It's snowing!!!! =}

I love it when it snows!!! And it's sticking!!! Yay!!!

Edited to add more photos   =}

In the spirit of the season

Still plugging away......

.....on Christmas gifts here. Nearly done though. The last of the sewn gifts will be finished today. I still have a couple of knitted gifts left to do. They are small and should go relatively quickly.

All the Christmas shopping is done. Things that needed to be mailed are mailed and have reached their final destinations. Christmas calls (visits) have been made....and were very enjoyable! Decorations are up (and have been for awhile). Tree is up (artificial of course....wouldn't dream of cutting down a tree only to toss it later....I'm too much if a "tree-hugger" for that). Nearly time to exhale and enjoy.  :)

The weather has warmed up (relatively speaking). Only faint traces of the little snow we had remain. Lots of foggy days. The fog just lingers all day long making it so my solar lights aren't able to get a good charge. With fog and gray days there is always beauty to be seen.....frozen drops of fog suspended in action of the tips of pine needles. Makes the trees look like they are decorated in pearls. Very pretty!

Finally, a photo of my spinner's flock enjoying breakfast "buffet" style. Every now and then I like to feed them out in pasture like this. They end up spreading bits of hay over the winter grass giving it a bit more protection from the elements. I've noticed the grass has been coming in nicer in the spring since I've started doing this. Plus it's nice to see them all together. They are usually so spread out during the day.

Frogged. :(

While it made me a little sad to do it, I ended up frogging my Rivulet infinity scarf. After pinning and re-pinning, viewing different widths, it was for the best. It was simply too wide for what I have in mind. The good news is I think I have finally hit upon the perfect number of repeats to get what I have pictured in my mind. I have a few Christmas gifts to finish up before I can cast on again. I hope to be happily knitting away on version #2 by this weekend. As for the pattern being available.....not any time soon. It would be a great way to start off the new year though.  :)

Do you remember this?

It wasn't one of my favorite blends to spin even though I really loved the color. I started spinning it on a support spindle and ended up finishing it on the wheel. I now have about 700 yards of a lovely light fingering weight yarn. Not quite sure what I will do with it. Maybe a beaded lace shawl....

(The braid of fiber was lighter in color than the finished yarn. I'm rather glad the finished yarn turned out darker. I think it's prettier.)

To Frog or not to Frog......

......that is the question. I've been working on my Rivulets infinity scarf and decided I should take a look at it upon the dress form before going any farther. I'm glad I did. It looks to be too wide for what I have in mind. Right now it measures about 10" wide ( unblocked). The fabric doesn't have a lot of drape to it so it feels like it may be a bit too much when wrapped twice around the neck. When I fold it almost, but not quite, in half and put it on the dress form it looks much softer. I also like the horizontal lines you get with the cables and lace.

Right now I'm seriously leaning towards frogging and starting from scratch......and maybe making a cowl instead of an infinity scarf. Any thoughts? What would you do?

Andean Spinning

I've always been intrigued by spindles from different countries......Russian, Tibetan, Turkish, Phang, Akha, Svan, Tahkli.....just to name a few. When I had the chance to obtain one from Peru I jumped on it. The spindle has been sitting on my shelf waiting for me to use it ever since. At the time I acquired my Peruvian spindle there really wasn't much out as far as learning how to use it the traditional way. Watching a handful of 30 second videos on YouTube didn't do a lot for me. They were great to watch but not super informative. Then I stumbled upon a video on Andean Spinning. It was a " no brainer" purchase. I've been watching it whenever I have a bit of free time.....and have since pulled my Peruvian spindle of the shelf.

I'm spinning a lovely Huacaya alpaca on it. The fiber has been washed and combed. Not the traditional fiber prep but I figured since it's what was left over from the blanket it would be great to learn on. I'm using the spindle supported rather than suspended. I'm just more comfortable with it that way.  I'm having tons of fun getting to know my spindle and am ending up with a rather consistent, rather fine single in the process. There is little over 2 1/2 oz. of fiber so I should be fairly proficient with my spindle by the time it's all spun up.

Lake Cruise (photo intense)

Each year the American Bald Eagle stops at a rather large and very beautiful lake in a neighboring state during their migration down from Canada. Their stop at this lake coincides with the annual spawning of the Kokanee salmon. The eagles start arriving during November. By Christmas Day they number in the hundreds. As you can imagine it is something to see.

Yesterday my loving hubby and I were fortunate enough to be part of one of the first "eagle viewing" cruises being offered by the Bureau of Land Management. We were on the morning cruise. It was an overcast, foggy day with a biting wind.....so we made sure to dress warmly. There was no way I was going to miss seeing the eagles because I was cold.  :)  We were joined by two other couples (friends) so it made for a wonderful cruise.

On the way out we got to hear a bit about the Bald Eagles. Once we got to the viewing area it was all you could do to not miss seeing an eagle. My hubby and I braved the weather and went up top of the boat. I was busy taking photo after photo, while my hubby was pointing out bird after bird. "Did you see that one?" "Did you get that shot?" "There are two there!!" "Three here!" It was crazy, amazing, awe-inspiring, and incredibly beautiful all at the same time. I ended up taking over 150 photos during the time we spent on top of the boat. While the eagle numbers were relatively low ( maybe 30) it was still......wow!!! I can't imagine what it must be like to be out there when the eagle numbers are in the hundreds. I'm hoping to find out though.  :)

Here are a few of my favorite photos from the day......