Moon Tea

Yarn & Fabric Destash!

I'm Spring cleaning! Oh yeah, and our car is breaking down and we must buy a new (used) one. :(    So...

Want some fabric? How about yarn? Leave a comment or email and I'll mail it out. After, I'll send you a Paypal invoice with the exact shipping cost. All yarn stored in plastic bags or plastic drawers. I have one cat. Buy more than one item and I'll knock the total price down. Click pictures for big

6 skeins Araucania Nature Wool Worsted/Aran in 28, a semi-solid Teal. $36

11 skeins Frog Tree Alpaca Sportweight in 45 (dark green) One of the most delicious yarns IMO! $55

6 skeins Frog Tree Alpaca Sportweight in 46 (chartreuse). Color here looks way too yellow, really more of a lime green, sorry! Tough color to photograph.  $30

1 skein Plymouth 24K in 1358. A drapey, sparkly, worsted weight yarn. $6

1 skein Trendsetter Joy in 421. A DK weight ribbon yarn. $5

 

2 skeins Trendsetter La Scala in 3457, "Wine Barrel". A Bulky weight, shiny ribbon yarn. $12 for both

1 skein Fearless Fibers Superwash Merino Wool Sock Yarn in "Venerable". $16

1 skein ONline Linie 3 Supersocke 100. $6

5 skeins Hemp for Knitting Hempwol #210 Sapphire (color is not as dull as it looks here). $20

4 skeins Lang Yarns Opal in 24, a pale silver. Intended to make Triangle Scarf from Knitting Nature. One skein was used for a tiny swatch, but wasn't cut. $20

2 skeins Hand Jive Knits Nature's Palette Fingering in NP 109 / Dark Indigo. $17

 
Very nice home dec. quality bark cloth. This stuff is nice and thick.  I bought this at Repro Depot for a project around the house, or a bag project, and never got around to using it. Retails for about $9.50 for a half yard.  I have no idea how much I have here but there's got to be at least 2 yards. Let's say $20 for all

Pending... Random stack of various fabrics. Mostly fat quarters, some half yards or more. Some have been cut, but there is still a good bit left. There is some black dupioni silk included, a cowboy print, and some heavy weight fabric with a nice leaf print, plus other quilt fabrics. $7 for the stack

Pending...This stack includes some larger cuts (1/2 yard or more) and vintage charm squares $5

Please take some of this off my hands and help us get a new (used) car!! That is all.

Thank you :)

Ravelry syndrome

Hola! I'm just popping in to clear the cobwebs out of the blog. Actually, I'm debating not blogging anymore for several reasons. I want to focus more of my time on my credential program and passing several big tests I have coming up that are required in order to receive my credential. I also want to switch into gear and substitute for more classes, and compare different school districts. I get to choose the school district I want to teach in, and many teachers are offered jobs at the district where they did their student teaching (or so I've been told) so I need to spend some time in a few of the schools in my area so I can make an informed choice. I may not have complete control over my teaching experience, but I do want to know what's out there. At any rate, I always find visiting schools really interesting...seeing how different environments and policies affect the students and staff. All of this is taking up my brain space as well as my time, and I'm finding myself less willing to be as reflective on my knitting and crafting as blogging requires, and wanting more to just immerse as an escape. Kind of like when I read a book in college and resent having to analyze it and be objective. A lot can be learned that way, true, but sometimes you need to step back.

Anyway, all this is to say I plan to spend more time on Ravelry and Flickr (and of course continuing to read other people's blogs), cataloging projects and practicing my photography. A return to private journaling on paper may be in order, as well! I have so much to reflect on in my life right now, and I'm trying to make some changes in attitudes and habits that would be helped by righting down my thoughts and progress.

I'm really getting a lot out of Project Spectrum, so I plan to continue with the inspiration, goals, and creativity it inspires through Flickr and Ravelry. I'll probably leave the blog up for another month or so, in case I have a change of heart, and if you've made it this far in this post, wow! I need to ramble to clarify my own thoughts on why I want to stop blogging, thanks for reading along. Cheers! Here's to growth and creativity.

                            

** Anyone know ways of "preserving" blogs, if I wanted to keep it as a record? I'm assuming most people either pay to leave it open, or print some of the pages out? Thanks for any thoughts on this! **

Green-ness

nature-made

and

human-made

My goals for April/May Project Spectrum?

- Focus even more on living simply and my green living habits. Throw less food away and buy less packaged foods; use reusable containers for storing our foods; grow some of our own veggies; limit my consumerism and use what I have (see the limitations as a chance for inspiration and creativity); support local farmers (easy now that Joe is working at the local organic grocery co-op) continue to bike and walk rather than use our car; etc. Will definitely be checking into some of the Ravelry forums for more ideas.

- Gardening! I've grown some plants from seeds this year for containers on our porch, and hopefully soon we will be getting a community garden plot to grow some herbs and vegetables in. I'm a flower girl myself, but I can get into the whole veggie thing, especially since Joe's enthusiasm is rubbing off.

- Make this green soup. I love matzoh balls!

And of course there will be the usual explorations of color via camera, and knitting of color appropriate accessories. I've got this skein of yarn to make Classic Elite's Alpaca Sox legwarmers (Ravelry link):

I'm having a lot of fun with the green, but I'm sure the metallics and brown will sneak their way in here and there!

PS3 Fire, check!

February & March's Fire theme, all gone:

That's the dregs of a carrot soup I whipped up the last night of March. A little going away celebration for the pink/red/orange theme. I winged the recipe:

3 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp olive oil
32 oz. stock (I used chicken)
1 leek chopped
1 shallot chopped
1 yellow onion diced
3 cloves garlic chopped
2" piece ginger peeled and chopped
6 carrots peeled and thinly sliced
2 medium size parsnips peeled and finely diced
1 russett potato peeled and diced
4 red potatoes diced
dash chile powder (optional)
dash cayenne (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
sour cream or yogurt and cilantro for garnish (optional)

In the butter and olive oil, cook down leeks, shallot, and onion until very soft and translucent. Add garlic and potatoes, cook 5 minutes while stirring. Add ginger and carrots, cook 5 minutes with lid on. Add parsnip, cook 5-10 minutes with lid on or until everything has softened a bit. Add stock, simmer at least 20 minutes until all vegetables are very soft and mushy.  Blend in batches in a blender or food processor, adding a tiny pinch of cayenne and chile powder to each batch. Transfer back to pot, add salt and pepper to taste. Thin with warm water if needed. Garnish with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream and chopped cilantro.

You can make this soup a million ways and it tastes delicious. Make it richer by adding cream. Try using butternut squash, or roasting the veggies in an oven and then blending them, or add curry powder...make it more or less gingery...are you a garlic fan? Add more garlic! It always tastes yummy no matter what.

I am loving PS3, I'm finding the few limitations focus my goals (creative and otherwise), and I like that it's two months long so I don't feel rushed to accomplish things. Though, as Lolly said, one of the great things about Project Spectrum is that there aren't any deadlines. Just jumping off points! Suits me great. Case in point, an unfinished orange sock which may or may not get finished in the coming months (but probably will because I love the pattern).

What, me worry?

(I tried an Eye of Partridge heel flap for the first time on this sock and I really like it. It blends in with the rest of the sock better, is pretty, and supposedly more durable.)

The biggest thing that I didn't expect to come from Project Spectrum was my big entrance back into the world of the active. Since the element was Fire, and fire = energy, I decided to focus on that, which needed a serious boost. I'm happy to say I've been consistently running 3 days a week with the Couch to 5k program (useful podcasts here). I also joined a climbing gym and have been doing yoga (yeah, I'm not the climbing type) on my non-running days, and my body has changed. A lot. I'm going to stick with it, eventually reaching my goal of exercising every day of the week. If I have a bad week, well, my baseline will always be running three days a week which ain't bad.

Good stuff, that Project Spectrum.

Can't wait for the next phase! (yep, the blog colors changed in honor of the new colors brown, metallics, & green)

Spring is sproinging!

I've been hearing about all this great weather everywhere, and we're having some ourselves. I'm a bit sad on this beautiful Easter day, Joe has to work from 1:30 until 10, and I must sit alone in front of the computer and write a 4 page paper with a power point presentation for my teacher certification program. Wah! I did manage to go for a run in the park and spend some time outdoors today. It's beautiful here in Sacramento!

I've started some seedlings indoors for potted plants, and I've got my patio garden outside just beginning. It needs to be filled in more and I can't wait to get more plants! I may have to cave and buy a couple at the nursery.

Everybody needs succulents!

Ready for Project Spectrum colors? Orange, red and pink coming at you!

geranium

coleus

? planted by our green thumb apt. manager, BJ

? another BJ planting, the man loves his plants

Speaking of Project Spectrum, the Azure socks in orange did not work out. I read the pattern before starting, but not carefully enough! Luckily I had only made it to the toe so ripping wasn't a biggie. And, looking on the bright side, I learned how to magic loop! It wasn't as hard as I'd thought it'd be...maybe fun even. You know how ripping a project can leave a bad taste in your mouth? I needed to move on, keep things fun and creative, which is easy with sock knitting (that's why it's addictive!). So I chose Nancy Bush's Traveler's Stocking:

This is the fancy cuff, the rest of the sock is simpler. It's possible that I love MamaBlue's yarn for socks as much as Koigu...maybe.

Happy Easter!

PS3 Fire socks, finito

The pattern is Citrine Socklets, I call mine Carnelian Socklets! Look at that yummy red...

Happy feet

I wanted to squeeze in another pair of orange Azure socks before the Project Spectrum February/March theme is over, so I chose this short sock pattern knit in a thicker gauge...and these socks flew by! Well, for me with my slow pace anyway. I may only get a single sock of my next pair done by the end of March, but that works for me. There are some inspiring single sock knitters out there, maybe I will join their ranks.

Pattern: Citrine Socklets from the Holiday 2007 Interweave (Ravelry link)
Yarn: 2 balls Frogtree Alpaca Sportweight, 204
Needles: Size 2 DPN's
Comments: Love this pattern! Love this squooshy alpaca for socks! They feel great with my clogs, are thick and soft, have decent stitch definition, and have a cute little halo of fuzz.

The Frogtree Alpaca felt SO good to knit with...I want more. I bought two more shades of green Frogtree sportweight, enough lime green for more socks or fingerless mitts perhaps, and enough dark green (though I think I need to buy a couple more balls) for a sweater...I'm thinking Arisaig.

Now back to the orange sock...though I'm thinking about instituting "Sewing Sundays" or somesuch for myself after seeing so many beautiful sewing projects around (god, Amy Butler is inspiring).

I love pumpkin

Yummm...I've been buying these delicious muffins the local grocery co-op carries over and over.  They have a chocolate and a pumpkin spice version, and each is topped off with a little dollop of cream cheese that gets baked in. Dee-licious; so of course I had to make my own to satisfy the craving, save a little money, and challenge myself.

I started with the pumpkin version (orange..for project spectrum you know), next I'll tackle the chocolate.

Orange muffins in a green wrapper...I'm using the unbleached kind now

I used the Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread that is so highly rated on Allrecipes.  I have made this recipe over and over and it's a winner!  Be sure to add more pumpkin, a dash more flour, less oil, feel free to decrease the sugar (I do), and add more spices.  Fresh ground whole cloves in a grinder make all the difference.  The recipe is easy to play with and not mess up, I've winged it several times.

This transferred really well to muffin form and in fact, I liked it even better!

To do the cream cheese dollop I followed the directions for Black Bottom Cupcakes, without the chocolate chips of course. Egg , cream cheese and sugar are whipped together for a long time so it bakes up nice and fluffy. If you don't whip it enough, you'll get a sink hole in your muffin; albeit a tasty sinkhole.  Without the sugar the cream cheese tastes a little too sour (I tried it). In the end, that little cream cheese morsel gives these muffins a little something different. Couldn't stop eating 'em in fact...we planned to share them with the neighbors but they were gone too quickly. Oops! Oh, and with this recipe there is plenty of batter after a dozen muffins to make a whole other loaf of pumpkin bread.  A dream for pumpkin fans (me).

Back to school

orange

Projects, papers due, and reading assignments: I'm back in school! I started an accelerated program at the beginning of February; in about a year I'll have my multiple subject teaching credential.  That means I can teach any grade K-6.  Yay! In the meantime, blowing through a course a month has been overwhelming at times, with papers and reading assignments due every three days or so.  Now I think I'm starting to get into the rhythm.  Cooking, knitting, or sewing anyone? I'm ready to get my creative juices flowing again.

red

Maddy's been driving me crazy helping me work by scratching at the door every few minutes to come in or out.  She thinks having people staying at home to do her bidding is a sweet deal.

more red

Snippets of a weekend in color

Recipe for a pleasant President's Day: 2 parts "proper" bikewear and footwear


1 part sun protection

2 parts bicycles

1 part fuel that happens to be PS3 appropriate

Blend together on a gorgeous sunny day with lots of other people having fun on the Sacramento river trail. Let ride for 40 miles (I probably wouldn't have gone that far without Joe's pushing encouragement.) Enjoy. Remember to add generous amounts of Ibuprofen at the end.

More red from Valentine's Day:

A gift bag from Joe I've been using as a small project bag. Gift bags and totes make my favorite project bags. Cheap, and easy to stuff and go and work out of later.

On the knitting front: My red Project Spectrum sock, in sportweight Frog Tree Alpaca which is *delicious* for socks.

Thicker yarn + short leg = quick to knit socklet!

The goal is to have a ROYGBIV rainbow of socks by the end of PS3.

Monday reds (and a pink)

Better than the Monday blues! ;)

I love some color with my technology:

mmm, pink

My little red Nano.

I've been using this baby to follow the Couch to 5k running program. It's a nice, slow program and since  I'm at the beginning of it I'm running less than I was a few months ago, but at the end of the program I should be able to run 3 miles regularly...a mile more than my old standard of 2 miles. You can find the podcasts here.

One of our new red chairs from Ikea:

No, it's not very comfortable, but it's pretty and red! ;)