Washing wool - Why do I use orvas paste?

 I'm desperately trying to wash the rest of the wool before the rainy season sets in.  Even on hot summer days, it takes two days to dry the wool enough for long term (air/bug tight) storage.  In the winter (aka, rainy season)... well, it's a challenge.

The other challenge is in the warm weather, the animals get first priority with the well water.  So there aren't many days when I can wash the wool.  

Washing in the garden helps, because then the dirty water not only waters the plants but it adds a lot of benefit to the garden.

So why do I use Orvas Paste?

Orvas paste is pretty much pure SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate) which is extremely unpopular in cosmetics and soaps these days.  SLS makes a lot of suds and is often added to shampoo or detergent to make it look like it is working.  We are trained that bubbles do the cleaning (this is not true, but it is believed).

A lot of people have skin sensitivities to modern detergents and soaps. Quite often SLS gets blamed for this.  So they buy things that are SLS-free.  Their skin gets better.

Sometimes SLS is the cause.  But more often, I suspect the problem is poor quality control of the ingredients.  If a company takes the effort to remove the most common additive, then it is probably paying a lot more attention to the ingredients that do go into the product.  

I think this for two reasons.  One, quite often I am washing wool with someone and I stick my hand in the Orvas Paste and they stick their hands in it either.  Then they comment, oh wow, this is awesome stuff, I normally get a rash.  Then they panic from it being SLS.  But still no rash.  

The other reason is my own skin is hypersensitive to just about every soap.  Even real soap made from lye and oils can cause massive blisters.  Orvas paste is one of the very few things I can use without hurting my skin.  

Orvas paste is often used to wash babby animals, like lambs and goats.  

It's also quickly biodegradable so it's safe to use on the garden without having to dilute the wash water first.  Most other washing substances I've tried, kill the plants - always test on a section of lawn before using in the garden.

Most of all, I love how quickly it rinses out of the fibre.  All the other detergents and soaps I've tried, take a lot of rinses to get the residue off.  

But if it causes a reaction to your skin, then don't use it. Test a small area of skin first. 

Also, different cleaners react differently with different minerals in the water supplies, so always do a small batch to test.

Orvas paste:

• doesn't hurt my skin
• doesn't kill my plants  
• biodegradable
• mild insecticide in the garden
• need very little (1-4 Tablespoons per fleece) - it actually works better with less
• extremely affordable $40 for enough to wash a hundred+ fleeces
• great on protein stains (like poo, urine, and blood)

It's not the thing for everyone.  But it works for me.  

If you like this sort of thing and want to see more of it, here are some things you can do to support me on my creative journey.

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It's so pretty! - fluffy yarn spun directly from the locks - and some thoughts on making movie tutorials.

Lock spinning to make a boucle style single (unplied) yarn is one of my favourite novelty yarns to spin.  

It's fast to spin.  It is pretty.  It is SOFT!  

What's more, you don't need fancy equipment to prepare the fibre.  We can do a little plug for my etsy shop where you can buy some lovely Cotswold locks and just start spinning on a wheel or spindle.

Most importantly, this is a great yarn to spin to learn more about making good joins.  An essential skill that can transfer to all other yarn making.  IF YOU SUCK AT JOINS, SPIN THIS YARN!  To be textured, strong, and yet unplied, is more of a challenge than it looks. 

To test the joins, put your bobbin on one side of the room and winder your skeins (niddy noddy, skeiner, yarn blocker, whatever) on the other side of the room so that there are at least 5 yards between - 10 is better.  The further the distance, the better the test for strength and a better idea of how the yarn will hold up in use (this is true for all handspun yarns).  

This is the very first serious video I made for my youtube channel.  I made it on the software Windows Movie Maker.  This software is a lot like a 50-year-old Dorthy Loom.  You can do some amazing weaving on it, but it has so many ... um... what's a kind word?  Limitations?  It has so many limitations and takes so much effort just to do a simple shed change (cut and paste), that if someone wants to keep weaving/making videos after their first project, then you know they are going to do well in the craft.

At least that's what I hope.    

Windows Movie Maker was a good stepping stone, but looking back on this video, there is so much wrong with it.  So much I would do differently!  Even just taking the same footage and re-editing it, I could do better.

And yet, when I look at the youtube metrics, it's not doing too poorly.  It is doing a darn sight better than some of my more recent videos edited with better software and more understanding of the "right" way to make a video.  Just shows that doing things 'right' doesn't always get the best results.

We're back to equipment - and not needing fancy stuff.  

This yarn avoids a lot of the difficult steps of preparing the fibre with hand cards, flick carder, drum carder, or combs.  It just jumps right in and teaches us how to perfect the most difficult part of spinning - joins. 

Same with videos - I wish I had started making these 10 years ago.  I knew I wanted to, but I wasted so much of my life waiting for the right... whatever.  Imagining perfection came from reading/watching, rather than just doing the thing.  Maybe that's why the video did (and is still doing) so well?  Because I took a chance and made a thing?

If you like this sort of thing and want to see more of it, here are some things you can do to support me on my creative journey.

- go to youtube and give me a thumbs up!  Or even a subscribe!  That would be awesome
- or pop over to my Etsy shop and support me that way.

It's a Test! A germination test.

This works with any seed (although the wait times vary), I find it useful to test flaxseed before planting so I can know how thick to sew the seeds.

When it comes to seeds, flaxseed has a very short shelf life.  Two-year-old seed often has poor germination rate so running this quick test will tell you a lot about how much you need to plant.

What you need:

• some seed
• paper towel or cloth
• water

Count out at least 10 seeds (I like to do 10, 25, or 50 as they math into 100 easily).  The more seeds you have, the more accurate the results.  10 seeds are enough to get a good idea of how the batch will grow.

Fold up the towel/cloth and place it in the conditions the seeds would normally germinate.  

For example, if these were tomato seeds, then put them somewhere warm and dark like on top of the fridge.  Since these are flaxseed, put them somewhere fairly cool or room temp.  I left mine on the windowsill.

After a few days, check on the seeds and count how many sprouted.  For mine, 8 of 10 sprouted, so I know I have a germination rate of 80%.  That's pretty good for (non-commercial nursery) flaxseed.

If I have low germination, like 50%, then I can still grow the item.  I just need to plant twice as many seeds for the space as I would if I got 90+%.  

A video on growing and processing flax into linen

A book about Homegrown Linen; transforming flaxseed into fibre

So how am I doing with youtube Short?  If you like it, please pop over to youtube and give it a thumbs up and maybe even leave a comment.  This will let me know if it's worth making more of these little videos.

If you like this sort of thing and want to see more of it, here are some things you can do to support me on my creative journey.

- go to youtube and give me a thumbs up!  Or even a subscribe!  That would be awesome
- or pop over to my Etsy shop and support me that way.

Making choices about silk, silkworms, and homegrown sericulture.

A while back I made a video showing off my pretty silkmoths.  (silkworm and silkmoth are used interchangeably) 

Of course, the question is asked - that is always asked whenever we talk about raising silkworms.  A very important question and one I've done a lot of soul searching about.  I've read a lot.  I've asked a lot of questions from people on all sides of the discussion.  I've asked questions of people who at first glance have nothing to do with silk and sericulture (growing silk) but turn out to be extremely relevant to the conversation.  

Warning!  This is going to be one of those difficult conversations.  THERE IS NO RIGHT ANSWER here.  Each person is going to need to make their own choices and if somehow this blog entry gets more than four readers, I'm going to remind you that I moderate the comment box.  Comments on all sides of the discussion are encouraged.  Comments that accuse, boss, tell others how they should live their life, or are phrased in a not nice way (all subjectively judged by me), will likely vanish without further warning.  

And to make certain you really want to read this, I'm putting a "read more" button beneath this pretty picture.

Can I grow cotton as a houseplant? Spoiler alert - YES!

I've been growing cotton plants in Canada for a few years now.  Mostly in the greenhouse, with mediocre results (harvest 3 years out of 5).

But being bitten by the houseplant bug  I decided to try my hand at cotton as a potted plant.  After all, it is perennial, has beautiful foliage, and gorgeous flowers.

Oh, and it produces cotton I can pick and spin.

Here's a short video with a timelapse of the flower, how I pollinate it, and the result.  

If you like this sort of thing and want to see more of it, here are some things you can do to support me on my creative journey.

- go to youtube and give me a thumbs up!  Or even a subscribe!  That would be awesome
- or pop over to my Etsy shop and support me that way.

Winter is coming! Better dress for it. (is flatlining still a sewing thing?)

I don't know if it's just me, but I find fabric shopping one of the most frustrating things in my life.  

That and washing the dishes.

I know enough about sewing to put together clothes.  I know enough about fabric to weave it.  But I don't know enough about either to put the two things together.  If I did, I would probably buy my fabric online so there could be more money left over for more fabric buying.  The thing is, I don't even know where to start, so there's a lot of trial and error going on.  

This week I went to the Big-Box-Fabric store (not the real name) and under the glaring lights, I try to find something that isn't made for quilting or made from a petrochemical.  I like natural fibres.  It's probably not the best place to look for this, but it's nearest to where I was going that day.  

Perhaps some cotton twill fabric, like jeans, would make a nice winter skirt.  But wow, that's expensive.  So I settled on some wool-cotton blend that was almost half the price for some reason.  The occasional kemp hair in the fabric might have something to do with it - it's that kind of thing that gives wool a bad name, so scratchy!  

 Isn't it pretty?

The red cloth is a lightweight cotton sheet I got at the Salvation Army.  Organic cotton next to the skin - very happy!

flat felling seams by hand - not an arthritus friendly activity

I'm not happy about the washing instructions on the wool blend (dry clean only isn't in my vocabulary), so I ignored them and ran the yardage through the washing machine on a gentle cycle last night.  It came out okay.  No obvious shrinking or puckering.  Mostly cotton and already well fulled, that's what I expected.  Although next time I should do a sample first.

Time to try a new technique I saw on Bernadette Banner's videos (she's the skinny one with the happy voice that does a lot of Victorian and Edwardian sewing - and my hero).

Bernadette calls it 'flatlining' which seems to be to sew the lining and the outer layer together as if they are one cloth.  That doesn't seem to hard, although I wish I could find more tutorials on why and when and how to do this.  Perhaps it has a new name?

Or perhaps people don't do this anymore?

Since I'm not matching patterns, I should be able to get two skirts out of this.  I don't know if I'll have enough left over for this project.  It's probably better if I don't.  

Hoping to get at least two warm skirts for this fall.  Not sure how well this will work for farming, so I need to keep looking out for another easy to wash cotton twill or the like.  Does anyone know an affordable (preferably Canadian so I don't have to pay customs) source for this kind of cloth?

ps.  Sorry about the poor lighting in the photo.  It's winter and the sun probably won't be showing herself much until spring.  I need to get my winter lights up into the workroom.

If you like this sort of thing and want to see more of it, here are some things you can do to support me on my creative journey.

- go to youtube and give me a thumbs up!  Or even a subscribe!  That would be awesome
- or pop over to my Etsy shop and support me that way.

Silkmoths - mindfully buggy

I have to admit, when I first got silkmoths (also known as silkworms), I was uncertain.

Why would any yarn loving wool guardian want to deliberately bring moths into the home?  As a gardener, I have nightmares of the ravenous damage cabbage moths can wreck on a garden.  

And yet, when they finally arrived home, I found I love them.  

They hatch out all black and spiky but very quickly turn into smooth milky munchkins.  There is something about their smell like fresh leaves.  Their sound is just light a light rain which is so gratifying to hear in the middle of summer when we've had no rain for months.  And their complete dependence on me for everything.  

I have to take the time to wash the leaves (I found out what happens when you skip that step this year - it wasn't pretty) and dry the leaves and clean their home and all the things they need to thrive.

Little break of mindfulness five times a day.  It's so easy to be right there, in the moment, even if that moment is only a few seconds while I toss some leaves in while I'm rushing to answer the phone.  

And then I'm rewarded with lovely silk cocoons.  And BEAUTIFUL moths.  

Hopefully, this video can capture some of the calm joy these little guys bring into my day.

More on the yarn making process another time.

If you like this sort of thing and want to see more of it, here are some things you can do to support me on my youtube journey.

- go to youtube and give me a thumbs up!  Or even a subscribe!  That would be awesome
- or pop over to my Etsy shop and support me that way.