Mud and Fire make gleeful fun…

It’s the hottest weekend of the year, so what do I do? What any sane person would do, of course–I make elaborate mud structures and set them on fire!!

Pizza oven!
The pizza oven’s first firing, to dry out the insides and bake it rock-hard…

I’d been working on this pizza oven all summer, and I finally got to fire the insides to set the cob. I’m still getting the hang of keeping the fire nice and hot–it was a windy day yesterday, so the fire kept blowing out. But once I half-blocked the door with a cookie sheet, the fire did quite nicely!
Now I think a few more test fires, and then I can get to the fun part–making it pretty. Right now it’s workable, but it looks very much like a big pile of mud with a fire in it. But another plaster layer with some carving and a whitewash will do wonders, I think.

And how do I celebrate all this muddy, firey victory? By cowering inside by the fan, spinning hefty Llama yarns and drinking gallons of limeade. Because *cues sinister music* winter is coming! Well, maybe not quite this minute…

Summery Summer is Summering…

Summer can be hard on spinners.

At least, it can be for me. Doesn’t stop me, really, but it’s more of a struggle than in cooler months. Wool can be a little uncomfortable on hot, sticky days, and after an hour or so of treadling I’m an overheated mess. But really it’s all the other projects, clamoring for attention. There’s plants that need watering, weeds that need pulling, a house that needs scrubbing, pets that need petting…and on top of that, I’d taken it into my head to try making an outdoor earth oven for pizza. I’d been researching, testing, making cute little bricks. I’m only about halfway finished, but I feel like I’m learning so much. But mostly it’s about a grown woman making mud pies in the backyard in the name of pizza…

Meanwhile, the bobbins waiting for me to ply them up are still sitting on the table, waiting and judging me…

Bobbins
A few bobbins waiting to be plied…and waiting…and waiting…

I do think I can catch up a little bit this morning. Just to make the yarny judging stop.