freshly spun

Find a good alpaca*
handcard a bunch of rolags
spin spin spin
and enjoy beautiful chocolate-colored homespun yarn!

{click to enlarge}


*This is where we met Godiva (and many other cute alpacas).
The owners are great and it is a short drive from Pgh.

freshly spun

My new (to me) wheel is getting a workout!
Christmas Cactus - Cosymakes Falkland Fiber Club
Velvety Bubblegum - Marajane Creations
White - Romney and Cotswold
Moonlit Cloud - Cosymakes Falkland Fiber Club

Now I need some small knitting projects for these beauties!

Banner Way Barter Bash

Yesterday we had a (first annual?) Banner Way Barter Bash and it was a Blast!

A few of our friends had suggested having a swapping party, so we volunteered to host. Since I had never attended this type of gathering (let alone host one), I did what anyone else in my position would do: I googled "how to host a swapping party". If you are thinking about having a bartering party, Real Simple has a really thorough guide for this kind of event.

We invited some friends with similar interests, requesting that items remain under the size of a bread box; I'd say the get together was a success! We were able to give away some duplicate cookbooks in our library and kitchen appliances. One person's trash is another person's treasure!

Couldn't resist playing some music with these talented folks!

As John Alexander once said, "When simple living stops being fun, you'll see my taillights."
For now, living simply is pretty enjoyable!

Oatmeal Pullover in Rust

I signed myself up for the 11 Sweaters in 2011 group on Ravelry, so I got a decent head start with this ambitious goal by starting with this quick knit. Just took me 6 days to knit!
On Ravelry: here.

orange!

To brighten up the first week of January -here are some orange things that are growing in our house this week. David is growing some carrots on our windowsill and the bright orange with the sprigs of spring green makes me so happy.
Also, I am almost done with the main section of Jane Richmond's Oatmeal Pullover; I'm using Lamb's Pride bulky wool/mohair in rust. With such a thick yarn, this sweater is knitting up really quickly!

2010 preserving

The last day of the year seems like a great day to post our 2010 food preservation list. This was our third year of preserving in our little homestead. We've kept lists of the past couple of years of what we preserve, the quantity, and then make note of what we actually use. We then designate if we eat the food, or if we give it away as a gift. We keep a list on our fridge and then check off boxes as each item gets used. It is a pretty good system.

Where did all of this produce come from?

• David and I joined a CSA (community supported agriculture) this year, so we got a box of produce each week from a local farmer of our choice. We decided to go with The Kretschmann Organic Farm. Much of what we preserved came from these weekly boxes.

• It may come as a surprise that David canned chicken stock this year. As part of our CSA, we broke our usually vegetarian diet to enjoy 5 pasture raised, organic chickens. Actually, we have only had 4 chickens, because we are saving the 5th chicken for a yummy meal this winter. Besides the fact that the chickens were delicious, we also loved that that we got to send our payment directly to the grower of the chickens we were eating. Here's a link of a photo of grower, Steve Misera and his family with their chicks. A description of the chickens from the Kretschmann's:

(The chickens were raised) without the routine antibiotics which are ingested with every bit of food or water consumed by a typical conventionally raised chicken. They aren’t rushed to slaughter, but allowed to mature to a reasonable weight—about 6 pounds. These are what used to be called “roasters”. You’ll find that you get far more meat per pound than you are used to getting because it’s not all skin and bones. They are great roasted whole—stuffed if you like—it’s like a mini-turkey but doesn’t take so long to cook.

• We got the apples for the apple butter the strawberries for the jam at the farmers' market. Between May and November in Pittsburgh you can find an almost daily market in one of the neighborhoods. I highly recommend checking them out if you haven't already.

• A great deal of our preserving involved tomatoes; we are pretty thrilled with the 47 quarts of pasta sauce we'll be enjoying all year. I'm pretty excited to say that most of the tomatoes we used this year came from own very own garden. We kept weighing the endless tomato harvest this year and the final count was around 316 pounds! I smile every time I think about it.

• The bushel of peaches came from David's parents, when they visited us this summer from South Carolina.

• The mulberries were from trees around our neighborhood.

2010 Preserving
Frozen:
Mulberries - 2 quarts
Greens - 2 bags
Pesto cubes (spinach, garlic, pea shoots)
Oven dried tomatoes with olive oil - 9.5 (1.5 pints)

Dried:
Mint - 3/4 cup
Oregeno - 1/2 cup
Tomatoes - 3 (1.5 pints)
Zucchinni - 1 (1.5 pints)
Apples - 2 quarts

Canned:
Strawberry Jam - 17 (8oz)
Peach Butter - 18 pints
Peaches, raw packed - 10 quarts
Peach juice - 4 quarts
Tomatoes, raw packed - 5 quarts
Pasta sauce - 47 quarts
Chicken stock - 6.5 quarts
Green Tomato Pickle Mix - 12 pints
Apple butter - 5 pints, 3 (12oz), 7 (8oz)

Ferments:
Mixed Veggies - 1 quart
Sauerkraut - 2 (1/2 gallons)


Let us know if you want to try some of what we preserved. We really enjoy giving and trading our canned goods. 2010 was an eventful year for our little homestead! We are already searching through seed catalogs for next year, daydreaming of fresh produce, beautiful blooms and dirt under our fingernails.

May you and yours have a blessed start to 2011!
Cheers!

handmade gifts

I was excited to knit some Christmas presents this year.
I made my mom a pair of the French Press Felted Slippers
and I made David a pair of fingerless gloves, using a free pattern on Ravelry by Susan Letourneau. Ravelry link for slippers. Ravelry link for gloves.Both recipients seemed really grateful!