attn: knitters of whimsy

Glad tidings, knitters of whimsical items! 

It's clear from reading fibery blogs that holiday gift-knitting is in full swing for many crafty folk. And much of that gift-knitting is in the "cute stuff for kids" category.

So when I saw that Morehouse Farm CritterKnits (usually $9.99) is a free Kindle download at the moment, it seemed worth a quick post.

Wish I could post more of the pattern pictures, but I'm not sure about the legality of posting display pages from Amazon. I hope just this picture of the cover will be okay!

These patterns get rave reviews from knitters, both for the patterns and the results. So if a pair of lobster mittens or a striped gecko scarf sounds like just the thing to keep a loved one (or oneself) cheerful in the third month of winter, hurry and download, as it may not be free for long!

Margrit Lohrer is a gifted designer, and she and her husband, Albrecht Pichler, raise sheep in New York State. Several years ago I bought some of their Morehouse Farm Merino yarn at Rhinebeck and saw many of the designs firsthand.

I would love to visit their farm someday. And if I ever do, I should like to be wearing an alligator scarf.

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if one is good

will two be better?

Sambucus certainly thinks so.

Yo! We gonna do this thing, or what?

Yes, Bui. We are going to add a second section to the new shelter, before the paint is even dry on the original. So to speak. If there was any paint involved. Which there is not. Anyway.

It would have been easier to build a double-panel shelter in the first place, with a continuous floor. But I didn't want to risk wasting money and materials on an experimental design. If the single-panel worked well, perhaps in the Spring a larger floored shelter would be built.

I didn't expect to feel so confident about its usefulness right away. But I did. I do. Already.

So yesterday afternoon I made another set of joists and connected another arched stockpanel to the first. The only real decision was whether to tear out the first floor and replace it with 9-foot planks that would run the entire depth, or to make a second floor section that would butt against the first but not be connected to it.

This feels weird. I like the first floor better!

Seriously!  Worst.Cavalletti.Ever!!  

Can you guess which I did? Here's a hint: I hate to waste lumber and I hate to waste time pulling nails out of lumber so it can be saved for another project. Especially nails that were driven less than one week ago.

Right! Separate floor, coming up.

The only "plus" to having the two separate floors (by the way, if I have one talent it is finding the "plus") is that there are now two bungalow "modules" that can be quickly disconnected to make two single-panel shelters if needed.

It began to rain during the above pictures, so the tarp went up and the floor went down quickly. Betula helped, remaining at my elbow even as I was driving nails into the very boards beneath his feet and my knees. This was quite surprising, as goats do not enjoy loud or percussive noises. I was touched by the voluntary participation. Way to teamwork, Bet!

No picture of the end result, because by the time I had picked up tools, it was nearly dark. But when I got to the house and looked out the window, both young mamas and their girls were already settled right down in their improved shelter. Success!

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Pssst!

Tired of goat bungalows and falling foliage, dear readers?

Take heart: there will be a little giveaway coming up very soon!

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wordless wednesday

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destiny

LOL for a Monday! http://t.co/ZSIr4wbLGA

  — Muriel B (@QuiltingMuriel) October 28, 2013

Reading this on twitter made me laugh out loud.

Which brought Piper charging across the room, tail wagging, to fling herself down directly in front of my chair.

 Enough said?

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free books

This may be one of those things that everybody already knows about. I am quite often late to the party.

Except that one time when I was hours early because I had the time wrong, and those people never invited me again, which makes me feel a bit foolish and sad.

Ahem.

Onward.

Here's something I find quite useful from time to time. And the price is definitely right!

Audiobooks are daily fare here, but a while back I wanted to read a book that was only available as a e-book. Rats. I don't have a Kindle or a tablet. My cellphone is a very basic pay-for-use, and while it may be smarter than me, it is certainly not a "smartphone." (To be honest, I'm not even sure what makes a smartphone "smart." Maybe my next phone will tell me.)

But I really wanted to read that book. So after doing a little poking around on the internet, I discovered and downloaded the free Kindle Reading App for my laptop.

Because here's what I didn't know: Amazon offers a free Kindle Reading application for all sorts of not-a-Kindle devices. See here, and click to embiggen:

It was So Easy. Also, Fast.

Also - did I mention? - Free.

And in keeping with the "free" theme running through this post, here's the bonus: you can also download free books from Amazon.

Amazon sells a quadrazillion books, of course, but they also offer loads of free e-books - thousands! - in all sorts of categories; everything from Jane Austen to gardening books. The list changes frequently. The search function works well.

For example, this morning I searched for "free kindle books canning preserving." Here are the search results, again with the clicking and embiggening:

Important: many books are free for a very short time and will soon revert to their usual price. So if you see something interesting, best download it immediately. I missed out on a book about dehydrating last week, but today I'll download several books on preserving.

These e-books will live quietly in my laptop library, perhaps until a snowy evening spent planning the next garden and feeding the woodstove.

And at that point, if a book doesn't look useful, a click will delete it. So much better than dusting the bookshelves (not a high priority task here, as you might imagine) and trying to decide - again - whether to keep a book I haven't opened since 1989.

If you haven't tried this app and would like to check it out, here's a link that should take you there.

Have fun! And if you find any special treasures, please come back and share them in the comments :)

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