Tour de Fleece, days 11-20

I feel like the Tour has just zipped by me this year!  I've been spinning on my Tomato Salad singles every chance I've gotten, but the progress has been slow.  The good news is, the second bump of singles are DONE!

I'm a bit concerned about the difference in colour between the first and second bumps of fibre.  The first one spun up pretty much as expected, close to the previously spun yarn I fell in love with in the first place.  The second bump, while still very pretty, had a lot more undyed/white fibre in it, which made the colours much more muted and leaning towards pastel.  Hopefully they will still look good together when all knit up.

Pardon the blur!

Tour de Fleece, days 6-10

One of the first years I was really active on Ravelry and participated in the Tour de Fleece, someone spun up the most amazingly beautiful yarn and posted it in the daily finish line threads.  I was smitten from the first moment I laid eyes on it and had to hunt down the dyer and pick up a few braids.  I knew right away what I wanted it to be, I just needed to spin it.

*cue crickets*

Three more Tours passed and it still sat there, patiently waiting, in the storage bin.  It was starting to give me sad eyes by the time the Tour started this year, and I can't say I blame it.

The good news is that I still love the colours on this one as much as I did 4 years ago, and I still love the sweater pattern I'd originally had in mind (Goodale, for those of you on Ravelry).  The spinning itself is taking a while, but I'm enjoying it.  The first bobbin of singles is spun, and the second one will be started after the day of rest.

FatCatKnits Tomato Salad on Falkland wool.  This will be chain-plied to preserve the colour progression and will make a warm, sturdy, striped sweater for this fall.

The orange gets me every time.

Tour de Fleece, days 4-5

After years and years and years of drooling over Hello Yarn's incredible club fibres, and almost as many years of missed shop updates (they are infrequent and go FAST), her fibre club wait list finally opened up for new members about a year ago.  In a whirlwind flurry of adrenaline and fast-typing fingers, the wait list filled back up in mere minutes, leaving those of us lucky enough to have made it in doing the happy dance and waiting for the news someday to come that we were moving from the wait list to being Actual Members.  My ninja typing skills (there are up sides to being an office worker!) meant I only had to wait about three more months before I got to experience my first of Adrian's amazing club offerings.

That was back in November, and I'd yet to spin a single one.  They've all been sitting there, neatly wrapped up and nestled together in a bin in the living room.  Too pretty to spin, I didn't want to mess them up!

Well, that's just silly, I told myself, the Tour is a time for trying new things, stretching my wings.  I grabbed the nearest HY bag and decided it wanted to be singles, for something lacy, perhaps a shawlette.  Romney is one of my very favourite yarns to spin for singles.  It holds up beautifully, floofs when finished, requires very little twist, and spins up quickly.  So quickly and beautifully that I had to go back and order an extra, so expect to see more of this yarn soon.  ;) 

4 oz of Hello Yarn Tideline (the March 2014 club offering), spun up at about 292 yards of fingering weight singles. 

Aren't these colours just to die for?  She nailed Tideline perfectly.

Just hanging out in a tree.  ;)

Tour de Fleece, Day 3

Day 3, plying!  I love plying bulky yarns, they just fly through my fingers.  The black corriedale ended up being about 94 yards, which should be plenty for the contrast on my Iced.  I picked up some cute little grey speckled buttons at JoAnn's so as soon as I have some free knitting time, I can finally finish it!  Given the 85 degree, sunshine-y weather Seattle has been having, though, I'm not in much of a rush to pick up a huge wool sweater to work on.

The colour in this pic is far too grey (still getting used to the new camera!), but shows the size well.

Much closer to real life colour!

Tour de Fleece, days 1-2

The Tour de Fleece started on Saturday, right in the midst of a jam-packed flurry of a weekend, chock full of puppies, house projects, fireworks, movies, and way too much good food.  My spinning time was a bit limited, but I got about 3 ounces spun each of the first two days, and am looking forward to plying later tonight.

I started an Iced, oh, let's see.....Ugh.  Ravelry says January 9, 2011. This should have been an instant gratification project, made of bulky yarn on big ol' needles.  But, while I spun up the main colour all at once, I never did get around to spinning up the contrast colour for the neck band.  So, after languishing in the WIP basked for over 3 years, I picked up some plain black Corriedale during a moving sale at my LYS.

My hope with the Tour this year is to pick up some of my long-neglected fibres to spin, and to spin the odds and ends needed to finish sweaters.  I have 2 others that are just-shy of having enough yarn to finish, and none of them needs to take up space in my project room, when they could be taking up space in my closet instead.  ;)

(As it turns out, taking pictures of black yarn isn't all that exciting, and my camera wasn't wanting to focus well.  Oops.)

Instant Gratification Yarn!

Sometimes I like to treat myself to a quick & easy project, to break up the long stretches of more intricate knitting I love so much.  Nice as it is to delve into a juicy cabled sweater, or a beaded shawl, they take absolutely forever for me to finish.  (And if I'm sticking to that sweater-a-month goal, I'd better be throwing some instant gratification projects in!)

This spin was completed over the course of 3 days - 2 to spin the singles and 1 to ply.  It used up a whole pound of fibre and cleared out a tidy little space in my ever-expanding fibre stash.  This is a Wool Blend from Spunky Eclectic, in a colorway called Sumac.  The wool has a nice, crisp hand to it, and a good medium-length staple, making it a low maintenance spin.  Not a lot of fussing or fighting with it, just fun.

2-ply, spun Z, plied S, it weighs in at 16 oz, 285 yards, and about 4 WPI.  Chunky and cheerful!

Eggplant Melanzone

I have an ongoing love/hate relationship with eggplant.  I love the way they look, the shiny skin, and all the funny colours and sizes they come in.  I fall for them every single time I find them at the farmer's market, yet I'm always struggling to decide what to do with them.  Eggplant cooked right is an amazing, meltingly delicious thing.  Cooked wrong, it is sad, squishy, grey, and depressing. 

This little gem is a home reproduction of an appetizer from one of the local pizza places I order from.  I actually tried it the first time because it was one of 2 possible gluten free appetizers, and it has turned out to be a staple. Quick, easy, delicious, and very few dishes to do afterward!

Eggplant Melanzone

1 Italian eggplant, sliced into 1/4" thick rounds
1 T olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 C minced onion
1 C marinara sauce
1/2 t Italian seasoning mix
1/2 C shredded cheese (I've used Cheddar and Mozzarella, and both are tasty)
salt & pepper to taste

In a heavy, oven safe skillet (cast iron is perfect) over medium heat, heat the olive oil and sauté the eggplant just until it is starting to brown slightly.  You don't want to overcook it, or it will get squishy.  Remove slices as they are done, and put to side for the time being.  Brown onion and garlic, then mix in Italian seasoning and salt & pepper.  Layer eggplant slices over mixture, then pour marinara sauce over the top.  Sprinkle cheese over the sauce, then bake in 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, until cheese is melted through.

This is good served with bread, on pasta, or just eaten straight from the pan.  ;)  It makes good leftovers, cold or warm!

Rug Weaving - Ripsmatta

One of my big goals for this year is to start actually using my looms, rather than letting them gather dust in various corners of my house.  I've been a bit scared of the floor loom I picked up, so after three years of it staring at me dolefully every time I went to the shed to pick out fibre to spin, or yarn to knit, I've decided to give it some well-needed love.  I signed up for a rag rug weaving class, knowing full well that I'd have to warp a loom by myself as part of the class assignments.  (It turned out, I actually didn't have to do it all by myself, another student and I co-warped two of them, but at least I feel comfortable with the process now, and think I could do it on my own!)

We've been alternating through the individual warps we set up in the first 4 sessions of class, and this past weekend was my turn on the Ripsmatta warp, which is the most gorgeously cheerful of the lot.  For the weft, I dyed an old white sheet fuchsia, which faded to a lawn flamingo pink once it had run through the wash.  I alternated it with a Purple 8/2 carpet warp, to match the one in the warp.  I was afraid it might be too light before I started the weaving, but I think it turned out rather nice!  I'm looking forward to 'cutting off' day, so I can take it home and start using it.

Wafer Thin Mint, Sir

What to do with a gallon of leftover 'mystery cocktail' from that ill-fated Hallowe'en party?  Well, after a few transformations and incarnations (and at least one household member swearing it off from imbibing a weensy bit too much), I found myself eyeballing it from across the kitchen.  One of my favourite uses for Crème de Menthe is as ice cream topping.  My dad used to order that for dessert whenever we would go to the fancy restaurant in the next town over (contingent entirely upon my brothers and I getting good grades), and it always fascinated me.  Warm Crème de Menthe is an icy, delightful treat.  Room temp, it just seems sticky and redolent of toothpaste or mouthwash.  There was no ice cream in the house, but a cold cocktail seemed a great substitute.

Wafer Thin Mint, Sir

1 wee little martini glass (okay, a shot glass or something similarly sized would do in a pinch)
1 shot of cocktail mix (50/50 vodka/crème de menthe)  (This should probably be enough for 2 small drinks.)
Chocolate syrup, or hot fudge sauce.

Coat rim of martini glass with chocolate syrup, then put in freezer for 5-10 minutes to harden a bit.  Pour cocktail mix in the glass, pop the whole thing back in the freezer, and give it another 20-30 minutes.  You want it to be frosty!

I served mine with brownies, liberally coated in more of the chocolate sauce.  It was a decadent sort of night!  (Why, yes, I did lick the plate!)