Woolybuns

Ahhh The Satisfaction

Even better weather day today than yesterday.  Natura pet food recall expansion rescheduled some of my outdoor plans for today because of course the brand new bag I bought yesterday and opened this morning is on the list of potentially contaminated foods, and the wee little dogs need food that won't kill them.  After taking care of that, I spent a good part of the day outside on yard clean up, including some time in the rabbitry.  The tiny terriers do not like being left behind, so I set up a puppy ex-pen for them near where I was working.  The rabbits might not enjoy the silly sounds of playful pups, but I did.  

It doesn't seem like I got a lot done.  Raked part of the front yard, raked the aisle between the two rows of rabbit hutches, and cleared under one hutch.  I'm good with that though.  I have to work slowly and carefully to not inflame tissues that still remember the massive snow clean up, but it is progress.  Just as with knitting a sweater or eating an elephant, slow but steady progress will get the job done.   This sort of work may not sound fun to you, and honestly, it isn't to me, either.   But unlike poor old Mick and the Rolling Stones, I can get satisfaction, a lot of it, in doing this work.  Maybe a lot of it is the chemistry of physical exertion.  Or the life affirming knowledge that the old broad can still wield  a mean pitchfork, wrastle that big ol' wheelbarrow, and still walk the next day.  And you just can't discount the value of looking at those foofy faces in the hutches and the satisfaction of knowing you are taking care of them. 

My Good Friday

Good Friday means one thing to a lot of people but to me, today, it is simply a Glorious Spring Day.  Sun, blue skies ,some cloud, warmer temperatures with an occasional breeze.  My kinda day.  After morning routine (tea, get the dogs out, get the dogs petted), I headed to the barn to visit with CC.   I would have liked to longe her but there's a horse who spends his days in the riding ring while trying to fit him into the herd.  I don't think it's going to work because they've been trying for months and nothing has improved.  I could move him into a paddock but that still leaves the riding ring with a fair amount of horse poop and left over hay, not ideal for working in.  But I did spend some time helping with stall cleaning, then just stood and watched the herd.  You don't have to ride a horse to enjoy them.  Often times just being with her is enough.  The barn manager joined me at the fence and one of her horses, Dakota, came looking for some lovin'.  Doesn't he have a beautiful eye?

 

When I came home, one of my gardens called out.  The crocus are blooming!  Sadly, they were still partly covered in leftover dead leaves so  I dragged out rake and wheelbarrow and cleared some winter detritius.  I do love me some crocus.   And doesn't it feel good to garden in early spring!  Annual renewal.  Clears the cobwebs out of the mind and primes desire for More Gardens.  

But before I can play with gardens, there are annual spring chores in the rabbitry.  Taking care of responsibilities makes the play all the more sweet. 

 

 

 

A Speedy Spinner I Ain't

Waaaay back in September, I started spinning some blue angora foof from Bibbi.  I now - finally - have a plied skein.   I finished the single back in January and started winding it onto my ball winder to ply from both ends.  My ball winder is set up but not in a fully useful way and things got a bit off track.  Lop sided center pull balls of singles are a disaster to ply so I ended up winding a lot of the single back onto the bobbin so I could try again.   And in the effort to rewind on the ball winder, my single broke.  It looked like about half was on the ball winder and half on the bobbin.  But.   I do not like left over singles, Sam I Am, not in a box, not with a fox, not in my house and certainly not with a mouse.   So I put the now two singles in time out, and that tied up my ball winder, which was also in time out for its role in the break.  But I needed my ball winder a couple days ago, so pulled the bunny foof off and finally plied that half.  Ooo la la!  About 2 1/2 ounces of sumptious softness.   I don't think I will ever get tired of spinning bunny foof!   Which is good because since I first started this skein, Bibbi has given me another full coat with yet another ready to harvest soon.  I think I have a full sweater's worth of foof from her now, if I wanted a pure angora sweater.   I don't, but I'm thinking a pure angora shawl would be deliciously delightful to snuggle up in on these cold winter nights.  Guess I better get back to spinning. 

Well... It's Felt

But I'm not sure the piece I worked on at Diane's will become a vest.  Early on in the felting, Diane and I discussed the quality of the wool I was working with.  It's merino but it's not fine merino, has a bit of rough texture to it for merino.  It didn't really want to felt easily the way good merino does.   I was having trouble getting the embellishments to felt in.  Here at home, I decided to concentrate on just one spot to see what I could accomplish and how long it would take for success.  After 20 minutes, it ... was... felting... but I decided it wasn't going to be worth the effort to make it nuno felt and I didn't want to lose the silk under the wool.  I peeled the wool off in two sections, layed out one piece on some bubble wrap and wet felted it.  The other piece is not as intact and I'm not sure I can put it back together enough for yardage to sew a vest.   And I'm not sure I want to even if I can.  There is enough that I could easily make a cat bed for Fiona.  I'll be thinking on it.   

Felt Fun

Sometimes I am very lucky.  Yesterday was one of those times.  In the course of raising angora rabbits, I meet a lot of people, many of whom stay in touch.   Diane of Felt Inspiration is one of them and yesterday, she treated me to a day of felt fun in her studio.   In preparation, I gathered up a big variety of my felting fibers because my process begins with only the vaguest idea, generally something as simple as "I want to make a vest."  No clue what I want it to look like or even what colors I want in it, just I want to make a vest.  I've never made a vest and it is a very different process from the felt I usually make: mittens, hats and scarves.  Because I have and love angora fiber, I make my mittens and hats with 50% angora and 50% merino, and the scarves have varying amounts of angora in them.  Angora felts differently from wool, much faster and I can be somewhat carefully rough with it.  Diane offered to supervise me through the vest process.  One really fun side benefit is Diane worked on a couple of her own felt projects - lamp shades - while keeping an eye on me and my vest.   I apparently did not get any photos of those lovely lampshades and that was silly.  They are beautiful.  Perhaps (nudge, nudge Diane!!) she will post photos of them on her blog.

I did get photos (with Diane's permission - always ask an artist if taking and sharing a photo is ok) of some of Diane's work.  One piece in particular just grabbed my heart, a landscape piece hanging on her door while she mulls her next step with it.  Is this not gorgeous?  Both the piece and the fabulous felter creating it.   She also has a wonderful wall o'work in progress. 

Step one in designing a felt vest is making a pattern for it.  It's not quite the same as a sewing pattern, although you can base your felting pattern on a sewing pattern.  Diane took her pattern material and measured it against me to come up with a sort of spongebobsquarepants rectangle around which we (step 2) basted some silk fabric.  Step three is layer the base wool over the silk.  My vest is likely to be a bit heavy as I am an impatient felter and hate this part of the process.  With mittens and hats and often even with scarves, I start with fiber batts.  Much faster than layering thin tufts of roving, and it works for the mittens and hats.  Probably not the best approach for the vest, though so that is Important Lesson One I learned yesterday.  Once the base wool is down, then it is time to embellish and layout the design.  What I want from this vest is to learn the process, to learn what goes where and how things line up, so I wasn't really invested in the design aspect and ended up just sort of throwing color at the wool.  Not sure I like it but time will tell.  Once that was done, Diane introduced me to a new to me tool, one I'd seen before but never used and kind of short sightedly ignored.  Wow!  What a great thing this squirt bulb is!  I feel a field trip to the felting supply store coming on.   I sprinkled away with many a good goofy grin plastered on my face.  Nuthin' like a good tool to add a bit of joy to life, eh?  Once all that is done, the actual felting begins.  I had only enough time to put a bit of skin on the piece, and then bundle the wet pile o'wool into a bag to work on here at home.  

I learned a lot yesterday.  Yes, I have several books here at home that I can and do read, but truly, there is so much more to glean from a friendly felter.  Diane is an amazing felter and if you ever have a chance to take one of her workshops, I highly recommend you take advantage of that chance.  I know I will be a better felt artist for my time with her and that just does wonders for one's soul.  Thank you, Diane!

Got Snow?

I do.  A whack ton of it, as the lovely Rows Red put it.  My son and I tried to keep up with the snow as it fell, each of us taking a turn shoveling a couple of paths but when snow falls at the rate of more than 3 inches an hour, it's kind of a futile task.  So here is what we woke  up to last Saturday morning.   That little tree poking out from its cold blanket is taller than I am by a couple feet.  Those two big lumps on the other side of the lamp post are the cars.  The first task we had Saturday morning was to dig a path to a puppy potty place because my two dogs are less than 10 inches tall each, and my son's Golden Retreiver Sully is a 4 month old puppy.  Sully at least has the ability to rabbit through the snow and loves it.  He scrambles up on top of those snow banks then kind of dives face first into the snow below it.  Mickey and McKenzie, the two tinies, kind of looked up at me as if to ask are you sure the rug is off limits?   After the pups used their potty space, the next task was digging out the rabbits so I could get water to them.  At feeding time while the storm was still gearing up, I gave all the bunnies extra hay and pellets but water in winter needs to be doled out fresh a couple times a day.  The rabbit hutches are under the grey tarps.  Digging them out was not an insignificant task.  I managed to get 6 of them dug out but by that time, I was pooped!  My son shoveled out the rest of the rabbitry.    He also dug out the shed where I keep hay and pellets for the rabbits.   After all that, we both needed dry clothes, some food and a rest.  Later that day, we tackled a path from the front door to the garage so we had access to the wood pellets with which we heat the house. 

 

We started The Big Dig part II - cars, driveway and 100 feet of sidewalk by the street - on Sunday.   After we got the cars dug out, I took a brief break but my son continued digging.  Some guy in a pickup truck with a plow stopped and asked if we wanted him to plow us out.  "Only" $250.00.  Yeah,  money sucking scumbag.  Facing the wall o'snow with just shovels when you're already exhausted, wet and cold becomes quite the dispiriting task but to have the greedy gouging nasty side of humanity show up in the middle of it was really unpleasant.   We kept shoveling, reducing our expectation of getting it all done to hoping we could clear at least enough driveway to get a car through.  And then a young (about my son's age) man  we didn't know appeared on the other side of the wall o'snow.  With a snow blower.  "Want some help?" he asked.  Still tasting the nasty of the last guy, I responded suspiciously with "how much?"  He looked surprised and said "nothing.  Neighbors help neighbors.  At least in my world."  Holy Cow!  Turns out he is the young guy who bought the house across the street from me a few months ago.   He said he was up on his roof shoveling when he caught sight of my son and I with our David like shovels facing that Goliath of snow and told his wife "they need help."  He had the driveway completely cleared in about a half hour!  Another neighbor with just shovels said the young man had already helped a couple other neighbors earlier in the day.   Yes, a very good guy who has my deepest gratitude and admiration.  And once I get done with all the shoveling and chipping, he will also have a batch of brownies. 

Still to do: continue chipping away at the ice dam on the roof at the back of the house and setting up a mailbox.  The snow plow wiped out my mailbox early in the storm, sometime on Friday afternoon.   The post is still there but completely buried.  I haven't had a mail delivery since then.  I know about where the post is of course, but have to start poking the snow bank to see if I can pinpoint exactly where, then start digging... well, more like carving at this point ... through all those hardened chunks tossed up by the snow plow then further compressed by the rain we had a few days ago. 

Yup, a whack ton of snow takes a lot of hard work to clear.  But there is a good deal of satisfaction in meeting the challenge. 

8* F

Yes, that f is for farenheit, but substitute whatever other f word comes to mind.   In this weather, my tiny little dogs still have to go outside, where they shiver and pick up one foot then another and look at me clearly wondering what the eff are we doing out here? And then take forever to circle and sniff  and pick out the one and only suitable spot.   Makes me grateful for the felted angora mittens I made a couple months ago.  They are lined in pure angora, with the outer layer a blend of angora and merino.  But there is fun to be had with this farenheit.  For  me, fun is parking myself near the pellet stove with my dear Rosie and a bag full of foof.   I started this bobbin last September but then Rose  threw some screws again.   Son the College Student took care of that soon after arriving back in town for semester break.  I've been spinning a lot since.   That's pure angora on the bobbin, natural blue, no processing needed.  I think it will be about sport weight once plied.  As of last night, I have the bobbin nearly full.  There is room on the bobbin to continue spinning the single a bit more, but I think I'm ready to spin another luscious fiber see a finished yarn.  The plan: wind it onto my ball winder for a center pull cake, then ply from both ends.  That can be tricky with a foofy fiber like angora but the trick is to wind slowly, making sure the path of the single does not wander astray with wobble.  Yes, wobble in your wind is what causes all those nasty tangles in a center pull ball.  A better ball winder was definitely worth the price. 

 

Wacky Daffies

 Another one sprouts!  I'm quite liking this.  Dahlias are a relatively new plant for me.  I bought the first one I think 3 maybe 4 years ago.  In previous years, I did not remember to bring them in for the winter so of course they died and I've had to buy new plants each spring.  That gets pricey.  Squirrels getting into my dahlias starting late last summer prompted me to rescue the dahlias early enough last fall,  so this year will be my first second year plants.  That pleases me.  The tag says this dahllia is orange.  I bought two in the orange range but I'm guessing this is the solid orange.  The other orange one is, if memory serves (ha!), both pink and orange.  I have two more tubers in pots.  If they all sprout, then my spring purchases will be additions, not replacements.  Progress!  

Also in the daffy category is my sweet silly Kenzie.  Her coat is growing back in enough now that hair falls over her face and blocks her eyes.  Yesterday, both she and Mickey got a bath and I took them to a  pet shop to look for those silly little bows tiny hairy dogs get stuck with.  Couldn't find any.  But I did find some teensy little claw clips, so small my fingers have trouble opening them.  Kenzie is now properly primped.  She's not as amused as I am. 

Daffy Dahlia

Native to Mexico, dahlias are not winter hardy here in New England.  I love growing them on my deck where it gets quite hot during the summer.  They require frequent watering in that spot but so lovely to look at.  But before it gets frosty around here, I have to bring the plants in the house to let the tubers ride out winter in dormancy. 

Remember that warm spell in December?  Yeah, it woke up one of the dahlias.  Inside the house.  Darn thing sprouted.  I figured when cold hit again, it would die back again. 

Nope.

So I moved it to sit in front of the slider to the deck and gave it some water.  It's quite happy there.  More stalks sprouted.  And on January 1, I noticed this.  Yep.  A bud.  The rest of them are still dormant (or perhaps dead?).  At that point, the temperatures outside were cold enough to freeze my car dead.  Right next to the slider is one of coldest spots in my house.  But the dahlia just merrily rolled along with budding growth.  And now, yes, January 17, fresh snow on the ground, temps cold enough to freeze the water bottles outside, and my dahlia is blooming. 

When Lemonade Isn't Your Thing, Try Tequila Sunrise

A few years ago, I accidentally dyed an extra couple pounds of cormo a bright sunny yellow.*  I like yellow in the garden, but not too much of a fan of it any place else, unless it's a pale version.  That means the extra just kind of hung around.  I have used up some of it in workshops, also blended some with white angora to tone down the color, then spun it.  But I still have a bunch.  Yesterday, I decided it's time for the "make lemonade" treatment, so pawed through a box of fibers that have officially been for sale but haven't really made an effort to market them.  Yum!  I pulled out some dyed angora that can tame vivid.  Sent both through my drum carder and out came Tequila Sunrise.  Now I know how yummy cormo and angora is blended together.  I've played with it often.  But every time I play with a new batch, I still react.   Oh Ma Gawd!  This stuff is feather light luscious softness!  Imagine a sleeping bag wet felted with cormo angora.  You could probably get it to soft felt stage then slip inside it nekkid and finish felting the inside.  Yeah, it's that soft and sumptuously tactile.  If that calls to you, the batt is for sale, $8 per ounce.  I can card up more, up to half a pound.  Click on that email me link up there on the right if you want to discuss it. 

*How do you accidentally dye a couple pounds of fiber?  Oh, I'm skilled in soooo many ways!  I was dyeing a total of about 20 pounds of assorted fibers in assorted colors, using 3 dye pots.  I separated the fibers into bags by weight and intended color.  Cormo, angora and silk were all going into the yellow pot but the pots only hold up to a pound each.  It was a couple days of running back and forth between undyed into the pots to dyed out to dry on the deck.  The bag of cormo that didn't need to be dyed until sometime in the future slipped off it's own pile and into the pile destined for the yellow pot.  Voila.  A couple extra pounds dyed yellow.