What's on My Needles Sunday

I don't know if you heard, but Andrea of Bad Cat Designs has another knit along that is "officially" starting tomorrow.  I say Officially in quotes because the pattern is already available and there is nothing to stop you from starting early, it is one of those "come as you are, easy going" type knit alongs.

The pattern is Annapurna and it has been available through Jade Sapphire for a little while now, but is finally available to purchase as a download through Ravelry which is very convenient as then the pattern is stored in your online library and can't get lost!

Here is what Andrea has to say about the pattern :

"Annapurna I is one of the 8,000-meter (26,200 ft) peaks of the Himalayas. In 1978, the American Women’s Himalayan Expedition became the first United States team to climb Annapurna I. The first summit team successfully reached the top at 3:30 p.m. on October 15, 1978. The second summit team followed shortly after, and two women in that team lost their lives. To this day, it is one of the most dangerous mountains to climb. There is a wonderful book called Annapura: A Woman’s Place, by Arlene Blum. I read it 20 years ago and it left quite an impression on me. I would recommend it to everyone.
Annapurna, or Goddess of the Harvest, is one of a series of shawls I designed, based on mountains. She was the first in the series, and another seven are included in my upcoming book, New Heights in Lace Knitting (Interweave 2016.) If you enjoy this project please check out the book, which is scheduled to hit book stores in June, 2016!
This pattern was originally published as a printed pattern in 2014 by Jade Sapphire yarn company. The 2016 download includes the original pattern plus two alternate versions of the chart. The alternate charts take up more space but are larger. The knitter should look through the additional charts (beyond pattern page 4) and decide which they prefer to work from, and then just print those."

I test knit this pattern for Andrea way back then, and nearly decided against knitting along with the group as there were (and are) some other projects on my needles.....

but.....

You knew that but was coming, didn't you?

But.....My first Annapurna in ColourMart 2/28 has had a lot of use!  I have worn it to work, while teaching financial literacy in a basement that could never be depended on to be climate controlled to any climate you would want to be in, with jeans, dress slacks or a skirt, so I decided that maybe, just maybe I would play a little game of sizing experimentation and knit it again.

Maybe just a bit bigger this time around?  In say a fingering weight, I have plenty of Land O Lace ShaSha left over from my Winter Wheat? And by some I mean over 1200 yards.

Or maybe in a cobweb yarn and go for a very delicate look?  I have a lot of Love Potion  #3 left over from Persian Princess. Probably about 1500 yards of this one!

Only one thing to do....swatch

Yeah, I know, those look like the starts of shawls, but they are swatches I tell you!

Along with the usual stealth projects I am plugging away on my Chevron Cardigan, that pattern is also available on Ravelry! 

Funny how the knits that are designated just for me to wear get pushed to the side!  (TDQ will steal at least one of those shawls I started, we picked colors based on a dress that she really likes to wear but is a bit chilly in an"climate controlled" room!)

I did get a couple of pictures of the stash dragons, I mean yarn chickens, together.  Here you can see that the second one is quite a bit bigger than the first.  I tried getting some outside shots, but let me tell you, with a little bit of a breeze those wings work!  I was picking dragons up from all over my yard!

TDQ says I almost have a perfect Fire Lizard from Pern!

What's on your needles this week?

About Me and There are no Knitting Police

There are questions in this world that get very different answers depending on the context of the question.  "Tell me a little bit about yourself" in a job interview results in a very different response than "Tell us a little bit about yourself" when being vetted to be on the board of a non-profit, or asked to write a quick bio for a publication, or when you are standing in front of a group of students right before trying to teach them why it is important to get in the habit of saving now.  There are similarities between all the answers...this is where I am now, this is how I got here, this is what I want from the future...this is why I am qualified to give you whatever it is you wanted me to do for you.

None of us plays just one role in life.  On a daily basis I can be a friend, manager, mother, cook, dishwasher, laundry aide, teacher, knitter, wife, daughter...the list could go on for miles and for each one of those "jobs" there is a different set of expectations.  Which is why the answer to that one question can be so very different depending on when and where it is asked, or volunteered.

You may wonder where that line of thought started and what on earth it has to do with the knitting police.  I'll explain.

I have a friend who has been knitting for a few years now.  She is not what she would consider an expert knitter, but really are any of us?  There seems to always be something to learn, or do better, or more efficiently than the way we do things now.  She has always been intimidated by socks, which she didn't need to be!  She could already knit in the round, pick up stitches, knit lace, and cables. She had mastered center starts and a moebious cast on.  What could intimidate her about socks, other than the fact that she thought they were hard. In any event, her husband wanted to try some hand knit socks on his feet, so she bit the bullet, faced her fears and cast on a pair for herself to learn how before she attempted to knit some for him. Her first sock got to the heel flap and was frogged, her second attempt got her to the heel turn and she was away from her pattern. We texted back and forth, me giving instructions that would be clear to someone who has already knit her first and probably fourth pair of socks, her struggling to follow them...but it all worked out in the end and she has at least one sock to show for it!

At the same time TOB decided it was time for him to tackle socks. I wrote  a quick pattern, he cast on and he got as far as the heel flap. When I was showing him how I arrange the stitches on my needles going into and out of the heel turn he looked at me and said..."Apart from the aesthetics, I don't see why you put your start of round where you do. It looks nice, but why do you do it that way?"  Which nearly echoed something the friend had said...."So the start of round is in the middle of the heel?"  Well yes, the way I prefer to knit socks it is....but it doesn't have to be.  You can put the start of round wherever you want to and it will still be a sock!

There are no knitting police telling you where to put your start of round. And I will often tell you that Never and Always area words that don't necessarily have to be followed in knitting.  Now, a pattern may tell you where to put your start of round for shaping purposes, but you can always (as you gain experience in reading your knitting) move the start of round to somewhere completely different so long as the shaping still gets worked in the same places on the finished garment and gets you to the same result.  I promise you that once you cast off, no-one will know where you put your start of round...unless you are working stripes and didn't use a "jogless" method for starting your new color.

A lot of what we do, both in knitting and in real life, is force of habit.  It is comfortable to do things the way we have always done them.  Which is sometimes why, in job interviews or discussions where people are looking to find out why you are the right person for what they want done, you are asked to tell a little bit about yourself.  How do you do things? Where did that come from? What do you believe?

So some things about me as a knitter :

I don't use lifelines.  I am daring that way!  I spend a lot of time telling other people, especially new knitters, to use them, but I tend to fly without a net. (That comes from not even knowing about them until relatively recently, I have to have been knitting for 15 years before I first heard of them!)

I only use stitch markers to designate beginning of round in big circular projects and for separating instep from insole stitches in socks when working gussets.  That said, I have quite a large collection of stitch markers because I think they are cute. (I knit fairly quickly and find that slipping the markers interrupts the rhythm of my knitting and slows me down.)

I don't like knitting i-cord or button bands that are worked separately from the body of a cardigan for the same reason, those few stitches don't let me pick up speed before it is time to move to the next needle.

I like self striping yarn for socks because it means I don't have to count every row in the leg or foot, I can just match the stripes, but I find knitting "plain" boring so I am always looking for something more interesting to do with my needles than just knit around for 60 or 70 rows to make a leg.

I view swatches as yarn sacrifices to the knitting gods and only sometimes pay them their tithe.  But, I am comfortable ripping out hours of work when that bites me in the behind and whatever I am making is not going to fit or look right when it is done.  I would say that most of that is experience, I know what gauge I typically knit to in various yarns with different sized needles.  My guestimates don't always work out, but I would say they do more often than they don't.

I never only have one project on the go.  At least one of those projects is something small...something I can drag around with me, and usually one of them is bigger and not portable. (I hate being stranded without something to do with my hands and there is only so much playing on my phone I can do in a waiting room before I get restless for something more physical to do.)

I like thin yarn and skinny needles.  That big, not portable project, is usually some kind of lace shawl, with or without beads!

I can literally knit with my eyes shut or in the dark.  (TOB is trying to learn that trick, he didn't believe I could do it at first!)

I put my start of round in the middle of the back of the leg (or heel) when I knit socks, just because I do.

Due to the way I wrap my purl stitches I have to work my k2togs and ssks in reverse to get them to lean the "right" direction. I honestly don't know where that came from.  I don't remember being taught to purl, only the knit stitch is memorable to me in the learning phase.  As I do so many other things backwards (from tying slip knots to cross stitch) I sometimes wonder if I see the world in reverse to everyone else and followed a picture tutorial???  I don't know of a way to test that theory at all, it is like wondering if the shade of green you see looks the same to you as it does to your next door neighbor.  We both call it green but do we see the same values in the colors?

I can purl faster than I knit.  I am probably the only knitter who has uttered the words...."I like purling".

What things about you, define you as a knitter and where did they come from?

~M

My thought for the day : People want everything to be given to them for free, but only value what they pay for either with money or hard work.

And then there were two

I need to take a picture of the two together, preferably not in artificial light and stuffed on top of the hutch to my knitting/computer/random this is where I sit desk.

Looks like this one is a yarn hoarder too! I have got very used to having a little friend sitting on top of my desk watching me knit and as this one is destined to spread those wings and fly away from me, there might be a third.

I might have an idea how to make the wings reversible, but it will certainly add a little bit more weight to them, which probably means that the 20 gauge copper wire I used for the long wing bones in this dragon will need more help than a single pipecleaner, might have to scale the body up just a little more to get what I am looking for.

Pictures with Dragon One will have to be taken before this one flies away!

~M

Almost a Dragon

Today is a bit of a bittersweet day at Chez YarnDiet.  Today I can no longer say that I have three teenagers eating me out of house and home.  Or three teenagers stealing yarn or beads from my stash. Today I have a twenty year old living with me!

An employed, college attending, but still non-driving, twenty year old! Who has assured me that nothing will ever change and I still need to hide the beads that I don't want her "rescuing".

I gave her the original dragon, which she of course renamed Chicken, and ran off with, but not before I took a picture with the most recent version in progress.

(Almost done)

There actually isn't very much left to do, knit the back ridge and attach it and the last two long wing bones so that I can attach the wings, give it some eyes and package it up.





(pre-belly and stuffing)

I ended up using some 20 gauge copper wire for the spine, doubled pipe cleaners for the legs (although I might try and insert some copper wire into the front legs , after the fact,  now that it is stuffed, I think I would like it more pose able.) I hate to say it, but I am going to miss having that dragon sitting on top of the hutch to my desk, watching me work and knit, sometimes combining both. (And I had this fabulous idea....you can buy beads that look like claws!  If I was to go up another 50% or so I could use those on the toes and wing tips.........and maybe even change out the wing fabric for something that looks the same from both sides, and give the back thighs a bit more muscle.  uh-oh, I think that might be setting myself up to completely revamp this pattern and make a real stash guardian!)

The stranded sock pattern is still in need of a name, maybe some tech editing and if I can find some willing knitters,  a test knit or two.  I might forgo the test knitting, I know that the charting works, I worked from it!

We were talking at dinner the other night about how much of my knitting the past few years can be directly attributed to math or science type things.  Moebious loops, and fractal blankets, even a Fibonacci sequence or two in some striped things that have been and gone.  Which, as is like to happen around our dinner table, got us wondering what else could be used as the inspiring or underlying theme to a knitting project, and then to the comment "Is that really a knitters thing, or are you just weird?" and an "ah-ha" moment for what I would be knitting next.

Can you guess?  Do you dare?  Leave me a comment and let me know!

~M

Did you want to see the little toes?

I am a few more body parts into the latest dragon.  Wanna see?

And did you want to see those toes I think are so cute?

I am just at the point where it is "knitting with a hedgehog".  A hedgehog  that likes to grab your yarn with it's toes!

Luckily that part doesn't last long and several of those needles only have two stitches on them.  Putting on the front legs is the hardest part of the whole "joining things together" as they are very counter-intuitive.  If they look right while you are doing it you have put them on backwards, so you need them to look wrong!

Not much more body knitting to go before I truly have to decide what to use for skeletal supports and those long wing bones.  In a case of stash diving gone backwards (usually the kidlets dive through my stash) I looked at some beading wires to see if they might work.  Pro-tem I have liberated some 16 and 20 gauge copper wire from a certain jewelry makers stash to see how it does.

Someone here has shared a miserable cold with me.  The past few weeks it has been one or another of them not feeling great and I have been plying everyone with vitamins and cold medicine, now that it is my turn. It is very sad all I can ply myself with is lots of fluids and vitamins. The cold medicine does not play nicely with some other medicines I have to take.

Yes, I am being a baby about it!  But, the life of a single mom goes on and I have to deal, so scratch the last few comments, I am sure I will feel better in the morning!*

~M

*Kind of like rebooting your computer when it doesn't act right, turn yourself off (go to sleep) and hope things are better on the re-start!(in the morning when you wake up)

I think the toes are cute

As you may remember, I am working on a slightly larger scale dragon - um yarn chicken! It occured to me that I never actually said where I got the original pattern from and that I needed to fix that error, just in case you needed a yarn chicken - or dragon - for your very own.

Kim Harrison is a writer, and I will be honest and tell you that I don't believe I have read any of her books, but she has a number of them and they keep hitting the best seller list, so when TOB and I were at the library last week I picked one up at random.  Turns out it was the middle book in a series, so I am going to swap it out for the first book or maybe even her newest release (different universe) before I get myself too far into it!

But, as I was saying, Kim Harrison is a writer who knits. And grows orchids, which are pretty amazing in their own right, but we are on her site for the knitting content, not the orchids as I can't keep those alive to save my skin!  During the summer last year she had a knit along for a knitted dragon, which I knew nothing about, until one of her fans (I believe) put a link to the pattern on Ravelry.

As someone who is trying to write really good patterns, I can tell you that pattern writing for something as simple as a plain vanilla sock is harder than it looks!  To have your first, released for all to see pattern be for something as complicated as a dragon just blows my little baby-steps-I-am-just-a-beginner-at-this designer mind! (That link will take you to the materials page, even if you don't want to knit one I highly recommend that you look through the pages at some of the proto-type dragons that Ms Harrison knit coming up with the pattern, they are amazing!)

When I finally finish this dragon/chicken I will take a photo with both my original and the newer one so that you can see the scaling up...for now I just have a few assorted body parts!  I am still working out what to use for the support in the long wing bone across the top of the wings and the spine once I have passed the tail and move onto the hips of the body.

I do have to say, that with all the little details in these dragons, the calves and knees that look so right, how cute the face turns out...the thing that impresses me the most are the little toes!

I had hoped to have some better pictures of my no-name-stranded socks for you, unfortunately the weather was not cooperating with me, so those will have to wait for another day!

We all have tomorrow off - Martin Luther King Day - I plan to settle down with a nice warm cup of coffee and maybe some cashmere.  What are you planning for the week?

Make Haste...but Slowly!

I had all these really big plans for what I was going to get accomplished by yesterday.

Wednesday's make good WIP posting days. Hmmm...you might notice that didn't happen.

I have been spending a lot of time just recently bogged down with tech problems.

They are dual in nature......

Tech as in I very carefully wrote a chart, test knitted it flat, and started knitting it in the round.  A few inches in (7 acutally) I decided that I needed bigger knitting needles and frogged the starts of (another) project and started over, but somewhere in my muddled mind I decided I could simplify the chart.  So I deleted half of what I had written, printed myself a new chart and went happily on my way.

Hmmm, just one problem, it was an a-symmetric chart that I had written in the first place!

It took me that same 7 inches to discover my mistake.

Back to the Frog Pond* went my knitting.

Now, don't get me wrong, I have no objection to ripping out my knitting and starting over when things are not working out.  More per yard enjoyment in the knitting, is my motto for that.  But I should have been able to tell from my new chart that the next segment was not going to line up and I am not talking it would not line up by two or three pesky little stitches.  Oh No, when I mess up I go all the way and we are talking closer to an 8 stitch difference.

Cast on 3 seems to have been the charm.

The second Tech issue was actually more tech!  TOB's computer started doing some strange things before the holidays, so while the Monster Man was here he tried to fix them.

His fix...well it wasn't the best fix.

So he tried fixing that, which resulted in my getting a downgrade in computers and him cobbling together some pieces from new ones, some pieces from old ones, and almost rebuilding one for TOB. 

That plan worked for half a minute.  But by the time the thirty seconds was done, the Monster Man had gone back to the west coast and I was left with the non-functional computer and a very upset teen boy.  We got it working again, sort of, and complained to the monster man, who came up with a third fix...yet another new computer, unfortunately this one included Windows 10**.  The plan being that this weekend we would figure out how to save all TOB's  settings, programs and files and put them on the new computer when both the monster man and I had time to deal with it.

That plan worked until this very morning when TOB woke up to a very fancy, black and shiny, flashing lights all around the case....brick. 

What is worse in my mind, is that case used to be mine, with all its inputs on the front of the computer, fancy card reader for my photo's, extra usb ports so that I can charge my phone, my phone emergency charger or save/read/write patterns to a usb drive, my fancy recessed top that worked so well for holding things like headphones, or bobby pins, or heck even double pointed needles.  And now it is a doorstop.  :(

But enough complaining.  I tell my kids that happiness is more about what you bring to the day than what happens to you.  It is all in perspective.

That half empty glass in front of me, is actually full.  (Right now, half full of a very nice, dry red and the other half with air.)

On a more productive note, I finished my No Name Stranded Socks.

I really need a name for this gals. (Actually they would work just as well for the guys, or so my boys tell me.)  If you have an idea leave it in the comments!

The self challenge was three fold...create a relatively simple, yet interesting knit using the stranded method, write the pattern as I went and use up some scraps from my scrap basket.

The pattern needs some finishing touches, including some better pictures, but overall I would call that challenge satisfied!

~M



*Frog Pond - a place where knitters "Rip-it, Rip-it" and sound like frogs.
** Windows 10 and I do not get along.  If I wanted an Apple Product I would use a Mac.  Windows is to much like my ipod and phone for me to be happy with it as a desktop, especially if the screen I am using is not a touch screen!

Scaling up

Did you read the one about the Yarn Chicken that was actually a Dragon?  Well, between test knits and pattern writing knits, today I cast on another one!

This time I am using a worsted weight yarn that has a different texture to it.  When I picked the yarn up during the Knit Picks Cyber Monday, we can't tell the dates so we did it a week early, Sale, the plan was to use it for a blanket.  Of course, upon swatching TDQ decided she didn't like the texture so I am still in the market for yarn for her 2016 blanket, but that will have to wait as the yarn diet is on with a vengeance after my exceptionally large Christmas Haul!

The yarn itself suggests a needle of a US 7 or 8, I picked a size 3 (US) to knit this particular dragon. (mostly because I have enough double points in this size to make it work, I seem to be severely lacking in 4's.)

Today I started on the wing segments.  Just from eyeballing them I will need to use something in addition to the pipe cleaners that I have for the long wing support and the supports that end up giving shape to the body.  I need to search in the garage and find out where The Monster Man hid the household electrical wiring.  I know I have some of that and it might work, if not I am pretty sure I have some speaker wire from when I wired the house for sound. (Pre blue tooth for those of you that are more technologically advanced than Chez Yarn Diet...in my defense I ran the wires and put outlets in the walls, there is no speaker wire running across my living room floor!)

I won't name this dragon....she or he is  a gift for someone else.  I hope that she (or he) ends up as a stash guardian.  Who knows, if she, or he, works out the way I plan I might knit a third to guard my own stash from wayward boys!

As TDQ says you cannot harm a dragon with fire I will need some kind of water elemental to guard my bead stash!

In other knitting news, I have completed the first run through of a stranded sock pattern. I plan on knitting it one more time in the larger size before publishing it. I think it is a nice intro into stranded socks, no long floats, enough choices to keep the advanced knitter amused while still giving the learner knitter a chance to try out new techniques. 

Happy Knitting!

~M

Why Knit Socks?

There are two threads in the Loose Ends area of the Ravelry forum lately that I have been looking at occasionally the past few weeks.  "Things I will never knit" and "Things that I am glad I can knit".  Under the "Things I am glad to knit" there are several entries for very useful, one of a kind, filled my need when I couldn't get something to do what I wanted, type entries. (A mostly fingerless mitt to stop a very young child from chewing on, swallowing or maybe even choking on,  the bandaid that was on their finger for example) but there are a lot of entries that actually match the "Things I would never knit".  Blankets, scarves, lace shawls, fingerless mitts, the list actually was pretty similar.

The one clothing item that seems to bring the most discussion is socks.  People love knitting them, hate knitting them, are ambivalent towards knitting them. People love wearing hand knit socks, hate wearing hand knit socks or are ambivalent towards wearing them. 

I used to sit firmly in the camp of "Why knit socks when I can buy 10 pairs in a pack at (insert name of discount or big box store here) for next to nothing?"  Until I started knitting socks.

So why even try to  knit socks?

My first pair of socks were knit because I refused to be intimidated by a knitting pattern.  Socks in my mind were hard to knit, first they are knit with thinner yarn than most of the sweaters I had been making up to that point, smaller needles, in the round and then that most intimidating thing of all....you have to "turn a heel".  What did that even mean?

My first socks were not attractive.  I don't have any pictures but they were bright pink, either sport or worsted weight leftovers from a baby sweater, unshapely, uncomfortable and generally enough to make the cat laugh at my efforts!  But, as I said, I wasn't about to be intimidated by knitting, so I tried again and the second results looked more sock like and actually fit.

As time went by I discovered how many stitches per inch I found most comfortable and longest wearing. My first socks were knit from the cuff down, and that is still my "go to" way of knitting socks, especially as, after a while, the pattern became optional.  Not having to drag a pattern around with me while I was knitting and having a project small enough to slip in my pocket (or purse when I still carried one around) was a huge advantage.  With that basic pattern in my head I could try out new stitch patterns or techniques and have something useful when I was finished, instead of just another swatch floating around the house.

As time wore on I discovered that the hand knit socks my kids had lasted longer than the "buy many for a few dollar socks" from the store.  They fit better and kept our feet warmer in the winter.

So why knit socks?

Your reasons may vary, but here are mine :

1) They are a portable project.  You can carry it around with you to fill the time when waiting on other people.

2) Sock Yarn can be relatively inexpensive and easy to buy.  Compare the cost of a skein of sock yarn to the amount you will need for a full sized adult sweater and there is a huge difference in initial outlay!  Big Box Craft Stores have a (limited) supply of sock yarn and put it on sale regularly.  For less than admission to a movie, with popcorn and a drink, you can have hours of knitting enjoyment and warm feet afterwards!

3) Your commitment to the pattern can be short lived.  With nothing else going on, or if I am waiting for long periods of time on other people, I can knock out a pair of socks in just a couple of days.  Blankets, sweaters and scarves can all take up to months to finish.  And if my commitment to a certain stitch pattern doesn't last through two socks, well FrankenSocks are a thing!

4) You can experiment to your hearts desire with stitch patterns and colorwork.  Want to give lace or cables a try?  You can do that with socks!

5) They fit better than the store bought type.  Do you find that the top of your sock cuts into your calf after a day of wearing?  You can customize the top to make it fit just right.  Narrow feet? Decrease a few more stitches after the gussets. (I told you I knit mostly cuff down socks, reverse for toe up and increase less!)

6) They wear better.  I have two boys who wear work boots for some if not all of their school day.  Work boots are hard on feet and socks.  TOB has actually worn holes through store bought socks after a single wearing, but his hand knit socks last months before starting to show wear.

7) Turning the heel is knitters magic in action. It never ceases to amuse me.

8) Wool has it's own magical properties.  Wool will keep you warmer, but breathes so you don't overheat.  It will keep you warm while it is wet, so if snow does end up on the inside of your boots you will still have warm toes.

So my questions to you are:  Do you knit socks? Why or Why Not?

~M

I shall call her Kanaliha....TDQ will call her something else

To put this into perspective I have to tell you two stories.  The first goes something like this:

Once upon a time, in a house where knitting was a daily occurrence, there lived three teenagers. (I will only be able to say that for a few more days, the oldest one is about to hit 20!!!)  Of these teenagers, one, the oldest as it happened, would always ask upon the resident knitter's return from the mundane world. "Did you find any dragons?" and then act very disappointed when the answer was no.

In this same house was a knitter who seemed to enjoy playing a game of yarn chicken.  When she lost at that game she would become despondent, but when she won she would be on top of the world for the few minutes it took her to finish up the project and start the next one.

The last time the knitter won at yarn chicken she declared that she wanted a trophy.  Something to display when she won, and throw across the room when she lost.  So the trophy must be soft and non-lethal.

Alas, her search was in vain, and try though she might, the knitter did not find a suitable yarn chicken trophy.  Her skills not being up to creating that type of pattern, she moved on to other things but did spy an interesting pattern on Ravelry. So once the holiday knitting was over and the Christmas haul of yarn was logged in the stash, the knitter quietly pulled out her needles and yarn.

"Whatcha knitting?" asked the dragon yearning teenager.

"A yarn chicken" the knitter replied, having made sure that the pattern only showed instructions not pictures.

"Really?" asked the teen, peering intently at the page on the computer..."That will be a funny looking chicken, the web address says Kim's Dragon."

Kanaliha means chicken in Estonian (according to google) so I will call her Kanaliha.
 
 TDQ has declared that she will be called Chicken and that, according to her, is that!

Of course, you can tell she is a chicken by her yellow belly!

~M