Bayeux Cuffs, sewing and chook update

They Bayeux stitch cuffs are done!  Talk about way more hours of work than I anticipated.  But they are totally cool and I love them.  I could even imagine a modern jacket with these scattered around it.  They are for a pink linen dress.   I'm not going to do the neckline because I will likely wear a veil with this gown most of the time and it wouldn't be seen anyway.  It was difficult to figure out which was my favourite but I do think the blue winged horse may win.  The centre winged cat things were fussy to stitch.  The white didn't cover as well as some of the other colours. It and the orange colour seemed just a tad thinner than the rest.  The blue horse went smoothly and well, it's blue.

The first apron is almost done.  It's called a gathering apron because the bottom ends and centre will tie to the waistband, making a pouch to hold things.  This will be very useful.  I tend to pop out to the garden and need something to put beans or tomatoes in, but have nothing handy.  I used to use the wooden fruit baskets but now that they're made of cardboard, they aren't sturdy enough.   I've got more t-shirts with marks on the hems because I've tugged them around to hold whatever I just harvested because I didn't have a bowl big enough or a sturdy trug or basket handy.    This one still needs the buttons on the pockets.  It needs to be shortened a tad.  The model is about 6 or 7 inches taller than me.  Plus I need to make the button holes for the lacing to go through.  I will wait to do the button holes until the second apron is done.  My main sewing machine has a difficult to set up buttonhole stitch.  I usually have to set up my emergency sewing machine, which has an easy, very good button hole foot.

The purple yarn for the Sheep to Shawl warp is ready to be plied.  It looks the exact same as the last photo, but the bobbin is full!

The chooks have ramped up their egg laying!  Just over a week ago we were getting 2 -3 eggs a day with 4 on occasion.  This past week it went up to 4, then 5 and for a couple of days, 7 eggs a day.   It does decrease with the cooler weather so I imagine this blustery spell will drop back down a couple.  I thought they might have been traumatized by the massive melting we had.  With the ground still frozen, water poured through the chicken coop.  Luckily it only got the edges and left the centre dry.  The girls didn't seem to care, one way or the other.

Stiching, wanting to stitch, planning to stitch and growing stuff!

I used to do a lot of crazy quilt type embroidery, silk ribbon embroidery and Victorianish designs, mainly for crazy quilts and dolls.  I have been wanting to try some embroidery for a Saxon tunic, but kept getting distracted.  Finally, I just grabbed the box of supplies and went at it.   This is the start of a set of cuffs for a tunic, using the Bayeux stitch. I've played around with the stitches from the Bayeux tapestry but never actually created something useful.   I've always loved the look of the Bayeux laid work stitch and the Bayeux tapestry itself.  Regardless of the limited colour palette, it is an amazing piece of work.   I'm working on the second cuff now.

I've been promising the make my sweetie a new doublet for several years.   I finally started on the project.   I wasn't able to find either of the previous doublet patterns that I'd drafted and fitted so decided to use a commercial one.   What a horror that was!  Pattern pieces didn't fit, the instructions were vague, the pattern pieces have no markings and it's just such an odd shape that fitting it was obviously going to be a nightmare.   I dragged out the drafting tools, took the roll of paper from my loom and started fresh.   I still have to do the toile or mockup but it shouldn't take too much work to get it to fit.   I'll wait until I've the neckline corrected before I draft the collar though.

The Sheep to Shawl team, which is really 2 teams who work together interchangeably under the name Sheep Thrills.. hehehe... met and we had a donation of fibre for a warp.  One of the competitions requires us to handspin the warp. While the competition isn't until September, we thought we'd get a head start.  Free fibre is always a good starting point in deciding what fibre to use.  It's a lovely purple colour, blended with a little bit of grey.  It's sticky unfortunately, like it wasn't washed properly or has too much oil in it.   I'm pretty sure will wash out.  The rest of the warp will be a merino/silk blend filled in with some grey.

The Amaryllis I planted in the fall is flowering.  It's supposed to be pink.   I thought it would be a bit more pinky in colour, but it is still pretty.  I've never grown them before and was amazed at the flower size.  It's huge.  The two blooms are both bigger than my hand!

The pot of pink tulips I purchased while still in bud form are pretty but they aren't pink.   Yes, I have a fondness for pink flowers :)





Other than that, for the first time in ages, I went shopping for fabric to be used for regular clothes!  I can't remember the last time I did that.  I purchased fabric for two garden aprons and a skirt.  I got tired of finding only very short skirts in stores and nothing suitable in thrift stores.  When denim went on sale for half price, I bought a skirt length.  I don't care if it isn't horribly fashionable to have a longer denim skirt, it's very practical!

Leek seed is planted.  Onion seed will be planted next week.   I wanted to spread out the fun a little bit ;)

Weaving, weaving and weaving

 The Master Spinner 2 course homework is all boxed up and ready to send off.  I just have to actually get to town to do so.  I was putting away the spinning supplies, equipment and a few small leftovers from the 2 course.  In doing so, I found several un-hemmed tea towels from ages ago.  Deciding not to let these tea towels seccumb to that sad fate,  I put together a few sewing supplies, ironed the hems of the Log Cabin tea towels and dragged them around with me to meetings.  I got so much done that way that I only had a few hems left to do at home.  All six tea towels are hemmed and totally finished.  Two have been added to the household inventory.  Two are for gifts and the final two are waiting for me to figure out what to do with them. 

A friend asked me if I could photograph some weave structure samples for him as visual aids for a talk he's giving in April.  Of all the samples I have, I didn't have the two he particularly needed, so I'm weaving them up quickly.  This is a 3/1 twill.  I was told I couldn't do it on a counterbalance loom, but it is working just fine.   I think though I'll try to borrow a table loom for the double weave samples.   My first thought was to just add a second warp to this project, rewinding it to tie it on the back and then rethreading both the heddles and reed.  However the sheds were pretty small with the 3/1 twill sample and I'll need that same tie up for double weave.  A jack loom might be easier to do this one and a table loom would have much less loom waste and I wouldn't need to dig up as much waste yarn for the project.  That does however put the sample weaving on hold until I can actually get hold of a table loom.

Pretty colours of wool from a remnant sale at a nearby carpet manufacturer. Only a few people can go at a time for any given appointment.  I lucked into a last minute available spot because the group split into two.   My friend wanted me to pick her up some but after being told there were 1000's of colours, I felt uneasy about it.   I have enough of a time choosing my own when presented with a wide colour array and this was so last minute that I didn't have time to get colour swatches from her.  I was told that was the only way one could get someone else to shop for them.  After seeing the gazillion shades they have available, I can believe it!   The bottom row of cones are all wool/silk blends.  I've no idea what the percentage is of each but it soft and silky..   The rest are 100% wool.  It's a little coarser than I normally use but should make lovely, bright blankets and maybe even some yardage for a jacket.

Old Man Winter is Losing!

Last night I sold one of my spinning wheels.  It was a happy-sad moment.  I'm totally thrilled that she has gone to a good home where she will be used and loved.  I'm sad because she was my first wheel and I learned a lot about spinning on her, as well as spun a lot of yardage.  She was a little workhorse of a wheel, but I couldn't really justify her sitting in a corner unused.  Now she will happily be the centre of attention again.

We've had a couple of very mild days, with melting going on.   I love this time of year, with the surprise hint of spring yet to come.   The dirty, melting snows emphasize that Old Man Winter's icy grip on the world is slowly weakening.   They are one of the first signs that spring is on it's way.    I love the sight of the melting snow piles and the first glimpse of the ground hiding underneath.


The driveway is a mess of ice and gravel, but it is no longer heavily packed snow.  The path we've been clearing to the chicken coop
is almost clear of snow.  It's smooshy though, as the ground is still frozen so the thawing water and little top layer of muck have no place to drain.  Despite the squidgy ground, it's a good thing  and a beautiful sight.

Look at that sky!   After months of cloud cover and the very occasional water blue winter sky, there is a gorgeous, true blue sky.  How nice is that?   On a day like this, the bird songs burst forth from the quiet of the dead of winter survival mode.  The buds on the trees are starting to swell.  It will be months yet before we have leaves, but it's a sign of things to come.Today when I was running errands I saw a man wearing shorts.   I saw a girl outside walking home wearing a t-shirt.  I was outside taking photos with just a sweater on.  It's 8 C (46F) but that sunshine warms it up beautifully. 

  The dog and I were outside trying to take photos.  Well, I was taking photos while he was dozing in the sun.  I don't think he was all that enthused about my calling him to get his attention.  Mainly he sat with the sun on his back and his eyes closed, just relaxing in the sunshine!

We still have snow though.   They are calling for more this week and for the temperatures to drop back down to normal, but today people were smiling for seemingly no reason.  I think it was the sunshine!

Way Outside My Comfort Zone

I like wool yarn, smooth, soft and bouncy, woollen, worsted, a little unevenly spun, it doesn't matter, as long as it's wool.  I like to spin wool, I like to knit with wool and I like to weave with wool.  I'll use wool/nylon blends for socks and I don't mind using commercial cotton for tea towels and such..  While I like soft, cushy wools, I also like medium and some coarser wools.  I'm not horribly biased when it comes to sheep fibres.   I'm pretty sure it's a very tactile thing.  

Silk noils for instance, just feel wrong.  They are dry, feel coarse and harsh to my hands.  I made a dress once, from silk noil that I could only wear with a full underslip.  Luckily it was an Italian Ren, style so I needed to wear a full camecia, which masked the feel of the noil.  I made a generic Saxonish style tunic from it as well, which was never worn due to the icky feel factor. 

So, I decided to work way outside my comfort zone and do some practice blending, making enough yarn to actually do a project with.   I didn't even decide to weave with it because I felt that would be cheating a little bit, so I planned a pair of mittens..   I had to push through the project.  The carding was probably the best part of the deal because though it took a long time, it was fairly mindless. I used a blend of Llama, Coromo and Silk Noils.   I watched an awful lot of Star Trek TNG videos ( thank you Santa) while carding.  The spinning was okay except that the fibre kept hanging up on the noils and drafting was a bit of a pain.   The knitting of the mitts though was horrendous.  My hands felt not only cramped and sore the whole time, but it was as if the noils sanded down my hands and dried them out so much so that I needed to use hand cream every few rows.  However, after way more hours of knitting that I expected - mittens are a fast project right?  These ones took me nearly 30 hours to knit.. egad..

They are nubbly, spotty and don't feel like soft, springy wool.  They are almost done.. except for the thumbs.  The thumbs can wait until I can deal with having to knit with the noils again.  Why is there such a huge difference between silk noils and say reeled silk, silk rovings or hankies which can be a joy to work with?

Winter Sowing

Last year I experimented with the winter sowing method of germinating seeds.   I had prepared 2 trays and one bottle for winter sowing.  The trays were unsuitable and nothing germinated, but the bottle did quite well.  In it was some Elecampane seeds.  Only a few seeds to try and I got seedlings which grew large enough, despite my ignoring them, to plant in the garden.    I'm pretty sure the trays I used dried out too quickly, so I'm trying the method again, this time only using appropriate containers.

  I didn't start collecting the containers early enough.  My seed containers should be outside already.  Instead I had to buy a bunch of 2 litre bottles of pop and tell my boys they had to drink it!  I don't drink pop much, preferring water or herbal tea, so I feel a little badly, but I don't think they minded too much.    After washing out the bottles, this is what I did.

I cut the pop bottle in half and discarded the cap.  In essence, this method relies on making mini green houses.  It will get warm in there, so ventilation is needed.  With a bottle like this, you just take the cap off.  Otherwise, you need to cut ventilation holes in the lid.  You also need to cut some drainage holes in the bottom.  I put in 3 or 4 in the bottom of each bottle.

I also cut some slits around the top of the bottom half of the bottle.  They are about 2 inches deep.  I took a little wedge out of one as well.  This is just to help the top slide on more easily.  I found it buckled otherwise.  It left a gap, which I worried would let moisture escape too quickly. 



I filled the bottom of the bottle with about 3 inches of planting soil.  Everything I've read suggests that 3 inches depth of soil is ideal.  My trays only had 1 inch of soil, so that was likely a problem as well.   I soaked the soil and let it drain - remember those drainage holes?  They're important.  Then I sprinkled seed all over the top and put just a tiny bit of soil over them to cover.   Rule of thumb here tends to be cover with as much soil depth as the seeds are large.  These are Red Yarrow seeds and not very big at all.


Then I slid the top of the bottle, over the bottom half.  I used packing tape this year.  Last year I used duct tape, but I can't figure out where I put the roll of it.  I'm hoping the packing tape will hold up to the moisture.   I also wrote a label in both marker and pencil.  Marker is easier to see but can often fade out with sunshine.  The pencil on the other hand is harder to see, but won't fade.  It may be overkill, but I'd rather not have to try to remember what is in which bottle in May.   I taped over the whole label to help waterproof it and taped it to the bottom of the bottle, below the soil line.

I then took the bottles outside and plunked them in the snow, in an area where I can keep an eye on them.  They should get some sunshine, but being in full sunshine can dry them out.  The seeds and soil will freeze.  As the days get milder, the soil in the bottle will warm up during the day and  freeze again at night, causing the seed coatings and casing to wear.  When the time is right, the seeds should germinate.   As the days grow warmer, you do need to keep an eye on them to make sure there is still moisture in the bottles.  There should be condensation on the inside of the bottle when it's warmer.  If not, add a bit of water.   Using a bottle without a cap not only allows excess heat to escape but allows a bit of moisture in when it snows or rains.

These bottles have Red Yarrow and Icelandic Poppies in them.  I want to try some other perennials plants as well, including Gaillardia, Aster, Rudbekia Goldsturm, Golden Marguerite and Phlox.  I may try some Woad, Weld and the Osage Orange, depending on how many bottles I can find to use.  

I can see this being a great method for perennial seeds.  Despite some websites saying annuals will work with this method and suggest it for beans, tomatoes and other warm weather seeds, I don't think I'd try them.  Bean seeds won't germinate if the soil is too cold.  Tomatoes need a longer season than we actually have here if directly planted, so starting them inside, 8 weeks early, is a good way to ensure they have the chance to fully set and ripen fruit before we get frost.  I might  try spinach, lettuce or arugula if I thought the ground would be ready for transplanting early enough.

Colour Experiments

Hardened Coreopsis Extract

I've been waffling about with wondering should I or shouldn't I dye the yarns for one of the Master Spinner 2 homework projects.  Finally on Friday night, I just hunkered down and started.  I was tired and when I opened the little jar of Coreopsis extract, it was a hard puck which wouldn't loosen from it's container.   After a few minutes of frustration, I tossed it back in the box and pulled out the Black Oak bark.  I was totally unscientific about this.  I'd already been soaking the fibres, so had no idea of the weight.  I tossed in a couple of teaspoons of the ground bark and started it simmering.   A bit later I tossed in some spun yarn and a hand full of wet fibre to find this gorgeous bright, clear yellow quickly take.

Extract Ground in coffee grinder

On Saturday morning, realized that I had a screwdriver and a mallet handy from assembling the little Mazurka.  It took two taps with the mallet on the screwdriver and the Coreopsis extract broke into hunks.  I'd noticed an electrical cord sticking out of a box and realized it was my coffee grinder.  I have mainly used it for pulverising Cochineal but I figured it would work well for the extract.  It took more than a couple of pulses but it was ground enough to use.  I added a scant teaspoon to the water and it turned orangy however the fibre was very pale, even after an hour of simmering.  I added a second teaspoon of Coreopsis extract but the colour only got slightly darker. 

Next I tried some Fustic.  It gave a pretty and warm yellow but now I had three colours with very little contrast, which really wasn't going to work for me.  I set it aside to dry while I pulled out the ground Lac.  Lac is another bug dye, though not the bug itself but some sort of residue it leaves behind.. Bug Poo?  Anyway, it is supposed to give nice reds and purples if you make the PH alkaline.  I'm pretty sure this is the first time that our iron heavy water affected my dyeing because no matter how I shifted the PH, I got purple or purpler.  Pretty colour but not what I was going for.  They are very pretty and springlike colours though.  Such a nice contrast to the white wonderland outside. ( 6-8 inches more heavy snow yesterday)

This morning I remembered I have bags of Marigolds in the freezer.  I used half a bag and overdyed the Fustic.  Then I tossed in a pinch of iron and another skein to get a greenish colour.  I have enough colours now to do the needlework project for the course and have it look nice.

This is some brown Shetland spun on the Mazurka.  I'm very happy with how it turned out.  I'm waffling about what to make with this.  There is enough there for a warp for a scarf but it would also make a nice knitted toque.  I finished my son's mittens and nobody else needs any right now so mittens are out of the equation though it would be good mitten yarn too.  Anyway, it's too nice of a yarn to leave packed away someplace waiting for inspiration.  I guess my son could use a toque since it certainly doesn't really seem that winter is waning yet

Funny- my sweetie had to take the snow blower out to clear part of the driveway because he needed to get the truck out to go to town to get gas for the snow blower..worried that he didn't have enough gas to finish it.  With the mountain of snow left by the snowplow at the end of the driveway, even the truck wouldn't have gotten through it.