Making clouds

On April 22, 2022April 20, 2022 By CarynIn Craft

I felt the need to card my washed cream alpaca fiber. All of it. I don’t usually do it all at once, but go as needed because the rolags are the most airy and open right after carding, which makes spinning easier.

Washed alpaca fiber (left) and carded alpaca fiber (right)

It is therapeutic to turn the chaotic mass into fluffy white clouds. Even though I washed the fiber, it still has a significant amount of dirt and vegetable matter, most of which comes out as I card it.

Carding also increases the volume of the fiber because the clumps and locks are opened up. The mass of fiber about tripled in size with carding.

Now to figure out a good way to get to spinning all these lovely little clouds. Although I can’t go for spinning walks yet, I do get some reprieve from the boot, as long as I’m walking on smooth even surfaces. Standing for long periods is also still problematic. Hm.

Crackers!

On April 21, 2022 By CarynIn Bread

My sourdough bread needs work, but one of my readers suggested a sourdough cracker recipe for the discards. It works wonderfully! Much easier than unleavened crackers, as well as lighter and crispier. Because of our relative humidity, I do leave my crackers to cool in the oven and this time forgot to crack the oven door, so the crackers are dark, but still taste good.

Happy sourdough starter, filled up the jar!

I left out the herbs this time around since my kids aren’t always keen on added flavor, but there are so many possibilities to explore with additions! Yum!

Guitar string rings

On April 20, 2022April 16, 2022 By CarynIn Craft

In looking for fidget rings to stick in easter eggs I saw a few guitar string rings. I have used guitar strings since my kids play, so it seemed a neat project to try. My strings aren’t aged much, we were having trouble with tuning one string and tried changing out all the strings. It turned out the issue was a broken washer in the tuning mechanism, and I had to replace the whole mechanism. Still, it left some wire wrapped strings with which to experiment.

Guitar string ring with pressed glass faceted beads

I found some beads in my stash that would fit onto the guitar string. I used one of the beads as the anchor, gluing both ends of the string into the bead. The other beads are not glued and can be rearranged, although they are quite stiff.

I rather like the look of the beads on the guitar strings, but they aren’t as fidget friendly as I’d like. I think maybe a tube bead with a wider inside diameter might work better. Time to sift through the stash again!

Operation Desensitization

On April 19, 2022 By CarynIn Cats

Setting up the live trap and leaving it for a couple days worked to desensitize the cats to its presence.

View from my vehicle of four cats circling the live trap

I used a prop to hold the trap open, with fishing line tied to the bottom so I could control when the trap closed. I had at least three already fixed cats circle in and out of the trap before an unfixed torti finally went in far enough for me to close the door. She was not happy, but I got her in to be fixed, so no kittens from her.

I saw three more unfixed while I was watching. So we’ll run this setup again. We are up to 12 fixed in the colony.

Tying it down

On April 18, 2022 By CarynIn Cats, Craft

We are down to the most skittish of cats in my neighbors colony needing to be caught and taken to be fixed. The slightest breeze ruffling the trap cover sends them running. So I did a little tailoring on the scrap of sheet I use to cover the trap. I sewed seams along the backsides for a close fit, then sewed buttons and button hole elastic along the bottom so it won’t have room to billow.

Button and button hole elastic sewn on the bottom of the cover

The button hole elastic did not come this thin. When I was in a frenzy of making fabric masks and all the thin elastic was sold out, I bought thicker elastic and cut thin strips, leaving a narrow button hole band. It works quite well for this purpose.

Trap on its side showing how the button and elastic hook around the wire

I left the front part of the cover loose so it can easily be put back to set the trap, and be pulled forward when the cat is caught to help reduce freakout. The trap is also sitting closed at my neighbors house so the cats get used to seeing it (and not only seeing it when they see me).