Rainbow Sherbet

Well, this isn't the frozen treat, but my last handspun yarn made during the Tour De Fleece.
As the finale Lil' D, Charity(the sheep), and JoJo wanted to present it to you in grand fashion. They insisted since it was summer I should have the lighthouses present. The lighthouse on the left is out on the southern most eastern tip of Long Island. It is called the Montauk Point Lighthouse.
The one on the right, is on Fire Island. Fire Island is a long thin island off the southern shore of Long Island. It is actually in the Atlantic and is where I spent many, many hours at the beach when I was younger.




Here is another view of Rainbow Sherbet. I have 296 yards of a sport yarn. It is 14 wraps per inch and 3 ounces. After spinning the yarn, I plied it on itself.

Hummingbird 2 and Coffee Cake

This week proved to be very interesting in the hummingbird world, around the house in the woods. I had allowed myself to use up all of the store bought mix for the hummingbird drink, because I wanted to try the homemade mix that I had a recipe for. I had found the recipe on the internet.

When I refilled the fabulous blue feeder, with the red spout, all was quiet and then it happened. We started having hummingbird wars! Good grief, didn't they know there was plenty to go around? I thought about lecturing them on sharing. I thought about time out, but couldn't find a pattern for a hummingbird chair. There was just no talking to a bird. LOL!

So, I capitulated. Today we went to Lowe's. The UPS Store guy purchased his man stuff, but we also went to the bird aisle and found hummingbird feeders. Here is one that I found and purchased. Maybe I can show them there is plenty. We'll see.



This one has 4 little spouts and I still have the blue one up. If they cannot figure out how to share and still want to have wars, then so be it.


Yummmm. I have been looking through the cookbook, that I found those cinnamon cookies in, and found this very easy coffee cake. Simple ingredients and much less expensive and can be better for you than a purchased one. You can substitute part whole wheat flour for part of the white flour. You can also use extra virgin olive oil, in place of the shortening. If you do that you just mix the olive oil to the flour, there is no need to cut it in, obviously. I did replace the shortening with the oil(extra virgin olive oil) and it tasted very good.




Coffee Cake

Filling and topping
½ cup brown sugar 2 Tbs. melted butter
2 tsp cinnamon ½ c chopped nuts
2 Tbs flour ¼ c dates or raisins
Blend these ingredients together well, set aside.

Coffee cake batter
1 ½ c sifted flour ¼ c shortening
3 tsp baking powder 1 egg
¼ tsp salt ½ c milk
¾ c sugar
-Mix dry ingredients in bowl and cut in shortening.
-Beat egg well, and add milk to egg.
-Pour liquid into dry ingredients, mix.
-Spread half of the batter into a greased 8x8” or 9x9” pan.
-On top of this sprinkle half of the filling.
-Next spread the other half of the batter on top of the filling.
-Last sprinkle the remaining half of the filling on top.
-Bake 375 F for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
-When cool sprinkle with confectioners/powdered sugar if desired.

There you have it. Hope you enjoy this coffee cake. :)

Wait There's More

I am still spinning yarn every day. You know, I hadn' t been doing this much spinning and I am really enjoying it. I will have to keep it up, when the Tour De Fleece is over.

Below is a 3.8 oz roving, handpainted by Cordova Studios. I have named it Rainbow Sherbet. The fiber is a superwash merino, and I have tried to spin it pretty fine.




Here's another WIP that I have just finished. I purchased the roving for this when I went to Kid and Ewe, in Boerne, TX Nov, 2009. I have a lb of it and it is a wool/mohair blend. Altogether, I have 889 yards.

Hummingbird, Yarn, and a Smart Car

As a gift this year, one of our daughters gave me this absolutely beautiful blue, Hummingbird feeder. I haven't ever had one before and I didn't know if this lone feeder, in the woods of Texas would attract a hummingbird, but I was willing to try. And since the feeder was so pretty who wouldn't want it hanging up outside?

The UPS Store guy quickly hung it up and then I finally filled it, and within several hours I saw a hummingbird at it! It is truly amazing. I can see this fabulous feeder right outside my kitchen window and when I am washing dishes or cooking I look and see hummingbirds now.

So, yesterday, I went outside and sat in the 100 F heat to take pictures. Thankfully, it is in the shade. I sat very still and here came a hummingbird. The first picture is the approach, while they check out the surroundings.




They generally do a "fly by" and come back in, after it looks safe. Amazing little creatures.
Here is one drinking. If you look closely you can see the shadow of their wings, as they flutter back and forth so quickly.



I noticed that there is a dead branch that they will sit on, while they scope out the surroundings, too.

Oh, and my wind-chime. Here is an idea for you. Not my original idea, but Rebekah's. We went to Canton, the flea market, and found these old army spoons, with holes in the tips of the handles and found some metal strainers. Using fishing line, we tied it all together in the shape of a windchime and it works! It is a great piece to have hanging outside on the porch.

Part of my Tour De Fleece yarn is this fabulous red yarn. I had carded the batts and made the roving previously on this blog. Well, it is finally finished. I added the mohair curls for texture and some white angelina fiber for sparkle. Then I plied it with red thread, to add more texture. In the skein pictured, there are 116 yards of a very soft bulky art yarn.




Another view.

Last but not least. This little Smart Car was seen in Rome, Italy. Cute, isn't it? With crocheted granny squares all over it. Wonder what my Chevy Blazer would look like wearing a sweater or even the UPS Store guy's Pontiac. Hmmm. Could have some fun with that one. LOL!

The Infinite Loop

Every once in a while, a new design comes along that is pretty fascinating. My friend Cindy, from Jacob's Reward farm, posted this and I wanted you to see it too.



You can purchase her pattern for $10, it includes the directions for wearing it as well as knitting it. Here is her blog link should you decide you want to purchase this pattern.

Knitting and Spinning

Lately, I have been busy knitting baby items. Here is a baby dress. The size is up to 6 months. This morning, I was able to get the pictures edited and put up into my etsy shop, TerrificCreations. This was fun to knit and I really do like how it came out.


On Ravelry, there is a Tour De Fleece happening. We are spinning our wheels in support for the bicyclers in the Tour de France. :) Truthfully, I think they have the harder job, but I am having a lot of fun. There are teams for this. I am on Team Coffee and Chocolate. (we figured we needed these two food groups to be successful) The discussion on our team is happening under the group of Texas Twisters.

We were to challenge ourselves in our spinning projects. I thought that a good challenge for me, was to spin EVERY day. So, that is what I am trying to do. So far, I have made it. Well, the first day, I almost missed, because midnight came to quickly. But, I went and spun before I went to bed, so I consider that the first day still.

I have been able to finish a large spinning project that I think I started in February. It is 2 lbs of fiber and I spun it at about a worsted weight yarn and plied it. I have 1700 yards!! Plenty for a sweater. It is a gorgeous dark teal color.






Now, I am working on the RED. I have some red mohair curls and I am adding the curls to the wool fiber as I spin. By holding the curls up to the spinning wool, the curl will catch into the wool and be fluffy. Here is my red yarn, so far.




Another knitting project has been, another Playtime Sweater. I think I have knitted it 3 times now.

Learning

For my birthday, I received this great little notebook. Being such a computer geek novice, I have used it in limited amounts. Basically, scared that I might break it. :) So, this morning when we decided to go to the local Panera Bread for breakfast, we decided to take our notebooks. Sitting here at the table, I learned some more info about connecting to a public WiFi and then the suggestion was made to open the web cam.

A whole new world has opened up to me!

Behind us was a man who we have seen before, from afar. The first time we saw him we saw him playing chess with a girl and he was using his computer. I was thinking why would a grown man need a computer to beat a little girl at a game?????? After thinking about it, I thought maybe he was a chess teacher. Turned out, that was right, as we discovered this morning.