I try really hard to be diligent about finishing the projects I start. I do, really. But for some reason right now I have so many WIPs I don’t think I’ll ever finish. Let’s just never mind I just started a new shawl yesterday!
As of today I have the following WIPs.
- Entralac Scraf
- Magic Stripe Scarf
- Jaywalker socks
- Find Your fade, my third one
- Nuvem Shawl
- Advent Mittens, I have 2 of 25 done and I haven’t knit any since 2017!
- Maighdeann-roin-The Seal Maiden Shawl, I just started yesterday
Typically I have 3 projects. A fussy- I need to concentrate one. A mid level challenge I can work on sitting in the car or watching something interesting on TV, such as socks. And an easy- I don’t need to think project. My goal is to get to 3 projects in the next couple weeks. [I probably won’t work at all on the mittens this year so I won’t include that in the 3]
I do have TWO finished projects to share since I last blogged. That’s something. I finished the pair of No Purl Monkey Socks which I gave to my mom when we went home in August. I try to give her a pair for Mother’s Day, her birthday and Christmas. She drives a school bus and walks her St. Bernard, so ends up in the snow quite a bit. Did you know wool will keep you warm whether it’s wet or dry?
And, also, I finished my socks,  the pattern is Hermione socks. I affectionately think of them as my Witches’ socks. Mostly because I’ll probably wear them with my Witch Halloween outfit. I’m thinking we will have a nice amount of Trick-or-Treaters as this neighborhood has lots of kids. Now if only I could find the Witch Hat I knit myself I’d be all set. Moving across the country misplaces lots of odd things, like muffin pans.
I used the Susan B Anderson Smooth Operator Heel so I could maintain the stripes. Â My gauge was slightly off between the two socks. I just couldn’t match it for whatever reason.
The Chickens are laying eggs everyday. Right now we are averaging 3 eggs a day with 5 hens-a-laying. We have 5 hens not-a-laying as of today. There have been a couple of the hens that have not yet laid checking out the nesting boxes and fussing with them. That is always exciting. I watch them through the video camera, maybe far too much, but I like to see who laid what egg. And It’s interesting to watch their behavior.
As a side note, as I’m rereading this before I publish, I have an excellent example of entertaining chicken behavior. I have my iPad open with the chicken coop camera running. It’s currently facing where you can see the nesting boxes.  The White Leghorn, Dottie, will only lay her eggs in the top row, second from the left box. Currently, Louise, a Whiting True Blue, is sitting in the box. Dottie will stand there until she leaves. She did the exact thing just yesterday. Dottie will go in to lay her egg the second Louise is out. The other hens just choose a different box when this happens. Now you know why I watch. It can be better than TV!
We have decided to follow the way of the rest of the non-USA world and leave the surplus eggs unwashed on the counter. It’s very safe- and probably safer- since you don’t wash off the natural protective layer on the egg. When using the eggs you simple wash them under warm water and use as you would any egg. About once a week I wash them all and add them to the fridge caddy since I don’t think Tim will remember to wash them before using them. Tim and Chuck eat most the eggs in our house. If Rick or Hanna were here I’d say they would be the ones eating the most eggs. I just washed 27 eggs from last week to go in the fridge. I’m going to have to start giving them to neighbors. Let me know if you want some.
Since you had a sneak peek at our new counter in the egg picture I’ll tell you about that. When we bought this house I new the island in the kitchen had room to grow. Literally. It was one cabinet deep and 3 cabinets wide. There was an original butcher block counter that still had the motor for a mixer/blender from the 60’s!
We wanted to replace the butcher block with granite. This would be better for Chuck to knead bread and roll out doughs. I asked my brother to build me a bookcase to go on the backside, I have many treasured cookbooks that don’t really have a proper home so I knew a bookcase would be better than more cabinets. As my brother is magical with wood things he created the perfect bookcase that fits exactly behind the existing cabinets. This gives us approximately 18 extra inches of counter!
We were lucky enough to find the perfect complimentary granite to what is alreadyin the rest of the kitchen. Extra lucky because it was a remnant! Installed at $50 a square foot. Normally this specific granite would have been $150 a square foot.
AND…this is the same type of granite we had chosen to install in our beloved Michigan house. It was kismet.
We also had enough of the remnant to do the counter in our laundry room/back door entryway. This really elevates this space. It now has a presence of all of its own that isn’t lost in the cabinetry.
Enough distraction. I’m going to need to be very stern with myself this week. Â Knuckle down and finish at least a few of these WIPs. Maybe the scarves are the most realistic to finish. I really don’t want to work on them, I want to work on the newly started shawl of course.
We are expecting some high winds and flooding from Hurricane Florence. So we need to batten down the hatches today. Â And maybe stock up on some supplies, like a generator. Â Keep your fingers crossed thing slow down. or miss us completely. It looks like Stevie had more rain and flooding close to her than we have so far. luckily her house is high on a hill.
Happy knitting.
