fox and socks
We have lived on the farm for 5 years now and I have never once seen a fox. We do have coyotes and I have heard (from DNR types who should know) that fox and coyote do not share territory. So I always assumed that was why we had no foxes. However, yesterday I saw two foxes hunting mice in my next door neighbor's hay field which is next to the woods. By the time I was able to summon Upal and his camera with the big zoom lens, one of the foxes had hidden the brush. But here is the other fox.
One of them was out in the same area again today around noon, still hunting mice. I just hope they stay far away from our house. I will be sure to get my ducks locked up before dusk. The duck house is up close to our house and surrounded by our pasture on 2 sides by the pasture fence, which is inhabited by a giant white dog. So I don't see them getting to brazen during the day. Fortunately the ducks do not like walking on the snow, so they don't range too far from the house when there is snow on the ground.
I prefer the foxes to the coyotes (at least so far) as they are way cuter and too small to attack sheep. We lamb in the barn, so our babies aren't outside when they are tiny and vulnerable. (Plus there is that giant white dog thing to consider.)
My current project is a pair of self-striping socks. I had been reading all about the self striping yarn and then
Carodan Farm had it on sale (I think 25% off) the day after Thanksgiving. While I usually like knitting thick snuggly socks with sport weight yarn on size 3 (US) needles, the intrigue of the stripes and the sale was enough for me to give it a try. I bought 2 skeins. The one I am currently knitting is On Line Caribic Colors - color #737.
I know the ribbed ankle looks freakishly narrow, but it is a very stretchy k2p2 ribbing and it fits my ankle perfectly. Naturally, I had to figure this out the hard (or at least time consuming way)...
I just got a new book Simple Socks: Plain and Fancy by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, so I decided I would try making a custom sock to fit my foot exactly using her methods of measurement. I did a swatch and figured out that I would need 88 stitches on US size 1 needles to go around my foot. (Which are women's size 10 but quite boney. This is similar to a European 40 or 41.) She suggests doing the half of the ribbing (4 inches for my sock) with one size larger needle. I started them on US size 2s but discovered that it was going to be HUGE -- about 50% too wide for my ankle (these are crew socks). Since the one thing I love about hand-knit socks is that they actually fit my ankles and feet, thus not falling down into that attractive elephant-ankle look, I frogged them out and started again.
This time I started on US size 1 needles to begin with and they are going fine. (I tried them on.) If I were making them for my husband (who has slightly wider ankles, but not by a lot) I think I could start them on 1 1/2s.
So I am done with the ribbing and have moved on to the ankle. It is time to rearrange the stitches and continue, but Ms. Gibson-Roberts does this differently than the way I am used to. So it may take some time for me to figure this out or get some help. (I am horrible at deciphering instructions!)
So we may have to appreciate the socks as they are for a bit...
One of them was out in the same area again today around noon, still hunting mice. I just hope they stay far away from our house. I will be sure to get my ducks locked up before dusk. The duck house is up close to our house and surrounded by our pasture on 2 sides by the pasture fence, which is inhabited by a giant white dog. So I don't see them getting to brazen during the day. Fortunately the ducks do not like walking on the snow, so they don't range too far from the house when there is snow on the ground.
I prefer the foxes to the coyotes (at least so far) as they are way cuter and too small to attack sheep. We lamb in the barn, so our babies aren't outside when they are tiny and vulnerable. (Plus there is that giant white dog thing to consider.)
My current project is a pair of self-striping socks. I had been reading all about the self striping yarn and then
Carodan Farm had it on sale (I think 25% off) the day after Thanksgiving. While I usually like knitting thick snuggly socks with sport weight yarn on size 3 (US) needles, the intrigue of the stripes and the sale was enough for me to give it a try. I bought 2 skeins. The one I am currently knitting is On Line Caribic Colors - color #737.
I know the ribbed ankle looks freakishly narrow, but it is a very stretchy k2p2 ribbing and it fits my ankle perfectly. Naturally, I had to figure this out the hard (or at least time consuming way)...
I just got a new book Simple Socks: Plain and Fancy by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, so I decided I would try making a custom sock to fit my foot exactly using her methods of measurement. I did a swatch and figured out that I would need 88 stitches on US size 1 needles to go around my foot. (Which are women's size 10 but quite boney. This is similar to a European 40 or 41.) She suggests doing the half of the ribbing (4 inches for my sock) with one size larger needle. I started them on US size 2s but discovered that it was going to be HUGE -- about 50% too wide for my ankle (these are crew socks). Since the one thing I love about hand-knit socks is that they actually fit my ankles and feet, thus not falling down into that attractive elephant-ankle look, I frogged them out and started again.
This time I started on US size 1 needles to begin with and they are going fine. (I tried them on.) If I were making them for my husband (who has slightly wider ankles, but not by a lot) I think I could start them on 1 1/2s.
So I am done with the ribbing and have moved on to the ankle. It is time to rearrange the stitches and continue, but Ms. Gibson-Roberts does this differently than the way I am used to. So it may take some time for me to figure this out or get some help. (I am horrible at deciphering instructions!)
So we may have to appreciate the socks as they are for a bit...
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