In from the cold

Thanks so much for all the lovely and generous comments about the blanket. I am very grateful and it is bringing some colour and brightness into our lounge. These little guys have also brought some brightness back into our lives since they came out of hibernation three weeks ago. I really missed them and it's great to see their personalities and quirks once again. They had been for a quick check up with the vet back in December before I put them into hibernation - in a box filled with shredded paper which was then put in a box with packing material, which was then put in our beer fridge (!) in the utility room (glorified cupboard). I bought two digital meat thermometers - one for in the box and one for in the fridge to check for fluctuations in temperature. The fridge was set to its highest setting (about 5 degrees) and then I crossed my fingers and checked them every so often until their 8 weeks was up.

It took a lot of courage to get them out at the end of those eight weeks, not knowing whether they had survived their first ever hibernation. It's all very well following advice to poke their legs every week to check they are still alive but they were cold and I didn't want to poke them too hard and wake them up! But all was well and they definitely deserved a nice warm bath to get them going again.

Then came the tricky bit - waiting for them to start eating again - apparently if they haven't eaten by day seven it's a speedy trip to the vets to see if anything can be done to save them. Luckily they were chowing down on some dandelion leaves on the second day. Since the snow arrived they have been eating bagged salad leaves. As we have had some mild days this week (10 degrees celsius) with some sunshine, I am planning to weed and tidy up their outdoor enclosure so they can at least spend a couple of hours outside in the sunshine each day to explore their enclosure and enjoy some fresh air.



In the meantime I am in between crochet projects (shock horror!) and just trying to decide what to do next. I almost certainly want to do a ripple but am having trouble finding the right pattern. But I also need to decide which yarn to use - ongoing Stylecraft stash (I don't think I will ever not have any Stylecraft hanging around) or NEW YARN???

Stylecraft looking pretty in a charity shop basket which is most definitely not suitable for crochet projects due to spikey woven ends.

Rowan Milk Cotton DK, not the colours I would usually go for but I was seduced by the names (Tutti Fruiti, Fruit Salad, Bonfire Toffee, Dip Dab). I have also bought some chocolate brown to go with - the reason for this will be explained soon. I am itching to make a ripple with this yarn but I just need to get the pattern right. Don't you just hate it when you think of the perfect style of blanket and then can't quite get the pattern right. Anyway, I'll keep trying and let you know how I get on. x