I’m doing this again. It’s fun and you need to do it too.

It’s a great challenge to make sure I get in my spinning time. Or rather, make sure I get more spinning time. Anything to give me the excuse of getting more time to spin.

I can’t remember who’s idea it was, (Amy was it you?) but those of us on Rav decided we needed a team. We are team “Monkey Farts”. And because of that many of us have changed our Ravatars to Monkeytars. Here’s mine:

If you want to join us in the ridiculousness, you are absolutely welcome to. You just need to spin and be silly. The be silly part has nothing to do with the spinning, but hanging out with our group, being silly helps.

The goals I’ve set for myself are
1. to work down the list of the spinning and samples I need for the book and a pattern I need to do.
2. Work on Monkey farts.
3. Work on sweater yarn.
4. Finish up Diaper Tan, Lobster merino silk, and Pumpkin juice.

2 days into it I have work done for the book and the pattern:

These are a bunch of Navajo plied BFLs and Shetlands.

New Grafton spindles showed up at the shop and well…..I had to test the product

It’s a Grafton Fibership with a batt of my own making in BFL, silk and Alpaca. It will be a 2 ply lace yarn.

As for the goals of number 2 and 3 I have at least picked out the fibers and the pattern for the sweater. The Monkey farts is in Merino Silk:

and the sweater will be done in Ashland Bay Merino Tussah blend:

The sweater will be February Lady. There are a ton done on Ravelry already and I’m smitten with it. Of course I’m still working on Diaper tan Ariann. I’m about 1 inch from stopping the body and starting the sleeves.

I’ve made no progress on goal 4. Though I do need to work on the Diaper Tan before I run out. I have almost 1000 yards and I think I will need a touch more. And I keep looking at the others that I WANT to really work on. Work first right? Hopefully I’ll have some good productive spinning every day.

M is for the Meme.
I was trying to come up with an appropriate M but the Meme seems to fit. I’ve been journaling online for close to 7 years. And knit blogging will be 5 years. It doesn’t seem possible but it is. In all that time the thing that I found annoying and joyful at the same time is the Meme. Appropriately I was tagged this week by an easy and joyful Meme by Marta.

1. Where was I 10 years go.
I had just gotten out of a longish relationship (long for me anyway) and hadn’t yet met the husbeast. I was potting full time and enjoying my summer.

2. 5 things on today’s to-do list
Ship boxes
Place an order for wool
Start to dye July’s club
Work on Batts
Go to the farmstand

3.Snacks I enjoy
Nuts. Fruit. Hummus. Popcorn. Kale Smoothies.
Though I generally try not to snack much.

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire.
Spin and knit and travel. Oh, and build an addition onto the house for more wheels and looms. And then fly in the “Spunky Club” to have a party. Because the members have been an unending source of entertainment and joy.

5. Places I have lived.
Maine, Massachusetts and California. Nothing exciting but I have lived where I’ve wanted to. And the truth is, there is no place like home.

6. Jobs I have had.
Waitress, Line cook, waitress, Bar tender, waitress, Pet shop, Temp Agency (secretary at a law firm and receptionist at some office I don’t even remember), Sales and then senior sales representative for a Power supply manufacturer, Hotline advocate, Potter, Hotline advocate, to where I am now…. What would my job be described as now. Fiber enabler? Enthusiast? Entrepreneur? haha. I like the sounds of Entrepreneur. Makes it all sound like I’m really professional.

7. Who would I like to know more about.
All of you. If you read this consider yourself tagged or not. Just let me know in a comment if you decide to do it.

I hope you get to be on the eternal cruise around the world, unfettered by illness or pain. You will be missed.

L is for leaves. I love leaves.

Leaves with flowers:

Leaves that are herbs:

Leaves on trees:

Leaves with my Veggies:

Leaves on my arm:

Even leaves that are really weeds:

I haven’t had much for recipes for you lately. Things have been stagnant here in the new recipe department since the fruit revelation. Funny how one little thing can set a girl running back to the food she knows. So it’s been a lot of salads, green smoothies and rice dishes. Last week I made my first batch of Kombucha.

When I went in for a tattoo day 2 weeks ago, Jennifer had brought in a little SCOBY for me. I bought my jar and away I went to make my Kombucha. In case you don’t want to click the link, it’s a fermented tea drink. It tastes ciderish. We make it with less sugar than is called for and use Turbinado. In that way the Mother eats all the sugar out of it so we can still live a sugar free existence.

There is a lot of information about how to make it and Jen has some linked from her site. Here’s one site with videos The guy in that video is entertaining but boy does he use a lot of sugar. You can use a ton of sugar but you don’t have to. Though you need to use some. Mother needs the sugar to eat and live. Poor Sara was forced to drink my Kombucha that hadn’t had it’s final fermentation. It is good and ok to drink after a week without the rebottling, but it should be even better today though.

There is some knitting and spinning too. Actually I’ve been doing a ton of spinning though most of it is not recreational. This is the yarn I’ve done for the Goddess Anniversary Shawl knit along:

Because of a discussion in Ravelry….I decided I needed to start the shawl and did the first round just before the second round was posted. I think I’m just going to do chart D all the way through. Less decision making if I just follow one all the way.

That is assuming I actually keep going and aren’t halted by other work.