Saturday, November 12, 2011

Making apple sauce.


Hello again!!                                                                                                                                             
Well I have been busy with fall preserving apple for applesauce. I love how the apples look when they are in the sink with all the water drops on them. Here are some pictures of the process, I have it a little easier than most because the gadget I use for making applesauce doesn't require any peeling or coring. I simply have to quarter the apples and cook them until they are soft. It is a much simpler process but it still takes up a lot of the day. I enjoy making applesauce to it doesn't bother me that it is a long process.              
The knife looks quite fierce doesn't it?
I use a combination of Macintosh and Golden Delicious apples.

These were all ready to go in the pan for cooking.


You put the cooked apples in the top and they come through and the peelings come out the side and the sauce comes out through the bottom.

And here is the finished apple sauce!! I added Cinnamon after this was taken so it changed the color a little bit.

I don't have anything to show on the spinning or knitting front as most of what I'm working on is Christmas presents right now but I do have a few pictures of the cross stitch I gave to my mom today for her birthday. :) And of  course a picture of Keyla.  

This is called a rose progression and I decided to add a few extra touches like the verse and the border.





She decided she loves this pizza box.

Monday, October 17, 2011

This and that.

Hello again! :)

Recently I was given a Siberian Forrest Cat. I lover her to death already even though I have only had her for 4 days. :) I am looking forward to getting to know her better and to learn more about the Siberian breed! If you don't know what a Siberian Forrest Cat is here is a little info on them. They are a medium long-haired cat with triple fur, water resistant coat. They are a very muscular cat and are amazing jumpers, they like high places. They have amazing personalities and are very playful. Keylala is 4 years old and not full grown yet as Siberians are considered kittens until they are 5.  She has been adapting very well to her new house and has been getting to know the whole family. I am looking forward to seeing her personality come out more when she is more comfortable with me.
Meet Keyla!
Since I have brought Keyla home she has found quite a few spots she loves to sleep in. :) here are just a few pictures of her.




Bath time. :)

Nap time in the sun.
 And finally here is my most recent knitting project the Sweet Fern Fingerless Mitts from the Knitters book of wool. I am just about to the end of the thumb gusset. This is some of my own handspun yarn and it is fun to see how it is striping as I knit.

Farewell for now and may the Lord bless you this coming week. He has certainly blessed me this month!!! :) :)

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Hand spun yarn.

Hello again my friends!!

I have been busy spinning away recently. There is nothing like seeing your finished spinning product. I love experiencing the whole process. Recently I had purchased a wool sample pack from a fiber festival  and I didn't really have any plans for it when I purchased it.  After looking at the different colors in the sample pack I set aside a few that I liked and decided to spin them up together. The first 4 colors I picked where a brown, peach, pink, and a blue, pink, and white multi.  I split  the 4 balls in half and then into sections as long as the shaft of my spindle and I set about spinning them up. :) I spun and plyed up both halves in less then 24 hours! I have never spun anything up that fast before!! I was so excited to have it spun and plyed in 24 hours!! It got me into a spinning mood and with the encouragement from a dear friend I decided to spin up the other 4 balls that I had set aside from the sample pack.  The colors for the second yarn was dark purple, grey, a bright purple multi, and a light purple multi. I split them up the same way as the first set and started spinning them up! I finished spinning and plying it up in 24 hours again!! I was so happy with the results if both yarns! I have been spinning three different lace weights recently and it was fun to spin up a thicker yarn and see it spin up so fast.

Well here are some pictures of the finished products!

Here is the first colorway before the twist was set.
Here it is soaking in the hot water.
And here it is in the cold water.

And finally hanging to dry.

I love how the colors turned.



And here is the second colorway.
The colors are so beautiful!


The weather has recently been very warm here and it was perfect for letting my yarn dry outside.  I am hopeing to get started on knitting some fingerless mitts with both color ways. I look forward to showing everyone the finished products with both yarns. I hope you all are enjoying the beatiful fall weather.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Well Hello!!

Its been awhile since I have put up a new post so there is lots to tell all of you!


I think I mentioned in a earlier post that I had finished my juneberry!! I finally took some pictures of it and I am excited to show you and hear what you think!




I love all the bobbles!


The edging is so beautiful!


I have also been busy washing some of the fiber I got in August at a fiber festival. A friend of mine came over and we washed some of her fiber and mine. We washed a merino, corridale, and dorset blend that we both had purchased I had a pound and my friend had a pound and a half and we washed some alpaca that my friend had brought along. we had a fun 2 days washing fiber and we were both very happy with how it turned out.

This is my merino, corridale, and dorset blend before it was washed.
All the fiber ready to be washed!! Some of the locks were very dirty so it took us awhile to pick out the majority of the veggie matter.

Soaking in the rinse water.

The alpaca all nice and clean!

The Alpaca after it dried.
I loved seeing the fiber as it was washed and then rinsed and then to see it dry.


I have also been knitting another reversible toy. I love how this one turned out I think its one of my favorites of all the ones I have made.




I hope you all are having a wonderful fall and that God is blessing your lives!

Farewell for now.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Fiber Festival!!

I was able to go to a fiber festival in my area recently and I had a marvelous time with a friend of mine. We were able to purchase quite a bit. I am looking forward to showing you what I bought but first I want to show you some pictures of some of the animals that were there.


OK here is Humphrey the Camel!

Isn't he magnificent?

And here are a few pictures of some of the alpacas that were there.


I love alpacas they are so cute!

This one had a little baby that wasn't very old.

And here is a llama! A lot of people confuse llamas and alpacas but I think they look nothing alike.


And of course it wouldn't be a fiber festival without a few angora rabbits.

I'm not sure what this fiber is but I thought it looked neat in this very large bag.


More fiber!!!

And this is some Romney roving. I was tempted to buy some but I decided that I would rather get unprocessed Romney and card it myself.


And here is what I bought!

These are roving tidbits that one of the vender's had. I have something in mind for them but you will just have to wait and see what I come up with.



And this is a try me pack. It is full of different wools some of them are Shetland, Merino, and Corridale.


I love all the colors!


And here are my washed  Romney locks!! I purchased half a pound each of the 2 colors I can't wait till I get my hand carders and can start carding this up!!

Such a lovely color!

I also purchased some unwashed and unskirted corridale,merino, and dorset blend fleece. I am excited to start working with this as well. The booth I purchased this fleece at was by far my favorite booth at the festival. The lady had little cards out by all the fleeces and roving's telling you about the sheep it came off of. And she also gave you a card telling about the animal you purchased the fleece or roving from.

Such a marvelous chocolate color!


And finally here is some llama/polworth roving that I purchased! I cannot wait til I have a spindle free to start working on this fiber! It is so soft I am looking forward to whatever I make out of it I'm sure it will be incredibly soft.



Well that's all I have for now. I hope you enjoyed your peak into the festival I went to! I am looking forward to going to a few more festivals this year.  I hope everyone is enjoying the last few weeks of warmth before fall weather hits.