Month: September 2016

Owl Backpack – Done!

Anya’s backpack is done! The embroidered eyes turned out really well, and his wings flap a bit as she walks.

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I think the piping turned out really well, and the side pockets work well (had a little bag of pretzels in there). I used little push button cord locks — Anya thinks they look like ladybugs. It’d be really cute if they made them in red with black dots to *really* look like ladybugs).

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I moved the strap mount points – the bag didn’t sit properly when the straps were attached at the seam between the semi-circle and the rectangle. Moving the straps up to the top seam had the bag hanging nicely off her back.

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Mead Experimentation

We are experimenting with different honey concentrations and different yeasts to make mead. We’ve got 71b to make a dry mead (with different concentrations of honey) and then 47b to make a slightly sweeter mead.

Researching the process, we decided on three nutrient additions – a blend of 50% Go Ferm and 50% Fermenaid K. Added 1/4 teaspoon of nutrients shortly after the yeast was pitched. Added another a couple of days later … and then couldn’t figure out when the almost-done state was and failed to add the third addition.

Now we’re just waiting for it to ferment.