Making…

PiaChit Chat

Elderflower cordial.saft1

The shops were all out of organic lemons, so I also made a batch with oranges and one with mint! A bit of an experiment, but I’m happy to report that it tastes really great.

It’s been a couple of years since last, so I thought it was time, we have a lot of elders right now, they spread like weeds. I’ll wait for autumn and make a batch with the berries too, it’s really good in winter, hot with lemon, ginger and honey if you have a cold, don’t want one or just need heating up. And then I’ll cut some of them down, because, well, there’ll be more. If I don’t keep them in check we’ll be known as Elderberry Jungle Farm.

Link to “nettle energy drink”

I’ve been making other stuff too – stay tuned. I’ve finally had time and “presence” to start painting a bit again this week! But not much, still have that hedge to cut.

Hyldeblomstsaft

Det var et par år siden sidst, så jeg fik lige lyst til at lave lidt saft, siden vi har rigtig mange hyld for tiden, de breder sig som ukrudt.

Butikkerne var helt udgåede for usprøjtede citroner, så jeg lavede også en portion med appelsiner og en med mynte. Det blev virkelig godt! Til efteråret skal jeg lige have lavet lidt bærsaft også, det er rigtig godt varmt med citron, ingefær og honning. Og så ryger nogen af planterne altså, inden vi helt drukner i dem.

The dye bed

PiaChit Chat
Coreopsis tinctoria, indigo left, weld at the back
Coreopsis tinctoria, indigo right, weld at the back

The section of lawn that I killed off last year is all filled out, although not just with dye plants. In fact, the dye project seems to go not all that well. Plants are growing (in case of the japanese indigo, not growing, but surviving), but no flowers. The weld most likely won’t be useful until next year, but I did hope to finally harvest a lot of coreopsis. The marigold also aren’t looking very willing. I didn’t sow new Dyer’s Chamomile, there is still some in the abandonded veggie garden along with woad.

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French Marigold (tagetes patula)
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Marigold (calendula) and potatoes

I took the opportunity of clear soil to bury a few old potatoes, replant my strawberry plants and some asparagus. Lettuces and spinach, kale, and this little experiment: The wilted stub of a used supermarket celery, now look what it’s doing after I planted it! Hopefully some radishes on the way too.

celery1

lettuce

It’s still stormy and autumn like temperatures here (13 C yesterday), so I don’t spend much time outside actually. We’re putting up a temporary fence where the hedge died, so we have a corner of shade and quiet, vainly hoping we’ll actually get to use it. I think I’ve had 4 days’ use of our garden furniture this year! I believe it’s the third summer in a row that’s acting this ghastly, and I really, really dislike strong wind. We’ve also had snow 3 winters in a row now, very unusual.

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Look how the pear tree has been shaped by the wind – despite a hedge!

Well, at least I have an excuse for knitting more sweaters since they’re now all year gear! I’m going to step up my needle sizes to be able to finish sooner…

sunflower
The birdies are fed sunflower seeds in winter – sometimes they miss a few.

Bits and bobs

PiaAcid Dyeing

Not much going on here, but I did pop some of the solid hexagons I’ve knitted into a dyepot for a bit more pow. Should have diluted it a tad more, as some of them came out black! Of course being superwash, they grew to gigantic proportions when wet, so I tossed them in a bag and into the dryer. Wanna see what happens when you do that?

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I’d meant to tie-dye or paint some of them but felt too distracted. Instead I did a couple of micro skeins with mixed leftovers. There goes “subtle” for the blanket colourscheme! And I have a couple of other ideas to try out…

hex03

Otherwise I’ve managed to finish the sleeves on my two “endless” sweaters, meaning they are in fact DONE. And since it’s never ending sweater summer, I may actually get to wear them… The orange is a cotton/alpaca blend on 4 mm and the blue is Wollmeise lace-yarn on 3mm. And no, the fronts don’t meet up and aren’t supposed to.

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wollmeise02

Battery fluid

PiaChit Chat

A friend of mine taught me this recipe for a natural energy drink and I thought I’d share. (no, this still isn’t a cooking blog)

The base is:

  • Nettles and/or ground elder (Aegopodium podagraria), pick the tips with the youngest leaves, fill your blender.
  • Add 1 diced organic lemon, peel and all, green tea, apple juice. Perhaps a dash of honey or vanilla sugar if you don’t like it bitter.
  • Blend, strain, serve. Keeps for two days in the fridge (if you added sour things like lemon and juice, they keep the good stuff from getting ruined by oxygen)

You can vary it by adding whatever herbs need trimming in your garden. Mint, lemon balm, black currant leaves. Or a basil/oregano/tomato juice variety?

Both nettles and ground elder contain lots of minerals and vitamins. Marigold petals are good for connective tissue. I’ve also used fresh ginger, chopped up and made tea which I then strained and added to the rest.

Linseed oil is also good for you.

IMPORTANT: Do not use actual elder leaves, as in from the tree. They are poisonous.

danishEnergidrik

Flere i vennekredsen er gået amok i denne naturdrik og jeg synes den er så god at jeg ville dele den med flere.

Basen består af brændenældeblade og skvalderkål, 50/50 eller hvad man nu har. Tilsæt en hel usprøjtet citron, skal og det hele, samt lige dele grøn te og æblejuice. Evt. lidt honning eller vanillesukker hvis det bliver for bittert. Kan holde sig i køleskab 2 dage.

Og ellers kan man tilføje hvad der lige trænger til at studses i krydderbedet, mynte, citronmelisse, solbærblade, morgenfrue. Et skvæt hørfrøolie er heller ikke af vejen! Jeg har også brugt ingefær, det er godt.

Lad mig høre hvis I finder på flere varianter!

How do you learn?

PiaChit Chat
drawing class 1992
drawing class 1992

 As I’ve mentioned I’m trying to learn about tapestry weaving because it seems to “light me up” more than knitting clothes.

While I was unweaving half a training piece – because I’d learned what I wanted from it and because I’m cheap and wanted to salvage even my yarn scraps and warp – I was thinking that if somebody saw me they’d probably recommend doing some of the samplers from the weaving books to learn the various techniques for making stripes, curves etc.

The thing is, I just don’t roll that way. I don’t mind my samplers being useless when I’m done, but just doing colour blocks bores me so much I want to scream. And then I don’t pay attention and make mistakes. I also don’t learn when following a recipe, I have to look it up and read the instructions every. single. time.

tapestry001
My first tapestry sampler with sketches.

And that’s how I learn best: figuring things out by myself, see what happens when I make mistakes. I remember, I make conclusions leading to theories that, when tested, work better and better based on my previous actions etc. And I remember it for next time. Then if I get stuck, I consult books and tutorials. I may browse various weaving books and work on my initial impressions and little hints that stick in my brain at random. I don’t read them from cover to cover and just absorb it all in one sitting.

I can learn from books, but only if the subject is one that comes more natural to me or really interests me. But it still comes second to doing. Another thing which can make a huge difference is intention. I hated physics and chemistry in school, only subject that was worse was PE. I skipped all the chapters with drawings of molecules in some of the old dye books I got from the library because my eyes just started to cross. But here I am happily playing with pH values, mordants etc. and having a blast – because it has a desired outcome.

How do you like to get your material presented, so that you may learn best/easiest/most fun? Books, workshops, lectures, schematics, recipes, or the more chatty form? Do you want to see someone else do before you put your hands to it? Or are you a listener?

The funny thing is, I always thought I could learn just by observing and thinking. And yes, it works for theory – but not skill. And I think it’s rather amazing (as well as frustrating) that the mind-body connection never occurred to me sooner. And nobody told me.

Cotton yarn with 10 surface treatments ready to dye
Cotton yarn with 10 surface treatments ready to dye