The Citizen, 2011-03-24, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2011.
Writer frustrated with
federal government
Grey 4-H Clubworks with wool
Getting their wool on
The Grey 4-H Club continued working on the Knitting is Kool project last week with wool,
going from the sheep to a finished product in the span of a day. Back row, from left: Ryan
Baan, Ingrid Boetcher, Sam Fretz, Kelsey Rathwell, Adam Baan, Chelsey Terpstra. Front row,
from left: Femke Backx, Kaitlyn Elg, Emily Terpstra, Emma Baan. (Photo submitted)
Oops!
By Ryan Baan
Press Reporter
The third and four meetings of the
Grey Township 4-H Club’s project
“Knitting is Kool” were held on
Saturday, March 19 at the home of
Barb Terpstra in Cranbrook.
The meeting was called to order in
the shed with the 4-H pledge by
vice-president Chelsey Terpstra.
They began by learning about how
wool begins on the back of a sheep
and how it ends up as a pair of socks.
The members started by skirting the
wool that had been shorn off the
Terpstra family’s sheep earlier.
Skirting is when all of the vegetative
matter is picked out of the sheep’s
fleece. Next, members took some of
it inside and began the business part
of the meeting.
Shortly after, they began to wash
the wool. Leader Barb Terpstra
showed the members how to wash
the wool in fairly hot water and
organic soap. When it is washed, all
the lanolin from the wool is removed
by the heat of the water. Lanolin is
the oil that comes from the wool
fibres of sheep. It is used in skin
creams and soaps. Barb washed it a
few times in different batches of
water, although the water from each
batch has to be the same
temperature, or else the wool will
mat (felt) together.
Once the wool was clean, it was
dried off, and then some different
wool that had been washed earlier
was brought in and was a lot drier
than the wool they had just washed.
Carding the wool is basically
combing all the fibres from the wool
into the same direction and it is done
with two brushes with metal spikes
that are brushed against each other.
Then, all the club members got to
card their own piece of wool. As
they did this, they learned about how
different fibres have different
“memory”. Memory is the ability of
the fibres to return to their original
form. Wool has good memory, but
alpaca wool has no memory, so it
will just keep stretching and
stretching.
Once members had carded their
wool, Barb then used the wool that
they had carded and spun it into
yarn. She did this with her spinning
wheel, powering it with her foot, and
the wool was made into one-ply
yarn. All the members were amazed
at how much yarn can be made out
of such a little amount of wool.
Once Barb had finished spinning
the wool, and all the members had a
turn at spinning wool on a drop
spindle, she spun two spools of yarn
together that she had made to make
a two-ply thread of yarn. Next, she
took the yarn to the skein winder
where it winds up the yarn into one
ball, or semi-ball. After that, Barb
gave each member two pieces of the
THE EDITOR,
How am I doing today? I’m
frustrated.
I’m frustrated because, despite my
education, despite knowing how to
read, think critically and do the
math, despite being well informed
as to how our systems of
government are supposed to work, I,
you, and our elected representatives,
are being shut out of decisions that
affect us all.
The prime example of this
exclusion is the decision to buy the
F-35 jet fighters.
We and our democratically-
elected representatives have had no
input into this decision. We have not
been told why these specific jets are
required. The documents that would
have explained the requirements of
the air force have been denied to the
House of Commons Defence
Committee. This action is a
display of outright contempt for
Parliament and, thus, for all the rest
of us.
The parliamentary budget officer,
Kevin Page, has reported that the
estimates of the actual prices
involved are unrealistic. Prime
Minister Stephen Harper was
quoted, when questioned about this
report and said, “I’m not going to
get into a lengthy debate on
numbers.” He says of those who
question him that they are,
“…nothing more than political
opportunism.”
Apparently, we can’t handle the
truth.
The projected costs are huge. Is
the Conservative caucus going to
pay them? If it’s me and you, as
usual, shouldn’t we have some say
in the matter? Why has there been
no tendering process established?
What deals have been reached
behind closed doors?
How much longer are we going to
allow this kind of paternalism? If we
do nothing now to stop the taking of
unrestricted control of decision
making, we only have ourselves to
blame. Passivity today will doom
our children to authoritarianism.
Let’s take back our democratic
rights before it becomes too
difficult.
Make your Member of Parliament
and your Prime Minister
accountable to you. Get involved.
Demand answers. Vote to remove
those who have proved their lack of
responsiveness.
Annette Lindsay, Wingham.
In the cutline for a picture in the
March 17 issue of The Citizen, three
powerskaters and their coach were
wrongly identified as being from
Blyth. The skaters were from
Brussels. The Citizen apologizes for
any confusion this may have caused.
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Letter to the Editor Continued on page 17
The Council of the Municipality of Central Huron will
hold a Public Meeting to present the draft 2011 Central
Huron Budget, Wednesday, April 6, 2011 at 7:00 p.m.
Council will consider the Budget for adoption at the
Regular Meeting of Council, Monday, April 11, 2011 at
7:00 p.m. Meetings will be held in the Council Chamber,
REACH, 169 Beech Street Clinton, Ontario. Go to
www.centralhuron.com for budget details.
Brenda MacIsaac, Clerk