spring cleaning

Today it's finally warm enough (read: tolerable) to open the windows, let some fresh air in, and get some yucky heavy duty cleaning done. And by yucky, I mean hosing out the litter boxes and bunbun cage. I've got plans to organize my stash room so I can fit ALL of my yarn and fiber in one place. Right now there's a shelf of it towering in my living room in addition to the inventory in the front room. Ben is moving into my place at the end of the month, so I've got to make room for HIS shelves of crap too, ha!

Anyway, as you know, I've been dyeing my butt off for the summer shows I'll be vending at. I'm aware that I now have more stock than will fit in Ben's car, but I dye on! I've been coming up with lots of new colorways lately, which livens up the sometimes mundane dyeing of 4-6 colorway at one time. Check these out:
"Futomaki" on Falkland:


"Valencia" on merino/tussah silk:


Spring is also time for gardening, which means it's time for food, which means it's ALSO time for our CSA from Genesis Growers! We got our first box a couple of weeks ago, and it contained a bunch of yummy cold-weather veggies- beets, onions, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, kale... I made a fantastic "root roast" and served it alongside sauteed kale and garlic topped with almonds:


I think my favorite part about root roasts is that they are so yummy all on their own, without adding much in terms of seasoning. All I did was chop up the veggies, tossed them in olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and a dash of Italian seasoning blend, and then roasted them at about 450 until done. You can't go wrong adding a smidge of freshly grated ginger too, if you're into that sort of thing. Anyways, I'm actually quite pleased when I open up my refrigerator and find it almost empty except for a few stray condiments and drawers full of fresh veggies. It makes the whole "what should I eat?" question a lot easier to answer, and my mind is forced to concoct new ways to eat all of these garden treats. It's definitely a welcome form of mental "spring cleaning!"

dirty little secret

My shop has been kind of sparse lately, but I've been dyeing more now than ever. Where is it going, you ask?



I'm prepping to vend at my first sheep and wool festival, the Shepherd's Harvest Festival in Minnesota, during the second weekend in May. I have no idea how much I should bring, so I'm erring on the side of more than will fit in Ben's hatchback.

Yeah. I'm getting tired just looking at that pic!

Look, I'm spinning!

It's been really hard to maintain a balanced schedule between work and the fiber biz. I loathe getting home at 6 and having only 4 hours in which to make dinner, take care of the animals, catch up on Etsy stuff, list items, and then hopefully card batts or spin before it's time for bed. Sticking to a shipping schedule frees up time, but not enough! I blame the day job ;)

Anyway, I managed to finish a few yarns this week. Here are two of my favorites:

"Märchengarten", my new favorite colorway, spun into a Falkland single!


"Cupid & Psyche", spun from batts carded by Hobbledehoy! I spun this one thick and thin and added little squishy coils here and there.

And as long as I've got spring on my mind, despite the fresh blanket of snow outside, here's a pic of Mr. Bun!

I can't wait until it's nice enough to let him romp around in the yard!

off to a good start

January is turning out to be much more fun that December. Something about the dark winter months and the drama with the holidays just kind of gets me down. Even though it's even colder, the days are getting slightly longer and it's enough to get me revved up again. On top of that, I've got new fiber blends to dye and new colorways dancing in my head. I'm going to try to give myself a schedule to stick to on the weekends so I have room for dyeing and drum carding. Here's a peek at a mystery batt I was working on the other day:


And for those who are curious, here is my super high-tech roving painting set-up. Even though he insists on overseeing operations despite my best shoo-ing efforts, Bela Lugosi has not yet managed to dye his feet hot pink. Sometimes I let Mr. Bun out for a romp and he ends up chillin' underneath the table- one of his favorite spots!

New year, new toys...

First off, I want to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who has supported my fiber adventure in one way or another- my customers, my spinning buddies, and my boyfriend. I can't believe how far I've come over the past year!

Also, I promise to get better about blog posts. I'm going to aim for at least once a week. Hold me to it!

My new big thing outside of spinning and dyeing has been baking. I treated myself to a KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer a couple of weeks ago, and the oven has been on ever since. I LOVE making bread, but I hate having to clean off a big section of counter space to knead it on, which then ends up making a big flour mess... Now everything is done in a bowl that cleans up lickety split. Hello fresh loaf of bread twice a week! If that wasn't enough, I bought a cheese making kit from Ricki the "Cheese Queen". I made my first batch of mozzarella last night and marinated it in olive oil, herbs and red pepper flakes. My lunch today: harvest grain bread with mozzarella:


In other news, it has snowed more in Chicago this year than I think it has in the years since I moved here combined! Thankfully the cold snap is over (almost 2 days straight with subzero temps).


Ok, I've got to get back to the dye pots. If you're a spinner or fiber enthusiast, please check out the poll on the top right of the page! I've got access to tons of new fiber blends, so I'd like to order the ones you all want to spin the most!

Random things...

I got tagged by Rawfish!

Here's the rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself. (See below)
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them. (See further below...)
5. Let each person know they've been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

1. I like bad jokes. I like any jokes, really. I can't go 30 minutes without saying something sarcastic, or trying to make someone laugh during the course of a normal conversation. It's like I'm Chandler from Friends. I wonder sometimes if people get it, or they just think I'm an idiot.

2. I'd be completely content locking myself in my apartment for an entire weekend, doing nothing but watching X-Files, spinning yarn, eating pizza, and drinking wine. Actually, I pretty much do that every chance I get. Everyone thinks I'm an extrovert, but I'm a classic introvert- I need "me" time almost constantly. My boyfriend is the only person I can be around 24/7- the only other person I can be "alone" with, if that makes sense.

3. I'm kind of a wino. Not in a 12-steps kind of way, but in a "what would I do if I couldn't afford to drink wine every night" kind of way. I should just say I'm a hedonist and I somehow manage to balance out all my lushing about with being productive and ambitious. I'm not one of those people who tells themselves "no", although I should probably try that sometime.

4. I realized this past year that I've become terrified of driving. This is probably due to the fact that because I live in a city without a car, I haven't driven anything anywhere for over 3 years. The thought of driving down the highway with all those speedfreaks cutting people off and not signaling makes me hyperventilate.

5. I love to cook. I love eating at fancy restaurants and then trying to make whatever I ate at home. I would rather slave over dinner for 2 hours than eat fast food. Sure, I still break down and get delivery or takeout if I'm super busy, lazy, or the kitchen is empty, but I've gotten to a point where I'm kind of a food snob. On the food topic, I eat like a vegetarian 85% of the time and don't eat red meat or pork, except once a year at the office holiday party when I have a giant expensive cut of filet mignon. I can't afford to eat red meat worth eating, so I savor it when it's on someone else's dollar.

6. I have really broad tastes when it comes to movies and music. I love electronic lullaby music as much as I like ridiculous industrial and heavy metal. I love horror movies of any flavor. I like the "dark" stuff, but you'll also catch me watching Disney movies. There are few things that really scare me or gross me out. I have a lot of fun trying to find those things. Movies that really push the envelope are my favorite.

Ok, maybe those are some lame factoids but it's hard to think up these things, and even hard to type with a cat on your keyboard. I'm not sure who's left to tag, but if are reading this and haven't done this yet, consider yourself tagged!

And here's a gratuitous batt picture:

Fall Bake-Along: Pumpkin Bread!

So some Twitter friends and I have been discussing baked pumpkin goodness all week long. Here is my recipe for pumpkin bread:


1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I use olive oil for everything though!)
1/2 cup water
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups flour (sometimes I do half white flour and half whole wheat flour)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup pumpkin puree
3/4 cup chopped dates*
3/4 cup chopped walnuts*

*optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix sugar, oil, water and eggs together. In another bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cloves and cinnamon; then add to the first mixture. Add the pumpkin, dates and walnuts and mix well. Pour into your baking tin of choice (I use either two small loaf tins or one big loaf, but you could probably do these as muffins too.) Bake until done, at least 1 hour. Best served with hot coffee or tea on a cool autumn morning, or with a glass of milk as a bed time snack :)