Rock Hound

I'm a bit of a rock hound. I love rocks, even the ugly ones. Arthur has joined me in this and we are constantly finding interesting (and not-so-interesting) rocks to bring home and keep in pretty glass jars on the bookshelf. We went on a weekend getaway with my inlaws to Cleveland, Ga, and I was sure to bring up the gold and gemstone mine as an option of something fun to do. No one but Arthur shared my enthusiasm for it, but everyone ended up having fun.

I had done this before with loaded bags, where the mine actually set the stones and gold up to be found. I was extra excited to find that Gold 'n Gem Grubbin' is an actual working mine and these bags are not loaded... they are sorted by grade into piles, then just scooped into buckets available for purchase. There was also an option to pan the actual creek running by the mine, but with the kids we decided to just use the sluices set up out front.

It was so much fun! I came home with some awesome finds:

 Amethyst

Fluorite

 Green Aventurine, larger than my fist!

Moonstone, Jasper, Topaz, Citrine, Garnet, Rubies, Emeralds, Sapphires, Quartz, Tigers Eye, Calcite, and more. I have a lot more than this not shown. The lady was especially impressed by the very large garnet and sapphires. I plan on getting the garnet, sapphires, citrine, and a few of the rubies and emeralds cut and made into jewelry. The resit will either be left as-is for mantle pieces (like that giant piece of aventurine) or run through a tumbler. I'm excited to try some wire wrapping on some of them.

We also panned for gold and found quite a few nuggets:

It was great fun and I can't wait to do something like this again. I have been meaning to attend a Mid-Georgia Gem and Mineral Society meeting, and I think that this was the kick in the rear needed to actually go.

What A Show!

The Georgia State Convention rabbit and cavy show was this past Saturday in Perry, Ga. Arthur and I took a few rabbits and Pete the Cat...

Hannah's Hop Hops Pine Lake did it again! She took a double Best of Breed! I love this doe so much. She has earned 4 grand champion legs as a senior, but cannot be registered due to a partial pedigree. I plan on breeding her in a few weeks and really cannot wait to see those babies.

Arthur brought home his first major win! Pete the Cat took Best Opposite Sex of Breed in the second cavy show. We just couldn't believe it, and Arthur was over the moon. His 1st place ribbons and giant rosette are proudly hanging on his bookshelf. The judge, Frank Westley, was wonderful and was kind enough to get a picture taken with Arthur, Pete, and the ribbon.

It was a very successful weekend for us. We are looking forward to attending 3 shows next month.

I have decided to sell out my Himalayans, which have very very little competition down here. It's difficult to juggle multiple breeds, the cavies, and watching after Arthur by myself at shows, so something has to go. I decided to focus on my Jersey Woolies and Rex instead, and let Arthur keep his few Mini Lop rabbits. He is really into the cavies and is pursuing them bigtime, which is fine with me. We are going to the Specialty in April (it's the national cavy show) to pick up his real foundation animals, and also may be coming home with a start in Teddies for me. Anyway, my Himis are all sold to a friend's daughter. I know she will take good care of them and get good use out of them. I'm sad to see them go, but also feel relief to have one less thing to worry over at shows.

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In knitting news... I haven't really done a whole lot in the last week. I'm battling some sort of cold, plus am having major allergy issues right now. I just don't feel well. I did manage to finish up a last NB Vertebrae yesterday night, something that had been on the needles for way too long:

The yarn is KP Felici in Lost Lakes and KP Stroll in Sapphire Heather. I normally don't have much to complain about when it comes to KP yarns, but I was slightly disappointed in the stripe quality of this. The stripes appear more tonal than solid, and there is a lot of color transfer in the lighter stripes. I'm ok with the tonal look and even some mottling... if it's consistent. This isn't. It's not bad enough for it to look ruined, but it's also not clean like Felici usually is. Oh well. It's another ball out of stash and another project for the craft show box. A hat with the leftovers is in the works.

Knitting and Bunnies

I have been doing a lot of knitting and crocheting, but don't have anything to show yet. One is a test that I can't share until the designer releases the pattern. Though you can't see it yet, rest assured that it is adorable. The rest is just more progress on the Hue Shift afghan (it's getting boring, not gonna lie) and on yet another NB Vertebrae. FO pics coming soon on that one.

I do have some bunny pictures to share, though. I had a litter of 5 Rex born on the 13th, a litter of 5 Jersey Woolies born today (1 was stillborn, sadly), and have another Jersey Wooly building a nest right now! Lots of babies! I have 4 more due before the end of the month, and 1 more on March 2nd! It's babyland around here!

CavySaurus Rex

Ok, maybe more Stegosaurus than T-Rex, but CavySaurus Rex sounds cute!

Arthur wanted Pete the Cat to have a dinosaur costume. I just couldn't resist! I did use a pattern from Ravelry as inspiration, but I changed everything to suit my needs. I used different cast on numbers, stitch pattern, construction, etc.

Pete the Cat actually doesn't mind wearing it. I thought that he would be frozen in place with it on, but he went about his usual piggy business. I used KP Stroll Tweed.