11/22/14 Spinning class at The Spinnery

Each time I go to The Spinnery in Frenchtown, NJ, I am amazaed at Betty's knowlege of spinning and fiber. Denise was the other student. She was in the 4 part spinning class in August. Betty helped each of us with individual questions and problems. She started me with help in plying. My plying was loose and she helped be optain an even and balanced ply.

We then played with drafting and art yarn techniques. She showed us how to long draft. The left hand holds the fiber close to the orifis to have something to draft against. Then with the right hand you draft the fiber as far back as you can go. The first finger and thumb draft the fiber. Then you wait for the twist to move up and let the yarn wind on to the bobbin. This creates a softer yarn.

I asked her about the striped fiber/yarn and does it require navajo plying. She said no. It requires navajo plying if you take the full braid (unbraided) and draft the fiber across the edge all the way through the fiber. This creats long sections of color. Then navajo plying is required to ply the colors to be self striping. The way she taught us to draft the fiber is to take a strip of the fiber along the braid (unbraided) and pull (draft) the fiber. Then spinning the fiber down the strip and repeating. When finishing bobbins, they should end at the same section of the striped fiber. Also, they should begin with the same (top) section of the braid. That way when doing 2 plys, the colors will match up for a striping effect.

We then explored art yarns. She showed us that as you are spining, you can touch the yarn with other fibers and they attach. This creates a multitude of affects depending on how much and what fiber is used. The important thing is to have the fiber you are adding on your lap. The yarn can easily be over spun if not set up properly to do this technique.

Another technique was to take to yarns and start to ply them. Then take one yarn and while plying, move it up and down the the other yarn. This creates a cool nubby effect. The section can be small or longer. It is really cool with a wool yarn and a bumby yarn. The colors chosen can create cool effects.

Also, while plying, you can stop and push one of the yarns up the length of the other yarn. This creates a boucle effect. Again, it is really cool if one of the yarns used is bumby.

For the last two techniques, you can use commercial yarn in your stash to create the artyarn. There are many artyarn techniques that can incorporate leftover yarn and ribbon. It can be added to fiber and using the carders blended for spinning.

Old sweaters that are natural fibers (not acrylic) can be carded into fiber for spinning. Strips of fabric (old clothes) can be used in spinning.

So many ideas...not enough time!

Spin, create, be happy!

Nancy

Forr Danielle's Baby

On November 15, 2014 my family had a baby shower for my cousin Danielle. Unfortunately I was unable to attend. My husband, friends of ours and I went to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra in Hershey that day. It was a fantastic show, as always.

I sent my gift with my Mother. I made her a baby blanket. The pattern was on the back of the yarn label. It is called a Round Blanket to Crochet. It was more of an Octagon done in a Granny Square Motif. The blanket was very easy to do and took less than a week.

I really love how it came out! The yarn was Bernat Baby Sport in Baby Baby. I was nice to work with. I used 2 large skeins (1786 yards). There is enough left over for a small project. I have not been fond of this color choice for baby projects, but I really like how it turned out. However, I craved those pastel color buttermints the entire time I worked on the blanket!

Happy crocheting!

Nancy

Big Scrap Shawl

Yeah!! It's done! I love this shawl. It was made with Belfast Linen and Tatamy Tweed mill ends I purchased at Kraemer Yarns for $3 a ball. It took 7 balls to make this shawl. The pattern is very simple, Regina Shawl from Love of Knitting "5 Guides Pattern Booklet"

It is Chaos approved! Couldn't keep him off of it!

This is the shawl mentions in my September in Ocean City, MD post.

Stay warm! Happy Knitting

Nancy

Fall Cooking

Today is a nice fall day! It inspired some fall cooking. I roasted the last of the tomatoes and made puree for sauce. My mother brought me Butternut Squash from Scholl's in Bethlehem for soup. I like the Butternut Squash Soup recipe in William-Sanoma's Thanksgiving Entertaining. I fell in love with the soup at Hamersly's Bistro in Boston. This is the closes I have gotten to that soup. It is delicious (had it for lunch today). 

Tomatoes and Puree 

Butternut Squash Soup

Roaste apple and onion

Yum!!

Nancy

September in Ocean City MD

It has been some time since I've blogged! I need to stay current! UGH! What I have been up to...

In September Michael and I took our annual vacation to Ocean City, MD with my parents. We couldn't have asked for better weather! Of course I couldn't go on vacation without my fiber crafts! I finished the back of my white shell while on vacation. This project is now on hold until I get the Christmas gifts done.

 I also spun some of the watermelon fiber I dyed on my drop spindle (until I broke the spindle - no fears it can be fixed!). 

I also started a garter knit triangle shawl with Tatamy Twead and Belfast Linen mill ends from Kraemer's Yarns.  I worked on this project all the way down, back and anytime we were in the car! I have made considerable progress. It is huge and I'm loving it!

We play mini golf a lot on vacation. Usually I do pretty well. However, this year I was awful! I lost every round!

Michael took advantage of the beautiful weather and spent some time flying his RC helicopter.

Our condo is on the beach. 

GO RAVENS!

I haven't done any spinning since vacation, but will be taking anothe one day class at the Spinnery in November. Most of my crafting time has been spent working on Christmas gifts. No pics until Christmas!! Not sure who all is following this blog! :)

Until my next post! Be creative!

Nancy

New Jersey Sheep and Wool Show

Hunterdon County Fair Grounds served as host to this year's New Jersey Sheep and Wool Festival www.njsheep.org September 6 and 7, 2014. On Sunday, September 7th we took a road trip down to check it out. Walking into Barn 1 we were able to see the end of the showing and judging of Lincoln Sheep. Beautiful creatures!  After visiting a few of the vendors, we left Barn 1 and the Border Collie Demonstration was going on. The shephard had three Border Collies and was demonstrating their skills and personalities. All so different. She likened them to automobiles. The first was the Hummer, powerful and steady but unsure if you can control and handle. The second was the SUV, reliable, steady and controlable. This one was excellent in following the direction she gave with a whistle. The last was Jet. He was the Ferrari, fast, powerful, and barely controllable. He was so fun to watch. He took off like his namesake, a jet. She then brought out an 11 month old being trained. She demonstrated some training techniques. He did very well.

In Barn 2, 3, and 4 were vendors, spinners, spinning demonstrations, and English Angora rabbits for sale. They were the biggest rabbits I have ever seen! Size of a small dog! There even was an appearance of a famous Sci-Fi icon.

Yes that is Mr. Spock sporting his freshly knitted scarf. If you look closely, you can see he has Tardis knitting needles! Nice job Spock. Live long and prosper (and keep on knitting!). I saw some familiar faces Betty from The Spinnery, Amber from Tailored Fibers, and Verdant Gryphon (featured in my Vogue Knitting Live post). Enjoyed meeting the ladies at Bittersweet Woolery, Hum-Dinger Alpacas, the sheep from Swayze Inn Farms, and all the other vendors at the festival.

Made a new friend (he's a ham posed perfectly for me)

As we were leaving, the parade of sheep by the junior shephards was beginning. The sheep and young shephards were sporting the knitted and crocheted pretties.

Can't wait for next year!

Nancy

Tomatoes and Sauce...Oh My!

This year produced a bumper crop of tomatoes. My mother contributed her excess tomatoes to the cause. I have been roasting and pureeing tomatoes for a month! I froze the puree until there was enough to make sauce. Today I made sauce.

A large and medium stock pot full of puree. From the sauce I canned 14 pints of sauce and froze 1 quart. 

The darker ones are in blue jars. It makes the sauce look brown, but it is the same as the others.

Yesterday and today we picked more tomatoes.

I will be roasting and pureeing more soon, but not tonight. I am tired! I started before 10 am and finished at 8:30 pm.

Puree

Clean and core tomatoes. Cut in half. Place in pan cut sides up and drizzle with olive oil. Add minced garlic and fresh herbs (basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, and parsley). Dried Italian Seasoning works well too. 

Roast for 50-60 minutes at 350, reduce to 325 for 50-60 minutes, and then raise to 375 for 20-30 minutes. I check the progress every 20-30 minutes. I find when I have one 9 x 12 pan, the minimum times work. When I have the roasting pan and 3-9x12 pans I need to roast at the maximum times.

Let the tomatoes cool. Process through food mill. Freeze the puree until there is enough for sauce.

Sauce

Fill large stock pot with puree. Add 1-1/2 cups of white wine (I use Pino Grigio) and two bay leaves. Bring to a rolling boil, reduce to a simmer. Let the sauce cook down. When almost done, add garlic (3-4 cloves) and Italian Seasoning (3 tbsp). At this point the sauce should have reduced 1/4 to 1/3 from where you started. Continue to simmer until reduces some more. Then put on low heat and let reduce some more. When the color is a deep red and it is thick (pulpy), it is done. 

Can - Eat - Enjoy!

Nancy