Tag: wool

Random rants (with yarn)

PiaChit Chat

Still feeling a bit slow and tired here, I know it keeps cycling round like this, I just never cease to be baffled over it anyway. 😉 But I’ve managed to dye a little random hank of yarn now and again, all of which I’ll tell you about later, but for now I’ll just show them.

garn1

I’ve never actually tested whether uninterrupted quiet, a stressfree environment etc. would break the cycle if it went on long enough, life keeps interfering. I’m working hard on avoiding the guilt trips that others try to send me on, but there are still “duties” as well as “things that just need to get done”.

And of course taking every 3-4 weeks out of the calendar for migraine, nausea, severe pains and my thinking patterns completely distorted. Oh, dear perimenopause how we do not love you. And then the catching up of everything afterwards. One of the reasons I managed to get a lot done this summer is the one time I had a whopping 6 week break, yay! I’m still waiting for the progesterone cream and agnus castus drops to really really kick in noticably enough for me to continue. I’m thinking of looking into some kind of detox of “heavy metals” (no, I don’t mean Def Leppard) and such, but I know that won’t necessarily make me feel better in the short run…

garn3

So during the meanwhile, my brain feels as chirpy as ever, throwing a multitude of project suggestions my way daily, happily rattling on about yarn and paints and studio designing and on and on and on. It’s been a while since I updated my idea book, I better get up to speed and organize it, perhaps try the bullet journal system? (I already do/did something similar, but not that organized – and now of course I’ve already made up some additions/improvements for it…) I’m very happy that this IS HAPPENING to me, that my appetite for creating doesn’t go away almost ever, no matter how bad I feel. All I have to do is decide on a project waiting, pick it up and go. What’s missing in this equation of course is the physical drive to match the internal.

I’m also determined to learn to do one thing at a time, even if it means finishing some of the tedious practical tasks that go before or after the creating. I feel it’s essential to not getting sucked into the stress vortex again. Every time I feel well I can sense myself picking up speed automatically, it’s like a fast horse, if you just let it go, you may pass the point of control where no brakes apply, so you need to keep contact on the bit, rein in just a little bit regularly to remind it that someone is on top or you’ll crash. I’ve tried it – both metaphorically and with an actual horse, so I’m not making this up. 😉

garn2

It’s funny though how the monkey mind works. When I was in the shower earlier, I thought this post was going to be sligtly different, but dressing, letting the horses out to grass, walking the dog (ah, another sunny warm day after 3 rainystormy ones!) and back here something else comes out of my keyboard. G says I ought to have a taperecorder taped to my arm 24/7. But then, when do I actually listen to it to cull out the useful bits? No, I guess important stuff will float by again sometime. Or not. Perhaps it will flow to someone more prepared in the moment, LOL.

I’ve been pondering the subject of thought patterns as habits and how much that influences us. I may go more into detail at a later date, but it’s been an interesting journey. Not just reprogramming and weeding out of thought forms but also reliving briefly things long forgotten, react to them perhaps for the first time ever and then letting go. I don’t get to choose them, they just emerge and I try to go with the flow rather than fight them, which is also relatively new to me. “Ok, so today I’m bawling my eyes out over something that happened when I was 7, and it feels like I’m going to feel this forever but I know that I’ll probably not.”

Changing thought habits is a really tough job, and I’m not working on it all the time. It’s one of those things that run in a spiral, you go on and on and nothing much appears to happen, until suddenly you find that you’ve circled around and actually ended up at the same spot, but a step higher. And looking down on the previous contact point you see an amazing difference. Pretty cool is what I think. It’s when we believe we should be able to make instant transitions once we make a logical decision, that everything seems to lock up. It’s also one of the best ways to become exhausted!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow0lr63y4Mw]

And now my headache says to give it a break. I guess I’m either cycling round again or my new meditation cd is doing some weird sh*t. Only time will tell. I guess I’ll go sweep the floor and sort the dog nest rumpled sofa covers. Naps don’t help with this thing unfortunately. I may have one anyway, I tend to forget when I’m busy.

Whaddaya know, I wrote all this on Tuesday and then got interrupted by, tada! a gallstone attack, before I could take proper pix. I’ve been having a bit of pain all summer (or longer? I don’t recall) like a belt under my ribs but I didn’t think it was anything serious. Going in for a scan this morning, that means no coffee, no breakfast!

When and whether anybody is going to do something about it remains to be seen…

garn4

The last day

PiaChit Chat

rowan3

September is for some the last summer month, but if you look at nature it’s autumn. The air is different, night temperatures drop if not also in daytime, grain harvest is usually done unless it rains too much, berries ripen and flowers wither or make an effort at a second round, not quite as showy as the first.

green

The kale has survived the onslaught of tiny critters I think, my weld is looking miserable and the batch I cooked up yesterday did not give very much colour compared to the small samples I did earlier. So yes, you can drag your feet too long. I haven’t gotten round to my blues either, but the temps are supposed to stay mellow, so I’m still hoping.

I’m thinking whether I want to make myself a hat this year and which fiber to use.

stack

My back is getting back to normal after last weekend’s ordeal, just a bit of tension in my neck, still. Now of course it’s time to haul in the firewood before it gets wet again…. We get a pile delivered every feb-march, stack it to dry outside and then keep it in the shed over winter. (mind you, if we stay in this house I believe the foundation size for said shed, the original farmhouse from the 1840’s, would make a quite ok studio size for me and not too far to go to work in)

skur

I’ve been making fresh yarn sample cards for hanging in the open but not sun for xx months, perhaps a year? And getting the solar samples paired with non-faded yarn, numbered and all sorts of organized, it took me DAYS, and I’m so proud of myself for persevering. Just have to crochet little squares to go in the wash for sampling detergent effects and then I’ll put it all in a binder. 3 years of natural dye experiments.

sample

Next year I’ll do just a few new plant experiments if I can remember which ones have come to mind over the last few months, otherwise I’ll focus on getting as many shades as I can from just a few, lightfast plants and not bother with the fugitive ones.

bisser

The rest of my week has been spent nursing the small brown pony who came down with an abscess in his hind hoof. Treatment for such is hot soapy baths to draw the infection out and clean the wound once it’s popped open. He was quite cooperative about standing with his foot in a bucket as long as treats were forthcoming.

down
Some fade, others just keel over…

Den sidste sommerdagdanish

Selvom september kan give nogen fine, lune dage, så er det alligevel for mig den første efterårsmåned. Luften er anderledes, det føles anderledes indeni, jeg begynder at længes efter at lave vintermad, overveje garnvalg til den hue jeg vil strikke, blomsterne er enten visnet ned eller giver det en sidste krampetrækning med 2. generation lidt mindre farvebomber.

Jeg er endelig nået til at høste min farvevau(-reseda), men desværre er det vist lidt sent, den gryde jeg satte over i går har godt nok ikke meget farve i sig i forhold til tidligere på sæsonen, ja blot for en måned siden. De lover heldigvis lunt vejr, så jeg håber stadig lidt på at jeg kan nå at gøre noget ved mine blå planter, vaid og japansk indigo.

Jeg har brugt ugen pÃ¥ at være rigtig disciplineret og lavet garnkort til min mappe med farveeksempler, solblegede sammen med originale, nummerering af alle fed gennem 3 Ã¥r osv. Hver plante fÃ¥r sin egen side i et ringbind med noter og halløj! Jeg er ellers ikke til den slags administrativt arbejde, sÃ¥ jeg er meget stolt af mig selv. 😉

Min ryg er ved at være i orden efter halmweekenden, blot lidt nakkespændinger tilbage. Nu er vi sÃ¥ kommet til brændestablen, som skal i skuret inden det begynder at øse ned i ugevis, sÃ¥ det trækker fugt til sig igen. Det foregÃ¥r med trillebør 50 m frem og tilbage gennem en smal port, ikke noget med at bare læsse det i traileren og dumpe det foran døren! Brændeskuret er det oprindelige bondehus fra 1840’erne og ved at falde fra hinanden. Jeg gÃ¥r og tænker pÃ¥, hvis vi bliver boende her, at fundamentet vel egentlig har en ok størrelse til et lille atelier….

Og ellers har jeg bare gået og ordnet varme fodbade til den lille brune bisse, som ragede en hovbyld til sig på det ene bagben. Heldigvis var han yderst medgørlig, bare der blev puttet noget i den anden ende samtidig.

hibiscus

Sheep market

PiaChit Chat

Well, not actually with sheep for sale, but about them. I was slightly underwhelmed I must admit, this being my first, but at least I’ve seen it. Just a handful of meat sheep, a handful of stalls with knitware and other crafty stuff, easily browsed in half an hour when you’re on a budget and didn’t think to bring cash anyway.

hyrde

But we did see a sheepdog at work, had locally made lamb sausages with unfiltered apple juice (one of my faves) and sheep milk ice cream for lunch. I ran into my friend Nina who lent me 200 kr. so I could buy some merino top that I fell in love with as well as a couple of pounds of Leicester fleece “pick your own bagful”. He just said “white L.”, but since we do have a breed called Danish L. I’m guessing that’s it. I didn’t stay put for the presentation of that one because the dog show started, so I don’t know if they originate from the Border Leicester or the original Leicester Longwool. (had I bought the fleece first I would have paid more attention of course)

shropshire lamb
shropshire lamb

One of the ideas I came away with was felted postcards, really cute. I forgot to take pix or buy one however, like I forgot I wanted to taste the muffins. 😉

And I learned why wool sheep like the nordic shorttail breeds actually taste better than meat sheep. Meat sheep store their fat in their muscles, the smaller wool sheep around their organs. This means a Spelsau or Gotland sheep has very lean meat with no “zoo taste” to it. You don’t get nearly as much money from the butcher per sheep, which is why the meat sheep exist of course, who can pack on some serious weight in a short time.

Phew. That was a full weekend for sure. You’ll be hearing from me when I resurface to the land of the living. 😉

FÃ¥redage i Hedelanddanish

Så fik jeg også prøvet det. En anelse skuffende måske mht størrelsen af arrangementet, en håndfuld kødfår og to håndfulde boder med strik og lidt andet finurligt, let at gennemgå på en halv times tid når man ikke har overvejet nødvendigheden af at medbringe kontanter. Men jeg rendte da heldigvis ind i en veninde som kunne låne mig 200 kr. så jeg kunne plukke en pose Leicester råuld og lidt merinotops i fristende farver fra Renee Darley. Lidt skulle jeg jo have, når ikke jeg nåede spindedag med indbygget uld-shopping!

En lammepølse med æblemost og fÃ¥remælksis kunne det ogsÃ¥ lige blive til, vi fik set en border collie optræde med sit “team”, og det var sÃ¥ det. Godt det samme, for det var jo ogsÃ¥ halm-weekend, sÃ¥ vi er lidt flade nu.

Jeg så nogen fine filtede postkort som jeg glemte at købe eller fotografere og jeg lærte hvorfor uldfår smager bedre end kødfår. Kødfår lagrer fedtet i musklerne, uldfårene omkring organerne, derfor er kødet både magert og uden smag af zoologisk have.

merino

Tansy take 2

PiaPÃ¥ dansk

Last year I only did a few skeins – and this year the situation is the same, only I did it differently.

I did two with iron in the dyebath (mordanted with alum and one not) and one with leaves only.

Then I read that the best colour is from the leaves before the plants bloom. Well obviously that’s too late, so I guess I’ll have to do a teensy test in 2014 as well.

rejnfan2 rejnfan3

Grøn med Rejnfandanish

Sidste år blev det til gul med blomsterne, i år forsøgte jeg mig med bladene samt med jernvitriol. Sidstnævnte både på alunbejdset uld og ubejdset. Bagefter læste jeg så, at planten rent faktisk giver bedst farve før den blomstrer, men så har jeg jo noget at prøve igen til næste år.