Piggyback post: Is Hunting Worth It?

American Grouch posted a great article Is Hunting Worth It?  Definitely worth a read.  In the past I have posted about deer season and the anticipation that surrounded being able to fill my freezer up with deer meat.  This was not always the case.  
For years a grew up with Walt Disney visions of Bambi filling my head.  The men in my family fished if anything.  I wasn't quite as bad as this:

I wasn't too far off though.  
The more I learned about factory farming and throw in all the different diet information that comes out everyday (eat meat, don't eat meat, eat eggs, stay away from eggs, etc.)  You can see how hunting was way back in my thought process.  I also grew up in Queens and you just didn't go out and hunt.  I was also told that girls didn't fish.  Yep.
So I did what most people do, I ate faceless meat.  I had wild game at friend's houses and was given some from time to time.  Then I married a man who's family were a ranching family and inherited a brother-in-law who is a farmer.  I had already cooked and eaten deer from his freezer.  The first year we were married he went out with the hunting party and brought in a deer.  Before they started processing he called me out to look at our deer.  Thankfully he tread carefully and I recognized the right of passage of some of the bloodied children and went to look at our deer.  He told me I didn't have to, but I did.  There wasn't a gaping wound or bloody mess.  Part of me did want to cry, but there was something else.  As I looked down and touched our deer I thanked him for feeding my family and hoped I was deserving of his life.  I think hunting, besides providing food, teaches you more of a reverence for life and death that feels different from when a loved one dies.  This happens daily, a living thing has given it's life for you. I could go into over population and other reasons why hunting is worth it but my statements above sum up why I think it is. 

Needle in the Eye

Once when someone asked me if I knit, my response was I would rather stick a needle in my eye.  Well, I will have to retract that.  I have been crocheting many years, and have finally picked up needles.  Last year there was the Dr. Who scarf:

This had taken me quite a long time so I swore no more needles. I had also purchased a book on making socks that is collecting dust.  But then I picked up a booklet that teaches how to make socks.  I had to rip them out five times.  The last try I said the hell with it, I am knitting through no matter what and if they are funky, so what!  

They are a little wonky but usable and I did learn to make socks.  I also learned that a pattern that teaches how to knit socks really shouldn't have errors in it.   Right now I am working on a hat.

It is called the Nice and Knit Beanie.  Since it is just a hat and knitted in worsted it should work up quicker than the socks.  This has made me more confident to try the socks in this book:

Socks From The Toe Up by Wendy Knits.  This is the book that has been gathering dust.  My husband joked that it is a good thing that we didn't have to rely on my sock knitting to have socks because they would all have to share one sock and jump around on one foot by the time I made one pair.  Guess who isn't getting socks???

Ginger

A while back a friend gave me a large pot she was getting rid of.  I filled it with dirt and forgot about it.  Not long ago I had a ginger root that sprouted in three places so I divided the root and planted and as you can see it is coming up nicely.  Water drips from the shed so it has water every morning.  How To Grow Ginger  is great article.  It gives me some satisfaction to know I am growing something.   

Strike While The Iron Is Hot

A friend of mine is teaching herself to sew, with some help from me.  I bought her the pattern she wanted to try and picked up the Fall 2014 Fleece Concepts booklet from Hancock Fabrics.  This caught my daughter's eye:

This is all tied.  After a discussion she decided she did not want to make a duvet, just a cover, so I did not have to buy an additional 6 yards of fabric.   She also has a twin bed not a full one as pictured.   The printed fleece for this project is 70%  off ($3.29 yd).  The pattern book I bought at Hobby Lobby with a 40%  coupon ($6.49).  The pillow form was not on sale, so the total was $56.    Had I not bought the pillow it would have been $43.  This also includes an extra 2 yards for curtains.  I will still have some scraps left over to make additional things also.  Not too bad and it will give her bedroom a whole new look.  She was excited, so I wanted to get everything together before the next best thing came along.  
Sorry for lack of posting.  The kids are all back at school, which meant a ton of paperwork and running to the doctor for physicals and such.  We are still trying to settle into the new routine of this school year.  Middle son is driving so that makes things a little easier, one less to pick up, but more nerve wracking.