A Girl's Gotta Knit

A blog about opening A Swell Yarn Shop, knitting and the rest of the stuff that makes life fun :)

Saturday, February 28, 2009

New Funky Do!

I do love to try new stuff with my hair...I figure, it's just hair, it will grow back so what the heck!
Well, all my life I have gone from hair stylist to hair stylist trying to find someone who will do something to my hair that makes me go, "That's it!!!! I love it!" I have had so many hair cuts that look nice, but 'nice' is not what I have been going for.
I FINALLY met my perfect hair stylist...I am keeping him FOREVER
because he created this....

A look that is soooooo completely different than anything I have ever had!

But it totally suits me. It is (at least in my opinion) the perfect hair cut!!!!

Now, my hubby, on the other hand, this hair cut is a little outside his idea of a perfect cut on me. Like most guys, he does love long flowing hair (which I had when we got married), but it's nothing that a few extra hugs and kisses and big bowls of ice cream can't fix :)

They grow up so fast!

It is absolutely amazing how fast these little buggers grow!
It has only been 3 days since they were hatched and they already have wing feathers! It was soooo cool to watch too. I looked at them first thing in the morning yesterday and they each only had a feather or two...by that evening, they had their whole first row of feathers. By today, they are already working on the second row!
And what little cuties they are.
I can already tell which one is a bit of a bully. I read that to keep pecking at eachother down, you need to keep their boredom down. So I sprinkle little bits of spreaded paper at one time, put wooden perchs in at another time, toilet paper rolls later, etc.It seems to be working so far...I haven't seen the horrific cannibal pecking that I read can happen, but the sense of urgency to get the coop done as they grow so quickly is definitely on us.


So, thanks to my husbands endless skills as a carpenter, we whipped out the frame of the coop last night.
What you see is a coop that stands 8' tall and there will be a door I can walk into at this end. Then the platform you see will be their 'coop' portion with the roosts and the nesting boxes and it will be closed in. The floor/ground area will be entirely open except for the ramp leading into the coop.

They say you need 5 sq ft of space per bird, if you count just the floor area, they have that! If the coop area and all the roosts are added to that, then we totally have room for like 5 more chickens :) hubby isn't going for this calculation so I think we will stay put with our 9!!!!

But seriously, 9 chickens will give us more than enough eggs and entertainment.

I already have a waiting list for the eggs!!! Everyone loves farm fresh eggs!!!!!! :)

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Little changes become big changes :)


As we are work our way towards a 'green' lifestyle...
Once you learn a little about the damage that the everyday household products and foods are causing, it's tough to ignore it and going on using those products. So you learn a little, you change a little, you learn a little more and you change a little more. Along the way you are possibly stopping the cause of something as major as heart disease or as minor as peanut allergies by tossing out that bottle of Windex and using straight ole vinegar. You are making sure the polar bears have icebergs to swim to and slowing their extinction by simply turning off the light in a room you are not in. These are simple things that make a big difference.
The more simple things I learn, the more difficult things I learn too.
The difficult stuff is the meats you get in the store. I won't even begin to tell you how horrific that stuff is, you can investigate that on your own(the book The Omnivore's Dilemma is a great place to start) and no...ignorance doesn't make it any less true. But here is one very minor reason (which should suggest how bad the rest is) why we now get our meats from local farmers. (see http://www.meat.org/) The local farms are easy to find, just google farms in your area. It's pretty cool to get to meet the people behind the food you will eat and actually know where your food came from.
So...then next reasonable conclusions is, 'why not have our own farm?!'
Well, I do understand that we live on a very small piece of land and a farm really isn't an option...


But our own eggs are totally an option!!!!! Actually they are an option even on pretty dang small a pieces of land.
I will now introduce you to our source of 100% cruelty free, natural, farm fresh eggs!
I am SOOOOOOO EXCITED!
I have read every book the library has on chickens...selecting the breeds to get (I chose Ameraucana, Speckled Sussex, Rhoad Island Red, and Barred Rock if you wanna know!) the space needed, the number of eggs to expect and coop designers (thank goodness for my handy dandy contractor hubby who will help me build it!)
Aren't they sooo cute?! (sorry for the red glow...that's their heat lamp!)

Monday, February 23, 2009

Spring means GREEN!

One look at the new yarns on the website you can tell I have been inspired by the approach of Spring!

How about a Bean Stalk for a little boy's sweater or even Jack's Magic Bean? Both are XXL for it's the perfect yardage for a cute little cardi!


Then there's Knute's Tail and Pickled Mustard which not only have cool names but are both in fingering weight (MIDDY) and in these fabulous shades of green that are very tough to come by.

Here we have Green Bean -the green that is practically perfect in every way!

If you are having a little spring fever too and ready to get some fresh springy yarn on the needles...this is the perfect time to pick up a few skeins :)

Happy knitting!!!!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

On Thursday, February 12th 2009 I did something great. I joined in for the HSUS Lobby day to be a voice for animals and it was FANTASTIC!
The current bills up for vote that we were there to get support for included, the issue near and dear to my heart, ending puppymills, ending animal abuse by not allowing a charged animal cruelty felon to posses another similar animal, upholding trapping restrictions and finally helping fund spay and nueter programs for those who cannot afford it.
The whole thing sounds far more intimidating that it actually was!!!! The way you 'lobby' is by simply finding out who your Senate and Legislative reps are and go knock on their door. Seriously, you and I can knock on their door.....not only can we, but they want us to!!!!! They want to know what you-their constituents-think. You can do this by knocking on their door, sending them an e-mail or giving them a call. Seriously, YOU can make a difference by speaking your mind. WOW!!!!
So I walked my hiney to my representatives' doors and I let them know that I would like them to support the bill to end puppy mills in Washington!
Even though I donate to so many animal charities I can't even count, I now feel like I have actually done something proactive to help the critters. I also learned that sending an e-mail regularly about the issues that concern me can make a difference.
If you have a cause near and dear to your heart, I urge you to contact your representatives! It's pretty cool to help make a difference!