The Woolen Rabbit

Yay....it's up!!

Some of  you know that the shop has been closed so that I could get ready for SPA and give the website a much needed face lift.  A lot of the web-work being done is to save me a ton of work on the back end of things.  Getting it ready has been time consuming though....but it will be so worth it!  There is still much work left to do, but I think I have made good headway. ;)

Go take a peek at the new Woolen Rabbit

One of the things you will see is Anne's newest kit pattern for me.  Made with Kashmir, it's the French Quarter Socks.  Once I learned cabling without a cable needles these sock became a very enjoyable knit.  I hope you think so too!

I love this age.....

Ellis is almost 7 weeks old and a real pistol for sure.  In the afternoons I let her play with the older dogs. She is already ruling the roost...it's too funny to watch, but come late afternoon she likes to snuggle in with her Mum for a nap.....so sweet.

When I come home from SPA I will try to get some pictures of her awake.  She's like a little wind up toy now..LOL

The French Quarter................

Clear sunlight on falling snow; fire and ice.
Bare-boned trees stark to the horizon,
Cold marshes, havens to ducks and geese.
A groundhog sits motionless on a post.
Deng Ming~Dao

The ground hog is a wise little animal to sit and just absorb time.  My time to sit and absorb will be a few weeks away but I am looking forward to it.

This month is always a busy time for me, but a business that I enjoy so I don't complain.  I will be honest with you though, I was doing some serious complaining a few days ago about knitting cables.

Anne is such a dear friend who always comes up with a beautiful pattern for me to bring to SPA.  I will admit though when I saw the new French Quarter pattern that was sporting a lot of cables my heart dropped a bit.  Not because I do not love cables because I do, but I am THE world's slowest cable knitter....so as I was whining a bit to Terry about feeling a bit homicidal using size 0 needles and slick yarn, she sent me this video....

OMG............I could have dropped on the ground and hero worshiped her...let me tell you.  I went from feeling like poking my eyes out with my teeny double points to actually staying up late last night because I didn't want to put my knitting down.  Grrls....if you are still using a cable needle...put it down and go check out the video.  It is SO worth it!

Moving on.....

Yes, little Miss Ellie is starting to give her Mum a break now and then.  This week brings the introduction to food.  We start out slowly with a milk mixture and then slowly add a little bit of baby cereal to it.  Tomorrow she will get a mix of milk soaked puppy food, which will be easy peasy for her as this little girl is definitely her mother's daughter....she likes her chow for sure!

All that work tires out a little puppy girl....it's so nice to curl up next to a friend...even if it is only a stuffed puppy. :-)

It's That Time of Year......

Whew....it's been a busy week here at The Woolen Rabbit.  Each year come February I close my website down so that I can get ready for the NETA Spa weekend that will happen this year on the weekend of Feb. 26-28th in Freeport, Maine.

Grrls....if you live in the New England area and have not experienced Spa then you will definitely want to put it on your calendar.  When people ask me what it is all about, I tell them that it is like a giant pajama party for fiber friends.

You get to hang out with some of your favorite peeps in your pajama's knitting and spinning all over the hotel....it is F.U.N.!

One of the things that I love best about this shut down time is that I get to really play in the dyepots making new colors as I am not concerned with filling orders.  The yarns in the first photo are all new colors for this Spring. :)

Anne usually tries to put together a pattern for me for Spa as well and this year it will be the French Quarter Sock made in Kashmir.  Anne was gracious enough to send me the pattern for my sample a few days ago, but as you can see I have not gotten very far.  It's been a busy week for sure, but tonight I will start on my sock during the Olympics opening ceremonies.

Yikes....how can she be 5 weeks already?

I promised you all a weekly picture, so here is little Miss Elliebee at almost 5 weeks.  Yep.....Elliebee has kind of stuck (are you surprised?).  It's hard to believe this little muffin is already 5 weeks old and will now move into the kitchen in a bigger pen with a litter box to learn her manners.  She had her first introduction to the bigger dogs today and I was thrilled to see that she was basically unfazed by all of the scrutinizing she endured.  A little trooper for sure!

"Hey Mom....enough with the pictures.....I've fallen and I can't get up!!"

Funny Little Valentine.....

Kites harness the force of the wind.
They express our intent,
But they can not change the wind.
Deng Ming~Dao

Over the last few months I have been reading more and more quilting blogs.  One of my favorites is Make Life Sweet.  A short while back the girls were offering a kit on their etsy site for these really cute silverware holders. 

I loved the Authentic fabric when it first came out...so much so that I used it on the first wee bunny bag that I made this year.  Needless to say when I saw this kit I was smitten. 

Pair them with one of my favorite pottery collections and you have a perfect Valentine table setting.

This was a fun and fast little project.  While I probably will never use them for silverware I love them for a simple Valentine's Day decoration.

My Funny Little Valentine.....

Look.....she's up on her feet!  About 2 days ago she finally came to life, which is always such great fun when that happens.  Puppies are SO funny at this age.  They will respond to the sound of your voice but they don't realize that they need to raise their head to see you.  They will look at the wall in their whelping box and keep cocking their head with each word that you say without having a blessed clue where the sound is coming from.  Too funny!  Each day is a new adventure...

Year of the Sock.......

 

A few posts ago I showed you one of my holey socks....a sad sight indeed.  Having had a few of my hand made socks wear out I mentioned that 2010 was going to be the year of the sock for me.  Margene has joined along...yay!

To kick off the year I have started with Cookie's Angee.

With the many varied patterns now available on Ravelry I have not really felt the need to purchase a knitting book in some time...however....there was a period of time that every sock pattern I liked was a part of Cookie's book, Sock Innovation.  Needless to say, it is now a part of my library.  Cookie is an incredible designer.

The first sock is finished and the second one is on the needles so all is good.  My sock goal is to finish a pair every other month, which puts me right on target. :)

Puppy pics........

Elliebee?

Since so many of you have enjoyed meeting our little one, I thought I would include a weekly update for Ellie.  Puppies grow up SO fast and it really is fun to see how the grow isn't it?  Ellie is just starting to recognize that there is life outside the whelping box.

A  few of you have asked about Ellie's Mum so here she is.  Her registered name is Benchmark Cosmopolitan but we call her Skyy. 

She is by far the easiest dog here.  Skyy has such a sweet disposition and is always so eager to please.  A wonderful mom too!