The first change is that 12 of my 17 alpacas are due to be loaded onto a trailer in just 3 days to make a trip to their new home in Tennessee. We have had alpacas here on the farm since 1999, starting with only 3 and having over 50 for quite some time. Over the last 3 years or so we have slowly reduced to less than 25, and then to 17 this past September. I always said that 25 was kind of the magic number: more than 25 was work, less than 25 was enjoyable. It is gratifying to know that one of those first 3 alpacas to inhabit our farm will be one of the 5 remaining.
Another big event for 2016 will be the wedding of my older son, Ian, to his partner of 7 years, Michelle. The wedding will be in June in Oregon and I am looking forward to it. In fact, I am flying to Portland in just under 2 weeks to spend some time with them and with younger son Sam/Zac/Satchmo who will be visiting Portland while the lodge at Yosemite is closed for 6 weeks. I will get to hear about wedding plans and hopefully see the venue and meet some of Michelle's family.
In late summer son Ian and his new wife will hopefully move from Portland to Corvalis OR so Ian can finally begin the Forestry program at Oregon State. He will have established his residency in Oregon by then, which he was denied this past year.
So those are a few things on the agenda besides the usual happenings. Tonight Grover and I start back to agility class. We have been moved to a Wednesday night class at 8 pm, which means I will not get home until after 10 pm. I am looking forward to getting back to class. The weather has not been really conducive to practicing outside. Our next trial is in mid February.
Mom was here for several days between Christmas and New Year's. We made a trip up to Amish country together so I could take her to the Zinck's Fabric Outlet that Tari and I have been to a couple of times. I think Mom was overwhelmed at the selection. It was a lot of fun.
Our weather has been a typical roller coaster ride. 60's before Christmas and then two nights ago we were down to 5 degrees. On Monday, when the dogs and I left the house for our walk, it looked like this:
The temperature was in the mid-20's and the sun was shining, but we had had snow squalls on and off all day.
We did the loop up to the pond and by the time we left the pond, it was clouding up and starting to snow again.
By the time we got back down to the road, it looked like this:
And poor Rowdy looked like this:
I had to put my camera inside my pullover to keep it dry.
Today, it was 9 degrees when I got up and the sun is shining brightly. January in Ohio!
I made a few Christmas gifts this fall which I did not post due to their gift status, so here are some finished projects:
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| Socks for Mom |
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| Socks for Jill |
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| Table runners for Mom and Mary |
In the meantime, I cast on a sweater that I am very excited about. It will be a big cabled coat-like sweater and I am making it in some yarn I have wanted to use for some time and found a great sale on right before Christmas. I may have bought enough for 2 sweaters in 2 colors. But here is my progress on
Citadel
This will be the 3rd sweater I have knit by this designer. I just love her patterns. The shawl I plan to finish today is also by her. I just purchased an ebook collection of new patterns by her, which has this sweater, the shawl and at least one other sweater I want to knit.
The Authentic Collection, by Joji Locatelli
So this and weaving rugs should keep me busy through the next couple of months until we get to maple syrup season. We will have to wait and see what the weather brings us in the meantime.
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