Episode 130 Sewn Bind Off to the Rescue

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This episode is sponsored by my Longaberger Home Business and  Quince & Co.

Owl is the newest addition to the Quince and Co family. Squishy, lofty, plump, little Owl is made from a blend of American alpaca and wool. It is spun and dyed in New England and knits up between 4 ½ to 5 stitches per inch, the perfect weight for just about everything. Find it and the other Quince fibers at www.quinceandco.com.

You can find my Longaberger Home Business at www.longaberger.com/paula.  Please send me a personal message or visit my web site to sign up for my customer email list.

Pipeliner Notes

Thanks to everyone who was in touch with me this past week. Thank you so much for the star ratings and reviews on iTunes.  There were new reviews by Rlynn, mkslp, nalbindinga, the2bamboo, and Sharon Edmondson.

Cindy aka PuffyGriffinclaw kindly wrote that the cast on for  Twinkle Twinkle baby blanket is the magic disappearing loop cast on is similar to Emily Ocker’s cast on which Elizabeth Zimmerman used in her Mystery Blanket.  She found THIS  Youtube video to be most helpful as she shows both Euny Jang’s and TechKnitter’s methods. Those two are nearly the same but one works better with even number st COs and the other with odd number st COs.  Cindy says the middle of her blanket is smooth so it might be the cast on that caused the bump in the blanket.  I’m not sure but I’ll use the proper cast on next time.

Tracey, a proud owner of a galaxy S3 android uses the app :”podcast Addict.”

Heather wrote that a woodpecker wakes up the neighborhood by making rounds and drumming/pecking on their fake wood siding. She asked why a woodpecker is doing this.  

My answer: Yes, it is a mating thing.  When woodpeckers are banging on your fake siding or trees it is called drumming.  Drumming is related to territory and mating, not feeding.

Nature Notes

I am writing today at dusk which is one of my favorite times of the day.  I love the light, the colors, and watching the birds come for their last meal of the day.  A hummingbird just took a drink out of the nectar feeder.  We’ve actually seen more downy woodpeckers at the hummingbird feeder than hummers this week but there are hummingbirds and their numbers and frequency at the feeder will increase.  One day an adventurous black capped chickadee perched on the hummingbird feeder and the thistle feeder.  We haven’t seen that before and we wonder whether he will try these feeders again. 

The first week in May is peak migration time for our area of Central Illinois.  It is my favorite time of the year here in the woods.  Just for fun I kept a record of bird species as seen from our porch from May 1 through May 7.  Many of these are common visitors.  Some are not. 23 species are represented.

Pileated woodpecker, House Wren, Goldfinch, House Finch/Purple Finch, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Red-bellied Woodpecker, White breasted nuthatch, Downy Woodpecker, Red-headed Woodpecker, Tufted Titmouse, Cardinal, Mourning Dove, Eastern Phoebe, Chipping Sparrow, Bluejay, Black-capped Chickadee, Cowbird, Turkey (female only), Indigo Bunting pair, White throated sparrow, Red-Wing blackbird, and Ruby Throated hummingbird.

Two handsome guys.  Rose Breasted Grosbeak and Northern Cardinal.

Just a few days before I started the list I saw a Barred Owl on the other side of the ridge.  The trees were filling in and there was only a small window where I could see the other side of the ridge.  I heard the Barred Owl and by the merest of chances happened to see him as he landed on a branch that swayed as he found his footing.  That window through the trees where I saw the Barred Owl is gone now.  The trees have filled in every bit of space and it will be mid October before we see that side of the woods from the window.

Indigo Buntings have never been visitors to the feeder but we’ve been seeing them for nearly a week now.  First a single one came and then a pair.  Now we see them daily as their jewel like blue is so easily seen.  Until now I have had a warped view of the size of an Indigo Bunting as I’ve usually seen them through binoculars, singing from the very top of a tree.  They are actually quite small, just slightly more plump chickadee.

Pair of Indigo Buntings

The Rose Breasted Grosbeaks are usually here for about 10 days in early May and they showed up right on time this year.  I can hardly tear myself away from the window when these birds are at the feeders but they are now there so often that I really have to stop admiring them.  The females are not so attractive and are also very territorial.  We watch the females as well as the male grosbeaks, defend the feeder to the extent that they aren’t even eating anything but just standing their ground for the sake of it.

Male  Rose Breasted Grosbeak

The list of species does not include the birds that we often hear but do not see.  Aside from the spring warblers that mystify us with their song we also enjoy the complex and melodic song of the woodthrush both in the early morning and at dusk.  

It is nearly dark now as the song of the wood thrush begins to fade and the Barred Owl begins his nightly sojourn.  The spring peepers and tree frogs begin their ratchety chorus that covers the night. I think of the ancient songs of these elusive birds and the reptiles, the many years they have lived among the oaks, maples, and sassafras of these woods and fed from the waters of the creek.  When native Americans walked the forest paths and river bluffs and when pioneers broke the sod of the prairie they were lifted by the songs that still resonate in our woods today.

Our nature quote today is from Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting.

“Everything's a wheel, turning and turning, never stopping. The frogs is part of it, and the bugs, and the fish, and the wood thrush, too. And people. But never the same ones. Always coming in new, always growing and changing, and always moving on. That's the way it's supposed to be. That's the way it is.”
― Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting

Needle Notes

Lessons learned:  It is a lot more fun to knit with the proper needle

Peerie Flooers Take 2 by Kate Davies

Sarah wearing  Peerie Flooers by Kate Davies

Allison aka Time-not-cash is the Queen of Estimating yardage!

This is what was left, about 10 g.

I started with provisional cast on so I could pick up live stitches and knit the corrugated ribbing downwards.  This way if  I had to fudge on the colors I could do it in the ribbing.

 Elizabeth Zimmermann's Sewn Bind Off

Sweet Little Nothing by Susan DeBettignes kit Pattern free with yarn $18 or $5 pattern from OgleDesign.

Bronwyn wearing Sweet Little Nothing by  Susan DeBettignies.

The Blethering Room 

Visited Birgitte at Klose Knit in Urbana IL.  Great selection and wonderful atmosphere!

Opal Vincent Van Gogh

Malabrigo Silky Merino

In the Pipeline

Caroline by Hannah Ingalls

 

Stacy is wearing Caroline, the shop sample from Klose Knit.

Watching

Two Tangled Skeins videocast.

Listening

The Lost Geek

Reading

Far from the Rowan Tree by Margaret Gilles Brown

Standing in Another Man’s Grave by Ian Rankin

 High Note

Eagle Creek Pack It World Traveler system

Henry David Thoreau called the wood thrush a “Shakespeare among birds”.  The following writing from Thoreau is often quoted in articles about the wood thrush.  He wrote:

Whenever a man hears it he is young, and Nature is in her spring; wherever he hears it, it is a new world and a free country, and the gates of Heaven are not shut against him.  Henry David Thoreau

 J.S. Bach Adagio Sonata For Violin and Continuo In G Major performed by Voices of Music.

www.magnatune.com

Haste ye back!