Still winter here..

 

Finally the Great Lakes are frozen enough that the constant lake effect snow squalls have eased off.  Despite it still being stupidly cold, we've had a couple of sunny days and a couple of sunny-ish days, where it was bright, although there was cloud cover and those lovely white/grey wintery skies we get here.   We've also had hoar frost, and icy fog which is both beautiful and odd at the same time.  

This was first thing this morning, just a bit after sunrise.  A few minutes later, I was heading into town and had to put my lights on because that little layer of fog, became a heavy, almost engulfing fog, which lasted until about 10 minutes after I got home  an hour and a half later.   Literally 10 minutes after I'd gotten home and made some tea, I looked out to see no fog, and sunshine.   A happy surprise for sure, but a surprisingly quick switch in the weather.

At least it wasn't -23C when I left the house this morning.  It was a balmy -17C and had actually warmed up to -14C when I got home.  The local groundhog has predicted an early spring.  Realistically, even if we get 6 more weeks of winter, that's doing pretty good. 

 I remember the year we got the sheep.  They arrived in March and it was -25 during the day and much colder at night.  They were about to lamb and did so before the cold weather broke.   With the birth of the first lamb, I ended up routing through the kids cast off sweaters,  found a couple and cut the arms off to make little lamb sweaters because I worried that these tiny babies with no body fat wouldn't survive the cold.  I slipped them on after mama had finished cleaning them up and they'd dried off.   Neither the lambs nor the mamas cared and a few days later, the babies had outgrown the sweaters, had nice fluffy coats and were thriving.   I don't think they actually needed the sweaters, but it made me feel better!   

This is what I made during the past couple of evenings.  He's a free pattern from Ravelry.  The yarn is some of my early spinning, that I dyed with woad that I'd grown.   The green is leftovers from the green shawl I'd just made.   The yarn is a bit uneven with some thicker and thinner sections.  It's been in my hand spun bin for years.   I believe that beginner handspun yarn should be used, even if it's years later.   He's cute.    I use safety eyes on some of my knitted stuffies.   To make sure those eyes stay put, I cut a square of felt, cut a tiny slit or x in it.  I put the eye through the knitted fabric, then I put the square of felt over the post of the eye, and then put the safety back on the post.   It pretty much holds those eyes solidly in place.

Winter musings

We've been having some odd weather to say the least.   Two days ago, I had to run into town.   When I left home, it was -15C and there was heavy fog, with almost no visibility in some places.   By the time I figured I could turn around safely, I was almost to town, and it was starting to burn off.    It was fine in town, and I ran several errands.  Heading home, the fog was just starting to burn off in the rural areas.   As I got closer to home, the trees were covered in ice from the fog.  So pretty but odd too because it was so very cold.

Yesterday, on my way home from taking a walk, there were motorcycles out!  It was 3C, as in above freezing.   Today, it sluiced down rain most of the morning.  One minute it was raining and the next, there were huge flakes of snow falling.  It's been snowing mostly since then and we are supposed to get 30 cm or more overnight.

Hubby needed to start up the snow blower because we didn't have to use it much last year.   The warm temperatures yesterday softened the snowpack and he was able to blow out a path to the chickens and then my walking track around the property.   I had missed having it this year.

We have a family of crows who visit us during the winter.   I know that at least some of them are the same because there are a couple with distinctive white markings on them.  They've been coming for years now.  It is a little weird when you peek out the window to watch them and there is a group on the ground, munching on the corn I leave for them, while a whole other bunch of them sit in the trees surrounding the house, keeping guard.   Sometimes they swoop down on the fresh snow, leaving beautiful crow snow angels.

A couple of days ago, on another very cold day, which was weirdly sunny and windless.   I found this pinecone.   It was on a flat area near where crows congregate to pick through the fire pit.    There had been no wind overnight.   The pinecone wasn't there when I'd done evening chores the night before.   It was just setting on top of an area of pristine snow, not covered by any snow at all.   Around it, although several feet away, were crow tracks and prints.   Sometimes I find interesting things that shouldn't be in the place where I find them.  I think that maybe, they are little tokens from the crows.   This pinecone,  a little twig with some pine needles, and recently, a stick under the bird feeder where I sprinkle some of the corn.   I'd picked up the stick and tossed it out of the way.   The next afternoon, it had been retrieved and placed back under the feeder!  It was definitely the same stick, due to a unique and odd shape to it.

I'm redoing the toe of a new knitted sock project for the 3rd time.   This is because instead of checking the size on my foot, I went by a recommended sock size knitting chart.   When I realized it was the wrong size, it was almost 2 inches too long!   So I tried again, and got it wrong again.  I've ripped it back and have set it aside until tomorrow.  But that is another story for another time.   It's pretty yarn though; the colour of summer skies, calm lakes or ocean vistas.

 

 

Banjo strap details and hoar frost

With the inkle strap off the loom, I've been playing around with ways to turn it into a banjo strap.  The ends need to clip or tie onto the brackets around the outside edge.  With the commercial strap I have for the resonator banjo, I'd noticed the snap clips were starting to scratch and dent the wood and finish where the two met.  I switched them out for boot laces, which are quiet, hold the banjo securely and look okay.

I'd decided on leather ends as we have some veg. tanned leather sitting around from a previous project.   I could get Chicago screws locally but only in silver/chrome and I couldn't find the slider or strap end loops in silver.  I tried them anyway, but they look wrong, one went in crooked and I put them in backward,so the screw end was on the outside.   If I didn't need the hardware for the strap, the colour would be fine but I didn't like the look of them.   I found a packet of snap rivets in the leather tool box, which looked great but were too long.   I ended up ordering some from a eather supply place, in two colours, both a little bit too long, but workable.    I installed one on a scrap and it worked perfectly.   I got the holes slightly uneven on the second try, but the third was a charm.  I have two strap ends which look pretty much the same.  Yay me!
I wish I had some brown leather dye, but these will work just fine. I still need to get or make laces and decide where the lace holes need to be punched.

I finished spinning and plying the pink and blue superwash roving which I'd found in my stash.   The colours ranged from dark blue to a fairly light pink.  I rather like the colour progression in this.   I just split the strip of roving down the centre to spin two singles and hoped they'd sort of match while plying.   I knew that with the random placement of colours, it might not happen, but it happened enough to not muddy up the colours too much.


Our weather has been so variable lately.  We've had record highs and record lows within days of each other.  Then one morning, I looked outside a little too early, and there was hoar frost.  The whole world sparkled as the sun rose.   I grabbed my camera and started taking random shots, first while the early morning was still foggy and then as the fog lifted.   It only lasted a short while before the skies became grey again, but it was lovely while we had the glorious sunshine and blue skies.  Usually our winter skies, even when it's sunny are pale, watery colours in various shades of grey.