I saw a photo of a cute baby sweater recently, and after several inquiries, found that the only way I could get the pattern was to buy a kit that included the pattern. So, rather unlike me, I bought the kit that also included the yarn and the needles. I didn't need the needles, and could've bought the yarn almost anywhere.
The yarn was very chunky wool, and the needles were extra large, both of which were a bit unlike my usual knitting style. But I thought it would be a good challenge for me.
The pattern ended up being super simple, with four square sections of all knitting. The only slightly complicated part was alternating the color of the yarn. I tried wrapping the strands as I went, so I wouldn't have lots of ends to deal with when I sewed it up.
There was enough yarn leftover that I was able to make another smaller version using a slightly different "top down" in the round pattern.
The sweaters went to two nieces, sisters, who were both having boys around the same time.
An armadillo got snarled up in the chicken fencing. It was an unpleasant surprise one morning when I went out to feed the chickens.
The back shell of an armadillo has different sections and several ridges. Somehow the fencing got wedged between one of the sections, and I'm assuming it wouldn't dislodge even when the armadillo tried squirming and reversing out. The fence doesn't have a strong charge, but apparently it had enough to kill the armadillo over several hours.
There have been plenty of dead animals and unpleasant things that have had to be done, but getting the dead armadillo untangled from the chicken fencing was one of the most unpleasant things I've had to do so far on our farm. I've had to untangle dead chickens before, but I felt some sort of sympathy for them. I had absolutely no sympathy for the armadillo, and felt disgust at being forced to be so close to it. I was annoyed at how tightly it was wedged in the fencing, almost to the point of cutting the fence. They are potential carriers for diseases including leprosy, so in addition to wearing gloves, I used my chicken rake to move it. I got it as far as the compost bin, and later Son buried it.
It would have been impossible for me to have dealt with it if it had been alive.
One half of a mobile home came down our narrow little county road the the other day. We were watching closely as it navigated the sharp bend up near our front gate. A few days later the other half came by. They ended up taking out some of the lower hanging tree branches along the way.
The water in the hydroponic water barrel had dozens of tadpoles recently that turned into frogs.
We have had good success with most of the things we planted this year and are enjoying all the fruit and vegetables from the garden.
Asparagus
Strawberries
Blackberries
Tomatoes
Broccoli
Cucumber
Potatoes
Green Pepper
Celery
Lettuce
Some nights we are able to eat mostly our own produce and meat for supper.
We went to visit a cousin who lives in the Temple area. He has built a treehouse at the back of his property. Years ago my mother had built a similar one near the same spot.
But what caught my eye was this strange bug that was crawling on the tree trunk. It looks like it has a face on its back. What is this weird bug called?
We decided to try picking blueberries. I had seen various signs on different highways in the past, and finally looked it up on the internet to find the locations.
So one morning we got up promptly before it got too hot and drove about an hour east to a farm when you are allowed to pick. They provided gallon sized buckets and directed us to the best areas. We spent about an hour and then returned to have them weighed.
The blueberry bushes were so pretty. The ripe ones were very easy to find since the unripe ones were pink or green. Plus bushes are taller and don't have thorns.
The farm also had blackberries, so we spent another half hour picking them.
Once at home, I put them all in yogurt containers and froze them. We picked 15 quarts of blueberries and 10 quarts of blackberries. The average cost was $6/quart.
