Winter Solstice

Happy Winter Solstice!  We should be bundled up this time of year in Virginia, or, at least be wearing a coat.  Instead, it is nice enough outdoors to be wearing a t-shirt, shorts, and sandals.

What a fine day to do a bit of dyeing! I have so much fiber, but I decided that I was going to dye various odds and ends of white wool roving that was in my stash to use for blending. I also wanted to dye up all of the silk hankies that I have.

The shades of blue is Coopworth wool.
The other colors are are on unspecified breeds of wool although
I suspect that the pink/green/yellow is Merino.

This was my first time dyeing silk hankies and it was so much fun!
This is almost 5 ounces of silk.

What a gift to be able to be outdoors this time of year!  

A Box of Switches

When I was growing up, my mom & dad always told me that if I didn't behave, Santa would bring me a bag of coal or a box of switches for Christmas. I was no stranger to a switch nor what it was used for since I had a bad tendency to backtalk.

For some unknown reason, even knowing what a switch was, I always pictured finding a box of light switches in my stocking on Christmas morning.  I was always horrified to think that I might get a box full of these!

Strange, I know.

What did your parents tell you that you would get for Christmas if you were bad?

Hoop Snakes

When I was growing up, we always watched out for snakes.  The thought process in our family was that the only good snake was a dead snake!  The only poisonous snakes in that part of Virginia are rattlesnakes and copperheads, although the only snake that we ever saw was either a garter snake or a black snake.  

My grandpa always told me that the snake that I had to worry about the most was the dreaded hoop snake. He said that it looks just like a black snake, until it gets mad at you. Then it will bite its own tail, form a hoop and roll after you!  He said that they only way you could escape from the rolling hoop snake was to run up a hill!

Did you ever have an encounter with a hoop snake?