Did You Say Bag? - Day 5

I have a well documented love of, one might even say lust for, bags. Any size (except super big - I am only 5' tall after all!), any shape, if it is cool, cute, adorable, practical I am all over it. So when Kim "Somebunnyslove" Reynolds told me I needed a JessaLu bag, and then told the folks at JessaLu that I needed a JessaLu bag, who was I to argue? Besides, she was so right. We met up at Rhinebeck and I met my bag. Mine has chickens on it - and you can see it on page 57 of your copy of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting. I love that bag. Not just for the chickens, not just because it was a gift, but because it is super practical and useful and makes a handy project bag both inside a bigger bag, and out of it. Sling the thing over our wrist and it's a project bag you can even knit and walk with! This is a durable, well-constructed little bag - and I would know; remember I come to yarn from other paths, notably a strong sewing background. Check it out:

Adorable box shape!

Cunning coordinating fabric inside! Fully lined!

And I personally am smitten with the honey bee zipper pull.
Now, as a result of some faux pas, no doubt my own, the information for how to GET these bags was inadvertently left out of the resources list (page 240), so if you want a bag of your own and fail to win the gift certificate that JessaLu has so generously provided for a bag of your own - and trust my, you need one - they can be found on Artfire, and on Etsy. And as a favor to me, write "Melissa is sorry" somewhere on your order!
Question for today - Dogs or cats? Neither? Both? Something totally unique? What is your favorite pet? Remember answer the question in the comments below to be entered to win!

You Need a Hat! - Day 4

Today we have a very special yarn to give away along with a copy of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting. I am blessed to live where I do, smack in the middle of a region overflowing with good and better things. Barb Parry's Upland Wool Alpaca from Foxfire Fiber and Design is one of those things! Barb is a natural choice for me on so many fronts. She is an amazing woman and a tremendous survivor. She's a loving and gentle shepherd to her flocks in Shelburne Falls. She makes and dyes amazing yarns. Her yarns come into play in the book on three occasions. Hats, mittens in Upland Wool Alpaca and a lovely pullover knit in her Cormo Silk Alpaca.
Upland Wool Alpaca is a single ply yarn dyed in an amazing palate by Barb herself. I love this yarn, the heathery subtlety of the dye, the soft halo of the Alpaca that sings out on the surface of a finished project. It was a no-brainer really.

Hey, lucky winner, you get TWO skeins of this amazing yarn! If you have a smallish head and hands you could possibly get a hat (pg. 133) and mittens (pg. 146) out of the deal - not too shabby!
The question for today - remember, post your answer in the comments below to be entered - how many licks does it take to get to the center of a.... ok, maybe not. How many years have you been knitting?

More Free Stuff, Day 3!

When you are just learning a technique a small project often seems like a better idea than a big one. Sometimes you just want to DO a thing, learn a skill and move on. If you end up with something useful, even better. Today's project is "just such-a-one", as the old timers might say. In chapter 4, after you have experimented with the techniques used in circular knitting presented in chapter 2, and read a bit about potential problems in chapter 3, you can cast on and knit your first circular project. Perhaps a pair of fingerless mitts or an ear warmer, or a set of potholders knit in Lion LB Collection Organic Wool! I like potholder projects. I know some people make faces when you say the word - but here is why you shouldn't: if you make a mistake on a learning project that serves such a useful and practical purpose, the blemishes that are inevitable won't bother you nearly as much as if you had turned to page 203 and started in on a steeked cardigan (yes, there is one!). The potholder is a "safe" way to practice a new skill with minimal commitment and a useful outcome!

Start small if this is your first foray into circular knitting. Make yourself a potholder. Make a stack and give them as a housewarming or shower gift with some nice kitchen stuff from someone's registry. It's win-win, really.
Did I mention it is ORGANIC? And it is dyed in six richly saturated colors with low-impact dyes. They also have two organic cottons as well. Kudos to Lion Brand!
Ok, now, remember to post your answer to the question below to be entered to win four generous skeins of Lion Brand LB Collection Organic Wool and a copy of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting!
The question for today - what was your best weekender, vacation, break, or mini-break ever?

Giving it All Away, Day 2!

Who loves socks? I love socks, of course! Who doesn't? (Don't answer. This here is sock territory, this is!)

There is no way that I could do a third book and not include socks. But it needed to be straightforward socks, maybe blank canvas socks for you to put your own design ideas into. In Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting there is a great adjustable pattern for making basic top-down socks in a variety of gauges and sizes. Start with a swatch and a size and build your own design, or keep it simple and work them in rib or stockinette.

One of my all-time favorite sock yarns is Valley Yarns Franklin, hand dyed by Gail Callahan, the Kangaroo Dyer.

If you haven't yet sampled some of Gail's work, you should - and here's your chance. If you're the lucky winner, knit up a pair, get a little creative with them, and come back here and tell me about it! Franklin is a durable, go-to yarn perfect for making socks for everyday wear. In fact, about half of my sock wardrobe is made in this yarn. 75% superwash wool and 25% nylon, they go in and out of the washer and seem to last about forever. I have yet to wear through a pair! The yarn is available in 15 different hand dyed colors. Today's giveaway skein, a gift from Webs, is dyed in a colorway called Camo, which is a lovely sea of greens and blues and grays that puts me in mind of the Atlantic on a hazy gray day. I love it, and you, lucky winner, will as well when it arrives at your home with your signed, personalized copy of Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting!

Today's question... yesterday's seemed a bit easy. Let's try something off topic, but still simple, ready? What is your dream car. Really. I mean it. I said they might not all be knitting questions. What, if you could have any car, would it be? Leave your answer in the comments below to be entered for today's drawing, and good luck!

Let the Celebration Begin!

I made another BOOK! It's time to celebrate the birth of my newest baby, Teach Yourself Visually Circular Knitting!

For the next ten days, maybe more, I am going to be giving away STUFF here on the blog. In order to WIN STUFF here's what you will need to do. I will talk a bit about each day's prize; maybe I will explain how I came up with a certain design or how I chose a yarn or why I adore someone's stuff; that kind of thing. At the end of each day's blog post, there will be a question. It may be something about knitting or it may be totally random. Post your answer as a comment on the post. When I run out of stuff to give away, I will randomly draw names to be winners from each day's blog post. Then I will mail the stuff off to lucky new homes. Remember - if you leave a comment today you are entered for today's drawing only. In order to win another day's prize you'll need to comment again on that day as well. We will draw winners from the comments on each day's post randomly when I run out of stuff. Get it? Got it? Good!

Kicking things off with a bit of a bang, today's giveaway is a Lexie Barnes Coco in a one-of-a-kind fabric! I love Lexie's stuff in general, and have a considerable collection of it hanging around my house. I could make a long list, from the Pixie backpack that accompanies me on my bike to Farmer's Market and often appears with me on trips as carry-on and teaching material bag to my McCoy overnight bag, or my Lady B the classic pattern pink parfait or my Darling diaper bag (diapers, hell. It's full of YARN!!) in the beloved makiko print. And no, the MMO personal Lexie Barnes Collection does NOT end there.

This bag is the actual bag used in the photo shoot for TYV Circular Knitting, and will be accompanied by a copy of the book when it arrives at your door, lucky winner!

Coco is an excellent bag for storing your circular knitting needles. The outside of the bag is a durable, water resistant eco-laminated canvas. With convenient, clear, wipeable pockets and 8 extra pockets for bits and pieces, you can organize your needles in almost "at-a-glance" style. Many people make labels for each pocket to add an additional level of organization to the mix.

(My circs for the photo only and are not included in today's prize giveaway. Just the Coco.)

Now for today's question... hmmm... We will begin with a knitting question. What is your favorite circular knitting method and why? Answer this question in the comments below to be entered to win today's prize!

Really Depressing Post Preceding Giveaway

***Please, after reading this post and before posting anything negative or angry, be very aware that there is nothing you can say to me that I have not already said myself, and please be also aware that this situation has been discussed among a group of very respected professionals who have all reached the same conclusion***

This has nothing to do with knitting. But next week there will be a LOT on here about knitting when I begin the VERY EXCITING blog give-away to celebrate the "birth" of Teach Yourself VISUALLY Circular Knitting. For today I am doing a bit of rather depressing baring of my soul. I haven't been able to come in here and chat about anything for a very long time comfortably, and I am hoping that by just saying all of this I can get unstuck here and in a few others areas as well. This post will also explain why I am not traveling further than 3-4 hours from home for the time being - I declined Sock Summit so I could stay closer to home. I was very, very sad about it, but did not want to end up needing to cancel classes at the last minute due to complications at home. And many more complications are pending.

I have been skirting around an issue here and on Facebook and anywhere else I "hang out" online. I occasionally come close to saying the truth and then I back off. My close friends know what's going on, but I haven't really been sure of how to handle or talk about what's going on in my life. There is a lot of stigma associated with that's happening here. I've thought about it a lot and I have come to a conclusion. It's not the things we speak that hurt us in the end, it is the things we do not speak that wound us. So I am going to speak about a topic that is painful and humiliating to some extent and certainly depressing. But it's important that I speak, for myself and for anyone else out there who is in my shoes. This doesn't make me brave. It doesn't make me smart. It makes me someone who's got a story they need to tell. There is a horse on my dining room table and I am tired of not talking about it publicly.

I am the adult child of a mentally ill parent. To the best of my knowledge my mother has struggled with varying degrees of mental illness since she was a small child under a variety of diagnoses. This means that for all of my life, as long as I can remember, as far back as I can think, my life has not been what one could call "normal". I shall spare you the details.

When your mother is "not well" (which is the kind way to say "seriously crazy-pants" or "nuts, really") you learn a different way of being. Some kids who grow up with an "unwell" parent grow up broken themselves. Others grow up well, and more or less normal, but maybe a bit resentful. This would be me. People who know me are aware of my sarcasm. Sarcasm is a defense mechanism. I developed a bit of an odd, some might say warped, sense of humor. You may have noted that above with the politically incorrect comments using words like "crazy-pants" and "nuts". But if anyone is allowed to use those words aside from a mentally ill individual themselves, its their kids.

For the past few months my mother has been experiencing an acceleration in mental health symptoms. The reasons are not of import. She has been medicated with antidepressants since the mid 1980's. She has had endless therapy. She has been in and out of a series of treatment centers, clinics, and hospitals as an outpatient and as an inpatient. She also has a host of medical conditions, ranging from diabetes to a couple of blocked arteries, congestive heart failure, a seizure disorder, high blood pressure, glaucoma, neuropathy... there's more, but I lose track. I have learned from listening and watching that when you are "just" mentally ill, there are days when it feels impossible to breathe. Nothing feels right, everything feels wrong. You don't fit in your own skin. Now imagine that in addition to feeling out of place in your own mind you have a host of complicated and uncomfortable medical conditions that require a host of medications, tests, injections, doctor visits and so on. That's where my mother is.

She has been seen and evaluated by a variety of individuals, from psychiatrists and social workers to medical doctors, nurses, her sisters, and the staff at the assisted living facility where she lives. She has been deemed "competent", which means she does not pose a direct threat to herself or others, and she is legally able to make her own decisions regarding her health care.

My mother has decided to stop taking all medications for her varying physical and mental conditions, including insulin. It is very likely, if she continues on this course, that her life will end fairly soon. Today is her 68th birthday. She has made a choice and we - her family, friends and care providers - have no alternative but to abide by her decision. It is not a decision I can relate to, but it is not my decision to make. I have done all that I can. Others have done all they can. The choice is hers, and she has made it.

When your parent is dying against their will of cancer or some other horrible disease, there's an understanding among us as people. We don't mind saying, out loud "My mother is on her 6th round of chemo and she's decided it's time to be done." We don't say that when a person is suffering mentally. I am not sure why we don't, why we can't say "My mother has been struggling with mental illness for more than 60 years and she has decided it is time to be done." Why do we insist a person keep trying if it's mental, but if it's physical we let them stop? I guess that's for medical ethicists to decide, and since I am not one, what do I know?

So if I ignore an email, or seem in a rush to get out of a classroom at the end of the day, or if I decline to appear or teach at your venue please understand that this is a very difficult time around here. This too shall pass - although I am afraid the outcome will not be a pleasant one. Please don't feel sorry for me, but understand why I may at times appear distracted, distressed, or unhappy.

Now, although this has been quite depressing, please bear with me. Next week will bring the joy of giving away a lot of yarn and books here on the blog. My life moves forward - modified certainly, (see my crying in my tea over the whole not making it to Portland in July thing? That's a modification made to accommodate the situation. But I still live on!) but forward.

And if there is anyone out there in a similar situation who feels very alone - you are not alone. Not by a long shot. Everyone's just too embarrassed to speak up. Lucky for you I have no such scruples! :)

***Edited to add - I have an amazing group of friends, a nearly perfect father, the best husband on earth, and a some really supportive colleagues. You know who you are.***

Baby Days!

Chicks came yesterday. I love chick days! We already have some babies here - these are mutt chickens; mixed breed chicks from our own farm. We have given hatching eggs to a local elementary school for the last two years. This year the teacher set 2 dozen eggs in the incubator, turning them carefully every day until hatch day. Nineteen chicks hatched. They are a week old now, and very adorable. I have fun guessing which chick came from which parent.

They are used to being alone, a little flock by themselves. But, with 50 meat birds coming next week, and only 2 stock tanks available to house them in until they get bigger, they had to share their space. I like to keep the meat birds separate from the layers so that there is no confusion.

Chicks come through the mail in boxes, just like a book or a new pair of shoes, except that the chick boxes have holes and make a lot more noise. We order all of our chicks straight run, which means that we get a mix of boys and girls. Some hatcheries call this "as-hatched". You can assume you will get about 50% boys and 50% girls in an order. The girls, if they are layer chicks, grow up to lay eggs. The boys, well, they end up in my freezer mostly. We do keep a couple of roosters for breeding stock and for security. A good rooster can help to cut down on predator loss be alerting the hens to danger or by taking the hit himself when Mr. Coyote comes to call.

This year we ordered our laying birds from Meyer Hatchery. Normally all of our birds come from Sandhill Preservation, so this was a change for me. Meyer does not offer Express shipping, which I prefer - less time in transit means healthier chicks. When the post office posted tracking information was posted, it indicated that the chicks would not arrive until April 21, although they were received by the post office on the 18th. For me that's a bit too long, much too long, and I was VERY worried. Would any of the chicks even make it after four days in transit? Well, yesterday evening the phone rang and a worker from the local postal distribution center called to say that our chicks were here, and he would be delivering them to us. No one has ever delivered chicks before - usually I run to fetch them at 7AM from the local post office. Such service!

The box contained 52 live, healthy, peeping chicks, about twenty five on each side of a cardboard divider.

The chicks on the side are a mix of Welsumers, Ameraucanas and Silkies. Welsumers lay a rich, dark brown egg. Ameraucanas lay the blue and green eggs everyone loves. Silkies, well, they lay teeny itty bitty eggs that are a little silly, but the birds themselves are fluffy and sweet, make excellent mothers, and are prized by Asian cultures as a gourmet meat bird - we will see about that!

The chicks on the left are Buckeyes. Buckeyes are the only American breed developed solely by a woman, and the only pea-combed bird bred in the United States. They are currently listed as "threatened" by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. When I ordered them they were "critical", so the good news is that I am not the only person interested in this dual purpose breed!
Ideally we will be able to hatch all of the birds we need in the future, both for meat and eggs, right here on the farm. I spend a lot of time sighing over a certain incubator. (Go look. Isn't it a thing of beauty? Thermostatic controls. Egg turner. SO lovely. A farmer can dream, can't she?) It is important to me that we produce as much of what we eat as possible right here on the farm. Although the chicks do well flying across the country, I'd prefer it if they didn't have to.

This is one of the Silkie chicks. Meg has a Silkie hen named Celia. Celia has been with us for a very long time. She is about 11 years old now, which is very old for a chicken. She is now the oldest hen in the yard. I decided it was time to order some new Silkie babies to take her place.

This little guy is fitting right in already! I love the silkies puffy heads and fluffy feet.

Here is everyone all together; the new kids and the slightly bigger kids. The adjustment went better than I expected.

I think the sheer numbers of new kids made such an impression on the bigger kids that they just sighed and adapted. Seventy baby chicks, all ready to begin their lives here at Ridge Brook Farm! I can't wait to see how they grow!