New FREE Pattern is up!!

Hooded Scarf pattern is in the Free Pattern pages!! Enjoy!

What's on the spinning wheel...

I've spun up a little bit of my fleece from our dye-party. Here it is pre-spun:




Here it is on the wheel:

How cute is this?!

Silly Baby Goat (his name is Doc but since he's so little we've renamed him) didn't want to be in his crate to eat. Instead, he decided to share a meal with Ally the Alpaca! Soooo sweet!!!




Now only if people could get along as well.... Here's another of a different goat who we renamed "Badness" and Hope the sheep. Badness is so named because he gets into everything. This time, everything includes the new hay bin we put up!!

No more birds - I can't take it!

Sadly, Kirby didn't make it. He had a great weekend but then suffered either a stroke or seizure around 11:30 today. I cried, Drew dug another hole and we buried him. Courtney made a little tombstone with Marie. Aren't we sick???? I know, it's just a bird, but I really got attached to the little guy/gal over the weekend. So sad... if anyone finds anymore wounded animals, they are NOT to bring them to me! I can't take the pain.....

Kirby's a Bluejay!!

Here is me feeding Kirby. She seems to think my finger is her mommy's beak. Did I have any idea of what I would be getting myself into? None whatsoever!! I had to bring her home. Poor little Kirby is eating about every hour - and talk about an apetite!!! OMG!!! She's had FIVE worms already today and as you can see in the pics, she's pooping up a storm! Lisa from maintenace told me she had a friend who had a baby bird and fed it oatmeal. Sure enough, Kirby ate it! Tonight she is feasting on mushed up dog food. I figure, since the turtles eat it and it's mostly protein, why not? It beats cutting up worms and getting worm blood and guts under my nails, that's for sure! Check out her big mouth too!! And, true to her Bluejay roots, she screams up a storm! I hope that doesn't last all night.... She looks so funny though with her big legs that she can hardly stand on and her giant beak. After she eats, she falls asleep. It's kinda hard to see in the pics but she's barely got feathers. She has more fuzz than anything and when she spreads her wings, they are very see through. You can see the blue though and her back is still pink with a little fuzz on it. I'm guessing she's about two weeks old. So, this is how I'll be spending my weekend inbetween our visit to Aunt Kathy's house. She should be okay for a few hours. She'll be mad, but okay. I'll tell you though, it's too bad you can't hear her - she had a very piercing screech and it's going through my head. I think it may end up being a long weekend....

Another bird??!!!

What is going on with me and birds?? Long story short, a baby bird was found outside the kitchen at camp. They determined that it had fallen out of it's nest. I told them to put it back in the nest but, alas, the nest was too high to reach. So, they bring it down to me at Nature. This poor little thing barely has feathers and is crying with it's mouth wide open. We (this part is gross) cut up a worm into little bits and I actually dropped the worm pieces into it's mouth. After it ate the whole thing, we set up the tub with newspaper and an empty nest we had on the touch table. I put a light over it for heat. It was asleep when I left today and I am praying that it survives... I'm not very optimistic, it fell a great distance, isn't getting whatever baby food it would need and is all alone... I will be really upset if it dies - then I'll tell them to stop bringing me hurt wild animals!!! It is really cute though...




I put a seashell next to it with water although honestly, it won't be able to get to it. It can't move around really. Here's to hoping it's alive in the morning!! Not that I want to cut up more worms, but if it works, I guess I'll do it...

Sneak Preview of new free pattern

Why look for that scarf that matches your hat? Have it all in one!!!

Saying good-bye to Spot

I was supposed to post earlier about this adorable bird that Tracey from the pool found and brought to me. Spot, as her kids had named him/her, had flown into a car and gotten hurt. The poor thing couldn't fly and Tracey thought I'd be able to nurse him back to health. This was last Thursday. Spot made it through the weekend and proved to be a friendly, sweet bird that would sit on my finger and loved to be pet. On Monday, he flew a short distance and I started thinking about what I would do with him if his wings weren't healed by the end of camp. I found out he was a Barn Swallow and fell in love with his adorable face and sweet nature. I debated if I should buy a cage for him and talked about whether my new principal would allow me to have him in school. Birds are so messy, I knew Bryan wouldn't want him at home...



Sadly, on Tuesday, Spot passed away. I don't know if there was internal injuries or what did it. I just know that I, as well as my staff, were deeply upset about the sudden loss. We buried Spot alongside the Nature Hut with a heart-shaped white rock that Drew found. This post goes out to Spot, may he fly high in heaven and play with other birds in the sky.

Pretty Alpaca

Pretty Alpaca
Originally uploaded by shoelzle

So I'm working at Breezy Point Day Camp again this summer. I'm the Nature Specialist there. Here's my pretty Alpaca. She is very timid and her owner is hoping that I will have her socialized by the end of the summer. Wish me luck with that!! Unfortunately, she hasn't been sheared properly so her fleece is very choppy looking. I have no idea how quickly fleece grows - I was hoping I could someone to shear her for me so I could spin her fleece. I'm not sure that will happen though... At some point I'll e-mail Rose from Alma Park Farms and ask her what she thinks. It's not like I don't have enough fiber to spin up now!

I did start spinning some of the fiber that I had dyed up. That's in a previous post if you want to see the pics. I'm spinning the red and am thinking of plying it with the natural off white. I don't know if it will look too "candy cane" like though... any thoughts??? Maybe I should do the Kool Aid method and dye the off white and then ply it? Maybe with a pink shade? The red is kind of a cross between wine and crimson with some warm tone to it though. I'm not sure what would match with it. The pink/purple fleece I have doesn't look good with it. Maybe the off white is the best choice? I wish this my worst problem in life!!

Free Pattern is UP!!

The Cabled Fingerless Mitts are up on the free pattern page!! Enjoy!!!