February Learning Challenge ~ Hatching Baby Chicks

On February 22nd we placed 15 eggs in an incubator to see if they would hatch. It has been a great experiment for the kids and for us. The eggs had to be kept at a constant 100 degrees, and turned 3 times a day. I admit a few days I forgot to do that second turning, and when the eggs were first put in the incubator the temperature got above 100, I was afraid I may have cooked them. By the grace of God we now have chicks hatching!


They started hatching yesterday, and when we went to bed we had 5 baby chicks! You can see a sixth egg about to hatch on the left, and a seventh egg with a hole pecked out if you look closely just below it.
This morning we had 7 chicks, and three more eggs with visible holes pecked out. I am so excited! Out of 15 eggs over half will hatch! 

This has been so fun we are going to do it again. This incubator was borrowed, so last night we bought one of our own along with an egg turner so we wont have to remember to turn them 3 times a day. We are saving our own chickens eggs and we hope to have 40 to put in there by Saturday night. Eggs take 21 days to hatch, so these eggs should start hatching on Easter Sunday which falls on April 8th this year. Yay!!!

January Challenge ~ Learning to Knit

This year I have challenged myself to learn a new skill every month. Something big and challenging to me. This month I chose knitting.

I have wanted to learn how to knit for years now. I have tried using DVD's and books, and even had a couple of short lessons from my Mom and a friend at a local knitting group. Fail.

A few weeks ago a friend who knits wanted some help with facebook and to let the kids play, so we traded lessons and had a wonderful visit that day.

By the time she left I was knitting. She also showed me purling and another stitch, which I promptly forgot! I practiced and practiced, but I didn't know how to actually make something useful.

My Mom came by one day and I showed her my practice. She suggested I make a dishcloth, so she got me started. By the end of the week I had half a dishcloth done! I had to call her to have her explain how to do the other half, hehe!

Here is my first dishcloth, all finished, full of mistakes and holes, but I was so proud of it!




I had a chance to go to a Hobby Lobby just after Christmas, so I bought some pretty rosewood needles and a couple skeins of cotton yarn to make more dishcloths. Below is masterpiece #2! Much better in my opinion, a few mistakes but still very useable.



I have made a few more since then, with each one I got faster and made less mistakes. I can tell now when I have messed up and I can try and fix it before I get too far along.

So, YAY, thats my January challenge! See you in February with a new challenge.....