A little bit of Weld

Oh well, at least some grew. I have been so late harvesting what I had in the garden I almost forgot it was there. I just caught it in time for the first frost. I havent harvested the woad though, I have been just too busy. Anyway, I dont know whether the late harvest affected the colour but it was not ‘the yellow by which all other yellows are measured’ as so often quoted for weld. As I am so sick of yellow and brown I added some copper modifier with more pleasing results. If I see any more yellow or brown I shall scream. I have been really depressed recently, but this lime green really cheered me up. Its amazing the effect it had.Which just goes to show what matters in life! This was some wool for a long haired sheep, spun on a spindle as being inexperienced I was struggling with the wheel.

100% weld with copper assistant, alum mordant

Water Lily root

water lily root, no mordant, periodic warm water

This unpromising colour is a result of water lily root, no mordant. I was somewhat disappointed that I couldnt get a deeper colour, however when I looked it up water lily root with no mordant produces a pale beige! It can be significantly darker with copper and iron, apparently.  I used hot water and soaked it four twenty four hours, periodically raising the temperature, before getting fed up! It does have shades of pink in it, being something of a minky colour. No comments about the spinning please!

Trying to find the time

Since I have moved in I have been so busy I have hardly had time for any of my interests. However things are slowly improving. I am getting some ex bats at the end of the month, four in all. The slaughter date is the 29th of May. What a horrible term, it will be the luck of the draw whether each chicken lives or dies! I hope to get a couple more chickens next year, perhaps some blue egg layers to ring the changes.

On the bee front, I am bereft! My only colony moved out last summer at the same time as I was moving house! I felt so depressed! I simply cannot afford the £140 being asked for a nuke, I have set up a couple of baits in the garden and live in hope! I read that bees are attracted to lemon grass oil so am regularly putting some drops by the entrance. Trouble is there seem hardly any bees around here. My neighbour has some bumble bees in his garden but honey bees are in very short supply. I can always go out swarm catching but have the most terrible fear of heights, I get vertigo changing the lightbulb!

Most of my time recently has been trying to get the garden sorted. I have planted several strandard roses and some clematis. Its taken my since January just to knit one sock!

On the self sufficiency/natural dyeing front I havent spun any yarn for ages. However someone mentioned to me that the apple tree I have been given for firewood may yield some interesting colours. On top of that, I notice the elderflowers are out! Its a question of what I can fit in!

Natural dyeing with eucalyptus bark.

My spinning carries on in the background. I have bought a wheel and keep practising. I have finally reached the stage where I can start to dye my wool. Here is some I dyed with  dried eucalyptus bark from a tree my neighbour was felling a couple of years ago. I mordanted it with alum and am still extracting dye by cold soaking from the same bark. I am quite pleased with the colour, I may try experimenting with other mordants but my main problem at the moment is that I only have an aluminium  pan. I have found a site which tells you how to cold dye so I suppose I could have a go with that in a plastic bucket.

Dried eucalyptus bark, alum mordant

The acid test!

Now this is the acid test for the propolis. All around me everyone seems to have the flu. It happens every year. I am due to start my leave tomorrow for Xmas. Every year, without fail I get flu the minute I start my leave so that I am poorly all over Xmas. For the past three weeks everyone in my vicinity has been doing their best to pass their germs on….my grandaughter had the flu and spent the night sneezing all over me, my neighbours asked if I had had the flu yet as they had, everyone at work has the flu, in the shopping queue sneezes abound. Its not just that people have the flu but they seem utterly determined to pass it on to me in time for the festive season. People get into the lift and sneeze copiously, I spent three hours in a meeting on Weds and everyone died for the full three hours, consolling themselves that they would be better by Xmas, whenever I am standing anywhere people position themselves next to me and cough and sneeze in my direction. I have the air of a doomed woman. This year, determined not to let them win, I am drowning myself in a sea of Echinacea, Vitamin C and Propolis! Today, right on cue I started to develop a sore throat and a slight sniffle….so far I have lurched through the day going from cold crisis to cold crisis only for it to beat a retreat…..time will tell. I calculate if I go down now I will be at my worst on Xmas Day. Why break the habit of a lifetime? I will let you know my progress, its the acid test as to whether these herbal cures really work.
In the meantime I have treated myself to a niddy noddy. Here is my first skein, up until now its always had to be a ball. I have a definate feeling that I am going to end up getting a spinning wheel. I dont have long enough to live to do everything on a spindle!

I know its not much but its a start!

Ever onward in the spinning department

Having taught myself to spin with a drop spindle I plod on and on with it. I am beggining to wonder if a spinning wheel might not be such a bad idea. I am rather ambivilent about it, a spindle is so much more portable, cheaper and takes up less space, but I only do a small amount of spinning in between all the other things I do and it does seem very slow. My hunch is I shall be shelling out in the future for a wheel.

I am very lucky as I get a fairly constant supply of fleece from freecycle. I dont mind paying for fleece but I DO mind the cost of postage, which is totally disproportionate. The fleece I usually get is from Lleyn sheep. For  a description of this breed click here

http://www.lleynsheep.com/ For a list of other British breeds or US breeds scroll down to the spinning link on the right.

I have bought other posh fleece but I actually find this easier to handle, if its too fine I find it rather slippery. Its probably my inexperience. But there is something very rewarding about starting with a raw fleece and ending up with something to wear. I need a lot more experience before I become competent.

lleyn fleece

On another matter, I have finally decided that the ‘indeterminate’ wine is apple and ginger, except its a bit more gingery than I was expecting! That will teach me to label things in future!

A quick request.

If you are visiting this site (particularly from the US) please help support our campaign against the Chinese fur trade. I run a seperate family friendly blog on the subject…see Boris’s campaigning blog on right. Please visit it and pass the details on to friends. The Chinese skin animals WHILE STILL CONSCIOUS for the fur trade and a large proportion is sent to the US market mislabelled as rabbit etc. and sold as trinkets toys etc. This is a disgraceful way to treat animals and completely unnecessary. Please boycott Chinese fur and pass the message on.

Thank you

My 2nd ever homespun…..

Well, it took me forever and a day but I finally finished my 2nd ever homepsun item. The first thing I made was  a hat. To be honest this is hardly spectacular but we all have to start somewhere. I spun it on  spindle, I havent graduated to a spinning wheeel yet.

I am currently crocheting the worlds most boring jumper…………………………I started it ages ago and need to get it finished…………………..its made with commercial yarn, but is so dull to do!!

my main problem was getting it even but the uneven parts have evened out!

Mad about craftwork of all kinds

I spend as much time as I can spare doing just about everykind of craft that you can think of, knitting, crochet, rug making, embroidery, and so on and so on. So if you like any of those things why not join me? My other passion is BORIS ( the wondercat) He has his own blog, but just to make sure you know who he is here is his profile.

8 years old, tragically struck down with Pancreatitus (aged 3!) which gave him diabetes, plus a cardiac murmur and funny kidneys. But he triumphed over it all.  Heres his pic, isnt he wonderful?

Hes waving hallo, lethargically