bunny hat

i know it's not exactly the season for it, but i'm so happy with the hat i knitted up from junebug's last haircut. angora has the most amazing "bloom" or "halo" to it that makes me feel like i am part rabbit. (i also saw two wild rabbits hopping about this morning!)

here's my afternoon rabbit hat modeling, while we're waiting for a hay delivery.

part of the fun of working with angora is that the fuzziness happens once you start knitting - it's not nearly as obvious in the spinning - so at some point when knitting, you start to see the gorgeous fluff that just gets bigger and bigger.


this hat is perfect too because it is not itchy! there is nothing softer than angora. i love all different wools, but i am sensitive around my face especially, so i have a number of handknit hats that i really don't wear. and this one sits perfectly above my eyebrows so that the angora fuzz doesn't get in my mascara or contacts. i don't have trouble with angora shedding (like i've heard with commercial angora from china - ugh!) but if it had a long brim, the fluff would get in my eyes. and it's such a quick knit!


june's color is known as "blue" in the rabbit world, and even though she looks grey like most of my other rabbits, the bluish tone really shows up in the yarn and the finished knit, don't you think?



wish i could be with mum today, but we celebrated while we were together. and, i just found out that i'll be visiting her again week after next for a few days. still waiting for mother's day cards from my critters here. happy mother's day to all mums out there! (and not just mothers to human children!)

turkey lurkeys

i have been anxiety-ridden about this little baby turkey. i've been calling him (her?) horton. this one looked the same as the others when i brought them home, but then it became obvious that he couldn't walk. even though he eats and drinks well, he hasn't grown - unlike the other four, who are so big now that i had to put horton in his own box because his sibs were starting to trample on him.


i know that chicks don't always make it, but i have become so attached to this little struggling baby. he is chugging along determinedly, and he will even whistle back and forth with you. he moves around, but just by sort of waddling with his wings.

so today we went to the vet - i wasn't expecting much and i felt a bit ridiculous since i'm surrounded by farmers, but it was very encouraging. the vet thought that he had some developmental problem - maybe from some sort of chemical or toxin that affected his equilibrium. he said he might never be normal but that he didn't seem on the brink of death, not at all, and there was no obvious injury or infection. he suggested changing his feed to some mashed corn and weigh him every day and track it for a week. today he was just over 3 oz.

this is one of his bigger brothers or sisters - at just under 7 oz, almost twice as heavy today as horton.

i need four more unisex turkey names - anyone have suggestions? i've been so focused on horton that i still can't tell the other four apart. i really, really hope the little one starts to thrive and they can all move out from under the heat lamp and strut around in the yard together in a few weeks.

American Ghost

Or, "So much for possum living." Well, not quite. I'm committed to half-possuming, but...

We (me and other artists) are renting a decrepit Victorian hotel! We will have art studios, shows, parties, and adventures. I cannot wait to get into the upstairs, which has been locked and untouched *for 100 years*. I promise that if you come back, I will show and tell you all about it.

I could not be more scared or more excited.

It's appropriate that my dear friend is editing a new collection called American Ghost. Any poets out there?

my sweet girls, bunny yarn, unidentified csa tubers, and a found snakeskin

movin' again

back to the arts incubator, where my friend kristy offered to share her space with me, and i couldn't resist

fascinating over possum living

Thanks to Teen Angster, I've discovered Possum Living. I've been toying with the concept of homesteading for years now, but never could quite embrace a number of aspects of the lifestyle. It just seemed so, well, hard. I'm not a morning person, and serious manual labor just doesn't appeal after a while. But Dolly Freed's concept of possum living makes it all sound so effortless. I've been reading the book (isn't it ironic that it's available on Kindle and I can buy and read it on my iPhone at 2am?) and her blog since last night, and I'm hooked, obsessing over ways to grow and make the things we need.

I'm not so good with frugality, and my desire for the simple life usually seems to entail spending more money at cool places like Lehman's. But I was just facing the prospect of finding another job, and imagining commuting, and I'm really not wanting to. I want to make another way.

I want a rewarding life, but I don't want to work very hard. Dolly made that seem ok, and possible, and easy. She says, "we'll get that Protestant Work Ethic monkey off your back." Let's get to it! I have a *lot* to learn and will need tons of help. Wish me luck!

so good to be home

and some more new babies

there's nothing more fun than bringing home chicks from the feed store. seriously. i can't think of anything, can you? and this was even funner because these aren't just any chicks - they are turkeys! five baby bronze turkeys. welcome home!

happy anniversary, sweet love

our fourth was yesterday, and i got home just in time.

this is little ricky

he is supposed to be lucy and desi's baby. he was an ebay find of mum's, but he came with a strange detail. the hand.

here he is saying: "hello mathyld! without you, my story would have been lost."

as mathyld noticed, this *has* to have been an intentional reference to this song, don't you think? why else would his hand have been severed and re-attached, and with big black thread x's on hard vinyl?

thrifting is serious business

this is classic us. i've been watching a lot of american pickers, and i think mum and i would make a rad picking duo. wouldn't that be such a fun life?

i was thinking of getting this wood bellows. i passed it up, and now i regretsy. it's very important to keep the fire gods happy, but winter has passed, and i wasn't loving the gold eagle..

until i saw these pics, i had no idea my roots were so bad, and why oh why are my cheeks all red? so much excitement i guess. i think this was taken soon after the great potato heist.

so much to love

Mum is enjoying her wonderful La Sylphide by under the pyramids! Mathyld, you are so dear!