saucy little mink(s)

 I stretched my embroidery piece this week...

...and secured it over a wooden frame.  You can see that I didn't get every wrinkle out, but overall, I'm pretty pleased.  I'm hanging it this week!

I've been plugging away at my knitted cowl.  It looks like a comically long sleeve...32 inches so far!  I think the goal is around 50 inches.   

It's pleasant knitting every night, during those moments when Tabitha allows me some freedom of movement.

She's quite fond of this whole 'knitting' thing.  :)

I've tried to work on my 2000 piece puzzle...again, as cats permit....sigh!

It's cold outside...finally!  Cold enough for the front pond to completely freeze over.  See the mystery tracks around the muskrat house?  A predator is hunting.

Maybe this girl?

A remarkable morning last week.  I went outside in the very early hours to feed Claudia, and heard a loud splash.  A life-or-death struggle was happening there...a mink was hunting muskrats!  

She scampered around the ice rim of the water, waiting for her chance...

So close...

A narrow escape!

I had just read about muskrats in A Pilgrim on Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard:  "Minks are their special enemies.  Minks live near large muskrat populations, slinking in and out of their dens..."  She also writes, "The wonderful thing about muskrats is...that they cannot see very well, and are rather dim, to boot."  It seems to be true.  A bloodthirsty hunter was stalking, and after their water escapes, all three muskrats sat blithely on the pond's edge, bathing.

Sneak attack!!

I watched for hours, and the wily mink was thwarted every time.

So I wonder...did the mink make those tracks in the thin snow on the pond?  The pond froze, and then thawed.  The muskrats, who have been out every single day, working well into twilight, have not returned to their labors.  Have they been eaten?  

So much happens on the periphery of our awareness.  Yesterday, I went outside in the early morning to see if the muskrats had returned.  It was quite warm after several bitter days, feeling more like early spring than the heart of winter.  As I stood on the porch, a huge coyote loped by, just a few yards away.  A heron stalked around the edge of the pond, and a rabbit froze, and then fled, only his white tail visible in the dim light.  In only five minutes, so much excitement!  It makes me hopeful.  

The back pond has been frozen too, but just a very thin skim of ice.

Around the edge, the ice crystals were huge!

The stream that runs through the back of our property hadn't frozen, but the limestone slabs were covered in sheets of ice.   

Anything outside of the water had the same result.

Just warm enough for a bit of exploring!

Now it's turned chilly again.  Brrrr...stay warm this week!

smashing pumpkins

What a beautiful pop of color!

I've left our fall pumpkins out because they're so pretty, and for the animals, but they're slowly starting to decay.  One after another, Todd tosses them into the garden, where they split and reveal their fantastically vivid guts.  A new usefulness: birds steal the seeds and possums scoop out the flesh, and we admire the saturated color against the barren ground.  What a treat in January!

We had thirty stingy minutes of snow yesterday, and the remaining pumpkins, even those in a dejected slump, looked cheerful.

Snow!

It's been so warm here, in the sixties just a few days ago.  Everything is confused.  My bulbs were starting to sprout.

Bee balm was making a low carpet under a bird feeder.

German chamomile peeked between stepping stones.

Our muskrats have loved the warm days, making frequent laps around the pond with their beloved cattails.

Spring peepers, feeling the warmth, have burrowed out of the mud and begun making their spring song.  Our nesting pair of herons have been by to take advantage of the bounty.

Turkey vultures keep a vigilant watch from above, observing the uncharacteristic January activity and waiting for an opportunity for a good meal.  

We've been living in a long, delayed autumn with the warmth and frequent fog.  The dark days make it feel more wonderfully cozy inside.  

Now the weather is turning decidedly colder.  The spiderwebs that were hastily spun in late December's warmth are filled with snow.

Claudia, now positively fat on late-season voles and canned cat food discarded by our haughty girls, will be coming into the garage this week when the temperature dips.  She's used to this and seems happy enough to have an occasional glimpse at the frozen landscape.

The cats will be warm and fed...the bird feeders will be filled...and every so often, when we need a lift, we'll smash another pumpkin.

Have a great week!

a "grate" week

I finally finished my Yumiko Higuchi embroidery panel!  I took her center design of the red snake and contiguous designs and then augmented with random patterns taken from her books.

photo is askew...sides are straight in the original project!

It was originally meant to be a sampler for me to learn different stitches, but I tended to stick to my favorites...stem, chain, and french knot.

Since I did the transferring of design with charcoal, I now need to CAREFULLY wash it and dry it without distorting the stitches.  Another issue is wrinkling in tight spaces.  I'm hoping that I can get it washed, ironed, and stretched over a wooden frame within a week or two.  

Another stitch project completed just in time for Christmas - Todd's "NASA nerd" t-shirt.  

It's cross stitched...not one of my favorite things to do, but I worked on it a little every day and got done in plenty of time.   

This was my first time cross-stitching on a knitted (store bought) t-shirt.  One of the problems with cross stitch is working on the stiff woven fabric that forms the guiding Xs for your needle.  It's great if you want a bookmark or maybe a wall hanging, but not for much else.  But now you can buy a water soluble sheet to stitch through.  Attach it to anything, stitch, wash, and the sheet just melts away.

It's a little bit awkward, but I love that it opens up a whole world of possibilities!

Another Christmas project:  a long knitted cowl for a friend.  It's designed to puddle under your coat collar and also be pulled up over your nose if it's extra cold outside!

My favorite feature is the little leather tabs for the drawstring ends.  I picked them up on Etsy and I think they are fantastic!

I'm already almost halfway through another knitting project.  I started a cowl for myself, a beautiful stranded knitting design inspired by Portuguese tiles.

photo courtesy of Kate Davies

I'm knitting one long tube...fifty inches!...and when completed, I'll block it and then stitch together the ends to create an enclosed circle.  One side of the pattern is light-prominent...

...and the other side is dark-prominent.

You can see the contrast if you turn the work on its side:

It's really pleasant work and nice to stitch on for maybe an hour every night.  Now that my hands aren't getting sore from knitting, it's a delight.  I already have my next project picked out!

So, the Christmas pie has been put away...

(SOMEONE couldn't wait for Christmas lunch!)

...and our mischievous elf has packed up his bags...and threats...for another year.

Now life will take on a slower pace for a while.  I'm ready for it.

Have a "grate" week!