Carding and Spinning, Washing Wool, A Name, and Turtles.

A Journal of what I did this week.

My spinning wheel is working. I turned a new whorl for it on my small treadle lathe. I also bought a set of antique carders to prepare my wool for spinning.

The yarn I am spinning is rather lumpy and uneven, but I can get as much wool as I need to practice with.

Currently I am washing a lot of wool to be used as insulation in one of the tiny homes we are building, we bought this wool from local shearers for a cheap price. The sheep are raised for meat not for wool.

I soak the wool in hot water in the plastic tubs. After soaking overnight I pile it on the wagon to let the water drain out. When the wool is drier and lighter, I toss it onto the racks to finish drying. The biggest challenge with cleaning wool is if you agitate it when it is wet it will felt and lose some of its insulative value. Soaking in hot water will dissolve a lot of the dirt and the lanolin in the wool, it will make it smell better and less attractive to moths.

I have a name for my property now, I thought of the name while I was biking to work the other morning. I get most of my best ideas while biking. The name I ended up on is Akengard, my timberframe building will be called Akengard Hall. The meaning comes from the Old English/Germanic root Aiks or Ac that later evolved into the English word Oak, and in German, Eiche. The second word Gard is an Old English word for an enclosure. It is where the word Yard and the word Garden( something that was enclosed to keep out nibbling beasts) come from. So the name means an oaken enclosure, or an oak garden. The name is similar to Isengard (iron or steel enclosure) found in the Lord of the Rings. The fortress that was marched upon by the Ents

.The name might be a bit grand for a simple peasant like myself, however, I do think the world around here is lacking grandeur .

The turtle? They were hanging out by the bike trail.

A second turtle.

From behind.

There was a third smaller turtle but I didn't see it till I was past it. Some bikers were coming past and I was concerned that they might judge me for turning around and taking pictures of a small turtle.