Tuesday, December 16, 2008
And The Winner Is.....
The contest is over and I truly appreciate each of you who stopped by and participated in my blog questionnaire. FairySari has won the prize drawing and I will be making up a special custom prize for her according to her favorite fibers and weight of yarn. This is going to be much fun and I look forward to making this special prize package. I will post pictures of the final prize after FairySari receives her gift, cause I want it to be a surprise for her.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Creamy/Yeasy Potato and Brussel Sprout Soup
7 medium red potatoes
1 1/2 to 2 lbs of brussel sprouts
1/2 head of cauliflower
3 small eggplants
2 medium leeks
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of dried basil or about four leaves of fresh
1/2 tsp rosemary
2 tblsp of vegan margarine
1 16oz container of soy milk- plain
3 cups of water
sea salt to taste and ground black pepper to taste
Yeast Mixture:
1 cup of nutritional yeast (to add after all veggies have cooked)
3 tblsp of potato or corn starch
2 tblsp of tamari or regular soy sauce-add this directly to the soup when adding dry ingredients.
Cut potatoes into 1 inch cubes. Cut ends from brussel sprouts and remove any damaged leaves-Cut in half. Cut cauliflower into small pieces. Slice eggplants and leeks into 1/4 inch slices. Press or slice garlic. Add all ingredients (except yeast) to large soup pot and bring to a rolling boil. Note that the soy milk will most likely become foamy and separate, but this will not matter after the yeast mixture is added. Lower the temperature to low or med-low and cover. Once all vegetables are cooked to your liking stir in yeast mixture and return to a higher heat long enough to thicken the soup slightly. Serves 8
1 1/2 to 2 lbs of brussel sprouts
1/2 head of cauliflower
3 small eggplants
2 medium leeks
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of dried basil or about four leaves of fresh
1/2 tsp rosemary
2 tblsp of vegan margarine
1 16oz container of soy milk- plain
3 cups of water
sea salt to taste and ground black pepper to taste
Yeast Mixture:
1 cup of nutritional yeast (to add after all veggies have cooked)
3 tblsp of potato or corn starch
2 tblsp of tamari or regular soy sauce-add this directly to the soup when adding dry ingredients.
Cut potatoes into 1 inch cubes. Cut ends from brussel sprouts and remove any damaged leaves-Cut in half. Cut cauliflower into small pieces. Slice eggplants and leeks into 1/4 inch slices. Press or slice garlic. Add all ingredients (except yeast) to large soup pot and bring to a rolling boil. Note that the soy milk will most likely become foamy and separate, but this will not matter after the yeast mixture is added. Lower the temperature to low or med-low and cover. Once all vegetables are cooked to your liking stir in yeast mixture and return to a higher heat long enough to thicken the soup slightly. Serves 8
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Hummus :)
Okay! Okay! Hummus
15 ounce can of garbonzo beans - drain and set liquid aside
1 clove fresh garlic
2 tblsp tahini or 1/4 cup of sesame seeds
1 tbsp of olive oil (I sometimes omit this with good results)
1 tsp powdered garlic or 2 tsp if you have no fresh on hand
2 tsp tamari or regular soy sauce if you have no tamari
2 tsp cut pimento
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
Put beans and all ingredients into food processor or blender and blend until smooth. If you like incredibly thick Hummus then omit any of the reserved bean liquid. If you want to use as a spread rather than a dip....add up to half of the reserved liquid. Chill for at least an hour for flavors to meld.
Test other additions such as jalepenos, black olives (drained), onion, green onion, sun-dried tomatoes. ENJOY!
15 ounce can of garbonzo beans - drain and set liquid aside
1 clove fresh garlic
2 tblsp tahini or 1/4 cup of sesame seeds
1 tbsp of olive oil (I sometimes omit this with good results)
1 tsp powdered garlic or 2 tsp if you have no fresh on hand
2 tsp tamari or regular soy sauce if you have no tamari
2 tsp cut pimento
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
Put beans and all ingredients into food processor or blender and blend until smooth. If you like incredibly thick Hummus then omit any of the reserved bean liquid. If you want to use as a spread rather than a dip....add up to half of the reserved liquid. Chill for at least an hour for flavors to meld.
Test other additions such as jalepenos, black olives (drained), onion, green onion, sun-dried tomatoes. ENJOY!
TWITTER FRIENDS
Twitter friends,
Thanks for stopping by to answer these questions. I truly appreciate your time and help:) Drawing for free gift will be held on December 15th from names of all who chose to respond. One winner-one GREAT gift :)
I am curious as to whether my knitting and crochet friends purchase small yardage samples/accent yarns to add to projects?
Would it be practical to offer 5-25 yard sample/accent skeins? Priced between $2.00-$5.50 :)
If you liked the colorway/colors would you purchase several skeins in order to make a project?
What weight/wpi do you find most useful for accent yarn?
****Please just add your answers as a comment and I will get an email with the information****
The reason that I am asking is that with watching my grand-daughter nearly full-time and other household duties, I am finding it difficult to spend a week(on what would normally take a day and a half) making 150-200 yards of two-ply yarn. I love to spin and have mastered spinning navajo ply-as-you-go. On my small Bosworth this gives me about 20 yards per skein of three-ply yarn. I have tons of wool which I wish to get spun and out of my storage, so I am looking for a workable way to do this and your answers will certainly help with my decision on how to proceed.
Thanks for stopping by to answer these questions. I truly appreciate your time and help:) Drawing for free gift will be held on December 15th from names of all who chose to respond. One winner-one GREAT gift :)
I am curious as to whether my knitting and crochet friends purchase small yardage samples/accent yarns to add to projects?
Would it be practical to offer 5-25 yard sample/accent skeins? Priced between $2.00-$5.50 :)
If you liked the colorway/colors would you purchase several skeins in order to make a project?
What weight/wpi do you find most useful for accent yarn?
****Please just add your answers as a comment and I will get an email with the information****
The reason that I am asking is that with watching my grand-daughter nearly full-time and other household duties, I am finding it difficult to spend a week(on what would normally take a day and a half) making 150-200 yards of two-ply yarn. I love to spin and have mastered spinning navajo ply-as-you-go. On my small Bosworth this gives me about 20 yards per skein of three-ply yarn. I have tons of wool which I wish to get spun and out of my storage, so I am looking for a workable way to do this and your answers will certainly help with my decision on how to proceed.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Gloves Complete and No Cooking Tomorrow!
I finished the hand-dyed hand-knit fingerless gloves last night. Here they are:
I have enough of this yarn left to make another pair of similar gloves :)
Lately I have figured out the technique for navajo-plying as you go. I watched a video several months ago and it finally sank in that this could work. The disadvantage is that the largest skein I get on my small spindle is about 20 yards. That is an ideal amount if someone just plans to use the yarn for embellishments or a few stripes in a sock, but anything larger will require dealing with the small knots. Personally I never have problems with hiding the small knots. The only item where knots prove ominous is socks-knots in sock cuff ok, but not anywhere else.
I will try making some bulky yarn with navajo-plying on one of my larger spindles and see what I get for yardage there. If anyone has any tips or suggestions feel free to leave a comment :)
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Studio Tour Update and more.
The Studio Tour weekend (two weeks ago) went very well. There were 50+ visitors during the two day tour. Financially the weekend was a little off from last years event. There was a 25% decrease in sales, but I did make a point of letting folks know that I take custom orders at any time :) and this has already proved fruitful.
On Monday, I dyed some 70% merino and 30% silk yarn black and sapphire blue for a customer who had purchased one pair of fingerless gloves during the event and wanted another pair for herself. The yarn is dry and I can start knitting today! Monday morning and afternoon I knitted a pair of baby fingerless gloves in a new pattern.
Monday evening, Tuesday and part of yesterday I knitted a scarf for my hubby as an anniversary present.
Last night I crocheted a scarf and most of a beanie while watching "A Night at the Opera." This is a gift to a friend's daughter who just loved this neon bright and bulky yarn that was donated to the local art center.
Wow........I need sunglasses to look at the picture :)
On Monday, I dyed some 70% merino and 30% silk yarn black and sapphire blue for a customer who had purchased one pair of fingerless gloves during the event and wanted another pair for herself. The yarn is dry and I can start knitting today! Monday morning and afternoon I knitted a pair of baby fingerless gloves in a new pattern.
Monday evening, Tuesday and part of yesterday I knitted a scarf for my hubby as an anniversary present.
Last night I crocheted a scarf and most of a beanie while watching "A Night at the Opera." This is a gift to a friend's daughter who just loved this neon bright and bulky yarn that was donated to the local art center.
Wow........I need sunglasses to look at the picture :)
Thursday, November 6, 2008
New Family Member
Four weeks ago we were blessed with this beautiful addition to our pet family. Her name is CoCo and she is 16 weeks old. She was headed to the Humane Society and my hubby just would not let that happen.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Upcoming Studio Tour Weekend
On November 8th and 9th, NaturallySpun will be participating in Tacoma's Studio Tour Weekend. You can visit and view my latest creations at Tacoma Art Place located at 1116 S 11th St., Tacoma, WA. The event will last from 10:00-4:00 both days. There will be spinning demonstrations, fiber information, and a great give-away. Also, there will be a special item for purchase with 1/2 of the proceeds to benefit Tacoma Art Place. Please stop by and browse for Holiday gifts with NaturallySpun.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Two Pairs of Gloves!
Denver Friend's Gloves
Ooops GlovesWell...
After starting the first glove for my friend in Denver, I realized that I had made the first glove a little snug and about 10 rows too short. So below is actually the first glove for my friend, but the second glove that I made. This brought me to another dilemma, I needed to spin more yarn in order to have enough to complete at least one more glove. I decided to attempt to spin the same amount from the same roving and then I would have identical yarn and the gloves would all match. Good theory, but it did not work out quite right. Oddly enough, I did end up with only ten yards more of the second batch of yarn, and the patterning did match up perfectly for the mate to the first(oops) glove, however as I started the mate to my friends glove, I soon noticed that well-they would match but not match up. It is okay! So goes life with wonderful handspun yarns. Now I have pics of both sets of gloves and they turned out wonderfully although not perfectly matched.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
First glove is finished!
Well today, I have the first glove finished and I am spinning the solid purple so I can ply another skein of yarn for the second glove. I should be able to finish the little bit of spinning and plying today, but we will see how that goes.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Etsyversary!
This week NaturallySpun is celebrating its two year Etsyversary. There is a sale going on, with your choice of the better deal for you. Please see my shop for details :
http://www.naturallyspun.etsy.com
In other news, on my needles are fingerless gloves bound for Denver
made from my hand-dyed handspun yarn. Later today when I have more of the glove done, I will post a pic of that too.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Starting Fresh!
With so many new things happening for NaturallySpun, I wanted to ease the confusion and just start out new and fresh with this blog. As points of reference, I may include blog posts and pictures you may recognize from my previous blog, but almost everything here will be fresh, new, and exciting.
There are three exciting new developments for NaturallySpun.
The first is that hand-dyed and handspun yarn by NaturallySpun has been used in a cute holiday tree skirt pattern by Marie Haigh of KnittedGems.com. The tree skirt is called "O Tannenbaum" and can be found on Marie's blog and in her Etsy shop. A great friendship and working relationship has blossomed from working with Marie. She has left an over-whelmingly wonderful post on her website about our meeting and working together (her choices and my skill) to make the yarn perfect for her project. I encourage you to read her post here:
http://knittedgems.com/
As my workload stands right now, I can take just two orders for yarn similar to what Marie used in the tree skirt. This amount of yarn takes a couple weeks to complete and two orders would put me near family birthdays, the holidays, and the next exciting development.
November 8th and 9th NaturallySpun will be featured as a local artist on the Studio Tours 2008 sponsored by the City of Tacoma. To find out more information, please visit this link:
http://www.tacomaculture.org/arts/AWstudiotour.asp
NaturallySpun will be using Tacoma Art Place as my home studio. Tacoma Art Place is a local non-profit focused on bringing art to all at affordable prices.
http://www.tacomaartplace.org
In early 2009, NaturallySpun will be participating with the Pierce County Libraries and their Pierce County Reads program to bring a spinning program to the participating libraries. Throughout January, February, and March NaturallySpun will give demonstrations that will be designed around the selected book for 2009.
The book for 2009 has not been officially noted on the Library system website, once it is I will list it here for all to see. Yes, of course I know what it is :) In the meantime, here is more about the program and the book for 2008.
http://www.piercecountylibrary.org/reading-books/pierce-county-reads/Default.htm
I hope you have enjoyed the updates for NaturallySpun. It is going to get busy around here!
There are three exciting new developments for NaturallySpun.
The first is that hand-dyed and handspun yarn by NaturallySpun has been used in a cute holiday tree skirt pattern by Marie Haigh of KnittedGems.com. The tree skirt is called "O Tannenbaum" and can be found on Marie's blog and in her Etsy shop. A great friendship and working relationship has blossomed from working with Marie. She has left an over-whelmingly wonderful post on her website about our meeting and working together (her choices and my skill) to make the yarn perfect for her project. I encourage you to read her post here:
http://knittedgems.com/
As my workload stands right now, I can take just two orders for yarn similar to what Marie used in the tree skirt. This amount of yarn takes a couple weeks to complete and two orders would put me near family birthdays, the holidays, and the next exciting development.
November 8th and 9th NaturallySpun will be featured as a local artist on the Studio Tours 2008 sponsored by the City of Tacoma. To find out more information, please visit this link:
http://www.tacomaculture.org/arts/AWstudiotour.asp
NaturallySpun will be using Tacoma Art Place as my home studio. Tacoma Art Place is a local non-profit focused on bringing art to all at affordable prices.
http://www.tacomaartplace.org
In early 2009, NaturallySpun will be participating with the Pierce County Libraries and their Pierce County Reads program to bring a spinning program to the participating libraries. Throughout January, February, and March NaturallySpun will give demonstrations that will be designed around the selected book for 2009.
The book for 2009 has not been officially noted on the Library system website, once it is I will list it here for all to see. Yes, of course I know what it is :) In the meantime, here is more about the program and the book for 2008.
http://www.piercecountylibrary.org/reading-books/pierce-county-reads/Default.htm
I hope you have enjoyed the updates for NaturallySpun. It is going to get busy around here!
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