I know, it’s been a while. But I am still trekking along. Tomorrow (I promise) I’ll have more of what’s on the needles and the results of that fiber/project diet. But for now, my progress on Shore Thing, my goal from the diet. The reward.
Even though all the goals weren’t accomplished, the diet did have to end somehow. Some time. And then shore thing came along…
Not really. But I did go to Whistler this weekend. And it was simply delightful.
Here are some of the amazing sights and sounds I was so blessed to see while I snowshoed and drove through BC. I definitely think I’ll want to take a road trip throughout British Columbia one day. It looks simply magical.
Coming next: more breadscapades!
The out of doors is cool. WOW.
Can’t wait for this summer! That is all.
So two weeks ago, I decided to try something that seemed wild and crazy for me: baking my own bread. I decided to start out small with some french rolls, thinking at least they’ll be tons of small little pieces, can’t go TOO wrong with that. I think I had inherited a fear of yeast from my mom, who refuses to try to bake with yeast out of fear of screwing up wildly.
Thankfully, only a few things failed, nothing that completely destroyed the batch of bread! From top left to bottom right, the pictures are in somewhat chronological order. One major hiccup was the fact that my apartment is definitely not warm enough to allow bread to rise. Luckily my bread adventure pt. 2 is currently in the oven and I figured it out!
Also, I covered the rising dough with a dry towel the first time around, making the dough dry out. (That should have been rather obvious to me). After I cut the dough up into the balls and put it in front of my heater, I put damp paper towels with the logic that it would be thinner, allowing the dough to breathe more and therefore rise more. Negative. Instead the paper towels stuck to the dough leaving me with messy little balls.
Not cool.
In the end, I was left with relatively dense rolls, though still very edible and quite good! Rather proud of my first bread-scapade!
So I know I’ve been pretty negligent with the Wednesday Wow, but here I am, back again posting some random home crafty thingies. Today: Make some wrapping paper!
With birthday season for my family wrapping paper was never used more than these past three weeks. Having always felt that wrapping paper is rather wasteful and quite unnecessary, I have decided to refrain from purchasing any wrapping paper other than Christmas themed wrapping paper. Due to the plastic bag ban in Seattle (not against it one bit!) I have plenty of paper bags from those shopping trips when I bring no or too few bags with me. So what did I decide to do?
Yup, create my own. I cut the paper bag so I had the maximum amount of flat surface on it. Then I used a rubber stamp to do some decorating. I think watercolor will also work really well, if that’s what you’d want to do.
Too bad I was silly enough not to take pictures of the finished object. But I love the way this recycles it, allows me not to buy anything, and looks really awesome!
Despite what some may think, the tedious nature of knitting and spinning really aren’t only for people with an extremely meticulous and focused nature. I honestly think it’s quite the contrary. At least such is the case for me. Knitting allows me to float around somewhat aimlessly while remaining productive. That might seem like an oxymoron, but indeed I can do a little of this and that, here and there, yet still feel as if I’m not wasting my life away.
That being said, I started cleaning this past weekend. And found…a ridiculous amount of WIPs. Too many to even begin to count. (This may not be a ton for you, but it’s a ton considering I a) just moved; b) just pared down my yarn stash to half due to that move; c) just started having a regular source of income for yarn) Nevertheless, I’ve come to a decision: no more fibrous purchases and starting any new projects (except “drinking” projects) until I finish all my current WIPs or Lent is over.
Now the meaning behind this decision is multi-faceted and can be interpreted in any way chosen; however I will not be spelling those out.
As of right now, the projects stand (in no particular order)
Let’s see what the progress is at the end of these six weeks. So far, I’ve finished half of the pair of striped socks…yay?
Til next time!
Truly there is nothing better than a beloved movie (Harry Potter Series for me), some knitting, and peppermint chamomile tea to cap off a long week.
Disclaimer: By no means take any of these statements for fact. I am a wanna-be fiber artist attempting to process her own wool for the very first time by means of the project titled “Project Sheep to Sweater.” The following series of statements and any future statements are my observations only.
So my wool has been washed and hanging out with me for the past 7 months. After acquiring it I had washed it multiple times (see previous posts on washing and shearing) and let it dry completely. It then sat in a bin for the next 7 months, travelling from Pomona, to Los Angeles, driving north over 1,000 miles, to Bellevue (Washington), and finally to my apartment in Seattle. After many long months of waiting for my life to transition, I finally started with the dyeing process, thanks to the readily available supplies that are pretty easy to find here at Weaving Works.
Dyeing, when done correctly seems to be a science. I, however, do not do it correctly. At least I’ll admit it to myself. I have a little here and a little there. But I can definitely say I understand how it should be done correctly with ratios of ounces of liquid, grams of dye powder, amount of fiber, etc.
I acquired a crockpot at the nearby Goodwill for a mere $10 which was great. I didn’t want to spend too much; granted I’m sure I could have gotten one for cheaper, but it’s in great condition and I probably could have used it for cooking if I had so desired. I decided on the crockpot method due to the seemingly easy method of leaving it and basically forgetting it, only coming back to check every now and then so I could do things as I pleased.
So my first batch, I chose to do a chartreuse with my Rambouillet. (Quick project update: I’m blending my Rambouillet fleece with some Shetland and Tencel in order to get the strength of Shetland with some shimmer of Tencel; we’ll see how this goes). I thought, well 2 ounces of fiber will fit in the pot so lets do it! I followed that thought with “let’s fill (almost) the entire pot with water to ensure maximum coverage. Then let’s set it to low so it doesn’t felt. Then let’s open it regularly to make sure it’s okay. Then let’s add a little dye because this doesn’t seem to be working.”
Mistake. Fail. Fail. Meh.
The above picture is the crockpot at work. FOR SEVEN HOURS. It took so gosh darn long for the fiber to get up to temperature that I had to leave the house and turn it off by that time. Meaning there was no way in heck the dye set. So I was left with a wasted day and a pot of fiber that was attempting to dye.
Lesson here: Do not fill your crockpot up with this much water. You really don’t need that much water so long as it remains covered. Moreover, don’t keep opening the crockpot up! This only allowed the heat to escape so the temperature lowered, thus making it take way longer to get up to temperature.
I ended up having to recover from this pretty crappy mistake by redoing the process about 4 times until I got the desired result. In the end, I had to put this fleece into a bag where my not-so-satisfactory fleece goes that’ll be used for some woolen bitted yarn. But I absolutely despise waste so it will get used. Plus the wool became a weird green-light green with extreme changes that cannot be explained.
After this, I’ve gone with 1 ounce of fiber at a time, with barely enough water to cover it. This has resulted in a much more satisfactory result. Often times, I’ll let it get to the temperature it needs with a good amount of water, then keep it on warm through the night, turning it off in the morning. This way it lets the dye set and I can set it and forget it. 
As you saw yesterday though it’s coming along really well. While the dyeing has been much more difficult and time consuming than I had thought, I still love it. And it’s getting better; lot’s better! I think if I can find a good sized pot at Goodwill, I might do the stovetop method when I have some spare time. It seems like it might go a lot faster, and seeing as I hope to dye/process about 1.5-2 lbs of fiber for this sweater, I still have about 1-1.5 lbs to go. I’m getting impatient with the dyeing.
Til next time!
Meet Penny, a dachshund from the Humane Society who had stolen my heart 2 weeks ago. She by no means replaces my Penny-weenie, but she is so heart-wrenchingly adorable. I am still rejoicing in the fact that she just got adopted today! 
And so, it has been almost three weeks. Whoops. No legitimate excuses for my absence but I do have to say, between birthday season and work deadlines, blogging has taken a back seat.
But not knitting or spinning. Well, not exactly spinning but fiber preparation. Project sheep to sweater is well on its way to spinning! Granted, there are plenty of tips/tricks/lessons learned along the way that ultimately slow down the process, but it’ll definitely result in much better yarn. And I’m absolutely loving this raw wool to finished project process.
Some pictures of the process:
From left to right:
Dyed Rambouillet Locks; Carded/Blended Top; Container of Top
Some lessons learned coming tomorrow! (I PROMISE!)
So I’ve decided I need some sort of tradition on this blog to keep me going, as I’ll get some rhythm going and abruptly stop posting for months at a time. Therefore, one of the weekly posts I’ll put up is Wednesday’s Wow. It’s a broad statement, I know, but that’s what I intend it to be.
Today? This random tip I saw in PNW Magazine (that comes with my Sunday edition of the Seattle Times; yes, I do subscribe to the newspaper, at least weekly and might be one of the few people on earth to still do that) to freeze herbs. Hailing from Southern California, I’m rather spoiled with the variety of freshness that’s available. Moreover, having been a city girl my whole life, I tend to take having anything I wish (at least in terms of fresh fruit, veggies, and herbs) at my fingertips at any given moment. However, being on my own for some time now, I’ve encountered a problem time and time again: throwing out herbs.
This tip tells us to freeze herbs in an ice cube tray to have that availability at hand all the time! I’ve done this with thyme so far, and it’s absolutely lovely! I simply snipped them with kitchen shears to fit the cubes, poured some water, and froze it. Keeping it in a plastic baggie separate from other herbs so as to maintain its flavorful integrity. I did notice that as I poured water, the leaves did float to other cubes, so I’d advise you to do only one type of herb per tray at a time. Try it!
