A box of love.

Today I got a box of love. It came in the mail. Plain wrapping, large, black Sharpie lettering. Lots of packing tape.

It contained a wonderful jar of homemade plum preserves, an interesting dimmer switch arrangement that I think cries out to be used in an incubator. And most amazingly of all, a rare and almost impossible to find specimen of the Round Belly Crocheted White.

The Round Belly Crocheted White was once a staple of every farm yard, favoured by Midwestern women who kept a diversity of stock to line the larder and feed the family. THey were a medium sized chicken with bright white feathering and a brilliant red comb of smallish size. They were winter hardy, great layers and most peculiar of all, completely legless.

For those of you who have never seen a real, live Round Belly Crocheted White, I include a very rare photo of the one sent to me today. Behold!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Thank you to Lanaire Ranching for taking the time and the love to send me these wonderful gifts. I think the RBCW will be the guard chicken in my fabric stash. I am thrilled to bits!

Too sweet! Best part is she wont cost too much to feed. What a nice surprise!

uno wrote: I think the RBCW will be the guard chicken in my fabric stash. I am thrilled to bits!

OOHHH and if she gets naughty, you could use her as a pincushion!! ahaha

and yupper!! that is a new fancy-shmancy dimmer controlled switch that I made my husband build you so that you can use it to help you control the heat in a incubator (or brooder. I like them for my brooders too! especially as the chicks get older, you can literally turn down the heat without fussing with the lamp height)

Oops, my mistake. The crocheted and the knitted version of this hen are quite similar to the untrained eye. My eye, being untrained, made the mistake. However, both strains are still legless.

I hear Lanaire has been raising Round Bellies for the last 10 years and has made some great strides in the shows with them. She has a long list of people waiting for quality pairs. You are one lucky gal, Uno!

That is FANTASTIC. You are truly talented Lanaire.

Very sweet of you Lanaire, love that chicken. If I ever get out of the feathered variety I think I might need me a few of those knitted varieties.

.

Uno, you do know that you are loved by many, you are a shining star, I hope you know that. Lanaire gave you gift from her heart and now isn't that just a thing of beauty! This round belly knitted white (and the other homemade goodies, you are blessed). You spoke of that like it really was a part of the old homestead homes. Is this a true thing? or something that you conjured up to make this an interesting post? I need to know. I always need to know things when I hear something like this. If this really was an important staple for women in the past, I really need to do some reading about it, cause I find it most interesting. A round belly knitted white. A round belly crochetted white, almost the same thing. This is cool. Oh and I LOVED the pile of fabric that I see as the background. Have a beautiful day, CynthiaM.

you guys all make me giggle! it was a pleasure to make, especially knowing because I knew who I was sending it to!
 

Such a lovely looking hen.  Lucky uno!

The RBKW (Round Belly Knitted White) is keeping me company, peering down at me from my fabric stash. That's the fabric you saw, CynthiaM, a small portion of my fabric stash, the brown pile. I have a red pile and yellow pile and green and cream and blue and purple and etc pile too!

Did farm ladies of yon keep flocks of legless knitted chickens? I think it's very possible. Tell us what you find out.

uno wrote:
Did farm ladies of yon keep flocks of legless knitted chickens? I think it's very possible. Tell us what you find out.

ah, so you were teasing, no problem, I get it   , have a most awesome day, CynthiaM.

Me? Tease? Never!