soft.

Swallowtail Shawl

2008-08-24T21:47:00.002-06:00

This is the start of my swallowtail shawl from some yarn I spun up from some Merino roving. I bought the fleeces at the Estes Park fiber festival in the summer of 2007 and had it processed. I plan on increasing the Budding Lace repeats to 25 before I start the edging.

Furniture Wax

2008-07-19T18:11:00.003-06:00

Here are my pictures of my furniture wax I made from my first harvest of beeswax. The top pic shows the raw materials - turpentine, carnauba wax (purchased online) and my beeswax slab from my solar wax melter.

I got the recipe online and scaled it down to the grams of beeswax I had. The carnauba wax is supposed to take some of the tackiness out of the beeswax and give the wax a higher shine. It is one of the hardest waxes and found in most premium car waxes.

I melted the beeswax in my old double boiler ($5 on ebay) and then added the carnauba flakes and stirred until they were melted. Everything was measured in grams and I used my electronic scale I bought at Weight Watchers years ago since it has a digital readout and switches to grams.

After both waxes were melted I added the turpentine and stirred with a small 5" whisk (now dedicated to crafts, not food) until well blended. Then I poured it into a glass jar. The second pic is the furniture wax before it has cooled.

The last pic is the cooled wax. I am going to let it set overnight and then try it out on my spinning wheel tomorrow.

Bottled Honey 2008

2008-06-29T17:04:00.003-06:00

This is my first honey harvest - all bottled up! I got 6 pounds from the 3 frames. The labels were backordered so I will have to wait on them or make my own.

This is the beeswax I had leftover. I rinsed it and will freeze it until I get the materials for my solar wax melter. It smells WONDERFUL! I may have to make some candles out of some of it. My husband does woodworking and found some recipes for furniture wax that has beeswax in it so we will probably try making some of that, too.

First Honey Harvest

2008-06-29T14:08:00.003-06:00

I harvested 3 frames of honey today - I probably could have gotten more, but I don't want to leave my bees short of food if we get into a drought period.

I used frames with starter strips for the top honey super - it is thin sheets of wax with the honeycomb pattern stamped on it. All you have to do is give the bees a pattern and a direction to start building and they will build comb in nice neat frames instead of making a mess. Here is a frame with a starter strip:

Here is what the frame looked like today when I pulled it:

And a closeup of the capped honey:

I used a large knife and cut the comb out of the frame and onto a plastic mat. I used a potato masher to crush the honeycomb and release the honey:

Then I rolled up the mat and used a plastic spatula to scrape the honey and broken comb into my straining bucket. It is a special plastic bucket I got from the bee supplier that has a spout on the bottom for filling bottles. On the top I nested 2 plastic filters with nylon mesh filters - one coarse and one fine.

After 3 frames this was my sticky mess!

And here is the honey filtering in the bucket. Quite a bit of honey has already gone through the filters leaving the beeswax at the top:

I sealed the bucket and set it in the garage where it is 90 degrees so the honey will flow better. I will fill my jars tonight. I already tasted it - it is wonderful!

Sock Blanks!

2008-06-26T10:10:00.004-06:00

Ok, I thought I would try my hand a dyeing a sock blank from Knit Picks and have some fun.

I wasn't happy with my first attempt - I wanted a more gradual transition in the color changes. Also, the yellow Jacquard dye was much stronger than the orange and red Kool Aid dyes.
So, I bought 2 red Jacquard dyes - scarlet and cherry I think - and squiggled it around on the orange and yellow areas to make a variegated pattern. I was much happier with this and started knitting.
This sock blank is double stranded so you can knit 2 at a time and get matching socks. I decided to do toe-up and chose the Small Capitals pattern from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks book. I am using a wooden Harmony circular from Knit Picks in the 2.25 mm size, using the Magic Loop method.

Finished Gracious Socks

2008-05-24T13:13:00.005-06:00

I finished the socks for my friends in the Gracious pattern and Dream in Color Smooshy yarn in the Cool Fire colorway. I thought they turned out very nice and I hope she likes them!

Dream in Color Smooshy Socks

2008-05-05T18:31:00.004-06:00

These are for a friend of mine at work who has helped me though my cancer diagnosis and treatment. The pattern is called Gracious by Terry L. Ross and I found it on Ravelry. The yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy in the Cool Fire colorway. I used 2.5 mm needles.

I knitted per the pattern with 62 sts and they were too tight on my friend, so I frogged back to the toe and increased to 34 per side and added a yo cable down the leg since I had extra stitches. The original pattern has a stockinette stripe. I did not use the cuff in the pattern - it was very pretty with a picot edging but I tried it on some other socks and didn't really like it. I decided to go with the stretchiest ribbing I know of - k2, p2 and then switched to 3 mm needles for the last round before I did a sewn bind-off.

Now I am off to cast on the second sock!

2008-05-04T09:22:00.003-06:00

This is a Texas wine from the Hill Country near Austin. It is 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Merlot. Very smooth, nice rich flavor.

2008-04-25T15:24:00.003-06:00

This is another wine we enjoyed last night. It was good - not great, but a good wine to serve at dinner if you have friends over and it won't break the bank. We had the 2004 year. It was a pleasant Cabernet Savignon wine if you like that grape variety.

Pond Plants

2008-04-23T19:18:00.002-06:00

Someone asked me about the plants and who lives in the ponds. We don't have any fish in the ponds and it makes the much easier to take care of without all the fish waste, plus you can dose with chlorine to kill the algae. We have 2 large aquariums inside - a 55 gallon bow tank with large South American cichlids in it and a 75 gallon marine tank that is a major pain to keep up. My hubbie takes care of them and the yard!

As for plants - the backyard pond sees half shade and half sun so we planted shade loving plants on one side and sun lovers on the other. We have a lot of old large trees so no spot gets full sun all day. The geraniums and impatiens do well in part sun and I have the daisies and marigolds on the sunny side. And a few oddballs like the Joseph's coat which needs sun and was very pretty - just look at the tags on the plants when you buy them.

MontGras Reserva

2008-04-20T11:33:00.002-06:00

We really liked this wine. It is from Chile, 2006 and Carmenère grape variety. It was smooth to drink but will sneak up on you.

New Pond

2008-04-20T11:21:00.005-06:00

I haven't posted a gardening blog since we moved to our new house summer. We moved the pre-formed pond to the front under a large oak tree. We couldn't dig down because of the roots so we brought in sand and built up around it.

Then right before we got the bees, we decided to put in a pond in the back yard using a pond liner. Our soil is solid clay and it was wet from all the rain and let me tell you - IT WAS A LOT OF WORK digging out for the pond and then around it for the plants. We had to dig down a foot to remove the clay and backfill with bags of soil so the poor plants would have something to take root in.

This is the finished product:

Here are both ponds - the elevated on is in the foreground and the new one looking into the back yard:

Her Majesty is Laying

2008-04-20T11:08:00.002-06:00

We went into the hive and changed out the solid bottom board that came with my beginner's hive kit. I bought a screened bottom board that has a tray under it you fill with vegetable oil for natural pest control for the hive. As the bees pick off the mites and small hive beetles they will fall through the screen at the bottom and into the oil and stay there. My girls were NOT happy about having their home picked up and a new floor installed - you know how disruptive remodeling is!

After they calmed down a bit I opened up the top and decided since they were so agitated that I would only pull a couple of middle frames to verify the queen was alive and laying eggs. The first frame I pulled was gorgeous - Her Majesty has been busy!!! I didn't get pictures, but it had capped honey in the corners and top and a layer of pollen below that and capped brood in the middle. I held the frame up with the sun at my back and spied some tiny larvae curled up in the bottom of their cells that hadn't been capped yet. It was so exciting to see and made me very happy.

My girls are very gentle - even with everything I did and as loud as they buzzed, they didn't even bump me, much less sting. I don't have a full suit so they had opportunity - I wear a veil, long sleeved white t-shirt and velcro straps around the bottom of my jeans. I pulled the frames with my bare hands because I can't grip them with gloves on.

This morning they are bringing in pollen by the truckloads. Mostly orange, some white. I am going to leave them alone for 2 weeks and then check to see if they are ready for another deep. I should have some newly hatched bees the next time I look in on them.

Handspun Socks for Me

2008-04-13T14:17:00.002-06:00

I spun some superwash merino roving I picked up at the Estes Park Wool Festival last summer. It was pre-dyed in warm earthy colors - unfortunately I can't find a picture of it before I spun it. The yarn ended up about DK weight so I knitted the socks up with 3.25 mm needles and used 48 sts. The pattern is Oblique Openwork from Sensational Knitted Socks and I think this pattern looks good with heavier weight yarn.

My Latest Hobby - Honeybees!

2008-04-13T14:06:00.003-06:00

I spent most of March putting together and painting my hive boxes. On April 5th we went to R Weavers in Navasota to pick up my package of bees and marked queen. I installed the package of bees that evening and hung the queen cage between the frames. We checked the hive yesterday and the queen had been released. I didn't see the queen or any eggs yet so we will check it next Saturday and hopefully find Her Majesty has been busy. If not, we will have to get a new queen if something has happened to her. In the meantime, the girls and slurping down the sugar water at a fast pace and building lots of comb.

Valentine's Day Socks for DH

2008-02-17T17:22:00.002-06:00

These are knitted with Panda Cotton in the blueberries-grape colorway
on size 2.5 mm. My DH loves his other Panda Cotton socks and asked for another pair - they get softer every time they are washed. This is the Travelling Vine pattern in Sensational Knitted Socks.

Purple Cable Socks

2008-01-18T21:15:00.001-06:00

My Dad's fiance loves purple so I knitted her some purple wool socks in a cable pattern I made up. The yarn is Knit Picks Essential Solids in the African Violet colorway. It is 75% Superwash wool. 25% nylon.

Father-In-Law Scarf

2008-01-18T21:10:00.001-06:00

This is a cable scarf for my father-in-law who lives in Colorado. It is knitted with Knit Picks Panache yarn in the Dusk colorway. It is 40% Baby Alpaca, 20% Cashmere, 20% Silk, 20% Extrafine Merino.

This is the softest yarn I have ever knitted with - too bad Knit Picks discontinued it!

Gray Socks

2008-01-18T21:07:00.001-06:00

These are some gray wool tweed socks I knitted with a simple garter rib for my brother-in-law who has to work outdoors in Colorado. The first day
he wore them it was 9 degrees and he said they were great! The yarn is Knit Picks Essential Tweed in the Flint colorway. It is 65% Superwash wool, 25% nylon and 10% Donegal. I hope they wear and hold up well for him because he works outdoors and wears boots so they will be put to the test.

Dad's Scarf

2008-01-18T21:04:00.000-06:00

Here is a scarf I made for my Dad for Christmas. It was knitted with Knit Picks Ambrosia in the Night Sky colorway. It is 80% Baby Alpaca and 20% Cashmere.

Lace Shawl

2008-01-18T20:56:00.000-06:00

This is my first lace project - a lace shawl knitted with Knit Picks Shimmer yarn in the Happy Dance colorway. It is 70% Baby Alpaca and 30% Silk. There was some slight pooling of the colors, but not too bad. Blocking it was easy - I bought a wire lace blocking kit from Knit Picks and followed the instructions. This was a Christmas gift for my mother-in-law and I talked my good friend Sharon into modeling it for me!

Here is the shawl before I blocked it and after I had the blocking wires in it - big difference!

Garter Rib Socks for DH

2007-10-06T12:58:00.000-06:00

My latest socks are a pair for my hubbie. This is the simple garter rib pattern made with Knitpicks bare superwash merino yarn. I was going to dye them blue after they were finished, but he likes the cream color so much he didn't want them dyed. I guess if the get stained or dingy I can always dye them later. These are super soft!

Baudelaire's Finished

2007-08-15T22:14:00.001-06:00

I finally finished the socks for my friend in Idaho. These are being shipped off to her tomorrow in a chinese-takeout box from Michael's. I got the idea from this sockknitter's list on Yahoo. The lace pattern does not show up as well with a patterned yarn, but I still think they turned out very pretty. I hope they fit! All I got was a shoe size.

OTN: Queen of Cups

Meet Max

2007-08-15T22:12:00.001-06:00

Max is about 3-4 months old and he needs to learn to relax better - ha-ha!

Notice the red piece of yarn he is laying on. That was my offering to keep him out of my knitting bag and away from my socks in progress. Well..... it worked for a little while!

The Lap of Luxury

2007-07-06T12:17:00.001-06:00

Noooo.... my new kitty isn't spoiled a bit ! She has quite an outgoing personality and my big siamese cat has finally gotten over being scared of her and they were playing chase this morning.

New Kitty

2007-07-01T14:22:00.001-06:00

This is our new kitty - she hasn't been named yet - my son is calling her Mina for now. We just brought her home from the shelter today. She is very loving and affectionate! So far, my older female has hissed at her and ignored her and my siamese male hasn't come out from under the bed yet (he's a real chicken)

Online Beach Cotton Socks

2007-06-29T19:30:00.000-06:00

I started these for me over a month ago, finished one sock and finally got around to starting the second one on vacation last week and finished it up today. It is from the Online Beach Cotton collection, colorway 942 knitted toe up. They knitted up very pretty, but not as soft as wool or the Panda Cotton so I am not sure how I will like them in the long term. For the leg, I used the Welt Fantastic pattern in the SKS book under Chevron patterns for self striping socks. Like most of these types of patterns there isn't much stretch in them and they are a little harder to get on than my Monkey Socks.

I like the garter rows and wish now I had made a garter heel instead of plain stockinette. Oh well, there is always the next pair!

I really mean it this time...... I have no other socks in progress, so now I can get back to my Baudelaire socks I started for my friend.......

Ok, I Was Wrong......

2007-06-27T22:02:00.000-06:00

He wore his periwinkle lace socks to mow in...!!!!

I guess he likes them. LOL

Now I can get back to my Baudelaire socks!

Ribbed Lace Socks Finished

2007-06-25T23:21:00.001-06:00

I finished my hubbie's periwinkle socks in Panda Cotton, Ribbed Lace pattern from SKS - FINALLY!!! I frogged these several times trying to come up with the right combination of sts and needle size. These open up to show off the lacy pattern beautifully. I doubt if he will wear these outside the house, but he likes them so that's all that matters.

Father's Day Socks Finished

2007-06-10T10:11:00.001-06:00

I finished my socks for my Dad for Father's Day last night - thank goodness! He is visiting this weekend from Las Vegas so I had to finish them since we are celebrating today. I was binding off around 1:00 am and hand washed them with some conditioner and now they are very soft.

These were knitted from Online Supersocke, 75% wool, 25% polymid, Tropic line, Colorway 927.

I started them both out at the same repeat in the yarn and was very happy that the stripes line up and match!

2007-06-02T14:47:00.001-06:00

Here are the Baudelaire pattern socks I started for my friend in Idaho. I had to put these aside to finish another project, but hopefully will get back to them soon.

Sock Sizing Nightmare

2007-05-20T23:16:00.000-06:00

On my May 6th blog I posted a picture of the half-finished Panda Cotton socks in the Periwinkle color and the Ribbed Lace pattern from SKS. Although the pattern repeats every 8 stitches, you have to select a multiple of 16 stitches for the sock since it is not symmetrical.

So...... my choices were 64 or 80 stitches for hubbie's socks. Yes, I swatched and thought the 80 would be ok with a size 1. Well, it wasn't. They seemed ok until after I finished the heel and then tried them on him and they bagged at the ankles. Grrrr....... and I had knitted both at once, so both were wrong. I was also running out of yarn.

I frogged one and knitted just that one (and ordered 3 more balls to go with my original 2) using 64 stitches (still with size 1 needles). It also seemed ok, but was a little snug. Well, it's too small. The good news is it fits me :-). The bad news is hubbie really likes that pattern and wanted a pair that fit him :-(.

So, I thought I could either go up to a size 2 and 64 stitches (faster!) or down to a size 0 and 80. I didn't think the Panda Cotton would knit up very good on size 2's, so I knitted the cuff today on my size 0's. I had saved the cuff from the original socks and this cuff is halfway in between the 80 sts, size 1 and 64 sts, size 1. So, I guess this will work *sigh*. When I get done with his pair, I will go back and knit a matching sock for me. I love this pattern now, but I am certain I will be sick of it by the time I have 2 complete pair finished.

Yard of the Month

2007-05-20T23:11:00.001-06:00

This is my very proud hubbie showing off his new sign ("here's your sign"). This shot only shows a fraction of the flowers he has planted all around the house and yard. He works very hard on his yard and enjoys all the compliments from people passing by on their bikes or walking.

Starfox Socks Finished!

2007-05-20T23:08:00.000-06:00

Starfox socks finished and my son loves them - yay! I had to photograph them opposite of each other because the emblems are only on the outside of each sock. I just washed them the other day and they came out nice and soft.

Baudelaire Socks

2007-05-20T23:00:00.000-06:00

This is my next sock project - Cookie A's Baudelaire sock pattern in Lorna's Laces Devon colorway.

Handmade Shelf

2007-05-10T10:48:00.000-06:00

This is my hubbie's second project - a shelf to store our dishes on in the kitchen. He used pine for the shelves and "wormy" oak for the ends. I can't believe how beautiful the grain is in this pine and the holes in the oak are very unusual. This turned out gorgeous!

Cherry End Table

2007-05-10T10:41:00.000-06:00

This is the first piece of furniture that my hubbie has made - a small end table made of cherry. It looks beautiful in our living room!

Ribbed Lace

2007-05-06T10:49:00.000-06:00

I just turned the heel on these Panda Cotton-Bamboo socks in their Periwinkle color. The pattern is the Ribbed Lace from Sensational Knitted Socks.

Starfox Socks

2007-05-06T10:37:00.000-06:00

These are for my son. He likes the color green and video games, so I made him a green pair of socks and he picked out his favorite video game symbol. I was going to use the Halo symbol, but he picked out the emblem on the Starfox character's uniform. I have about 3 more inches to go on the feet before I start my toe decreases.

2007-05-06T10:36:00.000-06:00

This is a close-up of the emblem. The socks are knitted in Cherry Tree Hill's Green Mountain Madness and I used a solid gray Lang Jowell yarn and a duplicate stitch to create the emblem.

Scarf Finished

2007-04-30T23:22:00.000-06:00

I finished the scarf this evening. I ended up overdying it with a weak lilac dye solution to even out the color a bit. I wanted some variation, but there was too much white and it pooled in a couple of places. The color is now various shades of lavender with specks of blue in it.

This is a gift for my Dad's girlfriend. Her birthday is this weekend and she loves purple, so hopefully she will like the scarf. I am going to get it in the mail to her tomorrow, along with the homemade soap below.

Handmade Soap w/ Scarf

2007-04-30T23:19:00.001-06:00

This is going out with the scarf - two small bars of my goat's milk soap - it is finally cured and ready to be used. It looks like fudge, doesn't it?

I tried it out tonight and it left my hands wonderfully soft. That is what I liked about the goat's milk soap we bought at the store and is what inspired me to try and make some of my own.

Crochet Scarf Project

2007-04-16T18:16:00.000-06:00

This is some yarn I spun from a wool-mohair blend roving that I dyed with Jacquard dyes (pic of roving below). This will be an open flower pattern scarf and I will post pics of the scarf when it is finished.

Roving for Scarf

2007-04-16T18:15:00.001-06:00

Yurt at Night

2007-04-14T22:44:00.000-06:00

This is what our yurt looks like at night - very cool! Once we insulate the walls and roof, you won't be able to see the lattice and roof beams shadows. We don't have electricity yet - the light is from 2 Coleman lamps.

Son's Socks Finished

2007-04-05T20:02:00.000-06:00

I finished my son's socks today. He likes them a little loose and every time I have tried them on while I was knitting them, he liked them. I purled the soles so it would be softer inside for his sensitive feet.

These are still fairly heavy socks, but until I learn to spin a finer yarn consistently that is what I will end up with. I bought some commercial sock yarn to make him a thinner pair he can wear with his sneakers. These will be good for wearing around the house or with his hiking boots.

Basketweave Handspun for DS

2007-04-05T20:01:00.001-06:00

2007-04-05T20:00:00.000-06:00

Here is a closeup of the basketweave pattern.

Goat's Milk Soap

2007-04-05T19:54:00.000-06:00

This is my first attempt at making soap. I chose goat's milk soap because that is my favorite of all the specialty soaps I have tried recently. I froze the goat's milk and added the lye with the pan in a sink of ice water to keep it from charring the milk.

This recipe has olive oil, palm oil, coconut oil, sweet almond oil and Shea butter in it. I scented it with Frankincense fragrance oil at trace. I won't know for 6 weeks if I like this recipe or not, but I am happy that is saponified and looks good so far!

Welcome to My Garden

2007-04-04T09:59:00.000-06:00

This is my driveway. My husband loves flowers and loves to garden so we have flowers everywhere!

2007-04-04T09:01:00.000-06:00

This is the side towards the back of the house.

2007-04-04T07:03:00.000-06:00

Our small water pond in the backyard.

Our Yurt Project

2007-04-01T10:35:00.000-06:00

This is our property in Arkansas that we will retire to someday and build a permanent house on it. For now, we have put up a yurt to stay in for weekend trips. We built a raised platform and installed 2x6 pine tongue & groove flooring and cut it in a circle. The yurt came as a kit and we hired some local help and put it together in one day last Fall. The following are some pics from that day.

2007-04-01T09:44:00.000-06:00

These are the walls of the yurt

2007-04-01T08:47:00.000-06:00

This is the finished frame. The yurt is 30' in diameter and 15' high in the center. The ring at the top is 5' in diamter.

2007-04-01T07:49:00.000-06:00

Here it is all finished. The walls are vinyl, so it is like being in a very large tent.

2007-04-01T06:51:00.000-06:00

This is the inside - pretty nice, huh?