After a lot of rain and wind, which gave us all sorts of weather warnings, we've had a couple of nice days.  Today was so nice, I went outside on the deck to read for a bit.  It was still quite windy so eventually I had to put on a sweater.  I don't think I got that much reading done, because the birds were continuously berating me for being outside instead of leaving them to the buffet of bird feeders.  Lots of chirps, clucks and shrill warnings while I was sitting quietly reading, lol.

While many of the birds which visit us during the winter have gone back to wherever they spend the good weather, our bluejays, mourning doves, cardinals are still with us.  The grackles are at a reasonable level this year, but I think only because I missed filling the feeders the day they returned.  We have red winged blackbirds who only eat at the feeders until there is other food available.  There were a couple of cowbirds, some finches or sparrows and the woodpeckers, who don't care if I'm on the deck or not.  

I also spent time watching the trees.  We've missed maple syrup season all together this year because of the odd spring weather.  The maple trees are starting to flower, so syrup season is pretty much over.   We've got a few bottles set aside for a situation like this, so we won't do without.

The snow seems to have finally melted.  Yesterday there was still some snow at the edges of the fields around us.   The frost is gone and moisture is draining aways.  It was bad there for a while as there was no place for the snow melt to go and we had water over good parts of the land around the house.  That was a pain to deal with for sure.  Not just puddles, but massive puddles flooding the barn and making for muddy, squidgy, slippery walking.  It wasn't bad outside today!

I took a break from making the little comfort dolls.  I dug up a skein of bamboo/wool blend sock yarn.

 It's a tad heavier than some yarns, but not by much.   I can make 2 pair of shorty socks with them as long as only one pair has heel tabs and the other just has a cuff.  I love the colours of these.  In discussions with a friend, apparently some people don't like the cuffs to show.   I really don't care as comfort is more important to me.   I'm still undecided on the tabs vs the little cuff.  Last summer I don't think I noticed a difference between the two.

I made these on my Circular Sock Machine, a Legare 400, which is over 100 years old.  While I'd love a new machine, maybe a NZAK - New Zealand Auto Knitter, I don't have the $ saved up right now.   However, my old girl, while sometimes being a little fussy, still works a treat.

I've been doing a lot of spinning lately.   Having a group of gals who meet once a month to spin together has really helped get the spinning mojo boing again.   While I've been spinning off and on since my Master Spinner program, I've been mainly spinning cotton and other oddly technique specific fibres.   Getting back to spinning real wool took a bit of time to reconnect with my skills.   

This is Finn sheep wool.  It's a good staple length to spin easily and is relatively soft.  I only have just under half a kilo of it, so maybe I should have spun it a little finer.   The bottom skein is what I was working towards.  It took a bit of time and practice to get to how I wanted to be spinning.  Mostly though, the slight differences in the skeins won't make a difference to its use.   If I can get more fibre, I'd like to make a sweater.   Otherwise, maybe I'll find a local shepherd and pick up a fleece to play with.