latitude59

Friday’s weather was too good to waste and I had an extremely muddy dog to get clean, so after lunch Jean and I met at Backaskaill beach for a walk along the sand.

Thanks to Jean for the photos.

Good dogs

There's always time for a pat

We had also hoped to find some old containers at the high water line that could have been made into plant containers, but there were none.

The sheep had to be vaccinated on Thursday, so I got the pen ready and took Tan in to the field to gather the hoggs (last year’s lambs) ready for Fenella’s arrival. She was coming with her dogs to help getting the pregnant ewes in – Tan is a bit boisterous to trust with the ewes.

However, Fenella arrived before I’d finished getting the hoggs in. (They were being rather awkward, and my sheepdog-handling skills still leave something to be desired!)

Finally all the sheep were in and two very muddy dogs were put into their respective Land Rovers to dry off.

Fifteen of the sheep had to be vaccinated, and after half an hour or so they were all done, plus we’d trimmed the Shetlands’ feet. Fenella also checked to see which were likely to be in lamb, and reckoned that all the Shetlands were, plus the two Jacobs and the two former caddy lambs, but she wasn’t certain about the Hebrideans, which had been running with a different ram. We’ll know in a few weeks!

After all that, it being a cold afternoon, we retired inside for a cup of tea and a small restorative raspberry brandy!

I thought I’d let Tan dry off and get the mud out of her fur when it was dry, but wished I’d washed some of it off when I saw how thick it was. So I decided that whatever the weather was the next day I’d have to wash the mud off somehow.

I had hoped to finish the back last night, but other necessary things got in the way.

However, I’ve got this far. I’m sure the shape will sort itself out once it’s blocked!

The back, almost complete.

Testy thing, aren’t I!

After a few glitches with Wordpress, just writing to see if everything’s back to normal.

Whilst surfing online knitting patterns recently I succumbed to Rick Mondragon’s Bias knit vest. I’ve been looking for something to knit my 3-ply Navajo-plyed Jacob into and decided that this was it.

It needs 6mm needles and I was fairly sure that the pair of wooden ones extracted from my needle bag were 6mm, although I didn’t bother to check. I’m not very good about knitting tension squares either, so I just dived into the pattern.

This is where I’ve got to so far:

Jacob waistcoat in progress

The pattern seems to start at the top centre of the back (although it doesn’t say so in words). So the point at the bottom of the photo is actually the top of the back.

It’s knitting up very quickly and is very soft.

Watch this space for progress!

It’s very wet under foot. The horses plouter through the mud, but are still finding grass to eat, as are the sheep.

Tan, the dog, is very fastidious about walking around the mud wherever possible, unless she’s actually working the sheep, when she couldn’t care less.

She is starting to moult and the carpets are, as a consequence, turning grey. Time to get the vacuum cleaner out again.

Went for a short ride yesterday, as the sun was out and it felt warm enough not to wear a sleaved coat. I just tied the waterproof on to the back of the saddle (one of the delights of a western saddle) and set off.

It was a bit colder than I’d anticipated, but I consoled myself with the fact that is was only the 1st March after all. I did spot a daffodil out in someone’s garden proclaiming St David’s Day.

The weather is colder again today, with rain showers this morning.

Tags: horses, Ride

Saddled up Barnaby and rode over to Jean’s this morning to bring in the New Year. After a coffee and a piece of rum and chocolate cake, we both rode to Gwen’s to ‘First foot’ her (another coffee).

By the time I got back it was lunchtime, so I let Barnaby straight out into the field (without his rug on as it wasn’t windy) and let Shanty out to join him. The pair went bombing off over the field having a great time – but not before Barnaby had had a good roll and covered himself in mud!

OK, I’ve finished the pair of Ryeland socks – which ended up with a good bit of Jacob in the second sock!

Ryeland/Jacob handspun socks

I’ve now started knitting another pair using the Magic Loop method. It’ll be interesting to see how they come out.