Woolworking Cabinet & Carding Station

This woolworking cabinet and carding station was something I drew up a while back and Jack made from wood he had down in the shop. It still needs to be painted, and it needs doors, but meanwhile I went ahead and started using it. (He's building a house right now..lol) Thinking of painting it with some sheep on either the top, or the doors.. something fun.

The cabinet is on rollers, so it's easy to move around (even though it's quite big) The carder is on a sliding shelf and it works nicely to card wool right there on the shelf while sitting in a chair next to it. I originally thought I would just store it on this shelf, and wanted the shelf to slide out so that the carder could be picked up easier and be placed on the top of the cabinet, but found that it's really more comfortable to sit and card the wool than to stand.

I would like to make one up that is just for a carder. I would put a drawer with sliders on it on the bottom to store wool that's being worked up in. Also, a thin drawer on the top to hold carding tools might be nice as well. The spinning wheel in this one, really was the motivation for a cabinet to begin with. (since i have a little boy that likes to pull on the spring, etc.. thought it would be nice to house it out of sight when not in use!) It's still in sight at the moment.

More Wool Experimenting

I am forever looking for ways to use up wool here..


Our former church goes to India every year and they take little dollies that are made and donated . I initially thought I would just be stuffing the dolls, (wool -of course) but when I was given a link to the pattern it looked simple enough. To think that some of the recipients may have never had a doll, or may never, was great motivation to make as many as possible before the deadline.

Even greater motivation was knowing that there would be a translator there to tell the girls the simple gospel message. The dolls were 2 sided, with a sad face on one side that represents life before Christ,

and a happy face on the other that represents the change that He can make in your life.


So that was the motivation behind the dolls, but the other advantages are that I'm 4 pounds lighter! (wool only..lol) And another advantage was getting to experiment with making dollie hair. The hair on these dolls were made from washed Icelandic lamb locks. They were made by taking a strip of black wet felted wool and the wool was needle felted onto the strip a layer at a time starting at the bottom working toward the top. (I used a strip of felted wool, but only because the doll had a face on both sides.. if the doll wasn't dual faced, i would have used a base the shape of a little cap to fit their head) Initially I was hand sewing the hair onto the dolls, but finished the last few by spraying Super 77 glue onto the back of the strip. It worked really great, much quicker than sewing and it was a good bond, but just had to be careful not to get any overspray of the glue on the hair. I'd like to experiment more with using wool for doll hair. If anyone has any experience they'd like to share.. . tips appreciated! :) Meanwhile, here in the upcoming months I'll be looking forward to starting dolls for next year- and hope to not be so 'last minute' finishing them this next time around!

Saturday Morning Doughnuts

Here's a little recipe that we've been enjoying here lately. They are doughnut drops and they are really quick and easy. The recipe makes more than this.. someone must have ate a few before the pic was taken! ?

1-1/2 c flour if using self rising flour, omit baking powder and salt.

1/2 c sugar

1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

2/3 cup milk

1 Tablespoon oil

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

Mix dry ingredients - add remaining ingredients and stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Heat shortening to 365 degrees. (i use an old iron skillet with at least an inch of melted shortening)

Drop the mix by the teaspoon into the hot oil -and cook 2 to 2-1/2 minutes, turning occasionally. Drain on paper towels or a rack. Once slightly cooled, roll in cinnamon sugar. powdered sugar, plain sugar, or serve plain

Cream, Sugar, and a lil Fiber

You know, I hate to waste anything.

(my mind being the exception to that rule)

This mug here was on its way to the recycle bucket. I had distorted the inside of the mug where the handle attached and it really didn't seem to be salvageable. I started to layer clay up on the inside of the mug where the problem was and thought maybe I should just put a sheep there instead.

For some reason I have an image of a sheep in my head that's stuck in a bag of wool with it's arms and legs coming out the top and an expression of "get me out of here!" on it's face. With that in mind (i don't know why it was there to begin with), but I thought I'd switch the thought up a bit and try it on a mug instead. This is slightly different in that the "bag of wool sheep" wants out, this sheep seems fairly content. She seems here more the girl along the edge of the pool... just kicking her feet, relaxing, and enjoying the warm water.