And the winner is.....
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: Jon Secada "Angel"
Topic: Contest

Jessie in CT!

Jessie came up with Abigail, which suits the wheel very well. Claudia's name of Prudence came in a close second.

So I'll give Jessie a choice of 2 Winter's Night Sky roving bumps (4 ounces of German Angora/Corriedale blend) or a 2 ounce skein of the 85% German Angora/15% Merino yarn.



Abigail

Thank you to everyone who entered the contest. There were some great names sent in! :)

Ta-Dah!
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: Maroon 5 "She Will Be Loved"
Topic: Rabbit Care and Grooming

I've had several inquiries about how to make the bunny coats, so I've made a tutorial for those that are interested.

First, cut the sleeve off of a large sized sweatshirt.

Then, cut two holes in it near the seam, a couple of inches down from the wrist band.

Last, you'll probably want to cut a straight line down the wristband, just past where the wristband is sewn onto the sleeve. That way, the rabbit won't feel constricted around the neck.

After shearing, you need to get the rabbit into the coat. It's easier said that done, because they really don't want to go in. I've found the by rolling up the back part of the coat allows you to get their front legs into the armholes easier, and their head follows through then.

As you can see, the coat allows for easy movement for the rabbit, but keeps them warm.

Right now, with the temps being down into the teens at night, they really need the coat when they are shorn. Once it gets up to over 40 degrees F at night, then it can come off. I generally keep the coat on until they have 1/2" of fur, which should be about 2 weeks if you've shorn them down the to skin. Given the anticipated temps later this week, I might be able to take the coat off of him within a week.

A word of warning; some rabbits don't mind the coats. Other rabbits hate the coats and will do anything to get out of them. I've had rabbits chew their way out of a coat overnight after a late shearing, and I'll find the coat in a corner of the cage (usually peed upon so that tells you something!) and the rabbits cold but happier. If your rabbit decides it doesn't want to wear a coat, just make sure you give it some straw or hay for them to bed down into when it's colder.

Home for the day
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: Boyz II Men "On Bended Knee"
Topic: Contest

"The Question" by Robert Frost

A voice said, Look me in the stars
And tell me truly, men of earth,
If all the soul-and-body scars
Were not too much to pay for birth.




















I've had some excellent suggestions so far in The Contest, but keep them coming. I'll pick the winner on Thursday. :)

I'm home today, fighting a cold. My younger brother Luke is flying home from CA on Thursday, and my oldest brother Greg is coming home on Friday with his family, so I want to be well enough to spend the weekend with them.

I think I'll spend the day spinning the Winter's Night Sky roving that I saved out for myself. It's a future shawl.

BTW, if anyone is looking for some good light mystery reading, I highly recommend the Phillip R. Craig Vineyard Murder series. I'm on my fourth book, and really enjoying them.

A new contest!
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: Jennifer Paige "Crush"
Topic: Contest

I promised a new contest so here it is. It isn't the contest I had originally planned, but we'll do that one later this week.

I picked up my Connecticut chair wheel from Cate late this afternoon. Mamacate was kind enough to bring her all the way home from SPA, where Dave from the Merlin Tree had brought her to surprise me, not knowing that I wouldn't be there. But I'm surprised enough! She looked like this when I purchased her in September of '04 and now she looks like this:

Isn't she pretty?

Now, all she needs is a name. That is where you come in! From now until Wednesday, I would like for you to post your name suggestions. Out of the ones that I think suit her, I'll pick one and that person will win a prize from the fiber stash. If you're a knitter, I'll send you yarn, if you're a spinner, I'll send you some roving. And if you don't do either of those things, I have other cool stuff that I can send out. :)

Now, I have other things to share with you all.

Today we took a trip out to Old Sturbridge Village. This is an awesome place for people of ANY age to visit. I've been here several times, as has my husband, but my kids haven't. And they loved it (keep in mind that they are 4 and 7, so like I said, it's for people of any age). Our first stop was at the Rural Industries building, where both boys made a tin candleholders. Next we toured the Firearms and Textile building. While the guys checked out the firearms, I headed straight for the textiles. There, I found these:

I guess I was surprised because I have two wheels that are almost identical. I was also able to view 25 samplers from the 'Busy Hands and Useful Hours': Samplers and Embroidered Textiles display which was excellent! This display runs for most of the year, but don't miss it; it is well worth the trip and admission cost.

Next on our tour, we headed to the Salem Towne House where they had some sheep.

And the Salem Towne House

After that we were on to the Bullard Tavern where we had a light lunch. Then we headed over to the Fenno House, where they keep some livestock from the Heritage Breeds Conservancy, a very worthy organization. Here are a couple pictures of the sheep (look at all that lovely wool!) and a cow. Doesn't it's fur look spinnable?

We left OSV, went to Country Curtains, Crabtree and Evelyn, and then to an overpriced antique store nearby (really people, if you want antiques, do not shop at the ones in touristy areas).

We had a great day, and I have other pictures to share, but I'll share them one by one over the next few days.

So, remember to post your choice of name for my Connecticut Chair wheel in the comments section and we'll go from there!

Good luck! :)

A new contest on the way!
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: Fleetwood Mac "Go Your Own Way"
Topic: Contest

This weekend, I'll be announcing a new contest. Out of all the correct answers, I'll pick one name at random, and they will win a prize from the fiber stash.

That's all I'm saying for now about the contest; I want people to be surprised. :)

And here is my picture of the day. I took this a few minutes ago, and it has only been snowing for 45 minutes. It makes me really glad that Marcy and I finished our errand running before this hit today.

Thanks to Mamacate
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: Madonna "Frozen"
Topic: Rabbits

I saw this on her blog so I took the test.

You Are Kermit

Hi, ho! Lovable and friendly, you get along well with everyone you know. You're a big thinker, and sometimes you over think life's problems. Don't worry - everyone know's it's not easy being green. Just remember, time's fun when you're having flies!

Kermit is my favorite Muppet anyway. I saw the very first Sesame Street episode when I was two. Yep, I just gave my age away. ;-)


It's another cold day out there. We are back to plastic bowls for the rabbits for their drinking water, and extra food in their dishes. This is the second Friday of wind, so I have to watch for downed branches again. Hopefully, we won't have any problems again this weekend, but it does mean extra water for the rabbits to keep them hydrated.

Speaking of which, here is my boy Twist! Isn't he handsome? He is up for registration in April, having been shorn a month ago. He was being shy for this picture, not to mention that it's warmer in his condo unit than it is in the caged section. :)

Lots of sky pictures!
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: Queen "We Will Rock You"
Topic: Sky

This is what I saw driving on Friday: big clouds passing the Holyoke Mountain Range.

And yesterday, we drove down to New Haven, CT to IKEA. The store is interesting (and the baked herbed salmon in the restaurant was surprisingly good!), but we didn't buy much except a few kitchen tools like a colander, a Teflon whisk and some ice cube trays. Everything else in there isn't exactly my style (I'm more of a colonial style girl), but it was fun to visit. I would go back to check out more of the kitchen gadgets, which I have a weakness for. :)

After IKEA, we drove across the street to a small park to let the boys run around. And from IKEA, I had spotted a couple of lighthouses out towards Long Island sound, and I wanted to see them better.

Can you see them out there? One in the center and one way over to the right.

And here are my boys. Cal insisted that he didn't need a coat and my DH backed him up. I'm always outvoted in a household of 3 guys and 1 woman. ;-)

And how is this for a beautiful water and sky picture?

Things always happen for a reason
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: Billy Joel "Uptown Girl"
Topic: Rabbits
I was pretty bummed out when I had to make the difficult decision to not vend at the SPA this weekend. Although I made the decision at the end of December, and had very valid reasons then, this weekend they became even more apparent.

Those of us out here on the East Coast have been dealing with some serious wind the past 24 hours. Yesterday lots of trees and branches came down, causing power outages in various parts of the northeast and even 4 people died due to the wind.

We were very lucky here at BCF; only some tree branches down, and nothing landed on the barn (thank goodness!). However, when you have wind like this, and temps that drop into the teens like it did this afternoon, the rabbits need a lot of water. And the only way to make sure they get a lot of water is to be there to give it to them. I've made several trips out to the barn today to refill water bowls (the water bottles froze last night). And while I have some awesome rabbit sitters, it doesn't replace being here, ready to go out at a moments notice. I was able to keep track of any downed tree branches through the night, and keep my rabbits hydrated, which is so important in the winter. If I had been away, that would have been a real concern for me.

But I'm happy to say that the rabbits are doing fine. They've had plenty of water to drink and have been eating well (when rabbits can't drink, they don't eat, therefore they loose weight which is hard for them to put back on in the cold weather). I feel that my decision back in December had double meanings, although I didn't know it then. Like they say, when a door closes, a window opens. :)

What's that I hear?
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: Enya "Amarantine"
Topic: Rabbits

Yes, it's me on Caroline Morse' podcast The Fibercast. Caroline interviewed me about German Angora rabbits, and our small farm here. I had a blast doing the interview and thank Caroline for thinking of me when it came to rabbits. :) Check out the podcast and Caroline's blog, which has lots of great fiber arts related information on it.
If you don't have an IPod or similar device, you can download the podcasts on to your computer and listen there. Enjoy! :)

And I'll give a quick update on my husband; the first clot is going away, unfortunately, the other clots appear to be spreading, so we are still playing the waiting game. But thank you to everyone that wrote wishing him well. That means a great deal to both of us!

Now, how about this weather? I love it! In fact, this whole winter has been pretty good. When you have animals, and they are outside animals, any winter without zero and below temps is a blessing. While I've had to use water bowls for the majority of the winter, I have had times when I've been able to switch back to water bottles. Today was one of those days. When the temps don't go below freezing at night, that is a good time to start using water bottles again. It provides the rabbits with a continuous water supply, and therefore they are healthier.
Not that I can complain; there haven't been many weeks that I've had to make multiple trips out to the barn to refill water bowls like the last two winters. Any winter with temps like we've had is a good one (yes, I can hear the skier's pitching a fit, and I understand, having been a skier at one time). But when you have animals, this really is a good thing.

What's even better? The air smells like Spring today. :)

Good Morning Sunshine! (for Sandy)
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: The Platters "Only You"

This is what I saw before 7 this morning. Isn't it beautiful?

And two of my cats; Smitty (the black one) and Smoosh. They will be 10 on July 5th. Hard to believe that they are sisters, huh?

Not much else is going on here fiber wise. I've been busy with work, taking care of my husband (who has a blood clot in his leg which is spreading!) and doing some barn chores while the weather was warmer. It feels really good to get cages cleaned out when things start to melt!