Baldy
Last Saturday, we finally plucked Bennett. He had been needing it for awhile and we just didn't have time. We did it all in one session, at it went pretty quickly. He seems to be calming down more and more when we have to pluck him. Of course, now he's very bald and pink. He has one streak down his spine that is grown in a bit (about 1/2 and inch) and a very small tuft on one flank. After we pluck him, he has a tendency to lick himself all over and chap his skin, so we put him in a little bunny coat - a sweatshirt sleeve with cut outs for paws and a flap for the rump, but it didn't last very long. I took it off before he ripped it to shreds and he was getting mats in his tummy hair from the friction of the coat being wet from him grooming it and him trying to rip it off. He also has terrible behavior with the coat on - he acts out when it's on, so I just took it off and he'll have to deal with the dry skin. I'm actually kind of wondering if I could put some organic shea butter lotion that I have for my own use on him. I just don't know if shea butter is safe to consume for bunnies, because he will lick it off. We'll see. So, I took some bald bunny pictures and they are pretty cute. There is one that I absolutely adore - he was in the middle of licking his lips!
Bald boy playing with the empty Yesterday's News bag, a very favorite toy.
Wanting to know what mama's up to.
Sad dry skin.
Trying to whisker mom.
And last but certainly not least, my favorite of the whole bunch, licking lips!
Spotlight on Miss Ella
Ella's been a real cuddle-bug lately. She's really loving getting out of the cage for loves and petting. Laurie took a few picture of her having fun climbing on me a few days ago. She really loves to "dominate" me, letting me know she's the boss in our warren. She'll stand on my chest and back her butt up against my chin and just sit there. It's pretty cute. Here's some of those pictures (Laurie was taking them from below me, so it looks like I have about 5 chins - not very flattering!):
Knitting - finished socks!!!
Yay! My malabrigo socks are done! I love the "archangel" colorway, and they fit fantastically. I wore them and showed them off at horsemanship, yesterday. It's getting a bit warm to wear 100% wool socks right now, but I'm still awfully proud of them! I'm thinking of starting some new socks for myself, with the "Harry Potter" yarn that I got a long time ago. They didn't do a Hermione colorway, so I chose Tonks. The yarn is pretty wild, so I think they would be just plain stockinette stitch socks. I also have quite a few socks in progress that need working on. I really should get a working on Dr. Skinner's socks! I just can't figure out where I am in the pattern, so I need to get another pair of eyes to help me. Here are the beauties:
My first "by myself" weaving!
I'm so excited to be sharing my very first weaving all by myself, at home with my new loom! My first project is washcloths for my student raffle baskets at Camelot. I'm using Lily "Sugar n Cream" yarn (which I'm slightly regretting now - it's a pretty inexpensive yarn and it's showing in little poof balls everywhere. Note to self: buying more expensive yarn is worth it.) The washcloths are white on white in a pattern that I picked out of the extensive pattern book I have. It was a pretty easy pattern to do threading the heddles and the treadle pattern is pretty easy to remember. I'm doing finished, hemmed ends on the washcloths, so I've been putting in about half and inch or so of tabby on each end to be hemmed up. The loom has some quirks, which I was told about before hand, so I knew about them and some of them seem to be fixable. Marc helped out by un-nailing the apron strings for me, so it's the same set up as the Baby Wolf loom I learned on and is much easier for me. I can't wait to start on the towels, which are the same pattern but with color in the warp!
Here's the loom all dressed and ready to go:
And the washcloths, still on the loom.
For some reason, I spaced when I was winding my warp at TYF, but I ended up with a longer warp that I had originally planned for, so I'm going to have at least 3 washcloths off of this warp, rather than the 2 that I had expected. I'll just add the extra one or two into the gift basket! I've finished two, and hopefully I'll cut them off the loom tonight when I finish weaving the third (and maybe fourth). Then they need to be hemmed and washed. I'm so proud of myself!
A new addition
My loom came to live with us yesterday :). I'm so excited to have her here! She's a 4 harness Gilmore loom and I can't wait to weave on her. We weren't quite sure of her footprint, so we had cleared out space on my side of the bedroom to put her by the sliding glass door, but after we moved everything and she was unloaded into that spot, we realized that she would fit where we originally wanted her to be, in the living room, squeezed between the sideboard and the living room furniture. After some thought, I think we might move her again - this time into the bunny room and put a fence around her. I think that would be the best space, making her the most accessible to me when I'm dressing the loom. We'll see how soon that happens :). I'm heading into Tempe Yarn and Fiber tomorrow to use their warping mill to wind the two warps for the towel and washcloth project that I'm planning on doing for Camelot. Until I do that, all I can do is admire her :)!
Exciting news!
Can anyone guess what the news might be after this teasing picture?
Did you guess??? (Possibly, you are wondering what the picture is actually is?) You guessed right if you said that the news is I'm getting a floor loom! This calls for a squeee! A loom came available to me for a very good price and my mom very kindly offered to buy it for me. I'm going to contribute a bit to the price, buy selling my clarinet on craigslist to help. She (the loom) is coming to live with us tomorrow! I'm VERY excited and the towels for Camelot will be the first weaving project I'm going to do all by myself - on my loom! I will be posting pictures as soon as possible! And yes, I do know that I am extremely spoiled. I'm hoping to repay my mom by teaching her how to weave! Oh, if you are still wondering, the picture is of a boat shuttle, used to carry the yarn back and forth across the warp, though the raised sheds.
