Goats and boats.

Hello again my friends! I am SO glad to be back home again! It's been a long 1 1/2 weeks for sure. And over 1000 miles. But we had fun.

So here are my new goat kids. I got them from my friends Bill and Jane at The Pocket Farm, over the ridge from me. They have a very spoiled herd of goats. I got 2 sets of brothers and sisters. She has the line of goats that Penelope came from. I had her for several years. Really great doe. She was naturally polled. She usually had one with horns and one without. So Alva and Oden are brother and sister and they are from this line. Both hornless! I sure hope they throw some hornless kids.

This is Alva on the left and Inga on the right. Inga and her brother (who I have here til my friend up the road builds a buck pen) were obviously bottle fed and handled a lot, because they are super friendly. Alva and Oden were not handled much and are very skittish. But Alva looks so much like Penelope. She'll be a fantastic milker in a few years. They are all about 5 months old. The girls are in back with Freja and Olga. They are all getting along great so far. The big girls sometimes ram into the little girls, but that's to be expected with goats.

This is Oden. He's so cute!. Both he and Alva have elf ears, so they have a little Nubian and Alpine in them too. I named the girl Alva because it means female elf. A perfect name for her. Oden is over at my friend Cara's farm right now, visiting her girls. Cara milks for me while I'm gone. I love her!

Just an udder shot for y'all. Freja is doing great. Still getting half a gallon each day. Poor Cara had a hard time this time, trying to get her to come into the milk room. I have never had goats like Freja and Olga. They are the jumpiest goats ever. Every little thing they see, they'll stop and act like they're scared to death and want to go back. It takes a few minutes to get them to go into the milk room. Cara called me Friday and said she just could not get Freja into the milk room, so she didn't get milked that morning. When I got home, I milked a half gallon. She's the strangest goat. Her udder is finally evening out, so they are both about the same now.

Last weekend was the Sherrill family reunion up in Ozone and Crossville Tn. Saturday, we all met at Camp Ozone. It was beautiful. The perfect day for a reunion. They have cabins there, so Tiny and the girls stayed the night. I had to go home to milk. It was just $10 per person per night. I think me and Tiny will go back sometime for a few days. There's a beautiful lake with paddle boats and canoes. Good fishing. It's quiet there, although Hwy. 40 runs nearby. Can hardly hear anything.  We had the best time, visiting family, seeing new babies, eating lots of good food.

Kansas and her cousin Jewel, on the pretty lake.

Then Sunday, we all go over to Crossville to the big park. That's where the rest of the Sherrill family  meet. Then we eat a whole lot more there. It's so fun to talk to all the out of town family. Most come from Indiana and Ohio.

Another goat kid shot. Alva is so cute, with her little ears. I have been reading about banding goat horns and might do it to Inga later, when it starts getting cooler, so there won't be so many flies. She's young and will be ok. I just do not like horns. All the others don't have horns. And it seems when I have 1 goat with horns, she's always meaner and uses the horns.

I will have LOTS of beach pictures this week to share. We had so much fun there. But so wanted to be back home. My husband had to be put in the hospital because his left foot got infected. While I was gone. But he was in great hands there and well taken care of. I would have sat in his room and knit. And I did a lot of that at the beach. So he said I should stay there. I got him out yesterday, so he's back home. I just have to get the 2 older grands back to their house today, so they can get ready for school later this week. Yay, school! And then we are back to normal. I hope.

Knit Shetland wool hat.

This is the back of the hat I knit right.  I did put it on the first post, but it didn't show up.

Hello! And bye for another little break.

 Hi there y'all! I thought I better pop in and say hi and tell y'all what I've been up to. I really did get a lot done in July. I did miss being here though. And thank you all for the nice comments. I really do appreciate each one of you.

So I signed up for a knitting class at Genuine Purl in Chattanooga a few weeks ago. It's a 4 week class. This is the first thing I knit. A hat. Which I did totally wrong. But didn't realize til I had made 2 wrong hats. But I like these anyway and will just keep for me. I have to buy all yarn and supplies at this store too. So this is an alpaca blend, which is really soft and pretty. I always seem to have a hard time with this first step, the ribbed edging. All it is is knit 1 purl 1. That's all. But I cannot ever make a perfect ribbed edge. EVER! Even when I am totally alone and saying "knit 1, purl 1" the whole way around. Very annoying.

This is the 2nd hat. I have had this yarn for ever. Can't even remember what it was.

Ok, so this is the right way to knit this particular hat. This size is 90 cast on's, then the ribbed edge for 1 1/2", then purl to the 30th stitch, then knit all the way around. Then repeat. But I purled all the way in those 30 stitches, then knit the rest. But I did it right on this hat. I even had to write K and P on a piece of paper and check it off the whole time. So this one looks good. It's some Shetland yarn a friend brought back for me from Scotland last year. I love this hat!

I also finished carding this black alpaca fleece my friend Susan gave me when I got mt 2 alpaca boys, almost 2 years ago. There is a finished picture down a bit farther. I haven't spun any of it yet though. Still working on some wool.

This is a little baby blanket I crocheted with left over cotton yarn. I love it!

This week at my knitting class, I picked a cute little baby sweater to knit. I love it. I chose some pretty soft yellow cotton-acrylic blend yarn to make it with. This is as far as I have gotten, because I am at the arms. I'll have to go back before I go to the beach next week, so they can get me going on the rest of this. I hope  to also make a little matching hat.  I chose this sweater because it's a little like the Barn sweater I want to make for myself with Lucinda's wool I've been saving.

Here is another hat I'm making for my oldest grand daughter. She chose this cotton yarn for it. The turquoise matches her hair! It's perfect for her.

And I actually got ALL the alpaca fiber washed too! Both this year's and last year's. I am rather pleased with myself.

Here is all the wool I have washed so far. I have 3 more of my sheep's fleeces, plus a few others I have bought. I'll be going to a fiber show in Asheville, N.C. in October, I think. So I need to get ready for more fleeces!

The finished black alpaca batts.

This is the cutest little handmade and hand painted one of a kind clocks I had made for me from Zan Asha. I just love this clock! It's a girl spinning wool right from the little lamb facing her. The black faced ewe is my ewe Darla. The lamb facing the girl is Campbelle. And the other lamb is Cassidy. And there are honey bees buzzing all around them. Zan had to put shiny paint around the bees to make the show up better, but you really can't see it except in certain light. She matched the paint as best she could from what I showed her of the wall color in my studio. I am very happy with this little clock.

I've also been making goat milk soap. On the left is an orange-lemon, and a peppermint. I really need to get busy making lots more for all the shows I want to do starting in September.

And I harvested the corn and put it all in the freezer. My favorite part of a summer garden. I love doing corn.

Now I need to get the rest of the field peas.

So there are some of the things I've been doing in July. Oh, almost forgot my new goats. I'll take pics of them later. I got 2 4 month old doelings and a buckling from some friends who are selling out. I names one Inga and the other Alva. The buck is Oden. I love all their names. These girls are so pretty too. If anyone remembers my doe Penelope, Alva and Oden are from her lines. They are both naturally polled!! I am thrilled to have gotten them. Alva even looks just like Penelope too. She's a little skittish right now, but she's getting better. Inga is a big baby and very friendly.

I also had a hen go broody a few weeks ago, so put 8 eggs under her. They should hatch next week.

The little Bluebird babies were killed by a bad cat, Gilbert, while I was gone to S. Ga. to see my sister. I was so upset when I got home and saw the nest empty.

But all the barn swallow babies made it! In fact, they come to say hello every day. I saw 8 this morning, all lined up on the wire by the milk room. I love it! It's so cool to talk to them and they all talk right back to me.

So I wanted to go ahead and post today because this week end is the Sherrill family reunion up in Ozone Tn. I am so looking forward to this. I get to sit around and knit and talk and just have a good time with family.

Then Monday morning, me and my 3 grand daughters take off to Savannah and Tybee Island til Firday. What fun! My sister and her 17 year old daughter will join us. She found a little beach bungalow 3 blocks from the beach! With 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, a kitchen and 2 queen sofa sleepers! So Tuesday night, we go to Savannah to a ghost tour on a trolley. Then Wed. to some museums. Thursday, we go on a dolphin cruise at 7 PM. In between all this, we'll hang out at the beach. I am so looking forward to this time away! I am bringing lots of knitting projects with me!

So I will be back next week end. Hopefully not looking like a red crab. And thanks again to all who commented.