Bunnies & New Pets.

 Last week was an off week, to be sure, and I'm glad to be done with it. Just a bunch of small things to start the week off and then it ended with the husband's grandfather passing. He was 95 and it was less of a surprise and more of a blessing, but sad nonetheless. Another WWII vet gone. We always visit the husband's father at the veteran's cemetery  for Memorial's anyway so it was doubly poignant this year.:(

In between times, I busied myself with knitting bunnies. I do love a good obsessive knit to take my mind off things. Something you can get lost in. These patterns were just released by Julie of Little Cotton Rabbits the week before and, originally, I purchased them just to support her with not much intention of knitting them up. (She uses her bunny sales to help with the cost of caring for her autistic son.) I've done a few similar toys years ago for my niece but she's a full blown teenager now and has no more need for my stuffies. *sad* 

 

But then I thought, why not? They're fun and intensely detailed (read: lots of work to weave in 351324123 yarn ends) and a few extra bunnies around the house isn't exactly a BAD thing, right? And I know from past experience that her patterns are impeccable.

So I got myself a sack of worsted weight inexpensive wool yarn from Knitpicks and set to work. (Which I would not recommend. It is cheap and it is wool but it's works as well as you would expect from cheap wool. Should have sprung the extra $$$ for some Cascade 220. Live and learn. /shrug) Of course, I still have a sackful of yarn left so I might have to knit a few more of these guys to burn through more of this yarn. I'm already working on another batch of bunny bits to be sewn up when I have time. :)

Also, we have some new 'pets'. Not very cuddly ones though. Heh.

 A pair of Cooper's hawks have come back to nest in our yard again, after a year's absence, this time RIGHT over my bedroom window/driveway.

(unzoomed view from my window)

The leaves *just* finished filling in so you can't see the nest as well from my bedroom anymore but I still have a clear shot of them when sitting on the deck. (Luckily, there are no branches in the way from that angle.) We've had great fun watching them build the nest out of twigs and switching off on hunting and incubating the eggs. Unfortunately though, I think there is another pair of hawks nesting nearby because there has been a lot of fighting this week, with adults zooming all over and tons of squawking, etc. I think they keep trying to attack one another or something. The fighting was so bad on Monday that one of the adults seemed stunned or something because I found one sitting - not standing- in the driveway for a long while, maybe gathering his wits? He flew off and seemed ok though.  Can't wait to see if any of the eggs eventually fledge. They can have as many as five babies survive. EXCITING. (And NOISY. Very, very noisy. Wow, do these guys make LOTS of noise all_day_long!!)

Not as fun: I think they are picking off and/or scaring off a lot of the birds that come to our feeders. 0_o

But on the plus side, I haven't seen any squirrels around either. lol

Also: Maggie is no longer allowed on the deck by herself. Too big for them to eat but I'm not taking any changes. :)

Monday (except it's Tuesday) update.

 Hope everyone had a nice weekend, even if it wasn't a long holiday weekend for you, like it was here. We both worked yesterday anyway - so much for it being a holiday! lol

 We got to spend the whole day out and about Sunday though, visiting his dad at the veteran's cemetery (always emotional) and then spending some time at the coast with family. Add in a couple bike runs and it was a busy weekend.

I continued with my streak of 'finish finishing' with some items from the pile of stitched items I have stashed away. 

A couple block finishes for these two. 

I like this type of finish but it always takes sooooooooooo much more time to do than I plan on. All that careful pinning and stuff. (Could just be me though as I'm quite anal a perfectionist when it comes to things.)

Some simple stuffed ornaments for these two. 

I really had no fabric in my stash* to match the Lizzie Kate Winter one so I opted for just a simple neutral theme. (The fabric has white pinstripes on it which doesn't show up well - or at all - here.) I wasn't sure about it as I was putting it together but, now that's it done, I like the way it came out. A little busy maybe with lace AND a glittery dotty bow but I can live with busy. 

 I think my finishing blitz might be over now though. Maybe. I haven't decided yet. lol

It's a crazy busy week with appointments and stuff so I might not have time for it anyway. (Plus this new 'thing' of fitting in time for a bike run here and there is crunching my time up too!)

**I have six bins of fabric, mostly primitive plaid type stuff, from my craft show days. So I always try to use that up the best I can vs. going to buy more, even if it's not super-duper matchy to the stitched piece.

*SNIFF* Smells like a Monday to me.

This didn't feel in any way like a long weekend. It just doesn't seem possible it was three days long. Am I alone in this?


We went to go pay our respects to his father on Sunday. It's quite moving see all of the flags out. He's interred at a veteran's cemetery in Exeter, RI, down by the ocean, so there was a snappy ocean breeze that had all the flags at full attention. It's a beautiful, serene place. So so big though. Just one field after another after another. Very sobering.

It's hard to believe it's been almost a year since his father passed away. A whole year. o_0

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Other than that I started a pair of Obliviate mitts and then undid them and put them away because I need to rethink the pattern numbers/yarn/needle situation. 

Started, then undid, then restarted a pair of socks for him. (Sorted out now so we're good to go.)

 Grill season is in full swing now with the endless parade of hot dogs, burgers, chicken and grilled veggies. I love summer eating so so so much. No pans, hell, no real PLATES either. And lots of fresh, simply prepared ingredients. 

Even better, I'm kinda 'off' bread again (much to the chagrin of my husband who is horrified at the sight of 'naked' hamburgers) so it's all GOOD for you eats too. I'm determined to have a much better annual physical come September than last year's physical so the less bread the better - for ME - because I really don't need the extra carbs. (I like to save them for the REALLY good stuff. :)

(Note: I'm not much of a bun-lover (harharhar) anyway so getting rid of them, for me, doesn't hurt as much as, say, getting rid of potatoes. Now *that* hurts.)

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I feel like this is going to be a slow week so maybe a giveaway is in order? I have 123234 pounds of extra beads to give away - just need to get off mah butt and put it together for you guys. :)