Wah-lah!
Mood:  blue
Now Playing: Lindsey Buckingham "Trouble"
Topic: Fiber

No, I'm not feeling blue, but have lots of blue surrounding me.

Here are three of the plyed skeins.

I was having some trouble plying the first singles off of the second bobbin as I apparently spun them a bit thinner than the rest of the singles spun on Sunday (a good reason to finish your spinning on the same day!). This resulted in two breaks while plying, thus, the smaller skeins. But, once I got down to the Sunday singles, it has been smooth sailing.

I'm really pleased at how the yarn has come out. I still have 2 half full bobbins left to ply, and I'll finish those up today. I'll also wash these three skeins today too so that I can see the bloom from the angora. :)

Oh, and yes, I use scrap acrylic yarn to tie my skeins with instead of using the same yarn. Why waste perfectly good yarn on ties when you have scrap stuff lying around?

What do you know!
Mood:  chatty
Now Playing: Modern English "I Melt With You"
Topic: Fiber

Yes, I've been spinning! Yesterday afternoon, I brought out my Joy and spun almost 2 full bobbins of the Winter's Night Sky roving (German Angora/Corriedale blend). It took me almost 5 hours to spin that much, but I'm spinning it really fine, so that I can use it later for a shawl. This is what it looks like on the bobbin:

When I finish working today, I'll spin up the rest of this bobbin, and ply the two together. I can't wait to see what it looks like finished. This is something I've been planning since last October when this lovely roving came back from processing.

Yesterday wound up being a busy day. In the morning, my husband and I finally planted 2 sweet cherry trees and two peach trees. I actually bought them last year and I never got them in the ground. They survived the winter in their pots, and we took advantage of the warmer weather to get them planted in the back of our yard. Cherry trees don't need much pruning, but egads! pruning peach trees makes me feel like you're killing them. With peaches, you have to prune them back to just a few larger branches, and then cut those back severly. Even my husband wondered if they would make it back to fruit bearing. :)

I'll leave you with some pictures I took while out working today. One of the cool things about my main job is that I get to travel around, and I see neat things to photograph.

An old family cemetary over in Deerfield, MA

Sugaring season in Deerfield, by the Connecticut River

Some bunnies don't like their coats....
Mood:  incredulous
Now Playing: Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch "Good Vibrations"
Topic: Rabbit Care and Grooming

As you can see.

Gwertz chewed most of it off between last night and today, when I went out to feed and water the rabbits. He was wearing like a superman cape. :) Oh well, the temps are warm until Wednesday and by then, he'll have a week's worth of growth on him.

And then some kitties like Smitty think that old bunny coats smell really good!

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?