Woolybuns

There's Been Knittin', Spinnin' And Bunnies

But I've been sadly lacking in posting about it to the blog. 

New bunnies, two litters.  Bibbi has her first babies.   She had 9 but 5 were huge and did not survive birth.  Other than that, Bibbi has turned out to be a fantastic mom.  There are two self blacks and two self blues in the litter.   Bibbi's mom, Opal, also had babies, 3 with one huge that did not survive birth.  Opal's 2 are wild grey (aka chestnut) and self lilac.  Opal is also a fabulous mother.   Overnight temps plummeted so I've been bringing the babies in at night, puttting each litter separately but side by side in the same shoe box.  The little minxes sometimes mix it up.  I've found all the darker babies snuggling together on one side while the lighter colors are cuddled on the other.  Fortunately, I can tell who is who by color. Here they are this morning, at 6 days old.

 

 

That splash of pink Opal's babies are curled into?  That's some knitting I'm doing for me.  The pattern: Angora Times Two Ruffled Scarf.  That's a ravelry link, but I believe you can find it online elsewhere, too, just google the pattern name.   I started with more stitches than the pattern calls for because I want mine a bit longer.  And I'm using my cormo angora mill spun yarn instead of pure angora, just because it's on hand and I want to use it.  It's a smaller gauge than the pattern calls for so I knit more rows to get the width.  The scarf is about half finished.  I now have to pick up stitches on the cast on edge and knit the same thing again.  That will be the fussy part of the pattern.  After that, it's just mindless garter stitch.  But fun.

This year, I will be putting more time into spinning.  I am on tap to teach ... something... at the bigger guild in June.  I have a couple ideas in mind for some novelty yarns, so need to perfect technique. At the February meeting, I spun the first single for that.  Guild program director needs to know details by early April so will be working on figuring it out over the next month or so.  I also got an idea while knitting the ruffle scarf so at yesterday's smaller spinning guild meeting, I started  spinning some pure angora for that project. That project is already giving me giggles so it should be pretty motivating.  Of course, yesterday's spinning is right on top of the other single, so now I have to finish the lovely soft angora that makes me smile before I can get back to the other project.  Sneaky, ain't I. 

A Week Away

When time came for Son the College Student to return to campus and campus is about half way between my home and friend Leslie's home, it doesn't take much convincing (or math) to decide that's a good time to head on down.  Son the Working Stiff so sweetly agreed to take care of the bunnies for me, so off I went to the sweet new haven of bliss Leslie is creating.  It was a week of chumming,  laughing, meeting new friends, and just simple enjoyment.  Leslie's new shop space invites friendship and preaches peace.  Friends just naturally gather there to knit, and leave refreshed.   The outside space is as inviting as the inside.  The shop is still evolving, with a Grand Opening coming up sometime this spring.  Leslie has grand plans for the shop and I eagerly await the unveiling. 

 

Of course bunnies were involved in my trip, too.  A few bunnies went with me, one to be picked up at Leslie's.  Bear, a delightful and fibery filled bunny, proved "breed like bunnies" is a big myth.  He turned out to be a dud stud, so it was time to retire  him to a pet home.  He made it clear life as a lap bunny suits him just fine.

 

Leslie and I delivered two other bunnies to another friend, and had a delightful day on the friend's farm in the sun, surrounded by sheep, goats, ducks, geese, cats and peacocks.  It always amazes me that people are surprised I make the ten hour drive to visit Leslie.  Show of hands: if you had all that waiting for you at the end of that drive, you'd go to, right? 

Somehow a couple other bunnies came home with me.  Bunny math.  It's a funny thing.  Subtraction somehow always seem to include addition.  One may not stay for long - like Bear, he is old enough to retire to someone's lap.  But the other is here for life.  That one is an 8 week old black German crossbred doe.  She looks pretty big in that photo but she's really smaller than that, age appropriately so.  She shows a lot of promise in coat and type, and I look forward to introducing her to the joy of friendship, too.  Now to come up with a name.