Animals and Nature, Knitting, Quilting

Actual Knitting Content

Posted on by Jean

I’m happy to report that Blue is with his new family in Washington.   He did very well on the flight from Dallas.  They have a couple of acres on a lake and there’s a playful lab on the adjoining land that Blue loves to play with.  I’ve learned that I am not cut out for fostering rescues.  It nearly ripped my heart out to say goodbye to him.  I talked to his new owner a couple of days ago and after only a little over a week they just love him and understand what I meant when I said he was really special.  Sigh.  I love happy endings.

I actually have been knitting a bit.  I’m working slowly, but surely, on the M’gonigle hat for Jeremy.   He’s headed to Colorado for a snowboarding trip in a couple of weeks so I need to get it finished and off in the mail to him.

I’ve also been doing some quilting.   This is a table topper kit I bought from Fat Quarter Shop a while back.  I still have to add the borders and finish it up.

I’ve been gardening.  I still have herbs, broccoli, lettuce, radishes and carrots going if you can believe it.  There’s also garlic and fennel that I hope to harvest in the Spring.

And then there’s the bird watching.  I can’t believe how many different birds visit our backyard.  I have a great book on birds in Texas that I thumb through and then I go to this great website to look up more info.  It seems I’m constantly running to grab the camera.  Partly to catch them on “film” and partly because I can see them better through the lens. lol.  Now that I know about the Cardinals I see them about once a week.  I caught this one on our frosty almost 20 degree Saturday morning:

Hello Mr. Carolina Wren.  These are adorable:

Not so happy to see a juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk about a week ago.  A little creepy that he’s looking right at me from across the yard.  It was so far that I couldn’t even tell til I looked at the pictures on the computer.  

A few days later I saw this adult Sharp-shinned Hawk after the little birds that hide in the bushes near a feeder.

Family

Gig ‘Em Ags!

Posted on by Jean

We’ll be celebrating with turkey and all the goodies that go with it tomorrow.  Today we’re headed to Aggieland for the big Texas Aggies vs. Longhorns game.

We have neighbors that bleed orange so the Aggies NEED to win! I

I’m not allowed call that other school University of Texas.  I married into a large Aggie family and here’s your college trivia for the day:

Texas A&M was already going strong when the State of Texas decided to build another State run university.  They asked A&M if they’d like to change their name to University of Texas.  The Ags said, “Hell no!”  So the State built the school in Austin that Aggies call TU.  Aggies know they are the real University of Texas.  That other one is just a Texas University.  

I wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving before we take off!!

Gig ‘Em Ags! 

WHOOP!

Animals and Nature

Am I Blue…. over Blue

Posted on by Jean

Meet Blue.  He’s a very special dog.  A Texas Blue Lacy.  The State dog of Texas!

The breed was actually started by a rancher in the mid 1800s here in Central Texas.   They are incredible working dogs.  They can herd, hunt, bird, hog and be a companion.

Here’s Blue’s story.  I went  to the local Animal Shelter on Sunday to see if I could volunteer to help out.  No can do because of liability they said, but I’m still working on it.  So I asked if I could “just go in and look…”  I knew it was a mistake, but in I went.

I saw this boy and instantly knew he was special.   When I left I called Dan to cry about what I’d seen.  When I was done I told him about this gorgeous dog that they said was a Texas Blue Something.  In a disbelieving voice he said, “Jean.  A TEXAS BLUE LACY?!”  I came home and did some research and actually found a forum talking about this specific dog in the shelter and they were trying to get him out before he was put down.  Of course I offered to help.  First I went to take pictures for them to make sure he was a Lacy (they are a breed specific organization).  While I was there taking pictures a man called saying he was interested so I left him.  After talking to a couple of rescue people I decided to go get him out.  He is a year and three months old and this is his second time in a shelter.  I wanted him to be placed where someone understood the attention and exercise that this breed needs.

Well, here’s the problem.  I’ve had him since about lunch on Monday.  I am completely in love with him.  Do you see that face:

He’s a handful, that’s for sure.  Dan gets home from out of town tomorrow night.  He’s going to fall instantly for this guy.  I’m so torn I’m getting no sleep at night.  I want him to have a forever home where someone really understands the work this breed needs.

I talked to the previous owner last night.  They both work so Blue was in the backyard a lot with their Beagle.  He destroyed their yard and had separation anxiety so they took him to the shelter.

The moral of the story, do research before you adopt or buy a dog.  Really find out about the breed and if it’s right for your family. Blue’s story will end up happy one way or the other, but for so many other dogs it’s a sad ending.

It’s Thankful Thursday and I’m so thankful I got to meet Blue even if he has to move far away.

Animals and Nature, Family

Who Knew?

Posted on by Jean

As most of you know Joe is my youngest of four boys.  He’s a peanut even though he was ten pounds at birth.  The boy is a handful.  He’s not a bad kid.  He’s ornery and FULL of life.  He has a smile that always keeps him out of trouble and he knows how to use it.  Whenever it’s possible he has a ball in his hand.   Usually a football.  Despite his size, the kid wants to play football in the worst way.   You’ll remember he played for the Junior Black Knights when we were at West Point.  That was it.  He got the taste.  Being in Texas, where football is king, well…. you see what I’m up against.  While Dan’s been away these last five weeks, every single game that Dallas has played, Joe has called his dad at every big play.  

Imagine our surprise when he came home about a month or so ago and announced he wanted to join the Chess Club.  Hmm. We thought it wouldn’t last.  I thought he’d get bored.  Well, yesterday we had our first Chess Tournament.  After four Chess Club meetings, he won one, stalemated one and lost three.  But look at the concentration.  It’s like he’s trying to intimidate the other kid.  This is the one he stalemated on.

This morning I was watching the bird feeders.  I saw a bird that I thought was a House Finch, but I couldn’t tell for sure so I grabbed my camera.  I took this picture of him:

Right when I snapped the picture I noticed something out of the corner of my  eye!  What?! 

I had no idea we had Cardinals!!!  Way cool.

You lookin’ at me?

Huh?

 

I definitely need a better zoom lens.

 

Animals and Nature, Gardening

Thankful Thursday

Posted on by Jean

Aggie and I are thankful for our new backyard with all our new little bird friends.  Lucky prefers to be indoors, but Aggie never wants to come in.  This is her new favorite spot:

I am having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that it’s almost Thanksgiving when we are being blessed with such gorgeous weather.  I’m still gardening for crying out loud!

And I’m loving all the birds…  not crazy about the House Sparrows though.  We have a lot of them and they aren’t going to be fun when the Purple Martins come back in Februray and the Bluebirds start nesting season.  My favorites are the Titmice and Carolina Chickadees, but they’re quick little buggers and I’m having a hard time getting a picture.

The Bluebirds are pretty sweet too…

These two won’t be friends come nesting season:

We have lots of House Finches, too:

Aggie likes the birds too.  Not even the promise of a treat will get her to leave this spot.  I have to go pick her up and bring her in.


 

Family

Now I Can Share Pictures

Posted on by Jean

I was a little leary of putting pictures up of the new house while it was still listed online.  I know most of my readers are innocent fiber people, but one never knows in that crazy world out there.  It’s offline now because we closed on Friday so now I can share.

Our new house is almost 2400sf.  Twice the size of this one that the Army has had us in for the last two years.  We will also have a garage again.  And 1/2 acre of yard.   The first order of business is enclosing the whole yard in the privacy fencing and putting in Silestone countertops.  I’d like to put in wood floors but the carpet is high quality and only 2 yrs old, so that can wait.  The kitchen and bathrooms have beautiful tile so those will stay the same.  We thought about putting in an in-ground pool, but we may only live in this house for four years so we’d never get our money back.  Even in Central Texas.

We had a hard time when we were shopping because we had to keep in mind that this is not our forever house.  It’s just until the boys are out of school.  We are in a neighborhood with great schools within walking distance and lots of kids.   My craft room will also be our guest room. I guess I can share.  I’m thinking about a murphy bed with a fold out table underneath of it so that when it’s folded up to the wall, I have a sewing table. 

Hard to believe we move next week.   We’re taking a week to get down there so we can stop and see friends along the way.  I have it planned so that we don’t drive more than seven hours any one day (and most are 4-6) so it should be a good easy drive.  We’re pulling the camper so we’ll stay in it one night but the rest are with friends or at hotels.  We stopping in Canton for the Football Hall of Fame and in St. Louis to hit Six Flags.  The boys don’t know yet.  Kansas is next to visit old friends and then on to Texas with one more stop in OKC to meet a fellow Hudson Valley Fiber Farm Shareholder.

So here’s our new home in the Lone Star State.  We took this house off of our list twice because pictures just don’t do it justice.  We decided to swing by and look at it because we were only a few streets down looking at another one.  The minute we drove up we knew it was better than the pictures and when we walked in the door to all that openess and brightness, we knew it was the one. 

Weaving

Drafted

Posted on by Jean

Remember this from a previous post?

I’ve had a couple of requests to show the draft.  You can download the pdf by clicking here.

Remember that I am a newbie… big time so proceed with caution!  🙂

It’s been a busy few weeks getting ready for the big move next month.  Yikes.  I can’t believe it’s next month.

 A couple of weeks ago Kim and Ken came for a visit.  We had a BLAST.  We went to see Rock of Ages on Broadway.  Hysterical.  Seriously, if you can go, GO!  I had no idea it was going to be funny.  It’s a boy meets girl story told with the songs of the 80’s.  They even handed out little flashlights that looked like lighters so that the audience could sway back and forth to the music.  It was a lot of fun! 

Come rain or shine we’re headed to NH Sheep and Wool Festival this weekend!! YEAH!!!

Animals and Nature

My 15 Seconds of Fame

Posted on by Jean

So yesterday we went back up to the farm.

The Weather Channel came to do a special that will air around Earth Day next month.  Susan needed people for the background.  We couldn’t have asked for a better day.  It was a little crisp, but gorgeous.  We thought we were just going to be background props but they asked a couple of us if they could interview us.

Getting miked up.  That’s a showbiz term, you know… lol…
I’m so full of crap.  They probably call it, “putting the microphone on”
or something crazy like that.  Daniel was very interested in the camera.

Getting interviewed.  I have no idea what I said, if it made sense or how badly I’m going to embarrass my family but it was fun. 
 

But enough about me… I suppose you’d like to see the cute little buggers.  I tell you, I fall more in love with these goats every time I see them.  They are hilarious.  The sheep are pretty cute too, but I really heart the goats.  And the dogs. 

Weaving

Square Doodles

Posted on by Jean

The draft is here.

I finished the 2nd towel and wanted to try another weave pattern.  I decided on a different tie-up than I’d been using and scribbled in some squares in a pattern on some graph paper.  I imagine in the million or so years that people have been weaving, someone has come up with this pattern so, in the words of Elizabeth Zimmermann, let’s just say I unvented it.  It was fun to take it to the loom and see it form into this:

How much fun is that?!  It looks nothing like the graph.  You can see more of the graph here:

Another interesting thing is how my little threading error is more obvious in some weaves than in others.  Remember when you all said you couldn’t see it?  See it up there going up the middle of the fabric?  Here, have a closer look:

It doesn’t bother me since it’s my very first piece but I will be much more careful in the future.

Stained Glass, Weaving

Finishing Up

Posted on by Jean

With the big move to the Lone Star State only a few months off, I’m trying to finish off the various projects that I have.   This is a “stained” glass (what do you call it when the glass is clear textured?) piece I cut several months ago.  If I work on it a little each day I should have it done in a few days.

I’m not in a hurry to finish the towels on the loom.  I want them to last so that I don’t have too little time to warp another project and not enough time to finish up the towels so that I can get the loom ready to ship.   I’m on the 2nd towel.  I’m going to do a different treadling on each one to vary it up a bit.  This one is a really quick and easy treadling that came with the first towel pattern I did.