21 February 2014

A Mini Skein and No Knead Bread

Welcome to Fibre Arts Friday! My internet has been playing up all week so this is going to be short and sweet...

First up is a mini skein I spun on my Jenkins Delight, Sparrow ordered the spindle for me and got it sent to my friend's in Seattle, so when we visited the friend during our trip it was there waiting for me :-)  Delight is a light weight Turkish spindle, this one is made of bloodwood and weighs only 1.09oz. It came with a gorgeous fibre sample in a merino/bamboo blend that was a real pleasure to spin, I love the colourway too, so bright and sunny!
I came across Attic24's post on a "No Knead Bread" recipe last week, which really intrigued me. The notion suggests the perfect combination for lazy cooks like myself, although I have a bread machine it's a hassle to measure out all the ingredients (yeah I'm lazy like that!) and you can't really choose the shape of your bread... But this, this "no knead bread", sounds like the real deal. Could it really be that easy? But yes my friends, it really was easy peasy :-)
The recipe is here, I followed it exactly, no mods ;-)

That's it for me this week. Thanks for stopping by, I'm linking it to Fibre Arts Friday and Creative Friday,  so please hop over there for more handmade fun stuff!

14 February 2014

How about this for Valentine?

Happy Fibre Arts Friday! ... and Happy Valentine's Day, for those of you who celebrate that is. Personally I think Valentine's Day is overrated, it's just another opportunity for commercialisation. Having said that I wouldn't mind if the old man came home with flowers, but I'm not holding my breath. Besides, if he did I might question his motive - yeah, we are romantic like that! ;-)

I remember seeing a poster or a picture that said "yarn is cheaper than roses", but I couldn't find it again,  that's my sentiment exactly!

Something did turn up in the post this week, nothing to do with the old man I can assure you, it's something I was going to get when we were in America but it never materialised, until now:
It's a handmade modular spindle by Ken Ledbetter, made of walnut and maple with a polymer clay inlay. It spins like a dream and I'm totally in love with it!

So, that's my Valentine for this year. Now show us yours :-)

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

07 February 2014

Getting back to "normal"

It's only been two weeks since we returned from our holiday but it all seems so distant now, sigh! The boys have gone back to school, I've started picking up bookings again and my semester will start in March, so things are getting back to "normal". It all sounds rather mundane, but it also means I'm getting back to play with fibre and yarn again, so that's ok :D

I have finally finished spinning the roving I started last July for TdF, the one started on my homemade Turkish spindle, well I cheated towards the end and finished the last bit on my wheel. It came out in a 2-ply laceweight, around 700 meters.

Although I've got (quite) a few UFOs that really need more attention, what with new year new start and all that I was too tempted to start something new. Especially since I finally got hold of The Unofficial Harry Potter Knits that Vivian kindly ordered for me - it's not available outside U.S., there are so many gorgeous patterns in this collection but I was really drawn to the Lestrange Cloak I had to cast on.
I don't particularly like knitting in black yarn so I found this fingering wool/acrylic blend in my stash in the Burgundy colourway, you can't see the pattern very well at the moment, hopefully blocking will make it look better. I'm planning to shorten the body by omitting one pattern repeat as I don't want it too long, I'm short anyway, also I'm a little worried about not having enough yarn. Fingers crossed!

Oh, by the way, Cat & Sparrow is hosting a Spin-along in our Ravelry group, all entries will get a chance to win this gorgeous drum carded batt by the end of the month. The batt weighs 100g and it's a merino/alpaca mix. Details can be found here.

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!