1 1/2 Weeks

Just had to show off the chicks. That's the first three to hatch - from front to back Numbers 2, 3, and 1.
Check out the wings on Number 2 - we're amazed by how fast the little fluffs are feathering out.

And here's Number 6. She's not deformed - there's another chick hiding behind her. I'm not sure which one it is, but I can guarantee it's not Number 4. She is a camera hog. As soon as she saw the camera, she went from this:
to this:

At one point, I had a perfect shot lined up of a couple of the other chicks, and guess who popped up?


Here's my favorite -


"You talkin' to us?"

Guess who's home from vacation?

She's back!
We buzzed up to the farm to fetch her tonight after work. After a month at the 'luxury spa' (complete with hot and cold running boyfriend), she came home all blonde and beautiful.

Merlin, our little wether, was a little confused by all the exitement. I'm sure she was carrying the smell of the ram with her. Who knows what neglected synapses were trying to fire in his poor little brain?

He kept circling her, trying to sniff her butt.And circling.
Finally she gave him The Look. You know - that "Back off, little dude, or I will thump you" look.


He came running over to me. "Mama, I'm so confused..."

We're keeping our fingers crossed that she got bred. This isn't the normal time of year for a ewe to come into season, but Shetlands can lamb a couple of times of year, so we're hopeful.
My only worry is that a lamb born in August doesn't have a lot of time to grow much of a fleece in time for winter.
I guess I could always knit it a sweater...

Still skewing around

Hey, look! Skew really does have a heel! I'm just past the magic origami row that makes this look like this:(Warning - there is Kitchenering involved. Not much, but it's sort of a surprise in the middle of a heel...)

Speaking of socks, my traveling sock is getting a lot of attention. I'm currently training in another store (One more week to go! Yay!!) which involves a 40 minute commute each way. Madman has been driving me (Will the car issues never end?) so I have time to drink my coffee and get a little knitting done.

I've got about another 1.5" to go before starting toe shaping. If I stay on task, I could have a brand spanky new pair of purple socks in no time. (Stop laughing. It could happen. Srsly.)

And here's that Cabled Coat that I keep claiming to be working on. See? Seaming in progress. I'm not exactly setting a land-speed record, but at least all the pieces are connected now. If it's cold this year for NH S&W (which is entirely possible, given the eccentricities of our weather up here) I'm going to wear it.


Whether it's done or not...

Uh oh. We're at it again...

Twenty-seven eggs this time. (Holy crap.)

And check this out - the chicks are growing wing feathers already!

Five little chickie birds

We ended up with 5 chicks out of our 20 eggs. Admittedly, we skewed the results somewhat by selecting the largest eggs - this would have limited the number of hens we were getting eggs from, and some of those hens could have been dodging the rooster.

We're going to do another batch of eggs soon, but for that hatch we'll just use straight 'nest run' eggs, so hopefully our odds will be better.

In the meantime, we're happy with our little cuties!

(And, pssst, Diane: I'm seaming my cabled coat. Got the sleeves and gusset set in, and have started sewing on the collar. You can put away the stick...)

Excuse me? This rain is defective. I'd like to return it.

I knew this was going to happen. It's why I've tried so hard not to get excited about Spring, despite the lovely warm weather we've been having lately. (It's only March...)

Friday was gorgeous. Saturday was warm, though cloudy. I even went out and worked in my flower and herb beds, pulling grass, clearing debris.
I was elated to see tulips coming up! Here's what they looked like Saturday:
and here they are today:

*sigh*

In chicken news, Number 6 deshelled herself late last night.

She's not dead; she's merely resting after a long hard day.

And then there were four

Number 4 finally made it! Hurray, Pokey!
She's the most vocal - in an angry sort of way - of the bunch, but we figure she's earned it. She pipped last night, and didn't escape the shell until 5:30 tonight. Twenty-four hours of fighting your way out of an egg is enough to make anybody cranky.
Toward the last, we did relent and give her a little help. There was a narrow strip of membrane stretched across the opening that would stretch a bit as she pushed, but was too tough and dry to break, effectively locking her in. She was getting tireder and tireder, and we hated to lose her this close to the end, so we gently broke the membrane which let her finally (eventually) break out. (Madman also gently removed the eggshell stuck to her head after the hatch - she looked like she was wearing a particularly ungainly football helmet...)
The reason you're not supposed to help is because of risk of injury to the chick. They might be stuck to the inside of the shell, and pulling on it could actually rip their skin (or worse.) It's far better to let nature take its course, hard as that may be. There were times watching Number 2 that we literally had to sit on our hands to keep from helping.

Number 6 is still working on her great escape, but we lost Number 5 soon after she pipped. (We're sad about that. She was so close to the finish line.)


Meanwhile, Numbers 1-3 got to move to the Big Girl Bin:

From left to right, that's Number 3, Number 2, and Number 1 (Gladys) - we number them by when they pip, rather than as they hatch. (I don't know why, we just do. Helps us keep track of who has hatched so far and who's still struggling, I guess.) (And yes, the green stuff is new-born chickie poop...)