Laura's Bears & Critters Contest

the contest for Laura's Bears & Critters https://www.facebook.com/Lauras.Bears.Critters starts Laura's Bears & Critters contesttoday. Enter today for your chance to win a unique item, plus tell me what I should make for selling next.

Punxsutawney Phil Must Have Been Right

   Well, spring is here and it snowed 6 inches over night. I guess the groundhog was right., 6 more weeks of winter. The wind is blowing and the snow is still falling, off and on. According to weather maps, places where it's usually still cold are warmer than we are up here.
   The chicks out grew their box and are now in a bigger box. Actually, they are in a big plastic box because I have smart chickens. They were working on a jail break. I guess it was really a cardboard box break. It seems they aren't really chicks at all, they are chucks. They danced in their water like ducks, got the cardboard nice and soggy and then started to peck and scratch a hole in the bottom. At least it was the bottom and not the side. At the rate the chicks are growing and the way the weather is cooperating, on day I'll wake up and find eggs in their box. I kind of feel like a Ma and Pa Kettle movie.
   Spending this much time with the chicks, I see they have personalities. The 15 chickens we had before seemed unusually stupid, but then, that could have been because we started out with too many chickens. One of the Golden chicks is much bigger than the other 3. I'm still assuming it's a female, but what do I know? It stands up big and tall and acts like it's in charge. Another of the Goldens is much smaller than the rest and is everybody's friend. We call this one Penny.
   The Polish chicks are starting to look really deranged with their feathers coming in on their cone heads. They seem to be trouble makers and I'm pretty sure they were the ones that started the jail break. I've named them Phyllis and Albert after Phyllis Diller and Albert Einstein because of their hair.
Since I still don't know if they are male or female, I have Phillip and Alberta as back up names. I'm kind of leaning toward them both being little roosters. I really hope they are out of the house before then.
   Tim's grandfather raised roosters, the really pretty kind with the bright colors and nice long tail feathers. One winter, his grandmother found a hurt dove and nursed it back to health. It lived in the basement most of the time. Tim and I went to visit his grandparents one time and we slept in the basement. It was a good place to have the guest/everything else room since it was in Kansas. Anyway, one morning this terrible noise woke us up. We just couldn't figure out what it was. We knew it wasn't one of the roosters because we knew what they sound like. We ask Tim's grandma what it was and she said it was the dove. It stopped making dove noise a long time ago and now, it just did it imitation of a rooster crowing.
   I've started cutting up old and outgrown jeans for the quilts I'm making for the grand kids. I've decided straight denim quilts would be too heavy for the kids, since I really don't want to squish them, so I need to go and buy some heavyish bright and kiddish material to go with the denim. Why not start another project when I haven't finished all the others? I do have the towels folded, so I'm good. I'll take pictures of the many crafts as I finish them.

Snow

We are having the first snow of the season in my snow globe world. So far, about 1/4" and melting.The National Weather Service says less than 1", which is much better than 80" in 3 weeks like last year, but that wasn't until December, either. Time will tell. After that, more rain. Just what we need; more mud. I have lots to keep me entertained when I'm housebound. This year, I've decided to lear to knit. I took knitting lessons when I was 12 and remember the knit stitch and how to cast on and bind off. I need to relearn the purl stitch. My handspun yarn will look much better knitted than crocheted. Less bulky. First, I have to finish and start another sweater for my grandsons for Christmas. One day, maybe, I'll finish all my started, but not finished, crafts. I have quite a few of them. There are reasons they haven't been finished yet. I look at them periodically, and still have no great desire to finish most them. I guess if I get really hard up for something to do, they'll be on my list somewhere.

My spinning wheels are calling me

Now that I've finished the closet fiasco, (almost), I hear my spinning wheels calling me. All three of them. I never thought of spinning as something I would do. I'd see people at fairs spinning and didn't really give it much thought.
It all started with a white Pygora goat named Q-Tip. She looked more like a cotton ball. That was her name when I bought her. I have a friend who spins, so I'd give her Q-Tip's fleece. One day, Barbara told me I should learn to spin. I tried her wheel, and was hooked. I bought my first spinning wheel, an Ashford Traveler double drive, in 1993. I was really looking forward to being able to pick up my wheel. I bought it from one of "those" people that spin at fairs, no less. I was so disappointed when I first saw it. It came in a little box and had to be assembled and finished.
Once it was together, I was ready to go. It wasn't as easy as I thought. I had to get my hands and feet coordinated. Finally, it clicked, and I was spinning. It was lumpy and uneven, but I made yarn. Yipee!! I was so excited.
Then I used the handcards I bought at a spinning show. They turned my white wool orange. I thought that was weird, but maybe it worked that way. Seems the carders were rusty under the cloth where it couldn't be seen. After running some very greasy wool through them, the problem was solved.
Of course, I had to get my own angora goats so I could have an endless supply of fiber. Then it was dog hair and just about anything else with two ends. I'd send the kids out to brush the dog, and have them save the dog hair while they were brushing. I know they thought I was nuts.
I'd wash the mohair (the hair off of an angora goat) and spread it on towels on the dinning room table. It really didn't smell like a wet goat for long. Really it didn't. It wasn't as bad as dyeing. I'll leave that for another blog.
There's something about making something from animal to finished project. The first lumpy, orangish yarn turned into a bathroom rug and I crocheted a little lamb out of the yarn that wasn't as orange. I call it my recycled lamb. It's stuffed with the last of the orange yarn.
Anyway, I have a large stash (OK. A really, really, large stash) of fiber to spin. It's something to keep me busy with in the winter, since I'm not allowed outside in the winter anymore.
There is no comparison between hand spun yarn and store bought yarn. Hand spun feels warm and alive and has personality, unlike store bought yarn. I must admit, though, that I do have a lot of store bought yarn.
I've gone to schools, libraries and fairs to spin. Yes, I've become one of "those" people. I like to get other people interested in spinning.
I spin for the relaxation and the soothing, calming effect. All is well when I spin.