fraternal twins

I've finally done it. I knit my first pair of truly fraternal twin socks. I think I love them, because they aren't identical although they are both knit from stone washed zauberboll sock yarn. I'm not big on the actual yarn because it tends to separate as you knit with it, but I do love the longer color repeats.

The pattern I used is from Cookie A.'s Sock Innovation book and is called Lindsay. Again I modified the socks. I didn't make the garter stitch cuff, garter stitch short row heels, or garter stitch toes. I also moved the seam line (what I'm calling what the area that was designed to go down the side of the socks) to the back of the sock because I liked that better. I also knit them on two size 0, circular needles, two at a time. Hence, I increased the number of pattern repeats to allow me to use 72 stitches.


Here's a better picture of the pattern. It's a very easy, lacy pattern to knit and I'd consider doing it again with my changes.

-Myrtle

Birth of Esther

DS2 was the midwife at the birth of Baby Esther, an Alpaca Cria, on Wednesday. He did a fantastic job and his boss was thankful that he was there when Esther was born. DS2 called me to come up and help and as a family we all went up and had a wonderful as Esther learned to stand up and nurse.

Today I was present at the 2 of 3 expected Cria births. It's another female, as yet un-named. But she's a light fawn color versus Esther's beautiful chocolate brown. Now my neighbor wants the hayer to come back again because he has been on her property for both births so far and she's starting to wonder if his presence was all that was needed to encourage these mom's to give birth.

-Myrtle

Binky's Hatching Photos

It starts with a hole which I work on and work on and work on until finally I crack the shell open.


I thought cracking the shell was hard, but then it's time to wiggle and squirm!


I've got to keep on moving. I'll be out soon.

Ah! I've finally made it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now just to rest up, dry off, and maybe later I'll get something to drink.

Introducing Binky, Que, and Bator

The guys have named all 4 chicks. The first is Inky (or as they perfer to spell it Incky). Then came Binky (Bincky) the next morning. Following Binky were Que and Bator. For those who are feeling slow think Incky Que Bator as in where they were born.

The fifth chick who tried to hatch yesterday didn't make it. It wasn't strong enough to get through it's shell. I don't know if any more chicks will hatch from this batch, but it's been fun so far.

So without further ado. Here are Binky, Que, and Bator.
These two are Inky and Binky.


These two are Binky and Que. Que is the traditional yellow looking chick.



This is Bator hatching. Bator has now hatched, but I don't have pictures of that yet.

It appears 4 chicken chicks is all that will be hatching. DH says no more appear to look like they'll hatch. We did have one die in the process of hatching.

-Myrtle

Shortly after birth pictures of Inky

Here are a couple of pictures my husband took last night of Inky right after birth. Inky is still wet and not yet fluffy. You'll see some small eggs along with larger eggs near Inky. The smaller eggs are the Guinea Fowl eggs which aren't suppose to hatch until this Sunday, while the larger ones are the chicken (both Rhode Island Red and Ameracuna hens crossed with our Ameracuna rooster) eggs. Inky is an RIR cross, since the shell it came out of is the brown one.

-Myrtle

1st Baby Chick

Our first incubator chick has hatched. It arrived around 10 pm last night with the shouts of joy from the older boys who discovered it. Chick watch is going in full force as the younger two today keep watch to see if more hatch.

I happen to be out of town so I don't get to experience the fun, but I do get to give directions for setting up the new brooding box for this chick and possible others as they come out. I'm told "Inky" is now completely dry and active and looking for a new home outside the incubator.

Inky is a Rhode Island Red crossed with our Ameracuna rooster. Since I'm not there and I don't know how to vent sex a chick, I have no idea if Inky is male or female. I've been told there are several more eggs cracking and the next one to hatch will be Binky.

I personally was surprised this one even hatched. 21 days in the incubator was this past Sunday and I felt that I must have done something wrong since none hatched. Now, I'm just wondering if my chicks are like my boys and all liking to arrive in this world later than their expected due date.

-Myrtle, who wishes she was at home with the new chick instead of working on site.

CIC Socks

I've finished 10 pairs of CIC (Children in Common) socks. I've been knitting these socks with donated yarn and most of them come from skeins that have 10-40 yards of wool. It's made it interesting for me to try and find ways to use it. But I've enjoyed the challenge and especially the most recent 5 pairs which I did in various colorwork patterns.

Now it's off to the post office to send them in and I'll go back to other knitting for awhile.

-Myrtle

Gardening anyone?

My garden is finally in. I now have corn, beans, squash, melons, cucumbers, pumpkins, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, carrots and beets in. Along with this I now have 6 new strawberry plants and my raspberry plant in.

The onions have grown by leaps and bounds and are starting to put seed heads out on them. And happily I got everything in 2 days ago before it started into major rain storms again.

Some of the seeds were really old (up to 10 years) while others were newer (this years). I'll see what comes up and go from there, but I'm happy to have it in and know that we'll start having fresh vegetables in a few months.

-Myrtle