Food & Art

I love to cook! I've known this for the past 10 years, but I had a bit of an epiphany recently that I truly love to cook. I don't express my emotions well, but when I cook from my heart you can taste the love in my food. 💖

The downside to this passion for cooking is all the damn dishes that need to be washed. I'm slooooowly learning the art of mindful cleaning though.

This week my favorite meals were a crustless quiche (aka egg pie) and baked fish tacos. I wasn't sure if Ruby would like the fish.....she asked for more "chicken" until it was all gone! Haha! Last night's enchiladas were pretty darn good too.

Back in the day I used to share the occasional recipe here. If anyone is still around and would like me to share, I'd be happy to!

Have a beautiful night, friends.

Christmas Ice Crystals

The other day I was trying to come up with outdoor activities for Wild One and I when I came across the Tinkergarten website. I've heard of their program before and am even on the waitlist in case they start a branch here in Douglas, Wyoming, but I've never really explored their website before. They have a whole section of DIY activities which you can narrow down by child's age and time of year!

Scrolling through the 4 year old-appropriate winter activities I found these fun ice crystals. Considering it has been well below freezing all week I thought I'd give it a try. Finding water balloons in our small town in winter was a bit of a challenge, but Jake did eventually find some. After a bit of trial and error I found a quick and easy method for making these fun "crystals"!

Here are some of my tips:
• Wear an apron and gloves, otherwise your hands (and/or clothes) will still be covered in food coloring like mine. 😉
• Hold the balloon by the opening and pinch it only slightly to add the dye. I found the best way for me was to let gravity do the work, let the balloon hang gently in your fingers and once you've added the dye let it slide down before adding water. It makes for a little less mess!
• One drop of food coloring is plenty to get a beautiful colored crystal. With a few I added 2 drops and they just got dye all over everything when I cut the balloon off the frozen crystal.

We left the balloons out overnight and in the morning Ruby got outside first and hid a bunch of them in the snow so I haven't actually found many to cut the balloon off of, but I did find a few and she had a blast hiding the balloons. That's a win in my book. Haha!

Let me know if you try this activity too. I want to hear how your crystals turned out! Enjoy!

Another Trip Around the Sun!

Today I turned 38. I do feel a little older and a little wiser and I'm excited for the coming year.

I hope you enjoy these photos from our weekend in the mountains.

Have a beautiful day friends!

Where does the time go?

Ruby sure has grown over the past couple years! Playing soccer, designing jack-o-lanterns, traveling the world, opening a LuLaRoe home boutique, it's been a wild couple of years!

New Socks and More!

It's only been a few days since Tour de Fleece ended, but my momentum to get things done is still going strong! I am working through my WiPs list and am very happy with my progress so far.

Right before TdF started I cast on a pair of socks for Jake. I used a Crazy Zauberball that the amazing Laura Jane Taylor brought when she came with Jennifer (aka @sugar_stitches) & me to Sewing Summit 2012!

Instead of using a pattern I made a hybrid sock using my favorite elements from other patterns that I've made.
Here's my toe-up formula:
*Judy's Magic Cast On
*Rounded toe from OrangeKnits Rose City Rollers pattern (this was a little tricky because her pattern is cuff down so I had to figure the decreases from 72 stitches, for Jake's wide foot, then reversed it for toe-up)
*Stockinette foot
*Short-row heel from Wendy Johnson's "Socks from the Toe Up"
*Decrease to 64 stitches for a skinnier ankle/leg
*Stockinette leg
*1x1 ribbing
*Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off

He hasn't had a chance to try them on since I finished them, but he did try on the first sock when I was nearing the ribbing and it looks like it'll be a great fit for him!

This week I also scoured, carded, & started to spin up a sample of a fleece that I recently received.



The fleece is a gorgeous rambouillet out of the eastern Oregon/Idaho area. I have a long way to go still, it's nearly 8 pounds & I've only pulled off 5 ounces to sample, but I'm already planning lots of fun things to make from it! First up is a hat & mittens set for Kim, who sent me this beauty!!

And, last but not least, I'm halfway through binding Ruby's rainbow quilt.

It should be done and ready to use by the weekend!

August crafting goals:
Old WiPs
* Finish combing & spin NZ Romney
* Finish Jake's socks
* Bind & label rainbow quilt

New
* Scour, card, & spin a sample of brown fleece from Kim
* Enter yarn or batt into Wyo state fair
* #spin15in15 August challenge - spin a precious (quivit?)

Other August goals (home, family, etc):
* Clean out old Jeep for donation
* Finish reading The Wind Through the Keyhole
* Shred old papers & organize office
* Take Ruby to State Fair
* Go fishing!

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Tour de Fleece 2015

This year was my first Tour de Fleece and it was so much fun! My personal challenge was to complete as many skeins as I could during the race. A seemingly simple challenge, but I tend to get *this close* to finishing a project then moving on to something else. My workroom is filled with nearly finished projects as proof of this! But more on that at the end.

I joined the Aaron Makes Stuff team and, though we were allowed to use other spindles, I used only my AMS spindles and wheel plied the singles on my Kromski Minstrel. It was a small team, but everyone did such a beautiful job! Check out the #tdfaaronmakesstuff hashtag on IG to see.


You can also take a look at my Instagram (@aprairiesunrise) for progress pictures, but here's how I ended the tour yesterday.



O'er the Moors & Among the Heathers from The Wooly Witch- 5.2oz, 406yds. 3-ply DK weight.

Total yards spun (singles & plying): 1630

This will be a top for Ruby, I'm looking at either Bloom or Belle Isle. This yarn is probably my favorite from the tour and now I really want to spin a sweater's quantity for myself!



Book of the Dead from The Wooly Witch- 2.6oz, 218yds. 3-ply DK/worsted.

Total yards spun during TdF (One of the singles was spun prior to the tour): 654



Rainbow Sherbet- 3.0oz, 199yds. 3-ply DK weight.

Leftovers:
Orange/Green- 8yds of 2-ply
Orange- 0.4oz estimated yardage of 50yds

Total yards spun: 854

Orange is Pumpkin Spice Latte from The Wooly Witch, pink is Giovanna also from The Wooly Witch, & green is Creme de Menthe from Textiles a Mano that a friend picked up for me at Estes Park Wool Market this year.

I was unsure how the three colors would look once plied (I worried that it would look muddy), but the green is such a strong color that I think the pink and orange balance it nicely. As you can see with the orange & green 2-ply, the green really dominates the yarn.

This yarn will likely become a beanie for Ruby. She loves to wear the ribbed hat I made last year for Jake, so she needs one of her own!



Peacock Feathers from Siobhans Crafts (gradient) & FleegleFiber (semi solid teal)- 3.7oz, 284yds. Chain plied sport weight. Self-striping gradient
Total yards spun: 1136



Port Fiber batt- 0.5oz of singles spun.
Approx. 50yds



And then there was the drop spindle & captured ring russian...

I am such a slow drop spinner, I feel like I put hours into this yarn and only spun 0.2oz of it! Yes, it is super duper thin cobweb lace weight, but still...! The fiber is Malabrigo that I carded to blend the colors a bit and unfelt the fiber. I'm unsure of the colorway name, but it sure matches beautifully with the spindle!

Approx. 25yds spun (probably much more, but I'd rather err on the low side).

As for the gorgeous padauk russian spindle, I am coming to terms with the fact that we just don't get along. I am a huge fan of Aaron's work and to have a spindle that I can't spin to my liking breaks my heart! But, I guess, not every spindle can work for every person. I am determined to finish the blue fiber that's on there now before I destash it though!


Total TdF yards: ~4350!!

I'm extra excited about that total because in that time we also had guests, went to a family reunion, took several daytrips, & went down to Cheyenne Frontier Days! It's been quite a month and I've enjoyed every minute of it!!

I'm going to try to keep the momentum of Tour de Fleece going by finishing up some of those previously mentioned WiPs. I'm going to start small, but hopefully I can get this and much more done by the end of August!

August crafting goals:
Old WiPs
* Finish combing & spin NZ Romney
* Finish Jake's socks
* Bind & label Rainbow quilt

New
* Scour, card, & spin a sample of brown fleece from Kim
* Enter yarn or batt into Wyo state fair
* #spin15in15 August challenge - spin a precious (quivit?)

Other August goals (home, family, etc):
* Clean out old Jeep for donation
* Finish reading The Wind Through the Keyhole
* Shred old papers & organize office
* Take Ruby to State Fair
* Go fishing!

LET'S DO THIS!!


***I'm sorry there are no links in this post. I normally like to link up shops and whatnot, but it's been so long since I blogged that I've forgotten how!

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Making it With Pendleton Wool

A few weeks ago I posted this image on Instagram...


But then because I was dealing with a junky temporary phone while waiting for my insurance to replace the phone I killed on Halloween, I forgot to post what I actually made.

Sidenote: Don't drop your phone screen down onto a rocky driveway! The worst part about it was I couldn't even share pictures of my adorable flower and her farmer heading out for trick or treating!!

But I can now! Aren't they cute?


Anyway, I participated in our regional Make It With Wool competition again this year and decided to sew something.


I watched Prudent Baby's cape tutorial video then started cutting into my precious wool.


I decided to edge it with some Pendleton selvedge that my LYS friend gave me the last time we were up in Dubois. Then I pulled out my Albama Chanin handsewing book to find a good embroidery stitch to add a little more flair.

Because I am not confident in my garment making I hand sewed the seams. Though I did make french seams for a neater look inside.

Except for the seam stitching the whole garment (accessory?) is 100% wool. Even the yarn I used to embroider the selvedge is wool that I had naturally dyed in avocado pits earlier this year.

We didn't win this year, but it sure was fun to make. And as you can see, Ruby kinda likes it too!


Thanks for visiting!

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