Mr Tom and his Shadow still come over to get brushed. I use a small wire pet brush to remove the burrs and give them a good once over. If they had it their way I would spend all day brushing them. At least the matts on Mr Tom’s belly are down to just a couple small clumps under his arm pits. And I know I did this to myself, working so hard to get them accustomed to the brush. Now if Momma cat would let me help her, although of the three, she does the best job grooming her long fur on her own.
I finished another fiber page (really I did three together, but I’m going to spread it out in this blog). This page is about hemp. The hemp top, combed hemp fibers, came in a collection of plant fibers as a gift from my sister. I spun the singles on a drop spindle, then made a two-ply yarn using a different drop spindle. The fiber was nice to spin, but the resulting yarn was stiff and scratchy, even after setting the twist by boiling. Hemp is usually used to make rope and strong fabrics, certainly not anything you would want next to your skin. I made a knitted swatch with size 4 needles, a crocheted round with size C hook, and a woven sample with four salvages using a Clover mini-loom and doubling the warp threads. Even though I wouldn’t make clothing with this yarn, I think it is the neatest page I’ve done so far.
I have taken to throwing small stuffed animals into corners for the kitten to find. He likes to carry them around the house, drop them, then chase them like they just tried to make a daring escape. The octopus toy makes me laugh; it has a happy face outside, then is reversible to show a sad face. I caught a video of Thor the kitten playing with it, and it started off happy, and ended up sad, as the playing inverted the toy. Here is the video.
I finally finished my flax page. This is internet-sourced combed top flax, which is an unusual preparation. It is the short fibers left over from processing the long fibers, combed together. This particular sample was also dyed, probably with nettle dye. There was very little information from the seller (buyer beware). I did manage to spin it in on a drop spindle, using a sponge to wet my fingers. Linen yarn needs to be boiled to set the twist and soften the fibers. When I boiled mine, I used tap water, which has traces of iron. The soft green color turned to a soft orange. The picture below shows the color change especially across the paper bobbins.
I did a knit swatch on size 4 needles. It isn’t precise, probably due to the variations in yarn thickness, and has a bias, probably due to over twist of either the single or the ply. Still, it isn’t as rough as I thought it would be and has some nice drape.
I obtained a Clover brand mini-loom to make the woven samples. The first weaving (bottom right) I followed directions on warping the loom and ended up with a weft-faced weave. Interesting, but not what I wanted. The second time (middle right) I wrapped the warp completely around the loom and doubled the number of warp threads. This brought the epi (ends per inch) up and let me do a plain weave that showed both the warp and the weft.
I swear I did a crochet swatch too, but I must have stashed it somewhere safe. I do still want to spin traditionally prepared flax, but I’m not likely to buy combed top flax again.
It was definitely raccoons using up the water and leaving a dirty sludge in the water bowl. How? They were climbing in the water bowl.
They managed to knock the bowl off the table, so I cleaned it but refilled it on the ground to prevent breakage. The next day the water was still in the bowl. Maybe they only like elevated baths? Or they found someone else’s water dish to bathe in. Or our long-awaited rain shower refilled their usual puddles. The rain was glorious. I sat outside and just watched.
Critters and Craft 