One World One Heart

The Deadline is Here. Winners are announced in the Feb. 15 date post.
Lisa, the Whimsical Bohemian, created this event in 2007. The original idea behind this giveaway event was to bring bloggers together from around the world. It enables us to interact, discover new and wonderful people, and in the process possibly win a prize or many prizes along the way.

This is an INTERNATIONAL event which will continue until Feb 15, it is like a Magic Carpet ride around the world. Lisa explains it best, "It transcends geographical location, socio economics, political affiliation, religious beliefs......it's a coming together like the giant community we are on this planet. If only it took a simple giveaway to create PEACE everywhere, in the mean time here we give from our hearts. We are not solving the worlds problems nor are we curing anything nor are we changing the world. We are merely generating a closer community between humans through blogging."

My gift is this Merino Wool and Silk flower brooch that I hand felted and hope will be an adornment you can wear on your Magic Carpet ride. If you want a chance to win this flower pin, please leave a comment on this post with a way to contact you (a link back or email) if you are chosen as the winner. All winners will be chosen on Feb. 15th. by a random number generator.

You can meet more people, have a chance to win their gifts by clicking on the One World One Heart logo above or on the right top of my sidebar.

Hooray, we have 100 comments today!! To celebrate, I am adding a gift of one skein of our Marr Haven merino rambouillet yarn. It will be the Light Grey so it will go with any colors you like, plus it is 100% chemical free, all natural white wool blended with 10% natural colored black wool. Now we will have 2 winners on the 15th.

A Bag FULL of Helmet Liners

Yesterday was a sign! Today we have wonderful sunshine and no wind, makes the 18 degrees F feel okay. What is even better, a great knitter from Hamilton came to the shop with a FULL BAG of Helmet Liners that she knit this past month. She already brought one earlier when she came for yarn.

A package will be on the way Monday to Tarie in Texas. If you aren't familiar with the Helmet Liner projects you can read my earlier blog or go to Tarie Williams website listing of the interviews she had with network tv and radio. We will send more helmet liners at the end of the February if you would like to help our soldiers this way.

A Sign from Above

Last week a few days had temperatures in the 40's. There typically is a January thaw which lets the snow melt down but these temps were atypical and quickly spoiled us (the cats and I). When the snow and cold returned, I tried to ignore it by concentrating on anything else but the weather.

Then this morning, there was a brief break in the grey cloudy sky and I felt like I was being smiled on with a promise of the blue sky days that will come - in time.

Hand Dyed Yarn in Winter Colors

This is Winter Sunset, it may sound like a strange name for shades of blue and mauve. When the snow is on the ground and the trees are bare, everything has a blue/black color to it and this is what our winter sunsets often show.

This is Winterberry, we have some really old, quite crooked trees along one bank of the barnyard. I think they were originally bushes but are old enough to be 12-15 feet high. No one has been able to identify the plant. They have berries the birds feed on in late winter. The birds don't bother with them earlier so by the time they do eat them, there are streaks of purple and black on the reddish orange berries.

Frigid is the name for the day.

We had another minus degree night, at least it was only -1F rather than the -11 we had one night last week. I thought this was a good time to do some updating to the website. I am wearing the sweater I saved last March, staying quite comfortable. I have added some thumbnail photos to the pattern pages, so far there are 3 new pages.

According to the tv weatherman, we have had 40 inches of snow since the first of the year. I think that is a little high for the actual area around Marr Haven but we have a goodly amount. It does give a few people, like private snow plow drivers, some much needed employment. The really bad part of this winter is how far south the cold air has gone. I pray the impact on farmers and livestock turns out to be less than predicted.

Breaking News

Just got a call from Suzanne Higgs of Hooked On Felt; this Friday Jan. 8, 2010 wet felting workshop has 4 openings!! Great opportunity if you are in the southwest Michigan area.

The workshop will be at her home, 213 Gilkey, Plainwell MI from 10 am to 5 pm. The cost is $50 including all materials, just bring your willing body and smiling face. Beginning to intermediate felters will cover basic feltmaking of hats plus foam and/or flat resist techniques. You can see what was covered in the last workshop by checking her Dec. 31 blog post.

Contact Suzanne as soon as possible at info@hookedonfelt.com

Happy New Year from Michigan

At midnight, big fluffy snowflakes were softly falling from the sky, a perfect paperweight snowfall. By morning there was more than a foot of new snow, this is what Michigan is supposed to look like on January One.

I love this weather, no wind and at 2:00 pm the temp is at 27 F, even the sun has shown its face a few times. I hope wherever you are the day is bright and gives hope for the new year with more peace and prosperity.