"e" is for....

Each day, I collect, wash and pack eggs.  And daily, I admire the simple, yet complex beauty of them.  Over time, I have come to know which egg is laid by which hen.  There are subtle changes that happen... day in and day out...size, color, shade, texture and overall shape...none of which detracts...but only adds to my fascination. Have you ever seen a wind egg?  Wind eggs happen when the young hen or pullet lays a small egg without a yolk.

And so, it is not hard for me to understand why the simple loveliness of the egg has been symbolic to many different  cultures, customs and belief systems through out time.

 

When I was a kid, my father practiced a custom he called "picking eggs"...something he told us he used to do as a kid.  He would call out, "Who has an egg?"  This would be a challenge that would send my siblings and I running to our Easter baskets to select an egg we thought would be worthy of the game...which basically involved holding your egg firmly while the opponent would tap it without breaking his own.  We would pick eggs with the entire family, and out of all the eggs - would emerge one champion egg.  Sometimes that egg would bear the battle scars of a cracked butt or tip..but it was a champion egg nonetheless.  When I was 16, my father gave me this egg (shown below) in my Easter basket.

It has become one of my treasures, and brings back fond memories of "picking eggs" when I look at it.

"e" is also for experiment...something I did yesterday with the yarn that I spun from the silk hankie....by stringing some beads on it and then plying it with some thick and thin spun wool that I dropped into the dye pot with a little kool-aid sprinkled on top!  As it stands by itself, I like it...yarn for yarns sake.  But I am not quite sure what to do with it.  The experiment only produced 68 yards.  Guess, I will have to experiment some more....

festiva

Shadeyside Farm....Dyed Tussah Top...."Festiva"....2 ounces...double ply....

time flies when you are having fun.....yum!

making comparisons

Well, its the time of year again, where they flock together to strut their stuff, showing off their colors and trying to impress members of the opposite sex with their swagger and extravagance.  Their posture and pose is an elaborate dance that they love to perform.  They show themselves off, begging for attention from their onlookers.

 

No, I am not referring to the parade of stars on the red carpet for the Academy Awards ceremony from Hollywood...I am talking about the parade of turkeys in my backyard.  The spring gobblers are strutting their stuff, and it is much harder to photograph them- than celebrities that strike a pose! 

I had to sneak up on these tom's late yesterday afternoon.  Turkey's have fantastic eyesight, so you really have to try to hide and remain motionless if they see you.  The turkeys were gobbling and displaying and going through the rituals of breeding.

I did not want to get too close...I felt as if I were an intruder and did not want to disrupt them in any way.   I counted 26 turkeys all together, but noticed only 2 toms that were fanning.

When people hunt during spring gobbler season, they can use a turkey call like the one pictured below called the "Sweet Talker".  The hunter tries to imitate the sound of hen yelp ...and attract a gobbler who is looking for romance.  Next time I go out to watch the turkeys, I will take the turkey call, and see if I can get one to come closer.

Before I went in, I noticed the moon..

It is because of the moon that I have postponed planting the broccoli.  A glance at the chart tells me that the moon will be favorable for planting broccoli between the 7 and 14 of March...and then again from the 29 to the 31st.  I can wait a few more days.

some answers

A few questions came my way in the last couple of days, and I thought I would answer them all in one post.  The first two are dealing with finished shawl from the previous entry.  The third one deals with roosters.

Stacy from cledryyarner asked:  Is that a yarnshifter you're using to make it?

 

My loom is not a yarn shifter, although I have heard of them and have seen them on a website.

I believe they (yarnshifters) are somewhat similar to the triloom or triangle loom, which is the loom design that I have used to make my shawls.  I have several looms that we constructed by hand...but there are a few people who market the triangle looms.  I learned how to make my loom a few years ago, when I had joined a yahoo group.  There are a nice bunch of people in the group, and the photos of some of the shawls are very inspiring.

 

Terry of pygora blog asked: Do you full your yarn once it's spun, but before you weave or knit with it?

 

I normally just set the twist after spinning yarn, but sometimes I will experiment with different methods if I am trying to achieve a particular design.  When I spin Angora, it usually goes through a process all its own to produce a nice "bloom".  But in the case of this Border Leicester wool, that I had spun from the locks, I had simply set the twist with a soak in warm soapy water...and let dry (without weight or blocking).  The thing that was so interesting, and something to make note of, was that in the fulling process of the shawl, the plied and set yarn returned to it curly lock texture.

 

I normally will full a shawl to a point where I like it.  To do this, I fill a basin with warm soapy water, and immerse the finished shawl into it.  I gently rub it around by hand, occasionally checking to see how much the weave is changing (getting tighter).  When I have accomplished the look that I am going for, I will rinse and dry the shawl.  With the BL shawl...the regular fulling was not happening fast enough for me, and I decided to shock the fiber a bit by dunking it into a basin of cold water.  I think it was this shocking process that caused the yarn to result in the boucle' look.  I should mention that when a fulled item is finished, you must always then wash it in the fashion that you normally would to prevent further shrinkage.  If you were to continue with agitating and shocking the fibers, they would (sometimes depending on the fiber) continue to full...or even felt!

 

Now...moving on to the question about the roosters... 

Gina of raisingfrolic asked:  Do you keep the Roosters separated from the hens some of the time??  How much space do they all have to roam around in?  

I keep my roosters with my hens all the time.  I have 3 roosters and twelve hens.  Two of the roosters are Aracuna, and one of them is a Black Cochin.  The Black Cochin is named Buddy, and that (above) is a picture of him with his mate Honey.  These are very gentle birds, and they stay together most all of the time.  The other two roosters are years apart with the young one just becoming a cockerel...so they pretty much have established who is in charge and get along well with each other.  As for the space they have to roam...they are pretty much free range.  We only fence them in if we are going away, and the rest of the time, I let them out daily in the early morning, and they return to the coop by dusk, when we go out and lock the doors.  When they come out to range, they tend to break off into little groups...with each rooster escorting several hens.  They have worked out a definite pecking order about who "belongs" to whom....and I find it fascinating that the breeds seem to select "their own kind" to stay with.

The first days of March have dropped 6 inches of snow on us...I have dug a path to the greenhouse to get supplies for my starts.  On your mark -  get set-  GROW!  I started broccoli and lettuce because I only have 8 weeks before they need to be set out!

texture

The river was snowing on the rim this morning...so I tried to take a close up shot of the crystals on a black surface...

 

It has been below freezing around here lately, but it was a beautiful morning with crisp blue sky...and I noticed the river has been freezing up along the rim.

I stand next to the water, watching it flow past.  The cold snap has been making the water freeze around the rocks near the shoreline...you can see the channels of fast water that are starting to form.

The day is early and I am aware of the few sounds around me.  I hear a cardinal and the occasional crowing of my roosters coming from the hen house.  Other than that, it is quite still, and I notice that the ice flowing by is gently scraping against the ice on the shoreline...it makes a soft brushing sound.

 

Staring at the ice flow, I am mesmerized by the constant motion, and it suggests to me the same rhythms of the movement of fibers, flowing through my hands while spinning at the wheel.

I am becoming very aware of texture, and realize that in these late days of winter - with all of the gray colors...that texture is easier to see than in springtime when all the color dominates the landscape.  It is a great time of year to take notice of the texture and its beauty..seen here on the bark of this river birch.

Realizing how cold it really is, and that I didn't "layer up"...I climb the hill back to the house.
I have finished the 2/2 twill, and notice how gray that is too!

Funny thing about this piece, all the crimp and curl of the Border Leicester locks returned to the yarn after I completed the fulling process.  It gives the finished piece a texture all its own that was not visible while it was on the loom.

It almost looks like it was done with a boucle yarn...so...I am happy with the outcome, but it was a surprise, and not something I planned on happening.  I was thinking the 2/2 twill would be more pronounced...but I guess the texture is ok...

how to spin a silk hankie

Dawn, from Not all those who wander are lost, has asked for an explanation of a silk bell or silk hankie. A silk hankie is made from a cocoon that has been stretched over a bamboo frame. It is made up of several layers, with each layer being made up of one cocoon. This hankie has be dyed already, so all I have to do is separate the layers. I needed to prepare (exfoliate) my hands first because the thin layers of silk threads will stick to your hands if they are not, well....as smooth as silk. I read about a mixture of sugar and olive oil to rub into your hands first. It worked quite well. The next step is to push your fingers through the center of the thin hankie... then you keep pulling (in an outward fashion) until you get a big circle...this is a method of pre-drafting the silk...and you can continue doing this until you have the desired thickness/ or thin-ness required for your project. There are some people who go ahead and knit or crochet with the silk as it is in this stage..but I wanted to spin it first. My single hankie did not spin very much in the way of yardage. I spun a thin single, which I plan to string some beads on, and then perhaps ply it with something else. I really just enjoyed the process of this type of spinning/drafting. It was different than anything else I have done with silk to date. The colors and the shine and the tiny thin threads all sparkling, were a delight for my eyes to gaze upon (at the end of Feb. with the dull gray and white frosted landscape outside my window). I should have brought several hankies.

spinning A silk hankie

Why, oh why did I only buy one of these??  I thought I would spin "just one"...just to learn how to do it...I didn't know I would fall in love.

pinecones

This morning while doing chores, I got to witness one of life's little miracles when I entered the hen house at the exact moment that my hen was dropping an egg.  Hens have to stand up just before they "lay" their eggs.  So my hen was standing up and depositing her egg in a position where I was the very first living creature to see it.  I saw it before the hen did! 

 

Want to see it?

It was still warm, even through my gloved hand.  What a world,eh?  One minute I am the only pair of eyes to see it, next minute people half way around the world view the same thing...  notice all the pinecones on the ground....

Pinecone harvest

Pinecones are everywhere since the last big wind.  (That is, the wind that took out a portion of fence around the garden).  I figure there is a pinecone every 10 inches.  I am tired of stepping on them and feeling them crunch under my feet.

 

What to do with all the pinecones...I recall my neighbor telling me that her great-grandfather would collect them and sell them down in NYC to the florist...and then pay the taxes on his land with the money from the pinecones.  Maybe...in a perfect world... 

The smaller ones come from the hemlock...the large ones are from the spruce and white pine.

A pair of gloves came to visit me.  I knit them from some of my early handspun, back in 2002.  The pattern was the sideways gloves from the cover of the winter Spin-off.  I had given them to my brother, and like so many things forgotten I had made them.  I was delighted when they came back for a few small repairs.  The yarn was thin in places, and was not wearing well, so I darned those troubled spots first.  Then, because he mentioned he was used to a cuff, I added one in a contrasting yarn....well.... I didn't have any of the original yarn leftover.
(It was a Wensleydale top roving that went by the name of ocean mist...but I could not even remember where I had originally purchased it.)  He seemed to like the alteration very much.

Oh, and he tried the earflap hat on, and went home with that too.  He didn't take off, even while he was inside, but tied the flaps up on top of his head. Guess he liked it.

books meme

Leslie from Greenberry House has tagged me with this meme of books...(she had no idea how difficult this was for me, (....I used to work in a book shop remember...)

 

I save books like I save seed...each book not only tells a story, but has a story behind it...When I look at a title, I am transported to a different time, or place or even an exact moment...there are memories about my books...and so it was very hard to pick favorites.

1) Name five of your favorite books.

 

Treasure Trove with illustrations by S. Eytinge, Jr.  copyright 1873

 

Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson   copyright 1910

 

The Streams  1867-1872

 

The Biography of a Grizzly  copyright pre 1910

 

Balm of Gilead published by Luke Loomis & co.  1830

 

These are my favorite books because they are my oldest books.  I wonder about their previous owners, and I know exactly where and when I became the new owner.  Take the Treasure Trove...when I was a SYT there was a restaurant/bar called "The Library".  When they first opened the place-it was decorated with shelves of books...floor to ceiling.  They used to promote themselves with a "bring a book, take a book" night.  I took a haiku book of poetry and exchanged it for the Treasure Trove.

 

  
2) What was the last book you bought?

 

Actually, I brought a book home from the library today!  It is called "Creature Crossing" by Betty Levin.  The SAME Betty Levin who sold me the beautiful Border Leicester that I recently spun up.
She is an author of children's book, as well as a shepherdess and sheepdog trainer.

 

3) What was the last book you read?

 

The Colour Cauldron...history and use of natural dyes in Scotland.

 

4) List five books that have been particularly meaningful to you (in no
particular order).

 

The Prophet by Kahill Gibran

 

Gifts from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

 

More Little Visits with God

 

Love is a Special way of Feeling by J. Anglund

 

Journeys through Bookland

 

These books are meaningful to me because they were read aloud to me, or read aloud by me ...when was the last time someone read to you?

5) Name three books you've been dying to read but just haven't gotten around
to it?

 

Unfinished Tales J.R.R. Tolkien

 

Tolkien & The Silmarillion

 

The Dogs of Bedlam Farm by John Katz...(because all the dog lovers are raving about it!)

 

6) Tag five people and have them fill this quiz out on their own.
Hummm..well...only if you read this and you want to...good luck...its hard choosing!

 

Cindy of Yarnspinners Tales

 

Judith of Knitagarden

 

Karen of Treheima

 

Judy of Happy Acres

 

Dawn of  All who wander

 

Just one more book....

I have mixed feelings about this book...It is a beautiful book with an embossed cover...my librarian knows that I like old books, so she snagged it for me when someone brought it in for a donation.  I was delighted until I opened it....and found that some child had colored in all the engraved black and white illustrations!  Still ...it remains one of my favorites and has a bit of its own character.

"D" is for

my darners

and my doorknobs....(yea, I collect doorknobs...)

the weather is fine

It was so nice outside that  I opted to work in the garden doing some long overdue clean up.  In the process of picking up stray pots, I turned over some critter's winter stash of acorns.

Before long, I was scolded for my actions.

The black berry bushes are needing pruning.  It should have been done two months ago, but there was to much snow on the ground.  Last years berry bearing canes need to be cut back down to the ground, and the growth of the newer canes need to be topped off at around 5 feet...and then they need to be trellised.  This will force the side shoots to branch out more, and hopefully produce more fruit.

There is a little bit of snow left on the ground, but most of it is melting and running off down to the river.

Just a few rows left on the needles and the hat will be finished...I spun a blend of the Border Leicester and angora, so the earflaps are nice and soft.  This hat was fun to make, so I think I will make another.

mid feb

Not much snow from the big nor'easter, but that is fine with me.  Our water tables are where they should be, so, less melt to have to deal with. 

I have started weaving the 2/2 twill on the triloom with the Border Leicester yarn that I recently spun.  It goes pretty fast with the use of the shed stick to hold the warp open. I am starting to see the diagonal pattern of the twill appear.  It should become more defined after I full the finished shawl.  The sett is a good half inch across the top, so the take up should be noticeable.

Finished the hat and packed it up and sent it out! 

 

The early morning moments of daylight are starting to get  longer.  The chickens are at the gate at the gate by the time I get out there!  They are happy too,that we didn't get much in the way of snowfall.  They enjoy coming out to walk around, and tend to stay in the yard when the snow is deeper than 3 inches.  Take a look at this hen getting her new feathers...she looks like a porcupine!

She is a late molter, and I miss her eggs.  With the increased daylight, I should start seeing more in the way of production out of my hens...(it's about time).  The hens will not lay while they are moulting.  Their bodies get a chance to rest and put all the energy into making new feathers.  Feathers are mostly made of protein.  During the winter months, there are not very many bugs around to provide the protein.  I sometimes supplement with a treat for them of leftover stew meat which they attack like a swarm of piranhas.  I also offer cheese and  yogurt when I can.  Here is an interesting link that will take you to an article about sauerkraut, yogurt and bird flu.