Yarn Along - Three For Three!

Joining the Yarn Along group is not only fun, but it's also a great way for me to account for my goal to Make Yarn/Use Yarn.  I'm three for three (weeks) so far!  Can I keep it up?

The Jester hat...going slowly, but not going as poorly as I've been worrying about the last few days. I thought my floats were too loose and I was going to have to rip it all out and start over.  Most (normal) people get their floats too tight.  Me?  Abby-normal....shut up!  I slipped half the stitches to a second needle to check and everything looks fine.  

Liddy.  Spun on the CPW and plied on the miniSpinner.  I really like the yarn (very soft and smooshy)...except it's thinner than I like to knit.  I also had some plying inconsistencies...that may have been due to plying it during the Packers/Cowboys game :-o.  This picture doesn't look too bad, but boy, it's inconsistent (some good, some over plied, some underplied). 

I can't think of any way to easily fix that without going through it yard by yard and adjusting according, which I've done before...but it's yarn that I'm probably going to just look at and never use, so I'm not sure I want to invest that kind of time.  Probably more useful as a reminder of how NOT to ply yarn...

And this is what I get if I try to take pictures on the steps of the Wool House.  No, Hickory, it's not dinner time yet.  Levi and Bullwinkle are hopeful as well.  It's just 3:30.  On a Wednesday!  I'm not a day late :-).

My book this week is Brave and Loyal: An Illustrated Celebration of Livestock Guardian Dogs, by Cat Urbigkit.  Perfect timing with the pictures and video yesterday, eh?  I love sharing stories about Hank and love reading about other amazing guardian dogs.  I'm parceling it out a couple chapters at a time.  It's excellent!

I've recommended her Shepherds of Coyote Rocks book before.  It's one of my all time favorites. I looked back to see if I'd recommended that with a Yarn Along post and found this.  Sweet little Liddy, now all grown up (and out - no, that's not all wool, thanks for asking :-o) and making yarn :-).

Joining in with Ginny...

Sunday Stills - I'm Going With Green

Ed posted a picture of a Green Bay Packers hat and said we had to guess what the challenge was for this week. Hmmm, could be the color green, could be football, could be the Packers (but seems unlikely ;-)... Since the last time I posted about the Packers they stunk, I'm going with the color green!

Stella and I were just talking yesterday about how green it is for this time of year.  The lighter green inside the fence is where everyone over grazes the hillside instead of utilizing the taller grass out and about.  The grass next to the driveway is only grazed when I leave the gate open ;-).

Hank and his shadow, Spud.

I couldn't figure out what he was looking at until I cropped this in.  Gentle Hank :-).

For more guesses about this week's Sunday Stills challenge...

Phenological Events

Phenology is the study of periodic plant and animal life cycle events and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as habitat factors (such as elevation)."                           

  Wikipedia

Here at Equinox Farm, it's more of an observation than a study and pretty much only involves one plant and one season.  

This is one of my favorite goldenrods, Solidago rugosa or "Fireworks".

It can be used for dyeing, but is also good food for bees and butterflies and general enjoyment without harvest.

It spends much of the summer training for fall by bulking up with green foliage.  By the middle of August it's setting out buds and the first week of September?

Get ready for some gold fireworks!**

Our flag from last year was too tattered to fly...so I'm making a bold prediction.

Go Packers!

** Yes, it does look like it might be a couple days away from full fireworks, but how the heck is a plant supposed to know we'd get the season opening Thursday night game?  It's ready ;-).

Now That's What I'm Talkin' About!

Like crazy people - very fortunate, tired, but happy crazy people - we drove up for the Packer's home opener against the New Orleans Saints in Green Bay Thursday night.



We left dreary, rainy (hey, I'm not complaining!) Kentucky before dawn and with just a quick stop in Chicago to pick up the Superbowl flag from City Boy, arrived in sunny Green Bay. The weather was perfect and the breeze was spot on for flying the flag waaaay above the car.

Excellent!



We were not the long distance award winners by any stretch.



20 went along and wore the Gilbert Brown (the only one that fits him :-) jersey with pride, sitting on top of the car with his legs dangling through the sun roof. The guys parked next to us saw him and got all excited and ran over to cross something off on their tailgate.

They play a game they made up - "Packo" - and on the way to the game, write down a bunch of obscure jerseys they think they'll never see. Gilbert was one. 20 was excited to be so popular. He was even more excited when an AP photographer stopped to take his picture! I need to look and see if he shows up anywhere.



Homer travels to every game as well and got a kick out of some Saints fans walking past our car and laughing at him and the huge Serta sheep knitting on the roof. "You gotta love these crazy Packer fans."



We were on the opposite side of the stadium from the big party (thank goodness!) and enjoyed a smaller band playing nearby throughout the afternoon. For one song a couple band members got up on a neighboring roof.

Here are a couple videos of my favorite band. We see these guys every game - they make the rounds through all the tailgating lots playing for tips. This is no small undertaking.





The tailgating in Green Bay is unbelievable. The stadium is in a residential area and everyone for blocks and blocks sets up their yards and garages for tailgating. When we went up for the snowy Championship game a few years ago, we were amazed to see how many folks plowed their yards and piled the snow in their driveways.



It was a perfect afternoon. Perfect timing, perfect weather, perfect music, perfect people all around us...and the game was even more perfect. The flyover was awesome, the two stadium card stunts were fabulous, the national anthem was classy, the cheerleaders - from the local college (I think, although they looked younger than that) - did a good job.

Both teams were exciting to watch, Randall Cobb (the "local boy" from UK) had an unbelievable game, Donald Driver (my jersey) tied the Packers all time receiving record and the thrilling defensive stop in the last 2 seconds was the icing on the cake. The whole trip was the highlight of the year...so far :-).



Headed home the next morning.
________________________________________

Additional images:

Today Is?

Here, I'll give you a hint.



It's a good hint.



Maybe this?



Here's another one. For some reason this flower reminds me of B. Willard.



Look at all these golden flowers.



And green foliage.



Hard to believe it was almost 100 degrees just a couple days ago. Now it's too chilly to even want to sit out under the pear tree.



This is an heirloom cherry tomato named "Coyote".



Probably should be named kudzu. They've overtaken much of the garden's north end zone. That's another hint. A big one.

Is today the day I go out and pick all those tomatoes? I really should, but it's still raining :-). That's an okay trade.

So, what is today?

Woohoooo! The start of football season. Packers played an exciting game against the New Orleans Saints and won 42 to 34.

Packers Rule!

Much to the consternation of these cute little neighbor girls (Bears fans of course ;-) who welcomed us to Elmhurst yesterday with cheers of "Steelers Rule, Packers Drool!".



Yep, time (once again ;-) to go back to football school.

Sunday Stills - The Color Green

The challenge this week is the color green.



You gotta look for it...



Like Weaslie...



There's green under all that snow, so don't lose hope :-).

For more Green Sunday Stills...

For any Green and Gold fans...Go Pack Go!