You saw the new rakestraw already.

Here they all are
Maple, mahogany, Bloodwood, Zebrawood, Purpleheart, Bocote

I’m enjoying demonstrating this spindle. I look forward to having this thing going all weekend. The other cool thing is that they each come with a velvety pouch and instructions. Plus the makers are really sweet. I almost had a booth next to them at MASW but I decided a corner was best. I usually have a few friends stopping by so having a little extra elbow room (so I don’t poke my neighbors) is a good thing. Now I know why SPA put me in the corner, it was a good call.

Then an order of Greensleeves arrived. The Pink Ivory Mjolinor makes my heart beat fast. The way the wood looks is just incredible. And so I just had to have it. Yes, I had to buy it from the shop, I couldn’t help it. I explained to Abby yesterday that me owning a fiber store is like an alcoholic owning a bar. It’s all research…..

I’m working on carding up some fiber to mimic the colors. Of course I’ll be spinning it on her. I have part of it done already. I’ll be plying 2 different colors and 2 different fiber blends together.

The yellow is BFL, Sparkle, Silk, and Mohair.

But then I have a ton of new Damsel Moniques and Ethan’s Spindles. I have enough that some might actually be left after the Frolic unlike what happened at SPA.

Speaking of carding I’m working up tons of batts. It looks as though we may finally get some sun today so I can get photos for you. I’m planning on having several big baskets of carded “doughnuts” for the frolic.

Lots of love going around. Love of food and love of yarn.

The recipe today is for Fiddleheads. I don’t remember seeing these EVER when I lived on the left coast. Here in New England they are a seasonal treasure. Fiddleheads are the tips of the new ferns. If you click that link you’ll get more info, a photo, and more recipes. They taste like the best asparagus you’ve ever had, except without the stinky P. Honestly, I dont’ have any other way to describe their taste. Just try them, they’re good.
My recipe is simple and can be used without the pasta. I got the idea from talking to Jennifer Moore when I saw her this past week. If you want to see what I had done you can see that here.

Simple Fiddlehead Pasta (feeds 3)

1 vidalia onion chopped
8-10 ounce of crimini mushrooms sliced.
olive oil for cooking
2-4 cloves of garlic
juice of one lemon
Salt and Pepper
2cups of clean fiddleheads
3 cups of pasta (I used Brown Rice Rotini Pasta)
1/2 cup feta cheese (optional for those that are Vegan)

Saute the onions with the garlic and olive oil until glassy, add in the mushrooms and cook them down as well. Toss in the fiddleheads and cover to steam for about 6-7 minutes. You want the cooked but not mushy. Pull off the heat and add in the lemon juice. Salt and Pepper to taste. **don’t add in the lemon juice early, it will change the texture of the fiddleheads.**

Stir it into your cooked pasta. Sprinkle the crumbled feta over the top just before you serve. This is a good dish hot or room temperature for a picnic. But you need to hurry, fiddleheads are only available for a short time.

The love of yarn is for Tahki new Tweed

I am tempted to run out and clean off LYS shelves. Wool, Viscose and Silk. It’s a cool yarn. And I don’t just mean cool as in Fonzie is cool - I mean it’s not a hot yarn to be sitting on my lap. I need to at least make a tank top out of this stuff.

The third love is for all of you and the love of the business I’m in. I don’t even know how to express how much more fun the yarn/fiber job is than the pottery one. Don’t get me wrong, I love pottery and in many ways I miss creating it on a daily basis. What I don’t miss is the lack of interaction with others. The yarn and fiber fields just hold so much more of a social aspect. It really is quite an amazing difference. Even through the web, I feel like I’m working with so many others when pottery really is a solo experience.

Case in point to the social fiberyness is all the visitors I had on Saturday. The Manch Vegas knitters and tagalongs came up for a visit on Saturday. It was great to see old and new faces. Really, the social aspect is amazing. Thank you guys for coming up. I left my camera home but Gina had her camera blazing.

And for all of you that are in love with the Kellebrationcolorway, I have a similar one called Burning Bush.

I dyed a ton of this for the Frolic, I also dyed up some Kellebration. There are only subtle differences between the 2 colorways so I’ll let you decide.