Ravelympics Medals

Well I am nearing the end of my Ravelry Knitting Olympics. I was on 2 different teams. Team WIPS2010 with 2 projects for WPIS Dancing. Sadly I will not medal in this event with either project.

However For Team Tardis I have medaled in 4 events with a total of 5 projects!

I have 3 entries in this event for frogging old projects.


The first is an old unknown garter stitch thing. I have no idea what it was supposed to be so it clearly had to get frogged.

The second project to frog was my Brown Dragon Shawl. After I discovered I was twisting stitches in one section and knit the same row twice elsewhere it was clear I had to start over. I frogged it without remorse and decided I need to find a better way to keep the pattern in front of me when I restart this project.



Last was Growler Cozy Rev 2. The bottom section did not felt at all so I had to rip it back and try to pick up from fulled stitches.







Another event I entered was Flying Camel Spin. I had a bunch of roving from our sheep Brownie from 2006. This was her last fleece and I really wanted to spin it all up. I managed to get most of it done, 470 yards worth for my entry.





The final 2 events I entered were the Designer Pattern Skeleton and the Felting freestyle with my modified Growler Cozy Pattern.

I managed to get them done in just 2 days!






Here is the pattern:
Growler Cozy Pattern - Sized to fit a US Standard 64 ounce glass growler.

I used a very soft 24 WPI 2 ply that felts well and size 10 or 6mm needles. You need a circular or 2 and some DPNs and a tapestry needle.

My swatch started out as a stockinette swatch with a 2 stitch garter stitch border. Un-fulled it was 6 inches top to bottom and 30 stitches or 6.5 inches between borders. The swatch was 7 inches in total height

After fulling 4 inches high 4 3/4 inches wide between borders. If your yarn fulls differently then you may need to adjust the number of stitches for your growler cozy.

CO 28 stitches

P first row then continue in stockinette until it measures 3.5 inches long

K1 Kfb (Knit in front and back) to end
P
K
P
* K1 then Kfb * Repeat between * to end. You should have 82 stitches
P
K
Continue alternating P and K rows until this section is 3.5 inches long.
Set up to do a P row but instead
Cable Cast on 30-31 more stitches
Place Marker, join and the knit in the round

Continue to knit in the round until the body is 11-11.5 inches long or so.

Base
Rnd 1 K2tog around
Rnd 2 Knit
Rnd 3 Knit
Rnd 4 and all further rounds
K2tog K1

Just keep doing that all around switching to double points as required and moving the marker as required or remove marker entirely until you have 4 or 5 stitches left.

Thread the yarn through the last 4 or 5 stitches and weave in all the ends.

Make 2 I-Cord strings each about 15 inches long leaving a 10 inch tail on the cast off end.

Using a tapestry needle take the long tail and pull the I-Cord through the top edge of the cozy. It's easiest to do this before felting but it can be done later. Take care not to cut the yarns. Sew the end back to the I-Cord using the tail end of yarn. Doing it this way means you can replace the cord when it gets worn or breaks.

Full the fabric until it fits the growler. Stretch over a growler while wet and pin the top together with a safety pen.

Once it has dried you can use the ties to tie up the top.

Shipping Sheep by Car

Desert Weyr BaaBaa and Desert Weyr Martha are traveling to their new home via back seat of a Subaru Legacy.

Black Welsh are small and fairly well behaved. I bet not many folks carry sheep in the back of their cars.

BaaBaa is going to be a ram buddy and Martha will be a breeding ewe and show sheep.

I just heard from the buyers. They arrived home safe and sound. Sheep in the back caused a number of double takes on the freeway though.

Black Welsh Mountain Sheep in Snow

This is what the front looks like today.


We had to put a bit more fence up. This is one of the adult rams thinking about trying to jump out. So far only 1 ram lamb has escaped but I bet by tomorrow these guys would be out if we hadn't put up more fence.

Afternoon Snow

I sure hope the rams and ram lambs (left and right pens respectively) don't decide to go walkies!

There was a path up this aisle this morning.

More Snow!

We got another 8 inches or more of snow and it's still snowing.


Sheep tend to walk in the same trails once they have made them. Here are the adult ewes coming up for hay.


This ewe lamb is about to step over the fence. Those are 4 foot fences she's ready to walk over.



This is what the back of the garage looks like.


View out the back door. I don't think we'll be using the 4-wheeler for a long time.

Digging Sheep Paths

We had a lot of snow last night. Our power was out for about 8 hours. It's a heavy wet snow and it warmed up enough that all of the snow fell off the barn roof at once.

I sure hope there are no sheep under that. They usually run to the end of the pen and wait it all out.


Ken getting ready to dig a path so the sheep can come in and get their hay.



Sheep wishing there was a path on the west side too.


This is an adult ewe so you can see how deep the snow is.

Back Window View

Back Window View
Originally uploaded by Oogie McGuire

Last night we got between 1.5 to 2 feet of snow. This is the view out the upstairs back window of the house. The snow is building up on the porch roof.

Ewe Lambs & Retired Ewes

Ewe Lambs
Originally uploaded by Oogie McGuire

Here are some of our ewe lambs and retired ewes in the winter pens. Everyone has settled into their new pens now, as long as the hay keeps coming.

The Ravelympics

The Ravelympics
Originally uploaded by Oogie McGuire

Here I am working on my Simple Socks for the WIPs Dancing Event for Team WIP 2010.



I have also finished Aerial Unwind for Team Tardis. Frogged an unidentified garter stitch something.

New Feeders

We got the new ram lamb feeders installed today.


Here are the boys before we moved them back into their normal pen.

New feeder 2 pieces that connect to make one big feeder.

Winter Pruning

The west side of the orchard has been completely pruned this year and a majority of the east side has also been pruned. For some of the trees it has been nearly 20 years since they were pruned last. There is a huge amount of brush and wood. We're trading the wood for part of the pruning labor but the brush we have to burn ourselves. There are going to be a lot of bonfires up on our mesa this spring!