My Ghost

*This is as close to a Halloween post as you are likely to ever see on this blog.

I finally took some pictures of my new bunny, and I had to show him to you!
Even though I have a whole other blog dedicated to bunny posts.
And even though 99.9% of you will have no idea why I'm so excited about this particular rabbit...or care.

Allow me to introduce Levi:

Levi is a Ghost Chinchilla, also called an Ermine (lilac, in this case). He was bred by Laura and Ruth, a Mother/Daughter team from the north west of Wisconsin. DH says he must be special for me to drive across state lines to get him. I was able to meet Laura and Ruth on their way down to the ARBA national convention in Indy, or the drive would have been much farther. (I'm still pouting that I didn't get to go to the convention this year. Imagine--over 23,000 rabbits all in one place!)
On top of some really amazing blood lines, Levi has three things genetically that I want to work with in my herd:

1. He's Lilac. (Seriously? Who wouldn't want to work with a Purple bunny?)
2. He's Chinchilla.
3. He's non-extension. (all that means is that the gene causes the color not to extend to the end of each hair shaft, creating some really cool effects.)

At about this point, DH usually glazes over, so I'll stop. I'm just really excited to see what he'll bring into the nest box starting next spring.

My photo editing program does not know what to do with his eyes. They are a light blue grey, and reflect ruby in the light. The flash makes them horribly red, but the program eliminates all the red, which isn't quite right either. *shrug* I guess you'll just have to come and see him in person.

The Abundance of Things

For the second time in a year, I find myself coming alongside family to help sort through a loved ones possessions. In the first case, my Grandmother was gone from us, and a sense of grief and loss pervaded the process. This time, DH's 95 yo Grandmother, unable to continue living on her own, has elected to move into a care facility.
Both unique and incredible women, I count it a privilege to assist in these tasks, and cherish the opportunity to reflect on their lives.

While the circumstances behind each event are different, both have set in motion prolonged periods of introspection and evaluation for me. Not always a bad thing.


"...a man's life does not consist in the abundance of things which he possesses". However, I believe that the things that one possesses in abundance tell a great deal about you. 
What do I possess in abundance? And why?
If my parents, children, in-laws, etc were to have to sort through the items in my basement and attic tomorrow, other than quickly developing a keen sense of resentment, what would they learn about me? What would the distillation of my earthly possessions tell them about my values? What would they see was important to me?
....
200+ canning jars that I haven't used in 5 years.
....
A basement full of bunnies.
....
Miles and miles of string in every conceivable color.
....
Baby teeth in my jewelry box. (Oh, why are there teeth in my jewelry box?)
....
Oh, boy. I think I'm going to go declutter something.

Tatting up a Fury

Some tatting patterns, like Everest, need to be done simply because they exist. Anne Bruvold's Flying Minor Norwegian Dragon is one of them. A Lace Dragon? And Norwegian too? Seriously, how could I resist?

Having already tatted Anne's Ringtrim dragon, and Martha Ess' Paprika, when the green and gold HDT arrived from Yarnplayer, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. The body is made with Lizbeth Gold. This pattern is not hard, and I even made a few minor modifications to it--mostly by starting with two shuttles from the beginning, eliminating the need to mess with single shuttle split rings, of which I am not fond. Most of him was tatted while curled up in front of the fire (which I thought was appropriate) over these cold wet days we have had this week.

Still needing wings...

That'll do.

No idea what I'm going to do with him, but I'll think of something. He does match my office rather nicely....

He needs a family.

*You will be happy to know that we're done writing about postcards. J continues to receive them, but we got bored talking about them, so we're moving on.

More Seals

Card #: RU-503368
From: zabavatts
Origin: Russia
Caption: Baikal Seals
Note: "Hello! I'm Tatiana. My profession supposes reading a lot of books. I wish you healthy and sunny mood forever."

Stamp: Kremlin (I think)

Card:

This is another panoramic type card.

Not so Stumpy

Remember the Supermodel bookmarks? The pattern for that bookmark was inspired by Kersti Anear's pattern, which she calls Stumpy. Over the weekend, I tatted up two of them, and they don't look stumpy to me at all. In fact, they are crying out to become cute barrettes for a certain adorable niece in far away California. Which, of course, means that we needed Beads*!
And look what we found!

As in love with Yarnplayer's hand dyed thread as I was before, I am even more taken now. We were able to find three separate colors of beads that match her "Stardate" thread perfectly. I still need to pick up the barrettes, but once I do, it will be a cinch to finish these.

*Sigh. Buying beads again. Why ever did I sell off all of my jewelry making supplies?