Knitting Woes

School is in full swing, in fact this week I have not just one, but two mid terms! Between school, work, and other responsibilities I haven't had time to relax with any knitting. I feel a knitting break down coming on, so I've pulled out the needles, yarn, and patterns for my mice. They only take about 45 minutes to knit up, and since I sell more mice than anything they are a great project to have at the ready. Sorry baby blanket, your turn is over for now....

I don't think I have any time to relax with my knitting this week, but I have high hopes for next week, and with mice already flying off the shelves, I'm not sure I have a choice in the matter!

Does your kitty need their own hand knit, felted, catnip and shaker stuffed mouse toy? If so...you know where to find us :)

Snowflake Mice set of 3

Etsy Weekends - Wood Rings

I love rings! I had a seventh grade science teacher who wore rings on every finger, and some were doubled up. Every time I think about getting a new ring, I imagine that one day my hands will be decked out like that teacher....

I have so many ring favorites on Etsy, I think I should try to narrow the list down. So, here are some of my favorite Etsy rings featuring wood!

Cocktail Ring from Starlight Woods

Maple Wedding Bands from JET Bentwood Jewelry

Olive Wood Ring from Jewelry by Johan

Etsy Weekends - Stained Glass, Animal Style

When I was a young girl we lived in a beautiful house in North Carolina. The upstairs hallway was a little dark however, so Mom and Dad decided to put in a window. Not just any window, a small hexagonal stained glass window. We went to the studio of the person who would build it, and while I was too young to remember many details I remember big slabs of beautiful colored glass that would be used to make all kinds of beautiful stained glass pieces. Ever since then I have been utterly fascinated with Stained Glass. Not a surprise then that I have over 2000 items in my favorites on Etsy that are stained glass! Here are just a few that I would like to share with you today!  

Hummingbird from Gala Gardens

Elephant from The Glass Menagerie

Cat from Living Glass Art

Buffalo from Unique Stained Glass

We hope you enjoyed this showcase, come back next week to see what else we've come across!

Serious Sheila

In part two of the Sheila picture show, I'll show off her more serious side! Sheila left us last year, but through pictures I can always remember what a sweet and cute dog she was.

Beautiful Basil

They say you should try something new every day, and I'm using that idea in my garden. This year I tried lots of new things for me, pole beans (which were decimated by deer and bunnies), potatoes (which I grew in soil that was too dense I think, so they were really hard to dig out, but quite yummy!), rutabaga and turnips - which are still in the ground because I panicked trying to come up with uses for them, and some new herbs. I tried four new herbs this year, Parsley, Cilantro, Oregano and Basil (I've never actually grown herbs before!). The parsley and cilantro were planted in with the beans and potatoes are were really hard to reach...so that was a bit of a failure. The Oregano dried up and died...so another failure there. The Basil which I wasn't expecting much of because the package told me that I should have started my seeds inside, and silly me I sowed the seeds outdoors, is the herb that surprised me the most. I don't use much Basil in the kitchen, so I kind of left it go until Matt's mom came to visit in July. We cut the leaves and I dried them in my dehydrator, then realized that Basil is my new favorite herb! The most surprising thing is what happened after I trimmed the Basil, it grew back, bushier! It's tail end of the season and I have enough Basil to dry again!!

Moral of the story is, I will be growing more Basil next year, and if you haven't tried it...you should do so! My pizzas have never tasted better :)

Vintage Knitting Patterns

A friend received some great old knitting patterns from a family member. She was told that one of them is the "best mitten pattern of all time". There are mitten and glove patterns for men, women, and children. I have found some that I can't wait to try and one pair especially has really caught my eye. It's plaid! I can't decide what colors I want to use. I think I might make some women's in bright colors or maybe the colors of our local high school - black and orange.

The friend also gave me some patterns for "head scarves"! I don't know what you really would call them, they aren't hats and not scarves but a hat that is about 3 to 4 inches wide goes over your head and you tie it on. I had one when I was a child. Mine was a soft white yarn - maybe angora, and then it had round circular iridescent flat things sewn on it. The flat things were thin like shells, I might have to do a search for some! Here's a link to a pattern of one very similar, Fab Head Scarf. Keep an eye out for the plaid mittens, I'll post some photos when I finish a pair!

Etsy Weekends - Pamper Yourself

Sometimes you need to pamper yourself, and the artisans on Etsy make it really easy. Here are a few items on my wish list:

Calendula Salve from Folksome

 Herbal Vapor Salve from earthtastic

Pomegranate Vanilla Coconut Scrub from Simply Rustic 2011

 Raspberry Lime Lip Balm from Long Winter Soap Co. 

That's what I've got for you this week, be sure and come back next week to see what else we've come across!

Little Things

Ever have one of those days? You know the kind I'm talking about, where you've overdrawn your checking account the third time in as many months, your house is a mess of dishes and dirty laundry, maybe it's just hit you that you are three years from any attainable goal...and Aretha isn't helping. Nor is Adele, or Alicia Keys. (Let's just admit that you're too tired to leave the a's on iTunes.) Maybe you aren't even halfway through the day and you would just really love to curl up with a book (that isn't required reading for a class) some hot cocoa, or maybe your knitting, hot cocoa and a good movie. (The reading almost trumps the knitting, because you know you'll fall asleep before the movie is over, and you probably won't be paying enough attention to your pattern anyway!)

Well. That was my yesterday. About 2 pm. I'd been up since 5 am, and had no vision of bed until well past 10 pm. I don't have days like that very often, but I tell you what - it's awful hard to turn a day like that around. But I tried. I took my camera with me to the backyard. I watered my tomatoes, then ate some tomatoes, cut off more peas and put them in the composter, then sat under my most vile enemy tree (it sends suckers up all over the yard, lays down a vast layer of leaves in the fall, and sprays the lawn with some kind of terrible fuzz in the spring) and just looked up. The breeze was glorious, the sun was hot, but the air felt cool, and the sky looked beautiful between the blowing limbs and leaves. It may not have completely turned my day around, but it sure helped.

Pam's Sheep Experience

Hello from Pam, and Kirsten! 

Today we'd like to tell you a story about sheep! More specifically Mom's sheep. It's her story, so I'll let her tell it. 

I had an experience a few weeks ago. It was in the late afternoon, and I went up to feed the sheep their evening meal. I gave them some cucumbers and zucchini and then I filled their feeder full of hay. I was getting ready to go through the pen, I had opened the wooden gate and then reached down to pet one of my sheep. It looked like Gracie the llama had spit on her back, so I scratched her head and said "Poor sheep!" It was Rosa - she is the feisty one, always butting heads with the other sheep. She stepped back and tried to butt me, but I was able to side step her. Then she did it again, and this time hit me hard in the thigh. Thank goodness it was the thigh and not lower, because I think she would have broken my knee. My leg was all bruised for a good long time, and it hurt when my pants would touch the bruise for the next few days. After she butted me, I got behind the gate and thought "Great, how do I get out of the pen?" I thought about taking the back door out of the barn but then I thought, Rosie is going to think she's in charge! So, I put on my brave face, walked between her and two other sheep, sticking close to my other sheep until I made it out of the pen. I don't know if she had been naughty all day, and that's why Gracie spit on her. Of course this would happen on a night when my DH wasn't home. If she had broken my leg and knocked me down, I'm not sure what would have happened. I don't know if the other sheep and Gracie would have protected me, or if they would have all started butting me - complaining that I'm not giving them enough grain.

Mom and Dad live a few miles out of town, and aren't terribly close to their neighbors. If the sheep had knocked her down, and she wasn't able to get out of the pen and back to the house to call for help, she could have been in the pen all night. As she mentioned, Dad wasn't home, and wouldn't be back for a day or two. They would have missed her the next morning at work, but that wouldn't be for another 12-14 hours. My parents may not be old and feeble yet, but stories like this still make me nervous that they live alone and with decently large farm animals. 

We don't mean to tell this story to scare you, but as a cautionary tale. Sheep are strong creatures, not to be taken lightly! So if you know someone who owns sheep, think of them tonight and remember that even hobbies can be dangerous!

As a footnote, the sheep in question - Rosa, is part Merino and Corriedale. All my other girls are mixes of Romney and Corriedale. 

Etsy Weekends - Elephants

I have an affinity for elephants. Someday I think I'll fill my house with them...and I'm well on my way already! Here are a few more I would love to add to my collection...

Elephant Bookends from KnobCreekMetalArts

Elephant Cookie Cutter from Cookie Cutter Guy 

Elephant Bud Vase from ModClay

Ivory Elephant from DanPickedMinerals

That's all for this week, come back again next weekend to see our Etsy finds!

Sheila

Sheila was an Australian Shepherd dog that was found with several litter mates left to die on concrete in a cold WI winter. At the time we only had Rikki the Dalmation, as her lifelong friend Lucy the Black Lab had left us earlier in the year. We ended up bringing home Sheila, and she was just about the goofiest dog anyone could ask for. I'm feeling a little sentimental and missing my sweet and sassy girl, and thought I would share a few series of Sheila pictures over the next few Friday posts. Here to start it off are some Sheila the Puppy pictures :)

Sheila and Rikki

Sheila Pooped after destroying a napkin

Sheila by the Garage

Sheila and her first Baby, a sheep that she carried everywhere.

Sheila growing out of the puppy stage

Bounty

As the Fall closes in, I am still desperately hoping that my garden will miraculously fill up with ripe tomatoes and thick full onions so I have something to can with! I've also completely given up on my beans...at least the deer and the bunnies got to enjoy them this year (next year I hope to have a greenhouse so I can have the beans all to myself bwa ha ha ha! But I'll probably plant some outside of the greenhouse too so the deer and bunnies can still enjoy some good eating as they wander through my garden.)

Today however, I was more interested in the bounty beneath three of my potato plants, plus a few still relatively small onions. They will soon be part of our yummy and nutritious dinner....

Lady Mittens

If you don't recall, I wrote a post a couple of weeks ago about some manly mittens I had knit. I mentioned in that post that I was working on a matching pair of lady mittens. Well, I've finished them, and I did have just enough yarn to make them! Now I've got just a tiny ball of the dark llama blend wool, I'll probably make a mouse or two from it! :)

I've reworked the pattern, so next time I make these the pattern will mirror itself, instead of being the same on both hands. It's a small detail I overlooked on this round, that should make the mittens pop even more next time. Either way, what do you think? Are they a good match for the manly mittens?

Have a great Monday, see you back here on Wednesday, when I may have some ripe tomatoes to show off :)
Also: now available for sale in our Etsy shop!