on the needles: July 2008

Farming on the westcoast means quite some work during summer, to save the hay for the sheeps winterfeed. Those of you who has been here, knows that living here means a lot of rain. A lot! We seldom get several days in a row with sunny, warm weather. So this year has been an exception! First a long period in May with dry weather, then it got cold in June, but when hubby got back in late June, the weather turned again, and we saved a lot of dry hay, plus a few roundbales.

The old barn is filled to the rim with lovelysmelling hay! This will be great to feed the sheep with during winter. I prefer hay, it's easier to handle, and it smells better, also the sheep seem to like it.

The boat you can see a glimpse of, has it's own history-LOL! It's an old færing, and we used it a lot those first years we lived here. It's only for roving, no motor on it, but great to use for some fishing. When hubby was at work, I had to empty it for water every now and then, because it would lie at sea at all times, and it would be filled with rainwater(yes, it "sometimes" rains around here...). Since it's a wooden boat, it doesn't sink easily. But I had been emptying it for water, came back up to the house, and thought it lied just as deep in the water as before. Went down again, emtied it, this happened several times. I finally complained about it to hubby, and he just told me to keep on! Then he came back...and we decided to lift the boat out of the water to check it. It leaked like a strainer...it was the funniest thing to watch! Turned out it had been eaten to pieces by some sort of worms that would make lots and lots of holes through wood! It used to be a good boat, but it would be much to expensive to repair, so it's just been placed in the barn as a curiousity.

We've been off on a vacation a few days, and before we left, the cherries were almost ripe, and the trees were laden with them...this is what we came back to: not a single cherry left! I blame the crows...

The sheep are shorn, we did that before we went, and most of them stay in the pasures like they should- these days mostly in the shade! It's a very dizzy photo, I know, I was standing on the road in the sun, and the sheep was lying around in the shadows.

I also have a little garden this year, with some potatoes and salads. Looking forward to harvesting the potatoes, but it's too early still.

I have done some knitting too. My green jacket is done and worn, and feels great! Yarn:
Føn from Gjestal, knitted on 5mm needles. The yarn is 70% bamboo, 39% cotton, and really soft, but extremely splitty!

I've knitted some socks too,Rainforest from Sockamania in June. They were done by the deadline, but I didn't have time to blog about it!

Then there are
these from Knitty, both socks knitted in Silja from Gjestal on 2,5mm circulars, two at a time, magic loop.

And finally- the little sheep! Our neighbours got a baby daughter on Saturday, and I thought this would be the appropiate pattern for a veterinarian and her sheepfarming hubby! The pattern is from Svarta fåret, but I found it in a Norwegian magazine, NorskUkeblad # 35 2007 (Aug.27th, 2007) Knitted in Gjestal babywool. Most of the body was knitted in the car, on our way to Voss where we stayed while DS1 went to a concert...in Bergen! Yes, he did get tickets to Metallica, and yes, he loved it:-)

The kids are finally waking up, they all sleep on the porch because it's so hot! Around 30 degrees Celsius, and a blazing sun is not very common! So we stay in the shade, the kids swim alot, and we do as little as possible, only enjoy the terrific weather! It will soon enough start raining again!

So, have a great rest of the summer- thought I'd share a little tree we spotted on our trip...this is an oaktree, hubby is walking under it...and it grows on my mother-in-laws birthplace! It's protected since many years back, and the sign has almost disappeared-again! It's gorgeous!