Fair Isle Hat Finished

Finished my Fair Isle hat today. It was a quick knit and I think I'd like to make more for Christmas gifts for next year.

Outside of Knitting -

Yesterday we went into Springfield. I had my appointment with the Perineonatologist for my genetic counselling and work-up. They drew 15 tubes of blood and a finger stick. What are we looking for? Good question- I've done alot of research on my own so I was somewhat familiar with what was being discussed. I think the main tests are for clotting disorders- V Factor Leiden being one of these, an Balanced Translocation (in me) - meaning I have 2 chromosomes- Chrom. A and Chrom. B. Chrom A has some of Chrom. B in it, Chrom. B has some of Chrom. A, in equal amounts. If the baby gets one of these chromosomes- dad's wouldn't match because his are normal and the baby will die at some point- in womb or out. If mine come back okay- he'll be tested. The results should be back in 1-2 weeks. I need to know what is going on. Can this be prevented by simple measure- i.e. an aspirin a day for a clotting disorder ( or warfarin), hormones or is this something that just is (Balanced Translocation) and nothing can be done. I'm not into the weird things they are doing with invitro. fert. and the other stuff. With the things that can't be helped with medicine, hormones..... it is simply in God's hands and I am okay knowing there is nothing else that I can do. Now we wait and see. We may not find any answer with these tests, but it's a start.

I sure am not asking for sympathy. It's amazing to me the things that happen to us in our lifetimes. When we lost our 1st son, it all was a blur and my husband had to take pictures of cemeteries to bring for me to look at and choose in the hospital. There was no time, no warning. A few years later, we were there, burying another son. Painful, oh yes. But, if I can spread awareness and share what I am doing. Perhaps someone can be helped, maybe it'll be a friend or relative of someone who reads this blog post.

Blocked and Ready for Wrapping

I managed to get my scarf blocked this morning. I used the wires and pins for this and it went quickly. It's a beautiful scarf and the photo does not do it justice. I used a wool/silk blend in an eggshell color. I cast on for the second one already.
This afternoon we ran out to rephotograph the bulls. They've put on alot of weight and thickness. Spent some time visiting before it was time to head home for chores and milking.

Fair Isle Project

Yesterday I started on my Fair Isle hat project. One City Market (Yarn Shop) has mini classes called Saturday Snipits where their teacher, Vanessa Montileone, teaches a new technique to advance ones knitting skills. The last class was Estonian Braid- this class, held on Sunday afternoon, was the Fair Isle.
I'm really liking knitting this. It was difficult at first and the first row had to take well over 15 minutes if not 30 to get through. It was the knitting with 2 fingers, one yarn on the left hand and one yarn on the right. I'm used to carrying my yarn on the left hand ( Continental ?) and using the right was quite a challenge. Carrying yarn on the right hand just increased the difficulty.Although it was a struggle at first, it didn't take long to become comfortable knitting this way and now it's almost effortless and I can speed along.

One of the main things taught was how to make the inside neat and tack/secure the strands of yarn on the inside so that you don't have long strands to catch fingers on. This is especially true with sweaters. I never thought I'd learn to do this, knitting with a variety of colors seemed daunting. In the end it wasn't all that bad and I'm so glad I gave it a try.

Update

It's been a while since the last post. Our life seems to have been turned upside down and my normal, comforable level of chaos hasn't been for the last 3 weeks. Which, I can barely remember much of. We had a warm spell and I took full advantage of that. The garden was made ready for winter, pruned the raspberries, burned some brush and washed windows. Everyone seemed to have appointments for the dentist, eye doctor.......even the horse. Glory had gotten a really bad infection of some sort. I had her on antibiotics for over 2 months. She saw a special Equine vet last week and underwent ultrasounds of her uterus and urinary tract. We also pulled samples to send out and culture. All came back okay. Great news. Had a large load of alfalfa hay trucked in as we are about officially out of grass. That also means we are officially broke until Spring. Within a span of 3-4 days- I stepped on a nail, went in for the tetnus shot and then followed that up by stepping on a tack. Tacks are deceiving. You'd think they would come out easily, but this one had to be worked out. My children had never seen their mother cry until the tack, and it alarmed them. I don't usually cry-but they've left no stone unturned with regards to destruction, getting into things and trying to kill themselves. I've hung on to my sanity rather well - daily trips to the coffee shop for 20oz. Mocha. This happens to other people- not us. I don't know what is going on but I hope it stops soon. L.O.L. Of coarse there was still the house to care for, meals to cook, lessons to teach, records to keep, lessons to get to and chores to do. I did manage to find time to spin and ply all of the singles I had. I also have started a Fair Isle hat-I've never knitted Fair Isle before so it is a challange to myself. I've also started a lace stole made from the pattern "Twinnings" (I think) from Knit Spot. One of these days I'll have to post photos. We had a nice Thanksgiving. We've gone to friends the past few years and it has always been nice. Rushed, but nice. Dairy farming doesn't leave much social time- basically showing up to eat and by the time dessert is finished, heading out and your about 2 hours behind in chores then milking. This year we decided to stay home. I think we are just tired, not in the physical way- this is different. It's been a long, hard year and we needed some time to just spend time as a family and rest. I made the big dinner and we all chipped in to clean up the grand mess. Spent the afternoon watching movies- which we never do. It was nice. The sheep had gotten out one morning and managed to get into something and made themselves sick. They were depressed, wouldn't eat, drink, baaa...nothing. We hit them with everything we could and drenched them with baking soda and mineral oil. Did the soda drences for 2 days. Vitamin B shots, thiamin even an antibiotic just in case as one had a low fever. After about 5 days, they started feeling better and are back to normal. Yesterday was the first day they were out on grass and they were loving that. Below are some photos of the handspun I've managed lately. I'm always intrigued with process of watching those colors in the roving come together in the finished, plyed product.

Hello Yarn's Winter Storage
Hello Yarn's Patchwork

Hello Yarn's ??

Hello Yarn's or Spunky Club -I can't remember.