My friend let my kids and I come pick peaches from her yard again this year. So many peaches. We sorted and washed, and laid them out to dry on the counter and covered them with mesh to keep the bugs off.
Photo description: peaches on paper towels covered with tulle fabric
I peeled the peaches with a peeler (blanching is frustrating and hot), and sliced them off the stone by cutting wedges and popping them off as I cut. The sliced peaches went into freezer bags for future use. I boiled the skins and obtained a beautifully colored liquid.
We shared some peaches with the chickens, who loved them so much that I needed to put out one for each chicken so there weren’t squabbles.
I’m determined to add Sprang to my crafting repertoire. This round, I secured the bottom of my small bent cane loom with some paracord so it was less loosey-goosey. I added life lines using hemp string, and used hemp for the header and footer ties. (Why hemp and paracord? That was what was next to me. The paracord is too thick for the lifelines (to me), so I replaced them with thinner hemp.)
Photo description: restructured small sprang loom with Izzy the cat investigating the string
Using wool yarn and making a wider sample did help with the bias twist a little while I was working. I did some interlinked rows, and tried some intertwined rows to the middle.
Photo description: orange wool yarn woven on a small sprang loom using lifelines and bamboo skewers
I went to finish the center with a crochet chain and everything went wonky. The chain crawled upward on the yarn, making the two uneven halves even more uneven.
Photo description: botched attempt at finishing the middle of the sprang with a crochet chain stitch
When I took the sample off the loom it curled unevenly, wonky and crumpled.
Photo description: sprang sample off the loom, twisted
I wove in the ends, catching the live loop of the crochet chain when I went up the side, and blocked the piece by wetting and pinning it to dry.
Photo description: blocked and slightly less wonky bit of sprang work in orange yarnPhoto description: same bit of sprang, opposite side, shown stretched, it really has a very pleasing sideways stretch
Undeterred, I made a third attempt. Rather than the chain finish, I tried warp and weft plain weaving the center part. Abysmal. The plain weave has no stretch and completely threw off the stretch of the sprang. I mention it only so I remember that I tried, and rejected, the method. It doesn’t even deserve its own post. I’m not giving up, though.
I absolutely love our Gregg’s Mist flower in the front flower bed. We walk out the front door and there are almost always butterflies flitting about, but the plants were starting to encroach onto the sidewalk.
Photo description: Gregg’s mist flower in the flower bed on the left, almost taking up half the side walk in places, Sophie the cat sniffing the grass
I didn’t want to trim the plants back because the healthiest growth was near the sidewalk, so I found some green wire push-in fence and installed it along the sidewalk. What a difference!
Photo description: Sidewalk clear and Gregg’s mist flower containedPhoto description: Gregg’s mist flower and oxalis (and some stubborn grass) behind an almost invisible wire fence
I like that the fence is inconspicuous. I really like that as the plants continue to grow, I can just tuck them back inside the fence and not have to cut them.
I’ve been wanting to attempt making sprang fabric for awhile now. I even made a small sprang loom from a trimmed elm branch. Sprang is a type of weaving where all the threads are warp threads (vertical), with no weft (horizontal). The threads are twisted around each other and the fabric is worked from the top or bottom simultaneously (what is done with threads at the top happens in opposite to the threads at the bottom). AI tells me that sprang dates back to the bronze age, although it seems like the summary was gleaned from Wikipedia, which at least gives me a list of references that confirm this art is ancient.
I had some #10 crochet cotton next to my chair (crochet is probably my youngest craft), so decided to use that after watching a video from Sally Pointer, who is an accomplished heritage educator.
Photo description: starting to weave sprang, I was warned that sprang holds special fascination for cats, and Izzy the cat was quite enthralled with the many stringsPhoto description: sprang in progress with the loom on the floor and several rows completed
I achieved several rows without too much panic, but then the fabric started to make a hard bias twist that made it difficult to sort where the threads needed to go. I gave up and removed it from the loom, took a picture, and consulted a Sprang group on FB.
Photo description: partially woven sprang made from cotton thread, removed from the loom to show the twist
I was assured that twisting is what sprang does, and to try wool which blocks very well. While scanning the group posts, I also noticed that some weavers secure the edges to the loom periodically, which would also help manage the twist. I was told that narrow bands are particularly susceptible, and another way to manage the phenomenon is to switch twist direction, which is a more advanced technique. I have my marching orders.
Critters and Craft 