The Inconsequential Blogger

My white alpaca fleece

2012-01-19T15:37:00.002-05:00

Last fall, I purchased a white, first shearing fleece which came off of a 10-month old alpaca named, "Powdered Sugar." I finally have the time to process it. Two days ago I unrolled the fleece and sorted it. Here it is, shorn side up:

I have to apologize ahead of time for the quality of the pictures. I took them one-handed with my cell phone, and the flash was off, so they all came out a little blurry.

My cat, Freki, wanted to help:

As soon as I got my hands on the fleece, I knew it was going to be something special. It was really soft and fine. It was so fine, in fact that the unshorn side was full of vegetable matter (hay, feed, bits of weeds from the edges of the pasture). It turns out the Powdered Sugar's fleece is so fine that it's spider web grabby.

But I was able to get most of that off during sorting, and then yesterday I washed a few ounces, and today it was dry and ready for combing. During combing, most of the rest of any vegetable matter tends to fall out, or get left behind in the combs at the end.

Here is some of the washed fleece on one of the wool combs:

There are two wool combs to a set, and here is how the fleece is combed, off of one comb and onto the other:

You do this for a while until everything is all nice and combed and ready to be pulled off (there is one step I haven't shown, called, "planking"). At that point you pull the fiber off of the combs through a small hole in a tool called a diz :

This turns the fiber into a kind of rope of aligned fiber, which is called top, or sliver:

When you roll that up into a nice little ball for storage, a tiny bit of twist goes into it, and then it's called roving. These balls of roving are ready to spin:

There is always a some stuff left behind in the combs:

It's full of things that you don't want in your yarn, like vegetable matter, tangles and lumps:

I said that as soon as I got my hands on this fleece I knew it was going to be something special. It is. It's incredibly fine and soft. I think it may even be as soft as the paco-vicuna I have. I'll compare the two when I've spun this up. I'm so excited to have a whole fleece of this stuff! And from a local farmer!

Silk, Alpaca, Reindeer Tattoos

2012-01-15T10:56:00.002-05:00

I recently got some silk to spin. I'm planning on blending some of it with part of my nice, white, first shearing alpaca fleece I purchased last fall. I still need to sort, dehair, wash, and comb/card the fleece, but I will start attacking that project this week - along with various other fiber-related projects.

I still need to spin the fiber up and knit two pairs of texting mittens, one for my husband, and one for me. They'll be made with yak. I want to put a pattern on my pair. I don't know if I can, but I want to try to make a pattern for this design to go on the backs of my mittens:

It's one of the tattoos on the Ice Lady Mummy, found in the Eurasian Steppes. I will attemp to create the pattern with the help of the KnitPro application found here.

The whole reindeer-people culture is very interesting. Frozen mummies often have all sorts of intricate tattoos:

This book is a wonderful way to find out more about The Reindeer People.

On to the New Year!

2011-12-27T10:52:00.001-05:00

I have so much to do, I'm glad I have a whole new year to do it in!

I've got fleeces to sort and wash and comb/card/possibly dye, and then spin. I've got several knitting projects in the queue, I've got some herbal products to make, and I've got my Etsy shop to put in order. The Esty shop is in vacation mode until Jan. 9th, but I'll probably be pushing the date back. I've got product pictures to take and descriptions to write, and other things to sort out. It all takes time.

And then there's my husbands department party, held at my house, coming up. And of course he told everyone that I went to cooking school in Paris, so they are now expecting pasrtries and croissants.

And the problem is, I'm sooo tired. I could probably sleep until the New Year is rung in. Well, it's better to be busy than not, I suppose.

I hope everyone is enjoying the afterglow of the holiday season and is looking forward to the new year. I think I'll enjoy the afterglow with one more cup of coffee, some Christmas carols, the Christmas tree lights, the dog laying nearby and a cat in my lap.

A little something to take away the humbugs.

2011-12-21T09:23:00.002-05:00

A young girl from my nice little town, blind from birth, wrote and sings this Christmas song, Night of Our Lives:

Merry Christmas!

Texting mittens made from Yak yarn

2011-12-16T10:40:00.001-05:00

Here are some pictures of the finished texting mittens that I knitted with handspun yak-down yarn. Yak down is the fine, fluffy undercoat on a yak that keeps it warm in the frigid winters of places like Tibet.

These are natural colors, a brown and a gray. I made them for my son, but I almost kept them for myself, they're sooo warm and cushy and soft. Here are the palms:

And the backs:

Here is my son modeling them with the tops flipped off:

And back on:

I used a modified version of the pattern found in the Fall 2010 issue of Spin Off magazine.

Notre Dame at night

2011-12-11T02:28:00.001-05:00

Here is a picture of Notre Dame in Paris under a full moon and with a Christmas tree.

A couple of pictures

2011-12-02T15:50:00.001-05:00

Here are some pictures from Paris! By Notre Dame, cooking school (an anniversary gift from my husband), and holiday decor around Montmartre.

Going on a little trip

2011-11-29T08:54:00.002-05:00

I'll be gone for a while. Hubby and I are getting away for a couple of weeks starting tomorrow. He'll be working part of the time, but I'll be sightseeing for the whole of it and he will join me when he can : )

Some of the places we'll visit are Paris, the Christkindlesmarkt in Nuremberg, and the medieval walled city of Rothenburg ob der Tauber. I'm so excited to see these places during the holiday season. And I'm so looking forward to lebkuchen in Nuremberg!

If we happen to have Internet access while we're away, I'll post some pictures when I'm able. So far, the weather over there looks about like what it is here - 40's and rainy.

Well, off to pack now and run last-minute errands!

Roots, herbs, yarn, and mittens

2011-11-19T09:26:00.003-05:00

I've been busy lately drying roots, putting the last of my dried herbs away, spinning yarn for my sister, and knitting texting mittens for my son out of handspun yak down yarn.

Roots have to be dug up, washed off with a preliminary hose-dowsing or bucket dunking, then scrubbed up inside nice a proper, sliced, and then laid out to dry in a barely warm oven. I've been drying two types of roots from my garden, which are harvested from two-year-old plants: elecampane and evening primrose. I use them in various medicinal teas.

My kitchen smells so wonderful when I'm packing dried herbs away. The last of my harvest was mostly culinary in nature, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano, sweet marjoram. But I also had some late-harvested lemon balm to put away, and some things harvested over the summer which hadn't been put away yet, like heartsease (violas), and peppermint. I've never used heartsease before, but we had so many volunteers spring up between the pavers on my patio - little gifts left from a potted viola I had sitting on the patio table the season before. I let them grow and bloom for some time, until we were having company over for a barbeque and they finally had to go. I gathered them and dried them and will try mixing them with goldenrod to make a salve for eczema.

The yarn I'm spinning for my sister is fingering weight. I'm making a three-ply, so it's spun really fine and takes a long time. Each bobbin takes a couple of hours. I've been spinning a bit, and then going off to take care of other things, and then getting back to it when I can. The project has stretched out over a couple of weeks, but I'm on my last bobbin. Then comes the plying. I like plying best.

The yak down yarn is scrumptious! I really love yak. And the mittens are turning out really nicely. I almost want to keep them for myself : ) I'll try to remember to put pictures up when the texting mittens are done.

What have you been up to lately?

Cranberries in the bog

2011-11-06T10:33:00.001-05:00

My husband and I recently visited Triangle Lake Bog State Nature Preserve, which is near Kent, Ohio. We wanted to see what the cranberries looked like this time of year. Here's where the cranberries are in the bog (click on any of the pictures to see them larger):

A bit of a closer view:

The cranberries add color to the greens and browns:

Thanksgiving must be close if the cranberries are this red:

Carnivorous pitcher plants grow alongside the cranberries in the bog:

Ooh, this one would go well with turkey and gravy:

Some of the sphagnum moss was turning color, too:

Here's the boardwalk through the bog. The bog would be too treacherous to walk without it:

The ferns have run their course:

The pitcher plants are turning mostly red from their usual green with red accents:

It makes them seem even more unusual:

This one's eating late-season mosquitoes:

The pitcher plants are pretty viewed from the side, too:

Where the bog ended and the trees began, we spotted beaver damage:

This mossy path led us out of the bog:

Thanksgiving will be here soon and I'll think of the bog while buying cranberries from the grocery store and making cranberry sauce.

Me with my Christmas book in The Learned Owl Bookshop

2011-11-03T10:10:00.000-04:00

My husband and I went out to eat in our quaint little downtown the other night. After our meal we strolled down Main Street to The Learned Owl Bookshop where we found my Christmas book on display in their holiday section. I was so excited, I had hubby snap a photo with his phone:

In other news, I planted 26 cloves of garlic yesterday in hopes of a good garlic crop next spring and summer. I bought the bulbs of garlic from an organic garlic grower at the farmer's market this past summer. Last year I planted about nine cloves, only to have six of them dug up that same night by some animal because I forgot to put a thick layer of mulch over top. I mulched them really good this time!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T13:29:00.001-04:00

Here are some Halloween sights, taken yesterday on the search for jack-o-lantern pumpkins. Click on any image to view it larger:

One of the many pumpkin farms we stopped at.

A spooky, old building. Is it haunted? I don't know.

Fun gourd witches at another pumpkin farm.

And, of course, pumpkins!

A mini haunted house.

This pumpkin bale wishes you a Happy Halloween!

Last Weekend's Craft Fair

2011-10-28T09:56:00.001-04:00

Last Sunday I hauled all of my wares to an arts and crafts fair which featured northeastern Ohio Etsy shop owners. Here I am setting up my table:

My husband prepared some of his photos for sale, too:

And my daughter came to help me:

We had a lot for sale and we sold some of everything we brought: homemade candy, hand crafted herbal products, handspun yarn, photos, books. As you can see, I also brought my spinning wheel to show how the yarns were made.

We did okay, but the attendance wasn't huge. I was hoping to do a little better. It's kinda hit and miss with craft shows.

Being Female

2011-10-20T10:08:00.003-04:00

I belonged to a religion for eighteen years, almost everyday of which I felt caged or different because I didn't quite fit that religion's definition of femininity. I was constantly told what being female meant and what my life would hold for me, and that I would like it. I was living someone else's idea of what my life should be because I am female.

I hold to no religion now. I am my own person, or at least I am learning how to become my own person. It takes a while to flush out the dogma.

Here are a couple of quotes that I've come across lately that echo my sentiments, but say it so much better than I could. The first is from a couple of YA authors who write strong female characters. They were on a panel from which an attendee drew a list of advice on how to make a kick-ass Young Adult heroine. Here's one piece of advice:

Ignore orders from both sides.

[Tamora] Pierce discussed how upsetting it was for her, who grew up during the feminist revolution in the ‘70s, to arrive at college and have women saying that “real” feminists were gay or celibate. (“I was neither,” she quipped.) This debate extends to her female characters, as mentioned above. “The whole point of what we did was giving every woman the power to choose how they wanted to live,” she said. “Not to present only restrictions on women, but to present the possibilities that come from being female.”

“The thing about being female,” [Esther] Friesner said, “is that it makes us think there’s only one way to be female. I’ll bet there’s at least two or three, or six, different ways in this very room. There is no one female… Sometimes the biggest battle is ‘This is what you should be doing,’ handed down by the feminists or by the anti-feminists.”

And here is the second quote, from Steve Jobs' 2005 commencement address to the graduating class at Stanford University:

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Don't be trapped by dogma. Trapped is exactly how it feels, and if you feel that way, start asking questions and then find the answers out for yourself.

Making caramel

2011-10-19T17:56:00.003-04:00

I usually don't make caramel until December so that I can send it off to friends and family far away. Today as the warm, sweet caramel smell filled my kitchen, I had to keep reminding myself that it's not December. This batch of caramels won't be tucked in with Christmas gifts, though. I'll be selling it at my booth at the upcoming Art and Crafts fair I'll be attending this Sunday.

Who wants to lick the pot?

I'll also be selling my homemade herbal products, handspun yarn, and some of my husbands photos.

Caramel poured out and cooling.

And, of course, I'll have copies of my books on hand. I usually sell a few at these types of things, and with Christmas looming closer, some people might be interested in my Christmas book, My Twelfth Christmas. It certainly smells like Christmas in my kitchen right now!

Texting Mittens Knitted from Handspun Yarn

2011-10-10T19:16:00.002-04:00

These are some texting mittens that I knitted out of some of my handspun yarn. They're for my daughter:

The gray inner glove is yarn I that spun from some angora/wool/silk blend roving that I purchased from the Crooked River Fiber Fling last August. The lavender outer mitten is yarn that I spun from some superwash Bluefaced Leicester that I dyed with a dye made from elderberries.

My son wants a pair, which I'll make using yarn that I'm planning to spin from some cozy, brown yak down. My husband will get a pair, too, only he'll use his while pursuing his hobby in the winter months - outdoor photography. His will have a little bit of nylon (he's worried about durability) and a pinch of quiviut (musk ox - just about the warmest fiber there is) blended in with the yak.

The pattern I used can be found in the Fall 2010 issue of Spin Off magazine.

A re-post from way back in October, 2008: Magical Thinking and Cornish Witchcraft

2011-10-07T09:24:00.001-04:00

An article in the November/December 2008 issue of Archaeology Magazine talks about witchcraft in Great Britain. Recently, an archaeologist uncovered strange pits while doing work to extend a barn on her property in Cornwall. She has since brought students out to help her uncover several more pits and an ancient spring, all filled with what she believes is evidence of witchcraft spanning many centuries, including the 20th.

Many of the pits were lined with the skin (including the feathers) of a swan, on top of which were placed varying amounts of eggs almost ready to hatch, pebbles, and bird parts and claws from various types of birds. The spring was lined with quartz and contained things like nail clippings, human hair, straight pins, and small pieces of cloth. Part of a cauldron was even found.

Quoting from the article, the archaeologist, Jacqui Wood, said:

"Over the last 30 years I've been quick to dismiss ritual as an explanation for unusual archaeological finds. It usually means that the archaeologists can't think of anything better. So now it seems especially ironic that I end up with a site absolutely full of ritual."

The earliest dates for the pits are the mid-1600s. Whatever was being done here was important enough for the practitioners to risk being pointed out as witches. The 1600s were a dangerous time to be caught doing anything with a pagan tinge. It was doubly risky because swans were symbols of royalty and owned by the crown. And apparently whatever these practices meant is still important. One of the pits dates from the 1950s. It was lined with the skin of a dog and contained dog teeth and the baked jaw of a pig.

Old magic and magical thinking is still among us.

Images from Wikimedia, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and The Witch Channel's Information Page

Spinning at the Harvest Fest

2011-10-03T08:55:00.001-04:00

I live right next to a park which used to be a farm. The farmhouse and barn are still there and are not a part of the park. They're owned by a foundation which has been restoring them to their early 1800's glory. My little town was a hotbed of Abolitionist activity back then and many of the houses were stops on the Underground Railroad, this one included. So I was excited to volunteer to demonstrate spinning in the farmhouse during Case-Barlow Farm's Harvest Festival yesterday.

The day was windy and cold, so it was nice to be inside. There were lots of activities outside, like butter-churning, candle-dipping, pumpkin-painting, and demonstrations of rope-making, chair-caning, and civil war troops in a camp, among other things.

Lots of people came through the farmhouse and it was fun to talk to them about spinning.

Spinning this weekend at the Harvest Fest

2011-09-28T08:33:00.001-04:00

I'll be demonstrating spinning this Sunday in the farmhouse at Case-Barlow Farm's Fall Harvest Fest. If you're in Hudson, Ohio this Sunday, Oct. 2nd, drop on by!

Here are links to pictures of the farmhouse and the barn.

Now I've got to go wash some wool so that I have something to spin.

Late-season harvest

2011-09-25T16:18:00.000-04:00

Garden production is winding down. I still have a few tomatoes ripening, and there are still a few greenbeans to be had, but the peppers will soon be finished, and there is less and less to pick each time I go out to gather things.

My sunflowers are just now becoming ready for harvest. I cut two big heads from my far away garden today and brought them home. I grew two varieties, Mongolian Giant, and Titan:

There are still many heads out in the garden. I got the seeds out of these, rinsed them quickly, tossed them with some sea salt, and roasted them.

Here's what else the gardens gave me today. I'm afraid that's the last of the okra. This time of year, the deer will eat it to the ground, even if it wants to keep producing. They really like the okra. And beets. My beets had a hard time this year because of the deer, notice that there aren't any in the pic:

My gardens are never especially heavy producers, but I enjoy the process, and cooking with whatever fresh things they want to give me. During the winter, we'll continue enjoying things that we've either frozen or dried.

And as far as the herb gardens go, I still have a lot of holy basil to gather and dry, elecampane and evening primrose roots to dig, probably some lemon balm, too, and, of course, there's always peppermint. Lost of things on the drying racks are waiting to be put into airtight jars, and I have oils to infuse and tinctures in various stages of processing. So there is still work to be done.

Bison Chili

2011-09-22T10:05:00.002-04:00

We've been enjoying Bison chili a lot over the past several weeks. One thing I like to make with the peppers and tomatoes from the garden is chili.

Early on in the season, when I didn't have enough ripe tomatoes of my own, I made a trip to the farmer's market to buy some so that I could make a batch of chili up with some ground beef I had in my freezer. While there, I happened to stroll by a booth where a man was selling locally raised, grass-fed bison meat. I decided to try making the chili with ground bison instead of my ground beef.

My whole family loved it. My son and daughter have said that they think it's the best chili they've ever eaten. So I've been making bison chili now. I use heirloom tomatoes, peppers, and garlic from my garden, and onions and ground bison from the farmer's market. The beans I buy in cans from the grocery store.

It's so fun to walk out to the garden, fill a basket with tomatoes and peppers, and then walk back inside and put it all into a pot along with the cooked ground bison, onion and beans for a flavor-rich dinner.

Yum.

Dyeing with cleavers root and pokeberries

2011-09-16T10:17:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was dyeing day. It was a lot of trouble for just over 3 ounces of wool, but it was good to learn the process for these particular dyestuffs (cleavers root and pokeberries), and to see the resultant colors. (My previous post is about gathering the roots and the berries, if you're interested.)

Dyeing with cleavers roots:

My process isn't well documented photographically because I did the cleavers alone in the morning before my daughter was able to come and help, but here's what I did:

I let roots soak overnight. In the morning I blended the roots up with un-softened well water from our outside tap. I read that hard water helps with the color. I put the blended roots in the dye pot along with more well water and heated it gently for an hour.

When dyeing with cleavers, it's very important to regulate the temperature. I read that over about 140 or 150 degrees F, the color will start to move from reds, toward the brown shades. To keep it in the red range, the process shouldn't go over 180 degrees F. One source said that the best reds are obtained at about 140 degrees. It was hard to find the sweet spot with my electric stovetop, so while making my dye bath, the temp at one point reached about 178 degrees F. I did eventually find how to keep it lower.

While the roots were steeping, I mordanted my wool. I had 4 ounces of cleavers roots, so with a ratio of 2:1 of roots to wool, I measured out 2 ounces of wool (which happened to be superwash Bluefaced Leicester). I added 1/2 teaspoon alum powder and 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar to another pot of well water and gently steeped the wool in it for about 40 minutes.

When the roots had heated for an hour, I strained them out and then added the mordanted wool to the dye bath. I let the wool steep between 150 and 160 degrees for an hour. After that hour, I let the wool cool in the pot, then rinsed it until the water ran clear, with one of the changes of water a bit soapy.

The wool came out a very pretty salmon color (the picture doesn't do it justice); here it is after rinsing:

Cleavers is very much like madder apparently, and depending on the quality of the roots, the concentration of the dye bath, the temperature, water hardness, etc, your resultant color can range anywhere from orange-ish, to salmon, to a nice red, to brick red, to various browns. I got a very pretty salmon with which I am very happy.

On to the next.

Dyeing with pokeberries:

My daughter showed up to help with this batch, so it's got lots of pictures.

First, a word about dyeing with pokeberries. It isn't usually done because the color doesn't last; it fades very quickly. This is a new method of dyeing with pokeberries that I came across in this book. The woman who discovered the process has yarns dyed with pokeberries that are ten years old and still vibrant and beautiful. Beautiful is the operative word. The color obtained from pokeberries is absolutely amazing.

My daughter and I gathered about two pounds of pokeberries. The ratio of pokeberries to wool is very high, 25:1. This meant that I could only dye a little over one ounce of wool. Disappointing, I know, but I'm hoping to plant pokebushes next year so that I can have my very own berries to harvest, hopefully in larger quantities.

A word of caution: pokeberries are poisonous, don't eat them.

So, first we stripped the berries from the stalks:

And then proceeded to mash them all up:

It's best to wear gloves for this part:

Only, make sure you don't have a hole somewhere:

This method of dyeing with pokeberries uses vinegar as a mordant, and vinegar is added to the pot while making the dye bath.

Cover your berries with water, making sure you have enough to let your wool swim freely. For each gallon of water used, add 1/2 cup vinegar. I added a total of one gallon of water to my berries, so I put 1/2 cup vinegar in the pot with it.

This is another material which is temperature-sensitive. Keep the temperature between 160 degrees and 180 degrees F. If there is any bubbling or boiling, the color will be ruined. After the cleavers, I had a handle on keeping the temp where I wanted it.

Here are the berries stewing in the pot. I skimmed that foam off; it didn't disappear and I didn't want it there when I put the wool in:

The berries steeped for an hour. While they were doing their thing, I mordanted the wool by adding about 1/4 cup of vinegar for my just-over 1 ounce of wool to a pot of water. I steeped the wool in the vinegar water for about 40 minutes.

When the berries had finished steeping, I strained them out and then added the mordanted wool to the dye bath. The wool stewed in the dye bath for 2 hours. I kept the temp between 160 and 170 degrees the whole time:

When the two hours was up, I put the lid on the pot, took it off the heat, and let it sit overnight. In the morning I rinsed the wool. Have you ever seen such a wonderful color? And from a natural dye!:

I love it! Totally worth all the effort.

Here are the two colors from the two different dyestuffs hanging to dry, pokeberry on the left, cleavers on the right (click any picture to see it bigger):

I can hardly wait to spin these up. For these colors I will definitely go through he whole process again (only next time, I'll try to leave out the part about getting poison ivy).

Gathering natural dyestuff - or - The adventure in which I get poison ivy

2011-09-15T08:38:00.006-04:00

I've been up to more dyeing. The other day, I gathered more marigolds from the garden along with some wild goldenrod, and threw the flowers into the dye pot along with some onion skins and some marjoram from the herb garden. All of these things make yellow. Here's the hodgepodge in the dye pot:

It dyed my superwash BFL roving a nice goldish-yellow.

Yesterday, my daughter and I went on a little adventure to gather more dyestuff. I've been dying (ha!) to get out to a place I know where a ton of cleavers grows. Cleavers is related to madder, and like madder, cleavers roots will make a red dye.

So, off we went, bushwhacking our way through waist-high brush and brambles. The dog was smarter and took off on his own. We learned that he found the deer trail right away that we had been hoping to run across. Next time we'll follow the dog.

While crossing the railroad tracks, my daughter spotted some sort of buried egg nest that had been dug up by a coyote (we found dung nearby). The round, leathery eggs had been eaten. We guess they were tortoise or snake - anyone out there care to take a guess? Some of the eggs seemed to have bluish speckles, but that may have been something other than speckles.

Here's the dug-up nest:

A close-up of one of the egg remains:

Anyhoo, we did eventually reach the cleavers. Digging cleavers is hard going. It's hard to find a clump of cleavers that will yield a substantial root. And interspersed amongst the cleavers was poison ivy. We tried to be careful, and we washed with Tecnu poison ivy scrub when we got home, but I woke up with poison ivy on my forearms this morning. Good thing I make the best ever poison ivy itch relief spray.

When we got back home, I sprayed the dirt off of the roots with the garden hose outside. Here's a nice root:

And here's our clump of roots, all washed and ready for soaking. You can see how they're reddish in color:

We gathered about 4 ounces. I was hoping to get at least 8 ounces, but we decided to cut the gathering short when we began to feel raindrops. I'm hoping the 4 ounces of roots will dye at least two ounces of wool.

Our gathering wasn't done for the day, however. My daughter knew where we could gather a good amount of pokeberries. I've recently read about a method to make a really nice reddish dye using these berries (which are poisonous, so no eating!) using vinegar as a mordant. I've been wanting to try it, so off we went to gather pokeberries before the sun set.

We gathered about two pounds of berries. Amazingly, this will only dye about one ounce of wool. The ratio of dyestuff to wool for pokeberries using this method is high - 25:1. Here's a peek into one of our bags of berries:

Today I'll be busy dyeing.

We also found a patch of blooming tickseed flowers on our wanderings. Tickseed flowers are yellow, but make a pretty, orange dye. We may go back for those. Not sure yet. I'll be busy enough today as it is.

Dyeing wool with marigolds

2011-09-04T16:17:00.000-04:00

I have a multitude of marigolds blooming in my faraway garden. I planted them in hopes of using them as dyestuff. So today I walked out to my community garden plot to harvest marigolds. I came back with a large basketful.

I measured out about 12 ounces of marigold flowerheads. I put them in a pot and covered them generously with water. I read that marigolds make an intense dye bath, so I wasn't particularly worried about it being too diluted.

I simmered the marigolds for about 30 to 40 minutes (click on any picture to see it larger, then click back arrow to return to blog):

While the dye bath was simmering, I mordanted my wool. I measured out 4 ounces of superwash Bluefaced Leicester roving, and also grabbed a handful of rolags I had lying around, some from my Christmas fleece (a local wool of unkown type, given to me last Christmas), and some made from Cotswold sheep fiber that I have.

Mordanting about 4 ounces of wool meant measuring about 1 tablespoon of alum powder and one teaspoon of cream of tarter into a pot of water, bringing it to a simmer, adding the wool, and simmering for about 30 minutes.

After the marigolds had finished simmering in the dye bath, I strained them out:

I had lots of leftovers which didn't make it to the dye bath, so I'm freezing them for later use. Here they are laid out on a pan in the freezer, ready to turn all frozy:

With the wool mordanted, and the dye bath ready, I plunked the mordanted wool into the dye bath. I simmered the wool in the dye bath for about 30 minutes:

When the wool was done simmering, I took it out of the dye bath and let it cool to room temp. Then I rinsed it and hung it to dry:

The two rolags on the far left are the Cotswold wool, next comes a few rolags from my Christmas fleece , and the looped-several-times-over-the-bar stuff is the superwash BFL. I've found so far that superwash BFL takes natural dyes up really nicely into slighty richer colors than other things in the same dye pot.

Rolags (fiber carded with hand cards and then rolled off for spinning) are probably not the best form in which to dye fibers, but I mostly did it to see how the Christmas fleece and the Cotswold would take up the dye. It hasn't dried yet, but I think the superwash BFL is my favorite, followed by the Cotswold, and then the Christmas Fleece.

Book giveaway begins tomorrow, Sept.1st!

2011-08-31T16:53:00.000-04:00

My Goodreads givaway for My Twelfth Christmas starts Sept. 1st and ends Sept. 30. Enter for a chance to win one of three copies being given away!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

My Twelfth Christmas

by Linda Ash

Giveaway ends September 30, 2011.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

I'm getting a drum carder for my birthday!

2011-08-27T10:04:00.000-04:00

I just bought this through an auction on eBay:

It's my birthday present! I can't wait 'till it gets here. I have a lot of fiber that needs processing. Ever since I gave myself tennis elbow while weeding dandelions from the front yard last spring, the combing with the wool combs has slowed down.

Carding fibers will produce a different end product in the spun yarn vs. combing the fibers, so I won't give up combing altogether. I'll still prepare fibers both ways, depending on what type of yarn I want to make. And I have lots of alpaca, wool, and angora waiting to be prepared and spun!

Grow Your Own Clothes: The Fibershed Project

2011-08-18T09:34:00.000-04:00

Read about The Fibershed Project, textile artisan Rebecca Burgess's one year commitment to wearing clothes made from fibers found within a 150 mile radius of her home, here.

And visit the Fibershed blog, here.

Truly inspiring.

Far Away Garden Update

2011-08-17T14:34:00.000-04:00

Here's what my far away garden (which is what I call my community garden plot) looked like about a month ago in mid-July:

And here it is as of today, in mid-August (the plethora of tomatoes to the left are not mine - they're the next garden over; and the garden to the right of mine has been overrun with weeds):

I love my two rows of sunflowers. Someday in the not-too-distant future they'll bloom. I have two varieties, Mongolian Giant and Titan. They've gotten so tall!:

Here's a shot looking up between the two rows of sunflowers.

I planted pole beans with them so that the beans could use the sunflower stalks as poles. I've had a lot of Japanese beetle damage to my beans. They love bean foliage, especially if it's high up. I have to squat and move between the tall sunflowers in order to gather beans from time to time. I love being in there between the tall stalks. It's like having a little sunflower hidey-hole.

I'm getting beans and okra and peppers and tomatoes from the garden now. The corn will be ready to pick soon, and eventually the beets (if the deer leave me any). I've been cutting my marigolds as they bloom and hanging them to dry. I'm hoping to gather enough with which to dye some wool.

I've had some deer damage. They really love the beet tops and okra. I'm glad I planted three rows of okra. The first row is taking the brunt of the dear damage, leaving the other two to produce.

Dyeing wool with elderberries

2011-08-12T09:35:00.009-04:00

Yesterday, I dyed just about 4 1/2 ounces of wool with elderberries. I had about 1 pound of berries with which to make the dye bath. I mordanted the wool with alum and cream of tarter.

I added about a tablespoon of vinegar to the dyebath. I read that adding vinegar to the elderberry dyebath will strengthen the red/purple color, and adding salt to the bath will turn it more toward the blue hues. I was going for the red/purple. I knew that the final color would be much lighter than the bath color, and I didn't want the blue hue to end up more of a pale slate-blue/gray on the fiber.

I almost-simmered the mordanted wool in the dyebath for an hour and then took it off the heat and let it sit in the bath overnight. This morning I rinsed the wool and it's now hanging to dry:

On the left is almost 1/2 ounce of wool from my Christmas fleece that I combed up during demonstrations last weekend at The Crooked River Fiber Fling. On the right is 4 ounces of superwash Bluefaced Leicester.

It came out a very nice color. The color on the superwash BFL seems more pronounced. Different fibers will take dye up each in their own way, and superwash will take up dye differently from non-superwash.

The Crooked River Fiber Fling

2011-08-08T10:04:00.003-04:00

Over the weekend my daughter and I sold our wares at The Crooked River Fiber Fling in Peninsula, Ohio. It was a hot and muggy weekend, but it was a lot of fun.

Here's our vendor booth - I was The Roving Spinner:

We displayed various fibers, spinning tools, and gave demonstrations (click on any of the pictures to make them bigger, then hit the back arrow to return to the blog):

I combed wool with the wool combs and Jessica demonstrated carding. Here she is loading the hand cards:

I also brought along my Kromski Fantasia wheel and demonstrated spinning. There were lots of wheels there amongst the vendors, spinning all weekend long:

Of course, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to bring my books along, a few of my salves, and my poison ivy itch relief spray. Here we are on the second day, taking a lunch break behind all of our non-fiber wares:

We had a great time talking with people about processing fiber and spinning, and my daughter was a great help. We sold quite a bit of everything, and on the last day, the last set of musicians who played over at the live music tent did a shout out for Linda over at The Roving Spinner. They played one of my favorite songs - Marie's Wedding. They had all come over to our tent earlier to ask all about processing fibers and spinning, and when they said they played Celtic music, I had asked if they knew that song. It was so fun to hear them play it for me!

There were animals there, too, alpacas, sheep, and angora rabbits. I scored three or four pounds of fiber - raw suri alpaca fleece, raw baby alpaca fleece, angora, Romney roving, and an angora/wool/silk blend. I can't wait to get spinning with all of it!

Hand-painted roving

2011-07-30T10:32:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I dyed some roving. Roving is fiber processed into a form that's ready to spin. I had 7.8 ounces of superwash Bluefaced Leicester which I divided into two 3.9 ounce sections.

Here I am laying out the roving on my outdoor work surface:

I have a very affectionate helper:

Here are the dyes I used. They are weak acid dyes, set with vinegar:

Placing the dye on the roving:

More placing of dye. It was a hot, humid day, so I was going for cool, melon colors:

Another helper strolling out of the garden:

Another helper, waiting for someone to throw the ball:

After the dye was squirted on, I wrapped the rovings up in plastic wrap and microwaved them for 4 minutes to set the dye.

Here they are after being rinsed and hung to dry:

Here they are dry and waiting to be braided up. I think I'll call this mix of colors 'melon patch':

Now I have to go - I'm off to the farmer's market to spend some money!

Our new rose is blooming!

2011-07-17T16:37:00.001-04:00

We have a few rose bushes in the front yard. My son added a new one this year that he saw in a catalogue and liked. It's a Dick Clark grandiflora. We got it as bare-root stock, so it took a while for it to wake up out of dormancy. Two buds were just about to bloom about a week ago or so, but just before they opened, some deer came along and nipped every bud and bloom off of the roses. That was frustrating, we were anxious to finally see the flowers.

Well, the Dick Clark quickly put out another two buds, and they've bloomed! The blossoms are beautiful and have a mildly spicy scent (click on any of the pictures to see them larger, then hit back arrow to return to blog):

It's so pretty!

Our Princess de Monaco has one bloom right now. It's also lovely:

At the garden center earlier in the season, I found these delightful petunias. I lost the little tag, so I don't know the variety, but I love the colors:

Here they are cascading out of a planter:

What are some of your favorites from the garden this year?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II

2011-07-16T09:17:00.000-04:00

All I can say is, if you go, don't forget the tissues.

Night sky timelapse over the ocean

2011-07-15T08:46:00.001-04:00

This an amazing timelapse:

<a href='http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-us&vid=806b6148-2c79-4881-83d3-0bc1e442349c&src=v5:embed::uuids' target='_new' title='Ocean Sky Timelapse'>Video: Ocean Sky Timelapse</a>

My Far Away Garden

2011-07-14T14:49:00.000-04:00

Here are a few pictures of my far away garden. It really only takes a few minutes to walk to my plot in the community gardens, but since it's not one of the gardens in my yard, I call it the Far Away Garden. Strider likes to come with me when it's not too hot:

This is my plot, such as it is. It needs another good weeding. The lush plants to the upper left, alas, are not mine:

In my plot I have sunflowers, corn, tomatoes, peppers, okra, beets, marigolds, and a handful of cosmos flowers. I also have beans, peas, squash, and watermelon planted among the sunflowers and corn. I'm sorry to report that it looks like the squash vine borer has already begun to decimate my squash plants.

Here are some tomatoes beginning to show on one of the plants. The tomatoes I have here are heirloom varieties left-over from the veg. garden in my back yard. They stayed a little too long in their starter pots and are a bit stunted compared to the ones in my yard. I started them from seed:

Beets. What a lovely color:

Okra, I believe this is a variety called Silver Queen:

One of my three cosmos flowers:

A neighboring gardener in the community plots last year gave me some of the seed heads from the flowers in her garden. I planted two rows, but only three plants came up (actually, I think four came up, but I accidentally pulled one while weeding).

Those lush tomatoes in the neighboring garden are always the talk of the community plots. They are all heirloom varieties, and there are many varieties present. The reason they are so lush is because they are planted with Tomato-tone, an organic kind of fertilizer:

Only organic practices are allowed in the community plots. I added compost to my garden before planting, but I have come to realize how important manure is, too. I neglected to blend it in this year, and I can see the difference. I won't forget it next year.

There is one particular wild apple tree in the park in which the community plots are located. It always has the richest, reddest-looking apples of all. They're already beginning to ripen:

At least I think it's a wild apple. It may have been part of the farmhouse garden of the old farm that used to be on this land. In any case, it's wild now. The fruit is too buggy to eat, but it's always tempting because it's usually a gorgeous color.

I'll show more pics when things are bigger and beginning to produce.

Spinning Yak

2011-07-10T12:39:00.002-04:00

I recently got a hold of some yak down. It's the fluffy undercoat that keeps the yak warm. It's incredibly soft. I have 4 oz. which I carded up yesterday and made into rolags, ready for spinning (you can click on any of the pictures to make them bigger):

Here it is on the wheel. Did I mention that it's really soft?:

I've been spinning it woolen style. I want to ply it into at least a three ply, I think.

The single is pretty thin, but I want it to be at least a sport weight yarn. Worsted weight would be better, but it's hard for me to spin things thick enough for worsted weight anymore. Everything seems to come out thin, it's easier than spinning thick, it seems.

Although I did recently spin up some colorful polwarth rovings into worsted weight, 2-ply yarn. I love polwarth, it's cushy and soft. The two on the right are Navajo plied, the one on the left is just plied the regular way:

I have to say that I really like the yak. I have one gram of musk ox which cost me about $25 (yes, that's one GRAM for ~ $25). The yak is very much like the musk ox and it's so much more affordable. I haven't done anything with the musk ox yet. And if you think yak is soft, you haven't felt soft until you touch the musk ox. It's also touted to be the warmest fiber in the world. Yak, I think, will make an affordable substitution for musk ox.

UPDATE: My book is no longer 50% off - now it's FREE for the month of July!

2011-07-05T22:39:00.001-04:00

My book, Rose of Par Kluhnd: A Fairy Tale, is now FREE for the month of July, only at Smaswords! Use the code SSWSF at checkout to get this ebook for FREE. Here's the link: Rose of Par Kluhnd sale.

Smashwords only sells ebooks. If you want the paperback, you'll have to go to Amazon, which is not having a sale, sorry to say.

Spinning flax

2011-07-05T15:58:00.001-04:00

I've just begun my first attempt at spinning flax. I ordered 4 oz. of Glimakra soft, hackled flax from Paradise Fibers and it arrived today (along with some yak down, baby camel, baby alpaca, and polwarth roving).

Here's what I've spun thus far (click on any of the pictures to see them larger):

I wish I had a distaff, then maybe the flax wouldn't turn into such a riotous mess in my lap as I'm spinning:

Well, anyhoo, I hope I have the hang of it by the time I reach the end of my 4 oz. I'd love to grow my own and do all of the retting, breaking, scutching and hackling to prepare it for spinning. It sounds like a lot of work, but I think it'd be fun.

If I ever get a loom, I'd love to weave the spun flax into linen cloth.

Rose of Par Kluhnd is on sale at Smashwords!

2011-07-05T09:18:00.002-04:00

My book, Rose of Par Kluhnd: A Fairy Tale, is 50% off all this month at Smaswords! Use the code SSW50 at checkout to get it for 50% off. Here's the link: Rose of Par Kluhnd sale.

Smashwords only sells ebooks. If you want the paperback, you'll have to go to Amazon, which is not having a sale, sorry to say.

!!!Pottermore!!!

2011-06-24T10:01:00.000-04:00

Book Club Centerpiece

2011-06-24T09:28:00.002-04:00

Last night my book club met for our monthly meeting. The book we read was Stiff, the curious lives of human cadavers, by Mary Roach. I was the host, so I took the liberty of placing a book-themed centerpiece on the finger-food table.

The old gal had spent the past few years packed away in a closet.

We created her several years ago for a Halloween decoration, and she hasn't had many excuses to leave her closet since then.

I think she was glad to get out and about for a night.

The book was extremely interesting, if a little nauseating at times, but I would recommend it to the curious.

And also for the curious, if you'd like instructions for creating your own mummy, visit this post.

Backyard garden

2011-06-23T09:51:00.003-04:00

Here are a few pictures of what's happening in my backyard gardens.

My potato beds this year are a far cry from what they were last year. Last year my bed was full of potato plants along with a couple of weeds. This year the bed is full of weeds along with a few potatoes. They seem to still be coming up, but I don't have high hopes. I only have eight so far, three of which are from leftover spuds that I told my daughter to stick in the compost heap to see what came up. Last year at this time I had between 20 and 30 plants.

I have three small elderberry bushes that my daughter found in the wild, dug up, and transplanted into the yard a couple of years ago for my birthday. They're blooming right now. I use dried Elderberry blossoms in teas for colds, and I make jelly with the berries:

I have a myriad of heirloom tomatoes that I started from seed. Here's one of them. I think this one may be a 'Black From Tula', or possibly a 'Brandywine':

Most people get rid of plantain if it crops up my their yard. I have a nice big batch growing among my lavender. I use it to make poison ivy itch relief spray, and the seeds make a good laxative:

Here is a little bee on a yarrow blossom. I use yarrow in salves for stiff, achy muscles:

This is elecampane in its second year. For the first year, it stays closer to the ground, but in its second year, it shoots up and finally blooms later in the summer. I use the roots from second year plants in teas for colds:

I'll try to get some pictures of my far away garden in the community plots. I've meant to post some before this, but I always forget to bring my camera along when I go out there.

The hanging of lavender begins

2011-06-19T13:30:00.002-04:00

My lavender has begun to bloom, which means I am harvesting everyday now as the blossoms become ready. They'll hang upside down in my warm, dark garage until they're dry. I have four different types of lavender and they each bloom at slightly different, yet overlapping, times.

The two that are blooming right now are the Hidcote and my mystery lavender. It's a mystery because it was labeled as Munstead, but when it bloomed it clearly was not. I have no idea what type of lavender it is, but it has a very pretty scent. Each of the different types has a slightly different color and scent. Some are heady and others are more delicate, both in color and in scent.

Here's a closer look at the mystery lavender. It has a small grouping of flowers instead of a longer, wand-like presentation:

The two that are not in bloom yet are the Munstead and the Provence lavenders. The Munstead will be opening any day now, but the Provence will be just a while longer.

I'm hanging my lavender to dry. Later, it will be turned into teas, sprays, sachets, and, possibly, ice cream.

Book signing this Saturday!

2011-06-13T18:48:00.003-04:00

I'll be signing books in Cuyahoga Valley National Park this Saturday! How awesome is that?

When:
Saturday, June 18th, 9:00 am to 12:00 pm

Where:
Countryside Conservancy Farmers' Market
Howe Meadow, Cuyahoga Valley National Park
4040 Riverview Road,
Peninsula, OH 44262

What:
A book signing at the Farmers' Market!

If you're in the neighborhood, stop by to experience a great Farmers' Market, and come say 'hello' at the book signing tent! I'm so excited, I love farmers' markets!

Roller coaster weather

2011-06-13T08:03:00.001-04:00

We've had roller coaster weather lately. A few days ago we were up into the 90's, and yesterday after weeding in the gardens, I came inside very chilled. It only got into the lower 60's. In the evening I threw on sweatpants and snuggled under a cozy comforter while hubby and I watched Star Wars (the original one - I can't bring myself to call it "A New Hope").

Today looks like a repeat of yesterday so far, weather-wise, but it's early yet...

Difficult, and utterly beautiful things

2011-06-07T09:00:00.008-04:00

Yesterday was a difficult day. We had to put two cats down. One was somewhere around 22 years old, and one was somewhere around 16. Both were much loved. Even though these things are done because you love them and don't want them to be uncomfortable, it's never easy.

And so the day was wrapped in grief and tears and recollections, and sometimes even laughter, but by the end of it, I was so incredibly tired. I went to bed with heavy eyes and a muddled head from all of the emotions and tears of the day. At a little after 11:00 my daughter came home from visiting her boyfriend (one of the cats had been his). She woke me up and said, "Come downstairs, I need to show you something." With my daughter, all bets are off when she makes these kinds of announcements. You never know what's in store.

I managed to open my eyes enough to maneuver unsteadily out of bed and down the stairs. My daughter stood by the door and said, "You have to get in the car. I have to drive you someplace." When I began to protest, she added, "You'll love it, I promise."

And so I climbed into the car in my jammies, still half asleep, and my daughter drove me down little back roads while I kept mumbling things like, "I think this must be a dream. I'm pretty sure this is just a dream." My daughter only said, "You'll love it, I promise." Finally, when we were on a small, forested road, she said, "Close your eyes."

That wasn't hard, they were mostly closed with sleep as it was. I dutifully closed my eyes and had the sensation of a small child, mostly asleep, being carried to bed, as the car slowed, made a turn, and stopped. "Okay, open your eyes and look."

I opened my eyes and said, "Ohhh..."

We were on the edge of a field of tall grasses, surrounded by forest, with a million fireflies blinking everywhere, all around. I stepped out of the car, amazed. It was like standing in the middle of a blinking, starry sky. We found a couple of large boulders to stand on so that we could look far out into the field and see how the fireflies continued on into the distance. They were everywhere, in the grasses, above the grasses, filling the air, up in the trees, and right next to us. Flashing and blinking and twinkling. We stood there for I don't know how long, mesmerized, watching a million tiny lights, glowing in quick flashes above the nighttime meadow and within the even darker night among the trees. I whispered, "Thank you, Jessica, for bringing me here." She gave me a hug.

My daughter was right. I did love it. It was an utterly beautiful ending to an enormously difficult day.

And I'm still not sure it wasn't a dream.

Last garden planted - finally

2011-06-04T20:23:00.002-04:00

My daughter and I spent the day planting the far away garden. That's what I call my plot in the community gardens. It's really only about a 5 minute walk from my house, but as my other gardens are in my yard, this one has been dubbed the far away garden. It's been so rainy here that planting was delayed for weeks. The community plots were very swampy until midway through this past week. They finally opened the gardens up for planting last night. It was a busy place all day today with people coming and going, putting their precious seeds and plants into the ground, and hoping that they grow quickly to make up for the late start.

By 10:00 AM I was ready to call it a day, and I hadn't even gotten out to the far away garden yet. I'd only gotten as far as watering the herb and vegetable gardens in the yard and filling my wheelbarrow with compost intended for the community plot. We're close enough to the community plot that I can wheel the barrow over there, so I filled it with compost from my 'compost heap' to wheel over there. That's what wore me out. You see, the good stuff, the stuff that's ready for the garden, is all at the bottom of the heap. It takes a lot to move the not-quite-ready stuff out of the way and then get down in there to all of that dark, soil-like richness.

And a barrow full of compost is heavy. Did I mention that? And I had to navigate it along the path in the park next door, full of throngs of people there for a huge softball tournament being played on the four fields. I looked a tad out of place, and in front of all of those people I didn't want to put the barrow down to rest - come on, I have some pride. So by the time I got to the far away garden, my arms were cramping up, my shoulders were burning, I was pouring sweat, and I had to rest for a good 10 minutes before I could pick up the shovel and start loading the compost into the garden. And I'd only just begun.

My daughter joined me halfway through, so I had some much appreciated help just when I was actually beginning to peter out. We got the whole thing planted, a few sore muscles, and a bit of a sunburn despite the applications of sunblock.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. My experience with the community gardens last year was pretty disastrous due to flooding. I have a different plot this year and, I've heard, out of the garden flood plane. We'll see how it all goes.

I'll get some pictures up when I can move my arms enough lift the camera ; )

The best ever poison ivy itch relief

2011-06-03T14:56:00.002-04:00

I've finally done it:

I've figured out how to translate fresh plantain smooshed up and rubbed on poison ivy into a spray that really, really works!

When you have a poison ivy rash, there is no better relief than smooshing up fresh plantain leaves and rubbing the juice onto your skin. It stops the itch and soothes the rash with its cool, astringent goodness.

I've tried translating that relief into salves and creams, but they didn't work. I've finally made a spray using fresh plantain leaves that works. It's the best ever itch relief for poison ivy that I have found - and I've tried them all.

I'll be introducing Best Ever Poison Ivy Itch Relief Spray on June 11th at my vendor booth for the Avant-Garde Art and Crafts Show in Middleburg Heights, OH. After that it will be available for purchase through my Etsy shop.

Holiday Weekend Visit

2011-05-31T09:50:00.006-04:00

My sister and one of my nieces with her finance came for a visit over Memorial Day weekend. I was so happy to have them, and so sad to drop them off at the airport yesterday when the visit ended.

We did a lot of things, but for some reason, I didn't get many photos. One day we went for a hike in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, along the Ledges trail. I like that hike a lot. There are sandstone cliffs, rock passageways to hike through, and lots of moss and ferns.

It was a warm day, but thankfully cool hiking down through the cracks and crevasses of damp stone.

The holiday weekend is over, now, and real life takes over once again. Hope you had a nice weekend.

Gardening, swamp-style

2011-05-22T13:56:00.004-04:00

It's been extremely rainy here this spring. I guess 'wet' is how you could describe a large portion of the United States right now. We don't have the severe flooding of the Midwest here in northeast Ohio, but swamp would be an appropriate word to attach to our back yard at the moment. There was maybe a day and a half without rain, and a bit of sun thrown into the mix this past week. It was enough to dry out the garden plot to the point where I could get some things into the ground before the rain started again today.

I spent yesterday furiously planting everything that I could into my backyard vegetable and herb gardens. I'm so sore today!

I still have one garden to plant - my 10x10 plot in the community gardens, but as most of those plots are currently either underwater or pure, soupy mud, they haven't opened them up for planting yet. Here's hoping they dry out before it's too late to bother with anything but radishes (they're fairly quick between sowing and harvest). I don't like radishes. Or maybe we could plant rice? I have a packet of marshmallow seeds. They'd probably do well out there in all of that marshy muck.

It's been an interesting spring. I wonder what the summer will bring?

All of the sparkly vampires should move here.

2011-05-20T15:46:00.001-04:00

Forget Forks. We've had clouds and rain for 37 out of the past 40 days. No one would be able to see them sparkle.

Getting two books ready for paperback release!

2011-05-19T18:52:00.002-04:00

I've been hard at work getting My Twelfth Christmas and The Witch of Starmont ready for paperback release. I won't have my hands on the proofs until next week.

I'm excited about them becoming available in paperback for two reasons. One is that I'll be able to offer paperbacks of The Witch of Starmont for sale along with my herbal salves and teas and tinctures when I participate in an arts and crafts fair in early June. The Witch of Starmont is about a woman who runs her own herbal remedy and skin care business, but who also harbors a secret. There's a lot in the book about collecting and growing beneficial plants, so it will be a nice addition to everything I'm offering for sale at the craft fair. Those interested in my wares may also be interested in the book.

The other reason is because My Twelfth Christmas is my best seller and it might be the type of book that people want to have a hard copy of. It's small and will be very inexpensive, likely under $4.00. So when the Christmas season rolls around (although it sells pretty steadily all year round), the paperback version will be there, too, for those who may want it in that format.

You can read the first chapter of My Twelfth Christmas here, and you can read the first chapter of The Witch of Starmont here.

Slowing it down, three-toed sloth style

2011-05-18T22:36:00.003-04:00

If you ever feel that life is too hectic, just think about this three-toed sloth, and maybe it'll slow you down a bit. He (or she?) takes it nice and easy moving from one tree to the next. My husband shot the clip while in the jungles of Costa Rica last week:

Dyeing wool with dandelions

2011-05-15T10:23:00.012-04:00

On Mother's Day, I made my daughter come with me into the park next door to fill a plastic grocery sack with dandelion flowers. My son was happy that he had to work and couldn't join in the fun : )

I used the dandelions to dye a little over 4oz. of wool roving that I had combed up from my Christmas Fleece.

It came out a very nice yellow. I spun half of it into a skein of about 380 yards of two-ply - pictured above.

I only wish I had spun it a little better. It wasn't my best. My intentions were to add it to my slowly-growing inventory of handspuns that I'm going to offer for sale at the two vendor booths I have lined up this summer - one at a craft fair and one at a 'fiber fling' weekend. The quality of the spinning wasn't that great for this particular skein, though, so I might just keep this one for my personal stash.

I'm currently working on the other half of that roving. The first bobbin of what will eventually become a two-ply, is on my wheel right now:

I'm paying more attention as I spin this one. The problem with the last one, I think, was that I had just come off of spinning a four-ply of a different kind of wool and it took a while to adjust back to this type of wool. Hopefully I'll get a sellable skein out of it. We'll see...

Spider Silk

2011-05-06T10:02:00.003-04:00

photo from this site

The picture at right is a traditional royal Madagascar weaving done in spider silk. That's right. Spider silk. The silk was milked by hand from golden orb spiders found in the wild in Madagascar. More information about the cloth and the process that went into its creation can be found here.

This is one of the most beautiful textiles I've ever seen, and I'm doubly interested in it because in my book, Rose of Par Kluhnd: A Fairy Tale, there is an area in the Lands of Shey which produces textiles made from spider silk. In fact, Rose, from time to time in the story, wears armor made from spider silk.

Spider silk ounce, for ounce, is stronger than steel, but my use of it as armor in the story is poetic license. It turns out that spider silk is extremely elastic, so although it might be able to stop a sword or a bullet, it would stretch so much in the process that the sword or the bullet would actually go right through you anyway. For a tad more information about spider silk, visit this post in my blog.

And here is a little clip featuring this amazing, golden cloth woven from the silk of spiders:

Woo hoo!

2011-05-02T14:52:00.001-04:00

photo from this site

Sixteen ounces of Gotland sheep's wool just arrived in the mail. This is the same kind of wool that the elvish cloaks in The Lord of the Rings movies were made out of. They're New Zealand sheep. I can't wait to spin it up! I only wish I had a loom so that I could weave some cloth. I'll have to content myself with knitting things out of it. And, of course, I'll put some of the skeins up for sale at my vendor booths when I participate in craft fairs and fiber shows this summer. Maybe I'll make enough money to seriously put toward a loom. I can dream, can't I?

photo from this site

My asparagus is coming up!

2011-05-01T09:46:00.000-04:00

Last year I planted a couple of asparagus plants. They grew nicely into tall, feathery fronds. I worried that they would overwinter well. I've been checking on them every so often as spring has begun to come alive around us, but I hadn't seen any sign of life until yesterday. Two spears are starting to poke through the dirt! I'm so happy. These are my first asparaguses ever. I found some wild asparagus last summer, so now I guess it's time to go and see if I can gather some - I'm excited. Asparagus takes time to establish itself and my own plants won't really be ready to harvest from for at least another year, so I'm glad I found a little patch of the wild stuff to tide us over.

Safe planting time here is still a couple of weeks away. My sprouts are doing very well. I've got loads of heirloom tomatoes just waiting to go into the ground - I've got so many of the little plants that I'll have to give some away to friends. I don't think they'll mind : )

I have a plot in the community gardens again this year, my medicinal herb plot under the kitchen window, and the vegetable plot in the back of the yard. I've got a few other small places where I've tucked things like lavender, some culinary herbs, and wintergreen. And I have several pots of various sizes with herbs, flowers, and some large ones with blueberry plants. And my son has roses in the front yard. He added one more to the three we planted last year.

If it ever stops raining we can get out and start getting the beds ready.

Happy Wedding Day!

2011-04-29T08:02:00.002-04:00

Congrats to the new royal pair! Isn't it fun to get caught up in all the frippery?

The local grocery store has invited everyone to come and have wedding cake and coffee from noon to one o'clock today. And we're in Ohio, an ocean away from it all : ) It's nice to have reasons to smile and eat cake!

Mmwaa! Sealed with a royal kiss.

My new book trailer!

2011-04-21T18:48:00.001-04:00

I'm so excited about the trailer for Rose of Par Kluhnd! Here it is:

What do you think?

2011-04-20T14:13:00.004-04:00

I was looking through some old photos hoping to find enough to use in a book trailer I'm trying to make, when I came across this photo:

It was taken by my daughter a couple of years ago when on a trip to England. I just thought it was beautiful and wanted to share. You can click on the photo to see it even larger, and then click on the back arrow to return to the blog.

I'm building up my inventory

2011-04-14T09:19:00.000-04:00

I've been busy with spinning, spinning, and more spinning, building up my inventory of handspun yarns so that I have enough for the two vendor booths I've signed up for this summer at craft and fiber fairs.

I broke down and bought some handpainted roving from several shops on Etsy to speed the process along. There is no way that I could wash, comb, dye, and spin all that I needed from my own raw fleeces. All of that takes time. I'll still be using my own stuff, but won't be relying on it exclusively for my yarns.

Ooh there are lots of beautiful handpainted rovings for sale on Etsy. It's hard to narrow my choices down to just a few : ) They spin up so beautifully, too.

The Alpacalypse

2011-04-12T18:21:00.000-04:00

Is that when alpacas take over?

A few months ago we received a postcard in the mail from some sort of church warning us that the end of the world would happen on March 21st.

Well, March 21st has come and gone and, as far as I know, we're still here. Right??

Maybe when things kept looking pretty okay on March 21st, the people of that church should have done this:

Wood duck weekend

2011-04-09T20:27:00.003-04:00

A couple of weekends ago, my husband and I went in search of bald eagles. This weekend we went out in search of wood ducks. We found some at a park along the Chagrin River here in northeast Ohio. Click on any of the photos to see them enlarged, and then hit the back arrow to return to the blog.

Here's a female. The males generally get all of the attention, but I think the females are pretty, too:

And this is why the males get all the glory:

Which one stands out when they're side-by-side?:

I know, I know, the pretty boys:

We also found a hawk who was nice enough to let us snap a few photos. My husband took the picture below:

I wonder what kind of weekends we'll have in the future...

The Gray Wolf Throne...

2011-04-09T09:28:00.003-04:00

comes out on my birthday! What a great birthday present! I still have to wait until the end of August, but I can do that.

This is a terrific series, beginning with The Demon King, continuing with The Exiled Queen, and now, ending (at least I think this is a trilogy) with The Gray Wolf Throne.

Cinda Williams Chima is the author - I have signed copies of all of her books so far : ) She lives in the area and she's given talks at our library and had book signings at our local independent bookstore.

Oh what a happy day August 30th will be!

Early spring in the wood

2011-04-08T10:34:00.006-04:00

Color is not apparent yet in the woods here in northeast Ohio. The season is still early here and frost-free nights are still several weeks away. Early spring hasn't shed its winter colors yet. But soon...

Click on any of the pictures to see them larger, and then hit the back arrow to return to the blog.

Somehow these seeds escaped the blizzardy winds of winter and are still holding on together:

photo by Steve Ash

Here is a peek at early spring growth, still shy and hidden away:

photo by Steve Ash

Little animals gnaw away at old bones and antlers until nothing is left:

photo by Steve Ash

Frilly skirts for fallen logs:

photo by Steve Ash

All of these photos were taken by my husband.

Lack of sleep causes rambling posts

2011-04-04T22:58:00.002-04:00

Didn't sleep well last night due to accidentally drinking regular coffee instead of decaf too late in the evening. As I lay in bed trying to sleep, all sorts of strange thoughts coursed through my brain. And music.

I've been listening to a lot of Runa and Kate Rusby lately. All night, amid half-coherent wonderings about lots of things that seemed so important at the wee hours, in the background, my mind's music played such songs as I Am Stretched on Your Grave, a hauntingly beautiful and melancholy tune.

I first heard that song a couple of weeks ago in the venue of a cozy National Park lodge, sung by the Celtic band, Runa. Wow. Utterly beautiful.

Anyhoo, you can tell that I'm still tired, can't you? What I really came to type about before finally actually going to sleep, is that I spent the day finishing up making a cat bed. What I wanted to say about it is that it's made out of what I refer to as 'crap yarn' - the yarn I've spun out of the trash fiber that's left behind in my wool combs after combing wool fiber into spinable roving for my spinning wheel.

This stuff was really bad, anyone would be right in throwing it away, but I decided to keep it. I carded it, spun it, and dyed it with leftover dyes from legitimate projects. I knitted up what I wanted to be a cat bed, which I was going to felt.

I finished the knitting today and felted it in my washing machine. What came out was actually really pretty. It looks like an art piece. I'm flabbergasted. I'm way too tired to go through the hassle of taking pictures and posting them tonight, but soon. I'll try to take some nice pics and share.

Of course if I try to make something like it again, on purpose, it won't turn out as pretty - that's the way it always works, isn't it?

The Ogham Alphabet

2011-04-03T11:03:00.006-04:00

From the Triskelle Irish History Website.

This is the Ogham Alphabet, a form of ancient Celtic writing often found carved on standing stones.

Each letter is also associated with a type of tree. Different types of trees held their own special meanings - mystical, magical, or sacred - for the long-ago users of Ogham.

I borrowed the Ogham alphabet and use it here and there in my book, Rose of Par Kluhnd: A Fairy Tale. There are a lot of links to ancient Irish myth and legend in this book, for those who care to look for it. You don't have to be at all acquainted with Irish lore in order to enjoy the book, but it's there for those who want to delve a little deeper.

Congrats to the giveaway winners! And, we have skipped the other seasons and gone straight back to winter.

2011-03-31T16:22:00.001-04:00

My book giveaway is now over and five winners have been sent a copy of Rose of Par Kluhnd: A Fairy Tale. Congratulations to:

Bitsy Anderson
Kendra Swallow
Fiona Clark
Dana Palmer
Gabbie Jonhson

Out of 1389 people entered, they were the winners! One is from Great Britain, one is from Canada, and three are from the good ol' United States. Your books are on the way! And a big thank you to all of those who entered to win a copy of Rose of Par Kluhnd. Wish I could afford to send everyone a copy : )

In other news, we seem to have skipped over spring, summer, and fall, and gone directly back to winter. At least our doggy likes the snow : )

In which I mention a Book Giveaway and digress on the topic of Negative Reviews

2011-03-29T00:51:00.007-04:00

ONE: There are only a couple of days left to enter my book giveaway at Goodreads - it ends March 31st. I'm excited to learn who the winners will be. I have the books right here, waiting to go out to their new owners.

TWO: I read a negative review for a self-published book the other day, and rejoiced. I've read samples of several self-published books which were not very good, and yet they had several reviews which rated them very highly. When I see that I wonder if it's all family and friends writing the reviews, or acquaintances who are too embarrassed to say what they may really have thought. When a one star review pops its head above the crowd of accolades, I do a fist pump and say, "Yes!"

Why? Well, the particular review that I'm alluding to here, mentioned poor writing, grammatical and syntax errors, and the overall poor flow of the story, among other things. And I would have to agree with the reviewer for the book in question. As a writer, I want to know about these things - preferably before my work goes out to the public. But if I've published trash, I also want to know that. I'll want to improve my writing, or take a good, introspective look to see if I should leave writing behind and allot my time to other things.

I have three self-published books out there and very little feedback. One of the things that is stressed by other writers, self-published or not, is that writers must keep writing. Self-published writers tell each other that continuing to write and publish is one of the things which must be done in order to pave the road to success. I haven't gotten much feedback on the work I have out there, and because of that, I haven't really written anything for a while. I don't want to be throwing muck out there, if that's what it is.

So I'm waiting for feedback. I'm not afraid of honest reviews, in fact I crave them. It's hard to improve when everyone is just smiling and patting your back and gushing. Hey, I've gushed over books before, but I honestly felt the love. You can see some of my gushes under Recommended Books. I don't do reviews, per se, I do book recommendations here on this blog. I will do reviews on Goodreads, and I've occasionally given a bad review, but the books were exceptionally horrible. These weren't self-published books, but I think that if self-published authors hit that 'publish' button before their work is truly fit for public consumption, they should be ready to hear about it - and be grown-up enough to take the criticism and use it to improve their craft.

I hope I'm grown-up enough to hear the truth about my books.

And so it begins...

2011-03-28T10:53:00.000-04:00

I now have 216 starter pots planted with various herb and veg seeds. The growing season has officially commenced.

The Reapers are the Angels

2011-03-25T17:30:00.006-04:00

Alden Bell's (aka Joshua Gaylord's) book, The Reapers are the Angels, is a harrowingly beautiful book about the zombie Apocalypse.

If you happen to be looking for just such a book, this is it.

This one is going to stay with me for a while. It's not one of those that fades away and you pick up again thinking, "Maybe I'll read this," not realizing that you already have. No. You will always remember this book.

Highly recommended, even to those of you who are not zombie fans - I'm not either, but this is now one of my favorite all-time books.

There is beauty and wonderment to be found, even in a world full of zombies, if only you choose to see it.

Two things...

2011-03-23T10:29:00.001-04:00

First, Elizabeth Taylor has passed away at the age of 79. The other day I was excited to find my favorite movie of hers in the $5 bin at the store - National Velvet. She's very young in that movie. Her youth and energy are so immediate and palpable, and I always think about how, when she made that movie, she had her whole life ahead of her. It's sad to think that a legend is now gone, but today I'll unwrap my $5 prize and see her again as she was when it all still lay before her.

Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney in National Velvet

Second, the movie Jane Eyre will be in out soon. I never really liked the book, classic though it is. It was always a little too dark and creepy for me, and I didn't really like the love story. But, of course, I will go see the movie - the trailer makes it look very good. And I'll probably revisit the book. Maybe I'll be cajoled into seeing what all of the other admirers of Jane Eyer see.

The full moon, deer, and Runa

2011-03-21T10:27:00.004-04:00

Over the weekend, the moon's elliptical orbit brought it the closest to earth that it's been in 18 years.

photo by Steve Ash

My husband and I had tickets on Saturday night, the full moon night, to see the Celtic band, Runa, perform in the cozy venue of a nearby national park lodge. My husband dropped me off and went to take a few pictures of the moon. He finally joined me at intermission, so he was able to enjoy the last half of the concert, which was fabulous.

photo by Steve Ash

We came across a herd of deer grazing at the edge of a forest on our way to the lodge. We snapped a few photos of them, too.

Click on any of the pictures to see them even bigger, and then hit the back arrow to come back to the blog.

Hope your weekend was enjoyable, too. And Happy Spring!

Spring!

2011-03-19T11:00:00.000-04:00

It's here! And serious work has begun:

Photo by my daughter, Jessica

Happy Spring!

Here's what's on my wheel right now

2011-03-18T15:20:00.002-04:00

Here's what I 'm currently working on. I've already made one two-ply skein and named the yarn 'Candy Shop' because of its bright colors.

What you see in the picture is one of the singles which will be plied with another singles to make the two-ply yarn. This is wool which I've processed from my Christmas Fleece, dyed, and am now spinning.

These yarns will go into the inventory for my vendor booth at the Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show which I'll be participating in on June 11th. I may also be a vendor in the Crooked River Fiber Fling in Peninsula, Ohio, in August.

More on Bald Eagle sightings

2011-03-13T12:28:00.000-04:00

The other day I spotted a bald eagle while walking the dog in the neighborhood park next door. Over the weekend, my husband and I decided to go find some more. There are nesting sites nearby so we went to the eagles this time:

And we spotted some. My husband captured a few photos. This one has a mallard flying rather close to an attentive eagle:

Here is one of my favorites:

And here are a couple of pictures he took of the sunset from our back yard after the recent snowfall:

Sometimes the colors of the sunset linger for a while, subtly changing until dusk takes over. This particular sunset faded very quickly. I was glad my husband was able to capture it before it was gone:

Hopefully the last snowstorm?

2011-03-11T17:48:00.000-05:00

Another snowfall last night. Some of us are hoping (against hope?) that it was the last. I took some pictures while walking the dog.

It was a wet, heavy snow, just right for making snowpeople. Alas, my kids are old enough now that snowpeople aren't often on their to-do lists anymore.

The first review of Rose of Par Kluhnd is in!

2011-03-11T09:29:00.000-05:00

My book, Rose of Par Kuhnd: A Fairy Tale, has received its first review, and I'm thrilled with it. To read the review please visit Books, Off the Page. That link will take you to the review of my book, for all other reviews, please click this link.

A little humor to brighten your day:

2011-03-08T10:09:00.005-05:00

I saw a bald eagle today!

2011-03-07T17:08:00.002-05:00

There I was walking the dog when I spotted a bald eagle happily circling part of the park next door (where I was at the time) and the neighborhood.

Bald eagle numbers have been increasing here in northeast Ohio and so these sightings are becoming less rare. There are lots of nesting sites along the upper Cuyahoga River, and in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, which is just a hop skip and a jump away from where I live.

My son and my daughter have both seen bald eagles over the past few years while doing mundane things like driving home from high school and (again) walking the dog.

But today was my turn, and it was pretty nifty to watch a bald eagle soaring over the soccer fields in the neighborhood park.

Ebook Week at Smashwords - 1/2 off coupon for my ebook!

2011-03-05T11:07:00.002-05:00

Smashwords is repeating their annual Ebook Week special promotion starting Sunday, March 6th and ending Saturday, March 12th. I'm participating in the promotion with Rose of Par Kluhnd: A Fairy Tale. For one week only at Smashwords, my book will be 50% off with this ecoupon code, to be used at checkout:

RAE50

Click here for Rose of Par Kluhnd's Smashword page, and use the coupon at checkout to receive this ebook at the discounted price of $1.50, only at Smashwords.com! The promotion begins Sunday, March 6th and ends Saturday, March 12th.

Spring is on the way!

2011-03-04T09:16:00.000-05:00

I spotted two robins and two red-winged blackbirds yesterday. Spring is just around the corner - I can feel it coming!

One more "Last Word" on my Superfocus glasses

2011-02-26T18:07:00.001-05:00

I recently was asked by someone who left a comment on one of my Trufocals/Superfocus posts (yes, even though the posts are over a year old, I'm notified when a new comment has been posted and is awaiting approval, so if you have questions, feel free to post in any of the Trufocals/Superfocus posts):

Hi ICBQ!

I came upon your blog while doing research on the superfocus glasses. For the first time I am about to get some sort of "real" glasses (as opposed to drug-store readers) and I am intrigued by these.I do not think I will like bifocals or progressives from the sound of them.

You & I have a few things in common, I read a lot, use the computer a lot, and I knit (not as much as I want!).

So, it is now the end of Feb. 2011 and I am wondering how you (and the other posters that have them) are liking the superfocus after these few months? Can you update pretty please?

And here is what I answered:

Hi Alicia!

Okay, here's an update. I've now owned my Trufocals/Superfocus glasses for well over one year. My prescription needs a renewal (I can tell this for close-up). Will I renew with Superfocus eyewear? Probably not, but here are my very personal reasons:

1)The frames hug me too tightly at the temples and leave semi-permanent grooves at the sides of my face.

2)The focus, at least for me, needs changing a lot, and it's difficult to do this when you're doing something that takes both hands, or your hands are mucky with dough, wet yarn, soil, and the list goes infinitely on.

3)I still struggle with the way they look. I've actually been laughed at when I've put them on before in front of some people. And lots of times I felt like they needed introducing before I donned them so that I wouldn't get strange stares or reactions.

I wish I had enough money to buy Superfocus eyewear AND bifocals AND prescription reading glasses, because I definitely like the clear focus of the Superfocus glasses, especially when reading and doing close work, like knitting.

I may regret going back to a bifocal/prescription reading glasses combo, but my prescriptions usually need upping almost every year, so I can always try again!

Book Giveaway!!

2011-02-25T23:47:00.008-05:00

I'm doing a book giveaway through Goodreads! I'll be giving away five copies of my book, Rose of Par Kluhnd: A Fairy Tale, which has just become available in paperback.

Go to Goodreads and enter for your chance to win a copy. The contest ends March 31st. Goodreads will randomly select the winners at that time, notify me, and then I'll send the books to the winners!

It's available as an ebook, too, at all major ebook retailers. Click here for ebook details.

Reunion Weekend - 31 years felt like no time at all!

2011-02-23T09:09:00.002-05:00

I made a trip to Maryland over the weekend to attend my 31 year high school reunion (my class couldn't get it together in time for the 30 year). A few of us went on a tour of the old high school which has been remodeled and expanded. Here we are gathered around the bulldog in the new entryway of Winston Churchill High School - go Bulldogs! (I'm in the green jacket):

It was a blast seeing people I haven't seen for a few decades. Believe it or not, lots of people looked exactly the same. Well, yes, we've all changed a bit and grown older, obviously, but it was a hoot to see that everyone has the same mannerisms, same voice, same face. I could picture them all with books in their arms plowing through the crowded halls of high school on their way to class.

At first I was ambivalent about going, but then my close friend, Melissa, said that I had to come because she had booked a room in the hotel for us to share. And that was that. Thanks, Melis! I had a great time and I'm so glad I didn't miss it!

Summer's end meets winter's middle

2011-02-12T09:39:00.007-05:00

During the summer I'm busy with trying to tame parts of my yard into vegetable and herb gardens. They are always usually partly wild and would turn on me in a twinkling if I left them to their own devices for too long. It was a challenge to find spots in our tree-lined lawn that gather enough sun during the day to support a garden. But I did find a few, and let me tell you, these spots prefer sprawling weeds over neat plots of specifically-intended plants.

Anyhoo, I digress. What I wanted to say, was that I turn the herbs I grow into salves and teas and whatnot. There is one particular weed which I don't mind, and I encourage its growth right next to a little rosebush where it decided to show itself. This weed is plantain. It is the best thing in the whole world for poison ivy. The only problem is, I haven't been able to make a plantain salve that works on poison ivy the same way a freshly picked and smooshed-up leaf rubbed on the rash works. So as summer waned, I decided to try making a tincture with plantain.

Making salve involves heating fresh or dried herbs gently in a carrier oil, thereby infusing the oil with whatever good things the herb possesses. Tincturing, on the other hand, involves a food processor, vodka, and a dark closet. The herb is chopped up into a pulpy glop, vodka is added, and the vodka-glop mix is left in a dark closet for a couple of weeks - shaken now and then - so that the herb can release all of its goodness into the alcohol. When done, the mixture is strained and pressed, the vodka tincture is saved, and the left-over herb mash is composted.

At the end of last summer, I made a tincture with plantain. I've been intending to make a lotion with it to see if the lotion will work to sooth poison ivy. But fall came, and then winter, and I was busy with other things, and all of the poison ivy in the area dropped its leaves and went to sleep.

The tincture has been sitting in my dark closet all this time, unused - until last night. Yesterday, a spot on the back of my thumb became suddenly itchy. The itchiness progressed as the day wore on, and in the evening, when I snuggled down with a book, the itchiness began to drive me nuts. I looked at my thumb and it was red, irritated, a little swollen, and had a little spot which looked suspiciously like maybe it was a spider bite.

I seriously needed something to soothe whatever was happening there, just below the knuckle, and it was just then that I remembered my plantain tincture. I dashed to the closet and undid the lid. The dark-green tincture smelled like summer, somehow. All herby and plant-like. I rubbed some on my thumb and the itchiness faded. The area was still sensitive, but the urge to itch disappeared. I put some more on before I went to bed, and again this morning.

The itch is gone as long as I don't accidentally wash the tincture off. If I do, more goes on again. I don't like spider bites, but I love my plantain tincture. I'm really glad I made it all those months ago and it was ready for me to use now, in the dead of winter with snow deep on all of the places where my wonderful plants are waiting for spring.

Pounding into felt

2011-02-11T09:50:00.003-05:00

I spent yesterday morning leaning over my tub and pounding wool fiber into felt.

When you comb wool fiber with wool combs, there is some that gets left behind in the combs during the process. The really bad stuff is usually thrown away, while the better stuff can be saved and carded if you have carding combs or a drum carder.

I decided to keep even the really bad stuff. I've been carding it and saving it. A stray cat lives near my daughter's boyfriend's apartment. Someone converted an old recyling bin into a little house for it so that it has someplace to go out of the weather. It's been really cold here and I thought I would save this fiber and try to make a felted cat bed for this kitty.

I began the process yesterday, deciding to go the pounding route instead of the spinning into yarn, knitting, and then felting in the washing machine route.

My pounding muscles are sore, but I made a nice piece of thick felt. It wasn't really enough for a bed with cozy walls, so I found some scraps of fleece fabric and ended up making a bed with walls stuffed with poly stuffing and the felt as the floor of the bed.

One of my own cats wanted to use it right away when it was finished.

Cakes and Brownies to Die For

2011-02-07T09:37:00.002-05:00

I went to my library when local cookbook author, Bev Shaffer, came to talk about her book, Brownies to Die For!. She talked about chocolate and writing the book, and we tasted fair trade chocolates and helped ourselves to treats made from recipes in the book. It was a fabulous evening.

She has a new book out now, Cakes to Die For!.

I used a combination of two recipes from the cake book along with my own frosting recipe to make my son's birthday cake. It had a lot of chocolate in it.

Two more birthdays are coming up in March. I'll have to keep that cake book handy.

Why don't you prove it?

2011-02-06T10:26:00.004-05:00

In the Harry Potter movie, Chamber of Secrets, when Harry accuses Malfoy's father of slipping Riddle's diary into Ginny's possesions, Mr. Malfoy says, "Why don't you prove it?" but he delivers the line exceptionally well.

My daughter and I sometimes use that line in banter:

Me: "You ate the last piece of chocolate!"

Daughter: "Why don't you prove it?"

Well, now I have proof!

This is my proof copy of Rose of Par Kluhnd. I'm going over it now, getting ready for the print version to become available. I laughed when I saw this on the very last page. I showed it to my daughter the first time she said, "Prove it!" after I'd gotten it in the mail.

She said, "Gaaah!" in frustration, claiming it wasn't fair.

Mwah ha ha! Too bad! Now I have proof.

Here's what I made with my first batch of handspun/hand-dyed yarn from my Christmas Fleece

2011-02-04T12:06:00.001-05:00

This is what I made with the first batch of yarn I made from my Christmas Fleece:

It's a scarf for my mom:

I used a pattern I found on Ravelry, called Easy Drop Stitch Scarf Pattern. It is easy, and it adds texture and pattern to the scarf:

More fun with weak acid dyes

2011-01-25T18:05:00.002-05:00

I've been dyeing some more. This time I dyed around three ounces of wool roving. I've pictured it here as it's drying on a screen in the spare room along with some fleece that I washed yesterday.

The fleece will go through the whole process once it's dry - combed with the wool combs, pulled off through a diz, and dyed. I can hardly wait for the dyed roving to dry so that I can spin it.

I also dyed about 350 yards of yarn that I spun before dyeing. All of this is from the raw fleece that I got for Christmas. I'm looking over knitting patterns and trying to decide what I'll make.

What I really want is a loom so that I can weave.

Seed Catalogues

2011-01-23T18:08:00.002-05:00

I've circled so many things I want from my seed catalogues that I may go bankrupt if I order them all : )

I have to prune my choices. Or maybe it's thin. I have to thin my choices. Thinning always hurts.

Operation E-Book Drop, getting free ebooks to the troops overseas

2011-01-22T14:38:00.003-05:00

Logo design from the Imagination
and Graphic Artistry of
K.A. M'Lady & P.M. Dittman

I've just signed up to participate in Operation E-Book Drop, a program in which authors can give coupons to troops overseas for free downloads of their books. As of Jan. 22nd there are 590 authors participating in this program and it's estimated that 2 million coupons for free ebooks have been dropped to our troops overseas since Sept., 2009.

If you're an author and have books in eformat, click the logo to find out how to participate.

Nook color!

2011-01-21T10:33:00.012-05:00

I got a Nook Color ereader for Christmas. Actually, I should clarify that. My husband gave me a Kindle for Christmas which I was thrilled about, except for the fact that Kindle isn't library-friendly. So we sent the Kindle back and I got a Nook Color instead.

In making my choice for which library-friendly ereader I would get in exchange for the Kindle, I narrowed it down to a choice between the Sony Touch and the Nook Color. What finally swayed me to the Nook? Pandora Radio. If you can access a wi-fi connection, you can go online with the Nook, which comes with the Pandora app. It's absolutely wonderful!

So I not only use my Nook for reading wonderful library books, but I can plug it into my stereo and listen to ebooks or the utterly fabulous Pandora Radio while spinning.

If you're not familiar with Pandora, it's an app which lets you plug in a favorite title of music or an artist, and it will build a radio station of similar music for you to listen to around that. My favorite station to listen to while spinning is built off of Waltz of the White Lilies by the Irish band, Deanta.

I'm so happy with my Nook Color!

The cover of my new book!

2011-01-18T08:54:00.003-05:00

This is the cover for Rose of Par Kluhnd: A Fairy Tale!

It's out now and available through Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and Smashwords.com. In the next few weeks it will be available through most other ebook retailers, too (Apple, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, etc...)

Click on the cover for more information about the book and where to buy it for just $2.99!

73 acres saved from the commercial world for adventuring

2011-01-13T11:41:00.005-05:00

My daughter and my dog and I like to go on adventures. There is a parcel of land just a hop, skip, and a jump away which we use for just this purpose. It has been for sale for the past couple of years, and this made me sad. I've always hated watching wonderful woodland turned into office space and other commercial buildings. I've always dreamed of having unlimited funds with which I could go around buying up these parcels of land so that I could leave them untouched and wild.

Well, something of the sort has actually happened! The local paper has stated that this exact parcel of land - 73 acres of woodland - has been donated anonymously and will be turned into a park. It will eventually have a small, gravel parking lot and hiking trails.

Hooray for dreaming and for dreams coming true! My daughter and doggie and I will continue with adventures like this, this, and this in these 73 acres of woodland without fear of their coming to an end.

Transformations

2011-01-10T12:11:00.011-05:00

It's so gratifying to be able to turn this:

Into this:

I've spun the first yarn from my Christmas fleece. 150 yards of luscious, soft, squishy, springy, stretchy two-ply. This is really nice wool.

The process involves washing the raw wool (VERY gently, so as not to felt it); combing the washed locks with wool combs into what's called top, or roving; and then spinning two bobbinfuls of singles yarn, which are then plied together into a two-ply yarn.

And I've literally only scratched the surface of that bag of wool. I have 99% of the fleece still to process. I'm so excited!

Report on Self-Publishing eBooks Experiment

2011-01-04T16:09:00.008-05:00

Several months ago (April, 2010) I began an experiment. I self-published two ebooks through Amazon.com to see what would happen. At the time, the self-publishing world was starting to really wake up to ebooks and Amazon has made it (relatively) easy to upload and publish your written works through their Digital Text Platform, and make them available for purchase through their Kindle ebook store.

You can do this in various other places, too. I, for instance, have also published one of my books through Smashwords.com, which makes your ebook available in many formats for just about any ereader. Through their premium catalogue, your book is also included in the iPad ebook store, the Sony ereader store, the Barnes and Noble Nook ebook store, and other ebook catalogues.

So, the big question, how have my books done? Am I a self-published millionaire yet? No.

A thousandaire? No.

A hundredaire? No, but almost.

Let me break it down for you.

My Twelfth Christmas was published in April, 2010. Since then, I've sold 194 copies, the majority during the months of November and December (it's a Christmas story). This short story sells for $0.99. I make a whopping $0.35 on each one sold. So this book, thus far, has brought me a total of $67.90.

The Witch of Starmont was published in July, 2010. Since then, I've sold 12 copies, half of those during the months of November and December (I think they were probably from people who liked the Christmas story and wanted to see what my other book was like). This is a novella and I've priced it at $1.99. I make $0.70 on each one I sell, so this book, thus far, has made me a total of $8.40.

So, together, thus far, I've made $76.30 from my little two-book self-publishing experiment. Oh, and over 200 people have taken a gander at my writing.

Success?

It's exciting when you see you've made a sale. And it was very gratifying to see my little self-published Christmas story ranked in the top 20 bestselling Christmas ebooks at Amazon, and often in the top 10 bestselling children's Christmas ebooks simultaneously during the holidays. That feels like success right there. But number-wise, it's hard to say.

I know of many self-published authors who sell hundreds of books per month, and several who sell over 1000 books per month. And then there are some who sell a book here and a book there over the space of several months. This last is exactly what my sales are like when it's not Christmastime.

For those of you wanting to know, I've done very little advertising and self-promotion for my books. This can make a difference, if you do it smartly, and well. I was thinking of doing some sort of advertising during the holidays for my Christmas book, but when I saw sales start to uptick in October on their own, I sat back and wanted to see what would happen without any advertising. I did make my presence known more than usual on the kindleboards and on a couple of amazon kindle holiday book threads, but that was the extent of my self-promotion (other than the obvious links I have on the blog here - which, by the way, rarely get a click-through).

And so the experiment continues.

Fun with acid dyes

2011-01-02T12:33:00.004-05:00

This is my first foray into dyeing with weak acid dyes. I had three skeins of sock yarn that I spun for my sister to experiment with. The yarn is superwash wool/nylon:

I applied the dyes using plastic condiment bottles (for ketchup/mustard) purchased at Walmart. I processed the skeins in the microwave. It was really quick and easy.

The colors are wacky and sort-of tie-dyed-looking. I'll soon have more fiber to experiment with, I've been processing the bag of fleece I got for Christmas and have ~1/4 pound of combed top so far waiting to be played with.

In the meantime, my sister is going to get the makings of one funky pair of socks : )

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T10:51:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year!