I have had to assist smaller kits to survive in the first 10 days many times, by taking the doe and rolling her upside down on her back in my lap, cupping her head in my left elbow and holding her two front legs with my left hand, very firmly. I advise long sleeve leather gloves and a heavy coat at the very least as the does hate this at first. She will probably try to bite you and she will definitely scratch like blazes. When she settles (be firm with her but do not hurt her) have a helper hand you the skinny kit. Put it near her nose and talk to her in hushed tones telling her what you are doing and why. She will sniff it and it will squiggle so keep a good hold. The sound of your gentle voice will help to comfort the doe. Place the kit on her belly and cup your gloved hand over its body and do not relax. This is for four reasons. At first the doe will probably struggle at first as the kit is placed on her belly. Have your helper ready to take the kit if you are losing the grip on the doe. Re-adjust and try again. It may take three or four tries until the doe settles. The second reason to keep your hand cupped over the kit is to stop it falling off the does tummy. In the excitement of finally getting a free go at the milk, the kit will snuffle through the fur like a bulldozer looking for gold. It will latch onto a nipple and start to palpate mum with pounding little feet, then let go suddenly, change direction like popping popcorn and launch off looking for another nipple. This will go on for about ten minutes. Its urgency will slow gradually as its belly fills and when you hold it up you will see it is full as a tick and now has a milk hangover. The third reason for the cupped hand, is at any stage the doe can lash out with her back feet which are not held. This is not usual after the initial scuffle at the start but your gloved hand can rescue the kit and protect it from a clawing. Finally by cupping the kit you are keeping its body at least a bit warm. Try to do all of the above, once a day. Make a comparative check on all kits bellies once a day after day 2. You might find just one extra feed is enough to jump start the slightly weaker kit. Waiting till day 4 or 5 gives the king kits, too much of a head start and the weaker one or two, never gain enough strength to hold their own. My does are so used to this now, they tend to go to sleep during the process. I also wear an oodie which is super comfortable for them and provides great protection for me. If I dont have a helper, I slip the kit or kits into the oodie pocket to await their turn. Be aware they will probably wee after feeding, so you will be washing your oodie daily for a few days. I know this may draw some criticism from the survival of the fittest crowd, but when you are breeding for meat, weaned kits at 6 weeks are infinitely better than dead ones in the first two weeks to prove a point.

In my adult life, I've slept in a king, a queen, both alone and with my husband, and now an extra-long adjustable twin that's actually part of a "split king". I've liked them all at various times and for various reasons. We got the adjustable split king (2 extra-long twins) from Costco several months ago for a couple of reasons (and BTW, it's expensive!). My husband now wakes up several times most nights from leg cramps or to go to the bathroom, and at least one of those times would wake me up and I couldn't get back to sleep, so I'd have some rather unproductive days. So going back to a king, or the split king were the choices we considered. Even though expensive, the split king won, because I have GERD and veinous insufficiency, and he has acid reflux. I'd tried several different slanted pillows to raise my head for several years, but I didn't sleep well, since if I relaxed I'd slide down the pillow by morning and be almost flat, which made my esophagus irritated. And raising my legs by putting a pillow under them didn't work. Having both my head and feet raised to about the zero gravity position have totally solved the problem. The bed has a memory foam mattress with a pillow top over it, so it's very comfortable. My husband and I are able to stay in the same room, I can get a good night's sleep, and he also likes his head raised. This position only works if you have medical reasons, or like to sleep on your back--on your side doesn't work well. I understand it's also good for those with sinus or asthma problems, and possibly sleep apnea. I'm mentioning this here, because you can also buy just a twin that is adjustable, and because the info might help someone else who might have the same issues I do, or might need an adjustable bed as they get older for medical reasons. All it takes is money! We're retired, and decided to skip taking a couple of trips to buy the bed instead. Great decision! Anne

First I will mention that enclosed terrs are often far harder for the average person to keep healthy for any real length of time than ones that aren't. Spider mites are typically smaller than the period at the end of this sentence. As such they would easily fit on a single leaf. By in large, spider mites do not care for highly humid environments like that created with an enclosed terr. That makes it less likely for them to be your issue. However, the air in enclosed terrs such as yours tends to be humid and stagnant. This creates a perfect breeding ground for fungi and bacteria -- some of which could be very problematic for your plant. While the gaps around the join in your terr could indeed allow insects or mites (there are many, many kinds besides spider mites) in and a venue for moisture to escape, the gaps are so minor as shouldn't be a big issue. (Unfortunately, the gaps aren't big enough to really offset the stagnant air concern.) Terrs are terribly easy to overwater, and once having been overwatered can be difficult to dry out before plant issues like root rot occur. If you bought this already planted and decorated, you need to see what the media actually is and determine how wet it is. Media for most plants in such terrs should be just lightly damp. More than that can result in root death and other issues. Many store bought terrs use media that is mostly peat which retains a large amount of water. If this is the case with yours, and you wish to continue In an enclosed terr, plants will very often form softer/squishier leaves. This is in part due to the cells not needing the thicker cell walls and waxy outer coating to restrict water loss. This can result in the plant becoming more susceptible to pathogens and pests as well as great difficulty in surviving the transition to drier conditions should that be desired down the road. Now if the leaves are soft as to be smeary/pulpy, then they are very possibly rotting. Your Fitt looks like it might already be starting to etiolate due to insufficient light. The terr should receive medium to bright indirect light but no direct sun. In an enclosed terr such as that, direct sun can raise the temps within to lethal levels very quickly. Your eyes are NOT good judges of what is "bright" light. A very crude but "good enough" method for most plants is the hand shadow method. Place a sheet of white paper or cloth on the terr. Then place your hand a foot away from the terr between it and the light source. If the shadow cast by your hand is: dark with sharply defined edges, you have very bright light fairly dark with blurry edges, you have medium light nonexistent or so faint as to barely be seen, you have extremely low light that is pretty much useless.

Lovely pattern! I can see why she likes it so. First question is, do you need to make it to cover the whole bed? The size you're looking at is like a full coverlet. A twin mattress is 39x75 so that will yield a 15" overhang on each side. If that's where you're going, you do need to take into account the depth of the mattress which can vary widely these days...if you're going through this effort, you don't want it to be too narrow. I'm assuming then you'll have a dust ruffle. Or you can make it afghan size. I have an afghan on my bed that I fold up and lay crosswise at the foot of my bed during the day and stretch out on me at night...it doesn't go all the way up as I keep my head uncovered anyway...and certainly for wrapping in, it doesn't need to be so large, esp for a little one. Even a large afghan is 50"x64". So if you think she'll want to wrap up in it for reading or TV watching, I'd consider something smaller. I'd also think about a bedspread as it gets a lot of wear and tear, esp with a child, so having say a matelasse spread on the bed and the afghan as throw on the foot of the bed would help preserve your blanket. If you double it in both directions, you'll get 55"x74" which is a good size. If you have a twin bed available, measure it out and see if that size will be good for you. You can always adjust it some by using a larger hook. In any case, you will need to test the gauge with a swatch as we each work a little tighter or looser. But in terms of making it the size you want, you just need to add to the width in the starting chain and then keep the pattern repeating as you go as long as you want. The only thing to check is to make sure you have the right number of stitches for the pattern...I'm guessing that the bobble stitch is probably the one that will require a certain length to get the right repeat...looks in the picture like a multiple of 4. The others look like they will play nicely with that same repeat. You're dealing with area, so if you double the blanket in both directions, you will need 4 times the yarn of the original. If you're going to the 69x90, you'll need 6 times the yarn of the original. I've used the caron simply soft and it's fine. It's a washable acrylic which is great for a child's blanket, and it does work up nicely and yield a very soft fabric. I've really liked the finished product when I use the lion brand yarns...they seem to have a smoother finish. I'm not a fan of red heart...it's somehow always rougher and seems to pill faster. If you can get the colors you want locally, I'd go for it. I prefer to spring for more expensive and fancier yarns for garments where I have specific uses in mind. But for afghans/throws, the local acrylics are fine. What you're really looking for is the yarn weight. The simply soft is a 4, so any yarn in that weight...like a worsted weight...should be fine. Good luck!