TDF… and more jam

So Tour de Fleece has come and gone again… so quickly! I failed at participating this year. I really only spun consistantly throughout the first week.. then sporadically for the rest of the tour. The weather here became hot and humid fairly fast, and we don’t have a/c at home. Just looking at fiber made me cringe.

I did complete the finn/milk fiber, and ended up with appx 215 yds of 2ply laceweight. Not sure what it wants to be yet.. maybe a cowl? I also spun up some of the CHF Forest Kitten batts on the Traveller, as well as the cashmere/silk and the silk on the support spindles. I even tried to make fauxlags to spin from!

TDF progress

At some point I will finish the batts and clear the wheel… as for the support spindles, I think I’m going to wind off and ply what I’ve done for sampling, and try to spin something else on them. I think the silk was just too long of a staple for me to attempt at this stage on the support spindle, and the cashmere/silk had too great a difference in the staple length within the blend for me to draft well. I should probably play with something easier to practice and learn with.

Yesterday was another trip to the Coventry Farmer’s Market. Kris asked me the other day if I wanted to make blueberry jam… my answer.. “heck yes!”

We bought some delicious and lovely blueberries at the market.

Then boiled them down with sugar and sure-jell for yummy jam.

We managed to fill the jars with minimal spillage!

Then relaxed with some knitting while it cooled. Gizmo however, didn't want to let me knit.

Final product ready for consumption!

 

Another fun project that yielded tasty results!

I had some this morning for breakfast on english muffin toast, and it was fantastic! Next jamming session will be hot pepper relish.

Tour de Fleece 2011

Well, looks like it’s that time of year again!

I love Tour de Fleece. It’s great motivation to spin down my stash (which really needs it this year!), and it’s fun to participate on different teams. Of course there’s always a chance at winning prizes too, which rocks.

This year, I’m not going to set too large of a goal (hopefully).   I’m participating on Team Corgi (Corgi Hill Farms) and Team Support Spindles. I’m hoping this will enable me to 1. Spin more of the lovely Corgi Hill fiber I’ve been hoarding, and 2. Help motivate me to play with my support spindles more.

What I have set aside for my goal this year is this:

From left to right:

 4oz Corgi Hill batts in Forest Kitten (made from merino/camel/silk) – to be spun on the Two Tails Walnut spindle

.5 oz eXtreme Spinning Finn/Milk fiber (appx .5 oz already spun, just need to finish this)- being spun on the Jenkins Pinky Ivory Turkish Delight spindle

1oz Corgi Hill Silk Brick in Persimmon (I have more of this, just don’t want to do too much!) – to be spun on the Houndesign Little Twister spindle

1oz Corgi Hill Cashmere/Silk in Persimmon – to be spun on the Spanish Peacock Ebony Russian spindle

I haven’t decided yet if I want to pull out another set of batts or fiber to spin on one of the wheels yet.. but I might. I can’t wait to get started!

Happy spinning!

Tour de Fleece 2010: Finish Line!

Tour de Fleece ended on Sunday and while it was fun, I can’t wait to get back to knitting.

My main goal for this year was to try and spin every day. The previous two years, I failed with this and petered out after a few days. This year, with friends to spin along with, and fun threads and prizes to win in the Spunky Eclectic and Corgi Hill groups, it was much easier to keep on track. I spun every day except the two rest days, and even though I did not complete all my goals, I am really pleased with what I did accomplish.

Goal 1: Spin every day.  >complete!

Goal 2: Spin the remaining 5 Corgi Hill batt and fiber bites.  > complete!

352 yds of laceweight

Goal 3: Spin half of the 1.9oz of Corgi Hill Bunny Silk.  >fail.

This was to be spun on the challenge day. I test spun a little bit and found it to be really fiddly. I am going to have to attempt it on one of the wheels some other time.

Goal 4: Spin 1 of the two Random Wine batts from Corgi Hill.  > complete!

BFL, Merino, Bamboo and Firestar

Goal 5: Finish spinning the Spunky Eclectic Selfish that I started last year.  >complete!

405 yds Fingering Weight, 3 ply

Goal 6: Spin Spunky Eclectic Istanbul Sunset.  >fail?

Technically I wrote in my original post about the TdF goals that I wanted to “start” spinning this fiber.. and I did.. but I am only 1/3 of the way done with it… so I’ll call it a partial fail.

South African Fine in Istanbul Sunset... aiming for a 3 ply sock yarn

It was a lot of fun and it feels really good to actually have some finished yarns. It was also a really good motivator to get me to start on that fiber stash (especially since I am in stashdown mode until Rhinebeck!).

I also won a prize from Corgi Hill Farm in the Two Tails spin a long! We had to spin Corgi Hill fiber on a Two Tails spindle. I don’t know what it is yet, Anna said she was going to stalk and send a surprise! I can’t wait. =)

Coming up for August and September is the 4oz Challenge. Essentially, you have to spin no more than 4 oz of fiber from either Spunky Eclectic, Hello Yarn, or Southern Cross Fibers, design, and knit/crochet/weave a pattern. Since I happen to have a decently sized stash of Spunky fiber, I thought this would be fun to try. I have never designed a pattern before, so this should be interesting!

Tour de Fleece Update Weekend Randomness

It’s just past the two week mark of Tour de Fleece.. where am I with my goals?

Well, I finished the Spunky Eclectic Selfish.

Shetland 3ply 405 yds

I’m so happy with it, even if it didn’t come out the way I planned it when I started last year. I think it wants to be socks.

I am also past the halfway mark on the Corgi Hill Batt and Fiber bites. Only two left!

Merino/Silk/Firestar (green): 41 yds, BFL/Silk (blue): 65 yds

Superwash BFL: 61 yds

Polwarth: in progress

And one of the Corgi Hill Random Wine batts is completed.

Merino/Bamboo/BFL/Firestar

There’s one week left to the tour. It ends Sunday, July 25. I have two fiber bites, 4 oz of Spunky Eclectic Istanbul Sunset, and just under an ounce of Corgi Hill bunny silk to spin to make my goals. Can it be done???

Aside from trying to spin, spin, spin, I have been a busy little bee. I have been slowly unpacking and trying to put away my things before Nico decides it’s all junk and tosses everything in the dumpster (j/k). And there’s the constant chasing after the kitties, and cleaning up after the bunnies. Last night I went to my friend Bri’s sister’s Jack n Jill. It was a little akward at first, seeing as I didn’t know anyone.. but she introduced me to some of her family, andI ended up haveing a really good time. I’m still sad that I had to miss out on Kris’ birthday dinner, but there’s always next time. There was also a big raffle, and I ended up winning a 24″ flatscreen tv! Which Nico had already claimed and wants to use as a computer moniter. He’s the definition of computer nerd. *eyeroll*

Today, I went to the farmer’s market in Coventry again with Kris and Jacie. There was an art gala, and wine tasting, and as usual, it was a really good time. I bought a pretty pendant, Jacie bought some sweet handpainted martini glasses, and Kris bought some really pretty dragonfly pottery coasters from the art gala. I also came home with some yummy basil, blueberries, raspberries, and peaches. And then they took me to Penzeys Spices where I bought some random spice rubs and hot cocoa mix. They do introduce me to the most awesome places.

The blueberries and peaches became the most awesome cobbler (recipe from Smitten Kitchen)

Peach Blueberry Cobbler with Cornmeal Biscuit Topping

And the raspberries became a Raspberry Buttermilk Cake (also courtesy of Smitten Kitchen). I haven’t tasted that one yet, it will most likely come to work with me tomorrow.

It doesn't look like much, but it's filled with raspberry deliciousness!

And the basil was put on pizza. I love making food with fresh ingredients.

Next weekend, there should be tubing on the Farmington River and more farmer’s market fun, so I have lots to look forward to!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy 4th of July!

WARNING: This post may be full of randomness and rambling.. and may end up being way longer than I intended..

I have been busy busy busy!

Friday night kicked off this wonderful 3 day holiday weekend with my hanging out with Takarra. Which we haven’t gotten to do in MONTHS. Especially with the moving and such. We are all moved out, apartment cleaned, and keys returned to crazy landlady Diane. Hopefully she will mail me most of my security deposit.. we’ll see. She is crazy after all.

Anyways, we ACTUALLY got to hang out.. went to dinner, went to the movies (Saw Grownups.. it was ok.. kinda funny- don’t waste your money in the theater though. Netflix or Redbox it), and we even got to hang out with the Hamden boys, who I haven’t seen in months and I miss. It was a nice relaxing, fun kind of night. Really great start to the weekend.

Saturday was the start of Tour de Fleece!

I spun and spun and spun on my Two Tails coffee burl spindle all morning. I started on a BFL/Silk blend fiber bite from Corgi Hill Farm. It was delightful.

Pretty blue fiber

I also went and hung out with Jacie and spun even more.. I finished the blue fiber bite and I started spinning my Corgi Hill Random Wine batts, which are pink and girly and oh so pretty!

Random Wine? Yes, please!

Sunday found me with Jacie and Kris, off to the farmer’s market in Coventry. I had never been to a farmer’s market before, so I was really excited. It was a LOT of fun and I bought lots of great veggies for salad, fresh bread, blueberries, and handmade soap that smells so good you want to eat it.

mmmmm blueberries

We stopped by Shady Glen for lunch.. which I for some reason, had never heard of before. The burger was delicious, and covered in melted fried cheese, and the coleslaw was homemade and probably some of the best I’ve ever had.

Holy fried cheese, Batman!

This was followed up by hanging out at Jacie’s place, spinning and knitting, and harassing Ms. Tilly and Ms. Madori.

I plied the blue singles from the day before, and spun on the Joy.

"Selfish" in Shetland by Spunky Eclectic

Around 8 we ventured out to the park by Central to watch the fireworks. Some spinning was done there as well, to which we were given strange looks. A little boy even came over and asked what we were doing.

Merino/Firestar batt bite from Corgi Hill

Jacie had whipped up some delicious booze infused lemonade for the outing. Fresh squeezed lemon juice, gin, triple sec, and basil infused simply syrup.. YUM. Kris and I may or may not have enjoyed that a bit too much. We didn’t have time to make salad for dinner from the veggies from the farmers market (I made one today and it was AMAZING) but we did bring the loaf of french bread, which was quite tasty. The fireworks were a lot of fun to watch, but getting out of the parking garage was a nightmare. We made it out without killing anyone (which was a miracle) and really just had a fun night.

Speaking of the french bread… I brought the last little chunk home, thinking I would enjoy the rest of it with the salad… but I woke up to find this…

Gnawed on bread in the middle of the living room floor.

Breadcrumbs EVERYWHERE!

Kilala checking out the evidence.. the empty bread bag.

I didn't do it mom, I swear! Blame the fat one.

*SIGH*

I guess this is what I get for laughing at Jacie in the Tilly vs. pie incident.

After cleaning up the crumbs and half eaten bread, I made muffins with the blueberries and had them for breakfast. So yummy!

Regular sized and mini muffins, you can't go wrong with that!

It’s really hot today… in the upper 90′s, so I’m just trying to stay cool with our ghetto air conditioner. Netflix and spinning will keep me entertained for a while, since I’m avoiding cleaning, and later there should be more shenanigans with Jacie and Kris.

So... Hot...

Hope everyone else had just as much fun this weekend!

Tour de Fleece

It’s that time of year again!

And I will NOT fail this year like the two previous years. I have friends spinning for the tour as well this year, so that will be very helpful to keeping me on track.

I have joined two teams this year: Team Monkey Farts and Team Tail Chasers.

Team Monkey Farts is for those that want to spin Spunky Eclectic and Southern Cross Fibers. Seeing as I have a very large Spunky stash I need to get through, I thought this would be a good team for me. Plus there’s prizes!

Team Tail Chasers is for those spinning on Two Tails spindles. I will be spinning my Corgi Hill fiber on all three of my spindles. Theres also a Corgi Hill Farm spin-a-long for prizes as well.

The TDF fiber selection.

My goal for this year is to actually spin every day. And to spin all of the batt and fiber bites from Corgi Hill. Also to spin at least half of the Silver Surf  bunny silk and at least one of the two Random Wine batts. From the Spunky stash, I want to finish spinning the Selfish shetland fiber that is 1/3 completed and to hopefully start spinning Istanbul which is South African Fine fiber.

It’s a lot of fiber to spin in only 3 weeks, but I really need to start getting through my fiber stash.

Be on the lookout for progress pics!