Winter Is On The Way, Ellen!

Yesterday morning we saw a beautiful rainbow and today we woke up to snow! There's a saying in Newfoundland, "If you don't like the weather, stick around for a few hours." :-) 

We make the best of all seasons here on the Rock. Sometimes we get the four seasons all in one day! We dress in layers and sweaters come in handy.

Today when I walked to the Pond I brought the camera to get a few shots of the first snowfall and couldn't resist taking a few snaps of the geese and ducks. They are amusing and always happy to see me because I bring a snack, but today I clearly didn't bring enough. At the second pond, I sprinkled out the bird seed I saved from the crowd at the first pond. Then they all started to chase me for more.

We thought we'd begin to help Leezel get ready for winter with some new clothes. This is her first winter in Newfoundland and she doesn't know what to expect! Layers work well for her also! 

Cotton play jumper...

.....with matching sweater.

Acrylic turtle neck sweater and skirt set.

Superwash wool jacket layered over skirt and sweater set.

Cowls and Trains, Ellen!

What do cowls and trains have in common? Not much really, except that they were together with Ellen last Saturday in Whitbourne.

John and I had to go around the bay last Saturday. It was raining and I debated whether Ellen should go or stay home. I had received a comment during the week saying that Leezel probably shouldn't hang out with Ellen because she doesn't get out much anymore. I took the hint and figured Ellen won't melt in the rain so she should come along. The sceneries along our route on Saturday were grey, so we decided to stop at the train station in Whitbourne, where CN train 940 is preserved near the town hall. (Click the link for further train info.)

I had hand knit two cowls. Ellen was anxious to board the caboose and model them. The cream coloured cowl is knit with Patons Angora Bamboo. I cast on a few hundred stitches on a circular needle and kept knitting a lacy stitch until the 3 balls of yarn were gone. The second one is knit with an Italian kid mohair in a lacy stitch that I made up. (At least I think I made it up because I couldn't find it it any of the stitch dictionaries.) :-)  I started that one as a scarf in June on a road trip, knit a little bit of it every now and again, but got tired of it. So, I twisted it, joined it, gathered it and voila! - made a cowl. 

Leezel does have new clothes, but I have to get more buttons. We'll do a little fashion show next post!

As you know from previous posts, I've been feeding the little birds in the neighbourhood for a while now. We have scattered visits from blue jays, but this past week we had a new visitor. I think it's a Northern Flicker, a member of the woodpecker family. I Googled "bird with red V on back neck" and that's what I found! So, the feeding station is a success with frequent clean up being necessary.  :-)

Rain cloud approaching.
As soon as I put Ellen back in the truck, it started to pour!

Too big to fit in the house, but determined to get a snack!

Line up!  :-)

Fonix Werx Fer Mee, Ellen!

When my children were in elementary school a new concept called Phonics was introduced. This concept taught children to write words as they sounded phonetically, not necessarily using the correct spelling. It was believed at the time that as long as the children were expressing themselves, proper spelling really didn't matter. They could learn that later when they matured a little. However, old habits tend to die hard and some students who were taught phonics, eventually had some trouble spelling  words correctly. You can read more about Phonics here. The t-shirt posted on that blog is cute and says it all! Why am I telling you about this? Well, in the past few weeks I've knit a dolly from the book "Knitted Dolls" by Arne and Carlos and named her Leezel. I Googled the name and found that it could be spelled Lisel and Leizel, however, seeing that she is a dolly, I thought the phonetic pronunciation would be more suitable. A fitting title for this post, I thought.   :-)

As a child I loved dolls, so as soon as I found this book, a doll had to be knit! Of course every doll needs a name and I couldn't decide what to call her. Then when her hair was completed and I embroidered her smile, I knew she was Leezel. She has a new skirt which she is wearing in the pictures below. She also has a warm coat, but it doesn't have any buttons yet. I will keep you posted as Leezel's wardrobe grows. (I acknowledge I need a little practice with making eyes and smiles.)   :-)

Leezel is stuffed with 100% wool fleece that I bought at Baynoddy Farms (mentioned a couple of posts ago). We went back there to buy more fleece this past Sunday and lo and behold the llamas were out. While taking the llama pictures, a small goat ran out to meet us! The excitement never ends!

Ellen is pretty happy to have Leezel around. They have become great friends and look forward to fun times together!

This guy kept a close eye on us. Linda said to keep our distance as sometimes he spits! We kept our distance!

Leezel enjoying the sun on the patio this afternoon.

Ellen and Leezel.

In the Woods, Ellen!

This past weekend we were invited to our friends' cabin for supper and to spend the night before they closed it up for the winter. While we were in the neighbourhood, we offered help to another friend who had wood to split and stack. We even had the opportunity to go to a neighbourhood annual bonfire later in the evening!

Not thinking, I left Ellen and my new sweater at home. Then when I arrived at the cabin where we went to help with the wood, I soon realized that Ellen was missing a great photo opportunity, so I used my phone to capture some of the fun - minus Ellen, unfortunately! Ellen got her two minute photo shoot on the back patio after we came home.

My new sweater is machine knit using Knit Picks Andean Treasure, which is 100% baby alpaca. The trim is hand knit. I really like this one. It's cozy, plus has real nice drape.

You'll notice in the sidebar I've added another Craftsy logo. I've decided to promote Craftsy simply because I think it's fabulous. You can join for free and then sign up for all sorts of craft and related courses that you can do in your own time. The prices are very reasonable and they have promotions all the time. When you buy a course, you can sign in and do the course (or a segment of it) whenever you like. Once you pay for it, the course never expires. If there's a technique you are trying to master, you can view it as many times as you like until you get it right. I've done a couple of their courses and really enjoyed them and learned a lot. I don't intend for the blog to be cluttered with advertising, but I do think Craftsy is worth promoting because it's fun!

Neil B and Neil N using the wood splitter.
John was wheeling the split wood to the stacking location.

My job was making splits. I did split enough to fill this container.  :-)

John adding to the drying stack.

Huge bonfire!

My new sweater!