adding a little zing

We eat a lot of roasted vegetables around here.  Small Mister eats roasted greens all the time.  I think it is because the roasting makes them crunchy.  I like the crunchy too!  I get teased.  But the last time we went to the mountain, we actually went out to eat one night and part of what we had was deep fried brussell sprouts with balsamic vinegar.  The restaurant sprinkled the balsamic vinegar over the brussell sprouts like vinegar being sprinkled over fish and chips.  It add a lovely zing. I have been doing this occasionally to the roasted vegetables I have been making.  Just a different yummy!  Consider it. 

Vegetables.  Olive oil.  Salt. Pepper.  450 degrees Fahrenheit.  Stir every ten minutes until the crispiness you wish.  Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar. 

So good.  I can eat a plate full of these without anything else!  And on nights where I rip out three inches of crochet, pretty comforting.

By the way, try same kale or chard in the roasting.  So good!

dealing

I really did not think that I would be writing about yarn in yarn form again today.  But the thing is that there is a sick person in the house and I am trying to be near and quiet.  My spinning wheel is very quiet and I put an audio book on very low.  I could have even go the head phones out.  It does mean that I have two balls of yarn made and am working on the third in this color scheme.  This roving will be done then and I can work on the rest.  I am thinking it might go very nice with a brown yak/silk that I spun a while back.

There are just not enough hours in the day really.

taos wool festival

I went off adventuring to the Taos Wool Festival this last weekend.  It was not what I had hoped.  I find that I look for different things anymore.  SAFF fits those needs more.  More fleeces.  More fiber.  I really do not buy actual yarn anymore unless I have a specific project or pattern.  But I got to feel a lot of churro fiber and I know that is a sheep I do not wish to raise.

I did find a yarn stores and a fabric stores that spoke to me.  All that fiber is dyed by an artisan Tibetan monk in Taos.  It is yak and silk and the colors are so nice.  Dying is on my list to learn but finding a dyer like this means it is not quite so urgent.

There are stories now being told around Taos about my Beloved.  He put all the bundles of fiber I was looking at on his arms so I could see their color.  No one could really believe it.  The dyer told the story to her friends and told us about the telling when we saw her again the next day.

I had taken my Turkish spindle with me and started spinning as soon as I had a chance to sit.  Just lovely.

I also found some ultra soft hand dyed cottons and hand dyed silk ribbons.  Not something I can easily find here.

The yarn I found has stories too.  The yarn on the right is dyed with walnut and onion skin.  It will become a hat or hats for the boyos.

The red yarn goes with sweater pattern that is a knitted pattern that I hope to convert to crochet.  The yarn store owner used to be a production weaver and does a lot of her own designs and writes patterns.  Her like my dresses felt like a huge compliment!  But, she asked if I do convert her pattern to crochet that a come a teach a class in her store in Santa Fe.  Everyone I showed my crochet too this weekend thought it was knit.  That is where my crocheting is going.  I hope I can do justice to her pattern and feel like I could teach a class.

We actually got home very late last night or very early this morning, however you wish to think about it.  I had started coughing a bit from allergies on the way home and my chest felt tight.  I had already scheduled the day off so decided to take it to rest and spend time with my spinning wheel.  It is strange not to have the Pirate King Malarkey helping.  I forgot like it was like not to have the Small Mister's "help" with my spinning wheel.  He is much less help with the spinning wheel then the sewing machine.  It has more potential with pretendings.

But today I got back at it.  It is adjusted and I am spinning.  I am listening to an audio book and drinking tea, resting.  My chest is feeling better and that was the goal.  Let alone the pretty yarn I have created. 

this and that moments of stitching

Usually, when I sit down to put a quilt top together, I can just get it done.  Sit and stitch.  I think.  I pray.  I meditate.  Conversations happen.  But not this time.  I could not seem to settle in front of my sewing machine.  It could have been the lack of my helper or the ducking of the flying buttons that were being attacked by the Pirate King Malarkey.  But ten minutes here and ten minutes there do add up.

The quilt top is put together.  More nine squares are done for the next quilt.  And I have started the back.  Sometimes it is just about that ten minutes.

laughing at the comedy of errors of my day

My day was a comedy of errors.  I laughed so hard that I am exhausted.  The laughter was very much a choice though because the other option was to be angry and frustrated.  I just wanted to come home and work on my sweater dress.  The front piece is growing slowly.  I am almost half done.  So I listen to audio books and crochet.  Miss a boy.  Maybe that is a big part of the tired as well.  Or the exhaustion. 

I am looking forward to mountains this coming weekend and needing a coat.  Maybe there will be tea and crochet.  I may bring this so my best friend can see it.  There is a 50/50 chance she will be joining.  She has not worked with alpaca yet and this is awfully soft.  The new stitch is working out well.  I am converting the knit pattern almost one to one at this point.  It is exciting.

More tea is needed.  Or maybe a glass of bubbly wine with the pizza I am making for dinner.