Advent Calendar 2024 Day 14 - Nutcracker

Today's theme is about nutcrackers and I never realised before that those little men in military type uniform ornaments were actually a practical tool for cracking nuts, I just assumed they were something to do with the ballet of The Nutcracker.  

Growing up the nutcracker in our house was a stainless steel hand held tool made of two pieces with ridged semi circle shapes cut into each one and fixed together at one end on a pivot and you would need brute strength to close the handles together and crack the nut.  I rarely managed it but my own nutcracker these days is a kind of thick walled wooden cup with a thick wooden screw that is turned to trap and crack the nut in the cup, so much easier. All the information can be found in the first photo and if you click on the photo you can zoom in if you need to.

Such a pretty design featuring nature on todays package.  I am equally enthralled and interested in the packaging design as I am with the fibre.

I have undone the tightly wrapped little bundles and made them into braids to take any pressures off the fibres and also so that I can see the colours properly and feel the texture too.  This one isn't overly rough but its not gloriously soft either.  It is mostly grey-ish white with black but there are some subtle colours running through it too.

I've added this photo to show that there are actually colours running through this blend.