Welcome to my little farm in the city.

This is a little blog about my life here on my little farm in the city. I am a wife, a mom, a grandma to 6 beautiful grandchildren. I live in a small Mayberry like town in the snowy midwest. We live on the banks of a lake in the woods. I raise chickens and this year I really plan to try my hand at a small garden so that I can use the products for canning this year. It will be a venture, but I have high hopes. I am an avid knitter and I love to work on new patterns that I find. You will probably find much of my work here as I finish it. Well thanks for stopping bye and please stop in often and stay as long as you like. Trudy

Friday, February 25, 2011

Thomasina knits: Knit a rainbow


 I  love  to cruise the  internet reading other peoples blogs.  I  must admit that I will spend hours reading  knitting and crocheting blogs not just for the information but also scanning for new patterns.  If you are a knitter you really need to check out this  site.  The items are so beautiful and the  blog is well written.  I took one look at the  pattern for the  gloves she has made and I knew I had to make a pair.  I know that I am going to go back often to see  her  site and  enjoy the  read!  She has links to a lot of the  items for the patterns and  I can not wait to make a pair or two or three!

Spring is in the air !

I  don't know about  you , but I am so tired of winter this year!  I know that  winter here in South Carolina is  nothing  like  most of you have.  We  did get snow this year and it  hung around for almost a week and  shut schools and towns down here.  I grew  up in Michigan so I know how long winters can be.  I moved  here to South Carolina to escape the snow and ice.   Well ,  the  last  week or so has  been unusually warm and  sunny.  I never get tired of  gazing at the  beautiful clear blue skies here .  The wind , when it blows smell so  wonderful and so  clean.  Today when I was sitting out on my  back deck looking at the woods all around us ,  I saw a tree that is already starting to bud out!!  How  cool!  



I know that  my chickens are loving this  weather,  They are so funny, they love to sit in the sun,  or roll around in the  dirt they manage to scratch up in their run , looking all crazy like when they do .  I never get tired of watching them scratch and peck, and  I love to listen to them all talk to each other.  I just  wish they would hurry up and start laying those big brown eggs for me !   Anyway, I hope that spring hurries up, I am so tired of looking at  bare trees, but  the one that is starting to bud gives me  hope on this beautiful 70  degree , breezy day.  So , I  sit, and I patiently wait to see those leaves from here, on my  deck, in the  woods.  Hurry up  Spring! 

Thursday, February 24, 2011

What have I been doing all winter?

I love  to  crochet  and  knit .  It  is what  I  do when the  days  are  cold and I don't want to go outside.  But then I love to knit  and  crochet all the  time................  who am I kidding.  I  love to  crochet  granny squares , and  I have made a couple  of  afghans  and  been involved in a couple  swaps.  I  love to crochet  potholders, dishcloths, scrubbies, just  about anything that is  small enough to take  with me  where ever  I go and  I have  extra time.   This is just a  very small sample of  some of the  blocks  I have  done.  I did alot of them with  a sunflower in the middle since  I am a sunflower lover.  
 I  also just have tried to make a swiffie cover since I hate to pay for those  paper toss away pads.  There are so many patterns on the  web and I chose this one.  It was very easy but  I did not think that my swiffie was  bigger then the pattern, shame on me for not measuring. I had to alter it a bit but I made it fit.  It works  very well and I am in the  process to make a couple more , and this time I will adjust the pattern so it fits the  first time.    Did I also mention that I love to knit??




 Oh my gosh I  LOVE to knit!!  I  always  have a  potholder, or a dish cloth or  something  small on the  needles  so I can take it with me to work on where ever I am .  I  have made mittens  for the grand kids with  matching  hats  for  Christmas.  I  have made  so many dish and wash rags  and  scrubbies that  I can not count them all.    I love to do potholders that  are thick enough  that  you really won't  get  burned with those  hot dishes.  I have  made sweaters and such  but  I just love the  almost  instant gratification with those  quick little projects.  I  have  this  really cool  pattern I am doing right now  for a dish cloth and I liked it so much that I am making one of the  grand kids  a  scarf  for next  Christmas  already.  It is her  favorite  color  , I know she will love it!

It  is  a really nice  pattern with texture  and  it is reversible.  How cool is that ?  this  pattern is so easy and  it works up so quick.  I  am going to have to start adding  links to all my favorite knit and crochet  sites on this blog  for  you  but  the  one I use  so much is the lion brand yarn site.   I love  Lion Brand  yarn and I use  it a lot.  I really love the wool yarns they have.   Well  I  need to get back to those  needles, just wanted to share a bit of what I have been doing these last  couple months.  Be  blessed , and  come  back soon.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Best Friends!

Best  Friends..........  I love  those words.  This is my best friend  Zina.  I love  her  so much.  There is something so very comfortable about her,   She  always makes me smile, always.  She  is always  there for me  even though she  lives hundreds of miles  away.  She has been my  rock and  she  always has time for me  even in her  ever busy life with her family and her work.  I must admit I have not been the  best friend  that  she deserves  sometimes, as  it has  been a long time  since  I have  talked to her.  I know that she  will understand, she  always  does and  she always forgives me  for it.  I am  so lucky and so blessed to have her in my life,   She  makes  me a better  person, and  she  is  who I want  to be  like.    She  is an angel.  When I moved to Arkansas and  I started at a new  job and I knew no one, Zina  was  my  first  friend.  She  took me  under  her wing and  we  became  very fast and  very good  friends.  I miss  her  everyday and not a day goes by I don't think of her and  pray  for  her.  I wish  we  lived next door to each other so that I could chat  with her all day long ,  But for now I  guess I just need to pick up that  phone and  be a better  buddy to my  buddy.  I love you Zina!

What a beautiful day!

How  lucky we have been the last few days here. The  weather is  breathtaking, so  warm and so windy.  I  love to do wash on days like this and hang them out on the  line.  They smell so good and so clean.  Well  my  chickens are  just about old enough to  start laying.  They are a comical bunch of girls.   As you can see from the picture these 3 are the  most curious and  there is nothing safe with them around.  They are  the  first out in the morning and always the last to come in at night , and usually I must  persuade them to get them to go in.  I  can not imagine  life with out chickens now  that I have had them so long.  I  can not wait for them to start delivering the  goods.    It  did get so cold here  this winter  for a couple weeks that my  husband  truly thought  that  I would be knitting them little sweaters.  Yes   I am a knitter and  crocheter and  I love  to sit out on my  deck, enjoying the  view of the  woods, listening to the chickens and  working  on a little knitting  project.   I have  been  busy  though the  last  couple of months  though as  my  dear husband  gave  me a new puppy for Christmas.  She  is a doll and  I truly love  her but she  does  keep me  hopping and  my  knitting bag is not  safe unattended with her around.  She and  her brother, my  little wiener  dog  do give me  delight  all day though and  I would be  lost with out them...........  and  my  chickie girls!  Well  guess I better get to knitting.  I have been working on  making washable , reusable swiffie covers and  I love  the fact that  I don't have to spend money on those  toss aways to keep my floors clean.  Come  back often and  stay  as long as you like.  You will see updates on the  girls. the  puppies and the  knitting  projects.  Take  care and  be blessed.