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.  

Brigid,February, yarn ahoy and Japanese textiles

White rabbits, finally February got here and the daylight is, bit by bit, getting longer. Imbolc, celebrating spring and fertility. 

St Brigid's Day. She was a sixth century Irish powerhouse, both in lore and religious belief. Here's her cross

Showing the Celtic and Christian blend. 

If you remembered to put out on the evening of January 31, on a bush, a piece of fabric, emblematic of her cloak, she may bless it as she passes during the night. Then you'll have its healing properties in your house for the year.

Yesterday the mail brought this

The promised cotton yarn from lovely C.,  plus a bonus bag, seen in front,  of finer gauge cotton yarn she found and added in, wheeee!!

And right away 

That lovely green is already being incorporated into the current undie. I'm now using the first pair as a pattern to follow, since it fits.

Then this afternoon there was a short online presentation from The Textile Museum Journal, about Japanese  worsted muslin, fine wool fabric for clothing including kimonos. 

Actresses were hired to model for advertisements 

And school textbooks taught about textiles including this fabric

Here the Empress is pregnant and  the royal household announces the imperial baby will be dressed simply, in worsted muslin, probably to encourage use of the modest, inexpensive fabric, since the population might be influenced by the imperial household.

The first mention of war refers to the 1904 Russo-Japanese war. 

It's a rapid sociological look at a textile form, and the importance to the Japanese island nation which imported most of its raw wool from Australia. 

When Australia cut back on exporting wool to Japan, before WW2,  it caused shortages and the population was encouraged to economize and recycle, back in 1937. 

It was an interesting wander around a piece of  history in textiles I wasn't familiar with, with a personable presenter. Nice

Happy day everyone, misfits expected today. I have plans for chickpea potato fritters breaded in panko, when the potatoes (I think) I ordered, arrive.