Monday, July 14, 2025

Speaking of the magnetic properties of water and other things

 But first the winnowed storage area 

Quite a bit of this stuff is Gary's. I've always left this door unlocked so neighbors can borrow and return tools rather than buying them. So other tools have migrated here to join mine, for the same use.



Sunday morning on the  antfree deck.






Everything's booming now and there's been rain, always a help. It's such a pleasure to just sit, look, listen, breathe.

About lucets, here's a gallery of what occurred to me just now and what happened after that. Here's the grabber just innocently hanging about.


Look at the working end


Too big for yarn, why not rags





A rag rope, wobbly first try. There are a couple of slight drawbacks, one being the grabber is designed to hold on, not let loops slip off, and another is the unwieldy length of it.  Also the size of it, which is why I tore cotton strips rather than wrangle yarn. And you need a hole to start the yarn through, so I had to improvise there. Other than that, Mrs Lincoln.

But all in all, I think this was a good adaptation. And the process, slipping loops over, is like spool knitting, except that you turn the tool a one-eighty to create each new loop.  

Now I need a real lucet. But meanwhile I made a cardboard one to try 





Notice I put the hole in the wrong place. Then I made another one higher up, and that worked better.

I need a wooden lucet, to keep the tension steady. You can see the irregular loops where the cardboard kept buckling, didn't hold tight enough. But it was okay to learn on. And with a polished wood tool, the yarn will slip over the horns better and feed through the hole smoothly.

I learned a lot from these two experiments.


Happy day everyone, learn something. I think the results are less important than the fun of trying something like this braid -making, where you're developing skills.  You're doing what people did in medieval times.  




53 comments:

  1. Irregular loops notwithstanding, that you braided it at all with a makeshift cardboard lucet is impressive.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was pleased with it, wobbly as it was, just learning the steps. Now I'm interested in seeing what else around the house might work, thinking meat fork?

      Delete
  2. It's helpful to have a community tool chest. I'm sure everyone appreciates it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Several neighbors have used it. Gary's in and out all the time.

      Delete
  3. Your coleus is certainly looking splendid.
    The lucet is interesting. I look forward to see what you can make.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The coleus is having a banner year. I'll give a couple of them away for houseplants in the fall.

      Delete
  4. “results are less important than the fun of trying” Words to live by!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's my mantra! No need to hesitate in case you won't be very good at it, you're entitled to try.

      Delete
  5. Chris, I hit the wrong button and erased your comment before I even got to read it, so sorry. Would you mind trying again, with the gist? Shouldn't do this before coffee.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No need. It's reappeared. Don't ask me, I only live here.

      Delete
  6. Well, I see the photos, but still don't understand the process. I'll try googling it next. Love the coleus!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You need to see the action. YouTube has good videos

      Delete
  7. And when you get a wooden one, you'll already have the basics down. Excellent!
    Your deck is looking terrific.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I won't be an all thumbs beginner. I'll be an all thumbs intermediate!

      Delete
  8. I didn't even know what a lucet was but your photos and description explained it well... Good luck with that!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To see it in action, take a look at YouTube. It's pretty simple.

      Delete
  9. Your garden is full. Ours is pretty much at its peak

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wait till the hibiscus blooms. I'll have to pull my chair back.

      Delete
  10. I've always loved coleus. Mine grew like bushes in my planters...which is how I loved them. But they are brittle for the ND winds up here and would always start snapping off come fall.
    Loved the storage area shared with the neighbors.
    I will have to look for a lucet in action on YouTube. It is beyond my experience to understand how it works--lol! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's a mystery to most people. Then when you see it in action, it's so clear.

      Delete
  11. Your plants are looking fantastic. Your ingenuity is wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I used to hear from HP it wasn't easy to live with someone who tended to co-opt items for off label use.

      Delete
  12. I just learned what a lucet is. I had no idea!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I too was ignorant regards the lucet and then I went down and lo - you discussed it yesterday. So nice to have a friendly neighbourhood.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm glad you scrolled back. Sometimes readers forget to do that and they're a bit baffled.

      Delete
  14. You really did give it a red hot go.
    Is there a mens shed in your area? Maybe if you give them the cardboard cut up, someone there might be able to make you one out of wood.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Read on, Angela! There's no concept of a men's shed here I think. But I have a woodworking craftsman across the street who could make me a beauty if requested.

      Delete
  15. I;m with so many other about the lucet. Learning something everyday. Your garden looks amazing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fiber arts have a lot of ancient names for tools. Swift, niddynoddy, diz, loads of unguessable words.

      Delete
  16. The first thing that I thought of was a horseshoe would make a good lucet. The nail holes might be too small, but you could have one bore out. The simple weight of it would keep tension on your work to make it a bit tighter. But this is just the thoughts of a woman who heard the term 'lucet' just yesterday for the first time. On a blog...if only I could remember where... Hmmmmmm....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. An inventive idea! You do need a handle though, but who am I to judge, who just used a meat fork!

      Delete
  17. PS I love your shed. We do the same thing with our tractor pulled cultivator. We leave it at my brother in law's open equipment shed. Whoever needs it can come over and hook their tractor to it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like that idea. Here, townhouses occupied mainly by former city dwellers, people don't even have things like stepladders, let alone spades or forks. I've shown a few people how to dig! Just a couple of square yards but you do need tools.

      Delete
  18. I love the Mutt's cartoon. And it's very interesting to see the progress of your artistic idea and where it led you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Where it led me is exactly right. I'm not in charge here.

      Delete
  19. You are so creative, and right about having fun!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's good to try to find a bit of fun if you can. Not always easy.

      Delete
  20. where i used to live the community toolchest was called 'the librsry of things'… That was a cunning idea to use rag strips for the bulky braid, now my brain is working on rag rug ideas using that process.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You could certainly make the braid for rag rugs this way, probably better with knitted fabric, maybe t-shirts.
      Our public library has a lending library of things, all kinds of tools and gadgets you only need occasionally.

      Delete
  21. Thank you for showing us the lucet experiments because now I have a better idea of how it works.
    The shed looks wonderfully organized, at least until someone decides to add more to it.
    Our library has a 'things' area too, but it's mainly for kids. They just did an online survey asking for input on what we would like to see the library do over the next ten years. I suggested they needed to add jigsaw puzzles and also set up a table like your library has so the public can work on them. I suggested it awhile ago to one of the librarians and she told me it would never happen because the staff would be required to count every single piece every time a puzzle was returned and it would be a waste of their time. My response was...whatever happened to the honour system?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Are they required to check that every page of a returned book is there?

      Delete
  22. Dear friend Joyful 🥰
    Your garden just uplifted my heart 🤗♥️
    Such a lovely and serene space to relax 👍🥰
    Your deck is beautiful as well wow😍
    I appreciate how you are learning new things my friend,it’s always a pleasure huge sense of accomplishment 👍♥️
    Your improvisation on cardboard is awesome 👍🤗
    More goodness to you and yours 🙏♥️

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm glad you enjoy following my doings! I do enjoy learning new things, true.

      Delete

Please read the comments before yours and see if your question is already answered!