lundi 23 mars 2015

First weekend of spring

First weekend of spring.... finally ! 
Spring ... long awaited!
Spring and all promises of renewal ...
Birds sang all over the weekend ...
The sun was a little bit shy. It hid a while the first day of spring. I haven't seen it hidden. And you, did you see it eclipsed ? 

Premier week-end de printemps ... enfin ! 
Le printemps ...  tant attendu ! 
Le printemps et toutes ses promesses de renouveau ...
Les oiseaux ont chanté tout le week-end ...
Le soleil s'est parfois montré timide. Il s'est même caché un moment au premier jour de printemps. Je ne l'ai pas vu faire. Et vous ? 

My weekend started on friday. It was a day off for me.
Three days for my first weekend of spring. 
That was a great and a very busy one !  

Despite the chilliness, I spent time outside. 
Outside, in my garden for pruning one of my cherry tree. I have 13 fruit trees and it has been many years since I pruned them. I really had to do it ! 
Whilst being there, I enjoyed again the wild blooming flowers which grow fast. 
Like these more and more opened violets ...

Quant à moi, j'ai pointé mon nez dehors pas mal de temps malgré le froid. 
J'ai passé quelques heures dans mon jardin pour du travail d'élagage d'un de mes cerisiers. J'ai en effet 13 arbres fruitiers et voici un certain temps que je ne m'en suis pas occupés. Il faut vraiment que je le fasse ! 
J'ai pu admirer les fleurs qui y poussent et se développent rapidement. 
Comme ces violettes de plus en plus nombreuses ...




Like these primroses ... 
Comme ces primevères ...


Like these hyacinths sun-drenched.
Comme ces hyacinthes qui se gorgent de ces quelques rayons de soleil.



Like these little yellow flowers from a tree of which I still don't know the name. 
Comme cette petite fleur de cet arbre dont je ne connais toujours pas le nom ....


Like these new buds on my "viorne obier" (I didn't find its english name. It's a tree with big white balls like snow balls. If someone knows it, please tell me the english name). 
Et des bourgeons nouveaux sur mon viorne obier ou boule de neige.

My garden is waking up slowly and is offering a wonderful show of colors and scents. 
Mon jardin se réveille doucement offrant un merveilleux spectacle de couleurs et d'odeurs. 

For me the beginning of this spring is special because of my new activity. A couple of months ago, I started spinning and I love that. I caught the bug of handspinning !! I'm feeling addict !
To practice more and seriously, I need more and more wool. To get some at the lowest cost, there's one solution : to work from raw fleeces. That means turning raw fleeces into wool ready to spin. The problem was to find raw fleeces and not too far from here. Indeed, I live in a big grain-producing region. I've never seen any herd or flock or cattle anywhere in the département. I wasn't sure to find some raw fleeces nearby and ... I was wrong. After a quick research on the internet, I found 3 sheep farms and also an Alpagas Suri farm within 40 kms !!! A very big surprise and a real joy for me because when I called the farmers they were all pleased to speak with someone interested by their fleeces and by handspinning. They don't usually do anything with them. So, they will set aside fleeces for me after the shearing in next april or may ! That means I'll get and buy raw fleeces from different breeds like Shetland, Texel, Ile de France, Solognotte and even Alpaga Suri. 

At the same time, I was given some fleeces by M. a spinner friend of mine who has 4 sheeps and already uses to work on raw fleeces. So, this weekend I wanted to try to wash them. And I did it.  

Pour moi ce printemps est particulier car j'ai pu débuter une nouvelle activité. 
Ma nouvelle pratique du filage m'amène à vouloir avoir de plus en plus de laine. Pour satisfaire ce besoin au moindre coût, il n'y a qu'une solution : travailler à partir de la toison brute et la transformer en laine à filer. Le hic est que la région où je vis est plutôt une région céréalière. Et aucun troupeau de bétails ou de quoi que ce soit dans le département. Néanmoins, une rapide recherche sur le net m'a amenée à répertorier des éleveurs de moutons et même d'Alpagas Suri dans un rayon de 40 kms !!!! Une énorme surprise pour moi et un vrai bonheur puisque ces éleveurs m'attendent après les tontes d'avril ou mai ! Je vais donc récupérer et acheter de la toison brute pour pouvoir la préparer au filage. Je devrais obtenir de la laine Shetland, Texel, Ile de France, Solognotte et même de l'Alpaga Suri. 
Parallèlement, mon amie M., fileuse, m'avait donnée il y a quelques temps quelques toisons. Je me suis donc lancée dans leur lavage ce week-end.  

But before washing the fleeces, I had to remove the vegetable matter and the dirt. For that, I built a washing table with a large frame (110 x 190 cms) covered in mesh. I laid the fleeces on it to prepare them. 
Au préalable, il m'a fallu construire un tamis sur lequel écharpiller et secouer les toisons pour ôter tous les débris végétaux et les saletés. 



I'll use this table also to dry them sheltered from the sun. 
Ce tamis me servira également à les sécher à l'abri du soleil.


Then, to complete the dirt removing I used an old tumble-dryer which not heating up at all because the heating element is bust. I made it run 30 minutes for each fleece. The result is stunning : dust and dirt are removed quite well. See on the pic below. The fleece is cleaner. 

Parallèlement, j'ai acheté d'occasion un sèche linge dont la résistance est morte et qui ne chauffe donc pas. J'y ai fait tourner chaque toison 1/2 heure et le résultat est stupéfiant puisque beaucoup de poussière et de saletés sont débarassées.  
On voit bien ci-dessous que la toison est déjà bien débarrassée de saletés.


See below, the buckets and tubs I used for washing. One can see the different steps of cleaning with the colors change of water. I used cold water. That means I'll spin in grease. I want to try it. I usually spin with very clear fleece (washed with hot water). 
Depending on my feeling with spinning in grease, I'll wash the next fleeces in cold or hot water. 

Voici ma petite installation de lavage de ces deux toisons. 
On voit bien le changement de couleur de l'eau au fur et à mesure des bains. J'ai utilisé de l'eau froide.


After washing :
Après lavage :


Later, I'll use only rainwater collected in a big tank. 
Pour le lavage, je compte utiliser uniquement de l'eau de pluie que je récupère dans une cuve.


Here, the fleece is drying. 
Look at the color of this one below .... I love it !


The fleece dryed over the whole weekend.
La toison a séché tout le week end.

My woolly project takes shape and turns out right. I'm soooo excited !!! 
The next step is to card or to comb the wool. For that, I've bought a drum carder. I'm supposed to receiving it from United States in 3 weeks. 
For the combs, I think I'm gonna make them by myself.
I will tell you about all of this later when I have my equipment and some new fleeces. And of course I will show you what will happen to these both fleeces already washed ... 

I know it's a very beginning for me and I have to improve the process of removing, skirting and washing the raw fleeces. But I'm so motivated ... I really hope I'll succeed !! 

Pour  donner corps à mon projet de préparation au filage de la toison, j'ai acheté une cardeuse à rouleaux que je devrais recevoir d'ici 3 semaines puisqu'elle vient des Etats-Unis. Je vous en dirai davantage sur ce point quant je l'aurai reçue ... Et je vous montrerai ce que seront devenues ces deux toisons. 

The rest of the time, I continued to prune my trees in my garden. 
Le reste du week end j'ai poursuivi mes travaux d'élagage de certains arbres.


I also filled a basket with my ends yarn for birds' nests ... and put and jammed it between two main branches of one of my cherry trees. 
J'ai également préparé un panier rempli de tous mes petits bouts de laine pour aider les oiseaux avec leurs nids.


I finished this busy weekend by crocheting some raws of my blue minihexis rippled blanket. Still a real pleasure through my fingers. 
A la fin  de ce week-end chargé, j'ai crocheté quelques rangs de ma couverture bleue aux minihexagones et vagues. Un pur bonheur. 



And to finish this post I also want to say one word about my friday photos, especially those with birds ... I must confess I haven't any special deal with Mother Nature ... ! :-)) 
When I spot a bird around me and nearby I stop moving, I'm waiting for a moment. I'm taking slowly my camera, stop again moving and then I'm shooting. The process takes time but I'm patient. I have a zoom, not a big one but I think it helps even so. 
But sometimes I'm very very closed to birds ... I don't know why they let me approach them like that ... I'm lucky ! 


Please Take Care
and 
See you soon ! 
xx

I want you to thank you all again for stopping by, reading my little stories and leaving me your kind comments. I'm so happy to read you and to have you near !

18 commentaires:

  1. What a wonderful post, spring is definitely all about. Love the process with the fleece, exciting times.

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  2. Such lovely springy things springing all around you!! It looks and sounds as though you are having a wonderful time right now! I hope that continues all year long. xx

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  3. Lovely to see all your spring flowers Geraldine especially those pretty little French violets!
    Good luck with all your spinning and how fortunate to be able to get some fleeces especially the alpaca!
    Have a good week,
    V x

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  4. You have been reale busy and when I read your words I think of myself some years ago. Hold on, spinning is so wonderfull!
    The plant could be a (snowball) Hydranten.
    Enjoy your free time, Birgit

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  5. La chance d'Avoir le printemps... Et quel beau retour aux sources avec le filage.
    C'est tout un investissement mais franchement le plaisir et le résultat doivent valoir tout le travail que cela demande.
    En tout cas, c'est un beau projet et j'ai bien hâte de voir les photos de ton filage final et des tricots à venir.
    Ta couverture semble bien avancer. C'Est pas mal en bleu aussi.
    Belle journée.
    Miss

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  6. C'est vrai que toutes ces fleurs sont magnifiques et qu'elles réchauffent le coeur après l'hiver ! J'ai le même arbuste à fleurs jaunes et je ne sais pas non plus son nom....
    Bonne continuation pour ta couverture et le filage de tes toisons !
    Bisous et bonne semaine !
    Anna

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  7. Love your spring photos! All the flowers look wonderful and the ripple blanket is lovely.

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  8. I so enjoyed your post, Geraldine. The spring and the flowers and the wool, it is really interesting to see the process involved. I hope you're having a wonderful week.
    Amalia
    xo

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  9. I can't wait to see your fleece go from "sheep" to "skein" ..... it looks like it takes a LOT of work.

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  10. What an amazing post, so full of beauty and interesting projects! x

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  11. What a lovely interesting post!
    I like the primroses all in the grass (with me they are wandering too, out from the rabatts)
    You can spin - wow!

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  12. Comme toi, j'admire ces fleurs ! Ton arbuste à fleurs jaunes ne serait-il pas une corète du Japon ?
    J'ai hâte de voir ce que tu feras de tes toisons !
    Et je n'ai malheureusement pas pu voir l'éclipse, trop de nuages chez nous !

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  13. Hi Geraldine, this is very interesting for me. Now I get to know in detail how wool is being processed manually and used for spinning. Looking forward to see more post on this. You have very pretty flowers in your garden, which we do not have here.

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  14. Ce domaine m'est inconnu, je suis curieuse de voir le resultat de tes efforts avec les toisons! Tes photos m'emerveillent Geraldine, elles sont super!
    Olympia

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  15. You make me want to go and find a fleece and wash it, how fun! I love that you are so in love with spinning, I think I might be to if I were to give it a try. Time is limited so I am sticking with crochet or knitting for now. Love the signs of Spring.
    Hugs to you and I am excited to see how your fleece spins up.
    Meredith

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  16. Un week end de travail mais très créatif aussi !

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  17. Wow Géraldine, you have been very busy. How lucky to have found some fleece so close to home. I do love the natural colours. Will you keep the natural colours or do you plan to dye some of your fleece? You are lucky to have the resources and the room for your mesh wool-cleaning table and lots of fruit trees.

    You have left threads out in the tree for your birds to make nests - do you ever find the nests with your threads woven into them? I hope your threads are short because birds can get injured if they get tangled up with long threads, especially synthetics and strong nylon threads. If a bird gets its feet tangled in a thread, the bird will tug on the thread to remove it. If the thread is tangled, it will just pull tighter and tighter with each tug and can cut the bird or stop circulation like a tourniquet. Birds can lose limbs and die from infections like this. On the other hand, I hear quite frequently from people in the northern hemisphere that it is helpful for birds to have a bunch of threads to choose from to make their nests in early spring because of a lack of new vegetation or natural nesting materials due to the snow.

    I hope you have a happy balance in your garden. What types of fruit are you growing besides cherries? My garden has lemons, limes, apricot, peach and pomegranate but they are very young trees with very small yields at the moment. Enjoy your spring!

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    Réponses
    1. Thanks for your visit and your comment. I do take care for the lenght of the threads, I don't want to hurt any birds. I saw that some threads are taken ... Year It's usual here to give them some wool at the beginning of spring.
      In my garden, I have 3 cheery trees, 4 apple trees, 3 pears tree, 1 walnuts, 1 cherry-plum tree and 1 greengages tree. Have a wonderful week ahead ...

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