Fleece diet

One of the members of a knitting group I belong to went on a yarn diet. She forbade herself to buy any new yarn until she had used up all of her stash. Well I have put myself on a fleece diet. I am working my way through the fleeces that I already have before purchasing any new ones. I' not even going to Maryland Sheep and Wool this year. I'll really miss it, but if I just can't handle the diet, I can hop over to the Great Lakes Fiber show, May 28-29. Hopefully my Etsy shop will slowly fill with all of the yarn I will be making : )

Update On Treating Fibromyalgia with Teasel Root Tincture

To see my previous posts on this topic go here.

I made some teasel root tincture and took it three times a day for six weeks. I started out taking three drops three times a day and upped the dosage until for the last couple of weeks I was taking about ten to fifteen drops three times a day.

Has it helped? My cautious answer is, yes. I say "cautious answer" because although I have been feeling really good, I don't want to subscribe it to the tincture just yet. If I continue feeling good for a good long time, then, yes, I believe it is the work of the tincture. I tried the tincture last summer, around July,  and I felt really well until the end of December/January. I'm hoping this time around I will continue to feel well for several months, too.

Am I cured? No. There is less pain, yes, but what it really seems to help with is the gumption factor. I feel like doing more, I have more energy, and my mind is clear of that fog that sometimes descends. There are still days where everything hurts, but it's not as severe. Things have sort of leveled out.

Last August, after taking the tincture, I completed the Akron Marathon with my family as a relay. I walked my leg of the relay, and it was the shortest leg, but the point is, I felt well enough to train for and walk the 3.4 miles at a very brisk pace. I continued with the walking until I started to feel bad again in December/January. Now that I'm feeling better, I'm walking again. I won't be doing the marathon again this year, but I have the energy now to help my daughter with her wedding planning - which, believe me, takes a lot of energy.

You still can't over-do things. You can feel when your limit is coming on, at least I can. Sometimes I can do that extra loop around the park, and sometimes I can't, but at least I was able to get out there and do that first one, or two!

So would I recommend teasel root tincture to help with your fibromyalgia? Yes. Be sure to stick with it for the whole six weeks. You may not begin to feel results until the last week. And do your research. Learn about teasel root and what it is used for.

Teasel root tincture can be purchased or, if you are confident about your plant identification skills, you can make your own. Remember that you must use the first year plant which is low to the ground, not the second year plant, which is the one that grows tall and flowers. It's not hard to make tinctures, research how to do it. I used the fresh root, but some might prefer to use the dry root. I ground my roots up in a food processor with a bit of very high-proof vodka, then put it in a jar, covering the ground root with vodka. When you've done this, place your jar in a dark place like a closet and shake it once or twice a day for two weeks. Then strain the roots out, giving them a good squeeze to get all of the goodness out, strain it once more through a coffee filter, and voila! You've got tincture.

If you try teasel root tincture, I hope you have good results, too. If you have Lyme disease and are on medication for Lyme cysts, do not take teasel root tincture, as that particular medication should never be taken with alcohol. Please do your research before taking the tincture. And good luck!

The Bridal Shawl is Finished!

The bridal shawl I've been working on for my daughter is finally done! It was a big project, especially since I've only knitted one other lacey shawl before. I wasn't sure I was up to this skill-level wise, but the pattern was written so well that it was a pleasure to knit. For those who want to know, it's the Alberta Shawl pattern on Ravelry.

My teasel root tincture is ready!

It's been two weeks since I gathered some first-year teasel roots, chopped them up in the food processor and left them to soak in vodka in a dark closet. Today I filtered the roots out by straining the tincture through several layers of cheesecloth and squeezing the heck out of it. I then let the liquid filter through a coffee filter. I now have a nice, clear, brown-ish liquid. 

Here is what my tincture looks like now:

Before filtering:

After filtering:

Now I can begin taking 3 drops 3 times a day for six weeks (I may build up to the three drops over a few days). Here's hoping it helps my fibromyalgia.

Progress on the bridal shawl

I think I'm approaching about half-way on the bridal shawl. The pattern is written really well. I have a few lifelines in there (yellow), and I've had to use one, but I' very happy with the progress so far.

I'm using the Alberta Shawl pattern which can be found on Ravelry.

Treating Fibromyalgia with Teasel Root Tincture

I've recently been diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I'm not thrilled with the medications available to treat it - I guess what I'm not thrilled with are side the effects. But last summer when I thought it might be Lyme disease, I made some teasel root tincture (it grows around here), using roots from first-year plants. Teasel root tincture has been used by many people either alone, or in conjunction with antibiotics, to treat Lyme disease. 

I took 3 drops 3 times a day for six weeks. I felt a lot better for quite a while - until the end of December/ start of January.  Feeling better on that one 6-week course lasted for about 5 months. Since Dec./Jan., it's all come back. I went in for another round of blood tests and X-rays and the doctor this time came to the conclusion that I have fibromyalgia.

I don't like the drug options for treatment, but I was curious about how well I felt after using the teasel root tincture. I googled around and have found a few references noting that teasel root tincture has been useful in the treatment of fibromyalgia too. 

So I've decided to give teasel root another try. I had to go out and dig through some unmelted snow to get to some rosettes. I only got a few roots, but that will get me started. The tincture (the roots chopped up and left to soak in vodka in a dark place) will take two weeks to make. Then I'll press it as best I can without a tincture press, strain it, and then it will be ready.

Here's hoping to success with the tincture. I'd like to feel better without taking those other medications everyday for the foreseeable future.  

EDIT: Okay, I went out yesterday and got a few more roots. Now I have a good amount of tincture brewing!

All done

I've finished spinning the yarn for my daughter's bridal shawl. I've got 845 yards, 4.3 ounces of two-ply merino/silk laceweight yarn. Now to find a pattern.

Had to make a new whorl

My handmade clay spindle whorl broke : (

I made a new one out of that polymer clay that you bake in the oven. I've never used it before, but it seemed pretty straight forward. I mixed a plain kind with a sparkly kind. It's cooling now. Hope it works, I have about 100 more yards to spin to have enough for the shawl I have in mind for my daughter's bridal shawl.

Progress on the bridal shawl

I've been concentrating on getting the yarn spun for my daughter's bridal shawl. It's two-ply, one of merino and one of silk. I'm spinning the merino on a drop spindle that I purchased to spin fine yarn with, and I'm spinning the mulberry silk on my Kromski Fantasia wheel. I've been plying the two together with my wheel.

My spindle and whorl are from www.pallia.net. The merino is from a fleece I purchased at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I flicked the locks of the washed fiber and am spinning the flicked locks with the spindle.

So far, I have about 480 yards of two-ply merino/silk yarn.

I'm hoping to have somewhere around 800 yards or so when I'm done.

Lunar Halo with Moon Dogs

My husband took this picture on Christmas. The moon was full and there was a ring around it. The ring is called a lunar halo, and the two bright spots on either side are called moon dogs. When this happens to the sun, they are called sun dogs. It was a beautiful sight on Christmas night.

My new drop spindle

Here's a wooden spindle shaft with a handmade clay whorl, fired in a fire. It's modeled after really old types of spindles. I got it from a place in Germany called Pallia, found at www.pallia.net.

I got it to spin lace-weight yarn for my daughter's wedding shawl. It's pictured here with some of the flicked merino lockes that I'll be spinning for the shawl.

I really like my new spindle and whorl!

A variety of crab apples from the hedgerows

Soon to be crabapple jelly!

The Stahlstown Flax Scutching Festival

Here's a short video clip I shot at the Stahlstown Flax Scutching Festival in Stahlstown, PA yesterday. It was a fun little festival and I enjoyed watching the demo and seeing their flax breaks and other equipment. In the foreground is the breaking, behind that is the scutching, and off to the right is the hackling.

 

On the way there, we stopped for breakfast at a fun little doughnut shop in Cranberry, PA. The name was Peace Love and Little Doughnuts. If you ever have the chance to stop at one of these doughnut shops, don't miss the opportunity!

Pumpkins from my garden

A Romney Cross fleece just for me!

Back in 2013 I purchased a fleece that I was going to use just for myself. I've been busy and happy working with a lot of other fleeces making yarn for my shop, but I've had that one fleece just for me in the back of my mind all this time. It's been waiting for me, still raw, stuffed in one of those orange DIY store buckets with the lid snapped securely on since I bought it over two years ago. I figured it was finally time to open that bucket and get to work on that fleece.

 

I have been thinking of that fleece these past couple of years, remembering how nice it was, and dreaming of the sweater I would make with it. Well, I've washed it now and combed it with my four-pitch English wool combs and it is every bit as luscious as I knew it would be.

 

Here are a few of the combed puffs, ready for spinning:

 

 

 

I spun a small test skein of around 20 yards and knitted a quick swatch. It's soft and squishy and lovely: 

 

Can't wait till it's all spun up!

The culmination of my growing flax for linen experiment

So, three years ago I started growing flax in the hopes of processing it into linen yarn and then making something with it. This is something that I have secretly wanted to do ever since reading A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812, by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich back in the 1990's. 

 

Martha was a midwife in the later 1700's in New England. She kept a kitchen garden, an herb garden (medicinal) for her profession, and she grew flax so that she could make linen to weave into clothing. The flax garden is barely mentioned in her diary and in the book, but it fascinated me. She was by no means unique in this, many people made their own linen clothing this way.

 

Fast forward to 2010 when I took up spinning. Right away I started researching about growing flax for fiber. I started growing flax in 2012. I started with a small experimental plot, and then graduated to a larger one after that. For the past two years, I've grown flax in a 10' x 20' plot, harvested it, processed it into flax fiber, and spun the fiber up into laceweight linen yarn. 

 

After two years I had about 1500 yards of laceweight linen yarn - enough to make something. I chose to make a garment, and chose the knitted pattern Seta Sun, which I found on Ravelry. If I had a loom I would have woven cloth or towels, but I don't have a loom yet.

 

I began the top last week and finished yesterday. Here are a progression of photos:

 

 

 

I messed up the lace pattern at the bottom, but I actually like how it turned out, so I refrained from ripping back and re-doing. 

 

 

 

I really love my top. I am so happy to have done this after thinking about it and wanting to do something like it for so many years, even before I started spinning.

 

I will continue to grow flax for linen. Someday I'll have a loom, and then watch out! Until then, I'll make knitted things like this top. 

This year's (2015) flax-for-linen plot

 I planted my flax a few weeks ago by strewing the seeds. I had 13 ounces of seeds, 5 oz. of my own that I saved from last year's crop, and 8 oz. more that I bought. My plot is 10' x 20'. I divide that roughly in half with a roughly 1-foot swath down the middle for walking on to help with weeding. I prepare the plot by tilling in compost/manure, lime (flax likes a sweet soil), and alfalfa hay (which acts as a sort of slow-release nitrogen). Here is the plot just after strewing the seeds, raking lightly (lightly is the key word), and then stepping all over it to tamp it all down a bit:

 

 Here the flax is starting to sprout:

 

Here it's getting taller:

 

This is from today, it's starting to shoot up. It needs a good weeding, but we've had a week of steady rain and the soil is just too wet to weed. I've laid newspapers down the middle and put straw on top of that to keep the weeds in check on my little walking corridor. I think the flax is at week 4-5 here, I believe I planted in the week after Mother's Day:



 

 

We are finally looking at a rain-free day today, but this weekend it's back to rainy. It's really getting swampy out there, You can see how the plot next door on the left is flooded. Hoping things calm down a bit rain-wise, but it looks like we'll get still more in the coming week.

Knitting with homegrown, handspun linen

 I have finally begun knitting with my homegrown, handspun linen - the next stage in my flax-to-linen experiment/project. If you wish to see more about my foray into growing flax for linen, click on the flax and flax-to-linen labels at the bottom of this post.

 

 

 I'm knitting a pattern I found on Ravelry, called Seta Sun. You can find it here: Seta Sun by Birgit Freyer.

 

I have a lot going on, so it may take me a while to get this thing done, and who knows if my knitting skillz are up to it? But here goes!

Book Review: Wild, by Cheryl Strayed

When this book first came out, the few things I heard about it made me not want to read it, and I thought I never would. I thought it was going to be about a whiney, stupidly ill-prepared woman who bit off more that she could chew hiking the PCT and wrote a book about it. In my youth I enjoyed the outdoors and was a backpacker and maybe a little bit of a snob in that I had little patience for people who went into the wild unprepared. But my book club chose this book as the read this month and I decided, against my better judgment, that I would read it.

Well, actually I listened to it, and I was hooked pretty much from the beginning. Everybody sees the books they read differently from everyone else because of what they bring into them regarding their own life experiences. A lot of the reviewers saw this book the way I originally thought it would read, whiney and self-indulgent. But I ended up not seeing it that way at all. Yes, she was stupidly ill-prepared for such a monumental endeavor, and yet she was also very well prepared in some ways, having read the guidebooks and prepared packages for herself, etc.

What it really comes down to is that her life was on the cusp of something when she decided to do this hike. And the thing of it is, this was HER life, not yours and not a story made up to please anyone. This book is her life laid honestly bare. The book is about what she did to figure out which way she would ultimately nudge herself to go while her life teetered on that cusp.

And, putting all of the very personal stuff aside, just making a decision like the one to hike the PCT alone takes moxie. To actually go through with preparing to do it takes more. To sell everything you have to be able to do it is almost unimaginable. To do it with increments of $20 parsed out to yourself along the way because that's all the money you have in the world is just plain brave. And to get to the trail ill-prepared, with bad boots, a too heavy pack, in the Mojave in summer, begin, and not quit in the first week, much less the first couple of days, is outright bold. To actually finish hiking over 1000 miles of challenging wilderness alone with all of the above being true, is absolutely heroic. And to come out of it at the end having gone through something of a cleansing crucible is absolutely wild.

Finding a gem of a fleece

Today I have been working with a beautiful Icelandic fleece I got at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I didn't get it at the fleece sale - if there had been any Icelandic there, they were gone by the time I was looking for them. I bought mine at the Icelandic Breeders booth. There were several fleeces there and I looked at possibly all of them until I found one that really caught my eye.

The one that caught my eye wasn't as large as most of the others, and it cost less per pound than the others. It was white with small brown patches throughout, but what really caught my eye was that the thel (the softer part of the dual coat) looked exceptionally soft and wonderful. The woman I talked to, to ask about it happened to own the farm from which this fleece came. She explained that it cost less per pound than the others because it wasn't skirted. She sounded apologetic about this, but it didn't bother me. I had pawed through the bag and was satisfied that it wasn't exceptionally dirty - in fact I found it  a little hard to believe that it hadn't been skirted. When I said I would like to buy it she asked if I had seen that it was spotted, and I said yes. She seemed apologetic about that, too. I don't know why, because I came out of that booth thinking that I had gotten by far the best fleece of the bunch. And I still think that.

I've been separating tog (the longer, courser part of the dual coat) from thel  today and am looking forward to the day when I can spin the different fibers up. I am really wanting a loom now because I would dearly love to weave this up into a shawl or a small blanket, using the tog as warp and the thel as weft.

I have the contact information for the farm and when I am finished processing this fleece I want to contact the woman and let her know how special this fleece has been. For some reason, I don't think she realized what a gem this fleece was and I want to make sure she knows how much pleasure it's giving me to work with it.