chanvre chaux (lime and hemp)

Susie is in the UK for a week so the perfect opportunity to do some messy building works. I recently demolished the built in wardrobes on either side of the main window in our bedroom and upcycled them to create new ones along one side (still awaiting doors). The gable wall is half covered in chanvre chauw, but where the wardrobes used to be is the original mess of stonework and poorly done render that was there when I arrived at Quélébu 20 years ago. I hacked off everything that was loose and fixed a batten a dado height (below this will be boarded allowing for the distribution of new electrics and hiding the central heating pipes).

I decided to try a new recipe for the chanvre chaux. Up until now I have used chaux hydraulic NHL3,5 but this time I thought I'd try chaux aerienne (the more active lime used to make lime putty in the UK).

I used a mix of approx 12.5kg of chaux aerienne, 2.5kg of chaux hydraulic blanc (to speed up setting), 25ltrs (2.5kg) of hemp and about 15-17ltrs of water. The mix is super sticky and once on the wall easy to smooth - the best mix yet! Unlike the chaux hydraulic which is rather grey, the end result is a lovely straw colour.

As I had half a bag of lime open, I used it up putting some chanvre chaux in the porch, which had been waiting for finishing for a couple of years!

 

More from the spycam

 

Point 1894m à coté de Tuc de Coucou

With beautiful clear warm weather and so little snow, we decided on another walk into the mountains. It's a year since Debbie, Susie' sister died so we thought we'd visit a summit and build a cairn in memory of her.

Sheri was staying with friends in Cescau, so we picked her up in Castillon and headed for the Riberot valley. From here a relatively short but steep climb leads up to Tuc de Coucou.

As we exited from the woods we met our neighbour from Coumarba, Justin Piquemal, who was going up to parapente from the summit. We took a slightly different route from the normal path (a variant of GR10) to visit the Cabane de Trapech d'en haut. A tiny hut with room to lay out a sleeping bag and no more.

There are great views from here. 

Cascade de Muscadet in the far distance

We chose to build the cairns here. I found a rather uncharateristic round granite pebble and balanced it on a slab which I wedged in some verticale bedding planes. Susie built a complemantary structure alongside.

We pressed onto the summit for lunch and far reaching views in the sun.

A little avalanche debris, but little snow.

Valier in the far distance.

 

Spy cam

 

The weather remains clear, dry and warm. So no skiing since the couple of outings at the beginning of January. Hunting, cutting firewood, architecture and weaving are filling the void.

bedford cord

Some experiments with a weave structure called bedford weave using some thick "mop" yarn in the warp for the threads which usually create padding for the ribs. Ive brought these to the surface to create pattern and also cut some them after removal from the loom.

 

Scarf 2

Another deflected doubleweave scarf. This time with more cotton and less wool. The wool is in basketweave. Less successful than last scarf as the wool hasn't shrunk enough to make the cotton 'pop'.

Finished!

 

Next weave

Interested in doing something in deflected doubleweave and this scarf by Madelyn Van der Hoogt has the added attraction of having several different weft densities, so I can practice to improve my beating accuracy. The sea of green, is wool which is "fulled" (partially felted in the finishing process). The bumps I'm changing to 8/2 cotton (pink) so they keep their weave texture. I ve also modified slightly the balance of wool to cotton in the warp to suit sectional warping. 

Goutets

A New Years Day meander up to Goutets. Some fresh snow which was a nice surprise. We climbed up through the woods on the rive gauche then descended in the sun on the piste.  Some fox and red deer tracks but no creatures today.

 

xmas stroll

To make the most of the excellent Christmas weather we drove upto the Col de Peguere for a walk along the ridge over Cap de Carmil, lovely views in all directions.

...and the oak staircase finally finished.

Some snowshoe excursions

Some fresh air ana a short outing for the snowshoes to Cap de Bouirex with Sheri and Susie

 Another trip around the Etang de L'Hers with Ruby, Finn and Sheri.

Stairs and Curtains

I'm revisiting the first weave I designed a few years ago. It made curtains for the kitchen but they were always a little bit too small and it's been annoying me ever since. So I'm weaving some more fo the fabric to widen each curtain. Four different coloured bobbins makes for a crowded workspace!

The finished fabric on the curtains

At the same time I'm also building/assembling/installing a very large four flight oak staircase on one of my projects. Oak is so unforgiving and almost every piece has to be slightly "eased" to make it fit exactly.

 

Girantes par le Pas de Roc

A break in the unsettled weather on Sunday so Sheri, Michiel, Susie and I headed up Girantes for a leisurely walk with great views. From Coumebiere we made the loop acesnding via the Pas de Roc then descending via Port de Saliex.

 A tiny patch of snow on the summit

This morning a super bright rainbow in front of the Col de la Core!

 

Autumn

Finally some of the leaves are turning and with a dusting of snow on the mountains it's starting to look autumnal. The hedge laying is long since finished and the mountains of chippings from the branches distributed to all the gardens.

A lot of weeding and mulching, new frames for the blackberry, loganberry and raspberries, which have been cut back and replanted as the beds were overrun with comfrey and nettles.

The chicks are now 3 weeks old and it looks like we have 2 cockerells as they are starting to chest bump each other - they may become our christmas dinner as Clinton rules the roost!