Three Degrees

See that number three in the left-hand corner?  That was the temp yesterday when I went to take Lucy for her walk. Oh, and don't think I have a choice in the matter.  This is the way things work around here.  I have until 8:30 to wake up, eat breakfast, check my email and get dressed.  By 8:20 the whining starts.  And by 8:30 Lucy is using all her herding skills to move me towards the door.  And if that doesn't work, I get THE LOOK......the laser-like stare that pierces your brain and makes you unable to do anything else but her bidding.

What's the big deal?  The weather is perfect!

So I put on my 8,947 layers of clothes and off we go. (I'm not kidding about the clothes.  At last count I wear a long johns, a sweatshirt, my jacket, a wool headband, a wool hat, my hood, a black skiers mask that my husband says I can also use to rob banks, a scarf, a pair of gloves and a pair of mittens.)

Because it is so cold, we seem to be the only ones crazy enough to be out.  The air is crisp and you can hear the crunching of your foot steps as you walk.  In fact everything seems to be a bit brighter and clearer.

Along the way, we see little footprints of night visitors. While I would prefer to hurry,  Lucy has to sniff in each and every footprint as we walk.  So we walk and we take a little time to notice the things around us.  The trees are heavy with snow..................

and soon we pass these towers that guard a neighbor's driveway.  As usual, I take a few minutes to think about who might have made them and the time it took.  I admire the colors and think about how they would look in a rug or in a skein of hand dyed yarn.

One the way home, the sun rises.....

and while my fingers are frozen and my nose running; I'm glad my little pup made me come out and greet the day.

Spin, Spin, Spin

Sorry for the long break, but I have been busy, busy, busy playing and having fun.  One of my new friends up here is a spinner.  No, not just a spinner....a Spinner.  She has been spinning since the 70s and has taken a group of us who either want to learn to spin or who are beginning spinners under her wing.
A few weeks ago she lent me this:

I know, I KNOW.  I am just peeing my pants excited to have this in my house.  I quickly dyed up all the roving I had and have been playing around with it ever since.  Seriously, it is so much fun to see what colors do when you blend them all together and then to see what they do when they are spun.  It really is a color adventure.  So far I've done this:

The first two skeins on the right are from batts I bought and the two on the left are from batts that I made.  
This is my next batt:

Yeah.......do you think someone is craving a little sunshine?