Long time, no blog...

Spring has never arrived and summer is trying to come forth and I have not blogged in quite a while.  Let's see what my brain spills forth...
My latest endeavor is cheese making.  This afternoon will be my first real attempt at it, but my friend, K,  and I took a class last Saturday and it was fascinating.  We found that it is not unlike making soap in many ways, but it is quite easy as long as you pay attention to what you are doing.  The class taught us how to make a 30-Minute Mozzarella, Mascarpone, Cream Cheese and Ricotta.  My challenge is to now try to make them with goat's milk instead of cow's milk.  I will post my results as they come.

Round 2 of the "Crud" is upon me and I have to to cancel a trip to my mom's this weekend and stay house-bound.  Nothing like not really being able to do anything when you are the type to ALWAYS be busy with something!  Hopefully by Monday I will be mostly back to my old self.

The drop-spindle spinning is coming along nicely.  I have spun around 200 yards of wool in a color combo called "Burning Bush" and it is quite beautiful.  Pillow covers for my couch are what the future seems to be holding for it.

"Burning Bush" before and after spinning





    This yarn may be my first attempt at plying, which is when you take two yarns, similar or different , and spin or twist them together.  This makes a thicker, stronger yarn.                                            

Second Handspun Skein

I have been spinning when I can over the last couple of weeks and managed to come up with a second skein of about 75 yards.  Gomez and I took a daytrip with a friend a couple of weeks ago and went to a fiber arts store where I found some lovely red and brown dyed roving.  I started spinning it and love the resulting yarn I am getting out of it.  The roving is 8 ounces and it will be interesting to see how much yardage I get out of it.  I may make socks out of it!  Here is a sneak peek!

Dyeing Yarn with Icing Colorant

Spinning is fun, but dyeing what you have spun is even better!  My first official skein of yarn came out to around 55 yards.  I used the back of a folding chair to wind it into a skein from my spindle.

 After researching different methods online, I found that Wilton's Icing Colorant can be used to dye yarn and fabric.  Naturally, I drove straight to my local craft store and got a set of twelve Wilton Icing Colors for about $7.50 after using a 50% off coupon I had.  Not too shabby, right?  The main reason I wanted to try this method was because I could easily obtain the needed materials and I can use any utensil that I dye with for food again after I am done.  Wanting teals and purples I mixed up three differnt colors using 1 tsp. colorant to 1 cup water and mixed thoroughly.  I wetted my yarn in a water bath, using 1 cup vinegar as a mordant, for a couple of hours.  You can soak your yarn longer, but I was excited and couldn't wait to get started.  After removing the yarn from the water bath, I used an old towel to roll the yarn in to absorb any excess water and then it was time to dye it!  Painting yarn is my favorite way to dye, so after covering my counter surfaces with plastic, I used a foam brush to paint the skein in thirds, using a different color for each 1/3.  Next I put the yarn into a microwave safe glass bowl, trying not to overlap the colors too much.  I then covered the bowl loosely with cling wrap and zapped it in the microwave for 5 minutes, let it cool completely and then zapped it again for 5 minutes and let it cool a final time.  Keep an eye on your yarn and microwave so that the yarn does not burn!  Mist with water if yarn starts to dry out.  After it was cool I rinsed the skein in cool to tepid water, used the towel again to soak up any excess water and used a clothing hanger to hang it up to dry.  The end result is in the picture below.

I then decided to dye some merino wool yarn purchased from an online company to see if I could change the time in the microwave and also try a "pot" method.  The second skein I spot painted with the same dye colors and let the colors bleed as they liked, then put it in the microwave and zapped it for only 2 minutes with 2 minutes rest time and then zapped  it for 2 more minutes, allowed to completely cool and rinsed and hung to dry in the same manner as my handspun first skein.  The pictures below show the result, which I was very pleased with.

The lower cooking time caused this skein to come out much lighter, but it is still beautiful.

The third skein was dyed in a pot using a method that uses three different colors and dyes 1/3 of the skein at a time.  I was trying for a sunset-like peach, a blue-gray and a gray-brown after this picture my husband took on a recent business trip.  As you can see from the pictures the colors separated and I got pinks and mauves instead!

  

 Colors I was trying to replicate...

Colors I got...

 As a gentleman in his blog I had found on dyeing silk roving said, the great and fun thing about using the Icing Color is that it is not fixed and stable, so you never quite know what you are going to get! 
So, after my experimentation, it my humble opinion that the microwave cooking method is best when using the Wilton's Icing Colorants.  Have fun and enjoy!  Let me know it you have any questions.

I'm spinning! No, really, I am!

The old ways strike again and this time with a vengeance!  Serendipity is awesome!  Several years ago I watched a program called "Knitty Gritty" and they had a segment on learning to spin your own yarn with a homemade drop (suspended) spindle.  As will happen, I completely forgot that I wanted to try it and while walking through our local chain craft store last week I noticed a book about spinning with spindles on the cover.  (I know this was in an earlier post, so forgive me). Naturally I perused it and decided that I was going to finally try it.  After searching all over town and online, I managed to stumble upon a new fiber-arts guild that is starting locally and decided to join and make my own spindle(s).  I even got my poor over-worked Gomez to make me an incredibly ingenious bottom whorl spindle using a dowel, plexiglass and copper wire!  It has been named my "Smudge Spindle" after one of his other nicknames.  It will undoubtedly be my favorite spindle and so far, so good!  I really love spinning and while I still need to hone my skills, it is coming along nicely!  For basically teaching myself by watching videos online and reading about it I think I am ahead of the curve.  The third time (day) was the charm, as I had the breakthough I needed and figured out exactly how and when to pinch and let go of the roving to get the twist into it.  As promised in that earlier post, here is my progress...

                                                  Spinning Day #1

Not too bad for never having done it before.  A bit inconsistent, but worthy of at least a rug!  The roving I am spinning is from Lincoln Long-hair Sheep.  Probably not the best wool, but I bought it locally from a couple who raises the sheep and the price cannot be beat!

                         Spinning Day #2 - On "Smudge Spindle"

It is hard to tell, but the top layer of yarn is much more consistent. Yay!  I am still using the "Park and Draft" method, but I will be able to drop the spindle soon enough!

                                 Full view of my "Smudge Spindle"

My man is amazing!  He had to work some overtime because he had to be in the building while one of his projects was being tested and made this off the cuff!

                                         Homemade Spindles

These were so simple to make using dowels, wooden toy car wheels and, not shown, cup hooks!  To add some character I used some of my rubber stamps to decorate the tops/bottoms of the whorls.  So easy and fun!



On Turning Two Times Twenty

Where does time escape and why does it seem to be so absolutely, mind-blowingly fleeting?  Sunday marked the start of my 40th year on this amazing globe and, as I sit here blogging, I am remembering the original blogger, Doogie Howser, MD, and that I was just a kid when he entered his first thoughts into his computer.  Wow!  Tempus fugit!  30 was really no big deal and, honestly, 40 is no different except that I REALLY do not feel it.  When I write that I do not feel it, I mean not emotionally, mentally and not really even physically.  Plenty of the people in my life feel their age or older, especially physically, but I just don't and I guess that is the perplexing part of this event.  If I live to, let's say, 80, then my life is half lived and if I do not "feel" 40 now, will I "feel" 50, 60 or, if I am so lucky, 90?  This rant takes me to one of my very favorite, albeit anonymous quotes which simply asks, "How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?"  My answer?  25!!  I "feel" 25!  Maybe that is because by the time I hit that age, I got married, had my values and worldview and philosophies about life and being human in place.  I am much wiser now than at 25, but I am pretty much the same person now as I was then, although, if you ask my husband, I have mellowed out about a lot of things.  Thank goodness for perspective and having the ability to learn from my mistakes as well as those of others.  As long as I can continue to learn new things from this life then it will be full of wonder and elation.  Gomez gave me the most beautiful card with amazingly kind, poignant words in it.  One of the things he pointed out was that anything I decide to learn or do I master.  Well, I guess my life is mine to master!  On with the show!

     My beautiful card, "Tristan and Isolde" by Marc Fishman

Living in a small town can be sooooooo frustrating!

Have you ever wanted to try an old art/craft, such as, oh say, Drop Spindling, and you get so excited you cannot wait to get the equipment and supplies and start?  Me too.  However, small town living has thwarted me, yet again!  The local craft chain store does not carry Drop Spindles (but they sell an instructional book on how to do it), and the antique store mistook bobbins for spindles.  UUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHH!  If I ever get started I will post my progress.  Until then, I am off to search the internet!  Ciao!

Spring is springing...hopefully!

With Valentine's Day looming tomorrow, I look outside at our snow-covered mountains with the sun gleaming off of them and can hardly believe that Winter may actually be coming to an early end this year.  It has been unusually cold this year and temperatures have been in the below zero range for more nights than I care to count.  The dogs will be glad for warm weather so that their oh so favorite sweaters will be packed away until Autumn! 
I am hoping to get all the things done outside this year that have been put off every year for the last few years.  Hopefully I will actually put a timed sprinkler in the square foot garden if I replant this year, so there will be a harvest.  The front and backyards will get fixed up and landscaped in hopes of spending lazy evenings lounging in their glory.  Sounds good, doesn't it?  Here is to hoping!
If you have never heard of square foot gardening, Google it and learn a fun, easy, great way to garden!

Last spring's attempt at a garden.  Is that Sasquatch with his dog?!