Roving, Feathers and Pickles

Thanks for the well wishes. I ended up in bed for almost 24 hours, with symptoms of possibly a stomach flu (which according to the sister in law is going around). Feeling so much better today, though going to take it slow and easy for awhile.

Adieux Le Tour de Fleece

I contemplated signing up for the Le Tour de Fleece. Decided against it. Beginning spinner here, so knew I would fail miserably at any expectations or goals I set for myself in the spinning arena. Spinning doesn’t call to me as other areas of working the fiber. I just can’t sit still long enough to focus or accomplish much.
However the wheels in the noggin started spinning and I decided to follow along on my own, setting my goal in getting my stash of washed fiber carded. Heh, it works well with her stash challenge. Fiber stash is fiber stash I do believe.

Faire des Progrès (to make progress)
It worked! Each day I set aside a bit of quiet time in the evening to work on carding. Look at the roving!



Now to get down to the nitty gritty and wash more.
This is the newest raw fiber acquisition, wool, not Angora. Dirty, dirty wool. I have faith it will come clean. Need this for a felting project.

The Peafowl are shedding their tail feathers. The feathers are scattered over the entire farm. I manage to pick a few up each morning. Lately have been selective and picking up the ones with the brightest colors or largest eyes.


Jim was a bit surprised the last time he was home at the abundance of feathers we have now. After morning chores one day he ask if I had taken a head count on the peafowl lately. Yes. He said he felt as if he had picked up a full tail of feathers, was concerned something had attached one. Nope, with the number of males we have we will be having more and more with each yearly shedding.
Time for feather crafting…




Sunday Pickle Canning Party


Dad and I worked on bread and butter pickles for the family. 31 pounds of cucumbers can be made into 16 quarts of pickles. We used a vintage family recipe (from his mother’s side) we refer to as Slayman Pickles. The following is the original recipe.

4 qt. Cucumbers sliced or chunked
1 med. Onion cut fine
5 cups vinegar
5 cups sugar
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon allspice
3 cups water
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
3 teaspoon salt

Mix vinegar, sugar, water, salt and spices. Heat to boiling. Add spices that have been placed in a cloth bag. When boiling add cucumbers and onion. Let come to boil again. Boil 5 mins. Can in jars while hot.


These are definitely not crisp, lacking a crunch. (Sister and I discussed this today and we have decided to tweak the recipe. See if we can’t get a crunch to them).
To my surprise, Dad made and brought BBQ ribs and potato salad for lunch today (I nibbled a bit hoping it would not cause a set back in my recovery). Over lunch we talked about Mom’s work in genealogy and reminisced about the family.