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Still loving their walking trail!

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Knit a little pair of mittens for a little child.

The white yarn is from my sister’s sheep and the pink yarn is 50/50 alpaca and wool blend, hand dyed, from Bartlettyarns in Harmony, Maine. These are very soft and warm.

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Randomly got a letter from Vermont: the Sheep and Wool Festival had prize money for the mittens! Also my sister informed me that the scoring system is based on a rubric and the blue ribbons were earned by getting enough points, so it didn’t matter that the mittens were the only entry in their category, they earned the ribbon (and the prize money) fair and square.

Update on my sister’s mittens:

First place at the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival!

On the right: the mittens I knit for my sister with wool that she hand spun from her sheep’s fleeces. On the left, hand felted mittens my sister made with more of her sheep’s fleece.

Ok they were the only entries in their categories, but still worthy of blue ribbons in my opinion.

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Here’s my sister on Thanksgiving, giving some pumpkin chunks to the sheep.

Just some pictures of my sister wearing the mittens I knit her. Moving sheep fences around at her place in Vermont.

It’s gorgeous out there.

I love Vermont

Anyway, looks like the mittens work good.

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Just Bucky being a handsome boy.

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[ID: an illustration of stylized rainbow wolves running to the left, overlapping one another with translucent color. End.]

Playing with colors and tangents

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Finished these mittens!

Making another pair of schooner inspired mittens, for the cook, OB.

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Making another pair of schooner inspired mittens, for the cook, OB.

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more public art! these fellas were printed on vinyl for the sides of a traffic cabinet

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Just some pictures of my sister wearing the mittens I knit her. Moving sheep fences around at her place in Vermont.

It’s gorgeous out there.

I love Vermont

Anyway, looks like the mittens work good.

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Decided to make an apple pie today.

I’ve never had Snow Sweet apples before, I bought them today at our local orchard. They are very good, a nice balance of sweet and tart, with a good crisp crunch. I saved a few to eat as snacks, and used the rest plus some Honeycrisps and Ambrosia Gold I had from the grocery store. (in the fall I like to buy at least one of each kind of apple I haven’t tried before. So far this fall Ambrosia Gold and Snow Sweet are the new-to-me ones I’ve tried. The Ambrosia Golds are too sweet for me, and not crisp enough. Honeycrisp is my go-to apple for munching on.) Usually for pies I like Macoun or Macintosh or Cortland or a combination, I really like Northern Spy for pie but can’t get them at the grocery store. Need to remember to check when they’re in season at the orchard so I don’t miss them! Anyway.

This is the crust recipe I actually used, from the bakery I used to work at.

While making the crust I cook down the apples for a while with the spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, allspice) and a little sugar. I’ve found pre cooking the apples makes sure they’re nice and soft in the final pie and there isn’t as much shrinkage under the top crust.

Roll crust out, fill pie, sprinkle on some more spices for the hell of it.

Top the pie, crimp edges, cut vents. Egg wash and raw sugar sprinkle makes it look nice.

And bake at 400F til it’s done, about 40 minutes.

But the best part of baking pie is…

The weird thing you make with the leftover dough! A little sprinkle of sugar and cinnamon, roll it up, egg wash, bake 30 minutes. Yummy!

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Finally made a walking trail in our woods for the dogs!

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Update on my sister’s mittens:

First place at the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival!

On the right: the mittens I knit for my sister with wool that she hand spun from her sheep’s fleeces. On the left, hand felted mittens my sister made with more of her sheep’s fleece.

Ok they were the only entries in their categories, but still worthy of blue ribbons in my opinion.

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Captain Becky likes her mittens!

Her husband likes his too. And they fit!

Maybe I will make mittens for the cook and first mate too.

Anyway, boat trip was fun and I enjoyed this knitting project!

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Finished the second pair of mittens!

I hope they fit! And I hope he likes them!

And here’s some photos of the schooner.

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Mittens finished and blocked!

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Started the second pair of mittens. These are for the captain’s husband.