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November 29th, 2009
08:55 pm - esty update!
Could it really be true? An actual etsy update? With more than one yarn?
It is true, check out some new work! This stuff is au natural, all rescue farm wool, NH wool, alpaca blends, etc. Some feature some new eco-friendly, non-toxic dyes that I am transiting to. (Meaning once I use up all my other dyes, that is all I will be using.)
My blog readers get free shipping on anything till the end of the year, thank you for your continued support! This includes my lovely international shoppers! You will get the refund via paypal after purchase, just put a note in your order that you read about free shipping on the blog.
Please be sure to check back later this week, as I will have at least one more yarn up for sale.
I attempted cheesemaking this weekend but it was a flop. I'm not too disappointed and vegetarian rennet is on its way to me this week. I took out this book from the library today to aid my next cheesmaking adventure. Does anyone else have any tips/books/advice?
Tomorrow is back to work. Work really cuts into my misshawklet style lifestyle. Not liking that, but I do prefer to keep the house. I am so thankful for time at home to re-inspire my creativity. And for stuffed mushrooms. Dang were they tasty!
Cheers everyone! I hope all my American friends had a great Thanksgiving and my Canadian and Japanese friends (you know who you are!) were not' too bored with the lack of livejournal updates!
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November 22nd, 2009
05:23 pm
Raspberry Swirl Yarn. Wool with pink sparkles.
Naturally gray and white wool with cinnamon colored alpaca carded in, along with some hemp and plied with bits of blue sparkle thrown in. It has proved next to impossible to get a good pic of this yarn!
These will be on etsy as soon as the pink is done drying and labeled.
Happy Sunday!
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November 21st, 2009
01:55 pm
Hello everyone! I hope all is well in your neck of the woods.
I wanted to let you know about a book that was just released this past week called Crafty Superstar by Grace Dobush! Its in all the bookstores or you can order it directly from the author, or ask for it at your local library. Great ideas and tips on how to start a crafty business and keep your day job. I have already learned some awesome new advice (like regarding sales) and I'm super proud to tell you that I'm also a contributor! I've "known" Grace online since the "old glitter" craft boards so its really cool to see her now writing her own book! I love the crafty community. I've been in a few publications now (by luck I think!) and it never loses its thrill to see your name or picture in print!
Today Nate and I did some running around to local farms. I bought raw wool this past spring at a farm in Derry NH and found a place to process it in another direction, in Temple NH. I'm so excited. The place is run by one woman and one very PT helper. She has a huge washer machine for fleece, a picker, and two kind of roving machines, and a small spinning machine as well. They are also working on a little store for selling her fiber and some fiber wares. I'm going to have the wool I dropped up done up in roving. It is very reasonably priced, no minimum and as you drive up the dirt road to the building you can say hi to some of the sheep, which is always awesome!
These miniature sheep are actually 4 or 5 years old! Nate said their heads looked more like a bear than a sheep. One cocked its head like a puppy, so cute!
Of course I could not resist buying just a little roving...
And to top it off, her husband owns a dairy farm across the street that only has Jersey cows (the brown cows), so I picked up some raw milk too. I cannot wait to make CHEESE!! And of course have access to fresh raw milk all year round.
One last stop before home to another farm and twenty dollars bought me four gallons of unpasturized apple cider for hard cider making.
Damn I love New Hampshire.
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November 10th, 2009
09:11 pm
New England is teasing us with warm 60+ degree weather this week. Crazy! Buys a little more time for getting rid of the compost/dirt pile that has been in the driveway, though, for the past month and a half.
Our newest creation is this garden bed, inspired by fellow flickr friend Xao_T. It sits in the side yard, right on the border of our property. In the bed there are already a few lilac trees which I trimmed back. They are sad looking so I'm hoping they'll make a comeback, along with the roses, next year. In this garden is my rhubard, some perennial sorrel, thyme, and a few bulbs. Next year I plan to put in a whole bunch more perennial plants.
I love this garden bed. Nate and I decided to use wood for the border. It will eventually rot out, but that's ok. I love the uneven rustic look of them. To make this bed, we took up the grass, dug a shallow trench for the logs, put in the logs unevenly in the trench, pouding them in a little with a rubber mallet. Next, we filled the area with dirt. It took a LOT of dirt to make it even since this area was kind of a hill. Then we stuck rocks in the holes on the outside of the border of logs and stuck some dirt there as well. Wah-la!
It is surely fall because the garden hillbilly is covered with leaves!
Last, I wanted to let you all know that I now have yarn available in a wonderful little art gallery in Rochester NH called artstream. Its a great place to take a class, browse or buy art. The owners are also awesome women.
My apologies that my etsy shop is seriously lacking. The truth is, I have to make more yarn, b/c mine is either in shops or on their way to new homes from the godwin non-raffle! I have to get on that, but my shoulder has been bothering me so its slow going.
Don't forget to become a fan of misshawklet on facebook too!
Happy Tuesday everyone! Its a very busy week at work, but hopefully that means it'll fly by!
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November 8th, 2009
06:57 pm
Thank you all who donated to Godwin! I am happy to report that he is in school and doing well.
He says:
"...Also i will like to use this opportunity to thank you very much for your kindness and support you have given to me,i really appreciate it.
I promise to learn hard to become a useful material in the future.
My regards to all your friends who have help to contribute the money to pay my school fees."
He's the cutest.
JennyLisa, Naomi, Amber G, Amanda W and Joyce will be getting some yarn!
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November 1st, 2009
05:21 pm
Hello friends! Happy Dark Days. I'm thankful that on December 21 the darkness starts to go the OTHER way. Now's the time for bread baking, squash soup and going to bed early!
I have been working on promos for the debut of Grace Dobush's new book called Crafty Superstar. (You can also order this book on amazon but of course its much cooler to order it directly from the author!) She'll be handing out promos at the Crafty Supermarket in Cincinnati on November 21, which is also her release party! I care, of course, b/c Grace is awesome, but also because she interviewed me for the book. Neat-o! Here are the promos I have been working on:
Today was a beautiful sunny day in NH. It was cool but I feel like I got some sun on my face. I thought there was one last farmer's market today, but alas, its gone for the season. Boo-hoo! I was able to stop by the last day of the farm cart about a mile from my house and picked up a bushel of Courtland apples for $15! Score! I hope to use some for sauce and Nate will use some for beer making.
We spent the rest of the afternoon doing yard clean up and chatting with the neighbors. I have been inspired by Shannon's blog and have been collected acorns in the yard for some yarn dyeing. I can't wait to try! My neighbors have helped by collecting for me as well. Look at Shannon's CA compared to my New England ones. So cool, they are so different!
I love collecting things, and pinecones are no different. They are so pretty in a bucket, but we literally have hundreds more. What can I do with them? I thought about making wreaths, but they do have quite a bit of sap on them. That's ok with me but I'm not sure if others like that. Any ideas on how to make a cute pinecone wreath? I'm not sure where to start! I guess if all else fails I can put them in a basket in the house. If any of my lj friends don't live where pine trees grow and would like me to send you some in a box, let me know! These are from white pine trees and are pretty big.
That's about all I've got! I hope you all had a happy halloween! I had a good time handing out candy to 164 kids!
LOVE LOVE
holly
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October 18th, 2009
06:28 pm
Going to Stitches East next week in Hartford, CT?
Don't forget to print out your discount coupon!
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October 15th, 2009
07:41 pm
Hi Friends!
Wow, so many things on my mind. I'll just stick to this thought for this post. :)
So, Nate and I got five yards of dirt delivered yesterday. That is actually quite a bit. We already have used up some of it but we need to move the rest and FAST b/c its getting cold! The plan was to construct some sort of raised beds in the front lawn, because:
A. Unused lawns are lame when you could be growing stuff!
B. Our front lawn gets the most sun and our backyard is mostly shady.
I'm having trouble figuring out the shape and layout of the beds. Partially because the lawn on either side of the walkway is not the same, so I would have for it to look awkward or uneven. My master plan is to keep expanding the beds every year until eventually our whole front lawn is basically a garden.
Right now there is one irregularly shaped bed on either side of the walkway. They holds fruits...raspberry, strawberry and highbush cranberry that all should be lush and producing next year. To the right there out of view, there are two small trees which are dwarf cherry trees that should grow about ten feet tall. Right against the house there are beds with bulbs and some perennial herbs. Gosh, our yard looks so awful here! Ah, fall, everything is dying back. Its all a work in progress, this home ownership/DIY thing!
By the mailbox are all sorts of bulbs, and behind the stones I plant a "wall" of sunflowers. I want that whole area to from the road to the sunflowers to eventually be all cutting flowers and/or wildflowers. Just pretty stuff, not veggies since that area will be blasted with salt from the winter plowing.
So, any ideas on the beds? One on each side, all to the right, or something else completely? Start at the front of the house and work towards the road, or the other way around? I bought some irregularly shaped stones that will kind of fit together for a rustic looking bed, about 5 inches high, so they are not really tall beds, they will kind of be the height of the stones I think. I'm ok with making the beds bigger with just stepstones or something so I can get in there, if that makes more sense than a few smaller beds. I wish I could just cover the whole thing and make it all garden NOW but I don't have enough dirt or enough money for the stones!
Any ideas are much appreciated!
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October 12th, 2009
11:14 am
Nate is working today so I get the house to myself! !! I've been unhappily reminded that morning shows are AWFUL! Obama is the anti-christ b/c he believes women have the right to choose?! Sorry to be political, but cripes! Craziness.
I got up a little later than I wanted, but it was a challenge to get out of the blankets since the house was a mere 58 degrees! Brrr! We are re-insulating our attic/crawl space so there is some insulation missing up there right now. Its hard to validate turning on the heat when it's just going to sneak back outside.
Anyway, some yarn progress. I am loving the top one. The one to the right of it is from the same dyelot, but a single. Big difference! Then again, no dyelot is the same throughout in hand-dyeing...its just impossible. You can try to match them but they are all unique.
Ok, back to work. Some more yarn stuff to do, then errands, planting the rest of the garlic, etc. Good stuff. I really miss working PT and doing misshawklet PT. Boo on the day job, but I guess I should be thankful Nate and I can pretty much pay the bills. :)
Happy Monday!
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October 10th, 2009
05:18 pm
Hello all! I had a lovely Friday night in Marlborough with some friends. We went out to Keene to see music, had dinner out, etc. It was fun to hang out with the kids and this morning we visited the farm to get some gourds and little pumpkins. My friend served us Raspberry Pie (yes, it deserves capital letters) for breakfast from her own backyard berries. Delicious.
My friend has been helping to clean out her mother's house and came across some awesome things that her grandma made. They were made by her grandma in 1976. I gasped when I saw it, so beautiful! I must find a proper spot for it on my wall, but I'm not sure which one yet.
It looks like the little white doo-dads are mohair and the rest is acrylic yarn. This is called crewel I think?
So yeah, I basically wanted to brag about my score.
Nate and I stopped on the way home to my favorite place, House by the Side of the Road, and I bought crocus and tulip bulbs to plant out front. The drive home was lovely...sort of sunny and driving over the mountains with the foliage and the leaf peepers sporting maps and Subarus...I love New England. Its so beautiful! (Remind me that in February, please!)
I hope you all are having a great weekend.
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October 7th, 2009
06:40 pm - Stitches Progress
I decided to take some afternoons off from work to attempt to get ready for Stitches, since its humanly impossible to actually BE ready. I love getting out of work at 1pm! Its so awesome. Wish that could be my every day schedule, but alas, my boss would probably frown upon that. Maybe someday I can go back to PT work and PT (FT?) misshawklet. I like being back in the creative mindset. Its good for my soul and reminds me that work is work and out of work is life, if that makes any sense.
Alas, I making progress on yarns, and this afternoon forced myself to spin singles. I have been way into two-ply lately, and that is dandy, but two-ply, of course, takes twice as long to spin. You have to make a single, but I always spin two-ply much thinnner, then you have to wind it all off the bobbin, and put on a plying head, and ply the yarn. Twice as much work and half the amount of yarn. Worth it? Yes. When are you trying to meet a goal of 100 yarns by October 22? Not a good idea.
Anyway, here are some progress shots. Thankfully I do have more than this done, but I won't give you actual numbers or else I'll start to mentally freak out.
Back to work!
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October 4th, 2009
04:35 pm - signs of autumn
autumn apple picking
Inspiration via autumn colors
I hope you all had a good weekend. Mine was fun and felt like a true weekend. Yesterday Nate and I drove to Concord to go to The Barley House and see Michael Moore's new movie at an awesome little indie theater. (It was a great movie btw, no matter what your political bent is, or is not. It really was about capitalism and how out of control it is, and about the very rich and wall street has managed to screw us all because they are really in control of our country...its not about being a democrat or republican or what have you.) Today was apple picking, garden clean up/harvesting and some garlic planting. Now its time to deal with the harvest, take Kodha for a walk and settle in for some time in front of the spinning wheel.
Happy Sunday everyone!
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September 27th, 2009
06:25 pm
Hello friends!
Its a rainy, rainy Sunday. I'm feeling good after suffering (and I do mean suffer) from a horrible ear infection the last few days. Thankfully the antibiotics are finally kicking in and although I can't hear a thing out of that ear, I don't want to punch holes in the wall anymore. :) Glad that's over, sheesh.
I spent the day going to Trader Joes, to the public library for some fun stuff, and did a little cooking. I've been very into fried rice lately. Does anyone else love it, homemade? Its such a good way to use up random bits of leftover veggies from your fridge. And its so easy to make! If I made rice for part of a meal, I usually just make a little extra to use with fried rice. This is how I make it, I'm not sure its the "right" way but it tastes good:
Ingredients:
*leftover veggies, chopped up
*leftover rice
*a few eggs
*some garlic, onion or both, chopped up
*ground pepper
*soy sauce or tamari
*olive oil, sesame oil or butter
What to do:
Heat oil or butter in a pan. When hot, cook vegetables till the onion is getting browned and the veggies are nice and bright over med-high heat. In the meantime, mix the eggs in a bowl and add some fresh ground pepper. When veggies are done, push them to one side of the pan, add a little more oil/butter if needed and add in eggs. Cook egg quickly, I basically scramble them. When cooked, mix in with veggies. Add in rice. Stir, let cook a little, stir a bit more, add a little soy sauce. Again, this should be done on med-high heat. Taste, season a little more if needed and serve.
I sometimes use olive oil that has been soaking with chili peppers, that gives it a nice kick.
What's your favorite way to use up veggies?
I have been trying to kick it into high gear for upcoming shows. Well, as "high gear" as you can get with a foot powered spinning wheel. Here are some results from my dyeing fiesta last weekend. They will be plying onto themselves tonight.
Happy Sunday everyone!
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September 22nd, 2009
10:40 pm
Hi friends!
Don't forget you can become a fan of misshawklet on facebook!
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September 20th, 2009
10:13 am - Stitches East
Last night I finally did some fiber dyeing...its been far too long! I managed to keep the kitchen clean, but I do like the look of my dye tub aftermath:
I had the house to myself so I got myself a bottle of wine, brought the wheel up from my basement/studio, and put on some Dexter to watch. A good night, a good night.
I'm excited to tell you that myself, along with some other fabulous indie spinners that I'm sure you have heard of, will be participating in Stitches East this October in Hartford, CT. Stitches is a huge yarn/knitters extravaganza with knitting classes, a huge amount of vendors, etc. I'm very excited and have so much to do beforehand! Our group of spinners are vending under the name Indie Spun, so check out our blog, more things to be added soon.
Its supposed to be absolutely summer like here the next 5 days and I intend on savoring the last bits of warm weather before fall truly arrives. First I must love up the dog, who looks truly forlorn since Nate is not home yet. She is all balled up on the couch facing the wall, like she never gets any love, poor thing.
Happy Sunday!
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September 17th, 2009
07:38 pm
Hello Friends!
Its very quickly turned into fall here in New Hampshire. Highs of only in the low 60s, apples, school starting...season is changing for sure.
I have been busy reluctantly putting my garden to bed...pulling up tomatoes that may have started to catch the blight (luckily I had over a month of harvest beforehand!), pulling up peppers and harvesting them before a frost, etc. Today I started pulling up some carrots. They are all small (I'm not sure why!) but darling. I planted a variety of organic ones...these purpley red ones, some yellow ones (which fared the worst) and regular orange ones. So pretty!
I also have been cutting off sunflower heads as the seeds mature. The front of my house by the mailbox was a row of all sorts of sunflowers, and they are still blooming, hooray! But as the seeds develop their shells, I have been cutting off the heads, pulling up the stem and leaving them under trees in the yard for my squirrel friends. Its so fun to watch them and since caring for Randy last month, have a newfound love for the critters.
This weekend might be apple picking, but that truly means fall is here and winter will be following. I'm not sure if I'm TOTALLY ready for that yet. :)
I have been doing a lot of thinking about spinning but really need to hop to it. Big show coming up in October and I've barely started getting ready. More on that later!
Enjoy the sunshine!
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September 7th, 2009
12:12 pm
After a lot of hemming and hawing and going back and fourth, I decided to buy a new car with an outstanding warantee instead of buying a crapbox for less than 3K. Here she is!
A 2010 black Hyundai Accent. AC and automatic transmission but rollie down windows, manual locks, no radio (nate has an extra), etc. I think I will be happy with her. She is very small, the size of a new beetle. Look at her sparkle! I don't expect that to last long but I will enjoy it while it does. :)
I better get back to making yarn....let the yarn sales begin!
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August 30th, 2009
05:01 pm
Hello Friends!
I am happy to report that our bathroom is DONE. All I have left to buy is a bath mat and TP holder. Hooray! Everything has been replaced except the tub and toilet. ALL has been updated. Here is a before and after mosaic. Nate did this 100% on his own. Its amazing!
more close up...new tile in shower, tile floor, towel rods...the bathroom was down to the studs
What else is going on? Let's see, I am busy expanding my garden, I just pre-ordered my garlic for fall planting, and am avoiding car shopping. :) Avoiding not because I don't want to drive, but because its just such a hassle, and I'm toying with with idea of seeing if I can afford payments on a new, but affordable, car. Seeing what a nightmare car shopping is, I'd rather have a payment and a warantee than buy something that will need to be replaced in a few years. Of course that means me staying ON the road. :)
Nate and I got also the opportunity to care for a baby squirrel for a few days. We found him, eventually getting him to a local wildlife rehabber, but both enjoyed his stay with us. He was an adorable 5.5 week old squirrel...his eyes were not even open yet! He fell out of a tree and his mother never came for him.
Hope you are well. Happy Sunday everyone!
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August 9th, 2009
12:37 pm - suburban homestead
Hello friends!
I have been having an excellent time with my gardens lately, as they are finally (due to all the rain we had in June) producing daily! My peas are done, but I now have beans, peppers, tomatoes, herbs, greens...I love going out to the garden to see what I can incorporate into dinner.
I grew some dry beans, which is a lot of fun. Super easy! Next year I'll grow many more rows, but they are so beautiful. You really should let them dry in the pod on the vine, but I couldn't resist picking and shelling some. They all should turn color as they dry. These are black turtle bean and jacob's cattle bean.
I am busily cleaning out my computer because I am upgrading after about 5 years! To a laptop mini...one of the $300-ish ones. SO EXCITING. My computer is as slow as death and its just time to say goodbye to the ginormous monitor. I'm looking forward to more space in the office. I might even forgo a desk altogether, we shall see! So I might be computerless at home for a bit.
You might also notice that misshawklet.com now goes directly to my etsy shop. The site revamp ain't happenin' anytime soon so I might as well just redirect to a site that actually looks complete! That is kind of a weight off my shoulders.
Speaking of etsy, this seller has some really excellent kind of revamped Victory Garden-esque posters. I LOVE THEM. I came across them while searching for victory garden posters for my kitchen a few months ago. I'd like to get three of them when I have some extra cashola and frame then to hang. I think they are perfect!
Also starting to look around for cars. I'm not in a rush, but I'd like to have something by October. I've resigned myself to just dealing with the fact that I'm kind of stranded at home for now. After the first week and a half of kind of feeling miserable about it, I just decided that I might as well deal with it and try to be happy! Its just difficult b/c I'm quite an independent lady!
So right now I'm getting my money (or lack thereof) in order, focusing on just working and doing stuff at home, etc. The bathroom is coming along and that in itself is something to look forward to, for sure!
Stay well!
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July 31st, 2009
04:57 pm - Berry Crisp Recipe
Collect berries or buy (these are all wild blackberries I have been collecting by the river for the past few days!). Rinse and put in buttered oven dish. I sprinkled a little vanilla on them but you don't have to.
Mix together 1/2 cup rolled oats (not quick oats), 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup sucanat (hippie sugar, but you can use regular sugar), cinnamon, nutmeg and I like to add a little bit of salt too. Add in 1/2 cup or so of softened butter. Works best if you use your hands.
Put crumble mixture on top. Bake 375 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the berries are starting to bubble.
Serve warmed, perfect with vanilla ice cream!
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