Out the window today was snow

Yes!! More snow and again just enough to coat the ground.  I do love a covering of snow!!   The bird feeder is a very busy place, with a good assortment of birds.  These are the things that I look forward to in winter. 

On the needles I have still not finished the list of Christmas knitting that I had wanted to complete.  The good news is that the sock yarn is great!!  I'm sure that I mentioned before how happy I am with this years sock yarn, but the more I work with it the better I like it!! 

The blog site now has a spot to rsvp about Rock Day.  Rock Day is the day after Twelfthday, when, with the Christmas holidays being over, women returned to spinning. We invite you to join us in honoring our predecessors with a pot luck gathering. Please bring your spinning or knitting project and a dish to pass!!  I have heard already that a few of you will be joining us, it should be a great gathering.  Please feel free to invite your friends, the more the merrier at this event.  We will have plenty of room!!

The next big event will be our shearing day open house.  It will be on January 24.  We are scheduled to start shearing at 9am.  It will take most of the day to shear the 60 some sheep.  Everyone gets a haircut at this time of year at the Foster Farm.  It is best for the sheep and the shepherd.  More details will be posted soon!!

While all of these upcoming events are filling this page, don't forget that the next gathering of knitters and spinners at the farmhouse is Wednesday, Dec. 30.  We generally meet at around 11am, bring our own lunch, and stay until 3 or 4pm.  We have a great time and enjoy each others projects.  In the past there has always been a goodie to share that we took turns bringing.  I thought it wasn't necessary to have the goodie.  I now believe that I was wrong. ( I don't confess to being wrong often so listen up!!)  It is nice to have something made by someone else, it is often a new recipe for someone in the group and we share that also.  So let me suggest that we bring back the dessert.  I will start this off and volunteer for dessert on Wednesday. 

Hope to see many of you there...

Merry Christmas

      Merry Christmas from the Foster Farm.

For me it has always been about the tree... I love the smell of the tree in the house.  I love to pull out the old decorations and remember each one and who it was from, or how it was made. Of course we all feel that this is the most beautiful tree we have had, but we say that each year. 

This week after Christmas we get to relax and sit around the tree and enjoy it.  I of course will be finishing up some of the last minute gifts that I was sure I had time to make. 

I am also finalizing the plans for January.  We will be hosting Rock Day at the farmhouse.  We will also be hosting a shearing day open house.  Also, I will be putting the finishing touches on the January and February class list.  Many great things are happening in January.  Stay tuned...I will post the days and times later this month.

I can no longer look out the window to see the sheep.  The snow is beautiful!! but the sheep are in the barn.  We started feeding hay in the pasture on Wednesday when the snow fall was over a foot!!  (the weather men thought we would get a couple of inches)  Then the prediction for freezing rain on Sunday prompted us to bring the sheep inside.  I'm not sure if they are happier, but we all feel better. 

For me it wouldn't be December without a push to finish up a few projects for gifts.  On the needles right now are fingerless mitts...socks...and a new project, it's the Button-up Neck Warmer by Mavis Adam.  Its in the Summer 2009 issue of Spin Off.  When they posted it in the summer I was not inspired to make it.  I wish I was one of those people that would plan ahead.  I don't think there is any hope of changeing that about me at this late date.  But now that the weather is changing, I am ready for a new scarf.  Its simple and fun to knit.  I also have another new project on the needles that I can't tell you about until after Christmas.  After all, aren't the secrets one of the best part of Christmas?   I remember when the kids were young it seemed impossible to sneak a few minutes to work on a secret project.  I still enjoy keeping gifts a secret from them.

With all this knitting to do, I am walking away from the computer and getting back to the needles. 

snow

I don't know about you, but I like a little snow in December.  Out the window today we have just that.  It's a little bit of snow cover and the forcast is calling for periods of flurries this morning and then snow late tonight, with an inch of accumulation.  Perfect!!

The sheep are still grazing.  We think they have a few days left before we will start to feed hay.  They still have there wool coats on so they don't mind the cold and snow.   If the weather turns and it looks like cold rain we will probably bring the sheep in the barn.  But if its no worse that this we will put a hay feeder in the pasture and keep them there.  Its so much nicer for them to be on pasture.  Our set up doesn't allow us to let them go back and forth, so once there in there in.  Its been a great fall for grazing. 

The gift baskets are done!! 
The hardest part was writeing the patterns down.  I have been knitting socks for so long I just plan knit them.  I knew I needed a pattern, but I needed a push to get it on paper.  So if you need a sock pattern or a fingerless mitt pattern, or any of the hat patterns, or if you need a last minute gift  let me know, I now have them.

Don't forget...Knit nite...tonight at 6:30. All are welcome

Kitchener Stitch

I am still making kits, but I have run across this article on knitty.  I am sending you the link.  I think it is the best discription of the kitchener stitch I've seen. 

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer04/FEATtheresasum04.html

Check it out!!

Gift Kits

I try to post a blog every Tuesday. Yes, I know that today is Wednesday. I am working on so many different things I'm finding it hard to focus. I'm sure you know all about it. Its December. I am dyeing all kinds of yarn, knitting socks, hats, fingerless mitts, making ornaments, making angels...but, right now I think I will make kits. I think its a great gift idea. I am going to put together a learn to knit kit, a hat kit, a sock kit, and a learn to spin kit. Well, what do you think? I will post some pictures tomorrow. Right now I need to focus!!

Yesterday I picked up the last of the wool from Green Mountain Spinnery. If I were an experienced blogger I would have had my camera ready for this event. Instead I can only tell you about the trip. It is such a great drive. Heading out on rt 22 through Cambridge, NY and then to Bennington, VT. Unfortunately the moose are gone. On the trip to deliver the wool to the spinnery the moose were in abundance on the sidewalks of Bennington. My guess is that they were put away for winter, but it was disappointing. Then the drive takes me through Wilmington. I took a few minutes and stopped to browse. There is a gallery in an old church with the most amazing things. My favorite was the vegetable art; a variety vegetables that were sliced and dried into parchment. WOW!!

Today is the beginning of the dyeing marathon. I was able to dye warm colors with the gray that I had picked up in October. But now with the white I can get those bright colors. Today list includes the neon green, bright blue, yellow, pinks...any other ideas??



I was fortunate to have a driver yesterday. While riding I was working on a new hat. This is a pattern from Jared Flood. It is free on ravelry. I just love it. I didn't have any multiple colored skeins to use when I started this, so I used three different colors. By the end of today I will have those multiple colored skeins to use. Can't wait!! It fits so well, and it is any easy, fast knit. This would be a great hat for a man's gift.



Don't forget that knit nite is tonight, 6:30 to 9:30 pm. All are welcome!! (if your here you will be the first to see the new colors)

frosty morning

I thought about waiting for the sun to come up this morning for a picture, but the frosty pasture is so peaceful that I couldn't resist sending this to you. I love the look of contentment. They are happy sheep. So much to eat and nothing to do but eat and sleep. As the sun comes up they will begin to wake and wander around the pasture in search of that perfect piece of grass.
The sheep are grazing one of our hay fields now. There is still one hay field left before we will need to start feeding hay. Each weekend Tom works on moving a fence. He has to take one fence up and move it to the next hayfield. But every day that we go without feeding hay is a savings. This seasons rain made hay making very difficult. It also made for lots of pasture. This is the first time that I can remember in a long time that we have not been supplementing the pastures with hay in November.

The knit/spin in this week will be on Wednesday, 11am-3pm. I am looking forward to a big group this week.

indigo and onion skins

I seem to be in a natural dye mood. I purchased the indigo at Maryland this spring. The summer got away from me and all of a sudden I decided it had to be done before cold weather and snow set in. We did the first pot last Wednesday at the knit gathering. It was so amazing to see the oxidation. It was a first for many of us.

It has been busy around here and I didn't get back to it until today. If you know me you know that I am not about to throw out perfectly good dye, so I threw some sock yarn yarn into the pot. It seems I should have done the second pot right away. The yarn is blochey, I think because the dye pot sat around for nearly a week. Maybe not, any ideas?

The yellow yarn is from onion skins. For the longest time I could not seem to get a nice yellow with the lanacet dye that I normally use. This is what I had been looking for along.

Maybe some of you can help, what should I have done to exhast the rest of the dye?

Last night was the first knit nite!! We toasted the beginning of this new yarn shop adventure of mine.



Join us Wednesday 11am to 3 pm for the daytime gathering of knitters and spinners.

Tuesday Nov 3rd, 2009

It is election day! Of course the sheep aren't really worried about that but I am sure they will appreciate the removal of all of the pesky road side signs that have been blowing around. Weather is gray and cooling off but that does not reflect what is happening on the farm!!

I am embarking on a new venture with the remarkable fleeces that my sheep produce. I am currently scheduling knitting and spinning lessons for November and December at the farm in Northumberland.

Please look on the website http://www.fostersheepfarm.com/ for more details.