Mountain Girl in the City

I got back two days ago from a much needed Christmas vacation in Colorado. It was a wonderful, wonderful break and I felt better than I have in months being home. This year was a tough one but one thought kept tugging at me, just an idea of what I needed. This summer I went to a free Judy Collins concert on Governor's Island. It was part of some annual folk music thing that Trinity Church sponsors. Now normally I would not identify myself as a folk music fan, but I had recognized some of her songs after googling and thought "What the hell. It's free and I have never been to Governor's Island." I also kind of love ferries, so there was that. Before the concert even started I was glad that I went. The crowd was happy and pretty hippy, which is to be expected. I recognized most of the music but it was this song I had not heard before that struck me: Mountain Girl. I was homesick a lot this year and the lyrics fit me perfectly.

"Mountain girl in the city
You've been gone far too long
Find your way back to the mountains"

So that is what I did and I have pictures that illustrate this perfectly :)

My "home-home" is in the foothills. I am used to having deer in the backyard because they have stopped by at least once a day my whole life. My mom is a gardener and has a compost pile in the backyard. Unfortunately it rarely every grows in size because the deer, bear, or foxes gorge themselves on whatever we add to the pile. The deer are pretty used to humans to the point that they stop and stare from a couple yards back, or walk slowly in front of the car, but they rarely come right up to humans. Well, this year I went out one day when there was a large herd in the backyard and said hi, meaning I slowly approached them to see how close I could get. Well this time they seemed particularly interested in me so they didn't run. One deer in particular seemed really comfortable with my presence. She licked my hand that day when I reached out.



Two days later on Christmas Day I was bringing out the orange slices that had been soaking in our non alcoholic Glögg, to the compost pile and the herd of deer was out there. The one that licked me the first day came right up and ate the oranges out of my hand. I named her Clementine.



The buck saw this and decided he wanted in on the action, but since bucks can be very aggressive my mom (the photographer) made me go inside. I hung some oranges on the Yucca plant for him. He was grateful.



Once the buck went to inspect the neighbors yard I was allowed back out where Clementine was standing with a friend. The friend was slightly more skittish than Clementine but slowly warmed up enough to eat a few oranges as well.



So there you have it. I spent my Christmas with my family and the neighborhood deer, and that is where I am going to leave my blog for 2009.

Happy New Year Friends! Here's hoping 2010 is a great one!

*PSA- Don't go near deer. They are wild animals and I am very bad example. You never know when an animal is diseased or will become aggressive. People are hurt from deer every year. Wild Deer are NOT Bambi!!!!!!!

Mini Santa Hat and a Cylon goes all Christmas-ey

After making 20 mini stockings for the Christmas cards I was left with the thought that next time it will just be hats, because there will be no heels to turn. They may have been tiny but the heels were the thorn in my side. I whipped up this little Santa Hat as a test drive of my theory that it would be easier. It was. I also got to use fun fur which I kind of love but just cannot bring myself to knit with normally mostly because you just can't get away with wearing fun fur, especially in NY.



Mini Santa Hat

Supplies:
fingering weight yarn, I used Knit Picks Kettle Dyed in Wine
Lion Brand Fun Fur Solid in white
4 dp glove needles 4"

In Fingering Weight Yarn:
Cast on 3 stitches, work two rounds like an i-cord
kfb 3 times while transfering stitches to 2 more needles (3 holding needles and 1 working needle)
k 2 rows
(k1, kfb) 3 times
k 2 rows
(k2, kfb) 3 times
k 2 rows
(k3, kfb) 3 times
k 2 rows
(k4, kfb) 3 times
k 2 rows
(k5, kfb) 3 times
k 2 rows
(k6, kfb) 3 times
k 2 rows
(k7, kfb) 3 times
k 2 rows
(k8, kfb) 3 times
k5 rows

In Fun Fur
k 4 rows
Cast off

Fluff Fun Fir. This may involve gently pulling out the loose strands from where they have been caught in the knitting. Once you are satisfied you have gotten most threads loose, hold the hat over a garbage pail and snip fun fir threads to about a quarter inch. This is of course optional, I just found that the 1 inch fur was a bit too long.

Now you can add something to the top, a handmaid pom or store bought one, or even a bell. I didn't add anything which is also always an option.

Thread a cord through the tip top of the hat for hanging.

After making this hat I went a little further and made a mini version of the Cylon Hat. I don't have a patten for this since it was just a wing it using the original pattern. I used some Karabella Aurora 8 I have had lying around and a single silver thread. I went a little crazy at School Products a while back and now have large spools of sparkly thread, it's a bit ridiculous really, but seemed like a good idea at the time. The red is a cotton, metallic thread I got on ebay a while back. The ball is a glittery 3" styrofoam ball I picked up at Hobby Lobby when I lived in CO. I ripped out the metal hanger piece and reattached it after stretching the hat over the ball. Silly, but fun.

Mini Knitting Makes Me Feel Productive

I have embraced mini knitting this fall/winter. It started with a custom order of Christmas Cards. I was asked for 20 christmas cards, whatever I decided to make would work. I'm sure this person thought I would be making my normal fancy paper cards but in a moment of insanity I decided to make 20 mini stockings that could be used as ornaments and attach them to 20 swing cards. They take just over an hour to make once you get in the swing of things.



Mini Stockings

Supplies
2 colors fingering weight yarn, I used Shibui sock and Knit Picks Kettle Dyed.
5 dp glove needles size 1 (4 inches in length)
Gold Twine

In Color A
Cast on 4 stitches, working in the round, knit front and back (kfb) of all stitches on 4 needles.
k row
(k1, kfb) repeat
k row
(k2, kfb) repeat
k row
(k3, kfb) repeat
krow

Color B
k 5 rows

Color A
k 5 rows

Color B (short row heel)
k 1 row
k9, wrap stitch, turn work
p18, wrap stitch, turn work
k16, wrap stitch, turn work
p14, wrap stitch. turn work
k12, wrap stitch, turn work
p10, wrap stitch, turn work
k8, wrap stitch, turn work
p6, wrap stitch, turn work
k4, wrap stitch, turn work
p2, wrap stitch, turn work
k2, pick up wrapped stitch and knit with stitch, wrap stitch, turn work
p3, pick up wrapped stitch and purl with stitch, wrap stitch, turn work
k4, (pick up wrapped stitch and knit with stitch) 2 times, wrap stitch, turn work
p6, (pick up wrapped stitch and purl with stitch) 2 times, wrap stitch, turn work
k8, (pick up wrapped stitch and knit with stitch) 2 times, wrap stitch, turn work
p10, (pick up wrapped stitch and purl with stitch) 2 times, wrap stitch, turn work
k12, (pick up wrapped stitch and knit with stitch) 2 times, wrap stitch, turn work
p14, (pick up wrapped stitch and purl with stitch) 2 times, wrap stitch, turn work
k16, (pick up wrapped stitch and knit with stitch) 4 times, k18 This row completes the heel and a return to knitting in the round.

Color A
k 5 rows

Color B
k 5 rows

Color A
k 5 rows

Color B
k 5 rows

Color A
k 5 rows
Cast Off

Cut a length of gold twine about 6" in length, thread it through upper corner of stocking and hide knot in stocking.