Giving a hedgehog medicine is not fun.

The title of this post just says it all....hedgies are not good patients. My little hedgehog Oy is recovering from a respiratory infection right now. A little over a week ago I took him out for some play time, and he started to sneeze like crazy. His nose was running, and his eyes looked a little gunky. He definitely wasn't himself, so I immediately called the exotic animal vet. We went that same day to see the doc, and she became the first human to discover that giving Oy meds is no fun at all!

He did great with the vet tech. He got on the scale and snorted around like a little piggy. He was his usual cutie pie self, that is until the doctor came into the room. He immediately balled up super tight, and refused to let her touch him. He actually tried to ram the doc with his head quills. It took all three of us to just get a minimal exam completed, and she prescribed a week of liquid antibiotics. The tech chimed in to tell me that the medicine is bubble gum flavored, so he should really like it. What makes them think that hedgehogs like bubble gum? His favorite treats are worms for goodness sake. When she handed me the meds she gave me a forlorn look and said, "do you think you will be able to get him to take this for the next week?" I blurt out "of course", take the meds, and head for home. I figure that once we get home he will cooperate with me. Um, yah I was a bit naive.

I had 14 doses of liquid, bubble gum flavored antibiotics to give a very angry and sick hedgehog. Very large doses too. So, for my first attempt I tricked him into biting the syringe and squirted the meds into his mouth. It somewhat worked, but I could tell that bubble gum was not a flavor he particularly liked. The second attempt went horribly wrong, and I ended up getting pink, sticky liquid all over him. The third, fourth and fifth attempts were also bad. I was trying to force him, trick him, what have you. I hid the medicine in treats, mixed it with food, tried a complicated bait and switch maneuver, but nothing was working. He was mad, and he was getting sicker. His breathing was labored, and I had started to read horror stories about hedgehogs not recovering from a respiratory infection. I was crying and feeling very frustrated.

So, I did some research and saw that some hedgie owners inject worms with the antibiotics, and then feed them to the sick hedgie. Well, I did not have the stomach for that procedure, but my husband stepped up to the plate. He started preparing medi-worms, and Oy gobbled them right up! I was so relieved, and now he is finally starting to get better. He has been eating medi-worms 2x per day for three days now, and I am seeing a lot of improvement. He is still very sleepy, but no sneezing at all today. Thank goodness!

Our little Oy turns 1 year old this month, and he has been a member of the family for 10 months now. We love him dearly, and I can't imagine being able to adore him more. He has such a neat personality, and his favorite activity is snuggle time. Here he is curled up in a t-shirt taking a nap in my arms.

He has completely mastered using a litter box, and he knows very well that he gets a treat when he is done. So, sometimes he tries to be slick and jump in the potty and right back out just to get a treat. He is a smart little bugger. Here he is in his litter box playing around.

I am so glad that Oy came into our lives. He is so funny and so loving. He is even starting to warm up to my husband, who up until the last week was his nemesis. I have to say, hedgies make great pets.

Happy Birthday Mr. Oy!

I just can't seem to finish things lately....

My knitting friends always made fun of me for compulsively finishing each project I started. This was my trademark even when working on many different things at once. Well, I don't know what happened to my knitting mojo in the last couple of months, but I just can't seem to finish anything. I have so many really fun things on the needles, in need of minor finishing, and lets not mention the pile of items that need to be blocked! Plus, each day I find something new I want to knit. How do you guys get your knitting groove back?

Here is a prime example. I started the Delft Pillow in January, and I flew threw the knitting in about 2 weeks flat. I worked on it every chance I got, and I loved each and every minute of it. The pillow requires some type of closure on the back, and I decided to put in a zipper. I purchased the zipper right after it was done, and now months later it is still not finished.

From the front, I am very pleased with this little pillow, except for the end I never got around to weaving in, but from the back....

I pinned the back for photo purposes, so it won't usually buckle like this. The edging lines up just right on the back, and once the zipper is installed it will lay almost flat. I really need to get motivated and finish this up. :)

So, fellow knitters, share your secrets. How do you refocus? How do you motivate yourself to finish your current project when something new and shiny calls your name?

The Hubby Did Good

December is a very busy month for our family. On top of the holidays, my wedding anniversary is just a few days before Christmas, we have lots of birthdays, and other family members have their anniversaries in December as well. So, the month is always a bit crazy for us, but in a good way. We had a great holiday season in my house this year. We were able to travel around the state to see family, play with nieces and nephews, and spend quality time with each other. It was a great time.

Since our anniversary is so close to Christmas my husband and I usually agree to get one present for both. We are both very hard to buy for, so this reduces the pressure on us. Then we always go out for a romantic dinner. Well, this year my husband out did himself. He actually got me a knitting gift this year. Here is what he got for me.

He purchased the Noni Medallion Travel Bag pattern (Noni link), needles, yarn (12 hanks of Cascade), and the leather Noni handles to match. I had mentioned this pattern a few times over the last couple of months when talking about my projects for 2009. I was so excited! We placed the order for all the materials together on our anniversary since he wanted me to choose the colors I wanted to use, and all the materials arrived last week. Thanks babe for such a thoughtful and generous gift.

I chose to use the mint green for the background, and the dark brown for the pattern. The color combo reminds me of mint chocolate chip ice cream. I am really excited about starting the project. I cast on during my knitting group on Sunday, and everyone there thinks I am a bit nuts for taking on this project. It is going to be huge pre-felting, and still be pretty big when it is all done. But that is what I want. I really like large bags, and I have a special trip coming up in April (more details on that a bit later) that I am going to use it for. I am planning on really diving in this week to the bag, but I want to take the chart to Kinkos and have it blown up first. My eyes will cross if I read it as is. Plus, I like to highlight the rows when I work with charts to help me keep track of where I am .

I hope everyone had a great holiday season. Now, I need to go and catch up on all my blog reading. :)

Holiday time already?

I can hardly believe that the holidays are already here. This year has flown by! Radio stations are playing holiday music, and I have been driving different routes home each night so that I can see all the Christmas lights in the neighborhood. So, to get in the holiday mood I decided to knit up a Santa hat. Thanks to Ravelry I found the perfect pattern in Handknit Holidays (Ravelry pattern link). There are some fantastic patterns in this book. I highly recommend it. Here are some really bad pictures of the finished product. :)

This was a seriously fast knit. The body of the hat took just a couple of hours, and then the bobbles took about another hour. I wish I had tried out this pattern back in October...I would have made a ton of them for gifts this year. They are definitely going on my gift knitting list for next year.

I used Cascade 200 for the body, and Lambs Pride for the trim. They compliment each other well, and the hat is very snuggly. I have lots of holiday gatherings to attend over the next couple of weeks, so this hat is going to get a lot of wear.

Perspective

Time is a funny thing. How many times in our lives do we say we don't have time for something? Too often I think, way too often in fact. Over the last couple of months my life has been crazy, and I found myself thinking, "I don't have time to knit right now", "I can't even think about blogging right now", "I don't have time to call him/her now". Well, this thinking stinks. I guess Charles Buxton said it best, "You will never find time for anything, if you want time you must make it."

So, two weeks ago I picked up a pair of needles and started knitting again. It felt amazing, and I couldn't believe that I had actually survived 2 months without knitting a single stitch. Then I went to my knitting group to see all my girlfriends. Oh I missed them so much! It was great. Now, I must say that the initial high of knitting again sent me into a project frenzy. I cast on for three new projects all at once, but I am knitting every second I am not at work or asleep so I am actually making headway on all three. No pictures to share today, but I promise soon.

My husband shared a great video with me tonight about knitting miniatures. It is amazing. The artist's name is Althea Crome, and you absolutely must see this video. Click on this link and enter sweaterxxs for the key. Now I know it initially looks like a creepy site, but trust me it is great. No scary surprises. :) I think it would be a very cool challenge to knit some miniatures. I loved knitting the mini sock I did a while back. It was a blast. Maybe I should make some mini sweaters for ornaments/gift tags? I am sure I can find a pattern for that.

Thank you so much to those of you that have emailed to check on me. It warms my heart that so many out there were thinking of me while I was away. I have truly come to cherish my blogland friends. So, Happy Turkey Day to you all. I promise to never stay away so long again.

Time warp

I absolutely cannot believe that it has been two weeks since I last posted. Time is truly flying by me lately. I have lots of reasons (excuses) why I haven't kept up with my blog lately, but the two biggest are that work has been insane and I have been really sick. First, let me explain the work thing a bit. I have been working very long days trying to get everything ready for the students to return to school this week. Some days I came home from work and actually took a nap before dinner. I have been totally exhausted. That leads me to the second reason (excuse). I have been sick. Not flu/cold sick, but medicine side effect sick. My doctor started me on a new medicine about 3 weeks ago, and the side effects have been awful. The doctor tried to use yet another medicine to combat the side effects of the original medicine, but that made me feel much worse. So, I have decided to discontinue it. I will spare you all the yucky details, but I will tell you that being sick for 3 weeks takes all of your energy.

During the last couple of weeks I have been working on my Ravelylmpics project number one, the Icosa Ball Pillow. I know I am really sick when I don't even feel like knitting most of the time. I started out with great and fast progress, but over the past week I have barely picked up my needles. The pattern is actually a lot of fun to knit. Each triangle takes about an hour and a half to knit, and it is kind cool to keep stacking them up. I now have 11 out of 20 complete, and I am really hoping that I can finish by the Ravelympics deadline. I know it is a long shot at this point, but I am going to try my best. Here is a shot of my triangles so far.

I am going to work on some more triangles tonight feverishly since I am feeling a bit better, and hopefully I can have them all done by Friday night. The deadline for the Ravelylmics is the 24th. So that will give me two days to graft all the triangles together and sew the pillow form. Then complete the assembly. It's ambitious, but I think it just might be possible.

I am disappointed that I will not be able to complete my second project for the games, the Spinadi Pesce socks. They are next on my knit list though. I am so excited about trying the pattern out. Maybe I will be able to at least cast them on this weekend. I have to make myself finish the pillow first though. Otherwise I know I will get caught up knitting the socks and miss the deadline for sure.

I hope everyone has been doing well. I have definitely missed blogging over the last two weeks. Now I am off to catch up on all your blogs. :)

Ravelympics 2008

I am crazy. Totally crazy.

I got really excited a few days ago, and decided to join in on the fun and hoopla for the upcoming Ravelympics 2008. The concept is so cool. The challenge is to complete a project during the Summer Olympics, which is 17 days long. There are many events and teams a knitter can join, and you can chose any project you would like to knit. There is even a category for WIPs. Sounds like a lot of fun. I really enjoy interacting with other knitters both in person and online, so what could possibly go wrong?!?

I thought, and I flipped through my queue, and I looked through my stash of magazines. I have so many patterns bookmarked that I love. I also have so much yarn that I love and am dying to use. What to pick? Well, how about two of the most time consuming and complicated patterns in my queue one of which involves sewing fabric (I really struggle with sewing). Sure, why not. Oh, did I mention that since I am a school counselor I am just starting back to work full time this week, and the kids return in two weeks. Right in the middle of this event. Yeah, I am nuts. But I do work well under pressure, and I am very competitive so those two qualities should help me complete the projects in such a short time frame. My husband calls it my "only child mentality".

Which projects did I pick? Well the first one is one of my favorite patterns, the Icosa Welt Ball Pillow. This thing is so wild, and I love the idea of having the finished project in my living room. The construction is so interesting to me, and the yarn I have for it is gorgeous. Here is a picture of the yarn I am going to use for it.

This lovely light blue is my main color.

And this ink color is my contrast. The yarn is so lovely and soft.

The second project I am going to work on is a pattern by Yarnissima, her Spina Di Pesce socks. These socks are beautiful, and I have wanted to knit this pattern for quite a while. I have knit quite a few pairs of socks, (and some singles) but this will be my first toe up pair. I am a little nervous, but I am going to go for it. It was really hard to find the perfect yarn to due this pattern justice since I wasn't lucky enough to score the kit that included the coordinating Wollmeise. I was lucky enough to find a skein of Wollmeise Vergißmeinnicht for trade on Ravelry. It is really pretty, and very close to the colorway that was originally paired with the pattern. I think it is going to be a perfect match for the pattern. Here is a shot taken by my friend Barbara at my LYS.

She was kind enough to take a picture for me since I forgot my camera. I wanted to have her wind this hank since she is so good at it. I always like to have a picture of the yarn in the hank and in the cake. I took a picture of the cake as soon as I got home.

Vergißmeinnicht is German for Forget-Me-Not. The blue has a very subtle purple variation, and no matter what lighting I tried I could not capture it. But trust me, it's there and it is amazing. I am really excited about working with it.

I am working hard to finish up some projects that are on the needles so that I can totally focus on these projects during the Olympics. Only a few more days....wish me luck!