Fiber Fool

Here is a peek of what I’ve been playing with this week. I’m busy working on writing the MSK July newsletter and getting some other patterns ready to go out to test/sample knitters so there hasn’t been a lot of knitting time this week. Though to be honest, I’ve knit this little piece of fair isle a couple times.

Your eyes are not deceiving you. This is stranded colorwork knit flat. I know that is practically unheard of. We all know I like nothing more than a big challenge though, right? In truth, it isn’t terribly difficult. I wouldn’t want to knit an entire sweater this way. Steeking is definitely the way to go. But, thanks to knitting backwards, working colorwork flat is not too difficult. I’m glad that I had learned to knit backwards and knitting entrelac though. It probably would be a tad more tedious if I was also learning how to knit backwards. I taught myself by turning the work and getting the needles and yarn into position than turn it back to have RS facing. I’m glad I did that because I almost always have to refresh myself on how to do it when I do use it. It isn’t something I use regularly.

Knitting backwards is a great skill, as I mentioned, for entrelac, or anything that is somewhat narrow and annoying to keep turning your work. One could even do it for heel flaps! Also, if you hate purling you might find backwards knitting (knitting from left to right) more enjoyable. If you’re curious about knitting backwards there was an article in Knitty back in 2006 and there are a few YouTube videos as well - for throwers like me (with voice instructions) & for continental knitters (with no voice instructions). In actuality, for stranded colorwork I use both techniques because I prefer to carry a yarn in each hand when knitting fair isle.

I thought maybe this weekend would be for lots of knitting, but it has filled quickly. Though, oddly with no plans for the actual holiday. So, perhaps Sunday will be full of lots of knitting. I can hope anyway :-) The heat wave is supposed to break then so that would be great actually.

I’m working on a mini-theme for my ECFs for the upcoming weeks. I’m hoping I can maybe keep the idea going through the entire summer. If it looks like it is going to pull together I’ll share it with you and hopefully have the first in the series next Friday. I’m kind of excited about it and the list of “possibilities” keeps growing and growing.

To all my fellow Americans - Happy Independence Day! Please be safe and enjoy yourselves!

This is what I spent a chunk of last week working with. The yarn is a combo of Madelintosh tosh sock left over from Cirrus and some Louet Gems Fingering I had in my stash. I’m sooooo excited about this project it is just killing me having to keep it mum. I’m hoping sharing this little peek will help ease the pressure a tad.

Because I was figuring out yardage per square inch over several types of stitch patterns I was needing to weigh my knitting at pretty frequent intervals so I could estimate total yardage for the official project. I found weighing the knitting and the balls of yarn it in a bowl the same size as the scale’s platform gave me more consistent readings. I was also spending a good chunk of time out under the patio umbrella listening to audiobooks while I knit and discovered the bowl was a good way to keep track of my yarn and keep it from snagging on weathered wood or picking up bits of pollen that had fallen on the patio and what not.

I guess it is a good thing that I’m the only one who tends to use the metal bowls in our kitchen because I think it might be a while before this one finds it way back. Though I suspect great grandma Davis wouldn’t mind her bowl being put to use in this manner.

Yikes! Almost a full month ago now the wonderful Katheryn of Alpacamundo invited me and my camera down to observe the first day of alpaca shearing. I unfortunately had a meeting that afternoon and the start was delayed a bit so I only got to see the first two (most difficult) shearings.

First up was Eduardo (if I’m remembering correctly). He wasn’t too keen on finding out where he was going…

Kathryn explains to her brother in law how to hold Eduardo and keep him calm after his legs were secured to keep them safely out of harms way.

Once everything is secured it is time for the real business… shearing!

Unfortunately the lucious, ultra-fine fiber of Eduardo led to a lot of this…

There were a lot of helpers around, each with their own job to do to aid Kathryn in the shearing…

The following one cracks me up! Little farmers and ranchers in training, learning to lean on the fence and shoot the shit…

And of course I cannot leave out this helper…

…. who was actually penned up once the shearing got under way.

There guys had such personality I couldn’t resist!

Have a great weekend everyone! And check out Fiber Arts Friday at Wisdom Begins to Wonder for more fibery goodness!

I’d give you all three guesses as to the twist my grapefruit sorbet had this week, except I couldn’t count the first two since I also couldn’t leave the twist out of the photos, LOL! It added such a nice spark of contrast I couldn’t help myself.

If you’ve read me for any length of time it is no secret that I love my tart citrus fruits. Grapefruit and lime are probably about tied. I love to eat and drink them. I also love to use beauty products that are scented like either of them especially if they are not muddied with additional herb or vegetable scents (oh how I miss Fruit Punch from Bath & Bodyworks). Though the right blend of those are hard for me to resist as well, even if I walk around all day dreaming of Pad Thai or some other dish.

While I don’t prefer my citrus bath products to include herbs I have been obsessed with a capital O on combining rosemary with grapefruit. It has been on my mind for months and months. I started out by making rosemary sugar to use in a recipe. After letting it sit a day the rosemary smelled so strongly I wimped out on that recipe and used only half of the sugar I had made and half plain sugar (which it ended up I didn’t need to do). So, I’ve had a sizeable portion of rosemary sugar lying about that needed using. I started by combining 1-2 teaspoons with about 1/4 cup of grapefruit juice and topped with ice and seltzer for a refreshing lower calorie drink than cola. It was lovely and I suspect would be a fantastic adult beverage with a splash of vodka as well.

That was not however making much of a dent in the rosemary sugar. As the weather turned hot enough for a long enough streak to really warm up the house this week I decided to make grapefruit and rosemary sorbet. It was inspired if I do say so myself! I used all rosemary sugar to make the simple syrup I combined with grapefruit juice and zest and the balance was great. I did put a tad too much zest in, or shouldn’t have candied some of the peel in the simple syrup I made as there was a bit too bitter of an immediate aftertaste. It did subside rather quickly and in some ways added to the refreshing quality of the frozen dessert. But I’ve made adjustments in the recipe below. I’d love feedback if any of you try it.

Grapefruit And Rosemary Sorbet

• 1-2 tsp Grapefruit Zest (when using zest in cooking I highly recommend shelling out for the organic)
• 2 large Ruby Red Grapefruit juice (approximately 1.5 C)
• 1/2 C Water
• 1 C Rosemary Sugar (see below)
• 1 Tbs Vodka

1. In a small saucepan on medium heat, combine rosemary sugar and water and bring to boil to create a simple syrup. Once boiling and the sugar has dissolved completely remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
2. Zest and juice the grapefruit. I find little pips get through the large holes in my hand juicer so I pour it through a fine sieve to be certain to remove those. Add syrup and vodka. Total volume should be about 3.5 cups.
3. Chill for a few hours, until mixture is about 40 degrees or cooler. Add to your 1-qt ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s instructions for operation.

If you care to risk it, you can do as I did and boil some fine pieces of peel (be careful of the white pith, my peels may have not been quite fine enough and thus been the cause of the extra bitterness this first batch had) in with the simple syrup to use as garnish. Once they cool, but before they set up too much you can curl them to wow your friends even more.

We use a Donvier, a hand crank ice cream maker that uses a freezer chilled chamber. Be certain you have chilled the chamber for the full time recommended by the manufacturer if you use a chilled chamber type machine. I’ve found over the years that I do not want to put in more than 3.5 cups or it doesn’t set up well. We also finish the sorbet by freezing it in a container in the freezer for at least a few hours. The vodka acts as a bit of antifreeze (and it undetectable) and keeps it from setting up too hard. If you do not have an ice cream maker you should be able to use this same recipe and freeze it like a granita, where you place it in a shallow pan and stir/scrape with a fork every hour or so until it has reached your desired consistency.

Rosemary Sugar

• 2.5 C Raw (Turbinado) Cane Sugar
• Leaves of one 8″ length of fresh Rosemary

Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until rosemary is quite fine and well incorporated into the now finer raw sugar. Place in an air tight container and let sit for 12 hrs or more before using, shaking container every 3-4 hours or as you remember.

The raw sugar used here helped form the deeper, richer color of the sorbet since all the molasses has not been stripped. I also just prefer to use products that are processed the least amount possible. If you opt to use white sugar you may wish to add a splash of grenadine to your mixture before chilling to enhance the color of the sorbet a bit. The rosemary sugar can be used in all kinds of things in place of regular sugar, from sugar cookies and scones to mojitos and anything else you can imagine.

Our two October snowfalls this year pretty much killed the fall color. That is unless you start looking closely at the right time of day. With the sun low on the horizon all day and even lower a few hours before sunset and I discovered our trees are glistening with bold color. The trick for the dull, almost brown leaves is for them to be backlit (see a non-backlit example of the leaves). So the past two days I’ve headed out after feeding the dogs their lunch in the mid-afternoon and exercised my shutter finger.

This week has been a bit draining so it was nice to take just a little time out from work. Since I do my own (and sometimes other designers) photography that time out really pays me back two fold - once in giving me practice taking photos and also in refreshing me by giving me a bit of a break out in nature without taking up so much time that I feel more rushed than before the break.

There were other blog posts in my head this week that I wanted to take the time to write, but it just didn’t happen. Hopefully I’ll have a few posted next week. I wanted to give a peek at last Saturday’s Colorwork Workshop and there are still some newer patterns that I haven’t talked about yet…

I just couldn’t hold back these photos though. Plus, they are much more worthy of ECF than the other posts I wrote only in my head this week. I hope you enjoyed them!