Friday, November 19, 2010

let it snow while i watch my window garden grow!

the weather. cold. blowy, and snowy. it's actually much whiter out now than when i took the picture.

my tiny pot of ground cherries

Ripening rainbow peppers

carrot tops. i'm experimenting to see if i can get them to produce seed without a full root.

green tomatoes

chili peppers
not pictured: spider plants, baby pines, avacado plants, lavender, geraniums.

it may only be a little, food-wise, but my indoor garden really keeps me from going nuts in the white months (and, since those total up to about *counts on fingers*... 6, sometimes 7 months.... that's a lot of preserved sanity!)

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Wool stuff

Okay... lots of things happening on the fibre front in my life:

Mom and i recieved a drum carder from another family member. it's pretty old-school, and for medium/coarse carding... but SO SO much a step up from hand carding everything!

We also took advantage of a local arts studio selling off unused items, and picked up a picker (that'd be a super-scary tool that picks open the wool and lets the bits of vegetable matter fall out) and..... (drum roll..)

my new toy!
spinning wheel!

originally made in Winnipeg!

okay. it's not new... in fact, it's 20-30 years old. and it was in need of a lot of love when we picked it up. we'd been told it had been in storage for at least ten years. It showed.

after lots of tightening of bolts and screws, about a half cup of lemon oil, some machine oil, and a new belt, it's now running pretty nicely...
a very full plied bobbin...
on other fibre notes:

been crocheting up a storm. some of my recent FO's:
my dapper little gentleman

stocking from a KAL/CAL

warm neckwarmer
other odds and ends:
suint fermentation wool process similar to detergent washed wool.... still has a spicy/earthy smell when dry... and probably smells a bit like sheep when wet. overall, seems like a decent way to process. next year, i plan on having a number of fermentation tubs set up to process the wool (um... about 6 fleeces) sitting in my porch. then, i get to spin it all! (whee!)