April Means New Beginnings

I have said before that April 1 is really like the beginning of the new year for us because that's when we get outside and start living mostly outdoors again.  Signs of spring are abundant.  In addition to daffodils coming up  on the neighbor's property, Sam has been out on the tractors.

The last 4 years we lived in Indiana, I was a travel agent at a great agency in north Indianapolis.  One of the other agents was an older lady who had a son about my age who farmed about 1000 acres, some theirs and some leased.  I always remember her saying she knew when spring was close because Scott would be out moving all the equipment around in preparation for planting season.  We don't have nearly as much "stuff" to move around, but Sam has been busy.

Two places are tilled for the garden, as well as the potato patch.  This is our usual garden spot, but it is in a place that does not get much sun, due to a steep bank just on the other side of the creek on the left out of frame in this photo.

So we decided to move the sun loving tomatoes and probably peppers to a place that gets more sun.

 There is a water spigot right here and this area sadly no longer houses a horse, so it can be re-purposed.  The biggest problem will be keeping the chickens out of it.  It is within sight of their yard and something will have to be done to prevent their snacking on tomatoes.  I am thinking hotwire.  I think I can rig something up.  My dogs will have to learn about electric fences, I guess.

Another sign of spring is that Sam has spread a year's worth of piled up alpaca poop on the hayfield.  Look at all that bare ground!  Needless to say that with all this dirt being turned and poop being spread, our chickens have been having a hayday.  Or wormday.  

Sam got all this work done while I was at agility class on Tuesday night and at the office yesterday.  He said that now that the poop is spread there is only one more dreaded spring chore to get done:  shearing.  We will do that closer to the end of the month or even early May.  

 
This month is the Monroe Artists' annual spring art show.  I finished this lace shawl and entered it in the textiles division.  The yarn is my own millspun yarn that I hand dyed.  I knit up this shawl, which I have knit twice before, because it seems to embody spring to me, as does this yarn.  It came out as lovely as I envisioned.  Another reason I knit this is to showcase the yarn.  I have 7 skeins of this left for sale and will be vending at the Great Lakes Fiber Show Memorial Day weekend in Wooster Ohio.  I find that yarn sells much better if people see it in a project.  This was a color combination I did that is really outside my color comfort zone, but I do love it in this application. 

 The pattern is a free pattern from Knitty.com  Blossoms By the Brook 
It is a quick, fairly easy lace pattern and I recommend it.

 
I also entered one of my alpaca rugs.  Next month is the photography show, and I have several entries planned for that.


Speaking of rugs, I started weaving on my "too short for another rug" warp using scraps I have been accumulating over the last 4 years of rug weaving.  This won't be very big, but it sure is fun to just grab a random scrap and weave it in.  Or at least it was until my loom broke.

I never noticed that this post had been repaired by someone in the past  until it came apart yesterday.  Obviously whoever did it, whenever they did it, did a good job, but it now needs repaired again.  I am not sure if I have posted here that this loom has been dated to the 1940's or even earlier.  It was made before the manufacturer started engraving the date of manufacture on the loom.  That just makes it more awesome to me.  We will have her fixed up in no time, I am sure.  We will either get a replacement  post from the manufacturer, who still makes these looms today, or use metal plates and screws. I prefer the replacement post if the cost is reasonable. 

Here's the scrap weaving in progress.  There is even a red stripe, which can't be seen at this point, but otherwise, it is all natural colors.  I figure I may have another 10" before I can weave no further. 

Easter is this weekend and in 2 weeks Grover and I have our next agility trial in Zanesville.  Also upcoming is another trip to OSU's vet clinic for Rowdy to see the orthopedist again.  I'm just not seeing as much improvement as I hoped to see.  I just made an appointment for him on April 23rd, one week before his 10th birthday.