Christmas crochet presents

Baylee Bear Cowl:

I modified the pattern to widen the bottom section, so that it fits loosely over the shoulders. I also used a different stitch (ripple stitch) to add texture to the hood, so it would be more interesting. This is for my sister, to keep her warm during Burning Man nights.


Basket Weave Headband:

This was also for my sister to wear to festivals. I wanted to make a headband that used some of the feathers my hens had dropped while growing up. I first chose the yarn to match these feathers from the Rhode Island Red. I used the basket weave pattern, then added small black beads and copper ornaments. I am so in love with the matching button with four marks, sticking up just like the four feathers.


Egg Cozies:

My parents and I like to eat fresh boiled eggs, usually 2 per meal. Now we can keep the extra eggs warm. I made this pattern myself. I kept the one on the left and gave a set of the one on the right to my parents.


Kitty Collars:

These are for my sister's boyfriend's 2 cats. I made the pattern myself. I think I'm going to write it up and try to sell it on Ravelry. (Though I need to take nicer pictures first!)

Recently finished crochet projects

They all needed buttons, but now they're finished!

Lacy Cowl:

This didn't quite come out right. When I brought the two sides together to sew the buttons on, I realized that the right side is taller than the left side. (You can see it in the top photo.) I have no idea how that happened. It bothers me enough that I might frog and redo this entire thing.


Petite Scarf:

It's okay. This was actually one of the earliest pieces I made; I just hadn't gotten around to putting a button on it.


Margaret Button Cowl:

Simple but warm and elegant. I've already gotten a number of compliments on it.


Crocodile Stitch Booties:

These are fun. The lighting here is terrible but the colors made a sort of pink camo print. My only problem with the pattern is that it asks you to tightly pull together 6 stitches to close the top of the slipper section, which is difficult to do and looks messy.

Zipper replacement

Last year the dogs chewed on my down jacket because I'd left it hanging over a chair with a few treats in the pocket. Surprisingly, they only messed up the zipper and did not actually put a hole in the fabric, which they mostly just licked. Yesterday I finally sat down to replace the zipper. The most time consuming part of this was using the seam ripper to remove the old zipper. I then proceeded to sew in the first half of the new zipper, and I was happy with my handiwork:

I even put a binding over the edge of the zipper. Good job, me!

Then it was time to unzip the new zipper and pin it to the other side of the jacket and I realized...

I'd purchased the wrong type of zipper. This one did not separate.

So I used the seam ripper to remove the new zipper as well, and put in an order for a separating zipper. Lesson learned.

Rabbit broth

4 liters of rabbit broth. Guess what happened the first time I poured myself some soup.

Molting chickens

Egg production has steeply dropped off. At first I assumed it was due to the shorter days, but this morning I noticed that the coop had a handful of feathers scattered around. It seems my girls are molting for the winter.

However my least favorite chicken, the Ameraucana, is redeeming herself by continuing to lay one blue egg nearly every day.

Coop upgrades

The 100 foot extension cord is still stretched across the yard to the chicken run, which is handy for making quick little upgrades like this latch to hold the door open. (We'd previously been using a large rock to prop it open.)

At some point I should invest in a power saw, but my cheap handsaw was enough to cut through this plastic trellis I picked up at Urban Ore.

I used it to fence off the corner of the run where I dump used chicken bedding. The girls had of course been scratching in it and spreading it all around. Keeping it in a pile will help it heat up and decompose more quickly.

The Ameraucana seems to have been playing a prank and laid a half-sized egg last week, followed the next day by a quarter-sized egg. The third day's egg was back to normal. I'm told that this just happens sometimes with young hens.

Raised bed update

I made a big mistake when I put this squash plant into the southeast corner of the bed. It's casting a lot of shade on the plants behind it. D'oh.

The lemon balm was finally starting to grow nicely went something did a number on it.

Next to the raised bed, my dwarf mandarin has grown nearly two feet in the past few months. Pretty soon I'll be trimming those top branches. Maybe then it will finally have energy to grow its fruit to maturity, instead of dropping the still-green balls?