Thursday, February 16, 2017

Sorted It Out ...

Cones & Skeins
Here's something worth sharing.  My SIL gifted me with a one of those giant Ziploc bags stuffed full of assorted yarns for Christmas. She got all of them for $25 at an auction.  It looks like a weaver's stash to me ... what do you think? The first group above is all wool, with the exception of the blue cone - that's a fine cotton. The 7 Rowan yarn skeins were tagged at $4.10 each ... whoo hoo!
Quite a Mix of Yarns Here

The second group contains the fabulous orange Scottish Shetland skeins & the Noro skeins. The cream is a cotton core spun & the blue cone is a cotton novelty remnant. Blue & white bumpy/funky Orlon (!) and a slightly faded aqua cotton round out this batch.
Wools, Chenille, & Rayon ...
 The third collection has 2 nice French wool singles, a little group of exotic wool, the commercial wool sock yarns, a brown Rayon cone, what looks to be leftovers from a Christmas project, and 2 chenille tubes.
True Miscellany & Thrums!
The last group is a true mishmash of old novelty cotton, wool & wool blends, a ball of jute (can you say macrame?), purple chenille thrums, and the thick ends of various rug yarns.
All in all, a great little haul for the price. I'll sell some, use some, & gift some. It looks much neater now that the project of sorting it and packing it is done.  To think that this stemmed from a comment I made when we were out thrifting/antiquing.  I bought a full cone of wool yarn for $2, but by-passed two big tubs of synthetic novelty yarns for sale at $10 each.  Someone was listening, lol.

Monday, February 13, 2017

Brown & White

Glenda Shows Off The New Fence & Gate
Brown & white ... that's the color scheme for the season. Dreary brown when it gets unseasonably warm, followed by blasts of snowy white as we go in and out of single digit temps!  Here's brown & white Glenda next to the new interior fence line. Notice the brown and white of the Loafing Shed in the background and our neighbor's white vinyl rail fence on the other side of the road.
Descending From the Goat Mahal!
We passed our neighborhood goats on the way back to look at the water tank. Always curious, they tromp down from the Goat Mahal to meet us at the fence line. They've been clearing the brush for the last year or two & not much has escaped them!
The Brown & White Goat Is The Smaller One ...
 The new replacement water tank is making water just fine ... note the deck hanger hardware holding the boards in place. The idea is that we can move the divider if we have to work on the tank and the electric high tensile wire can also be separated over the tank if need be ...
New H2O Tank
A few days later, we went back to several inches of snow and a mini whiteout while we were hauling hay over to the ewes behind the Loafing Shed. We're using the tractor now since the ground is too soft for our skid steer with the tire chains. Tire chains on the tractor are a different story though!
Back To White - It's Snowing Again!
It got back up to almost 60 degrees and here's a different look at brown & white ... snowdrops flowering on February 5th ... easily a month early around here.  I took this picture after we did some pruning on our apple & pear trees.  I discovered them blooming while patrolling the front yard with the loping pruners looking for winter damage ... oh my.
Snow Drops on February 5th
We'll see what happens next. Didn't the groundhog say we'll have 6 more weeks of winter?!?