Passing the buck

This buck was headed to the water’s edge in Ghost Bay last week as we paddled in our kayaks. We don’t see bucks often, so he was quite a treat.

White-tailed deer are named for that large patch of white fur on the underside of the tail that you see as the deer beats a retreat. Odocoileus virginianus to you scientific types. There are many subspecies of deer in North America and those subspecies are very difficult to tell apart.

These are the Hillman Long Lake subspecies. This is the subspecies that especially likes to eat Japanese Maples in people’s gardens. They wait until the leaves fill out nicely, the rain washes away the Deer-B-Gone stinky spray, and then they enjoy a nice red-leafed salad. They are the subspecies of deer that eat hostas before the slugs can. And they eat every day-lily bloom just before the flower opens. That subspecies.

Oh well. We don’t really begrudge them feasting on what passes for our garden. We are completely undedicated to gardening. We do sort of wish they’d leave us something for our trouble though.

White-tail herds are a matriarchal society. But we’ve been surprised this year to see that the herd browsing in the morning and evening on our property still has a young male moving with it. We don’t think he’s the same buck we saw in Ghost Bay, though. The one with the herd is small, with just two dinky spikes. The Ghost Bay buck had four points.

Here’s a look at one of the females, drinking in the narrows.

Some of the deer in Montmorency County have chronic wasting disease. That’s why bait piles and other unnatural ways of drawing deer in to feed are banned here. When deer gather snout-to-snout the disease spreads more easily.

On our lawn, the deer gather this time of year to eat the acorns falling from the large oak tree near our deck. At the water’s edge, they will stand on their hind legs with their front legs resting on the cedar tree trunks to browse. And we even see deer jumping on two legs to reach some tasty bits of cedar.

My rows are rambling again

My major knitting since mid-July has been to work up nearly 3300 yards (15 skeins) of Rowan Pure Wool Superwash Worsted into a throw. Well, a blanket really. I’ve knit nine of these guys. Yep. Nine. Rambling Rows Afghan by Cottage Creations’ Carol A. Anderson is my all-time favorite afghan pattern.

Rowan Superwash is quite a lightweight worsted. So I didn’t knit it to gauge, which would have needed a heftier worsted and size 8 or even size 9 needles. I used US size 6 needles and the fabric came out just right. It’s a lightweight blanket. Here it is laying atop a queen-sized mattress. (Forgive the clashing quilt.)

This Rambling Rows will live in a TV-watching/office room decked out in earth tones. I think the grays, gold and orange worked out great and the blanket really pops resting on the back of the sofa.

Did I come up with these colors, Charcoal, Granite, Moonstone, Seville and Gold on my own? No. Never in a million years. I first bought the yarn intending to knit Star-Eyed Julep Throw by Kay Gardiner, Ann Shayne, and Kirsten Kapur. Here’s that throw. It uses these same five Rowen Pure Wool Superwash colorways.

I asked to be gifted the book containing this throw, Drop Dead Easy Knits, specifically so I could knit Star-Eyed Julep. I even worked through the errata supplied on Ravelry and started knitting the first quadrant of the throw. I was not satisfied with the not-crisp edge-turns of what’s basically the Mason-Dixon log cabin technique adapted to create that star. Apparently it takes a better knitter than me to master the technique. After starting the Star-Eyed 3 times I decided I might drop dead before I completed the thing. But oh my those colorways are so perfect together.

So, I acquired the additional yarn I needed (difficult, since the Seville colorway is discontinued) and my new Rambling Rows was hatched.

I couldn’t be more pleased with the project. And I credit the Drop Dead Easy Knits trio with my success because this Rambling Rows is all about their inspired colorway choices.

P.S. Even though I picked up the garter stitch mitered edge the way I always do on my Rambling Rows, this more lightweight yarn picked up a little ruffle. I’ve steamed it a bit since these photos were taken and it’s tamed.

Here’s the rest of my Rambling Rows, if you’d like to see how this blanket works up in different colorways: here, here, here’s four, and another here. I know, that’s not nine. You’ll just have to take my word on that.

Fetchings

Recently I had a major knitting stutter. I knitted a series of four Fetchings, Cheryl Niamath’s wonderful free pattern. I used four skeins of Noro Silk Garden in two colorways. I got started during a long drive, continued during a week-long visit to Ann Arbor, and finished the fourth pair once I returned home.

It’s such a satisfying knit. I’d knit the pattern six times before and managed to keep only one of the six for myself. Fetching is a handy mitt to tuck in a coat pocket for those times when there’s just a bit of a chill in the air.

In previous Fetchings I’d used solids–mostly Stonehedge Fiber’s Shepherd’s Wool. They worked up great in that yarn. Check out my first half-dozen. But this time it was those great Noro color changes that kept me trying just one more, just one more.

Four of the mitts are one colorway and four are another. But it’s difficult to tell which sprung from the same colorway.

The current count of posted Fetching projects on Ravelry is 21,138! 6065 Ravelers have Fetching in their queues awaiting the day when they’ll cast on. If you’re one of those 6000, seriously consider knitting Fetching soon. It will not disappoint. And if it’s not in your queue, just skip the queue and cast on straightaway. There’s already a chill in the morning air here in Michigan. And we’ve gotten into the mid-forties at night. Pretty soon you’ll welcome slipping your chilly fingers into a pair of these mitts.