So there are times I forget my project bag, or suddenly have an unexpected wait and didn’t think to grab my project bag. The horror. I have found that having a small ball of yarn and a crochet hook stashed in my purse has come to the rescue on several occasions. I currently have some green fingering weight merino that I am using to learn a new shawl pattern. It is just a wee bit of wool so doesn’t take up much room, and a mismatched crochet hook so I don’t break up a set. Phew, yarn.
As I was tending chickens, I saw my neighbor’s tuxedo cat easing over toward the coop. Then I spotted Sophie (who is the only one we pay vet bills for) crouched behind the water fountain, and saw her run out to confront the intruder. Meanwhile, Mr Tom (from the neighbor’s house on the other side), is laying low, watching the shenanigans. If Sophie had spotted him first, she would have run him off as well. Sophie has the privilege of coming inside our house, where she is most of the time. I think the other cats are easing into her territory because she does hang out inside. I would rather she be an inside cat and not fight. All cats pictured have been spayed and neutered.
I filled my first spindle of Clun Forest wool while walking the neighborhood. Rather than ball up the singles, or put them on the niddy noddy just yet, I used my vintage spinning wheel to wind the yarn onto a bobbin. I used the hooks at first, but was not pleased with the way the yarn kinked between sections, and I was afraid the flyer was putting in more twist.
I transferred the yarn to a different bobbin, and this time I locked down the flyer so it couldn’t add twist, and just let the wheel spin the bobbin. I didn’t use the hooks, but guided the yarn onto the bobbin with my hand position to make a smooth transition all along the bobbin.
The resulting wrap is much more pleasing to look at. My plan it to add on the singles as I spin them, then ply everything using the wheel.
We renewed the salad bars in the chicken’s run by moving the frames, adding new seed (wheat, mung beans, and alfalfa), and topping off with potting soil. The hens “help” by cleaning up the seed that doesn’t make it down through the welded wire. They think it is great fun.
They also really enjoy scratching through the old, now exposed, salad bar areas.
I needed to shift the pots and water dishes in the future moss garden (big dreams), so I could trim down the scraggly grass. As I stacked I like the look, so deliberately arranged so I had a cascading fountain of sorts (very crude, but it is the beginning of an idea).
I left one dish on the ground because the cats like to drink from it. It turns out Mr Tom prefers a raised water dish.
So now the question is, was it really my idea…?
Critters and Craft 