Merry Christmas to all ...

We're about as prepared as we are going to be for Christmas this year! We'll be sharing the time with family - plenty of eating will take place -sweets being my favorite!

Wishing you all the merriest!

Warmest wishes, Liz

Winter Solstice

It’s a dark day in northern Indiana which somehow seems appropriate for today, December 21^st, also known as the Winter Solstice marking the first day of winter.  

According to Wikipedia, “The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days.” Yeah! I have always liked the thought of the lengthening of day. Even though we’ve got plenty of winter ahead of us, for some reason I feel much more optimistic knowing that each day will be a bit brighter. The light (and certainly the sunlight!) makes the cold so much easier to bear.

Today is my brother-in-law’s birthday too. Happy birthday Ken! Check out their bike & ski shop, ProForm, located in South Bend. http://proformbike.com/

Stay warm & cozy, Liz

Here's a frosty photo from a few years back after an ice storm. I came across it while searching for a few pics and thought I'd share! It makes me shiver just looking at it! 


Stay warm ... Liz

Chicken attack!

 

A funny story ... Lee, having worked in the RV industry for 30-some years tends to build things “just big enough” to fit through. Our chicken coop being one of those things. Each morning I bring fresh water for the chickens and have to bend over to unplug the warmer and remove the waterer before I can fit inside the coop with my heavy jacket and overalls. (I sometimes feel like I’m ready for a space mission with the heavy boots and all!).

Well, this morning a few of the chickens were perched on top of the laying boxes and when I bent over, one of them jumped onto my hooded head. I couldn’t stand upright for fear that the chicken would be smashed into the ceiling, so I attempted to pry it’s claws from my hood and remove it to safe ground. Once I had her up in the air, she started flapping her wings like crazy which knocked out the warming lamp smashing the bulb. As if I needed something else to clean up … Anyway, I laugh every time I think of the picture of me bent over in my Carhartts with a chicken attached firmly to my hood!

Ain’t life a hoot?  

I love my Carhartt overalls!

After 8 winters on the farm, last winter I broke down and bought a heavy-duty Carhartt jacket. I’ve held off buying one because they are so darn heavy but Lee kept telling me they are worth their weight in gold! He was right, the thing IS warm. For the past 8 years I have been wearing flannel lined jeans along with my (scratchy) wool long-johns but still, my upper legs and knees would be so cold and achy by the time I was done with chores.

Well, its winter #9 on the farm and I broke down and bought some Carhartt overalls this year. OMG, they are wonderful! So far I’ve been out in single digit weather and my legs are nice and warm the entire time. I have not had the chronic aches and pains like the past few years either. I’m thinking of being buried in these overalls. LOL! Kidding. 

I finally finished the Christmas sweater I knit for my mom. It’s not actually a “Christmas sweater” but rather a sweater for Christmas. J I had it finished (the first time) back in early November. It’s one of those knit-in-one-piece patterns – knit from one arm through the body and ending with the opposite arm. Apparently I missed a few inches of knitting about 1/3rd into the pattern and didn’t notice it until I had completely finished it, ends tucked in an all. Needless to say, it was a bit off! I had to rip back 2/3rds of the sweater and start again.

Mom is nearing 86 years old and has shrunk down to a petite small (and just barely) so to rip it back and remake such a tiny garment only took a few evenings. It does not fall into the usual type of clothing she wears, but I think she’ll like it. In case you're wondering, that's not her in the photo!

The pattern is from the spring issue of Interweave Knits. I loved making it (twice!) and may make another for the shop.

Stay warm & happy knitting!

Liz

Vintage buttons

*Vintage Buttons*

2 lovely words, aren’t they? 

My passion for buttons started early on when my grandmother gave me a box of buttons she’d saved through the years. She wasn’t much for sewing but always clipped buttons from worn-out clothing. Unfortunately I lost those buttons during a move from Florida to Indiana. :(

While recently visiting my parents, my mom pulled out her sewing kit and dug out all the buttons she had saved over the years. And this past summer my Lee’s mom gave me a bag of buttons she had collected over the years. These buttons will eventually find a place in one of my many projects—a little decorative touch to a sweater or poncho, perhaps the cuff of a glove, and many buttons are used for eyes and noses on my critter hats – each one different!

Cheddar Head!

This little "cheddar head" is our vet's little boy. He's wearing one of my critter hat creations. Looks like he'll have room to grow! :D

Stay warm, Liz

Thankful for our life

I grew up thinking the stork dropped me into the wrong family. I’m sure I was meant to be raised on a farm, out of doors, with animals surrounding me. The fact is I resemble my dad quite a bit and have inherited his endless need to have several projects on the work bench.

Having spent the majority of my life in the city, this farmgirl-at-heart felt like she’d finally come home the day we moved to the country to inhabit our “new” log home. Nearing our 11^th year, I can’t help but reminisce how our small piece of paradise has transformed over the years. Covered porches, flowering shrubs and trees, gardens with giant vegetables, treed pastures, and colorful alpacas dotting the landscape.

Our lives have been defined and enriched by our surroundings. We have so much to be thankful for all started with a thoughtful comment from Lee on a warm June afternoon, “we should put something out there …”

Happy Thanksgiving ... happy fall!

While the Autumn leaves still dance around our pastures, there is a definite chill is in the air and tell-tale signs that the holidays are just around the corner. We have enjoyed an unusually long, mild fall this year. The alpacas enjoyed long naps in the sun and still manage to find something to nibble in the pasture. But weather predictions are for a brutally cold winter and our winter preparations are in place. Our barns have been buttoned down and bales of straw are ready to be stuffed in drafty corners and strewn on the hard ground floor. The chicken coop has been winterized with a warm lamp, plastic covering their windows and door and a heated waterer. Did I mention that we stuffed the coop walls with unusable alpaca fiber for warmth? How lucky are those chickens?!

I visited family in California over Thanksgiving; a nice diversion to life on the farm, not to mention it’s a completely different existence than we know in Indiana. A trip to a nearby shopping center with my parents put a smile on my face as we passed racks of heavy coats, hats and scarves! J The prices of the scarves were not much less (and in fact some were more!) than our natural Alpaca scarves. I can’t help myself, I stop to read the fabric content as we pass by – I saw quite a bit of acrylic, polyester, viscose and one scarf even contained 2% rubber on its label! That was the first time I’ve ever see “rubber” listed in clothing contents!

I enjoy perusing L.L. Bean, Talbot, J. Jill and other various winter catalogs to get ideas for this year’s fashion style, the latest in fabrics, and how they justify their pricing on so many variations of man-made fabrics. Time after time I come away feeling pleased about our product offering. Luxuriously soft, sumptuous fabrics in pure, natural colors in fashionable styles, unsurpassed warmth, and long-lasting quality.

Our local mini-mill decided to close to the public this year so we shopped around for another option. We chose a small mill in Kentucky and received our first 5 batches of yarn back last week. It’s very pretty and I’m excited to offer it for sale in our farm shop. We have a few batches still coming and quite a bit more that still needs to be processed. A shortage of time keeps us from catching up and undoubtedly we will have another year’s clip before we get through all we have on hand (not such a bad problem to have!). Take a peek at our Preferred Herd line of yarn. It’s the ultimate in comfort and warmth!

Speaking of processing, we will have a “micro-mini-mill” at the farm. Plans are in the works for a fiber processing room complete with washer, fiber tumbler, a skirting area, carder, spinning wheel and project work area. I’m so excited to finally have a place to dabble with various blends of fibers, textured yarns, and fun and artsy rovings. Watch for more details and photos this winter!

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving.

Warmly, Liz