RAK and such

I cleaned out my little jewelry holder last weekend and sent about half of the contents to a person I don't know. I am a member of a group called RAK (random acts of kindness) and someone's wish list included unwanted or broken jewelry. None of my jewelry is of the expensive type, but here were plenty of beaded bracelets and other fun costume jewelry.

Some of the beaded items were made by me, and some were purchased here and there. Most of them had been with me for several years. Now that my stash is lighter, I hardly remember what I gave up. I am glad that someone else will enjoy the items for a time, and that I have one area of belongings that is a little more streamlined.

After the cleaning out, I realized I needed a little pouch to hold my shawl pins and wooden shawl pin circles, so I made the cute little birdie drawstring bag above. Tweet tweet! Chipper the hamster could not resist sneaking into the photo...

How do you rid yourself of items you no longer use?

The Beauty in Both

This was Deer Palace on Thursday morning last week. We had snow overnight and off and on most of the day. We had been having some unseasonable warmth and sun in the week prior, so you can see that a chair and some rakes were out at the ready. The rakes were working just a few days before, and now they look completely out of place there. However, the blanket of snow renders the scene beautiful anyway.This was Deer Palace today, and there is Simon swinging on his "tire" swing with no pants and no cares of snow or ice. Though it was cold, the day was beautiful for outdoor play, and we took advantage of the holiday to spend some time enjoying each other and watching the wild birds gobble up the treats left for them.

I love the silent, solemn beauty of snow. And I love the bright welcoming beauty of a sunny day. Soon the sun will win, and we will have warmth to accompany the rays. Even the chickens feel it coming, as they have again begun to give us some eggs.

The new babies are here!

There's Bernice, Joy, and Chomper (I for one urge a change in that last one!), the Buff Orpingtons, and Opal and Liza Jane, the Barred Rocks. My, but they are so cute when they are this tiny and fuzzy!

Yarncycling

You've heard of Recycling, Upcycling, and Repurposing...but have you heard of Yarncycling? Probably not, because I just made that up. However, I did not make up the idea of frogging (ripping out all stitches back to the original yarn state) a sweater to recover its yardage. That probably goes back to the first knitters of sweaters, and many of us carry on the tradition to this day.
This lovely orange sweater was purchased by yours truly at a Goodwill store for $2.99. It looks good in the photo, and though I bought it specifically for frogging, I had hoped to get a bit of wear mileage out of it first. No luck, however, because it had some seam holes due to unraveling, and it was wonky in spots with "pulls." So RIP I did, and now I have YARN! Beautiful burnt orange 100% merino wool yarn. I saved the turtle neck part intact and finished the edging so that it makes a great cowl/gaiter.

But, now that I am yarncycling in earnest, I really needed a niddy noddy to properly wind the yarn into hanks instead of just making balls of yarn that are much more difficult to store. So, based on an idea I saw recently on a fellow Raveler's blog, I made one yesterday from PVC (a one-yard size small noddy).It is not particularly attractive, and I cannot take all the price tags off the tubes because when I did take one off, the sticky under it was nigh impossible to remove completely, and I don't want sticky sticking to my yarn...so ugly with price tags wins the day. But the price is definitely right: the entire thing, custom cut, cost $4.92. Now I have hanks...That turn into nice, tidy skeins for storage...Isn't that a beautiful sight? I have one ball left to hank, but so far I have three finished at 175 yards, 175 yards, and 192.5 yards. The last one will be in the ballpark of 175 as well. Where, I ask you, can you get 717 yards of premium 100% Merino wool for $2.99? Goodwill, I say! If you are willing to work for it...

I am pleased, and I even like it in orange.

Love on fire

Welcome, month of passion and ardour! Though the origins of St. Valentine's Day, and its transformation into the modern consumerist observance of Valentine's Day are many and varied, the one thread that remains constant is that we spend the month thinking of love and warmth and togetherness. Who shall ignite the fire of passion for you during this month of love?

Definition 1b of fire from Merriam Webster is as follows:

b (1) : burning passion : ardor (2) : liveliness of imagination