Oh Lawdy!

Really, I haven't posted in two months?!? So sorry 'bout that. I've been having so much fun with Raverly and the baby bird and the girls and what-not I just haven't been a productive blogger at all. See, now you all know how well I keep a diary. Not well at all.

OK, on to pictures.....

a quick history of a growing bird:
(we won't know the sex until after it's first molt but we're all guessing it's a boy)
When the baby was only about 3 weeks old he got sick. Very, very sick. Like thought he was already dead when I found him lying on the floor of the nest and was cold to the touch. He had crop stasis which is where the crop (neck buldge that holds food) got too full and wouldn't empty properly. This of course meant I had to hand feed him from here on out plus give him 3 med's a day for a few weeks and weigh him every day to make sure he was growing properly. Yeah, fun. But thanks to some great vets and a lot of TLC I'm happy to say he's as good as new! Better in fact, because when he was new he was sickly.

The red you see there is brusing.

finding yet another use for the mail scale

all the med's

feeding time

being a ham for the camera as always

Starting to get feathers and learning balance

learning to get around

trying solid food

Trying popcorn for the first time. Finds it very acceptable.

Now he looks just like a real bird and he's learned to fly and fend for himself around the food bowl with all the other birdy's. Life is good.

Onto the knitting finally...


I had finished one of these forever ago but knit it all wrong so I frogged it and re-knit the pair. They have toes out of a different yarn because I ran out of the Knit-Picks parade.

Made mom some yoga socks for her birthday


sweater was coming along until I started a million other projects. I am just now picking it up again.

Threw a totable project on the needles but haven't done too much with it.

I also made a birthday girl a requested present but I can't post a picture yet. Today is her birthday so she'll see it soon and then I can share :-)

Last but not least, I got honorable mention again for the Knitty 2009 Calendar contest! Apparently my picture's so naughty that it will only show up if you're logged in to Flickr and even then you have to click agree to view it. I wasn't going for anything that would offend, but it's always nice to be considered too racy for the general public ;-)


HALLY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

New stuff's a brewin'

After finishing the blanket I decided I wanted to do another large project so I finally cast on for the Cardigan for Arwen in luscious Noro Cash Iroha. I had to frog about 6 inches because the gauge was off, but now I'm on a slow but steady roll. It's actually a pretty rust color but it looks a little washed out in this photo.

More excitingly though, this time last week I was surprised with a new baby bird! Basically after carefully candling the eggs of three female birds for over five years one slipped passed me. I realized last Tuesday night that one looked awfully dark which either meant it had gone bad or something was growing inside. By the next night I had my answer. So now I have SIX cockatiels. SIX! But you know what, I don't care, s/he's so ugo that s/he's cute and really, what's one more bird?

Just born!

Feeding at less than two days old


And here's tonight at one week - look at how quickly it grew! It looks like some weird little fluffy dinosaur or something doesn't it? Yes, you will be seeing a lot more bird pictures, I just can't help myself!

Tis Done!

The Lion Brand Artful Afghan was finally finished on Saturday! It's not as a big as I would like but it's still a great great throw and I can't wait to see if the blocking helped at all. It's supposed to be 64" at it's biggest point which seems to be diagonal - mine's about 60ish. I would definitely do this pattern again with a heavier weight and bigger needle or do it in the same yarn as a child's blanket. Either way I'm so happy with the colors I picked - a big worry of mine in the beginning. As previously mentioned, one of the Knit Picks cables broke during the making of the blanket but they decided to replace the cable after-all even though it was out of warranty - I actually already received it, can you believe that?
On a gardening note, my first two Morning Glory flowers FINALLY bloomed. I've never had a problem with the in all these years but for the first time ever I was thinking I was just not going to see a single flower this summer even though they grew all the way up to the rain gutters. Hopefully this is only the beginning in the blooming to come.

Oh for knits sake!

The blanket is very near done and I couldn't be happier. However there was a small glitch this weekend which really hindered my progress... Uhh yeah, the cable broke on one of my needles mid-knit! Of course this decides to happen while I'm away at my friends lake house (perfect knitting venue) so now I'm sitting there scrambling to put the stitches back on the cord and tie it shut so they don't slip off again. I even tried my most favorite of products, Krazy Glue, but that didn't work either. Sadness. The only saving grace is that I had a second cable at home so things should be good from here on out (fingers crossed).
I know, it's hard to get an idea of what it's going to look like (should have taken a picture when I was switching the cables out) but I think it's gonna be a new favorite of mine. I'm not sure what to work on next, but I'm inspired by large items so I may start a sweater. Of course after this weekend I got orders from all the girls for Fetchings, Pantas and pulse warmers so a sweater might have to wait. Oh and a funny hat. And a scarf. They're going to turn me into a one woman sweat-shop! (not that I mind in the least)
Lastly, in knitting news, I had to give away the Monkeys to my size 5&1/2 footed friend because I apparently felted them in the wash and they have no more give to get them over the heel. I mean, technically I got into them, but if you break a sweat putting on socks it's time to release them into the wild. I guess that means I'll just have to make another pair one of these days.

Nikki's happy feet

It's been a while

Finally found a use for the Noro Aurora I bought at Stitches a couple of years ago. I loved that it had the little bit of teal glitter in it but wasn't sure what to make. And then it hit me, a Clapotis scarf! I love the way it came out and remembered how much I love the pattern. I'll definitely be making this scarf again, maybe with some more Noro in the stash.

Got another dishcloth done. I couldn't decide if I wanted to make the purple the main color or the multi-color the main so I decided to switch it up half way through. Next time I'll make an opposite version with the left-over yarn.

Last but not least, I decided to finally get started on the Artful Afghan I fell in love with years ago. I've been meaning to make this blanket for so long and had even started collecting random skeins to get it going but finally caved and went on Lion Brands site and bought the rest of the colors since it seems AC Moore and Jo-Ann Fabrics is pulling it off their shelves. Of course most of the colors originally called for are discontinued now so I had to wing it, which is hard when you can't see the colors in person, but so far I'm happy with my choices. I can't wait to get this bad-boy off the needles and see it in all it's colorful glory. Pray it's big enough because I'm not buying anymore yarn to add to it!