… for the Colehill Country Fair this Sunday. I’ll be there, recycling like mad, hopefully selling some of my jeans aprons and a few other bits n’ bobs, including some of my vintage craft stuff. Even a couple of human-powered sewing machines, on a try-before-you-buy basis. Looks like it will be a great day out!
Great result…
…from our local Waste-Not-Want-Not group today.
An older friend had been struggling to look after her very-lovely Lutino cockatiel; although the year-old bird didn’t want for anything, my friend knew she was lonely & I think she may have been a little scared of handling her. She had even gone so far as contacting the RSPCA, who couldn’t take her but suggested an animal sanctuary elsewhere that my friend couldn’t get to. And our little Pied cockatiel fellow clearly thought that a mere 7 humans at his beck & call was not enough; although he spends a lot of time out of his cage & has lots of toys inside, as well as two budgies for avian company, he had developed some repetitive behaviours and needed something more than we were giving him. So it seemed like a good idea to take on my friend’s cockatiel too…
So we went & picked her up a couple of days ago. We put the borrowed cage next to Brambles and they squawked & whistled with excitement at each other before settling down for the night. At about lunchtime yesterday, I connected the cages. After plucking up courage, she sidled gently into his cage. He doesn’t like her coming too close, and chatters at her, but there’s no aggression from either of them and they’ll be fine once she’s settled in, but they do each need their own space until then. But I needed to return the borrowed cage, so I asked on the local Freecycle and WNWN groups whether anyone had one to spare. And got a positive reply! So many thanks to Maree, whose birds now live in a flight in their garden (as I hope ours will one day soon) tonight Brambles is in his customary corner of his cage, on his swing, and Madame Yet-to-find-a-name is in a gorgeous, huge cage next door, that’s easily big enough for the both of them when they’ve settled down together. They can hop from one cage to the other until then. I shall transfer the toys over one by one until the big cage seems like home to Brambles, and add some new ones in too.
So we have gained yet another exotic pet, which hasn’t cost us a penny. Brambles himself was Freecycled to us, two years ago; his cage was given by a friend. The budgies came from a breeder friend, and their cage from Freecycle. The toys etc. have mostly come from abandoned cages at the Tip, and been bathed in Poultry Shield before use. Their food doesn’t cost much; the only real expense they’d put us to would be vet bills, but we haven’t had to trouble our excellent vets with them yet. Long may that last!
And here’s a genuine recycled trophy!
Happy bunny here, in front of the bag that won it for me…
But I’ve let the trophy go home with my co-winner (or at least, with her husband; she’s at a Guild summer school) because it will be safer there; I’d hate to wake up from one of my creative dazes and discover that half of it was now part of one of my home-made gadgets…
Ermm…
…I’m really rather proud of myself! Joint recipient of the Balqama trophy in Recycled Materials… I can’t quite believe it. But I’m very happy about it anyway! And also that all three of my other entries received “Highly Commended” status. Well chuffed, surprised & delighted, in fact. And the judges kindly said they hoped I’d make more of them. I do wish I’d finished the charkha in time to show it, because as far as I remember there was nothing else like it there, but oh well, maybe next year…? And I already have some other ideas for practical handmade recycled items…
Is it or isn’t it…
An old drop spindle?
I picked this up at our local market for 50p last weekend, under the impression that it was a giant darning mushroom. But I couldn’t help wondering what the hook was for, not to mention the groove below the hook. Something about it suggested spinning, probably the resemblance to a child’s spinning top, so I tried it out with a little mauve roving. Lo & behold, it worked, really rather well. But I haven’t a clue whether that’s what it’s intended use really was! Or how old it is, or, if it is a spindle, which tradition it came from. Ideas, please…
The entries for the Dorset Arts & Crafts Association show are now in, and I’m really looking forward to going down there with a friend tomorrow & seeing what the judges thought of my strictly non-traditional stuff. In the end I enetered my felted slippers, a denim apron, one of my crazy-patchwork bags and a broomstick crochet hat & “neckwarmer” (not long enough for a scarf – not enough yarn!) I did a little while ago. It’s my first year of entering so I’m not expecting any great plaudits but it’ll be interesting to see wht it is they’re looking for, and how (or in fact IF) I could ever achieve it.
I shall report back tomorrow evening, with pics…
Going flat out…
…at the moment, finishing my entries for the upcoming Dorset Arts & Crafts exhibition next weekend. I’m not 100% sure my entries made it in time, as I’d lost my schedule and whacked them in at the last possible moment, but at least I did get around to entering! If I have time tomorrow or at the weekend, I will post a couple of pics of my efforts. I’m not expecting any great accolades; I’m an amateur and very much a have-a-go merchant, and there are plenty of well-experienced professionals out there, not to mention that this is my first attempt anyway. I’m hoping for some constructive criticism and pointers as to how best to improve what I do, yet I’m aware that not all of the judges appreciate non-traditional craft work. Anyway, nothing ventured, nothing gained, and I’m sure I shall enjoy the show anyway!
Off now to do a little more last-minute quilting…
It’s raining again…
…and after the last two summers, a grey day makes my heart sink and has me straight out inspecting my tomatos & potatos for the first signs of blight. But when I walked up to town earlier, the level of the river was really quite low, so I guess we do need this downpour. As long as there’s plenty of sunshine to follow it up & ripen my figs…
It’s been a busy week and I haven’t had much time to devote to recycling or anything interesting, really. I did manage to re-boil my strawberry jam, which I’d bottled just short of setting somehow. So I added the last of the garden redcurrants, to try to boost the pectin levels, and boiled it until I was sure of the wrinkles on the testing plate, then poured it into clean Kilner jars, gleaned from the Tip a few weeks ago. I had been ignoring old-style Kilners, knowing that the original company had gone bust some years ago, but these had some original, unused lids with them. There must have been 30+ “dual purpose” jars in the box, and only 9 lids, but I didn’t have time to see whether there were any more when I picked them up. When I got home & discovered that there weren’t, I tried Googling “Kilner jar lids” & came up with this little gem of a site: Kilner Jars & Parts. So now I can “rescue” them again! But I’m not likely to need to, for the foreseeable future, with more than 30 to use & re-use…
The Transition Town Wimborne meeting was hugely encouraging; we really didn’t know how many people might turn up, or what level of awareness there was “out there” about Transition, so a turn-out of 19 was a fantastic boost. There were lots of different talents & interests represented; now we need to spread the word, reach more people & raise awareness that there are potential problems ahead, but there are also plenty of positive things we can do to adapt to them. Next meeting: Thursday 6th August, venue to be confirmed, with a film showing, probably The Power Of Community.
Off now to work on some bits to sell at the upcoming Colehill Country Fair – free stalls for local crafters being an irresistible offer!
A woolly-minded interlude…
- Scrumptious Portland fleece, drying out.
Just over a week ago, we picked up some Freecycled Portland fleece. Portlands are small, intelligent, friendly ancestral Downland sheep and their creamy-white fleece is supposed to be very good for “beginner” spinners. So when our moderator Josie mentioned that a friend had just taken on some neglected Portlands, on Portland itself, and needed to rehome their newly-shorn fleece fast, as she had nowhere to store it, I felt that it was worth a 10-extra-mile trip over to the Island to pick it up, as I was going down to Dorchester for a WSD Guild meeting anyway. So off we hurtled, met up with Su and her other half, and relieved them of – well, I’m not sure how many, quite a few anyway – damp fleeces.
I’ve had a really busy couple of weeks; last week’s excellent camping trip to West Dorset was followed in short order by a trip up to Surrey to camp in my brother’s garden for his daughter’s 30th birthday party. During this time, the fleeces were drying out gradually on old trellises and other loose garden bits, thanks to DH moving them from lawn to garage and back again, depending on the weather conditions. Now they are mostly dry, I shall bag two up for Josie, awaiting her safe return from hospital; I’ve wrapped two more up to send to an e-friend who expressed an interest in free fleece, and have a mere – oh, ten or thereabouts – left to deal with…
So – how to “scour” fleece en masse? Here’s my way, two at a time, as they’re small sheep: warn the family the bathroom’s off limits for a while (we do have a shower room too) then soak for a good long time in a deep, hot bath, with a little sandalwood essence. Get yourself out, dry off, add some shampoo to the water and put the fleece in gently, pushing it down until it’s all underwater. Leave overnight, then pull the plug out & let it drain. Fill the bath again with cool water, move the fleece around very gently so that it doesn’t felt, then drain again, and repeat until the water runs away clean. One last rinse with a cupful of vinegar added, then drain and squeeze gently until the water stops running. Stuff damp fleece into pillowcases, then spin (only spin, no rinse!) in your washing machine, and lay out on some kind of grid to dry.
A lot of dirt came out of the two I washed overnight, but what didn’t come out were the burdock burrs. I thought I was going to lose a lot of fleece along with them as they were completely entangled, but once the fleece was wet, they pulled out quite cleanly & easily. There’s a fair bit of the dreaded VM (Vegetable Matter) still in there, but most of that should come out when I card it. There’s also still quite a bit of lanolin, so it should be nice & easy to spin, then I can wash it again before dyeing.
But I suspect that lot will keep me busy until next Christmas!
Recreational recycling…
So this is what we did with the Khyam Ultradome this week… and the potbelly BBQ stove…
And this is how West Dorset looks if you can get there out of season…
And now I’m working really hard…
… to get my shop stocked up & the shopping cart “live” though I’m still awaiting one vital piece of info from my bank. So far I’ve photographed, weighed (for postage) priced & uploaded 30+ items; just another 170 or so to go! So I haven’t had a lot of time to spare for recreational recycling in the last week or two. Though I have picked up some classic books at the Minster Fair and at the charity market during the Folk Festival, most of which will be offered in the shop, but some are just too interesting to part with! I look forward to the opportunity to investigate further…
I’ve also picked up several pairs of jeans to make some more “Jeans Pockets” aprons. Every time I go out Morsbagging or car booting in the one I made for myself, I’m asked, “Where can I get one of those? I need one…!” so I shall make a few up to test-market. There’s a craft fair coming up in the middle of August that’s very generously offering FREE stalls to local crafters, so I’m putting my name down for that, and I’ll see how they go there. It will be a fine line whether I can charge enough to make the time spent on them worthwhile, but how will I know unless I try?
I’ve been enjoying my Spinolution Bee hugely, when I’m just too exhausted to do anything else. I know it’s cheating to buy a new wheel, but I’m still enjoying my secondhand Louet S20 too, especially when Jo steals the Bee to learn on! I’ve found some nice bright cotton items – jumpers, a bag – to unravel so that I can re-spin or weave the yarn into something else, which is rather fun.
And we’ve had guests, so the little pot-bellied BBQ stove has been working overtime on fine evenings. That thing is worth its weight in gold as far as I’m concerned; it goes all evening on a few lumps of dry palletwood, and quite apart from its role as a social focal point, you can actually cook on & in it, not just barbecue. Are they still being made, I wonder? Is it possible to buy one new? Or has it been superseded by the ultra-wasteful patio heater… 😦
There seems to be some movement towards getting a “Transition Town Wimborne” group off the ground – I will post more on this as soon as I know what’s happening & where. Watch this space!
A recycled lifestyle... 