I’m finally getting back into the spinning groove and here’s what I’m working on… more handspun merino.

I started this on a Saturday and have been squeezing a few minutes here and there to create this handspun yarn.

Also, a few moments ago, I put some merino into a crockpot with… Wilton’s dye gel. Tomorrow morning, I’ll take it out and hang it on the clothesline to dry. I can’t wait to see how it looks.

Remember Sissy? She’s that adorable Shetland sheep.

I finally got around to cleaning some of her wool and I made a few rolags. They’re not the most ‘perfect’ rolags that I’ve made, but they’ll do. I’m still seeing a few bits of VM (vegetable matter). I’ll be sure to pluck that out when I spin this into yarn. Every time I stumble upon these little bits of debris I smile and try to imagine what Sissy was doing, how she sleeps and how inquisitive is she?

Gardening Party hosted by Vickie…

When I visited Vickie’s lovely website, I saw that she’s starting a new linkup, so if you have a garden and want to become inspired by other gardeners or just see what others plant, link up! It’s going to be hosted on Tuesdays and yes… I know that I’m a day late posting what is in our garden. I’ll do better next week, ok?

What’s in our garden? I’m glad you asked!

 

In this first picture, you will see a portion of our garden. If you look closely, you’ll see a ‘shrub like’ plant. That’s my fennel. It returns each year. I use it in a variety of dishes, from soups, to stir fry, poultry and even juicing! Do you know what? In a few months, it’ll be taller than me. Well… that’s not saying much. I’m only 5′.

I must say, what little we’ve planted thus far in our garden is coming along quite nicely. We have about an acre of garden and live on four acres. Behind the garden is our woods. that’s a little over two acres. The above pictures show fences in the garden. We use those to support our beans.

The sage survived the winter. Even with the three-day blizzard! A few hours ago I picked a handful of sage and fennel. I washed, put into a pot and am making a delightful herbal tea. A few ways I use sage are in stir fry, teas, meat dishes and soups. I also dehydrate for long-term storage.

 

Collards were planted today. If you look past them you might see three rows of yellow onions that I planted last month.

What I’ve been reading?

My hardcover copy of An Old Testament Theology by Bryce Waltke arrived on Monday. It’s a biblical commentary and an appropriate companion for my in-depth research of the scriptures.

Speaking of study bibles… I use the John MacArthur Study Bible. I read it daily for my devotions and my daily rereading of the Bible.

Here’s a snapshot of a page from An Old Testament Theology. I have a few biblical commentaries and while the layout of this is different than what I’m used too, I’m enjoying it immensely.

When I want to learn a bit more about what I’m reading, than what appears in the study notes at the bottom of each page of my Bible, this does a great job… as it should! It’s a large book, written in small print, and is 1040 pages!

I’m linking too, Ginny’s yarnalong and Vickie’s Gardening party.

Well…  in my last post, I said that today would make two months that I have been spinning. I was wrong, that would have been yesterday. I received Ruth, my Kromski Sonata on February 12.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve decided to focus on spinning fingering weight yarn for the next several months. Who knows… that might change as I progress, but until then, I’m content to practice the various techniques that I can do while I improve. I’m thrilled that my spinning is at the point where I can actually create thinner yarn! Hooray!

It’s not going to stop me from watching videos that show how to create laceweight yarn and I’m including one that I’d observed below.

Isn’t that gorgeous? I cannot wait to step up to spinning laceweight, but for now I’m content to spin fingering weight yarn.

Ok… so I’m adding another lacemaking video.

With my latest handspun yarn, I’ve been using the longdraw technique as shown in the above video. I’m enjoying this technique immensely. It’s the first time I’ve used it effectively

This morning, I drank some of the juice I’d prepared yesterday afternoon, and I had some of the homemade raw crackers that I made with some freshly prepared guacamole. Yes… it was delicious.

I hope you all are having a fabulous Wednesday.

Tomorrow will mark two months that I’ve been spinning on Ruth, my Kromski Sonata, and although I have a long way to go, I must say that I’m thrilled with my efforts. I’ve watched numerous tutorials on YouTube and even purchased five spinning classes on Craftsy and I’m slowly seeing more consistent yarn, with each spin.

This is what I’m currently spinning. It’s merino combed top roving. The micron count is 15.5. You know what I’m learning? I naturally tend to spin thinner yarn! That’s perfect for me, since I love using laceweight and fingering weight yarn. Even though that is the case, you will usually see me knitting with a worsted weight yarn. Since I’m now spinning my own handspun yarn, I think it’s high time I change that, don’t you?

And here’s the same yarn I turned into a two-ply yarn this past weekend. I dug out my good camera, Nikon DSLR and took the pictures within the post.

You can see the handspun yarn a bit better with these two pictures, right? With my newest spin, top picture, my handspun yarn is even more consistent. I cannot wait to finish spinning this yarn, plying and waiting to see what it will become.

Yesterday, my brother and nephew stopped by from Richmond. My sister in law wasn’t feeling well so she stayed home. It was a lot of fun visiting with them and they left out at noon today. My nephew was very fascinated with spinning and I gifted him with some of my super soft merion top roving (15.5) microns and he asked for a few additional samples. He wanted my two ply yarn (second and third picture) but I told him that I already had a project set aside for that skein…

and so he selected three yarns from my handspun (dyed) yarn stash that I’ve shown in the above picture. I have spun much more yarn than this; however, this is all of my dyed yarn.

Another way I enjoy being creative is in the kitchen. This past weekend, my Excalibur food dehydrator received a serious workout. Here’s a glimpse of what I made. Black bean chips and veggie chips. I used juicer pulp (carrots, celery, collards, ginger, garlic, pineapple, apple) to make the veggie chips. Because of the added fruit, they have a mild sweetness to them. They’re really good! I also added additional veggies along with freshly ground spices and herbs that I ground in my mortar and pestle.

The bean chips are spicy, along with the obvious ingredients… black beans, I added a variety of freshly ground spices and herbs, Korean chili powder, homemade barbecue sauce, mustard and a few other ingredients. These are delicious. I’m so glad I made a lot. My daughter has been steadily eating them.

This week is going to be super busy, but I will get everything accomplished. I hope you all do too! 🙂

Today, I was able to take that single ply handspun yarn that I posted about yesterday…

and create a mate for it. I reposted the photo from yesterday. It’s a shame, I did not take a picture of that additional single handspun yarn, but I did take a picture of the results of me plying those two yarns together, which I’ve shown below.

See? I’m really thrilled with how this two-ply yarn turned out. It’s not the first two-ply handspun yarn that I’ve made… it’s the second; however, it’s the first one that I’m happy with… even with the mistakes. I didn’t get a chance to dye this handspun yarn; however, I did use my two yard Niddy Noddy to wrap it into a skein. This skein is not that big, it’s only 106 yards; however, I will be making something with this yarn. It’s just a matter of… what?I must say this is one of the softest wools I’ve touched. The micron count for this merino is 15.5. I did not get a chance to dye today and I’m unsure if I’ll get that opportunity tomorrow; however, I cannot wait to see what color it becomes.

Today I made chicken fried rice in my hand hammered steel wok. I’ve had that wok for over 20 years.

 

I also “baked,” see the above photo? I made “raw fruit cookies,” in my food dehydrator. My daughter has been snacking on them and they’re not even finished. I juice several times weekly and used the juicer pulp from juicing and to that I added bananas, freshly ground cashews, freshly ground golden flax seeds, cinnamon and some of the juice I’d made from juicing. It was a tropical juice that contained pineapples, oranges, kiwi, grapes and ginger.

We didn’t receive any snow in our area; however there were other places in our state, that did receive a snow dusting. Although we didn’t receive snow… we did receive sleet! 🙂