Freezing nights and honey bees.

My good friend Beth gave me this cute little hand blown bee hive ornament she found at Tuesday Morning. Made in Poland. I just love it. I hung it in the window in my studio.

It's going to get to 10 degrees in a few nights. And it's been in the 20's at night. I hope the bees make it. I wonder if I should put something around the hive to protect them. It's supposed to be really windy too. I have an entrance reducer on already, with only the smallest hole open for them.  I tried to lift the top a few days ago to see if they've eaten the fondant I put in there for them and it's been sealed shut by the bees, which is a good thing. I suppose they know what to do. Bees are really amazing smart creatures. They've made it so far with not too much help from me. But I am a little worried about these extremely freezing nights coming up. 

Does anyone else have bee hives? What do you do when it's so cold at night for them? Or do you just let them be? 

Hand spun Shetland

 I bought this Shetland fleece in November. I went on a crazy fleece buying binge and bought several different kinds of fleece. I wanted to try Shetland too, so was glad I got this one. I also bought a Shetland ram lamb fleece at the fiber show in Tn in Oct. too. It's a brownish-red. I need to get it washed. It's so soft.

Sp anyway, I washed this. I washed some in Dawn and some in Orvus Paste. They were both about the same, couldn't really tell a difference. But I wasn't happy that they didn't get white, like I thought they should. I really want to get some of the Unicorn scour cleaner. It's on my wish list. Along with some wool combs and a blending board.

So finally started carding and spinning the last few days. And I am so loving this fleece now. It's got this pretty brown undertone all through it. My eyes are really getting bad. Plus bad lighting in my studio. It looks like cinnamon sugar. It's so pretty.

And I don't know if it's the Shetland or I am just getting better at spinning, but I got this really thin. It took so long to get one bobbin full. And I did 2 full bobbins so far. I have plied both those bobbins into 2 skeins of around 70 yards each. I am now working on another bobbin. My legs started really hurting so had to stop. Or I'd still be spinning.

I am really impressed with myself on this spinning. It is amazing and soft and I love the color. I want to knit a cardigan now. I can just imagine me wearing this.

I just love natural colors. I like the colorful yarn ok. But not all the glittering shiny stuff that's in them. I will just stick to natural fibers. And mixing the colors when I feel like it. And if I do start selling my yarn, people can dye it themselves, right? To get the colors they want. But for now, I'll just stick with what God put on these wonderful animals.

Happy 1st Monday of January 2015!

And it's beautiful outside! Cold, but the sky is blue and the sun is shining! There are birds flittering around all over. Checking out nesting houses. The Blue birds never leave. We have several pairs that stay here all year.

Can you see them in these trees? And look at the leaf buds already.

Here are the 3 bird houses that are really busy this morning. For the past several days, the birds have been looking at them. Might even be some moving in. The sparrows always get these houses and the blue birds end up in the trees.

Here is a fat fluffy Mockingbird, my favorite bird. They can be annoying, but I love them. Yesterday, sitting out on my studio porch, there were some blue jays, making a lot of noise. So lots going on out here on the farm. Maybe an early spring?

And yesterday, the honey bees were out and about. Very busy ladies. I went out this morning to check to see if they were out yet, but it's still too cold for them. They will be out later, I'm sure. I'm so happy this hive is doing so well and that I still have bees here!

Campbelle says good morning to all my blogging friends out there. And we both wish you all a very happy first full week of 2015. We hope it's going to be a great year for all.