Monday, September 10, 2007

After working like crazy last week I managed to get the first draft of the grant application handed in ... its not over yet but the end is definately a lot nearer in sight. On friday night I collapsed in a heap ... DH was wonderful he made me lots of cups of tea .. saturday passed in a bit of a blur although I managed a swim for the first time in a month which felt fantastic. Then yesterday after a brief trip into town I left DH to go to the cinema and then to watch the rugby and I caught the train home. It stopped outside Mount Florida ... points failure up ahead ... (I should point out here that most of the time I catch public transport 'something' happens mostly DH thinks its me making excuses for running late I kid you not) ... 45 minutes later train reverses and heads back towards town ... I ended up walking home!
Anyway I had a lovely long productive afternoon ...

Firstly I made beer for DH ... from scratch
This is my improvised mash tun with malt added (crystal, belgian and smoked barley, and a little curacao orange peel out of curiosity)

Add hot water and leave for an hour or so, then drain the wort and boil for another hour, add some hops (hallertau) and leave to cool. Make up to the correct gravity (1040 - DH doesn't like his beer too strong) using hardened water (I have to preharden the water as its too soft here). Then check the temperature (below 30 degrees) and add yeast culture.

Leave for about 20 days to ferment ...

Last week my good friend H gave me some wonderful plums and a huge bag of apples from her parents garden. They became plum cake and spiced apple compote.

Next some sunflower sourdough bread for DH.
meanwhile I'd also been washing the fleece I got last weekend ...
all finished and drying. Picture above shows shetland below BFL.
Then I sat down for 15mins with the wheel and my big book of handspinning ... ta da! Its a little bit think and thin, the thick bits (about sock weight (when plyed) and the thin gossamer-lace).


Here is the steady progress on the thistle ... up to round 62 and she's big already!
Finally I got a card for a special delivery parcel on friday. The only thing I was waiting for was the Wollmeise sock yarn ... it couldn't be here already I only ordered it from Germany last week ... it was

Pfauenauge, poison no5 and tiefer see!



4 comments:

LUL said...

Wow, you sure have been very productive! Your homespun yarn looks great to me :-)
I have to do a bit of baking soon too but one of my doug hooks broke when I last made some fruit 'n fiber buns and a new one costs around 15 pounds!! Figured I'd just buy another mixer instead! At least I'll then have spare bits for when it breaks again!

Anonymous said...

The Wollmeise is BEAUTIFUL! What are you planning with the three skeins of pfauenauge?

Scottishf said...

You have been busy! Not had my dinner yet and your food pics are making me hungry!!

Twelfthknit said...

Hi _ what kinf od wheel/s do you have? I have a Kiwi and a Majacraft Rose - love 'em both.
India