Katie Green

Good quality cotton lawn is an option. It tends to be silky, is commonly used for lining garments, and can be used in areas that need extra "slip" like sleeves. I have some Kaufman Sophia Washed Lawn in my stash for this exact purpose - lining the sleeves of a jacket. The low friction areas of that particular jacket (fronts and back) will be lined with flannel for warmth.

Every serious chicken owner knows that good records are a must to stay organized and properly manage their flock. By keeping good records you’ll know when it’s time to give your chickens a check-up, find out just how productive your flock is, how quickly they’re going through feed, and more.



Included in this kit:

Flock Information

Egg Production Tracker

Meat Production Tracker

Incubation Records

Chore Checklist

Health Check Records

Feed Consumption Tracker

Budget

Shopping List

File Size: 51 kb
File Type: .pdf

April 13 - 19:

What a week it's been!

Out business normally slows down to a relaxed pace in the warm months leaving us with extra free time. This year, with everyone staying at home, we're now shipping out more orders than we've ever done.

I've worked 7 days this week. Today I pulled items for 330ish orders and I still have 200 or so waiting for me in the morning.

As you can imagine, I haven't got much else done.

I fixed a mistake in my knitting, prepped my sewing pattern, spread some more mulch, built the bean fort with the kids, and transplanted 60+ artichokes into the ground.

My final hatch was 14 out of 15, bringing my total to 85 chicks hatched. A 5th hen has gone broody.

And it looks like my pictures from last week aren't displaying? I guess I'll have to sort that out.

I'm a day late!

April 6 - 12:

The weather was perfect for working outside. I'd like to say how much gardening I got done, but I'd have to grossly exaggerate to make it sound like much happened. More seeds were sown, some beds got weeded, we brought up 2 loads of wood chips from the woods, and some of the compost from the barn.

I finished sewing my short stays! It's extremely comfortable, like the sweatpant version of bust support. The lacing caused some issues; the cotton yarn I tried wasn't strong enough and promptly snapped, the silk yarn was strong enough but very slippery. After some research today I discovered that the hemp cord I have in my kids crafting stuff is a good option. Pictures are with it laced with silk yarn and a cotton yarn drawstring.

Oh! Another issue with it is that the top edge causes a pronounced lumpy line under regular shirts. Apparently this is a common issue for all stays and demi- or overbust corsets with the short stays being particularly troublesome due to a lack of a busk (wood or metal piece that holds the center front flat against the sternum).

Obviously my next sewing project is to make this Regency dress pattern but tunic length and wear it over my new short stays. There are 4 yards of white cotton crinkle gauze sitting in my fabric stash that I'll use for it.

I didn't knit a stitch this week. Oops!

On a sad note, a coyote pack came through and killed 4 geese, a duck hen, and the rooster from my breeding pen. I guess I'm officially done with the breeding for this year because that was my only rooster carrying a mottled gene. The geese and surviving duck hen are now getting locked into the chicken coop at night. The chickens are not impressed.

My hatch last week was 5 out of 6 chicks, up to 71 chicks. There's one more hatch left and then I'm leaving the rest to broody hens.

Now let me spam you with (out of order) pictures!

March 30 - April 5:

This week was a wild one for weather. Lots of rain, hail, and even a brief flurry of snow.

Gardening consisted of pouring water out of flooded seed trays and checking for hail damage while the kids splashed in mud puddles. So much mud!

The hatch this week was 8 out of 9, bringing my total to 66 chicks hatched. Another 2 hens went broody, both from my breeding pen. I will likely move the remaining chooks back into the main coop this week so I can use their pen for juveniles.

On the sewing front I'm getting close to finishing my short stays. I sewed the layers together, put in eyelets, added boning, and started binding the raw edges.

After weighing the pros and cons, I opted to use plastic for the boning. Heavy-duty zipties are apparently similar to the baleen used in ye olde days and offer good support with more flexibility than steel boning. Other options are cording or quilting which work better for smaller busts.

I figured that unlike the plastics used in modern bras, the ziptie boning would still be usuable in new short stays after the old pair is beyond repair.

Not much knitting happened this week. I'm about halfway done with the cuff of 1 ankle sock.

My shawl got blocked out, but the weather was too nasty for pictures.

I took a number of pictures this week with my good camera. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to upload and edit them yet. So you're getting cell pictures instead.

March 23 - 29:

It's been raining most of this week with some patches of sunshine here and there. Most of my work has been indoors, as you can imagine.

I finished the knitting for my sontag shawl this week. My husband located my blocking mats in the garage today and the kids promptly stole them to build a fort. Once they're bored of them in a day or two I'll be able to block my shawl. Then pictures!

My next knitting project will be the Lyne socks. My gauge swatch is finished and I'm casting on tonight. It might be cheating to do ankle socks (and I have multiple pairs planned!) but since it's my own challenge and I do need ankle socks I'll let it slide.

The rest of the week was spent sewing my short stays. All 3 layers have been sewn. Today I started sewing the layers together and finished that except for the straps. One of the straps is not quite matching up to the others and I'll need to puzzle out what the issue is before I can continue.

My hatch was 10 out of 12 chicks, bringing my total to 58 chicks. My daughter tucked one chick under her broody Silkie/Cochin mix hen and the rest are in the brooder. I have 2 broodies up at the barn sitting on clutches too.

Not much got done in the garden. I was able to plant out some artichokes and various alliums - lots left to plant! If it dries out this weekend we'll bring down compost from the barn to spread on the North strip.

Sorry for the lack of pictures this week!

March 16 - 22:

This week I again focused on my shawl. My rough estimate has it being finished before the end of the week.

My turnips, radishes, and spinach are coming up. The peas are germinating, but haven't put out leaves yet.

I started peppers, tomatoes, ground cherries, eggplant, basil, dill, cilantro, celosia, strawflowers, rudbeckia, and statice.

My order from Burnt Ridge Nursery arrived and I planted everything out the same day. My oldest helped me plant the 50 strawberry roots which sped things along.

On my short stays, I added darts to the back piece to correct the fit. It added bulk though and would clearly have been quite lumpy if I were to add darts to all 3 layers.

So, I ripped the seams to separate out the back piece and made a new pattern piece based on the corrections. Then I cut 3 new back pieces.

My hatch this week was 8 out of 10. I also lost 2 chicks from the previous hatch. At 48 chicks I'm nearly halfway to my goal for the year.

Pictured are a cockerel and pullet from my first hatch of the year. Both appear to have 2 copies of the mottling gene. Pretty pretty!

March 9 - 15:

This week I worked a lot on my shawl and have passed the halfway point. It's all decreasing from here, so it'll be progressing even faster now.

I also finished handsewing the first layer of my short stays. I have a slight fit issue that I will fix this week before starting on the other layers.

The hatch this week was 12 out of 12. The neighbors picked up 4 of those chicks today and 2 pullets from the Cackle Surprise. They jokingly offered to pay us with toilet paper.

We warned family members over 2 weeks ago to stock up on food and supplies. Some listened, some didn't. I think those that didn't finally realized the situation when they went grocery shopping this weekend and found the store completely closed because it was sold out.

My husband and I talked and decided that with the way things are right now with the coronavirus that we'll be maximizing food production with the chickens and the garden - for us AND for the neighbors.

The short answer is that it'll lose its loft eventually. As already mentioned, try to find a long staple, crimpy wool and really, really stuff it full. Aim for your stuffing to be roughly 4x higher than what you want the finished cushion to be.

I've done a lot of research into the topic except I was looking at mattresses, which could be considered giant pillows or cushions. Traditionally mattresses were opened (sewn seam removed) every summer and all stuffing was removed. If the stuffing was plant material, like straw, it would be replaced with fresh straw. For wool stuffing, it was run through a picker like this to fluff it up into a cloud. Fiber can also be fluffed into a cloud by hand. Carding is an option, but even with a drum carder I'm not inclined to make all the batting I would need for a mattress! The amount for a seat cushion would be much more reasonable.

Some fun old reading on the topic of mattresses:

An Encyclopaedia of Domestic Economy (1845)

How to Make A Home and Feed A Family (1778)

Thanks, Sue! I'm not sure why but I'm not being notified of replies on this thread...

March 2 - 8:

Monday through Wednesday were spent nursing a cold. Other than basic chores I mostly napped or read. Not the most productive way to start the week!

I planted out 200 onion sets, 32 early potatoes, peas, turnips, radishes, carrots, kale, and spinach. Onion and artichoke seedlings got bumped up into bigger containers. I'm hoping to get them in the ground this week.

The fabric for all 3 layers of my short stays is cut out. I'm handsewing them which makes progress slower. For the interlining layer, the back side pieces are sewn onto the back and the gussets are sewn onto one of the front pieces. The gussets on the other front piece are currently basted into place. In the picture the green thread is thread tracing to mark my seam lines.

We hatched 8 out of 8 eggs this week. I moved 12 eggs into the hatcher for next week.

And that's about it for this week!