I was out in the coop because I needed some reference photos of the hens for a graphic project (results are on my other blog, here). This shot didn’t help with the drawing, but I liked the composition and unusual angle.
Unusual perspective
Cabled yarn
So exciting! Another way to ply! I was scrolling through a spinner’s group and found reference to cable plying, in which you take a two ply yarn and ply it again with two strands to get a four strand yarn. I had an extra cop of two ply that I could easily use to try the technique. I was able to ply from both ends of the cop (inside and outside ends), just as I did for the first round of plying. As a bonus, I’m almost positive that I can walk and do this! (I was way too enthused about it to wait until daylight, so finished the plying just standing inside). I definitely need practice, however, I’m not sure I added enough twist.
The most exciting thing is that this makes my fiber last for more walks! Spinning, plying, then plying again!
Egg transparency
We found another shell-less egg in a nest box. My youngest was helping so I held the fragile egg and a normal egg up to the light, and she took a picture, because it was neat to see the transparency of the odd egg. I say the egg was shell-less, but it did have a very thin layer of hardened material, then a thick membrane. Touching it caused a dent, but then gently rolling it in my fingers didn’t break the egg and made it look more like a fluid-filled latex balloon. I weighed it and recorded it in the book, then we gave it to the dogs. Griffin was quite surprised when he picked up the egg and left most of it behind! Missy didn’t mind cleaning up.
Standing chain ply
I say “standing” because it will take more practice before I can walk and chain ply. Chain plying is a way to make a three-ply yarn from one single, much like making a foundation chain in crochet with very long loops. If my single ply is supported I like to make loops as long as my arms can reach, but if I’m holding the source yarn in one hand and the spindle in the other, I have to shorten the loops to maybe half an arm span. And it takes more concentration to keep the three strands under tension and unkinked, so standing (with an occasional ball kick) is about all I can currently manage.
External memory
We are trying lawn alternatives to see what will thrive with little intervention and maintenance. The clovers survived the deep freeze much better than the St Augustine grass (I hate St Aug and am not sad to see it go). I am trying some creeping thyme in one of the bare patches to see if it will take and hold. It does need to stay moist until it has germinated, and I am terrible at remembering where I’ve seeded what, so I used the technology at my fingertips to snap a picture and mark it up so I had record of where I need to water.
