Drum roaster - Alchemist John

.: 21:28 :.

Ok, I have finally gone from paper and calculations to implemenation. As I will try to keep this updated as the roaster progresses, I am going to keep this brief. Here is the unassembled pieces of the frame. Not much to look at yet.

After half a day working tapping, drilling, measuring, measuring, measuring (did I mention measuring), a little more drilling and about 60 rivets, this was the outcome.

I am actually very pleased that it translated from paper (see behind the frame) with all the holes lining up, and the whole thing square and true.

These are just a couple of perspectives of where and what the drum will look like when in. The 30 degree angle built into the whole thing is so I can observe the roast in process without fussy windows, neck craning and such.

What I'm knitting

.: 13:55 :.

Last night I started my Sheep Shawl from Joslyn's Fiber Farm. This is not their finest weight yarn, but it's pretty light stuff. I knit a whole fifteen or sixteen rows before I went to bed, and had to un knit on at least two of them to fix simple errors. I'm not working on this while Logan's around so far. I don't need her help. :-) Every one in the Shawl of the Quarter club gets the same pattern and the same weight and color of yarn, although I suspect there are dying difference since the yarn is hand painted. This is my first shawl, I just subscribed to the club at the beginning of this month. It will be a big triangle, with sun rays, trees, barns and sheep on it. You can see a picture like the one that's on my pattern here. Mine is in the colorway Ocean. And the part I have done is just the very top center at the neck. But it should grow quickly if I get a chance to work on it.
Aside from that I'm also still knitting socks, and a kerchief for Logan, and contemplating more lace socks for Logan, although I do wish someone would adopt Sparky soon.

ahfix

.: 08:39 :.

Miss Logan has learned a new phrase and a new skill this morning. Or perhaps she's just chosen now to announce it. She's playing at the kitchen sink, where I can see her from the computer fortnight. A few minutes ago I noticed she'd unscrewed the spray part of our tap (not a separate sprayer, just a spray feature on the regular tap). Now she's announced "ah fix" "ah done" "me fix". And lo and behold, she has the sprayer reattached, and evidently correctly since the water is on again and not spraying out in seventyleven directions.

She had to put it back together to get water so she could paint. Then once she and her water were at the table she told me to get her paper, and paint and brushes. Now she's painting while I'm finishing this up. :)

New pictures

.: 20:54 :.

We got word this week that a bequest from Grandpa Alfred's estate was in the mail to us. John and I decided to use a part of it to buy a digital camera. The camera arrived today - very fast! And I've been learning to use it. So tonight I have pictures to put up. I want to put one of Grandpa Alfred too, but I'll need to find a good one and scan it, so that will wait until I have a remembrance of him to type along with it. I knew him mainly in the last decade of his life, so my memories of him are sometimes different from other family members. Thank you for the camera Grandpa.

As for tonights pictures. I took one of the socks I finished for myself. And one of the first Lace sock I made for Logan, although she's taking it off or putting it on here. It got left on the floor and chewed immediately after that, so now I'll be starting from scratch to make her a pair of lace socks. I'm pretty unhappy about that. This sock was the first I ever created from scratch myself - I came up with the pattern, knitted it, and it worked. So much for that. There's also one of Sunny and Sparky dogs. Sparky is the sock chewer, but it's a known problem and the sock should not have been left on the floor for him to get at. I knew he'd eat something I'd made at some point. John doesn't seem to quite understand why I'm upset. But it wasn't his project.

Last is one of my busy nursing toddler. I took this more or less from my point of view. It's tricky to hold the camera, see the view screen, and press the shutter while being helped by the nursing subject of the picture. Logan is two and a half years old now. She looks a little hot in this picture, she'd only been out of the shower for a few minutes. For those of you reading who are not currently nursing toddlers (or have not), I don't know how old she'll be when she weans. She'll tell me when she's ready to quit nursing. Yes she has teeth. I put her down if she bites while nursing, the same as if she bites at any other time. It doesn't happen often. Yes we nurse in public. I figure that if people are bothered they don't have to look. And that most people would rather cope with a nursing toddler than a screaming toddler. She's still growing her immune system (I can't remember right now what age the immune system is supposed to be fully developed - four or five maybe?), she's still reacting badly to me eating cows milk proteins and peanuts or cashews, (she doesn't eat them at all), and she's developing at or ahead of her age level. Nursing is pretty special to us.

Knitting Meetup

.: 20:43 :.

I just added a button for the Knitting Meetup to this page. I've been on their mailing list for a couple months, but a meetup hasn't happened yet because there haven't been enough people voting to say where it should be. I think there have to be five. This month I'm trying to think of who else I know around here who knits.

I finished my second sock for a pair for me last night and wore them today. Not as snug as I'd like, but pretty comfortable. Now I need to finish the rest I have in progress and start some others for myself, and others. John is spinning the wool for his own socks, that I'll start knitting once he's got in spun. Logan wants to spin and to knit, although her coordination isn't quite up to doing either. She does try, and is happy participating, which is good.

Logan and I have been slowly learning bits of Spanish, partly through Spanish children's songs, and now we've added some books and videos in Spanish. I'm hoping she'll grow up to be multi lingual, and to be able to pick up new languages more easily than I can.

No more lambs today. John and I have been wondering if some of the goats are going to kid while we're visiting in Florida. With luck they'll kid just before we go, but they should be fine even if they kid while we're gone. Our ruminate sitter is pretty well experienced.

There isn't a lot new or exciting here today. I'm knitting socks and thinking about what I'll start next. John's making progress on his coffee roaster. Logan is roaming the house, chattering up a storm and issuing edicts.

Four Fine Lambs

.: 23:32 :.

I'm up late so now I've decided I should scan the pictures of our four new lambs for whomever is checking this on the east coast. So far we've had three ewes and one ram born, and it looks like they will all be registerable, unless they have horn problems. One more ewe is pregnant, but her lambs will be cross breeds, we bred for a nice fleece that was different from what we already had. Goats are still pregnant, for another month or so, probably. It looks like the photos are arranging themselves in places where I wasn't trying to put them. But it's nearly 11:30 at night and I'm going to bed. You can see the lambs and their mothers. Oh, and according to Miss Logan, they are "my baby lambs" or occasionally "my Pippi Lamb, my Gamma lamb, My ally lamb". She's visiting them every chance she gets.  

Family Photo

.: 18:04 :.

Well, a photo of someone I'm related to anyway. This is my Cousin Greta. Um, first cousin once removed, or Logan's second cousin. And she's wearing the scarf (pronounced skopps) that I made for her. :-) Greta has high standards when it comes to clothes, so I'm really pleased that she likes the scarf. Logan announced that it would keep Greta warm when I made it, and I was afraid for a bit that Logan would claim it as her own instead of letting me send it. It's out of one of those silly eyelash yarns, wool with a bunch of fringe. It was actually fun to make. I bought the yarn thinking I'd make Greta a hat, but then found out she wasn't much interested in hats. I'm so excited she likes the Skopps.

Good breakfast

.: 10:33 :.

Well, at least soon it will be. John is going to make pancakes. With Miss Logan helping him, of course. While eating the flour, and the nut mix, and the raw egg. Logan's stool is a fixture in the kitchen. We had a fine day yesterday - mostly with John getting things done and me working on things on this web page. :-) But it went really well. Today there is laundry to fold, and probably some more to wash, cause there's always more to wash. I think I'm going to plant some bulbs in my flower garden today too. I should track down planting instructions for them. There are some summer daffodils, and some lily of the valley, and a few others I've forgotten at the moment. Andrea and I went in on an order, and the silly place we ordered from decided we were something like zone 6, and didn't send our bulbs until way late. We are zone 8, and already in to much warmer weather than I'd like. I'm still waiting for winter to happen, and spring is officially underway.

John unearthed an old picture of Logan yesterday that I really like. It's one Robyn took, developed in sepia. Logan has identified it as a baby. She doesn't recignize herself in most of the baby pictures. She does recognize other babies she knows, sometimes. Although a lot of people, babies and otherwise, get identified as "Aidan".

Today is starting out pretty well too. My favorite cousin called so we could compare toddler notes. I got email from my friend Terri, who's having trouble seeing this page, although I don't know why. It sounds like a computer misbehaving, but I have no idea if it's at my end or her end. And John called his mom, who got to hear Logan talking about he lambs. Wilma (John's mom) sent us a box this week with two beautiful quilts in it for Logan. One is all in flannels, with little people hand stitched on on, and the other is a fabric print with ducks and cats machine embroidered on it. Oh, and the box also had some embroidered panties for Logan which she loves. Some with cats, some with ducks and one butterfly and one platypus. There won't be any mixing them up with other girls panties!

We'll be visiting all the folks in Florida in May. I'm looking forward to seeing people. I'm not looking forward to the traveling especially, but Logan really likes to talk about her Grandmas and her Grandpa. So we'll go and visit them and try to take some good pictures for Logan to have around. I'm knitting Logan a kerchief, that will match a tank top that I'll make once the pattern finally comes, that I think will be good for the FL trip, if it's not too hot. Well, for us it will be pretty hot, but with luck it won't be hot yet by FL standards.

Couple more pictures

.: 15:51 :.

I'm still getting the bugs worked out, but at least I can add a couple more pictures to this.

Here are Andrea, Logan and Aidan chasing "Rocky" out of two heads of hair. I teased Logan about having so many tangles in her hair that it looked like the horse next door, Rocky, had made a nest there. Now not only do we have to chase Rocky out of her hair, (and also chase off goats, sheep and dogs at times), but she chases him out of other people's hair.

And here are Miss Logan and her buddy Aidan each wearing a hat that I knitted. Aidan is also wearing an apron that belongs to Logan, made by her "Gamma Ilma" (Logan insisted he wear it, instead of a bib maybe, I don't remember). And Logan is wearing a sweater made by her "Gamma Cam". Aidan is nine months younger than Logan, and is her closest friend. He'll be out of town for a month pretty soon, and she's going to miss him. He on the other hand may feel as if he's having a break from a pseudo older sister.


I've also got a picture of my new yarn swift that John built for me, but I don't know how many pictures to stick up here at once. Kendall asked for bigger pictures of Logan (Before either grandma did, I might add!). I haven't managed bigger yet, but at least this is more of them. I don't know how to do a thumbnail with a link to a bigger picture yet. I guess I can stick it a little further down.

As you can see, I'm spending more time on yarn things. Knitting is very calming, which I need with Logan swinging from the rafters, or my shoulders, or my hair. And with Sparky in the house too. One toddler, one doggy toddler. At least they get along well.

A yarn swift, or an umbrella swift, is a thing that holds a skein of yarn, and then turns as the person winding the ball of yarn pulls on it. It means I can wind yarn up without having John sit holding the skein. He still has to help set the swift up and get the yarn on to it. But it's beautiful and it works great.

Spring is Sprung

.: 15:04 :.

We had our first lambs born this week. One on tuesday, and two more on friday. All three are ewe lambs, with good color. #1 has a carpet wool type coat at the moment, but #2 and #3 look as if they'll have their mother's soft fine crimpy wool, which would be really good. And their mother has been our favorite sheep. (Well, one of our favorites at least), and has had problems either not getting pregnant in past years, or with sickly lambs last year. These two seem great though.

Dreams and Bones is now set up as a web log, or a "Blog". That means I'll be able to add information to it easily and as often as I want. It will show the last several things I've added, and there will be archives that show earlier things. And I'll be able to do pictures pretty easily. In fact, here is one of Sparky-dog, our foster Golden Retreiver from Golden Bond. Yes, he's holding his brush. He's an overgrown puppy, or maybe an overgrown termite, and loves to hold and carry things around. Of course he also loves to gnaw right through him. We'll miss him, some, but we'll breathe a sigh of relief when he's adopted!


I am scanning other pictures even as I type. I may not get them all on today, but at least you'll be able to see some.

Whoops, just got word that I may truly be up and running, so I'm going to try posting this and see if it makes it! I'll add more a little later on.