Spring

Spring has sprung,
the grass has riz.
I wonder where
the birdies iz??

I just put the seeds into my Aerogrow last week to start the seedlings for this year's garden and LOOK !!!!!





They're already starting to sprout!!! YEA!!!

Tapestry Weaving Class

About three weeks ago I took the most awesome class; Getting Started with Tapestry Weaving. Diane Bowman taught the class at the Espanola Valley Fiber Arts Center. She is a very accomplished weaver and has done some amazing tapestries. What a great class she taught! We learned several tapestry techniques by doing a sampler:


and then designed a piece to incorporate the techniques we had learned. Here's my resulting designed piece:



Just what I need: another fiber obsession.

Winning Name for Bear

The judges have spoken and they have chosen Lisa's suggestion of "Geronimo" as the name for my new bear!

Thanks, everyone, for participating!

Help Me Name My New Bear

I got a prezzy! My dear, sweet sister gave me a bear fetish. He is SOOOO fun!



He looks to me like he's found a frozen pond and just can't help running to the edge and sliding across the ice.





But he needs a name. Please help me find a name for my new bear. And you might win a prize for your help! Leave a comment on this blog post with a suggestion for a name for my new bear by midnight February 14, 2011, MST. The winning name (chosen by a panel of 2 judges) will be announced on February 20, 2011.



Prize will be a handmade bear from Enchanted Sky Enterprises.

Warping is Heck

Okay, okay. So I cheated. I tied on to the last warp and pulled the warp through the beater and the heddles. But I still managed to break TWO warps during the process (and then I had to hunt down the broken warps and string them through. Sheesh!)



I did manage to warp enough for both a scarf and the material to make some mittens. The mittens are a custom order but the scarf will go to hubby as a Christmas present. Don't you LOVE the mad rush to finish up Christmas projects?

This Will (Probably) Never Happen Again!

I've been working on a custom order I received (to be given as a Christmas gift by the customer) for three skeins of hand-spun yarn. The fun thing is that the customer has given me complete latitude in choosing colors and yarn weight. The only stipulation for the order has been that the yarn include alpaca fleece. Now this is the kind of customer I like! But that's not the thing that will probably never happen again.

Here are the three skeins I've done to complete this order:



The bright blue is a light fingering weight yarn that is a mixture of 50% white suri alpaca, 30% blue merino, and 20% silk. Heaven to spin! The alpaca fleece came from Sakura, a gorgeous dam who has consistently produced ~4 pounds of blanket fleece at an average of 21 microns. The dark brown yarn is a sport weight and a mixture of 50% brown huycaya alpaca, 30% yellow merino, and 20% silk. The alpaca fleece came from Victoria with a micron count ~45. The lighter brown skein has one ply that is 70% brown/pink/white merino and 30% silk and a second ply that is 100% white suri alpaca. The alpaca fleece for this skein came from Valentina, another dam whose micron count averages ~20.

Now when I spin I'm not very good about planning ahead to have one ply come out about the same length as the other ply. Even if I weigh the roving before I start to spin and make sure that I have the same amount for each ply, I always come out with lots more of one ply than the other. For example, when I spun the two plies for the bright blue yarn, this is how much of one ply I had left over when I ran out of the other ply:



The same was true for the dark brown skein.

But THIS is how much I had left over of the merino/silk blend when I ran out of the alpaca for the lighter brown skein! 44 inches!



This will probably never happen again!

Have You Ever Wondered . . .

what happens to a cinnamon roll when you vacuum pack it?

Hubby has a new toy. A vacuum packer.



It's been useful in putting up our yearly supply of green chile, putting up some left-over spaghetti sauce made with tomatoes from the garden, etc.

Yesterday hubby expressed a yearning for cinnamon rolls.

"I'll make us some for breakfast tomorrow," I said.

And so I did. Or rather I let the bread machine mix up the dough and then did the finishing touches (rolled out the dough, put butter, cinnamon, and sugar in the center, rolled the dough up and cut it into pieces, let the pieces rise, and then baked the rolls).

They were beautiful when they came out of the oven last night . . .



All they needed was some frosting and nuts. Yum!

But the plan was to have them for breakfast this morning. So I was packing them up into a container to put in the refridgerator.

"Should we vacuum pack them?" hubby asked.

"Um, I think vacuum packing would pretty much flatten the cinnamon rolls," I said.

He was looking at the vacuum packer longingly. I could tell he REALLY wanted to try it out. "Okay, we can try one," I said.





The word "pancake" comes to mind.

So now you know. Don't try this trick at home, kids.