i have acquired another totally practical-yet-impractical skill which i am reveling in... spinning! as in, yarn. my vote for "next animal to join the farm" is obviously sheep, now. :D
it sort of happened by accident, despite me wanting to learn for a while (but never caring enough to invest the time or money)... i found a friend on ravelry who incidentally runs a yarn/fiber shop on etsy, she wanted makeup and i wanted yarn, so we traded. in the process, i ended up with a few drop spindles and some wool as part of the deal, and she showed me how to use them. BAM!
that day, we went to visit a nearby alpaca farm, the owners of which i have connections with, and not only did they hook her up with a crazy deal on raw fiber, they explicitly told me i can come get some for free anytime. *drool* alpaca feels like clouds. so i've got about 5oz of fluffy, jet-black heaven in a bag, which i am not going to touch until i know what i am doing with that spindle! i'll practice with plain old wool until i have a more consistent product, then on to the fancy stuff ;). i've actually been considering brushing the rabbits when they start their spring shed to blend in some non-angora-but-still-soft-rabbit with my wool or alpaca. this is really dangerous, because my knitting projects have slowed down dramatically... i want to spin all the time. i know it's a phase and it will pass, but still. i've been trying to rationalize a la telling myself i need to use up my stash of yarn and then i will have an excuse to spin :)
ah. i just love making things, and similar to the process of taking milk from the cow and turning it into something...more complicated...knitting from spinning from wool from the animal is just so satisfying. i dub it "slow crafts" off the top of my head. did i make that up??
speaking of rabbits, the distressed doe is still hanging in there. i don't know how, but she's alive, and it's hard to say whether she is still in labor. her breathing is weird and that lump (aka fetus) is still in there, but she seems ok. the sitting hen was disturbed for a day by matt stealing too many of her clutch, but she is back to sitting... though i don't know if the eggs will end up being viable or not, now. i told him in no uncertain terms to leave her the hell alone, so hopefully she recovered her broodiness quickly enough and will manage to hatch at least a few. we'll see.
we had a mystery crop of something from the garden last week--after much debate and research, it turned out to be daikon. (yes, matt failed to keep a record of what he planted.) it was then a mystery to both of us WHY he planted a massive amount of daikon... ? not the most useful vegetable, and he couldn't recall buying the sees, but we did some new things with it and it was tasty. stir-fried greens, and a potato-parsnip-daikon soup. he pickled some in the traditional way, as well, but i haven't tried them yet. the rest is basically rabbit and cow feed at this point, because it wilted really fast and we just didn't want to eat that many radishes. lol.
liam, rowan, and matt all have colds and i have a scratch in my throat that i deny is the onset of my very own sniffles. i got about 2 hours of sleep last night (thanks, liam...and matt...) and spent the morning in a nursery full of wild little boys followed by a funeral lunch... weird stuff. all i have to say is thank the stars for crock pot dinners because i have no desire to cook at all. i should be sleeping now, as a matter of fact, but i couldn't resist using naptime for knitting and spinning instead. oh well. coffee's brewing.
rowan has been difficult lately. she does things she knows will get her into trouble (albeit very little trouble) and has been pinching herself and me, just to be mean. never liam, thankfully. matt thinks she's bored, and i think he's right. so i've got to find some friends for her or something more interesting to do than sit here with me and/or invade grammy and grampy's home every day. would be easier if matt didn't take my car every day. i'm going to go hunting online for toddler activities...
it sort of happened by accident, despite me wanting to learn for a while (but never caring enough to invest the time or money)... i found a friend on ravelry who incidentally runs a yarn/fiber shop on etsy, she wanted makeup and i wanted yarn, so we traded. in the process, i ended up with a few drop spindles and some wool as part of the deal, and she showed me how to use them. BAM!
that day, we went to visit a nearby alpaca farm, the owners of which i have connections with, and not only did they hook her up with a crazy deal on raw fiber, they explicitly told me i can come get some for free anytime. *drool* alpaca feels like clouds. so i've got about 5oz of fluffy, jet-black heaven in a bag, which i am not going to touch until i know what i am doing with that spindle! i'll practice with plain old wool until i have a more consistent product, then on to the fancy stuff ;). i've actually been considering brushing the rabbits when they start their spring shed to blend in some non-angora-but-still-soft-rabbit with my wool or alpaca. this is really dangerous, because my knitting projects have slowed down dramatically... i want to spin all the time. i know it's a phase and it will pass, but still. i've been trying to rationalize a la telling myself i need to use up my stash of yarn and then i will have an excuse to spin :)
ah. i just love making things, and similar to the process of taking milk from the cow and turning it into something...more complicated...knitting from spinning from wool from the animal is just so satisfying. i dub it "slow crafts" off the top of my head. did i make that up??
speaking of rabbits, the distressed doe is still hanging in there. i don't know how, but she's alive, and it's hard to say whether she is still in labor. her breathing is weird and that lump (aka fetus) is still in there, but she seems ok. the sitting hen was disturbed for a day by matt stealing too many of her clutch, but she is back to sitting... though i don't know if the eggs will end up being viable or not, now. i told him in no uncertain terms to leave her the hell alone, so hopefully she recovered her broodiness quickly enough and will manage to hatch at least a few. we'll see.
we had a mystery crop of something from the garden last week--after much debate and research, it turned out to be daikon. (yes, matt failed to keep a record of what he planted.) it was then a mystery to both of us WHY he planted a massive amount of daikon... ? not the most useful vegetable, and he couldn't recall buying the sees, but we did some new things with it and it was tasty. stir-fried greens, and a potato-parsnip-daikon soup. he pickled some in the traditional way, as well, but i haven't tried them yet. the rest is basically rabbit and cow feed at this point, because it wilted really fast and we just didn't want to eat that many radishes. lol.
liam, rowan, and matt all have colds and i have a scratch in my throat that i deny is the onset of my very own sniffles. i got about 2 hours of sleep last night (thanks, liam...and matt...) and spent the morning in a nursery full of wild little boys followed by a funeral lunch... weird stuff. all i have to say is thank the stars for crock pot dinners because i have no desire to cook at all. i should be sleeping now, as a matter of fact, but i couldn't resist using naptime for knitting and spinning instead. oh well. coffee's brewing.
rowan has been difficult lately. she does things she knows will get her into trouble (albeit very little trouble) and has been pinching herself and me, just to be mean. never liam, thankfully. matt thinks she's bored, and i think he's right. so i've got to find some friends for her or something more interesting to do than sit here with me and/or invade grammy and grampy's home every day. would be easier if matt didn't take my car every day. i'm going to go hunting online for toddler activities...
Posts
January 31, 2011 at 3:15 AM
speaking of being crafty, I was wondering if you could make Matt some kilt socks?? I guess, knit him some would be a better question? They would be size huge and knee high- I can't find any that will fit. Plus, I am SOOOO willing to pay for them! :) PS. my blog is up and running again!
February 3, 2011 at 5:38 PM
um, yes? (i'm being really ambitious here!) kilt stockings are traditionally plaid very specifically according to clan, aren't they? like, lots of colors?
i'll do it but we'll have to talk yarn/timeline... :)