Episode 131 Guess Who Came to Dinner?

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

At the Knitting Pipeline Retreat the knitters were excited to see all the colors of Quince & Co sparrow.  Sparrow is a plain little yarn, beautiful in its simplicity. Its clean, smooth hand is crisp as you knit it. But after washing and wearing it becomes handkerchief soft. It is spun from organic linen grown in Belgium. With names like san, juniper, birch, nannyberry, blue spruce, little fern, butternut, port, viburnum, pigeon, paprika, truffle, and fen, who can resist?  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.

I enjoy your feedback, comments on the blog, and questions.  Feel free to write to me at Paulaef@aol.com or on Ravelry as PrairiePiper. 

Pipeliner Notes

How to Remember the Double Knot.  

Nature Notes

May 13 2013.  A flash of bright orange and black near the hummingbird feeder caught my eye.  This could be nothing other than a Baltimore Oriole.  The Baltimore Oriole is named after the Baltimore family, whose crest has the same orange and black colors of this magnificent bird.  Baltimore Maryland is named for the same family.

We have been trying to attract Baltimore Orioles to our property for the past 6 years.  We’ve tried oranges, grape jelly, and even an Oriole feeder with grape jelly.  With the many acres of woods behind us we figure they have to be out there.  My friend Nancy says that once you get them they will keep coming back.  This oriole tried to drink out of the hummingbird feeder but I don’t think it could get anything. It fluttered and hovered over the feeder and then flew over to the safflower feeder.  I ran to the pantry to get an orange, sliced it in half, cut out one section and put a teaspoon of grape jelly in the cavity.  By this time the bird was gone.  I put the orange jelly tantalizer on the deck railing.  Then I went down to my husband’s woodshop to find a piece of wood, a hammer, and a nail.  It is harder to drive a nail into wood than you might think but I managed.  See, it was very windy on Monday and I didn’t think the orange would stay on the deck railing. I secured the orange half to the nail and laid this contraption, of which I was quite proud on the railing.  We haven’t seen any Baltimore Orioles yet but the Red Bellied Woodpeckers and Flickers have occasionally enjoyed the orange and jelly. 

Yesterday was the most amazing day of birding out here.  Bob and I were bantering about as we were making multiple trips to the porch setting our table for dinner.  BTW if you can get a good loaf of whole wheat bread together and a pot of lentil soup you can always have a tasty dinner on hand. I stopped suddenly and in a stage whisper said, Look!”  On a branch just outside the porch window, sitting almost above our wren house was a Barred Owl. Bob whispered, “Get your camera!”.  I started taking photos from inside and the bird just sat there, turning his head occasionally, sometimes looking up, then down. 

He knew I was there.  I took a short video too which I will post on You Tube (later this weekend). Bob suggested I go out on the deck.  I was sure the owl would fly away but he did not.  It was as if he was posing for me.  He knew I was there and it was as if he knew I would do him no harm. I’m not embarrassed to say that I got a little choked up at his beauty and magnificence and that I was so privileged to witness it.  Looking into the eyes of the owl I understood how through centuries people have seen wisdom in these eyes. 

It is a natural tendency for humans to attribute our own qualities to animals. The eyelids with very long lashes slowly lower as the owl blinks and then turns his head. The Barred Owl sat there for almost 30 minutes before flying up to a higher branch.  This is truly a high point in my birding life as I have never been so close to an owl and had such a long time to really watch one.  Amazing.  Needless to say there will be photos on the blog and maybe one or two above my fireplace.

The house wrens are building nests and singing their little hearts out.  Mayapples and Sweet William line the path to our compost pile next to the log pile by the woods.  The spring peepers are either mated or their songs are too faint to be heard among the louder spring tree frogs in the evenings. 

The Owl

When cats run home and light is come,
And dew is cold upon the ground,
And the far-off stream is dumb,
And the whirring sail goes round,
And the whirring sail goes round;
Alone and warming his five wits,
The white owl in the belfry sits.

When merry milkmaids click the latch,
And rarely smells the new-mown hay,
And the cock hath sung beneath the thatch
Twice or thrice his roundelay,
Twice or thrice his roundelay;
Alone and warming his five wits,
The white owl in the belfry sits.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

 Needle Notes

Mignon by Loop London

See my project notes for  modification suggestions.

Little Shells by Holly Griffin-Weidner (designer of Summer Flies, one classic design that is always at the top on Ravelry)

I used Another Crafty Girl Strong Sock in Sam the Eagle Colorway  (SSK) Size 3 needle 3.25 mm.  Better photos of these projects to come!

Gills Rock in Quince & Co Finch Winesap—a true red

The Blethering Room

After The Great Needle Case Search I am staying with accordion folder for my circulars.  I added

Browning Fishing Worm Binder Bag about $20 and extra pages for $6 for surplus dpn’s.

Susan B Anderson Blog and photos

This type of photo is pretty typical.

Redeemed!

Book Note

Handmade in the U.K. by Emily Wessel aka Tincanknits. 

$18 US  $26 for print and ebook preorder

Giveaway!  Please post your comment on the Knitting Pipeline Ravelry board!  If you have been to Scotland tell us your favorite place or make any comment about Scotland or Tincanknits.

 

Heather and I with friends of Dutch Pipes and Drums

The Dutch Pipes and Drums CD In Harmony The 10^th H.L. I (Highland Light Infantry) Crossing the Rhine and John D Burgess.

Have a great week, haste ye back, and hold your knitting close.