Week 3

Finished up the sleeves (I maintain that steeked sleeves look like crotchless leggings until you cut them apart), finished my travel knitting (the scarf) and cast on for the body. Also, because I love to torture myself, I did some simple math. See that teeny tiny little bit of ribbing that is the bottom band? Just the ribbing part is over 7000 stitches, on size 0 needles. Check me out *not* discouraging myself by doing the rest of the math, lest I fall upon my needles and knit no more.

So, yeah. This is a weekly status of the sweater, and if I finish anything else, it gets screen time, too.

Week 2

Got a little distracted, and didn't get much done on the sweater this week. Without the impromptu "must do this now!" project, I should get more accomplished on the sweater.

(A little girl had a Curious George themed birthday party today, which is who the monkey was for; I came up with the idea of it on Tuesday, so it was a bit of a rush. I also included a card with $20 to "Cover a little bit of her therapy if the monkey is creepy instead of cute." Happily, she hugged it, so, it apparently is cute and not terrifying. It is a fine line between these two options in handmade toys.)

Week 1

Making reasonable progress, considering I haven't worked it much the last couple of days. The biggest problem was with the pattern; the charting is done in tones similar to that of the yarn, which is damn near impossible to discern unless you are in daylight. I don't know about you, but most of my knitting (at least of this type) happens on the couch, where the lighting is not as strong at the sun. This led to a few errors and tear backs, but I've got the two naughty colours marked differently now, so here's hoping the rest will go more smoothly.

For my own information

Yesterday I cast on this sweater. It is more complicated than any previous sweaters, and I'm somewhat unreasonably excited about it. So far, so good.

Caaaandygram

Kai thinks he should be an inside-too yak. After all, he plays with Leika, and she gets to go inside. Why shouldn't he?

Leika is aiding and abetting by rouping at the back door constantly to be "let out", which is more of code for "Open the door so Kai can come in to play with me, Mama!"

We remain yak-free inside as of this posting. It is pretty adorable to see the two of them standing on the steps, looking hopeful about coming inside, though.

Cuddles!

Don't worry. Daven is wearing shorts. They are just hidden by the Kai hugs.

Your terrible poetry of the day.

Oh, give me a home
Where the yaks they do roam
and the chickens they cluck in their coop.
Where the doggie does dance
The cat sleeps on your pants
and they all produce far too much poop.
Home! Home on the range!
Where the mountains loom nearby all day!
Where oft it is heard
An ill-rhyming word
and the puns they flow thickly, Oy Vey.

This guy? This guy is awesome.

Daven was up at stupid-o-clock, bribing yaks. They had settled in pretty well on our neighbour's land. ("Hey! A hill! We like hills!" "Please stop playing king of the hill and come home.") Because he is fantastic and patient (as evidenced by how he took Kai from a spaz-machine to a cuddle-monster), he had them home before 0700, and repaired all of our neighbour's fences.

I am a lucky girl. :)

Nrgh.

Leika and Kai are now buddies.

The yaks. You remember the yaks? They have escaped.

They are currently next door, and are non-responsive to coming home.

We are not having a good night.

On the upside, we have the most understanding neighbours ever, who volunteered "Well, it is dark, just leave 'em be for the night and you can try again in the morning." Thank goodness for good neighbours.

Mr Kai is the only non-escaped yak. As an update (since I haven't posted about him in forever), he has weaned himself and is now eating Calf Manna instead of milk, and has discovered cookies. Cookies have made him decide we are not evil demons, and now he will scamper up to us for pets and skritches.

I hope the rest of the yaks are OK. Daven said they looked dehydrated (not surprising with all of the running they've done since they hopped both the 4 strand barbed wire fence and electric fence), and I'm hoping they'll follow the fence down to the big gate we left open for them to come home through. I left a very very bright light on in their paddock for them to follow, if they have the urge.

Arrrrgh!

Kidnapping (Yak-napping?)

Last night, Daven and I (mostly Daven; I distracted Kate with tasty treats) yoinked Kai to start trying to bottle feed him. We should have done this at 3 days old, but were unsure of ourselves. Mea culpa. Now we know for next time.

Bottle feeding a baby who is used to mama and does not want to drink is a frustrating business. Patience is key, but we haven't had much success yet.

I do have a new definition of "too early". If you've been up and messing with livestock at least 2 hours before the feed store opens (needed a new halter), it is too early. ;)

So, he is now haltered (Twice; Daven got his ass roundly kicked by him both times and is now sporting a limp, several head wounds and a crushed hand. Yaks are feisty.) and tied up to get used to the idea of staying still. Water left nearby him, which he of course has already splashed out, mostly. That's OK, I'll keep refilling it. This is a process, and he will come around. Even before we haltered him the second time, I was able to pet his face and neck, but he just got too skittish to let me put the halter on him without being restrained, yet. It will come.

Re-posted to The Silly Yaks blog, for ease of sharing.