Mmm, Mmm, Lacey!

Hey, look who's back. It's me. Where've I been? Knittin'. Goatin'. What else do I do?

OK, before we even start talking about this project, let me share a new knitting lesson I've learned. When the instructions for the provisional cast-on say "Crochet a chain of blah blah stitches in a contrasting color" they do not mean a HIDEOUSLY contrasting color. As in "All you will be able to see is your chain of NEON PINK yarn." I think they mean just a different color. I also think part of the reason I'm working so diligently on this is because I CAN'T WAIT to start the other half so I can take out the HIDEOUSLY contrasting yarn. Hmm ... now that I think about it, maybe I'm on to something here.

So it turned out that I do like the Fearless Fibers "I've Forgotten" colorway for the Oak Leaf And Acorn scarf. I'm doing this on US 6's so it's motoring along nicely. Also, the pattern is quite straightforward so if you make a booboo it's pretty obvious really soon. Not 20 rows down the line. Trust me on this. I'm hoping once it's blocked it'll look less like a bowl of cooked yams with brown sugar sprinkled on top.

Meet "Iolite." She's patiently waiting in the wings for me to start on Scheherazade. She came to me courtesy of the Laughing Rat Studio on Etsy. 1,250 yards of laceweight alpaca. Nummy.

We haven't seen any goat pictures lately. The goats have been relocated. It rained here on Wednesday and Thursday and it was obvious that the pen they were in wasn't very well sheltered from the elements. The entire floor of their enclosure was soaked as was their hay. This is not good news for little creatures prone to respiratory ailments. And their tiny hooves were all wet and muddy. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find rubber boots for goats?

So yesterday Traci's husband, Hector, put up wire in the pen beside their original home and I herded goats for 4 hours. This was a little exhausting to say the least. They're pretty good at following me though, especially if I have grain in my hand. We went over and visited the other goats, explored the chicken coop and got chased by a dog. I never knew goats ran so fast. Especially Stanton, who also likes to jump and kick his heels.

See, I told you. Knittin' and goatin'.