Hay! Hello! anybody home.....

Hmpf! it's my fault for being gone so darn long.

Still knitting, but added weaving to the activities. Not quilting or sewing as much, but trying to get back into the groove. Much, much knitting has been done since I was here last. But this isn't about the knitting only.  With 'the Virus' going around being a housewife means that my social activities have been curtailed. Bleh!!!  So I have taken a friends' idea and have been rolling it about the back brain for a year or three: take note of ALL of my projects and either

A) finish it,

 B) frog it and put the parts back into stash, or

C) give it away to someone else to finish or frog.

I have been moving on this slowly for the past few months. It's hard! giving up and moving on....not so much A or B, but C. Most of the recipients don't understand the thought behind the giving away of a project unfinished. That's OK. I try not to understand either. I just have made the decision to unload the project/idea that stalled and it's kinda freeing. Just must remember to not think too hard about it.

tap! tap! tap! anybody home???

cough. cough. dusty in here...

I am back....maybe.  Am thinking of resurrecting the blog. Not a fan of snapchat or facebook or instagram or or or. too needy. too short. just bleh!

lots has happened sine the last post: births and a death;  starting and stopping of things; melancholy and highs and lows....just stuff!

anyway, doing Tour de Sock again this year. did last years' and finished 59th or 64th overall or something like that. Also on the 3rd place team Knit Tough. Missed out on the Sock Madness(SM) for the past 2 years. Just haven't felt the mojo. Just today finished the round 1 sock for SM12.

Just a quick note to let my blog know that I have not forgotten you, just been away,,,, in my mind, in heart, and in my body. On that note:

People have been asking about washing fleeces at home. It's expensive to send away to have done for you. BUT it's not too hard to do at home, a little smelly maybe, but the smell goes away. Below is an email that I've copied of a friend asking how i do fleeces. So I have copied it here, pictures another day:

here goes with the washing….the soaking and washing part applies to everything not already washed!!!! The stuff that is picked can go into washing bags, the fleece that is NOt picked can get folded into a ‘washing sheet’-mosquito netting curtains from IKea. about $6 a pair/98x100inches square. when you fold your fleece into the sheet, I arrange the fleece across the short side (ha!) and then squish it together into 1 layer, really thick, in the center third of the sheet. then fold the other thirds over on top of the fleece, then fold the hole package in half again. When the fleece gets wet, it will slide together into a lump in the middle of the sheet, that’s ok. I use the outside ends of the sheet as a handle, so I don’t actually touch the fleece, but I do poke at it with the spoon to kinda spread it out when it gets into the water. It will try to unroll when it gets wet, so I try to arrange it in the tubs so that it doesn’t. Not always successfuly but I try. hmpf. Now ready for ferment and then wash. Everything happens in this package. I don’t actually touch the fleece with my hands until I spread it out to dry. If I am doing a merino or other really easily feltable fleece, I use my bathtub in the house, because I can keep the fleece from squishing together into a ball, so less chance of felting. I will also split the fleece down the back into halves for the same reason.
I usually do a suint ferment on my fleeces right before I wash them. they soak anywhere from a few hours to days to a week in cold water outside during the hot part of the year. Put your wrapped fleece into a tub, cover with cold water from the hose, cover if you like, and let sit till smelly and nasty. Let drain. Keep the water for the next fleece, if you can, or feed it to the roses or fruit trees. The more you reuse that nasty water, the better the washing for next fleece(s). So the fleece is still wet, but draining when I start to wash. If you don’t choose to do this that’s ok, just get your fleece wet and soaked before you start below.
Whatever size of tub you use-sink, bathtub, outdoors tub-the sink can use small squares of plastic window screening edged with fabric on the sewing machine sized to fit your sink, other wise use washing bags. Anyway….fill your tub with hot water, the hotter the better-see below- then float your soap. I use blue Dawn or clear Dawn: 6 or 8 circles of soap around the outer edge of the filled tub-NO BUBBLES, hard to get out of fleece!!! then stir in with a wooden spoon, gently, to mix. then float the bagged/ wrapped fleece on top and push straight down with the spoon. don’t squeeze, and don’t stir!!!! Only push straight down into the water. Let sit for 15 min, tops. You want the water to be approximately the same temp as when you started. Remove the fleece, let drain on the side, while you drain your tub and repeat. as quickly as possible. I wash at least 3 times. If the fleece is extra sticky or smelly, I add a cup of ammonia or 1/2 cup of washing soda to the first wash only. that really helps to cut the lanolin and/or the smell. Then rinse the exact same way as you washed, only no soap. Then open everything up and let dry. I have a 3x8 ft drying rack that I can put together to open an entire fleece in its curtain onto to let dry.
that’s it, that’s all I do, takes a couple of hours to do a fleece, not including the ferment. I am going off-grid in an hour or so, I won’t be available to answer questions til later tonight when I go into town and can get wifi/cell coverage. post a note on the team forum and I will answer when I can. Hope this helps,

sincerely, ME


ps: I use a home water heater set at 130F to wash. the first wash outside goes to the roses/fruit trees. Everything else goes down the drain. Indoors there is enough coming after to melt the grease plug and keep going. If you have septic, then the same applies. When I am at the farm, I have 140F water and use gloves, same disposal rules apply, especially on septic. the first bath of lanolin can clog! a septic, like grease in the kitchen sink. Also, no enzymes or other ‘protein cleaning agents’ in your detergent. I use detergent cuz cheaper and easier to get. Just straight detergent instead of ‘soap’ : easier to use than soap.

tap....tap....tap...

(..... on the glass)...Anybody Home?????

Just an update to let everybody know that I am still alive. And blogger has changed everything!! so I guess I must relearn how to do this.  I was trying to post a linked tag to MSF for the yarnharlot's bike ride this year and maybe get in some practices for the TourDeFleece and/or the TourDeSock.  Looks like the learning curve is high this year.

attempting......

......to grow without killing it!
my attempt at growing cotton continues: the picture shows 3 types. from front to back is ojito pueblo(a white), s. fox (brown) and tall tines(brown). the fourth pot was an unidentified white found growing on the side of the road.  It never sprouted. I think I planted it too deep.

the first flower is just starting to open on the ojito. I also tried to get a picture of the resident prey mantis. I used to have several that showed up every year and live in my vintage wisteria. But drought and age killed the plant, tho several seeds and runners have emerged.  This year the mantis is in the cotton....yaaa!!!! less need for me to pick pests by hand.

hello! I have been busy, these first pictures are of some handtowels that I wove for an exchange. They are woven of 8/2 cotton in a turned twill/satin threading.

 Most where woven with 3 colors on black, brown and natural. Two where woven with 6. I like the 3 colored ones better, but sent them all, but one that had too many skips and misses.

My loom in the corner of the living room: a 12 harness LeClerc Nilart. HUGE!!!!!















And finally: a month in the waiting. An Eco Print on Silk: blood oranges. STinky! but fun. still needs a wash and a press,

......it's been a while......

Hello! (tap tap tap on the glass)....are you there?  I haven't been. I've been away awhile, I guess.   I suppose that I can post some of the stuff that has gone on since the last time we talked, maybe. I'm not going to stew over it if I don't.

In other news, I have a bigger weaving loom since last we talked. I had voiced a pipe dream to the winds, and they heard. And answered! I sold my little 24 inch LeClerc Nilus-4 harness, 6 treaddles- to help subsidize a 45 inch Nilart with 12 harnesses and 14 treadles. Talk about expanding one's horizons!  I have had this loom up in the front room for almost 2 years now and I still have to remind myself that I am not limited to the 4 harness and 6 treadles of the Nilus. Altho......I do miss the ease of working on the Nilus. The Nilart is the exact same loom with the exact same mechanisms, but is just HUGE!. Compare a vintage '63 VW van to a '63 VW bug. 

 Above is the only picture I can locate, at the moment of the new loom. I am consolidating my life from three different computers to one and a smarter-than-me phone, so I have more, somewhere.

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