Hello Kitty Hats

hello kitty hats, a photo by ElizabethTore on Flickr.

This was a quick, easy hat to whip together. I used a J hook for the larger hat, which is large enough to fit an adult. The smaller hat is for a 5 yr old, and I used an I hook.

The pattern is from Crochet in Color.

groovyghan again

groovyghan again, a photo by ElizabethTore on Flickr.

Almost done! Still thinking about adding a little more border.

Abbey and Penny

Abbey and Penny, a photo by ElizabethTore on Flickr.

Our Lucy ended up hatching two sets of babies this summer. Abbey and Penny were from the second group, born mid July. (Think Abbey Road and Penny Lane - keeping with our theme of female names inspired by The Beatles.)

Unfortunately, the other four chicks that hatched that day didn't make it. Two were accidentally killed by our dog who doesn't understand how fragile baby chicks are, and the other two disappeared. We firmly believe a hawk got them.

These two lovely ladies definitely show their blue marans heritage. They aren't pure bred, and that's okay. They are very pretty, and have great dispositions. I'm looking forward to seeing the rich, dark brown color of their eggs, although I don't expect them to begin laying for several months.

And yes, I had no intention of keeping these girls, but of course, I did. They look so different from all the other hens we have, they are a nice addition to the flock. But that's it! No more chickens. (Famous last words?)

Hello Kitty Scarf

Hello Kitty Scarf, a photo by ElizabethTore on Flickr.

Finished this cute scarf for my niece, following this tutorial by K.

The pattern was fairly easy, with good instructions.

Groovyghan progress

Groovyghan progress, a photo by ElizabethTore on Flickr.

I'm kinda in love with yarn. Can't help it.  And I have a tendency to become obsessed with projects while I'm working on them. This one has been taking a long time, but I'm happy with the results overall. Still contemplating the border. It needs something wild and fabulous. 


Edited to add - the whole thing took just 2 1/2 months.  I guess that isn't so long for such a huge project!  Apparently, I'm a little impatient. :)

Chicken Drama

Apparently, feather-sexing in mixed breed chickens does NOT work.  Two out of three babies turned out to be roos.  At eleven weeks old, one of the roos viciously attacked the little hen. Poor Rose lost all the feathers, and much of the flesh, from her head and neck.  She is now in isolation, trying to heal.  While I tried to catch her, the roo continued to attack.  I had to hit him with a broom a few times to keep him away.  Awful!

It's been a few days, and Rose is doing well.  She is alert with no signs of infection.  We continue to keep her isolated from the other hens to keep them from picking at it.  The roos have been evicted, and are now living at a friend's farm.

In the meantime, Lucy has gone broody again. She is sitting on eight eggs, due to hatch around July 17.  I have no intention of keeping any of the babies.  At about 5 or 6 weeks, whenever she is done "mothering" them, all the babies will go to the farm.

Baby Chicks

Lucy, our gorgeous Salmon Faverolle hen, went "broody" in March.  She was obsessed with sitting on eggs and trying to hatch them. Without a rooster in the yard, we knew her efforts would be met with failure. After watching her determination, we decided to help her out. A friend donated fertilized eggs, and on March 26, the incubation began.  Lucy faithfully sat on those eggs - leaving the nest only once a day to stretch and grab a bite.  Each day I'd check on things and usually found her with extras. Fortunately, we marked the 6 fertilized eggs and knew which ones didn't belong.  I'm not sure if the other hens were laying them in the nest with her, or if she was stealing them from the other nesting box, but I consistently found 7 or 8 eggs in Lucy's care.

April 14, we noticed a little hole in one of the eggs. We could hear the little baby chirping inside! After about 4 hours - our first little chick, a French Blue Copper Maran, had hatched.  In the morning, we found another freshly hatched babe, and an egg pipping.  We ended up with just 3 out of 6 hatching - but all 3 very healthy.  

If feather-sexing techniques work, we are quite certain they are all girls. Lucky us! Living in the city, we are unable to keep roosters, so any boy babies would have been re-homed after a few weeks.  In a few more weeks, we will know for sure.  Preliminary girl's names have already been chosen - Rose, Donna and Amelia. Yes, Doctor Who fans, these are three of The Doctor's companions. 

It has been fascinating to watch Lucy care for her babies. She's a great mom, and of course, all of this is natural instinct.  

You can watch the series of videos with Donna hatching here:

It's a snowy day - time to write!

Lately, I've been "bitten" by the Pinterest bug.  I thought StumbleUpon was the devil - until I discovered Pinterest. Holy Cow!  LOVE IT.

I've filled boards with gorgeous, colorful pictures of things I like - food, crochet projects, artsy-craftsy things I will never have time for but wish I did.  It's a dream and a nightmare all in one. (But more of a dream, for sure.)

Stumble Upon is the Devil

Yup, it is. Don't sign up for it - it will suck away all your time.

I've been stumbling around the internet lately, looking at projects other people are crocheting. It reminded me that I used to make lovely things, too.  It's been years. Seriously.  

So guess what I'm doing now? That's right - I've got a huge bag of vibrant yarn and I'm working on a new blanket. I think it's turning out quite nice.  This photo doesn't really do it justice. 

Pictures from Summer 2011

I'm having a hard time transitioning to fall.  Don't get me wrong - I love the change in seasons. I guess I'm just not ready for summer to end.  

We picked 42 pounds of strawberries and made multiple batches and varieties of jams:  strawberry, strawberry rhubarb, strawberry vanilla, strawberry rum, and strawberry rum syrup.  

We also made amazing strawberry sorbet, with my new Cuisinart Ice Cream/Frozen Yogurt Maker.  I'm wondering why I waited so long to buy that.  OMG. I felt compelled to test as many ice creamy things as possible, so we had lemon, raspberry and strawberry sorbets, lemon frozen yogurt, vanilla ice cream, and chocolate chip ice cream.  I'm hooked.

I've still got a gallon ziploc bag of strawberries in the freezer - waiting for the middle of winter - when I need to remember summer.   

Seriously delicious.  We will be making this again. And again. 

Chickens!  Hey, how did they get in here?

These garden shots are from the middle of summer, when everything was big, green and lush.  Pictures from today are not so pretty.  I've still got a few things to harvest:  basil, carrots, and butternut squash.  But really, it's over. 

The garden was decent this year, although not as productive as I would have liked.
Increasing productivity is on my reading/research list for winter.  Next year, I'm not even trying summer squash.  No squash vine borers will be fed in my yard. Hopefully, the year off will get rid of them.  I'm tired of building up my hopes, only to be frustrated and disappointed by no zucchini.  

Broccoli plants early in summer. . .

Fresh broccoli is amazing.

No shortage of cucumbers from the garden, and that means pickles - lots and lots of pickles! I like to use a Bread 'N Butter recipe, but make it a little less sweet than normal.  And, I love sweet onions with the cukes.  Some jars even got a few hot peppers to liven things up.   

My first attempt at homemade ricotta cheese:

Simmering the milk & cream with the juice of half a lemon.You can see the curds and whey separate. Turn it off and allow to cool.  Strain in cheesecloth, collecting the whey in a bowl.  My dogs thought it was the best treat ever.   In the winter, I'll use the whey in homemade bread.  

Stuffed shells with homemade ricotta and sauce from the garden. Mmmmmm. Yes, it was as delicious as it looks.  I will never buy ricotta from the store again.  This was just too easy, and absolutely superior.  

For the first time ever, I made Sweet & Hot Pepper Jelly.  It is so beautiful!  And I really did it from scratch.   I made apple jelly from the skins and cores of apples I picked at a local farm.  The good parts went into our first apple crisp of the season.  I love that I could use the "unusable" parts this way before composting. I chose to start with apple jelly so that I wouldn't need to add in pectin. To the apple jelly, I added chopped sweet red peppers and a variety of hot green peppers.  

Canning reduced the heat of the peppers a little bit, but overall, this is a great condiment.  We've been  using it as a dip for cream cheese wontons and egg rolls.  I also like it with cream cheese on crackers.  Yummo.