Sick, but Still Cute

We have been battling illness the last few days. Somehow he still manages to crack us up. On Monday I told him he could pick his own pants and so he choose his swimsuit. Then I told him to pick a shirt and he dug down to the bottom of the drawer and found a tank-top. I insisted he wear something warm underneath all that. 

Looks like his fever broke and things will be back to normal tomorrow!

Pears, Eggs, and Wolf

Despite our best efforts we lost all the kits. We have gained valuable information and found a contact who can help us in the future. Jason bred the two rabbits on Sunday so with any luck in about a month we will get another try and raising some meat rabbits. 

The pear trees didn't produce like they have in the past. We are disappointed that we won't be having pear sauce all winter. We did manage to pull a few squashes out of the garden and we intend on visiting a local farm to get some pumpkins and apples to put up for the winter.

This is Wolf, our new pet. He is an angora-jersey mix. He was a gift from a friend. Isn't he just the cutest thing! He is just what our hearts needed after loosing all those kits!

The daycare kids are thrilled and keep asking us when we are going to put him outside with Sarah our other pet bunny.

A couple of weeks ago we spied Fluffernutter and a couple of his gals out front of the house. Too close to the road for us! The chickens were all ushered back to the barn where they spent their first few weeks of life and given a few nesting boxes, just in case they might lay.

And they did! We have found four small little eggs so far (the white one is a store bought egg). We estimate that in a few more weeks everyone will be laying normal sized eggs. Yum! We are so encouraged that at least one thing is working right!

Embrace the Camera: Timer

We still are getting used to using the timer on the camera.

If at first you don't succeed!

:)

Project Report

It has been several weeks since my last post for Year of Projects and I have some really good excuses: Birthday, a Knitting Failure, and Rabbits. My little guy turned two and I was rather busy with party planning that I had no time to knit. The sock I was knitting taught me a valuable lesson about laddering and dpn's and I have been putting what I learned to good use. For the rabbit busyness pop over to the family's blog to read about our orphan newborn rabbits (we raise meat rabbits).

Even with all that is going on here I can cross somethings off my list. I made garland for the Advent Christmas Tree and I knit Stomper his Christmas hat.

The hat is knit from my own pattern: Hunters Plaid Hat. The only adjustment I made was to knit the earflap with double knitting which I am new to. I like the earflap much better this way and I may add that option to the pattern in the future. Does anyone know if you can decrease while double knitting? I was thinking how awesome it would be to have the hat reversible, although it would probably be a little too warm.

The mittens in the background are from Mittens on a String. I adjusted the mittens to fit 2T-3T by adding a few rows and stitches (rav notes). The mittens are knitting up really quick. It is so nice to have something checked off my Christmas knitting list. This week I hope to start the gray squirrel as I have relocated both yarn and pattern just recently. 

Then maybe I will attempt to knit socks for the hubby.

~~~

Project List

Pembroke Vest

Christmas Stocking

Finish Kat's gloves (done) and mine too (mine are done!)

Two Plaid Hunters Hat (one done)

The squirrel/hedge hog

Six ornaments for Stompers Advent Calendar:

1. Christmas Sweater done!
2. Christmas Stocking
3. Candy Cane
4. Christmas Bell
5. Tinsel (done)
6. Christmas Ball

Something from the book The Expectant Knitter

Finish a bear I started from the Nursery Baby Doll pattern done!

A pair of socks for the hubby that will actually fit him - started

Milo Vest 

Something Girlie -- possibly something out of The Expectant Knitter (done)

Rabbits

Saturday morning Jason came back in the house from doing chores, and I could tell that something bad had happened.

"What's wrong?"

"Stupid rabbit died giving birth."

"What?"

"She bled out."

"Are the babies alive?"

"Yeah, six of them. I put them in with the other mother, but I don't think it's going to work."

He then left to attend some training, while he was gone the rest of us wondered if anything could be done.

That afternoon Little Sister asked if Jason would mind if she kept one as a pet. He could breed it if he wanted to, but it would be her pet. I thought that'd be fine. I suggested she take two so that they would keep each other warm and to hedge her bet. I told her to take the two livelest ones. She went down in the the barn with my parents to help her.

When she came back she had three.

A few minutes later my Mom came up with a sheepish look on her face and said; "My sweatshirt pocket is moving."

"How many?" I asked.

"All of them."

"You do realize that even if they survive, we will still be eating them."

"Yes. I know."

We did some research and warmed a bit of cows milk for them and fed them with droppers we happened to have (sometimes it pays off to keep things--sometimes). We put their mothers fur from her nest making in a bucket with straw and a piece of flannel for them to crawl under. We put numbers on their back with a non-toxic washable markers and made careful notes on how much milk each took in. We fed them, put a warming light over them, and hoped for the best.

That was four days ago.

Their fur is coming in, they are peeing on their own, and taking a teeny nipple we borrowed from a friend. We are so surprised at how well they are doing. We all assumed that we'd loose them all in the first day. As far as we can tell all six are going to make it.

The question Jason keeps asking us is, "Are you sure you will be able to eat them when it comes time?"

"Yes, all but the one we keep as a pet."

Jan 2013 :: Edited to add--

A few days later all the kits died. Later we finally received some credible information and learned we had fed them improperly. 

New Techniques Just in Time for Christmas

I have been having some issues with my knitting lately. I had startititus for a little bit, but fought the urge by planning a Birthday Party for my two year old. Then I kept it at bay by being involved with my church's Sunday School Kick Off planning and execution. 

Now though, my fall is stretched out ahead of me and Christmas lies in wait like a hungry lion ready to make me panic. To counter act that I have kicked my Christmas knitting into high gear. 

The first thing I cast on was a pair of socks for my hubs. I had knit most of the leg when I decided to try it on. It was way too small. As I examined my failure I noticed something in my stockinette stitch that really bugged me: ladders. When I use my dpn's I always make sure that I tighten up my stitches, so why did I have ladders? In desperation I googled "no ladders dpn" and found this life saving video. 

I had never tried it before, it never occurred to me, but it works! I knit a few rows of the sock and was happy to see no ladders! I jumped for joy! (The sock is still in my knitting bag waiting to be rewound, or burned, I can't decide which)

Gleefully I am knitting a pair of mittens for Stomper, and with this new technique there are no ladders. Cue the choir! 

One of the blogs I read is Unravelling. She does amazing things with string! She also makes mistakes when she cabling, shock! I had this issue back when I was knitting a sweater for Stomper this summer, I miscrossed my cables. I had almost finished and lo and behold a cable miss-crossed. So I would sit and frog and cry and frog and cry, but I persisted and paid attention so it only happened maybe twice. I wish I had known about laddering back. So much nicer than ripping it all out. You can read all about it in her blog post. Basically you rip out the errant portion, and just that bit, the rest of the work stays put. Then you cleverly re-knit it right! Time consuming and tedious, but not as bad as re-knitting six inches.

Hot off the needles (photos can be expected for Sundays Project Update) is a hat for Stomper. On the needles are mittens knit from some of the same yarn and then next up I will knit at least one sock for the hubby for Christmas. The object is to knit at least one sock for each of the intended recipients so that I can have at least something under the tree for them.

Fishy Party

Stomper turned two, can you believe it? Weren't we just celebrating his first birthday yesterday?

(Links for the stuff I used can be found a the end of the post)

I wasn't intending on having a big party, but sometimes my plans get away from me. When I was thinking about what theme to use I of course went straight to pintrest to search "boy party". I knew what I didn't want: a licensed character like Nemo, Transformers, or Yo! Gabba, Gabba!. Not that we don't watch or like those things, but I can't afford the cost. Somehow through the powers of pinterest I ran into the idea of a fish party. Not a Dr. Seuss kind of thing, but a fishing sort of thing.

Things sort of fell into place after that. I found some beads at oriental traders, a cake or three that I liked, a few easy games I could do on my own.  I found a bunch of coloring pages I could use for my purposes and with printer and card stock I got to work.

The first order of business was a few invites. I sent out a mass FaceBook party invite, but a few people got actual paper invites also. I found an appropriate image, sized it to fit three to a page, and strategically placed the invitation information on it. I printed out what I needed on to white card stock and then my sister and I colored them lightly with colored pencils one evening while the Hubs watched some TV. A few snips of the scissors and I had a nice stack of invites.

Next came decorations (see above photo). I found a sheet of fish in different shapes and sizes. I opened it up in word and sized it a bit larger to make it large enough to fit letters.  I then stacked several sheets of construction paper underneath the printed template and cut, cut, cut. Using some twine we had in the house and a needle I strung them up to make garland. It helped to have plenty of television episodes to watch as I cut and strung, but in a few hours (hours I might have spent snacking) I had several strands of fish garland, some that even said "Happy Birthday".

I found a third fish shape I printed out on card stock for a craft. On the day of the party I set a basket out with the fish in them, some glue sticks, ripped up pieces of paper (for scales), some shiny gems I found at Oriental Traders, and a big box of crayons. I told the kids that they were making a gift for Stomper. The fish they decorated I would string up on a mobile for him later. They loved the idea and got right to decorating right away. 

I had a plan for the cakes to use cupcakes and round cakes to make a fish. The second cake I planned on frosting blue and putting a boat on it. The idea being that the boat was chasing "The Big One". The day I baked I went on pintrest to check how the fish was made and ran into another idea that used just a sheet cake. In the end we (my MIL and I)  made four boxes of cake. Two sheet cakes, 1 dozen regular sized cupcakes, and 1.5 dozen mini cupcakes.  The cupcakes (some of which my MIL made) I decorated with pretzle rods, swedish fish, and an icing pen.

Finally, what party is complete with out some favors? For the under three crowd I made fish necklaces out of twine, card stock, and the fish template I used for the decorations. I cut out and strung six fish per necklace and instructed the parents that they were intended to be colored on. For the over four crowd I put together a necklace and bracelet craft with pony beads, fish beads purchased from Oriental Traders, twine, and elastic intended for bracelets. I put the craft in little plastic baggies and then put that in a pretty bag I bought from the "Less than Perfect" on Oriental Traders. Using the same fish for the invites I sized it a bit different to fit four to a page and printed "Thank You" across it. Then I stapled together: craft, thank you, and a single serving bag of goldfish.

Links -- my Pinterest Fishing Party Board
Mobile
Mobile Image
Invitations & Thank You Cards
Decorations -garland, "Happy Birthday"
Fish Cake with Cupcakes
Fish Cake with Sheet Cake
Rod and Fish Cupcakes
Icing Pen
Boat
Oriental Traders