The Plan

Ok, here's the plan. This blog will stay alive until I can transfer the info over to Jardin. Then, that will be my main blog for everything. This is going to be interesting...

New House!

Chris and I have been super busy this past week moving into our new HOUSE! It's wonderful! 3 bedroom, 1 bath in a nice neighborhood in town. I'm the most excited for the fenced-in back yard for Bo and Neville. There's even a raised bed for a vegetable garden! We are so blessed :)

Here are a few close-up shots of the plants growing wild in the yard:





I'm not sure what all is there, but there's definitely some Creeping Charlie and Wild Garlic. At first, I let Neville play around in the entire yard. That was a mistake for 2 reasons. #1:





Neville was a MESS after that!!! XD He had fun though, so the extended grooming session was worth it. But...(here comes reason #2) I've been hearing mixed reviews about Creeping Charlie for rabbits. Is it safe? He ate some and was fine, but I want to be more careful. Plus, there are all sorts of bunny-poisonous plants in the yard (ivy, bulbs, etc.) and some that I want to plant in the flower beds (ferns and such), so I decided to build him a little run for outside! :) It's going to be around the base of one of our pecan trees. I'm going to put up a 2 ft fence with rabbit wire, and on the inside I'm going to plant grass, lettuce, cilantro, parsley, clover, and some strawberry plants. Hey rabbit experts, any red flags popping up? I researched it a LOT, but I still want to be careful!!!

So that's been my life as of late: moving, gardening, playing with the pets :) Here are a couple of videos of Neville being adorable, just for good measure ;)

Wheel!

Still trying to get the parts to fix it!

Neville!!

Daww!!

I got to visit my baby yesterday :) He's getting so big and fluffy!!





The breeder says he's part prairie dog because he's always standing on his hind legs like that. So cute!! Still haven't decided on a name. I think I'll wait until I have him here for a bit and get to know his personality.

Guess What!

I bought a spinning wheel!! :D I got it for a good price on eBay, but for that price, it's coming to me incomplete. BUT! I bought the parts I need to replace and they are here already! Now I'm just waiting for the wheel to arrive :) I'm so excited!!

I also think I've decided what kind of bunnies I want: a lilac tort and an agouti of some kind (an opal or a chestnut, probs). I had visited the rabbitry a few weeks ago and got to meet the bunnies. Some of the babies were so sweet! One even licked my nose. Well, genius me, I just realized that the sweet little bunny is a LILAC TORT!! I just might have to ask the breeder to keep him for me until May :) We'll see if he's still available.

Here's a video of the cuteness!!

EDIT: He's available!! :D The breeder is holding him for me!! WOOOO!!!

Categorizing Bunny Names

I've been thinking about bunny names. I really like the idea of giving them French names. Only one problem: they're ENGLISH Angoras. So. I'm thinking I might do Shakespearean names after all. If I get French Angoras, I'll give them French names, etc. What to do with the glorious Greek names... I really like Persephone. I dunno. Maybe I'll get Satins again someday (or Satin Angoras, perhaps? I know; I'm obsessed!) and give them cool Greek names. OR! Since Shakespeare wrote about some Greek gods/people/exploits, I could use that as a reason to give them Greek names!

Or I could stop being such an anal perfectionist and name them whatever the heck I want! GAH!

Bunny Names!

I can also use this time to pick out bunny names! I've already got a few ideas.

For the girl I have Persephone, Merope, Hermione, and Phoebe. I think Persephone and Phoebe are the best. Hermione is more of a cat name. I'll save Merope.

For the boy, I'm thinking Astyanax, Hephaestus, Hyperion, or Cronus. Tristan would also be a cute name. Maybe Demetri.

And, no, I don't want to name them "Romeo and Juliet" or "Tristan and Iseult" after a famous, tragic couple. Then I'd feel bad later on the line if/when I expand my herd and have to breed Hamlet to both Ophelia and Desdemona. What would Othello say!? (Though, now that I'm actually thinking about it, it is kind of funny! Oh, the scandal! Maybe I'll reconsider.) I would name the boy Iago after the best Shakespearean villain EVER, but people would just assume that Aladdin was my favorite Disney movie. Which it's not. That would be Beauty and the Beast, thank-you-very-much. Oo! Belle would be a pretty name!

The Bunneh Situation

I'm still dead set on getting an angora. Two, actually. A breeding pair! :) I am, however, going to have to wait until JUNE to pick them up :( That way, Chris and I can move and get settled into a house (if we find one around here for rent at a good price) before bringing them home. I've been reading books and forums like MAD to make sure I'm as ready as possible.

In the meantime, I plan on going to fiber festivals and some rabbit shows. I think I'd like to start showing again someday, or at least have the option available for my future kids. I loved being in 4H, and I would love to be able to pass on that experience and joy. Haha, I remember, when I was little, I used to climb into the rabbit cages with my dad's New Zealands and pet them! Big rabbits. Big cages. It worked out. I think I was only 4 or 5.

Anyway, I'm not sure if I want to invest in a spinning wheel just yet. Chris and I are still poor college students, after all. But without a wheel, I'm not sure what I'd do with the fiber in the meantime. Sell it? Box it up for later? That's why I'm going to go to shows. Maybe establish some contacts; figure out what I want to do about spinning, selling, breeding, etc. I'm thinking about a drop spindle, but I've heard they're hard to work with, and also that Angora can be slippery. Doesn't really sound like a good combo to me.

SO yeah, I just need to bide my time, be patient, keep researching, and enjoy my final few months of not having to comb out a rabbit daily! ^_^ Haha, nah, it'll be fun. Just time-consuming.

SO EXCITED!!!

*deep breaths*

How to Wind a Ball with a Center Pull

I thought this was neat and am mainly re-posting it so I know where to look if I ever need to do it!

"Winding a Skein Into a Centre-Pull Ball"

From Ariadne's Weblog.

Too Cool!

It's a Knitting Basket Cake!! How. Cute. Applies to both blogs! :D

I WANT A BUNNEH!!!!

I want a bunny terribly. I'm looking at getting an English Angora so I can spin its lovely fiber :) I found an ARBA registered breeder only 45 minutes from us!! Here's his website: The Fair Hare. There's a SUPER CUTE Bunny Cam which is a webcam he sets up over his bunnies so you can watch a live feed of them being adorable!! I have to confess...I've been watching it all day ^_^ I've also been researching them for the past 24+ hours. I've been learning so much: grooming, feeding, house training, even the genetics behind coloration. I just spent a few hours reading articles and taking a quiz! For example, a Blue Tort Angora will have at least these genes: aaB_C_ddee. As usual, the upper-case is dominant and the lower-case is recessive, therefore, you need only one dominant in order to show, but two recessive in order to show. aa = non-agouti, B = black, C = colored, dd = dilute (dilute of black is blue), and ee = non-extended (tort). The empty space next to B could be B or b (b is brown), and the empty space next to C could be C or c (or a bunch of other c's with superscript letters that I don't want to explain. Plain ol' c is for the albino gene). How cool is that??? Well, I think it's fun ;) If you want to try it out, HERE's the link.

Chris and I plan on taking a trip to see his rabbitry in a few weeks to chat and visit the bunnies. We're thinking we'll be able to get one in May, and that works perfectly if he breeds the rabbits when we visit or if he has already bred some right before (one month gestation period and 2 months for weaning). Wouldn't that be cool? I could watch my bunny grow from conception!! Haha, well, maybe not that closely! Maybe right after that! I also want to be able to visit the bunny (once a week?) while he/she is growing up before I can take him/her home. I'll have to work that out with both Chris and the breeder. I don't know if I want a boy or girl yet. I'm thinking a girl, since Bo is a boy. He might bond better with her if she's not oozing testosterone. All details to be worked out in a few weeks :)

I'M JUST SO EXCITED!!!

Latest 2 Projects

I crocheted a couple of Christmas presents in 2010. I did a couple of coffee cozies for my mother-in-law and a Cthulhu hat for my hubby! Both Patterns came from Ravelry. Here are some pics!











Now I'm working on knitting a scarf! I've never knitted anything before, so this should be an adventure! I'll post pics when it's done :) Wish me luck!!