Winter indeed. Dog walk at sunrise.
Så er vinteren skudt i gang, frost ved solopgang.
Neighbour’s lawn had an unauthorized visit by this Houdini pony. I was thinking just yesterday that we hadn’t seen him around for a while, he must have heard me!
Naboens græsplæne med besøg af udbryderkongen Buller som bor længere nede af vejen. Jeg tænkte så sent som i går da jeg passerede hans fold, at det var længe siden, han har nok hørt mig den lille bandit.
Remember the fiber I bought at the sheep market? I’ve been wondering how I wanted to spin the variegated top on the right, so I decided to get all scientific about it and at least try out all the usual varieties (knowing full well that perhaps in the end I’d have 50g of samples….)
So a split lenghtwise 2-ply, a chainply, a fatter single and a 2×2 cable for starters. As well as knitted swatches!! Then afterwards, depending on the results, I might look into new to me spinning methods…
Well, I got as far a 2×2 cable, real thin, as I thought it might emulate a thicker, longer yarn using the whole top. And realized that all the plying would just make me an orange yarn. (of course I could try 3×3 chain ply, but no, not this time)
Then I thought I was real clever, and brave too, deciding to waste all my yarn on something really different (to me). Never mind all that sampling!
I split it in half, then one half split into a thick rope and a thin. The idea was to try and match the lenghts/colours when plying the two. Well, it works in theory. Except I haven’t spun for ages and I’m prone to underspinning – even when I think I’ve added extra twist. The fiber is superwash. Can you see where this is going? Yes, everything pretty much drifted apart when I tried to ply. Some bits are looking really good, but it’s definitely not the same type of yarn at both ends! I will however try this again some other time as I think it could be a really cool feature in a woven item of some sort.
The other half I spun fairly thin, and then I wanted to make a coiled yarn. Well, duh. After 20 cm or so plying, I learned that to make coils, your single should probably be somewhat thicker than your core unless you want serious corkscrews as well! I think I’ve got a pretty good handle on how to make the coils though, I just have to figure out what to do with a thin, variegated, orange single now….
Jeg har gået længe og funderet på, hvad jeg skulle spinde af mit orange fiber fra fåredagen. Spekulerede i mange nye eksperimenter som jeg ikke har prøvet før, lavede en lillebitte test med kabeltvinding, som bare gjorde det hele ensfarvet orange og kedeligt.
Så jeg endte med at finde på noget for mig rigtig vildt og uvant. Og selvfølgelig mislykkes med begge dele, men til gengæld har jeg lært lidt af hvert. Det er lidt ærgerligt, at jeg ikke fik noget direkte brugbart ud af de fine fibre, men sådan er der så meget….
Den ene halvdel splittede jeg op på langs i en tyk og en tynd tot, som jeg så forsøgte at spinde lige lange, så det, når det var tvundet, ville være en tyk og en tynd som fulgte samme farveforløb.
Det virkede også rimeligt i teorien, bortset fra jeg ikke har spundet meget længe og har en tendens til at underspinde. Fibrene er desuden superwash og meget glatte og kan ikke filtes hvis det kniber med sammenholdet! Og ja, det hele skred jo fra hinanden gang på gang da jeg begyndte at sno det den anden vej, ikke?
Godt så, næste lektion bestod i at lave “coils”, kan vi kalde det fjedergarn på dansk? Jeg spandt en tynd single, for så tænkte jeg at det færdige garn ikke blev så massivt. Efter 20 cm tvinding fandt jeg så ud af, at det ikke er en smart ide at kernen er samme tykkelse som garnet, men skal være meget tyndere, ellers kommer der så meget sno på at det ikke bare ligner en fjeder på den ene led, men at selve garnet også er en grisehale. Så nu har jeg en lang tynd single i orange nuancer jeg skal have fundet på et eller andet sjovt til!
You may have seen this before and wonder what kind of skimpy scarf that’s supposed to be? Plant dyed yarn samples 1-110 crocheted into a long strip and washed in the machine with laundry detergent testing for colour changes.
Well, it’s all cut up now and properly catalogued with my other yarn samples. Finally. And I’m going to need another binder…
In the future I’ll probably do some of my samples on cloth to save time and make the pages flatter, but this is it for now. There are places waiting for the samples that are being tested in indirect daylight for a period of time, probably until spring. I hope it’ll all help me remember how much I’ve done of which, when etc. The ones in the window got about 1 month in mid summer facing south.
The idea is to not use the fugitive dyes at all or at least not for permanent fixtures like a tapestry or clothing that gets more than occasional wear. It’s fun to try everything once, but in the long run it’s just stressful if you feel you “have to”. In fact I still feel I’m pretty much over my infatuation with the whole thing!
If you haven’t voted in my poll from yesterday, please take the time to do so now!?
Jeg har endelig fået lavet mit lille garnkatalog over plantefarvet garn. Der er allerede 2 fulde ringbind, så jeg får brug for et tredje til fremtidige eksperimenter.
Der er strimler af det originale garn, strimler som har siddet en sommermåned i et sydvindue og så har jeg pt. strimler som skal sidde mindst et halvt år inde i rummet og derefter tilføjes mappen.
Desuden blev der hæklet en strimmel med de første 100 nr. og vasket med alm. vaskepulver for at checke farveforandringer – der var et par overraskelser, nogen skiftede farve, nogen falmer, nogen er ens. Det kan jo være rart at vide alt efter hvad man bruger garnet til.
Har du lyst til at deltage i min brugerundersøgelse fra i går?
According to the stats here on WordPress, hardly anyone clicks my photos, whether I make thumbnails or bigger. Especially if I make “nice” photos, like my garden galleries or the Photoshop paint effects, I think they look best at their largest size of 800 px or up – but I’m wondering if it’s really a waste of space?
If you don’t click – why and does it have something to do with your screen size, or isn’t it tempting enough?
If you do click – I wonder why it doesn’t show? It’s not that I’m hunting viewers per se, it’s just interesting to find out what people like the most and what motivates you.
I would really appreciate it if you’d comment or vote – and everyone please click the enclosed photo, tell me that you did, so I can check if it registers. Thanks!
[polldaddy poll=7582284]
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Ifølge statistikken her på bloggen, er der næsten ikke nogen som klikker på mine billeder for at se dem i fuld størrelse, heller ikke hvis det er små thumbnails. Især hvis jeg synes jeg har lavet noget pænt, som fx. mine havegallerier eller de Photoshoppede falske malerier, så synes jeg de vinder ved at blive forstørret, men måske er det spild af plads?
Hvis du ikke klikker – hvorfor og har det noget med din skærmstørrelse at gøre eller er det bare ikke fristende?
Hvis du klikker – er det jo sært at jeg ikke kan se det. Det er ikke fordi jeg jagter point, det er bare sjovt at vide hvad der motiverer folk og hvad de synes bedst om. Så jeg vil sætte pris på hvis du gider kommentere eller stemme. Hvis du også gider klikke på billedet og fortælle at du har gjort det, så jeg kan se om det bliver registreret, så bliver jeg rigtig glad.
Mid November, and yes, there are still a few things out there to forage.
I trimmed some wild rose bushes that were reaching over the riding ring fence, so while I was at it I picked the fruits off. I got this idea from Rima (you have to scroll down a bit) that I wanted to try – didn’t pick all that many as it was a bit awkward cutting with my left hand, but enough to give it a go I hope. Scratchy work too without gloves, but I can’t feel what I’m doing if I wear them, the downside being that you feel rather too much when you don’t 😉 I also put some of them in a stew that evening because I’d forgotten to buy mushrooms, but frankly I got impatient with scooping the seeds out, so I’m unsure if they actually added to the taste. Will try with bigger ones next year if this turns out like it’s supposed to – I’m wondering if it won’t all just mold. I’ve done it with fruit, sugar and rum, but never just sugar.
I also picked a tiny batch of woad to get more colour onto the fleece I dyed a couple of weeks ago, it still works fine, if not as strong as in summer. Some of the locks were so pale they were almost grey, but now at least they’re more like faded jeans.
Got the reddest of the apples off the lawn, made G peel them and yes, managed to get my winter supply of apple sauce done (I like it on oatmeal instead of sugar – and I have a great recipe for marzipan/apple sauce buns too). Only had two vanilla pods, but it turned out fine. I put the jars in the oven afterwards, the canning procedure means it can last for years just in a cool cupboard. I don’t use pretty photogenic jars, I just recycle whatever we buy. My kitchen is far from pretty either, more like shabby 70’s homemade. But you can cook in it and I have a new drumcarder!
The kale is of course fine in the cold, I use it both in salads and warm, sometimes I make pesto. Hopefully the caterpillars are done nibbling their portion? New recipes are welcome if you have any favourites.
Dug up the last potatoes, well, G did, and while there are not a lot I think it was a fine harvest from 9 plants, and a good size too. 3-4 kg at least.
I’ve been pressing leaves to use in collages, they got squished a bit more than I planned, paper thin and brittle, but at least they are bone dry. I hope they regain some colour if I cover them in acrylic medium, much like varnishing rocks does.
And now I think I can safely say that we’re moving into winter soon… There’s blue on the temperature curve for next week!
Her lige inden efteråret slutter, er der stadig et par ting at hente i naturen. Hyben – som jeg vil prøve at råsylte til saft ved at lade dem stå i et glas nogen måneder. Jeg tænker mug, men læste om det et sted; og da jeg alligevel skulle befri min ridebane for vildtvoksende rosengrene så blev det sådan.
Jeg fandt også en lillebitte smule vaid til min råuld, ikke helt så god mere, men virkede dog godt nok til at give mere end gråt.
Æblemos af nedfaldæbler, manden fik lov at skrælle. Jeg kommer godt med ægte vanilje i, det smager super på havregrød. Eller i familiens marcipanboller, som jeg ikke kan spise fordi de ikke bliver gode med glutenfri mel.
Gravet kartofler op har han også, næsten en hel murerspand af bare 9 nedlagte kartofler, og pænt store også, det er da ok udbytte. Grønkålen trives jo i kulden – nogen opskrifter I har lyst til at dele? Bruger det både i salater, som pesto eller varmt.
Og så har jeg presset blade til collager, de blev lidt fladere end jeg ønskede, papirtynde og skrøbelige, men i det mindste knastørre så de ikke rådner. Jeg håber farverne liver lidt op igen når de får en gang malemedium på toppen.
