May 28, 2013

busy like the bees

It rained and rained for most of the weekend, a soggy, cold holiday. Way too cold, especially after the long stretch of warmth. So for two days we stayed inside and played and knit and were generally lazy. And then came yesterday with the sun shining and chores calling. A new roof for the coop to let more light in on our ladies, the first of three garden beds planted out, branches trimmed away to let the sun shine on our garden. Busy, busy. A long, glorious day in the sun. Hauling hay to the coop, digging in potatoes, bringing the chicks out one by one to explore the real world.

The bees have been busy, capping the first of the honey (squee!) and feeding lots of new little bees, so busy that they didn't even notice when I broke into their hive to check their progress. Buzzing from dandelion to dandelion (their love of them has given me the perfect excuse to not weed the yard) and hauling in bright yellow pollen. I'm a little bit in awe of how much they do in there in the dark.

A sheep farmer down the road gave me two fleeces to play with, totally unwashed and just barely off the sheep and I spent part of the afternoon picking out of the worst of the yuck (otherwise known as skirting the wool) then washing and rewashing and rewashing. It's spread out to dry in the hammock now, which means that tomorrow I will have to start figuring out what comes next. Carding of flicking, depending on what I want to do with it I think. I haven't spun much this winter with so many knitting projects taking up my time. I've found (in the way that self taught spinners often do - by accident) that I generally spin worsted (not weight, it's a way of spinning) and this wool should probably be spun woolen. Or perhaps I'll try both and see how it goes. I certainly have enough to do a little experimenting. Maybe some dandelion dying. Or some carding together to make a little tweed.

Busy busy indeed.