Seal of Good Housekeeping

While the weather was cloudy yesterday afternoon but the expected rain hadn’t started yet, T-Man and I went for one of our usual long walks. Spring is definitely springing here, but in deference to our poor eastern folks and their ongoing winter, I’ll spare you the details. If it makes you feel any better, it’s cooled down some and raining on and off so I’m not able to get back into the garden. I need to finish my gloves because there’s still time to wear them.

Speaking of which, here’s a progress photo:

There’s 3 separate holding threads: one on the thumb stitches, one on the baby finger stitches and one left on the ring finger stitches. The other one looks just the same because I match up the finger lengths before I complete the decreases for the finger tips. This ensures that they are as much alike as possible. I think you can clearly see where the baby finger begins lower down than the rest of the fingers. That fits me much better than putting them all on the same level. I would have finished these things by now but I keep distracting myself with other stuff. Such as YouTube videos.

Here’s a video of woolcombing Pt1 of 4, follow the links for the rest. If I went through all those steps I’d never get around to combing anything. I skip the heating the tines, which only get cool again about the time you get the comb loaded with wool. And it’s hard on the wooden part of the comb which can discolour and warp. Your tines can actually come loose and fall out. I also skip the oil/water spray and only use a light water spritz if the weather is very dry and static builds up. If you’re really having trouble, just add a little hair conditioner in the water. The oil (notice she doesn’t mention what kind) can go rancid and sticky if you don’t wash it out very soon. It can be hard to wash out properly too.

Here’s a video of bunny grooming Pt1 of 6. Makes me miss my English angora bunnies — but not enough to get more of them.

This one shows you Navajo plying. Apart from creating the first loop differently, this is pretty much how I Navajo ply. This girl is too funny! Check out her other videos.

And this shows how to weave on a little 2” hand-loom. There is a neat trick to warping these little darlings so that you have minimum needle-weaving to do. Somebody needs to do a whole book on what to do with them after you’ve made a couple of hundred.

I’ve also been reading Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, the first book of which they made into the movie The Golden Compass. (Warning: heavy Flash graphics & sound at that link. Or try this one instead.) The Wikipedia entry has lots of good info too. I was surprised that this story was marketed to young adults since it’s really more adult in tone and concepts. That doesn’t mean to slag smart young folks though! I would have loved it myself when I was young (if it had been written then) and of course do now. A strong and intelligent female protagonist like Lyra is always appreciated, not to mention her nasty but beautiful nemesis, Mrs. Coulter. However if you’re particularly religious, be aware that it has a very humanist or even atheist slant. (Right up my alley!) Unhappily I’ve heard rumours that the movie didn’t do well enough for them to consider filming the rest of the story. Darn. I’m halfway through the second book. Can’t put it down.

Since I’ve been lazing around this week not accomplishing much to speak of (besides reading and knitting glove fingers), I got into house-proud mode today. After cleaning the bathroom, stripping the bed, vacuuming the basement, sorting the laundry and sending the first 2 loads through (one more to go), I’ve yet to make the bed up again. And I haven’t done the dishes yet either. Do I have to return my Martha S badge now?