Winterizing

On November 16, 2022 By CarynIn chickens, Coop, Garden

We had a freeze coming in so I set about winterizing outside the house in 40 degree rain. It is a little different setting up for cold temperatures in Texas than up north, but there are still things that need doing. (I would take 32 degrees over forty and raining any day, though. Yuck.)

I cleaned and filled all the chicken water (three hanging, one heated) and put away the foot baths. I closed up the extra vents in the coop to prevent drafts (there are still eave vents to allow air circulation). I drained all the water hoses and put winter caps on all the outdoor faucets. I took the batteries out of the automatic waterers and stored them away in the garage. I harvested all the basil and covered the tank garden (which still has non-producing squash vines).

I washed the basil and picked through it for the nice leaves. The remainder went out to the chickens, who appreciated that I threaded it through the chicken wire in the covered run so they could pull leaves off, and did not hang it out in the rain.

Chickens tucking into basil secured to poultry wire

After the freeze, the remaining basil is starting to brown. The squash vines bloomed.

It’s Alive!

On November 15, 2022 By CarynIn Fungi

My mushroom growing kit has active mycelium!

Mycelium spreading in the moist substrate

The instructions on the package say to leave the cellophane on until the entire surface is white. When I bought the kit, there was no white to be seen, just a tub of brown. Progress! I’m overly enthused about propagating fungus.

Clun Forest

On November 14, 2022 By CarynIn Craft

My Clun Forest yarn is done! Here is more information on Clun Forest sheep.

This is the coarsest wool I have spun so far, although the Livestock Conservancy rates the wool as medium. I probably over spun the singles as well, which makes the finished yarn rougher. I purchased 4.4 ounces of wool batt, and ended up with 4.13 ounces of yarn. There were nepps in the preparation; some evened mostly out in the spinning, some stuck out. The bits that didn’t incorporate I pulled out, which explains the weight loss. I’m going to make samples for my fiber page, then the rest of the yarn will be used for a basket or bag. It is definitely not next to skin soft, but seems sturdy enough for housewares.

Now the conundrum is where I put the passport sticker. Hm. It isn’t where I thought it was, and I didn’t put in on the page in the passport (I don’t know why). I suppose I will have to break down and actually clean up my craft room. Hm.

Corralling end caps

On November 13, 2022 By CarynIn Craft, Life Hack

It drives me crazy trying to find the end caps for my knitting needles. I take them off to knit, and when I set them down inevitably one slinks off to hide somewhere. So I tethered them. I pushed safety pins through the flared edge of the end cap, then clipped the pin to a hair band. When I’m ready to knit, I slide the hair band on my wrist. When I’m done, the little rascals are right there.

End caps tamed with safety pins and a hair band

My safety pins are a little different; they came with a knitting kit, so may actually be stitch markers. They have a nice sharp point and will go through the end cap material. A standard safety pin would work as well. I do recommend using a stretchy bracelet type object, so there are no clasps to undo. I don’t recommend using one of those silicone bracelets with the friction clasp, because the clasp is likely to pop open as the bracelet is pulled off and send the end caps on a merry flying trajectory across the room. (Yup, experience.)

Even out the twist

On November 12, 2022November 9, 2022 By CarynIn Craft

I have finished spinning the singles from my Clun Forest wool roving for the Shave ‘Em to Save ‘Em campaign by the Livestock Conservancy. I’ve been spinning this wool on a drop spindle during my walks through the neighborhood over the past two months.

Single spun wool transferred to a spinning wheel bobbin

I decided to chain ply the singles to get the finished yarn mostly because I only had one bobbin available and I wanted a three ply yarn. The plying only took a couple hours, and made the yarn much fluffier.

I’m still getting used to the spinning wheel, and the twist in the ply was inconsistent. To even it out some, I put out two chairs and wrapped the yarn around the backs of the chairs so the twist could travel. It worked well.

Yarn wrapped around two chairs to even out the twist

It was also easy to wind the yarn onto my niddy noddy from the chairs.

The next step is to wet the yarn to set the twist, then let it dry!

Critters and Craft

Author: Caryn