If I fits I sleeps
Month: February 2021
One step at a time
I thought I would be at the park and draft stage of spindle spinning forever. There I would sit forever, spinning the spindle to build twist, then catching the spindle between my knees, or under one leg, or arm, and only then letting the twist run into my fiber as I drafted. Managing both spin and drafting seemed unattainable. I was actually OK with it, except for the lure of an idea. The idea to spin and walk.
So I grabbed my Turkish spindle and some prepared merino roving and tried again. The spindle seemed too heavy, so I took off the arms and slid a light wood whorl down the shaft to make a bottom whorl spindle. (With park and draft I preferred a top whorl.) Oh my goodness, something clicked. Yes, I dropped the spindle a few times as I figured out which direction I was spinning (I couldn’t think S or Z, I had to think counterclockwise or clockwise). I tried using my distaff, but kept getting the fibers wrapped tight around it, so instead wrapped some roving around my arm. The fiber was bunching up, so I divided the roving in half. That seemed to do the trick! I was spinning while standing! Missy the pup helped me with the next step because when I am standing that means I can kick her ball, right? And if I can kick her ball, maybe I can walk and spin. For now, spinning will continue indoors, as it is cold outside. But when it warms up, it will be time to try to walk!
Apple peel
For my dehydrated apples I used my handy peeler corer, which makes lovely strings of apple peel. I twisted them into a wreath and hung the bundle up for the chickens. A had a longish stand fall loose and witnessed first hand why I want the chickens to have to pick off bits, as a hen picked up the end of the strand and gulped down the whole piece! I can image the tangle a whole peel would make in her crop!
New culinary venture
I now have a dehydrator! Honestly, I bought it because in researching storage methods (thank you to everyone that sent me info), it seems like dehydrated eggs will be the easiest to store in my limited pantry space. (I have a great walk-in pantry, but it is already full and can’t really accommodate large jars of preserved eggs.) The hens have been laying 2-3 eggs a day (hurray), but I don’t have an excess yet (at least I’m not buying eggs). So to try out the dehydrator I threw on some banana slices. It worked a treat! (Get it?) So the next recipe was dried apple slices. The instructions I used called for lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla, and I thought they smelled good, however the taste was a bit sharp for me. There are also recipes for beef jerky and fruit leathers! Exciting! When I do finally have excess eggs, I’m going to follow these directions from the Dirty Gourmet who preps eggs for camping.
Continuous warp
My new loom uses the continuous warp method. Which means the warp is wrapped all around the frame and you can weave something nearly twice as long as the loom is tall. I followed the directions but was honestly unsure how it was going to work. The warp bar holds the top and bottom loops, and before the warp is strung, the bar is wedged in place. It turns out that the opposing forces from the top and bottom loops hold the warp securely, so that when it comes time to move the weaving, you loosen the tension a bit and the weaving slides easily around the outer frame. Neat!
Critters and Craft 