Sunday, November 15, 2009

Comfortably seated in fall

At last the hot weather has passed and the cool rainy days of fall have arrived. My current office location requires that I use an outdoor parking lot instead of a covered lot, so I'm out in the weather. While there is some danger from crossing a busy street to get to and from the lot, there is the pleasure of walking in the rain with my body bundled in lovely woollens. This weekend I found a pair of boots in the boys shoe section that work wonderfully for the wet weather. All I need now is reflective safety tape all over them to mark me out to cars.

Monday I had jury duty with the county courts. It had been a while since my last jury duty service and this time I didn't want to get out of doing it. I'm a firm believer that even though the duty can be boring and at times really tedious it's important that everyone serves. If I was the person in the defendant's seat, I want people that understand the importance of a fair judgment by their peers. I prepared for a day of sitting in the jury assembly room waiting for my name to be called: crosswords; paper for writing my NaNo; a novel; some singles to ply on my Turkish Delight handspindle. Next thing I know I've been called for a grand jury pool so off I trundle.

For the good part of the day I'm in the pool going through the jury selection process for a case of worker's compensation that is expected to last up to Thanksgiving. As the case progresses I am feeling more and more that I want to be on this case. It was interesting and with my background I would understand much of what was being discussed. But I ended up not getting chosen.

This Saturday there was a gathering and sale by the PDX Knit Co-Op at the Aloha Grange. I went with my array of orifice hooks in hopes of selling a few to get some pocket money for expenses. Fellow spinners from the Portland Spinnerat, PDX Knitbloggers,i and the Northwest Regional Spinners Association came with fleeces, prepared fiber, yarn, and assorted goodies. I came home with 20 oz of California Red wool to play with and washed up this morning.

While there I worked on the mixed mohair locks Karen had purchased, finishing them up this morning. Next weekend I'll be getting the wool/silk single I'll need for plying it up to make a pretty yarn for a scarf or hat. It was a bit of a challenge to spin up the mohair as not all the locks were clean of gum. I'll give the yarn a good washing so that it can get degummed. Any tips on what I should use besides Eucalan or Dawn? I have washing soda; will that help?

My Thanksgiving is going to be a quiet one. No traveling to relatives this year. Instead I'll be spending it with Ruth and John, my good neighbors. With no chorus this year I may even be able to get my holiday letter out before Christmas. That is if I don't space it out. Nudge me before the first of December, hokay?

2 comments:

May Frances C. McCay said...

Do not know the exact temp needed for washing mohair but it is higher than wool--120F is adequate to wash wool. probably your favorite soap/detergent for wool but temp needed for the mohair.

Shelly said...

I tried to help a grower friend wash some gummy mohair. we tried Dawn, we tried pretty hot water, we tried long soaking. I think I read somewhere that there are waxy components of mohair that can't be washed out once they have hardened, but that a short soak in solvent can work. I haven't tried this, but my next effort was going to try rubbing alcohol, acetone and mineral spirits each on a couple of otherwise clean locks. Good luck, I'll be interested to see what you try.