[Sca-cooks] scotch and hot pads

[ruadh]

ooh - ooh - some thing woolly for the kitchen. Ru gets excited.
I often make all felt- wool pot holders {14"x14"] out of 'any' wool I get. I
try to keep a min of three handy. One needs that,, for each hand [ and one
as the trivet], and "where is that...holder". they don't burn, but might get
a 'branding' from a very hot pot. I used layered home-made felt on the
back-side of my fireman gloves for several years, until I moved to the
pumpers and rescue.
If you don't know the felting process, then a tight knit will work as the
basic body.   to felt the knit... use it as a pot scrubber in the kitchen
sink for a week. That 'type' of action will felt the knit. Scratchy and
course [rug grade] wool will made strong felts. If the wool has trouble
felting then clean it out in very hot and then icy cold soapy waters [
**shrinkage is Good!** = tightness] and soak it for two days in white
vinegar. Rinse, re-wash [ hot - cold] , back into the sink for abuse, but
then it may be good felt by now. you should get many more years of wear from
the new palms on your gloves.  Note: the vinegar causes the scales on the
fibre to relax and open, thus better felting.

Loch Ora, another bring home from Scotland item... Nice on ice cream. Would
be made out on the Aberdeen.
Ru, can do.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jennifer Thompson" <JenniferT at ptb.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] scotch and hot pads

snips................

> remembering. Loch Ora sounds vaguely familiar, though.
>
> I'm curious because I'm making some. My (basic black, thank you) mittens
> have lost all their protective wadding at the most used points. At the
same
> time, I received some wool that when spun up is so scratchy as to be
> unusable for most purposes. So I've knit it into squares which I will then
> felt and cover with heat and fire resistant, but not particularly
absorbent,
> wool.
>
> It seemed sensible and I wondered if other people had come up with the
idea
> separately or if there is a mention of something similarly useful in the
> literature.