Summer of eggs

So shoe making did not really get anywhere. I decided really, I don't have the correct tools. A draw knife would make it more managable, looking at that piece of wood and thinking about carving it up with a swiss army knife, or a spoke shave made me go put the kettle on and get a sock to knit on!! Also, a couple of weeks later, I noticed a cracked paving slab where they had all been fine. It dawned on me that it was just about in the area I had been smashing logs attached to axes on the ground....

So having decided it probably wouldn't matter if they got burned this winter, I promptly went out and bought the pair of clogs that helped inspire me in the first place, but had decided where rediculous.

never mind, I have them now.

The other factor was the addition of 6 new members of the family. Well, as I keep them behind a wire fence in the garden, they are more like prisoners of war, as I don't really do that with my children, or siblings. I have chickens!!

Allosaurus, Babs, Cloudy, Diplodicus,Edwina, and Milly are Ex-battery Lohman browns, recovered through BHWT. I have heard of other organisations that recover hens too, and in future I will find a less commercial scheme.

After estimating we needed 6 hens to give us 18 eggs a week, I have been inundated with eggs. They are providing on adverage 5 a day since we moved them over to an Organic pellet feed instead of the Ex-batt crumb recommended. Their digestion is rather sensitive, and it is taking a while for their plumage to come back fully. But as someone who is unclear where she stands on the ethics of keeping animals primarily for human benefit, Ex-battery hens are a safe option. I have figured they will have paid for themselves after 1 year, though if they keep popping so many eggs it will be much sooner!

So with the vegetable garden in full swing and EGGsellent hens, it is all feeling very bountiful here in my house, even without home-made clogs.

first trip out for the boldest hen.

shoemaking!!

I have had this yen to make some shoes.
It all happened after I went shoe shopping in my lunch break last week. Got some shoes that would not wear away the heels of my beautiful handknit sox I have made out of inappropriate yarns. very comfy Alegrias, from PG Lite. But boring! There where some outragious Rocket Dog clogs, with crochet uppers and wooden soles, but they didn't fit me, as I have rather wide feet. I came home with my boring comfy clogs and thought "I must be able to make these myself". Unfortunatly the Interwob had other plans. I could not find any decent info out there on clog making. Lots of demo videos on youtube, but nothing concise. Unless I wanted to either take a week course in London for £££££ or an undergrad course at Demontfort Uni. No thanks!!

So last week me and the Girl started on a pair, and here is the first episode in our journey.


First, we found our wood. Oh, how convenient! the trees we got off the building site behind our house are sycamore, a good wood for clog making, as it splits less as it dries out. Alder could have been a good choice too.

Next, I sawed a longer-than-foot-sized piece off it. It had been there a while, and I figured the end might be a bit less nice. I was right! I like to use my legs to brace wood when I am rough sawing, and this time I just used the woodworking(is it a crosscut?) saw in the cupboard. I was impressed at the way it handled the green wood. I would have gone for a Bow saw, if we had one. Then for splitting. taking the saw again, I made a cut across the top of the log, following the largest radial split. That was to try and eliminate my work splitting further down the line.

When the cut was deep enough to hold it in place, I took the splitting axe and centered it in that cut.
The next bit could have been easier with another pair of hands(by this time the Girl had started her own project).
balancing a piece of wood on the back of the axe, I took a lump hammer and had a smack at it. repeat as necessary.

When the axe "bit", I did away with the wood and hammer. turned the whole affair upside down and dropped it on said wood several times, using the weight of the log to drive the axe in, and split it!!

The split was quite clean, with only minimal twist. Dunno if that is to do with the wood. Who cares, I'm happy!
So, figured our how wide I wanted it by putting the "master" clog on end of the wood and snapped a line across the ball. Took an axe and trimmed the edges of the half-log down to size.

Above you can see the two different axes I was using. On the left was the splitting axe, which has a wedge-shaped profile, therefore driving the wood apart. The one on the right has a Kent axe head, and that has a thinner blade, so more useful for trimming and shaping the wood.

To be continued....

Fancy spats

An innovative accessory for jazzing up boring shoes, or wear as frilly wrist warmers. In 4 sizes from toddler to large adult, techniques needed include jogless joins, picking up stitches and knitting in the round. shown here in debbie bliss cashmerino aran.                                         




FREE!!

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socks and shoes-backdated!!

So, on the 17th i gave up on the xmas knitting, cos it was me birthday, yippie!
i do wonder when you grow out of a birthday being sooo exiting, but maybe that i will never grow up that much. i hope.
any-hoo, I cast on some frivalous, super-nice, just for me knitting, kai-mei by Cookie A, from her book Sock Innovation. this is going a treat, I have almost reached the toe decrease, but stumbled across two issues, both self created.
Number one- the sock foot has a lace panel that travels across the foot from one gusset to the toe on the other side. the set-up row before creating the gusset involves place 4(ish) markers in the round. i took these out when i had finished gusseting, as i thought i would go that bit faster without slipping them all every round, as the stitches told me how to proceed. problem was, when checking out how far to knit the foot, (when i had done 5") i noticed a referral to said markers, and i can't get my head around where they where. bum.
so to try and get around this, I am looking up other projects on ravelry to see how far over that pesky lace panel travels, before the toe starts.
I will smile again when I have caught up wth my ripped-knitting. unfortunatly that was about 2 days worth, and I had hoped to cast on number two on new years eve.

Number two-while looking at said project pics on ravelry, it came to my attention I still have no sock shoes! this is a dilemma I have been facing for a while, that I wear trainer-type footwear for the most, so I can cycle in them, and I have wider that femaley average feet, so low cut shoes are usually too narrow. this pattern all the detail is on the foot, so it will be hidden most of the time! I think there is an extensive (child-free) shopping trip on the horizon......