It's Been a WEEK?!?

Where did the time go? What do I have to show for it?

Well, I don't have a new motorcycle. We looked into getting a 900 v-twin last weekend but someone just beat us to it. His buddy might have a 650 Honda, will get back to us. Hmmm.

Beverly has done some more Photography. Again, from a 2 yr. old's eye view, here is An Evening In With Mom. Also titled, B's Eye View 2. Wow, dust on the laptop. Who would think?

I have 5 loads of laundry in my living room to fold. We are in the throes of the Weird and Ugly Fabric Challenge #15 deadline-approach. It is actually tonight at midnight. So not much else is getting done right now.

That isn't the only reason things are really piling up. We decided to open a shop at Etsy for fleece, carded fiber batts, and handspun yarns and let 14 yod Diantha run it as part of her high school curriculum. So we have spent the last several days washing raw fleece, dyeing, carding, spinning, etc. Her shop is up and running, with over a dozen shop hearts, item hearts, and one sale already... in 3 days. She applied and was accepted to SHEteam... but we haven't heard back from Etsyknitters. Stop on over and take a look... Fluff4Ewe.etsy.com.

On the left just above here you can see one of the handspun yarns we put up in the shop... Candylicious! This is 100% Montadale lamb that we processed from raw fleece. We dyed it and spun it into a lumpy, bumpy, fun self-striping yarn with just a tiny trace of the lanolin still in it.

On the right is her first sale... a carded batt of hand dyed pink Corriedale, black Alpaca, and green Merino, called What A Melon. Yum!

We've managed to nab a couple Treasury Wests, including this one on the left from Richard's Rossoaps shop, called Leather Up, Guys! and featuring all leather items. Most were made by men on Etsy. I think a lot of people think of Etsy as a ladies' marketplace, but that isn't necessarily so. Once in a while it is nice for the guys to have the spotlight.

Diantha got a T West right off the bat (savvy, or what?) She called hers Fluff n Stuff, in honor of her new shop.

She is, at this writing, in THREE treasuries that our own family did not make: Isn't SHE lovely (with the Candylicious yarn above), and SHE is Diverse and SHE Loves Her Jeans, both featuring her Oceana yarn.

My My7kids shop is an alternate in the SHE Loves Her Jeans treasury, and my HeartFeltFun shop has an item in a T called Song Sung Blue.

I have been in an incredible lot of pain with a kidney stone that seems to not want to pass. Almost 3 weeks now, and it is wearing me down. Well maybe tomorrow will be a better day!

Getting Just a Little Done

Today I got the binding cut and done around 9 potholders. They were Diantha's, and she cut 5" charms for the swap for me while I did her bindings. My machine was messing up so I took a break in the middle of it so my head wouldn't pop off. I would post a pic, but they are for the Weird and Ugly Fabric Challenge so... you just have to wait!

I also got a handbag made for my HeartFeltFun Boutique at Etsy. I called it "O My Handbag"... it is pale pea-green felted wool/angora from a recycled sweater, it has a cotton webbing and leather recycled belt in green, cream, and tan for a strap, and it is lined in deep pea-green with white polka dots. It has 2 inner pockets and zips shut at the top. A nice roomy 12" wide by 9" high by 3" deep too!

Diantha spun up one of her lavender wool/cashmere, orange corriedale, teal merino batts today. I don't know how much yarn she got but it is every bit as fun as what she spun yesterday. See?

I got a Treasury West tonight, called Much Ado About... Nothing? or is it Zero? Or is it an O? Here on the left is a screen shot. Be sure to stop by and click around!

And, ADustyFrame from SHEteam generously included my Daffodils recycled yarn in her main Treasury, Daffodown Dilly. Be sure to visit hers and click around too. The She team members all homeschool their kids, so being able to maintain an Etsy shop on top of it is a real feat!

I was JUST reminded that we not only have 4-H in the morning, one of the kids was supposed to submit a tabletop exhibit on processing fiber. I have all the caption labels and fibers, but used the exhibit board last week on gardening. Even if I ran up and got one, it would take til 2 AM to put it together. Then be up at 7 to make the meeting in the next town over, by 8:30. I just can't. So GREAT, I just got the 2nd Bad Mom award in a week. Must be a record.

But, on a happy note, it means picking up donuts for breakfast.

Heck, for donuts, I would just about stay up glueing fiber to cardboard.

Dude, Someone Blogged Me

Today I went to the firing range with my friend (and my daughter's MIL) Cheryl. We had a nice time shooting. My Lorcin .380 misloaded every time I tried to fire it, so I put it away. I don't get it; Richard thoroughly cleaned and oiled it before I went. oh well... Afterward we went to Wild Wings for lunch, which was more fun than shooting guns together. She didn't want to take home the targets, because ex-hubby-slash-SO, a retired Highway Patrolman, gets nervous about guns. She sent them home with me. I said I was going to Blog about them so the whole internet could see them. She just laughed and said, "Don't BLOG me!" So for tonight, I didn't post the pics. Tonight. Muahahaha...

On the way home my little old Suzuki was misfiring also, like one of the spark plugs is fouled or something. A project for tomorrow, maybe. So I have had a Bad Mechanical Day.

Someone did Blog me today! She wrote about recycled yarns on Etsy and included me! Thanks!

I snagged a main Treasury last night in Richards' Rossoaps shop at Etsy. Here on the left is a screen shot... it is called Cardinal Sins. What fun!

EmptyNestEgg also included my Blue Bell flower pin in her main Treasury, called She Stopped to Smell, which is all items from the SHE team. Thank you!

On to something we actually did. LoL. For Diantha's birthday last week, I gave her some random lavender and purple wool balls (I spun my felted slippers from them, passed some on to another knitter, sent some carded with other fibers to Japan, and gave Diantha the rest with some lavender Cashmere yarn bits mixed in), some cleaned and dyed orange Corriedale fleece, and some teal Merino. Yesterday she carded them together. She didn't divide the merino quite evenly, so ended up with a little extra purple and orange. She spun them up together last night and got 28 yards of the coolest, funky yarn! It will be great trim on something.

Yesterday we made Great Grass soap. It has hemp oil in it, and minced alfalfa... and the soap is actually colored with grass! We used lavender, cedarwood, and spruce essential oils for a deep, herbal fragrance. Wonderful!

Sheep Grease, Vegetable Seeds, and Glue

Tomorrow is National Agriculture Day. That is the point in the year when our hard-working farmers in this country have produced enough food to feed the entire country for the year. Our 4-H group is having a big to-do at a new, large grocery parking lot. The Cattleman's Assoc. is bringing major farm equipment and cattle. They are apparently going to do a barbecue. Our 4-H in this county has been deemed the most active in the state, so we are going to have demos on large-scale farming, sheep shearing, etc.

The other day my younger kids and I started an exhibit board. On one of the 3 sides, we have large letters (which I outlined and
they colored in with crayon) saying, WHAT can I grow? Below which we have more than a dozen seed-packet tops glued on, with some of the seeds for that fruit or vegetable glued next to them. There are more packets than what show here. Glued on. Lots of glue.

The center says, "How Do They Grow?" and has pictures and drawings of a seed from sowing through all the stages to harvest. We used a tomato plant as the example because it is easy to grow and recognizable.

The last section says, "What Can I Plant Things In" and has multiple pictures of container gardens. Everything from Cubist-style planter box, to a garden (complete with corn!) in a horse watering tub, to strawberries growing in 24-0z. soda bottles, to tomatoes in urns, to squash in a baby pool. The idea being that we can demonstrate that you don't have to be a large-scale farmer or have an extra acre lying around to grow food... and you don't have to be dependent on a large-box grocery store for everything you eat.

Our family grows herbs, onion sets, and tomatoes in a large claw-foot, cast-iron tub. Tuesday the Old Farmer's Almanac sent me an email saying to Plant Peas on St. Patrick's Day... so since we don't have anything else growing right now, and nights are still cold (which peas don't mind), we planted some. And Black-Seeded Simpson lettuce, and green onion sets. We put the ends of an old wooden crib between the tub and the side of the house, for a trellis for the peas.

Back to today. Since the group is going to have a sheep-shearing, they also wanted a display that shows what wool is useful for after it is sheared. I have a drum carder, and 3 of my daughters and I all spin and knit. So I am taking that to set up, along with some washed fleece and some dyed fiber and some handspun yarns we have made, and our current knitting project (particularly the bossy one), so that people can see that you don't always have to make something the color of oatmeal or shaped like a sweater. So today I dug around in the shed and filled 2 large mesh bags with about half a sheep with all the lanolin and dirt in it, and processed it several times in soak cycles in my washing machine.

Speaking of which, I have to go get the sheep out of the machine and dry it on Air Fluff or we will have the wettest wool going tomorrow.

I hope the weather is dry!

Until Then...

I have other stuff to blog about tonight, but until then, I thought you might enjoy this Shine article on The Top 10 Worst Foods of 2009. I am happy to report I didn't eat a SINGLE one of these. But that's not sayin' much...

Well today I reached 200 sales in my My7kids Yarn Shop at Etsy, less than 9 months after my first sale ever! Woo Hoo! My current series of recycled yarns I am putting up is called Man-swers... things like Put The Seat Up, Walk the Stupid Dog, Mow the Lawn, Be Nice to Her Mom. I could probably do this one for a while.

Meanwhile I also put a new item in my HeartFeltFun Boutique at Etsy. It is a little felted basket or bowl with a rolled rim, built-in handles, and beads. I knitted and felted it out of one of the handspun yarns that were sent to me from Japan to donate to our Youth Center. I hope it sells quickly so that some little girl can have a darling Easter Basket!

Yesterday in our rainy-day travels, I took some pictures out of the car windows. This picture on the left is the Bull Run Steam Power Plant run by TVA just on the North side of Knoxville. It is HUGE... the building alone (at the base of the taller tower) has 12 stories of platforms on the outside, and it is dwarfed by the steam stack and tower. The steam was such a great contrast to the dreary sky I couldn't resist this pic, even through the windshield!

You may notice across the bottom of the stem plant pic, the continuous "cloud" of fluffy white. These are the dreaded (or coveted) Bradford Pear trees that are so ubiquitous here. These trees do not bear edible pears, but in the Spring they bloom entirely white. The fall of the blossoms could, I guess, be referred to as our last "snow." Then they are covered in the most audacious chartreuse new leaves... which develop into glossy deep green, wonderful shade. In Autumn the leaves turn scarlet red to deep plum.

They are all over the place, as evidenced by this picture of a major intersection in Knoxville, at Cedar Bluff Road and I-40 Eastbound. And, there are 5 of them in my yard. Oh so beautiful but I think the flowers stink (smell like vitamin B1) and the pollen has me acting like a mouth-breather for weeks. Hey, beauty has its price.

One more picture of community beautification for those of you not lucky enough to live here. All over the place, on the sides of highways and overpasses and in medians, some soul with foresight planted (or caused to be planted) millions of daffodil bulbs. This hillside isn't in full bloom yet... that will take a couple weeks. But for several weeks in the Spring we are treated to these cheery yellow blooms, just about everywhere we go. Guess you only have to take the time in your commute to actually notice them.

Just a Little Artsy Fartsy Stuff

Today we baked muffins. Took muffins to my spoiled dh at work. Walked. Came home and baked a red velvet cake for my sister's birthday, baked a HUGE Chicken Pot Pie, ate dinner, took cake to my sister.

Sometime during the day Josiah helped me dye some olive colored Merino wool into a deep forest green, and I dyed some mulberry silk into a rusty mauve color. Then I carded those with some indeterminate wool in shades of purple with hot pink nepps. I did up 2, 1.5 oz. batts. The colors aren't the most usual together, but I think they will spin into an interesting yarn. This is one of the things I am sending to Japan in a goodie box.

I finished listing the handspun yarns from Japan in my My7kids Etsy shop, at least the ones I am listing in yarn form. I am keeping a couple myself and putting the donation money in for those. And a couple of them I am going to knit into an item to sell in the HeartFeltFun Boutique at Etsy and give the donation from them that way. Go take a look at these wonderful, fun, funky art yarns!

I also got an Etsy treasury today in wonderful Coffee colors... visit and click on stuff!

Oh one MORE little thing. Easter is coming soon! Here is a page with the baddest Easter eggs ever!

Cheesecake, Muffins, and Seeing Stars

Oh, I made a new yarn last night called Chocolate Covered Strawberries. It is a Vegan blend (Ramie and acrylic) done in chocolate brown and deep, hot pink. Lovely! Not to be outdone, today I finished spindling Raspberry Caramel Cheesecake. This one is so lusciously soft! It is hand dyed superwash merino top that I bought from knitspaz on etsy. I ended up with 140 yards of a little heavier than worsted, and it is gorgeous.. and available in my shop.


Yesterday's block was 4 Ts, and I did a terrible job. Now that I have all the blocks I needed for Sally Sweet, I am going on to Joe Morelli. In the Stephanie Plum books, he is one bad-ass vice cop but otherwise just your oversexed average Italian guy.

LoL. For some reason I see him in black and white and this grayish blue. So here ya go. Today's block was another Ohio Star, which I did without a contrast center square. Amazing how different it looks than Diantha's that she did today also! Mine is on the left and hers is on the right.

I wanted to give you another free delicious recipe!

We call these Blue Chocolate Cherry Muffins and they are the most delicious science experiment you will ever eat!

The dark cherries in the mix act as a litmus indicator. The juice turns the batter pink as long as it is acidic (from the fruit and the fatty acids in the eggs and butter)... but once you add the baking soda and baking powder, the mix changes to alkaline. The batter will turn gray, and as they bake they will turn the most wonderful (or horrible) greenish blue!

Despite the blue color, they are heavenly to eat!

A little note: you may notice that I bake with real butter. No substitute! Butter moistens baked goods as they age, oil or margarine or shortening dry baked goods as they age. Day-old cake or muffins made with butter will be moister, day-old cake or muffins with margarine will be DRY. You choose!

This recipe makes about 24 average size muffins. Take them to the office or freeze them for a quick in-hand breakfast anytime! They freeze great! But alas, at my house they don't last through lunch time.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease and flour or line 24 muffin cups.

1 14-16 oz. can dark sweet cherries, drained (reserve liquid) and chopped

2 eggs

1/3 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour, divided

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 bag dark chocolate chips

Drain cherry juice into large mixing bowl. Chop cherries and put in the bowl. Whisk in butter, eggs, and sugar. Add 1 1/2 cups flour, the baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir in. Toss chocolate chips with last 1/2 cup flour and stir into the batter, stirring as little as possible to combine.


Spoon batter into muffin cups to 2/3 full. Bake for 12-15 minutes (check them at 12 minutes, they should be blue, tan around the edges and not look wet in the middle). Let cool on cooling racks (or eat them as soon as you don't scorch your tongue, LoL)


Oh and I have one more pic to show you. My 17 yos Artemas took this today, of himself and his baby sister Betsy. I added the caption and thought it was funny. Isn't he cute? And isn't she?

Darn Tootin' Shootin'

Today is my 2nd son Artemas' 17th birthday. 17 years ago today my water broke and I went into labor while my dh was enroute to work, where I couldn't get hold of him. So I left a message at his work, put my almost-6 and 3 year old kids in the car, and drove myself 25 miles through heavy traffic on US 19 in FL, to the hospital. Why the rush? Because with my 2nd child, I only had 40 minutes of labor. So you can see I was in a hurry. Artemas was in a hurry too. He was 3 weeks, 4 days early. He weighed in at 8# 3 oz, came into the world hungry, and hasn't stopped eating since. He has grown into a fine young man, and wants to be a chef when he finishes school. I hope he pursues it, and I think he will make a fine chef, Christian, and a good husband for some very lucky woman.

We got up this morning and took him to the firing range. I get to shoot free on Tuesday, and anyone sharing my lane is 1/2 price, so it was a cheap birthday present. LoL. We showed him how to load, ready, safety, and fire each of our 2 handguns. Then we stepped back out of the way, he picked up the .22 Ruger Longbarrel revolver, and proceeded to put 6 out of 6 shells right into zone 9 or closer.
The next barrel, he got 4 out of 6 in the zone. Not bad for a kid who has never had anything more than a bb gun in his hand.

I put 22 out of 24 (6 from the Lorcin .380) in the kill zone, also not bad shooting for a middle-aged Biker chick with a bunch of kids underfoot. Annie Oakley, move aside!

When we got home my BIL was over with my 5 year old niece. We had some snow yesterday and last night, and our grass was still relatively covered. Theirs was melted. So they came here for her to sled down our yard a few times. The guys watched a Guy film, so I guess the trip wasn't wasted for him either.

Today I started spinning a roving I got, called Raspberry Caramel Cheesecake. It is superwash merino top, that I got from Knitspaz on Etsy. I am using a cup-shape, top-whorl drop spindle that I got as a gift, and I am doing a terrible job. LoL. Well here is a pic of what I have so far, anyway. The colors are luscious though. I might make this available in my etsy shop for Valentine's day.

Today's block was Flying Geese. Finally! I made 24 of them. I need 22 for my project, and it's a good thing, because I had a couple rejects. Two little Flying Geese had bent wings and got rated 4-F. Here are the rest. I had in mind to lay them out with a row up, down, up, down... but somewhere I got confused. Doesn't matter entirely, because they aren't sewn together, and when they do get sewn together, they will be in 2 rows of 11 each. Lucky me.

We made homemade DELICIOUS pizzas for supper, and since Artemas didn't want a birthday cake, I made a double batch of brownies with dark chocolate chips from scratch.

Life is good.