Easter Dinner aftermath!

Before

After

A Day With The Shepard

They're following you!

Baking Bread

At the last Machine Knitting Seminar the featured demenstrator told us about a really fun bread recipe. It is the New York Time No Knead Bread. It was great fun and tasted great. The one on the right has some wholewheat flour added and some steelcut oatmeal. Yummy! The other one was just plain white bread. They smell wonderful and are like an artisian bread. I have tried it twice and now want to try some with olives and sun dried tomatoes. I almost hate to see summer come because I have been having such a good time baking. Oh well, there's always next year.

This is the view through my kitchen window. Ron brought the sheep up to the back yard to eat the weeds. They are as surprised to see me through the window as I was to see them. Now that's a FLOCK!

They really mowed down the weeds. It took three of four days, but they put a big dent in it. What's really funny, is that after the second day they knew where they were going and headed on up with very little encouraging. It was really cute to see them following him up the yard.

See the little white building in the background? That is where the sheep live. They really are far away from their quarters. Look at all that wonderful WOOL. Can't wait to shear again. I must be nuts, I have so much now I probably could spin for years without buying anything. It is a sickness I'm telling you. But what fun!

I'm still spinning the pomegranate for a sweater. Lots more to spin on that one. I finished some sock yarn and dyed it (see last post) and can't wait to start those socks. I spun up some with gold sparkle in it and still need to ply it. I bought the roving from Sherry of Morro Fleece Works at the conference I went to. (see what I mean, I bought roving when I have pounds and pounds.) Oh well, I don't have "that Kind". I'm almost done with my sweater that we are making in machine knitting. A few more rows and then I can knit the button band. Also am still hand knitting a scarf. That's it for now.

It's raining today so our oats are loving it. They have been growing so good. I will take a picture later this week. Everything is so green. (this is the only time of year it is) I dread the heat of summer already. It seems harder to take every year. I don't know if it actually is getting hotter, of if I just am getting whimpy about it. I use to love the heat.

Spin On.............................Sheena

Learning to Dye

A couple of weeks ago I went to a Fiber Conference up in Riverside. It was great fun to see all the things they had and to shop for new things. I did buy a couple of things, but more important, our Spinning teacher took some classes to come back and teach us.




This is my dyeing project that we are learning about creating a formula to get a certain color that you can reproduce later to dye more yarn to match your project. I picked Denim Blue. We did a test piece of yarn in class and I chose the color that best looked like the color I wanted and then we mixed up enough for me to bring home and dye my yarn.

I had a skein of Columbia 2 ply and another skein of Border Leicester that I had spun really fine to use as sock yarn. I dyed both in the same dye bath. I love both of them. They are different because of the types of wool, but still the same color. The Border Leicester has a sheen to it that I really like. the Columbia is something I want to make more of and knit a sweater. I loved doing it. I think this is something I could do again.













The camera doesn't get the color exactly right. Somewhere between these two


Every time we dye in spinning class I am overwhelmed by all the choices and I really don't know how to put colors together. I know what I like, but that doesn't mean it will work. I haven't had much luck dying roving so I like dying yarn better. This was cool. To get the color I wanted and to test it in class first and then reproduce that color was really thrilling. I seem to do better if I have just a couple of colors to work with.

I think next I am going to do some solar dying. That's fun and not to fussy.

I have had a lot going on, but am knitting another Mr. Green Jeans sweater, only we have reworked for the knitting machine and it fits a lot better. I knit the main body of the sweater on the knitting machine and then am doing the cables by hand. It is turning out really good. I'll take a picture when it is done.

Spin on.............................Sheena

Spinning for a project and knitting for fun

Roving, on the spinning wheel, the singles, and the yarn. Yummmy, the name is Pomegranate. It is a blend of 80% NZ merino and 20% silk . It is a dream to spin. I am spinning it from the fold.

I have mentioned that I am spinning some Moreno/silk blend for a sweater. It is going pretty fast considering all the other things going on in my life. And the fact that I only spin it at home because I am spinning it on my Elizabeth II and she doesn't like to travel.

This is the roving, singles and plyed yarn from the Columbia I'm spinning. It comes from Freckles, one of my Sheep. I'm spinning this at my class. I take my Ashford Traveler to my spinning class. I haven't decided what to make yet, but since I have so much white wool, I think I will just spin yarn and decide later. I may dye some as yarn as well as dying some as roving.

I have been told it's ok to just make yarn!

I have also been knitting hats for my granddaughters. This is one I got on line and it is from the new Harry Potter movie so I think they will like it.

This is a Kumi Hemo braid that has a heart in it. It didn't photograph that well, but it was fun to make. Everything around here has hearts for now. I have a Valentines Day anniversary (43rd) and my oldest Granddaughter is getting married on Valentines Day. Also a daughter and granddaughter have birthdays this month. Wow, February is turning into a busy month.

Karalyn and I are taking a test on Thursday to see if we can work for the Sences. I think it will be fun. We really do need to get a new job. This one goes from Feb. to March. Just part time and temporary. Sounds like fun so we are going to try it.

Spin on..............................Sheena

What a fieldtrip. Coca Cola

While in Alabama we all piled in our van and headed to Atlanta Georgia. It was about and hour and a half. We went to spend the day in the Coca Cola museum. It was so much fun and very interesting even if you are not a Coca Cola Fan. Ron is so he really enjoyed it. There was a lot of history here and Coca Cola actually originated in Atlanta Georgia.

Most of the art work we have seen over the years in their advertising. What I didn't know is that Coca Cola makes 64 different drinks all over the world. The different art objects in the form of Coca Cola bottles was very fun to see.


The last place to go after touring everything is the tasting room. In the tasting room you get to taste every product Coca Cola makes. There were some really good ones from other parts of the world. My favorite one was an orange creme soda from Australia. There was one from Italy that was really bitter called Beverly. Everyone had to taste that one so we could make a face and say how awful it is. Evidently, it is very popular in Italy.


This is another of those must see places. So if you are ever in Atlanta, Georgia, you must stop to see the Coca Cola Museum.


I have been knitting dish cloths for Paige for her new place all this week. She got her keys today for her new apartment and is very excited. I also baked cakes most of today. Almost done. I have two more layers (Chocolate Heart side cakes) to bake and I am done with that. Then it is on to making roses and frosting and baking some heart cookies.


I am also working on a heart scarf in a yummy soft yarn for Paige. She loves scarfs (and that is a good thing cause I love to knit them.)







Spin on..............................Sheena