Aww, Rats!

 Got the knitting of the body for Lovelia done, wove in all the ends, blocked it before putting the shoulders together. 

Before weaving in the ends.

Frogged it.

Something was wrong. It looked awful. The part above the armholes was knit much tighter than below. All the rows that consisted of single CC stitches separated by 5 MC sts were the worst. The CC stitches were way bigger. In other words. It was a mess. In addition, the measurements were off. I managed to confuse centimeters and inches. I was very unhappy with it, so I frogged it and started over. I'm almost to the divide at the armholes. It looks so much better. Pics later.

We had a visitor last Friday.

As moose go, it's a small young one. In the above pic it's staring at a barking Zoey behind the fence. Below it decided Zoey wasn't a threat and decided to move on. It didn't stay long.

We're having a 5 minute weather day. Right now it's sunny, but 5 minutes ago it was dark and hail was pounding the roof. Life in north Idaho. Never a dull moment at the Parkarosa.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Love Is In The Air

People will tell you that spring time is the time for love. I beg to differ. For a goodly part of the animal kingdom, autumn is the season for romantic encounters

It's rutting season! For some reason the four legged hooved critters have decided the Parkarosa is the romantic place to be.

This morning we had a pair of moose hangin' around. The bull was quite obvious with his intentions (can you say horny?). He followed the cow all over the yard with his nose close to her behind trying to have his way with her. Despite his efforts, she played coy and hard to get. Click on the pics to embiggen them.

I first noticed Bull as he strolled by the living room window. When I got my camera and returned to the window he was rubbing his nice pair of antlers all over my snow berry bushes.

Missy Cow was hiding behind the tractor. When she realized I was no danger to her standing in the window watching her, she strolled over. Mmm, a tasty snack!

She's a Diva, so she had to pose for the camera.

As moose go, she's kind of small, but very pretty.

Bull didn't like having his picture taken, so he moved out of camera view to stand behind the trailer and watch Missy Cow daintily slurping up all the snow berries.

She wandered to the backyard. He followed her, nose first.

Eventually the two settled for a nice rest in a corner of the lawn by the garden fence.

A few minutes later, two Whitetail does showed up in the same corner. They walked right by the moose within touching distance of each other. They were very shy of me though, so they headed over behind the garden.

A couple minutes later I heares Ruth say "Mom, there are three bucks down the hill!" They were following the does. I couldn't get a pic of them. They went into the bushes and refused to come out.

None of this seemed to bother Bull and Missy in the slightest. They hung around for about an hour more, Bull resting in the grass, and Missy chewing on things here and there,

then slowly ambled away. His nose was close to her behind. I expect he'll follow her until he gets what he wants. Daughter says "He's gonna have a long day."

The does and bucks came back, but I chased them away. Cabled needed to pee.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Update

I have a WIP update. I've been putting most of my crafting energy and time into Hummdog. I can't believe how many hours I've gone through on this background so far.

It's looking good though. I am about halfway done.

In knitting, I've been perfecting my doll hat pattern. I've made two black hats. Here's one of them.

I sewed a band of lace that has pearl beads on it. I think it turned out so cute.

The other hat is the same, except no embellishment. Just plain.

Most of my time went into creating an Etsy store for my doll clothes. After hours of work, Wool in the Wilde is now open for business. Now the hard part, getting the right people to visit it. Here is one of the outfits I've got available in it.

We had a beautiful weekend weather-wise. Especially on Sunday. It was sunny and in the 50's. I planted Orange and Purple Violas in the deck boxes.

Sweet Hubby even got out the lawn mower and gave the yard it's first haircut for the year.

Looked fantastic! Then yesterday, which was the next morning, I got up and it looked like this.

It snowed all day long. We got almost 3 inches. It was kind of depressing.

The birch tree was really pretty covered in fresh snow though.

Today, it looks like this.

You'd never know it snowed. The Violas came through it all just fine too. The cold didn't seem to bother than. Spring in north Idaho. Never a dull moment.

Here's a fun pic for you. Moose butt!

Over the weekend we had visitors. A pair of young moose wandered by munching on shrubs as they went. I got pics of just one butt. Couldn't get anything else.They were very shy with me around. Eventually they ran off.

Because of the snow, I filled the bird feeders on Monday. A Red Crossbill took advantage of the opportunity.

Another busy week bites the dust. On to the next one!

Live long and prosper. \\//

Boxy Bags

Well, now that I've dug out the sewing machine and got it working at peak condition, I want to sew. I've been wanting to learn how to make boxy bags ever since I won one in the year I did the Sock of the Month KAL. Last year a friend gave me a pattern, and I bought some fabric, but never got around to it. I finally got around to it. I found the fabric easily enough, but I couldn't find the pattern. Ugh. It's supposed to be with the fabric, but it wasn't. So I went googling and found a wonderful online tutorial on how to make a boxy bag. I made this one last Friday.

I used some fabric I bought a couple weeks ago to make doll skirts. I made the skirts on Wednesday, and had lots of left overs. It has mistakes in it. But it came out okay. Ruth loves it, so I gave it to her.

Saturday I made a second one using the original fabric I specifically bought for making a boxy bag.

It came out much much better. I LOVE this fabric. It's from Timeless Treasures Tree of Life collection.

I've moved right into it. I mean, I've moved a project right into it.

The wildlife are making themselves visible. Yesterday, while I was checking the chemical balance in the hot tub, a beautiful Whitetail buck stepped out of the woods. It walked up pretty close to me. I talked to him a bit, and then he nodded his head and trotted off down the hill. (Cable missed the whole thing-silly dog). I didn't have a camera anywhere near me, which is a shame cuz he was really pretty with a very nice set of antlers.

On Friday a moose stopped by for a visit. I was at my ironing board pressing some pieces I'd just sewn together on the pirate themed bag above. It was set up right in front of the dining room window. Movement attracted my attention. I looked up right into the eyes of a moose. I sort of panicked, cuz the back door was wide open and I don't want Cable chasing the moose. I ran over to close it, just as the moose arrived at the bottom of the steps. When I slammed the door I startled it. It reared back, then ran around to the front yard. I got my camera.

It's not a real big one, as moose go. It's kind of skinny. It's shy too, which is a good thing.

On Sunday we bought and planted a new flowering Crabapple tree. I better get a protective fence around it before someone eats it!

The Orphan

Parktoberfest was fun, as usual. Not as many people this year-mostly family members  and the games were virtually ignored by all. I think too many of us are getting too old to toss a caber. It's more fun to sit around chatting, eating, and drinking. Less likely to hurt the back too. There was lots of very very very good food. We ate heartily. Somehow I managed to stay sober though.

One of the many conversations I had last night was with my sis-in-law about the orphan moose that has been hanging around the creek that runs behind their house. Brother-in-law has been working on cleaning out portions of the creek where it has become clogged with dead trees and vegetation causing it to flood in places it shouldn't. Several animals have been bedding down in the tall grass where he's been working, including the orphan moose.

I think the orphan moose has had enough of it because it showed up over here in my yard this morning, and it won't go away. Click on pics to embiggen.

It's way too young to be away from it's mother, so we think something happened to her. Maybe the coyotes got her or something.

It's enjoying the leaves of the flowering plum. Since the leaves have been falling off anyway, I haven't objected to it.

But I draw the line at my rose bushes. All morning it has been trying to eat the rose bush just below the living room window I took these pictures from.

In an effort to make it go away, I let Cable out to bark and chase. No go. The orphan acts like she's not even there, so Cable came back into the house in disgust. Since then,  I've been squirting orphan in the face with water (from inside the window) when it comes near the bush. It doesn't like that. It's a bit frustrated.

As I write this, the little pest is laying down by the trailer at the side of the house. It probably thinks  I will get tired and go away so then it can molest my rose bush at will.

I have a broom. I might have to use it.

Life on the Parkarosa. Never a dull moment.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Erina Pendant

Over the weekend I finished a beading project I started a couple months ago.

Here's the story behind this piece. (I had intended to take pics and blog about this, but I guess I didn't even take the pics, let alone blog about it, probably because July was so incredibly busy.) In July a Ravelry member who admires my beadwork offered to send me her small bead stash because she wasn't going to be using it. She didn't want any money for it. Not even for the postage. It was just a gift. I was SO surprised. Of course I said yes.

A couple days after receiving the package I started this necklace which  I intend to send to her in thanks. I strolled through her Ravelry notebook and found out her favorite color is blue.

The pendant is mostly herringbone stitch. It's a free pattern called Erina Pendant. It's written in Hungarian, but the drawings are good enough that I didn't even need to translate it.

If you're interested in the pattern, click here -->  Erina Pendant.

I used some Sodalite beads, glass druks, Swarovski bicone crystals, delicas, and size 11 and 15 seed beads-all in shades of blue.

I went with a simple sterling silver lobster clasp.

The necklace is done in tubular herringbone stitch using bugles and size 11 seed beads.

I decided to do a 6-around rather than my usual 4-around, but I could not get the tension tight enough to keep the tube from collapsing. So I put 2 strands of white cotton yarn in the center to give it the body it needed. I had to use 2 strands because 1 was too thin. It was sport weight. I had to look pretty hard to find it too. I have very little cotton yarn in my stash.

I hope to get this in the mail to her on Thursday. I don't know her name because she didn't include it in the return address on the package. So I guess I'll address it to her Ravelry name.

~~~~~~~~~~

We had some visitors this evening. The moose twins born earlier this year came back! I blogged about these guys last July. Haven't seen them since, though I knew they were still around because they were leaving signs in the yard.

Here they are eating the ripe plums that have fallen off the tree into the lawn. Can you believe those funny looking little bony butts? And man have they grown!

They're about 5 feet tall at the shoulders now. Here they are munching on the snowberry patch in the back yard.

Mom was around too, though she didn't stand near them so I could get a pic of all three together.

She seemed to really enjoy my Pussy Willow tree.

Cable was antsy all day barking at the woods and being in a decidedly guarding stance. Now I know why. I will have to be careful when letting her out for a few days. Wouldn't want her to make these guys angry or feel threatened. Cable pancake is not my idea of fun.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Shrugs With Fur

I was going to do a WIP Wednesday post, but I've got finished projects and a new pattern to show instead. Yay! I've finished a couple shrugs.

Modeled by my friend Rosie.

Fancy Flossy Shrug

Pattern: Fancy Flossy Shrug by me

Size: Ladies, 52 inches from cuff to cuff.

Yarn: Aldemir Lumos in Khaki Lurex
Content: Polyester and Metallic, bulky weight.

Yarn: Cascade Pacific Multi in Lucky Clover
Content: 60% Acrylic, 40% Superwash Wool

Needles: Addi Turbo Circular in size 10 and 15.

Cast on: June 24, 2012
Bound off: July 8, 2012

Comments: I had a lot of fun knitting this.

Work it girl!

It's a fast super easy knit.

Modeled by Rosie.

The second shrug is made with the same pattern.

Pattern: Fancy Flossy Shrug by me

Size: Ladies, 52 inches from cuff to cuff.

Yarn: Eyelash by Fan-Pel Collection in Multi Red
Content: Polyester and Nylon, sport weight.

Yarn: Caron Wintuk in Christmas Red
Content: 100% Acrylic

Needles: Addi Turbo Circular in size 10 and 15.

Cast on: June 7, 2012
Bound off: June 14, 2012

Comments: The fur yarn in this one is sport weight instead of bulky, but it worked just fine.

Stitch pattern detail

My daughter made one to test knit the pattern.

She actually used 3 different yarns in this one.

I love the textures.

The fur yarn is Aldemir Yumos, the thinner stripes are a bulky weight boucle' (Homespun by Lion Brand?), and both yarns were knit with a strand of an unknown worsted weight variegated acrylic yarn.

I've just published this new free pattern on my pattern blog. It includes instructions for 2 different shrugs with variants on garter lace. If you want the pattern, click:

Linky ---> Fancy Flossy Shrug

~~~~~~~~~~

We've had visitors this week. A mama and her new twins!

How cute are these two?  Squee!

Live long and prosper. \\//