Orange, much?

Hey there folks,
Well, last night was a pretty easy supper- I had some bottled marinade that I poured over some chicken strips and a bag of stir fry veggies and then (to do penance for using all prepackaged stuff) I made some brown rice.

Still plugging away on the McKinley book- nothing's happening, wah! Maybe I have McKinley fatigue.

I am trying to find someone to test knit my mitt pattern. We'll see how that goes... I should probably just knit them one more time myself nicely. I think I'll use Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport.

Well, that's it.

A Leeeetle Bit Spicy

Well, yesterday was the picnic/potluck for E.'s preschool, and I took 16, !16! pitas, hummus, carrots, bread and peanut butter and jelly. It was so fun to see her running around with all her friends, at her favorite park, she must have been in heaven. She was so sad to go.

Let me share with you the pita recipe; it was excellent. I found it here and it was much like my already tried and true recipe I had gotten from my friend, which was maybe from the Joy of Cooking?, except the sugar, salt and olive oil are doubled. Oh, and instead of throwing the pitas right onto the racks, willy nilly, as I had been, I tried the foil method and it worked SO MUCH BETTER! Did you know that you can grab the little corners of the tinfoil to pick up the squares right out of a 500 degree oven?!? Now my pitas won't be all bent into heck.

2 1/2 C flour (I used 1 C whole wheat flour and the rest All-Purpose)
1/4 C vital wheat gluten (this ups the protein and elasticity and obviously the gluten. If you don't have this, then use bread flour)
1 T sugar
2 t salt
2 t yeast
2 T olive oil
1 C warm water

In mixer, mix the cup of whole wheat flour, vital wheat gluten, salt, sugar and yeast. Add the oil and water and beat until smooth approx. 3m.

Stir in the rest of the flour 1/2 C at a time until the dough is a rough, shaggy mass that cleans the sides of the bowl.

Change to dough hook and 'knead' for approx. 3m.

Take the dough out and on a floured counter, divide into 8 and roll each into a ball. Coat each lightly with flour and cover with a damp towel to rest 20-30m.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Flatten and roll out to 6" diameter (yes I was a geek and actually measured this for the first few). The thickness should be roughly that of a yardstick (not the longways, smarta**).

Place on foil (I just ripped off a sheet at 8" or so and fit 2 on each rectangle) and place directly on rack. Bake 5-8m until puffed and brown. Stack and wrap in foil.

Doubles well, can freeze (thaw 5m, reheat, stacked in foil, in 375 degree oven for 10-15m).

In other news, I read that you don't have to double space after a period because something fonts something something size of letters in relation to others something blah blah... it made sense at the time, I swear! so I am going to try to break myself of that habit. Onward!

Here is my hummus recipe, basically this one from vegweb but doubled. And cumin. And oil.

2 cans chickpeas, drained
1/2 C tahini
2 t lemon juice (2 capfuls of the bottled stuff)
2 + cloves garlic
1 t salt
1 T cumin
2 T olive oil
1/2 C water

In a food processor, add all ingredients except water. Process, adding water gradually until hummus is creamy. Serve with pitas and veggies.

A note on the garlic, one time, I made this, using 3 cloves of garlic, but it was this new purple kind from the coop and I just thought the cloves were bigger, like elephant garlic and so milder, but they weren't. It was, in the immortal words of my daughter, 'spicy'. We're garlic lovers, but it was even almost too much for us. Whoah.

Also, progress on the mitts! I now have a finalized pattern, I just have to find 'the perfect yarn'. And have someone test knit it.

I read a little yesterday. It was a busy day.

Girl Gets Garter Grafting

Here's what we saw this weekend... actually, I didn't get to see the sheep shearing this weekend- I was shopping.

Well, yesterday I somehow managed to make bread despite all the craziness around here! This Basic White Bread recipe is what I use. Lately I've been using 2 C King Arthur's White Whole Wheat Flour and the rest (3) regular AP. Plus I usually add 1/4 C of vital wheat gluten and I've subbed canola oil for the Earth Balance, too. I'll be taking one loaf of the bread to the picnic tomorrow with peanut butter and jelly so the kids have something to eat.

I also made Red Lentil Soup which is my attempt at Niskena, a recipe from a local Kurdish restaurant, Babani's. It's pretty simple, but it turns out well.
2 C red lentils
6 C water (plus more if needed, more for blending)
2 1/2 t salt
2-3 onions, roughly chopped
5 large cloves garlic, minced
1/4 C olive oil
1 T cumin

Saute onion until browned. Saute garlic. Mix in salt and cumin. Rinse lentils and stir in. Add water, cover and simmer on low (20+ min). Remove in batches to blender, adding water if necessary to help blend well. Alternately use immersion blender. Serve with bread.

I started The Blue Sword and it's pretty different from The Hero's Crown. Pretty impressive range of writing styles- I guess I'm used to an author picking a story and style and then flogging it and the characters to death through a progression of neverending books.

I'd better get to the library and get some more books soon, or I won't have any.

Hey, guess what? When they say "Keep the working yarn UNDERNEATH the needles" when you're grafting, they mean it!! Like literally, underneath! Man, when that seam started coming together and I flipped it over and the backside looked like garter stitch too, I was so pleased. I figured out what I was doing wrong- yippee!

Enchantment, Broken!

Today I am going to attempt to make 3, !3! batches of pitas... potluck, much?

I have made progress on the mitts!!!!! The enchantment is almost broken. Now all I have to do is figure out what I'm doing wrong with my garter stitch graft that's making it look all wonky. Whenever I get a nice long stretch of time- ha! I will sit down with my Vogue quick reference and try to hack it out. I tried with a tutorial I found online, and then with EZ's version in Knitting Workshop but alas...

Last night we had leftovers. The night before we had lemony chick'n and pasta with broccoli.
It goes like this; (can't remember where I got the recipe from, sorry, probably somewhere online)-

Lemony Chick'n and Pasta

8oz pasta (half a box, usually, I used shells)
6oz bag baby spinach/half bunch kale/bag frozen broccoli, thawed
pkg Morningstar Farms chick'n strips
1 T soy sauce
1 T lemon juice
2 t cornstarch
1 t lemon herb seasoning
1 T olive oil
1/4 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic

In a large Ziplock bag (or right in the Morningstar Farms chick'n strips bag) mix 1 T soy sauce, 1 T lemon juice, 2 t cornstarch and 1 t lemon herb seasoning. Let chick'n marinate 30m or while pasta is boiling and you start the next part...
Boil up some pasta.
Meanwhile, saute onion, then garlic in a large skillet or pot. Add marinated chick'n. Brown.
Add veg. and stir until heated through and coated with sauce.
Serve over pasta.

I finished The Hero and the Crown by McKinley, sorry, I'm on a McKinley binge here... it was good, started a little rough but I persevered and it got way better. It's like she changed from halting young adult fantasy to kick-a** fantasy halfway through. Even her main character transformed. Fortunately, she is a talented author and she brought it all together convincingly at the end. I ?think? this one comes chronologically before the one I'm going to read next which is The Blue Sword. Rant rant. Maybe I'm just dense.

'K, that's it.

Log, blogged.

So last night we had the last of the 'chick'n' log. I cut it up into leetle tiny pieces and put it in a stew. This was a one pot meal as I was short on time after getting back from the fiber festival and winding my wool into centrepullballs (which is one of my favorite things to do) takes a while. I was filled with glee!

So I took 1 T of olive oil in a big ol' enameled cast iron pot (the bialetti one from Target) (the red one) and then minced up our !last clove of garlic! (whoop! whoop! whoop! danger will robinson!) and sauteed that (don't you love how saute sounds so much fancier than just plain old frying?). Then I added my fancypants can of cannelini beans (which I could not find anywhere except at the coop in dried, bulk form but I finally got some at Trader Joe's- remind me to tell you about our trip to Trader Joe's sometime). And I didn't even rinse or drain them!!
While this was all going on, I nuked some frozen spinach in the microwave for 7 m. And I added a heaping t of poultry seasoning and 1/2 t salt which I should have added before I added the beans because it would have mixed in better. So- garlic, spices, beans, chick'n, spinach and... one cup of Minute rice. Add about another 2 C water and simmer til done. Voila!

It was pretty good for a one pot meal. I served Ritz crackers with it to be ritzy.

I finished reading Rose Daughter and really enjoyed it. I tried putting it down for a bit to work on the mitts and got as far as to realize that I need some chunk of time and clearheadedness to make some changes which I wasn't willing to do at that time. But I am hacking away at this problem. After reading these McKinley books I have decided to consider them enchanted and so each time I pick them up it may seem like nothing is happening, but all of a sudden at some point in the (I hope, I hope) near future BLAM they will be magnificent.

Now I am reading McKinley's Hero and the Crown. Did I mention I'm glad I grabbed all those books by her?

Cheaze please

Thursday night we had Golden Cheaze Sauce which you can see in the pic above, green beans with lemon herb seasoning and an amalgam of Seitan O'Greatness and Chickpea Cutlets and Loaf

based off of this post...
Preheat oven to 425.
basically I just whipped up 1 can of chickpeas and 1/4 C olive oil and 2 cloves garlic in the food processor until it looked like hummus, then in the mixer mixed that, plus 1 C bread crumbs, 1 C vital wheat gluten, 1/2 t salt, 1 heaping T chicken flavoring and 1 t oregano and then slowly added water until it held together and looked 'doughy' (I scantly filled up a cup measure and then used almost all of it)
Roll into a 'log', wrap in foil and bake 1 hour.

The cheaze (I cannot stand that spelling) was good, my husband really liked it (he's probably sick to death of Dragonfly's Bulk Dry Uncheese Mix) and said it reminded him of something his mom used to make with ?Chicken gumbo? with ground beef poured over rice- "Saturday Night Special". Who knew pimento was the secret spice ingredient in chicken gumbo soup?

Last night we had Morningstar farms crumbles simmered in the leftover cheaze sauce (they said it made 6 1/2 C servings but I got just under 2 C). and salsa and corn in flour tortillas.

Today we're off to the fiber festival for Mother's Day- Woo! Yarn! I do not even care that it will rain- that'll drive off all the weaklings hah.

I finished Spindle's End by Robin McKinley and I think I have a new favorite author!!!! She reworks fairy tales and now I'm reading Rose Daughter (I was looking for her book, Beauty, at the library but couldn't find it, so I grabbed a bunch of her other stuff and was like, gee, I hope she's good- now I'm glad I did!).

No knitting, started to try to do the thumb and decided that I could work the left hand thumb the same as the right (how can this be, part of me is suspicious) but some crisis warranted my attention and everything had to be put away.

Gotta go work out the yardage of yarn I need for my hood pattern so I can buy some luscious alpaca today.

Let's Make Contact!

Just a short one today...

Last night we had veggie 'wraps' from our coop that turned out to be sandwiches because they were all out of wraps. Last time we got wraps there, they were disintegrating due to, apparently, the new flour they were using. But anyway, they were good and it was a sort of nice Mother's day in advance kind of thing.

No progress on the mitts. I hope to find some cool yarn at the fiber fair this weekend.

I read Betsy-Tacy which definitely is a children's book. It was nice, innocuous and kind of boring after a while. Set in Minnesota which I love!

Now I have started Spindle's End by Robin McKinley and I have been really enjoying it! So great to find some good fairytale fiction. She is a good storyteller.

Well, I guess that's it for now. Gotta go put in my new contacts from the eye doctor.

Fingerzzzzz

Here is a picture for you... do you think N. slept hard?

Well, last night we had Crockpot Pea Soup and homemade wheat bread. Yum!

Okay, I just looked on Vegweb where I thought I got the Pea Soup recipe, but I don't seem to be able to find it. The recipe sort of makes me feel all tricksy when I make it because basically you add tsp or T of every spice in your cupboard and voila! A tasty soup is born. Seriously, it has cumin, oregano, basil, tarragon, thyme, dill, celery powder, onion and garlic powder, parsley, mustard... and those are just what I can remember off the top of my head. Soon I will start posting recipes.

The cheeze sauce I use is here

Yesterday after reading the reviews on Amazon about how, yes, indeed, Sword of Shannara sucks, and how closely it parallels LOTR I said to myself, self, if they go into that mountain and the Gandalf clone struggles with the enemy and they fall into a pit clutching one another, I'm going to quit. Well, guess what happened?

So I started to read Ella, Enchanted and finished it last night. Yes it was in the children's section, and yes I do feel rather odd getting books there, but I console myself with the idea that I'm 'researching' good books for the girls when they get older. Ella, Enchanted was good! The ending was a little weird but maybe that's because I am so conditioned to Hollywood/Disney type endings- which I wish I weren't. I liked how she brought together all the little details at the end. Okay, I'm not writing a book report here, and that's how it's sounding, so suffice it to say, it was good.

No progress on the mitts, I almost started mentally trying to work out how I'd place the thumb but I must have been too foggy/interrupted by a teething child to get very far.

Powned!

Last night we had a fast supper, as we had driven all day to get back from Grandma and Grandpa's... we had pasta shells, Morningstar chick'n strips, Dragonfly's Bulk Dry Cheeze sauce and steam in the bag broccoli from Target. It was good to eat at home again!

Right now I am just plodding along with Sword of Shannara... it sucks. Read the reviews at Amazon. Really, I don't know if I'm going to make it... and I have a lot of tolerance for bad fantasy! Such a blatant LOTR rip off!!! The mind boggles!!! And so poorly done!!! I have not enough exclamation points to continue.

Finally, I am working on my short row mitts. I am struggling with figuring out how to reverse the instructions so that I can make a left hand version. I would really like some Koigu KPPPM to make these, but the nearest store that carries it is 45 m away! I should just order some online, but I hate paying shipping.

Ah well.

In other news, Scholastic finally owned me. I succumbed to their ways finally and broke down and bought a set of Bob books for my almost 4 year old daughter. I resisted all through, but the pervasive Scholastic book order people will not be denied!

This morning I woke up and all I could remember from my dream were cthullu and parachutes.
So I give you my pseudo-haiku;

Cthullu,
I ask you,
What color is,
YOUR parachute?

I am here for your rhyming needs.

Oh yeah, a linky link for you- dontclick.it

I love this pot! And when my friend gave me the little ceramic one for Christmas, I just thought it was the coolest coincidence.

The burst of red is so lovely, it makes me happy to serve meals out of it. Tonight we are having Dirty Rice- my husband hates tomatoes, but ah well...

I guess I don't have much to say. I was thinking about the impermanence of life today. Here I am, driving my daughter to preschool and I'm looking at all the people in their cars or walking up to the Post Office and I'm like "Man, everybody dies in the end!". I guess it's because it's been a long winter, plus my Uncle Wally died and so that's getting me thinking.

He was a simple man. Like, literally, simple. In the old sense of the word. But I think it's cool that he lived and was married and had his moments, I'm sure. Just that he existed. But it's got me thinking about what my contribution will be. It's nice to think about leaving something behind. But I've also been thinking about how MANY people there are. Ravelry has brought this home to me, oddly enough. I mean, not even all the small population of what knitters there are are on there, and then you see how many many people are knitting the same things, it just boggles the mind. I guess I'm having a craving for offering something unique.

Okay, here are a few links for you;
- Trent Reznor has offered one of his four disc release "Ghosts" for FREE.
- a You Tube video of Five Minute Artisan Bread. I think I'll try this out, but the keeping it in the fridge part will squigg out my husband...

p.s. did I ever tell you about the time I said I was going to Homecoming but then we went to see NIN? ooooh, I was a sneaky one...

um... is this thing on?

Man, it's been a long time...
I recently found out that you can raise/have miniature sheep! http://www.agrisupportonline.com/minisheep.htm

Don't they look cute! I wonder what kind of bizarre health problems they have, though.

I've started working at a yarn shop and I'm starting to wonder if it will sap all desire to knit. At least I'm building a great stash for when I leave the Cities to live up North in the Nort' Woods, ya der hey.

Now you too can have a barcode!Barcode Yourself - Scott Blake

Hey, check it out!! You can adopt a rare breed Cotswold sheep and at the end of the year you get it's fleece! What a good idea!Mountain-Shadow-Ranch

Mmmmmmm. Fiber

Oh, and for you spinners out there, Bellwether offers fleece and rovings too! Bellwether .

If you go here and click on Gallery you can see lots of the beautiful projects sent in by people made from wool from their (or others) rare breed sheep.

I just posted a review for Cestari yarn by Chester Farms at WiseNeedle dot com (yarn review site) because I went there to see if it had been reviewed and it had been by this cranky person so I wanted to remedy that. Ha. Whoever goes there next will not know who to believe. But this yarn is PROCESSED WITHOUT CHEMICALS and the sheep ARE NOT PUMPED UP WITH FOOD SUPPLEMENTS and there is LANOLIN LEFT IN THE YARN! I mean, hello, people, these are great things to have in a yarn so I'm all for Cestari, baby. PLUS you can wash it in the machine. I'm making a scarf using Fuzzy Galore's reversible scarf pattern. I just washed the swatch by hand and it fluffed up and 'bloomed' so nicely.

For Christmas my knitting friend got me Handspun Treasures from Rare Wools so I'm all gung ho about these rare breeds. Check out this blog Carson Woolies to get an idea of what life's like when you own these sheep.

Oh yeah, here's the post for the definition for knitting!-- someone surely could add their two cents (rave rave).Knitting - Wikipedia

Hey, add your open source definition to the free encyclopedia!! I know some of you who are on the fiber ring could manage this, right? Here's your chance to add to posterity. There is no definition for theSpindle

Mmmmm. Me want sheep. When come back, bring sheep.
Icelandic Sheep

Hey!! It's Rama, the cross between a camel and a llama!! And quite possibly the source of the most expensive fiber around!!
The ARI Journal - Spring 2000 Vol. V #1 - Camel/Lama Cross

check outLBEvans Hand Knit Bags

Scroll down to see the children's sweater inspired by this mosque

you must buy this so as to help support getting knitting needles back onto the planes!!!!!
Sublime Stitching | Powered by CafePress.com

Check this out! Masochistic knitting, unparalleled!
Insane Knitting

Read the Warning! (also the piece on Beatrix Potter is good)
Handweavers and Spinners Guild of Victoria Inc: Newsletter 2000

I would like to talk one of these classes.
Knitting Workshops

There is a picture of Mary Walker Phillips here.
Stitches West 98

Here is the editorial to a magazine whose Spring issue was about knitting!! Found while doing a google on Mary Walker Phillips.
Surface Design Publications Fall 2001

Lately I've started working on Christmas presents. Hat for brother-in-law, blanket for the little Guatamalen girl that my sister and brother in law are adopting, the cloche from Vogue's little book of hats (you know which one I mean, I can't remember the proper title). A loooong time ago I had started knitting Lily Chin's pattern from better homes and gardens Knit It magazine, the cardi, and I almost ripped it out to start the Knitty topsecret sweater, but I figured I should finish it.



Friends of ours went thrifting and at Bible study last night Steve gave me a bunch of old knitting patterns and Dan some tapes of Thomas Merton. Let me tell you, those old sweaters are hi lar i ous. Ok, I'll have to take pics to show you the cover where there are these three perfectly coiffed women smiling and one has a bag of peanuts and one is holding a peanut and there is a stuffed squirrel perched on a fake styrofoam wall in front of them. Whaa? You know, the old magazines where they still modeled the men with pipes and golf clubs.



I picked up a bunch of Stitch by Stitch books from the thrift store the other day and they have lots of good techniques illustrated and some neat patterns. So I've laid off on the yarn acquiring and now I started with pattern acquiring. I always check out the sale annex of the local barnes and noble but usually there's nothing.



I'm really into blankets for some reason. I knit essentially a large washcloth pattern to make a blanket with some acrylic and this fake mohair that changed shades called Bianca by Lion Brand I got at the thrift store. But it's too small. The cats love it. Maybe I can add on a huuuuge border to make it a little more decent of a size.



I'm making the Pi circle shawl for a blanket and doing invisible increases instead of yo's and instead of using lace patterns between the increase rounds I'm doing slip stitch patterns. So far it's okay, I hope it doesn't end up all bunchy because of the tight fabric.



I was looking through my copy of Knitting in America the other day and found the section about Mary Phillips Walker, whose Knitted Counterpanes book I had just checked out from the library. I dig that heart wall hanging they photographed and I looked at it and tried to decipher it but knew I didn't have the knowledge to really figure out how she did that. So then I picked up Creative Knitting from the library and she gives all these funky new stitch patterns in there so maybe I can figure it out now. Also, one of the knitting pattern books I got from my friends is a Macrame (?!macrame wtf!?) booklet and it's by her. Any macrame nuts out there who want a Mary Phillips Walker booklet? Why all this Mary Phillips Walker stuff suddenly in my life? She seems like a really cool lady. Very creative and I can't wait to try those new stitches. I wonder if she's still around...



I have this devilish desire to go cash in all my change and then take the resulting money and spend it on yarn at the thrift store if there's anything good there. Really I should be knitting. I started this wool/mohair hat with this brown Anny Blatt yarn I got from the thrift store (where else?) and then I was reading through my copy of The Knitting Goddess and inspired by the scarf she has in there decided to do the ribbing in two colors so I grabbed some wool mohair lamb's pride oatmeal yarn I had in the stash and held that in the right hand to do two handed color work and boy did I have a hard time remembering how to throw with the right hand and keep the yarn tensioned. I have been knitting like how Anne Modestitt(?sp?) I know I'm spelling that wrong, sorry anne, but ANYWAY I knit how she knits if you want to see clicky on her linky I think it says Continental Uncrossed BTW the Creative Knitting book also has a very nicely inclusive illustrated bunch of pages showing the myriad of ways to throw and hold the yarn. When I was throwing with my right hand I was like, boy this sure is tedious.



I was trying trying trying to hold the yarn loosely and not pull it too tight when carrying the yarn in back, we'll see. It was supposed to be for my brother in law as mentioned above, but it may end up too small. He works as a gravedigger and I was thinking that the double layer around his ears would be nice for those frigid Wisconsin winter days. They have to set up this big 7x2 heater on the plot where they're going to dig and melt the permafrost. Another bit of trivia while I'm at it; did you know that granaries used to and some times still do, explode? The corn/grain is very insulative and the air is saturated with dust particles and the organic material starts to decompose and if the heat level reaches the ignition point it will explode and apparently they were big catastrophes because lots of people could be killed. Wow. I did not know that. When's the last time you heard of that? Same thing with hay and this one guy (protecting myself if it's a doobie (dubious) fact) told me that farmers sprinkle salt in the hay to keep down the moisture and rotting. And the animals need salt anyway so it's all hunky dorey.


Okay, I'm done now.

Oh, and speaking of Target (were we?) you must, must, must go there now! Jejune was complaining about the high cost of yarn and the relatively low cost of scarves at clothing stores... well, just so you know how much of a yarn geek I really am, I bought a scarf at Target and deconstructed it just for the yarn. And I do think I came out on the better part of the deal. Yay! It did not end up being a bunch of short little pieces, but rather 2 long pieces, slightly different dye lots, knitted every other row. Gah, I know this stinks because really I should document this with pics to make it interesting at all, but, oh well. I did go to Target's website to see if I could find a pic of the scarf there, but no dice. Nrr.

Hey, didja see the free pattern from Bagatell'slink?

Oh yes, this rules!
knitty.com
Congrats to everyone on a beautiful job well done!!!!

I
like
all
these
patterns!

Check out this Aussie's fabulously colored and textured knitting!
Women of Fibre

here is a cool shrug...

an article on Norwegian knitting!!!Car Problems and Knitting Injuries: Interview with a Norwegian Knitter - Suite101.com

Wasn't someone looking for these?...
Pattern - Toilet Roll Covers

And here's a purse, and you don't have to ?!?!?!?email for the pattern?!?!

Look! It's a free pattern for a book warmer!
Olavia’s Craft Kits

Play the
SheepGame

How to spin wolf hair...
Wolf Tales/Making Yarn - Part 1

make your own spinning wheel! (like Bagatell's dad did!)
craftdesigns.co.uk

Wooly Dogs - Member's Show and Tell Gallery - All Fiber Arts

An article about sheep!
ArtLoft2000.com - Sheep & Shepherd

Found some nice tutorials...
Love2Knit Tutorials

The Coffee Jokes
Too Much Coffee Man

In case you always forget to say 'rabbit rabbit'... (I can't recall who does that, only that her website has purple and black aaaaaagh! Oh yes, Hobby Whore)
harrumph! rabbit rabbit

Have you seen the
klein_bottle_hats
I especially like the rainbow one (scroll down) with the Moebius scarf!! Only $70! What a steal!!

Now you can get your very own
CrashBonsai Gallery

Any leftover tulle? Knit your own potscrubber!!
Untitled

If you sew, you can make your own sumo doll
handworks index

Here are some cloud animals. I especially like the ones entitled 'Backend of Sheep' and 'Squirrel Sitting on Africa'
The Animal Clouds

Make a Knitting Box
Knitting box

Look! it's the
The Ashford Mini Niddy Noddy - portable for skeining yarn from Crystal Palace Yarns - Straw Into Gold, Richmond California

Hey!! A (new to me) fiber animal-- a Pygora!! The fiber was used to crochet (ahem!) a shawl/scarf
handspun - handknit crocheted shawl  - Sally McCarrick - The Black Sheep Gathering -  Eugene, Oregon

More bags.

I want an
alpaca

Ok y'all, thank your lucky start that somehow I was able to include all the 'necessaries' like the blogring button, else this template change would have ended in tragedy. Don't forget to read my (now seeming veeeery long) post !scroll down!scroll down! about what I'm working on these days. I'd try to figure out why the wanderlust button is floating away up there, but I fear that I'd lose my archives and blogring button!!! Maybe I'll feel braver tomorrow. Ta!

I'm reading Bill Holm's "Eccentric Islands" right now so I thought I'd offer you a sample of this MN native...
Holm

KNITTING UPDATE!!!!

Yes, finally some content to this here blog, for any of you that still come to look at my same-old, same-old template with no pictures posted. I know, how boring can I be? Inspired by Sarah's posting of the picture of plouf? I decided to tell you all about what I'm working on these days. No, I am not ambitious enough to get pics posted which is why my blog will never rate... Maybe when it's done? So, when Dan and I went to southern MN to do our century (2 weekends ago, it seems like eons) I of course had to go to Woolworks website and see if there were any yarn shops in the area. SCORE! In a little town there (Harmony, MN) there was Austin's Goat Farm. Mohair goats, that is. Oh, I walked around the shop after we had seen the goats (they'd been dipped so thier soon to be sheared fleeces could be sent overseas) and saw all the beautiful things (handknitted shawls to die for, jackets made from thrifted felted sweaters etc. etc.) calmly not rushing immediately to the yarn section. The picture online did not give me hope, so I took my time, only casually stumbling upon the SHELVES AND SHELVES OF GORGEOUS HANDSPUN FIBER!!!!!
So, it took me a looooooooong time to finally decide. But here's the thing, the yarn is actually waaaay cooler than I even knew when I bought it! You know how people spin yarn and then dye it, right? Well, (excuse me while I hyperventilate on and on about this if you've already become familiar) this woman actually changes the colors by changing the fibers!!
I imagine this magician-like woman, at her spinning wheel, with piles of fiber at her feet, moving as a conductor as she picks from pile after pile. So the yarn has a base of grey and garnet/burgundy wool and she adds some pink mohair here and there, letting some of the curls just pop out of the yarn, sometimes letting the grey wool 'bloop' (that's the only word I can think of) out so you see a thick piece of ?roving? ?fleece?. Ahh, words do not do justice. Gol ding it, nothing before has grabbed me like this! I swear I want to hunt this woman down (she lives in Waseca, MN) and sit at her feet and learn to spin RIGHT NOW! Juaquetta Holcomb, if you're out there email me at ihatespammclaughlin@attbi.net!!!! I did a little internet search and got her address and phone no. so maybe when I am done knitting this sweater I'll send her a pic of it.

I'm using a pattern from Tricoter's Simply Beautiful Sweaters. It's the cardi they knitted using Colinette. So I'm using that handspun yarn with Brown Sheep's Lamb's Pride I had in my stash that's grey and it's just gorgeous. Had to share. Thank you.

Yes, pummelling brings me peace of mind as well.
wrap 1

Have you seen these children's books? I haven't but I think I'll check them out...
Scary Stories Inc.

ooookaaaay. I told my husband that if I die then this is what he should do. Then he could wear me on a ring and someone would say, "Oh, was that your wife's ring?" and he'd say, "No, it IS my wife.".LifeGem Prices

Reduce, reuse, recycle
Mouse Pad Couch

The last game I tried to post didn't work...
See if you really are as fast with the left mouse button as you think you are...
Fly The Copter - South Coast Diaries - Seethru Zine

More SUV pranks...
Park Slope Public Works resents sport utility vehicles

Maybe Bagatell has already blogged about this, but here's another boo hiss story about McDonald's
McAfrica burger launched in Norway

More bags

Here is a poem I found on the Jean Moss website;

"The Prayse of the Needle"

To all dispersed sorts of arts and trades
I write the needles prayse (that never fades).
So long as children shall be got or borne,
So long as garments shall be made or worne,
So long as hemp or flax, or sheep shall bear
Their linen woolen fleeces yeare by yeare,
So long as silk-wormes, with exhausted spoile,
Of their own entrails for man's gaine shall toyle,
Yea till the world be quite dissolv'd and past,
So long at least, the needles' use shall last.

- by John Taylor, the Water Poet, (1580-1653)

Here is a hedgehog rucksack produced using car innertubes... reduce reuse recycle
The Inner Tube

A terrible game. Use your mouse to throw up and down.

Does Dangerous Chunky know about this?
Big Things, Community Monuments in Canada

Check out the
humanclock.com - Submissions Gallery

If you ever think about having sheep as I do sometimes, read about
Washing Wool

I keep thinking that someday I would like to have sheep or rabbits or goats for fiber. See if you qualify...
The Angst of Custom Millspun Yarn

More of these braids.
????

Here are some good pictures of the finished product.
Kumihimo

It's some sort of new fiberart...
Hatchtown - Marudai for Kumihimo

I know some of you are addicted to bags...
oggi e domani --- evening bags

Look!! It's the AlpacaCam!!
Blue Moon Ranch Web Cam

Here is something new I learned. Lamb's tails are docked when they are little. Is nothing sacred?!?!?! I'm sure there's some good (hygeine) reason, but still. Here is a
Glenquarry -"Sheep with Tail"

Then of course there's always Teva Durham. I like the
loop-d-loop.com online store: Braided Neckpiece

Whoa...
Here's
an interesting article for any of you vegetarians or vegans to read about the BK veggie burger. Reduce animal suffering by eating it despite the butter on the bun. Hmm. I never thought of it that way. I don't think that that's how I am a vegetarian.

Here is a cotton chunky sweater in ladder stitch

Here is another take on lace...
lace sweater for Fall

This
is a nice way to use lace in a sweater. Recognize those stitch patterns, anyone? Must go check my Barbara Walker...

Here is a sweater they say is an ultra hip rendition of the old Fair Isle style. Can we say, 'no'?
bouclz

This sweater is cute, can we say, boobies?
Boobie sweater

Wow, check out this space-dyed short sleeve sweater. Way to take advantage of the way space dyed yarn sort of 'blobs'
space dyed sweater

Hmmm... it's getting to be Fall. I like this
sweater...
I guess I'd have to buy some kind of a big 'ol grommet gun, though, if I were to try and make it. Bwah ha ha.

Try solar dyeing... before the summer ends.
dyeing

AHHHHHHHH! Nooooo! Say it isn't so!!!! A McDonald's Hotel.
The Globe and Mail: Series

Hit the randomizer for a new pseudoword.
pseudodictionary - the dictionary for words that wouldn't make it into dictionaries :: v2.0

If you have a pretty fast connection and computer, then you can take some time and see an aerial view of your neighborhood. Creepy.
TerraFly

The Simpsons: sell out or sold out? you decide...
Panderers in Japan

If you have some time...
Nobody Here

Now you can relive your childhood...
Lite-Brite