Pretty as a Picture

Ode to Sun...

Too Cute

Moose is warming up to the camera....and to his big brother from another litter.

Meet Moose

We brought him home last night. He is seven weeks old. His mama is Great Dane. His daddy is either Great Dane or Bloodhound. I'm sure we'll have a better idea when he is a little older. Tucker is his brother from another litter. You can definitely see the Bloodhound in Tucker (he's a Great Dane/Bloodhound mix).

The pictures aren't the best. When Moose isn't sleeping he's right at my feet following me around. There will be plenty of photo ops as he gets older.  :)  The other dogs are doing okay with him. Tucker is having the hardest time right now. He thinks of himself as the baby of the house and I don't think he's ready to give that up. He will love Moose though once he's bigger and they can romp together.

Tucker 

Season of Blooms.....

.....is slowly coming to a close around here. The nights have been cooler. Had a light frost last night. The more delicate plants didn't fare very well. The morning glories are making their appearance late this year. They are giving it their all though. The blues have finally started blooming. They look real pretty wrapped around the trunk of a pine tree and managed to reach the lower branches.

The wild flower garden up front still has touches of color. Most of it has gone to seed in preparation for next year's riot of color.

Only a couple of weeks left before lambs make their appearance. A couple of my ewes are incredibly heavy with lamb. One ewe is so lamb heavy that she waddles! I've been trying to get "lamb bump" photos but have been unsuccessful. Either the ewes I'm attempting to photograph turn camera-shy or they decide it's time for cuddles. I think they just want to keep their "lamb bumps" to themselves. I did have an unusual experience with one of my older ewes. She had come up for belly rubs. I was leaning over her rubbing her side when I felt a small kick in the knee. I had been kicked by an unborn lamb! It was an amazing experience and my ewe looked so pleased with herself that she was able to share this with me. I love my sheep!  :)

New Pattern

I released my latest pattern yesterday. It's my Surf and Sand Cowl pattern. This was a fun one to knit. So much so that I've knit it twice. Once in handspun and again in a commercial yarn. It's 50% off through the month of September for those on  Ravelry. It can be found in my etsy shop as well as on Craftsy.

Here it is knit in Cascade Baby Alpaca Chunky Paints. Used two skeins with very little left over (about 10 yds). This cowl is about 50" in circumference. (You can really see the stitch pattern in this photo.)

Enough to comfortably wrap twice around your neck when you need that bit of extra.

Here it is knit in a 2-ply bulky handspun Targhee yarn. This one is about 40" in circumference. I started off with 153 yds in the skein. Had 5 yds left over. This is the yarn that inspired the design.

The pattern is five pages in length and has four different sizes. I knit two but would love to see the other two sizes knit (small: 30" and x-large: 60").  I will gift the pattern to the first six people who respond to this post in return for a photo of your finished Surf and Sand Cowl that I can post on Ravelry (on the pattern page). Please feel free to share this with friends. Tis the season to start thinking about gifts and this would make a wonderful gift.  :)

From Wool to Yarn

Remember these?

They turned into this.

Remember this?

It turned into this.

Basket of Goodness

This will be at a craft show this weekend in Oregon on a friend's table. Besides my small contribution there will be hand made jewelry ( my friend) and paper craft (another contributor).  I hope her table is busy for the duration of the show.  :)

Hand spun yarn, hand cranked socks for her (using hand dyed yarn), hand painted sock yarn.....

.....socks for him (also from hand dyed yarn), another skein of hand painted sock yarn...

.....and sample socks that can be fondled and tried on.

Morning Showers