Getting Creative

So Daughter #2 and I are being creative. But we're not the only ones around here.  It's been 24 hours of creativity.... really.

Daughter #2 got a phone call from one of her friends to say that there was a birthday party in the plans and could Daughter#2 stand going out on a 26 foot cabin cruiser on a nearby lake for a day and stay out for a sleep over. "OH YES" was the response... I'm really happy that she is going to get this opportunity... she hasn't done much this summer so this will be a great highlight for her.  Meantime she came to me with a bit of a dilemma.  She didn't have a birthday gift for her friend and didn't know if she could afford one.  I figured it wouldn't matter if she had had money since there are no local stores that have decent gifts unless you want to buy something that has the name of our town written on it like touristy stuff or unless you want to buy lottery tickets... this for a 14 year old girl would not go over well. So Daughter #2 and I got our thinking caps on and finally came up with a plan.

We decided that we would experiment with making a t-shirt and earrings for her friend. Now this friend is an interesting character.  She loves chickens.... like not cooked chicken but the living breathing animals. She has chickens since like us they live on a bit of a hobby farm.  She names her chickens.... and she talks to her chickens and she takes her chickens for walks... on a leash... and she has even been known to dress her chickens up... this is a kid with a real chicken thing going on... She has shown up at shearing time and when we saw off the alpaca teeth she has scurried off with the bits of teeth that we would just throw on the ground... a few days later she has come back with alpaca teeth earrings.... so we like to call her eccentric... it is a polite name for what others would regard as odd.  We love her and think the world of her...

So Daughter #2 and I planned out a t-shirt for her.  I had just bought a package of cotton extra large plain white cotton t-shirts for Teapot since as he gets older he finds the winter draft dreadful and wears them under his clothes. Out came the package and so began an odyssey of making a one-of-a-kind chicken t-shirt. There are two chickens on the shirt drawn on by Daughter #2 and a path of chicken tracks across the shirt from lower left to upper right, dividing the two chickens. This was drawn on in a special marker that I have for drawing on fabric. Then she took my Procion dyes and painted on the design (after soaking it in all necessary chemicals). It has turned out awesome.  Today she is putting on the saying. It goes like this, "I dream of a better world where the motives of road-crossing chickens are not questioned." Then last night Teapot and Daughter#1 went to the end of heritage days barbecue and Western style dance. They had a nice time... we had all meant to go but there was more creativity a-foot.  Daughter #2 and I stayed home and made chicken earrings.... yup you read that right. So Daughter #2 will be giving her chicken crazy friend.... (crazy meant in the most kind terms of course)... a chicken t-shirt and felted chicken earrings.... very original I think. Here are some pictures...

Meanwhile there was some surprise creativity going on out in the barnyard. Mishka (the female alpaca) has for weeks enjoyed the pleasure of getting out on grass since Teapot put up some temporary fencing so that she could go out on our lawn.  It was working well until a few days ago when our wither male sheep from last year decided that Mishka smelled really good and started trying to mate with her. (Yes that's a sheep and an alpaca trying to mate.... this seems almost beyond weird especially when we did his balls in when he was born.) Mishka took it all in her stride... literally and I wasn't terribly concerned since when he tried to mount her his jollies only came up to her knees.... and Mishka quite frankly looked somewhat irritated but like she was laughing at him too.  We cornered him and flipped him on his butt and had a good look and there low and behold was a nut.... just one. Da--! We had missed one.... (that sometimes happens if their jollies haven't totally decended)! So now the not-wither-half-ram has met his maker and is in the freezer. This suited Mishka quite nicely though the other sheep are missing the black one.  And I have a new fleece to wash.

But that is not the end of the story... the actual creativity took place yesterday.  As I was saying Mishka has been enjoying grass all summer. Now you will remember that Mishka miscarried this summer after hoping for a cria all year we were disappointed in June when she aborted spontaneously.  Meanwhile once summer came we decided that my boy alpacas would enjoy munching grass and leaves in summer pasture... so we put them down in that paddocks that we fenced last summer.  AWAY FROM MISHKA.  Yesterday I looked out the window and the what to my wondering eyes should appear....

He looks like he's having fun... but I'm not sure about her!  Mind you she doesn't look upset.

Yeh! So obviously he managed to smell her pheromones.... and get out of his paddock which is way the hell down on the end of our land and find his way over or under or around her fence and get happy with her. Hmmmm.... !

We had meant to breed her this month so nature took care of it for us..... I guess next year we will be having a cria.... with a little luck. So here they are in all their glory.... you may not want to watch this... if you get embarrassed easily....

So with all this creativity on the go... it's hard not to think about other creative things. I'm working on my tablecloth/runner... and I've started working on my Sumak weaving.... this I will show in another blog post.... I don't want to overwhelm you all... (I'm sure seeing alpaca sex is overwhelming enough....)

Have a great and creative day... whatever your creative outlet is... (wink wink) ; }

I'm Finished.... Yeah!

Daughter #1 said she would model. Sporting an ugly green shirt.... ugly jeans and a smashing and I might add very stunning Shrug.

Ta da!

I started in the middle with pink on black and ended with yellow on black....

There's a closer look at the progression of colours and of the lace stitches in between.

Finis.... fait accompli.... I don't have to knit on it anymore. Now I get to wear it... I just hope it looks as good on me as on Daughter #1.

Pictures never do something like this justice you know.

BTS

OOOHHH NNNOOOO
This morning I got up and opened my email.... there were lots of things to read.... Weaving Daily, Spinning Daily, Vogue Knitting Email Update, and then there was Spinning Daily.  When I got to Spinning Daily I opened it with pleasure hoping that there would be a nice article and not just a bunch of adds.... and there they were... the most dreaded words of the summer.

Back To School

EWWWW!

#$@%$&%*&*))^#

Why am I cursing... I don't know I just felt like it.  Teapot is off taking Daughter #2 to her job... she is taking care of her teacher's turtle, cat, and plants while her teacher is away.  Daughter #1 went along for the ride so that she could stop off at the local video store for some movies. Teapot went to get water. I'm home knitting.  I am so close to being finished that I don't want to stop to write here but my hands were starting to ache so I thought I had better have a little break.

Do you think that cursing for no apparent reason is decadent behaviour?

The sheep are out on the grass and actually they sound as if they are cursing too.

The house has now filled with flies.  Not mosquitoes but big hairy blue ass flies. There are about 20 on my dining room window. Yuck! Out came one of those sticky paper thingies that you hang up and catch the flies on.... they are completely disgusting but at least they work... I'd rather a disgusting yucky thing hanging than flies laying eggs in my food.... especially with the amount of poop around this farm... you never know what the little creepies have been landing on! This of course is another reason for wanting to swear and curse. All season long it has been too cold for a hatch of house flies.... but the last week things have warmed up and today... just today... there have been a great big hatch of these gross flies. Sometimes winter and all that snow looks pretty good I think?!

Narmin is fitting in well, and for several nights we have been able to get him through without having to clean up after him... that's good for an 9 week old puppy. Still every time I see him take the stance.... I feel like cursing all over again.  He's a fast little bugger and he, as all the animals seem to do, has a penchant for hitting the square footage of the only two rugs in my house.  All that bare floor and no, where does he decide to pee... yup on the four square feet of rug space in the house. Like what is that all about?!

@#$@%#%

Yup, cursing has some benefits... I feel much better.

Tomorrow... pics finally of the shrug.... the one, the only, shrug of the 150 hour project fame.... I think?!

Flu

Flu in the summer time sucks!   Stomach flu in the summer time sucks double time!

Best Laid Plans....

My Father and Mother just celebrated their 77th birthdays... their birthdays are just one week apart. Yesterday you will recall that I had planned on going on a picnic. X that one... Pops (that's my father... ) called and invited us to go to their house for cheese cake which he had bought for my mother's birthday and had forgotten about. So we ended up there instead. It turned out to be a nice diversion actually. Then Daughter #2 and I came home to watch movies... we've been doing movie marathons each night. Sometime watching three in the run of an evening. Mostly they are movies that are at least a few years old.  I really want to go out on the deck but the wind dies down at night and out come the mosquitoes... that's where the new sun room comes in handy.  We open all the windows in there and sit back in comfort and enjoy the night breezes without the irritation of mosquitoes. It's great... I really think that Teapot and I should look into seriously building a screened porch and maybe make it a little more elaborate than I was first thinking.  The west side of the house has been beckoning to us for several years. I keep thinking that we should build a deck out there but it suddenly occurred to me that it would be a great spot for our screened porch.  We could use clear plastic for the roof.... like the kind that you use for green houses... you know that corrugated stuff. Then have screens that are removable in winter. Or we could get a little more elaborate and make it more fall and spring proof.  We could use sensible glass for the roof and turn it into a real room with a wood stove and sliding glass doors everywhere.  Mind you I could be just dreaming.  I'm sure it would cost an arm and a leg.  Teapot hates them but I love house renovations.... it means something new is happening.... and a change in your location is like going on holiday.

So there was no picnic...

Teapot will be home tomorrow... they are traveling today. they are supposed to be in Grand Prairie tonight which is like a hop skip and a jump away... I might even actually get to talk to him.  All the time he has been away he has been where there is no cell phone coverage, and getting to use the pay phone is a fight against all of those JCRs who are calling home.  I've missed talking to him. Daughter #1 is with him and I will be glad to see her too. It seems like they have been gone a very long time.

All day yesterday... I spun. Something I haven't done for a while.  I've been knitting all along... and I'm sorry to say that I still don't have my shrug finished for the 150 hour project.... I ran out of black wool 12 rows from the end.  So now I'm waiting for Rit Dye so that I can finish dyeing the last skein that I have... meanwhile I have started on the 50 hour project for level 5.  I am making a table cloth out of Ramie and linen.  I started spinning the Ramie yesterday. So far so good.  I am happy with the spinning and Ramie is not so bad.... I know I know... you're all laughing that I would choose linen after the hullabaloo I made last year about hating flax.... but I'm not spinning line... I'm spinning tow and there's all the difference in the world.  I will spin Ramie which is white and lustrous and weave it on my 6 inch pin looms and then I will spin linen and use it to join the blocks together. It will be a picture of beauty as the crisp white of the ramie and the ecru of the linen come together.... I'm excited!

So I just had my juice and toast and I'm off to spin Ramie...

Summer Is Supposed To Be Great... Right....?

Remember the days when summer meant going to the beach... or to the lake... swimming at all hours of the day.... living in your swimsuit. Sun burns were common. running through the forest was part of the game and when school ended the summer stretched out before us with endless possibilities.

What I want to know is why my summers don't look a bit like that any more. Every day.... it's feed the animals. Feed more animals.  Weed the garden. Sleep when you can... (avoid the rain although I do have to say that this last week has been pretty good).... worry about money and how to pay the bills.... (Teapot doesn't get a pay check in the summer). Worry about hay and how much we are going to get. Haul water.... haul more water.... and go to the dump with loads of junk that seems to be generated from my home.  Not once have I dipped my paddle this year... Something's wrong.... right?

I'm feeling the urge to shed.... shed some animals... anyone want some sheep?  I'd like to hang on to my alpacas though... but the horse... well I'd be quite happy to see the end of her...  and Honeydew.... well in a heart beat she could go.

We used to take the kids camping.... We used to take the kids canoeing... I want to go back to that.  Lament lament lament...!

Something has gotta be done! You wait... there will be some big changes around this farm... just you wait!

I'm going to be sittin' by a lake... and I'm going to swim and canoe... I'm done with this sittin around doing nothing.

Yup... Summer is going to be like it used to be... picnics that's how I'll start... with a picnic for Daughter#2 and me we'll do it today too.