Seed bead Butterfly earrings with chart # 2

Seed bead butterfly earrings with chart # 1

Seed bead earrings

I have always loved playing with beads, long before I started to knit I had a stash of beads....in so many shapes and sizes, I can get lost for hours looking through them lol

 

I saw a pair of earrings one of our friends had on ( thanks Kamy ) and needed to try my hand at making a pair or two ;)

you can use so many different kinds of beads, the possibilities are endless, they are quickly made and best of all FUN to make

 

 

I started out small

 

           
                                        I love fire polished glass beads so....

 

 

even beads that have a less then uniform sizing can be used

 

with as many colors as you like

 

Snake in my coop

Last week my father saw a snake in his kitchen.....after searching for over 24 hours we found where it had come in ( a loose floor board, now fixed ) but no snake....

A few days later I see this hole in the ground in my chicken coop...

Thinking it maybe another mouse hole, there are a lot of mice in this desert, it's been a on going issue every spring for the last 20 years we've lived here, I flooded it with water

hoping to drive them out....nothing

I did the same thing the next day...this has worked in the past...still nothing

all the while I'm thinking it could be a snake, I've heard there a few living in the desert too lol....although I've only seen 3 the whole time here ( on our land )...I will point out I DO NOT go looking for them ;)

 

Our hens had gone broody for about six weeks but had started to lay again....our egg count dropped by 4 to 6 a day

so by this point it is clearly not mice as I was hoping lol

the 3rd day proved it to be a snake :(

 

luckily my son was right there on the other side of the coop to see it come out...while I have nothing against snakes......eating my eggs is out of the question ( one of our hatchlings disappeared as well, it was just starting to pop out next day it was gone )....

 

we did get it....still not knowing what kind it was we weren't going to take the chance....after it was no longer a threat we were able to get a better look 

 

                                          it didn't have rattles thankfully

at this point it's colors had faded quite a bit, was brighter green and yellow...
still don't know for sure, but think it was a bull snake...

My sister was at my parent's place...oh yeah they live next door to us, so it wasn't a stretch to think the snake could have moved to our place.....at least I'm hoping it's the same one.....Dad said it was about the right size, just over 3 feet....how he could tell in the dark with it moving that fast....I have no clue lol ....I went over to get dad to see if it was the same kind, when my sister Nancie said she wanted to see it...and asked if we wanted to be shown how to skin it....cool....

                                     it's now pinned to some cardboard drying....not sure what we will be using it for yet
 
                     Hubby was so surprised that we took care of the matter without
                                              even calling him at work......
                    hey man nothing messes around with our chickens....
we didn't even think about getting help we were not going to let it get away and come back again.....
it clearly had been eating mice, babies....thinking that many eggs to be disappearing most likely means more around....more work needs to be done on the coops....

A surprise in the coop

 

I have been so busy with coop changes. I didn't get the girls off their nest yet....tried yesterday but they were pretty set on staying. I thought I'd wait a day until I could move them into one of the smaller coops we've been working on......
I was shocked to find this little guy today.... he's barred rock/buff orpington.....
 I plan on candling the eggs anyhow but what a cool surprise a black and yellow chickie :D so glad it worked out for the best :D
In that coop we had a young barred rooster for a very short time, he was way too mean so we took him out....
One of our buffs must have snuck an egg in by the Ameraucana before she went broody herself lol.... this is 9 days after the first hatch....
A buff was sitting out by the chick this time, I still had him come in as the nest they picked to keep the eggs in isn't chick friendly....she was watching out for him well, but didn't seem upset that I took him at all lol.....can't wait to see how he feathers up :D

Our first Broody Hens

Few weeks ago one of our hens went broody, she wouldn't move off the golf balls we have to train the new pullets....we don't have a rooster in that coop.... so I placed some of RT plus a few of the reds eggs in the nest...at least she wasn't wasting her time right....

 about 10 days later another hen joined her on the same nest....a few more days go by and we find three on the same nest....

they had spread the eggs out and were each sitting on a few, when one got off to eat the others covered her space.....

 day 21 comes around and we find this little one on the outside of the nest.... not one of the 3 hens showing any concern for it....

the next day nothing....day 23 we find 2 more one just hatching, with the hens trying to get them out.....

today is day 24 at this point I though I should get rid of the old eggs that didn't hatch only to find another little one...this time the hens were trying hard to keep me out of the nest lol

I did put it in the brooder with the others....the hens went right back on the nest :D

This is RT one of the hens who's eggs we placed under the broody hens, so far her eggs have had the best hatch rate even though some were more than a week old when we started hatching, 8 so far with 2 more still under.....we still have no clue what breed she is maybe a mix.....other than very fast and a great layer of large cream colored eggs lol 

update
just found chick #5 kicked out of the nest....how would one go about teaching motherhood skills to a hen anyhow???

Cloth # 17

　

Cloth # 17

Size 9 US needles

10 inches by 10 inches
Exact gauge is not essential to this project
66 yards of 100% cotton worsted weight

k = knit
k2tog = knit 2 stitches together
p = purl
psso = pass slid stitch over
sl 1 = slide one stitch purl wise
yo = yarn over needle making new stitch

* * = repeat instructions between as many times as indicated

Cast on 38 stitches

1 -3 ) knit

4 ) k3, p2, *k3, p2* to last 3 stitches, k3

5 ) k5, *p3, k2* to last 3 stitches, k3

6 ) k3, p2, *k3, p2* to last 3 stitches, k3

7 ) k5, *p3, k2* to last 3 stitches, k3

8 ) k3, p2, *yo, sl 1, k2tog, psso, yo, p2* to last 3 stitches, k3

9 ) k5, *p3, k2* to last 3 stitches, k3

Repeat rows 4 - 9 six more times



Ending with

k3, p2, *k3, p2* to last 3 stitches, k3

k5, *p3, k2* to last 3 stitches, k3

k3, p2, *k3, p2* to last 3 stitches, k3

Knit 3 rows bind off, weave in ends.

Charming

 Charming loves to pose for photos he's never been afraid of the camera....

 he comes running up and hops on my arm even if there's food to be had lol he's such a pretty chicken...




Today while I was sitting out there chatting with Charming, one of the barred Rocks wanted in on the photos and hopped on my lap at the same time :D

it's not a big surprise that Charming is such a ham, his daddy ( Trident ) loves to have his photo taken too made a fuss until I stopped to take one lol

Our little Amelia has gone broody.......we don't have a mature rooster in that coop with her, ( he's almost old enough but not quite yet, he's a barred Rock named Bo who does not like having his photo taken lol )  so we placed a few of RT and Captain's eggs along with a couple of the red's and Trident's eggs under her...she seems very happy now...as long as everyone leaves her alone...still lets me pet and feed her so hoping for the best...she's such a sweety

Cloth # 16

Unblocked in photo

Cloth # 16
Size 9 US needles
10 inches by 10 inches
Exact gauge is not essential to this project
66 yards of 100% cotton worsted weight

k = knit
k2tog = knit 2 stitches together
p = purl
p2tog = purl 2 stitches together
psso = pass slid stitch over
sl 1 = slide one stitch purl wise
yo = yarn over needle
* * = repeat instructions between as many times as indicated

Cast on 35 stitches

1 - 3 ) knit

4 ) k4, *yo, k3, yo, k1* to last 3 stitches, k3

5 ) k3, purl to last 3 stitches, k3

6 ) k5, sl 1, k2tog, psso * k3, sl 1, k2tog, psso,* to last 5 stitches, k5

7 ) k3, purl to last 3 stitches, k3

repeat rows 4 - 7 ten more times

end with 3 rows of    k3, purl to last 3 stitches, k3

bind off, weave in ends.

Cloth # 15

   

                                                   unblocked in photo

Cloth # 15

Size 9 US needles
Exact gauge is not essential to this project
66 yards of worsted weight 100% cotton yard

k = knit
p2tog = purl 2 stitches together
yfrn = yarn forward and around needle
*  * = repeat instructions between as many times as indicated

Cast on 38 stitches

1 ) k2,  * p2tog, yfrn,  k2 * to end
2 ) knit

Repeat rows 1 and 2 until you get to desired size.

Bind off. Weave in ends.