Yesterday I overdyed some wool. I wish I had taken a before picture, because it is wonderful what overdyeing can do. The wool was all kinds of weird colors, dyed from remnants of dyebaths when I was just teaching myself how to dye spinning fiber. What was I thinking? Some weird pink, more pink with odd blue bits, apricot (ok, that wasn’t bad, but I’m not an orange person), strange greens, not-quite browns, and a black-red.
I have in mind to weave a nice blanket for myself (my acrylic throw isn’t that warm, and is always being ‘borrowed’ to make forts, anyhow). So, I tossed these odds and ends that would never be used otherwise into two dyebaths. One a golden green, the other a deep brown. Now I have a whole pile of lovely gradations and shades of colors. The goal is to spin much of it on vacation, these are Northwoods colors, it will be neat to do at least some of the project there. I’m also taking my new Valkarie Mini 2 pitch combs. They are really fabulous, and are going to make this wool a dream to spin.
To get to the title (!), I pulled an old sheet off of a box of fleece I’ve been meaning to wash all summer to use to dry the overdyed wool on the driveway. When I took the sheet back in the evening, I discovered a little ivory and grey marble. Erm. Egg. Where did that come from? I looked at the baseball helmet I was holding in my other hand….and hmmmm, yes. There’s a big nest in there!
With 3 more eggs in it. Well, I love animals, but I didn’t want an active nest on my fleece, so I cleared the area off, and grabbed a chunk of ‘junk wool’ (the bottom of the nest was very thin, since it was on the sheet, that is how the egg fell out). So now here is her little set up, and as you can see, Mama Wren is happy.
LOL, she does look a little wary, doesn’t she? The wildlife around here is sure enjoying the break in the temperatures. There was a doe in our backyard during lunch, and the woodchuck is busy getting fat. The kids saw a raccoon after our band concert last night. There are more chickadees at the feeder, and I even saw our poor Albert (Cardinal). He’s bald on his head except for a pitiful red mohawk.
I’m looking forward to seeing (and hearing) Loons and Bald Eagles in a few days. Hope you have plans to enjoy a cooler week before school starts!
Awww. That little wren looks comfy. 🙂
I had a wren build her nest in a flower pot right next to my chair on my front porch. For several weeks I gave up sitting in that chair to avoid bothering her. The babies fledged yesterday, and now the nest is empty, so I get my chair back!
You got some great photos of your bird and nest!