Learning to Wet Felt

The spinning guild I belong to also has programs on other aspects of fiber.  Tonight we learned to wet felt using some beautiful wool.  I chose a luscious orangy, almost terra cotta color.  This is the first step to completing a pair of felted mittens.

First we laid our thin layers of carded wool in three layers, the grain facing opposite directions.

 The batting is sandwiched between a layer of plastic and bubble wrap, and netting. 

Then soapy water is poured on it so that the whole batt soaks it up, while you massage it in thoroughly.

 

 Gently roll it up and tie.  Roll it back and forth slowly like rolling a jelly roll. 

 

After the final rolling, unroll and determine if all the areas look done.

Bunch it up and drop it in a bin until it is evenly dimpled.

 

Rinse the soap out and hang to dry.

 

The next step is cutting the mittens out of the felted wool...

I'm excited to make some alpaca felt, incorporating some ideas that I've seen and making corsets or wedding gown bodices of it. 

Winter Winds

 

O thou whose face hath felt the Winter’s wind,
Whose eye has seen the snow-clouds hung in mist,
And the black elm tops ‘mong the freezing stars!
To thee the spring will be a harvest time.
O thou whose only book has been the light
Of supreme darkness, which thou feddest on
Night after night, when Phœbus was away!
To thee the spring shall be a triple morn.
O fret not after knowledge. I have none,
And yet my song comes native with the warmth.
O fret not after knowledge! I have none.
And yet the evening listens. He who saddens
At thought of idleness cannot be idle,
And he’s awake who thinks himself asleep.

– John Keats (1795-1821)

President's Day Weekend 2014

In view of her recent stormy mood, Nature seemed full of regretful relentings on Monday, and, as if to make amends for her harshness, assumed something of a summer softness. The sun had not the glaring brightness that dazzles, and the atmosphere, purified by the recent rain, revealed through it's crystal depths objects with unusual distinctness.  ~ E.P. Roe, Opening A Chestnut Burr

Before the rain and wind came this morning, I got right out and planted my peas, using the "tomato" cages that I've found to be too weak for tomatoes but perfect for bush pea supports.  On the end with the metal teepee, I planted Chinese peas to climb it.

 

I also worked on the hardware for the new onion bed once the rain started, inside the barn cutting two by fours for the saw horses that will hold the re-purposed metal roofing box that will be the "raised" bed for the onions. 

Checking In On My Babies on Valentine's Day

Here are what I call my January babies, named for the month they were sown.  By mid February, most seeds have come up.  I'll separate and transplant them into containers in a week or two. 

January Babies - Leeks, Walla Walla, Endive, Lettuce, Snap Dragon, Petunia

There's many ways to start your seeds.  For the longest time I started them in peat pellets, but now that I'm planting more, there are flats that you can use.  In January I only had a few different plants that I could start, so I used a non-divided flat and just divided it off by hand.  In February, there were so many different plants I could start, and wanting to maximize space, used a subdivided flat.  Each row holds a different kind and can hold a lot of seeds, more than the average garden can hold, so you've maximized your growing space under your lights.

February Babies - Viola, Heliotrope, Pansy, Lavender, Parsley, Tomato (Stupice, Yellow Pear, Oregon Spring), Pepper (King of North, Cubenelle), Cabbage, Cucumber (lemon, pickling), Cauliflower, Celery, Celeriac, Beet, Broccoli, Asparagus

All your seeds need is light, moisture and warmth.  To start them, when it's chilly out, use your warming pad to start the process.  Keep the light on them twenty four hours a day.  Babies like the light and are in a continuous state of vegetative growth.  Just don't let them dry out.  

Tonight I heard the first frog of the season, croaking a Valentine tune to the ladies.

Pacific Northwest Tested Seeds

I was watching Cisco the other day and he was introducing Osborne Seeds, a seed outlet that tests their seeds in the Pacific Northwest.  All the seeds they carry to their knowledge are non-GMO seeds.

It's nice to know the seeds you buy are suited for the Pacific Northwest.  Many stores buy preset generic sets of seeds which may or may not be the best choice for your area.  I always spend a little time researching the seeds before buying so I won't be wasting my time later, but if you can find a seed company that does it for you, you're already ahead of the game.

https://www.osborneseed.com/

Garden Ideas

In my garden there is a large place for sentiment.  My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams.  The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful.  ~Abram L. Urban

I'm always trying to find garden ideas.  Like these raised beds made of rock. Now that's a natural look that's practical and appealing. 

 

 

 

 

 

Garden Ideas

 

 

 

Then there's recycling and reusing.

A vertical pallet garden.

And for space minded gardeners...

Small Garden Ideas

 

 

 

Celebrate Gardening Open Day

Gardening, like boating, needs a day to celebrate the opening of the season.  I always choose President's Day, this year February 17th, because officially you can plant peas and onions outside.  The rush of spring just knocking on the garden gate.

I love chinese snow peas; the magenta flowered Carouby de Maussane pea is my favorite.  You don't have to plant too many because they are prolific producers.  The flowers are gorgeous, and to the naked eye, seductively beautiful.  In addition, this year I'm planting Knight Pea and Early Frosty Pea.

 I'll be planting a few onion starts too, although I'm leaving room for the Walla Walla's I started from seed in January. 

Groundhog Day 2014

Hmmm...six more weeks of winter.  Well over here in the Northwest, it's been pretty mild so get your garden gloves on.  Take a look at your beds and start dreaming of what to put in them.

I've got some compost this year and some good dirt to add to them.  I'm going to cloche a couple of them so I can work them a little earlier than the others. 

I saw this pallet garden idea that looked so intriguing that I want to try it.  You can staple some landscape fabric on the bottom and fill with dirt.  I'm thinking at an angle propped against a wall would be cool, or stacked for a raise bed look. 

February Indoor Seedings

Part of the reason to keep a garden diary or in this case a blog is to keep track of what you are planting when and how they come out from seedling to harvest.  That way you can adjust and help your garden.  I moved eleven miles away; away from the Puget Sound, higher in elevation, more centered in the convergence zone and in a sunnier patch of earth, changing the timing of the garden.  All said, I know I have a better location than the one at my other house.

Today I sowed indoors:

Flowers ~ Viola, Heliotrope, Pansy, Lavender

Herbs and Vegetables ~ Parsley, Tomato (Stupice, Yellow Pear, Oregon Spring), Pepper (Cubenelle, King of the North), Cabbage, Cucumber (Lemon, Boston Pickling), Califlower, Celery, Celeriac, Beet, Broccoli and Asperagus.

The January seedlings are almost ready to be transplanted to individual containers.

House Wren by Donna Caplinger

Inspiring February

 "Rich meanings of the prophet-Spring adorn,
Unseen, this colourless sky of folded showers,
And folded winds; no blossom in the bowers;
A poet's face asleep in this grey morn.
Now in the midst of the old world forlorn
A mystic child is set in these still hours.
I keep this time, even before the flowers,
Sacred to all the young and the unborn."
-  Alice Meynell, In February

 

February Forest with Sheep By Diana Harrison

"Surely as cometh the Winter, I know
There are Spring violets under the snow."
-  R. H. Newell 

 

February Gardening Chores - Links