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I think Andy and I managed about four hours sleep each on Christmas eve (he stayed up to watch Godzilla, fell asleep on the couch and then woke me up when he came to bed). We had a lovely Christmas even so, with lots of excellent food (almond croissant pudding is very good), and ended up playing Lego Rock Band. But then the kids got up even earlier on Boxing Day. And Andy got a cold. And my parents arrived already sleep deprived because they had to get up at 4am to catch their plane, and then my mother was ill most of Monday night (she has various unpleasant stomach ailments). So we are all staggering around a bit like the living dead.
Also, I was very disappointed when I went out on Christmas Eve to discover there was not a single cherry left on the cherry tree. The birds had got the lot. Normally I notice that the birds are starting to eat them (it's my signal it's time to pick them) but I guess I was too busy that week to go out and look at the tree. The irony is that the ones that Ashwyn picked are now the only ones we have. On the other hand the strawberry bags are working well. Andy is so impressed by the strawberries he suggested we dig up all the rest of the garden and plant nothing but strawberries. If only I could make one big enough to go over the whole cherry tree....
However everything else in the garden is going beautifully. We have loads of tomatoes, and capsicums and squash coming along too.
I had a go at spinning hemp recently, as I thought it would be easier than flax. It was a bit of a mess. The technique is quite different to spinning protein fibres, and it's fiddly and difficult to boot. The whole wet/dry thing is more of an issue for spinning on a wheel I think. I don't think you could spin it very successfully dry on a hand spindle. But you can only have one hand dampening the thread, because if you hold the fibre with a wet hand it just gets sticky and annoying.
Most things I've read also suggest that in period flax was not spun with spin from the spindle, but was hand twisted and only wound onto the spindle. This seems to be for good reason as I discovered as I was trying to develop a technique that produced decent thread that I was actually mostly twisting the thread with my hand, and the twist from the spindle was only really helpful for joining the thread when it broke (which was a pain to do regardless). Interestingly the thread that is produced this way is not madly overtwisted the way a woollen thread is, so it can be used quite easily on its own, without plying. Anyway, it took me a couple of gos to get the hang of spinning silk, so I will probably have to practice a bit more before I get the hang of baste fibres.
I got a 2000 piece jigsaw for my birthday, a very nice Art Nouveau print, and I had been saving it for my time off. So I got it out on Saturday night and I finished it last night. I wonder what I will do for the next week and a half....
Also, I was very disappointed when I went out on Christmas Eve to discover there was not a single cherry left on the cherry tree. The birds had got the lot. Normally I notice that the birds are starting to eat them (it's my signal it's time to pick them) but I guess I was too busy that week to go out and look at the tree. The irony is that the ones that Ashwyn picked are now the only ones we have. On the other hand the strawberry bags are working well. Andy is so impressed by the strawberries he suggested we dig up all the rest of the garden and plant nothing but strawberries. If only I could make one big enough to go over the whole cherry tree....
However everything else in the garden is going beautifully. We have loads of tomatoes, and capsicums and squash coming along too.
I had a go at spinning hemp recently, as I thought it would be easier than flax. It was a bit of a mess. The technique is quite different to spinning protein fibres, and it's fiddly and difficult to boot. The whole wet/dry thing is more of an issue for spinning on a wheel I think. I don't think you could spin it very successfully dry on a hand spindle. But you can only have one hand dampening the thread, because if you hold the fibre with a wet hand it just gets sticky and annoying.
Most things I've read also suggest that in period flax was not spun with spin from the spindle, but was hand twisted and only wound onto the spindle. This seems to be for good reason as I discovered as I was trying to develop a technique that produced decent thread that I was actually mostly twisting the thread with my hand, and the twist from the spindle was only really helpful for joining the thread when it broke (which was a pain to do regardless). Interestingly the thread that is produced this way is not madly overtwisted the way a woollen thread is, so it can be used quite easily on its own, without plying. Anyway, it took me a couple of gos to get the hang of spinning silk, so I will probably have to practice a bit more before I get the hang of baste fibres.
I got a 2000 piece jigsaw for my birthday, a very nice Art Nouveau print, and I had been saving it for my time off. So I got it out on Saturday night and I finished it last night. I wonder what I will do for the next week and a half....
