Now that the recipient has her gift….

Posted in Random silliness on 09/02/2010 06:38 pm by Amanda

…I can share a picture of the poncho I made for little 8 year old Victoria for her birthday!

Here’s a close-up of the pom-pom yarn in action. I love how it turned out.

I have, I think, officially broken my fiber diet. Today, I visited the Yarn Haven and walked away with 2 skeins of sock yarn and some roving. Here are the spoils.

Creatively Dyed Yarn 100% Superwash Merino Wool color Parnyard? Whatever that is?

Creatively Dyed Yarn 100% Superwash Merino Wool color Parnyard? Whatever that is?


Creatively Dyed Yarn 100% Superwash Merino Wool colorway MT(?)

Creatively Dyed Yarn 100% Superwash Merino Wool colorway MT(?)


Mountain Colors Hand Painted Targhee colorway northern lights

Mountain Colors Hand Painted Targhee colorway northern lights

Someone save me from myself. NO MORE YARN UNTIL SAFF!!!! I am going to have to repeat that to myself a lot with my recent fiber collecting.

That’s all. Have a good day!

 

Consider my True Blood “My Vampire Boyfriend” socks…finished.

Posted in Random silliness on 08/31/2010 11:50 pm by Amanda
themed picture for the knit-along contest. poorly taken with poor lighting and too much bourbon in my cocktail.

"themed" picture for the knit-along contest. poorly taken with poor lighting and too much bourbon in my cocktail.

Detail shot of the heart cable and cuff ribbing.

Detail shot of the heart cable and cuff ribbing.

 

The spoils of my Spinning Discovery.

Posted in Random silliness on 08/30/2010 09:48 pm by Amanda

So it came out chunky-worsted-dk weight, depending on where in the skein you’re measuring. Which is ok with me. Now for sleepy-time.

Came out to about 200 yds.

Came out to about 200 yds.

 

I have officially Discovered spinning.

Posted in Spinning on 08/25/2010 12:37 pm by Amanda

I mean, I had discovered it.  But today, I Discovered it, with a capital D.  I started spinning my Frabjous Fibers Tapestry (remember it?).  I split it in half (cross-wise), then split one of the halves down the middle length-wise into quarters.  At first I didn’t like the blue-faced leicester fiber.  Very grabby to itself.  And long fiber lengths.  But after I got used to it, I got so excited about the colors.  I would have to make myself slow my treadling down, because I would get faster when I was seeing a color change coming up.  So, I spun up half an ounce of fiber in around 45 minutes.  And while I was spinning, I forgot I had to work (oops).  Forgot about my cold.  Forgot about everything but the fiber  and color (well, and Sam, who was curled up napping behind me on the couch).  I did remember work just in time to get my hair dried, some Lean Cuisine pizza heated up, and to get this picture of Day 1 of my Spinning Discovery taken.  Wish I had a picture of Sam behind me while I worked, but Paul wasn’t home.  Maybe (probably) next time.

Half an ounce of Frabjous Fibers BFL Tapestry colorway.

Half an ounce of Frabjous Fibers BFL Tapestry colorway.

 

Freelance Whales

Posted in Random silliness on 08/23/2010 09:48 pm by Amanda

New music for me.  So pretty.  You should listen.

 

Vacation reminiscing, and an essay about bourbon came out. Weird.

Posted in Trips and Vacations, food on 08/16/2010 10:36 pm by Amanda

Started thinking about bourbon while looking at my incomplete bourbon trail passports.  I had asked one of the tour guides (I think the one at Maker’s Mark) what exactly is whiskey and what makes bourbon different from other whiskeys, and she couldn’t really answer.  So I have done a little research, and will share what I’ve learned. If you know more, or better, or different, please feel free to comment at the bottom of this post.

So.  Whiskey is very simply an alcoholic beverage made from grain mash which is fermented then distilled to less than 95% EtOH then aged in wood (per this Wikipedia article, and I know Wikipedia isn’t an end all be all source, but hey this is just for personal knowledge here).  The grain can be anything…rye (think Crown Royal), wheat (uncommon), corn (think moonshine), etc.

I know that bourbon is made from at least 51% corn (not to be confused with moonshine which is 80% corn), and the rest rye and barley.  The corn and the barrels are what make bourbon different.  They char the inside of the barrels and then age the bourbon for a specified amount of time (different for each bourbon; some tout that length of aging is what makes a bourbon good, some say the yeast and starter ingredients are what does it, etc) in warehouses which, let me tell you, are HOT.  Since bourbon is named for Bourbon County, Kentucky, I figure the heat has something to do with it too. There are lots of rules as to exactly what has to happen to constitute a bourbon whiskey and are more than I care to go into right now.  You can read about them at the link.

To sum up: Mash is more than 51% corn, but not more than 80%.  Charred Barrel.  Less than 160 proof.  Bob’s your uncle.

Of the three bourbons I tasted, I really preferred Maker’s Mark (if you haven’t figured that out already).  Bill did a good thing when he burned the family recipe back in the day.  I am seriously considering signing up for the Ambassador program to have my name on a barrel and get email updates on its aging, and when it is at that perfect place according to the tasters, be able to purchase a bottle of bourbon from that barrel.  Cause that is just neat.  Whether or not I have a taste for bourbon.

…Though a Tom Collins with Maker’s Mark is growing on me!

 

Quick note! (warning…yarn related!)

Posted in Spinning, Yarn crafts on 08/09/2010 11:57 pm by Amanda

I have had a productive couple of days off here lately.  Not adjacent days, but still.  Friday and Monday.

Friday I finished this…..

Shetland is the breed of sheep, Morrit is the color.

Shetland is the breed of sheep, Morrit is the color.

That’s my second completed skein of yarn!  I love it.  It’s pretty soft, has an interesting halo, and the brown is so nice.  I can already tell a huge difference between it and my first skein…this one is sooo much more even and nice.  Still some thick spots, but not as glaring as my first skein.  Which I finally got pictures of skeined up.  So, because I love to make your computer really work, here’s a pic of it, too.

Naturally brown from a Corriedale sheep, my first skein from back in May! Click to see that original post!

Naturally brown from a Corriedale sheep, my first skein from back in May! Click to see that original post!

And, finished the first bullet point on that list of things going from my Back from Vacation post.  No pictures yet, since it’s a gift.  I don’t think the recipient or her family reads my blog at all, but I am going to be safe.  Don’t want to ruin the surprise.

Ok, it’s near midnight so I should probably go to bed.  Long day of errands, cha-cha hip practice at dance (really…I mean I can do the hips, or the feet, why do they not feel right together?  work in progress!), and serious kitty brushing.  Time for some sleep.

 

Beautiful Colors, Take #2

Posted in Yarn crafts on 08/04/2010 12:13 pm by Amanda

Wanted to share my spoils.  Here are the gorgeous fibers I have acquired in the last couple of months.  Not many, and I need to acquire NO MORE until I get at least 2 more skeins spun up.  My performance in the Tour de Fleece 2010 really put me off spinning.  I had such a hard time with my wheel I wanted to kick it.  So I just put it up for a while.  Maybe I’ll pull it back out for a minute before work today.

Purchased on vacation at the Shaker Village. So pretty and soft, destined for a shawlette.

Purchased on vacation at the Shaker Village. So pretty and soft, destined for a shawlette.

Purchased for Tour de Fleece, didnt get to touch it.

Purchased for Tour de Fleece, didn't get to touch it.

Space Cadet Plumberry, won from a contest for Tour de Fleece.

Space Cadet Plumberry, won from a contest for Tour de Fleece.

8 ozs of Alpaca softness. Cant WAIT to try to spin this!

8 ozs of Alpaca softness. Can't WAIT to try to spin this!

Gotta work, talk to ya later!

 

Back from vacation….and shiftless.

Posted in Crochet, Knitting, Spinning, Yarn crafts on 07/31/2010 05:23 pm by Amanda

So, I have been back for a week now from vacation.  The work week was long, and tiring.  My yarn crafting hasn’t really suffered from my week of not knitting, as I have picked it back up, but I am both shiftless and listless when it comes to my projects.  I want to be knitting/crocheting, and since being back home have managed to start 3 projects, finishing one of those, while all the projects already in the works has suffered.  Here’s my completed project….

A Jewelry Frame

A Jewelry Frame

I made some of these for my sisters for Christmas last year, and was sort of jealous when I gave them away.  So, I thought maybe the cure to my shiftless/listless attitude would be to complete a project.  None of my already-going projects were anywhere close to completion, so I got this going.  It took me just under 4 hours from start to completed frame.  And I am so in love with it.  It’s so handy.

But, it didn’t work.  I have since started two crochet projects; a gift for a soon to be 8 year old that I know and a sweater that may (or may not) be a gift depending on how much I love it when I’m done.  I have been working diligently on my vampire boyfriend socks, a few rows every day, but I am getting a little bored with all the cables.  Which concerns me, as this is the sweater I dream of making….

The Fireside Sweater

The Fireside Sweater

Yeah, lots of cables.  Beginning to re-think my desire to knit this, now that the simple cables on these socks are getting old.

So, to remind, my current WIP (works in progress) list….

You may remember those last two from My new year’s resolutions post.  At least I finished that shawl, and those socks are no more.  I hated them and into the frog pond they went.  That yarn must have some bad mojo on it for me or something; maybe I should gift it away.

So that’s what I’ve been up to this week.  Oh, and let’s not talk about Tour de Fleece.  It’s over, and I didn’t even get my pretty colored yarn on the bobbins.  But I put forth a valiant effort to get my bobbins free to be able to do so!  Le sigh.  On the up side, just for being a pedaler in the Tour, I got entered into a drawing for a free prize and I won a prize!!  Four ounces of some beautiful fiber will be coming my way from Space Cadet Creations!  Who cares what colorway, because they are all beautiful.  That’s why I picked her prize over all others. But I’ll admit, I hope it’s freshly cut grass.  Please visit her site, and keep her in mind when gift giving time comes if you’re out of ideas for what to get me and nothing looks good to you that’s on my wish list (see button in column of goodies!) cause we all need to support more indy crafters.

So, send some good happy yarnie thoughts my way, and hopefully I’ll get up the nerve to finish one of these projects instead of continuing to cast on more!

 

Need. More. True. Blood.

Posted in Random silliness on 07/26/2010 01:04 pm by Amanda

So, having missed the episode a week ago, last night we watched the last two episodes back to back.  And now, after seeing the preview for next weeks episode, I am off to watch them again.  Total junkie.  Can’t help it.

 
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