Xmas Scarf

Here's a scarf I've been working on. It's about 5.5 feet. This is a bad picture taken with a webcam. I lost my camera.



If you're a member of Ravelry.com you can find the pattern here.

Happy Hell Night!

Wild Berries

What's this?!



I found these berries growing wild at the side of the road. I don't know what they are. Do you? (Click for larger image.)

update: This plant has been identified as a Peppervine (Ampelopsis arborea). It's in the grape family (Vitaceae).

double splayed loop in the bight (ABOK #1100)

This is an excellent double loop knot. Buff your brakes off, lazy.



If you already learned the lineman's loop/alpine butterfly loop (ABOK #1053) then you already know most of this knot too.
So why not go ahead and learn it? Click on images for larger images.

Instructions, if you need them:

1. Make a bight.
   
2. Twist the bight.
   
3. Twist the bight again.
   
4. Fold the top loop down.
   
5. Feed it into the centre loop from behind.
   
6. Feed the left and right loops into the centre loop.
   
7. Pull the centre loop downward.
   
8. Tighten and dress the knot.
   

Lineman's Loop/Alpine Butterfly Loop

The Lineman's Loop, also known as the Alpine Butterfly Loop (ABOK#1053), is used a bunch in climbing to make a loop in the middle of a rope. It's a good default loop knot. Despite its popularity, I couldn't find a good, specified breakdown online of how it's made. So I made my own. Here it is. Click on images for larger images.

Instructions if you need them:

1. Make a bight.
   
2. Twist the bight.
   
3. Twist the bight again.
   
4. Fold the top loop down.
   
5. Feed it into the centre loop from behind.
   
6. Pull tight and dress the knot.
   

Rope & Knots

You can do a lot with rope. If you have a mechanical problem in the garden or your house, I'm pretty sure rope can handle the strain of the problem.

I think it's good to know how to work with rope. I think Urban Homesteaders should know how to work with rope, specifically.

Knots categorise pretty readily. There are bends, loops and hitches.

• bend: to join two ropes together.
  
• loop: well that's obvious.
  
• hitch: to attach a rope to an object, usually a post or a ring.
  

There are thousands of different knots. They've evolved over roughly a squillion years. Some have more than one name. Some are called knots when they really should be called hitches, that kind of thing. If you come across a knot that has more than one name, just remember the one that you prefer.

There are plenty of beautiful dorks out there who know hundreds of knots. I know enough to give me options. Here is a list of good knots to know:

HITCHES
• round turn and two half hitches
  
• clove hitch
  
• fisherman's bend/anchor hitch
  
• rolling hitch
  
• buntline hitch
  
• constrictor knot
  
• timber hitch
  
• cow hitch
  
• pedigree cow hitch
  
• prusik knot
  
• marlinespike hitch
  
• tautline hitch (ABOK #1855)
  
• klemheist knot
  
• stunsail halyard hitch
  
• draw hitch
  
• magnus hitch
  
• lighterman's hitch
  
• picket-line hitch
  
• gripping sailor's hitch
  
• icicle hitch (the CORRECT version)
  
• Siberian hitch (fast method)
  

LOOPS
• bowline
  
• bowline on a bight
  
• man harness knot/artillery loop
  
• figure of eight loop
  
• angler's loop
  
• french bowline
  
• double dragon
  
• lineman's loop/alpine butterfly loop (ABOK #1053)
  
• double splayed loop in the bight (ABOK #1100)
  

BENDS
• reef knot
  
• surgeon's knot
  
• sheet bend
  
• double sheet bend
  
• Carrick bend
  
• alpine butterfly bend
  
• fisherman's knot/Englishman's knot
  
• Zeppelin bend
  
• Hunter's bend
  

LASHINGS
• trucker's hitch
  
• Japanese square lashing (links to .pdf)
  
• Gleipner Knot (awesome new knot)
  

You might want to learn all of these. You might only want to learn one from each category. But I would recommend trying a few from each category to get the idea. As well as the decorative knots, there are fishing knots, lashings and bindings, whippings and splicings. If you're looking for areas to apply what you learn then check out climbing sports, martial arts, survivalist stuff and shibari. I would recommend a couple of books. Knot Know-How is one of the better books that got me started fast. It doesn't bog you down and it will teach you the basics very quickly. On the other hand, if you want to know almost everything about knots, their history and applications, then you want to get your hands on a tome called Ashley's Book of Knots. This is an encyclopedia of knots with historical info. It's an awesome book to browse through and open in random places. You can get that on Amazon too, but if you'd rather spend that $50 on food or weed (very wise), then there is a torrent file of the book online so you can read it for free.

If you know absolutely nothing about knots, start at the top of any list and work your way down. The ones at the beginning of the lists are the easiest. But to be honest, most of these are easy. If they weren't, I wouldn't remember them.

I will turn your money into soap

Want soap? Awesome handmade soap? Want to pay a suspiciously low price for this awesomeness? Want to give me your money? Well now you can!

Contact me and I will get you set up.

Q: How much does them there soaps cost?
A: you can buy 100g (about 3.5 oz) for around $2.81. You will not find handmade soap for this little. Handmade soaps typically go for around $4.00.

Q: Wow that's the greatest price I ever did hear!
A: Pretty awesome, eh?

Q: How do you sell it so cheap?
A: The truth is, the mark up on those $4.00 soaps is ridiculously high. I want to make a little cash for myself, but I also want to give people access to good handmade soap for a fair price.

Here are some interesting things you can do with soap:

• You can wash your butt.
  
• You can wash someone else's butt.
  
• You can wash your hair.
  
• You can wash your face.
  
• You can wash you dog's face.
  

Here are some good things about my soap:

• The price is awesome.
  
• It will clean you. You will feel clean. You will squeak.
  
• My soap contains only yummy stuff like honey, oatmeal, that kind of thing. No synthetic colours or scents (unless you request them.)
  

You can order as much as you like, you can request a custom soap, you can boast that you get your handmade soaps made custom for a ridiculously low price.

I make soap in 2kg batches (about 4.4 lb), and a batch costs around $56. A 2kg block is like 20 bars of soap. You can order one of those. You can order a single bar. You can order as much as you like.

Don't know what to order? Contact me, and I'll make my standard Honey Batch. Then you can give me money and take the soap home and wash anything you want.

So go email me!

Arkansas Wild Plants #3

Here is the third of the Arkansas wild plant posts. I post another five pictures of wild plants here in Arkansas and you try to identify what they are, leaving your information in the comments. Click on images for larger images. Nobody reads this shit.







Here are Arkansas Wild Plants #1 and #2.

Arkansas Wild Plants #2

Here is my second post on wild plants I have found in Arkansas. I will post another five images and hopefully you can identify what it is. If you can identify the name of the plant or the family of the plant, give your information in the comments.

You can click on images for larger images. Here goes.







Here is Arkansas Wild Plants #1 and #3.

Arkansas Wild Plants #1

Here are some of the pictures that I took in Arkansas of all the wild plants I found growing in an abandoned plot. I don't know what most of them are.

I will post a few of these pictures periodically. I want to know what their names are or, at the very least, which families they belong to. Click on images for larger images. If you can identify these plants, please leave info in the comments.








Here are Arkansas Wild Plants #2 and #3.

Buffalo Gunn

Just made this video. I thought that Tim Gunn from Project Runway and Ted Levine sounded similar.

Good Ginger Snap Cookies

This isn't a food blawg. But you really ought to go and make these ginger snap cookies.




Prep. time: 10 mins
Bake time: 12 mins

INGREDIENTS

• 286g (2 cups) flour
  
• 216g (1 cup) sugar (brown or white, I used white)
  
• 136g (3/4 cups) vegetable oil
  
• 75g (1/4 cups) molasses
  
• 1 egg
  
• 2 tsp baking soda
  
• 2 tsp cinnamon
  
• 2 tsp ginger
  
• 1 tsp cloves
  
• 1/8 tsp cayenne powder
  
• 1/4 tsp salt
  

METHOD

• Mix all ingredients together.
  
• Roll dough into small balls (about an inch wide).
  
• Put a bunch of white sugar into a large bowl, drop in the cookie balls, shake them around to coat with sugar.
  
• Set oven to 149 °C/300 °F.
  
• Place cookie balls on a baking tray and chill in fridge for about 10 mins, while oven preheats.
  
• Bake for 12 mins.
  

Makes about 36 cookies.

How the raised bed in Aberdeen is now

I left Aberdeen in February and, with it, left my raised bed behind. You can see it in this blog. My mother has been taking care of it since then.

This is it six months later:



Potatoes growing out of the compost pile :)

The health in these plants is unbelievable. This would simply not have been possible before I started building the soil two years ago. The soil was sandy and lifeless. Now this.

Build your soil! First and foremost!