More baby bunnies

The bunnies are cracking their eyes now. This photo was taken yesterday. The mother is no longer covering the nest, so they have been venturing out a little. Today they were all curled up under the light. The runt of the little is the little red one on the left. Some of them are really big!

I have been busy spinning bits and pieces in an effort to clean up the studio and clear the clutter - so I can make a new mess. I have also been splitting my time between the two shawls that I am working on. Both are about half done. I will be working on the southwestern one while I watch Lost with Kyle and his girlfriend tonight. Two hours of knitting.

Glad it is not me

I took this photo of Latte last night. She does not have udders yet, so she is at least a month away from delivery. She has given me triplets in the past, so I am expecting the same this year, since she is already so large. She has saddlebags, or the middle aged spread. She is running around really well and is still a little hard to catch - which amazes me based on her size.

The animals out of pens means a lot more raking to keep it nice for visitors. I was raking by the light of a halogen tonight. It takes longer to rake than there is daylight after shop hours. Desert, the Rambouillet ram in the pen on the right has already busted the back panel of his pen. He does not want to be in there alone. I might have to get pens fixed before the mud room at this rate.

A photo of the bunnies from two days ago. They are already a lot bigger. There appear to be three reds, a black, a white and a peach. The wool is just starting to come in. I found the black one outside the nest this evening. Nice and plump. I lost the other black one yesterday. It was not growing and bottle feeding did not work. The rest look like they are all going to make it now.

Changes

One pen of animals escaped yesterday, so I let all of the rest out today with Tor's help. The ones that had escaped were banging on fences, so it became a way to return peace. Some of the animals can be very vocal when left on their own. Of course, this means a lot more raking. Unbelievable how much of a mess the few escapees made in one night.

While letting animals loose, we took time to trim a few hooves and check for udders. The Rambouillet are about a month out and so is one of the Shetland/Border Leicester crosses. Garnet, the Jacob ewe will probably be the first to deliver. I expect the next month to be rather quiet.

Baby bunnies

The pink are probably going to be white babies and the gray will the blacks. All 8 survived the night. I am a big believer in letting nature take its course. They seem to be doing well. Not exactly cute right now!

Baby bunnies

No photos - but Lindt, my doe rabbit had 10 babies, 8 of which were living when I last checked. Very squirmy.

Other animal news - baby season is fast approaching. Garnet, the Jacob ewe has the beginnings of udders. She was the the first to deliver last year and looks to be the same this year.

Will keep you posted and maybe get photos tomorrow.

New colors

I just listed this yarn on my etsy shop. It was a lot of fun to spin, since they are not my usual colors. I named it South of the Border, since it reminds me of the Mexican colors that you see in their pottery. I am spinning a single to go along with it. I can just see it being knitted up in the yellow and green shawl pattern that I wrote. A friend bought a skein of the freeform yarn that had flowers that I had crocheted in it. They looked so cool knitted up that I decided to start adding some to yarns on a regular basis.

I am busy on a new freeform shawl. It is in shades of pink, blue, and white. I have already started sewing the pieces together and plan to get a few more attached tonight. I am hoping that I can exert some self control and not make it quite as large as the last one. My goal is to have it almost done by the 28th of January, when the Tucson Visitor Center volunteers come out to take a tour of the ranch.

Projects and an ornery doe rabbit

Above is a sampling of the yarns that I have spun over the past few days. They are now hanging in the shop.

Lindt (finally remembered what I had named her!), is most definitely pregnant and due any time. I took this photo with the intentions of putting it on my blog on Saturday. She decided that the nesting box was not good enough for her. I put newspapers in to block the wind from below and put a light on the area where she has started a nest. Since it rained this weekend, I took out the damp papers and gave her some paper towels to play with. Her nest is now much taller than the box and has paper towels in it as well. She cleaned her whole cage! Hope she delivers soon and has live babies. The alternative is too depressing.

While my sister Paula was here, we felted bags and finished some that I have had hanging around for a while now. The blue/pink one at the bottom started out as a vase. This is much nicer.

A few of us have tried out nuno felting and variations on it. This neck warmer started out significantly larger. It is my favorite among the pieces that I did. Some of the other projects turned out really well. I plan to take better photos of them and post them.

Anyhow, I am now ready to list a date for nuno felting. It will probably be in February, unless I get an earlier request.