Teaching Spinning

We try to do fun things when we homeschool. Hands-on projects are favorites. This week I taught the children how to use a carder and drop spindle. Here are a few photos from the day. Thanks to Vet2Be for taking them!

 Charging the carder with wool.

The carder all full of wool. The wool is nothing special, just stuff I use for teaching. It wasn't sheared very well so it is great practice wool.

 Me showing the kids how to card :)

One of the hardest concepts for kids to understand is to not dig the teeth of the top carder into the teeth of the bottom carder! One of the kids had the wool pushed way down into the teeth because she didn't understand that the purpose of carding is just to get the fibers going in the same direction and to get the last bits of vegetable matter out.

Each time I teach something I learn how to explain it better for the next time. This was no exception!

Cornhusk Doll

Last week we made corn husk dolls. This is mine. Her hair is dried corn silk and her kerchief is a scrap of 1860's reproduction fabric.

I have never made a corn husk doll before, but I thought it was fairly easy and lots of fun. I wish I had time to make a Nativity set, or at least some for a centerpiece for the Thanksgiving table.

Ella will sit on the sewing table for a while, and then I'll store her in our box of Pioneer clothing. From time to time people ask to borrow period clothing or toys and Ella will be a perfect addition to a little girl's outfit.

Here is where we found the directions:  NativeTech

Whatever Course You Decide...

The Experiment

I wanted to see just how well Hubby's sanitizing solution worked on the does' udders so we did an experiment last week.

I washed the does' udders in the sanitizing solution, all of them with the same solution using the same paper towel. Then I took the water into the house and Vet2Be put 1ml on a petri dish and set it in the incubator (not for chicks, Hubby is a chemist, we happen to have an incubator for incubating other experiments :).

The yucky water after we washed the does udders with it.

Vet2Be incubated the sample for 3 days.

The incubator.

The sample Vet2Be put in the incubator. I should have taken the lid off because all you see right now is the condensation.

Nothing grew! That means that when we wash the does udders we kill all the bacteria and viruses that are present!

Clean udders are one of the steps in clean, great tasting milk!

Marshmallow Guns

A few years ago I sent marshmallow guns to my nephews for Christmas. A close family friend asked for the instructions and I thought they would be fun to post here as well.

Here is the note I sent along with the marshmallow guns!
Your new Marshmallow gun comes partly assembled! Just fit the pieces together as shown. Place a marshmallow in the mouthpiece and blow REALLY HARD! Shoot your brother, the cat, your Dad (but not your Mom unless she says so.) Definately not Grandma or Aunt E, but Uncle D would probably laugh alot if you shot him! Just make sure he gets a turn to shoot back at you (maybe you could let him use your Mom’s marshmallow gun)

You probably better practice shooting outside so your mom doesn’t find marshmallows all over the house. Also, the animals love the leftovers (especially the racoons) or if the marshmallows sit on the grass, they disolve in the rain and snow. That is much better than having marshmallows in the house for the mice and ants to find.

This is really fun for Cub Scouts, too!

My sister never lets a package stay un-opened so they opened the Christmas gift the minute it came in the door. The kids were thrilled! When Dad came home they were all hiding behind chairs and the shot him as he came in the door. Oh, how I would have loved to see that! He thought it was great fun (he's a big kid himself). When the kids asked Dad to guess who sent them the guns for Christmas, he said, "Aunt TJ!" Of course it would be me that would send such an off-the-wall gift!

The finished project (minus the mouth piece).

Here are the instructions I drew up for the marshmallow guns:

Sorry the instructions are sideways. If you click on the instructions they will come up full sized, then you can print them out.

Do you have any other great ideas for off-the-wall gifts that are fun? I'd love to hear your ideas! Christmas is coming, soon!

Next project... done!

Over the weekend I knit three more Christmas stockings for a friend who lives about three hours south of here. She wanted some for her family similar to the ones I knit for my family last year. She bought the yarn, I did the knitting.

Last year I made matching, but opposite coloring, socks. Each couple had the same colors, but the colors were reversed. Each of my children got to choose their two favorite colors. I also knit pairs of stockings for the children who are not married so that when they do get married, I'll already have the stockings for the new couple!

I knit ten more large stockings between last Christmas and today. I knit in the winter when there is no outdoor work to do, since it snowed on Saturday, I had the perfect opportunity to finish up the last three stockings. I had seven done from last year, it was nice to have more than half the project finished when I got back to it this weekend.

I wish I had taken a picture of them. I was so excited to get them done and packed in a box that I forgot the picture. Maybe she will send me a picture when she hangs them on her mantle.

One wonderful thing about winter is I get to work on my indoor projects! I love checking things off my project list!

Hard Work...

Our whole family laughed at this quote ... then we got back to work.