Sharing is caring: 17th Century Farm

This week I want to share not so much a blog, although I do like it a lot, but four specific posts on that blog. The blog is called Reformation Acres and the posts are about 17th century farm life. There are 3 videos in each post of Tales from the Green Valley, a wonderful British reenactment of a farm in the 17th century with one episode for each month of the year. I loved all of them and you might too.


Enjoy!

Other posts in the series:

Sharing is caring: Cultivate Simple

I have a great podcast to share with you. I enjoy listening to podcasts while I knit and sometimes on my commute or while I do chores. I started out listening to only knitting podcast and I still listen to a lot of those, but I have branched out to other subjects as well and I am always open to suggestions from others.
i tend to listen to the newest episode or two and if I like it I'll go all the way back to the beginning and listen to all of it. I did exactly this when I found this podcast.

Cultivate Simple is what it says on the tin. It is a husband and wife show and these two folks just have great personalities. Each episode has a topic, like stocking the larder and plowing with pigs.
I have learned so much from listening to this podcast and find it very inspirering. These folks advocate the value for value model, i.e. if you find value in what they produce then you give value back to them by donating a little money.
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The value for value model was actually what inspired me to do this small series.

Another lovely stash

The postman rang our doorbell with a soft package for me earlier today, I got so excited when I spied this:

Houson, TX.
You see a little while ago the lovely Queen Maxine asked me for my addres so she could send me a surprice because I got my new wheel. Isn't she sweet and awesome?!
Inside the bpackage were 3 fibre braids and a card.


From left to right you have: 
Home Fires Burning (Dec. 12)
100% Brown Merino Top

unknown colourway
BFL/silk blend
Desert Blooms
100% BFL
 All three braids are from Fiber Obsessions, which is a local to Maxine dyer. And I can't wait to start spinning them. I think I'll begin with Desert Blooms. Each braid is 4 oz (which is 113 grams).

Before I recieved these braids from Maxine I didn't really have a stash. I have a lot of wool in our basement, but after trying some BFL, I now know that the stuff down there isn't worth spinning. So I might just make a ton of felted soaps for gifts or something with it.

I'm have not made a lot of progress on the royal blue combed BFL for my mum yet. Before I got sick I spun for at least 15 min. every day and there is really a lot of yardage in this fibre. I don't even think I've worked through 1/4 of the fibre.



I have to say that I am a solids girl. I don't tend to knit with anything but solids, but I still can't wait to spin up those braids from Maxine, only I have no idea what to make of the resulting yarn, but I'll save that 'sorrow' for when the time comes.

Sharing is caring: From Scratch

I've decided to start a new series on sharing resources I really like.
First up is a fairly new and great free online magazine. Which is called From Scratch. You can acess it online and subscribe (still free) to get a reminder when a new issue comes out.
This magazine has every thing I like in a magazine, plenty of articals on interesting topics, beautiful pictures, tips for making things etc. AND ALL THIS IS FREE!

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Spinning for mum

Remember how I got some blue BFL to spin for my mother?
I sat down to spin on it this Sunday in the sun and it was wonderful. I have spun a little every day since I got the wheel and I have gotten so much better. The lady, who sold me the wheel, showed me how to spin over the fold and told me that my fibres are a tiny baby bird and I need to hold it as such.
Since I learned to spin from a book and what I could remember from when I tried it in 2nd or 3rd grade, I was using brute force to control the process. While the end product was fine, the process wasn't nearly as relaxing as I have now discovered it can be.


I was not matching on purpose, although it has happened before:


Back to the yarn for my mum. She asked for a 2 ply and although I would rather make her a 3 ply, she will get what she asked for. It may take a while however before her yarn is done because this is the thinnest I have ever spun and I'm a little proud. You could make lace with this single strand of yarn. 
I can't wait to try out my fast flyer to see if it will allow me to spin froghair so that I can make a plied lace yarn one day. 


Another goal would be to make sock yarn that was spun so hard that it doesn't need any man made fibres to hold up.
And finally I would love to spin yarn for sweaters, but for now I'm content spinning this for my mum. I am contemplating if I should knit her a shawl out of it or just give it to her as yarn. I think I'll wait and see how much yardage I get. I would love to end up around 400m.

DO BE SQUARE - no fuss cotton rounds

I have looked forward to this day since Easter. My first design is now available. Let me introduce you to DO BE SQUARE - no fuss cotton rounds:

Do you hate running out of cotton rounds? 
Are you tired of spending money on them?
Do be square is a simple, no fuss solution. They are fast to make and can be made out of scraps, as each one takes very little yarn.
If you can do a chain and single crochet, you can crochet these squares, which have become an essential part of my daily routine and work great as a quick gift.


I'm always looking for ways to reduce the amount of single use objects in our home and when I went to Ravelry looking for a pattern on cotton rounds I couldn't find one, so of course I had to make one and offer it there, right?!
Since this is my first pattern and a very easy one, I'm offering it for free and hope that it will save you some money in time. 




A new wheel

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This beauty is my new wheel. After looking at many models I decided on a Kromski Sonata because it is very small and portable.

This wheel has opened my eyes. I now know that I was spinning wrong (although I managed to make perfectly good yarn) and with not so nice materials. I now want to learn a bunch of new techniques and buy lovely fibres to spin. The lady who sold me the wheel gave me a book and some fibre (Blue Faced Leichester) to start with and I got 100g. of royal blue BFL to spin as a thank you gift from my mum. Thankfully that lady doesn't mind sending fibre, so I'll be getting some when I've finished what I got when I was there.