Topanga Canyon

I am here in LA working, so this weekend, I went up and hiked Topanga Canyon. It's very cool - a beautiful and huge park only 30-40 minutes from the heart of LA. Amazing!

I took a ton of photos with the iPhone, so the quality isn't great (and the process for getting them from phone to laptop leaves A LOT to be desired), so I will add them slowly!

Here's part of the trail. I had already hiked that part and was looking back down on it.


And here's the RATTLESNAKE! I encountered on my journey. He scared me and I scared him and we respectfully agreed to go our own separate ways. I jumped like a scalded cat at every rustle for about a mile after that! LOL

Woot! Finally finished my socks.

Trail-riding a bunch with Callas. She is getting better all the time. She might make a respectable trail horse some day! LOL

More stuff on the web page.

Las Vegas Visit part one

LV Trailride1, originally uploaded by kgarrets.

I posted this from Blogger and haven't figured out how to consolidate photos on one page, so you have a couple of pages of Las Vegas "stuff"

Hank on the left, then me. Obscured sister, Kelsi. Cousin's daughter, Lauren. Niece, Keegan. Cousin's wife, Elizabeth. Scenery courtesy of Red Rock parkland.

Las Vegas visit.

LVTrailride2, originally uploaded by kgarrets.

Las Vegas Trailride. A steep and rocky climb, but way worth it for the views. It was a beautiful day in Vegas.

another Update

Finally kicked back in on the vest I am trying to design. Whew! It's hard work. LOL

I think it's coming along great.

We are having semi-rainy, sticky, humid weather this weekend, so it's a good time to hunker down in the AC and get a little knitting done.

Wow - it's a gorgeous day!

Perfect weather - we are loving this early fall stuff. I had to wear a jacket this am out to feed the horses!

The trip to Ohio to ride with Dennis was amazing! Not the least of it when we got the tail end of hurricane Ike on Sunday afternoon. I was sure proud of our horses who barely flicked an ear at all the commotion!

I will start jumping lessons with Shad on Tuesday, so that will be pretty fun and exciting.

On the knitting front, I am working a fun pair of Monkey socks (from knitty.com) and a few other projects.
Starting up the Christmas knitting and finished a few things that I can't publish on the blog!

Just touching base

Can you believe it's September already!?!
Here's a September morning on the farm pic for you.













On the riding front, we are off to Ohio for a few days to ride with Dennis Reis. That should be really neat. I got a "new" jumping saddle - used, but new to me, and plan to start doing some jumping again this fall.

We have been having a blast trail riding - sadly not too much in the way of pics, but will try to get some at the clinic.

Knitting has been going great - my newest project is a pair of socks using this yarn - I think they will be really cute!














More about everything on the web site! NeverBlue Farm

A little more knitting

Just finished Shedir. I have made this hat before. It's so gorgeous and a very fun knit.

This is for a friend who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

Just a quickie update for July

Horses are doing great. Henry is off at cowboy shooting with Austin today - I weenied out. Too hot! But here are Shad and I at a Cowboy Versatility competion. He was a little worried about this bridge, but in the end, got used to it and crossed it very nicely.

The flowers are beautemeous now, but just passing their peak - heading into that hot part of summer where we get a little light on flowers. I need to find some more perennials to bloom through this time of year.

Knitting is going nicely. I have a couple of languishing WIP's, but I finished some cutie stuff.



A little top/dress for a friend's new baby. The pattern is a free pattern from Ravelry - Little Sister Dress.






Wrapped up a multi-morphing shawl (it has been through more incarnations than Prince!) for my sister. I like how it came out - I thought the two-color thing might look dorky, but I think in this particular set of colors, it's pretty.

As usual, check out the NeverBlue farm website for more of everything!

Touching Base

Lots has happened since the last time I posted.

Haven't finished much knitting, but Henry bought a new horse named Austin. Check out his web page - http://www.neverbluefarm.com/austin.html He is a 6 yo Thoroughbred off the racetrack. He is a very good minded horse.



























I did finish a quick scarf for a dressage benefit - it came out very pretty. (at least in my opinion!)

Belated Update

Haven't been posting here much.

Just want to say that things are going great. The farm is beautiful this time of year. Tulips, magnolias, silver dollar plant, hostas coming up - wooo!

The horses are fat and sassy. We retired Henry's riding horse, so are looking for a new prospect for him. Here is Hank teaching Shadow some new stuff. Betcha didn't know that horses can read!

Knitting is zipping along with a big project nearing fruition. Viridescent Diamond Cardigan - designed by Norah Gaughan. It's yummy.

Hot diggity dog!

Just finished this shawl/stole. Simurgh by Anne Hanson. It was quite a fun knit, but was pretty all consuming as it's a gift and I wanted it finished before this coming weekend.

So now that this is done, I am working on some socks and back to the cardigan for me.

More pics on the home page - http://www.neverbluefarm.com/knitting.html

On the horse front - Shad is doing fine - I haven't been riding much between work and the weather - I think I really need to move to a warmer climate! LOL

Callas has been a little sore in the back, so she has just been doing light groundwork. She is the cutest thing since sliced bread!

January update 1/25

Got quite a bit of knitting done this week - finished a scarf and got about halfway through another.

Here's the WIP - a stole called Simurgh from Anne Hanson - it's yummy!

Rode Shad, rode Callas. It's been cold, so I am proud of myself for getting out and getting the riding done. brrrr!

Put a bunch of knitting updates on the web page and also updated some of the horse stuff so go over and browse!

www.neverbluefarm.com

January update 1/18

Life at home is pretty good so far for 2008. Work kinda sucks, but there you go.




I was working on a scarf out of Blue Heron rayon boucle and had to frog it a couple of times before I figured out what it wanted to be. And that is a variation on the Bird's Nest Shawl out of Folk Scarves. I just did two pattern repeats so it's about 7 or 8" wide and it's coming out lovely.



I am actually working on three other things at the same time as this! A pair of socks, a Cardigan and the Simurgh stole from Anne Hanson's web site. Pics are on the Neverblue website - http://www.neverbluefarm.com/knitting.html

I also put up a page for the corgis - only a few pics now, but they are so cute, it's hard to resist taking photos.

Pony life is good. Callas just got adjusted by the chiro and he thinks she should do much better - I will ride her this afternoon and see how it goes. Off to ride Shad now because tomorrow is supposed to be REALLY cold and I am a big weenie!

It's a New Year!

Welcome to 2008!

My first finished knitting project for 2008 is a belated pair of socks for Christmas - more knitting stuff on my web page

http://www.neverbluefarm.com/knitting.html

On the riding front, Shadow is currently at a barn with an indoor arena. Man, are we lovin' it! He is going great and we are planning to ride in a clinic on Jan 18/19. Hopefully we can get some pics then so you can see how nice he looks!

Callas is still for sale, but gave herself an owie, so she is recovering from a hip injury. I swear that once you tag them for sale they immediately try to self destruct!

The other pones are all fine and we are doing great. It should be a wonderful year!

Thanksgiving Post

It's the day after Thanksgiving. We had a quiet day at home watching a cold front blow in! It was 75 in the morning and got steadily cooler and grayer as the day wore on. Today is only the high 40's. Too bad! I was enjoying the warm weather!



I have been knitting quite busily - finished several Christmas gifts and have another on the needles.




Here's my WIP as a teaser! Pics of the rest are on the blog - www.neverbluefarm.com/knitting.html

On the horse front, I moved Shadow to a farm with an indoor arena for the winter. He is settling in nicely - he is just the cutest thing on the planet and they all love him there!

I posted an update about his ride with the resident trainer in his journal. I plan to get some updated pics as we work throughout the winter. Maybe we will even get into the show ring next year as this one was a total bust!

November 4th

Had a fun ride on Shad the other day. Rode him bareback in a halter and tried to "Think" our way into and around things. Not highly successful, but very entertaining none-the-less! LOL

On the knitting front. Finished my Silkie socks - very yummy. They are a Christmas prezzie for one of my sistahs.

Off to the drag the ring and get in my Sunday rides!

End of October update

Finally finished Peg's vest. I am very pleased with how it came out!



Updated the web page with finished pics of the Entrelac scarf. I wish I were a better photographer - it's simply beautiful and the pics don't do it justice.

Also have some WIP snaps up - socks and a hat.

http://www.neverbluefarm.com/knitting.html

On the pony front - the rain (welcome as it is!) has sorta put a kabosh on much riding. They are in now, getting dry and munching hay. I will put them out a bit later as the sun is now peeking through.

Had a bit of an adventure this am. Biz, one of our boarders, got cast. What this means is that she rolled and got stuck against the side of the stall. So now we have a 1200 lb horse squished up against the stall and unable to get any purchase to push herself up and away. It's a bad situation and dangerous for horse and human alike. Fortunately she was pretty calm - would struggle now and again to push herself up, then would lay still and look at me "Lady - I need a little help here!"

I went to get Henry because I knew I couldn't move her myself. While I was waiting for him to dress and come out, I pushed a bale of hay in next to her front legs, hoping she could use it to gain a little purchase and push herself up. Instead of using it to get up, she started eating it! Horses just crack me up!


Once Henry came out, we were able to pull her over by her front legs - I had to push her head over because she was a little stuck against the stall doorway and then helped push her knees over and she was able to scramble to her feet. I was afraid that she would squish Henry, but she was pretty careful of him. Adrenalin moment for the morning!

October Update

I am focusing more on my web page and less on the blog, but will try to put up teasers now and again! LOL

Here's my October WIP. An Entrelac scarf in Sea Silk.

For more details - click on my knitting page www.neverbluefarm.com/knitting.html

My horsey journals and pictures are scattered about the rest of the website. Feel free to browse to your heart's content.

Boy - Have I been remiss!

It's been a very busy summer and I just haven't gotten around to posting. (Where is that round tuit? LOL)

So FO's -

Finally finished the Baltic Sea Stole. What a lengthy undertaking that was - but it turned out beautiful!

The yarn is Schaefer's Andrea - it's a threadlike lace weight silk. As you can see, the colors are fabulous, but the yarn is VERY VERY fine. This project was started over a year ago. Granted, I haven't worked on it steadily and then there was the time I had to frog about 2 inches worth, which delayed me a lot - both the frogging and the overcoming the reluctance to do so!

But doesn't it capture the pattern beautifully? It will go to a Florida sister. I would like to do the Baltic Sea Stole again, but I don't think I will do it in lace weight this time!

Next is the Moebius Lacy Wrap from Cat Bordhi's first Moebius book. I did this in Ella Rae Shibu. This is a really nice yarn! Not expensive, 90% silk, gorgeous colors and boy does it feel spiffy when it's washed and blocked. This one is also going to Florida - for my mom.

On the needles - a pair of socks in STR silkie. Totally love this yarn - it's majorly soft and feels ummmmm!

I also have an entrelac scarf in sea silk in the works, but no pics yet. Another sis (I have four!) just sent me some yarn to do a little scarf for her - looks like it will be fun.

I also STILL have to do the border on Peg's vest and I have the Red Gansey languishing since last spring. So lot's to do! Will try to get pics of these projects as I move them along.

On the equine front, baby Callas is doing beautifully - sadly she is for sale and I have several people scheduled to come and look at her. But I am pleased she is doing so well and hope one of those folks just flat falls in love with her. She's a cutie pie in nature and totally gorgeous in appearance!

Also shooting cowboy off of Shadow - he still needs to get better about being acclimated to gunfire, but he is trying hard. What a good boy!

Well - that's it for today!