When Knitting Was a Manly Art

and the sweater isn’t done…. And with another fairly busy weekend ahead, I don’t expect the last sleeve to be done for a while.

About half way through the last pattern section, but still about 4 or 5 inches of straight stitch before the cuff. Hey, it’s just like the electronics industry… Schedules slip..

A cool day today. Only a bit over 96F this afternoon, but that’s about 10 degrees cooler than yesterday and the forcast is for cooler weather tomorrow. Both I, the plants and the critters will appreciate some cooler weather.

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Did I mention that the forcasters were predicting a record day today?

This is Oregon. Green and wet. Not this summer. Today’s high hit 109.7F (43.2C). I spent about an hour in the greenhouse this afternoon. Four pints of water and temps over 120. No sign of cats or sheep. Everybody with any sense was sitting quietly in the shade.

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FInished third of four pattern sections this morning. I’m still pushing to be completed by the end of the month, but since it’s a self-imposed deadline, I’m not worried if this slips into the next month.

Another hot day expected today. At 10AM the temp sits at 94F (34.4C) and the forcasters are predicting record temperatures. I’ve got watering to do in the greenhouse today, but I’ll be dragging along my insulated mug full of ice water and taking my time.

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Too much heat and too much time in the sun this past weekend has drained whatever energy there might of been. Not a stitch knitted on the gansey today, though a bit done Saturday and Sunday before we headed out for the day. Another hot day today - high so far 104F+ - and so another hot night.

In spite of the heat, the weekend was both fun and profitable. We took two tractors down to the Great Oregon SteamUp (a 1947 John Deere ‘M’ and a 1956 John Deere 420) and only returned with the 420. Eileen finally found a buyer for the M and so one less tractor in the barn. Took some pictures of some of the old equipment and I’ll post a page for those that might be interested.

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Sleeve #2 is slowing getting longer. About 8 rows into third pattern section. With all my complaints and occasionally goof-ups, this has been a very satisfying project. I hope my next sweater will work out as nice.

Here’s a full sweater shot of everything completed so far. Full size photo hiding behind small photo.

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Over the past 3 or 4 years, we had a little feral female cat living in our barn. She was too smart for live traps and we were never able to catch her and spay her. That meant that she was giving us two litters a year, which we captured as early as we could find them, even if that meant bottle feeding them for a number of weeks. As time went on the little female got better and better in hiding her litters and it became more and more difficult for us to find them. She finally disappeared at the first of the year leaving us with a pair of weaned and wild 6-8 week old kittens on our hands. The male, Furball, tamed down quickly. But his sister Mia was a struggle. She wouldn’t let anyone touch her and even though she’d come into the garage in the evenings, she didn’t have anything to do with any of the other cats except her brother.

I’ve been constantly working with her, talking to her, petting when I get the chance and generally showing her that we aren’t all bad.

Finally, over the past month, she has started to talk to me and come up to be petted on her own. This afternoon she was lying on a bench on the porch and Eileen sat down beside her. Usually she’s still shy with Eileen, but this time she stayed put and Eileen was able to pet her with no worries. She still doesn’t like being picked up, but overall she has turned into another little sweety.

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Quick update on sleeve #2 progress.

Finished second of 4 patterns this morning. 7 days and counting. Am I going to make it?

Busy weekend ahead. We’re taking a couple old tractors down to the Great Oregon SteamUp. First goes down tomorrow afternoon and second on Saturday morning and then will spend most of the weekend down there, driving tractors and scoping out the old equipment. Some amazing stuff every year.

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I *really* know better than to knit in the evenings when I’m tired.

Waiting for Eileen to finish getting ready for bed last night, I was sitting twiddling my thumbs and thought, what the heck .. I can do a couple rows while I’m sitting here.

Dumb idea. At the end of the first round, I discovered I’d dropped a stitch at the beginning of the round and it had ran 3 rows down to a decrease. I must have tried to pick up that run 3 times and every time it looked like shit… Mostly a huge hole at the bottom of the pickup. Finally gave up and put it down for the evening.

This morning I looked at it again, sighed, and ripped back three rows. Re-knitted those three plus one more and gave up for the day. I hate making mistakes and this one was the largest rip back I’ve had to do for the whole sweater. I fixed the problem, but it frustrates me.

Feeling a lot better, except for a raspy cough that just won’t go away. Eileen has informed me that if it doesn’t go away in another day or so, I’m to see her doctor, insurance or not.. Yes ‘m

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A quick update on progress of sleeve #2. I’m about 1/2 way through second pattern section. Things have been pretty slow the past 4 days, as this cold didn’t leave me feeling much like knitting. Much better today and hopefully the worst is over.

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I’ve not had a very good weekend. This cold has progressed into something a bit worse and I’ve not left the farm since Friday. What that means is that the shawl didn’t make it into the Country Fair competition this year. I really don’t consider that a big loss, as the more I talk to folks about this competition, the less I wanted to be involved. As they have a 5 year limit for entry, I *could* enter it next year. I will enter it in Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival at the end of September.

The last three rams to go to new homes left this morning. We had 40 head at the beginning of summer last year and today we have 15 head. The ram pasture, in particular, looks very bare. Our two old men (11 and 9) and one younger one, along with our single ram lamb from this season are all that are left, along with 11 ewes - including this year’s ewe lambs.

A *bit* more progress on gansey sleeve #2. I still have 10 days till the end of the month and I still expect to complete it before the end of July. I’ll try to post pictures tomorrow.

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