Madder and baking and general busyness

The thing about socks is that they come in pairs. When you get the first one done, you're really only halfway there! There are ways of doing 2 at once, but I'm fine with doing them as singles. Less chance of major mistakes I think :) This pair is done. It would have taken far less time had I actually worked on them regularly. There were lots of other things to get done though, they took a while longer. Do you know how hard it is to take pictures of your own feet?

This black lamb wool is some of the nicest and some of the nastiest that I've ever spun, both at the same time! It's super soft and crimpy, so lovely when worked up. However, that particular sheep is a bit of a pig and his fleece is filthy. It cost double to process this because it had to be sent through the machinery twice! I just didn't have the time or energy to pick and comb the fleece. There is still so much chaff in it, that doesn't want to fall out when spun, nor is it easily picked out in the rovings due to the soft, crimpy nature of the fleece. I can only spin it in between other projects as it is a tad frustrating.. no, alot frustrating, being so nice yet not at the same time.

The second madder pot wasn't what I'd hoped for, although the colours are pretty. It turned out that the madder root had a lot of plant stems in it and really didn't give a lot of good colour. The iron helped bring out some reds and the plain white, with alum mordant turned salmon. The exhuast white skein is a pretty coral colour.

I made a dozen of these square cupcakes today! There is bread rising and lasagna planned for dinner. What do these all have in common? They can't be cooked on a hot plate! Yay... The stove is hooked up and has proven so far to bake evenly and nicely. The boys brought home the fixings for the cake and the lasagna yesterday so that I would be able to make the dishes they've been missing.