really old style living?

pink_numbers

Morning ladies

We were very OS yesterday and dyed 5 pairs of OH's jeans. They were all almost white because he's worn them for years, but nothing wrong with the fabric themselves. So two packs of dye (£10) has made them look brand new again. To replace those jeans at £30 a pop, that would've been £150, so very pleased.

seasalt_2

Could find you plenty of jobs to do here mardatha (have to re-type that everytime now!) My children know better than to tell me they're bored as I can always find them something to do! Seriously though, I do know what you mean. My problem is that there's so much that needs doing, I don't know where to start - and if the truth be told I don't want to do any of it - I just want it to be done, preferably by magic, but so far none of the bottles I've picked up on the shore have ever had a genie in - so that I can get on with what I do want to do!

On the way to the school bus this morning I noticed some new sheep at the side of the road. Our neighbour has bought some shetlands, herdwicks and blue faced leicesters - they are going to breed mules. I have put in my order for fleece already. Our own sheep, apart from a couple of jacobs and their offspring, are mostly suffolk and cheviot crosses which is not the best for eg felting.

Ginnie, mama67 beat me to it - I was going to suggest spending the day at DD's house as well.

mardatha

BFL is superb fleece seasalt - the softest and un-itchiest on the planet ! My poor DIL is ill and feels the cold a lot and I'm knitting her socks in BFL and its sooooo cuddly and soft ! Up here we had a farmer who brought in some Merinos, they looked like wee teddyboys with the DA haircuts. But they were very prone to frostbite on their feet and he had to overwinter them indoors.

mardatha

Yyyy Ginny, wool is a terrible price ! I sit for hours and agonise over wool sites then always decide not to bother. Cheap acrylic is cheap (!) but I want real wool..

ChocClare

And yet farmers get pennies for the fleece. It's obviously the fulling/processing/spinning/dyeing which puts the price up. And the profiteering...

We have a load of sheep behind us at the moment. I might ask the farmer for a fleece when he shears them in the spring. Then all I need to do is borrow my friend's spinning wheel. And clean, card - all the other things you need to do about which I know less than zero

ginnyknit

I must admit I thought of buying a fleece after watching Countryfile and hearing how little the farmers get paid for them! Think I may have alook into spinning. Me to Mardatha I love good wool and it works so much better as an insulator than acrylic - I do use mostly acrylic for my toys but have nearly finished a beautiful rabbit for dgs for Xmas and have used some rather soft merino and bits and bobs for it - the quality is far superior and he is worth it I will post a pic on the knitting thread when Im done as its so cute ( though I say it myself )

Well I think the house is well and truly packed up now except for the stuff Im cooking with at the mo. Its a strange empty house now and it tells me for sure that I hate minimalism - Im going to enjoy putting all my lovely stuff back when its done. My Mum is buying me a food processor for Christmas, she understands my need for practical things and so am using mine and Ds's Mr T vouchers and getting it that way - practically half price if I hurry up. Dd has just doubled up her vouchers and got a load of nappies and baby milk with hers - my kids are so O/S - I love it!

Just got a huge pair of curtains to make for Dd's house then Im finished and can get on with Xmas - the cat was asleep on the curtain fabric for most of the last week and he is so old I didnt want to upset him ( he is really scared about all the packing etc) anyway he changed to another bed site yesterday so I could re- wash the fabric and cut it out ready.

seasalt_2

Don't know much about it myself ChocClare. Have only played at spinning with a drop spindle made of half an apple on a stick. Can only just knit for that matter! But did once use wool as a quilt wadding - you are "supposed" to make rollags(?) first by carding the fleece but although the friend who lent me the hand carders made it look so easy, I never really mastered it (not enough time to practise and still meet my deadline!) and in the end just teased the fibres out by hand, like you do the layers for a felt (which is what I really want to do more of) , and it worked alright although I probably shan't do it again. (You also have to quilt very closely to prevent the fibres shifting - much easier to use a prepared wadding or an old blanket.) Several people have told me to get a drum carder but I have no idea how much they cost. I found some good instructions online (will look for them in a minute) for washing raw fleece and I wish I had read them before I washed my first one - although that too did work out alright - and my friend always spun straight from the raw fleece (Jacobs) and washed it afterwards. I would love to learn to weave. I love Joan Baxter's work (have only seen pics) and someone who comes to my patchwork classes has done some lovely weaving. She brought in some scarves to show us the other day, woven with a mixture of dyed and undyed (jacob) fleece and a small amount of silk sari threads, spun together and then "felted" just enough to tighten up the weave - they were absolutey beautiful, art gallery lovely. I also looked last year at getting a BFL tup for ourselves and some shetland ewes but the cost was so prohibitive I didn't do anything further about it. Will just have to buy fleece from our neighbour instead.

seasalt_2

These are the two sites I saved in my favourites. Don't know how to do links but one is Bella Online (Spinning) Washing raw fleece basics. And the second is Sunrise Lodge Fiber Studio - Fiber preparation. Both are american so temperatures are in fahrenheit. I like the second best (simplest) but first includes some things about eg pH that second doesn't mention. Ginny or Mardatha or someone may know of other sites? Or your friend with the spinning wheel? I also once had a book with instructions for how to make a spinning wheel out of an old bicycle but gave it away before I met OH which is a shame as he could probably have done it - I couldn't!

mardatha

I can card and spin but I'd have to be totally nekkid and desperate to want to do much of it ! LOL

ceridwen

seasalt wrote: »

These are the two sites I saved in my favourites. Don't know how to do links but one is Bella Online (Spinning) Washing raw fleece basics. And the second is Sunrise Lodge Fiber Studio - Fiber preparation. Both are american so temperatures are in fahrenheit. I like the second best (simplest) but first includes some things about eg pH that second doesn't mention. Ginny or Mardatha or someone may know of other sites? Or your friend with the spinning wheel? I also once had a book with instructions for how to make a spinning wheel out of an old bicycle but gave it away before I met OH which is a shame as he could probably have done it - I couldn't!

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself/1976-05-01/We-Built-A-Spinning-Wheel-for-2-50.aspx

http://www.pjsadventures.com/DragonsKeep/personal/PVCWheel.html