Woad to Wuin

Look what Heather gave me yesterday! It's a ball of woad, she actually gave me two and a packet of seeds. It smells much better than it looks and I'm very excited about using it.

Edward despairs at his mother's strange friends and the stuff we get excited about. After a bit of research it seems that I have to ferment these balls by adding them to urine. I think quite a lot of folklore comes in here as the instructions vary as to where to collect the urine – Jackie tells me it must be from virgins but one website states that it should be young men (easier to collect I imagine) and another that it doesn't matter. I expect the latter is true.

The vat has to be at a constant temperature for a few weeks and as this is going to be very smelly I can't really do it in the house, I hope the cottage will be warm enough or we shall have to wait until next year.

I'm going to plant a few seeds in pots this evening to see if I can give them a head start, they may survive over the winter as I think they are quite hardy, a bit like cabbages. I think these plants can soon develop into highly invasive weeds so, I need to be careful not to let them go to seed.



These are my birthday socks finished. The pattern is my own – just simple cables knit with the Oxford Tofuties from Lesley. They're very comfy and I shall keep them on today.




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