Friday's Hunt v 2.14

It has been a VERY busy week.  My work has just been crazy, and I haven't had time to blog regularly.  I am trying to keep up with Friday's Hunt though, just to keep myself blogging during this busy time.  Thanks to Eden Hills for hosting the Friday's Hunt blog.

This week our prompts are:  Starts with N, Week's Favourite, and "I made this."

Starts with N
My N story is a sad one.  I had finally managed to convince a nuthatch to start taking seeds from my hand.  I was thrilled to have this new wild bird visiting me over the course of 3 days, and it was an avid sunflower seed lover.  On Wednesday, I was feeding it seeds on the edge of my woods and it flew off with a seed in its mouth, across the yard, and straight into one of my windows.  It died almost instantly.  I was deeply saddened by the loss of this beautiful bird, and felt particularly disheartened about losing my "friend" in such a horrible way.

It has made me investigate ways to prevent bird-window collisions, since almost all of my windows face the woods around my home, and they all reflect that view.  I have learned about a product that I plan to use to help my feathered friends.  It's a do-it-yourself treatment using a special tape with spaced markers on it that prevent the birds from flying into the window, even when there is a reflection.  It's a product recognized by FLAP Canada (Fatal Light Awareness Program) - a program dedicated to reducing bird deaths as a result of window collisions.  Did you know that across North America, estimates of birds killed in window collisions annually ranges from 100 milllion to 1 billion birds.  That is tragic.  I do not want to contribute to that statistic.    I'll be installing "Feather Friendly" marker tape soon.  If you have bird collisions with your windows, consider doing the same thing.

Week's Favourite
My week's favourite is this photograph of yet another new warbler species for me.  I have now had a total of 9 warbler species at my new home, which is really exciting, because I didn't have warblers before.

This is a female Blackburnian warbler.

So far this year I've seen and photographed the following warblers:  Nashville Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Pine Warbler, Black and White Warbler, and the Common Yellowthroat, which is a warbler even though it doesn't have warbler in its name.  I'm hoping to keep adding to that list!

I Made This
I make lots of things.  I spin my own yarn on a spinning wheel.  I knit.  I crochet.  I weave.  I do wet felting and needle felting.  I do beading.  I sew and quilt.  I bake and cook.  I've also dabbled in book binding, basketry, origami, quilling, rug hooking, pottery (hand building and wheel throwing), silk scarf painting, tie-dyeing, woodworking, and I even did a blacksmithing course once.  I love to make things because I find it relaxing, rewarding, and an enjoyable way to spend my free time.  I wish I had more time to make things!  Anyway, here are some recent knitting projects!

Here I am wearing a shawl I made - it's knitted from two different skeins of my handspun yarn.

In this close-up, you can see the green yarn, which is a 3-ply blue-faced Leicester yarn (that's a breed of sheep!) and the blue/mauve yarn is 50% merino, 50% tencel, in a 2-ply yarn.

You can see the shawl here along the top of the fence, and with it is the Sea Dragon shawl which I knit last winter.  It is made from handspun yarn from Peru.

Here is a close up so you can see how the blue and green colours meld together - I just love the colours in this shawl.  It took a long time to finish knitting it though!

My little chickadee friend was inspired to check out my knitting too.  I think it's a bit big for her!

This is the Woodland Hoodlet designed by Tiny Owl Knits.  I love it, but I finished it in the spring of this year, so I haven't had a chance to wear it yet because it hasn't been cold enough!  I do love knitting cables!

My little chickadee friends were hanging around for the whole time I was taking pictures with the tripod and self-timer.  They think that all the time I spend outside should be dedicated to feeding them more seeds!

Finally, here's a scarf that I wove on the rigid heddle loom last fall.  Nearly time to start wearing scarves!