Happy Mother’s Day to all those that nurture, whether they be your own offspring, someone else’s offspring, or adopted fuzzy family.
Happy Mother’s Day
Spinning hemp
I am delving into the fiber samples my sister gave me, starting with hemp. I tried spinning the hemp as I would wool, with a drop spindle and dry. The fly aways were epic. Since I had luck spinning flax roving using a bit of moisture from a sponge, I tried that method with the hemp. It meant I had to transfer what I had spun to a long shaft drop spindle (wrapping the yarn along the shaft at a low angle reduces the stress on the fibers).
Rather than spinning directly from the roving, I separated bits of roving and laid them on a rectangle of fabric (all those old masks came in handy), taking care to lay them in the same orientation. I then rolled the fabric around the distaff and tied it loosely with some cord.
As I spin, I wet my fingers on the sponge before gripping the fibers to draft. It helped tame the fly aways and gave me a smoother spin.
Modest Harvest
It is a modest harvest, but a welcome one. Some eggs for breakfast, and some basil to make pesto, all gathered from the yard.
Nearing the end of the rainbow
I’ve been slowly progressing on my brioche rainbow scarf project. I’ve made it down to where the colored yarns need to be rewound because as I pulled from the center, the yarn was getting tangled. Since this is a waiting-in-the-car project, I rolled up a park map to use as a nostepinne to rewind each color then pop it back in the split pool noodle (which really works well to hold all the colors). I still have many hours of work left, but the end is nearing. It is funny how I used to consider scarves quick and easy projects.
Meadow walk
I took a bunch of photos of flowers as I toured the meadow. The one that cracks me up is the purple thistle growing through the deer statue’s haunch. I really like the look of the purple thistles, reminds me of Scotland.
I didn’t realize that bluebonnets form seed pods like peas. Hm.
