Winter... again.

It's suddenly winter again in the Twin Cities, after a weirdly spring-like February. There are few things that delight me more than driving in new snow. Going slowly, having to pay attention, slip-sliding around corners: I love it. I'm not always good about sitting to meditate, but driving in new snow puts me in the same mental state where the only thing that's important is paying attention to this moment. Driving in new snow is freeing.

Which is all to say that instead of puttering with paper this week, I'm puttering with wool. Because winter, and because it feels good in my (cold) hands.

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The best part of taking pictures of this black-capped chickadee was hearing all the (slightly more lively) black-capped chickadees calling in the tree above me. It started out the process a little less fuzzy-looking, but getting snagged on a few branches changed that quickly.

Needle felting both delights and frustrates me (and also makes me bleed). It's amazing to watch a shape just appear from repeatedly stabbing some fluff, and challenging to do small details. When I do a paper cutting, it's hard to tell when to call it done. I'm always tempted to change one last detail. With needle felting, it's easier to decide when to call the item finished; when I start to feel guilty about repeatedly stabbing what looks like an animal, I know it's time to stop.

I seem to come back to the same subjects in multiple ways. I've done a paper cutting, a sewn stuffed animal, and a felted penguin, for example. A while back, I did a layered paper cutting of a black-capped chickadee. I might pull it out and compare.

My little chickadee is going to hang out on my desk for a while. Of course, the danger there is that I'll have De-Lovely stuck in my head as long as this little one is around.

"Please be sweet, my chickadee..."