Ramblings

Farm Blog

2011-11-13T23:27:00.000-05:00

All farm related posts are now on the Square Peg Farm Blog

Sheep

2011-05-23T13:39:00.002-05:00

Now that we are settled into the farm we are ready bring on the sheep! We are picking up our sheep on Thursday. Now for a little bit about our sheep and our plans for them

We are getting three ewes that are already experienced mothers and have been handled frequently and so are easy to manage. They are from Rare Find Farm near Raleigh, NC. They are registered as #S25401 (Endive-4yr), #S24904 (Elizabeth- 4yr), #s27527 (Fannie Mae-3yr). They have all had lambs but only Endive and Elizabeth have sons (1 each) registered.

We are raising Shetland sheep, a heritage breed characterized by its small size, hardiness, friendly nature and fine fleece. Ewes are usually between 75 and 100lb with 2-4lb of fleece per shearing. Shetlands are listed as a "recovering" breed by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy.

Our sheep will be primarily pasture fed, eating the grass that is growing in the pasture and not needing any grain or hay during the summer. Our Ewes will be given grain during gestation and after lambing, though, to keep them healthy while they are making and feeding babies. Sheep don't require much housing but they will have access to shelter in the barn whenever they want to get out of the weather or the sun. There is also shade from trees growing in and around the pasture.

Our flock will primarily be a breeding flock. In other words, our goal is to create lambs that can go on to be used for breeding-- not eaten or wethered. Some of our sheep will still probably be used for meat, particularly if we get a lot of rams or have animals that aren't worth breeding, but the goal will be to grow our flock of breeding ewes and also to sell breeding ewes and rams to other farms. For now we will be leasing the use of a Shetland ram from a nearby farm, hopefully. That's something that we need to arrange soon! If we want to have lambs in April we'll need to breed in November.

Playing Dress Up

2011-05-19T10:50:00.003-05:00

A year or so ago my grandparents moved into an assisted living community and since then my parents, aunts and uncles have been cleaning out their old house, bit by bit. The nice furniture and all the valuable antiques and collectibles have been split among the siblings and now most of what is left will be sold at an estate sale this summer. Living out of town, and now far out of town, I haven't spent much time treasure hunting through the old house but when my parents cleaned out the closets last week and took most of the old clothes to Goodwill, my mom pulled out a few of grandma's old dresses for me to try on. Since I'm in town for a week for the Carolina Fiber Fest I got to play dress up today!

Excuse the bad webcam photos- I'm home by myself this morning while I wait for mom to get home from work so we can head to Raleigh for the festival.

Garden Part 2: fill it with manure

2011-05-17T18:48:00.003-05:00

Today Chris finished digging the garden, mixing in the manure and humus and laying out the paths. The fencing needs to be finished and hopefully tomorrow morning we can start putting in plants! Work on the garden would go faster if it would stop raining!

Garden Part 1: dig a big hole

2011-05-14T13:20:00.001-05:00

Gardening Notes

2011-05-12T10:05:00.000-05:00

Plant tall crops in the northeast part of the garden so that as summer wears on they won't cast shade on lower growing plants

Don't plant corn and tomatoes together. Don't know why, just don't do it.

Healthy soil has at least 10 worms in a 12"x12"x7" deep soil sample. We have about 20.

The Garden

2011-05-11T18:22:00.000-05:00

More Info

Moving in to the New House!

2011-05-06T11:12:00.001-05:00

Moving in to the New House!, a set on Flickr.

How to Make Friends

2011-04-20T19:13:00.002-05:00

Moving is a great opportunity to have a fresh start. And so I'm making a resolution to actually make friends in our new town. Friends that aren't either family or work related. But I haven't really made friends since I was in grade school. I have a couple of close friends and that has suited me pretty well, but now that I'm moving 8 hours away from the few friends I have, its time that I make some new friends. But...how does a self employed adult make friends? I don't have co-workers or classmates, and I don't have kids yet so I can't rely on meeting other moms through kids' activities. Other than knitting groups (which can be hit or miss) where else can I find people to be my friend?

Structural Engineering

2011-04-12T14:09:00.003-05:00

A week ago we had the new house inspected as part of the regular due diligence you have to go through when buying a house. In general everything was fine but there were a couple of things that could be signs that water was seeping under the house and undermining the foundation, causing the house to sink. Nothing so serious that the house would fall apart on us anytime soon, but our concern was that it could cause us problems re-selling the house after Chris's residency is done in 4 years. So we decided to have a structural engineer come look at the house. He went out to the house yesterday and while we are still waiting on the official report the word is that the "signs" we saw in the initial inspection were just part of how the house was built and not cause for alarm. There are still a few things that need to be done by the current owners before we close on the house, but nothing that will cause problems in the future. Yesterday we also had the termite inspection done and termites were found, so the whole house will need to be treated before closing.

Overall inspections went well and didn't uncover any problems that will prevent us from buying the house. And we are very glad that we had them done because even though its all minor stuff, the cost of fixing everything properly is going to add up and we are glad that it will be the current owner's responsibility and not ours. Now we just have to cross our fingers that he will actually get everything fixed like he is supposed to. With less than 2 weeks till closing that doesn't give him much time!

Fencing

2011-04-10T14:22:00.005-05:00

Fencing is one of, if not the, biggest expense in setting up a farm. Our farm already has 4-board wood fencing around part of the perimeter which is great but its really meant for horses and probably isn't enough for sheep and pigs. And the rest of the fencing is woven wire. Which might be perfect but unfortunately we didn't pay close attention to it and can't remember what the spacing on the wire fencing is. Hopefully the wire fencing is in good shape -- if so then we won't have to spend thousands of dollars on fencing, yippee! We won't be able to inspect the fencing ourselves until we go up for closing on the 22nd, but assuming its in good shape all we'll need to add is woven wire to the front line of fencing, since its the wood board type. Then we'll need install electric net fencing to divide the pasture in half. This is so that the sheep can eat the grass down in one part while new grass is growing in the other part. We may be able to wait until next summer to install this fencing, though, since this summer we'll only have 3 sheep and so they won't eat the grass down as much.

Then we'll need some electric fencing to separate the pigs from the sheep. Pigs don't require much fencing because they have short stubby legs and aren't good at climbing or jumping, BUT sheep really like to eat pig grain and it makes them sick, so we have to keep them separate with 36" electric netting.

Since we haven't found the perfect pigs yet and since they will require additional fencing, which is an extra expense, we may start with the sheep and get them settled before adding the pigs to the mix.

We have graduation, a wedding and two festivals in May so we will be driving back and forth between KY and NC all month but will finally be done and ready to spend all our time on the farm after the Carolina Fiber Fest at the end of May, so hopefully we can pick up our sheep that week. Now we just need to figure out how to get the sheep from NC to KY since we don't own a livestock trailer!!!

Sheep

2011-04-09T18:28:00.003-05:00

Today, just before a huge storm swept in, we visited the sheep farm. I should clarify, this isn't just any sheep farm its one of my favorites. The farm, Rarefind Farm is owned by Lynn and her husband and they raise the most beautiful Shetland sheep. They are as friendly as dogs and come racing over when Lynn calls for them-- they get so excited that even the pregnant ewes leap like little lambs! And their fleeces. wow. Several years ago when I first had my hands on yarn made from Lynn's fleeces I couldn't believe it was Shetland. I thought she must have snuck some merino in it was so soft! All my previous experiences with Shetland fleece had been a bit, well, "rustic" would be the nice way to put it. I had no idea that Shetland wool could be so fine. She doesn't have a sheep in the flock with a micron count of more than 30, and her average is around 22 (I think that's what she said-- I should have been taking notes). Perfect for hand spinning and the type of wool you'd want to have against your skin.

Because Shetland sheep are so small they are perfect for our small farm. We are planning to start with three this year but we'll breed them in the fall and lamb in the spring, so we'll have more next summer (and the next, and the next...) but they are small enough that it'll take a while before we run out of space. And they are small enough that I can handle them on my own-- larger breeds are surprisingly strong and when they are stubborn can be too much for someone my size/strength to handle. Plus they don't eat as much as larger breeds which will be nice on our wallets!

After talking to Lynn I think our best choice is to buy three adult ewes who have already had at least one baby. This way we will know that they are good, healthy animals and they shouldn't have problems with lambing. Sometimes new moms take a while to realize that the tiny creature following them around is their responsability, and they can have more trouble birthing, so a proven ewe will make things simpler for us and take away some of the stress of our first lambing!

I'd like to bring them to the farm in late May or early June. That will give us the summer to get to know them and get them settled in before breeding in the fall. Of course, that means that we'll have to have the farm ready for them. Thankfully our trip to Lynn's reassured me that setting our farm up for sheep is within our capabilities.

My dad has already told my mom that she can have a sheep...which would live at our farm, of course!

Pig Pictures from yesterday's visit to Cane Creek

2011-04-08T12:31:00.000-05:00

Mud Room

2011-04-08T00:21:00.002-05:00

Did I tell you that our new house has a mud room? I have always wanted a mud room but didn't think we'd actually find a house that we liked that had one! And this is what I want my mudroom to look like. Just Like This. Photo from the Martha Stewart website.

Decorating with Animal Photos

2011-04-08T00:03:00.002-05:00

Having always rented and moved every 2 years I've never really gotten into decorating. But the house we are buying deserves to be decorated. The walls in the living areas are already painted in beautiful sage green and soft yellow-- exactly the colors I would have chosen-- so we just need to decide what we want to put on those walls. I would really like come up with a neat way to frame photos of farm animals and use them to decorate the house. But like I said, I haven't done a lot of decorating so I'm afraid I'll just end up with a boring wall of plain frames line up in a row without any character. So I'm looking for good ideas that will go with the contemporary farm house style I'll be using in the house. Oh and it has to be cheap because after paying the down payment on this house we won't have any money left over to actually decorate the place! Any ideas??

For the pictures themselves I've love to use photos with stories. I'm hoping to get some pretty prints from Juniper Moon and may be able to bribe a photographer friend to come out and do a shoot on our farm, but that won't be till we fill it up with animals so it might be a while. Do you have any favorite farm photos of your own? Or do you admire the work of a photographer who does a lot of farm animal photography? Let me know!

A Farm Needs Animals

2011-04-07T22:13:00.004-05:00

As farms go, ours is pretty small. 5 acres is pretty much the minimum you can get away with calling a farm and most "real" farmers would say its really just a glorified back yard. But its our farm and it'll be the perfect size for us to get our feet wet and learn what we are doing without being totally overwhelmed. Because we don't have a lot of space we need to make sure that we pick our animals carefully. To this end we are choosing small versions of the animals we want. For sheep we are looking at Shetlands, one of the smallest breeds (and also the most friendly, in my opinion). And for pigs we are looking at heritage breeds that grow slower and stay smaller than more "commercial" breeds. And since we only have space for a few of each type of animal we want to make them count and get the best animals we can afford. Thankfully over the last few years I have been keeping my eye out for farms I like and long before we found the farm, I already knew where I wanted to get our animals.

Today we visited Cane Creek Farm which is where we want to get our pigs. We love this farm for several reasons. The first thing that attracted us to them was the incredible taste of their pork. I have to admit that I never used to care for pork. The stuff you get at the grocery store tends to be pretty bland and is only good if you cover it in tasty sauce or really flavorful spices or herbs. The pork itself is just a filler to take up space on your plate. But did you know that that's not what pork is supposed to taste like? Here is what happened. Back in the 80s when the pork industry launched its "The Other White Meat" campaign (p.s. pork isn't a white meat...) the trend was towards making pork very lean so that it was similar in fat/calorie content to poultry. So all the commercial pigs were bred to that end. And they lost all their flavor and ended up as just, well, the other white meat. Blah. Thankfully small farms kept heritage pigs alive and thriving. Heritage breeds (i.e. relatively rare breeds that haven't been bred for the commercial meat market) are a lot like wild pigs. They tend to grow more slowly and don't get quite as big. They also tend to be more resilient and are better at foraging for themselves. Provided that they have water and a big, healthy pasture with plenty growing in it they can pretty much fend for themselves. Not that you would want to drop them in a field and ignore them- they have too much personality for that.

The quality of the pigs themselves are the main reason we want to get our pigs from Cane Creek, but we also feel good supporting the farm because we love how its run. They raise pigs, cows, sheep and assorted poultry and all of their animals are so healthy and, well, happy. I try not to refer to animals as happy because I think its a human emotion that we incorrectly transfer to animals but if I have ever seen animals that deserve to be called happy its the Cane Creek animals. Did you know that pigs will roll over on their backs so you can scratch their bellies? Or follow you around the field hoping for a scratch behind the ear? Today I stood beside a monster of a boar with big nasty tusks and scratched his back while he calmly nibbled grass and made contented noises. Yeah, that was one happy pig. The new mama sheep watched me carefully while I petted her itty bitty son and the pregnant ewes (Blanche, you are my favorite) rubbed their swollen bellies up against my legs for a gentle scratch. The only animals on the farm that didn't seem happy for human attention were the geese, but then protecting the farm from intruders is their job so their efforts should be applauded.

Farm owner Elizabeth clearly has a passion for her animals and we feel really honored that she is willing to let us take some of her babies home to our own farm. I can tell that she is the type of person who would only sell an animal to what she knew would be a good home, regardless of the money.

Now we just need to decide which pigs we want. In May Cane Creek will be weaning a bunch of Ossabow and Ossabow-crosses. These young pigs are called "shoats" or "feeder pigs". I personally don't like the term feeder pigs because it reminds me of the feeder mice I used to buy my pet snake and I don't like the image of a cute little piglet being eaten by a snake! The Ossabow breed is pretty neat, but I'm not sure they are for us, at least not right now. They super tasty but also really fatty and I'm not sure we really need a freezer full of such fatty meat. I think we'll just buy the really fatty stuff in small quantities from Cane Creek for special occasions. I'd like to have at least one of the Ossabow-crosses, though. They are a bit better balanced for a small farm, in my opinion. Ideally I'd like to start with 3 pigs and, since we are limited in space and want to make the most of each animal, I'd like each pig to be a different breed. That way we have the most diverse experience raising them and the most assortment in our freezer. So one will be an Ossabow cross but what about the other two? More investigating is needed!

Step 1: Buying the Farm

2011-04-03T12:38:00.002-05:00

The dream suddenly started to feel real on March 26 when we signed the papers to buy our farm. We will be living on 5 acres in Nicholasville, just south of Lexington, KY. Chris is happy because it has a beautiful suburban looking front yard with a rich carpet of green (blue?) grass. And in the back is space for enough gardens to put veggies on the table year round, an old playhouse that will make a perfect chicken coop, a work shed that can easily be converted into a dye studio, a barn with enough space for animals and a wood workshop and about 3 acres of fenced in pasture land. The whole property is fenced in with the 4-board wood fencing that is so popular in Lexington.

The house itself is move in ready. The upstairs bedrooms will need to be repainted-- right now they are painted in the colors that kids picked out (pink, blue, red...) but Chris really enjoys painting walls so he is looking forward to doing the painting! I love the colors that the downstairs rooms are painted in- sage green and light yellow- so all it needs is to be filled with all our stuff.

We have a few chores that need to be done outside before the farm is ready for animals.

1- right now the fencing is ideal for horses but will need to be lined with wire mesh fencing before its ready for sheep. The gaps between the board planks are big enough that a sheep might be able to escape, or at least gets its head stuck.

2- we'll also need some electric fencing to divide the pasture in half. that way we can have the sheep in one part while we let grass grow on the other part, and then swap. Hopefully this way we can keep grass on the ground and not have to spend as much money on hay during the summer.

3- the playhouse will need to be converted to a chicken coop. We should just be able to put in some roosts and nesting boxes, patch up the screen in the windows and cut out a chicken sized door w/ a ramp

4- we need to decide where to put the pig pen and how exactly we want to set it up

5- one of the first things we want to do is put in the gardens. We have a bunch of seeds ready to be planted but first we'll need to till the earth and mix in some compost. Thankfully Kentucky has real dirt not the awful red clay we are used to in NC so hopefully digging in it will be a bit easier!

6- the dye studio/workshop is just about ready to go. I'll need to put in some work surfaces but I'll probably just use boards on top of saw horses (which is what I'm using now). Before winter we'll also need to insulate the workshop and eventually I'd like to run a water line under ground to the studio. Right now a garden hose will work but I'd like to have a water line in place before winter-- there is nothing more annoying than getting ready to work and then finding out that the water hose is frozen solid!

Farm Dreams

2011-04-03T12:17:00.002-05:00

I know I'm not the only one out there who has always dreamed of living on a farm. In today's fast paced, high technology world the farm dream seems to be the perfect antithesis to our worldly woes. The farm reality is a bit different than the farm dream, of course, but I think that the same qualities that attract me to the farm dream are still part of the farm reality, just mixed in with mud, animal poo and sweat that don't necessarily show themselves in the dream version. Anyway, I've had this farm dream for a long time. As I've lived in cheap apartments as a college student and the suburbs as a newly wed I've held onto that dream. I've grown what I could in window boxes and shady backyards, read books like Living with Pigs and filled our corner of the neighborhood with the clucks of backyard chickens. And all the while I've been saving up pennies and dimes and putting them away in my Farm account. In mid-March we found out that Chris has been assigned to University of Kentucky, Lexington, for his residency. Medicine is much like the military in that they assign you to a hospital for residency and you don't have an choice. You can get the equivalent of a dishonorable discharge and refuse, or you say "yes sir" and you move to Kentucky. So even though we had never even visited Kentucky it is, suddenly, our new home. Thankfully Kentucky is perhaps the best state for living out our farm dream. The more I learn about Kentucky the more it seems to be the ideal place for us. So one week ago we drove to Lexington, met with a realtor, visited 7 small farms for sale and at the end of a very long day we walked through the door of our new home. As soon as we walked into the open kitchen and living space Chris was sold, and as soon as we caught a glimpse of the backyard with 3 acres of fenced in pasture, a big barn and a workshop (i.e. dye studio) I knew I was home.

So now we begin our Kentucky adventure where we are turning our farm dream into reality. We are very lucky that its a dream that we can make happen. I know its not something that everyone can do, especially so early in our lives. Whenever we tell people about our plans the response is either "oh...thats nice" (from the city dwellers who can't imagine living in the country) or "wow I wish we could do that! I don't even know where I would start..." So for those of you who are curious about the process of turning dream into reality I'm going to try to keep my blog up to date as we go through the challenges and joys of this new adventure!

Baby Chicks on April 1st

2011-04-01T14:52:00.001-05:00

Why I want to eat my pets (and why you should too)

2011-03-11T23:30:00.004-05:00

This is a lengthy post and I won't be offended if you don't read it. Do take the time to read this much shorter and better written article about the ethics of meat eating and this one about the environmental impact of meat eating vs. vegetarianism.

I am and always have been a softhearted animal lover. So many people who know me are surprised when they find out that I have plans to raise livestock and, in the end, butcher that livestock for meat. They are even more shocked to find out that I've already killed and eaten ducks that we raised. I know it makes people squeamish and I respect that. Not everyone has to be comfortable with the idea of killing animals that you've known and loved. But the fact of the matter is, if you eat meat you are playing a role in the deaths of animals. Just because you never scratched that pig behind the ear or patted the cow on its rump doesn't change that.

Killing animals is not an evil thing, though. Its just a part of life. Things live and they die. Its only humans that ascribe ideas of good and bad to life and death and put more value on a long life than a short one. For animals it is not important to live forever. They do not dream and make plans for the future. They live in the moment and what is important to them is that the life they live is good, not how long it lasts. For an animal a good life is one that provides safety from physical harm, fear and stress, one where there is plenty of nutritious food to eat and room to exercise to stay fit and appropriate mental stimulus to prevent boredom. And a good life should end with a good death- one that is as pain and stress free as possible. A good life like this is difficult to find in the natural world where food is often scarce and danger is a constant presence, particularly for the animals we raise as livestock and which in the wild would be prey animals. It can also be difficult to come by in large, commercial factory farms where efficiency and profitability are valued more than the quality of life of the animals.

Ending the lives of animals is not bad. Causing them to have bad lives and/or bad deaths is. If we eat meat then by definition we are killing animals but that does not mean that we have to cause them to have bad lives. But it can be difficult to only eat animals who had good lives. One way is to buy meat from small farms, particularly if they are located nearby and you can visit the farm (often they happily give tours!) and see for yourself that the animals are treated well. This is probably the best solution for most people. For us, though, we want to be even more involved. At least for some of the meat we eat ( we'll continue to buy our beef from local farmers). And so we plan to raise our own sheep and pigs and turkeys and chickens and, after they have had a good life on our farm where they have been well fed, kept safe from danger and allowed the freedom to explore their worlds within the safety of their natural territories, then we will kill them in as pain and stress free a way as we can. And when that meat is served at our table we will know that eating it has not contributed to pain or misery for any creature.

That doesn't mean that it won't be hard to say goodbye to our friends. Or that we won't occasionally bond with an animal too closely to let them go. But it will be hard not because its wrong to kill them but because we will miss them. As humans we are filled with complex emotions; we have long memories and we can think about how much we could enjoy the company of the animal in the future. But those are selfish reasons.

Perhaps it would just be easier to avoid meat altogether. Then we aren't responsible for animals being treated poorly nor do we have to suffer the pain of losing their company in our lives. For some people vegetarianism is the right answer. But for me, vegetarianism (at least for ethical reasons--lets set aside religious or health reasons for a different discussion) isn't a solution, rather its a way to avoid the problem. Not eating meat avoids causing animals to have bad lives, but in the same way it does not cause animals to have good lives. If all people became vegetarians many breeds of animals simply would no longer exist. Dual purpose animals like wool sheep, dairy cows and chickens would continue to be kept (assuming we don't all turn vegan) but what use would we have for pigs or the breeds of cows and sheep best suited for meat. Who would raise turkeys if they no longer had a place on our thanksgiving tables or between our slices of sandwich bread? These animals no longer exist in the wild except for rare exceptions and for the most part could not survive without humans to care for them. And humans cannot be expected to care for them if they have no role. In my opinion life, followed by death, is better than no life at all.

For a long time eating meat has been seen as wasteful, gluttonous and environmentally and ethically irresponsible. That is because for most people eating meat means supporting factory farms. But that has less to do with the meat and more to do with a system of business practices. Those business practices can be changed and the best way to force that change to happen is by voting with our wallets. A vegetarian has no power in the eyes of a factory farm. That vegetarian is written off the list of possible customers and dismissed from thought. The only people to have any real power over the meat industry are its customers--meat eaters. If enough of us refuse to eat animals that have had bad lives or been killed in cruel ways and if we take our money and by meat from small, local farmers or raise the animals ourselves we are doing two positive things. We are sending a direct message to the meat industry that the only way to stay in business is to change their practices and at the same time we are putting our money into the pockets of small farmers, allowing them to not only stay in business but to grow and be able to offer good lives to more animals.

Including meat in your diet is important if you strive to eat locally. The benefits of eating locally are numerous. Food is fresher and therefore tastier and healthier. It is transported, stored and processed less and so requires less fossil fuel and other resources to fuel vehicles, operate processing plants and cool refrigerated storage facilities. Often purchasing directly from small farmers is only possible when done locally as their distribution is generally much more limited. But if you eat local it can be difficult to maintain a balanced diet without including meat. Most vegetarians supplement their diets by consuming soy products. These tend to be heavily processed and transported from far away. Its much harder to find a local tofu producer (at least in this country) than a local cow farmer. Most of the worlds lentils and beans, another excellent source of protein for vegetarians, comes from India, Canada, Brazil and China. While the US is the top produce of soy beans they are rarely eaten in their natural form but must undergo processing, packing and transportation before being consumed.

Baby Plants

2011-03-11T19:24:00.005-05:00

About 3 weeks ago we started out first seeds for the season. We won't be able to start an outside garden until after we move which will make us a little late in getting the garden started this year, so we are starting things inside. We began with two long boxes filled with herbs and a pot of rosemary. These are all herbs that we like to use for cooking or tea. We saved some of the seeds from each seed pack for an outdoor herb garden once we have moved.The photos are in this order: Oregano, Thyme, Dill, Chammomile,Basil, Bergamont, Rosemary

I added to our indoor garden by planting some Brandywine Tomatoes (left) and Lavender (right).

The problem with friendly chickens...

2011-03-11T19:01:00.005-05:00

...is that when you leave the door open they'll come right in.

Chickens in the Rain

2011-03-11T17:50:00.005-05:00

After a very dry month we finally got some good, soaking rain this week. In general the chickens don't like rain very much. When its raining they stay under the porch where its snug and dry. Until the sun goes down. Then they ignore all of the warm, dry perches under the porch, in the coop or in their covered run and insist on sleeping on the porch railing behind the grill. In the rain. In the winter when its cold we go outside after they have fallen asleep and transfer them to their coop so that we don't wake up to chick-sicles but now that its warmed up enough that they aren't in danger we have been letting them stay there. Moving them in the middle of the night tends to stress them out and locking them in the coop together when they don't want to be there has led to some unfortunate bullying and pecking. So during the rain storm earlier this week I just let them be, but not before I snuck a few photos. The blob of feathers near the bottom is Prudence with her head stuck underneath Imogene. They do this whenever it rains and sometimes its a different chicken who gets to shelter her head. We suspect it has something to do with which chicken is head of the hen house that week.

p.s. because it was dusk I couldn't get a clear photo without using the flash, but with the flash the background just turned black. So here is one of each.

Spring Chicks

2011-02-17T14:55:00.006-05:00

I know its not actually spring yet but this week we are having beautiful weather and while its too early to actually do much of anything in the yard, we have been enjoying some of the planning. Today I finally decided on my spring chicks order and placed my order. We ordered from McMurray's Hatchery and they (like most mail order chick places) have a minimum order of 25 chicks. This is because you have to have enough to fill a box so that they can keep each other nice and warm during shipping. We probably don't need 25 chickens, though, so a friend of the family has offered to take a few. And we'll probably designate half a dozen as meat birds (particularly the boys) and therefore only temporary residents of the farm. This is the list of birds that I ordered, unless noted they are all female. They will be delivered the last week of March/first of April.

1 Araucana (this is the same breed as Prudence)
1 Red Cap
2 Partidge Rock
1 Silver Laced Wyandotte (I really wanted a gold laced wyandotte but they were sold out)
5 Dark Cornish- mix of male/female for meat
4 Barred Rock- mix of male/female for meat
2 White Laced Red Cornish (not sure on sex)
1 Delaware
1 Blue Andalusian
1 White Frizzle Cochin (not sure on sex)
1 Golden Polish Top Hat
1 Buff Laced Polish Top Hat
1 Buff Brahma (not sure on sex)
1 Black Frizzle Cochin (not sure on sex)
1 Red Frizzle Cochin (not sure on sex)
1 Golden Penciled Hamburg
1 "free rare exotic chick" i.e. grab bag

We've also started to make inquiries about the other animals we want on the farm. We spoke with one of the farmers at Cane Creek and verified that we will be able to buy shoats (young pigs) from them. We absolutely love their pork and want to raise heritage breeds like them, probably the Ossabow breed. We are trying to raise heritage breeds whenever possible- both with our livestock and our gardens- in order to promote genetic diversity and raise things that are different from what you can get at the supermarket. Plus, the Ossabow and other heritage pigs are SO much more tasty than you average commercial pork.

I've also gotten in touch with Lynn at Rare Find Farm to inquire about her Shetland sheep. I love the Shetland breed for several reasons. They are much more friendly than most sheep, they are small and easy for one not-super-strong person to wrangle and they tend to be hardy and independent. They are also a heritage breed that hasn't been overly developed or commercialized. A lot of the Shetland fiber I've felt has been a bit scratchy. Not terrible but not really what you would call soft, either. Lynn's sheep are different. They are soft and fine. As soon as I sunk my hands into one of her Shetland fleeces I knew that I didn't just want Shetlands, I wanted Lynn's Shetlands.

We can't actually buy any animals until we a) know where Chris is going to Match (just a few more weeks!) and b) have bought a house and know how much land we'll be working with. Ideally I'd like to get two pigs and maybe 3 Ewes, and then this fall breed the ewes and have lambs in the spring. Of course, its also depends on how much money we have left after we buy a house and get fencing, etc set up. Thankfully chickens are cheap, $3-$4 each for the breeds we ordered. Pigs and sheep are a bit pricier!

Pre-Christmas Dinner 2010

2010-12-22T14:47:00.002-05:00

Chris's Christmas gift to the family is a gourmet, multi-course meal that he spends weeks planning and then days preparing. Its always a delicious success and this year didn't disappoint. Here are a few pictures from last night!

Today in Photos

2010-12-16T17:47:00.001-05:00

Today in Photos

2010-12-10T12:53:00.002-05:00

Today in Photos

2010-11-22T14:07:00.002-05:00

HAWKS

2010-11-07T23:16:00.002-05:00

Today we survived our first hawk attack. I was doing some computer work at the kitchen table when I suddenly heard a lot of noise from the live-feed web cam that we have on the young chicks/ducklings. I switched over to the web cam webpage but the camera had been knocked so that I couldn't see anything, but I still heard squawking and lots of wing flapping so I rushed outside to see what was happening. They often get riled up over nothing-- the chicks have a tendency to climb up on top of a pile of ducklings and the ducks all get unsettled and start fussing. So I wasn't expecting to see anything out of the ordinary. I was shocked when I approached the run and there was a HAWK trapped inside. Thankfully, for our flock, the hawk was so surprised at being trapped inside the run that he was panicking rather than attacking his would-be prey. All our little ones were huddled in the corner of the run behind their nest box, freaking out but unhurt. I lifted the corner of the run to let the flock out and they immediately ran to hide under the porch, where the big hens were already safely hiding. Now that everyone was safe I stepped back and took a look at the trapped hawk. He was clearly very scared and I was worried that if I lifted the run for him to get out I would get attacked in the process so I left him in the run while I went to fetch Chris (and my camera) from inside. With Chris's help we were able to lift the run off the hawk and move it away. After laying on the ground stunned for a few moments he flew up into one of the trees in the yard and continued to survey the yard for some time. I'm afraid that this won't be the last we see of this fellow. By the time we got the run back in place, with the opening that the hawk had gotten into patched up, the flock was settled in deep under the deck where we couldn't reach them, so it took some time for us to chase them out and catch them. Our big hens are so much easier to catch-- they will come right up to us looking for treats and usually let us pick them up without struggling. The babies haven't learned about treats yet and run from us like we are going to eat them. I guess they aren't as stupid as they seem.

Goals

2010-06-23T22:49:00.004-05:00

I am one of those people who do best when working towards goals. I don't do well when I feel like I'm just treading water. In the last couple of years I've been working hard to build The Unique Sheep. And I'm still loving my job with The Unique Sheep but I'm getting to a place with it that it doesn't need to take up every moment of my life and spark in my brain. I'm really happy with how The Unique Sheep has grown and everything I'm able to do because of it and I feel like for the next little bit maintaining what we have built is the right choice, rather than keep trying to grow it until its out of control. But that means I need something new to focus some of my energy on. In about a year Chris will be graduating and we'll be moving *somewhere* for residency. So at that point we'll be moving and looking for a house to buy and then I'll have all sorts of projects to work on -setting up a new studio, creating the garden we've been wishing we could have now and all the other things that go along with setting up a new home. But what do I do with myself until then? I need something new to learn about. But not just something to fill up my time. Something worthwhile. I'm not sure I really have a point to this blog post- its just whats on my mind.

Ideas

2010-04-10T15:03:00.003-05:00

In the spring I can't help but want to do everything. Sometimes it makes it hard to get any one thing done! Aside from the chickens and the garden, I'm also currently obsessed with baking (particularly chocolate pies) and making things from re-purposed clothing.

Here are some recipes I want to try:
Chocolate Pecan Pie- I got some really good pecans at the farmers market today for this one
Chocolate Shoofly Pie- I don't know what a shoofly pie is, but it sounds good!
Strawberry Banana Cream Pie
Chocolate Fudge Brownie Pie- Chocolate. Fudge. Brownie. Pie. What else do I need to say?
Vanilla Bean Scones- these count as a breakfast food, right?

And some interesting sewing tutorials. Yes, most of them are for babies. No, I don't have something to announce. But its always nice to have things on hand for baby showers and eventually I'll have my own so it doesn't hurt to start collecting cute clothes, right?
Button Up Shirt --> Toddler's Dress
Sweater Sleeve Pants
Baby Hat with silly ears ok really I just want to make everything off this site

Chicks!

2010-04-03T18:47:00.007-05:00

Guess what we did today? We picked up our chicks!! We drove out to Holly Springs to a place called Sumner- Byrd Poultry Farm- well actually its just a guy with a bunch of chicks in his garage and coops in his backyard! Before leaving with our girls we got a tour of his chicks. Though we had seen photos online while researching the breeds we wanted it was nice to actually see the birds in person. The pretty redhead to the right is an adult Rhode Island Red. The "teenagers" to the left are Americunas (if you click the picture it gets larger so you can actually see them) and finally the lady below is a Gold Comet. He had other breeds as well, like these silly Silkies, but these are the three breeds that we took home.

We hadn't expected to be getting the chicks so soon- we thought they weren't going to be available for two more weeks- and so we weren't quite prepared. We hadn't bought any chick food or bedding yet. So on our way home we stopped by the feed store...which had closed 30min earlier. So we had to drive to the next town whose feed store was open later but don't worry, we got everything the girls need to be happy. After the long drive(s) they were exhausted and happy to be in their new lodgings.

Charleston Vacation

2010-04-02T22:56:00.002-05:00

Chris and I just got home from a very beautiful and relaxing vacation in Charleston, SC. We spent three days wandering around historic downtown Charleston, visiting plantations and eating lots and lots of good food.

Meatloaf

2010-03-23T13:07:00.004-05:00

Can you believe that before this week I had never made meatloaf? I had no idea that it is so easy! I used my grandma's recipe (below) but substituted bison for half the meat (the other half was lean beef) and added a bit of sugar and cinnamon. My amounts were a bit off, too, but close enough. Instead of making one large I took my mom's advice and made 4 small 1/2lb loaves. Because I used lean meat, my loaves didn't hold together very well. Next time I might add an extra egg to help with that. Even though the loaves fell apart, they still tasted great! One loaf seems to be perfect to split between Chris and I for one dinner. I wrapped the extra loaves in foil and froze them, now we have an easy but tasty and healthy dinner that just needs to be defrosted and heated up!

Grandma's Meatloaf
1.5 lb ground chuck or beef
1 large chopped onion
1 small chopped green pepper
1 tsp chili powder
1 cup ketchup, plus extra
1/2 tube crumbled crackers
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tsp salt
1 egg, slightly beaten
8oz tomato sauce

Mix everything together and form into a loaf. Spray baking dish with Pam or line bottom with foil and spray with Pam. Put meatloaf in baking dish. Spread extra ketchup on top.

Bake 350 for 1hr15min. When done, remove loaf with large spatula into another container so that it doesn't sit in grease. cover with foil.

How does your garden grow?

2010-03-23T13:00:00.004-05:00

Remember that empty tray of dirt from a few posts ago? Within days we had little plants poking their tops through the soil and since then they have taken off. Chris swears that if you sit and watch them long enough you can see them growing. The peas are now about 4" tall with several pairs of leaves. The beets are very thin and shorter, but have developed their first sets of leaves as well. Everyday they are getting bigger and healthier. I wonder when they will be ready to be planted outside?

The lettuce and onions in the garden are doing well, though its a bit harder to see the change. We also put in three strawberry plants and I'm hoping to have berries to try soon! We have been getting plenty of sunshine and a decent amount of rain- perfect for the garden. Most days, its still a little chilly for me to want to spend much time outside, especially since our yard has so much shade. Its supposed to be warmer later this week, though!

Sewing Projects

2010-03-20T01:34:00.006-05:00

You can tell that spring is here because suddenly my blog is active again. Its an accurate representation of how I feel- energized and full of ideas. This week I've been doing a bit of sewing and having a lot of fun with it. I've discovered that the thrift store (i.e. Goodwill) is a great place to find good quality fabric for cheap. For 100% cotton you can't beat men's button up shirts and women's winter skirts are the best for nice wool. Half a dozen men's shirts in shades of blue and yellow are now made up into blocks for a summer quilt. I think I'll even have enough fabric for the backing, so all I'll have to buy new is batting. I think I'll do simple "stitch in the ditch" quilting to go with the patchwork design and not add too much stiffness. I want it to be soft and casual and easy to wrap up in or spread out as a picnic blanket.

I also made a skirt out of one of the smaller shirts- a boy's large, I think. I just cut off the collar and sleeves and sewed up the sleeve openings. The hemming and the buttons down the front were done for me. It feels good to re-use something that's been discarded rather than buy new fabric and its a quick and easy way to make a comfortable, light and easy to wear skirt! I've also been doing some gardening and cooking but I want to get a few more blocks sewn tonight so I'll stop typing for now...

Here comes Spring!!

2010-03-13T16:09:00.006-05:00

We have started having the beautiful sunny weather that means that spring will be here soon. Of course the sunny days are mixed in with rain, but at least its not a cold, icy rain anymore. And in between the rain storms we have been able to get the garden cleared out and ready for the spring planting. Its still a bit early for most plants but we put the onions and red lettuce in today- hopefully they won't be bothered by cool nights too much. We also put a strawberry plant in a pot so it can be taken in if it gets too cold, and to keep it from getting moldy if it gets too wet. While we wait for it to warm up we have seeds starting inside- beets and peas. We planted them on March 11th and hope to see signs of life in about a week.

Mini Pies

2009-12-06T17:29:00.005-05:00

I finally found the right jars and had some sent to my local hardware store so today I'm making mini pies! I found the tutorial here. As part of a two-person household I think its a great idea. Chris isn't a big desert eater and I really shouldn't eat an entire full-sized pie myself, so whenever I make pies we end up eating a few pieces and then the rest goes bad in the fridge. Or I eat the whole thing because I don't want to waste the food, and then feel guilty for eating so much pie! That got me thinking of other people who don't really need full sized pies. Like my grandparents or my aunt who ~~lives alone~~ lives without any other humans. And since they are frozen and just need to be popped into the oven they are perfect for my grandparents who don't do much cooking anymore. So guess what everyone is getting for Christmas this year?

I used this crust recipe (so simple!) for all the pies. The blueberry pies are from this recipe using frozen blueberries.

Chocolate Chess Pie
from my great aunt Kitty, as dictated to Will Bullins
3/4 stick butter, melted
4 Tblsp cocoa powder
1 cup white sugar (a little bit more)
2 "egges"
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Mix it all together. Pour into pie crust. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Apple Pie
from my mother in law, Dianne Lough
I used an assortment of types of apples for the apple pie- pretty much one of everything they had at the store. Dianne recommends 3 granny smith and 4 golden delicious cut up apples and put into bowl with fresh squeezed orange juice (to prevent browning) in separate bowl, mix together 1 cup sugar, 4T flour, 1t cinnamon, 2 dashed nutmeg, dash salt, 1 tsp cold butter. Mix with apples until coated and microwave for 4min pour apple mix into crust, add top crust and brush with milk, sprinkle with sugar

Instead of the traditional top crust for the apple pie, I used a crumble made with 1 part butter: 1 part flour: 3 parts brown sugar and a handful of pecan bits

Sharing Our Gifts: Project 3

2009-12-06T15:44:00.002-05:00

Every month the Sharing Our Gift group selects a charity in a different state to knit/crochet/sew for. The December charity is The Oklahoma Brain Tumor Foundation. Here is the information posted by the group:

From the OKBTF website, here is some information about the origin of the foundation:
“The Oklahoma Brain Tumor Foundation (OKBTF), was founded by Nancy Thomason after the death of her son Cade Thomason to a brain stem PNET tumor on February 17, 2000. She vowed to fight the disease in honor and memory of her son Cade.

OKBTF is dedicated to meeting the needs of Oklahoma families, caregivers and patients affected by primary brain or central nervous system tumors. We work to provide for needs through education, advocacy, research and service.”

OKBTF provides services for 227 families and approximately 908 caregivers and immediate family members of individuals with brain tumors.

THIS PROJECT:
For this project, we will be creating hats, scarves, or shawls to donate to the organization. As always, these can be knitted, crocheted, or sewn, and they must be handmade.

DEADLINE:
Deadline to have these items received by the project coordinator is January 5, so please allow appropriate mail time. She will be delivering to the facility on or about January 8.

Now I'm off to search through my stash and look up some patterns. I'm thinking maybe a warm, chunky shawl, perfect for snuggling. What will you be making?

Cheesecake with my Friends!

2009-11-14T19:45:00.006-05:00

My birthday is next week and I had been planning to just go out to dinner with DH and leave it at that. But then I got a craving for cheesecake. And I realized that birthdays are for celebrating with friends. So today I threw myself a birthday party at Cheesecakes by Alex. In attendance were Kelly, Tamsie, Eliza, Alli & her Peanut, my mom and Chris. The weather was amazing, especially compared with the terrible rain and wind we've had all week, so we were able to sit out on the patio. After taking a picture of the cheesecake and the beautiful flowers that Kelly brought me, I put my camera back in my bag and forgot to bring it back out. Thankfully Tamsie was much more diligent and got pictures of everyone which you can see on her blog. Even though I told everyone not to bring gifts, Tamsie gave me this beautiful yarn bowl from Dancing Pig Pots. I've been wanting a yarn bowl for years- how did she know? And whats even better- it was filled with luxury yarn. Two balls of super soft cashmere in a nice, neutral light brown and a ball of Sanguine Gryphon's sock yarn (one of my favorite dyers).

My mom also brought some presents, a couple of new tops (all which I love and fit perfectly) and my new mp3 player! I've been looking forward to it since I picked it out online a month ago. Only, its so tiny! I didn't expect it to be so small. I'll have to make it a little case or else I'm certain to lose it.

On the way home, DH and I stopped by Best Buy to pick up his present to me- new speakers! These are for my studio so that I can listen to podcasts and audiobooks while I dye yarn. I've been using my laptop but its speakers are so quiet that I can't hear some podcasts over the noises of dyeing.

And since there happened to be a Barnes & Nobles in the same shopping center we stopped in to pick up a copy (or two) of the new Yarn Forward (Thanks for letting me know its out now, Tamsie!). Usually I just buy the digital version but this month I had to have the real thing because of Laurel Coomb's gorgeous sweater pattern "Ruth's Tunic", designed for Gradiance yarns.

All in all, a great day! Now I think I'll curl up with a hot drink, my knitting and my sweet husband!

Support Testicals!

2009-11-05T01:00:00.003-05:00

And Prostates. And mustaches. November, I mean MOvember, is the month that men everywhere grow their mustaches out to make people more aware of men's health issues, in particular prostate and testicular cancer. There is so much attention and funding given to research for breast cancer, which is great, but not as much attention or $ given to the male equivalents. The boyfriend of a friend is participating by pledging to grow his mustache for the month of November in exchange for donations. Its like a marathon, but for lazy people. You can support Michael and all men by giving a donation. Even a few bucks is fine-- it all adds up! Click the button to donate or find out more.

Workshops at Knit Picky

2009-09-11T22:25:00.002-05:00

If you are in NC and interested in fairisle knitting, Knit Picky is hosting a couple of workshops next weekend and still have open spots! I'm taking the color palette class on Saturday morning. See you there!

This week in crafts

2009-07-28T18:55:00.007-05:00

Reading this blog you probably get the impression that all I do is eat. I'm o tend to talk about my food a lot. But I'm also quite crafty. Often I can't talk about my projects because most of what I do is knit, and most of my knitting is "secret" until the pattern is published. But this week I've been working on lots of little things that I can talk about (plus one sewing project that I can't talk about now, but will share photos of next week). We are going to Sock Summit next week to sell yarn and this is the biggest even that we have attended so we have been crazy busy preparing. Mainly this has meant dyeing pounds and pounds and pounds of yarn, but I've also had some fun little craft projects for the booth. As if the booth wouldn't have enough color already, I decided to make our signs colorful too! I bought a bunch of those cheap plexiglass frames and heated them so that I could bend the stand parts back so that they are flat on the back and then glued ribbon to the top to hang them. I haven't done any scrap booking in ages so it was fun to have an excuse to go shopping in the scrap book aisle. As a dyer, all the colors combinations in the paper aisle are a lot of fun!

We needed something to display the shawl sticks in but they couldn't be bulky, breakable or heavy since everything has to be shipped in boxes across the country. So I grabbed a couple of Crystal Light containers out of the cabinet (sorry about the little crystal light tubs everywhere, Chris) and covered them in fabric. I just used some scraps from previous projects and glued them to the plastic cups with fabric glue- no sewing required. A very quick, easy, cheap (free, since I used materials I already had) solution!

I also used up a bunch of fabric scraps making these half aprons for Kelly and I to wear
in our booth. Its very helpful to have a calculator, pen, and receipt pad handy to check people out quickly and at our last show it seemed like we were often misplacing these things. I'm also a bit worried about leaving cash in a box under the table at a show this larger. So I made these aprons with lots of pockets in the front to hold all the "stuff" we need and a big zippered pocket to put cash in. We'll probably still have a box to put change in so that we aren't weighed down, but this way we can have our bills/checks on our bodies at all times. If you click on the picture it will get bigger and its easier to see all the pockets.

I also whipped together this crocheted swiffer cover one afternoon when Avi's hair was driving me crazy. The swiffer works really well for getting up her hair and other dirt and debris tracked in from the back yard on the kitchen floor, but I often have to use two swiffer sheets to do the whole floor. This crocheted cover has little ruffles on it so its much better at catching hair and larger debris and can hold on to more at a time. Plus I can just shake most of the hair/etc. off into the trash can and re-use it. Once it gets too dirty to keep using I'll just throw it in the wash! The pattern is free and very fast and easy. I used acrylic yarn since it seemed like it might have more static cling than a natural yarn. Plus its a great way to use up acrylic yarn in your stash that might not be nice enough for other projects!

I haven't been doing much knitting lately because I've been so busy with other things. Last night I couldn't take it anymore, though. I had to knit something. I do have a lace project on the needles but I wasn't in the mood for something requiring concentration so I made a little heart sachet with some left over Green Sheep Worsted and filled it with a mixture of cedar chips, mint leaves and essential oils known for keeping away moths and other bugs. It was very fast/easy and I think I'll be making several more to give as gifts.

This week in food

2009-07-28T18:38:00.005-05:00

Well actually I should say the past two weeks since I didn't find time to blog last week. On July 21st (last Tuesday) our CSA box contained tomatoes, potatoes, Sun Gold cherry tomatoes, basil, a head of garlic and cantaloupe. Chris cut the cantaloupe up before I was able to get a photo! We used the basil and some of the garlic to make a pesto which we mixed with cherry tomatoes (either the ones from the box or from the garden- I can't remember) and pasta for a light, but flavorful dinner. I roasted the rest of the garlic and plan to use it and the potatos in a loaf of garlic-potato bread, once I find a spare minute or two to mix up a batch of dough. The cantaulope was sweet and refreshing, perfect as a snack or even as a desert. Its been oppressively hot and humid lately so something cool and light is just what we've needed.

Our own garden is producing mainly jalapeno peppers right now, though we are beginning to have a steady stream of tomatoes and the occasional squash. The tomatoes we'll often eat sliced with olive oil and mozerella but the peppers aren't so easy. Chris will sometimes add them to a meal but even so he was barely making a dent on the pile of peppers forming in the veggie bowl. So he decided to make pepper jelly using this recipe. He had never made jam before but I have, so it was fun to have the chance to teach him something in the kitchen for once! While we had the big pot out for boiling the jars I also canned up some of the relish that I made a few weeks ago (it had been marinating in the fridge and waiting on me to find time to can it). I'd hoped to also make a couple of jars of blackberry jam this week, but its looking like I won't have time.

Today we actually got two CSA boxes. Several weeks ago we were out of town when we would normally pick up our box so we asked them to not pack us one for that week. That gave us a "credit" that we could use to get a second box the week of our choice. Since we are planning a BBQ with friends for this Friday we decided to double up this week in case there was anything in the box we could serve with dinner. And we got lucky-- it looks like we'll be having watermelon for desert on Friday! We also got more tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and red bell peppers plus our first eggplants. I have no idea what to do with eggplant, its not something we normally eat. So I guess we'll be experimenting this week!

I'm beginning to wonder if I should make some salsa or spaghetti sauce to use up all these tomatoes...

Another BIG Thank You!

2009-07-11T04:47:00.004-05:00

I don't know what I've done lately to deserve this, but last weekend I got another wonderful sheep-related gift, completely out of the blue! Chris's mom, Dianne, has recently been experimenting with a new (to her) medium, oil pastels, and last weekend she surprised me with this beautiful framed work of art. I love the way she incorporated the full rainbow of colors without making it look cartoonish or unnatural. I think its just exquisite and can't believe how fortunate I am to have such a talented artist in my family! I have it hanging on the while in my studio so that when I'm seated at my winder (where I spend a lot of time!) I can see it.

Wedding Season

2009-07-11T04:31:00.005-05:00

So far I've been to three weddings since May, and will be attending my fourth (and final) tomorrow. All of them have required traveling, but its been fun to see old friends and family and to enjoy other people's weddings without the stress of having to plan one myself. The wedding I went to last weekend, July 4th, was especially fun because it was my friend Shanna's. I know Shanna through the yarn shop where I used to work, Knit Picky, and she invited a number of the gals from the weekly knit night. I haven't seen much of these friends since I moved a year ago, so it was a lot of fun to catch up with them over yummy barbecue-- Shanna hired the same caterers as we had at our wedding, Little Richards Barbecue and they did a wonderful job, again. Shanna also did a wonderful job with all the wedding details. I loved her bridesmaid's bouquets of wild flowers and the simple beauty of her flower adorned cake. And of course Shanna was a beautiful bride. I know people always say this, but she really did seem to be glowing with joy!

You might recall that Shanna is one of the people that I was making aprons for earlier this summer. I don't think I ever posted pictures from her shower, though. Shanna seemed to really like the apron, and I hope she gets some use out of it. I know that she likes to cook and she is a seamstress herself so I know she appreciates the work that went into it. The pattern is Emmaline by Sew Liberated, the fabric is by Amy Butler.

Homemade Bagels

2009-07-11T04:18:00.007-05:00

Did you know that you can make bagels in your own kitchen? And that its really no harder than making loaf bread? I know- I too was stunned to learn this. My favorite bread book even has a recipe. You make your dough like usual, then pull it into a bunch of little balls and let it rise. Then poke a hole in the middle of each ball and they are ready to go into the boil pot. The boil pot is just sugar, water and baking soda. Next time I'd like to try adding malt to the mix since I've heard that gives the outside of the bagels a better color and texture. After a brief (1-2min each side) dip in the boil pot they bake in the oven for 20min and, ta-da, fresh homemade bagels! I also made a couple of flavors of cream cheese to go with them since the bagels themselves were plain. I just mixed your basic reduced fat cream cheese with a) chopped nuts and honey b) sundried tomatoes (pureed) and fresh basil c) chopped and smooshed fresh peach. Yum!

Farmers Market

2009-07-08T19:32:00.007-05:00

One of the greatest things about this time of year is the abundance of local produce available. My favorite of our many local farmers markets is the one held on Wednesday afternoons in Carrboro. Now that we are living in Hillsborough, I don't make it to the Wednesday market every week like I did last year when it was only a few miles away. In fact, it had been several weeks since my last visit and wow, what a change! The selection is always great but today the booths were overflowing with so many different colors, shapes and smells. Earlier in the summer only one or two crops would be plentiful at a time- for example all the booths would have leafy greens, but not much else. But today there were too many things to keep track of them all. Now that I'm home I wish I had gotten more, but my arms were loaded down with as much as I could carry by the time I was done! I managed to come away with a dozen ears of corn, a dozen peaches, okra, peach jam, ground goat meat, eggs and some kind of bean that looks like black eyed peas, but green (I forgot to write down the name, oops!).

Using these instructions the dozen ears of corn quickly turned into these bags of corn, ready to be frozen. Each baggie contains about 2 ears of corn (the missing 2 ears I saved to have corn on the cob for dinner later this week). Later this fall or winter when the fresh produce isn't as plentiful it will be so easy to just grab a baggie from the freezer and heat it up in the microwave for a fast, easy, delicious and healthy side.

Now, what should I do with all those beautiful peaches?

Pickle Relish

2009-07-08T18:40:00.004-05:00

This week's CSA box contained tomatoes (both full size, heirloom and cherry), an onion, a purple bell pepper, black berries, cucumbers and basil. Chris used some of the cucumbers, basil and tomatoes to make a yummy salad almost as soon as we opened the box. But we still had a lot of cucumbers left over. Especially when you include the cucumbers left from last week. And they look like they won't last much longer. I knew I had to take action, so I decided to make relish!

I used this recipe, but using the amounts and ingredients that I had on hand.

1.5lb cucumbers, diced
1/4 cup onion, diced
1 purple bell peppers, diced
1/4 cup kosher salt

1tsp each: mustard seed, turmeric, whole allspice, whole cloves
1/2 cup sugar
1.5 cup white vinegar

The mixture has to marinate for at least a day before its ready for canning (and sampling!) so I don't know yet how its going to turn out. Cross your fingers that it ends up edible-- I've never made relish (or pickles of any kind) before!

This and That

2009-07-04T03:27:00.005-05:00

The past couple of weeks have been a blurr and the next several promise to be more of the same. Even though this time of year is traditionally the slow season for the knitting industry (how many people really feel like knitting when its a thousand degrees out and humid?) it has been insanely busy for us. This June was our busiest month on record. We have had several big club shipments to work on, a number of surprisingly large wholesale orders (that all came in during the same week, of course!) plus a HUGE knitting festival (Sock Summit) that we are dyeing inventory for. The clubs are all done (for this month) and the wholesale orders are moving along, but the goal for Sock Summit is pretty much "as much as is humanely possible to dye before the end of July" so I imagine I'll stay pretty busy until then.

Of course none of that is terribly interesting to blog about. And in the few moments when I'm not working there is always laundry or dishes to be done. Thats even less interesting to blog about. I did finally finish my Secret Garden shawl tonight but since its a mystery KAL I can't post pictures. I'm very happy with how it turned out, though. Now I just need to get some blockng wires so I can properly block it.

Our plans for the 4th are a bit unusual- instead of picnics and fireworks we have a wedding to attend! A friend of mine, the one I made the apron for a month or so ago, is getting married so we'll be spending most of the day near Winston-Salem to celebrate with her. I'm looking forward to seeing some of my friends that I haven't spent much time with since moving a year ago. Its hard to believe that its only been one year since we got married last July- it feels like so much has been packed into this past year. And it feels like we've been married for much longer, but I suppose thats no surprise since we were married in our hearts and minds for years before the ceremony actually took place.

Chris begins his rotations in the hospital on Monday. Last week was 3rd year "orientation"-- basically a series of lectures designed to squash any remaining hope that the med students have of mantaining any joy in their lives for the next year. Lets hope that its not as bad as they made it out to be. To get him started on the right foot, I want to fix a special treat for him on Sunday. I'm trying to decide between Banana Pudding Icecream and Peanut Butter and Banana Cream Pie. I might also make some Chocolate Sugar Cookies to go with either of the above recipes, since I think that bananas and chocolate are awesome together.

Because of all the work-related business, I haven't done much sewing in the last few weeks (I haven't even done much knitting!). I'm still trying to finish some of the aprons I started so that I can give them as gifts-- I've already been using mine, even though it isn't hemmed and still needs the pockets sewn on! I did make myself a craft apron using some scraps from other projects so that I can keep my scissors and other small tools/supplies handy when I'm in the studio. I'll also use it to keep money, pens, receipt book, etc in at yarn shows. I need to make Kelly one, as well. I found another fun project for using some scraps-- a fabric dog collar! I have the plastic clip part from some old project in the past, so now all I need to do is dig up a D ring and I'll be set. When we take Avi on walks we use a harness, the collar's only real use is as a place to keep her tags, so I'm not concerned about its strength. I've always wanted to knit the dog sweaters but shes never cold, and is a bit large for that type of thing anyway. I think a fabric collar will suit her much better!

Well, I'd better get back to the laundry if we are going to have anything clean to wear to the wedding tomorrow. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend (if you are in the US) or simply a nice summer weekend if you are elsewhere!

Coffee/Tea Swap Box

2009-06-24T20:14:00.002-05:00

Earlier this week I got my coffee/tea swap box in the mail from Danido! She sent me so many yummy treats. The coffee is a peaberry variety which I love. Peaberry coffee is so cute- it looks like baby coffee beans! And its from a lroaster that is local to her (in Las Vegas). The tea is a blend that she put together herself and it quite nice. I've already had several cups of each. She also included some coffee flavored candies that are surprisingly flavorfull- they are great for when I don't have time for a real cup of coffee and, oh yeah, they are already half gone. I might have to find a place to buy more. The light colored bars on the left are not bars of fudge, though thats what they look like in person, but bars of soap. We left town right after the box arrived so I haven't had a chance to use the soap yet, but it looks like it will be a very creamy, mild soap. Very nice. And She also sent two tubes of her handmade chapstick and I am addicted. I love this stuff. She sells both the soap and chapstick on her artfire shop, Pale Soap. The little skein of handspun red yarn has the tiniest bit of glittery stuff in it which is very fun. I've already used it to make a teacup handle sweater. I just need to find some cute little buttons to go with it. My picture doesn't show it, but the box also included an ArtFelt kit-- its hiding underneath the note card with the cute sheep drawing on it. I've wet felted, needle felted and fulled before, but ArtFelt uses a technique that seems to combine all three. The kit is for four colorful coasters and I'm looking forward to trying it.

All in all its a really cute package and I'm enjoying it tremendously. So thank you to Dani for such a great gift! I hope she enjoyed the package that I sent her, too!

Straight from the Cow

2009-06-24T14:55:00.004-05:00

This week, Chris and I are spending some vacation time at my parent's mountain house in the NC mountains. We've both been working hard lately and can use some resting and relaxing. My parents joined us for our first day here, and this afternoon my mom took us over to the neighbor's dairy farm. The cow fields extend right up by the house and my mom takes near daily walks through the pastures. But only recently has she met the farmers and gone down the hill to the milking barn. The farmer, and his dad, are good ol' boys but real friendly and happy to have us watch through the windows of the milking barn and pet the baby calves which love to suck on fingers! And before we left they filled our jug up with fresh milk-- still slightly warm from the cows!

This year milk prices have been falling in the grocery stores due to an over-production of milk, but at the same time hay prices have been rising because of increased transportation costs. Combined with the heavy rains this spring making it hard to get anything done, small farmers are struggling to make ends meet. So if you have the opportunity to buy local dairy products-- even if its a bit more expensive-- I encourage you to do it. Not only will you be getting a better product, but you'll be helping to keep small farmers in business!

The Whole Food Challenge

2009-06-15T17:40:00.003-05:00

In one of my last posts I talked about how I want to try to eat more "whole foods". And this has nothing to do with the grocery store of the same name. The idea is to eat more foods that come to your kitchen the way they were grown- i.e. as a tomato rather than a premade and packaged sauce. At first glance this sounds pretty easy. There are lots of whole foods that we already eat. Its common to eat whole veggies or fruits, and cuts of meat count as "whole" too (even if you don't have the whole cow!). But when I sat down with a recipe for macaroni salad today I realized that this might be more difficult than I expected. My usual macaroni salad recipe calls for elbow macaroni, mayonaise, vinegar, mustard, sweet relish, carrots, peas and cheddar cheese. Only two things on that list are whole foods-- carrots and peas. I decided that I'm going to allow pasta on my whole foods diet. Yes, I CAN make pasta myself. And if I'm doing a lasagna casserole maybe I will. But I don't have the time, equipment or skills to make my own elbow macaroni for a casual pasta salad. And I read the ingredients list and its basically just a couple types of flour and egg whites with some added iron, riboflavin, thiamin and folic acid (these last things all being added nutrients). So we'll let the pasta slide. I'm not really sure what to think about the vinegar and mustard. Can those be made at home? It might be worth trying sometime. For this recipe though there were only a few tablespoons of each so I wasn't too concerned.

Other than the pasta, the other main ingredients are the mayo and the relish. I'd like to eventually make my own pickles to be used for homemade sweet relish but thats not something I'm ready to try today, so I picked a jar of sweet relish with the fewest ingredients I could find, and most importantly one without any added corn syrup. I think that the dish would be improved a lot by using homemade relish-- whether its made by me or by someone local. I think I'll see if I can find some at the farmer's market. I know we have a couple of booths that sell canned/jarred things.

The mayo was the one thing that I simply could not justify. I don't think there is anything natural about commercial mayo. Especially not the low-fat miracle whip I normally use. So I decided to try something I've never done before. I made my own mayonnaise. Maybe this is something that you have done before or that you've known of people doing but it seemed very odd to me. I've never thought about making condiments before (and of course now I want to try making my own ketchup and mustard too!). But I found an easy recipe, gathered together the few ingredients needed (I found some pasturized eggs at the grocery store thankfully-- I'm a bit nervous about raw eggs) and pluggedin my Magic Bullet. The magic bullet is one of my favorite kitchen appliances. Its basically a mini food processor/blender and I use it for everything from making butter to blending smoothies to grinding chocolate, to, well, making mayonnaise. At first I thought it was a failure. It tasted weird-- oily and eggy. But I put it in the fridge to chill and the flavors blended a bit better. And then I realized what the real problem was-- I haven't had REAL mayonnaise in years! We always buy miracle whip which, of course, tastes nothing like actual mayonnaise. I'm not sure that I'd like the stuff I made smeared on a sandwich. For one thing its much too liquidy (though longer in the fridge may have helped with that). But once I mixed it in with the rest of the ingredients it makes a great pasta salad!

I also decided to add a couple of hardboiled eggs and skip the cheddar cheese for now. I'd say this one turned out successful! Now I just need to figure out how to make my own relish, vinegar and mustard...

Laura's Macaroni Salad Recipe

one box (aprox 14oz) of elbow macaroni pasta (I use a multigrain pasta that is in between a regular pasta and a wholegrain pasta)
one recipe's worth of Homemade Mayonnaise using this recipe
two hard boiled eggs, chopped
a cup of sweet relish (more or less to taste)
2 carrots
about 2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard (to taste)
a couple pinches of salt (i use one big pinch in the water when I cook the pasta and another smaller pinch mixed into the salad)
champagne vinegar to taste- a couple of tablespoons (other types of vinegar would probably be fine, this is just what I had in the pantry)
I often add peas but forgot this time-- just throw a few handfulls of frozen peas in with the pasta for the last few minutes of cooking time
optional: cheddar cheese grated on top

Thank you!

2009-06-14T14:46:00.005-05:00

While in West Virginia this week I got a lovely surprise from one of our family friends. Marcia has been Chris's mom's best friend since childhood and is like an aunt to Chris. Anytime we go to WV to visit family we make sure to take time to see Marcia and her husband. In addition to be a lovely person and a wonderful friend to the whole family (she takes care of Grandma like she was her own mother), Marcia is a talented craftwoman. She does all sorts of things but most recently has taken up penny rug making, a type of applique using felted wool. I wish I had taken pictures of some of the beautiful table runners and mantel covers she had in her home. And look what she made for me! I wasn't celebrating a birthday or any other special occasion, she just knew that its something I would enjoy and appreciate. And she couldn't have picked a better design. The leaping sheep are perfect! Right now I have it in the center of our kitchen table but I think I may hang it on the wall so that it doesn't get damaged and can be seen better. Thank you Marcia for such a lovely present!

Whirlwind

2009-06-14T13:55:00.010-05:00

Where did this last week go? The first part of the week was spent busy with work and then we spent Thursday and Friday traveling to and from West Virginia for a cousin's wedding. I got two skirts finished in time to wear on the trip, but of course haven't taken any photos yet. During the earlier part of the week I also took a brief moment to bake some cookies--the Orange Poppy Seed Sugar Biscuits I mentioned in the last blog. They turned out yummy, but since the main ingredients are butter and sugar there was little doubt that they would! As per the directions, I formed the dough into logs and refrigerated over night before slicing and baking. I wonder if I could roll the dough and slice it, or just plop it down in spoonfulls, if I didn't want to wait for it to chill. But the slice and bake method worked well and I ended up with very consistently shaped cookies. Of course, I was too busy eating them to take a picture!

I also "collected" a bunch of worm tea from the vermicompost bin. I always forget to do this and by the time I get around to it there is a LOT of liquid in the bottom of the bin. Thankfully the worms are very forgiving. Some people might find this a little gross, but the garden LOVES this stuff and its all very natural. If you do it right, vermicompost doesn't smell like rotting food, it just smells like good, rich dirt. Because, well, thats what it is! I'm going to make a longer post about vermicompost over on the 6 Kingdoms blog, so if you are interested check it out.

The trip to WV only took two days, but felt like a lot longer since we spent so much of it in the car. Thankfully we had Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food on CD to listen to and it lasted through almost the entire trip. It not only gave us something to listen to but it sparked lots of conversation. In general we agreed with Pollan and found the book very interesting. Chris is now reading one of his other books, The Omnivore's Delimma, and once he is done with it (and I have time!) I'm planning on reading it as well. After listening to this book I'm even more committed to eating local "whole" foods and avoiding processed foods. Though I still maintain that my cheerios shouldn't count as an evil processed food :). And, short of breakfast cereal, I think we do a pretty good job. A typical day consists of cereal for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch (on homemade bread and with local lettuce if its available) and then dinner depends on what came in the CSA box that week. I'm going to put more effort into making sure that the meats we buy are local and grass fed. The buffalo farmer we buy from at the Carrboro farmer's market is usually at the Wednesday market and we need to take more advantage of that. His meat is more expensive than what you can get on sale at the super market but its lower in fat, grass fed (which means the fat that is present is a better type), and much tastier! Its going to be more difficult during the winter, of course, since we will no longer be getting a CSA box and the farmer's markets won't offer as much. But we are thinking about stocking up on fresh veggies at the market during the summer and then freezing them to have during the winter. We have never tried this before so we aren't sure which veggies freeze best. I guess we have some research to do!

Speaking of food, here is this weeks CSA box. You can see that we are beginning to transition from the spring garden full of leafy greens and sweet strawberries into the summer crops of hardier vegetables. This week we have a huge head of fennel (which to me looks like it should have grown on an alien planet), a bunch of radishes, squash, zuchinni, and onion, cucumbers and spinach (hiding in the plastic bag behind the radishes). The fennel and cucumbers we have been using in salads and the squash, zuchinni and onion were chopped up and sauted together. Chris was especially excited about the radishes which he calls natures candy. I think they have a weird aftertaste, even such sweet ones as these. Unfortunately it looks like we are done with strawberries and lettuce in our box and the supermarket offerings just aren't good enough for us anymore- we have been spoiled! So we may not be eating as many salads as we did this spring. But I'm sure the box will offer us enough new things to make up for it!

Though we were only out of town for two days, it seemed like the garden exploded during that short time. When we got home we were amazed at how much everything had grown. I think all the rain we had last week probably had something to do with that. Our first squash is almost ready to pick and I can't wait to try it, even with all the squash in the CSA box. Squash is one of my favorite vegetables so I don't mind having lots!

The pepper plants have gotten huge and are covered in little baby peppers and flower buds. Pretty soon we are going to have an avalanch of peppers, particularly jalapenos, so we may have to get creative in how to use them. I think we may try making Pepper Jelly. I've made jams before from berries, but never from peppers!

The tomatos and basil are also finally starting to take off. We have quite a few little baby tomatos. Garden tomatos are one of Chris's favorites, and add so much to a salad, so I hope they are good! Unfortunately the thyme has died, and the rosemary is still hanging on but not thriving. So I think we may get another rosemary plant and put it where the thyme was. I love using rosemary for cooking, so I want to make sure we have plenty!

2009-06-05T19:02:00.003-05:00

This week I made chocolate bread which turned out ok-- I think I need to make it a bit sweeter next time and maybe add more liquid so that the dough isn't so stiff and hard to form. I also made homemade honey butter to go with it. Yum!

I've also been working on Emma- a lace cardigan that I'm really hoping to finish soon so I can wear it this summer. I'm right at the bust line now and should be able to start the "skirt" soon. I think it will go a bit faster once I'm on the skirt because I'll be working on a more entertaining lace pattern and that always makes me knit faster

Things I want to make or try:

Knit skirt made from an old men's polo shirt,
-- I bought a t-shirt at the thrift shop but need to borrow the serger from my mom since my machine can only do a straight stitch (not good for knit fabric)

This great peg board to organize my studio. I wonder if I could find a piece of scrap peg board at Habitat ReStore...

These Orange Poppy Seed Sugar Biscuits...don't they look yummy?

Busy as a Bee

2009-05-30T23:02:00.008-05:00

Here is a peak at what I've been up to this week.

A soft red block for a friend's group afghan. The yarn is Comfort by Berroco and the pattern is from the Great American Afghan booklet.

A simple cotton sundress. I still need to add the ties to the waist and then it will fit better.

A banana cheese cake, from this recipe. Unfortunately I think I undercooked it because its too soft. It was my first attempt at making cheesecake.

A loaf of oatmeal bread that turned out quite yummy and perfect with a bit of honey as a breakfast bread.

A sweater for my mug using handspun yarn and pattern from DaniDo's etsy shop. And I have enough yarn left over to make a second one for some of my mugs that are a bit thinner. I think that the great color and texture of the handspun yarn looks really nice with the handthrown mug!

Today's CSA Box

2009-05-26T15:42:00.003-05:00

Tuesdays are always so fun because on Tuesday afternoon we get our weekly CSA box. Around 4:30pm I drive downtown, take a few turns into one of the historic neighborhoods and waiting on a big wrap around porch is a pile of boxes. According to the farmer, the house (and the porch) are owned by a friend of his whom he pays in produce for the use of his porch for pick ups.

Today's box is very interesting. It contains romaine lettuce, strawberries, white globe radishes, an onion, swiss chard, regular chard, spinach and fennel. The lettuce will be used in salads, and maybe the fennel too. The chard we've had before and spinach we can always find a use for. But what about those radishes?

Homemade Hummus

2009-05-25T14:53:00.003-05:00

With all this homemade bread I decided it was time to try something to put on the bread. We've enjoyed store bought hummus and I'd heard it was easy to make. So I borrowed a recipe from a gal on Plurk, put all the ingredients in my Magic Bullet and, ta-da, hummus! Chris really likes it but I think the bite from the raw garlic is a little strong, so next time I think I'd roast the garlic first. I'd also like to try it with roasted red peppers or sundried tomatoes. And once the hot peppers in the garden are ready to pick Chris wants to make some spicy hummus.

Basic Hummus Recipe

1 can of chickpeas, drained
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons tahini
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 cup water

Its the perfect amount to go into one of the larger blender cups for the Magic Bullet, but if you don't have one of those any food processor would do fine.

A New Table Cloth

2009-05-25T14:39:00.003-05:00

Its been years since we have had a table. There just wasn't room when we lived in apartments. And when we decided to move into a house that's one of the things I was really looking forward to- a kitchen table where we can eat but also where I can just sit and do things during the day. There is a wall of windows looking out into the backyard, so it really is an ideal place to sit and work on the computer or whatever. Kelly loaned us her table and its perfect for the space. It doesn't take up too much space usually but has an extra leaf so we can seat 6 for when we have company over. And its in great shape so it doesn't really "need" a table cloth. But since I a) have a table and b) am enjoying sewing again of course I need to make it one. So I picked up some simple blue and white gingham on sale yesterday and today I cut it out into a big circle. Now it just needs the edge turned under and a good pressing. I even have enough fabric left over to make matching napkins. Its a bit plain though. I wonder if I should try to find a simple trim to go around the edge. Blue or white ric-rac or something like that.

Sewing Projects

2009-05-25T02:04:00.006-05:00

Because of Memorial day, the fabric store was having a good sale today and I took advantage of it. And as soon as I got home and the fabric was all washed and pressed I got to work. And of course Avi helped out some.

As soon as I saw it I fell in love with the bright, fun green fabric. Once I looked at the bolt end I realized that it was no surprise that it caught me eye since its a Robert Kaufman print, and his fabrics always appeal to me for some reason. Since one of the projects I was shopping for as an apron, I thought that the cupcake print would be perfect. This project was cut out and sewn together in no time at all. Unfortunately I ran out of brown thread with only the pockets left to sewn on and the bottom edge to turn under. I'll try to remember to get Chris to take a photo of me wearing it soon since it looks rather shapeless spread out on the floor. The pattern is Simplicity 2932- I used the pieces for view D, but with pockets instead of the contrast lines in the skirt.

I also picked up several yards of this great dark brown/olivegreen/blue cotton print for a sundress. In this photo I'm zoomed in pretty close- from a regular viewing distance the print is fairly small. The solid olive green will be used for the band across the waist and the tie in the back. I over estimated how much fabric I'd need since I didn't have my pattern with me, but I think I'll use the extra fabric for another apron. I'll be using the same sundress pattern that I've used before- Simplicity 4220. Its nothing too exciting, but easy to wear and comfortable.

A few weeks ago I picked up several yards of this beautiful rose pink embroidered cotton fabric. Its very light weight with fine gold and dark rose embroidery. The flash on the camera makes the embroidery look more glitzy than it really is- in person its fairly subtle. I'm going to make a long skirt with this fabric to wear to some of the weddings I'm invited to this summer. Several of the weddings are relatively casual and/or outside, so a pretty skirt with a nice top and some nice jewelry should work well.

Happy Homemaker

2009-05-25T00:39:00.004-05:00

Now that I have space, I'm having a lot of fun learning some new things and going back to an old hobby. I am trying to learn how to cook. Its not something I enjoy because I get frustrated easily, but I've been trying to prepare more meals myself and pay more attention to what Chris is doing when he is fixing food so that I can learn from him. We signed up for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) this spring and so every week we get a box full of fresh produce. We never know what the box will contain, and there have been many veggies that are new to us-- radishes, arugula, kale, etc. Its been a fun challenge to find recipes for them! I'm going to try to post to the blog at least once a week with a photo of our box and the meals we have made/ recipes we have used. You can see photos of some of the boxes we've received already here.

Though cooking is a challenge for me, I've always enjoyed baking. I don't do much of it, though, because most things that are baked aren't terribly healthy. Cookies, cakes, brownies, etc. But this summer I've started baking bread. I always assumed that bread would be hard to make. So much kneading and making sure that the dough is placed in the perfect spot and the right temperature. But then I discovered this great book, Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, and it makes bread making SO easy and SO approachable. And bread is something that we would be eating anyway- we'd just be spending more on it at the store and wouldn't have control over the ingredients. And even though yes, its got a fair share of calories, most breads aren't unhealthy, especially if used for a sandwich or to replace a less healthy snack (like cookies or chips). Since I got the book a month ago I've been making bread several times a week-- sometimes even every day! I've posted some photos here.

Another new thing is the garden. I've always wanted to be a gardener but since we've lived in apartments for the last 5 years I haven't been very successful. In case you are wondering, hot peppers do very well in window boxes but tomatoes do not! We have hot peppers (because we've had success with them in the past!), tomatoes, squash and herbs. Chris is like a nervous parent- checking them every day for bugs and worrying about every little change. So far we've used clippings from the rosemary, thyme and basil in stew, bread and other meals, and Chris has mentioned using some of the mint for mojitos. Hopefully we'll eventually have something we can eat from the veggetable plants, too!

The new/old hobby I mentioned earlier is sewing. In a past life, or so it feels to me, I did a lot of sewing. Kind of like how I am now with knitting. I sewed everything, all the time. For pleasure and for pay. But then I burned out and I stopped. Cold turkey. And since then the only sewing I've done was to occasionally line a bag or make a knitting project bag. But lately I had been get the urge to get back into and now that we have so much space its actually possible! I've been taking full advantage of my HUGE open floor in my studio to lay out fabric and patterns to cut. I almost feel like I'm starting over with my sewing. I'm doing small, simple projects but paying alot of attention to the details and doing everything right- not taking short cuts. I'm ironing in between steps, finishing the seams nicely, etc. In the past I rushed too much and the quality of my work suffered as a consequence. I'm taking a different strategy this time around. I've made a couple of sundresses and have fabric for several aprons. One or maybe two of the aprons are for myself (all that bread making is messy!) but one of them is for a friend who is getting married this summer and another is for Alli (fabric shown). I need to be careful though or I'll spend all my money at the fabric store- the beautiful colors and prints are mesmerizing and I always end up leaving with more than I planned!

THANK YOU!!!!

2009-04-25T10:33:00.004-05:00

I should have posted this a week ago but you know how life can be. I mean that in a good way, though. Its been so pretty lately that if I have spare time I'd rather be out in the yard than stuck in the house on the computer. And unfortunately my laptop screen is very hard to see in the sunlight.

A few weeks ago both Chris and I signed up for a coffee swap on Plurk. This was the first time Chris had ever participated in an online swap; I've done several knitting related ones. Thankfully our area is full of local coffee roasters so we had a number of places to choose from. I won't say more about what we sent in case the recipients haven't opened their packages yet.

In return, we each got boxes full of yummy treats. Chris's box arrived first. His swap partner, Heather (winemakerssis), correctly guessed that Chris is more interested in the coffee than the "extras" so she sent THREE types of coffee. Not only did she pick out some yummy varieties of local coffee, but her own son did the roasting since he is the roasting guy at the local Whole Foods! She also included a seriously yummy bar of esspresso bean chocolate which I keep taking nibbles off of when Chris isn't looking. She even included a pretty coffee themed card which I was tempted to steal to send to my own swap pal, but I resisted. And this box couldn't have come at a better time. Its the end of the term for Chris and so lately he has had lots of exams, which means lots of late nights studying and the need for copious amounts of caffeine!

Now on to my box. Diane (BloPeep) couldn't have put together a better box for me. In addition to some really tasty coffee that she ROASTED HERSELF (!) she sent a tin of decadent butterscotches (and who doesn't love fancy sweets in a tin?), a rustic pottery jar for storing coffee beans or loose tea (which I have decided I'd rather use as a coffee mug so I can directly enjoy using it more. how did she know that I collect pottery?) and, wait for it.....a skein of handspun. I know. 4 ounces of beautiful, soft handspun merino. See here is the thing about me and yarn. I have a LOT of it. In just about every weight and color. Cause thats what I do. And I love it all very much, but it makes it hard to buy my yarn as a present. Because really, I'd usually prefer to use my own stuff. There is one exception to that rule: handspun. My spinning is awful. I know, it takes practice. I just don't have the time to add in one more hobby. But because its something I can't do well I have the utmost respect and admiration for people who do. And let me tell you, this woman spins well. The yarn is very even but with enough personality remaining that you can tell its handspun, do you know what I mean? Its a two ply and though its pretty thin (fingering weight) its not spun so tightly that it looses its bounce. And I love that its the natural color. Being a dyer you'd assume that I love color. And I do. But when it comes to my own clothing and accessories I tend to go for neutrals. Maybe its to balance out all the color in my work. So yeah, basically its perfect.

So this morning I'm sipping a mug of my new coffee (you were right, Diane, the beans wanted to be a bit darker- its just right) and contemplating my skein of handspun. I think that it is destined to be a lace scarf. Its 4oz and looks like fingering weight to me, so maybe 400yd? If you have any pattern suggestions I'd love to hear them. I'm going out of town next weekend for the Maryland Sheep & Wool festival and might bring this skein along as a travel project (along with a couple of pairs of socks, of course!).

Thank you so much to both of our swap partners. Chris doesn't have his own blog, or else he'd post about his package himself. Please know we are both enjoying our goodies very much! I hope that you are both happy with your packages too!

Bad Blogger, No Cookie

2009-04-07T23:16:00.002-05:00

Wow, I haven't posted in a long time. Lately I have been spending so much time on the computer for work that when I don't have to be glued to the screen its nice to get away. Not that that happens very often. I've also been spending more time on Plurk, so I often feel like I've used up all my blogging ideas over there. Of course, you can always keep up with my Plurking in my little sidebar --->.

Life has been a lot like it always is. I've been kept busy with The Unique Sheep-- we are working on a couple of secret projects that will be very exciting when we can finally reveal them, though that probably won't be till fall. Avi has put on a few extra pounds, but hopefully the warm weather will encourage more walks and we will all benefit from that. Honey is also growing like a weed, though shes still far short of her adult size. I finally found a grooming comb that works so I'm hoping to get her beautiful coat under control soon. Chris is still busy with class work, just like always. Thankfully this year I get to see him a lot, even if it really is just "seeing" him as he studies on the couch. After this year he'll be spending much more time at the hospital. The biggest news I have is that we are moving! Actually, we are already half-way moved. Because of Chris's schedule for the next several years with school and then residency we can't buy a house yet, but we found a wonderful house in a great neighborhood to rent. It has a huge fenced in back yard for Avi, a screened in porch and more studio space then I know what to do with. We moved half of our stuff last weekend and will finish moving the rest of the furniture next weekend. Then we'll have to do the dreaded cleaning. The move is going to make life a lot easier in many ways. I'm hoping to be able to keep at least a hint of a line between work and the rest of my life by physically keeping "work" contained to the studio and office. We'll see how that works. This will be the first time we've lived anywhere but dorms or apartments since we left our parent's houses so it feels significant. Its like the first time you realize that if you don't buy more toilet paper, there will be none when you go to use the bathroom. There is responsibility there, but also exhilaration. Ok maybe not so much exhilaration with the toilet paper example. The extra space makes me feel like I could do anything. So long I have been physically unable to do certain things-- like sometimes I want to do some sewing, but don't have anywhere to set up a sewing machine. Or make soap but that is best done outside and without a yard, its hard. So now I want to do everything. I want to bake bread and sew curtains. I want to learn new things. But one thing I don't want to do is fill the space so that I get stuck again. In the past I've had a tendency to hoard but that's not what I want now. I only want "stuff" in my life if it is good and solid and real. When I sew I want it to be with good quality, organic cottons. I want to bake bread from scratch, not from a bread machine loaf-in-a-box mix. This means having/doing less, but getting more from it.

We'll start living in the new place next week. I'll do my best to stick to my new goals.

Lets Have Some Fun

2009-02-26T16:02:00.001-05:00

The first three people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year.
4- You have no clue what it's going to be.
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 3 people who do the same on your blog. The first 3 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!Who's in?

(idea borrowed from The Wench Knits)

A short me-me

2009-02-01T23:35:00.002-05:00

I finished dyeing early tonight, so lets have a me-me.

Use the first letter of your name to complete the following:

Your Name - Laura
Four letter word - Love
Boy name - Luke
Girl name - Lindsay
Occupation - Lawnscaper
Color - Lily White
Beverage - Lemonade
Something found in a bathroom - Loo
A Place - Lake Norman
Reason for being late - Late
Food - Leftovers
Something you shout - Look Out!

The Caramel Experiments

2009-02-01T15:44:00.004-05:00

After much experimenting, my prefered recipe is this one, but heated to about 247. Also, I used a silicone baking pan to pour the hot caramel into and that prevented any problems with sticking. Using this recipe, I got caramels that were soft (but not so soft that they wouldn't hold their shape) when at room temperature and more like a hard candy when refrigerated. Which is perfect since I like them soft and my husband likes them hard!

Wild Fiber Magazine

2009-01-24T17:36:00.004-05:00

If you've been looking for a new fiber related magazine, but want something different than your standard pattern magazine, check out Wild Fiber Magazine. Their website is very out of date, but don't let that turn you off. The magazine is wonderful. In college I studied anthropology and often miss it. I never wanted a career in anthropology, but I loved learning about different cultures and ways of life. Thats what Wild Fiber is all about, but with a fiber twist. Each article is about a different place in the world where fiber is produced, milled or worked with. Its fascinating! This is a magazine that I keep beside my bed and read an article ever night, working my way from the first page to the very last. That way it lasts me a good long time, unlink a pattern magazine that I'll flip through a couple of times and then be done with. Usually there is only one pattern in each Wild Fiber magazine, I think; its not about the patterns.

I think that the next time someone asks me for a gift idea, I'll ask for a subscription!

ETA: I don't have any sort of connection, business or personal, to this magazine. I just picked up a copy out of curiosity and fell in love with it.

Call for Yarn Donations

2009-01-21T18:14:00.002-05:00

Do you have old straight needles that you never use anymore? Plastic needles that you've since replaced with Addi Turbos? Remember that yarn you bought when you were first learning, before you discovered the nice stuff at your LYS? Or that time that you couldn't resist all that gorgeous worsted weight red wool because it was on sale and who can say no to a sale, even though red really isn't your color? (don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about...)

Well my good friend Elizabeth works for Girls Inc in Sante Fe and really wants to teach her girls to knit. I taught Elizabeth how to knit a year or two ago and now she wants to pass it on. But, being a non-profit, Girls Inc relys heavily on donations.

If you have something to give, please contact me (laura@theuniquesheep.com) for the mailing address. I'll also be putting together a little gift box of Unique Sheep goodies and I'll be randomly drawing a name from the list of people who donated to decide who to send it to.

SNOW!

2009-01-20T11:47:00.005-05:00

I know that everyone else thinks that us Southerners are are absolutely nuts for how we act when it snows. I know. I agree, we are a bit looney. But I don't care. Snow happens so seldom here, it is reaso n for celebration! Especially if you can still remember being in school and hoping for it to snow so that they would call off school the next day. Ok so I'm not in school anymore. And since I work out of my home I can't really use snow as an excuse not to "go to work". But still. Its so pretty!

This weekend we were at the mountain house with some friends and on the last day, it snowed! Not much, but it was so pretty to watch.

And then we got home (no snow for the drive, thankfully) and it started snowing here! And kept snowing and now its all white and beautiful. The only negative is that we have nothing to eat in the house, so we might have to go to the grocery store in the snow (which as a native NCer I find an impossible task).

Even Honey is enjoying the snow. Part of the bunny porch is covered and snow free (including her cage) but does she stay in the nice dry part? Ohhh no, shes bouncing around in the snowy part, eating snow and wondering why she can't get her paws clean.

Knitting for Good

2009-01-19T02:12:00.002-05:00

I just started reading the book Knitting for Good. The basic idea is that knitting (or any type of crafting) can be a form of activism. I don't really consider myself an activist, though I've been called that by others in the past. But its an interesting perspective on knitting and I'm looking forward to seeing where she is going with the idea. The first section addresses how knitting can be beneficial on a personal level, and from there delves into knitting for the community and finally knitting to make a statement about global issues. At the end of each chapter she has some questions for reflection and I thought I'd explore the questions from the first chapter here.

How did you first come to knitting or craft?

I first developed a love for crafting of all types, and the basics of knitting, crochet and other needlework, as a very young child from my mother. I can't remember a time when craft of some sort wasn't a major part of my life. Even during my most chaotic and superficial years (middle school) I was developing a passion for sewing that lasted my through highschool and part of college.

What paths crossed in your life to bring you to knitting?

Though I learned the basics of knitting early in life, I didn't become a Knitter with a capital K until college. My sophomore year in college (I think) I discovered that a group of students had formed a knitting group. I knew one or two of them somewhat from class and wanted an excuse to spend more time with them. I knew enough of knitting to justify going to club meetings, but quickly learned more and became passionate about it. A year or two later I heard that a LYS had recently opened in town and stopped by to check it out. The owner, discovering that I was a college student, told me that she was looking for help in the shop and to let any of my friends who were seeking a part time job know. I applied for the job and became even more engrossed in the knitting community and lifestyle. Then when I was about to graduate and realized I had no career (or even job) plans for after graduation, I decided to try making money doing something I loved. And thats how I came to create The Unique Sheep.

What would the you of ten years ago have thought about your interest in the handmade now?

Ten years ago I was 14 and in 8th grade. At that time I had just had a mid-adolescent crisis and realized that the superficial "friends" who made fun of my homemade clothes and odd hobbies were wrong and had decided to be myself and be more independent. I had started spending a lot of my free time designing and sewing. I think the me of 10 years ago wouldn't be terribly surprised to learn about my current interest in the handmade.

And then there were some questions regarding other people in my life and their relationships to knitting...

How many people in your family or social circle learned to knit from family?

My mom learned how to knit from a woman on a boat on one of the family's trips from Europe to the US (my mom's step dad was in the army and often stationed in Germany). We think that this explains why we knit continental rather than English like most people in the US. Though my grandmother crochets a bit, I don't think she knows how to knit, or at least never taught my mom. Nor does my other grandmother knit, though she paints beautifully.

Cassie learned from a "Teach yourself to Knit" book, Alli blames her knitting on early pregnacy hormones (though I'm not sure how she learned). Chris and Elizabeth both learned from me.

I don't know how many of the other people in my "social circle" learned how to knit. If you have a few minutes to spare, leave me a comment and answer the following questions:

Did you learn to knit from a family member, someone else or a book/internet?

How old were you?

Was it unexpected?

Listless

2009-01-08T14:58:00.003-05:00

For several months now I have felt...listless. I guess maybe it started when I moved to Chapel Hill over the summer, but before that I was so stressed out by all the wedding planning that its hard to say for sure. I LOVE what I do with The Unique Sheep and if I gave that up I would miss it sorely, so thats not an option. Its my life outside of The Unique Sheep. I love my husband, but he is literally the only person I spend quality time with in this new home of mine. I've never had many friends, but I think I need more than one. More than one that is physically present, that is. I have many friends, but none of them are here. They are in Winston-Salem (my home town), Trinity (Kelly) or New Mexico, or scattered elsewhere. Thats the problem with being in your 20s. Everyone keeps moving around and starting new lives elsewhere. Its hard to have an in-person relationship that lasts for more than a few years. And though I value my long distance relationships, they aren't the same. So I guess in part, I'm lonely. I don't know how to meet people without the crutches of school or work.

But its not just the lonliness. I think my biggest problem is my lack of goals. It's January, and so everyone is talking about their goals for the year. I don't have any. I am very happy with the direction The Unique Sheep is going, and so I suppose a goal would be to keep it going in that direction, to keep it growing and fresh. But thats not much of a goal, really. I have other goals for my life, but nothing that I can work towards right now. I desperately want a home that I own with land for animals and gardens and space to breath. But thats not going to be possible for many years. My husband is in his second year of medical school which means that in 2 more years its likely that we will have to move to whichever city hosts the hospital where he is to do his residency. Its possible that we will buy a house then, but even so we will likely only be there for 4 years until his residency is over and its time to look for a more permanent position. And of course we have no idea where his residency will be, or where he will end up after that. He has promised me (and a grant committee) that we will end up in North Carolina, but who knows where, or if we will have to go elsewhere before then. So for now I'm stuck in an apartment that is adequate. I'm able to cram a surprising amount into it, including a dye studio, dog and rabbit. And a tiny bit of living space, on the side. But I always feel claustrophobic and its useless trying to keep it neat and clean. Even after I've spent a weekend cleaning it still looks like a mess because there isn't actually space to put everything away. And it doesn't feel like home to me, so I've never taken the time to decorate. Our lease runs out in May, and I am thinking about trying to find a town house to move into. That might help. But still, it would be a rental. It wouldn't be mine, and to me that matters.

I know that real estate is almost worthless now a days, but I guess I'm from a generation that still believed that the only thing with real, physical value was land. A place that was owned, not just financially (though thats important), but owned by your soul, as well. A place that you can change and make your own. Where if you want to paint murals on the walls or tear down the walls, you can. Land that will provide you with plants to eat and air to breath. A place where you can create and grow.

On most days I am able to accept that I can't have everything I want immediately, and that some things require patience. But I am also afraid that if I learn patience too well I'll be waiting all my life.

And its off!

2009-01-08T02:31:00.002-05:00

Guess what I did today? I mailed off the Colbert Cozy! This project has been months in the making and to be honest its kind of sad to see it go. But now the really fun part begins-- waiting to see if it makes it onto the show!

I tried to get some good pictures of it but its hard to do because its so big and because it has rained for the last week, so I haven't been able to take it outside to photograph. I did take a few more this morning, for reference the bed is Queen sized and it completely covers the top, without very little draping around the sides.

I shipped it priority mail, so it should arrive pretty quickly!

Homemade Caramels..mmmm

2009-01-06T17:09:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I got a craving for caramels but couldn't find anything that looked good at the store. So I decided to make my own. The first batch turned out ok-- the flavor is great, but its too soft (I should have cooked it longer/hotter). Then my mother in law heard about my efforts and gave me her grandmother and great-aunt's recipe. Tomorrow I'm going to go to the grocery store and get the ingredients to try again.

Great Grandma's English Caramels

1 bottle of light Karo syrup
1/4 C. butter

2 C. sugar

1 can evaporated milk added slowly

1 teasp vanilla

2 cup of chopped English Walnuts or Black Walnuts (they usually went out and collected the nuts in the country)

cook until just reaches 250 degrees, pour out into shallow buttered pan..do not put in fridge to cool. cut into small rectangles, wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate

Colbert Cozy

2009-01-06T01:12:00.002-05:00

For the past several months I have been collecting knitted and crocheted squares in red, white and blue that I have joined together to create an afghan for the comedian/news host Stephen Colbert. I'm not sure how this idea got started, but as soon as I came up with it I found lots of people who were eager to supply a block (or two, or three..) in the Ravelry "Fans of Fake News" group. Every week a few more blocks would arrive in the mail and I'd add them to the growing pile. Eventually I was able to start seaming them together, and finally I had enough to assemble the whole afghan and crochet a simple border around it. I think it looks great! Because we didn't specify a yarn (other than that it be washable), we ended up with lots of different shades of red, white and blue. I think it really adds to the patch work/ home made look. One of the group members has "connections" to the show and has alerted them to our project so they not only know that its coming, but are reported to actually be excited about it! And she got me the mailing address of one of the producers so I can mail it directly to someone close to Stephen. So tomorrow I'll be saying goodbye to the afghan and sending it off. Keep and eye open for it on the show!!

Plurk

2009-01-06T01:06:00.001-05:00

I don't know that anyone really wants to follow my life moment by moment, its not terribly thrilling, but if you do I have set up a Plurk account. So if you are on Plurk too, let me know. I'm "Painty" (of course). Be my friend.

The Year 2008 in Knitting

2009-01-01T14:11:00.001-05:00

Because you lose most of your heat through your head...

2008-11-30T00:03:00.002-05:00

Funny Bunny

2008-11-29T21:52:00.003-05:00

This weekend I got fed up with Honeybun's matted fur and anxious for yarn spun out of her fur, so I decided it was time for her to be clipped. Now she is one skinny, naked little rabbit!

Chris was worried that she'd freeze without her fur coat so I made her a little cape out of polar fleece. She doesn't seem to mind it and doesn't appear to be cold, even

outside where its 41

degrees. Brrr!

Birthday Treats

2008-11-20T02:47:00.001-05:00

Today was my birthday! Yay! We are going to have a celebratory dinner and apple pie this weekend, when Chris doesn't have to study, but Chris went ahead and gave me my presents. And so, of course I have to show off. Last weekend we went to the pet store and he told me to pick out some toys for Honeybun. We got a hay ball, a log for her to climb on and chew (shes really gotten into chewing lately), a leash and another littler pan. Its been fun watching her play with the hay ball--she has to roll it around to get the hay to come out. I figure its good for her little brain. He also gave me a copy of Barbara Walker's 2nd Treasury of Knitting Patterns. I already have the first and eventually would like to own the full set. They are such an asset when I'm working on a new design. In fact, I'm working on a shawl pattern right now that uses a stitch from the first book. The odd clear flat thing in the picture is a book light. I've never seen one like this before but it looks promising. Rather than directing a beam of light onto the page like most booklights (which is always either too dim and useless or too bright and annoying to your sleeping bed partner) it softly illuminates the full page. I used to do a lot of reading-- I love mystery novels, especially medical thrillers and forensic/crime mysteries--but when I was in college I was so overwhelmed with academic reading that I got out of the habit of reading for fun. Now that I have more free time I'm enjoying getting back into it, especially at night before I fall asleep. Now I can stop using the mini-maglight for nighttime reading! Oh, and I can't forget the daily calendar by the Yarn Harlot that Chris gave to me yesterday (he always gives me one of my presents the night before my birthday). I just hate that I have to wait till January to use it, but I've promised myself that I won't peek and look ahead!

Chris also installed my new window boxes on the porch today. Of course I forgot to take a picture while the sun was still out. I'm trying to grow collards in them, we'll see if it works. In the past I haven't had very good luck growing anything but hot peppers in pots in apartments. Because Honeybun has free reign on the porch the pots have to be out of her reach, otherwise she will very quickly chew the little plants right down to the dirt.

And of course my best birthday present, though given to me a month early, was Honeybun!

Wedding Photos

2008-11-14T17:43:00.002-05:00

For anyone interested, all the wedding photos have now been posted on the photographer's website. She also put together a lovely video slideshow of some of the photos (especially nice if you don't want to click through hundreds of individual photos!!)

A Couple of Updates

2008-11-10T00:12:00.005-05:00

First for the bunny update. I weighed Honeybun for the first time last week and she weighed in at 2lb, 4.5oz. Shes small enough now that I can easily weigh her in a basket on my yarn scale. She still looks tiny to me but when I brought her to Winston this weekend and some people who had met her at SAFF saw her they thought she looked like she'd grown a lot. I need to take more pictures before she gets big! She certainly is eating enough. I am going to go to the plant store tomorrow and see if I can find some collard greens to plant so that I can grow my own bunny treats.

In knitting news, I finished Will's hat. As you

can see, I made some changes from the photo he sent me but I think it turned out pretty nice. Hes going to try to come to town later this week to pick it up and I'll try to get a picture of it on his head- I think the cables will show up better when its stretched out on a head.

Christmas Knitting

2008-10-28T16:21:00.002-05:00

The last couple of years I've done a lot of Christmas knitting. So I've decided that this year, I'm not going to do as much. Most of the people in my life who would appreciate a knitted gift (and quite a few who probably would have prefered something else!) already got their socks or hats or whatever. So this year I'm scaling back. Really. Ok ok so I say that every year. But this year I mean it. There are a couple of gifts that I'm making (one knitted, one felted) that I can't show off here b/c the recipients might see them. But there are a few I can share. My brother asked for a hat that looks like this one by Gap. Hopefully I'll get it done before Christmas, so it won't "really" be a Christmas gift, but chances are I'll get distracted, lose track of time and be up late on Christmas Eve finishing it off. I think I'm going to use the basic hat pattern from Charmed Knits, because I've had really good luck with it before, but add in some cables and more ribbing at the bottom.

And then for my two cousins who think its hilarious to ask me to knit them codpieces-- Weenie Warmers! I'm not posting the picture here b/c its a bit graphic and I don't want it to surprise you at work, in a public cafe or in front of children. But if you aren't in any of those places, and aren't easily offended, click the link. Hopefully they won't actually be worn by my cousins, but they will be quick to knit and will be hilarious for them to open on Christmas day. Thats the sort of humor my family can appreciate (like the year my Aunt gave all the ladies in the family thongs-- each one picked out especially for that person's style and tastes, i.e. lace or cotton or bright colors or whatever).

Too cute!

2008-10-19T13:24:00.002-05:00

Last night I had dinner with one of my cousins and I found out that his roommate runs a small business selling designer doggy clothes and accessories. Its called "Second Coats". I've been wanting to get Avi a bathrobe to keep the furniture dry after shes had a bath, and she definitly needs some of those gourmet treats!

Sweater Weather

2008-10-17T16:38:00.002-05:00

Earlier this week the temperature was in the 80s during the day and the sun was shining. Pretty weather but not really appropriate for mid October. But today everything changed. Suddenly and dramatically. All of a sudden its fall! I wonder if its going to stay cold this time. I know, I know. In a few months I'll be complaining about the cold weather and wishing for hot sunny days, but rifht now it feels right for it to be cold and overcast-- cozy knitting weather! And it makes me want to knit a cardigan. Believe it or not, I've never knit myself a sweater. Not really. I'm more of a small project person. And I'm ashamed to admit that I don't know the first thing about making a garment actually fit me. But I love wearing cardigans and its probably time I knit myself one. I haven't done fairisle in ages and am thinking I'd like something with some fairisle colorwork-- not all over, just a band or two. Any suggestions?

One of those days

2008-10-15T20:18:00.006-05:00

Ever have one of those days (or two) where nothing seems to go your way? How about the type of day where everything seems to go contrary to your way? After being away from home for a week I was eager to get back to my regular routine, get back to my studio, etc. Woke up yesterday excited to get back to work. Now, I don't normally believe in luck, either the good or the bad kind. But from the time I woke up yesterday my luck has just been no good. Yesterday was more or less sent mildely ill to my stomach, but you know, I can get over that. I've always had a sensitive stomach, so I've gotten used to living with that. No big deal, a less productive day than I'd hoped but I still got a bunch of orders packed and shipped and my new shawl blocked. Decided to just take it easy, took a hot bath in the evening, read a novel. Thought- tomorrow will be more productive. And then I woke up this morning. Nothing has gone right today.

1) My skein winder broke. Ok, it had been on the way for a while and I did have a replacement ready. But the replacement doesn't work right

. I had planned on spending all day pre-skeining yarn for some wholesale orders. It didn't happen. And I'm not really sure how to fix the new one because all the tools I used to make it (i.e. the bandsaw) live in Winston in my parents' basement.

2) the Color Co-op vote that was supposed to end today got all messed up (my fault), I upset some knitters, got threatened with pointy sticks (ok, not really), had to start the vote over again. what a mess. I feel so stupid about that, and unprofessional. Yuck, I hate it.

3) I was feeling kind of bleh b/c of the color co-op thing, so I though "Ok, I'll clean up the studio. That always makes me feel better". Well I had just gotten some hooks and cord to set up some new drying lines in the studio to use to hang up drying yarn and yarn thats been dyed but is waiting to be reskeined, etc. Wonderful. Got them up, loaded with yarn. Fell down. No, not just fell down, slingshotted across the room, flinging yarn everywhere.

4) Ok, so cleaning the studio didn't work. How about I just pack some o

rders and have a glass of wine. What could go wrong? I know what you are thinking and no, I didn't pour wine all over the orders. Instead I just dumped it on the keyboard of my laptop (my brand new laptop). And now the little mouse thingy won't work so I have to use an external mouse, and thats just annoying. I'm hoping maybe it will, um, dry out and be ok tomorrow?

Sigh. I'm done. I'm sitting on the couch doing NOTHING for the rest of the night. Except browing the web for funny stuff like this.

Family Week Part 2

2008-10-15T17:59:00.004-05:00

After a lovely several days in Winston culminating with open knit night with my old friends at Knit Picky (boy do I miss them...), I drove across the state to spend a couple of days at the beach with the other half of the family. Chris and I try to spend a long weekend at the beach with his parents every fall, and he had Monday and Tuesday off for the holiday and mid-semester fall break. It rained some but we also had some nice weather. We ate a lot, relaxed even more. I got a lot of knitting done. I even got a chance to teach Chris's mom how to knit beaded bracelets a la Zana and helped her get started with a scarf using my new Ribbons of Hope pattern. I'd add pictures but I just spilled a glass of wine on my keyboard and now its drunk. More to come later...

Ok, the computer has sobered up, somewhat, so here are some pictures from the beach! I got a lot of knitting done and finally finished my Autumn Gold Shawl!!!

Family Week Day 4 Continued

2008-10-08T01:06:00.007-05:00

They have a petting zoo at the fair. Need I say more? They had bags of carrot slices for a dollar and ooh boy did those animals like their carrot slices. I become fast friends with a camel, a yak baby, a highland calf, an entire farms worth of goats, a couple of pigs, two of the softest baby alpaca I've ever seen and one confusing cow.

The petting zoo isn't like it was when I was a kid. When I was little I'm pretty sure you could actually go into the enclosure with the animals (mainly sheep and small goats, then). I can't say I blame them for putting up a fence inbetween the kids

and the animals, for the safety of both. And the animals know that people = yummy carrots so they come right up to the fence and stick their heads over or through the bars to nibble at whatever they can get their lips on. Wait, whats that? You s

ay that petting zoos are for kids? I'll never believe that. By the way, mom and I tried very hard to collect fiber from the yak (see me reaching for it?) but it was very firmly attached.

We also caught the end of a herding dog demonstration- the same one they have every year where the dog herds the ducks around the ring and through gates and over a bridge and all that, but its fun to watch and I never cease to be impressed by the intensity of the dogs.

At the very end of the night, as we were leaving the barn area, I met a cow. Do you have any idea how large cows really are? Some of them are Big. Seriously. Big. They were kind of scary because it was very clear to me that any one of them could have taken me out with a well aimed sneeze. But then there were some smaller cows too, and they were laying down so they seemed even smaller. And I think it was past their bedtime so they were kind of drowzy and this one looked to me like he wanted a head rub. I'm unclear whether this animal actually liked the head scratch I gave him or not. Its hard to tell with a cow. Either he was very lazily trying to get me to stop without having to stand up or move more than his head, or he liked it. Or maybe he wanted to eat me. It was a confusing experience for me. Clearly I need to learn more about cow likes and dislikes and how to read their moods. I suspect that they might be slightly different than dogs, though I have no proof.

Family Week Day 4

2008-10-08T00:28:00.009-05:00

Wednesday morning was all business meetings so we will speed through that. Though there was a really cute dog worth mentioning at the accountant's office, and I left that meeting feeling less scared of taxes than before which is a good thing.

Wednesday afternoon was when the real fun began. A little background first. Every fall we have a county fair that comes to town for the first week of October. I think most places in the US have something like this, at least in the south (do you have them other places?). There are the carnival rides, huge amounts of fried everything, variety acts of various sorts, craft shows and displays, large vegitables and animals. As a kid we went to the fair every year and the highlight was going on the rides. After middle school or highschool the rides started seeming less fun and a bit more rickity and scary and my focus switched more to the fried food (things I would never allow myself to eat otherwise) and the animals. Well, I always loved the animals. For the last several years my mom, grandma and aunt have made a point to spend an evening together at the fair and when I've been able to I've joined them. Well it just so happened that I was in town during fair week this year so of course I agreed to go.

Our plan of attack is usually something like this: first, find

food. Everyone wants something different so we strategically visit food booths to make sure no one goes hungry or has to wait too long. Then while we are eating we spread out the event sheet and come up with a schedule for our evening. Often shows overlap so sometimes we have to make difficult choices but luckily we are family so we are able to work it out in the end. We decided to first check out the Great American Frontier Show but on our way there we were distracted by the Winston Salem City Kickers and the Nifty over Fifty dancers.

Thats right, a senior citizen dance group. They were great. Mom and I could barely get a picture taken we were laughing so had. Not laughing at them- they really were quite good for older people. But, you know, just laughing. Once we were able to pry ourselves away from the dancers we grabbed a bag of kettle corn and headed off in search of Michelle's Magical Poodles. In my opinion, dog trick shows are best when the dogs run the show and based on that criteria this was one heck of a show. The poor girl was up there cracking awful jokes in a worn out spandex costume while her dogs jumped all over the place. The four of us sat down in the front on the ground with the little kids. My grandma had her knee replaced years ago so getting up and down off the ground isn't easy but she refused to let me do more than hold her purse and drink for her. Nope, two hands on the ground in front of her, butt up in the air, one big push and she was up. I hope I've got those genes.

After the magical poodles we were feeling a bit skeptical and very silly, but decided to try one more show. This one promised to be good. After all, it was called the Rhinestone Ropers. With a name like that how could it not be fabulous? For all my laughing, I have to admit that this one was pretty good. I mean, that cowboy really knew how to twirl his rope. And they had this horse. My aunt thinks it was drugged. I hate to think that, but, well. Lets just pretend it wasn't, ok? It was like a big dog-- it would steal the guys hat and bow to the audience and put its front feet up on a podium...ok ok, cute, but no big deal. We've all seen trick ponies do things like that before. But then he gets this horse to lay down, head first in the cutest way imaginable and roll over on its back with its feet in the air and just lay there!

Like a dog. I've never seen anything like it. So, I don't know how I feel about that. Maybe it was drugged, if so thats not good, but I choose to think that it was just a really docile horse. That could be true, right? By the way, it was getting dark at this point so my pictures are awful. Sorry.

By the time the Rhinestone Ropers (and in my head I keep reading that as "Rhinestone Rompers") was over we were done with shows and it was on to the animal barns. This is always my favorite part. Oh, and did I mention that mom was carrying around an apple in her pocket all night trying to identify it? A friend in the mountains gave her a bunch of apples that he grew and she really liked them but doesn't know what type it is. She wants to plant some apple trees of her own, and of course wants to choose good ones to grow. Surprisingly, we were unable to find an apple expert. You'd think that at a county fair there would be an apple expert. Maybe we just came on the wrong night.

This post is getting long and is already image heavy, and I'm afraid my browser is going to crash and I'll lose it all or something, so I'm going to finish up in a second post...

Family Week Day 3

2008-10-07T22:59:00.009-05:00

Most of Monday was spent doing computer work and cleaning out my closet. I'm a married adult living across the state, but I still have an amazing amount of stuff at my parents house. Please tell me this is normal. But I did manage to fill one garbage bag full of stash yarn that I can bear to part with (I'll be bringing it to a yarn swap night w/ the Carrboro knitting group in November, and donating whats left over), another bag full of shoes that I never wear and can be sent to Goodwill, a bag full of knitted caps and scarves that I collected um, a year ago (shhh don't tell) but never actually found a home for. I'm going to take care of that tomorrow. I promise. I had to wait for my parents to get home in the afternoon to leave the house because my car battery was dead- again. Long story, but I think its finally fixed for good now (after a new regulator and then a new alternater were installed and a new battery bought..).

Monday afternoon I took a trip to the Amani headquarters which just happen to be located about a mile from my parents' house. I brought them a skein of yarn in the Amani colorway and a sample sock knit up using the Entwined pattern. They were so excited to finally see it in person and said that the color was perfect and very "Kenyan". We raised about $80 for them in just the first month that the colorway and sock pattern were being sold. I feel pretty good about that, but also think we can raise even more in the future. I'm looking forward to writing them lots of big checks.

After seeing the wonderful ladies at Amani, I picked up Allison from school (shes a teacher) and we had dinner together. Allison and I started our friendship not long before I moved away and I really wish that we had been able to spend more time together. There are lots of people that I like to spend time with, enjoy the company of, etc, but there are only a handful of people in my life who I truely respect and admire and who's advice and opinions I really value. Allison is one of those people. I can't assume to know her very well, really, but shes just the type of person who you know, immediately, is a good person. And people like that are hard to find. So of course it was great to see her and spend a couple of hours over burgers and pizza. I'm looking forward to getting to spend the day with her at SAFF in about two weeks (!).

After dinner I went to Jo Anns and got buttons for Twinkle and for two baby sweaters my mom made. Yes, we have been knitting lots of baby stuff. No, there isn't something I haven't been telling you. My mom has been in the sweater making mood but doesn't have the commiment to make a full sized sweater, so shes gotten hooked on baby and toddler sweaters. Some of them we will use as Unique Sheep samples, some will probably end up being gifts for friends who

have babies and others will be saved for future grandchildren. And me? I've just been knitting samples for the Unique Sheep that happen to be baby patterns. Not that I wouldn't love a baby to put them on, but right now I'd rather that baby belong to someone else. No time or space in our life right now for babies!

Knitting Photo Info: All three items were knit out of Super Wool. I'm not sure what pattern my mom used for the natural colored one but I think it was from a Berroco booklet, the striped one is the famous Tulip cardigan but in

slightly different colors and the star shaped one (missing one leg) is Twinkle.

Family Week Day 2

2008-10-07T22:53:00.006-05:00

Family Week started with the football game Saturday and then Sunday I packed dog into the car and drove to Winston. And quickly forgot everything I said about taking time off from work. One of our yarn shop owners was in town for the weekend visiting her son who is in school down here and so of course we had to visit with her. My parents graciously allowed us to take over their living room and we played dress up with samples all afternoon. Yes- thats what I do for "work". Great huh? I think we may have overwhelmed Beth a bit, but she seemed to like our stuff so hopefully the Unique Sheep will soon be on the shelves (or better yet flying off them) at Have Ewe Any Wool near Chicago. I would like that very much because Beth was a delight to work with, full of creative ideas, and I am looking forward to interacting with her more in the future. It sounds like she has an absolutely wonderful shop, so if you are in the Chicagoland area please stop by and say hello (and ask her when she'll be getting Unique Sheep yarn in!)

After the meeting I had a wonderfully relaxed evening knitting and watching tv with my parents. Well, mostly my mom and I knit and my dad watched tv and played with the dog. I worked a bit more on Twinkle-- one more leg and I'll be done! - and my mom started a neckwarmer out of Sashimi in the colorway Ann Marie. Shes been talking about needing something to keep her neck warm that she can wear with sweatshirts but has been having a hard time deciding on a pattern. I suggested the Dickie von Beethoven by EZ but after looking at the pattern mom decided it was unneccessarily complicated (admitedly EZ's style does take some getting used to). I think shes decided on the Tudora neckwarmer for now, but I wouldn't be surprised if she changes her mind and starts over.

Go Team! Go Ryan!

2008-10-07T21:29:00.007-05:00

This week I am taking time off from work to visit family. When I moved to Carrboro this past summer I thought I'd be back to winston more often- after all its only a 1.5 hour drive. But with gas costs, plus car problems, plus a busy schedule it just hasn't happened as much as I'd thought it would. But Chris is out of town for the week so I'm taking that as a good excuse to come home and spend time with family and friends that I haven't seen much in the last couple of months. To kick the week off, I finally got to see my cousin, Ryan, play football for UNC. I'm such a bad cousin-- this is his third year on the team (hes a junior) and I'm just now making it to a game! Ok, so I'm not much of a football fan. But with Chris's help I'm learning the rules (sort of) and as long as I've got my knitting in my lap I don't mind an afternoon of ball games. And it really was cool seeing Ryan play. It was a realy good game, too. UNC played well and beat the pants off the University of Connecticut and Ryan tackled lots of people! Oh, and I even got to see a sheep! UNC's mascot is a Ram and before each game they parade a real live ram out on the field- his name is Ramses. Though we had good seats, my camera still had a hard time zooming that far and taking a clear shot of moving livestock, so my photos are blurry. But look- a sheep! Oh, and I also got to see my other cousin, Scott (the fellow on the right in this photo), his girlfriend and my uncle (not photographed).

Cool Free Gadget

2008-10-07T00:24:00.002-05:00

Mechanical row counters and I just don't get along. I forget to twist them or I lose them or they break or whatever. And sometimes I have some sensitivity issues on my finger tips from excema and the texture of the rolly ridges hurts (weird, I know). And the ones you click? I just lose those. But my laptop is almost always by my side and I haven't managed to lose it (yet). Thats what makes this online row counter perfect. Just press the space bar after every row! A gal over on Ravelry created it after another knitter complained about not being able to find something like that, and is letting everyone use it for free. How cool is that?

Pod Cast Awards

2008-09-22T16:48:00.002-05:00

If you'd like to vote for your favorite podcasts to recieve a Pod Cast Award this year, you can do so at PodCastAwards.com. You can nominate podcasts in about a dozen different categories, as well as a "people's choice" best of show type category. So whether you are listening to knitting shows, political commentary, or podsafe music, show your support and let the podcasters know that their work is being appreciated!

To Be a Better Wife

2008-09-15T19:24:00.003-05:00

I've only been married a little under 2 months but its already clear that I'm a pretty crummy wife, at least when it comes to traditional wifely duties. I'm not a slob, but I also don't clean as much as I probably could. But in my defense its just not practical to try to keep our little apartment neat. I wouldn't be able to get anything else done if that was my goal. But more significantly, I don't cook. At all. When Chris goes out of town or gets sick I pretty much just survive on oreos and peanut butter and jelly. Its embarassing. And unfair, because though hes very good at it he really doesn't have time to cook every single night, especially now that hes spending so much time studying. So its time I learn at least a few dishes so that I can take on the dinner responsability once in a while. Tonight while he was napping (he had a test this morning and was up all night studying) I snuck out to the grocery store and came back prepared to actually do it. Thats right. Laura cooked something. I can't take credit for the "recipe", as it was my moms idea. Skinless/boneless chicken breasts beaten flat, coated on one side with bread crumbs and on the other covered with slices of feta cheese, then rolled up and placed in a dish with some white wine and a tiny bit of butter. Then baked at 400degrees for about half an hour or so. Served with brown rice and green peas. And a salad from the grocery salad bar. Its in the oven now. I hope its edible. If so, I'll be on the hunt for other recipes that are a) not just easy, but nearly fool-proof b) only take a few ingredients and c) healthy, we don't like to use a lot of butter or simple/white carbs. Any suggestions?

Rainy Day

2008-09-10T12:18:00.003-05:00

I don't know if its from hurricanes or what, but its been raining buckets all morning. Not even the dog wanted to go out in it. So I can't put yarn out on the porch to dry, so today's line up of reskeining isn't going to happen. I guess that means I'm just going to have to drink tea and knit. I just don't see any way around it. What a shame.

New Laptop!

2008-09-05T12:58:00.002-05:00

Guess what arrived yesterday--- my new laptop! I finally gave in and replaced my poor old laptop, and just in time, too. While I was waiting for this one to arrive the old one's USB ports completely stopped working (they had been working off and on for months) meaning that I couldn't back it up to my external harddrive anymore. And for me thats the last straw. But now this one is here and its all new and shiny (actually shiny!) and its getting to know me and I'm getting to know it. The screen is wider and a lot easier to read, so I think its going to be much easier on my eyes. Plus its not missing keys like the old one (I blame it on the dog jumping onto my keyboard) so its easier to type on. Oh and the USB ports work, so I can connect it to my computer and the printer and the external harddrive. And, unlike the old one, it doesn't have to have the back left corner propped up at just the right angle to work. Plus it runs a lot faster and is all around better. I've just about got all my files transfered from the old laptop (made harder by the fact that the USB ports don't work) and most of the programs I frequently use installed. I've upgraded to a different version of photoshop and dreamweaver and some things are different, so it may take me a bit to adjust. Now I just need to be extra careful not to destroy this one like I did the last one. Thankfully I won't be hauling around with me nearly as much since I'm not a student anymore (I used to take my laptop to class with me). And the dog is no longer a puppy and not as likely to pounce on my laptop while I'm not looking. And I promise not to use the laptop with wet dye-y or soapy gloves on anymore. Apparently thats not good for it. Who knew?

Rising Meadows Farm Fest

2008-09-03T13:21:00.002-05:00

Just a reminder for those of you in North Carolina- the Rising Meadows Annual Farm Fest is coming up soon! Its scheduled for Saturday, Sept 13th from 10am-4pm. Last year there were great vendors, yummy food, beautiful celtic music and cute animals. Hopefully this year it won't be quite as hot as last, but even if it's hot you can always eat local Homeland Creamery icecream, sip on girlscout-made lemonade and listen to the music in the shade. A list of vendors, map and other info can be found here. Admission is $5. Please come as it might take a large number of people to prevent me from smuggling livestock off the farm. I'd really like a sheep.

Tea Update

2008-09-01T23:04:00.003-05:00

Since my last tea post, I've tried several more of the SerendipiTea teas.

Bolivian Black Tea: decent black tea, nothing objectionable but also nothing particularly exciting. I think that this is one I might appreciate if I were more of a tea connoisseur. I enjoyed it with cream and sugar. I'd say I preferred Namaste for a slightly more interesting black tea.

Earl Grey: Very good and unique. I don't think I've ever really had a good Earl Grey before, just the Twinings Tea Bag variety. And this was very different. I was surprised by the fairly strong citrus notes, but it was very good and the lemony flavor was refreshing. I preferred it with cream and sugar, though it was ok without the cream too. I'd definitely recommend this one.

Razzle Dazzle 'Em (Raspberry and Green Tea): This tea was very, very raspberry-y. Thats neither a good thing or a bad thing, but it wasn't really "my" thing. It tasted a bit too much like the herbal teas I'm accustomed to getting in tea bags from the grocery store. Nothing wrong with that, it just wasn't particularly excting. The raspberry flavor overwhelmed the much more delicate flavors of the green tea. It might be interesting to try this one iced.

So far my favorite is still Buccaneer. I think that Chris's favorite is the Earl Grey.

I'm thinking about going to A Southern Season sometime this week to see if I can find some BiscotTea to try. Ever heard about this company? Apparently its shortbread biscotti made to be eaten with tea, using tea as an ingredient. I heard about it on the TV program "Unwrapped"

Something Fishy

2008-09-01T22:54:00.002-05:00

Admittedly, I probably have one of the worst diets possible. I know. I'm going to go directly to the grocery store tomorrow and get a bag of baby carrots . See, I'm trying. Anyway, one GOOD thing that Chris and I have been doing more of lately has been eating more fish. We have fish at least once a week, if not more. It helps that a Trader Joes moved in nearby and they have really decent frozen fish for low prices, so a) we can afford it and b) we can keep it in the freezer to have it convenient anytime. But all fish are not created equal. The world of seafood can be a bit overwhelming because some fish are harvested in a manner that damages the environment, are over fished or are dangerous due to lead levels. To make it more confusing, some types of fish can be good or bad depending on where they are from. For example, US farmed Tilapia are great, but Tilapia from China or Tiwain should be avoided because of the harmful farming practicies. Its too complicated to remember, so we have a handy little pocket booklet that we can pull out while standing in front of the fish counter. You can download and print out your own here. The Monterey Bay Aquarium is well known for being the authority on this type of thing. Its also important to remember that in almost all cases, local is better. So, keeping in mind the recommendations of the Seafood Watch Guide, we also try to purchase fish (and other foods) that have travelled a short distance to get to us.