Picking Wool… Er, Mohair…

I had a lovely evening tonight…

I came home and finished reading a book. I enjoyed relaxing on the sofa for a little while.

Then, sweetie and I went and looked at his progress on the greenhouse. It’s coming along great – if it is a bit late in the season. He is using clear, corrugated polycarbonate panels that are rated for greenhouses. It will be very nice when he’s finished. So much better than the sheet plastic!

When I got home from work, I noticed that Ray was a lot skinnier than he had been. Then, I looked across the yard and saw a big pile of fleece laying on the ground. Darling sweetie had removed Ray’s fleece!

I picked up the fleeces and brought them to the porch to examine them and begin removing the vm (vegetable matter). I praised J on the great job that he did in cutting the fleece off Ray. He said that he didn’t cut it, it just pulled right off! He also thought it was terribly felted – but it isn’t.

I have a fairly sizable amount of fleece to go through and he still needs to get Frank’s coat off! The fleece is just lovely and I can’t wait to see how it washes up. Sweetie wants me to send it out for processing, because he thinks it’s a project that I’ll start and never finish… Yes, yes, I have second-sock syndrome, it’s true. But I am determined to process this mohair myself.

That reminds me… I need to get some hand carders!

This is going to be so much fun!!!

Finally posting!

I realize that I’ve really let this blog go the last several months… We’ve been dealing with losses, ill health, and other changes. I’m going to try to get back to updating a little more often.

My niece and her boyfriend got their own place, so they aren’t with us anymore. Now, we’ve begun the process of getting settled in and figuring out our own routines.

I’ve started taking over the other bedroom and getting the office cleaned up. Now, the only stuff that’s in the office, is stuff that was originally intended to be in there! Yay! That room was absolutely crammed with boxes! I have a set of shelves that I am going to bring in – it will house the yarn/fiber/spinning stash.

Now that winter seems to be a thing of the past, I also got all the empty cardboard boxes out of the house. I didn’t realize how much space they were taking up!

I recently discovered the Knook (a tool for knitting with a crochet hook) and I really like it! I’ve started on my first knooking project – the Lichen Kerchief. I’m knooking it in a lovely, emerald green, superwash merino wool. It’s soft and luscious and will look great with my red hair! It’s going slower than if I’d crocheted it, but I’m making less mistakes than when I knit with needles. Not exactly sure why that is. Maybe because it’s such a familiar motion that I can focus on the pattern and not so much on what I’m doing..?

I’m trying to grow out my hair and it’s at that awkward stage where it’s making me crazy because I can’t do much with it. Its only saving grace is that it is JUST long enough to put back into a tiny little ponytail. I thought that making a pretty, feminine, lacy kerchief would be just the thing to help me ignore my hair while it grows out.

Speaking of hair… The goats are just about to get their yearly shearing. I don’t know how on earth we are going to catch the girls to get them done. They are still sooooo skittish. But, they need to be done, desperately! They are completely felted! The boys’ fleece is beautiful this year and I really need to acquire some hand carders. We won’t have the llama shorn this year, as she was done last year.

And speaking of the llama… Dolly has taken Tanker under her wing and has been such a good llama mama! She protects him from the girls when they are being mean to him. And she lets him get away with murder! He stands on her back when she’s laying down; she allows him to eat her food; she is so sweet to him!

Well, I guess that’s all I have to report for today. I hope this finds everyone well!

Clan MacLean Hunting Tartan Purse

Download JPG: MacLean Hunting Tartan Pattern Chart

Download PDF: MacLean Hunting Tartan Pattern Chart

Image is a color chart for the tartan. I will update photos as soon as I am finished making the purse.

Using worsted-weight yarn and a size N crochet hook, this square will be approximately 36 x 36 inches. Fold in half from bottom to top and seam the sides.

Crochet a strap the length and width that you are comfortable with and attach to opposite sides of the bag. Alternatively, since this is going to be a wide bag, you can just sew the two top corners of the purse body together.

Hold two strands of yarn together during the entire project.

The “x” indicates which two colors are to be held together (green “x” in black square means hold green and black together, etc). Places without an “x” indicate that two strands of the same color will be held together.

This chart is the 82-stitch repeat.

1 square = 1 stitch – using two strands of worsted-weight and a size N crochet hook making (US) single crochet stitches, there are nine stitches in a 4-inch swatch.

Repeat the chart as often as is necessary for your project. If you wish to make your project bigger but with fewer squares, just change the number of stitches per square – do this equally throughout the pattern.

Size / gauge depends on yarn / hook / needles used.

Crocheters: Please adjust the pattern to reflect your turning chains.

I would love to see photos of your projects!

There is a serious lack of patterns for this tartan on the internet;so please feel free to share this pattern!

Kitchen Update!

The walls are now yellow and the cabinets have their first coat of white. We plan on doing a second coat today. Since it isn’t finished, I haven’t any photos for you. But, hopefully in the next few days I shall.

Three Day Weekend!

So, my new boss told me that Monday (here in the US it’s President’s Day) is not a holiday where we are forced to take off. He allows everyone to make their own decision about whether or not they want to take that day off (without pay, of course). I guess it’s the same with the 4th of July, too.

I was debating whether or not I should take the day… Well, my niece suggested that we get the kitchen painted this weekend and that clinched it! I’m taking the day off and we’re painting! Yay!

I am so grateful that I have a job that pays well. I could afford to go buy two gallons of paint – one white and one yellow. Paint is purchased and we are going to re-prime tomorrow and then paint on Monday! Very exciting!!!

Watch this space for a yellow-and-white kitchen reveal within the next few days!

Pneumonia… Ugh…

So, we decided that indeed, Tanker does have pneumonia. He’s been on Penicillin-G for about a week now. He’s doing much better! He’s even feisty-er than he was before and enjoys playing with The Hound.

However, now Ray has had a few little coughing and sneezing episodes… We are keeping a particularly close eye on him, since he’s already had pneumonia once and we don’t want him to get as sick as he was last time.

I can only imagine how much more of a jerk Frank will become, if Ray does get really sick again… *sigh*

In other news… Our cat, Spot, is still hanging on. He is absolutely nothing but skin and bones and fur, but he’s still kickin’. The Force is strong with that one.

My new job is going very well. I received my first full paycheck yesterday; what a relief it was to be able to pay the bills that are due in full AND put some in savings (which had been completely exhausted) AND have some money leftover! I am so thankful!

The cooties that were floating around the household finally got me. Since Thursday afternoon, I’ve been a snot factory and had a sore throat and slight fever. I’m so glad that it’s Saturday! I slept in a little and can rest up. I do, however, need to do laundry at some point.

I see that I failed to mention my first attempt at making an herbal healing salve. You have my sincere apologies for this neglect…

I found this recipe for “Healing Boo Boo Salve“. I’ve been wanting to make something with comfrey and calendula, for quite some time. About a month ago, I finally went for it! The only difference between the recipe and my version is that I used comfrey ROOT and doubled the recipe.

My infusion process was a little different, because I was using the comfrey root; it needed to cook longer. I’d say I cooked the comfrey for a total of about 6-8 hours over a period of three days. And then I let it sit for about a week before straining. Due to the lengthy cooking process, it ended up scorching, but that didn’t seem to affect the end result. I have decided that I will invest in a small Crock-Pot for the purposes of cooking herbs.

Speaking of the end result… This stuff is great! It has been used – to good effect – on sweetie’s carpal tunnel pain, on razor burn, on cuts, bumps and bruises, and on a fractured leg! I bought a journal (for medicinal purposes) and wrote down the recipe and have been documenting the uses and results. I will devote a few pages for each recipe/uses/results.

The fracture was the one that I was really looking at. I know comfrey has a reputation for knitting bones (which is why I used the root – it’s stronger) and my friend tells me that her leg is doing much better (applying the salve once per day). The pain is much reduced and that’s what I was going for! However, she has been advised to use the salve twice a day, for best results. The only way I could be more pleased would be if we had a series of X-Rays to document the healing of the fracture. Ah well.

What’s in a Name?

So, the baby finally got his name…

We debated over Moose and Duke. We considered funny names like Godzilla – or rather – its Japanese pronunciation. We thought about Abercrombie and Chauncey.

Finally, last night, sweetie blurted out “Tank”. I liked it immediately.

The only possible problem with this name is that it rhymes closely with Frank. I suggested that his official name be Tank, but that we call him “Tanker”.

I like it.