Just a bit of fluff
It arrived yesterday, 2lbs of raw icelandic Shetland wool ❤
I'm not allowed to touch it until I sell stuff on etsy. I need to finish my sweater.
Have a nice day folks!
Weaving
Last week I was informed that one of the semi-living museums down the road was looking for a weaver, I had never weaved before and although I wanted to learn, I certainly could not afford to purchase a loom to learn on. That is when I was told that the retiring weaver would gladly teach me the tricks of the trade using the museums loom.
The museum at which I would be going, was a house that was built in the mid 1700’s, which was part of the trail that the allied French soldiers, led by General Comte de Rochambeau, passed through on their way to join the army of General George Washington in New York (there is your bit of history of the day).
This morning, I had the chance to weave on a table loom that looked similar to this ones, only it is quite a bit older
It was very exciting to learn how to weave and surprisingly easier then I thought it was going to be, though I’m sure a floor loom would be nerve wracking and a lot harder.
The weaver was a nice young gentleman in his early 70’s, he worked at a textile mill for over 10 years, running several looms at a time until the mill shut down due to jobs being shipped overseas. He was also a history buff and I enjoyed talking to him very much.
I showed the other volunteers (yep, I am gladly doing this for free), my spinning and was informed that the yarn I spun could easily be used on the loom.
I shall have another lesson next month before the season opens, hopefully I will be able to retain the knowledge as I will only be weaving twice a month for school field trips.
I may have to talk my father into building me a loom now that he is retired.
Have a nice day folks!
Brand new day
Alright folks, sorry yesterday’s entry. I was a little upset that someone I’ve known for almost ten years would just up and rip me off, lesson learned.
Today is a brand new day and I have started working on my guild project
I know what it looks like, and I assure you it is not a garter lol, I’ll post a picture of the finished item after my guild meeting next week.
I ordered two pounds of beautiful raw Icelandic Shetland wool off of etsy the other day, it is due to arrive on the 11th, I can hardly wait. My husband told me that I am not allowed to touch it until I sold a few things on etsy so I need to finish the sleeves of my bartók tunik. I still need to continue on with my Jane Austen project.
I noticed the other day, that I have a specific kind of movie that I like to watch while I knit & spin. Cranford, North & South, Jane Austen movies, Wuthering Heights, ect. What kind of movies do you like?
Have a great day folks!
Bummed out
I’ve made a great many things for friends before when asked, I am a big fan of the honor system. I like to believe that people in the world are good, honest, and that everyone has a conscious. However folks, the honor system has just failed me and I am out $20.
Now, I don’t practice the honor system with people I don’t know and I guess from now on, I won’t be practicing the honor system at all. It is truly shameful that someone had to go and ruin that for the rest of my friends.
It is my fault for trusting people to do the right thing, from here on out I’ll reserve items on etsy and people can pay me that way.
Thanks “friend” for being the straw that broke the camels back.
Lola
Meet Lola!
She has survived every predator attack we have had on the farm. Today a fox attacked our chickens and despite the good effort Moose made, the fox managed to get away.
All the chickens ran into the backyard, all but one. I ran toward the coop, there were feathers everywhere, and they belonged to Lola.
I was crushed, she was our oldest chicken and the only one currently laying eggs. I almost cried.
There was no body, there was no need to look for one, not with all the feathers I had seen.
Ten minutes later I heard clucking, I looked around. Our older chickens were old enough to cluck but they were sitting around silently. I ran to the front yard and lo and behold. There was Lola!! Looking almost untouched (the above picture was from after I found her). She is missing half her tail feathers but clearly, the force is strong with this one!
Improvement
I’ve been working on my guild project for awhile now, this is the raw wool that I washed, picked, & carded.
I had to start on a second spindle tonight, my other one got so heavy the wool would break. I think I’ve improved!
Have a nice night folks!
Guard duty
Half an hour after my last post, the sun came out and I thought to myself Thank you Mother Nature, I’m glad we can still be friends.
I gathered my carders and bundle of wool, headed out doors and decided to card a few rovings before gathering my cherubs and heading out toward the riding ring to do a little wild blueberry picking. Ten minutes into my spinning I received a phone call about a large black bear in my area.
Now, I no longer live in Maine but I do still live out in the woods, this is the first time I’d ever heard about a bear being in my area, then again two years ago we were living on an island. We have coyotes and fisher cats, yet bears never crossed my mind.
Oh well, I figured as long as I stayed in the vicinity, there was less of a chance running into a bear. The blueberries would still be there tomorrow….hopefully. I decided to just carry on carding in the backyard. I noticed a squirrel over near my bird feeder, they’ve already knocked down and broken two feeders & I figured maybe I could scare them off if I shot an arrow in the direction of the feeder. Two minutes after I came out with the bow & arrow, Romeo (one of our roosters) ran into the back yard followed by a fox, luckily for the fox I am not great at using a bow, I managed to miss him by half a foot and he ran off into the woods.
I spent the next twenty minutes banging around the back, back yard (we have 8 acres, the back yard & back, back yard a separated by hedges) with pots and pans. Alas Mr. fox managed to capture one of our little baby chickens.
That brings us to today, my husband & kids went off to visit family and go see fireworks. I didn’t want to be a jerk and leave Moose hooked up near the coop for 12 hours, so the resident Mountain Cur and I are on guard duty
So far, so good.
Have a nice day folks!!
Oh Mother Nature
Mother Nature and I have always lived in harmony together. When I was a young girl, I grew up deep in the woods of Maine on a 40 acre farm. I would listen to the symphony of birds singing together, watch the squirrels & rabbits play, catch a glimpse of deer, moose, and on occasion a black bear.
Today however, we are butting heads.
mother nature, I need to card more wool to spin. I’m almost out
Mother Nature: hmmm that’s a little messy isn’t it? I bet you would like a nice dry sunny day to card outside.
why yes, it is a bit messy. A dry day would be fantastic, it would save me from having to vacuum up the mess today
Mother Nature: well check the weather, do I have a surprise for you
You’re a real treat, you know that.
Oh well, I will spin and ply the rovings that I have, and continue to work on my bartók tunik.
Here is the yarn I have spun and ply’d for my guild project, a little bulky in places but I like it!
Have a great day folks!
Sandals & Vocab city
I ran out of the green yarn on Sunday, which resulted in a mad dash to Joann fabrics to hunt for the shade of green needed. Alas no such luck, I found every shade of green except for the shade I needed. Now I’ll admit it, I should have been prepared, after all I have three tubs of yarn to look through. I dropped the ball.
I did manage to find another shade of green in my tubs, several skeins in fact, and from Sunday until late last night, I have worked on the crochet sandals.
I changed the pattern a bit, by crocheting the straps in, instead of sewing. I think they came out nicely.
Here is the link again for all who are interested in this pattern, it was created by Lovely Little Life.
I’m starting to get muscle from carding wool, I have spun as I go along and it is turning out beautifully. I also combined Cotton with the first cut of wool from Carrick, I was nervous but I blended beautifully and spins better than I expected *knock on wood*
I will no longer be reviewing vocabulary city, last year on an old blog I reviewed Time4learning, my daughter was using it at the time and I was impressed. So twice this year I have received emails from them suggesting that I review vocabulary city, finally I bit the bullet. I could get a free year for my daughter who loves learning games. I signed up, and I posted about how I was going to review them, which clearly wasn’t enough. You do what they ask and then they will email you saying “now you need to do this” and “ok now you need to do that”.
Listen, my child can play free educational learning games elsewhere, or she could crack open a book as she often does, or play word games on paper. I am not going to jump through hoops. There you go vocabulary spell city, being pushy doesn’t pay.
Now that the sandals are finished, I can finish my bartók tunik & continue on with my Jane Austen project.
Have a great day folks!
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Check out this beautiful wrap from Patternworks!
theyearimademyownclothes.com 