Pink, Pink, and Chocolate

Who said ‘Diamonds are a girl’s best friend’?   Well, ok….but when diamonds aren’t forthcoming, a girl can pamper herself with some lovely pinks and bite of chocolate.

This kettle dyed Tiger Twist sock yarn is called Black Cherry.  The Tiger Twist is now in the bigger 4oz skeins, so plenty for your socks and a mitered blanket square or two.   The high twist on this yarn makes it long lasting and great for showing stitch work.

Black Cherry on Tiger Twist

Next we have a beautiful variegated yarn in all the tints and shades of pink.  I’ve had this color before, but changed brands of dye….so this experiment was needed, and as you see….very worthwhile!  I present Lipstick Jungle.

Lipstick Jungle on Tiger Twist

And finally, I brought back an old favorite and jazzed it up a bit.  Who can resist a Chocolate Bomb Pop in two flavors of luscious rasberry and a double helping of rich dark chocolate?

Chocolate Bomb Pop on Tiger Twist

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Top Reconstruction Project (Part 1)

Armed with my trusty Deb Menz book, Color in Spinning, I have decided to play about with some of my dyed top.  For my first victim project I have chosen this pale green and blue top which is an 85% wool and 15% mohair blend from Carol who carries the Brown Sheep mill ends.  I already have a scarf in these colors that was spun all barber poled, and wanted a different look for this one.  Plus, I wanted to try it with the ribbon of mohair properly blended in (you can see it running down the side of the green bit toward the lower left).  Please do bear with me on the photos….this is extra-curricular, so I’m working and taking pictures in the dark after the kiddo’s get to bed.

Top Reconstruction Project 1

I decided that I would like to shoot for a yarn that has both colors all the time…with a lot of marl and possibly a quick change back and forth.  Blended but not (does that make sense?)  So, what I did first was rip off the color sections and make a green pile and a blue pile.

Top Reconstruction Project 2

Next I took the pile of green pieces and fluffed them out for running through my Fancy Kitty Kitten drum carder.

Top Reconstruction Project 3

Top Reconstruction Project 4

Lucky for me, the drum took the full 2 oz of green, and I pulled off a pretty and foofy batt.

Top Reconstruction Project 5

Top Reconstruction Project 6

Since this fiber was a prepared top, I probably didn’t need to send it through again, but I wanted the color and mohair to be more uniformly distributed, so I ripped the batt down into about 8 pieces and sent it through again.

Top Reconstruction Project 7

Stay tuned for more installments!!

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Bread…..

It’s been a week since my last library visit, which means my binge of Mother Earth News must go back today.  So I did a quick skim of the last two.

Back up a bit…..one of my friends has been discussing this book about baking bread.   Artisian Bread in Five Minutes a Day    I was telling her about my little tried and true no-knead Patio Bread recipe.

Well, I flipped open this MEN, and guess what?  There’s an ARTICLE about the book, and RECIPES.  So now I don’t have to wait for Amazon to get around to delivering it, I can try the bread right now.  Considering our family’s current concerns about eating more healthfully, yet being able to stay within our budget, this bread plan seems ideal. 

In short, you mix up enough dough for a week or so, and keep it in the fridge.  It’s a wet dough, so you don’t knead it at all.  Since it is slow rise, you don’t use as much expensive yeast, either.  When you want bread, you pull out a loaf worth, sit it on the counter for awhile, then stick it in the oven.  Voila!

Read the article for yourself.

I’m trying the wheat sandwich bread, cause that is our big pricy bread right now.  Nice bread with flax and other stuff in it costs a good $3 a loaf that doesn’t last us more than 2 days.  Yikers.

Had any experience with this book?  Have a fav bread recipe of your own?

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Shoes 1

Once I started knitting socks with my hand dyed yarn, I realized that I needed shoes besides Crocs.  My Mammoths are great in winter and in the house, but don’t show much sock….and the summer Crocs create an unhappy pill fest.

My current shoes of choice are Dansko’s.  I never thought I would care for Mary Janes, but having your own socks to show off certainly changes all that.  Dansko’s are a bit heavy, but pretty comfy, plus they make me about an inch taller.  Not that I’m short, but the extra inch just changes my perspective a bit, KWIM?

So here is the first pair I bought, and a pretty good sale price.  I love the detailing.

Shoes

Inhabiting the shoes are my Forest Glade socks made in Tiger Cub Fingering Yarn.

Shoes

Have some lovely yarns in Tiger Twist plus some more Corriedale cooking today.  Think pink…with attitude!

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Art….

This little ditty came to my attention this morning…….

I thought it was fantastic, and my mind immediately went to the unique relationship I have with my art and with you!  I create beautiful colors on yarn and fiber……but YOU…..you take it and turn it into a new expression of art…..and I’ll admit I look excitedly at my yarnie Ravelry project page eagerly to see what you’ve made.  I am awed to be a part of such creativity!

Would you like to see your projects here on the blog, or perhaps in a gallery on my store site?  I would so love to share your part in the story of my creativity!!!

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Ring around the rosie, a pocket full of posies….

New today at ThePaintedTiger.com is this basket of yarns in my new “Soft” collection.  Gentle hand dyed nearly/semi-solid colors in pastel pinks, blue, minty green, lavander, and buttery yellow.  Whether for Easter, your favorite little one, or because you love soft colors….these are for you.  Four of each color on my 3 ply Superwash Merino/Nylon Tiger Cub yarn, so mix and match ’em for larger projects, or great for a pair of socks when knit snugly.  Many of my customers use this yarn for lace shawls, also.

Soft Collection - Tiger Cub

If you prefer a non-superwash Merino, I’ll also be posting these on Etsy.  They are in Tiger Classic Sock, which I am discontinuing, so stop by ThePaintedTiger.etsy.com for a good deal.  There are 2 each of these.
Soft collection in Tiger Classic

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The Library and Vitamin D.

As an avid reader, it is only natural that I take my kids to Story Time at the library every week.  Now that the kids are a bit older, and are well known to the library staff, I can tarry a bit among the books for big people.  I love browsing the new shelf and finding the latest by my favorite author.  “The Other Queen” by Philippa Gregory was last week’s treat.

The library also saves me money.  I’m a magazine junky.  I love to read all the shelter mags, the art mags, the craft mags, the science mags, the DIY mags…..you get the idea.  Sadly, our library does not subscribe to any knitting mags, although I suppose that is fair….with all the patterns in there it would be best if the writers were paid.  Anyway, I try hard to not subscribe to mags I can borrow.  Not only do I save money, but it saves me clutter.  (I’m a pack rat, too!)

This latest trip, I picked up about a year’s worth of Mother Earth News.  Some of that mag is a bit too crunchy for me, but as a homestead raised frugal person, I enjoy it, and dream of greenness and gardens full of bounty.  I found a great article about making your own cleaners.  I’ve been using baking soda for years, but there were some suggestions that are improvements. 

They also have health information.  This article talks about Vitamin D, and that most people are running a severe deficit.  I’ll let you read the article yourself.   Personally, I’ll be looking for some D3 tablets, and try the 6 week challenge to see if I’ll feel better.  It’s been a long bleak winter!!

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Lace and Twist!

I had time this afternoon to list a couple of the latest batch of hand dyed yarns…..

These first two are lace.

Sable:
Sable - Tabby Lace

Lakeshore:
Lakeshore -Tabby Lace

And here one on Tiger Twist in the new and improved 4oz skeins!

Colorado:
Colorado - Tiger Twist

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So soft…..

Fresh from the dyepot…..amazingly soft and beautiful corriedale top, all put up in 8oz braids….plenty here for many projects!

Choco Cherry Love:
Choco Cherry Love
My current fav, Colorado:
Colorado
And two Rainbows….one in order, the other Zig Zag:
Rainbow 1
Rainbow Zig Zag

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Zoom…..

Yesterday, our family went roller skating.

Now the last time I was seriously into roller skating was 8th grade, back at the time Roller Dancing was a big thing (like figure skating, but on skates), it was cool to have gigantic pink sparkly pom-poms on your skate laces, and roller blades were unheard of. Remember those kids that could skate way flat under the limbo pole? I was sooooo jealous.

It seems that the ground has moved since then. It is so much further away, and it isn’t quite so easy to stay upright, or turn, or really anything. Fortunately, I had a 4yo to shepherd around the rink (nevermind the 4 times we switched between kiddie trainer skates and real skates, cause he didn’t like either), so I didn’t need to go very fast, and could hug the wall a bit.

The 8yo was complaining (as she is wont to do) so I just ignored her. She was doing much better by the middle of our visit, which was good….since about then small children in shoes decided to run haphazardly around the rink. Somebody got them off of there, but misrule seemed to dominate this ‘rink’.

By this time, my charge was more interested in a soda, so I left him in a chair to take a real stab at this skating thing. A couple of rounds, and I’ve remembered most of how to do things, and have suitably impressed my daughter. Stopped by to check the son, then took off again. Then it happened.

I should have known better. So focused on staying upright, I forgot to get a good forward lean on the carpet-to-rink transition. Well, those wheels just took off, and the rest of me followed Newton’s Laws of Motion. Boom. On the floor. Owwwww.

To their credit, none of my family laughed (although momentary smirking may have occured). Both children immediately inquired into my well-being and offered hugs and encouragement. Hubby tried to haul me back to my feet, but I abandoned that in favor of crawling to a wall for support. Although I’m a little sore today, mostly the bruise was to my pride, so I survive to skate another day!

Can’t leave you without something fibery, so here…..a bad picture taken in the yarn drying room…..these puppies are ready to be listed this week. Watch for them!
Dyeing the week of Feb 16

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