I finished tying the baby quilt today, and it's washed and ready for my friend's little one. I tied it on the "wrong" side, as the floral is so busy - I thought it would just add to it. This gives the whiteness and bit of interest, and hopefully conceal the tasselly ends from their cat - I know how that can be!
Gretchen had asked me what I'm going to knit next, and I thought maybe a shawl, but a friend told me the fingerless mitts I'd made for her years ago finally wore out. So, I ordered yarn to make another pair and am waiting for it to arrive. I remember enjoying making them back then. Let's see if I can do it again without too much head-scratching!
I've been going through my old British Country Living magazines - I kept three issues for each month, not being able to part with them. Until now, but I'm cutting out anything which appeals to me, and putting it all in red folders, one for each month. This will take up way less room! There's a magazine swap bin at the library so they can go there if they aren't too cut up.. A woman named Sally Coulthard had a column every month; she's got a farm and animals and she does country things. Then I saw a book review, of a book she wrote about sheep. I found a copy in a nearby library, and was amazed to find a list of books by her on the back flap - she's written many books! Here are a few. So I guess she's really a writer who also has a farm.
Anyway, she did lots of research and the book is very interesting. The one I saw in the magazine is called A Short History of the World According to Sheep. The one I have is called Follow the Flock. It has to be the same book. It seems the ancient Scythians were the ones who really mastered the use of felt and they would carry their sheep when they moved around, strapped to the backs of the horses. And, did you know the Romans' shields were covered in felt? Pliny said, "wool is compressed also for making felt, which when soaked in vinegar is capable of even resisting iron..." I wonder how true that is.
Felt compacted and of a certain thickness would do this better than you think. See also research articles confirming the effectiveness of “salt-hardened wool” , and even Ancient Chinese *paper* armor… there’s also a website called MyArmoury.com with some entries that reference Pliny’s Fabric Armor and there are quite a few serious examples from museums provided in the discussion (after you get past the incredulous jokers)! Essentially, it has to do with how the physical energy of the attacking weapon is distributed into the armor materials the vinegar allowing the wool fibers to densely compact. We think of metal as stronger than fabric, but there’s a physics to the fabric armor that actually makes sense
ReplyDeleteJennifer, this is so interesting! How did someone as knowledgeable as you end up reading my blog? :D Thanks for the info. It's plain that we really have lost so many connections to the natural world, and we think we can invent everything from scratch, when, if we really respect and learn about the world around us, we would see that it's enough. But there isn't much money to be made by that, is there?
DeleteI love the British /country Living magazine! I have kept a few of the older copies too.
ReplyDeleteI just checked our library, and they have Sally Coulthard's "...World According to Sheep", and also "Crafted - a compendium of crafts" by her. I have reserved both :)
She seems to know a lot. Happy reading!
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